The 15th Annual West Seattle Garden Tour held this past July 19 raised money for five area organizations. An awards ceremony was held Tuesday, Sept. 16, at ArtsWest where nearly $25,000 was distributed to the following beneficiaries:
Junction Park Plaza
Seattle Youth Garden Woks
Transitional Resources
PlantAmnesty
ArtsWest
The Pedestrian Master Plan, whose mission is make Seattle the most walkable city in the nation, will be voted on by the full city council Sept. 21 after being passed unanimously by the council transportation committee and special committee on pedestrian safety.
"The plan before you today is evidence that Seattlites care about the critical role walking plays in sustaining the health of people and our communities in addition to the environment," Tracy Krawczyk, a member of the Pedestrian Master Plan team, said during the Sept. 15 vote.
The plan includes objectives, strategies and analysis that can help the city increase the safety of pedestrians and the vibrancy of walkable communities.
Work on the Pedestrian Master Plan started six years ago, and council member Nick Licata said it has been created in a way that is thorough but also open to council change in the future.
"That was an extraordinary effort on behalf of the staff and Pedestrian Master Plan," council member Jan Drago said during the vote.
The Ballard High School boys tennis team dropped its second match of the season 5-2 Sept. 15.
The Beavers are off to an 0-2 start after the loss to Inglemoor High School.
Ballard's Neal Berg won his singles match two sets to one. Berg won his set singles match Sept. 10 against Issaquah as well.
Charles Beaudoin won his singles match for the Beavers 2-0.
The Beavers take on Bothell at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 17 at the Lower Woodland Tennis Courts in their first home match of the season.
The Westwood Neighborhood Council will meet again on Thursday, Sept. 24 to discuss its neighborhood plan, crime and an update on the Denny Middle School Chief Sealth campus construction, among other topics.
The group will meet from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Southwest Community Center, located at 2801 S.W. Thistle St.
Other agenda items include:
Top five ideas for neighborhood change
How can you help your community?
(Editor's note: This opinion piece was published originally in council member Conlin's newsletter, "Making it Work.")
Seattle is faced with some difficult and challenging budget decisions over the next several months. After rebalancing the 2009 budget earlier this year, the city is facing an estimated $70 million shortfall in revenues for 2010.
The council is already working on budget issues as we prepare to receive the mayor’s proposed budget at the end of September. State law requires that the council approve a final budget by the end of November. We expect to spend most of the fall on this challenging task.
Fortunately, Seattle carefully managed budgets during the last several years when revenues exceeded expectations, setting aside a $30 million Rainy Day Fund and emphasizing one-time projects rather than long-term commitments to new staff and programs.
Seattle also does not face some of the structural problems that King County and the state face. So, even though it will not be easy to find $70 million, it is a doable task.
Come hear the words of local poets Richard Kenney, Sharon Cumberland and Erin Malone as the Seattle Public Library, Fremont Branch hosts “Poetry in Fremont.”
The event takes place on Saturday, Sept. 26 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at 731 N. 35th St.
Kenney, teaches poetry and verse writing at the University of Washington and has also published four books of his poetry. These books include, “The Evolution of the Flightless Bird,” “Orrery,” “The Intervention of the Zero” and “The One-Strand River.”
Cumberland is an associate professor of American literature and poetry at Seattle University.
Malone, taught writing at the University of Colorado, the Richard Hugo House and the University of Washington Rome Center in Italy. Her writing achievements include the publication of the chapbook, “What Sound Does It Make.”
Free for all and open to the public, no registration is required.
For more information call the branch at 684-4084.
Got an eye for salmon?
Friends of the Hylebos Restoration Coordinator Hillary Kleeb wants to remind Hylebos fans in Federal Way that the Salmon Watcher training is coming up for the 2009 program.
This is the 10th year of the Salmon Watcher program. Volunteers for the program agree to watch Hylebos Creek for at least an hour each week from October-December, and document any salmon seen during that time.
Participants must attend a training session with the Friends that gives them an introduction to the salmon life cycle, species of salmon that you might see, and how to identify the salmon species.
The seminar will also cover filling out spawning paperwork and data sheets to help the Friends get an accurate count of the fish returning to the Hylebos watershed.
Participants will have the opportunity to see salmon spawning and ask questions in the field.
Date: October 3rd
Time: 10 a.m - 2 p.m.
Location: Soos Creek, just below the hatchery (in Auburn)
Please RSVP to streamteam@hylebos.org if you are interested in participating.
Representatives of Swedish Medical Center and the city of Seattle broke ground on Swedish's new medical office building Sept. 16.
The five-story building will be 90,000 square feet of physician offices, an emergency department, an expanding imaging center and primary care clinics.
During the groundbreaking, Jennifer Graves, nurse executive at Swedish, congratulated those behind the project on their vision for Swedish.
"Ballard was a diamond in the rough," she said. "It only needed to be pulled out of the ground and polished a little bit."
Dr. Rod Hochman, Swedish's chief executive officer, said healthcare should be a commitment to the community. The construction of the new medical office building is only the start of building an exciting and dynamic campus to serve the Ballard community, he said.
"In my two-and-a-half years at Swedish, I have to say, this is one of my favorite days," Hochman said.
City council member Sally Clark told those gathered for the event that many people around the city are excited to see the Swedish groundbreaking and the jobs it will create because there have been few large projects started this year.
The city of Seattle has launched a new Web site that collects news and information from most of the major city departments in one place, City Link.
The new site offers a network of news feeds from utilities, parks, police, fire and other departments, according to the city.
“Citylink Seattle takes our city beyond traditional news releases and printed newsletters to delivering faster, more immediate information that keeps you in touch with your city in one convenient place,” said Mayor Greg Nickels in a statement.
Citylink Seattle offers residents the latest information, such as police and fire activities, events at parks and the Seattle Center, and more timely news about traffic and utilities.
Eleven city departments are part of the initial launch, each creating news feeds and displaying the latest headlines on their department homepages. All the information from those individual pages is collected and fed immediately into Citylink.
The newsfeeds are from:
- Power Lines: News and updates from Seattle City Light
- SPD blotter: News and updates from the Seattle Police Department
Once again, Seattle made Forbes' top 10 list, this time for the best cities to earn a living category.
The best cities to earn a living are those that have plenty of companies doing business in high-paying, growth industries. Combine that with a high-quality business environment, job growth, and a low cost of living and you get a select few locations where the paycheck is generous and the cost of necessities like food and housing is modest.
Here are the top 10 cities Forbes magazine says is the economic reality now and the conditions are likely to get even better as healthcare, technology, and energy draw more employees:
1. Dallas, Texas
2. Houston, Texas
3. Minneapolis, Minn.
4. Austin, Texas
5. Washington, D.C.
6. St. Louis, Mo.
7. Seattle, Wash.
8. Atlanta, Ga.
9. Kansas City, Mo.
10. Denver, Colo.
A list dominated by eastern and southwestern metros, makes Seattle with $32,836 median income the only West Coast city to make the list. One of Seattle’s primary industries, healthcare, accounts for 96,000 local jobs and $10 billion a year.
