July 2008

Cities consider regional municipal jail

Officials from cities in north and east King County, including Seattle, are recommending to their councils building a single 640 bed municipal jail facility to serve their collective needs.

Preliminary results of a feasibility study show the cities north and east of Seattle would cut their per-inmate costs by half, and Seattle's costs are also reduced, if these cities jointly build a misdemeanant jail.

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Junior football seeking money to operate

Players with Ballard Junior Football are eager to start practicing next month, but organizers are busy raising funds to pay for the costs of running the for the non-profit program.

"We're looking for support for our program, " said Lisa Schwartzenberger, Ballard Junior Football's fundraising chair.

Money is needed to pay for uniforms, scholarships, equipment and field maintenance.

The program averages 150 children, ages 6 to 14 each season.

Neighborhood
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How to help fire victims

A $10,000 reward is being offered, leading to the person or persons responsible for the arson fire on June 29 at the Tara and Jenny Marie apartments that killed three people and left dozens homeless.

The damage to the apartments is estimated at $1.75 million dollars. Anyone with information is asked to call the King County Sheriff's Office at 206-296-3311 or 9-1-1.

Sterling Savings in Burien, 224 S.W. 152nd St., is accepting donations. There are two monetary accounts - one for the Cisneros-Vel

Neighborhood
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Ideas With Attitude

On Spaceship Earth

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

Recently I visualized being a baby passenger landing on spaceship earth. Imagine a newborn coming to this world with no way of going back to the place of origin. A new baby cannot pick its birth parents.

How many young people have said to their own parents, "I didn't ask to be born." However, the baby has a mind and body that can usually survive in the world it is confined to as long as it has nurturing caregivers for the first few years.

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Don't close

Admiral Post Office

Editor's Note: A copy of this open letter to Ernie Swanson, Seattle District of the United States Post Office, was sent to this newspaper.

Whatta crock! Closing the Admiral post office will be a disaster.

I suggest Mr. Swanson that you make an appraisal of our main post office at 4412 California Ave. S.W. to determine its inadequacy, crowded quarters, long lines, insufficient parking in the lot and street.

The antiquated building dates back to the '40s or more and never has been adequate in view of the population increase.

Neighborhood

Love Nouveau

I've always been a goodly wife

Committed to the married life

Til last year on that fateful day

A new love stole my heart away

It happened on my morning walk

While in the midst of girlfriend talk

I suddenly became aware

Of something magic in the air

There in, one of the Junction's nooks

He stood, with smoldering good looks

Tax break said to spur affordability of housing

The Seattle City Council approved legislation to expand a tax break for developers to 22 additional neighborhoods, including West Seattle, ending for now a long debate over whether the city's Multi-Family Tax Exemption program will increase affordability for middle-income workers.

Council member Nick Licata was the lone dissenter of the legislation last week, arguing that the changes "undermine its effectiveness." He proposed an amendment not to expand the program to several areas like Ballard that have already exceeded its target growth rates.

"Each one of these communit

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Salty's gets award

Northwest Center, a longtime provider of services for people with disabilities in Seattle, recently received a large donation from Salty's on Alki - a stretch limousine.

Proceeds from the sale of the limousine will help support the over 1,000 adults and children with disabilities served by Northwest Center in Washington.

Northwest Center is the largest non-profit in the Puget Sound that accepts donations of all types of automobiles including cars, trucks, airplanes, boats, military vehicles and construction equipment.

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