This weeks featured pet from the Seattle Animal Shelter is Jade.  She is a super-sweet young cat who has been waiting awhile for someone to adopt her.  She was surrendered by her owners who moved and couldn’t take her with them.

Jade is described as a purring machine who enjoys sitting on laps and has lots of spunk.  Jade enjoys playing with toys and her previous owners reported that she gets along with other cats.  Jade takes an inexpensive and easy-to administer medication once or twice a week for a non life-threatening condition.   Currently  she is in a short-term foster home, not at the shelter, and her foster mom can tell you all about her. 

Please call 206-684-0685 to find out how to meet Jade.

King County Councilmember and Magnolia resident Larry Phillips was named Public Official of the Year by the 43rd District Democrats. Phillips received the award at the 43^rd District Democrats’ Holiday Party and Awards Ceremony  earlier this month.

"People have lots of reasons to support Larry, including his work on environmental and transportation issues,” said Chris Maryatt, First Vice Chair for the 43rd District Democrats, who presented Phillips with the award. “Additionally, he is one of the most approachable members on the county council, always ready with a warm greeting and a willingness to discuss any issue that matters to his constituents."

According to a media release from his office, here are some of Phillips 2010 accomplishments:

• Sponsoring legislation to form the Regional Transit Task Force; the task force made recommendations to keep service running for Metro Transit,
• Securing $30 million to help rebuild the Alaskan Way Seawall and funding to acquire and protect environmentally sensitive Puget Sound shoreline on Maury Island,
• Promoting transit oriented development on Capitol Hill as a member of the Sound Transit Board,
• Pursuing action on his Greenprint environmental agenda which included making King County more energy efficient and promoting electric vehicles, ecoindustrial districts, green jobs, and bike sharing.

Phillips lives in Magnolia and represents the 4th District of the King County Council, which includes the 43rd District neighborhoods of Eastlake, Capitol Hill, First Hill, South Lake Union, Downtown, and Fremont

Now that Christmas has passed, the city is offering free curbside “tree-cycling” until January 9th for customers who subscribe to curbside food and yard waste collection.

Trees and greens need to be cut into sections of no more than six feet with branches trimmed to less than four feet to fit into the collection trucks. Sections of trees should be bundled together with string or twine. Apartment and condo residents can put one tree next to each yard waste bin with no extra charge.

Flocked trees or trees with tinsel on them will be collected as extra garbage. These trees must be cut into three-foot pieces and each piece will be charged as extra garbage. (Just a reminder that starting on January 1, each extra unit of garbage will cost $8.10.)

Residents who don’t subscribe to food and yard waste collection can drop trees and greens at the North Recycling and Disposal station (North 34th Street and Carr Place N) from December 26th through January 9th. Tree sections must be cut into sections eight feet or less with trunks four inches or smaller in diameter. One vehicle can drop off three trees.

As for the other post-holiday items on your throw-out list, Seattle Public Utilities wants to remind the community that all that wrapping paper is recyclable, even if it has some tape on it. You can also recycle clean paper and plastic cups, as well as aluminum foil and foil trays without food residue.

You’ll probably have extra recycling this time around, so put extra in a cardboard box and set it next to your recycling container (don’t put it in plastic bags). Flatten extra cardboard boxes.

And all food leftovers should go in your yard waste bin to be composted, not put in your garbage can.

Leftover fruitcake isn’t garbage anymore! According to SPU, 30 percent of Seattle’s garbage is made up of food waste. Put your leftover fruitcake, Christmas ham, nutshells, pumpkin pie, paper napkins, pizza boxes and other leftovers in your food and yard waste cart to make compost for local parks and gardens. For tips on storing and carrying scraps from kitchen to cart go to www.seattle.gov/util/foodwaste. Consider donating non-perishable food to your local food bank

We are all hoping that we don’t see a repeat of the Thanksgiving week storm that caused so many problems on our roads. 

