The Northwest Design Review Board will discuss the proposed four-building development at 10201 Greenwood Ave. N. at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 12, at Ballard High School. The developer proposes 263 residential units in three, four-story buildings, plus six live-work units, 212 enclosed parking spaces, and 3,900 square feet of commercial space.

Sketch courtesy of Grouparchitect.

The public can comment at the meeting, and then the Board will discuss its recommendations regarding the design.

The annual salmon run will be celebrated the day after Thanksgiving with free food, children’s activities, and a special performance of “Stormwater: Life in the Gutter” at Carkeek Park.

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25, hear volunteer salmon stewards talk about the lifecycle and habitat of salmon, how people affect them, what the city is doing to protect our waterways, and what you can do at home to help.

A special performance of “Stormwater: Life in the Gutter” is at 12 p.m. in the Carkeek Park Environmental Learning Center.

The one-man performance, written and performed by Stokley Towles, uncovers the world of urban rainfall and traces it from the clouds to the city’s streets and into the pipelines and creeks through which it flows. Towles’ one-hour presentation is humorous and informative – offering a gutter’s eye view of Seattle’s drainage and sewer system.

 Photo courtesy of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Pipers Creek collects stormwater runoff from the Broadview, Greenwood, Blue Ridge and Crown Hill neighborhoods – about three square miles – from Northwest 85th Street to the city limits between Greenwood Avenue North and Puget Sound.

Greenwood’s nationally-recognized youth writing and tutoring center, 826 Seattle, is throwing a party on Sunday to celebrate its recent award from the White House and its just-released anthology, “What to Read in the Rain.”

The community celebration is from 1-3 p.m. Sunday at Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co., 8414 Greenwood Ave. N.

The anthology is a collection of writings from well-known Northwest authors and the best of 826’s student’s work. Dave Eggers, Barbara Thomas and David Lasky will read their work, along with several student authors. Of course, the books will be available for purchase, and featured authors will be happy to autograph them for you.

Two weeks ago, 826 Seattle was awarded the 2011 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award. 826 Seattle Executive Director Teri Hein and student mentor Meron Kasahun traveled to Washington, D.C. to receive the award from First Lady Michelle Obama.

If you’ve driven down Greenwood Avenue North lately, you’ve surely noticed the rebuilt intersection at North 80th Street. SDOT crews rebuilt that entire intersection, along with textured crosswalks and new sidewalks.

Textured crosswalks at the rebuilt intersection of North 80th Street & Greenwood Avenue North, as crews finished up sidewalk work two weeks ago.

The year-long repaving project to fix 85th Street between 15th Avenue NW in Ballard and I-5 begins in earnest in January, with eastbound detours between 15th Avenue NW and 8th Avenue NW. Project Manager Jessica Murphy tells us that SDOT will have more detailed schedule information from the contractor in the next few weeks, and will update the neighborhood with details.

In the meantime, check out the project website, sign up for email alerts, or call the 24-hour project line at 206- 496-9993.

The Seattle Times reports that longtime Greenwood resident Kent Kammerer, a teacher and neighborhood activist, passed away last Friday at the age of 78.

Today’s story in The Times says Mr. Kammerer worked to improve pedestrian safety in the neighborhood, and helped form the Seattle Neighborhood Coalition.

You can read the full story here.

The trailers that temporarily housed the firefighters of Fire Station 21 at North 68th Street and Greenwood Avenue North are being moved.

The Defenders of Greenwood lived in those trailers for more than a year while the new Fire Station 21 was built at North 73rd Street and Greenwood Avenue North.

The dedication and open house for the new fire station is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3. Fire Department Spokesman Kyle Moore told us today that the fire department is expecting as many as 2,000 people to tour the station that day. They’ll also have refreshments and children’s activities.

Moore also wanted to remind neighbors that the fire fighters are very busy right now as they settle in to the new space, so please don’t knock on the door asking for a tour! You’ll have to wait for the open house.

By Mwiza Kalisa

Anika Anderson, a student at West Woodland Elementary school, was awarded a Norwegian fiddle for one year. Anika is the first recipient of the Young Student Hardanger Fiddle Loan, which was presented by the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America.

The 11-year-old from Ballard developed an interest in Scandinavian music at an early age. Growing up in a musical household Anika started taking lessons when she was 7. In 2007 she had the opportunity to play the hardanger when her violin teacher, Martha Levenson, shared the instrument.

Anika received her own hardanger in January after applying for the loan last October. Anika’s mother, Debbie Anderson, says that very few people are skilled in the hardanger and that even in Norway child-sized versions of the instrument are difficult to find. The rare child-sized instrument was made in Oregon.

The hardanger is more delicate than the violin and has four additional strings. When Anika received the instrument she started taking lessons with Peter Michaelson, one of the few Seattle musicians familiar with the hardanger. Anderson says that the unique opportunity has broadened their perspective of Norwegian music.

Hear more from Anika and listen to her play.

“If people don’t teach other people how to play this instrument it will eventually go away,” Anderson said. “I think they’ve done a great job on bringing this instrument to kids and I think Anika has done a really good job of sharing this instrument to other kids and other grownups.”

Anika has taken advantage of the opportunity, performing at local shows and in other states. In the Summer she visited Wisconsin on a tuition scholarship, where she attended the HFAA annual workshop. She also performs with the Seattle Lilla Spelmanslag, a group of young musicians who play traditional Scandinavian music.

Although Anika’s time with the small instrument is nearing an end, she hopes to own a regular hardanger one day. Anderson says she’s proud of her daughter’s accomplishments and will continue to support her in the future.

“I’m very proud of my daughter, but most of it has been her motivation,” she said. “It’s what she’s wanted to do.”

