January 2010

It has been a while since my byline has graced these pages, and the reason for that is I have seen some interesting changes in my life, including where I live.

When I realized I had to move, I was concerned that I would have to leave Ballard. Luckily for me, I found myself a great living situation in a part of Ballard that I discovered is nicknamed Stumbletown.

Stumbletown is apparently the part of Ballard centered around Eighth Avenue Northwest and Northwest 65th Street, with the center of commerce being the bars and the Goodwill that has to be the busiest one on the entire planet.

The neighborhood was given the Stumbletown moniker by my girlfriend in reference to the large amount of bars that are clustered along the flat part of 65th as you go up the hill.

I have also heard a historical rumor that this area was much rowdier once upon a time when one of the trolley lines from Seattle ended here and took Seattleites who needed a drink on Sundays to the good old City of Ballard.

You could even make the case that the incredibly steep incline 65th takes as it heads towards Phinney Ridge could quite literally cause one to stumble.

Construction workers hoisted the last roof beam of Swedish Ballard’s new outpatient and emergency care building into place at 11 a.m. on Jan. 11.

Erection of the building began in mid-December and is slated to be finished by fall 2010.

The new five-story building will house an emergency healthcare department on the first floor; medical imaging for x-rays, sonograms and MRIs on the second floor; primary care facilities on the third floor; and specialty physicians’ office space on the fourth floor.

The new building is part of a larger renovation plan for Swedish Ballard. The hospital was having difficulty recruiting new specialists, and the building is part of the effort to attract new hires and demonstrate to the community that Ballard Swedish is a permanent part of the neighborhood, said Rayburn Lewis, M.D., executive director of Swedish’s Ballard campus.

So far, Ballard Swedish has hired a new ear, nose and throat team, as well as new obstetrician/gynecologists, midwives, urologists and general surgeons.

Lewis said the new hospital building is exciting for both the hospital and the community.

The new Ballard QFC, located at 5700 24th Ave. N.W., will open its doors to the public at 7 a.m. on Jan. 13, completing a two-year process that replaced the old 20,000 square foot QFC with one twice the size and topped with almost 270 apartments.

"It seems like the neighborhood is excited," said store manager Bob Goodman. "Our employees are feeling the same way."

Goodman said his grandparents lived and Ballard and he spent a good amount of his childhood in the area. Both he and QFC are happy to be back in the neighborhood, he said.

Goodman said about half of the store's staff are new employees, mostly from the Ballard area.

Kristin Maas, QFC public affairs director, said the store really wanted to focus on local employees who are invested in the community.

Maas said the Ballard QFC is the first time the company has torn down an old store and rebuilt on the same site.

Rebuilding in the same location forced QFC to close its current location in December 2007, which was not ideal, but allowed the neighborhood to stay involved and avoid a long-term vacant lot, she said.

Signup for the Ballard Boys and Girls Club spring baseball season starts Feb. 8.

The cost is $60, plus $15 for a current Boys and Girls Club membership.

There are four leagues available: Rookie Teeball, Teeball, Rookie Machine Pitch and Machine Pitch.

Rookie Teeball is coed and open to preschoolers and kindergartners. It runs from April 12 to June 9, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays at Salmon Bay Field.

Teeball is coed and open to kindergartners and first-graders. It runs from April 12 to june 9, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays at Salmon Bay Field.

Rookie Machine Pitch is coed and open to first and second-graders. It runs from April 5 to June 10 on Mondays Tuesdays and Thursdays at Ballard Boys and Girls Club Field.

Machine Pitch is coed and open to third and fourth-graders. It runs from April 7 to June 11 on Wednesdays and Fridays at Ballard Boys and Girls Club Field.

For more information and to sign up, visit www.ballard-bgc.org.

It wasn’t until I married my husband that I realized what an equalitarian really is. I used that word in the first book I wrote and had quite a time with my editor. She insisted that there was no such word. I said, “If there isn’t such a word, I have now created it.”

Today I decided to look it up in my old 1980 dictionary and there it was. But the definition wasn’t one a feminist could accept. It stated, “Pertaining to the doctrine of equality among “men.” Someone told me just today that I don’t have to worry about being politically correct anymore. I realize that I have probably done my share in attempting to change the world but I can’t seem to stop trying.

