Villa Marina project dead for now

The plan had been to tear down the existing Villa Marina apartment building (1928 43rd Avenue E.) and the building directly to the north of it, replacing both with a new three-story, ten-unit condo building. The owner, Lakeside Capital Management, filed an application for the project as recently as February. But the “Proposed Land Use Action” sign came down today in recognition of the fact that the project has become the victim of changing market conditions. Lakeside’s managing partner, Dennis Daugs, confirmed that the project is on hold.

To say that there is currently an oversupply of condos in the Puget Sound region would be putting it mildly. Just down the street at 1611 43rd Avenue E. the developer there has been unable to unload three high-end condos during the year since that building was completed. In real estate, as in so many other endeavors, timing is everything.

Regarding the Villa Marina apartments Daugs had this to say: “We work next door and have become accustomed to the old building. It certainly is closer to the end of its life than its beginning, but we have spent a lot on deferred maintenance since we acquired it a few years ago and will continue to improve it any way we can.”

The Madison Park Community Council had hoped to work closely with Lakeside on the Council’s long-term plan to close the E. Madison Street road end to cars (see Park to extend into Madison Street road end). If the Villa Marina project had needed any variances, the community might have had some additional leverage in the negotiations. Daugs told me, however, that Lakeside remains committed to improving pedestrian traffic around the site and to improving the streets and sidewalks of nearby businesses. During the ten years that the company has owned the Villa Marina, Lakeside has spent over $50,000 on maintenance of the Madison Street road end, including the removal of two overgrown trees, he noted.

While the Villa Marina project may be on long-term hold, the project could still someday be revived. I understand that rather than being destroyed, the land-use sign is being stored in the basement.

Short takes

No Arboretum fix: The City has no plans to install a left-turn signal southbound on Lake Washington Boulevard E. at the intersection with E. Madison Street. As many of us know from personal experience, exiting the Arboretum becomes a bit more difficult in the afternoons (especially on Sundays) as traffic backs up behind motorists who are trying to turn left onto Madison. The question of fixing this problem was raised this week by a reader of the seattlepi.com news site, and it was answered by Brian Kemper, the Seattle DOT’s manager of traffic signal operations.

The problem, according to Kemper, is that the left-turn lane itself is too short, and to make the lane longer would require taking additional land from the Park in order to widen the street. In the City’s official opinion, the fact that drivers may sometimes suffer a small delay is not a big price to pay for keeping the Park entrance as it is.

Sidewalk sale beings tomorrow: The Seattle Times' site, nwsource.com, has a brief article covering the details of Madison Park’s upcoming sidewalk sale. The story cites Lola McKee of Madison Park Hardware as the source for the estimate that this is the 29th year for the annual event. McKee receives her proper due as “unofficial matriarch of Madison Park.”

The beach is clean: King County’s regular weekly testing of the beach at Madison Park last week showed a return to normal levels of fecal coliforms. The decline was to a count of 47 from a high of 470 two weeks previously. Fecal coliforms are a group of intestinal bacteria that are routinely used as an indicator of sewage pollution in water, and as an indicator of the human health risk.

Correction: This is a first for my blog, but I have to admit to having publicized some false information in a past blog entry (Watchers in the park and other weird crimes). In fact, I may have even been a little bit sensationalist without cause. The Seattle Police report that the incident involving the guy who supposedly stabbed himself in front of a bunch of kids on Madison a few weeks ago did not happen. It is true, according to the Seattle Police, that a man was discovered bleeding from a chest wound by a bunch of kids, but he did not stab himself. His injuries, in fact, resulted from a botched home burglary when the man cut himself on the window he broke to gain entrance to a Madison Park house. He was arrested and treated. This is a good object lesson for me about using hearsay information on my blog, a newsgathering method not to be repeated.

They're baaaack!!!

Every year at about this time a swarm descends upon Madison Park and doesn’t leave until the neighborhood has been picked pretty clean. Those of us who are so unsuspecting as to answer our doors during this period may find ourselves accosted, badgered and sometimes even intimidated into doing something we really don’t want to do: buy some magazines. The swarm of which I speak, of course, is that thundering army of extremely aggressive door-to-door magazine-subscription salespeople, whose arrival in Madison Park in the summer is about as predictable as the return of the swallows to Capistrano. For the record, it’s magazine time again.

