June 2009

On Friday, June 26 at about 11:26 p.m., multiple officers responded to a call of a loud party in the 7900 Block of Greenwood Avenue North. At the same time, reports of fistfights in the area were being received.

Promoters of the private party in question greeted officers outside of the establishment and advised that the party was "out of control." Officers found approximately 350 patrons crammed into the room and the music being turned off.

The DJ's were broadcasting a desire to end the party and pleading with patrons to leave. Officers sought to encourage patrons to leave the premises and the crowd reluctantly exited.

As the crowd was exiting the west entrance about 200 additional persons converged upon the front of the building, having approached from nearby alleys and parking areas. Dispatched calls of shots fired in the area were broadcast.

Numerous fight disturbances broke out simultaneously and officers were surrounded by converging crowds while seeking to break up fights.

Additional officers from other precincts and UWPD were called in to assist with the crowd.

A diverse group of community members, local organizations and businesses gathered in Westwood Village for the shopping center's first annual street fair today.

While children played on bouncy carnival rides and riding a train around the festival adults watched kickboxing from 24 Hour Fitness and a fashion show from Chicos.

Bands Nekkid Franie, Reckon Yard and Morris Can Fly performed along with Unexpected Productions Theatre Sports company.

Barbecues were at full flame outside Eats Market Cafe but all restaurants were also serving food.

Inventive beach-goers find a variety of ways to avoid Seattle's pesky sun.

CLICK ON PHOTO TO VIEW SLIDE SHOW

(Editor's note: This letter is addressed to members of the Seattle City Council and was copied to this newspaper.)

(Editor's note: The Seattle City Council voted 9-0 on June 29 to spend $2.5 million of the 2008 voter-approved Parks and Green Spaces Levy for the Bell Street park boulevard project. It is scheduled to be completed in 2010, and would create 17,000 square feet of new green space.)

Dear Council members,

I am writing you today as a concerned citizen about the implications of Council Bill 116560 Bell Street Boulevard.

The proposed Park Boulevard raises several budget issues that I think the council needs to address before moving on this project.

As the former head of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce's Budget Task Force, I am well aware of the city's new fiscal state, one that I am afraid of will last a long time.  I had an office in Belltown for 10 years.

The ninth annual Ballard Art in the Garden Festival is scheduled for July 18 this year from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The event takes place on Northwest 85th Street and 25th Avenue Northwest. There will be 10 musical acts, 24 artists, beer garden, wine cheese and bread for refreshment.

Admission and parking are free.

Those arriving between 10 and 11 a.m. will get free coffee and doughnuts while supplies last.

The Ballard Art in the Garden Festival is organized by the Ballard P-Patch Community.

For more information, visit www.ballardgardenparty.com. Special thanks to Kelly Ryan for sending this in.

Mayor Greg Nickels announced on June 24 that funds from the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative will help the city put 650 at-risk youth to work this summer, engaging them in positive and productive jobs and many of those jobs will take place in and around West Seattle at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, SafeFutures Youth Center, South Seattle Community College and more.

The 69 young people working in West Seattle will do a variety of jobs including, but not limited to, childcare, reception work, physical labor, educational training and vocational apprenticeships.

Randy Engstrom, founding director of Youngstown, said that he expects the youth working at the cultural center will be able to reference this experience when looking for employment in the future.

"If given an opportunity to be involved in a system that empowers them to learn new skills, young people will be able to carry that forward into other job endeavors," said Engstrom.

“You’re not going to blog about a piece of wood!”

“Oh, yes I am, because it’s not just a piece of wood.”

I have this tiny bit of wood on my inventory shelf. I know it’s from one of my miniature Adirondack chairs. I just don’t know which one.

‘Cause it’s gone. To the customer. Sometime over the last month.

Do I email everyone that bought a miniature Adirondack chair, “Hey, it’s Janit. Are you missing a rung?”

My husband said to not worry about it. For me, it could mean an incomplete order and a disgruntled customer. Or, it could just be a piece of wood.

Over the years, I’ve been working on letting my perfectionism go. It’s taken a long time to be this position where things are done well – not perfectly, but well. It’s a process of forgiving oneself and, well, getting too busy to be stubborn about some things.

“Your ‘pretty good’ is better than most people’s ‘best,’ get on with it.” An art instructor once told me.

But there is that little piece of wood ~ surely I would have heard from the customer if the chair had arrived incomplete. Surely?

Dear Editor,

I read and enjoyed, as always, my June 24 edition of the West Seattle Herald. It is the newspaper that mirrors my own local community, my neighborhood. But I read it faster than usual, so I looked back through it to find whatever pages I must have missed reading.

Alas! Something was missing in my Herald! The editorial pages were not there! How can that be?

I can't imagine that this is the beginning of a deliberate change -- testing the waters to see if anyone missed them. I do!

Everything else in the Herald tells me what is going on in my community. The editorial pages tell me what people are thinking. I need to know both.

Carla Cole
Dakota Street at California Avenue

There is no shortage of events this weekend on the Westside. Check it out!

Friday, June 26

Live music: Bobcat Bob CD Release
C & P Coffee
6 p.m.
Free

Live music: Exploding High Fives Acoustic In-Store with Black Swedes and the West Side Music Academy Girl Band
Easy Street Records
9 p.m.
$5 cover, all ages

Live music: Children of the Revolution Trio
Cafe Rozella
7 p.m.
Free, all ages

Live music: Randy Hicks Band, The Black Crabs, Hot Roddin Romeos
Skylark Cafe
9 p.m.
Free, 21+

Saturday, June 27

Pancake Breakfast to benefit Family Promise
Alki United Church of Christ
8:30 a.m.
$5 donation requested

Westwood Village Street Fair, 26th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Barton Street
11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Free, all ages

Antique car show
Merrill Gardens
2 p.m.
Free

Live music: Revelatio

There was a time when my father visited Ballard several times a year, traveling from Boston. He was recently retired after 28 years with the Federal Reserve Bank and my mother was particularly motivated to offer his services to me.

She dispatched Herb if I so much as lamented that I couldn’t fit in an oil change for my Honda.

My father likes to be needed, although I doubt he would ever use those words. But his help was invaluable; starting with his first solo visit two weeks after my husband died of Hodgkin’s Disease.

With a toddler and a dying cat, everything was a crisis, from finding an estate attorney to mailing memorial invitations.

Herb came and went throughout the years. He was known to everyone on the block, with his perpetual cup of 7-11 coffee and small, white rental cars.

In the morning he was at Hiram Chittendam Locks when they unlocked the gate. Evenings he would stand outside smoking cigars the only greeter for my next-door neighbor when she returned home after closing her salon.

He was willing to take extra children to the zoo and distribute donuts. Everybody knew Herb.