Lisa Vian Hunter is closing her Madison Valley store, and November 4th is her last day. She is marking down items in preparation for the move, and bargains are available. Her new fall collections are in store, as well as some very stylish rain boots.

Vian Hunter House of Fashion
2814 E. Madison Street
206.860.5030 or [email protected]
www.vianhunter.com

Local resident and McGilvra PTA Board Member Hunter Robbins has sent a rundown of recent events and activities at McGilvra Elementary. 

Run-a-thon

On October 17th, students, teachers, and parents braved the rain to run laps around the school in what is one of our most important fundraisers of the year, the annual McGilvra Run-A-Thon. We are grateful for the wonderful support of our local business sponsors (Bert’s Red Apple, Girlie Press, Talking Rain Beverage Company, and Seattle Fire Department) and neighbors who continue to pledge dollars to support our school. We receive very minimal funding from the District toward such critical parts of a student’s life, such as arts, technology, and the essential reading and math support specialists. Thank you for the continued community support.

Class of 1958 Gift to McGilvra Library

Some of the members of the Class of 1958 had a reunion at McGilvra in August and came up with the idea of presenting living McGilvra with a gift. On October 21st, Joel Milstein from the McGilvra Elementary Class of 1958 presented principle Maria Brueder and librarian Danae Powers with a surprise donation to the McGilvra Elementary Library as a gift from the Class of ’58.

Harvest Dance

This week the students at McGilvra Elementary had fun making luminaries for the upcoming Harvest Dance on Friday, October 24th. The kids continue to help us prune and plant in the native area of the school garden, making scarecrows and decorating to make our “spooky garden” for the Harvest Dance.

McGilvra & YWCA Food Drive

The McGilvra Harvest Dance is the beginning of our Food Drive in collaboration with the YWCA. We are encouraging families to bring any non-perishable food items or toiletries to the dance to be collected as a kickoff to this important cause. We will continue to collect and distribute these donations to our community YWCA (located on East Cherry Street) through February 20, 2015.

If you have any questions or are interested in helping or donating, please email the Community Outreach Committee members Sandra Shanahan ([email protected]) or Linda Moy ([email protected]).

Christmas Trees

The McGilvra Elementary 4th and 5th grades’ Annual Holiday Tree and Wreath Sale is has been extended to Monday, October 27th. This is another great way to support McGilvra students and build great community spirit. We’ll have easy pick-up options as well as a delivery service you can purchase for an inexpensive rate.

The tree options range in sizes from 5' to 10' tall and most wreaths are crafted to 24" with a mix of noble and cedar cones. We can attest they smell fantastic! You can order for your home or business and we would be happy to deliver to you.

Order forms went home on Friday and are due by Monday, October 27. For questions or additional forms, please contact Greg Fimmano at [email protected].

African American Students & Academics Meeting

Monday, November 3rd from 6:00–7:30 PM, McGilvra Elementary will host a dinner meeting of “McGilvra Families with African American, African, Caribbean, Bi-racial and/or Multi-racial Black Students.” One of the goals is to learn what McGilvra Elementary and Seattle Public Schools are doing to support and improve academic performance and social opportunities for African American students.

Veterans Day

McGilvra Elementary students would love to hear your story! In honor of Veterans Day we would love to showcase the experiences you (or your loved ones) had serving our country. We invite you to share your stories during a videotaped interview or in person, during the Veteran’s Day All-School Assembly on Monday, November 10.

We would appreciate sharing as many stories as possible. Please contact 1st Grade Teacher Tammie Le at [email protected] or Community Outreach Chair, Sandra Shanahan, at [email protected] to let us know of your interest in participating.

October 25–31, bring in your costumed dog or cat for a special Halloween treat and we’ll take a photo for our contest. One winner from every All The Best Pet Care store will receive a $25 All The Best gift card. Winners will be announced on Facebook  Nov. 1. 

Hint: we give extra credit for pet parents who are in costume, too!

AFH Salon was thrilled to participate in the first annual Northwest Hairstyling Awards as part of Seattle Style Weekend on September 13th, with two of our stylists nominated for awards and the whole team providing hairstyling for runway shows (pictured below)!

We love taking care of our clients’ hair for everyday looks, but it’s always a great experience when we’re given the opportunity to flex those creative muscles and do some fabulous, avant-garde hair.

Danaelle Bell was nominated for the newcomer award (her work is at top) and Jeremy Todd Abraham was nominated for hairstylist of the year (his work is below)!

For tips, tricks, and more great reads, head over to AFH’s blog.

