July 2009

A complex and expensive design for the new Greenwood Fred Meyer prompted some concerns, but also cautious optimism, from a packed community forum July 9 at the Phinney Neighborhood Center.

For more than a decade, Fred Meyer and the Greenwood community have been working together to come up with a satisfactory replacement for the 30-year-old Fred Meyer on Northwest 85th Street.

In that time, the project's design has morphed from a standard big box store to a mixed-use development – a Fred Meyer first – that incorporates housing and smaller retail with a mostly underground Fred Meyer store.

The project carries a price tag of $77 million.

Evan Burquard, chair of the Greater Greenwood Design and Development Advocacy Group formed in the past year by the Greenwood Community Council, said getting to this point in the design has been hugely positive, though the group still has some concerns.

The major concerns of the advocacy group – concerns echoed by neighbors at the July 10 meeting – are problems presented by the peat bog underneath the property, the size of the proposed Fred Meyer store, and a remaining lack of density and usable urban space.

There may be an economic downturn generally, but recently released city data contradicts the common assumption that Seattle's housing market has taken a hit. 

Since Jan of 2008, more than 6,500 housing units have been added to Seattle's housing stock with 2,800 of that total finished in the first three months of 2009. In fact, the rate of new housing development actually is up slightly from previous years.

What's even more interesting, the new numbers also directly conflict with the commonly held belief that Seattle and our neighborhoods somehow are not bearing their fair share of the region's growth. 

From 2004 to 2024, Seattle must add 47,000 housing units to its stock - a number set by the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) and based on what the planners and regional leaders say should be our share of anticipated regional growth. That's about one-third of all of King County's growth expected over this period.

View the city's most recent growth report here and see how your neighborhood is doing.

There may be an economic downturn generally, but recently released city data contradicts the common assumption that Seattle's housing market has taken a hit. 

Since Jan of 2008, more than 6,500 housing units have been added to Seattle's housing stock with 2,800 of that total finished in the first three months of 2009. In fact, the rate of new housing development actually is up slightly from previous years.

What's even more interesting, the new numbers also directly conflict with the commonly held belief that Seattle and our neighborhoods somehow are not bearing their fair share of the region's growth. 

From 2004 to 2024, Seattle must add 47,000 housing units to its stock - a number set by the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) and based on what the planners and regional leaders say should be our share of anticipated regional growth. That's about one-third of all of King County's growth expected over this period.

View the city's most recent growth report here and see how your neighborhood is doing.

Thanks to residents of Columbia Lutheran Home and never-diminishing popularity of candy, the Ballard Food Bank received more than $600 worth of donations July 10.

The residents sold candy at the front desk and donated some of their own money in order to raise the $600, which was used to buy food, razors, socks, toilet paper and much more. They also had enough left over for a nearly $240 check to the food bank.

“One resident bought mayonnaise because she grew up in the Depression and knows how to stretch a food budget,” said Ellen Murray, Columbia Lutheran Home’s activity director.

Residents said it is a great feeling to help those in need, they only wish their donation could have been double what it was.

On top of the residents’ donation, staff and family members also donated to the food bank.

Columbia Lutheran Home’s resident council votes on a different outreach project every few months. For the past decade, they have been donating to the Salvation Army at Christmas time and are currently writing letters to soldiers and members of the Peace Corps.

Columbia Lutheran Home is located at 4700 Phinney Ave. N.

First inspired at the age of 8 when his dad introduced him to a JVC camcorder, recent Salmon Bay School eighth-grade graduate, Damon O’Grady, 15, hopes to someday bring his hobby to a whole new level--the big screen.

“I started making lego animations and after a while I starting making movies with my friends,” O’Grady said. “We did really bad filming of us doing random stuff, but it was when I was about 12 years old that I got a YouTube channel and started to upload movies on there. So, recently I started steadily doing movies every month.”

A fan of both horror and action films, O’Grady said he did not have much interest in documentaries until he was assigned to do a year-long project on global warming for his final eighth grade project.

