February 2010

Democrat Marcee Stone announced her candidacy for 34th District State Representative Position 2 today. Incumbent Senator Joe McDermott is running for the County Council seat vacated by King County Executive Dow Constantine. Position 2 incumbent Sharon Nelson is seeking McDermott’s seat in the Senate, creating a vacancy in her current position in the House of Representatives. Marcee is running to fill this vacancy.

Marcee Stone has been the Board President for statewide organization Washington Public Campaigns (www.washclean.org) since 2007 and has been active in fighting for public campaign financing bills in the legislature. In 2008 the Governor signed SB 5278 allowing the use of public funds to finance campaigns for local office and Marcee is currently working for the passage of the Supreme Court Fair Elections bills (SB 5912/HB 1738).

Elections to the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council will be held on May 20, 2010. Anyone interested in serving the community through the council must submit an application. There are a total of seven positions available, one from each of four districts and three At-Large positions. To run for a district position you must reside within the district you are running in.

The At-Large positions are available to any resident of North Highline, a business owner or an employee of a non-profit organization within the boundaries of North Highline. Each position is a two year term with requirements to attend one meeting per month.

Applications are available at www.northhighlineuac.org and at the North Highline Fire District headquarters at 1243 SW 112th St.

For additional information please refer to the candidate application or contact: Ron Johnson at 206 767-3053

A route to South Seattle Community College from Delridge Way SW will be closed from Monday, February 22 to April 5 to vehicles and to pedestrians. The closure is required to allow a private contractor to install underground utilities to serve new homes. The closure will start on SW Oregon off of Delridge Way SW, continue on 23rd SW which turns into 22nd SW, and will end at 21st SW.

The closure is required due to the size of the hole needed and the narrow width of the street, and will be in place 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

General traffic will be detoured to SW Andover on the north and SW Orchard/Dumas on the south. Detours will also be provided for Metro Transit Route 125, U.S. mail and garbage trucks, and emergency vehicles. On-street parking will be restricted on many streets in the area to accommodate Metro Transit buses and where needed for safety.

For information or questions about transit service, please call Metro Transit customer service at 206-553-3000, or visit Metro Transit online at: http://www.Kingcounty.gov/metro

What’s one thing you wish the Library could provide, or change? What’s the role of the Library in our community? What should the Library be doing in five to 10 years? How should the Library be using new technology?
You’ll have an opportunity to talk about these and other issues with Seattle City Librarian Susan Hildreth and members of the Library board of trustees at Citywide Conversations scheduled in March.

The Citywide Conversations are part of a year-long process to develop a strategic plan to guide its growth and services through 2015.
“The community was actively involved in helping develop the 10-year Libraries for All program to rebuild our facilities,” said City Librarian Hildreth. “Now it’s time to make sure the services and resources we provide meet the community’s needs.” Last year, more than 14 million people visited The Seattle Public Library.

Hi-Life
5425 Russell Ave. N.W.
206.784.7272
Breakfast/Lunch: daily, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Dinner: Sunday-Thursday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.

It would be great for Ballard if the Hi-Life were a neighborhood joint with breakfast, lunch and dinner, seasonal specials and Northwest home cooking. If a waitress named Betty greeted regulars in a friendly fashion and asked about their dogs and children while refilling their cups of joe.

While it's not that, it is an interesting place to visit and imagine seeing firefighters dashing about.

The historic brick building, a former fire station, in Old Ballard that houses Hi-Life is a great draw and almost worth going to see for its own value.

Period architecture is blended with new touches to provide a spacious and open interior. Original art decorates the exposed brick walls.

The bar area provides seating that is somewhat cozy (as long as it's not too cold outside, then it's drafty).

This past week “US News and World Report,” a well respected weekly news magazine, brought out its list of the “Finest High Schools in the United States.” You can view this at http://www.usnews.com/highschools.

US News takes a more, in my estimation, refined look at the achievement levels of high schools in the United States that includes looking at the composition of the student body, poverty, and most importantly, the “passing rate,” not the “taking rate” of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams.

Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, there has been some “Smoke and Mirrors” in the reporting of “Achievement” by schools that will tell you about the number of AP courses offered, or the number of students “Taking AP courses.” What there is a reluctance to report is the number of kids that PASS these tests or the correlation between their report card grade and their AP, or IB, grades. They just don’t want to alarm us!

Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent Tim Gallagher decided Feb. 18 to relax a rule banning smoking in parks one day after he created it.

The ban would have gone into effect April 1, but Gallagher reversed course and approve the original recommendation of the Board of Park Commissioners.

The board recommended this language in the Parks Code of Conduct: “Smoking, chewing or other tobacco use is banned within 25 feet of other park patrons and in play areas, beaches or playgrounds.”

“Based on the input from the public that followed my initial decision, I have decided that a gradual approach to a smoking ban is reasonable," Gallagher said.

The code of conduct was adopted under the Superintendent’s rulemaking authority and brings together in a single document all the behaviors that could cause the city to withdraw a person’s permission to be in a park.

Sections of the new code of conduct, including ones prohibiting spitting and entering public restrooms meant for a different gender, have already been removed after public input.

In November, the Greenwood-Phinney Historical Society launched a contest to find the oldest house in the neighborhood. On Feb. 18, the society announced a winner.

Anna and Scott Sturgeon won the contest with their 1902 Phinney Ridge home.

While their house is not truly the oldest in the neighborhood, the Sturgeons completed the required research, including obtaining their building permit from 1902, and fulfilled the spirit of the contest – researching and treasuring our architectural heritage, the historical society said in a press release.

The Sturgeons received breakfast for two at Mae's Phinney Ridge Cafe and an autographed copy of "Seattle's Greenwood-Phinney Neighborhood" by Ted Pedersen.

Cub Scout Pack 793 gathered on Thursday Feb, 18 at the Holy Family Hall for the Annual Blue and Gold celebration for Boy Scouts of America. Approximately 100 Cub Scouts from Tigers all the way up to WeBeLos and their parents plus some special guests participated.
2010 marks the 100th Anniversary for Boy Scouts of America and this event marked the occasion with cakes and other decorations commemorating the event.

On the agenda were skits, a slideshow, some awards and some discussion of Boy Scouts and what they are doing.
The Master of Ceremonies and running the event was Don Stoll, the Pack Leader.

But before any of the other activities it was time to dig in to the Taco Bar complete with tortillas, taco shells, spanish rice, guacamole, cheese, tomatoes, olives, ground beef and diced chicken.

If you are waiting for a bus you have a lot of options. You could read, or listen to music, or play with your phone if you have one. Cochon Delait has a better idea.

He plays with his "Poi" which consists of two balls held together by a cord. He flies them around in wild patterns and actually gets kind of a workout in the process. "I'm from New Orleans and I moved here after Katrina, I love Seattle, it's awesome," he said.

Poi is originally from New Zealand, "It's great exercise, lot of fun, super healthy and fun for the whole family." His are home made but they can purchased online Delait said. "There's a group here in town, they do 'Fire Poi', he explained, " it was originally done by the women in the tribes in New Zealand to help them tell stories and it was done by the men to help them with hunting and agility and strength." He's really just started with the device he said but, "It's a great way to kill time at the bus stop."