These solicitors are intensively trained before being flown into our midst, usually arrive from someplace in the Midwest (they are never from Seattle), and stay in town for a pre-set period before moving on. They fan out to the various neighborhoods in the afternoons and early evenings and report back to the boss at the end of the day. I have been told in past years that Madison Park is considered one of the best neighborhoods in which to work this trade.

On Friday I got to spend some quality time with one of these salespeople (I, stupidly, was out working in my garden and had no ready means of escape). Her name was Kari and she told me she was part of a group of 80 that had landed in our fair city during the week. She was from New York, and she started her spiel by telling me that a neighbor of mine said I was a nice person (that should have disarmed me). She stated that she was a “youth motivator,” so I asked if her motivational work had anything to do with selling me magazines, and she admitted that that was the case. Although I made it clear that I wasn’t buying, she still worked me over for a good 15 minutes or so. On leaving she asked both if she could shake my hand (yes) and whether I’d be interested in providing her with some assistance even though I wasn’t buying any magazines (no).

She was very friendly, personable and not intimidating in the least, but I can assure you this is not always—or even usually—the case. Many of the people in these programs are former felons, and there have been occasional problems reported in the past of violent behavior by magazine salespeople in Seattle. One of my neighbors felt threatened enough to call the police last year. A couple summers ago I was approached by a very large and physically intimidating guy who told me “I am not going to take no for an answer.” That was kind of scary. But the worst experience was with a woman several years ago who called me a racist and screamed obscenities at me for not buying anything. These belligerent tactics have been reported this year in other cities.

A word to the wise: If you do buy any magazines take note of the fact that under terms of the contract you will be required to wait 120 days before claiming a refund if your magazines do not arrive. And your chances of getting a refund are about 50%, based on my own personal experience (yes, I’ve given in and subscribed, though I have never gotten an actual magazine in the mail as a result). Note also that these door-to-door companies usually shut down after authorities get a lot of consumer complaints, and the owners simply start up a new company in another state and just keep operating. If all that is not enough to deter you, I suggest you compare their magazine prices with the cost of a subscription ordered online.

Bright addition to the ‘hood

Red Wagon Toys just managed to get its door open in time for the holiday this weekend, the smell of fresh paint still in the air. The toy store, located at 4218 E. Madison Street (next to Cactus!), takes over much of the space vacated by the venerable Yankee Peddler, which shut its doors in March after over 50 years in business. The toy store is the latest venture of the folks who bring us Cookin’, the great kitchen store two doors down the street.

Red Wagon Toys helps fill a void left by the exit of Izilla Toys, which decamped from the general neighborhood last year when it moved from Madison Valley to Capitol Hill. Its space in that little house on Madison was temporarily taken by a massage parlor/bordello, whose business was severely impacted by a police raid late last year. Fast Frame rehabilitated the space and moved in last month.

Happy Fourth of July!

Though the residential streets of the neighborhood seemed semi-deserted yesterday (most of the residents apparently having left town for the holiday) the beaches were packed. This was the afternoon scene at Madison Park:

And at the Seattle Tennis Club:

The Park scene will be even more lively next weekend, with the annual Children's Picnic Parade on Saturday (staging begins at 11:45 in front of the Wells Fargo branch). Madison Park Days and Sidewalk Sale begins on Thursday and continues through Saturday.

POLICE BLOTTER

Reports from the East Precinct

June 22 - June 30

Bank robber caught red handed: There seemed to be something suspicious about a man who walked out of the Chase branch on Capitol Hill (1204 Broadway) one afternoon last week. He was covered in red dye, and his jacket seemed to be spewing a red powder of some sort. The man, obviously upset by this state of affairs, threw his jacket onto the ground and proceeded down the street, but not before being seen in the act by a very observant witness. A police parking enforcement officer just happened to be in the area and was approached by the witness, who explained what he had seen and then took the officer to where the jacket had been discarded. The officer broadcast the description of the suspect on her police radio a few moments before another broadcast was heard stating that Chase had been robbed by a man fitting the description.

