December 2008

On Sunday, December 14th, photographer Kim Robinson braved the biting wind and snowy weather in her Gatewood Hill neighborhood to shoot some photographs of scenes she encountered.

As much as we West Seattleites hate to admit it, the viaduct must be replaced. And when it comes to the pain of the commute, many of us remember what it was like while the West Seattle Bridge was being replaced.

The engineers tell us retrofitting is out. And while they have known this for years, it hasn't discouraged city planners, politicians, and developers from promoting growth. Growth is good, goes their illogical refrain. Bring'em in, more people, more condos, more cars clogging the streets.

Agnostics... just ignore this.

I see spacious windows decorated with glistening objects everywhere. At one time they celebrated Christmas. I see artfully decorated trees everywhere. At one time they too celebrated Christmas. Carolers were invited to sing in stores. Not anymore. Instead of nativity scenes, angels and wise men it's cute Scotty dogs, colorful toys and frosted birds. Christ has been taken out of Christmas. So now I wonder if in the future some nut will try to take Christ out of Christian churches too.

But I'm glad it's still legal to say Merry Christmas.

After last week's news of protests over Christian and Athiest displays at

the state capitol, I feel compelled to write:

This country was absolutely created to be officially non-religious. That

doesn_t mean that everyone is an athiest or that the majority of people are

not religious. It means that it was extremely important to keep religion out

of government and government out of religion. It is based on the idea that

When will the Seattle School District cease to cut off its nose to spite its face? After several years of failed attempts at a solution for relocating Pathfinder, they've now proposed the most ridiculous idea yet: severing a model school from its neighborhood, displacing over 300 students, and not providing a viable alternative for this huge overflow into the West Seattle community.

In my opinion vicious tricks have discouraged the crusade of one woman representing the five hundred North Admiral residents trying to save our teacup park from a group of preschool parents and a commercial daycare operator who are backed by the mayor Greg Nickels and his wife.

To my fellow West Seattle citizens who like I, were too busy with their lives to follow the details of (the recent) special session in Olympia - whether or not to reinstate I-747.

Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos (District 37, Seattle) displayed an uncommon amount of arrogance and a fair amount of ignorance in supporting her decision to vote "no" on the 1 percent property tax lid. She supported her decision by quoting from the framers of the U.S.

Parents at Cooper Elementary are frustrated as the Seattle School District once again considers closing their elementary program.

On Dec. 9 the school district released a new set of recommendations for capacity management, which suggested closing the Cooper elementary program and moving the alternative Pathfinder K-8 program into the Cooper building.

But this is not the first time that the school district has discussed closing Cooper since the new school building opened in 1999.

Conscious of costs, the directors of the city, county and state departments of transportation recommended an elevated highway or a surface couplet to replace the viaduct. But on the same day, their advisory committee advocated for a bored tunnel.

The directors for the three departments of transportation briefed their executive oversight committee Thursday afternoon, Dec.

The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce has taken a strong position on the proposed options for replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and sent that message in a letter to local and state officials.