Ten years after the city’s neighborhood plans were published, residents have been asked to help create a “status check” on how well the 20-year plans are progressing — and whether they need an update. Thursday evening a group of Greenwood and Phinney Ridge residents gathered around a table at the Phinney Center to provide the city with some feedback on the draft copy of the status report, which you can (download here .pdf.)

Many in the group explained how the neighborhood has changed over the last few years, from high-density housing, more families and a steady rise in traffic and transportation needs. “There’s absolute gridlock in Greenwood during rush hour,” said Lynn Graves. “The buses are jammed.” Neighbors provided a list of trouble spots, ranging from 80th to 85th to 90th, as well as the Zoo concerts during the summer. Many worried that the increase in traffic combined with more kids in the neighborhood is a safety issue. Representatives from the Seattle Planning Commission and the Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee took notes as neighbors provided their feedback.

The five key strategies of the original plan are: 1) Create a vital Greenwood that supports an economically viable main street and redeveloped commercial area 2) Connect the civic centers and the commercial areas with a “Main Street” plan 3) Open spaces and walkways “put the green back in Greenwood” and Phinney Ridge 4) Improve mobility and accessibility regionally and within community and 5) Support infrastructure improvements in the northeast and northwest quadrants. The status report listed several accomplishments, from Greenwood Park to the Greenwood Library and the installation of new sidewalks, but residents had plenty of feedback on how there’s still a long ways to go.

If you were unable to attend the meeting, you can fill out an online survey with your thoughts about the neighborhood and the status report. In October, the city will hold public meetings to review the updated status reports, and then they’ll be presented to the mayor and the city council to consider.

Darren sent us these photos of Red Mill, after it was apparently attacked by ketchup- and mustard-wielding vandals over night. Red Mill employees were understandably peeved when they had to clean it up this morning. Did anyone see anything?

Don’t forget to join neighbors and city planners at tonight’s Neighborhood Status Report Update meeting from 6-8 p.m. at the Phinney Center.

It’s been a long time since our neighborhood plan was updated, and the city needs to know what your priorities are as far as transportation, public safety, human services, bike paths, sidewalks, parks, housing, etc. This is your chance to have your voice heard.

We would love to hear from you whether you are unfamiliar with a neighborhood plan or you have devoted countless hours to the development and implementation of your plan. Come learn about the neighborhood plans and how they are achieving goals sought by your community and the City. Let us know how you and your community view growth and change in Seattle.

If you can’t make it, you can check out the virtual online meeting. More meetings are planned for October when the draft Status Reports for many neighborhood planning areas will be approaching their final form.

We’ll be posting a follow-up story, but feel free to email us your thoughts from the meeting, or put a comment below. Thanks!

There has been considerable discussion lately over the best way to combat crime in Phinney/Greenwood. After someone in the Green Lake/Phinney area witnessed a possible drug deal in front of her house, many people wanted to know if they should call 911 when they see someone loitering but not obviously committing a crime.

Travis sent us this note:

I just spoke to an officer who was in the neighborhood attending to an abandoned car, and I asked him about what the best thing to do was regarding reporting drug deals in the neighborhood. He said to call the ACT (Anti-Crime Team) at the North Precinct, 206-684-0850 and tell them about it. They can send unmarked cars to watch the area and start to build up a documented history of problems, etc. He said we could call 911 if we wanted, but since the deals happen so quickly, it’s unlikely that any responding officer would be able to do anything directly. ACT specializes in drug-related crimes.

The Seattle Weekly ran a story on Tuesday specifically about Monday’s PhinneyWood post that brought up this issue. The Weekly writer thought just sitting in a car was ”a rather loose definition of suspicious activity,” so he called Seattle Police Department to get the scoop. Here’s what the police told the Weekly.

“I think this was an appropriate response for the officers to tell this particular person for this particular reason that they called,” explains SPD spokesperson Mark Jamieson. “It’s suspicious behavior: if people are sitting in a car outside a quote-unquote drug house, or in an area that has a lot of narcotics activity–you kind of know what the signs are (cars stopping all hours of the night, people getting out, running in, staying five minutes, running off)–police want to know about that.”

