August 2009

Celebrate Labor Day with a scenic walk through the working waterfront along the Duwamish Waterway in West Seattle on Saturday, Sept. 5. 

The walk tour will go by Seattle’s last steel mill, around and above the Port’s Terminal T-5 and its viewpoint, over the Spokane Street Swing Bridge, and around the foot of Harbor Island.
 
This free walk is 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), with a 5 kilometer alternative.  Walkers start anytime between 8 a.m. and noon on Sept. 5 from the parking lot at 26th Southwest and Southwest Yancy, behind the West Seattle Corporate Center on Delridge Avenue/     
 
By car, take the Delridge Avenue exit from the West Seattle Bridge.  Turn right on Southwest Andover, and left on 26th Southwest, and go one block to the start. 

Or, take Metro Transit route 120 or 125 to the stop at Delridge Way and Southwest Andover, and walk west on Andover, watching for the signs. 
 
The event is sponsored by the Emerald City Wanderers walking club, and sanctioned by the American Volkssport Association.    
 
For more information visit  www.walkingwithecw.org, or call 206.935.3225.

Crown Hill Fire Station 35 is on its way to what, according to one firefighter, is a sorely needed rebuild.

The floor in the 80-year-old fire station slopes so badly in some places that it is hard to keep chairs in front of desks, said Jill Firestone, a firefighter at Station 35.

The remodel will also increase safety, both by adding room to properly decontaminate equipment and seismically upgrading the building, Firestone said.

"These times need safe buildings," she said. "It would be a shame if we had a natural disaster and we couldn't get out to help."

Brenda Bauer, director of the Seattle Fleets and Facilities Department, opened the Aug. 21 groundbreaking by thanking the voters for their support of the 2003 Fire Station Levy, which is paying to upgrade and rebuild fire stations throughout the city.

Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata said the new Fire Station 35, which will be completed next year, will have a second story and an additional 2,000 square feet.

Seattle Fire Chief Gregory Dean said, as firefighters live and work in the station 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, it is important they have the space to properly do their job.

Summer weather and festivities may be waning but events this coming weekend could cause traffic backups in some areas of the city, according to the Seattle Department of Transportation.

Saturday, Aug. 22

Magnolia Auto Show:  9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
175 expected
Streets closed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.:  West McGraw St (32nd Avenue West- 34th Avenue West) and 33rd Avenue West (West Lynn Street - West Wheeler Street).

Seattle’s Chinatown-International District Night Market:  6 p.m. – 11 p.m.
1,000 expected
To be held at Hing Hay Park. Streets closed from 3 p.m. - Midnight: South King Street (Sixth Avenue South - Maynard Avenue South).

Seattle Celebrating Life Dragon Boat Festival:  9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
1,000 expected
To be held at Magnuson Park; no street closures, but traffic may be heavy near the park entrance.

Central Area Community Festival:  11 a.m. – 9 p.m.
1,000 expected
To be held at Garfield Community Playfield (2223 East Cherry Street); no street closures, but expect heavy traffic in the surrounding area.

As Janice Jacobson walks down the streets of Ballard, she’s like a local celebrity. One-by-one she can’t help but stop and chat as past and present students yell out at her, “Teacher, Janice.”

“My boys don’t want to go on walks with me anymore because they know I always run into someone and we’ll have to stop,” she said.

For the past 20 years, many families have witnessed the impact Jacobson has had on their lives and children as she’s led toddler and pre-three programs at Loyal Heights Community Center and Northwest Co-op in Crown Hill.

With experience as a teacher for a K-6 grade gifted program in the Shoreline School District, Jacobsen moved into the Loyal Heights neighborhood in 1982 after she became pregnant with her first son, Joel.

There she ran a home daycare business as she cared for Joel and her second son Nick, who was born two years later. It was in 1990 that a neighbor told her of an advertisement for a preschool teacher at Loyal Heights Community Center.

This started Jacobson’s infamous reign of Ballard’s ultimate preschool teacher.

After a tremendous amount of advocacy from the community and the advisory council, Camp Long was finally granted $1 million for the remodeling of its historic lodge.

The Camp Long Advisory Council, which is made up of approximately 14 community members who have an interest in Camp Long, has been admittedly seeking this money since 1999.

“This was a process of community advocacy, an example of something that takes learning and understanding political systems, civic engagement, parks bureaucracy and a lot of endurance and patience,” according to Camp Long coordinator Shelia Brown’s talking points.

This included raising awareness of Camp Long’s needs to the Seattle City Council, neighborhood district council’s, and planning and parks departments. After not qualifying for other community and park levy’s, Camp Long was finally added to the ballot for funding as part of the Parks and Green Spaces Levy, which was passed by voters last fall.

