The Friends of Meadowbrook Park want neighbors to know there’s a meeting Tuesday night about dredging and expansion at the popular park.

Learn about the planned 15-ft wide roads (replacing 8′ and 6′ wide trails), the 20-foot wide ramps, the 50-60 trees to be removed, and the potential closure of the entire pond to visitors throughout the project.

Learn all about the planned Pond Dredging & Improvements Project this coming Tuesday, May 15, 7-9 p.m. during the Meadowbrook Community Council meeting held at the Meadowbrook Community Center.

The Italian Spaghetti House & Pizzeria is still closed, but there’s life in its parking lot. 

Our neighbors to the north-northeast, the Victory Heights Blog, caught this crew in action as a new Espresso stand went up at the old restaurant site at 9824 Lake City Way.

Headrush Coffee hopes to be open for business by June 1st said owner Zach Head, who will run the stand along with his brother. The free-standing building won’t need any plumbing and will tap electricity directly from the main power line.

The Victory Heights report is here.

The week-long Nathan Hale High School Horticulture Plant Sale begins at 1 p.m. today.

The annual sale, featuring everything from hanging baskets to tomatoes, is at the school’s greenhouse, off of Lake City Way and Northeast 110th Street.

From the intersection of Lake City Way and 110th, head east down the hill, then turn northbound onto 34th Avenue and take a left (westbound) onto our driveway. Please park in our gravel parking area.

We will be selling hanging baskets (fuchsias and mixed annuals), bedding plants, ornamental grasses, herbs, vegetable starts, and native trees and shrubs. All plants are grown organically by Nathan Hale students.

Here are the sale hours: Today, Wednesday and Thursday from 1-6 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Note there is no sale on Friday.

For more details go to the school’s website or their horticulture Facebook page.

North East Seattle Together  – the new “virtual village for seniors” – has its full public launch today.

Many neighbors have followed NEST’s progress over the past three years, watching as it organized, became a 501(c)3 and raised over $100,000 from the community. It was  featured in the Seattle Times and by KUOW Public Radio.

NEST is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization that will be supported primarily by membership dues.  It serves 14 neighborhoods in northeast Seattle – including Maple Leaf, Wedgwood, View Ridge and the University District – with a wide assortment of services, including transportation, simple household tasks, shopping and many, many more activities that are described on its website.

In February, NEST launched for Founding Members, who became the first to benefit from the community and support services that NEST provides to keep seniors safe in their own homes. Channel 13, Q13Fox.com,  has video here.

For more information email info@nestseattle.org or call 206-525-6378.

Disclosure: Mike, the author of this post, is also a NEST board member.

Three years ago Rose Chavez, a 5-year-old student at Thornton Creek Elementary School, died of  complications from Dravet Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy that causes severe seizures.

In her memory, the community set out to build a memorial playground that would accommodate children with special needs. The playground should be finished by the end of this school year, supporters say.

A final fundraising push is set for Sunday. “The goal of this event is to raise the final funds that we need to cover all the last of the expenses,” emails Beth.

The event is the “Differently Designed Artist Trunk Show,” and runs from 3-7 p.m. Sunday, April 29, at the school, 7711 43rd Ave. N.E.

Come and shop for handmade art created by twenty local artists. There will be jewelry, soap, paper crafts,cookies, and much more.

Twenty percent of all sales will benefit the Every Body Plays playground at Thornton Creek Elementary, a community playground designed for children with special needs in memory of a kindergarten student who passed away in 2009.

If you need a little more time to decide whether you’d like to participate in Solarize Seattle: Northeast, the deadline has been extended to next Monday, April 30.

The program, which aims to help educate homeowners about solar power and contract for less expensive installation, was slated to end April 23 but will remain open for an extra week because of popular demand, according to a news release.

Already, 21 Northeast Seattle residents have contracted to install solar on their homes, and nearly 300 people have registered to participate. The program, which is a partnership between nonprofits Northwest SEED and Sustainable NE Seattle, hopes that by the end of summer more than 50 Northeast Seattle homes will have solar installed through the campaign.

If you live in the 98105, 98115 or 98125 ZIP codes, you can register at www.solarizewa.org/registration. Need to learn more before signing up? There will be a workshop from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 28, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 4805 N.E. 45th St.

Today from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. is North Helpline’s spring electronics recycling event, benefiting non-profits like the food bank that serves northeast Seattle, including Maple Leaf, Wedgwood and View Ridge.

Anything metal, or with a plug (electronics and appliances) can be recycled, and there will be a van on site for secure and safe document shredding. We will even have limited curbside pickup available with prior arrangement for a nominal fee.

The event is free, although donations are accepted. It’s being held at Lake City Christian Church, 1933 N.E. 125th St.

Voters will decide in August whether to tax themselves an extra $52 annually to bolster Seattle’s strained library system.

Locally, approval of the property tax levy would mean the Northeast branch library, which has the second-heaviest use of any branch in the Seattle Library system, would see less crowding. From the library:

Books, computers, staff, programs, meeting rooms – everything at this branch is in high demand. People who live outside the area also use this branch because hours at their home branches have been cut. The levy will relieve service pressures by expanding hours at other locations. Computers and printers essential to support students, job seekers and others will be upgraded and the collection ofbooks and materials and online services improved. Funding for regular buildingmaintenance is also included.

The levy would also increase the budget for books and materials, and add back resources and maintenance cut since the landmark Libraries For All push finished in 2008.

Details about the $123 million, seven-year property tax levy proposal are here. A story about the City Council voting earlier this week to place it on the Aug. 7 ballot is here.

From that Seattle Times story:

Budget cuts over the past four years have forced the library to close 15 of 26 branch libraries on Fridays and Sundays. The entire system is shut down the last week of August, when the staff, for the past three years, has taken unpaid furlough. The levy would end the weeklong furlough.

The levy would raise about $17 million a year to supplement the libraries’ annual general-fund budget of about $50 million. It would cost the owner of a median-priced $361,000 home $52 a year.

Necropsy results of two beavers found dead at Meadowbrook Pond have been released, and signs point to natural causes. Chris Anderson, wildlife biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, provided this update:

Our state wildlife veterinarian performed necropsies on the two beaver WDFW and SPU obtained from Meadowbrook Pond. We suspect natural causes of death for these beaver. No evidence of disease.

One, a juvenile female, died due to a likely predator event and fallout from that. Leg was severely injured in a manner indicative of a large predator – in that area a coyote or unrestrained dog would easily explain the injury noted. The female was emaciated, possibly due to the leg injury and not being able to take care of itself that well afterward. Suspected cause of death is emaciation in this individual.

The other was an adult male. Reason for cause of death was more uncertain but appears it was hit by something. He had internal bleeding and severe hemorrhaging in his lungs. Suspected cause of death was this pulmonary hemorrhaging due to blunt trauma in this individual. Body was in good physical condition, he was eating well. No broken bones. Could have been vehicle collision, situation of getting trapped in e.g. built stormwater structures during an acute high water flood event in a system, or even something unrelated to built environment such as being in a den that partially collapsed, fallen tree/vegetation and resulting impact, defending itself against another animal, etc. I would only be speculating as to what ultimately caused demise but many situations in urban area – both built or natural environment induced, that could have resulted in the adult’s death.