July 2009

The Greenwood Park Steering Committee hosted its first of three design workshops July 16 that would incorporate four properties they would like to add on to the current park at 300 N.W. 80th St.

Throughout the workshop, neighbors and community members brainstormed an array of ideas to create what they said was to be a multi-generational neighborhood park.

The Seattle Parks Department purchased two of the four plots, located on Fremont Avenue North from North 87th Street to North 90th Street, in 2005 with Pro Parks Levy Opportunity funds. However, the other two properties are still privately owned, but they hope to acquire them in the near future.

The group also received $15,000 from the Neighborhood Matching Fund grant in March for the long-term planning development of the four plots. In doing so, the committee decided to team up with Mark Brands and Clayton Beaudoin from Site Workshop, a local landscape and architecture firm, to help with the designing process.

On Saturday, July 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. join microbrew aficionados at the fourth annual PNA Summer Beer Taste at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Ave. N.
 
Choose 10 samples from up to 21 choices of microbrews, including the special brews for the event from new microbreweries and old favorites. Admission includes pub-style munchies and music by the Honky Tonk Review.
 
Tickets are $25 for PNA members and $30 for the general public.

Designated driver tickets are available for $10 each. Tickets are available at the Phinney Neighborhood Center or online at www.phinneycenter.org.
 
Brewers who will be represented include:

Alpine
Baron
Big Al
Boulevard
Deschutes
Diamond Knot
Elysian
Fremont
Fish
Georgetown
Gilligan’s              
Hale’s 
Harmon
Issaquah
Maritime Pacific
Pike
The Ram               
Snoqualmie Falls
Trade Route
Two Beers
 
The event is sponsored by the Barking Dog Alehouse, the Park Pub and Prost!  Must be 21 or older to attend. For more information, visit http://www.phinneycenter.org/beer or call (206) 783-2244.
 
 

With Abraxus Books gone from the neighborhood and Epilogue Books closing its doors in August, Secret Garden Bookshop on Market Street finds itself in the position of being Ballard's sole major bookstore.

"I don't think of us as the last bookstore in Ballard," said Christy McDanold, owner of Secret Garden, which opened in 1977. "I think of us as the longest bookstore in Ballard."

McDanold said Secret Garden has survived because it is good at what it does, and she sees a potentially bright future.

"Yeah, I'm optimistic," she said. "I'm cautiously optimistic."

McDanold bought Secret Garden Bookshop, which was a children's specialty bookstore in Green Lake at the time, in 1995. In 2000, the store moved to Ballard and expanded its focus.

"I love being in a business where the thing I sell matters," she said. "This is something I particularly value."

The store has been remarkably stable throughout the years, McDanold said.

Contractors recently noticed condensation leaking through the concrete lids covering West Seattle’s Myrtle reservoir and Beacon Hill’s Jefferson reservoir. While the water supplies were not contaminated, the waterproof seals covering each reservoir will need to be replaced.

Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, Mayor Greg Nickels ordered that all open water reservoirs be covered. Since then, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) has been replacing its open reservoirs with underground structures to improve the quality and security of the city’s water supply and provide 76 acres of new open space.

A thick concrete lid has been placed over these reservoirs covered by a waterproof seal on top of which soil and grass lie. It is the waterproof seals that have been found defective at the Myrtle and Jefferson reservoirs.

While Cornell Amaya, spokesperson for SPU, emphasized that there are no public health risks caused by the leaks, the waterproof seal is necessary to maintain the stability of the concrete. While the defective seal was made of a material called procore, the new seal will be made of a rubberized asphalt.

The Seattle Department of Transportation has unveiled a new Web site in support of open government, according to the department.

Upgrades include social networking tools, such as Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, podcasts and a blog.

These tools make it possible for people to interact with the department at a whole new level, said department spokespeople.

A new Media Corner has been added to make sure the public has context for Seattle Department of Transportation related stories. The public can read media requests, view the information supplied and in some instances, read actual transcripts of media interviews with department employees.

