April 2008

Once upon a time a family emigrated from Sweden and settled in the heart of Seattle's Scandinavian community. The children grew up and moved out of the neighborhood to raise their own children. The second generation would visit the first, bringing third generation daughters to Ballard to visit Grandma. One of those daughters grew up and married a Swede (on one side) and they began to search for the perfect (affordable) house in which to start a family. The woman found a local obstetrician so their baby could be born in Ballard and they prepared to live happily ever after.

"I just want to tone up and lose some fat."

Over my eight years of being a personal trainer, I have heard that line more times than I can count.

Some people are starting from scratch, while others have tried this routine or that diet. Regardless of the methods they had or had not tried, they all had one thing in common, the ability to achieve the body they wanted if they worked out the right way for themselves.

Each body is different and therefore, needs its own way of being "taught" on how to lose body fat and gain muscle effectively and efficiently.

The problem with dealing with government is getting it to do what we, the voters and citizens want and not what someone "downtown" wants done. It is one of those never-ending struggles that frustrates both groups, the cash-strapped man and woman resident of Seattle, and the hard-working and decicated elected officials and their staffs.

In Seattle, all too often, there is very little light between the mayor and his quirky announce-a-new-plan-a-minute way of operating and the often slow, plodding ways of the City Council.

Will you please remind drivers in the community about the traffic safety problem illustrated in the image below?

Driver 'A' wants to turn right at the intersection they are approaching and looks to their left to see if there is any motorist 'B' to which they must yield the right-of-way. Unfortunately, by looking only to their left they are oblivious to pedestrian 'C' who also has the right-of-way.

Frequently motorists cruise on around the corner unaware they've cut anyone off at the curb.

Extension of Pro-Parks studied

By Tom Rasmussen

Recently we received a flurry of e-mails from Ballard residents who feared that the cost of the Webster Playground, owned by the School District, had escalated beyond the city's ability to acquire it. Neighborhood residents have developed the playground into a much loved park and last fall the City Council approved funding to buy the property to keep it in public ownership.

Tent City 3 residents packed up their shelters and belongings last Saturday, ending a two-month stay in Ballard that brought out the generosity of the community.

The homeless camp, run by the Seattle Housing and Resource Effort/Women's Housing Equality and Enhancement League (SHARE/WHEEL), moves on to St.

With or without Mayor Greg Nickels, the Seattle City Council is moving forward with plans to extend the Pro Parks Levy and have appointed a citizen's committee to make recommendations about the likelihood voters would approve another multi-million dollar open space initiative.

The 29-member Parks and Green Spaces Levy Citizen's Advisory Committee is comprised of residents throughout Seattle neighborhoods who are charged with coming up with a plan for a new levy by the end of June.

A new mid-day hourly shuttle service from Golden Gardens to Fremont is slated to begin in the fall and Metropolitan King County Council member Larry Phillips is eager to take the credit.

After an abortive hearing last winter in which over 100 people loudly rejected a plan to split Route 17 to serve both 32nd Avenue and Seaview Avenues, all has been quiet on the Ballard bus planning front.

Suddenly last week, the County Council that oversees Metro Transit service, approved a September 2008 transit program that contained only one change inside the City of Seattle, Route 46

Seattle City Council member Richard McIver's proposed changes to a tax exemption plan aimed to increase the amount of affordable housing in the city would reach lower income earners than the version released by Mayor Greg Nickels last year.

But developers told council members at a recent Housing and Economic Development Committee meeting that income requirements needed to be closer to the mayor's plan in order for projects to financially work.

The current program ends next year, but a changing rental market and increasing costs for new construction has rendered it useless

Do you own an old home in Ballard and want to learn more about its history? The Ballard Historical Society's spring lecture "Ballard Residential Architecture from 1880 to 1930," is coming up on May 8.

Caroline T. Swope, PhD and architectural historian is back again for her fifth discussion on the topic.