April 2007

The seventh annual Backyard Wildlife Festival in Tukwila will take place at the community center on Saturday, May 12.

The event at 12424 42nd Ave. S. will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the Wildlife Garden Tour taking place from 3 to 5 p.m.

The Backyard Wildlife Festival is a free community festival that promotes habitat restoration for backyard wildlife including birds, butterflies, squirrels and other small wildlife.

Highlights include:

A guided birding walk on the Duwamish River, conducted by Carol Schulz of the Rainier Audubon Society, at 10:30 a.m.

Chase away the last chill of winter by refurbishing the yard with gardening finds, bargains and even free plants from the fourth annual Bloomin Burien Plant Sale.

The sale on the sidewalks of Olde Burien runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Highline School District is planning to add more literacy and math coaches by using additional funds from a statewide voter-approved initiative.

Initiative 728 was passed several years ago to provide extra state money to help school districts boost academic achievement.

Elvis is coming to the Highline Performing Arts Center.

Local entertainer Danny Vernon will bring his Mother's Day Spectacular - A Tribute to Elvis-- to Burien on Sunday, May 6, at 7 p.m.

"We are delighted that Danny agreed to do this fundraiser for us," said organizer Diane Kennish, a long-time volunteer with the Miss Burien Organization.

The Mother's Day show, actually a week before the official Mother's Day, will be a fundraiser for the local pageant.

In addition to a full band and back-up singers on stage, Beka Simmons, Miss Burien 2007, Tiffany

Kenny Greenwood has mastered many skills in life-Special Olympics baseball, folding church bulletins and operating the church lights during worship services.

Ask anyone about Greenwood these days and they will tell you he is sporting a new image. As a matter of fact, people are doing a double-take when they see Greenwood, and with good reason.

On March 18, people from ages 2 to 92 gathered at the Burien Free Methodist Church to party hearty.

A card on the welcoming table inside the door greeted visitors. "You are invited to celebrate a great loss!" it read.

Burien City Council members were lucky enough on April 2 to view modeled apparel for the Trash Fashion Show.

Two students from the Highline School District's Occupational Skills Center, who created outfits made from recycled goods, modeled them for the lawmakers and audience.

"This is the liveliest council meeting I've been to," Mayor Joan McGilton observed after the presentation.

Turning to annexation, the council was told that House Bill 1139 would give Seattle $2.4 million in sales tax credits if the measure becomes law and that city subsequently annexe

For many southwest Des Moines residents, the effects of last winter's severe windstorm will be felt into the summer.

The Saltwater Park Bridge on Marine View Drive South, damaged on Dec.

If construction plans for Aviation High School fly, it will be the first new Highline district high school built since Tyee in 1962.

Supporters of the school are busy planning for the new building, which will be next to Tukwila's Museum of Flight.

Although Aviation High is located outside the district, Highline administers the school.

About 60 percent of Aviation High's students are from the Highline area.

The popular school with an aviation-based curriculum also draws students from 18 other school districts and a total of 21 legislative districts.

There are serious reservations about the airport for trails deal as presented. It is ill conceived and makes no sense.

King County and Ron Sims are attempting to give King County International Airport (KCIA), a great economic generator, away to the Port of Seattle. KCIA is worth at least a billion dollars.

The Port of Seattle is nearly $5 billion in debt and probably looking for new assets to mortgage.

As I was described by one former board member of Discover Burien as the "grandfather" of Discover Burien, I am happy to see the forthcoming changes.

I have been a strong proponent of reforms within the group since February 2006. Witnessing a poor Web site was only the tip of an iceberg. I had heard stories about bad perceptions of the group, but I was totally devastated when I witnessed first-hand the direction the group had actually taken.

I returned to Burien in August to join Del Bianco Realty.