Coincidentally, the captain of the East Precinct, Paul McDonagh, happened to be in the area and noticed the suspect walking down the 800 block of Pike Street. He and another officer apprehended the dye-stained man, who then got a free ride to the King County Jail. Believe it or not, less than a year ago a bank branch on Broadway just one block from of Chase was robbed by a different man who suffered the same bad timing. In that case, Sgt. Jay Shin was walking down the street when he noticed a man carrying what seemed to be smoking incense. On a closer observation, however, Sgt. Shin realized that it was an exploding red-dye pack, often slipped into the cash given to unwitting bank robbers by tellers. When Sgt. Shin apprehended the man, the suspect refused to let go of the money in spite of the fact that his hands were being burned by the smoking dye pack. At the time of the arrest, there were no reports of any bank having been robbed in the area. But shortly thereafter, the report came through—well after the police had their man. Incidentally, the last name of the suspect in last week’s robbery, Poor-Bear, was transposed as “Poor-Boy” in the police report, which pretty wells sums it up.

Red flagging leads to arrest: The Bank of America branch located on the 1300 block of E. Madison Street was the scene last week of a forgery arrest after a woman attempted to cash a stolen check. The teller was alerted to the possible fraud by the fact that the suspect had a “red flagged” account, one where suspicious activity had previously been detected by the bank. A little checking by the teller confirmed that the check was invalid, and 911 was called. The suspect claimed that it was all an innocent mistake. She stated that she was owed some money by a man (whose name she claimed not to know) who wrote her the check and then waited with a couple friends in his car for her to cash the check. Surprisingly, the men were nowhere to be found when the police went to investigate her story. The suspect was booked into the King County Jail.

Water tower rip off: The Parks department last week reported that someone had stolen an “exhibit” from its display case on the top floor of the Volunteer Park water tower. Although the value of the object was listed as $9,000, the police report was curiously deficient regarding what exactly the exhibit consisted of. Some copper piping, perhaps? Whatever he took, the perpetrator left no fingerprints at the scene.

Rooms with a view: Police were called to the 400 block of Belmont Avenue E. last week to investigate a chainsaw-wielding crew that was cutting the top branches of several trees which appeared to be on City property. The tree cutters had no permit to cut and no business license, but they claimed to have been hired by the owner of an apartment building at that location. When contacted, the building owner reportedly told the officer that he had hired the men to cut the lower tree branches because they had been hitting him on the head. He also claimed to have a letter from the City stating that the trees were on his property. The officer noted that the trees his crew was cutting did not have low-hanging branches, that it was the tree “crowns” that had been removed, and that all of the tress clearly appeared to be on City property. Additionally, the removal of the trees' branches had a beneficial effect on the apartment building since it appeared to create a view and sunny conditions for the top floor. The case was turned over to the City Arborist for review and possible action.

Do I know you?: On June 25 a man came into the precinct station to report that he had been at a downtown club when a stranger came up to him, embraced him, and began hugging him. When the man told the stranger that he did not know him, the guy backed off, apologized and walked away. Only later did the victim notice that his cash and driver’s license were both missing from his pocket. Unfortunately, the perpetrator was nowhere to be found once the theft was discovered.

Patient discharged directly to jail : The police were called to Harborview on Monday to deal with a female patient named Misty who got testy when denied some juice and crackers by the discharging nurse. After calling the nurse a choice name or two she spit in the nurse’s face, according to the victim and a witness. The police did not buy Misty’s story, however, that she may have accidentally spit some blood on the nurse while simply talking to her. They helped Misty complete her hospital discharge as well as her admission to the ”KCJ” (King County Jail).

There were several armed robberies in the central area during this period, including one where the suspects were apprehended by East Precinct officers. Madison Park itself was quiet, with only a car prowl and a petty theft reported during the period.

Steamboat Days on Lake Washington

Back in the early days of Madison Park, at a time when we were the principal port connecting Seattle to many of the towns on the Eastside, steamboats plied the Lake daily and their passengers thronged our dock on their way to or from work, school or shopping in Seattle. On weekends, Seattleites flocking to Kirkland and to other points in the “country” mingled on the dock with Eastsiders coming into town to play or shop. At that time, the Park played the kind of “vital link” role that Edmonds or Mukilteo play today for their communities “on the other side.”