Visit the new site at www.seattle.gov/transportation.

More than 800 civic, community and philanthropic leaders journeyed to Woodland Park Zoo’s premier fundraiser, Jungle Party, last Friday night to support the zoo’s animal care, education programs and conservation projects around the world. More than $1.35 million was raised at the 33rd annual event.

“Global Affair: Celebrate the Wild & Rare” marked this year’s theme to commemorate all the endangered species living at the zoo.

“I am honored to co-chair an event that supports one of Puget Sound’s most important institutions," said 2009 Jungle Party Co-chair Nancy Pellegrino. "The funds raised will help the zoo continue to provide the best care for its animals, deliver awe-inspiring education to tens of thousands of kids, and preserve wildlife and habitat across the globe and in our backyard."

Included in the $1.35 million raised were contributions of $500,000 toward this year’s Fund-Our-Future: Save a Species.

On July 16, the Seattle City Council’s Finance and Budget committee voted to support small business, workforce development and senior programs and unanimously passed three pieces of legislation to boost the economy.

The following was approved by the committee and will be taken up by the Full Council July 20 at 2 p.m.

●  Raising the B&O Tax exemption to $100,000 from $80,000, providing relief to small businesses.

●  Accepting Federal Stimulus grant money (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) to fund summer youth employment and senior nutritional services.

“This is another step forward in fulfilling our Economic Recovery goals by providing relief and jobs for our citizens” said council president Richard Conlin.

“While I’m concerned about declining revenues, I’m committed to supporting small businesses wherever we can,” said council member Jean Godden, chair of the Finance and Budget Committee.  “Their success is crucial to the success of our city and local economy.”

This summer, thespian teens will grace Ballard with their Shakespearean presence as the Young Shakespeare Workshop will share its summer production of the romantic comedy, "Twelfth Night."

The performances will take place at Ballard Odd Fellows Hall, 1706 N.W. Market St., on July 25 at 7 p.m. and July 26 at 2 p.m.

In it’s 18th year, the Young Shakespeare Workshop is a collaboration of students from around the city put together to create a new community connected by the passion for language.

“Edward Call, a distinguished director, fell in love with Shakespeare’s words in high school and began the program to help kids get engaged with the beauty and power of english at it’s best,” said Darren Lay, current director of Young Shakespeare Workshop.

Lay adopted the program from Call six years after it began and has been running it since.

“The thing that I’ve found over the last 12 years is that it creates a community of young people who all have a shared passion and artistic skill even though they come from different areas in Seattle,” he said.

On June 15, a group of maritime and industrial trade associations and businesses filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court challenging the city’s State Environmental Protection Act review to complete the Missing Link of the Burke-Gilman Trail from 11th Avenue Northwest to the Ballard Locks.

The plaintiffs, called the Ballard Business Appellants, are asking the city to conduct the same level of environmental review required of any private applicant, which they don't believe happened.

“The city’s decision is just another example of the Seattle Department of Transportation not treating people equally” said Eugene Wasserman, president of the North Seattle Industrial Association, one of the trade groups comprising the Ballard Business Appellants.

The appellants said they believe the city must conduct the same level of environmental review and analysis it would require of any industrial business, including thoughtfully and thoroughly reviewing and analyzing the safety and land-use impacts from this project.

Traffic calming, backyard cottages and the green bag campaign were the topics of discussion Wednesday July 15 at South Seattle Community College. Instead of the usual Southwest District Council Meeting, there were presentations by Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle Department of Planning and Development as well as the Green Bag campaign.

Backyard Cottages

The backyard cottages seemed to stir both excitement and concern, primarily about what qualifies someone to have a backyard cottage and how they might add to density issues, such as parking.

A backyard cottage is a “small dwelling unit that is on the same lot as, but physically separate from, a single-family house,” according to the City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development Web site.

In order for a home to qualify for the building of a back yard cottage, the lot must be 4,000 square feet, with only 35 percent of the lot covered, explained presenter Andrea Petzel from the department of planning.