September 2008

The first weeks with my family on the East Coast I resist writing about constant domestic dramas involving skunks, shared sleeping space with six people and trying to get the trash out on time for pick-up. But the divide between my Ballard and Oak Bluffs worlds finally broke this morning when my mother told me about gathering our household waste at the local dump.

Martha's Vineyard still has town dumps; no one abides by the terms landfill or transfer station. When my grandfather was alive our cottage was furnished by the dump-salvaged mattresses, bicycle wheels, shawls for the dress-up box. The old days of pulling items from the pit are gone, although the towns themselves sell some of the treasures on-site. Tales of the dump were legend when I was young - antiques to be refinished, the box of 1957 license plates, chats with the likes of surgeons or plumbers.

The trash is picked up nowadays, twice a week during the summer months by the facilities crew at the former Methodist Camp Meeting Association where my parents have had a cottage for 45 years (when we get it out early enough).

November's Sound Transit proposal to expand express bus service, enhance commuter rail, and add 36 miles of light rail will have enormous benefits for West Seattle and the entire three-county region.

The 15-year plan - known as Mass Transit Now - is a sound investment that will provide immediate relief for overcrowded buses and commuter trains while creating infrastructure that will serve people's mobility needs for generations into the future.

Residents only moved into the Ballard Landmark senior living facility on Leary Way Aug. 15, and already there has been a complaint from a resident about late-night noise coming from Ballard Avenue, which runs by the back rooms of the facility.

Mary Shepard, executive director of the Ballard Landmark, said a resident called the police at 2:30 a.m.

Seattle has begun to see a change in the type of people who are coming in for food bank services - people with their pressed slacks and white button down shirts are no longer a rare sight amongst the usual consumers.

As gas and food prices dramatically increase, food banks are getting hit by the economic blow as well as are Seattle families. However food banks are finding alternative ways to support the gradual increase of those seeking assistance.

"On average we have about 525 families that come in a week ...

Seattle Public Utilities has reported that food scraps take up about one-third or 45,000 tons of residential trash each year and solving this problem has been made easier for single family homes by giving them the solution to create their own food composting and yard waste compost bins at their own leisure.

But what about multi-family homes that have to share waste bins or don't have the option for food composting in their housing complexes?

A program called Food Waste for Apartments and Condominiums Test Project began late last November of to start solving this problem.

Humans are causing global warming and humans can do something about it, according to Steven Kazlowski, who has spent eight years photographing polar bears and their changing environment in the arctic.

The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture is hosting an exhibit of Kazlowski's work, "The Last Polar Bear: Facing the Truth of a Warming World."

"I offer these images as witness to an iconic species and an ecosystem that could be lost to future generations if we as a global community do not take action now," said Kazlowski in an opening statement for his exhibit.

Looking forward to big Beaver football numbers

By Michael Harthorne

Ballard High School is starting off this year with a new athletic director. Kristina Anderson, a Spanish teacher for four years, is taking on the task of coordinating schedules, hiring coaches, dealing with academic eligibility and the thousands of other jobs that come with the position.

Ballard News-Tribune: How did you come to Ballard High School?

Kristina Anderson: When I started teaching I was down in the Highline School District for one year.

During the six months that Bruce Harrell has been a Seattle City Council member he has grown frustrated with the limited feedback he hears from the community.

While he found that the council often heard from certain activists, he said he rarely gained a balanced perspective from the majority of the city.

"Most people (in Seattle) are either enjoying their lives or struggling, and they don't have the time or resources to be committed to process," Harrell said.

I pulled up to the light at the busy intersection and noticed a throng of people surrounding the entrance of a nearby convenience store.

I made a mental note and turned the corner to pull into a gas station to fuel up the van.

As the gas gushed into the tank, I listened to the click, click, click of the pump as it ate away at my wallet.

It's easy to lament about the cost of just about everything these days, especially since our wages seem mostly frozen, and that's if we are lucky enough to still have jobs.

Capping the tank, I headed for the cashier o

1. A man contacted Federal Way police to file an online police report after his wallet had been stolen from inside a facility at 36201 Enchanted Parkway South. The man wrote in his report that he had placed his wallet in a locker at the facility, but did not lock the lock. He said that he briefly stepped away from the locker to make a quick phone call and when he returned, the man discovered that his wallet was gone. The man told police that he discovered his credit card had been used without his permission.