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) tells us they are monitoring weather forecasts for Seattle and planning for snow and ice response accordingly. The forecast is for temperatures just above freezing overnight with up to one-half inch of wet snow possible, and an additional one inch of snow possible tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

After 10 p.m. tonight SDOT crews will proactively apply salt brine in roadway areas where frost or black ice is prone to develop, especially on bridges and other elevated structures around the city.

Starting at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning (Wednesday), SDOT spreader trucks will be prepositioned throughout the city, ready to spread rock salt on major arterial streets for the morning commute if conditions warrant.

The snow plan calls for plowing when there is more than one inch of accumulated snow on the roadway, which is not in the forecast at this time.

For more information on Seattle’s winter weather response plan and to view a map of snow routes, visit SDOT’s website.

The Magnolia Historical Society has commissioned sculptor John Leglar, a Magnolia resident, to produce stonework that will be a permanent display in the Magnolia Village.  This is part of the Historical Society’s 10th anniversary celebration.

Leglar has worked with various local public artists and sculptors on many projects, including hand carving rosette samples for the Washington State capital renovation project.

The sculpture will be a Texas limestone panel in bas-relief, hand drawn and hand-carved. Leglar’s design will feature several iconic images from Magnolia’s past and present. Inset in the middle, will be the first plat map showing the outlines of the claims of the first five settlers of Magnolia. The piece will portray such familiar sights as the West Point Lighthouse, Magnolia’s first landmark and the Magnolia Bridge.  Magnolia’s namesake flower will be included and so will Magnolia’s famous Madrona trees which were mistaken for Magnolias by early explorers.  Other images will include a steam locomotive relating to the early days at Smith Cove and there will also be short descriptions honoring Magnolia’s native heritage and Dr. Henry Smith, Magnolia’s first pioneer.

The unveiling will be on April 10th, 2011 in a ceremony sponsored by the Magnolia Historical Society. The specific location of the ceremony will be announced soon.  More information here.   

Each year the members of the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce choose a Business Person of the Year.  Here is this year’s slate of nominees:

Courean Napolitano from Vixen
Heather Ussery, Chair of Summerfest
The Entire Summerfest Committee
Patti Howell, PJ’s Paws and Claws
Julie and Luger Szmania, Szmania’s
Nathan Walker, People’s Bank

The Chamber membership will vote to determine a winner and we will let you know who is chosen.

After just two years in business, we received word that another local merchant will be closing.  Magnolia resident Katy Breen informed us that her store, Katy’s Daisies, will be closing for good at the end of this month. Starting Tuesday (12/21)  all store merchandise will be 50% off.

The flower store opened in December, 2008 in the space next door to Ichiro at 2436 32nd Ave West.

Puget Sounds Blood Center is having a Blood Drive on Monday (12/20) at Our Lady of Fatima from 1-7pm in the Parish Center at 3218 West Barrett. It takes only about an hour to donate and this time of year the blood bank reports that their supply of much needed blood runs low.   More info on blood donation here. 

We reported that the Blaine girls’ soccer team won the city middle school Soccer Championship after defeating Whitman Middle school 2-1.  This was the first time a Blaine team has won a city championship in any girl’s sport.

On Friday, the team, along with coach Randy Self, celebrated the victory at an assembly where they unveiled the Championship banner which will be proudly displayed in the school’s gym. 

In keeping with a promise made to the team, Mr. Self, who is the 7th and 8th grade science teacher at Blaine, allowed the girls to cut off the long ponytail he has maintained for over 20 years. This was done  in front of the entire school as player after player took turns clipping off a lock until it was completely gone.

When asked why he would agree to such a drastic measure, Mr. Self said, "I thought it was a safe bet after coaching for 10 years in this city."

Obviously not safe enough.  Congrats to Self and the soccer team! 

Thanks to Steven Smalley for these photos and story!

The kindergarten students from Our Lady of Fatima spent the last day before winter break spreading holiday cheer in the Magnolia Village.  The 33 students sang Christmas songs to more than a dozen shops.    

