It’s been a year since we launched the Madison Valley website, and we hope it’s proven worthwhile for our readers. This coming year we’d like to enlarge the scope and volume of our coverage, and to do that, we need you.

This website has no staff authors or reporters — we depend on people in the neighborhood to contribute. If you have a story relevant to Madison Valley readers, we want to publish it. Even better, we’d like regular contributors to report on their areas of interest or expertise.

If you’d like to try your hand at local journalism, following is a list of topics we think are worth covering. Your suggestions are welcome, too. Email Lindy Wishard to propose a topic or accept an assignment. 

Finally, if you have any other ideas to improve the site, we’d like to hear them. Use the comment feature, or send us an email.

Potential Article Topics

Real Estate Report. Are you a real estate agent in the Valley? We’d love to have you provide a regular column on sales and property values in the neighborhood. 

Fitness. Write up all the yoga and fitness places within walking distance of Madison Valley, with a description of their offerings and prices. 

520 Closures. Would someone be willing to monitor the 520 bridge closures and report them to the editor? 

What’s Up On Madison? A recurring series that chronicles news from the business district. This would include new stores, specials or sales, and sundry capitalist gossip!

Mental Health. Madison Valley is acquiring a reputation as a mental health mecca. Are you a mental health professional practicing in the Valley? We’d like to know why this profession is flourishing in our neighborhood. (Is it because we’re so crazy?)

Dog Park. Discussions have begun regarding the establishment of a dog park in the soccer field area. We’d like to hear the pros and cons of this issue, presumably this would be two different writers! Lindy can provide contacts. 

Profiles of Interesting People. A partial list would include officers of the Merchants Association and the Community Council, local artists, the head of the Bush School, etc. Lindy can provide suggestions.

Census Data. Are statistics your thing? The latest census numbers we have on Madison Valley are pretty old. A report on the demographics of the Valley would be interesting to everyone and helpful in our grant-writing efforts. What sort of people live in the Valley? How old are they? Do they have kids? What is their median income? Assemble all the relevant data.

Short-Term Housing. We could use a report on where to put the family when they visit. Look at B&Bs, VBROs, and other places in the Valley for guests to stay. 

Nail Salons. With at least five nail salons opening in Madison Valley, we’d like to have a report on all the nail places, their pricing, hours, and reviews of each. Grab your friends, get a manicure, and write some reviews. 

Dry Cleaners. Which dry cleaner provides the best value? Make a list of cleaners, write a little about each one, and compare their costs. 

Notable Gardens. An article with photos and descriptions of the many amazing gardens in the Valley. 

Business Profiles. Is there a local shop or restaurant you love? Interview the owner, take some photos, and we’ll publish a feature on the business. 

Historic Homes and Buildings. Profile noteworthy buildings in Madison Valley.

Our History. Have you lived here a long time? Tell your story of what Madison Valley used to be like.

Our Future. Write an article about the future of Madison Valley. What will it be in 10 years? What does it need? What new businesses would you like to see and why?

Tips and Secrets. Share your best Madison Valley advice.

If you have questions please contact:

Lindy Wishard, President
Madison Valley Community Council
[email protected]

People often ask what the Madison Valley Community Council does.

The purpose of the council is to represent the residents of our neighborhood, to provide a democratic forum for all members, and to protect and advance the interests of the community before municipal, state and federal agencies. 

The Community Council is a nonprofit 501(c)(3). All participants are volunteers. Everyone is welcome to attend community meetings and participate.

Community Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of the month at 7:00 PM. Meetings are held at the Martin Luther King F.A.M.E. Community Center, 3201 East Republican Street, Seattle, Washington 98112

Over the years the council has worked on many neighborhood improvements. Following is a list created by the founding members of the council:

Community Work

Annual Events:

Bastille Bash
Spaghetti Dinner
Pancake Breakfast
Madison Street Art Walk
Progressive Dinner at Neighborhood Restaurants
Holiday Bazaar
Courtyard Rummage Sale
Spring Cleanup
Night-out Block Parties
Winter Festival of Lights throughout the Neighborhood
Diversity Fair
Publication of the Valley View Newsletter

Garden/Green Projects

Reforestation of the Harrison Ridge Greenbelt
Planting of trees along MLK Way
Establishment of community compost stations for yard/food          
Repair and removal of vegetation for neighborhood sidewalks
Garden Tours
Pea Patch Installation

Community Interest Groups

Teen Work Opportunity Group
Writers’ Workshops
Parenting Workshops
Madison Valley Family Project
Youth Group

