August 2009

Dear Editor, '

Prior to the American Legion Grand Parade on July 18, West Seattle Hi-Yu hosted a breakfast for visiting royalty from other summer festivals around the Puget Sound. Miss Seafair, her court and candidates, Seafair volunteers, Seafair Clowns, and many other volunteers, were also welcomed guests. The morning reception would not have been possible without the generosity of many West Seattle businesses.

Once again, Merrill Gardens at Admiral Heights opened their lovely home to us. Colleen Barnes helped with the set up and the organization in the residence. Jack Miller of Husky Deli gave a lovely fresh fruit tray, which was as colorful as it was scrumptious.

Zatz Bagels provided an assortment of fresh bagels, and Sarah at Alki Bakery donated a variety of baked goods. Mark Brown, of Seattle’s Best Coffee, arranged and delivered coffee and condiments.

Alicia and Tjaden of The Great Harvest Bread Company made their mini cinnamon rolls, which were delicious as always. Morgan Street Thriftway generously donated a gift card, which was used to purchase yogurt, water and juice.

Dear Editor,

When Wall Street collapsed, taxpayers were told we had to support a $700 billion bailout for the crooks that caused the collapse in the first place. Now middle class American working families need our broken health care system fixed.

Millions of us are struggling to pay health care costs and make ends meet. But wait – some in Congress are saying we “can’t afford” health care reform. That does not make sense to me – in fact, I find their argument downright insulting. Help the fat cats and cronies out, but give the finger (and nothing else) to the American people.

Nine years ago I donated a kidney to keep my beloved husband alive. Thank goodness he is doing well. We have medical insurance through my employer, but it would vanish should I lose my job.

Many people are not aware that kidney transplants and dialysis costs are covered by Medicare, no matter your age, race, income, etc. But costs for the immune suppressing drugs needed to keep the patient from rejecting the organ are not. In our case, if we had to pay the $2,000-plus per month prescription costs, it would have bankrupted us.

Dear Editor,

My appreciation for including the “Married in Spirit” article in your paper (page 1, Aug. 12 edition).

I look to the West Seattle Herald for news about our community and was thrilled that Matthew and Ray’s celebration is seen as important.

Commitments in loving relationships have long been newsworthy. I look forward to all of us being legally equal.

Won’t that be a celebration!

Christie Brown
West Seattle

In a Democratic stronghold like West Seattle, which has produced a mayor, state legislators and a county council member, it is difficult for citizens that are of the Republican persuasion to face another Democratic landslide.

Coming from a fundamental Christian father and a mother whose father was one of the founders of the first cooperative colony in Port Angeles, I personally inherited a wide perspective on the political scene. And West Seattle has shown its versatility in dealing with a variety of issues testing our voting mentality.

Recently, I attended a political fundraiser at the West Seattle Nursery, which turned out to be great fun with a wonderful band and a singer stimulating my urge to dance.

After a delicious locally catered meal I was swinging and swaying for over an hour, with only time out to visit occasionally

On the eve of Lynn Wirta’s retirement after 30 years as executive director of Small Faces Child Development Center the teachers claim they are going to make bracelets that read, “And what would Lynn do?” as a reminder that while Lynn always encouraged them to make independent decisions, the ones she made were instinctual.

On Aug. 16 ownership of the former Crown Hill School building officially passed from Seattle Publics Schools to Small Faces, and Wirta retired. Small Faces currently has 150 children in the program and a staff of 30. Multiply the children by 30, then divide for multiple years in attendance - the result is still in the thousands for Wirta's tenure.

After 30 years at Small Faces, Wirta is easily on her second generation of families, with several of her staff alumni themselves. Former teacher and now full-time administrator Kathy Brockman has also been with Small Faces since 1979. Teacher Laura Chandler has been at Small Faces for 21 years. Between the two, there is serious institutional memory.

Bastille Cafe and Bar
5307 Ballard Ave. N.W.
453-5014
Daily 4:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., Sunday Brunch 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Seattle's a restaurant town, and it seems that Ballard's become the restaurant neighborhood.

