January 2006

Mayor Greg Nickels is launching a campaign to get Seattle to annex all or part of North Highline.

The mayor plans to suggest the Seattle City Council take the first steps toward annexing North Highline this year. Designating North Highline as a "potential annexation area" would widen the analysis of making White Center and Boulevard Park part of the city of Seattle. City planners have been analyzing some of the potential costs to the city. More results are expected soon.

"Seattle is a city of great neighborhoods and North Highline is one more," Nickels said.

Several Ballard neighborhood groups are seeking to get the Washington Legislature to compel the Seattle Monorail Project to consider selling property on the basis of factors besides the highest bid.

The monorail agency has stated that its legal obligation to city taxpayers is to sell properties for the highest price, in order to retire debt as quickly as possible.

Some people worry that buyers willing to pay the most money for the property might develop businesses that would clash with the neighborhood aesthetics like gas stations and strip malls.

"Empty buildi

An eroded sewer pipe sprung a leak at the southern end of Lincoln Park, forcing King County to haul sewage by truck from Fauntleroy to the Alki storm water treatment plant.

A crew from the King County Wastewater Treatment Division (formerly known as Metro) found a leak in the sewer line Jan. 17.

At the end of a hard day, Tim Celeski likes to unwind with thousands of bees.

"Beekeeping is relaxing," he said. "If you are very quiet, very slow and very easygoing."

Celeski keeps four honeybee hives at his home in the Admiral District, where his bees have access to the West Duwamish greenbelt.

A friend lets him keep a fifth hive in a yard in Fauntleroy.

It is legal to keep bees in Seattle so long as they don't bother the neighbors, Celeski said. Four hives is the city limit on lots smaller than 10,000 square feet.

The Westside Symphonette, West Seattle's youth orchestra, has been awarded a city Department of Neighborhoods Social Justice grant to increase participation in the orchestra by young musicians and to increase its visibility in the community.

"We are delighted to have this opportunity to increase the membership in the orchestra and to increase its service to the entire West Seattle community," said Jorge Morales, the project's coordinator, co-conductor of the orchestra, and orchestra teacher at Denny Middle School and Sealth High School.

The group was awarded $11,880

Y = Yes N = No E = Excused NV = Not Voting

Allowing motorcycles to go through traffic signals

By a vote of 92 to 2 on Jan. 18, the House approved HB 1466, which would allow motorcycles to turn left after one cycle at a signalized intersection equipped with a vehicle detection device that fails to register the presence of the motorcycle. The bill is under consideration in the Senate.

Rep. Eileen Cody (D-West Seattle) - Y

Rep. Joe McDermott (D-West Seattle) - Y

Uninsured motorist coverage

Years ago, many knew this community as a rugged, working-class neighborhood. Now, Ballard has become swankified by pricey boutiques and faddish nightlife. People come here in droves, and, for many North Seattleites, it has become a place to get their groove on, providing a nice alternative to the ornateness of downtown.

This has become a part of Ballard dialogue - even in the women's restroom at a new Ballard bar, BalMar.

"Ballard is just so cool now," said one slightly martini-happy thirty something, visiting from Queen Anne. "It's just...

The Loyal Heights Community Council was recently given official status as a neighborhood group.

On the final Friday of 2005, a rare break in the clouds drew a small crowd of skateboarders to the newly opened Ballard Commons Park, where the concrete in the new skate bowl was almost dry. Squeegees and towels quickly removed the remaining moisture, and the skating began, again.

Selected curves and contours in the new bowl have been replicated directly from the old one, and veterans will be immediately familiar with the shallow end of this swimming pool built for skateboarding.

A new photography exhibit at the Nordic Heritage Museum by Corey Arnold provides a slice of life aboard a fishing vessel in the dangerous waters off the Alaskan coast.

"Crabbing in the Bering Sea," has 16 color prints by Arnold, who describes himself as a photographer attempting to defy the boundaries of art, editorial photography and the commercial realm.

Photographs show the power of the sea, with waves towering over boats. The images were taken over five King and Opillo Crab seasons.