Spring has finally shown its face with the blooming daffodils and budding trees and shrubs.  This is time to get out of doors and spruce up our neighborhoods to welcome all of the color and grandeur that is the Northwest.

Just as the plants have begun to grow and blossom, it is time to get our businesses moving with the new energy of the season.  Get connected to other businesses and develop relationships that truly create community.   Your Northgate Chamber of Commerce is on the move to offer opportunities to accomplish the mission of creating a large and active membership of businesspeople who interact and grow collectively.  Look for the details of our events that follow in this newsletter.

Our Northgate community continues to expand and improve.  There are some notable milestones that are being celebrated by chamber members this year.  Northwest Hospital celebrates 50 years of serving our community with leading edge health care.  North Seattle Community College is celebrating 40 years of educating the residents of our community.  Join with us as we congratulate these two major players as they celebrate and continue to support our community.

The Northgate Chamber of Commerce joins with the City of Seattle in welcoming our newest park.  The Hubbard Homestead Park (immediately north of the Northgate Shopping Center) will open with a celebration on Sat., April 23. The Chamber will be there with information about events, membership and the next big celebration, The Northgate Festival.

 I look forward to meeting and connecting with more of our members in the upcoming months.  The way to move ahead in business is through stepping out of the "comfort zone" and do things that cause growth to occur.  Putting your membership to work as one of our members did at the last luncheon, Sound Chiropractic, stepped up to sponsoring the event as a powerful way to expand their reach.  We welcome any member organization to become an event sponsor.  Just let us know which event you want to sponsor and be seen by your community.  

Have a magical and productive spring!

Samuel C Zeiler MS CC

President

Matt Bourassa, general manager of Northgate Mall

Matt Bourassa, General Manager of Northgate Mall, is new to the West Coast, after a recent relocation from Massachusetts. Matt previously managed Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, MA and was the Assistant Manager of the Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem, NH before heading west. Matt studied Marketing at Southern New Hampshire University and has an elaborate retail operations and development background. He served as Operations Manager with BAA, USA (now Airmall), where he developed and oversaw operations of multiple retail spaces, restaurants and services throughout Boston's Logan International Airport.

At Sak's Fifth Avenue, in Boston, MA, where Matt began his retail career after college, he worked with, and met his wife, Michelle, of 5 years. She is now a very busy, full-time, mother of two young boys; Conor (4) and Kyle (1). He and his wife, are very proud and involved parents who cherish their free-time with their boys. Most of their time is spent outside hiking, biking, golfing and visiting new places and trying new things.

Welcome to the neighborhood! 

Starting at 10 am

Join in the community celebration for the new Hubbard Homestead Park

Seattle Parks and Recreation, the Hubbard family, the Northgate Chamber, and the Northgate community dedicate the Hubbard Homestead Park on Saturday, April 23, 2011 from 10 a.m.

to noon. The Parks and Green Spaces Levy provided the funding to transform this former park and ride lot, located at 11203 - 5th Ave. NE, into a new 3.73 acre active green space for the urban Northgate neighborhood.

The event begins with a spring egg hunt hosted by the Northgate Community Center followed by music and family fun including basketball with local players. An official ribbon cutting with elected officials and the Hubbard family takes place at 11 a.m. Sound Steps, a community based walking program for adults 50 and

older, will lead a walk after the ribbon cutting.

The name Hubbard Homestead Park was chosen for the site and honors Harry Hubbard's family, homesteaders who lived at the site from 1913 - 1968. The Hubbards learned to love and value nature, and with this name the city honors their commitment to environmental conservation. The park design draws on the site's rich history and hydrological conditions. The park landscaping is young, but will grow to provide natural play in groves of trees

at the northeast corner of the park and at the Hubbard homestead site. The park also includes a main lawn surrounded by meadow planting, a half basketball court, a hydro-seeded "wet meadow," and a gateway plaza at 112th Street and 5th Avenue.

The "wet meadow" offers a final natural bio-filtration for runoff and contributes to the health of Thornton Creek. The park paths help define and provide accessible connections to the main spaces within the park. The diagonal spring runnel that runs the length of the park represents the 'blue streak' which was the name of

the first park and ride lot that occurred on this site.

The art, created by Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan, intends to re-invent the site's previous natural spring. The source stone is entitled "Mnemonic Spring" and the sculpture at 5th Ave. NE is entitled "Cloud Chamber."The artists will be at the opening with more information on the Greek myth-inspired work.

Parks and Recreation and design consultant Mithun led an extensive public involvement process to determine the design for the new park. The 2008 Parks and Green Spaces levy provided $2.5 million dollars for the implementation of the park design, including the skatespot that will be constructed in the southwest

corner of the park. Construction is anticipated to be finished by late summer 2011.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FLYER ON THE EVENT 

For more information, please visit the website  

or contact Patrick

Donohue, Senior Capital Projects Coordinator, at Patrick.donohue@seattle.gov

or 206-684-9286.