January 2006

Some of the fragile peace between the Port of Seattle and neighboring airport communities has washed away this winter after a string of environmental incidents at the third runway site.

The state Ecology Department has fined the Port of Seattle and TTI Constructors, the Port's main contractor, $81,000 for allowing six releases of muddy water from the runway construction project into Miller and Walker creeks and for pumping industrial waste water into a storm-water treatment system.

Ecology officials, who earlier praised the Port’s efforts, last week also ordere

In January 2002, Don Wasson was selected mayor of Des Moines by the three new city council members whose campaigns he supported prior to the 2001 general election.

Fifteen months later, Wasson was gone from the council, having resigned as part of a settlement agreement with the state Public Disclosure Commission for his role in illegally funneling unreported contributions into their campaigns.

Now the businesses and their owners and investors who allegedly concealed some $60,000 they spent to influence the 2001 Des Moines’ election are being sued by the state A

The Times/News of Nov. 2 featured an opinion of 11-year-old Elizabeth Scher. She tells us how she would change the Bush administration's agenda if she were the President.

The idea of asking kids came from Highline columnist Earline Byers.

Never thought I’d live to see the day when there was a more upbeat attitude at a Des Moines City Council meeting than there was on a good day walking at Beach Park.

No doubt the Samoan Christian Church folks, whose pastor and congregation members recently moved into their new home of worship at 19804 Eighth Ave.

I had another contretemps this week.

As we pulled into the driveway and I pushed the remote on my visor to open the garage door, I felt the car shake and on opening the door was met with a full-on gale heading north toward Alki Point.

I got out and with the wind blasting me managed to grab the cluster of plastic bags full of groceries and stagger to the garage door.

Yikes, the door had stopped at three feet open.

The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce wants permanent directional signs put up along State Route 99 and Interstate 5 showing the way to Alki Beach and perhaps other West Seattle attractions such as Lincoln Park.

Executive Director Patti Mullen got applause for the suggestion from Chamber of Commerce members during the organization's annual meeting last week.

Patricia Davis was elected president of the Port of Seattle Commission by her fellow commissioners .

Other officers for 2006 are: Lloyd Hara, Vice President; Alec Fisken, Secretary; John Creighton, Assistant Secretary and Bob Edwards, Commissioner.

Davis succeeds Edwards, who was President in 2005.

"We faced a lot of challenges in 2005," Edwards said.

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

House Bill 2370

By a vote of 97 to 0 in the House of Representatives and 48 to 0 in the Senate on Jan. 11, the Legislature approved HB 2370. The bill appropriates $7.6 million for the 2005-07 biennium to fund energy assistance to customers in accordance with the state's low-income energy assistance program. Eligibility for the program is generally restricted to household incomes at or below 125 percent of poverty and is based on annual heating costs, family size and income.

The Seattle premiere of Douglas Carter Beane's play, "As Bees in Honey Drown," opens tonight (Jan. 18) at ArtsWest Playhouse.

The play has been dubbed "a witty, satirical comedy about the pitfalls of desperately seeking fame at all costs."

Beane, the author of "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar," takes the audience on a witty and wild ride powered by sophisticated humor and relentless honesty.

Erin Dolan opened her shoe store in West Seattle because she and her husband live in the Admiral District.

"But West Seattle needed it too," she said of her new store, Edie's. The name reflects Dolan's initials.

"I didn't want it to be so much me," she said. "I wanted the shop to have its own identity and not a lot of extra attachments."

Edie's sells men's as well as women's shoes and carries Camper, Puma and Asics brands. The new store also sells less familiar shoe brands.