April 2009

Store owners of a vacuum shop on Delridge Way have plead guilty to multiple business regulation charges following a history of complaints from the local community.

The shop is located at 5214 Delridge Way S.W. and referred to by neighbors as a pawn shop.

Members of the local community have frequently complained that the used-goods store sells stolen goods, including lawn mowers and patio furniture removed from outside residents' homes. Lieutenant Steve Paulsen says the store has caused problems in the community since he arrived at the precinct in 2005.

After years of local scrutiny, owners Stoyan and Nancy Tanev plead guilty recently to engaging in business without a used-goods license and failure to retain property for 30 days, which such shops are supposed to do before selling.

The maximum sentence for such charges is 180 day in jail and a $500 fine. However, the Tanev's have received a deferred sentence so that as long as they do not commit any criminal activities and comply with business regulations for the next two years, they will not serve any time in jail.

For New York author Greg Prato, the decision to write a documentary on Seattle’s Grunge era was very obvious. Prato’s favorite bands include local artists like Soundgarden, Nirvana and Mudhoney.

“For some reason I’ve always loved those Seattle bands,” said Prato. “I felt like I owed them for getting me into the punk scene and away from bad metal bands.”

The author was also disappointed in other documentaries that he felt were written to soon to the musical era itself, many immediately after Kurt Cobain’s death.

Prato’s documentary begins with the early roots of grunge in the 1960's. It also includes details on some of the Seattle’s most influential bands that are all-too-often overlooked in similar documentaries, such as Mother Love Bone, The Melvins and The Screaming Trees.
The most unique aspect of “Grunge Is Dead” is that the story of Seattle’s most infamous musical era is told directly from the people who were apart of it: musicians, record label executives, journalists and fans.

In honor of Earth Day the Thriftway at 4201 S.W. Morgan Street bagged all groceries in free reusable canvas bags today, April 22.

"Putting a reusable bag in each one of our customer's hands is just the first step," said owner Paul Kapioski, who said his company is proactive in eco-friendly business practices.

I think I’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of the number of Web sites that cater to apartment or condominium owners and I’m not sure I like what I see. Pages after pages of wonderfully decorated rooms, highlighting all the many possibilities that one can achieve in a small space. But where are the plants?

Can I see just one plant? On a windowsill? As a centerpiece? The kitchen counter?

I guess it’s just my plant-aholic nature to surround myself with living green things, but I keep scrolling through these Web sites, in the hopes that I see what solutions people in small spaces have come up with.

There are many different types of plants out there, and they don’t have to be high maintenance, make a big mess, or tie you down in any way. Here’s a quick trip through a couple of different ideas to get you started.

The Seattle Department of Transportation will begin preliminary work on the East Duwamish Waterway Bridge, setting up lane reductions starting the night of Thursday April 23. These partial lane closures are expected to take effect the morning of Friday, April 24 and remain in place throughout the project, until early 2010.

The bridge will remain open to traffic throughout the construction period, with two westbound lanes and one eastbound lane open during peak travel times. During non-peak nighttime hours or weekends, bridge may occasionally be further reduced to one lane in each direction.

The sidewalk on the south side (eastbound direction) of the bridge will be closed for the entire duration of this project and also during the
construction of the East Marginal Way Grade Separation funded and managed by the Port of Seattle.

Thirty out of 900 students in the state honored through the University of Washington's "Search for Young Scholars" are from Ballard area schools.

Students from Salmon Bay, Whitman, West Woodland, St. John, Adams, Whittier, Loyal Heights and St. Alphonsus were awarded for their outstanding academic abilities.

The Washington Search for Young Scholars is a statewide talent search operated by the university's Halbert and Nancy Robinson Center for Young Scholars.

“I found out about this program three years ago and I missed the deadline,” said Tricia Bentley, mother of Jojo, a fifth grader and Matthew, a seventh grader at St. Alphonsus. Both were among the ones honored this year.

“Since I knew Matthew’s scores were good last year I singed him up and he qualified," said Bentley.

To be eligible for the award, fifth and sixth grade students have to score in the upper three percent in reading/verbal or math/quantitative sections on a recent standardized achievement or aptitude test that compared them to students in Washington or nationally by grade levels.

A final design for the California Place Park, in the Admiral District, is currently being completed since the project's last community design meeting.

The park includes a small triangle of land on California Avenue Southwest and Southwest Hill Street, just outside the Admiral Church.

Friends and Neighbors of North Admiral (FANNA), a group of local park supporters, applied for a city Small and Simple Matching Funds grant of $15,000, which they received in November 2008 and have used to fund the park's design.

After three sessions where architect Karen Kiest collected feedback from the community, she expects to complete the design by the end of May, although no community presentation is planned.

In her latest design Kiest presented a "wonder walk," which stretched around existing trees and made the park seem larger.

"It describes opportunities, shows what civic, historic and child friendly things could happen there," said Kiest.

A second option for the park incorporated property on the north end of the park which is currently covered in asphalt.

Baseball teams from both West Seattle and Chief Sealth High School will be hosting special events during the next few weeks.

This Friday, April 24, Chief Sealth's team will be hosting a spaghetti dinner and auction at the school from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Each plate costs $12 and their will be both a live and silent auction. For more information please call the school at (206) 252-8550.

On Saturday, the West Seattle baseball team will play a non-conference game at Safeco Field against Newport Beach. The game is part of Safeco Field's High School Baseball Classic. The game will take place at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.

As a fundraiser, the West Seattle team is also selling discounted tickets to the Mariner's May 20 game, tickets which are usually $23 for just $12. To purchase tickets please contact Coach Velko Vitalich at (206) 252-8806 or Cindy Adams at (206) 433-7730.

The theatrical tour for the independent feature film "Rolling" hits Seattle on Saturday, May 2 with a 9 p.m. show at the Historic Admiral Theater. One of the writers and a producer on the film relocated to Seattle last spring, after visiting the city for the first time while showing at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival.

They said they fell in love with the artistic spirit and natural wonder of the city and relocated here while planning the release of "Rolling" and prepping their next project.

The film centers around a mixed group of 20-something's living in Los Angeles who attend an underground rave party. A diverse circle--including a teacher, a drug dealer, a lawyer, and a high school senior--search the city from downtown to the Hollywood Hills looking for their next thrill.

This entertaining roller coaster-like experience captures "the giddy highs and crushing lows" (New York Times) of the Ecstasy culture, while exposing the delicate balance of the users' relationships and responsibilities as they chase this dangerous, drug-induced euphoria known as rolling, according to a review.

This Thursday, April 23, Conner Homes mixed-use project planned for the Alaska Junction will receive further review from the Southwest Design Review board and the community at large.

This project, to be located on California Avenue Southwest, Southwest Alaska Street and 42nd Avenue Southwest, would measure seven stories tall with 12,745 square feet of retail at the ground level. It would include 72 residential units and parking for 307 vehicles.

Typically, mixed-use projects require only three design review meetings, however at the last two recommendation sessions for the Conner project the design review board was unable to address all of their concerns, despite listening to significant public testimony and debating key issues for nearly three and a half hours at the last meeting.

But the board has made progress and plans to focus this meeting on concerns with the massing of one building that will rest on California Avenue Southwest and Southwest Alaska Street.