February 2009

Duwamish cleanup plan less murky

Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition head BJ Cummings unveiled her organization’s final “vision” map to dignitaries and press on the river she hopes to clean. Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin, and Port Commission President John Creighton spoke.

While the river is plagued with polluted soil to be cleaned by Superfund dollars, Cummings’ organization’s wish list of ecological improvements has become less murky with the release of the map.

This map is the end result of DRCC’s Duwamish Valley Vision Project. It recommends habitat, and green industrial and transportation improvements along the Duwamish Corridor. It is a culmination of ideas collected from a diverse area population, including University of Washington students, Georgetown and South Park area homeless people, Cambodian and Vietnamese residents, and attendees of eight meetings over 2008, as well as 10 stakeholders the DRCC represents.

They include the South Park Neighborhood Association, the Georgetown Community Council, the Environmental Coolition of South Seattle, or ECOSS, and the Duwamish Tribe.

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Beavers eliminated from playoffs

Lose to Bothell 48-42 in overtime

The Ballard High School boys basketball team played with a lot of heart against Bothell in the Feb. 20 loser-out KingCo 4A playoff game, coming back from a nine-point halftime deficit. But, they ultimately had that heart broken in a 48-42 overtime defeat.

Eric Taylor, Ballard senior and regular-season leading scorer with 14.8 points per game, said the team was crushed in the locker room after the game.

"It's the worst feeling," he said. "Knowing we were that close to winning a playoff game."

The sixth-seeded Beavers found themselves down 26-17 at halftime, but scored six unanswered points to open the third quarter and narrow Bothell's lead. Bothell was only leading by two at the start of the fourth quarter thanks to a couple threes from senior Nolan Kozu.

Taylor tied the game at 33 with a pair of free throws and senior Nick Palewicz gave the Beavers the lead on a short jumper with less than three minutes remaining in the game.

After Bothell regained the lead, Ballard senior Berhan Mekonnen hit a jump shot with a minute and a half remaining to retie the game and eventually send it to overtime.

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At the Admiral: Twilight makes abstinence sexy

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke
Rated PG-13
(Three and one half stars)

Before there was coffee or Microsoft, before there were grunge bands or Swedes there was the rain.

The rain in Washington is more than weather, it is the stuff of myth. It affects our mood, shapes our collective personality and defines the very place we call home. It is surprising therefore that so few films set in the Pacific Northwest give it much of a role to play.

“Twilight,” Catherine Hardwicke’s breathy film about a girl and the vampire who loves her, bucks this trend. The logging town of Forks, Washington is bundled in a cocoon of scudding clouds and obscured horizons. Hardwicke uses this muted landscape to pull everything in close, painting a world that is both intimate and ethereal—the perfect place for a young vampire to fall in love.

Neighborhood
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21st Century Viking: Two too many red light cameras in Ballard

Recently a red light camera was placed at the intersection of 15th Avenue Northwest and Northwest Market Street. I have always been opposed to red light cameras but I understand why they are put up at infamous intersections where lots of accidents occur.

Then, a few weeks ago, they put one another up at 15th and Northwest 80th Street. The appearance of this second one made me feel that I had to speak out against the proliferation of red light cameras in Seattle.

Is there any reason why there needs to be two red light cameras in Ballard? Why indeed, is there the need for any? A draft of a study conducted by the City of Seattle suggests that while the severity of the crashes at these intersections is reduced, they do not reduce the number of accidents overall.

The images and video taken by the cameras are reviewed by a private company in Arizona and if the car is determined to have entered the intersection after the light turns red, a citation of $124 is issued to the owner of the car. The ticket is considered to be like a parking ticket and is not put on your driving record according to the Seattle Police Department’s FAQ on the red light cameras.

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Parking zones and paid parking in Fremont start Monday

Starting this Monday, Feb. 23 a new residential parking zone (RPZ), time-limit signs for some no-cost spaces and two-hour paid parking will be implemented in Fremont's retail core.

The city department of transportation says the change is meant to ensure that finding a space to park will be easier for residents, visitors and business owners and employees.

Some business owners, residents and the Fremont Chamber of Commerce have opposed the plan, which has been under discussion since November 2008.

Paid parking will be in effect from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday at a rate of $1.50 an hour.

 Residential Parking Zone signs will be installed on only one side of residential streets (the other side will remain unrestricted) with two-hour parking allowed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for non-permit holders and from 8 p.m. to midnight.

The on-street parking enhancements will feature:

-An RPZ on streets north and east of the business district.

-Two-hour paid parking in the high demand retail area, using 90 of 700
spaces.

-Time-limit signs on no-cost spaces outside Fremont’s retail core.

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Update: Open enrollment for school year begins this week

Open enrollment dates for the Seattle Public Schools 2009-2010 school year begin Monday, March 2 and run through Tuesday, March 31.