Recently I brought together some kindred souls in the area of social change to research Corporate Personhood which has tweaked my interest for a long time. We decided to begin by getting the attention of people who are sick of TV drug ads. However, until Corporate Personhood is finally declared unconstitutional, corporations have the right to buy Congress and advertise on the unregulated TV and get tax breaks for this very advertising.

On Fauntleroy SW, a man was surprised to discover his electric bill increased by $170 in a month's time. Then he noticed a extension cord running from one of his patio outlets to a neighboring home. A man doing maintenance work at that home was booked into King County Jail after admitting that he was the culprit.

An 18-year-old woman, well-known to emergency personnel in the Admiral area and to mental health professionals at Harborview, called 911 31 times on Sunday the 5th, yelling obscenities and threatening the operators. Officers arrived and told her, once again, that she should call 911 only in case of emergency. (In the past several months she has made hundreds of calls, claiming to be suicidal.) She swore and said she'd call whenever she wanted and that she'd file a complaint if no one showed up. Considering her history of false reporting and defiance, she was arrested and booked into King County Jail for possible treatment in mental health court.

Vietnamese Story Times
Seattle Public Library
5423 Delridge Way S.W.
206-733-9125
Saturdays, Jan. 16, 23, 30, Feb. 6 11:15 a.m. Bring your child to the library to celebrate stories, songs, and rhymes. Library events and programs are free.

Daystar Toastmasters
Daystar Retirement Village
2615 SW Barton
Monday, Jan. 25. Come as a guest on to experience the safe, supportive atmosphere in which you can grow your communication and leadership skills.  Improve your ability to think-on-your-feet and become more comfortable speaking to groups.  Meetings are the second and fourth Mondays each month from 12 noon until 1:00 PM.  Arrive 5 to 10 minutes early for orientation.  See http://daystarclub.freetoasthost.us.  Any questions email to: contactus@daystarclub.freetoasthost.us or call Bill at 206/ 932-6707.

Hearing Loss Association Meeting
West Seattle Christian Church
4400 42nd Ave. S.W.
206-937-5996
Wednesday, Jan. 20, 1:30 p.m. Meeting presenter John Allen with "Assistive Listening Devices" All are welcome, with or without hearing loss.

Author and Speaker
Bridge Park Retirement Community

On Nov. 2, 2009, the story “Homeless camps sprouting under West Seattle Bridge” was published on our website, westseattleherald.com. Back then seven homeless people spent nights outdoors in sleeping bags or in a tent under the bridge between the 1st Avenue on- and off-ramp.

According to the Seattle Department of Transportation, complaints were made about “tons of trash” piling up at the encampment. On Dec. 10, the City of Seattle Customer Service Bureau posted signs on bridge columns to remove personal property within 72 hours. Most homeless remained, and a couple of dozen SDOT workers, and law enforcement, showed up Dec. 14. The workers cleared the trash, and in effect removed the homeless.

There is some disagreement as to whether some sleeping bags, tarps, tents, and clothes belonging to the homeless were also tossed into garbage bins. SDOT said no, the homeless said yes.

A friend took this photo recently near Golden Gardens, and I was so surprised to see wild parrots in my Ballard hood!

There were actually three in total, one pair and a single, and may be Cherry-Headed Conures.

According to Wikipedia, there is a wild flock that lives and flies between Maple Leaf and Seward Park, neither of which is very close to Golden Gardens.

Are they a part of that flock, I wonder?

A call to a local pet shop didn’t help. Ideas, anyone?

Rhonda Brown lives in Ballard and is the Urban Crop Circle Project Leader for Sustainable Ballard. Questions, comments, ideas? You can reach her at Rhonda@sustainableballard.org.

The Friends of Ballard Basketball will be honoring Ballard High School Class of 66 alum George Irvine with a jersey retirement ceremony and dinner Jan. 22.

The evening will start with the junior varsity boys basketball team playing at 5 p.m. in the Ballard High School gym. Following the game, there will be a dinner and program celebrating Irvine and the boys basketball tradition at Ballard from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Commons.

Irvine will also be honored in a pregame ceremony a 8 p.m. before the varsity boys basketball team takes on Inglemoor.

Irvine’s is only the third jersey to be retired at Ballard High School, following Michael Johnson and Kim Stewart.

Admission to the varsity game is $6.

For more information, email Keven Wynkoop at kswynkoop@seattleschools.org. RSVP is encouraged