July 2007

Burien City Council members had the opportunity on July 16 to voice their concerns to the Port of Seattle.

Port Commissioner John Creighton, who updated lawmakers on the state of the Port, noted that revenue increased by 8 percent in 2006 compared to the previous year.

"We had a very good year," Creighton said.

Council members had local concerns, however, including the controversy over the Lora Lake Apartments and problems with some windows installed by the Port as part of its noise mitigation program.

The Port owns the Lora Lake property, located in

Burien city officials expressed disappointment last week at the "non-decision" by the state's Growth Management Hearings Board that leaves the North Highline unincorporated area and its 32,000 residents in limbo.

"It basically keeps residents hanging out there with no clear answer as to how the annexation question will be resolved," said Burien Mayor Joan McGilton.

The Hearings Board ruled July 9 that both Burien and Seattle could keep their conflicting potential annexation area designations for North Highline.

That puts the question in the lap of another agenc

Tukwila's Museum of Flight, the largest private Air and Space Museum in the world, has achieved another milestone.

The museum has been named an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, Museum President and CEO Dr. Bonnie J.

Burien residents can enjoy free Shakespearean performances this summer, thanks to the collaborative efforts of local non-profit arts organizations and the city's Parks Department.

GreenStage, which boasts acting and directing talents of Burien and SeaTac natives, will present The Two Gentlemen of Verona on Saturday, July 28, at 7 p.m. and Richard III on Saturday August 4, at 7 p.m.

Both performances will be staged in Dottie Harper Park, 421 S.W. 146th St.

AUBURN - District 7 Pac West received a rude introduction to the 2007 Washington State Senior (age 15-16) Little League Softball Tournament on Saturday, June 14, at their home field in SeaTac.

Capitalizing on PW pitcher control problems and errors in the field, the District 10 Fife-Auburn-Milton-Edgewood All Stars grabbed a slim early lead and continually built upon the margin before exploding to a 17-2 first round victory against PacWest.

The conglomerate known as FAME took care of business in the first inning by drawing five consecutive walks for two runs before PacWes

Swooping down the canyon-deep avenues of New York City, blissfully indifferent to the wispy-thin strands that hold everything together, the Spider-Man franchise tackles its third installment like the first day of summer vacation - brilliant in its lack of ambition.

This summer has seen a roller derby of sequels (several sporting the number three in their titles) all bumping elbows trying to gain traction in the crowd. For many of them that means offering up exotic realities or equally flamboyant performances.

Sir, how can this be a tight-knit community if you try to suggest an idea to the council and then when you try to follow up on your idea you are lied to and proverbially swept under the rug?

Let me go into some detail. I have a classic car that I show at car shows like the Alki car show. Back in a August I talked to Lora, the owner of Hotwire Coffee. I believe she is V.P. of the West Seattle Junction Association council.

I asked her what she thought of the idea about the Junction having its own car show.

The Alki Statue of Liberty is special to hundreds of thousands of people, and ought not be used as a pawn.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I drove home to my Alki cottage after many downtown buildings were closed as a precaution against another attack on a skyscraper. As I rounded Duwamish Head and caught sight of our Statue of Liberty, I knew that we had to show our support for New York, and comfort for our injured country. And so I collected my U.S. flag, the one that had flown over our nation's capitol, and my friends and I hung it on our Statue of Liberty.

Thanks to David Preston for his story about Mike Sweeney and the Turner Joy. It's good to see the old-timer in fine fettle.

But the story omits mention of Turner Joy's central role in one of naval warfare's most significant engagements ever.

Turner Joy and Maddox were the destroyers at the center of the Gulf of Tonkin incident. President Johnson, on the basis of claims of an attack on Turner Joy later proven to be unfounded, ordered retaliation against North Vietnam and began open U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

If you shop at a Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC or Albertson's, you probably noticed the yard signs saying, "Share the Success" posted on the lawn outside your grocery store recently. I work at West Seattle's Safeway in Jefferson Square, and I am one of the 20,000 United Food and Commercial Workers in Puget Sound who are urging these companies to share the success with us - and with our communities.

It's getting tougher and tougher for me to make ends meet on the money that I make and the hours that I get at the West Seattle Safeway.