The weekend weather is supposed to be fantastic with sun and highs in the 70s. Here’s some things you can get out and do:

Friday 3pm – 7pm: The end of summer is in sight – make sure you check out the fresh produce, cheese, and hot food at the Mad/Mad farmers market in the parking lot of the Grocery Outlet.

Saturday 9:30am: There’s a very dedicated group of Madison Valley neighbors who have been working to convert the old MLK elementary to a community center. You can join in the project and help them take care of the school grounds on Saturday morning.

Saturday 11am – 9pm: The Central Area Community Festival is the last big neighborhood event of the summer. They’ve got a full day of entertainment, food, and community booths. Check it out on the baseball fields behind Garfield Community Center.

Sunday 5pm – 7pm: The last performance of the Teahouse Concert Series features Brazilian-influenced jazz from Jovino Santos Neto and his quintet. Be sure to RSVP!

Weekend Movie: The zombie movie 28 Days Later is playing at Central Cinema (a CDNews sponsor) all weekend, with showings at 7pm and 9:45pm.

The expansion of Seattle Central Community College’s Woodworking school we previewed back in March has gotten a green light from the city.

It’s an almost complete reworking of the woodworking campus at 23rd & Lane. Only one existing building on the northwest corner of the property will remain, and 57,000 square feet of new instructional and administrative space and a 48-stall parking lot will be constructed on the rest of the block.

The city has placed several conditions on the project:

• They’ll have to document that staff, student, & construction worker parking will be provided off-street until the new parking lot is completed
• The school has to provide documentation to the Puget Sound Clear Air Authority to allow them to assess and mitigate air pollution
• Construction limited to 7:30am – 6:00pm weekdays and 9:00am-6:00pm Saturdays
• Forty parking spaces to be provided at Mt. Baker Baptist Church during construction
• The school will have to hire an acoustical expert and document that there’s sufficient mitigation against noise at the new facility

We couldn’t reach anyone at the school this afternoon to get a start date for construction. However, they’ve still got to go through all of the normal construction permitting processes, so it’s likely at least a few months away.

The Colman neighborhood’s N’hood U project (nhoodu.blogspot.com) is amping up for the fall season, and accepting new offerings until September 18th.  

N’hood U is dedicated to the proposition that life long learning is an adventure that should be available to all. N’hood U is a gathering of teachers and learners originating in the Colman neighborhood of Seattle, WA, and open to anyone seeking to engage with others in further learning.

If you’d like to teach a class, or if there’s a class you’d like to take, contact me at [email protected]. I’ll post the offerings in the blog, and advertise them on the CNA chat line as they come in, and then do a full catalog when they’ve stopped, but to keep things somewhat real let’s say the deadline for the fall catalog is September 18th.

Please use this format:

Name of Class

Instructor’s Name

Short Description

When: Starting date, frequency, end date if there is one

Where

Cost

Contact name, phone number, email

A short bio of the instructor, facilitator, host, whatever..

Live/work developments have a fairly simple concept: people live upstairs or in back and run some sort of business in front. But so far we’ve had mixed success in the execution of it here in the Central District.

The project at 25th & Union that was completed last year is a good example. The Bottleneck owners were blocked by permitting issues when they tried to open up a small restaurant in that building. And Envy Grows gave it a go with a plant retail shop on the corner there, but pulled up roots and moved to Capitol Hill last month, citing a lack of foot traffic and non-existent retail community in the old space.

Additionally, the large live/work development planned for 26th & Cherry has been on ice since their last design review in November 2008.

But maybe the problems above are project specific and not a flaw in the overall concept. Yesterday Kedra announced to great fanfare that they were planning a new bar for the live/work development at 19th & Yesler. She mentioned in the comments that being able to make a home there was a big plus when compared to other neighborhood retail space. 

We may get a few other chances to see how things work out in this space. Pb Elemental recently finished up a live/work project on Union between 20th & 21st. There’s four units there priced at $400,000 each, each with a lot of glass and a loft-style layout on the interior. However, at 1,000 square feet each, they may not lend themselves to active uses such as retail, dining, or entertainment – possibly a lost opportunity to build on the existing business district that includes 20/20 Cycles, Katys, and Central Cinema (cdnews sponsors). We’ll keep an eye on them and let you know if it looks like anything interesting will get a start there.