Community Improvement Efforts

Sidewalk repair
Madison Valley Triangle Project
Greenways Project
Parklet Project
Design Community Home at the WA Park Field house
Design Tunnel under Madison Connecting Madison Valley and the Arboretum
Establish new crosswalk on Madison at 29th Ave E
Establish Restricted Parking Zone in Madison Street Corridor
Participation in the Seattle City Comprehensive Planning
Information kiosk at the Madison Valley Retention Pond
Eliminate flooding on 32nd Ave E at E John
Graffiti Removal
Fundraising for AME Church after fire damage

Martin Luther King Jr.  Elementary School

Village Schools Project
Landscaping
Built new playground twice
Purchased a van for school transportation
Established safe biking routes to the school

School Programs:

Before and After School Program
Chess Club
Dance Classes
Computer lab
Homework Center
NW Historical Course including Forest Evolution

Special thank you to Catherine Nunneley and Charles McDade for providing this list.

All The Best Pet Care is doubling its customers’ donations and purchases during December in a campaign to deliver 20,000 lb of food to local shelters and rescue groups.

Holiday giving requests are plentiful during the holiday season, and most people are looking for ways to make sure their donation dollars are used wisely. Those who wish to help local animal shelters and rescues can double their donation at All The Best Pet Care. For the entire month of December, any Nature’s Variety dog or cat food purchased for donating at an All The Best Pet Care store will be matched, pound for pound. Customers who buy Nature’s Variety products for their own cats and dogs will have a matching amount donated as well. To stretch givers’ budgets even further, all Nature’s Variety dry food, freeze dried food, canned food and treats, including Instinct and Prairie, are 10% off all month.

Jenny Martin (l) and Susan Moss (r) prepare a bin to receive shelter donations.

The donation recipients will include Old Dog Haven, Cat Tales, Motley Zoo, Homeward Pet, Ballard Food Bank, Mercer Island Food Bank, The Doney Clinic, Second Chance Dog, Seattle Animal Shelter and many more.

“Our goal is to donate 20,000 pounds of high quality, human-grade cat and dog food to our many deserving animal shelters and rescue groups, which is about equal to a $50,000 donation,” said Susan Moss, owner of All The Best Pet Care.

Jenny Martin from Nature’s Variety said, “I’m really excited about this opportunity to make a huge impact on needy dogs and cats in our community. Together, we will provide the high-quality food these animals need to be healthy.”

Since 1985, All The Best Pet Care has offered healthy alternatives to low the quality, mass-marketed pet products that are so ubiquitous. They have ten stores located in the Seattle neighborhoods of Ballard, Crown Hill, Lake City, Madison Park and Queen Anne, and in Bellevue, Edmonds, Issaquah, Mercer Island, and Redmond. For more information, visit www.allthebestpetcare.com.

This month, All The Best Pet care had visits from some of their favorite regulars, sporting the latest dog fashions.

This black standard poodle is Jack, who patiently held still to pose for his first picture in his new Christmas sweater. 

These two Shar Peis are Starbuck in the classic yellow rain coat, and Pooki (below) modeling yellow duckies on blue. 

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

The number of police reports in Madison Valley fell from its high of nearly sixty in October back to a more normal figure in the low thirties during November. The reduction reflected substantial declines in the types of crime most prevalent in October, especially theft involving vehicles. On the other hand, burglaries and robberies were little changed from October. There were seven burglary reports during November.

1. On Nov. 3 at about 1:30 AM someone smashed two large display windows on the northwest side of a supermarket on 22nd and Madison and stole 20 bottles of liquor from the display. Surveillance cameras in the store did not cover the area. A resident of the building reported that a little earlier he had seen two men wearing dark clothing and face masks in the area.

2. On Nov. 9 at about 11 PM police were called to an address on Union between 24th and 25th to investigate a burglary. When they arrived, the owner of nearby business told them that a group of about 8 teenage boys had broken into a vacant house next door. When he heard the noise of doors being broken down, he went outside, and upon seeing the boys, yelled that he was calling the police, at which point they fled south on 24th. Police were unable to contact the owner of the vacant home and were therefore unable to determine if anything had been stolen. The person reporting the incident told the police that he did not know, nor would be able to identify the boys, and the police found no identifying information at the site.

3. On Nov. 12 police were called to a home on 30th Ave. E. between John and Denny to investigate a burglary which had occurred on Veterans Day. The resident reported that sometime during one of her two absences from home that day, someone had stolen her laptop. During her first absence, which only lasted ½ hour, her daughter had been at home. Before her second absence, which lasted a little over 5 hours, she had set the alarm and locked all doors. Upon returning from the second absence she found the alarm still set and the doors still locked, but noticed that her laptop was missing. Upon questioning by both the victim and police, the daughter denied any knowledge about how the laptop had been stolen.

