Montlake.net

UNIVERSITY DISTRICT FOOD BANK Save the Date AUG 5

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Dear Food Bank Supporters,

Our fundraising committee, led by Board Vice President Joseph Smith and including Eliza Dornbush, Nina Gerber, Emily Kim, Nausheen Sadiq, Chris Mefford, and Paul Yunker, is organizing a virtual garden party for Wednesday, August 5, at 6:30 p.m. Please save the date! The party venue is our 2,000 square foot rooftop farm, Rooftop Roots!

The event will feature:

  • Welcome by Executive Director Joe Gruber.
  • Garden tour led by Rooftop Farmer Hannah Duffany.
  • Cooking demonstration by Chef Danny of The London Plane.
  • Live musical performance by “Birch Pereira & the Gin Joints”.
  • Food Bank update and donation ask by Board Member Ben Spruch

The Rooftop Roots registration page is active. Zoom meeting link will be sent the day of the event.

As always thank you for your support! 

Montlake Flyer – Summer 2020

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Hello neighbors!
For your reading pleasure, click here to see the latest edition of the Montlake Flyer: Montlake-Flyer-July-2020Download

How to support your Montlake community

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Support the Montlake Community Club! Please join your neighbors in building our all-volunteer effort to keep Montlake safe and connected. 
Give to the MCC in the annual GIVE BIG campaign and share on your social media to encourage your friends to do the same!
Give Big (or small or medium!) to the Montlake Community Club!

Montlake Elementary monthly paper

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Montlake-Monthly-April-Neighborhood-edition.docxDownload

Hello Montlake Community,
The Montlake Elementary school started a monthly paper this year that is run by a number of students with help and oversight by the librarian. 
We had hoped to print copies this month and deliver to your door to show the Montlake community that we are all one. With the restrictions that we are currently under, we’ve moved this to an electronic copy. 
Our hope is that this entertains, informs, and brings a smile to your face today. 
Please enjoy and stay safe.  – Lisa and Kerri (Parents)

Cafe Lago reopening this Friday, May 1st

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We are excited to announce that Cafe Lago is reopening this Friday! Place your order for take-out and get reunited with your favorite salads, pizzas, and pasta.

IG-stories-menu-2.1Download

Updating MCC Bylaws

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The Montlake Community Club is proposing updating our Bylaws. All changes are to reflect current practices and overall modernization of the MCC Bylaws. Please direct any questions or feedback to Heather at president@montlake.net.

MCC-Bylaws_Edits-1-1Download

From WDOT: Register for May online construction update meeting

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Thanks to the almost 100 people who have attended our online construction update meetings these past two months. We’re excited to continue bringing you the latest construction information on the SR 520 Montlake Project while providing a regular opportunity for you to ask questions and receive project updates.

Our May monthly construction update meeting will again be online, with a short presentation and Q&A to follow.

Date/time: May 6, presentation starts at 5:30 p.m.
Registration: https://bit.ly/onlineSR520 You’ll be sent confirmation and reminder emails as we approach the event.

You can join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device. Access to the Internet will be required to view the presentation and your device speakers must be enabled.

Missed last month’s meeting? A video recording of the meeting as well as the presentation slides (pdf 2.64 mb) are now available.

We continue to wish you and your family and friends good health during this time.

How to reach us and stay informed about SR 520 construction:

  • Call the 24-hour construction hotline (206-775-8885) with pressing Montlake Project questions or concerns.
  • Call the SR 520 Program information line (206-770-3554, M-F 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.) with general SR 520 inquiries.
  • Email SR 520 staff with your questions about the project or construction activities.
  • Visit the SR 520 Construction Corner for the most up-to-date information on closures and construction impacts.
  • Visit the SR 520 Program website to find general information about the project.
  • Follow us on Twitter @wsdot_520 to get key news and updates about the SR 520 program.
  • (Please note: The Information Center is currently closed because of the Governor’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy order.) Stop by in-person at the Montlake Project Information Center (2209 E. North St.), open Mondays and Wednesdays noon to 6 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays 8 a.m. to noon, and the third Saturday of the month, 9 a.m. to noon.
  • View current Montlake Project construction photos, taken continuously day and night, by mounted construction cameras

Sign up for the Montlake Yard Sale

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As summer draws to a close, it’s time to sign up to participate in the seventh annual ALL-MONTLAKE YARD SALE, organized by the Montlake Community Club. The sale takes place on Saturday, September 21 between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm.

The MCC handles much of the publicity for this event: signage, ad placements, and an online interactive map with sale sites for buyers.

Click here to sign up now.

The sign up deadline to be included on the interactive map is  midnight on Wednesday, September 18th.

