February 2010

Sixty city of Seattle datasets are now accessible online at http://data.seattle.gov, which is part of Seattle's municipal web site. The new site holds significant amounts of information about operations and infrastructure, such as locations of city facilities, schools, and food banks.

"The launch of data.seattle.gov is the first of four new major web services being launched this year to enhance transparency, improve access to public city information, and streamline customer service reporting and tracking," said Councilmember Bruce Harrell.

Data.seattle.gov is a first step in making data publicly available to meet the city of Seattle's goals for an open, transparent and accountable government. The site initially posts datasets from My Neighborhood Map, which is a feature on the city's website, www.seattle.gov. It will add data managed by city departments, beginning with data which is commonly requested through the public disclosure process. Some of this data is already available on department websites, but data.seattle.gov will centralize the information on a single site.

Seattle City Light reminds its customers to guard against telephone con artists posing as utility bill collectors who appear to be targeting customers with Asian surnames.

Recently, several customers with Asian-sounding surnames reported phone calls from con artists claiming to be City Light employees who were ready to disconnect their electricity.

“It is deplorable that someone would try to take advantage of another with the false threat of cutting off their electricity,” Customer Service Director Kelly Enright said. “Seattle City Light wants to help its customers protect themselves and the best way to do that is to be informed.”

In the scam, the callers claimed there were problems with payment of the customers’ bill and asked for a credit card payment to resolve the matter. In some instances, the caller also asked for Social Security numbers. This is similar to incidents reported to City Light during the past several years.

Got a gripe about airport noise? Port of Seattle staffers say they want to hear about it.
Feb. 24 was the first of six public meetings where the Port of Seattle, partnering with consulting firm Landrum and Brown, invited residents living close to Sea-Tac Airport to share their comments and concerns regarding airport noise, especially in relation to the third runway.

The meeting drew about 150 people and was held at Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines.
It was the first step in what officials estimate to be a year-and-a-half long process of information gathering to set up and submit a proposal that would secure funding from the Federal Aviation Administration to alleviate the noise for residents living around the airport. The planning process is known as a Part 150 study, which is a common project taken on by many airports around the country to improve noise control.

If granted, the federal government would cover about 80 percent of the costs of any noise mitigation projects while the Port would cover the rest.

The southbound, right lane of the Ballard Bridge will be closed from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. March 1 to March 5.

Crews from the Seattle Department of Transportation plan to make repairs on the underside of the bridge.

This work is subject to change in the event that crews are called away to perform emergency work at another location.

Seattle Public Schools Open Enrollment for the 2010-2011 school year will begin Monday, March 1 and run through Wednesday, March 31, 2010. During Open Enrollment, families may register their child to enter SPS in fall 2010 and /or apply for a school other than their assigned school.

Initial Assignment Letter: End of February
For the first time this year, current students in grades PreK-11 – and those who will be new to the district in fall 2010 and pre-registered before Jan. 15 – will get their assignment at the end of February. Under the District’s new student assignment plan, students currently enrolled are "grandfathered" through the highest grade of the school they currently attend, providing that services they need are available at that school. Students in the highest grade at their current school (rising from elementary to middle school or middle school to high school) will receive an assignment to their attendance area school, or another school based on availability of services.
Open Enrollment, March 1 – 31, 2010: Final Assignment Letter End of May

Opera singers Hollis Heron and Scott Bessho were directed by David Koch in the comic operetta, La Perichole, Feb. 19-23 at Town Hall. All three are West Seattle residents. Heron appeared in the chorus and can-can, while Bessho played the mayor of Lima, Peru, in the 1600's, where the story is set.

When not on stage, Heron is an electrical engineer. Bessho, a Highland Park resident, is a Bellevue College English teacher. Koch is a full-time actor, singer, and director. The production was put on by the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society's 2nd Stage. Heron and Bessho are in their ensemble.Their next production, HMS Pinafore! runs July 9-23.

See the West Seattle article on David Koch here:

http://www.westseattleherald.com/2010/02/01/features/david-koch-fauntle…

The loss of the South Park Bridge, which may come down in June, and the lack of funds in the near future to replace it, has created a ripple effect, not only in the area’s industrial sector, but also in the environmental community concerned with the polluted Duwamish River, a Superfund Site that hosts dozens of toxic chemicals.

Thea Levkovitz is coordinator of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, or DRCC, a formal community advisory group recognized by Environmental Protection Agency.

“We share the concerns of the South Park community that the TIGER grant ($99 million) didn’t come in,” said Levkovitz. TIGER grants, part of the Federal government’s stimulus package, were awarded nationwide for transportation projects, and locally, for Mercer Avenue road development, but the bridge was overlooked.

“We’re getting ready in the next few years for the Superfund cleanup on the lower five miles of the Duwamish River,” she said. “That means heavy equipment, trucks, in addition to residents in South Park needing a way to commute out.”

There are currently two bridges that cross the Superfund Site, the South Park Bridge and the 1st Avenue Bridge.

The first Adopt-a-Street Cleanup of 2010 will be held this Saturday, February 27th, at 9am.
The city provides trash grabbers, orange safety vests, plastic bags, and cloth gloves for volunteers.

The clean up will cover the Admiral Junction business area on California Avenue SW, south to about Hanford and north to about Walker; and SW Admiral Way, east to about the Admiral viewpoint and west to about 47th SW.

Volunteers are asked to meet at Metropolitan Market at 9 AM then leave from there to begin the clean up at about 9:20am. This is not an event for small children, since the cleanup will be conducted along busier streets, but older kids and teenagers are welcome.

Upcoming 2010 cleanup dates are June 5th, August 28th, and December 4th.

The federal government’s denial of King County’s application request for $99 million in stimulus funding to replace the ailing South Park Bridge Feb. 17 is now creating concerns among industrial businesses that hug the Duwamish River and depend on it, and the bridge, to transport cargo and personnel.

King County was depending on the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or “TIGER” grant, which may have been the last chance to replace the 80 year-old bridge before it is torn down, as soon as June.

However, there may be light at the end of the tunnel, er, bridge.

“There are some additional funding opportunities coming up,” said Linda Dougherty, King County Department of Transportation’s Road Service division director. She spoke at the Manufacturing Industrial Center/ Duwamish Transportation Management Association, or MIC/TMA Forum Tuesday, Feb. 23, at South Seattle Community College, Georgetown Campus.

Dougherty spoke to representatives of nearly 30 area businesses and several concerned South Park residents affected by the South Park Bridge’s impending demise.

The Duwamish Tribe is inviting Seattle to a Frybread for Justice fundraiser to benefit the Duwamish Legal Fund to support its court case for tribal federal recognition--to date about $60,000 of $128,000 needed for expert witness fees has been raised.

Cecile Hansen, the Tribal Chairwoman and direct descendant of Chief Seattle has been asking the people of Seattle for help. “If everybody in Seattle gave us one dollar, we would be able to raise the money for our legal defense fund to appeal the 2001 negative determination. We are not asking Seattle to give us back our land, just a little help to find justice.”

Suggested donations: $6 for Indian Taco & Drink and $2 for Frybread

Free admission to Longhouse exhibits & continuous showings of “Princess Angeline” film in exhibit area. This film chronicles the life of the daughter of Chief Seattle and is told through the members of the Duwamish tribe with the struggle of federal status as a theme. This is a very emotional and powerful film. Princess Angeline lived her whole life in her homeland which became the city of Seattle refusing to leave the land of her people.