Another lovely day in Seattle’s East Precinct. Here’s the scoop from the streets:

King County just updated their vote tallies in yesterday’s primary election, and with approximately 60% of the vote now counted, the team of number crunchers on the CDNews elections desk have made a final call on the race for school board district 5:

Kay Smith-Blum and Mary Bass are going to the general election in November, with 39% and 37% of the vote, respectively. We’re sorry to rule out two long-time CDNews members, but Joanna Cullen and Andre Helmstetter now have virtually no chance of making it into the top two. For example, Andre is in 3rd place with 11.36% of the vote, but he would have to pick up 53% of the remaining votes to move up into the second spot. That is practically impossible. Joanna is in a similar situation with 11.09% of the vote.

All of the other races are very close to last night’s numbers, with the only positional shift in the mayoral race where Mallahan and McGinn have switched places in the top two spots:

• King County Executive: Hutchinson 36%, Constantine 23%
• Mayor: Mallahan 26.76%, McGinn 26.48%, Nickels 25.19%
• Council Position #4: Bagshaw 51%, Bloom 18%
• Council Position #6: Licata 54%, Israel 30%
• Council Position #8: O’Brien 35%, Rozencrantz 20%
• Bag Tax: Failing 57% to 43%
• School District #5: Kay Smith-Blum 39%, Mary Bass 37%, Andre Helmstetter 11%, Joanna Cullen 11%

New numbers will be released every afternoon around 4:30pm.

For immediate release: Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Contact:Denise Gloster (206.795.5824) 

March & Rally Supporting Youth

In response to the violence that puts youth at risk, particularly in Southeast and Central Seattle, community members are combining energies and put together the 2nd annual March for Youth and rally on Sunday, August 30, 2009 from 3:00pm – 6:00pm.

To unite our communities, to recognize the value of our youth, To stand with them against violence we are holding a MARCH FOR YOUTH, Sunday, August 30, 2009. This event is an opportunity for the citizens of Seattle to unite in support of our youth and hear first hand about the struggles they face. It is a time for Seattle communities to come together and start the conversations that will lead to a powerful community response in the future.

At 3:00pm, the march will begin at Promenade 23 shopping center in the Central District at 23rd Ave. S. and S. Jackson St. and, in the South End, at Martin Luther King Jr Way S. and S. Walker St. The marchers will join together for a rally around 4:00pm at Sam Smith Park, where there will be free food, free entertainment, and inspiring and supportive words from members of the community.

Not a week goes by without news of shootings in Seattle’s neighborhoods. Kids in some of our schools live every day with the awful threat of impending violence; being killed and killing themselves. African American boys are especially at risk. Together, we need to help.

Can’t make the march? Come out to the rally at 4pm at the Sam Smith Park (1400 Martin Luther King Jr Way S)!

Contact us at 206.795.5824 if you want to help and contribute. How we deal with this crisis now will determine the kind of places our neighborhoods will be in a decade.

Are there any plans to put any Share tags to Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc next to posts or stories so people can share them on social media sites? Also any plans to do an “Email a friend” functionality for articles, posts, etc?

It’s a sunny, truck crashing Wednesday in Seattle’s East Precinct:

CDN Community – a new, independent/locally owned bar is comin’ to the CD – “bar 19” We are finalizing a deal with the landlord but it looks like we will be opening a bar with eats at the corner unit on 19th and Yesler – the cool, green, live/work homes built by g-projects and designed by b9 architects!

We are applying for a FULL liquor license (fingers crossed).

Pending any major issues, the process takes around 3 months (I submitted the paperwork today). Hours of operation at this point will be 3:30 or 4pm till 10 or 11pm (or later if needed?) Any thoughts/feedback are greatly appreciated.

We will be a mellow, easy-going, everyone knows your name kind of neighborhood place serving a variety of delicious food and keeping the vibe simple and low key. 21 and over only will offer respite for those looking to decompress from their busy lives.

We are very excited about this venture!! Keep your eyes on our progress after the upcoming holidays! Kedra Reisinger (owner of All Purpose Pizza) and John Olsen