We got a note from Jeffrey this morning about a woman he believes was a prostitute looking for customers along Greenwood Avenue.

On way to work at about 8:10 am, saw sight usually found on 99. Young female, lots make up, strolling slowly on west side of Greenwood at about 70th. Looking at cars, following them with her eyes. I was suspicious. When I drove by looked over and she made eye contact and gave a half-wave and a look. I take 99 south to work everyday so I know what a woman who is “working” looks and acts like. No doubt she was prostitute. Looks like maybe SPD has driven someone off 99 and onto our neighborhood main drag? If I wasn’t running late would have told her I was gonna call the cops. Will drop a line to N. Precinct so it is documented.

Not a real law and order type, but hookers on Greenwood cannot be tolerated. Hard drug use, theft, and violence are the fellow travelers of the oldest profession.

I called the Seattle Police Department to find out exactly what someone should do if they think they see a prostitute.

“You would actually call the non-emergency number,” SPD Spokesperson Renee Witt said. “You could always say it’s a suspicious person and she appears to be soliciting.”

SPD’s non-emergency line is 206-625-5011.

Two days ago the Seattle P.I. reported that Fred Meyer may be abandoning its plans to redevelop the site of the current store on 85th Street to include a massive one-level store, parking garage and housing units, and may instead simply remodel the existing store.

Fred Meyer officials have not yet responded to several messages left by PhinneyWood.

But this morning, Ted Panton, the lead architect for the project for GGLO, said that he and his team know just about as much as what’s been reported in the media. Panton, who lives in Phinney/Greenwood, said Fred Meyer hasn’t informed GGLO about their plans, and that he hasn’t worked on the project for about four months as it’s worked its way through the city permitting process.

The latest redevelopment plan had been to demolish the existing Fred Meyer and Greenwood Market. Both lease the land from Greenwood Shopping Center. Greenwood Market’s lease expires later this year, and Greenwood Shopping Center declined to renew it. Fred Meyer has a 20-year lease, with eight additional five-year renewals. Fred Meyer’s plan had been to build a 170,000-square-foot single-level store partly underground. A nearly 700-stall parking garage would be at the northeast corner, and about 250 housing units would be on the west side, plus about 25,000 square feet of retail space for other tenants along the south and east sides.

The city approved Fred Meyer’s basic design last September. At that time, Fred Meyer told the design review committee that single-story stores work best; while two-level stores bring in about 40 percent less revenue, cost more to staff and lose more to theft.

The P.I.’s story quoted city Department of Planning and Development staff as saying Fred Meyer’s new plan was to remodel the existing store to house groceries, jewelry and electronics, and to eventually turn the Greenwood Market site into a garden center.

The annual Party in Greenwood Park is 12-4 p.m. this Sunday, with party-goers able to see the most recent park improvement plans and helping to raise funds to match the Neighborhood Matching Fund grant of $60,000.

Neighbors look over preliminary designs at last year’s Greenwood Park Party.

Greenwood Park is on North 87th Street between Evanston and Fremont avenues. The party is put on by Vision Greenwood Park, a volunteer group of neighbors. The party will feature, live music by Pickled Okra, food from local restaurants (Mr. Gyros, Better Meats, Snoose Junction, Lenny’s Market and Molly Moon’s), a silent auction and the most recent design plans presented by Site Workshop.

A donation of $10 for adults and $5 for children is suggested to help raise funds for the park.

The new Park features will appeal to different age groups, especially seniors and teens that are drawn to this area by the Greenwood Senior Center and North Seattle Boys and Girls Club. The project will also improve lines of sight and foster increased positive activity at the park to improve safety.

The major elements of the plan include:

Community Garden—designed to be universally accessible, the garden will create a space where teens from the North Seattle Boys and Girls Club can work next to members of the Greenwood Senior Center, and neighbors can grow local, organic produce for themselves and the Greenwood Food Bank.

Basketball Courtyard—located across the street from the Boys and Girls Club, an informal basketball court will provide much needed recreation activities for teens in the Park.

