February 2006

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

Constitutional Amendment for School Levies

By a vote of 74 to 23 on Jan. 23, the House approved House Joint Resolution 4205, which proposes to amend the state constitution to allow a simple majority of voters to approve school levies. Current law calls for a 60 percent majority to authorize levies. The bill is now under consideration in the Senate, where it must also receive a 60 percent majority to pass.

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

Rep.

Metro bus riders will see numbered bays at the busy bus stops in the heart of the Junction beginning Saturday, Feb. 11.

All Metro buses on Southwest Alaska Street stop midblock between California Avenue and 44th Avenue Southwest.

A lack of police officers was the most common complaint when representatives of neighborhoods from throughout Seattle met recently for the city's first State of the Neighborhoods Summit.

West Seattle neighborhoods - represented by the Southwest District Council as well as the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council - listed emergency preparedness and human services respectively as their top priorities during the Jan.

State Rep.

Major renovation began last fall on the deteriorating Cleveland High School on Beacon Hill forcing the student body, faculty and staff to take up temporary residence at the Louisa Boren Junior High School building in West Seattle.

As part of the Seattle School Board's five-year plan to "improve and maintain high-quality school buildings," several local schools are getting needed renovations and construction projects.

"[Cleveland] was starting to get pretty bad," said Wayne Floyd, assistant principal of the school.

Cleveland Principal Donna Miller described the

It is that time of year again where high school robotics teams around the region are beginning to strategize what build in order to compete in the nation-wide For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) competition.

Chief Sealth students, also known as team 1039 (www.team1039.org), one of the few local high schools with a team, are working to compete in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology contest, which involves over 20,000 high schools from around the nation

As reported last year, the competition consists of each team recei

One cold winter day Dave Stamborsky and I were searching for a likely place to catch a steelhead and I convinced him we should try the Hamma Hamma on the Olympic peninsula. This is a short and narrow little stream which flows out of the mountains and empties into Hood Canal

I had fished it before but never in the winter.

Too small to use a boat we decided to hike it up to the famous Blue Hole where I had caught summer run fish before.

The wrestling program at Ballard High School has a bright future thanks to a roster loaded with sophomores and freshmen who are planting the seed for success in coming seasons.

It has taken hard work and leadership of Head Coach Glen Bell to build the program the last three years.

Last Tuesday, the Beavers had an opening in their schedule and decided not to sit around.

Lauren Gardner

A fortune cookie tucked away in his wallet for years inspired Thomas Harp to make a movie based on the its simple message, "Whatever your destination, happiness awaits."

Currently working on the film "Fortune Hunters," Harp says he could not have done it without help from the CityArtist Projects, a program sponsored by the Mayor's Office of Art & Cultural Affairs.

First grade students at Whittier Elementary School joined the festivities for the Chinese Lunar New Year, celebrating the Year of the Dog.

The Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year in January or February, depending the Lunar Calendar. This year, the Chinese New Year was on January 29.