All the Wednesday excitement from Seattle’s East Precinct:

The new crosswalk at MLK & Marion that we told you about last month will soon become a reality. Jim Curtin, community liaison in the city’s Department of Transportation, tells us that construction is scheduled to begin in early April.

The project was scaled back a bit from neighbor Anne Landfield’s original application, with elimination of the proposed curb bulbs that would have shortened the distance required to cross the street. The final design includes a painted crosswalk across the north edge of the intersection, with a concrete island in the median to give pedestrians a small shelter between the travel lanes. Signage will also be added around the new crossing.

The median island will be similar to the one added last year at MLK & Jefferson, which drew some cautionary comments from a neighbor at a community meeting last week. She pointed out that the island there has its waist-high orange sign knocked off several times per month by passing traffic. 

Somehow it’s been a year and a half since we had a CDNews get-together out in the real world. Let’s get March started in style with one next Tuesday at CDNews sponsors All Purpose Pizza.

The fun starts at 5:30pm, and we’ll hang out until at least 8:00. Stop by and grab a beer and some pizza, and we can put some faces to all of our fantastic CDNews members and readers.

You’ve got a new option for wine and beer starting this Friday, as new neighborhood cafe Cortona (a CDNews sponsor) has had their liquor application approved. The barista there this morning told me that the drink orders have been placed, and they expect to start serving on this Friday.

We also got a note from our friends at The BottleNeck, who are unveiling their new Hair of the Dog Cocktails this Friday, with $1 discounts between 5 and 8pm. The CDNewshound was honored to have been a part of last year’s menu, so we’re looking forward to seeing which local beasts end up on this year’s edition.

From the streets of Seattle’s East Precinct:

Thought some might find this interesting: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/02/crime-hot-spots/

It discusses the application of mathematic modeling to either the elimination of crime or its displacement to different neighborhoods.

We’re working on a project with our citywide news partners at the Seattle Times to talk about graffiti in the neighborhood, and need to collect some thoughts from our CDNews readers:

1. Do you think graffiti is a problem in your area?
2. Where are the problem spots?
3. What do you and your neighbors do to help clean it up?
4. Should the city be doing more to help out?

Leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below.

This super sweet black & white cat has been hanging around my house. He has very green eyes, a kink in his tail, is about 1-2 years old and is extremely sweet and a bit chatty. Is he yours? If so you must miss him and I’d love to give him back!

With Metro trolley buses in the crosshairs of the beancounters, is the recent weekend use of diesel buses a sign of the future? According to Metro spokesperson Linda Thielke, the answer is no, with recent diesel usage being due to seasonal summer construction, not any sort of cost-cutting move.

For example, the city has been going full-bore this summer to resurface downtown streets. Additionally, private construction firms often need to shut down arterial lanes to bring in cranes and other equipment. Since either of those can block the routes that contain the trolley bus wires, Thielke said that the county works with the city of Seattle and other firms to make sure any route-interrupting road or building construction happens on a weekend. And it doesn’t have to be a neighborhood project to disrupt a bus line – any blocking issue along the entire bus route can require the temporary use of the diesel buses.

Metro doesn’t have enough spare diesel buses during the week to provide service to electrified routes. But lower weekend ridership frees up enough of them to service the trolley bus routes when needed.

The good news, at least for those that live along an electrified route, is that the downtown paving projects are coming to a seasonal close. So we should all see the normal, quiet, electric buses return to our neighborhood routes in the next few months.

My husband & I watched a raccoon family rummaging around our yard tonight. This is our second sighting. We’ve got the trash locked up but the fruit trees are dropping fruits constantly despite our trying to collect & compost it.

Keep a watch on your small pets at night. The Times has a story about a family in Ballard whose Yorkie was attacked & wife scratched & bitten. We’re at 29th & S. Norman.