April 2008

I tried the Lunchbox Laboratory after reading your article in this weeks paper. Great little spot, big, big portions but quite good.

We've had dinner twice at the Il Giardino Italian Restaurant. Very nice, well run operation. The veal, pasta, chicken dishes all very good as were the salads. The wines are a little pricey as they are most places but good selection. We also like the Monkey Bridge on Northwest Market Street. Nice clean interior and many Vietnamese offerings including pho.

Dick Mitchell

Ballard

College prepares safety plans

By Jill Wakefield

An urgent question at South Seattle Community College is how best to strengthen the safety of our students and staff. We're all too familiar with headline news about tragic events at school campuses across the country.

The safety question has generated a wide range of possible answers at our college. One idea raised is to have our campus security officers carry firearms. The four-year universities in our state have been given that authority by the state Legislature.

Since Ballard's Webster Park in the Sunset Hill neighborhood was classified last summer as "surplus" by property owners Seattle Public Schools, it's being marketed to the city's Park's Department, which has maintained it for several years.

The city leases for $1 a year the .8-acre park that sits west of the 1907 Daniel Webster Elementary School.

The city's Department of Planning and Development is putting the final touches on a proposal that would increase height limits and change development standards in areas zoned multifamily, which make up much of residential Ballard and Crown Hill.

The changes are meant to simplify the code, which has been revised several times since it was adopted in 1982.

Mary Lou Dickerson was a main proponent in safe toy legislation she sponsored in the Legislature which was passed signed into law by Gov. Christine Gregoire.

The Washington state Democrat who represents Ballard, sponsored the Children's Safe Products legislation.

"This should be a top priority for our federal government," said Gregoire on signing the bill. "It should set safe standards for children's products sold across the (United States). However, the toy recalls from last year make it clear. We can't wait any longer for the federal government to take action.

An American Automotive Association study shows the cost of driving a passenger vehicle in the United States has increased 1.9 cents per mile in the last year and now averages 54.1 cents per mile.

"While the cost of some driving expenses declined since the start of 2007, higher gasoline prices have more than offset these savings and pushed the overall cost of vehicle ownership and operation higher this year," said John Nielsen, director of the association's Approved Auto Repair network.

St. Alphonsus Parish School held its first health fair, a four-day event celebrating good nutrition, exercise, hand washing, vision care, germ avoidance, and "blood and guts."

That ear-catching theme boasted interactive anatomical exhibits including a healthy pig lung suspended next to an unhealthy one affected by cigarette smoking. Rubber brains, giant teeth, and human skulls fascinated students who handled them.

Kids wore rubber gloves to squeeze the pair of pig lungs.

It's not your typical pageant. No evening gown competition, no swimsuit challenge, these contestants strut their stuff on wheels, not heels. This pageant is Ms. Wheelchair Washington, where beauty lies in the heart and soul of each contestant.

"It's a way for these women to have an advocacy role in the United States and to be a role model - we like to spell it r-o-l-l," says Tammy Wilber with a laugh. She is the Washington Pageant coordinator and winner of Ms. Wheelchair Washington 2006.

The 2008 cruise season got underway April 1 and will bring new ships and more economic benefits to the region, says the Port of Seattle.

The cruise business has grown exponentially since 1999, when just six ships and 6,600 passengers arrived. In 2008, 211 vessel calls will bring more than 800,000 passengers to Seattle, and a total of nine ships will call Seattle their homeport.

In 2007, the cruise industry was responsible for more than 2,000 jobs, $268 million in business revenue and $6.7 million in state and local tax revenues.

Have you always wanted to write a book?

Ballard writer Robert J. Ray is ready to help get your story in print.

Ray is holding a workshop "Start Your Novel Today!" that will be more structured than Ray's "Writing Practice" sessions.

"All kinds of people come. Some have taken courses. They bring friends," said Ray.

In past classes, people writing memoirs, stage plays and poetry have attended.

The Greenwood class is more structured than the meetings at the caf/. Participants get 30 minutes to write something, followed by a reading.