September 2008

The Port of Seattle Commission voted Aug. 26 to approve Resolution 3605 which makes sweeping changes to how the commission delegates its authority throughout the organization.

Construction crews working at night to repave Burien's First Avenue South as part of finishing the improvement project on that thoroughfare from Southwest 160th Street to Southwest 146 Street.

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES/NEWS

Interact with artists living in a storefront, watch trapeze dancers perform astoundng feats in a parking lot, hear musicians play original songs while an artist creates paintings of birds for purchase, and catch a lantern parade with a live marching band at Burien Arts A-Glow on Saturday, Sept. 6.

From 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., the newly titled and much enhanced Burien fall arts walk will pack downtown Burien with 12 hours of unique art, music, performance and more.

SPECIAL OT THE TIMES/NEWS

Des Moines City Council members have deferred several improvements planned for major city streets to reduce a projected $1.675 million deficit in the capital budget this year.

Council members also directed city staff to prepare a draft resolution authorizing interfund loans totaling $600,000 to allow critical arterial streets capital improvements to continue.

As I spend time watching Burien receive a new facelift in hopes of drawing people onto its streets and into its businesses, I have a question. Why does Burien overlook an urgent need at Moshier Field?

The athletic fields at Moshier draw hundreds of people in a year's time to various sporting events. Yet athletes and spectators alike are forced to use a facility that is filthy, unsafe and deteriorating, with sinks and a drinking fountain that are not working.

I am writing regarding the story "Goats, folks to clean park" (Herald, Aug. 27). I would like to clarify several items regarding the West Seattle Gateway Clean Up Project.

The aim of the project is to clear out blackberries and other nuisance plants; trim trees, remove dead and diseased trees, remove select trees to encourage healthy growth of the better trees; trim up shrubbery; and remove all litter.

A cell phone curse

By Marc Calhoun

I am on the 560 bus, on the way from the airport to West Seattle. A woman in front of me is talking loudly into her cell phone. After sitting through 10 minutes of non-stop chit-chat I move back a few seats to find a quiet spot. At the next stop someone boards, phone plastered against their ear, and takes a seat behind me. There's no place to escape. I'm trapped in chitter-chatter purgatory. My kingdom for a cell phone jammer.

I am in the men's room at work.

Thank you for your recent article featuring Volunteer Chore Services, "New Leader Hired for Volunteer Chore" (Aug. 19, 2008). While the article gave an excellent description of the services and the needs of older adults in West Seattle and the White Center community, it did not mention that Volunteer Chore Services is a program of Catholic Community Services of Western Washington, a non-profit with a 90-year history of providing services to people in need.

Upon a time, once long ago

A little cabin we loved so

Sat on a lake near meadowland

At peace in nature's gentle hand

And though she was a modest place

Her rustic charm and quiet grace

Allowed all those who came her way

To just relax and get away

But sadly now she's been replaced

Buy one who's full of wasted space

The bike and the water buffalo

By Dave Kannas

How to proceed when ideas relating to bicycles, bicyclists and my place in the grand scheme of the world appear to be in temporary short supply? 'Guess I'll dig behind the boxes in the closet of my mind, boxes that contain worn and soiled jerseys, shorts of various materials that have seen better times and cobwebs covering memories of long gone days on the bike.

The memory I pulled out kicking and screaming today happened long, long ago in a land far, far away.