Magnolia Voice

Industry leaders are upset over the approval by the Seattle City Council to increase height limitations in the West Dravus and 15th Avenue area because they believe the change endangers the industrial base of the area according to an article in the Ballard News Tribune.

“We said if they want to develop workforce housing for the industrial area for workers to have someplace to live we’d agree as long as the rezone does not compromise the ability of the industrial area,” said Warren Aakervik, member of the an industrial action committee and owner of Ballard Oil. “It’s a slap in the face for the fact that the city wants affordable housing.  For me they didn’t make sure that there were enough safeguards in place.”

The area will be rezoned to allow for residential units up to 85 feet and businesses at street level.  It includes a provision that requires developers to provide a portion of the rental housing to people earning at 80% of the area median income or pay into a fund to create such affordable housing.  The Interbay Neighborhood Association says the upzone will provide working-class housing for residents such as teachers and firefighters.

A guick reminder that the Magnolia Neighborhood Planning Council is hosting a fundraiser to fight development in Discovery Park on Tuesday, December 2 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.  The silent auction and petition signing party will feature entertainment and appetizers  at Serendipity Café.  Tickets are $50 per person or $75 per couple.  They are on sale here or at the door. 

The group is raising funds for their legal fight against the City of Seattle. The lawsuit asserts that the city’s desire to sell the Fort Lawton property to developers disregards the Discovery Master Plan.  

There will be speakers talking about the history of the Discovery Park Master Plan and the uniqueness of the park.  The lawyer for the group will also give a brief overview of their case. 

 The evening includes a silent auction with items from Magnolia merchants and beyond, including center court seats for a Husky basketball Game, Mariner tickets, Jamie Moyer autographed memorabilia, Go Legs spin class gift certificate, a residential landscape design package, vacation cabin stay, movie ticket package and gift certificates from Kaspar’s, Dish it Up!, LeRoux, Carnolia Cleaners and Mulleady’s

The group says that 100% of all funds raised will be used to support the legal effort to annex Fort Lawton back to Discovery Park.

If you are looking for something fun to do on Monday nights, we have a great idea for you.  Mulleady’s Irish Pub hosts Trivia NIght every Monday night at 8pm.  We were there last week and they had a great crowd.  

You can have up to six people on your trivia team and it costs $2 per person to play.  There are four rounds with ten questions each.  Very spirited and lots of fun.  The top three teams with the highest scores at the end of the game split the pot. 

You don’t have to be a real trivia freak to play, there are lots of questions from a wide variety of topics.  It also helps that Mulleady’s offers a special $2 beer all night for players.  The contest takes place upstairs and you can also order food while you play.  While families are welcome at Mulleady’s until 9pm, Trivia Night is for the 21 and over crowd.

And mark your calendars for Monday, December 15 at 8pm when they host a special Seinfeld Trivia night.  Start watching reruns now so you can be ready to compete!

With pet adoptions down, the Seattle Animal Shelter is urging residents to help pets find “A Home 4 for the holidays.”

At Seattle’s Interbay shelter, adoptions are down about 20 percent, from 3,000 to 3,200 last year to 2,400 so far this year, according to Don Jordan, the shelter’s director.

“We don’t want people to be alarmed … but we want those pets to be out in homes,” Jordan said.

“Our whole push is trying to get folks to realize the connection people can have with animals, and the role they play in people’s lives,” especially for the elderly and families, he said.

But if you can’t adopt, the shelter provides other ways to help. Individuals can buy a gift certificate that subsidizes adoption costs. These certificates range in price from $60 to $165, and pay for the pet license, a microchip, vaccinations, deworming and spaying or neutering.

Animal lovers can also provide foster care for rescued dogs and cats (or rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, hamsters and birds). About 1,200 animals a year spend time in temporary homes before being adopted.

You can talk to an adoption counselor, look at animals, donate or learn more about fostering a pet by visiting the shelter at 2061 15th Ave. W. from 12 to 6 p.m. for adoptions or visit the website at www.seattleanimalshelter.org.

If you love sharing nature with others, you might be the perfect candidate for the Discovery Park docent class of 2009.

Docents (volunteer naturalists) participate in 12 weeks of training and commit to at least one year of volunteering. Responsibilities ranger from helping children catch a dragonfly larva for the first time to teaching the public about life in Puget Sound. Docents lead programs for school groups, teach interpretive programs on the weekends, and staff hands-on discovery stations in the busier areas of the park. Class of 2009 begins in February and applications are available now. For more information, contact Kit Benshoof at 206-386-4237.

There’s a new business moving into the Magnolia Village next week.  Katy’s Daisies is located next door to Ichiro at 2436 34th Ave W.  The sign on the door says it will open on December 1.  Katy’s Daisies is a flower shop in the space that used to house a catering business.  We will check it out when they open their doors just in time for the holidays.

An article in The Stranger outlines a dispute in a Magnolia neighborhood. One neighbor’s attempt to beautify the block has turned into a bizarre war filled with screaming matches, threats, and protection orders on Brygger Drive West. In the two years since the problems began, neighbors say they’ve been forced to become “shut-ins,” installed security cameras outside their homes, and forbidden their children from walking in front of certain houses on the block.

It all stems from a 10-foot parking strip. When one neighbor decided to beautify the street by installing large planters on a dry patch of grass on the corner of her home along the parking strip, another neighbor took exception to the beautification efforts because he wanted to park his cars there.

The Stranger was contacted by that man who asked them to write his story about “crazy neighbors,” police harassment, and a cover-up at the city. To read the rest of the story, click here.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers from Magnolia Voice!  We are thankful to all of you who take time to read and respond to our news blog. 

Its not easy selling real estate these days but the two Windermere agents repesenting the new Carleton Park townhomes in The Village say they are confident they will find the right buyers for the homes that start at $1.2 million.

The homes are nearing completion and they expect to have an open house on January 15th. That’s also when they will begin full scale marketing efforts.  Magnolia Voice got a first look inside.

So far only one townhome is spoken for, by the man who sold the former parking lot to the developer, Magnolia resident Tim McHugh. While the agents, Dave Medina and Gregory Walker, admit that the economic uncertainty makes this a challenging time to sell these townhomes, they believe that the right buyers will fall in love with the location and amenities. They hope to sell one townhome each month starting in January.

Each home has a two car garage, an elevator that serves the three story home, an entry level home office space, a central vacuam system and a security system. The finishes in the townhomes are luxurious with two fireplaces, travertine flooring, Brazilian hardwood and top of the line kitchen appliances including custom cabinetry. There are two decks and the homes range in size from 2,500 to 3,000 square feet.

The agents say that landscaping will begin soon and the appearance of the townhomes will be softened by the trees and bushes going into the site.

Here is your chance to share your opinion about the future of the Interbay Golf Course. Seattle Parks and Recreation wants input from the community to update the Golf Course Master Plan and Economic Analysis for all four municipal golf courses.

If you are interested in golf at Interbay, they want to hear from you to help develop the future of the nine hole course, including funding, perimeter trails, club house renovations, driving range expansions and maintenance facility renovations

There is a public meeting at 6:30 on Tuesday, December 2 at Interbay Golf Course. For more information visit the website.