October 2010

Press Release:
More than 90 percent of all King County employees would be joining to waive their cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2011 under a proposal from King County Executive Dow Constantine to freeze the COLA of all non-represented employees.

“As Executive I have implemented a policy that to the extent possible, all employees should be treated equitably,” said Executive Constantine. “Now that 91 percent of our unionized workers have stepped up to help preserve services to the public, it is only fair that we propose the same terms for non-represented employees.”

The Executive will transmit an ordinance next week to the Metropolitan King County Council proposing the COLA freeze for non-represented workers as a means of helping to restore positions and services to the public that would otherwise be reduced or eliminated.

If approved by the Council, 12,100 workers out of a total 13,400 will waive or vote on waiving COLA for next year – just over 90 percent of the entire King County workforce.

Press Release:
The contractor on the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project for the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will close Fourth Avenue South at Spokane Street for two nights next week.

Crews plan to begin work at 11:00 p.m. each night, November 5 and November 6, until 5:00 a.m. the next morning to remove forms under the deck of the upper roadway.

During this work, southbound traffic on Fourth will be detoured west on Horton to First Avenue; northbound traffic will be detoured east on Spokane Street to Sixth Avenue.

Press Release:
South Seattle Community College has been awarded a five-year, $1.99 million Strengthening Institutions Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The Title III-Part A grant will enable the college to continue and expand efforts to improve student progression to graduation/completion. The grant focuses particularly on strategies to achieve the critical 45-credit momentum benchmark, which has proven to be a strong indicator of eventual graduation.

Funds will be utilized to address four major components:

Transform and strengthen vital student support services to assist underserved, first-generation, multi-ethnic students to successfully bridge into college and to maintain critical momentum and progression through their educational goals.
Improve delivery methods in developmental English/writing and math to improve student progression to college-level courses.
Strengthen transition services moving from noncredit education to credit developmental or college-level coursework.

Are you afraid of spiders? There are now 26 2nd grade students at Lafayette Elementary who aren't.

That's because they took part in an educational event on Friday, Oct. 29 at Camp Long called a "Spider Safari," in which they learned about arachnids, examined them, found them in various places and even handled them.

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Dano Beal, teacher at Lafayette in cooperation with the Seattle Parks Department brought the children on the field trip to learn where they live, what eats them, and more. The kids were asked to 'be spiders' to help them think about where they might put a web, and how a spider web works.

Parent Ann Bradford said,"The Spider Safari serves as a vivid example of the kind of creative, experiential learning that is Dano Beal's signature. For the kids, engagement starts with learning about spiders, researching, writing and model-building in the classroom and extends to exploring their habitat at Camp Long. For the parents, this adventure is a community-builder, inclusive and celebratory of what makes Lafayette a great learning environment for our families."

10 a.m. Oct. 7, reported Oct. 26, 5300 Block of Tallman Ave. N.W.

While working on the fourth floor in the south wing of Swedish Medical Center, "Chad" was asked to assist with "Jim," a very large individual who was admitted to the hospital for alcohol withdrawals and was fighting to get up from his hospital bed.

Jim, heavily medicated and uncoordinated, forced his way up from the bed and tried to open the room door to leave. Chad, believing Jim would fall and hurt himself due to the medication, tried to bring him back to his bed.

Jim pinned Chad against the wall, grabbed his neck and lifted him off the ground. With his free hand, he attempted to punch Chad in the face, but Chad blocked the blow. Chad was also able to pull the room call switch to signal for assistance.

Jim pushed Chad in the shoulder, separating Chad's clavicle from his chest bone, though he did not feel the pain immediately because of the adrenaline rush.

Staff entered the room and restrained Jim on his bed.

Chad said he waited nearly three weeks to report the incident because he was not aware he could call the police for the matter.

Before Thanksgiving dinner this year, Ballardites are invited to build up an appetite and do some good by participating in the fourth annual Seattle Turkey Trot, a 5K walk, jog or run to benefit the Ballard Food Bank.

Signups are now open for the 9 a.m. Nov. 25 event, which culminates at Golden Gardens. Last year, 1,100 participants raised more than $19,000 for the Ballard Food Bank.

The 2009 Turkey Trot, which featured participants in running attire or elaborate costumes and was won by New Yorker Nick Roosa in town visiting his sister, saw a huge leap in popularity in the event, with five times as many participants than in 2008.

For more information or to sign up, visit www.seattleturkeytrot.org.

At a press conference this morning held in the lobby of the Port of Seattle, Governor Gregoire announced that two bids have come in at, or under, the budget set for the SR 99 bored tunnel design-build competition.

Gov. Chris Gregoire, Washington Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond, and Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Program Administrator Ron Paananen made the announcement to a crowd filling the lobby and wrapping around the balcony of Port employees, union members, and other tunnel supporters, if applause is an accurate gage. Many sported small yellow pins that said "Enough" which translates to "enough with the delays and let's move forward with the project."

Appearing with the Governor, Hammond and Paananen were KC Executive Dow Constantine, City Councilmembers Tom Rasmussen and Richard Conlin, Rep. Reuven Carlyle of Ballard, Port CEO Tay Yoshitani, and others. No sign of Mayor McGinn, however.

As part of its RainWise program, Seattle Public Utilities installed two 200-gallon cisterns and a rain garden on the front lawn of the Sunset Hill Community Association.

"We thought it was important to do our part to keep storm water out of our sewer system," association president Robert Drucker said.

He said the association is diverting about half the runoff from its large roof into the cisterns and rain garden. The association is saving the water in the cisterns for landscape irrigation in the summer.

"In a couple of years, the rain garden won't need much maintenance at all," Drucker said.

Through the RainWise program, Seattle Public Utilities is hoping to reduce the amount of storm water that makes its way into the city's sewers, lessening the amount dumped into Puget Sound. Seattle Public Utilities is offering homeowners a rebate for building green infrastructure, such as rain gardens and cisterns, on their own property.

One of the Ballard residents involved in an Oct. 21 multiple-car collision on 15th Avenue Northwest passed away Oct. 23 at Harborview Medical Center, where he was taken off life support after spending two days in a coma.

At approximately 6:15 p.m., Andy Kotowicz, an employee of Sub Pop Records, was driving on 15th Avenue near Northwest 75th Street with his young daughter when a black sedan slammed into the back of his Subaru, which was pushed into the back of a pickup truck by the force of the collision.

Kotowicz's vehicle caught fire while he and his daughter, who was in a car seat in the back seat, were trapped inside.

According to police, those involved in the accident put out the flames with a fire extinguisher while a nearby business owner rescued Kotowicz's daughter from the car. Kotowicz was removed from the vehicle by the Seattle Fire Department once they arrived on scene.