September 2008

No rose colored glasses

By Jean Godden

The economic news is downright gloomy: King County is looking at a large budget shortfall. So is the state. And we all know the federal government has been borrowing to meet its obligations at home and abroad.

Energy prices are up; housing prices are down. As energy prices cycle through the economy, food and commodity prices are on the rise, and real wages are eroding.

For those of us living in Seattle, the situation is not quite as dismal as elsewhere.

A third design review board meeting for the 91-unit apartment complex to be built at 5020 California Ave. S.W. went smoothly last week as representatives from Hewitt Architects explained what the community can expect as far as the look of the structure.

Designers seemed to put thoughtful consideration into the front view of the building as well.

A slate of transportation projects - from construction on Spokane Street this week, to replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct starting in 2012 - will disrupt traffic and business in West Seattle and several transit programs hope to alleviate the mess.

Transportation staff spoke at an open house on Tuesday, Sept. 9 in the cafeteria at West Seattle High School.

"As much as we don't want to imagine the worst case scenario, West Seattle is going to be impacted," said Dawn Leverett, board president of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

The Board of Trustees of the Seattle Community Colleges last week named Dr. Jill Wakefield the next chancellor of the multi-campus district.

Wakefield, currently president of South Seattle Community College, will assume responsibilities on January 1, 2009 upon the retirement of the current chancellor, Charles H. Mitchell.

At the time the Denny party landed on Alki Point in 1851, the Duwamish Tribe lived in over 90 longhouses on 54,000 acres in what is now Seattle, Renton and other suburbs.

While Duwamish members assert historic claims, buttressed by 4,000 years of archeological evidence of inhabiting the current Discovery Park, the tribe remains with neither a reservation nor official recognition by the federal government.

On Nov.

According to the National Wildlife Federation, loss of habitat is the biggest threat to wildlife in America today.

To address this it established the Backyard Habitat Certification Program to encourage development and maintenance of natural habitat on a local level.

What do you put in a time capsule?

"What will people, 50 years from now, want to know?" Andrea Mercado, director of the Log House Museum asks.

In collaboration with the Seattle Statue of Liberty Plaza Project, Mercado is collecting memorabilia to include in a time capsule to be buried at the Alki Statue of Liberty plaza.

"What can we put in the time capsule now," Mercado asked, "that tells people what was happening back in 2008 that determined the city they live in?"

Included so far are a schedule of events of the rededication, art work created at a

While the City of Seattle has taken effective measures to control the spread of Dutch Elm disease, the Department of Transportation is warning residents that many new infected trees have been discovered across the city.

Dutch Elm disease was first discovered in Washington in 1974 but was not seen across the mountains in Seattle until 2001. That year three infected trees were identified followed by five more in 2002.

Modern town homes have become a common complaint from many neighbors who argue that their design disrupts the character of Seattle neighborhoods.

In response, Mayor Greg Nickels is proposing to update the city's Multifamily Zoning Land Use Codes for the first time since 1982 and is scheduled to deliver his revisions to the Seattle City Council early next year.

City Council member Sally Clark, chair of the Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee, is unsure of what to expect from Nickels' legislation.

The Seattle City Council is expected to receive legislation from Mayor Greg Nickels this week that could assign developers the responsibility of providing affordable housing if they chose to build higher than existing zoning allows.

The policy is known as incentive zoning, and it was first implemented in Downtown Seattle in 2006. That year, much of the area was rezoned, allowing for greater building height.