Heavy rain fall last night and expected throughout today has put the newly expanded Madison Valley detention pond to the test.

We stopped by this morning and found about four feet of water in the pond, backed up to prevent overflows of the city sewer system.

The pond is designed to temporarily hold storm waters until the city sewer systems can handle the large amount of rain runoff from area streets.

We’re also getting reports from readers of flooded basements and other localized issues.

The city is also asking residents to monitor storm drains near them and help keep them clear of leaves and other debris.

We just stopped by Cupcake Royale (a CDN sponsor) for the 7th Anniversary Party at the original store in Madrona. The party’s still going until 6pm so there’s plenty of time to swing by for a cupcake and music for the kids, snacks for the adults and deals on merchandise. Don’t forget to check out the limited edition shirt with an image of the Madrona storefront.

Here’s some photos from the event. CR owner Jody Hall, serving spiked eggnog and meat and cheese supplied by Bottlehouse:

Cupcakes of the Month:

The Not-Its getting ready for their free show:

New t-shirt designs, 20% off today. From now until Dec. 16, you get a $5 Cupcake Royale giftcard with purchase of a shirt.

HIAWATHA is growing in the JACKSON PLACE Community, highlighted on TV this last week. Enjoy it if you missed it or do not have cable. SEATTLE CHANNEL, citystream. on the 16 min mark. In this video you’ll also find:

• preparing for the winter snow

• traffic calming ideas on residential streets 

Consider slowing down when you see a roundabout vs accelerating, though its natural to not break, and may seem fun to whip around them. The one at the bottom of the S. Charles street hill @ Hiawatha Place South – IS A MAJOR BIKE PATH, you will collide with our bike commuters, many have or nearly avoided an accident.

• affordable housing highlights, Hiawatha businesses & artists featured.

On this edition of CityStream, Are you ready for extreme weather? See how the City of Seattle is preparing for this season`s La Nina winter, and how you and your family should be prepared when winter storms. And Seattle neighborhoods have been keeping track of speeding traffic on their residential streets. Check out the creative ways they`re getting cars to slow down with ‘traffic calming’ techniques. Just a decade ago, an area off of Rainier Avenue South was lined with overgrown empty lots. Today Hiawatha Place South is a vibrant urban pocket, formed out of a collaboration with the City of Seattle and developers. What was once empty space is now a thriving community.

video link: http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=3071038

Today, a private contractor began work on a log-tunnel at the Madrona Beach Enhancement Project — a fine holiday present for the neighborhood kids!

The log-tunnel had been part of the original design for the project in 1995, but no logs large enough to provide a wide enough tunnel were available.

The Madrona Community Council raised the money to hire Turnstone Construction to correct this omission.  Erik McCormick and Jake LaSalle of Turnstone installed the rebar framing today and grounded it in concrete.

Next week, Erik and Jake will return to sculpt and paint a log around the frame, which will be ready for play, they assure, by December 17.

Expect a good-looking log — Turnstone Construction has an impressive resume which includes the relocation and installation of the Cap’NBoots and the construction of the new penguin exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo.

Remember that big rock blocking Madison Valley’s big dig? It’s a huge pain — so it’s coming out, Sunday night. Note that the work storm pipeline work crew will also step up the tunnel boring schedule with nighttime work to get back on schedule.

When we last discussed the problem with the Shaft 5 project manager, SPU said the rock could be up to 60 inches wide. It lies in the dirt beneath the pavement in front of Bailey-Boushay House.

Night Work on E Madison Street and Martin Luther King Jr Way E

Crews have encountered several large rocks as they tunnel below E Madison Street. While rocks can frequently be removed without the need for excavation, the boring machine has currently encountered a rock that does require excavation from the surface street due to its size and location.

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 In order to minimize impacts to traffic, crews will excavate and remove the rock this Sunday night, 12/12 (see details below). Crews will also complete tunneling of this segment at night in case additional excavation is required. Any affected surface area will be plated during the daytime to allow traffic to be open in both directions. No daytime construction activities are planned on E Madison Street. (See attached construction flyer for more information).

 

Construction details

þConstruction hours will be from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. for the pipeline construction, Sunday evenings through Friday mornings. Other project-related work will continue during daytime construction hours. No work will take place on Friday or Saturday evenings to minimize impacts to businesses.

 

þDuring any potential excavation, uniformed police officers will be onsite to direct vehicles.

 

þSome street parking may be temporarily unavailable to accommodate this work. “No Parking” signs will be clearly posted.

 

þIncreased noise, dust and vibration can be expected, especially during the excavation.

 

þIncreased lighting from the construction work area and construction vehicles.

 

Additional construction update

Daytime work is also planned this Saturday, 12/11, near Shaft 4 (Martin Luther King Jr Way E and E Arthur Place). Standard Saturday construction hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

 

We appreciate your understanding and patience during this work. Stay tuned for future updates.

 

To learn more about this project, please visit www.seattle.gov/util/MadisonValley.  For questions or comments on the project, please email [email protected] or call the Madison Valley Stormwater hotline at (206) 455-5345.

Don’t forget to stop by Cupcake Royale’s 7th birthday party Saturday at 1101 34th Ave where it all began in 2003. Saturday’s party will be from 4-6pm, and will feature a free show by The Not-Its, a sprinkle-your-own-cupcake bar and photos with the Cupcake Royale Roller Girl, as well as drawings for prizes throughout the night, free gifts, and snacks & libations on the house. Gift purchases are 20% off for the night with your Cupcake Royale or Vérité Coffee Card – including the new limited edition Madrona Neighborhood tee shirt.