Several members of the council are sick or unavailable so tonight's meeting is canceled. The next meeting will be posted to Nextdoor and on the events page soon. 

The first of our little visitors is a brand new girl Japanese Spitz puppy, who came to us with her new family in a matching ensemble of pink polka-dots!

Second is Kaiju the bulldog, trying to convince us he's actually scary in his new Halloween costume. 

Third is a sweet little Great Dane puppy, giving both Mr. Rogers and Bill Cosby a run for their money in the cute sweater department!

Our fourth visitor can only be described as mind-meltingly adorable: a Frenchie puppy wearing a sock monkey hoodie! Look. At. That. Face. 

See special offers from All The Best on pet food and supplies.

“The Madison Corridor Bus Rapid Transit Project is an opportunity to construct capital improvements that will allow a faster, more reliable, more comfortable transit ride,” Maria Koengeter, project manager for the Madison BRT initiative said at the presentation Tuesday night.

The presentation visuals and conclusions are posted in full on the Capitol Hill blog: http://bit.ly/1s9sB6c

The Madison Apartments will be a mixed-use building on an existing vacant lot on the corner of East Madison Street and 23rdAvenue East. The project hopes to successfully develop a challenging site that is currently a missing tooth in the urban fabric, provide housing and commercial opportunities that are scaled to the local housing and business needs, and to develop a high quality building that is authentic to its time and is responsive to its context.

We will be presenting the project at a Central Area Land Use Review Committee community meeting on October 15th, 6:30 pm at the Bullitt Center.

The project has been designed to respond to both the commercial nature of the Madison Corridor and to the residential nature of Denny.  Along the Madison corridor the project steps down the hill, creating multiple retail entries that can support small incubator retail businesses.  The façade design features large storefronts, projecting awnings, and a certain degree of visually dynamic asymmetrical composition.  Along Denny, the project uses similar materials, but there is no expressed storefront base, no continuous canopy, and the composition is more ordered and quiet.

The project has been specifically designed to step the lower levels of the building in order to adapt to the sloping public way.  This stepping allows for a more porous edge along the Madison commercial corridor and a minimization of the visual impacts of the parking and utility uses along the Denny façade. Placing the residential entrance along Denny Way creates pedestrian activity and activates all sides of the site.

At the corner between the Madison and Denny Facades, The project celebrates the corner with a façade that is more transparent, features a double height retail space, and expresses the geometry of the site by featuring a sharp prow that is typical of triangular sites in the Madison corridor. The transition from the corner prow to the Denny façade leaves a little space between the two masses to allow them to be visually distinct and resolve in a more successful fashion.

The project has been designed to accommodate narrow floorplates, multiple entries, and correspondingly small, more affordable apartments and incubator commercial spaces. All of these features are highly responsive to the needs of the neighborhood residents and businesses. The project massing has been designed to express the geometry and take advantage of the sloping nature of the site.

Parking is in an area behind the building, partially enclosed and partially open.  The portions of the parking enclosure that are open are screened by a green screen wall and an overhead trellis.

In commercial zones adjacent properties can be developed to the property line, so projects have to be designed to work both in their current form, and in a future condition with a neighbor built up against it. The NE blank wall features unit balconies that create depth and shadow, and a composition of colored panel siding to add visual interest.  The SE blank wall features a frame-infill pattern that echoes the Denny facade.  A portion of this wall has been set back three feet to allow for windows in the façade to increase visual interest.

The project features a number of high quality materials that are selected with durability and appropriateness to climate in mind.  Project materials include Integrally colored GFRC cement panel siding (OKO skin), Anodized aluminum storefront, powder-coated steel canopies and decks, vinyl windows, rainscreen installation of all sidings, exterior insulation of all roofing.

Permits are expected to be ready for a Spring 2015 start of construction.

Take in the breathtaking sight of maple trees ablaze in fall color at the Seattle Japanese Garden on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2014, when the garden hosts its annual Maple Viewing Festival.

Visitors are invited to enjoy live music, hands-on nature activity stations sponsored by the University of Washington Botanic Garden and Japanese calligraphy demonstrations from Meito-kai from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. There will also be complimentary tours at 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. where guides will provide historical information and identify the different species of maple at the garden.

The event is free with garden admission: adults $6; youth age 6–17, seniors age 65 and older and students with ID $4. Admission is free for children ages 5 and under.

The Seattle Japanese Garden is located at 1075 Lake Washington Blvd. S. For more information, visit www.seattlejapanesegarden.org.