March 2007

I didn't mean to be a fire chaser but I was doing errands by foot on 15th Avenue Northwest, dropping receipts at the Ballard Pool, when a slew of fire engines and Medic Ones wailed past me on Monday afternoon. I walked half a block north to the curve: an opaque curtain of smoke was drawn across the avenue just ahead, so of course I went to investigate.

I grew up next to a volunteer fire department so I won't pretend that it wasn't exciting to arrive at a fire scene with twelve Seattle Fire Department units.

'Oklahoma' comes to the stage

By Dean Wong

It's show time as the Ballard High School drama program presents the Rogers and Hammerstein play "Oklahoma" with performances the last two weekends of March.

Last week the cast of 40 was busy rehearsing their lines, working on the songs and their dancing.

Oscar Hammerstein wrote the lyrics and Richard Rodgers wrote the music for the famous production. It first opened in 1943 on Broadway and set box office records.

Deb Cummings of the Ballard Great Harvest Bread Co. here is preparing a patron favorite, cinnamon rolls. The Ballard store, owned by Bob Carlson, recently won the company's Phenomenal Bread Award. "Bob and Crystal Carlson were up against some of the finest bread artisans in the country," said Great Harvest Franchising President Mike Ferretti. Amber Trillo photo.

The small locks at the Ballard Locks are closed through Friday at 6 p.m. for it's yearly general maintenance. Crews drained the small lock and worked on the upstream service gate miter bars. The small lock can handle vessels up to 25 feet wide and 100 feet long. The large lock remains open through the service period. Dean Wong photo.

Back during the glory days when it appeared Seattle might actually have a monorail connecting Ballard through the heart of downtown and beyond, 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.

It is good to be green

Sometimes the most dangerous course of action is doing nothing.

If we do nothing, then global climate changes already making their mark on our weather, glaciers and air quality will harm our environment in irrevocable and dire ways.

Washington is especially vulnerable to climate change because of our dependence on snow pack for summer stream flows and because any rise in sea levels would threaten our many coastal communities.

If greenhouse gas emissions continue unchecked, temperatures will rise by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenh

Another good opportunity to help solve this country's homeless situation has been lost. The Chinese/American buffet restaurant on Market Street between 15th and 17th Northwest has been torn down along with residences and businesses.

The restaurant building would have been an ideal facility for a homeless shelter. Instead it and the other buildings were torn down to be replaced by a large condominium and business complex.

The torn down building has facilities for preparing and serving meals, (it) had bathrooms and adequate room for quite a number of mats.

'great citizen'

In the March 7 article "Gas Station Okayed," a Safeway spokesperson said that putting a high volume gas station in our community was being a good neighbor, indeed, a "great citizen." But Safeway has never been a good neighbor. In 1993, when it needed to rezone the site for the current store, Safeway signed an agreement with the city and its neighbors to retain a grove of mature trees to help shield nearby residents from the glare and noise of the parking lot.

Later, Safeway cut those trees down.

After nine months as the executive director of the Ballard Food Bank, John Simpson has left the agency.

Ballard Food Bank Board of Directors President Monica Greenberg said Simpson was a skilled person, but was not the right fit for the agency at this moment.

"We have a different set of needs and expectations, we are figuring out the mix we need," said Greenberg.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' proposed nightlife ordinance, which would have sweeping effects on the area's bars and clubs, could be approved by the city council this summer.

The new rules aim to increase communication and resolve disputes between booming nighttime businesses and residents in the heart of dense neighborhoods.