The opening of Bastille Cafe and Bar has been enthusiastically anticipated by many as nearby residents watched it being built. All eyes were on Bastille as it took its first steps.

The instant rush of criticism and comments about a new establishment, thanks to the Web and social media, can be rough. New places need time to work out the kinks. But Bastille also made itself a hard act to follow with the stunning environment created by the owners. And with a long pedigree between them (Caffe Fiore, Triangle Tavern, Peso's, The Ballroom) they've already gotten attention from food bloggers, print and other media in the six weeks they've been open for business.

I have to confess, I laughed when I opened the note. I love it when people don’t mince words and get directly to the point.

“It is ugly and poorly made.” And it was, too, now that I saw it though Sandra’s eyes.

That’s my kind of customer though. No drama, just “I don’t like this.”

It was perfect. I love that kind of feedback.

After I finished laughing, I realized that Sandra went to a lot of trouble of sending this wee birdbath back to me. No phone call or email, she actually packaged it up and sent it back. That took time.

I removed the listing from the store, and promptly refunded her money and the cost of shipping it back to me. It was the least I could do.

Our company policy states: “If it’s not fun and cute, we don’t want anything to do with it.”

And I need to stand by that.

It’s been a bit of a challenge growing this lil’ company of mine. There wasn’t a “How to Start a Miniature Garden Business” book in the library 12 years ago when I was doing the research to see if I could start one. There still isn’t, but I’m working on that, too.

At a special Aug. 12 meeting of the Seattle City Council Transportation Committee, Metro Director of Operations Kevin Desmond laid out the budgetary nightmare facing Metro and King County Executive Kurt Triplett's plan to deal with it.

As the economic recession continues, Metro is facing a substantial sales tax loss of 12 to 13 percent this year, Desmond said. Metro receives approximately 70 percent of its operating budget from the sales tax, he said.

Metro will have to deal with a predicted $104 million revenue gap in 2009 and projected gaps of $98 million and $115 million in 2010 and 2011 respectively, he said.

Triplett has devised a nine point plan for Metro, which is run by King County, that was presented by Desmond at the meeting.

The first point of the plan is to defer bus service expansion. This does not include the planned RapidRide service enhancements. However,
due to construction of the bored tunnel on First Avenue, the RapidRide line C, which will service West Seattle, has already been delayed one year and is now planning to begin in September of 2012.

Boy, there are lots of options when it comes to paint these days. With an exterior house-painting project in the works, I’ve been spending some time on the net doing my homework on environmentally safe paint.

Let me reiterate, there are LOTS of options, even beyond the myriad of color samples that make me dizzy, with names that often make no sense at all (I’m looking at a sample of green called “Old Mr. Toad”, no kidding.)

Somehow, we are incredibly lucky and have a hard-working friend who knows how to prep a house and is willing to work for peanuts. (No, you can’t have her number.)

Right now we’re agonizing over the color choice (actually, I’m agonizing over Jim’s color choices).

After drive-by examinations of house colors for months, it’s been narrowed down to four different shades of green. These colors now dot the house in places of sun and shade and frankly our house looks like a bad day palette of yellow (original color), white (primer patches) and four shades of green (including Old Mr. Toad).

Our poor neighbors.

Thank goodness Jim has an art background. If it’s really wrong it can be his fault.

Jimmy Gerson is an artist, a performance artist to be more specific.

He has done performance art in association with a hard rock band, but during a recent West Seattle Artwalk he chose the Bohemian Restaurant as his venue. Placing a large canvas on the wall, Gerson then applies house paint with his hands and brushes to create his paintings.

"Ever since I was little I would always draw", said Gersen, " but I didn't really start to paint until 1992 to 1993 after I graduated from college."

His day job is the catering operations manager for Salty's on Alki. It's a job he enjoys. But his real passion is large scale art. Why large?

"I think small scale is too confining," he said, "large scale lets me do whatever I want."

Gersen does have a role model as an artist and based on his style you can see the influence.

"First and foremost it's Picasso," he said. "Everything he does. Shapes, colors forms, it's free, it's expression. I guess it's him."

Gersen's approach to painting doesn't involve a high degree of planning. He listens to music and lets the mood that develops direct his effort.