February 2009

While the Ballard band The Kegels call themselves a “mommy band,” they nurse their audience with an edgy vibe.

The band’s name refers to pelvic floor exercises, and their CD’s name, “Totally Effaced,” refers to the cervix becoming completely thinned during labor to allow delivery.

“It’s a ‘mom thing,’” said bandleader Penny Webb, a mother of two, who plays bass guitar. Drummer Kristen Hamann and guitarist Jennifer Murphy Taylor are also Ballard moms.

“When our band started I didn’t really care if we were good,” Webb said. “I just wanted to play and get it off my chest. Our music is about parents, kids, and getting pissed off. We’re each about 40, and are seizing our creativity. Throughout our lives we’re told we’re not good enough. Then we have kids and have no life and forget who we are.”

Webb did get strong encouragement from her husband, Dean, also a musician. She said he was the band’s biggest fan.

“I started the band in 2004, a year after he was diagnosed with cancer,” said Webb. “He died in 2006. The band was a good release, and my band-mates urged me to continue after he died.”

West Seattle’s local movie theater could soon receive some of the upgrades it sorely needs.

Jeff Brein is the managing partner of Far Away Productions, which operates the Admiral Theater and eight others. Brein said that he has an interest in renovating the theater and investing funds to improve its interior, including replacing worn carpeting, repainting and installing new lighting and seating.

But all improvements will depend on the new lease that Brein is currently negotiating with the theater’s landlord Marc Gartin. Brein is hoping that the new lease will include workable, financial terms.

“In the past, very little money has been put into the visual aspects of the theater,” said Brein.

The Admiral Theater’s previous manager, Steve Garrett, took advantage of donors by offering a name plaque on the back of a new seat for each $40 donated. After donations were made, Garrett left the theater without upgrading the seats or creating the promised name plates.

Brein has since tried to compensate for the lost funds by offering free movie passes and concessions and will place a plaque with all donors names on it.

After the Seattle School Board voted to approve the final recommendations for capacity management and effectively close schools across the city, design teams are now being formed as part of the next steps of the district's Capacity Management Plan.

A Programmatic Design Team is being formed for each site directly impacted by the proposed closures and program relocations. Additional teams will support the students and staff at the programs that are discontinued.

In West Seattle this includes Cooper Elementary School, which will be closed, and Pathfinder K-8, which will be relocated to the Cooper building.

The school district began to address imbalances in classroom capacity across the city as it faced a $24 million deficit.

The Ballard Pool could be a little more crowed that usual in March because nearby and Evans Pool in Green Lake is closing for "preventative maintenance" from March 9 through 28 and reopen March 29.

The Green Lake Community Center at the same location will close March 16 through the 24.

The Seattle Parks Department is asking that customers of the Evans Pool use Ballard's, at 1471 NW 67th St., until it reopens. Other alternatives are the Helene Madison Pool at 13401 Meridian Ave. N., or Meadowbrook Pool, 10515 35th Ave. N.E.

Work at the Green Lake center will include refinishing the gym and meeting room floors and high ceiling duct cleaning.
 
Pool work will include a complete draining, cleaning, and refilling of the pool, fresh paint, installation of drain covers to comply with the Virginia Graeme Baker Act, renovation of the men's locker room floors, cleaning of the cut glass sculpture, and installation of new starting blocks.
 

There's a new effort underway to help commuters identify alternatives to driving to and from downtown

Commute Seattle, which works to reduce drive-alone commuter trips, has launched a campaign that kicks off by asking people to “pledge” four days a month to reduce their drive-alone trips and help keep downtown Seattle accessible, energy efficient, and economically competitive.

“Traffic congestion in the Pacific Northwest is a serious problem, costing residents and businesses between $1.5 and $2 billion each year in the central Puget Sound region,” said Jamie Cheney, director of Commute Seattle. “Every pledge contributes to make a big difference in our mission to keep downtown Seattle beautiful and accessible to everyone.”
 
The organization provides a variety of tools for employers, property owners and individual commuters. The organization’s Web site serves as a central resource for commuters to downtown Seattle—including real-time bus tracking, ferry and commuter rail information, carpool networking and vanshare participation.

The Seattle City Council is convening a new committee today that they say aims to improve communication between council members and their constituents.

The Open Government Committee, led by Council President Richard Conlin, the will explore and recommend ways to improve citizens’ access to public documents and seek more diverse community input on issues affecting the city in advance of legislative action.