Start-Gazing Themed Gathering Plaza—creating a space for community events, live music, and barbecues.

Skate-friendly Design—the hardscapes of the basketball court and plaza will be designed to create multi-functional spaces including elements suitable for skateboarding.

Party attendees can vie for silent auction goodies from:

• Gary’s Auto
• Lenny’s Market
• Fattys Pizza
• Snoose Junction Pizza
• Chocolati
• Wheatless in Seattle
• Whole Life Yoga
• The Pola Belle
• Rhea Healing Essential
• Terra Bella
• Top Ten Toys
• Mayor McGinn
• Sip and Ship
• Gary’s Games
• Green Bean Coffee
• The Lash and Wax BoutiqueMariners
• Monkey Grind Espresso
• Game Time Foods
• Sensaria Natural Bodycare
• Better Meats
• Fred Meyer
• Greenwood Market
• Gorditos

Our sister site MyBallard reports that Greenwood’s own Mr. Gyros is opening its second restaurant today on the corner of 20th Avenue NW and NW 56th Street.

The original Mr. Gyros is at 8411 Greenwood Ave. N.

Twenty-two years ago, Paul Gorman was living in north Greenwood and filming a movie at local sights, including Woodland Park Zoo, Green Lake, and his own home. Gorman and a partner shot the film in 10 days using volunteer Seattle actors and just $500. But the unedited footage sat in the can for two decades, until 2008, when he finally decided to finish it.

Now living in Redmond, Gorman’s feature film, “Broken Frame,” will premiere at 6 p.m. September 6 on SCAN TV (channels 23 and 77).

Sure it was faded and grainy and some of the sound had deteriorated, but I was surprised at what we had accomplished, and how good the acting and story was. But, as captivating as “Broken Frame” is, I felt it was part of a larger and more intriguing story as to the reason it took so long to complete and what had happened to everyone since then.

Thus the film evolved and developed into a trilogy. The centerpiece and heart and soul of the movie is “Broken Frame.” “Reconstructing Broken Frame” and “Deconstructing Broken Frame” are the bookends, which tell the story of making the movie and explaining why it took 22 years to finish.

Since it’s been so long since he first shot the movie, he doesn’t even remember the names of some of the actors. He’s got pictures of them on his website, and he’ll give anyone a DVD copy of the movie if you can identify and locate them.

(Photos courtesy of Paul Gorman.)

Knowledge as Power, a Seattle non-profit, is conducting a usability study of the city’s website – Seattle.gov - to help make improvements. They’re looking for participants from all areas of the city, and don’t yet have anyone from Phinney Ridge.

Have you ever been frustrated at how difficult government web sites are to use? Here’s your chance to help them improve (and make a little something-something for yourself while you’re at it).

Knowledge as Power, a non-profit based in Seattle, is running a Usability Study on Seattle.gov. Essentially we are looking for participants like you to sit in a room and let us takes notes as you browse for information on Seattle.gov. It’s as easy as that, and in return we will give you $20 in Tippr credit. (Tippr.com is a local Seattle company similar to Groupon, LivingSocial, etc. Your $20 credit gets you $40-$60 worth of Seattle goods.)

Right now we are looking for two specific groups of people, 1) People who use or have used Seattle.gov for a business purpose (e.g. perhaps you’re a startup and you have to use the website to find & apply for permits) and 2) Ordinary Citzens! We’re looking for people of every level computer competency to come in and test the website.

Come help your city work better. You will find a link to the short application page here: http://ow.ly/2qyYy

Christina wants to know if anyone has seen a vehicle involved in a hit-and-run in Greenwood/Crown Hill early this morning.

At 1am August 17, there was a hit and run on 10th Ave NW between 80th and 85th. As the driver fled the scene, they headed north on 10th to 85th where they turned and headed east. They were driving a red truck with a silver tool box in the back. There would be new body damage to the front driver side of the truck. If anyone has any additional information it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you to all of our neighbors who acted so quickly last night.