The first motorized vessel on Lake Washington was reportedly a boat called the James Motrie, which arrived in 1870, according to the Seattle Times. The earliest passenger-carrying steamboats on the Lake were small vessels such as the Xanthus and the Cyrene, most likely the boats shown in the colorized postcard above. The Cyrene was primarily used for Lake cruising, rather than for scheduled service. As regular passenger traffic on the Lake increased, larger vessels were introduced, often built in Lake Washington shipyards, such as an early one located at Sand Point. The Acme was another early Lake cruiser:

In 1890’s and early 1900’s there were many different operators with boats plying the Lake, but as the new century gained momentum a former Lake Washington boat captain, John Anderson, became the dominant operator with his Anderson Steamship Co. He built a shipyard at Houghton (now Carillon Point in Kirkland) and ran his boats over much of the Lake, making landfall at as many as 50 different locations. Anderson took advantage of tourist interest in Lake Washington during the Alaska-Yukon Exposition in 1909, operating 12 different boats on various lake runs.

The Kirkland was an early sidewheeler introduced into the Lake:

By 1911, Madison Park had regular scheduled passenger service eight times a day to Kirkland and Juanita and seven times a day to Houghton and other communities in the Kirkland area.

This was in addition to sightseeing cruises that also originated at the Madison Park dock. Leschi was also a major transportation hub at that time, with scheduled service to Mercer Island, Medina and Bellevue.

The development of the auto resulted in some changes to transportation across the Lake, with at least one of the larger passenger ships, the Urania (shown above) being converted to carry a few cars as well as passengers. But the passenger-only mosquito fleet continued to exist alongside the auto-ferries, since the smaller boats were able to land at many more locations, and in any event most people did not have their own cars. Tragically, many of the early Lake steamships were the victims of poor technology and safety procedures, burning and often sinking to the bottom of the Lake. (The website of the Submerged Cultural Resources Exploration Team has the fascinating stories of three such wrecks, including that of the Urania, shown below after its 1914 burning off of Houghton).

In spite of these an other hazards, robust passenger-only ferry operations continued through the Great Depression and into the years of the Second World War. One of the boats with the longest record of service (1915-1945) was the Ariel, which was owned and operated by Marcus and Henry Johnson. Former Washington Governor John Spellman, whose family moved from Broadmoor to Hunts Point during the 1930’s, well remembers taking the Ariel (shown above) into Madison Park when he was a student at Seattle Prep during the early war years.

On a typical day, he recalls, the boat would touch docks in Houghton, Yarrow Point, Evergreen Point, Medina, and Hunts Point before making the run across the Lake to Madison Park. The captain would only pull into one of the Eastside docks if he saw someone was waiting to be picked up, otherwise it was on to the next. Steaming in the fog could be dangerous, and some mornings the boat took much longer than its normal 30 minutes to cross, with the captain tooting the steam horn periodically to listen for echoes.

The Johnsons regularly let kids into the cabin, but the adult passengers generally flocked to the lower deck, in the middle of which were the engines, sunken a bit below the deck level and surrounded by a railing. Passengers enjoyed playing cards or checkers to pass the time, and in winter it was the only place on the boat that was warm. Spellman can remember listening to the Billy Conn-Joe Lewis fight on the radio while crossing on the the Kirkland ferry one evening. He also tells of a memorable day when a black Labrador jumped off the dock at Hunts Point and swam all the way across the Lake in the wake of a sailboat. The dog, he recalls, got to ride on the boat going back.

During the war the passenger ferries carried large numbers of workers at the Houghton shipyard to and from their jobs. Spellman recalls that after the Ariel docked at the side of the Madison Park ferry dock in the afternoons, many of the returning shipyard workers high-tailed it into the dock restaurant and bar, where there were plenty of pin-ball machines and several of those early motion-picture machines. That’s probably where the restaurant made most of its money, Spellman believes. In any event, the restaurant did not outlast the end of the ferry runs in 1950.

Spellman feels that something was lost when the floating bridges eventually eliminated the need for passenger ferries on the Lake. Perhaps feeling like many present-day commuters from Vashon or Bainbridge, Spellman remembers commuting by boat across the Lake as simply a less-hectic, more joyful experience: “Simply put, it was a much more civilized time. You greeted and talked to fellow passengers--and you didn't honk your horn at them.”

Readers wishing to learn more about the history of steamships on the Lake should check out the Wikipedia article and note the book references cited at the end, in particular H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest by Gordon R. Newell.

[Pictures of the Kirkland and the Ariel, courtesy of the Kirkland Heritage Society, from Our Foundering Fathers by Arline Ely.]