June 2010

A London resident who is the world's longest-surviving person with kidney failure, will be given a distinguished service award at SeaTac's Northwest Kidney Center on June 22.

Dr. Robin Eady will receive the Clyde Shields Distinguished Service Award, given to people who make significant contributions to the welfare of kidney patients through advocacy, clinical care or research.

Eady, retired dean of dermatology at London's St. Thomas Hospital, began dialysis treatment at age 22. He underwent dialysis treatment for 24 years, and he has lived with a kidney transplant for 23 years.
He has been a vigorous and vocal advocate of living a full life despite chronic disease.

Suffering from severe kidney failure and about a week from death, Eady flew to Seattle from England in February 1963. He was so weak he had to be carried off the Boeing 707 as he prepared to become one of the world's first long-term dialysis patients.

If any of you are still awake after last year's election goofiness, well it's starting again.

The November 2009 Burien ballot included a proposal for a $25 vehicle license fee to pay for road improvements. It was hidden under a fully-owned subsidiary called the Transportation Benefit District.

I loudly opposed the license fee in print and blog.

Then the vote was nearly 75 percent AGAINST the license fee. Apparently, rejection doesn't bother this council. Apparently, the Burien City Council has forgotten the landslide support for $30 license tabs?
After the resounding defeat of this "hand in your wallet," I predicted the Council would be back with a license fee that did NOT require voter approval. And here it is. I really hate to be right.

So, on April 26th, the Council voted to impose a vehicles license fee that DOES NOT require voter approval. Under the law authorizing the fully-owned subsidiaries called Transportation Benefit Districts, a public hearing is required to impose a fee-- even one that doesn't require voter approval.

Possibly the most diverse senior class in America will graduate on Friday, June 11, at 7 p.m., in Tukwila's Werner Neudorf Stadium.
The Foster High School Class of 2010 attended the most diverse school district in the nation, according to the New York Times. This class, of 173 students, comes from 36 different countries, and they speak over 30 languages.

This class, as a whole, has many accomplishments, and made huge contributions to their community.
Seniors in the Advanced Placement Literature class competed to have President Obama speak at their commencement ceremony. They produced a video that depicts the ethnicity of the senior class and sent it to the president.

Foster Senior Adrian Quichochoa, along with several other students, created a video on the 2010 Census. They felt that this was an extremely important project that merited the time spent to inform Foster students, and the Tukwila community, how critical this information is for future funding of education.

Quichochoa joined State Rep. Zack Hudgins in producing a video and shared it with the community.

Following the official signing of a contract with the City of Des Moines on May 26, artist Chandelle Anderson has begun creating a wall mural at Southwest 219th Street between Marine View Drive and 7th Avenue South in the Des Moines Marina district.

It is the culmination of an almost four-year effort by the Des Moines Arts Commission to secure a site for a public art project to honor aging through grants from the Des Moines Legacy Foundation.

The long search for a suitable site met several road blocks, but the present site received wide approval with its southern exposure and central location. Part of the complex, which includes Des Moines QFC, is owned by David Yee. The wall is currently painted white, and Anderson's vibrant 12' x 37' foot mural will soon cover it.

The mural depicts a contemporary vision of the elderly interacting with young people in a variety of simple tasks, portraying wisdom and self fulfillment, passing from one generation to the next.

The setting is a realistic outdoor scene by the water on a summer evening.

6:42 a.m. June 11, 900 Block of Northwest Leary Way

The vicim was outside of a business on Northwest Leary Way with her service dog. The suspect came walking up from the north and was behind a pillar when the victim's service dog began to bark.

When the dog began to bark, the suspect pulled a knife and continued to walk toward the dog.

The victim heard her dog barking and looked to see what it was barking at. The victim observed the suspect holding a knife in his left hand, low and to his side.

The suspect told the victim that he was going to cut the dog's throat, at which the victim said it was her service dog and he, the suspect, would have to cut her throat first. The victim stated that the suspect said he would cut her throat also.