4. Sometime during the early evening of Nov. 13 a burglar smashed open a window of a residence on 30th Ave. near Pine and stole credit cards, a checkbook and a valuable pocket watch. The police did not find fingerprints at the scene.

5. On Nov. 14 there was a forced entry burglary at a residence on Aloha St. between 20th and 21st, but the police have not given a description of the event.

6. On Nov. 24 at about 4:30 police responded to an alarm call from a specialty business near 28th and Madison. There they found that someone had broken through the back door of the business. When the business owner arrived it was found that the burglar(s) had stolen items worth about $2800, including a safe containing $250 and approximately 10 purses that had been on display. The police report notes that there are cameras covering the areas around the business, but does not state whether any images of the event were recorded.

7. On Nov. 30 there was a burglary at a residence on 22nd between Highland and Galer that did not involve forcible entry. The police have not issued a description of this burglary.

Finally, there were two robbery reports during November and the police apprehended the perpetrator of one of them.

1. On Nov. 19 at 9 PM a man who was walking north near 21st and Union was accosted by two young men who had left a group of about six men to cross to his side of the street. After asking for a cigarette, and then a dollar, the two men started punching him and knocked him to the ground. Then they took his wallet, which contained $13 and three credit cards. The victim suffered a swollen eye and a broken nose. The police were unable to find the assailants.

2. On Nov. 21 at around 4 PM police received a report of a cell phone robbery at Olive and 22nd Ave. Arriving at 19th and Pine, an officer noticed a person who matched the description of the robber and asked to speak to him. The officer noted that the suspect had an iPhone and when she asked if it was his, he responded that it was. When the officer asked him what the phone number was, the suspect told her that he had to leave. The officer then told him that she had to make sure that he had not been involved in a recent cell phone robbery before he could leave, and then escorted him to her patrol car. Upon arriving at the car the suspect broke away from the officer and fled south on 19th, east on Union, and then north on 20th, where other officers arriving on the scene took him into custody. The victim subsequently identified him as her assailant and he was later booked into the King County jail.

Lowell Hargens is a Madison Valley resident and former University of Washington professor of sociology specializing in the statistical analysis of data.

There was a terrible accident today on East Ward, around 11:30 this morning. 

A St. Vincent de Paul truck was picking up donated goods at the intersection of East Ward and 24th. The truck was parked at the top of the hill. When the driver was about to load the truck, the breaks failed. 

The truck, without a driver, headed down the hill. It smashed open a fire hydrant, sending a river of water down the hill. Next the truck hit a fence, trees, and several cars along Ward before finally being stopped by two parked cars. 

Thankfully no one was seriously injured. The truck and at least four parked cars were severely damaged. 

Recently I learned that there is a possibility of getting funding for a greenway through our neighborhood. This could happen as soon as February 2014. There are lots of advantages to having a greenway, including reduced traffic and increased property values. In order to make this happen, we need you to show up at a Madison Valley Greenways Gathering.

At the meeting, we’ll discuss what a greenway is, and how it will benefit the residents of Madison Valley. We’ll ask you to diagram on a map how you travel through the neighborhood; where you see pedestrian, bicycle, and auto problems; and what you envision for your street and immediate surroundings.

Read more about greenways.

When: Wednesday, Dec 11th at 6:30 PM
Where: Harbour Pointe Coffeehouse, 2818 East Madison Street

If you have questions about greenways or the Greenways Gathering, please email [email protected] or call 206 552-0345.

McGilvra Elementary turns 100 years old in 2014 and will be holding its biennial auction on Saturday, March 22nd at Showbox SODO. This is the largest fundraising event of the year, and the school hopes to have many alumni attend the auction with their current families.

The money raised from the auction pays for programs that are not funded by Seattle Public Schools. These include the art teacher and supplies, reading and math teachers as well as their curriculum, a school counselor, teacher and library grants, and classroom tutors. With many classes having a 29:1 student teacher ratio, these programs are more essential than ever for our children. McGilvra would love your help. If you have an item or service you would like to donate, please do. Another way you can support McGilvra is to place an ad for your business in the auction catalog — over 300 people will be seeing it. You can also be an auction sponsor. All information is available on the auction website at mcgilvraauction2014.wordpress.com. You can download procurement, ad, and sponsor forms from the website. If you have further questions, please email [email protected]. Thank you.