That was quite the parade this evening. And we took plenty of pictures that we hope captured the essence of it.

Alex, aka, the PhinneyWood Kid, concurred, after getting handfuls of treats from the participants passing by. The only part he didn’t like was the Seafair Pirates’ cannon.

(Sorry about it being fuzzy, I jerked when it went off, even though the pirates made it clear what was coming).

The pirates’ Moby Duck had quite the crew, including this young lady with an, ahem, abundance of charm…

There’s a better caption for this one, I’m sure. Help us out with it.

A color guard led off the parade. Here they are at the review stand on 85th, where the Star Spangled Banner was sung by Debbie Featherston, who has sung the National Anthem at the parade in the past and at many Seattle sports events.. Anyone get her name?

Among the parade standards were the Seafair Clowns,

including this one, who could have given the Seafair Pirate girl a run for her money:

“Spock” had one of the better lines of the night: ”Laugh long and perspire.”

As usual, there were a bevvy of Seafair Princesses;

the Western Vigilantes;

and the $2 brats, chips and water special put on by Greenwood Market. That was a good brat (and that’s coming from a Wisconsin ex-pat).

There were art cars…

…and the Seattle Police Motorcycle Drill Team, which gave spectators a close-up look at their precision driving skills.

While local celeb Pat Cashman got plenty of waves, Rob Thielke got almost as much attention. He’s the star of most of those crazy “Honk for Fonk” ads for the Vern Fonk Insurance Agency. Here he is preceded by a ginormous version of his bald head. I saw a kid yelling, “Big Head! Over here!”

Here are some of the drill teams:

There were belly dancers too.

Here’s the Seattle All-City Marching Band putting on a show.

The group in the background had some of the best seats in the house. (Got space for PhinneyWood in 2010?).

The Masons had one of the most elaborate floats, with a remote-controlled Norwegian Spitting fish followed by a boat with a dragon that breathed smoke.

The Phinney Neighborhood Association crew, including staff Ann Bowden in blue and Ed Medeiros in red, tried their hand at synchronized cycling.

We saw this little nipper at the start and finish of the parade.

These impressive horses pranced their way through the parade.

And lastly, kudos to the Greenwood Christian Church for their parade entry which literally helped beautify the event.

Washington Wilderness Coalition at 305 N. 83rd St. reports someone may have been casing their offices a few days ago:

Yesterday a man who claimed to be from Puget Sound Energy came into our office while we were all in a meeting and walked around the office. I caught him before he left and talked with him, and he claimed to be looking for a gas meter (our office does not use gas). Since we were busy I did not think to check with PSE until today. They said they did not send anyone out here. So, apparently someone is posing as a PSE employee to go into offices. The neighborhood has had a rash of break-ins lately, and the word is that it was done by professionals who had cased the businesses.

He was about 5’10″-6’0″, short gray hair, no facial hair, Caucasian, medium build. Relatively non-descript.

Has anyone else had something like this happen?

If you’ve got a favorite small business in Greenwood or Phinney, now’s the time to help them get a little recognition. The 2009 Mayor’s Small Business Awards is accepting nominations until Sept. 2. The mayor will announce the winners at an awards ceremony at Town Hall on Oct. 13.

The 2009 Awards will honor the diversity and excellence of Seattle’s small businesses, and their contribution to the city’s economic vitality and quality of life. Ten winners will be selected on the basis of excellence in management, entrepreneurial spirit, customer service, and community involvement.

Over the last two decades, the awards program has recognized more than 240 small businesses, many of which have gone on to experience significant growth. Past recipients include such companies as: Starbucks Coffee Company (1984), Uwajimaya (1984), Ezell’s Fried Chicken (1989), the Dilettante (1990); and City People’s Mercantile (1993). Last year’s winners included Arab Film Distribution / Typecast Films; Compendium, Inc.; glassybaby LLC; and Macrina Bakery & Café.

You can download a nomination form here.

