March 2010

Burien will celebrate Arbor Day on April 13 by marking the grand opening of the Mathison Park improvements.
The park celebration will be held at 10 a.m. at the six-acre park located at 533 S. 146th Street. Members of the Mathison family will help plant a Red Vine Maple tree at the park at 11 a.m.

Refreshments will be served and participants can enjoy the play equipment or wander the two trails that were recently completed.
Funding for the park improvements was provided by the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Funding Board, King County YSFG and the City of Burien.

For more information contact Burien parks manager Steve Roemer at 206-248-5513.

State Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles of the 36th District will participate in a panel at a forum hosted by Grammas for Ganja March 30 in Ballard.

Kohl-Welles sponsored Senate Bill 5789 this session to extend the ability to authorize medical use of marijuana to other licensed health professionals who are already authorized to prescribe controlled substances. These professionals include naturopathic doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Kohl-Welles also recently penned an op-ed for The Seattle Times about her plans to introduce legislation next session to provide full legal protection for medical marijuana patients and providers who work within the law.

The forum will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on March 30 at the Ballard House Community Room, located at 2445 N.W. 57th St.

Gramma’s for Ganja Executive Director Jeanne Black-Ferguson will host. Also expected to attend are Dr. Sunil Aggarwal of the University of Washington and Wallingford’s Terra Hemp Manager Jacqueline Meringer.

The Kiwanis Club of West Seattle, concerned about potential overuse of available city utility services, has invited City Council member Mike O’Brien to speak on “Sustainability of the City’s Infrastructure in the Light of Expansive Multi-unit Housing.” O’Brien will speak at the noon meeting, on Wednesday, April 14th, at BE’s Restaurant, located at 4509 California Ave SW.

Councilman O’Brien is Chairman of the Public Utility and neighborhoods Committee. He has an economics degree from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Washington. Prior to his 2009 election to the Council, O’Brien has followed a career in financial management. He is a committed member of the Sierra Club and resides with his wife and two sons in Fremont.

With only a short period to learn the details of utility management, O’Brien has invited Linda De Bolt, P.E., Deputy Director of the Project Delivery Branch of Seattle Utilities to attend with him. She has 26 years of experience in public utilities management for the City of Seattle.

Luncheon is included for $8. Guests are welcome. Make reservations by calling 206-938-8032 or by e-mail at ewl@westseattle.com.

A big crowd was on hand for the ribbon cutting of at the new Grocery Outlet store, Located at 1702 4th Avenue in SODO, on Friday Mar. 26. The new store is situated conveniently two blocks from Safeco Field.

Masud and Fereshta Popal did the honors as friends, suppliers and dozens of customers looked on. The Grand Opening continues with a special celebration beginning at 8 AM on Saturday, Mar. 27.

Click the photo to see more images from the event.

The Ballard High School baseball team was trounced 11-1 by Inglemoor March 25 for its fourth loss in a row.

Inglemoor jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning and pushed that to 4-0 heading into the fifth.

Inglemoor scored seven runs in the fifth inning to Ballard's one, ending the game at five innings.

The Beavers had only one fewer hit than Inglemoor, but couldn't find a way bring runs home and committed four errors.

On the bright side, Ballard's five hits were it's most in the past three games.

Ballard is now 0-2 in KingCo and 0-4 overall.

The Beavers will play Roosevelt at 3:45 p.m. on March 29 at Lower Woodland.

For the past 30 years, engineer John Olafson has been in charge of fixing water heaters, repairing electrical systems and maintaining any other nonmedical equipment at what is now Swedish/Ballard.

Swedish has been very good to him, and he said he wants to stay there until he retires. But, a disagreement with the engineers' union, which he is not a member of, over a pension plan he doesn't want is putting a dark cloud over the job he has enjoyed doing for three decades.

"I'm forced into a Central Pension Fund I don't want anything to do with," Olafson said. "I feel like I'm not being heard by the union I'm represented by but not a member of."

In 1982, the engineers at Ballard Community Hospital severed relationships with their union, Local 286. Olafson said Ballard Community Hospital took good care of the engineers until 1992 when it merged with Swedish, which is represented by Local 286.

"Not too many of us wanted anything to do with that union," Olafson said.

He said fear for his job led him to try to join Local 286. The union said he could join if he could convince a majority of his coworkers to join, he said.

The Ballard High School lacrosse team earned its first win of the season in impressive fashion, beating Bainbridge, one of the oldest lacrosse teams in the state, 12-11 on March 24.

Ballard coach Lise Martin said Bainbridge has a reputation as an exceptional lacrosse program.

"I guarantee many coaches and players were shocked by the fact that Ballard, a second-year program that has no cuts and that has eight freshman of 19 players, won," Martin said.

Maddie Soukup and Jayne Barnes led the Beavers with three goals apiece.

Sophie Mora finished with two goals, and Haley Jackson, India Posner, Kelsey Barta and Jessica Bryan added a score each.

Goalie Hannah Breton tallied 12 saves against Bainbridge.

The Beavers came into the game with only 24 shots on goal total. They nearly doubled that against Bainbridge with 22 shots on goal.

"Ballard has now experienced the joy of a hard fight on the field, and I think they are ready to continue working hard," Martin said. "Ballard's win against Bainbridge gave Ballard the confidence to know that as long as they work hard, have perseverance and trust their teammates, anything is possible."

Frenzied Schmitz Park Elementary School students juggled, skipped rope, walked on their hands and rode unicycles around the Madison Park Middle School's gymnasium in front of a bleacher-filled crowd Thursday, March 25. They performed at "Disco Night" theme for the annual event, the popular Ice Cream Social.

Over the years it has gotten so big that it is held at Madison Middle School's Gym. The students practiced their routines over the course of the school year, set to music.

Ice cream was then served in the cafeteria. Some families opted out of the long dessert line and headed over to Husky Deli for ice cream there instead.

CLICK ONTO PHOTO FOR SLIDE SHOW

As expected, SeaTac lawmakers rescinded March 23 a moratorium on building and development agreements in the city center area next to the airport light-rail station.

The council was set to rescind the moratorium on March 9 until Councilman Ralph Shape requested the action be delayed two weeks.

On March 23, Shape said he wasn't necessarily against removing the moratorium but was upset adequate time was not given on March 9 to study the proposal.

He said the city attorney and public had not been given enough time two weeks earlier to comment on the proposed action.

Deputy Mayor Gene Fisher replied that the city attorney had vetted the proposal. He noted the council had earlier withdrawn a condemnation action against a surface parking lot that lawmakers had wanted to replace with a public parking garage.

Councilman Tony Anderson also said he was unhappy that the moratorium removal had been delayed. He noted that the moratorium was blocking a proposal that would benefit the city.

Residents in both the north and south ends of Highline will have easy access to a swimming pool as the Highline School Board approved March 24 operation agreements for the Evergreen and Mt. Rainier pools.

The agreement with White Water Aquatics Management means the Evergreen pool, located at 606 S.W. 116th St. in North Highline, will reopen on or before May 1.

White Water officials said they hope to release a calendar of activities including spring swimming lessons by April 5. They are busy making repairs and planning for a spring break scrub-and-paint marathon. The pool's new name is Evergreen Community Aquatic Center.

The group is an outgrowth of the Whitewater Aquatics swim team.

They raised over $50,000 in private donations after the pool was mothballed in August. Unlike Mt. Rainier pool, Evergreen will not receive public funding through a special taxing district.

King County has agreed to pay the Highline School District $100,000 for capitol improvements and operation of the pool.