March 2006

When I was a kid I thought that animals decided to live in environments that hid them from predators. I, in my logical wisdom, finally figured out that the reason some animals blend into their surroundings is that they just happen to be undetectable and were spared long enough to procreate.

Then I noticed the bright colored plumage of male birds - the "eyes" of the peacock, the iridescent pheasant, the red-winged blackbird, California quail, bantam chickens and the turkey with its bright colored wattle.

Try one new recipe a week.

Quick, healthy noshes are perfect after work. The weekend, though, is a fantastic time to go to the market with your coffee in hand and experiment with a new recipe. Make sure the recipe calls for lots of veggies and lean meats like chicken, seafood, and beef.

Also, a recipe with olive oil is usually better than one that is low fat. Beware of low fat recipes. They might make up for flavor with sugar and flour or worse leave you feeling unsatisfied.

"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" snatches its young heroes from the perils of one war only to drop them smack in the middle of another. It hardly seems fair, but that's literature for you.

The Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, are packed up and evacuated from London during the Blitz of World War II. They're sent to the musty country manor of a reclusive relative known only as "the professor" (James Broadbent).

Mayor Greg Nickels came the few blocks from his home to our new office in the Admiral Junction to talk about the state of our city as he enters his second term as Seattle mayor. Along with the well known positions he has long taken, he did break some new ground.

The mayor immediately got a questioning look on his face when asked about the Seattle Department of Transportation plan to rid the Alaska Junction of its all-way pedestrian crosswalk, allowing left turns from California onto Alaska and doing away with the mid-block cross walks on California.

Spring is in the air! This time of year, I'm normally busy with early preparations for the annual White Center Garden Tour - lining up gardens, choosing a concept for the eagerly-awaited poster, cleaning up the mailing list, rounding up volunteers, and raising money.

For 14 years, I have enjoyed building our garden tour into a successful community event, supported by local businesses, neighbors, friends and visitors. What started as a one-time experiment has blossomed into a much-anticipated family activity for thousands of people over these years.

In a unanimous ruling, the Oregon Supreme Court recently upheld a controversial property rights measure known as Measure 37. Approved by voters in 2004, the measure requires the state to compensate owners when land use regulations reduce the value of private property.

Mayor Greg Nickels thinks a tunnel could be built faster than a viaduct along the downtown waterfront because legal entanglements would trip-up plans for a new elevated structure.

The mayor thinks there ought to be a public vote on the project.

"I will guarantee you that if the state tries to build an elevated freeway along our waterfront, there will be lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit," Nickels said during an interview last week.

An independent expert panel that will be selected by Gov.

The city of Seattle plans to build a $4 million, 8,000 square-foot fire station to replace West Seattle's High Point Fire Station 37, an 81-year-old building that's outdated and no longer meets many industry requirements, said Seattle Fire Department Battalion Chief Molly Douce.

Station 37, at the corner of 35th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Othello Street, will be rebuilt just three blocks south on the southeast corner of 35th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Holden Street.

The Highline School District's $148 million bond issue has passed on its first try.

With all votes cast at polls in the March 14 election and most of the absentee votes counted, 64.35 percent (11,311) of Highline voters approved the bond while 35.65 percent (6,267) rejected it. Final results will be certified on March 23.

The bond would finance the rebuilding of four elementary schools and other district upgrades.