March 2007

Mickey Kraut wants everybody to know that White Center has decided to have a July Jubilee celebration (July 21 and 22) and they badly need some volunteers to help out.

Mickey has lived in the same house in Salmon Creek for 49 years and has been president of the White Center Chamber of Commerce five times and also has been a volunteer clerk at the Burien office of the Crime Prevention bureau for 16 years.

If you can help this dynamic, dedicated community member call Larry Winkler at 947.3885 (See a Letter to the Editor from Winkler on Page Six).

Horse and buggy owners once dismissed the first automobiles as smelly and noisy. It turns out they were right. The automobile has become one of the culprits creating global warming and certainly has become a nuisance in our overcrowded city. Our traffic woes date back to citizen refusal to develop a comprehensive plan for regional transportation.

Back during the glory days when it appeared Seattle might actually have a monorail connecting West Seattle to and through the heart of downtown, we journeyed to Vancouver, B.C., to ask about their Skytrain and the interlocking heavy rail, bus and sea bus system that has lessened traffic on the area's chocked highways.

One point was made clear by the official in charge of the heavy rail line and Skytrain: nothing will ever work unless there is a single agency to plan and control all regional public transportation.

Editor's Note: This letter was addressed to the Admiral Safeway store manager, with a copy to the West Seattle Herald.

An article in (the March 14) West Seattle Herald concerning the newly enforced parking regulations prompted this letter. Your parking lot is yours to (do) with as you see fit but short-sightedness is an understatement.

I have been a loyal customer since moving to the area about nine years ago usually spending upwards of $4,000 yearly. Never have I seen your parking lot so full I had to leave to shop elsewhere.

I read Marc Calhoun's March 14 column protesting wrap advertising on Metro Transit buses with great interest.

Mark is not alone in his annoyance over the vinyl wrap ads that cover bus windows, darken the interior of buses on already dreary winter days and at night, and can turn the view from the bus into one big blur.

However, Mark need not cause a scene on the bus or stage a raid on the Metro bus barn to get rid of advertising wraps.

My name is Larry Winkler. I am a past worthy president of the White Center Eagles. At this time I sit as an outside guard until the end of April. In May I plan to be entertainment chairman and stage a karaoke contest at the Jubilee Days event.

I contacted the Jubilee Days committee in December to book time on the main stage. You can see I was a little ahead of the game so I planted the seed at that time.

Steve Teasley was chairman of entertainment at that time and told me this was something that sounded good to him.

I have reviewed the project for Ercolini Park online and in the West Seattle Herald, and there is one thing that was in the article that was not agreed upon at any of the meetings, and that is the proposal for the "older children's play feature - a small skateboard element."

As a neighbor I oppose this skateboard park as this will only bring in teenagers to my neighborhood, which have more time on their hands and nothing constructive to do.

On behalf of the Fauntleroy and West Seattle YMCAs, we would like to thank each of the more than 160 volunteers who campaigned tirelessly on behalf of youth and families during our 2007 Partners With Youth Campaign.

I was very disappointed at the lack of coverage for the opening of the newly renovated Southwest Branch Library in your March 14 edition.

The Library had been closed for over a year and a half and had a gala reopening celebration on March 10 with festivities including City Librarian Deborah L. Jacobs, Mayor Greg Nickels, Library Board Trustee Gilbert W. Anderson, City Councilwoman Jan Drago, the Library book fairy "Lulu," the Denny Middle School Jazz Band, and Cajun band La Bande Past

While I thoroughly enjoy your editorials and the letters from your readers, one thing I like the best is the crossword puzzle. This week's, Feb. 28, was so blurry that I could not work.

Any chance you could send me a copy via e-mail?

Jim Lambo

Arbor Heights