May 2009

West Seattle resident Susan Rosenthal, a 29-year veteran of the Seattle Fire Department, was promoted to assistant chief last week, making her the highest ranking woman in the department’s history.

An informal reception organized by women in the Seattle Fire Department will be held Thursday, May 14 to honor this achievement.

In her new position, Rosenthal will serve as the assistant chief of administration, overseeing the fire alarm center, human resources, finance, services, and information technology. Since August, 2003, Rosenthal worked as the deputy chief of communications, overseeing the department’s fire alarm center where she managed a staff of firefighter/dispatchers who answer more than 100,00 emergency calls per year.

Prior to that, Rosenthal served as one of the department’s safety officers and as an operations division battalion chief.

Rosenthal was among the first group of women to serve as firefighters for the City of Seattle when she joined the Department in 1980. During her career, Rosenthal rose through the ranks of firefighter, lieutenant, captain, battalion chief and deputy chief.

Cooper is inviting all students, families, staff and supportive community members to join the school program for its closing ceremony.

The Seattle School Board voted to close the school program in January as part of the district's Capacity Management Plan. Pathfinder K-8 Alternative program will move from its current location at 5012 S.W. Genesee St. into the Cooper building.

All are invited to come share memories and visit with staff and old friends.

The event will be held Sunday June 7, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at Cooper School, 1901 S.W. Genesee St.

For more information please call (206) 252-8170.

Eight students from Chief Sealth High School recently took an educational trip to Antigua, Guatemala to both help build and learn about community and leadership.

Another group of six high school students from Chief Sealth will be participating in the summer 2009 trip to Guatemala, which begins on June 24 and ends on July 8 this year. Both trips are sponsored by Global Visionaries, a group which states its mission to be to "educate and empower youth to become active community leaders and global citizens."

Chief Sealth High School is one of the eight schools that have been participating in year-long educational programs sponsored by Global Visionaries. These educational programs culminate with a two-week trip to Guatemala. 

Michaela A. Milo, a student from Chief Sealth who participated in the program, which culminated with the spring 2009 trip said, “I’d say Global Visionaries is something to experience if you love meeting new and exciting people, because I know I have made so many new friendships and its hard to leave them behind in Guatemala.” 

Crown Hill Center, formerly Crown Hill Elementary, will be welcoming the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society this summer, as they will be calling the center their new production facility.

To kick-off their move from Eastlake to 9250 14th Ave. N.W. in Crown Hill, the cast will be holding a free “Open Rehearsal” in the Crown Hill gym on Wednesday, May 27th from 7 to 9 p.m.

The event will feature how the new production facility will look along with a musical preview with 40 members of the cast singing songs from their upcoming production, Utopia Limited.

The society annually performs at the Seattle Center, but will be using the Crown Hill Center’s old play courts in the building to construct sets, have rehearsals and acting workshops for all ages.

“The Crown Hill Planning Group and tenants of Crown Hill are excited to have the Gilbert and Sullivan Society move into our activity space,” said Catherine Weatbrook, member of the Crown Hill Business Association. “All are looking forward to a collaborative children, youth, family, arts and educational experience.”

Mayor Greg Nickels said today, May 13, that transportation investments through the voter-approved Bridging the Gap levy continue to make improvements to roads, bike lanes and sidewalks.

Bridging the Gap was proposed and approved in 2006 to catch up on a multi-million backlog of needed infrastructure projects. Since then, more than $159 million has been invested on transportation upgrades.

“The Bridging the Gap levy is transforming Seattle,” said Nickels, in a statement. “From walkways to roadways, from bus service to bike lanes, you see the benefits in every neighborhood of the city. We’ve made lots of pedestrian improvements, too, and thanks to Bridging the Gap funding, we’ve got a plan to make walking even safer.”

During the first two years of the levy, the Seattle Department of Transportation has:

- Paved more than 68 lane-miles of road

- Secured 20,000 new hours of transit service

- Striped 57 lane-miles of bike lanes and sharrows

- Replaced 17,135 regulatory signs

- Replaced street name signs at 2,119 intersections

- Planted 1,604 new street trees

A funeral service will soon be scheduled in Seattle for Jill St. Onge, a 27-year-old resident of Pigeon Point, died on May 2 while vacationing in Thailand. The Thai government conducted an autopsy after doctors suspected poisoning.