Anika’s next performance is at Yulefest, with the Seattle Lilla Spelmanslag, at 11 a.m. on Nov. 19 at the Nordic Heritage Museum. She is also performing at the Nordic Heritage Museum on Dec. 4 at 1:30 p.m. and with her mentor Peter Michaelsen at the Skandia Folklore Society’s Jullekstuga dance, at Cedar Valley Grange Hall in Lynnwood on Dec. 16.

Update: Santoro’s Books in Phinney Ridge now has a few copies in the store.

Neighborhood author Mike Attebery’s latest novel, “Seattle on Ice,” was released yesterday. You can find it in paperback on Amazon, as well as for the Kindle. (But, don’t forget that independent bookstores, including our own Santoro’s Books, can also special order books for you.)

Attebery sent us a note to say that anyone who remembers the big storm about five years ago will appreciate the setting. The book is a sequel to his 2009 novel “Billionaires, Bullets, Exploding Monkeys.”

Here’s Attebery’s synopsis of “Seattle on Ice”:

Like the secret love child of Dirty Harry and Martha Stewart, Brick Ransom is a rookie cop with a taste for fine dining and zero patience for slovenly deadbeats and criminal scum.

In the middle of a rare Northwest blizzard, Brick is forced to cut his dinner short in order to protect three key witnesses – a bookkeeper, a stripper, and a deadly assassin – all of whom are set to testify against Seattle crime boss Frank Mason the next morning. When a gunman ambushes the first witness en route to his downtown hotel, and Brick’s partner is killed in the crossfire, it’s quickly apparent that moles within the police force are leaking the whereabouts of each witness back to Mason in a last-ditch effort to keep the criminal kingpin from ever standing trial.

As the storm worsens, and the city freezes to a standstill, it’s up to Brick Ransom to protect the last two witnesses, outwit Frank Mason’s team of killers and crooked cops, and do his best to ignore his growling stomach, all while struggling to contain his growing fascination with Witness #2.

This Saturday, the Greenwood Senior Center is hosting the second annual Local Giving Fair, where you can talk to representatives from 20 local non-profits, and help support needs in our community. Make a donation and you’ll receive a card and impact statement to give someone as a gift.

The Local Giving Fair is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. There’s live entertainment and yummy treats.

The 19-year-old man accused of assaulting a woman in Carkeek Park on Oct. 10 pleaded not guilty this morning, after being found competent to stand trial.

The King County Prosecutor’s Office has charged Jack Keewatinawin with Assault Second Degree with Sexual Motivation for allegedly attacking a female jogger. He was ordered to undergo a medical evaluation, after telling authorities he believed the woman was a “marijuana goddess.”

He remains in jail on $250,000 bail. His case setting hearing is scheduled for Nov. 29.

The Phinney Neighborhood Association (PNA) needs about $6,000 more to install a new elevator as part of its Capital Campaign.

The Capital Campaign has raised about $5.3 million so far to purchase the site and buildings from the Seattle School District, create a more accessible campus both inside and outside, construct a more welcoming entry way and community plaza, perform seismic upgrades, repair the Brick Building’s slate roof and the main sewer line between the two buildings, update the boiler, insulate both buildings, and install an elevator in the Blue Building to make it more accessible to everyone.

The elevator will be installed in the current front entryway, about where the soda machine is now. The PNA received a grant from Wyncote Foundation NW several months ago, and is using part of that grant for the elevator. Community leaders, including Red Mill Burgers and several individual donors, also contributed, for a total of $60,000, and are challenging the community to come up with an additional $30,000 to help pay for it.

PNA Development Director Ann Bowden said 157 community members have contributed $23,840 towards that goal, leaving $6,160 to go by the end of the year.

The total cost for the elevator, entryway, community plaza and seismic work is expected to cost about $1.6 million, and the PNA still needs about $175,000 to meet that. Bowden said they are working on a few more grants and will probably have another fundraiser in the spring.

“We’ve raised almost $5.3 million, we’ve done some pretty significant repairs, and we’ve done all this in the middle of the recession,” PNA Executive Director Lee Harper said proudly. “We’re incrementalists here at the PNA. This is the next increment. We’re getting the elevator so we don’t have to carry 95-year-old women up the stairs to the Beer Taste.”

That actually happened last summer. Harper said Jeannette Miss came to the Summer Beer Taste with her granddaughter to celebrate her 95th birthday , and both were dismayed to find steep stairs to the second floor. So a group of men got together and carried Miss in her wheelchair up the stairs.

Four men carry 95-year-old Jeannette Miss in her wheelchair up the stairs to last summer’s Beer Taste. Photo courtesy of the PNA.

“You always talk about accessibility, and that right there is the problem. We cannot serve our whole community,” Harper said.

The PNA hopes to begin construction of the elevator in spring of 2012.

(Disclosure: We’ve donated to the Capital Campaign.)

Chris Figureida rode his bicycle 4,200 miles from Maine to Seattle, speaking to thousands of students along the way about the benefits of eating healthy and exercising. He ended his journey on Monday afternoon at Broadview-Thomson School, just north of Greenwood.

Chris Figureida shows his cycling route on a map. Photos courtesy of the American Heart Association.

Figureida’s “Cycle For Heart” tour was in support of the American Heart Association and Rotary International. He met with 40,000 students across the U.S. About 200 of them were at Broadview-Thomson, where he told the students that his ride took 81 days, required him to eat 4,000 calories of food each day, and he drank only water (not sugary sodas).

Figureida encourages the students to flex their muscles.

His equipment included his bike, a tent, GPS, cell phone, iPad, and a solar charger for batteries. He bought all his food at stores along the way.

Next year, Figureida plans to bike from California to Mt. McKinley in Alaska and back, and speak to school children along the way about being healthy and active.