September 2010

West Seattle Herald reader Mark Schletty shared this story with us regarding a large cedar tree in the 7300 block of California Avenue s.w. that was cut on Sept. 3, a City of Seattle furlough day.

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By Mark Schletty
Friday September 3rd, a day of furlough for City employees, cost West Seattle one of it biggest cedar trees. A tree that should have been protected by Seattle’s Tree Preservation ordinance. Red Cedars can not be cut without a permit if they are 2’ 6” (or larger) in diameter at the 4.5 to 5.5 foot height level. This tree was 2’6” plus or minus several tenths of an inch, depending on how it was measured. Clearly a tree meant to be protected. Please be very alert on furlough days, or we may well lose more protected trees.

Guided Tours of Seattle Chinese Garden
Watch 21 visiting Chinese artisans at work completing first Sichuan-style courtyard in America. 90-minute guided tours with illustrated Chinese Garden presentation and hard hat tour of courtyard & completed Song Mei Pavilion.

Must join tour to enter site for safety reasons.

Suggested Donation: $5 each. Saturdays 10 am & 1:30 pm, Wednesday 1:30 pm. Visit www.seattlechinesegarden.org or call 206-764-5219 for more info. 6000 16th Ave SW, Seattle 98106 (at north end of South Seattle Community College).

Fauntleroy Fall Festival Fundraising Pasta Dinner
Fauntleroy United Church of Christ
9140 California Ave. S.W.
Friday, Sept. 17, 5:30-7:30 p.m. $5 per person or $20 for a family of 4 or more - pay at the door. Held in the Fellowship Hall & YMCA Gym with family active games after the meal. For info call 244-1885.

Hiawatha Community Center Open House
2700 California Ave. S.W.
206-684-7441

In America small towns seem to be dying. If they are not converted into bedroom communities of larger towns or cities, they seem to be becoming ghost towns. Nebraska and the Dakotas have many examples of this and this phenomenon is also to be seen in Central and Eastern Washington. The reasons usually given are that the youth of the communities cannot not find work, and therefore have to move to places of greater economic activity.

In early August I had an opportunity to see a place where this doesn’t seem to be happening. Imagine a community of about 30,000 that has no surrounding communities within 6 hours distance, and no communities that speak the same language within 12 hours by car to communicate with. In the summer communications, by car is available two times a day, but in the winter communications by car is restricted to twice a week!

The weather held and no rain fell on the Alki Community Council Family Fun Day Sunday Sept. 12.

The event saw several hundred people make the trek to the beach to enjoy a Pet Parade down the paved promenade south of the Bathhouse, a youth talent show Emceed by Antonio Fernandez, and Dysfunction Junction a local bluegrass band.

Elliott Bay Brew Pub with locations in the West Seattle Junction and on 152nd Street in Burien has announced a third location, this one in Lake City.

Their website is short on details but does say this:

"Elliott Bay Brewing Co. closed on a building in the Lake City neighborhood, where it will locate its third brewpub location.

While the deal on the building is done, EBBC will not take possession of the future brewpub space until May 2011. At that time the build-out will begin, with the intention of opening the doors for business by the end of the year.

Currently the plan is to get the restaurant opened first, initially drawing beer from the two existing locations, in Burien and West Seattle, until the brewing facility in Lake City is fully operational.

Stay tuned for updates on this latest EBBC project as they unfold.

http://www.elliottbaybrewing.com/elliott-bay-acquires-third-location/

The Alki Community Council is the driving force for the Alki Plaza Summer Concert & Family Fun Day today, September 12 from noon to 7:30 p.m. The event is free to the public.

“The ‘Dysfunction Junction’ bluegrass band will perform, The ACC booth is sponsoring ‘The Writers of West Seattle’ and event sponsors include Pharmaca, Cactus, Tom’s Automotive, Pet Care Center, and Ncompass Construction.