Up to 10,000 spectators are expected as the annual Greenwood Seafair Parade takes over most of Greenwood Wednesday night. The parade begins at 6 p.m. with a children’s division, followed by the main parade at 6:30 p.m. The parade begins at 95th St. and heads south on Greenwood Avenue, then west on 85th St. to 6th Ave.

Greenwood Avenue from 95th to 105th streets will close to traffic at 4:15 p.m. so parade participants can assemble. The rest of the route closes to traffic at 5:30 p.m. Walk or bike if you can, as there likely won’t be any street parking anywhere near the parade route.

We got notes from both Tara and Katie alerting us to a nail salon opening on the first floor of the Roycroft Condominiums, 6015 Phinney Ave. N., just south of Fresh Flours.

And Babyface Skincare is hoping to be open in the next week or so above A Muse Art Stamps at 7104 Phinney Ave. N. Babyface will be offering facials, sugaring and lash tinting.

That brings us to the closing. Pitcher Bros. & Family Carpets, 6510 Phinney Ave. N., moved into the neighborhood a year or two ago to our recollection, but closed up shop recently. Their number is already disconnected. According to their Web site, the family business has been in operation since 1937.

This year’s Greenwood Car Show, the first run by a new non-profit organization called the Greenwood Knights, donated 85 pounds of food and $8,000 to the Greenwood Food Bank.

The Greenwood Knights will present a check to the food bank during Wednesday night’s Greenwood Seafair Parade, at the grandstand in front of Bartell drug store around 6 p.m. (The parade starts at 6 p.m. at 95th and Greenwood.)

The Volunteers of America Greenwood Food Bank has been serving the Greenwood Community for over 20 years. Each month, nearly 3,000 individuals will visit the food bank for emergency food. The demand has grown within recent months; unfortunately it is during summer months that food banks receive the lowest amount of donations.

Volunteers of America Western Washington is one of the region’s most comprehensive human service organizations. With the help of over 500 employees, 450 volunteers and 1,300 donors we are able to respond to 350,000 requests for assistance each year from families in crisis, children at risk, seniors, and adults with disabilities.

Sarah emailed us about a man who tried to break in to her home last night while she was home:

I was at home at about 5:45 pm this evening when I walked in on a strange man trying to enter my house. I wasn’t thinking and just ran at the guy, yelling, “What the hell are you doing?!” which frightened him. He muttered and turned and left at quick walk, eastbound on N 80th St. The guy had clearly not cased the house – there’s nothing valuable here, and there were easier points of access to the house than the route he’d chosen. I was in another room, and hadn’t brought in the mail or the trashcans yet; I’m sure he thought there was no one at home and was just trying to get in quickly and look for anything he could take. Still.

Here’s what I saw: he was about 5’8″ or 5’9″, about average build – slightly stocky, but not heavy (no gut, that I could see). Probably in his mid-30s. Caucasian, but tanned/sunburned. Medium brown, curly hair. Wearing jeans, a baggy slate-grey T shirt, and a baseball cap. Didn’t get a look at the shoes, nor much of a look at the face – he kept it down and turned away. He had a utility knife which he’d used to cut the screen of one of my front windows – a quick vertical slash and then a quick horizontal, and had grabbed the screen and was pulling it out when I confronted him. The cops sighted him once, already west of Greenwood and heading westbound, but they didn’t catch him – they’d said they would call me to come down and ID him if they caught him, and I didn’t hear anything tonight. I also talked to a neighbour on the south side of 80th, who said my description sounded just like a guy who had been prowling in the alley, casing houses on the south side of 80th a few days ago.

Keep those windows locked!

Head on over to Ballard today for the fourth weekly “Tuesdays in Ballard” event. The summer-long program is designed to promote local businesses with specials and fun events, like mini carnivals, live music, and in-store discounts. More than 70 Ballard businesses participate, from shoe stores to salons, restaurants, clothing stores, housewares stores, etc.

You can check out the Tuesdays in Ballard website for a full listing of participating businesses and photos of previous events, and you can download a full-color map.