The suspect continued to close in on the victim and her dog. The suspect got very close to the victim, within inches, still holding the knife.

There was a customer in the store that heard a woman screaming and looked out to see the suspect in the victim's face. The witness stated that he thought the suspect was going to just "tear into her," the victim.

This summer, crews working on the Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT) Spokane Street project will begin the final step to complete the new eastbound Fourth Avenue off-ramp, connecting the ramp to the upper roadway. The work is expected to start in early July and take up to six weeks, requiring the closure of the eastbound right-hand lane of the upper roadway, between First and Fourth avenues. With the completion of this work, the ramp will be opened to all traffic.

Just prior to this final step, the eastbound lanes of lower Spokane Street between East Marginal Way S and Fifth Avenue will open to traffic, except for occasional closures to accommodate the work for connecting the new Fourth Ave off-ramp to the upper Spokane Street roadway.

More details regarding specific timing and traffic impacts of this work will be available as we approach July.

For information about construction closures for this project and other projects, please visit Construction Closures in Downtown Seattle and SODO at: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/sodo_latest.htm .

By Sally Clark, Seattle City Council

Ed. Note: This article originally appeared in Sally Clark's newsletter "Seattle View."

Do you have a favorite taco truck? Have you tried a sandwich from the roving pig truck? Have you tracked down Skillet? Did you vote for Marination Mobile when it won the title "Best Food Cart in America?"

Some people in Seattle are still nervous about lunch or dinner from a mobile van, but more and more of us are venturing out to try street food.

Mobile food vendors are big business in cities all over the United States, and Seattle's scene is no slouch despite archaic rules for what you can sell on the sidewalk.

I am part of work underway to modernize our city rules and our city/county health codes to better reflect the boom in creative street food.

After six years as Ballard High School principal, Phil Brockman will be moving to a new position as executive director of schools for Seattle Public Schools. Assistant Principal Keven Wynkoop will be appointed interim principal for the 2010-2011 school year.

"This was a very difficult decision for me because I love my job and the Ballard community," Brockman said in a letter to parents. "These past six years have been an amazing experience and the most rewarding in my 27 years with Seattle Public Schools."

Members of the Ballard High School community are having complex reactions to the news. On the one hand, they will miss the leadership of Brockman and are sad to see him leave the school. On the other, they know the good he can do with a bigger role in the school district.

"I love him, I've loved working with him," said Lyn Porterfield, Ballard High School parent and member of the Ballard High School PTSA. "But, he's way too good to keep at one school."

Michael DuBell, Seattle School Board director for Ballard, expressed the same sentiment.

Northwest Hope & Healing is holding a kickoff event to their annual 5k walk & run, the Alki Beach Run. This Saturday, June 19, they are hosting an in-store registration party at West Seattle Runner, 3727 California Ave SW, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

The run itself is set for August 29, 2010 along Alki Beach.

There will be drawings for a variety of prizes including running apparel, massages, run coaching, and more.

Complimentary Starbucks coffee will be provided, along with Chair Massages from Body Bar. West Seattle Physical Therapy will be on site offering free training tips to participants.

Enjoy prize drawings for Brooks Shoes, Brooks Apparel, Massage from West Seattle Bodyworks, Run Coaching by Michele Pettinger, Body Bar products, Stella & Dot Cancer Awareness charm, and Scentsy candle warmer with scent bars.

Trader Joe's, a unique, neighborhood grocery store with foods and beverages from the exotic to the basic, has signed a lease to open a new West Seattle store located at 4545 Fauntleroy Way SW. The store is scheduled to open in 2011 and is approximately 14,200 square feet in size. The West Seattle Herald first reported on this story here. The new West Seattle location will become the 17th Trader Joe's in Washington State.

Trader Joe's does not disclose how many people they employ so no information is available for how many jobs will be provided but as they get closer to opening they will provide a "percentage of new hires we have employed."

A company spokesperson said "The new TJ’s store will sell similar offerings to our Burien and Queen Anne Hill locations."

From the company press release: