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Greenwood-Phinney Chamber gets new prez

In January, Jeanne Mae Barwick, owner of Mae's Phinney Ridge Cafe, will begin a one-year term as president of the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce.

She will replace outgoing president Michele Della Pella, former branch manager of the Greenwood Bank of America (now manager of the Ballard Bank of America), who headed the Chamber the past two years.

Barwick has owned Mae's Cafe, a breakfast and lunch spot located at Phinney Avenue N and N 65th Street, for 13 years. For the last two years, Barwick has served as the Chamber's vice president. Chuck Tompkins of Edward Jones Investments has been named the Chamber's incoming vice president.

Barwick said one of her goals as president will be to increase member involvement in the Chamber's activities.

"I would like to get more of our neighborhood businesses to participate in our major events," said Barwick, referring to the annual Greenwood Seafair Parade and the popular Greenwood Classic Car & Rod Show. She added that other important issues for the Chamber will be making local crosswalks safer by getting them better marked and growing the group's membership.

For more information, call the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber at 789-1148.

Block 40 project under construction

For months, the site at N 34th Street and Fremont Avenue North, slated for the Block 40 project, has looked pretty vacant. The Block 40 project is a six-story, mixed-used building being developed by Security Properties Inc. According to a spokesman for the developer, Art Brochet of Muir Public Relations, Security Properties finally obtained their building permit and got under construction in November. Now, Brochet said, the company is poised to hand over $30,000 in mitigation money for impacts from the project to the Fremont Neighborhood Council, probably some time before the end of the year.

Lake City Chamber reports successful auction

The Greater Lake City Chamber of Commerce held its annual auction and dinner Dec. 1 at the Lake City Community Center. According to Deborah Harris, executive director of the chamber, local performer and singing telegram messenger Kevin Benedict who acted as auctioneer for the first time this year really helped keep bottoms in the seats.

"(Having Kevin) as our auctioneer really added to the auction. Our crowd stayed longer because he was so entertaining," Harris said. "It seemed like there was a little more excitement in the crowd in general."

Harris said the auction and dinner raised about the same amount as last year with the most money was paid for two used cars donated by Alley Chevrolet and Bill Pierre Ford/Dodge. She added that much of what is raised at the event goes right back into community projects like street light decorations throughout downtown Lake City during the holiday season, and the Pioneer Days Festival, the annual community Seafair event which is held in early August.

Lola Pop comes to Fremont

Lola Pop, a store that sells shoes, jewelry and accessories, opened in Fremont at 711 N 35th St #B on Sept. 28. Owner Muriel Monteiro, a Wallingford resident, had been a shoe importer selling to various shops before putting out her own shingle. She decided to move to Seattle from San Francisco about a year ago in order to avoid competing with a close friend who already owned a shoe shop in the Bay Area. She said she chose to locate her store in Fremont because she likes the neighborhood.

Flexcar comes to Green Lake

In December, the Flexcar car-sharing program, added two new cars which can be picked up and dropped off in the Green Lake neighborhood. The first vehicle will be kept at Gregg's Greenlake Cycle, 7007 Woodlawn Ave NE, and the second will be housed at the Green Lake Park-and-Ride lot at NE 65th and Ravenna Boulevard, beneath I-5. William Del Valle, Seattle general manager with Flexcar, said his group hopes to add a third Green Lake location near NE 65th and Roosevelt NE in the near future. In North Seattle, Flexcar service is currently available in Fremont, Ballard and the U-District. Flexcar is a public-private partnership supported by the City and King County. For details, call 323-3539. b