St. Onge had been touring Asia for three months with her fiancé Ryan Kells when the two decided to move into a room with air conditioning on Phi Phi island. Both St. Onge and Kells became ill that evening, frequently vomiting.

Kells initially suspected food poisoning from burgers he had bought earlier, but when his fiancé started looking worse, he rushed her to the local hospital. St. Onge died before they arrived.

The following night, another tourist, a 22-year-old woman from Norway, also died after staying in the same room.

St. Onge’s family is trying to draw attention to the situation so that the Thai government does not “brush it under the table,” as Jill’s brother Rob said.

He fears that Thailand will claim that Jill’s death was the result of drinking to protect the country’s tourism, which Kells says was not the case.

Long-time restauranteurs and Ballard residents, Deming Maclise and James Weimann, have been friends for 12 years, and recently the two businessmen have decided to join forces to mastermind something they said is needed on the streets of Ballard: a hip, French cafe.

“I love Paris and spent a lot of time there and at some point we both started thinking that Seattle would do really well with having some sort of French cafe but that reflected more of what’s going on in Paris now,” said Maclise, who also owns Cafe Fiore in Ballard.

Though there are various French establishments around the city, Deming said they don't reflect what’s really going on in modern Paris.

“We wanted to do something a little more current, a little more Parisian than French and also we wanted to put it in Ballard,” Maclise said.

After about two years of searching for the right spot, they finally found the ideal location at 5307 Ballard Ave. N.W.

“It was really hard to come by so when we had the opportunity to buy the property we jumped on it and it was really hard to secure because of the current economic environment, but we got it,” Maclise said.

Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill today, May 12, that commits $2.8 billion in state money to help build a tunnel under the Seattle waterfront to replace the 56-year-old Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Gregoire signed the bill today at 2 p.m. at the downtown Seattle Waterfront Aquarium.

She posted the following on her Twitter page: "The tunnel bill is signed! Thanks to mayor, county executive, port and legislature for support. New jobs, waterfront, and transpo capacity coming soon."

The tunnel and associated elements of the plan will cost more than $4 billion and Seattle and King County are responsible for the rest. The mile-long elevated section of Highway 99 carries a little more than 100,000 vehicles a day, according to the state department of transportation.

Kristy Van Ness (Laing), communications manager for the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Program, said the $4 billion price tag also includes a new waterfront surface street, transit investments, and downtown waterfront and city street improvements. The bored tunnel portion is estimated to cost $1.9 billion, she said.

Boys Soccer

Latest scores

Tuesday, April 14, West Seattle vs. O'Dea
Final score: West Seattle 1 O'Dea 1

Thursday, April 16, West Seattle vs. Franklin
Final score: West Seattle 5 Franklin 2

Tuesday, April 21, West Seattle vs. Chief Sealth
Final score: West Seattle 2 Chief Sealth 1

Friday, April 24, West Seattle vs. Ingraham
Final score: West Seattle 4 Ingraham 0

Tuesday, April 28, West Seattle vs. Nathan Hale
Final score: West Seattle 1 Nathan Hale 2

Monday, May 11, (Metro Playoffs)
Final score: West Seattle 2 Seattle Prep 3

UPCOMING GAMES

Saturday, May 16, State Playoffs at Interbay

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Baseball

Latest scores

Wednesday, April 15, West Seattle vs. Ingraham
Final score: West Seattle 10 Ingraham 5

Thursday, April 16, West Seattle vs. Bainbridge
Final score: West Seattle 0 Bainbridge 17

Monday, April 20, West Seattle vs. O'Dea
Final score: West Seattle 0 O'Dea 14

Wednesday, April 22, West Seattle vs. Rainier Beach
Final score: West Seattle 21 Rainier Beach 3

Friday, April 24, West Seattle vs. Rainier Beach
Final score: West Seattle 19 Rainier Beach 2

A new Chase sign was installed May 12 on the former Washington Mutual branch at the corner of 22nd Avenue Northwest and Northwest 56th Street.

In late September 2008, Washington Mutual was seized by federal regulators and sold to J.P. Morgan Chase in what was the biggest banking collapse in American history.

The Ballard WaMu branch has been undergoing changes, such as the new sign, new uniforms and interior construction, during the past few months as part of its conversion to Chase.

Washington Mutual was founded in 1889 and based in Seattle.