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Good morning. Issue three of the North Seattle Dispatch: five minutes on what moved in North Seattle this week, one item for your own neighborhood, a quick poll, the market in three numbers, and one practical thing for the house.
North Seattle this week
The I-5 southbound on-ramp at NE 130th Street is now scheduled to stay closed until 5 AM Thursday, November 5. SDOT's schedule has it closed around the clock from 5 AM Monday, October 26, for demolition and concrete work. Drivers headed south detour to the on-ramps at NE Northgate Way and Corliss Ave N, by Aurora Ave N or by 15th Ave NE and Pinehurst Way NE. SDOT says the dates can change. SDOT
Ballots for the November 3 general election are due by 8 PM Tuesday. King County's 100 drop boxes close at 8 PM sharp on Election Day, and a mailed ballot must be postmarked by Election Day to count. One of the 15 boxes added this year is at the Northgate Library. King County Elections
Tonight and Friday night, from 11 PM, light rail runs on one track at Pinehurst and Shoreline South/148th. Expect delays of up to 20 minutes toward Lynnwood City Center, and 2 Line trains turn back at Northgate. Metro has no fall service change: the schedules in place since August 29 run through March 26, 2027. Sound Transit · Metro
The council's budget package comes out Tuesday, November 3, and the public hearing is Thursday, November 5. The budget committee takes the package up Wednesday at 9:30 AM. At the hearing, remote comment starts at 1 PM and in-person comment at 5 PM; written comment to councilmembers is open any time. The schedule can change. Seattle City Council
You can ask for a public EV charger at the curb near where you live. Seattle City Light and SDOT are adding up to 200 curbside charging locations; applications stay open through fall 2027, and installation runs from fall 2027 through 2030. SDOT · Apply
Your neighborhood
Lake City. The new signal at NE 125th Street and 25th Ave NE now switches on the week of November 2, a week later than SDOT first listed. This week crews pour concrete for the roadway and sidewalks at 30th Ave NE, and the overnight push to finish the protected bike lanes from 20th Ave NE to 32nd Ave NE starts as soon as tonight. Next week brings pavement markings and signs at 30th Ave NE. SDOT
Sold near you: 11 homes closed within 0.6 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $970K (range $598K to $1.40M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 27 days.
Cedar Park. (evergreen) The neighborhood's namesake park, 3737 NE 135th Street, sits beside Cedar Park Elementary: swings, a play structure, basketball courts and a paved path around an oval lawn. Enter through the school grounds or the gated paths on 37th Ave NE; there is a small lot off 37th. The park closes during recess on school days. Seattle Parks
Sold near you: 8 homes closed within 0.6 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $839K (range $600K to $1.40M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 29 days.
Matthews Beach. (evergreen) Thornton Creek, which reaches Lake Washington at Matthews Beach Park, is a salmon-bearing urban creek, and Seattle Public Utilities is designing natural drainage systems upstream in Lake City to filter street runoff before it gets there: on 32nd Ave NE between NE 135th and 137th Streets, and around 25th Ave NE, NE 127th Street and 27th Ave NE. Construction is tentatively expected to begin in 2027. SPU
Sold near you: 4 homes closed within 0.6 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.15M (range $940K to $1.32M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 19 days.
Meadowbrook. (evergreen) Meadowbrook Pond, on 35th Ave NE between NE 105th and 110th Streets, is a Seattle Public Utilities stormwater detention and flood control facility built for Thornton Creek: flood reduction, cleaner water, sediment removal and habitat, plus open space. SPU last removed sediment from the forebay and first cell in September 2019 and says it will notify neighbors before the next round. SPU
Sold near you: 5 homes closed within 0.6 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.32M (range $598K to $1.55M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 30 days.
Pinehurst. The westbound bus stop at NE 125th Street and 15th Ave NE (stop 35270) is scheduled to stay closed until November 2. On Roosevelt Way NE at 8th Ave NE, crews are on protected bike lane work this week and next, with utility work this week. SDOT
Sold near you: 13 homes closed within 0.6 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $805K (range $340K to $1.10M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 21 days.
