Metro Eliminating Routes 20 & 73 in Victory Heights This Fall

Posted on February 18, 2024 by Ryan

An article in The Urbanist describes the changes coming to Metro Transit this fall when the Link Light Rail begins its service north to Lynnwood. Among them are eliminating Route 73 running down 15th Avenue NE, and Route 20 which serves Northgate Way. “With the retirement of Route 73, 15th Avenue NE from Lake City Way NE to Pinehurst Way NE will host no service, affecting portions of Maple Leaf, Victory Heights, and Northgate,” the article says. Instead of Route 20, new Route 61 would service Lake City to Greenwood via Northgate Way. In addition, during peak service the 322 will be rerouted off Lake City Way at Northgate Way and then to the Northgate station and down to South Lake Union. Here is Metro’s full description of the service changes.

Posted in News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Garbage Collection on Fridays Next Two Weeks (and other news)

Posted on December 26, 2023 by Ryan

With Christmas and New Years on a Monday this year, garbage collections in Victory Heights this week and next will be on Friday instead of Thursday (same again the week of Martin Luther King Jr Day).

Read the complete minutes of the December Victory Heights Community Council meeting.

In other news, Winterfest is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, January 28th, 2024 from 4-6 PM on 19th Avenue NE across from the park. We need volunteers! Sign up at the usual location.

The sock drive (including donations made at Zylberschtein’s and the pre-school) collected over 400 pairs! Thanks, everyone.

And finally, our community council President for the past several years, Ann Forrest, is wanting to step back in 2024, so we will be looking for someone to fill her mighty big shoes so that we can keep doing the community events you like so much (Food Truck Friday, Ice Cream Social, Chili Cook Off, Winterfest, HUB drills, etc). We have a good team, we just need a good leader!

Happy Holidays!

Posted in Community, News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Victory Frights Needs Volunteers

Posted on October 21, 2023 by Ryan

The annual Victory Frights Halloween party is coming, but we need volunteers! Sign up here to help close the street, put out extension cords, and hand out candy to the neighborhood kids.

Read the entire minutes of the October Victory Heights Community Council meeting.

Victory Frights will again be held on Tuesday, October 31st from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM on 19th Avenue NE across from Victory Heights Park (where the food trucks were parked each week). The street will be closed down, there will be decorations, and everyone is encouraged to come here to distribute candy in one easy location rather than waiting for stragglers to come by your front door. Over 100 kids participated last year. But we need volunteers too, these events (like the Ice Cream Social, Winterfest, Chili Cook Off, and Food Truck Fridays) do not just happen by magic, nor are they run by invisible elves. Everything in this neighborhood is put on by volunteers just like you, so if you want to see these types of events continue, please sign up to help. Most jobs take less than 10 minutes, it’s not a huge commitment.

A few days before that, Pinehurst will be hosting its annual Doggo and Kiddo Halloween Parade on Sunday, October 29th starting at 11 AM. We’ll be kicking off our annual sock drive there as well if you are going, or find the dropbox that will be under the bulletin board in Victory Heights Park during all November. New clean socks only, please.

The 3rd Annual Chili Cook Off will be (note: new date): Saturday, November 11th from 3 PM to 5 PM on 19th Avenue NE across from the park. Cooks, we need you to sign up and bring a crockpot of your favorite recipe. And volunteers are needed for setup and breakdown too. Sign up here.

Another Neighbor Labor is scheduled for December 2nd to work on 19th Avenue NE and Goodwin from 9-11 AM. Sign up here.

Posted in Community, Events, News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

23rd Avenue NE Drainage/Sidewalk Project Coming

Posted on September 19, 2023 by Ryan

At the September meeting of the Victory Heights Community Council, Seattle Public Utilities and their contractor did a presentation about the upcoming revision to 23rd Avenue NE that will add natural drainage on the west side, and parking and sidewalks (!) on the east side, from NE 104th Way to Northgate Way.

Read the complete minutes of the Community Council Meeting.

