September 2007

Tay Yashitani, who has been chief executive officer of the Port of Seattle for six months, wants to make Seattle the "cleanest and greenest" port in the nation and then use its eco-friendly image for competitive advantage.

"Cleaning up the environment is a worthy goal in and of itself," he said, but going green is proving to be good business too. The challenge is to figure out ways to use the Port's commitment to pollution clean-up to gain "new leverage," he added.

Yashitani was guest speaker at the Sept.

Like a wholesome scene in a Norman Rockwell painting, Erik Holsather, 23, sells produce and caramel corn from his quaint but sturdy homemade powder-blue cart on the sidewalk in front of the Alki Homestead restaurant.

Unlike a flat canvas however, Holsather is multidimensional and comes prepared. His business, called Erik's Alki Produce Cart, is topped off with an umbrella roof for rain or sun.

The backseat of his car is filled with boxes of apples, pears, carrots, watermelons and avocados purchased from wholesaler Charlie's Produce.

Miss America has been a target for envy, contempt and/or corporate marketing ever since the pageant was mounted many years ago. Women through the decades have surrounded TV sets around the world to ooh and ah or utter snide remarks about the contestants whose one claim to fame is strutting in a swim suit in front of millions through the medium of television.

I was one of those oglers year after year, secretly envying my sisters who managed to make it to the top in one of the few contests open to the female of the sexes - the beauty contest.

It only seems like new developments are springing up "everywhere" in West Seattle, but it's an optical illusion.

When people talk about development, they frequently have in mind multistory condominiums. apartment buildings and retail stores. To be certain, there are numerous multilevel commercial buildings being built in West Seattle.

Thanks so much for your article in today's (Sept. 12) Herald. It's an excellent history of the Sound Way property and community efforts to preserve it as open space.

However, Seattle Parks has had to ask that the legislation be pulled from the Sept. 19 agenda for the Parks, Education. Libraries and Labor (PELL) Committee of the City Council.

The reason is a technical issue: it now appears that the city must contract directly with the state in order to receive the proceeds of the capital grant that was secured by Sen. Erik Poulsen.

I would like to comment on the placement of skateboard parks.

First, I am not against skateboard parks.

With schools open this month we note many vehicles driving excessively over the posted 25-miles-per-hour speed limit on Southwest 112th Street. This area in question is between 10th Avenue Southwest and 12th Avenue Southwest.

Cascade Middle School and Evergreen High School being in close proximity to Southwest 112th Street, students from these two schools use Southwest 112th as a sidewalk (as this street has no sidewalks) creating a dangerous combination.

A child's poor performance in school can be caused by many things, but should be a signal to parents to take a closer look. As kids go back to school, parents should take note.

Approximately 300 people listened to the West Seattle Big Band's sweet mix of patriotic songs and jazz as they waited on the Alki Promenade for the arrival of dignitaries on a lovely, late-summer evening for the unveiling of a replica of a replica.

The new bronze version of Alki's miniature Statue of Liberty has been installed atop the pedestal where the original replica stood, southwest of the Alki Bathhouse. It was unveiled by Mayor Greg Nickels along with his wife Sharon Nickels and City Councilman Tom Rasmussen, an Alki resident.

Offshore from the ceremony, the fireboat Leschi circled sending high arcing, celebratory cascades into the sky from its four water cannons.

Closer to shore and strung with colorful international code flags was the gaff-rigged ketch Yankee Clipper, the Sea Scout training vessel based in West Seattle.

A Seattle Police color guard brought the ceremony to quiet attention.

Alki's new bronze replica of the Statue of Liberty needs both a taller, lighted pedestal and a new plaza with commemorative brick pavers, according to the majority of people attending a Seattle Parks and Recreation public meeting in the Alki Bathhouse.

Two nights after the unveiling of the new Statue of Liberty, Seattle Parks and Recreation held a public meeting at the Bathhouse to find out whether the public prefers getting a new pedestal for the statue, a new plaza, or both a pedestal and a plaza.