Northgate. (evergreen) The John Lewis Memorial Bridge turned five on October 2. It runs about 1,900 feet over I-5, from North Seattle College at College Way N and N 100th Street to 1st Ave NE and NE 100th Street, near Northgate Station. On the east side, a two-way protected bike lane runs along 1st Ave NE from NE 92nd to NE 103rd Street. SDOT
Sold near you: 13 homes closed within 0.6 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $413K (range $235K to $1.20M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 16 days.
Haller Lake. At the closed on-ramp, the work on NE 130th Street between 1st and 5th Ave NE is concrete demolition and utility work this week, then concrete pouring for the roadway and sidewalks at 1st Ave NE the week of November 2, ahead of the planned 5 AM reopening on November 5. SDOT
Sold near you: 4 homes closed within 0.6 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $802K (range $573K to $875K); the fastest went from listing to closing in 35 days.
Bitter Lake. (evergreen) Bitter Lake Playfield, 13035 Linden Ave N, came out of its renovation in 2025 with a new play area, three accessible restrooms, new picnic tables, and tennis court lights upgraded to use less energy and cut glare. It also has lighted ball fields with bleachers, a wading pool and a short stretch of the lake's shoreline. Seattle Parks
Sold near you: 4 homes closed within 0.6 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $528K (range $264K to $829K); the fastest went from listing to closing in 21 days.
Broadview. (evergreen) Llandover Woods Greenspace, 14499 3rd Ave NW, is a few gravel trails through dense forest, quiet enough, the city says, to hear a leaf drop. One trail opens a narrow view of the Olympics. Open 4 AM to 11:30 PM. Seattle Parks
Sold near you: 5 homes closed within 0.6 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.40M (range $650K to $1.87M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 24 days.
North Beach / Blue Ridge. (evergreen) Carkeek Park sits on the edge of Blue Ridge and Broadview, and its beach and tide pools are reached over a pedestrian bridge across the railroad. Piper's Creek, with Venema and Mohlendorph Creeks, is one of Seattle's few salmon-bearing streams, restored and monitored since 1979; chum are in the creek from mid-October to early December. Seattle Parks
Sold near you: 2 homes closed within 0.6 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.77M; the fastest went from listing to closing in 15 days.
This week's poll
Which North Seattle walk is yours once the November rain settles in?
Carkeek Park's Piper's Creek trail
Meadowbrook Pond and Thornton Creek
The market in 60 seconds
Across North Seattle ZIPs 98125, 98133 and 98177 (Seattle addresses only), the median home sold for $775K over the last 30 days (64 closings; single-family alone $901K). The median home took 35 days from listing to closing, the same as a week ago, and there are 4.9 months of inventory, also unchanged.
That is balanced territory: under three months favors sellers, above six favors buyers. The median rose from $699K, but a 30-day median moves with the mix of homes that happened to close; supply barely moved, at 312 homes for sale against 304. Single-family homes run tighter, at 3.5 months, and 22% of homes closed above asking.
One useful thing: new batteries when the clocks change
Clocks fall back one hour at 2 AM Sunday, November 1. The Seattle Fire Department's rule: each fall, when the clocks change, put a new battery in every battery smoke alarm, and test them once a month. A ten-year lithium alarm needs no battery; replace it when it chirps or fails a test. Replace any smoke alarm 10 years old or older, or of unknown age. CO alarms last about seven years and signal end of life by beeping every 30 seconds or showing ERR or END. Seattle Fire Department · NIST
Reader asked
A reader asked how to reach Golden Gardens Park by bus, and what the walk is like. Metro's Route 44 runs along NW Market Street in Ballard but does not go down to the park. From the two nearest bus stops, the walk is either a half-mile hike up and down about 300 vertical feet of stairs or a two-and-a-half-mile walk down Seaview Avenue, as Councilmember Dan Strauss described it in King County's June 22 release. This summer, Metro's Golden Gardens Direct shuttle shared Route 44's Market Street stops and continued to Seaview Avenue and the park every 30 minutes; it ran June 27 through August 30. King County
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Your turn. What changed on your block this year that nobody has written about yet? Hit reply; a person reads every one, and the best answers run in a future issue.
That's the week. Next Thursday: whether the NE 130th Street on-ramp reopened on schedule, and what the council's budget package holds.
Curious what your place would sell for right now? Reply with your address and we'll send what homes like yours have sold for nearby.
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