February 2008

Empty Bowls in Burien raised over $8,000 on Jan. 25 to support the Highline Food Bank.

More than 650 community residents turned out to support this program for the hungry by giving donations for a simple meal of soup and bread. The soup was served in bowls made by local potters at the Moshier Community Art Center.

Empty Bowls is a nationwide project to help food banks create awareness of hunger at the local level.

The Times/News presents a summary of action on bills by Highline-area lawmakers in the Washington Legislature.

For complete information, go to www.WashingtonVotes.com - a free, non-partisan Website that is the source for this report.

Highline is represented by:

District 11-Sen. Margarita Prentice; Rep Zack Hudgins; Rep. Bob Hasegawa.

District 33-Sen. Karen Keiser; Rep. Shay Schual-Berke; Rep. Dave Upthegrove.

District 34-Sen. Joe McDermott; Rep. Eileen Cody; Rep. Sharon Nelson.

B Eric Mathison

Who walks?

That's what the Highline School Board decided on Feb.

Seattle city officials were expected to propose a compromise for annexation of the North Highline unincorporated area at the Burien City Council's Feb. 25 meeting.

Both Burien and Seattle have designated all of North Highline as a potential annexation area.

Tukwila and SeaTac are eyeing parts of the unincorporated area for annexation.

Monday's presentation was added to the city council's agenda following a Feb.

The White Center Early Learning Initiative, a first-of-its-kind public-private community based partnership, will significantly expand early learning opportunities to children from birth to 5 in White Center.

Funded by two grants, the White Center Early Learning Initiative will provide parents and caregivers with education and support to help ensure that all children in the community begin school ready to succeed.

The initiative is receiving $4.7 million from Thrive by Five Washington and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for expanded early learning options for fami

Petitions bearing more than 600 signatures were submitted to the Des Moines City Council on Feb. 14, urging lawmakers not to change the character of the marina.

Members of the Association of Condominium Residents of Greater Des Moines want the council to abandon plans to remove the sling boat launch from the marina, and not to permit another waterfront restaurant to be built in its place.

Mayor Bob Sheckler said later that not all of the 637 people who signed the petition are Des Moines residents.

After winning a national award for its success in Tukwila, the Community Schools Collaboration is expanding into SeaTac and North Highline.

The group held an open house Feb.

The powers-that-be are working to shut down our beautiful Burien Library and give us a larger but inferior library in the new city hall. We should stop this error. We should keep our beautiful Burien

Library, and Burien city government should keep its new city hall building.

Approaching our beautiful Burien Library, we drive into a parking area that has trees. The library is also next to a park filled with trees. Across the street, to the northeast is the community center. The beautiful Burien Library is in a peaceful location ... a non-hectic location.

(Editor's Note: The following letter was sent to Kate Turpin at Senior Services-Seattle-King County with a copy to the Times/News.)

I was shocked when I received the news that the Burien Nutritional Center was being closed due to lack of MONEY! I am a volunteer at the center four hours a day, five days a week, and I see many needy seniors coming in for a hot meal.

Though two of the sites you have recommended do not go by suggested donations but require everyone to pay $3 before being admitted, Burien never did this.

Open letter to Des Moines City Council

I, too, support retaining the boatlift launch at the marina. You say it looses $20-30,000 a year. These funds are just a drop in the bucket compared to the fees the city pays to consultants and for feasibility studies. You say that the income from the marina boat moorage must make up the difference. Oh, these poor boat owners/moorage renters. You seem to have a problem with taxing the rich to supplement the non-rich. No other governments have a problem with this.

Must all of the city's facilities be self-supporting?