August 2009

Port of Seattle officials announced on Aug. 25 that the Nickelsville encampment must leave port property in West Seattle by Sept. 30, despite the homeless camp requests to stay.

According to a press release from the Port, a second notice of trespass will be posted at Terminal 107, 4700 West Marginal Way, this week. 

"While port commissioners considered requests for up to an additional 90 days, the Port has no authority to provide temporary housing, the shoreline park is an inappropriate location for the encampment, and the camp violates Seattle city code," according to the release. "Port officials reiterated their hope that encampment members and advocates will continue efforts to find an appropriate site for the group, and that they will leave port property voluntarily."

Live Girls! theater has announced it will bring Candy Simmons’ dynamic and heartbreaking solo show "AfterLife" to Seattle audiences. 

The play will be in Ballard for two shows only, Friday Aug. 28 and Saturday, Aug. 29. Both shows are at 8 p.m.

"AfterLife" has been described as a mesmerizing exploration of the changing roles of women in the 20th century, that drops in on pivotal days in the lives of three very different women.

Written by Candy Simmons and Chris Van Strander and directed by Canadian Fringe tour veteran Virginia Scott, "AfterLife" has earned performer Candy Simmons’ critical acclaim across the U.S and Canada including a Best Female Performer award in the 2008 Victoria Fringe Festival.

Live Girls! theater is located at 2220 N.W. Market St., Lower Level. Visit www.livegirlstheater.org for directions and info about Live Girls!

Visit www.sunsetgunproductions.com for more about the show.

Tickets are $15 General, $12 Student/Senior, 18 and under $5.

Advance tickets available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/1792, 1-800-838-3006.

The children of Ballard got a chance to display their Nordic pride during a button-making workshop Aug. 25 at Bergen Place Park.

Alison Church, children's education coordinator at the Nordic Heritage Museum, was on hand to help.

Children at the free event picked a Nordic theme from prepared examples and designed their buttons around it.

Church said the event was a chance to bring more activity to Bergen Place.

There has been a neighborhood effort recently to bring structured activities to Ballard parks to increase a feeling of public safety, which some Ballardites have felt is lacking.

The band Tre Norske has performed twice at Bergen Place in the past few months, and the Wuff Da! dog event at Ballard Commons Park this past weekend had a large turnout.

Susan Hutchison, one of the top two leading candidates in the Aug. 18 primary election for King County Executive, has officially challenged her competition, King County Council Chairman and West Seattle resident Dow Constantine, to a series of televised debates.

Hutchison officially made the challenge on KUOW's "The Conversation."

“I would like to recommend three televised debates in the months ahead before the election," she said

According to a release from her campaign, Hutchison, a former at KIRO-TV anchor, said, “The primary election was a mandate for change.  Voters are fed up with the irresponsible spending and mismanagement of county government and want to know how we intend to implement reform.  More importantly, they want to know where chairman Constantine has been for the past seven years and how he allowed county government to accumulate a projected $110 million budget deficit.” 

Sandeep Kaushik who works on Constantine's campaign has said the council chair welcomes the chance to debate Hutchison.

Students attending Seattle Public Schools will be heading back to school on Sept. 9 and West Seattle's School Board representative Steve Sundquist will be at Uptown Espresso at 9 a.m. tomorrow to talk to the community about any concerns or ideas.

Uptown Espresso is located at 3845 Delridge Way S.W.

Sundquist said anyone not able to make it can contact him with their concerns at (206) 252-0040 or steve.sundquist@seattleschools.org.

Sustainable Ballard will be hosting a community mixer Aug. 29 as a chance for neighbors to get to know each other and make new friends.

The free event will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Dutch Bike Co. at 4421 Shilshole Ave. N.W.

Beer will be available from Sierra Nevada Brewing and the Max Crumble Orchestra will provide the evening's soundtrack.

Attendees will have a chance to take a ride on Dutch Bike Co.'s unique seven-seat conference bike.

Though the event is free, donations will be accepted and go toward the upcoming Sustainable Ballard Festival.

The future of the Fauntleroy Whole Foods and the Fauntleroy Place Project still seems uncertain as the latest buyer, West Seattle resident Matt Segrest, has backed out.

Vicki Foley, a spokesperson for Whole Foods in the Northwest, offered the following update.

"We are watching the Fauntleroy Place project closely as the developer appears to have a number of obstacles to overcome, if he is to deliver the space to us by the deadlines in the lease."

Whole Foods' permit commitment extends into 2010. Meanwhile, the Interbay Urban Center Whole Foods will open Oct. 14.

Lawsuits are still pending on the West Seattle development and it is yet unknown as to when or if it will be built. A financial firm owns the site located at 3922 S.W. Alaska St. and there are legal actions still pending on it, one of which halted construction last fall.

View the permit history for the site here.

Since Abraxus Books vacated the old Ballard Library site on 24th Avenue Northwest in June, the building has been sitting idle once again. The owner of the site, local developer Curt Pryde, said it could still be another three years before his plans to develop it are realized.

A fence was put up recently to cut down on the graffiti, but Pryde estimated the building is still getting hit at least every other day.

Pryde's short and long term goals for the property haven't changed much since 2007 (read Condo delayed; bookstore stays). He still plans to develop the site into a mixed-use building within the next three years, though the economy has slowed those plans some, he said.

The financing just isn't available right now, he said.

A design review meeting was held in 2006 for a 94-unit mixed-use project that included 120 underground parking spaces. But at that time, when Ballard was seeing the beginnings of several major mixed-use projects like the QFC re-redevelopment right across the street, Pryde told the News-Tribune the timing wasn't right.

When the Compass Center, a low-income housing provider, demolished the boarded-up house at 1753 N.W. 56th St. there was talk of a temporary open space at the site that would be open to the public.

Rick Friedhoff, the Compass Center's executive director, said grass would be planted on the property as part of the demolition of the existing structure, and Sustainable Ballard showed interest in planting a temporary community garden.

At the time, Neighborhood District Coordinator Rob Mattson encouraged Ballard residents to enjoy the neighborhood's newest open space.

That was in June. Now almost three months later, the property is mostly dirt and weeds. A solitary sunflower is the space's only inviting feature.

Friedhoff told the Ballard News-Tribune in June that an uncertain construction schedule would most likely preclude a community garden, but the space remains without planted grass.

Depending on available funding for the Compass Center's planned six-story, low-income development, construction could start in fall 2010 or sooner, Friedhoff said in June.

For 30 years, Ballard resident Ron Moe-Lobeda has had a love for gardening. But it wasn't until he and wife Cynthia sent their youngest of two boys to college that Moe-Lobeda was able to turn his entire yard into a vegetable garden.

“When we moved out here I wanted to do a garden on the street but I became concerned about the carbon,” he said. “So I quit that and tried it in the backyard, I let it be for a number of years because we had two sons running around the yard.”

Moe-Lobeda said once his boys hit high school he started a garden on the side of the house and since sending his youngest to college this year he looked at the front yard and said, “I’m ready.”

Moe-Lobeda has been growing peas, radishes, spinach, onions, turnips, broccoli and lettuce, and now has a second planting of carrots, zucchinis, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers and brussels sprouts in his home garden at 623 N.W. 80th St.

“My gold crop doesn’t really grow in the Northwest but I found the sunniest spot to grow it and I loved it back in D.C.,” he said.

The golden crop he referred to are his prized okra.