Celebrate the 2021 arrival of light rail to Northgate Station tomorrow at a groundbreaking of the Northgate Link Extension, from 3:30-4:30 p.m. at the former QFC at Northeast 66th Street and Roosevelt Way Northeast.
A community kick-off celebration follows from 4:30-7:30 p.m., featuring:
- Live music by Roosevelt High School Jazz, Nu Klezmer Army, the Illicit Jug Cartel and the Rolling Retreads
- Face painter, balloon artist and train-themed bouncy house for the kids
- Link train photo booth – bring your camera or camera phone
- Zap Gridlock, Sound Transit’s traffic fighting superhero
- Project information booths – learn the latest on the station designs, public art, bicycle parking and access, current Sound Transit service and more.
Jim
Oh, and if you decide to move here, welcome to the neighborhood.
Jim Baxter-
Not sure if you’ll read this but I’d say Maple Leaf is a good mix of diverse peoples. Recently its become a hot bed for young families (my wife and I including) but it also has quite a few of the old Seattle guard that help keep the neighborhood grounded. Its mostly middle to upper middle class professional folks who want to live fairly close to where they work and have good access to I-5. It also has a pretty active neighborhood association that keeps tabs on various changes and works pretty well as a mediator between the neighborhood and the city. Its almost exclusively single family homes with a few town homes and apartments sprinkled in around its edges. Generally people who move here stay for a while. We’re happy to call it home and I think its generally not hippy but it does try to carve its own distinction from other parts of the city. Occasionally it gets a bad rap for being NIMBY but mostly that has to do with all the changes the neighborhood has been going through as of late. For instance, the Maple Leaf Reservoir Park, Light Rail (above), and the accompanying Transit Oriented Development area that is to come.
@Jim:
It will depend greatly on who you ask. You also have to keep in mind that those that squeak the loudest are often the outliers, so don’t take the comments of the most opinionated as the gospel.
Overall, some can argue that almost any neighborhood within the Seattle city limits is considered to have a large population of so called hippies, hipsters, progressives, etc…. Most often those labels are meaningless because people are nice, care about their neighborhood, and easy to get along with which is what really matters. At times you will get some of the hipsters that think their crap don’t stink and if you don’t ride a bike, belong to the sierra club, or use only Apple products who are some evil conservative. You just have to ignore those people and you will get good at doing so because almost every coffee shop and bar within the Seattle city limits will have some of those people. It’s not different than saying pretty much any bar or coffee shop in Bellevue or Kirkland will may have some pretentious person trying to keep up with the Jones’ and act like they are really wealthy.
Overall, I really like living in Maple Leaf. You still feel like you “sort of” in a suburban style neighborhood while still being close to downtown. You also have great variety around here not just the same cookie cutter strip malls. I love that I can walk to the grocery store, coffee shops, restaurants, bars, parks, etc… all from within a mile or less from my house.
The reality, which is not a negative against the neighborhood, is that Maple Leaf is a bit cheaper than say View Ridge, Bryant, Wedgewood, Greenlake, Wallingford, Queen Anne, Capital Hill, etc…. That is what brought me here and I am glad it worked out that way. ML is also very well situated in terms of traffic because you have 15th, Roosevelt, Lake city Way, 5th ave, and easy access to the freeway. Other great neighborhoods like Ballard are a nightmare to get in and out of.
In conclusion, Maple Leaf is a great neighborhood with a mix of older folks that have been here a while and younger folks that can afford to buy a place in Seattle to start out. Is it filled with hippies? I say no, but it really depends on who you ask and your definition of hippies?
Is Maple Leaf kind of a hippy neighborhood or is it normal/mainstream?
Looking to move to Seattle in the north end and trying to get information. THanks!
It’s a war on cars.
“Sounds like the War on Cars.”
Cars have been waging a war on walking, biking, transit, healthly living, and density for 60 years. And not everyone want’s to drive around endlessly trying to park and pay whatever price gas decides to be today. War on Cars? Get over it.
“traffic fighting” superhero??? Sounds like the War on Cars.