Two or three loud booms shook houses all over Seattle and beyond today.  They hit about 1:50pm and had people walking out in the streets to see what happened. 

The FAA says it was sonic booms from military jets scrambling after Presidential airspace was breached, reports KING 5. President Obama is visiting Seattle today.

The booms were heard across Seattle, but especially in West Seattle — many residents there were shaken enough to call 911. West Seattle Blog reports that 911 lines were jammed with all the callers.

The annual Gumshoe 5K Walk got underway last Friday, leading neighbors to follow a series of clues around the quirkier sites of the neighborhood for a chance to win restaurant and Fred Meyer gift certificates, while raising money for the Greenwood Senior Center.

This family appears to have wandered into a garden in search of a clue.

Hmmm. Where does this dragon reside?

Gumshoe entry forms are $20 at the Phinney Market (5918 Phinney Ave. N.), Phinney Neighborhood Center (6532 Phinney Ave. N.) and Ken’s Market, (7231 Greenwood Ave. N.) The Gumshoe runs through Sunday, Aug. 22.

(The Gumshoe is a PhinneyWood sponsor.)

The Greenwood Community Council’s monthly meeting is at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Greenwood Library, 8016 Greenwood Ave. N. The special guest is Jim Curtin, Community Traffic Liaison, Seattle Department of Transportation, Traffic Management Division. He will discuss the Greenwood section of Aurora Avenue North, as well as the traffic calming efforts on Greenwood Avenue from North 85th to North 105th streets.

A woman was attacked and beaten in a parking lot in the 8500 block of Phinney Ave.  It happened last Friday (8/13) around 3:45am.  The woman, who apparently was living in a truck near the location, was approached by three men who started yelling at her.  A witness says the woman grabbed a baseball bat to confront the men, but they took the bat away from her and hit her with it.  They also punched her with their fists.  The woman then fell to the ground and one of the men stomped on her head.  When officers arrived, the woman was still on the ground with a good amount of blood around her head. 

A witness says the three attackers left in two different vehicles (described as a full size brown Chevrolet pick-up and possibly a Toyota Corolla).  The witness was also able to capture a couple of pictures of the vehicles on his cell phone.

The victim told police that some “guys from the boys club up the road got bored” and came to bother her.   She would not give police a written statement and would not provide any descriptions of her attackers.

When Mud Bay moved out of its old location at 8211 Greenwood Ave. N., a new produce store called Kelly’s Fresh Produce was supposed to move in. But, that didn’t work out, and now a different produce store, Theo’s Fresh Produce, hopes to open by the end of September.

Operations Manager Theo LaConte says his store will feature plenty of produce from hundreds of local farms, plus some dry goods, Washington wines and beer, espresso, and maybe even a small deli. He says they hope to open in late September, but definitely no later than Oct. 1.

“I’ve been in the produce business all my life. I’ve been a chef for years. I have a bachelor’s in food science,” LaConte said. “We’re trying to focus on as much local as we can.”

Theo’s will work with suppliers that support more than 700 locally owned and operated family farms and dairies.

LaConte’s business partner, Jim Greene, owns the building. Greene’s son Kelly was hoping to open a produce business, with LaConte as one of his suppliers, but that didn’t work out, leaving the building open for LaConte to join Greene in their own produce store.

“This is a perfect area for something like this,” LaConte said.

The almost 3,600 square feet is on three levels. The main floor – about two-thirds of the space – will be produce, plus a small espresso stand, dairy cases, and wine and beer (Theo’s is still waiting on its liquor license).

Near the back, just two steps up, will be an area for dry goods such as bread, cereal, etc. Another three steps up takes you to a small area where LaConte hopes to eventually set up a deli, but that’s at least a year off because it needs major plumbing work to turn into a deli.

Local artist Jim Carey is painting a mural on the north wall, and LaConte hopes to eventually get more local art on the walls.

LaConte says his espresso stand is not designed to compete with other area coffee shops, but will be more of a convenience for shoppers. He will use beans from Java! Java!, a very small Maple Valley coffee roaster.