May 2010

This press release was issued by Real Change newspaper founder Tim Harris on Friday, June 11:

Real Change and the Pioneer Square Community Association (PSCA) are pleased to announce that they have resolved their issues related to the City of Seattle use permit for the New England Building in Pioneer Square. PSCA has withdrawn its appeal of the City of Seattle decision. The two organizations look forward to working together for the common benefit of Pioneer Square, supporting a vibrant neighborhood for all.

Leslie Smith, Executive Director of the PSCA, said of the settlement, “We had a constructive dialogue. Real Change listened thoughtfully to our concerns around the City’s use permit and agreed to work with us in a spirit of cooperation. We look forward to Real Change’s contributions to the vitality of the Pioneer Square Neighborhood.” Tim Harris, Executive Director of Real Change also welcomed the settlement, saying, "Real Change is happy to be past the conflict and to return full focus to our mission. We are proud to be part of the diversity of Pioneer Square and look forward to being engaged members of the community.”

Balboa aka “Bobo” is a French Bulldog who has become a dog model. Though he became one before becoming part of Nikki Kustok's family. He is currently in the Nordstrom’s online Catalogue modeling a Juicy Couture doggy tuxedo. "The breeder that we got him from actually knew the online buyer for Nordstrom and she (the buyer) had been at her house and she saw him..." this led to Bobo's first modeling experience. Since then he has modeled for City Dog magazine and will appear in the spring edition, possibly on the cover. "The photographer contacted us and wanted to feature Bobo on the cover, side by side with a black and white Great Dane. She thought it would be cute to feature Bobo next to the Great Dane since he is also black and white and since he is tiny and the Great Dane is so big," Kustok explained.

He is 5&1/2 months old and Kustok got him from a breeder in Maple Valley. They did a lot of research in order to find a responsible French Bulldog breeder she said.

Not once but twice in one day I was accused of being a man-hater.

“Me?” I laughed. “No way!”

All I received was a shrug from the person (OK, both times it was a man), so I continued to explain myself.

“But, I date and think about men all of the time.”

Another shrug.

“And, I have a lot of male friends whom I adore.”

Another shrug.

“And, a son.”

Shrug.

“And, I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”

You guessed it, another shrug.

When I relayed this conversation to the Fabulosities the following day, they howled with laughter, “You? You like men, or at least sex with men, more than any of us!”

We were sitting in my backyard, or rather they were sitting and I was wrestling a rhododendron out of the ground. Rose continually told me to call helpful guy to come dig it out, but I insisted I wanted to do it myself.

“You never ask for help,” she chided me. “Let him do this for you.”

I ignored her and continued my digging while analyzing my supposed man-hating tendencies. All at once, we looked at one another and said, “That’s it. It’s not that you hate men, it’s just that you’re self-reliant.”

This month the Seattle Department of Transportation has made “real time” views from eight new traffic cameras around Ballard and Fremont, part of 38 new cameras citywide, available on the Internet to detect congestion and collisions and to monitor traffic and road conditions.

The public is using information from the cameras to help make travel decisions, and Department of Transportation traffic engineers are using the information to identify locations where they can make changes to improve traffic flow, according to a department press release.

There are also eight new electronic Dynamic Message Signs now operating on major arterials, including one at 15th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 61st Street, providing travel alerts to people already on the road.

By the end of August, the department will add a few more cameras, including one at 14th Avenue Northwest and Northwest Holman Road.

The views from the Seattle Department of Transportation traffic cameras are available on the Travelers Map on the department's Web site.

By Karen Law

Ngozi Omeje has gone through a lot of shoes.

For weeks she has picked up castoff flip flops and rubber sandals and cut them into small pieces to suspend in the air over her pottery scraps. The dangling pieces form a whale in an ocean of string, casting its shadow in circles of clay. Emerging from inside the whale is one pair of sandals, whole and unbroken.

The 31-year-old University of Nigeria Nsukka art student titles her creation, “Imagine Jonah,” as in the biblical story of Jonah and the whale.

Omeje and her fellow artists, Dr. Godwin Uka, the printmaking chair at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and his wife, Ola, know they have a destination to reach—they have been invited to create artwork and conduct workshops for “Nigeria Month” at the Sev Shoon Arts Center in Ballard this June—but like the famous biblical character, their journey to practice their craft and bring a glimpse of it to Seattle has been like being in the belly of a beast.

The City will see the Burien Town Square Project sold out in the near future. That was the prediction from Urban Partners Principal Partner Paul Keller.

He described the near future in months, not years. However, the units will remain vacant until Urban Partners reaches an agreement for their loan with S.T. Residential.

Keller has described the project as stalled since Corus Bank, who owned the construction loan for the project, was taken over by the FDIC in September. Urban Partners is working to renegotiate the amount and the terms of the loan with the new owner of the loan, S.T. Residential.

Urban Partners just submitted their fourth proposal to S.T. Residential. The investment group inherited 135 construction loans they now have to go through, and Keller said the Burien Town Square is not a priority.

Until the terms of the loan are renegotiated, Urban Partners is unable to sell or lease any of the spaces in Burien Town Square.

Keller said the process has been extremely frustrating. “We are still waiting for the FDIC (Federal Deposit and Insurance Corporation) process to work itself out,” Keller said.

The Day My Parents Became Cool" will be released on DVD by Seattle-based distributor IndieFlix on Tuesday, May 25.

Featuring 150 local public high school students, Steve Edmiston's 16 minute short world-premiered at the Sedona International Film Festival last March, was named "Best Short Comedy" at the Los Angeles International Family Film Festival, and heavily toured the Northwest to enthusiastic response at the Seattle International Film Festival, Bumbershoot One Reel Film Festival, Port Townsend Film Festival, Tacoma Film Festival, and Lakedance Film Festival.

More recently, the film has become part of the "KidsFirst!" Film Festival which provides content for children's film festivals across the United States.

It's no coincidence that "The Day My Parents Became Cool" has been released just in time for Father's Day. Find it Tuesday afternoon at www.indieflix.com.

Two bodies were found inside a SeaTac Motel 6 Monday afternoon.
King County sheriff's deputies are investigating the incident as a murder-suicide.
A man and woman were found inside the motel. Spokesman John Urquhart reported deputies found a lot of blood in the room.
The motel is located on Military Road South, near South 206th Street.

Photographer Kurt Howard captured these images of Mt. Rainier's 1-0 victory over Lakeside in the boys' soccer playoffs on Friday, May 21. CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO PLAY SLIDESHOW.

Mayor Mike McGinn's office today released a set of questions regarding the deep bore tunnel project, meant to replace the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct. According to his office it was felt that in the absence of a formal debate (which Councilmember Conlin declined last week), or public forum where these issues can be openly discusssed, it was appropriate to put these questions out to the public.
To learn more about the proposed project see this Washington State Department of Transportation page.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/viaduct/

Questions regarding the state's deep-bore tunnel project

An open public discussion of whether or not Seattle residents should worry about the prospect of cost overruns on the tunnel is still important. Here are some of the questions that need to be asked before it is too late:

Why did the state cap its contribution to the tunnel at $2.4 billion and make Seattle taxpayers responsible to pay for cost overruns?

How can the City Council protect Seattle taxpayers from paying for cost overruns on the project?

How can the city manage a state project to prevent cost overruns?