This is the Uplake Neighborhood Association discussion forum! If you have ideas for things you'd like to talk about, click on the "Leave a comment" link to tell us about them!

There's been another accident at the intersection of Remington Drive (NE 181^st Street) and Cat's Whiskers Road (61^st Avenue NE). The city is talking about installing a traffic light, but not until the Bothell Way project gets this far west sometime around 2011.

Have you had an accident or a near-miss at that intersection? Should the city put in an interim light right away? Would a traffic mirror help, to extend sight distances around the corner to the north? What do you think?

We've had some suggestions at board meetings that it'd be nice to have a place to recommend local restaurants you've discovered. So here's a place for that! Have you found a restaurant you really like? (Or dislike, that counts...) To share your opinion, just write a comment with the name of the restaurant and what you thought about it below!

Discussed so far: Uplake Grocery and Deli's new take-out (Uplake), Pen Thai (Bothell), and Brier Pizza and Pasta (Brier)

Now that FIOS is available throughout the neighborhood, there's competition for internet (FIOS, Cable, DSL, dialup), television (FIOS, Cable, satellite), and telephone (FIOS, Cable, cellular) services, and everybody wants to know what the differences are and which are any good. People are particularly curious about FIOS. Please share your experiences here!

What we should do about certain street locations in the neighbourhood where drivers often speed dangerously? One example is 58th Avenue NE, around the Aqua Club, where many people in the neighbourhood - particularly children - walk across the street throughout the day. Another is 181st Street at 60th Avenue, where drivers avoid the stoplight at the 61st Avenue intersection by cutting through the neighbourhood, not paying attention to pedestrians who might be walking to or from the bus stop, the park, or the shopping area.

Angle Points, Half Circles, Chiances, Chokers, and Traffic Circles are five traffic calming methods which have been successful in neighbourhoods across the region. Of these, Traffic Circles are probably the most common. None of them block traffic, but all help defeat dangerous driving and protect pedestrians. There are other effective methods as well, such as Smart Streets and the Complete Street system, for which we lack pictures. Do you like those ideas? Or do you have another approach in mind?

( Click here for images and diagrammes, to the right to see and leave comments )

These forums are kind of clunky, but they work and they're free. But they're not very busy. Would you like a better forum?

For a very small amount of club money ($20/year) and some work on my part we could upgrade this forum. It'd be pretty easy. Upgraded, anybody who signed up for a free (emphasis: free) Livejournal account could start topics, as well as add to current topics. We'd also be able to have joiners' comments appear immediately instead of waiting until approved.

Please let us know what you think by commenting below. Thanks!

Are you in Uplake and having a garage, tag, or yard sale? Do you have something for sale? Do you have something to give away or trade in the neighbourhood? Advertise it here by clicking on the "Comment" link below! Make sure to leave contact information, and if advertising your garage sale, time, dates, and address.

A neighbour asked about quail sightings over in the Suggestions topic. I'm giving it its own topic, so more people will see it. We could talk about other wildlife as well.

I love the use of the valley quail in the website. We've lived on 57th for 24 years and we have seen valley quail in our back yard occasionally over the years. Our last sighting was last spring. It was a covey of at least 12 little ones. I think they like the cover of the blackberries in the ravine behind our house. Haven't seen them recently. Anyone else seen them? Just curious.

We've had some suggestions at board meetings that it'd be nice to have a place to recommend local contractors, reliable workers, and other people Uplake Neighbourhood Association members have used with good luck. Also, the newsletter needs people for the paper list. So here's a place for both - comment to add to the list!