September 2009

The Seattle Department of Transportation has received a petition from Safeway Stores, Inc to vacate an alley right-of-way in the Admiral neighborhood of West Seattle.

The vacation proposal is related to the redevelopment of the existing store on the block bounded by Admiral Way, California Avenue Southwest, Southwest Lander Street and 42nd Avenue Southwest.

The transportation department is requesting comments on the proposal. All comments become part of the permanent public record and will be reproduced for the Seattle City Council and any public disclosure requests, according to the department.

Commenters need to indicate whether they are responding as an individual or as the representative of an organization.

From the Seattle Department of Transportation:

The Seattle City Council has received a petition from Safeway Stores Inc. to vacate a portion of the alley between Blocks 5 & 6, Plat of West Seattle by U.R. Niesz & Ada Niesz in the Admiral neighborhood. Safeway is requesting the vacation for the redevelopment of the existing Safeway Store located at 2622 California Ave. S.W.

The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) recently announced that the Rat City Rollergirls (RCRG) All-Stars earned a spot in the 2009 WFTDA Western Regional Tournament.

RCRG All-Stars will compete against all-star teams representing nine other roller derby leagues for a chance to advance to the 4th annual WFTDA National Championship, set for Nov. 13-15 in Philadelphia, PA.

The Western Regional Tournament, called “Derby on the Rocks,” will be held Oct. 2-4 in Denver, Colo., and is expected to draw hundreds of roller derby players and fans to watch some of the best action the sport has to offer.

Fans wishing to cheer on RCRG as they take the national stage can find ticketing and other information at www.derbyontherocks.com.

As the fourth-seeded team in the tournament, RCRG will first play fifth-seed B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls (San Francisco, Calif.) at 9 p.m. (MDT) on Friday, Oct. 2, and will play at least three games over the course of the three-day, multi-level tournament.

The Ballard warehouse on Shilshole Avenue that was home to a Seattle Times distribution center has been turned into the Rat's Nest by its new tenants – the Rat City Rollergirls.

Valerie Morris, media representative for the Rat City Rollergirls, said they are using the warehouse at 5305 Shilshole Ave. N.W. in the Stimson Marina as a practice space.

Jack Holtman, an employee at neighboring Trident Seafoods, said he noticed the Rollergirls skating around the inside of the warehouse for the first time on Sept. 8.

"I work in the building next door," Holtman said. "I have been looking in the warehouse doors when I walk by, and it is interesting to watch them go around in circles as they practice."

The Rat City Rollergirls, founded in 2004, is the Northwest's first flat track, all-female roller derby league. The league is composed of approximately 100 member-owners, who are divided among four teams.

More information and photos from the Rat's Nest coming soon.

Westfest was held this past weekend at Holy Rosary School in West Seattle, and included entertainment for the family like a climbing wall

The festival, on Sept. 18 through 20, was run solely by volunteers from Holy Rosary Parish.

The annual Westfest, on its 20th year, was held to celebrate the end of a good summer and to kick off the new school year.

My “new” bicycle and I were born in the same year. The bike, a 1943 J. C. Higgins, recently rode with me from northern Minnesota on a rack on the back of my RV.

It was covered in dirt and grease accumulated over what appeared to be a large part of its life, so it wasn’t invited inside with my Trek Madone. It was, however, covered in a zipper bag because people who know bicycles know that this isn’t just any old bike.

The trip back to Seattle took us across the lake- strewn flat lands of Minnesota, over the rolling hills and farm lands of North Dakota and eastern Montana, then on to the mountains of western Montana and Idaho.

At last we reached the crop and scrub land of eastern Washington and finally to the Cascades and to the bike’s new home in Seattle.

This is the longest journey that this bike would take in its 65 years of life. From northern Minnesota’s lake country on the fringe of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area to the bright lights of the big city, a journey that thousands of Minnesota natives took during World War II to work at Boeing, must have been quite a shock.

