November 2006

Individuals and businesses seeking a way to give back to their community this holiday have several opportunities through the Holiday Express program at Ruth Dykeman Children's Center in Burien.

Here's how a business or family can help:

Adopt-A-Family

Ruth Dykeman provides all the important information (ages, genders, clothing sizes, gift suggestions). Participants do the shopping and also provide a minimum $50 grocery gift card or certificate for a holiday meal. The center then arranges pick up and delivery of unwrapped presents.

When the old Boulevard Park School is razed, I suggest the community make efforts to bring into existence a digital media and performing arts center. It could be a place where anyone in the community could participate and enjoy the art of the theatre and film. It would be nice to have it after Ralph L. Wood, one of the most wonderful teachers, who contributed so much to the lives of his students there.

Ed Musgrave

Boulevard Park '59

Traffic through the Junction is back to normal now that the new pedestrian crosswalks and repaving are finished.

California Avenue - from Edmunds to Genesee streets - has a smooth new surface and is painted with the traditional two lanes in each direction.

Most of the safety barricades have been removed.

A new public safety package adopted by the Seattle City Council could add about seven new sworn police officers in West Seattle by mid-2009, but some wonder if that's enough to address major staffing shortages in a police department that hasn't grown in decades.

The council revised the biennial budget proposed by Mayor Greg Nickels' to expand the Seattle Police Department by 37 officers at a cost of about $3 million.

The South Park Bridge loomed large in the debate over North Highline's possible annexation as Seattle City Council members criticized a proposed agreement with King County concerning responsibility for the dilapidated structure.

During a meeting last week of the City Council's Annexation Committee, council members Richard McIver and Jan Drago expressed reservations about annexing North Highline at all.

In an era where most of our lives are filled with worries about commutes, commissions, and childcare, it can often seem like there is no room left in our busy schedules to be active members in the West Seattle community, and certainly no time to contribute anything substantial to it.

The weekly West Seattle Farmers Market is working to disprove that opinion by providing a public sphere were neighbors can interact with one another, support local farmers, and reclaim the sense of community that can often get lost in the frenzy of everyday life.

The Market was opened in the

Seattle City Councilwoman Sally J. Clark is looking for a candidate to fill position on the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.

The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission is a seven-member citizen body that interprets, administers and enforces the Seattle Elections Code, Code of Ethics, Election Pamphlet Code and Whistleblower Protection Code. Some of its responsibilities include publishing the election pamphlet; maintaining public record reports required by the city's election campaign code and publishing data; and enforcing limitations on campaign contributions.

West Seattle Rotarian Marti Anderson was in for quite a surprise when she showed up at Salty's for her club's regular Tuesday meeting. The members had baked over 100 dozen cookies for her son Lance Corporal Ian Anderson, a Marine deployed in Iraq. The goodies were shipped the same day.

Two days after a pedestrian fatality at the same intersection, a citizen was crossing Admiral Way at 47th , at 9:30 p.m., holding one of the new reflective pedestrian flags. A vehicle approached, coming up the hill from the Alki area, and as the walker began to wave the flag, the driver not only failed to stop at the crosswalk, but actually sped up and continued driving eastbound. Witnesses noted the license number of the gray Toyota Prius, which is registered to a Mukilteo residence.

Ten wood mills operating in the early days of Ballard produced more cedar shingles than any other community in the nation around the turn of the century.

"Ballard, Washington - Shingle Capital of the World," is the title of an upcoming lecture that will shed light on an important aspect of this neighborhood's past.

Mary Fortino, president of the Ballard Historical Society, will lead the presentation.

After the city of Ballard was established in 1889, shingle mills that sprouted up on the waterfront.