For questions, or if you’d like to volunteer to help distribute flyers or put up signs, please email treasurer@montlake.net.

Montlake Has a New Mural

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Photo by Jenny James

A 4th and 5th grade teacher at Montlake Elementary has livened up the school with a mural that showcases neighborhood landmarks like the Montlake Bridge and Café Lago.

When she toured Montlake after accepting a teaching position for fall 2017, Emily Gussin noticed a big blank wall in the school’s covered outdoor playcourt near Calhoun Street. “I immediately asked if the school had ever thought about putting art there, and asked if I could do it,” Ms. Gussin told the Montlake Flyer.

Ms. Gussin, who has a history of making positive graffiti art, was the right person to enhance the space. Before she began teaching, Ms. Gussin travelled worldwide with Few and Far, a group of female artists creating graffiti art for productive, not destructive uses. With this artist’s collective, Ms. Gussin traveled to Israel, among other places, to create a graffiti mural in a 6’ x 6’ bomb shelter at a daycare.

Ms. Gussin is a Seattle native and Ballard High School alum, and her time with Few and Far led her to teach in the district she graduated from. Her father, Hamilton Middle School math teacher Jordan Gussin, suggested she help teach after school graffiti art classes at his school. Ms. Gussin eventually led the classes and got hooked on teaching. After getting her master’s degree in teaching, Ms. Gussin was hired at Montlake, where she is loved by her students for her creativity and enthusiasm.

A special outcome of the mural, Ms. Gussin noted, is that her students have come to see her as a whole person with creative interests that go beyond teaching. “The kids had no idea that I had this interest before,” she said. Two students at the school have since become passionate creators of positive graffiti-style artwork.

Montlake 4th and 5th grade teacher Emily Gussin. Photo by Jenny James

Montlake is a historically landmarked building. For the mural’s creation, school principal Julie Pearson secured permission from the school district’s department of self-help. Although in her first year at the school, Ms. Pearson eagerly took on the challenge. “It was obvious to me when I first arrived that something needed to happen with that blank wall and it was fun to collaborate with Emily to make it work.”

Jennifer Lundgren, Montlake’s art teacher and past recipient of the Washington Art Education Association Elementary Education of the Year Award, plans to work with students to add designs at the bottom of the mural.

The mural now memorializes a piece of Montlake history: it features the “Hop-In” alongside other neighborhood landmarks. The Hop-In, now called the Montlake Boulevard Market, is slated for destruction by the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Montlake Market Property Owners Sell to WSDOT

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For years and years, Montlake and surrounding Communities have tried to save the Montlake Blvd. Market and Gas Station. We, the Montlake Community Club, have tried every avenue available: The Courts, the State Legislature, the Governor, the Mayor, the City Council and our Federal representatives. The Neighborhood rallied around the cause to fund the attempts with a Go-Fund-Me page to chase the various prospects for change. But in the end, it is likely that our efforts were unsuccessful.

Last week, Kemper Freemans’ family agreed to sell the Market and the Gas Station to WSDOT for $16,000,000. This agreement puts complete control of the two properties with WSDOT and requires that the owners drop the outstanding Federal lawsuit, in which the Montlake Community Club is a co-plaintiff.  Without the property owners financial support, it will be difficult for the MCC to keep fighting this lawsuit, but we are committed to see it through.  We are also certain that WSDOT will do whatever it takes to get their way, despite how many laws they have to break to do it.

The most likely outcome is that both the Market and Gas Station will be torn down. The property will be used for storage and staging for about 5 years. The current Legislative proviso requires WSDOT to put the property up for sale after the completion of the Montlake phase of the SR 520 project. However, we have little faith that WSDOT will abide by the proviso. (They failed to abide by the last proviso.)  We have even less faith that the current Legislature will hold WSDOT accountable.

The SR 520 meeting on Thursday, May 23rd, at St. Demetrios will be a waste of time. Based on what has transpired, there is nothing we can change. Our voice has been and will always be ignored. They have these meetings to check boxes.  The purchase of the property is the last nail in the coffin.

Without a monumental shift in Jamie Pedersen, Nicole Macri, and Frank Chopp’s position, it is too late to save the Market. And it would take incredible courage on their part to take a stand to save the Market. You are encouraged to send them all an email (Jamie.pedersen@leg.wa.gov, Nicole.Macri@leg.wa.gov, and frank.chopp@leg.wa.gov) expressing your frustration at their collective failure to represent us. We can challenge every argument WSDOT makes with logic and data and yet their actions demonstrate that they have sided with WSDOT.

Thank you to all who have for years tried to save a valuable, cultural asset of the Community. Please consider what has transpired the next time you go to vote.