A film by Ballard High School students Levi Friedman and Matt Law-Phipps has been named as an official selection of the 10th Annual River Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The film festival is the largest in Latin America. It features major films of the Cannes, Sundance and Venice film festivals as well as works by filmmakers under the age of 18. The festival received 143 entries from youth in Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Italy, the United States and Canada.

Friedman and Law-Phipps' film is a short comic piece called "Gourmandizing."

The festival committee contacted Friedman and invited him to enter his film after they saw his Student Emmy-winning PSA "Don’t Spill" on YouTube.

The festival opens on Sept. 25 and continues through Oct. 8.

This is the second film by Ballard High School students requested by an international festival this year. In May, Diana Federighi, Kaelan Gilman and Del Brummet were invited to exhibit their award-winning short film "Unplugged" at the Seoul International Youth Film Festival.

The win streak is at three for the Ballard High School volleyball team, which beat Eastlake Sept. 21 in the first conference match of the season.

The Beavers took the first game of the match 25-18 but dropped the second 25-11. Ballard was able to rebound, winning the final two games 25-19 and 25-18.

Lisa Day tallied 12 kills, and Audrey Pefferman added 9 of her own. Day leads the team with 43 kills on the season.

Madelyn Voelker and Deanna Myers had 10 digs apiece for the Beavers.

Monique Marques racked up 29 assists, giving her 72 over three games.

Coach Tami Reese said Ballard and Eastlake are usually at the same level of play, going to five games in the past. That Ballard was able to beat Eastlake in four games this season is a positive sign, she said.

Despite going 3-0 to open the season, Reese said she doesn't want the team to settle in.

"We still need to get better to be at the level we want to be at," she said. "We have work to do."

Reese said she would like to see the team make less unforced errors, especially on serves, and make some improvements on defense.

The Beavers take on Skyline at 7 p.m. on Sept. 23 at Skyline High School.

Despite a season-best score, the Ballard High School boys golf team lost its Sept. 21 matchup with Juanita by 10 strokes.

The Beavers shot 216 as a team, one lower than their previous best, which came in a Sept. 10 loss to Woodinville.

Eric Frank led Ballard, with a second-place score of 39. Ross Upton's 42 put him in a tie for fifth.

The boys golf team is 1-3 on the season with another game at 3:30 p.m. today at Jackson Park Golf Club against Bothell.

Boo is a pit mix rescue dog that Lauren Kipp found in upstate New York about three years ago.

The two moved across the country in a rental truck and relocated to the Alki area where they walk every day. Boo loves to play with squeaky stuffed animals and play hide and seek.

When friends come to visit one person hides in the closet or the bathtub then they ask Boo, "Wher'd they go?!" She runs around the apartment looking everywhere until she finds the missing person.

Boo loves to eat apples and peanut butter together, she won't eat apples alone. Lauren said, "She is my very best friend. She always cheers me up when I am sad. She is a really good cuddlier and always wants to sit on your lap."

She is a little big for a lap dog but Lauren said she makes it work.

How to nominate your pet for Pet of the Week:

Want to nominate your pet for Pet of the Week? Stop by the VCA West Seattle Veterinary Hospital at 5261 California Ave. S.W. and just ask for a form. A nomination is not a guarantee of appearance and your name and photo may appear in our newspaper and online.

Hungry? On Thursday, Oct. 1, the Phinney Neighborhood Association wants you to “Pig Out” and help fight hunger in north Seattle at the same time.

The seventh annual “Phabulous Phinney Pig Out” will benefit the Phinney Neighborhood Association Soup Kitchens.

In collaboration with St. John United Lutheran Church and Calvary Lutheran Church, the Phinney Neighborhood Association operates two soup kitchens. Three times a week, the soup kitchens serve more than 150 to 200 meals to neighbors in need.

Grants from the city, volunteers and donated food take care of a large percentage of the cost of this program but not all of it.

To keep this program strong, 20 neighborhood restaurants, pubs and coffee shops have agreed to donate a portion of their sales on Oct. 1 to the soup kitchens. To make this effort successful, area residents are being urged to have all their meals that day – breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and coffee at participating establishments. It’s that simple.