The weather was perfect as they made their way through The Village.

The kids sang a variety of songs at each stop.  Here they are at US Bank.

And they ended each visit with a rousing chorus of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.”

The two Kindergarten classes are led by teachers  Ms. Love and Ms. Mullin.

The Seattle City Light map says it all – many in Magnolia are without power.

High winds have knocked out power for nearly 10,000 people in Magnolia and Queen Anne. The exact cause of the outage in Magnolia is unknown and the estimated time for restoring power is “pending,” according to the map.

Since the announcement that the Magnolia Farmers Market would not return next year unless the community was able to raise $20,000, questions have been raised regarding what that money is used for and why it is so expensive to run the Farmers Market.

We got this explanation from Julian O’Reilley, Operations Manager at Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance (NFMA).  “Our current conversation with groups and individuals in Magnolia is asking for at least $12,000 to cover projected deficits for the market this year, and significant help to make the market better and more sustainable into the future. If fewer people are willing to step up, but more funds are raised, the NFMA would be able to implement some community-directed changes in the market.  Our board will review the funds raised and commitments of volunteer time in February in order to determine if the market will open in 2011.”

O’Reilley says the Magnolia Farmers Market had been slowing growing until it peaked in 2008.  It was down 14% in 2009 and 25% in 2010.  The average vendor sales per market day are $561, below the $600 per day benchmark for a healthy market.  Eight vendors (five of them farmers) dropped out mid-season due to low sales.  

Major budget items for the Magnolia market include market day staffing – 9 hours per market day for one on-site manager, staff planning, vendor contracts and outreach, site design and pre-market coordination, banners, signs, website, newsletters, print advertising, site rental paid to the Parks Department, licenses, site insurance, organizational memberships, special event programming and vendor communication.

O’Reilley says that a sustainable Magnolia Farmers Market must bring in a  minimum of $30,000 per season in earned income or with a contributed income subsidy.  It must have community partners involved in leading or sponsoring kids activities, special events, cooking demos and nonprofit outreach.  They are also recommending a more centrally located market with strong ties to the business core or a connection to another event.

The NFMA board will review the funds raised and commitments of volunteer time in February in order to determine if the market will open in 2011.

Nancy Gellos is leading the Magnolia group that wants to save the market.  You can contact her via email at nancygellos@comcast.net.  There is also a fundraiser for the market coming up at Dish it up!.  More info here.

Thanks to principal Heather Swanson for sending us this photo of the teachers and staff at Catharine Blaine School being recognized by the Seattle School Board for being named a Washington State School of Distinction.

The award from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction honors schools who show an ongoing pattern of academic improvement.  Blaine was also recently honored as one of the top schools in the district when Seattle Public Schools released a new ranking last month. 

Each month we ask Magnolia Voice real estate expert Whitney Mason from Coldwell Banker Bain Associates to bring us the latest on the real estate market  in our area.

According to statistics compiled from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NMLS), the number of Magnolia home sales during October-November 2010 continued to stay on par with earlier fall 2010 numbers. There were 33 single family residences (SFR)  closed sales ranging in sales price from $299,000 to $1,550,000. The number of closed condo sales went down as compared to earlier fall, with just one closed condo sale at $195,000.

Looking at the number of bank-owned single family residences in Magnolia listed in the NWMLS during 2010, there have been 16 sales ranging in purchase price of $294,000 – $2,120,000. There are currently three active and one pending bank-owned property in Magnolia listed on the NWMLS.

Looking at closed sales for Magnolia year-to-date through October as compiled by Rainier Title, there has been a 29% increase in the number of sales of SFRs as compared to 2009, with the median sales price up by 5% from $538,000 in 2009 to $565,500.

As of Dec 6, there were 37 pending SFR sales and 1 pending condo sale. There were a total of 87 SFRs and 18 condos available for sale in Magnolia as listed in the NWMLS — a marked reduction in Magnolia inventory as we head into the winter holidays.