September 2008

Longtime West Seattle Herald reporter Tim St. Clair, who died this past February, may be honored by a park in his name, but the effort has hit a snag.

Last Wednesday night's joint Delridge Neighborhood and Southwest District Council meeting at Youngstown Cultural Center discussed renaming the Morgan Junction Plaza Park to Tim St. Clair Park.

The site is currently a small paved triangle just north of the Beverage Place and was once planned as a major monorail station.

While the High Point Community Center, which just broke ground, will feature numerous activities geared toward area youth and families, Wednesday's grand opening of Bridge Park retirement home adjacent to the future activity center is geared for the 55-plussers.

But unlike other retirement homes, this one may not be your last stop, and you'll want a passport and set of luggage when you move in.

That's because the 156-unit Bridge Park is operated by the Holiday Retirement Community, and residents are free to stay at any of its nearly 300 locations in America and Canada for

The wit of Scottish muralist Alan Wylie was a fit match for West Seattle's gregarious Moe Beerman in the summer of 1992.

Beerman - the companion, collaborator and front man for the internationally renowned artists who in 1989-93 created the 11 Murals of West Seattle - awoke Wylie at 6:30 each morning for two months to dig into and complete what became the richly colored "Bank Day" classroom mural covering the north wall of the Washington Mutual building in the Junction.

Wylie's technique of preparing the surface with white, grey and black hues and covering them with a pin

Community members of the north Admiral neighborhood have come together to create a new play area for kids and a gathering place for families. While not everyone is supportive of the project, they are moving forward in the design process.

After talking with her neighbors about the need for places where children could play in her neighborhood, Manuela Slye and other Admiral residents began planning the project in June.

"I think the children and families deserve a community gathering place," Slye said.

At Chief Sealth High School students have returned with a new sense of pride after learning that the previous sophomore class showed the most growth, statewide, in all subjects on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL).

Tenth graders tested at Chief Sealth High School scored 11 percent higher in reading and 16 percent higher in writing than the previous year. The students also showed a 13 percent increase in math scores and a 20 percent increase in science.

"I was so excited," said John Boyd, principal of Chief Sealth High School.

The Seattle Department of Transportation is conducting a review of the Residential Parking Zone (RPZ) program in Seattle. The RPZ program is designed to help residents who live in congested areas by discouraging long-term parking of non-residents on residential streets.

Staff is looking at all aspects of the program, including program goals, permit issuance; zone creation, and enforcement practices.

During construction of the new south end of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the state will pay the county to get people out of their cars and into buses to help curb congestion.

The Washington State Department of Transportation will give $32 million to King County Metro, to increase bus service on Aurora Avenue, from Ballard, and from West Seattle - the corridors most affected by the construction.

"We're not leaving travel to chance," said King County Executive Ron Sims, at a press conference, Sept.

Troubles with two magazines sales people last week: A 20-year-old from Philadelphia was arrested after he broke into a Beach-Drive area home on Saturday afternoon. He fled down the street after the homeowner caught him in the act, but officers were able to catch him?even after he broke away, ran to the beach, and tried to hide under driftwood and rocks. He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of burglary.

The City of Seattle is proposing a 20-cent charge to customers using paper or plastic bags supplied by the merchant. Since the city is not providing the bags for sale to the customer by the merchant what is the purpose of the 20-cent charge? I feel that it is a tax on the use of the bag.

Some argue that it is not a tax since you have the choice of providing a bag to carry your purchase. With this type of reasoning if you prefer not to drive there is no gas tax.

retirement home

It was one of the stupidest ideas I've seen to date to put a retirement home on Ballard Ave. in the first place.

"I'm hoping they aren't the golf-course retirees," she said. "I'm hoping they're more the Manhattan martini-type people" (Sept. 3 issue).

WHAT?!?! You think the majority of tenants who are over 65 are going to be up and partying at 2 a.m.?

Frankly, if the Ballard zoning committee had any influence regarding this project they should have told the place to relocate.