The plans for renovation, and the opportunity for public comment were discussed at a public meeting Wednesday, Aug. 18 at the Camp Long Lodge.

As the national recession continues, a new economic forecast for the city of Seattle projects a $72 million revenue shortfall in its 2009-2010 biennial budget. 

The city has built up a $30.6 million rainy day fund, but will still need to identify at least $42 million in further cuts for 2010, according to the mayor's office.

Mayor Greg Nickels will propose adjustments to the city’s 2010 budget next month, but said today that he will address the revenue shortfall without impacting direct human services and public safety programs.

“I will deliver a budget for 2010 that continues to protect funding for direct human services and public safety, and in this historic economic downturn, it is significant that we are able to preserve our core services—the result of years of careful budgeting and work with the city council,” said Nickels in a statement. “There are more difficult decisions ahead, but Seattle is in a better position because we have kept strong fiscal discipline and built up a substantial rainy day fund.”

Seattle Department of Transportation paving crews will begin Monday, Aug. 24, to repair concrete and asphalt pavement in the intersection of North 85th Street and Greenwood Avenue North, recently excavated to repair a water main break.

The city expects to complete the work by the end of the day on Thursday, Aug. 27.

Starting Monday at 9 a.m., westbound traffic on North 85th Street will be detoured as follows: turn left onto Greenwood, turn right on North 80th Street, turn right on 3rd Avenue North, and return back to North 85th.

Eastbound traffic on North 85th will be restricted to one lane through the intersection. North and southbound traffic on Greenwood will be able to drive straight through the intersection but will not be able to turn at North 85th.

Seattle Police officers will assist traffic.

Drivers should expect delays and are advised to use alternate routes. Sidewalks will remain open.

For information or questions about transit service, please call Metro Transit customer service at (206) 553-3000, or visit Metro Online.

Mixing Australian flair, premium wineries and the Seattle heat all in one, locally owned Bonza Bash Productions will be hosting its first annual summer event, Bonza Bash 2009 at Fremont Studios this Saturday, Aug. 22.

A benefit for the Seattle Humane Society, Australian transplants Dave McLauchlan and Brenton Webster started their company six-years ago based on Australia's “Outback Bash,” where people travel from around the world for a non-profit benefit weekend of upscale events constructed in Australia's Outback.

Bonza Bash 2009 will begin at 8 p.m to 10:30 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres and wine tasting from Barrage Cellars, Bookwalter Winery, Darby Winery, DiStefano Winery, Sparkman Cellars and Aussie wines, The Black Chook and Woop Woop.

At 11 p.m. the event will then turn into a festive Bonza Bash where guests can dance the night away to old and new school beats from Djs Kippy, Victor Menegaux, Speedy G.

Guests will enjoy entertainment from massage therapists, cartoonists, face painters and will be able to enter in raffles and bid on silent auctions items, which include restaurant and spa gift certificates, winery packages and tickets to sporting events.

Recession, long days at work, screaming kids, and inept drivers leave us tired, sore and stressed.

When life hands you tense, aching bodies where do you go? Rejuvenation, of course.

Meet three Ballard residents, Mara McCune, Kelli Riddle and Darian Weaver. These three business partners come together with a vision and passion for wholeness and healing, and a sense that a unified, symbiotic massage practice is beneficial for them and the community.

The Ballard triumvirate opened the business in April of 2006.

“We wanted to do something beyond massage," said McCune. "We wanted to work with our community."

The three partners have a combined experience of nearly 25 years, in addition to a few other therapists who practice at Rejuvenation. A broad range of massage services is provided, from orthopedic rehabilitation, sacred hot stone, craniosacral therapy, essential oils aromatherapy, to pre-natal massage.

“We all do different things and have different styles so we decided to come together,” said Weaver. “We want to give people options. People’s bodies need different things and we all have different specialties.”

Seattle Public Schools’ Nutrition Services has made available the 2009-2010 Applications for Free and Reduced price Meals and urges families to complete and submit the application. 

The annual application was mailed to all student households in early August.  If families did not get an application in the mail, they can obtain one on-line at Nutrition Services Web site: www.seattleschools.org/area/nutrition-svc.

Families are required to complete and submit a new application each year to qualify. 

Parents and guardians are encouraged to complete and submit the application early to ensure that eligible children will have breakfast and lunch either free or a reduced price rate, dependent upon eligibility, throughout the school year.

Eligible students who qualify for the free and reduced price meals may also be able to get discounts and/or waivers for fees on pre-college exams and applications, fieldtrips costs, all day kindergarten fees, athletic fees, event fees, running start, and other such fees through their schools. Parents and guardians should check with their student’s school for specific discounts available.