Scheduled to begin work in mid-October (as part of four such roadway reconstructions around the south fork of Thornton Creek), 23rd Avenue NE will be reduced from a wide raceway-like stretch to a much narrower street with parking on one side and the drainage system on the other (you can see examples of this in Pinehurst on 23rd Avenue north of NE 113th Street). You can read the city’s proposal in this PDF.

Also at the meeting we reviewed this year’s Food Truck Fridays (watch for a survey for how to improve it for next year), plans are afoot for a 3rd annual Chili Cookoff sometime in the autumn, and dog parade called (wait for it…) Victory Barks.

And mark your calendars for the return of Victory Frights, this time, “The Conjuring,” on Halloween night, October 31st staring at 4:30 PM. There will be spooky decorations and a chance to hand out your candy to the 100+ kids that are expected to come. It will be on 19th Avenue NE across from the park with the street closed down like during Food Truck Fridays.

Posted in Community, Events, Thornton Creek | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Victory Heights Community Council Meeting September 18th

Posted on September 9, 2023 by Ryan

On Monday, September 18th, join us for a meeting of the Victory Heights Community Council, from 7-8 PM in the co-op preschool building in Victory Heights Park. In addition to hearing the latest news and upcoming events, there will be a guest speaker about the drainage project on 23rd Avenue NE.

Also, with the end of the season of Food Truck Fridays, a change to give your feedback to help us improve the event next year.

We hope to see you there! (As usual, the chairs there are scaled for young children, bring your own for maximum comfort.)

Posted in Community, Events | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Victory Heights August Events Calendar

Posted on August 11, 2023 by Ryan

Friday, August 11th: Emergency HUB Show And Tell. What’s that big brown box next to the tennis courts in the park for? Find out from 4:30 – 6:30 PM. See what resources it contains to help neighbors support one another after a large (disruptive) event.

Saturday, August 12th: Movies At The Tower (Maple Leaf). Watch movies in the park by the water tower in Maple Leaf, with food and trivia starting at 6 PM, movie at dusk. This week: “Turning Red” (Pixar).

Saturday, August 19th: JokumFest, Victory Heights’ own live jazz festival, returns to Gary Schudie’s backyard, 2021 NE Northgate Way starting at 3 PM and going into the evening. Live music, food & beverages, side dishes welcomed, parking recommended on side streets.

Saturday, August 19th: Movies At The Tower (Maple Leaf). At dusk: “The Paper Tigers”

Thursday, August 24th: Victory Heights Cooperative Preschool is hosting a summer picnic on Thursday August 24th 1-3pm at the Victory Heights Park. Everyone in the community is welcome! They’ll have hot dogs and snacks. They hope to see you there!

Saturday, August 26th: Movies At The Tower (Maple Leaf). At dusk: “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”

Thursdays, the Lake City Farmers Market is up next to the Lake City Library,

And Food Truck Fridays continue every Friday afternoon throughout the month on 19th Avenue NE across from the park from 5-8 PM. Three to four different trucks each week!

Posted in Events | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Metro Suspends Route 320

Posted on June 12, 2023 by Ryan

Metro transit this week “temporarily” suspended Route 320 that serves Kenmore, Victory Heights (via Northgate Way), and South Lake Union. According to their blog post, labor shortages have caused the route (and several others) to be suspended for the weeks of June 12-23.

However, the 320 is not long for this world anyway, it is going to be permanently discontinued in September owing to low ridership and duplication of service.

While it ran, the 320 was a good backstop for service from the Northgate Link Light Rail station to our neighborhood along Northgate Way (it runs the same route as the 20), albeit during commuter hours only. After September, we’ll be down to one route again on Northgate.

Posted in News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Victory Heights Community Meeting March 20th

Posted on March 18, 2023 by Ryan

The Victory Heights Community Council will have another quarterly meeting on Monday, March 20th starting at 7 PM at the co-op preschool building in Victory Heights Park. The guest Speaker is Dave Wilma, published historian. We’ll also chat briefly about the upcoming amateur radio exercise in the neighborhood – and Food Truck Friday! Join our email list to get information about attending virtually. We hope to see you there!

Posted in Events, News | Tagged | 1 Comment