The Montlake Community Club board is off to a very successful start for the 2013-14 year.  The board’s Communication Committee (Rainer Metzger, Colin Shannon-Garvey, LeAna Alvarado-Smith, Bryan Haworth and Kathy Laughman)  has helped us renovate our web site.  It is now up and running and it is very user friendly.  I encourage all of you to visit it often at www.montlake.net.    One of the best new features is our calendar of area events.  Everyone is invited to post events that are of wide interest to the neighborhood.

Our neighborhood-wide garage sale was a big success.  More than 40 households participated.  Our coordinators, Nathalie Gehrke and Kathy Laughman did an outstanding  job of organizing the sale.  And their ability to get beautiful weather was truly amazing, and appreciated by both sellers and shoppers.  We are already critiquing the activities to see what was successful and what was not, with plans to hold the second annual sale next year.  If you have suggestions for our next sale, please submit them here, or at board@montlake.net.

We have another board program we are working on as the winter approaches.  Following the model of the Madison Park Community Club, Kathy Laughman and Bryan Haworth are organizing a neighbor-helping-neighbor snow storm emergency network.  More information about this program will be available next month.  If you are interested in helping Kathy and Bryan, contact them at:   board@montlake.net.

At our next board meeting we will be welcoming a new board trustee, Michele Layton.  Michele is replacing Signy Hayden who moved out of the neighborhood this past summer.

Submitted by Julee Neuhart

Seattle Dept. of  Transportation (SDOT) has contacted the Montlake School staff to inform them how to apply for the RZP decal for their cars.  Finally, the staff will be able to park around the school in the 2-hour parking zone area, even thought they are not residents of the area.  Gone are the days of having to move their cars every 2 hours to avoid getting a ticket.  Thanks goes to Seattle City Councilman Tom Rasmussen for taking the lead to change this parking restriction.  This change will also help employees of other small businesses that are located in restricted parking areas, if there is no on-site employee parking .

Submitted by Julee Neuhart

Our spring election-of-officers brought six new Montlakers onto our Montlake Community Club (MCC)  Board as we filled the 3 open Trustee positions and 3 additional vacancies.  The new board members include:  LeAna Alvarado-Smith, Merrilee Goebel, Lionel Job, Kathy Laughman, Rainer Metzger and Amanda Williams.

At our September board meeting we discussed several projects and events that we may undertake during the 2013-14 year.  Our first project which is currently taking shape is a neighborhood garage sale.  This event is being coordinated by Nathalie Gehrke, MCC V-P, and Kathy Laughman, MCC Trustee.  The sale is scheduled for Saturday, October 5, 2013.  The board will advertise this event  with our sandwich boards posted around the neighborhood and announcements on Craig’s List and our Montlake Forum. The addresses where neighbors are participating will be listed.  Save the date.  You’re likely to find some great treasures visiting these sales. If you want to join the project, contact Nathalie by e-mail to sign up:  encata5@comcast.net.

Other projects that are under discussion include a “neighbor helping neighbor” service project, and a community meeting with representatives from City of Seattle and King County departments to inform neighbors of a variety of free services offered to  the public.  We are also planning to hold our 2nd annual Arts and Music Event that was a big success last May.

If you are interested in helping board members with these events or have a good idea for a new neighborhood event, contact the board at:  board@Montlake.net.

Submitted by Julee Neuhart