September 2010

It was a festive weekend in Burien and Des Moines.

The four-day Octoberfest in Burien included a full carnival, rhythm and blues performances, a walk to aid the women's homeless shelter at Lake Burien Presbyterian Church, a beer and wine garden and vendors.

On Saturday, the Des Moines Arts Commission hosted the inaugural Poverty Bay Arts Festival. Downtown businesses presented artists who showed and sold their works.

Seattle artist Chandelle Anderson's mural, "Celebrating Life in Des Moines" was dedicated Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, over at Des Moines Beach Park, the Rotary Club of Des Moines and Powell Renovations sponsored the Poverty Bay Blues and Brews Festival.

The festival featured 15 craft breweries and five musical groups.

Less than 10 years ago, you would have driven by certain apartment complexes and made a note to never walk by there at night.

You likely wouldn't say that now.

The Housing Development Consortium and King County Housing Authority organized a bus tour Sept. 21 to show elected officials, city planners, and other government workers the improvements made to what used to be dilapidated apartment buildings in Burien, Tukwila, and SeaTac.

The properties that were looked at were Windsor Heights, Group Home and Park, and Angle Lake Court in SeaTac; Pacific Court apartments and a single family home in Tukwila; and Burien Heights in Burien.

Most notable were Pacific Court and Burien Heights, which provide housing for the mentally ill, people with criminal convictions in their past, and people who would otherwise be chronically homeless.

"People have this perception of what mentally ill people look like, act like, and what they do," said Thom McKeon, vice president of residential services at Burien Heights.

He said those perceptions were typically off the mark.

"Mentally ill people are more likely to be the victim of the crime than to commit one," he said.

A ceremony to celebrate the opening of the final mile of the Des Moines Creek Trail connecting Puget Sound to SeaTac will be held Wednesday, Oct. 6 at 1:30 p.m.

The event will be held on the Promontory at the entrance of Des Moines Beach Park at 22030 Cliff Avenue South and will celebrate the completion of the final mile of a 2.5 miles bicycle and pedestrian trail which begins in SeaTac and winds along Des Moines Creek, through Des Moines Creek Park and then passes through the Des Moines Beach Park Historic District and tidelands to the Marina.

The public is invited to the ceremony.

For more information about the event call 206-870-6527.

Tucked neatly on nearly every available shelf or ledge throughout her tiny White Center home, more than 1000 smallish wooden characters, red-topped roosters and miniature cups remind Audie May of her late husband Howard's uncanny knack for carving.

Special canes in a variety of tree limbs quietly nestle in a metal milk can near the hallway. Their gnarly curled handles ready to assist. Hummingbirds hung from ceiling string appear to be aloft. The exquisite blended wood cups wait to be chosen for someone's knick-knack shelf.

For more than 80 years, Howard spent his free time and maybe a few late nights with tiny carving blades and a fine eye for detail. Audie May shows off the turkey calls her husband fashioned out of one piece of wood. Using an attached wood plate, she demonstrates the effectiveness with an audible gobble. gobble, gobble. A machinist by trade, Howard made his own knives to fit the need for specific detailing on each carving.

On a table nearby are finely detailed toothpicks in a small glass jar. They stand totem pole-like in their pose with a mildly angry grimace as if held by the carved wooden chains draped on walls around the room.

Unfortunately for readers who want to stay well informed on local issues, Mr. Nardo's recent letter to the editor is as confusing as it is misleading. So let's examine a few of his points.

Two recent articles in The Highline Times have confused Mr. Nardo. One of them said I made a trip to China at my own (not the city's) expense. But, he concluded, his "assessment" that this was not so "was right on target." The facts don't support his conclusion, and one can only assume Mr. Nardo fails to understand what he read - or suffers from selective recall.

It has been reported, both in this paper and elsewhere, that in 2009 I traveled to China - at my own expense (this is verifiable) - and returned with a commitment for a major hotel, which would have gone elsewhere, to be built in Des Moines.

As a result of contacts made then, I was invited to attend an international business summit in China this year. The City Council agreed, with only one dissenting vote, to pay part of my airfare from a budgeted fund for council travel.

The first time I met Gertrude Finney she was on her hands and knees and they were all dirty. It was in the early fifties.

She and my wife were planting petunias or pansies in the middle of downtown White Center.

County Councilman Ed Munro had arranged to have his road crews place a number of large planters in the middle of 16th SW from Roxbury to 100th.

I stopped, met Gertrude and left quickly in case they needed someone to dig weeds.

I was to see her many, many times on the following years, as she was mother to our circulation manager Glenn Finney and patron saint at the local library. She is now 100 years old, lives in Bellevue in assisted living and is still busy creating beautiful handiwork for sale at the tenants bazaar.

In her honor we asked her to recall some of her amazing life she dedicated to her community.

She lived in the Highland Park Dumar district and went to Highline High School.

The following are excerpts from her personal diary, transcribed from her hand-written notes:

Diary 1

At the September 27 Burien Council Meeting Councilmember Kathy Keene announced her resignation from the Council at the end of the year. She bought a home in Florida and plans to retire there early next year.

She encouraged the Council to look at people from North Burien when looking for her replacement.

Keene, in the same vein, encouraged citizens in North Burien to apply for her position on the Council.

She has been a Water Commissioner for Water District 20 since 1991 and served on the Burien Council since 2007.

Former Northwest television anchor Aaron Brown will come to Seattle on Sunday, October 3rd, as the headliner for the Municipal League of King County at an event called, "An Evening with Aaron Brown: A Fundraiser for the Municipal League."

Brown is the former evening news anchor for KING TV and later went on to ABC and CNN. He is now a professor at the Cronkite School of Broadcast Journalism at Arizona State, plus he hosts a PBS program.

He will discuss the media and what he has seen since leaving Seattle. The event will offer Brown speaking about his time working for the national news networks.

The event will take place at Western Bridge (at the foot of the West Seattle Bridge in SoDo, south of downtown Seattle) 3412 4th Avenue South.

Dear Editor:
The economic future of Washington state is resting more than ever on the upcoming mid-term election. Voters must take this election seriously and vote for individuals who are the best choice to exercise fiscal restraint when working to get our state’s finances back in order.

Of the two young candidates running for state representative in the 34th legislative district, Mike Heavey shows the most promise to be fiscally responsible when guiding our state toward economic recovery and sustained economic growth. When elected, Mike will have the opportunity to reel in spending to help our economy recover, and focus on a long-term job creation strategy: improving our education system.

After a long and contentious debate the Burien City Council voted to approve the city's Shoreline Master Plan (SMP.) It will now move forward for review by the state Department of Ecology.

The Shoreline Master Plan, which has occupied the council's agenda for most of the summer was placed on the consent agenda of the Monday, Sept. 27 meeting.

Burien has not updated its Shoreline Master Plan since it became a city in 1993. The city adopted King County’s SMP when it incorporated. The City of Burien has spent two years drafting and revising an essentially brand new SMP.

With the council's approval the SMP now moves onto the state Department of Ecology (DOE) for final approval before it becomes implemented. The DOE must approve every SMP. In the coming months the DOE will either approve Burien’s plan or send it back to the city with recommendations.

The SMP governs the uses and regulations of a jurisdiction's shoreline 200 feet back from the ordinary high water mark. The Washington State Legislature mandated in 2003 that all local shoreline plans must be updated by 2014. The mandate affects 206 government jurisdictions in the state.