August 2007

By now many people may have gotten their absentee ballots. Yes, we have a primary on August 21st, and a key race to vote on is for Seattle School Board director.

On July 16, the City Council unanimously adopted Resolution 30990, establishing the parameters for a Zero Waste Strategy for Seattle.

The Zero Waste Strategy is based on a policy framework that treats waste as a resource. Under this program, the city will rebuild its existing transfer stations and not invest $50 million or more in a new waste transfer facility adjacent to the Georgetown neighborhood.

Not only is the West Seattle reservoir going to be covered with a 1-foot-thick concrete lid planted with grass, the 68 million-gallon drinking reservoir in Highland Park is being reduced in size by half.

West Seattle reservoir is one of six reservoirs in the city being "buried." Work is underway on the lid for the Myrtle Street reservoir on 35th Avenue. Other reservoirs due for caps are Maple Leaf in the north end and Beacon on Beacon Hill.

It's not easy for Dennis Hoelscher to give up part of the spectacular vista he's enjoyed from his home in Fauntlee Hills, but he has little choice.

A new three-story house is under construction just downhill and it will obscure about a quarter of Hoelscher's picture-window view. They used to be able to see the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal, Fauntleroy Church and the Hall at Fauntleroy. Not anymore.

"My grandparents bought the property for the view of the (Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth) ferry," Hoelscher said.

Don't be shocked if you soon see a left-turn traffic signal on the Spokane Street Viaduct allowing eastbound cars to exit onto Fourth Avenue South.

That's one of the changes West Seattle drivers can expect from Aug. 10 through Aug. 29 to ease the anticipated jam-up of cars seeking ways around nearly three weeks of repairs on the northbound lanes of Interstate 5. A mile-long stretch of I-5 needs to be shored up between Spokane Street and Interstate 90.

This fall students from Fairmount Park and High Point elementary schools will combine to form a new school with a new name, West Seattle Elementary, a name approved last week by the Seattle School Board.

A plan that would close Fairmount Park and merge its students with High Point Elementary was approved by the Seattle School Board and then superintendent Raj Manhas last summer, along with six other closures, four of which were mergers.

As other schools battled to save their programs, the school generated High Point/Fairmount merger moved along quietly and was fairly unco

Some buses in the King County Metro fleet may be getting a makeover in the near future. Metro recently submitted a proposal to the King City Council to allow buses partially wrapped with advertisements. This is a reaction to the King City Council's directive that Metro stop selling full-wrap bus advertisement.

"The primary objections were to lack of visibility looking though the windows," said Sharron Shimbo, Metro's project manager. "Some customers also felt that it was dark.

Gordon Woodside, a longtime West Seattle resident and neighborhood native, died July 16 at Virginia Mason Medical Center after a stroke.

Born on January 22, 1927, he was the son of Canadian

The most expensive option for improving flood control in Fauntleroy - new streets with curbs and gutters - would cost an estimated $1,380,000. An inaccurate cost estimate figure was included in an article about the problem in the Aug. 1 edition.

Visit Puerto Rico without a plane

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