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Tonight the Swedish/Sabey Citizens Advisory Committee voted to recommend that the city force the Swedish Cherry Hill developer to go through a more serious level of review before they can proceed with their proposed project along the east side of 18th Ave.

A large number of neighbors showed up to listen in and have their say on the project.  There were...

The recent election was pretty momentous at the local level too, with voters approving a new expansion of Sound Transit service around the region. That will eventually bring two new transit options to the edges of the neighborhood: a light rail stop on I-90 at Rainier, and a new street car that will connect Capitol Hill with the International District....

Just curious if anyone has heard what happened to the windows at the bus shelter that is on E. Union at 25th Ave. The windows facing the street are all broken and there's a bunch of glass laying inside the shelter. I couldn't tell if it was gunshots or maybe a baseball bat that was used...it was too dark to tell this morning. I've sent in a request to Metro to get it fixed. I also suggested that they turn this shelter around so that the opening faces the street. Due to the drug activity in this shelter, I think if it was turned so the opening faced the street, at least the police would be able to see directly into the shelter to catch the drug dealers/users.  See my previous posting: http://...

It's a sunny November Monday in Seattle.  What more could we hope for?  Here's the scoop from the streets of the East Precinct:

I was surprised when I opened up the paper today to the Pacific NW Magazine (Paul Dorpat's Now & Then is usually my first Sunday morning stop) and saw a couple of faces I recognized on the front page.  Turns out they have a big feature on our little neighborhood., including a lot of shots from Chef Brenda Lee's summer block party on 20th Ave.

They include some interesting stats on how things have changed around here in the last 10 years:

The census numbers say it all. Between 2000 and 2007, the number of children under age 5 in the neighborhood rose by more than 15 percent — about double the increase citywide. In roughly the same period,...

For a long time we've had a serious shortage of breakfast options here in the neighborhood.  And that meant we had to go slumming on Capitol Hill or other far off lands to get a decent set of eggs or biscuits & gravy.  

But last weekend we made our first trip to MezzaLuna for their weekend brunch, and it was definitely worth our while. They've got a...

One message was repeated by several officials at last night's safety forum:  enforcement and arrests won't ever be able to solve our problems with kids and violence. So one key part of the meeting was a call to action for the community to get involved on the prevention side, by volunteering and supporting the organizations that already work with our youth in the neighborhood.

A variety of group leader attended and made their pitches to the crowd for support.  And I'll be totally honest:  it seems like many leaders in the community service world have a problem speaking plainly and communicating what they need.   I'm sure they're all doing some good things, but in several cases it was very difficult...

A big crowd of neighbors showed up tonight to listen and speak to city officials about the Halloween shooting of Quincy Coleman. The East Precinct's Captain McDonagh gave a brief recap of the shooting, saying that there were a number of kids hanging on on the east side of the playfield along 25th. A gun was displayed as a vehicle drove by, causing the kids to scatter before shots rang out, hitting Quincy and another boy. Quincy collapsed at the bottom of the nearby stairs that go down to the playfield. The second kid ran to the Teen Life Center that's part of the new gym and theater complex. The captain once again stressed that the shooting happened on the public sidewalk and had nothing...

I know there mixed feelings around here about public crime meetings.  A lot of you feel like it's just talk and emotion and feel-better-ism. But I think that this is one meeting that it would be good to have a big turnout for. The killing of 15-year-old Quincy Coleman was the last straw in what was a very violent October, and it's time that we make a full court press as a community to let the city's leadership know that we want some immediate action on neighborhood.

So please make time in your Thursday evening to head over to the Garfield gym and make your feelings known, at least by your presence if not by your words.

I received Councilmember Burgess's e-newsletter today and thought you all might be interested in City budget developments regarding the Youth Violence Prevention Initiative and other public safety issues.  You will have to go to http://www.cityofseattle.net/council/burgess/ and subscribe to his newsletter to see the links or wait for it to be posted on his newsletter site.  It's actually worth subscribing to most of our Council members' newsletters.  just go to http://www.cityofseattle.net/council/councilcontact.htm and click on a name, and they each have a way to subscribe so you can interact.  After all, WE hired them.

From Tim Burgess's City View November 12, 2008:

I'm sure you've walked past the synagog at 15th & Union and noticed the four old columns standing there by themselves.  I've always wondered what that corner must have looked like back when those columns actually supported a building. 

This week I got a peek at it on the endlessly cool Vintage Seattle site:

Photo courtesy Deran Ludd and Vintage Seattle<...

A big fall storm is rolling into Seattle's East Precinct. Will it dampen all the fun?   Let's see:

We had a really fun time at the Election night party in the Cinema. The Yellow Hat Brass Band played a couple of numbers on stage after Obama's acceptance speech.  Then a woman jumped out of the crowd and sang this great rendition of our National Anthem.  If anyone knows her please pass along her name.  We have been asked by a few people who she was...

Reader G.S. sent us a copy of a police report about some of the out-of-control activity that's been going on at a vacant duplex in the 2400 block of S. Washington Street, just a bit east of Pratt Park.  The report is from just after noon on October 7th when members of the Community Policing Team responded to help the owners and the city secure the...