February 2009

I recently read your article concerning the "road diet" for Fauntleroy Way.

I am outraged that they would consider this a viable option for bicyclist! I currently live on Fauntleroy and I see first hand how many cars and bicycles use the street everyday. More than that I can hear how much of a traffic flow there is constantly. Changing this main street that is used by thousands a day into a two-lane road is absolutely ridiculous and is a HUGE waste of money.

There are far more cars that use this roadway then bicycles. Why can't they paint a bike lane in on the sides like most other roads have done? Why are you wasting my tax paying money on something that will adversely effect my living situation? I think this is a horrible idea, which will result in an even worse outcome for those who use Fauntleroy Way daily. I can't believe that they would consider this because bicyclists want more space. How ridiculous!

Kelcie Mowrer
Admiral District

About all these dogs and puppies taken from these three ladies, each in a different house, mother and two daughters running puppy mills. The houses should be sold and all assets seized and given to the animal shelters caring for these animals.

These ladies have been selling these puppies for $700 and $1200 each, the ads have been placed in the papers we read. The lady that turned them in said this is so. It was on the news. They said animal control reported all the females were having puppies or were going to. Some were so bad standing in their own feces, they were sick and full of fleas, rotting skin. These had to be put to sleep.

Now that they have proof they should be able to prosecute and jail these ladies. No more slapping hands. And I also wrote to the Gov. Chris Gregoire. Ask her to pass a bill to only let a dog be bred once and then fixed and change the price of a license to $1000 for each animal they have. That would at last slow them down. I also sent what I have put in this letter. I feel so sorry for all those little dogs.

Kathleen Vogel
Delridge

We should all be working to support President Obama's implementation of the changes he promised us during the campaign. Give him the tool he needs to control the fringe elements of both parties as the biggest appropriation in history works its way through Congress.
Give President Obama the line item veto.
Write your legislators today; let's get the pork out of the stimulus package.
Frank Bradley
Gatewood

Do you viaduct? One of the guilty pleasures of life in Seattle is that giddy rush one gets exiting the Battery Street tunnel southbound. A stunning waterfront vista envelops one's senses in vibrant maritime activity stretching out across Elliott Bay to the snow-capped Olympics. Maybe it's just a routine trip to work, or to pick up some relatives at Sea-Tac. Maybe its several times a day, maybe once in a blue moon. The view is ever changing, familiar yet new, and always spectacular. Coming north, the city skyline descends to the Bay, the white Smith tower framed by the black of Columbia Center... a truly amazing approach to a beautiful city.

We live in hysterical times, indeed.

A recent West Seattle Herald column grudgingly admitted that purchase of "organic" food is unsustainable to the pocketbook. The author's attempt to guide the reader from harm was well meaning but founded upon bad science concocted by an entity funded by the organic food industry. The column exhibited an emotional bias against "pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers" without stating any of their great benefits to mankind. With this bias, and without credentials, the author implores readers to take on faith that certain "industrially grown" fruits and vegetables are "risky!"

To the contrary, if one were to access a peer review of the referenced "Organic Center" one would find the following conclusion by Emeritus Professor of Food Toxicology at Rutgers University, Joseph Rosen, Ph.D. (Full report available for download at http://www.acsh.org/publications/pubID.1714/pub_detail.asp).

Shame on you, Gov. Gregoire, for agreeing to set aside state money ($2.8 billion) to help pay for a deep-bore tunnel to replace a perfectly working and fixable Alaskan Way Viaduct. Shame on you, Mayor Nickels, for agreeing to set aside city money ($1.4 billion) to help pay for a deep-bore tunnel to replace a perfectly working and fixable Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Shame on you, King County Executive Ron Sims, for smiling at the publicity cameras to show your agreement to this "only 1 percent planned for deep-bore tunnel." And shame on us, Seattle citizens, for lying down like frightened sheep while the above mentioned, arrogant leaders trample over our tax-paying lives.

We deserve to write the checks and to make the monetary payments our fattened real estate taxes, utility bills, parking meters, bus fares, car tolls will demand of us to pay for a deep-bore tunnel. And please don't pay attention to leaders whose priorities put building an unnecessary tunnel above allocating money for the necessary social programs our city and state so badly need.

Now that we have had some time to consider the decision of the governor, the county executive, and the mayor to dig a deep bore tunnel to replace the Alaska Way Viaduct, it becomes even clearer that this tunnel option makes as little sense as the surface street alternative some people proposed to replace the Viaduct.

First, a tunnel was roundly rejected by 70 percent of Seattle's voters. A deep bore tunnel is still a tunnel. The voters did not want a tunnel and clearly expressed their views on that point.

Second, the proposed tunnel will handle 85,000 of the current 110,000 daily trips on SR 99. Thus, by the proponents' own admission, a tunnel is inadequate to handle the existing daily trips on SR 99, let alone the daily trips on SR 99 when the tunnel is finally completed.

My afternoon school bus route ends in the Admiral District, from there I proceed down California Way to head back to the bus yard. On Wed. afternoon (I believe it was) I spotted and man and a woman shoveling and sweeping away the thousands of leaves that had collected on the sidewalk that runs along the east side of the road.

My evening bike commute takes me up that sidewalk four nights a week and at times those wet, thick leaves can be problematic, especially if I encounter a pedestrian also using the sidewalk. (Note: I choose not to ride up-hill on that street due to the speed of some of the cars, the blind curve towards the top of the hill and the fact that the sidewalk is a wide one that allows all to safely and easily pass one another.)

Kudos to those two who cleared the entire length of sidewalk from the intersection at Beach Dr. up to the first driveway. I briefly stopped and expressed my appreciation, and now want to make it public so they know how much I, and (I'm sure) many other users of that sidewalk appreciate their selfless actions.

Lon Chaney may have been the man of a thousand faces, but West Seattle's Jim Cissell may be the guy with a thousand voices. The award-winning "VoiceGuy" as he calls himself can be heard narrating Disney trailers, promoting Levi's jeans, California avocados, and asks, "Did somebody say 'McDonald's?'"

Cissell, who has been working in Seattle since 1986, may be the city's least recognizable big-time celebrity, working for more than half the Fortune 500, as his voice and not his face is familiar to many. That said, he has appeared in front of the camera on some Boeing and other commercials, more so in the past.

"Less since these ears got bigger over the years," said the modest but successful, youthful 61 year-old as he practiced reading a script for a snowmobile ad in his basement home studio on the water in Fauntleroy.

"Let's see. This asks for a man, age 30, slightly aggressive, and manly," he said, scrutinizing the script. "OK. Here we go." He punched at the dialog like a boxer and flailed his arms as if speaking to a large audience at a recreational vehicle convention. Then he read the disclaimer real fast at the end.

A respectable-sized crowd filled about one third of Key Arena's 15,000-plus seats Feb.7 to witness Season-5, Bout 1, between two pairs of teams belonging to the Rat City Rollergirls, the White Center-based all-female roller derby league. The Rollergirls have four teams, Grave Danger, Sockit Wenches, Derby Liberation Front, and Throttle Rockets. Each team has about 20 players. There is also a fifth, traveling team.

Those at the Key Arena watched the Sockit Wenches edge out Grave Danger, and the Derby Liberation Front, or DLF, beat the Throttle Rockets. The skaters, who do not get paid and actually shell out some expense money, are rough and tumble. While they exhibit athleticism on the oval track, most sport a "bad-girl" persona, and some are clad with foreboding tattoos. Their monikers are cleaver puns, like "Meg Myday," "Burnett Down," "Darth Skater," and "Ann R. Kissed."