O’Grady decided to contact Alan Durning, executive director of Sightline Institute, a non-profit research and communication center focusing on sustainability in the Pacific Northwest, to assist in creating his first documentary.

On Wednesday, July 8 at 11:15 p.m., a female called 911 to report that a male in her motel room, in the 5400 block of 1st Avenue South had been shot. The suspect then fled the room and ran eastbound on South Lucille.

Officers responded to the motel and found a male shot in the shoulder and the thigh. He was treated on scene by Seattle Fire and transported to Harborview Medical Center via medic unit. The K-9 unit attempted to track the suspect with negative results.

The scene was turned over to CSI for processing.

At this point it is unknown what precipated the shooting. The three involved parties are all adults.

On Wednesday, July 9 at about 10:30 p.m., an officer was in the 8700 block of Greenwood Avenue North when he saw a car following another vehicle too closely.

The officer made a U-turn and attempted to stop the car in question. The suspect vehicle took off at a high rate of speed south bound on Phinney. The car crossed over 85th with the officer attempting to catch up.

The suspect vehicle ran over several parking curbs in a parking lot in the 300 block of North 85th. Three suspects bailed out of the car running south bound.

The officer was able to stop the suspect who had been seated in the rear seat of the car. Located where she was seated was a stolen handgun. This suspect is 17-years-old. Another suspect was located at 90th and Dayton.

The 17-year-old female juvenile suspect was booked into Youth Service Center for investigation of possession of stolen property, investigation of violation of uniform firearms act, and investigation of possession of a a stolen firearm.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will be sponsoring a public meeting on neighborhood traffic calming at the Southwest District Council meeting.

The meeting will be held on July 15, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at South Seattle Community College, 6000 16th Ave. S.W. in the President’s Board Room.

The agenda includes:

6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Presentation/Q&A Session: Neighborhood Traffic Calming with Shauna Walgren, SDOT

7:30 to 8 p.m. Presentation/Q&A Session: Backyard Cottages with Andrea Petzel, Seattle Department of Planning and Development

8 to 8:30 p.m. Presentation: Seattle Green Bag Campaign with Jennifer Toll, Seattle Green Bag Campaign

So that the public will not forget the contributions of us Rosie the Riveters I decided to organize a program to showcase what we did during WWII.

The first program was presented at Providence Mount St. Vincent. It was so well received that we decided to go on the road, so to speak. Our second program will be presented at Bridge Park Retirement Residence at High Point, Thursday, July 16 at 3 p.m.

People often ask who qualifies to be a Rosie the Riveter. According to the national organization, a woman is eligible as a Rosie if her work or volunteer services occurred during 1941 to 1945 and consisted of employment of any sort in an industry or government agency that was directly related to the war effort.

Flo Ringstad was a WAVE in the US Navy where she trained at boot camp in New York City, graduating at the top of her class. Elaine Russell was just out of high school and worked at Sears Roebuck filling orders for uniforms for all those other Rosies.

Chris Holm riveted on the B-29 bulkhead at Puget Sound Sheet Metal Works. Margaret Ceis riveted at Boeing Plant 2 in Renton on B-52 planes. She said she had one week’s training and worked for about two years.

Sidewalk improvements on 28th Avenue Northwest and walkway improvements on Northwest 100th Street top the list of five Ballard neighborhood projects.

The Ballard District Council unanimously passed the prioritized list of five Seattle Department of Transportation-approved neighborhood projects at the July 8 district council meeting.

The five projects are part of the 2009 Neighborhood Projects Fund. Each year the city provides approximately $1.3 million for the 13 neighborhood councils to allot to projects submitted to them.

Ballard set a record by accounting for 40 of the citywide 160 projects submitted. Those were narrowed down to five by the district council in April, and the council's three-person review committee released the prioritized list of five July 8.

The top project is the development of sidewalk and pedestrian safety improvements on 28th Avenue Northwest from Market Street to Northwest 57th Street.

Only partial funding, $50,000, has been allotted to that project because new developments in that area will force further improvements, according to the council.