While condominiums and townhouses pop up in the heart of downtown Ballard, another part of the area - a stretch of Northwest 65th St. in the shadow of Phinney Ridge - is celebrating being the antithesis of the current condo development trend and remaining a street filled with independent businesses.
On September 28-30, some of the businesses hosted an event called Celebrate the Spirit of 65th.
Washington State Department of Transportation maintenance crews will close the Alaskan Way Viaduct for its semiannual inspections this weekend.
Since the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, the department has conducted a full inspection of the viaduct every six months to closely monitor any settlement or other signs of continuing deterioration. Transportation crews also conduct three-month visual inspections as an added safety measure.
"We follow an aggressive inspection schedule for the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
By Oct. 15 pedestrians and bicyclists will again be able to continue on the Burke-Gilman Trail under the Fremont Bridge rather than taking the detour that was provided during bridge construction. The trail from Stone Way North to Phinney Avenue North has been detoured to North 34th Street during replacement of the Fremont Bridge approaches and replacement of the mechanical and electrical systems of the bridge.
Beavers have strong season
By Dean Wong
The 2007 Ballard Beavers golf team is the strongest in years and has already won more matches than last season.
The team is lead by new Head Coach Casey McMullin, a professional instructor at the Interbay Golf Course.
McMullin is a 1984 graduate of Ballard High and has been involved in the game for 27 years.
"It has been a lot of fun. They are playing better team wise than in the past," said McMullin.
What a difference a few blocks make. While downtown Ballard is experiencing furious growth and development, nearby Phinney Ridge is hoping to remain just a quiet backwater with none of those awful condos.
The views of the area were made clear during a recent "Celebrate the Spirit of 65th" event chronicled on Page One by writer Daytona Strong.
"When you go downtown Ballard you kinda know what you're getting - there's a bunch of stuff there," says a Phinney Ridge store owner, "So here, it's just kinda more random, you know, hair salon, bar, tattoo parlor, shoe shop.
I'm happy the City Council has finally recognized the problem with unregulated condo conversions ("Council: All displaced renters must be told of aid," Oct, 7).
It's too bad that the council has only belatedly started to act on this issue, after a slew of conversions have already evicted hundreds of renters, many without without due process, and pushed the vacancy rate so low that it's almost impossible to find affordable housing in the city.
Your newspaper in general seems to glorify the new Loyal Heights Playfield. This is a response to the article you published in the Oct. 3, Ballard News-Tribune, entitled "Loyal Heights field ban hit by league."
Mr. Glen Quinton and Mr. Marshall Airey are being downright selfish.
The City Council's response to the eviction of 192 residents of Lock Vista, as reported in the News Tribune, is a cynical joke.
This is an emergency crisis for 192 tenants who have eviction hanging over their heads. Tenants constitute baristas, librarians, artisans and the elderly. What has a $100 a day fine for developers/landlords (who don't notify tenants of their rights) to do with saving these 192 citizens their homes?
Aren't there restraining orders, lawsuits and other legal actions the City Council can take to save these people?
Maybe it's the weather, rain for days on end, or the email from a friend about losing his sweet dog to cancer.
On Monday there was the funeral I attended, where the sun broke through just in time to light the tiny Kent cemetery and punctuate the melancholic moments of that service.
Or it could be the walk I took the next afternoon through the wrecking yard searching for a truck part, soaked through by returning downpours, those terribly torn up vehicles the result of some awful collision, but altogether, I was feeling pretty down.
I am normally a fairly buoyant
One hundred ninety-eight friends of the Hylebos Creek turned out to the King County Weyerhaeuser Aquatic Center September 22 to celebrate the annual return of Hylebos Creek salmon and to raise funds to support Hylebos Creek Conservation.
The event raised more than $25,000 for Hylebos Creek conservation at the Friends' third annual Ruby Dance Stewardship dinner.