SCHEDULE:
Noon – Welcoming Remarks


12:30 p.m. -2 p.m. – Dog Parade and Awards Show: Dogs and owners participating in event categories with awards being presented. Registration will be limited to 45 owner/dog pairs.
The dog parade begins promptly at 12:25 p.m. and all participants in the competition are required to join in the parade.
Register for the Alki Dog Parade & Awards Show
Come early to sign up and line up.
Prizes for :
Best Costume; Owner/Pet Look Alike and Most Obedient and Best Trick.

2:30 – 4:30 p.m. – Kids’ Entertainment Segment; Includes a Kids’ Talent Show, a professional Magic Show and Lawn Competitions for both kids and adults.

The ribbon cutting for Westside Unitarian Universalist Congregation at 7141 California Avenue s.w. took place today shortly after 10:00 a.m
Sept. 12 to formally introduce the building to the community as well as the congregation. The first service was held just after the opening ceremonies.

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The congregation purchased the building that once housed the Gatewood Baptist Church in April and needed to make many renovations to improve the facility and get it ready. The process lasted from May, when they first acquired the property until mid-September. With a 60 year old building, they completed an extensive repair & renovation prior to moving in. These repairs included installing a new sound system, accessibility upgrades, painting, electrical and plumbing upgrades, new furnishings, kitchen upgrade, garden design and more.
There are still a few loose ends but the process is essentially complete.

All over the Puget Sound region fast pitch baseball is being played by men who love the game so much they continue to play into their seventies. Eight different divisions with a total of sixty seven teams have entered playoff mode vying for the title of regional champions.

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Today at Steve Cox Park four games were played starting at 9 am and finishing up at 10 pm. The late afternoon game was the Seattle Blues vs. the Cyclones of the Smoky Division. The Blues got onto the board in the third inning with two runs off of four consecutive hits.

The score remained 2-0 Blues till the fourth inning when the Cyclones erupted with a four runs. Scoring continued back and forth with the Cyclones maintaining their lead. Entering the eighth inning with the score 7-4 Cyclones the Blues pitcher began to loose steam and gave up two runs on a double, an RBI triple, and a sacrifice fly ball. This forced the Blues closer to try and hold the Cyclones to their five run lead in hopes of a late rally. Unfortunately the Cyclones were on fire and padded their lead with two more runs.

Burien Wellness was the sponsor for a community health fair on Saturday, September 11, 2010, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. at Burien Town Square, SW 152nd Street & 5th Place SW.

Physical Therapist Andrea Hamilton said, "It's been pretty busy" commenting on the attendance at the event.

Medical service providers and other health and wellness organizations were on hand to let the public see the services they offer.

Puget Sound Blood Center was on-site with a bloodmobile to collect donations.

The event featured Free medical screenings, advice on preventative health care for all ages, healthy cooking demonstrations, give-a-ways and samples. There were drawings for prizes at many exhibitor booths.

Puget Sounds Skills Center, Health Sciences and Human Services High School, and Highline Community College were on site to talk to students of all ages who are interested in pursuing careers in the health care field.

Major sponsors :
Burien Group Health
City of Burien
Highline Medical Center
Navos Mental Health Solutions
Schick Shadel Hospital

Other sponsors:
Burien Nursing & Rehabilitation Center
King County Library System

Holy Family Parish in White Center at 9622 20th Ave s.w. got their Community Street Fair going Sept. 11th with live music, plenty of food, vendors of a wide range of merchandise, and a chili and salsa cook-off.

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Frank Cantwell, Principal of Holy Family Parish School is in charge of the event and even took part in the Karaoke Contest (he sang House of the Rising Sun but came in last he said).

The Street Fair is continuing on Sunday Sept. 12 and you can find it on 20th s.w. just off Roxbury and on the CYO field near the Holy Family School. "There are a dozen booths with vendors and nine food booths," said Cantwell, " and we start at 9 a.m. and go until 4 p.m with music starting at 11:30 a.m." Food choices range from hispanic dishes to hot dogs and much more.

"We had 600 to 700 people today and got a beautiful day thank God," said Cantwell.