Island Video calls it quits

After 30 years in business, Island Video decided to pack it in earlier this month, shutting down its one remaining location, the Madison Park store at 3109 E. Madison Street. We overlooked the closing, which was brought to our attention by MPB reader Kent Edebohls, who sent us a photo of the notice from Island Video owner Kent Smith posted on the door.In the notice, Smith stated that negotiations with the landlord over a lease extension had been...

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The pothole that ate The Edgewater?

Well, it’s not quite a sinkhole, and—assuming the City finally gets around to filling it in—it probably doesn’t really have the potential to collapse The Edgewater, which is just across the street. But this pothole at the intersection of 42nd Avenue E. and E. McGilvra Street has certainly become a major pedestrian and bicycle hazard in recent months. Vehicle drivers also need to take caution when approaching the intersection, since the barricades...

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Police Blotter 1/26/11

It’s been a tough month for the denizens of 39th Avenue E., in the area north of E. Madison St. Only one such crime was deemed worthy of posting on the Seattle Police’s neighborhood crime map (above), but residents say that officers told them there’s been a recent “rash of burglaries” in the area. The one getting the most attention is a break-in at a house on the 2200 block of 39th on January 19. The resident came home at about 6:00 that evening...

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December Real Estate Report

The year ends with a big bangThe Madison Park real estate market was sizzling in December, with 16 sales recorded during the month. That’s double the sales activity of the previous month and bigger volume than existed at the height of the spring selling season last year, when 11 homes were sold each month on average. December’s sales were 80% higher than for December 2009.Did the year ended on a fluke, or should we regard it as the precursor of good...

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Pavilion days on Lake Washington

In Madison Park’s early days this was very much a beach community, with lakeside amenities including a boardwalk, a bandstand, bathing pavilions, boathouses, and a ball park. In the late 1800s and well into the early 1900s, the centerpiece of Madison Park entertainment was a large Victorian structure on the Lake known as the Madison Street Park Pavilion. The photo above, from the Seattle Municipal Archives, was probably taken around the turn of the...

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An alternative to Megahouses

Short plats reconsideredReaders may recall the dustup we covered earlier this year over the permit requests of two Madison Park property owners who each wanted to short plat (subdivide) their properties. The two applications were coincidentally for different properties located on the very same block. Both of the lots already had two existing longtime rental units on them, and this fact effectively grandfathered the real estate as suitable for short...

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School District reneges on agreement

McGilvra shines, but will it always?When the Seattle School District issued its new school rankings late last year, John J. McGilvra Elementary scored at the top, receiving a “5” on a five-level scale. It was a bit of a “no duh” moment. As we previously reported, McGilvra’s students last year significantly outperformed both their City and State counterparts on the newly introduced Measurements of Student Progress (MSP) tests. Because the District’s...

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Madison Park road end closed to the public

East Mercer Street: No TrespassingBy Bryan TagasFor several decades the owners of two waterfront properties in Madison Park have taken for their private use the public road end which sits between their two properties. By doing so, they have excluded the public from what is publicly owned waterfront. This encroachment on the public right-of-way, which may have begun in the 1950s or before, was initially accomplished through the planting of hedges...

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