November 2006

Seattle Police issued more than 800 traffic tickets over the last two years to motorists on 35th Avenue Southwest in response to High Point residents' complaints about speeders, yet drivers still challenge the radar gun.

Recently the Seattle Department of Transportation clocked cars and trucks at various locations on 35th Avenue. Near Raymond Street, the average speed of southbound traffic was the same as the speed limit of 35 mph, said Gregg Hirakawa, department spokesman.

The Seattle Department of Transportation says "skinnying" up a portion of a city street could reduce the risk of crashes and increase traffic flow, making it safer for both drivers and pedestrians.

The idea, called a "road diet," is one of two options the city is considering to improve pedestrian safety along city streets.

While Burien and Seattle ponder White Center's future, White Center residents have ideas of their own about their community's tomorrow.

People gathered at the Salvation Army's White Center Community Center recently to offer suggestions about what to preserve in White Center and what to change in the years to come. The public meeting was sponsored by the White Center Community Development Association in conjunction with the University of Washington.

Most often mentioned as being worth preserving was White Center's polymorphism.

The Pathfinder community is a firm believer that building condition does not make a school program.

But with the floor literally crumbling beneath their feet in the rundown Genesee Hill building and little hope from the strapped Seattle School district to fix millions in upgrades and repairs, they don't have much choice.

Carl Jensen, Highline's "Citizen of the Century," died on Nov. 21of cancer at age 97.

In March 2000, the Highline Historical Society bestowed the honor on the man who guided the Highline School District as superintendent from 1953 to 1971.

Jensen's death came five weeks after the passing of his close friend and the person he mentored to become his successor in the district's top job, Robert Sealey.

Sealey, 79, passed away from cancer on Oct. 15 at his Lake Burien home.

The recently adopted 2007 King County Budget includes money for a Localizer Directional Aid approach noise impact study for the neighborhoods surrounding Boeing Field.

"I have been a long-time advocate of an Elliott Bay approach for planes using Boeing Field," said County Council Chairman Larry Phillips. "I have always said, however, that the solution to Boeing Field's noise impacts is not shifting noise from one neighborhood to another. This study will allow us to discover exactly where the noise impacts of an Localizer Directional Aid flight path would occur."

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a $1 million grant to South Seattle Community College so it can construct facilities for the Puget Sound Industrial Excellence Center.

The award is part of a $5 million challenge grant from the foundation to the Seattle Community Colleges.

The excellence center brings together a diverse set of partners from the private and public sectors to support technical education, economic development and family-wage jobs in our region and is located at the college's Duwamish Apprenticeship and Education Center in the Georgetown area,

The Southwest Seattle Historical Society is pleased to announce the appointment of its new Log House Museum director, Andrea Mercado, effective last week.

Mercado holds a BA from the University of Washington and completed the Museum Studies Certificate Program in 2001. She has volunteered at the Museum of History and Industry and has worked with the collections department at the Issaquah Historical Society for the past two years. Andrea has been employed as the Log House Museum Collections and Gift Shop Manager since 2001.

Directed by Neil Burger

Rated PG-13

(Two and one half stars)

Edward Norton's gaze has a whiff of dementia. Sure, at first glance that creaky voice and perpetually puzzled expression beguile with a nerdy charm, but a deeper look into his eyes hints at darker impulses, quite possibly beyond his control. The effect is a promise of menace that has served him well, whether in "Down in the Valley" or here in "The Illusionist".

Swedish Medical Center's Ballard campus medical staff has elected Dr. Shawn West as its new chief of staff for a two-year term.

West, a North Beach resident, will serve from January 2007 through December 2008.