Due to the capacity management/building closure process, the enrollment calendar for this year was adjusted from its January – February timeframe to March to ensure that families have time to consider options and to prepare registration and application materials prior to the rescheduled open enrollment period.

Tours in the northwest area of the city include:

Adams: 6110 28th Ave. N.W., (206) 252-1300
March 18 from 9:15 to 11:15.
Saturday Open House March 7 from 10 to 11:30 a.m.

Loyal Heights: 2511 N.W. 80th St., (206) 252-1500
Feb. 25 and March 4, 11, 18, 25 from 9:15 to 11:30 a.m.
Kindergarten Curriculum Night Wednesday, March 25 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

West Woodland: 5601 4th Ave. N.W., (206) 252-1600
March 11, 19 from 9 to 11 a.m., March 5 at 7 p.m. (no childcare)

Whittier: 1320 N.W. 75th St., (206) 252-1650
March 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 19 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.

Neighborhood
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Church transformed into arts gallery

Instead of an alter, there’s a stage and sound equipment. Instead of a congregation, there are paintings. And on Saturday night, instead of praying, there will be partying.

Marianne Maksirisombat moved into the old church at Northwest 61st Street and 22nd Avenue Northwest in November and set about converting it from a old place of worship covered in shag carpeting and sea-foam green paint to an industrial-chic studio, gallery and home.

“I felt like the art scene here was very close-knit and it needed a little shaking up,” Maksirisombat said.

She said the way to do that was with three-dimensional art in an atypical building.

She saw the church for rent while helping a friend look for a place to live and decided to give it a shot, she said.

She was looking for a large space that could properly display some of her bigger works, and the 8,000-square-foot building can do that.

The main room of the church is filled with Maksirisombat’s paintings and sculptures and a stage (“bigger than most of the venues here,” she said). She lives upstairs and the basement holds the bathrooms, kitchen and a of couple friends who are renting rooms.

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Easy Street After Hours

An evening of ska with The Diablotones

Local Ska bands will kick off the weekend on Feb. 27 at Easy Street record’s After Hours show.

The Diablotones, who originally formed in 1995, draw on the early sounds of Ska but create their own innovative sound by mixing punk, surf, jazz and traces of polka.

The seven-piece band describes their live show as high energy. After breaking up in 2002, they reformed with five original members in 2006. They have since played shows with bands that they toured with years ago, including the Voodoo Glow Skulls, The Toasters and
Super Diamond.

Bass player Timmy Profit says the band is currently writing new music with a more aggressive, latin sound and eastern European influences.

“We still love playing the music,” says bass player Timmy Profit. “But it’s more fun and less serious now.”

Hailing from Seaview, Rude Tuna is a more modern, youthful blend of punk rhythms with an entertaining horn section. Profanity
frequently pops up in the band’s off-handed lyrics.

Fans of Reel Big Fish, Catch 22 and Sublime will enjoy this seven-piece self-proclaimed “musical revolution.”

Neighborhood
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Ballard teen receives award

Krista Nelson, 18, received the 2008-2009 Boys and Girls Clubs of King County’s Ballard Youth of the Year Award and spoke to a crowd of 350 at Benaroya Hall Feb. 10 about the personal growth she experienced as a club member.

The Ballard High School senior has taken a leadership role with the school’s chapter of the National Honors Society. She also brought girls lacrosse to the school. Nelson volunteers Thanksgivings feeding the homeless at the New Horizon Ministries downtown, and last summer worked with a 7 year-old boy with Downs Syndrome.

“The summer flew by with challenges and successes with this boy,” said Nelson in her speech. “When it was all over, I thought that was it, that he was going to just be a reference to my work experience…That wasn’t the case. A week before the new school year started, Paul, his mother and father came to see me at work at Zeek’s. To see Paul’s face light up when he saw me making his pizza brought joy to my eyes. I realized (working with him) wasn’t just another job.”

Neighborhood
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Update: Open enrollment for school year begins this week

Open Enrollment dates for the Seattle Public Schools 2009-2010 school year begin Monday, March 2 and run through Tuesday, March 31.

Due to the capacity management/building closure process, the enrollment calendar for this year was adjusted from its January – February timeframe to March to ensure that families have time to consider options and to prepare registration and application materials prior to the rescheduled open enrollment period.

Seattle Public Schools welcomes new and returning families for the 2009-2010 school year. Most schools offer tours and/or information sessions, and this information is available at enrollment centers or on the district's Web site.

West Seattle school tours are as follows:

Alki Elementary: 3010 - 59th Ave. S.W., (206) 252-9050
Feb. 24 and March 17, 26 from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m

Lafayette: 2645 California Ave. S.W., (206) 252-9500
March 18, 26 from 9:30 to 11a.m

Schmitz Park: 5000 S.W. Spokane St., (206) 252-9700
Feb. 25 and March 4 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.

Arbor Heights: 3701 S.W. 104th St., (206) 252-9250
Feb. 26 and March 5 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Concord: 723 S. Concord St., (206) 252-8100

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