UW’s super indie meteorologist Cliff Mass says we’re going to get wet this weekend:

Behind the warm front there will be a shift to strong, warm ,moist southwesterly flow that is connected to the subtropics–known as an atmospheric river…or as we call it here, a pineapple express.

National Weather Service is warning about floods around the region. Here in the city, we might get “urban flooding” — clear your street gutters.

Friday night’s community party at Garfield is an opportunity to make a local kid’s holiday great — and to see that joy first hand. Here’s a last-minute invitation to help from organizer Elisa Porter:

Still Needed

We are getting closer to having the toys we need. So much thanks goes out to those that have donated! Toys are still needed for ages 5-11. If you want a truly heart warming experience, come help organize all the toys and give them out. Volunteers can come anytime between 3pm and 5pm, and stay as late as you like.

Toy and monetary donations are being accepted at all Parks and Recreation Community Centers.  You can also still sign up to volunteer. Call 684-4559 or e-mail [email protected]

Central Seattle Community Center Holiday Parties
In addition to Garfield, the community is rallying around some other ‘parties for everybody’ in the area. The East Precinct is helping out at the Yesler Community Center for its celebration on Friday. We hear turnout was great to help wrap presents for the Miller Community Center party. You can stop by to enjoy the holiday feel or lend a hand on Saturday.

A few notes from Thursday night’s meeting of the East Precinct Crime Prevention Coalition. If you were there and caught something we missed or want to add your $0.02, please add a comment or three.

• Lieutenant Joel Guay was in the hot seat for the precinct fielding community — and reporter! — questions.
• Guay said that crime in areas like 23rd and Union and along Dearborn ebbs and flows and is “up and down” — though he said East Precinct crime is “down” in all “countable categories.”
• He noted what he called the “historic” meeting of property owners around 23rd and Union and the progress in connecting that group with the city’s Office of Economic Development.
• Guay also dropped an interesting tidbit related to the Jim Mueller planned development at 23rd and Union that we reported on earlier on Thursday. Guay said there will be a “ground breaking” on the mixed-use development “in a month or two.” Mueller told us earlier this week that nothing was definite yet. We haven’t confirmed anything following Guay’s interesting remarks.
• We asked Guay if he was concerned about a trend of crimes in the CD and Capitol Hill — and in other parts of the city — involving pepper spray. Guay was relatively philosophical about it saying SPD sees these kinds of things pop up from time to time until, like a fad, it goes away. At one point, Guay said the concern was related to cheap over the counter “stun gun” type devices. SPD has said that it is looking into the possibility that crimes involving pepper spray in the CD and other neighborhoods could be related.
• Crime prevention coordinator Terrie Johnston shared some burglary statistics. The dataset was only for Edward Sector — the western edge of Capitol Hill and First Hill — but it’s an interesting snapshot of residential burglary activity in the area. Johnston said of the 18 reported residential burglaries in the area, 13 required no force to enter the building. You might chalk this up to people being lazy locking their doors — or the Key Ring Kid but Johnston said only three of the incidents definitely involved a key. She also added that nearly all of the incidents occurred during the day.
• The next community crime meeting is slated for January 27th.

We’ve toured 23rd and Union this week as the area’s landowners are showing renewed energy in revitalizing the troubled intersection. Several area projects by JC Mueller LLC — including the southwestern lot at 23rd and Union — stalled in 2008 after lending froze, grinding construction to a halt all over the country. Some development is re-starting in Capitol Hill, so how are these CD projects faring?

“We are getting inquiries now, so that is good,” Jim Mueller told CDNews in an e-mail.

For those who need a refresher on the currently-stalled projects, here’s a brief recap:

2051 E Madison today

2051 E Madison as planned (image from JC Mueller)

“Twilight Exit” is still scrawled above a closed door at 22nd and Madison, where plans for a five-story apartment building with retail on the ground level remains stalled. The project was approved two years ago and would have larger sidewalks, and space for outdoor cafe seating.

Across the street, the old Deano’s property is also supposed to get a new look. Again a mixed apartment and retail building, the new project would include 222 apartments:

2026 E Madison today

2021 E Madison as planned (image from JC Mueller)

Meanwhile, Capitol Hill Seattle is reporting on a 6-story assisted living development project that could be starting soon on Madison at 22nd Ave East:

Though both sides in the deal say it’s too early to say much about it, scheduling is already underway for the public process required to approve plans for a 6-story assisted living care facility run by Redmond-based Aegis Living on a peculiar triangular lot at 22nd Ave East and East Madison, across from Safeway.

That lot is currently owned by Meriwether Partners. Hopefully, a green light on its development might be a good sign that Mueller’s Madison projects could soon find more favorable economic conditions.

A few blocks away at 23rd and Union, another stalled Mueller project remains an empty lot. CDN has written about that corner’s development troubles recently, as three of the four corners have become vacant. The planned housing and retail project would have 92 housing units and retail space on the ground level.

23rd and Union today

23rd and Union as planned (image from JC Mueller)

We’re hearing about some alternative plans for the 23rd Ave space that we should have some more information on shortly. We’ve also seen some good ideas in comments for ways to activate the area in the near-term. More to come, soon.