“We are very pleased to launch this committee,” said Conlin. “My hope is that we will improve the ease with which constituents can engage in the democratic process, resulting in greater input from a broader and more diverse group of citizens. Ultimately, this will strengthen local government by providing the council with a more complete understanding of the will of the people.”

Council members Bruce Harrell, Sally Clark and Nick Licata will serve on the committee, with Harrell serving as Vice Chair.  Potential work plan items include:

The Ballard District Council meets tonight, Wednesday, March 11, 7 p.m. at the Ballard Library, located at 5614 22nd Ave. N.W.  

The agenda includes:

7 p.m. Short Announcements by member organization representatives. Please hold announcements to not more than one minute.

7:15 Seattle School Board President Michael DeBell

7:40 Update - Ballard / Downtown Rapid Ride, Craig Benjamin, Sustainable Ballard, Member - Ballard Rapid Ride Advisory Panel

7:50 Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin

8:10 Introduction - New Ballard District Web Site

8:20 2009 Neighborhood Projects Fund Proposals and Update on 2008
Projects, Rob Mattson

8:25 Report - Executive Committee, Steve Cohn

8:30 Adjourn

District Council meetings are open to the public.  All are welcome to attend and participate.  For more information concerning the March 11
meeting or about how to get involved; contact Neighborhood District Coordinator Rob Mattson at 684-4051 or rob.mattson@seattle.gov.

Ballard Brothers Seafood and Burgers owner, and classically trained chef, Drew Greer, has found a niche he sees as a perfect match for Ballardites.

High-class dining that’s fast, affordable, family-friendly and now green. He left his smaller digs, now the Lunchbox Laboratory, just up the road, in April of 2007 and set up shop in a 2,600 square-foot free-standing, bright red building, at 5305 15th Ave. N.W., next to Wendy’s.

“This used to be Skippers, a fast-food chain. We are much higher quality, and we now compost as well as recycle,” said Greer, 48, who trained at Schoolcraft College’s culinary school, just outside Detroit. He said it is the same caliber as South Seattle Community College.

The 10-year Ballard resident served as SSCC's foundation board member from 1987-1992, then as president in 1992.

“After college I was mentored by Belgian chef Jan Williams, who was 87, and had been Henry Ford’s personal chef for 20 years. He was a steamship chef before that. He was amazing, although we didn’t always agree.”

Greer said his mentor’s motto was “keep it simple.”

A SHARE shelter moving into the vacant Calvary Lutheran Church at 7002 23rd Ave. N.W. is slightly less certain after a Feb. 26 community meeting that saw neighbors deeply conflicted over the possibility of 20 homeless men occupying the building at night.

Flyers were sent out Feb. 20 announcing that Ballard’s Our Redeemer Church, which controls the Calvary Lutheran property, had agreed to let the shelter occupy their building when their one-year agreement with the West Seattle Church of the Nazarene expires March 1. Shelter residents were meant to move in Feb. 28.

But, after the Feb. 26 meeting at Calvary, during which neighbors voiced concerns over safety, legal issues and communication, Our Redeemer Pastor Steve Grumm said SHARE and Our Redeemer will process the community’s input before Saturday and nothing was certain after the meeting.

Many residents took issue with Our Redeemer waiting until seemingly the last minute to announce the shelter and hold a community meeting. A large number of residents also claimed they never received the flyers meant to notify them.

The city is beginning road construction projects in the SODO area that will result in some reroutes, relocated bus stops, and delays for King County Metro Transit and Sound Transit express bus service for several months.

South Spokane Street and SODO
Busway
Construction associated with the Spokane Street Viaduct/Fourth Avenue Ramp Project will impact approximately 17 Metro and Sound Transit bus routes at South Spokane Street and the SODO Busway. Bus reroutes are expected to begin on Monday, March 2 and continue through mid May.

Buses traveling northbound on the busway should not be affected by the construction. The southbound service that will be rerouted 24/7 includes: Metro routes 32, 39, 101, 106, 150, 152, 170, 177, 190, 191, 194, and 196; and Sound Transit Express routes 590, 592, 593, 594 and 595.

All of the affected routes will miss stops on the busway, Spokane Street, or Fourth Avenue South. But, all will serve two new temporary stops southbound on Sixth Avenue South located just south of South Lander Street and just north of Spokane Street. Bus riders who transfer in the SODO area will also be impacted by these service revisions.

First Avenue South