July 2008

Approximately 650 miles of Seattle city streets are without sidewalks.

According to the Seattle Department of Transportation, to replace each of the block faces would cost an estimated $19.9 million annually for 50 years.

While the problem can seem overwhelming, a new community group, Safe Walks, is working to determine a fair means of providing safer pedestrian travel routes.

The group met last Tuesday, July 22 with Seattle City Council member Nick Licata to address areas with the greatest need for sidewalk replacement.

"To really appreciate Seattle

Proximity to downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac International Airport, affordable land, and cooperative municipal leaders; those were the key attributes of Southwest King County touted to developers and real estate investors at a recent economic forum in SeaTac.

"You sit in a really great place that is under marketed," said David Sabey, president of Sabey Corporation.

A panel of local businessmen discussed the strengths of doing business in Highline.

Michael Allan, a Des Moines, SeaTac and Burien real estate investor, said taxpayers' support for public education and

Home concierge service

There's just never enough time in one day to finish everything you need to do especially when you're working 40 hours a week and many think it would be nice if we could just add on a few more hours to each day.

That won't work but something new could help.

GoFetch4U Concierge is a new service in West Seattle to do errands, chores, caring for pets and grocery shopping so they can get it done in no time without having to lift a finger.

"GoFetch4U helps busy people with there everyday 'to do' list," said Nicole Rummer.

Upset that the School District went forward with the Chief Sealth High School and Denny Middle School project without getting much community involvement, residents at a Westwood Neighborhood Council meeting said they still found the design for the new Denny building and renovation of Sealth a concern because of the interaction of middle and high school students, the cost of the project, and that it would be an eyesore.

"A great debate as to what facilities would be shared between the two schools was a concern to both faculty and parents due to the possible intermingling of high scho

Home concierge service

There's just never enough time in one day to finish everything you need to do especially when you're working 40 hours a week and many think it would be nice if we could just add on a few more hours to each day.

That won't work but something new could help.

GoFetch4U Concierge is a new service in West Seattle to do errands, chores, caring for pets and grocery shopping so they can get it done in no time without having to lift a finger.

"GoFetch4U helps busy people with there everyday 'to do' list," said Nicole Rummer.

Experts are saying that one thing we can all do to conserve energy is switch out to the curly light bulbs, but being eco-friendly is not always good for your health.

The bulbs may have their energy saving benefits but if you happen to break a bulb, those efficient fluorescent lights can turn toxic.

They may cost a bit more initially, but over time will save you money (sounds familiar). It sounds so easy that you wonder why everyone isn't doing it.

Maybe it is the mercury inside those fluorescent bulbs that give some of us pause.

Baba Dioum of Senegal once said, "In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught." How will we help our community conserve resources for the sake of the environment and ultimately ourselves? How many times does the news just scare us so that we can't listen without losing hope?

At Camp Long, we promote a love of nature that leads us to preserve and conserve it as something we do from the heart, not from fear alone.

It's about time Seattle leaders do something to address the thoughtless design of some developments that have been sprouting up in our neighborhoods the last several years, especially when there are no signs of the trend abating.

Mayor Greg Nickels attempts to do just that with regulations he's proposing that would, as his office puts it, "improve the character and design of townhouses and require environmentally sesitive buildng and landscape."

The change would affect about 10 percent of the city, the amount zoned for multi-family constriction.

Yesterday I talked to a government survey worker that was being paid to locate the concrete bus stop that's in front of tennis courts along Fauntleroy Ave. He told me his crew was called out because the first crew located the wrong bus stop. The city is planning and demolishing it and hauling away the broken concrete.

Why do they need to pay a survey team to find it? Why even bother to waste money taking it out?

My thoughts,

Dave Durkoop

West Seattle

Tomorrow, July 29, Lander St , from 1st Ave S to 4th Ave S, will be closed to through-traffic from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. The closure is necessary in order for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad to make emergency repairs on the westerly tracks between Occidental Ave S and 3rd Ave S. Lander will be open for local access between 1st and Occidental and between 4th and 3rd Ave S.