October 2010

I have a possible solution to the Missing Link [of the Burke-Gilman Trail].

When I lived in Los Angeles, I read quite a lot about it's history. Around 1912, somebody envisioned an elevated bicycle way between downtown Los Angles and nearby Pasadena, and the project proposed showed an artist's concept – a narrow wooden viaduct with bicyclists riding their bikes on it.

The then-powerful Pacific Electric Railway killed the idea because it would take away passengers.

Here there are similar elements. The Ballard Terminal Railway and surrounding businesses trying to kill [the Missing Link].

There is a simple solution, which is again an elevated bicycle viaduct, not made of wood this time but heavy plastic tubes suspended in the air by concrete posts and joining supports.

There are several routes this could be erected over.

From a photo I saw in a book about Ballard and the Ballard Locks in the Locks book store, there were once railway tracks on Market Street adjacent to the industries closer to the Locks area. So, choice one is to put up this elevated bicycle way in the middle of Market Street in part.

More than 1,300 endangered Oregon spotted frogs were released into the wild last week near Olympia with the help of the Woodland Park Zoo in an ongoing effort to re-establish their populations in Washington.

This year’s frog release is the most successful yet, with the number of frogs, average frog size and egg survival rates to adult frogs up from previous years’ captive rearing efforts, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Department senior research scientist Dr. Marc Hayes said in a Woodland Park Zoo press release.

“We continue to learn more every year as we work collaboratively to establish a self-sustaining population of frogs at Fort Lewis,” Hayes said in the press release.

The endangered frogs were collected from the wild as eggs by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists and placed at Woodland Park Zoo, Oregon Zoo, Northwest Trek and Cedar Creek Corrections Center for hatching and rearing as a “head start” to improve their chances of survival upon release back into the wild.

Photographer Kurt Howard captured these images of Evergreen's 3-0 volleyball victory over Tyee on October 7. Click on the photo to play slideshow.

Plenty of slurping was going on in the Arbor Heights Elementary School gymnasium during the AH PTSA sponsored Annual Spaghetti and Open House night Thursday, Oct. 7. A long, hungry line of young students and parents and friends were handed a cardboard paper plate at the kitchen's entrance by the elegantly-dressed school principal, Dr. Carol Coram, who did not seem to get a drop of sauce on her the whole night.

Volunteers, including some youngsters, dished out the pasta while a rotating band of students played classical music on stage. After dinner, the open house technically began, although there were plenty of residents roving the hallways, classrooms and stairways through the night.

Café Revò owner Sofia Zadra Goff donated food, and helped out in the kitchen, while her daughter, Maya, played a portion of Beethoven's 9th Symphony on hr the flute, joined on stage with the band members.

Also donating were Safeway, QFC, Trader Joes, Metropolitan Market, B & E Meats, Zeeks Pizza, and Angelina's.

Other area schools also held open houses, sans spaghetti.

CLICK ON PHOTO FOR SLIDESHOW

In an unexpected but completely common sense partnership Westside Baby in White Center and Waste Management and are hosting two car seat reuse and recycling events in the Seattle area this October.

"King County approached us," said Katherine Salinas public sector manager for Waste Management," and said we have this great organization that is looking into car seat reuse and recycling. Waste Management doesn't actually recycle the car seats. We take them to a local recycler here in Seattle (...) The primary purpose of the car seat events is to get car seats that are still resusable."

Car seats literally have a "shelf life" of six years, after which they cannot (or should not) be used. If a car seat is five years old for example it is given a sticker, noting the date beyond which it should be recycled.

"We want people to bring in the car seats they have. They don't need to determine if they are resusable or not we can do that," said Salinas.

Drop off your used car seats at either location:

SeaTac and Tukwila are the first two cities in a pilot program that will bring techniques used in third world countries to improve healthcare for local diverse, low-income residents.

The "Global to Local" Initiative will be announced on Monday, Oct. 11 at the Bell Harbor International Conference in Seattle. The initiative will be unveiled as part of a two-day healthcare symposium. The U.S Surgeon General and the CEO of GE are among speakers scheduled.

Swedish Medical Center, Washington State Global Health Alliance and Public Health Seattle/King County are teaming up on the pilot project.

A Swedish representative said the three organizations are committed "to work together to address local disparities in local healthcare through a groundbreaking initiative: 'Global to Local,' a new approach in applying global healthcare solutions, as used to provide affordable healthcare in third world countries, to provide local solutions to healthcare challenges in underserved populations.

The long awaited Wingdome restaurant has announced its official opening date in the Junction. It will be Oct. 12 and hot sauce lovers around the area are expected to converge in celebration. The address is 4523 California Ave. s.w.

CLICK THE PHOTO TO SEE MORE IMAGES

Nicole Aly, Marketing Manager for Consolidated Restaurants, the parent company said, "We are officially going to open on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. and we're going to be running our lunch specials all day to help kick it off."

While there won't be a cake or other opening ceremonies Aly said, "We're definitely ready to bring some wings to the community."

The restaurant has three other locations in Greenwood, Kent and Kirkland and specializes in chicken wings as their slogan "Hot Wings - Cold Brew - Big Fun" implies.

Inglemoor High School dominated the Ballard High School volleyball team in three out of four games in the teams' Oct. 6 match, earning a 3-1 victory.

Inglemoor started hot, beating the Beavers 25-16 and 25-15. But, Ballard bounced back with a 26-25 win in the third game.

Inglemoor finished the Beavers off with a 25-12 victory in the fourth game of the evening.

Sophomore Liza Berg led the team in kills (nine) and blocks (five). She also had three aces.

Junior Monique Marquez finished with a team-high 24 assists while adding 12 digs.

Freshman Grace Taylor also got in on the action, tallying five kills and three blocks.

Ballard (1-5 KingCo, 1-8 overall) takes on Garfield (2-4 KingCo, 3-7 overall) at 7 p.m. Oct. 11 at Ballard High School. The Beavers beat Garfield 3-0 last season.

Seattle Parks and Recreation is seeking nominations for the Denny Awards, which honor volunteer service to the city’s parks system. The deadline for nominations is Nov. 1, 2010.

The Denny Awards acknowledge and honor the crucial role volunteers play in neighborhood parks, community centers and recreation programs throughout the city, according to a Parks press release.

Volunteers help Parks and Recreation staff and management in the work of the department and give valuable advice on important decisions. Volunteers pull ivy and plant native trees in our parks, coach children's sports, work as docents at selected parks and serve on various advisory councils and boards, according to the press release.

The name of the awards reflects the early commitment by the Denny family to the preservation of parkland and open space for public use and enjoyment. David Denny donated land that became the first Seattle park, Denny Park, in 1864.

Ballardite Lillian Riley was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at last year's Denny Awards for her volunteer work, including founding Groundswell NW and spearheading the creation of Webster Park.

The Seattle Police Department is seeking the public's help in identifying those responsible for an armed robbery in Renton on Sep. 23. They believe, based on similar clothing, and similarity of motive and suspect descriptions that they were also responsible for a series of robberies in Seattle including one on Admiral Way on Sep. 12.

The PDF link above is the actual police report from the Sep. 12 Admiral Way robbery.

This information was posted on the the SPD blotter:

On early Thursday morning, September 23rd, at approximately 2:00 a.m., there was an armed robbery at the Chevron Gas Station in the 100 block of SW Sunset Blvd in Renton. Two suspects wearing masks entered the store together, approached the clerk and demanded money.

The clerk opened the till and both suspects came behind the counter and grabbed the cash. The suspects fled with no vehicle being seen. The suspects were armed with a gun and a knife. About an hour after this robbery, the same suspects, wearing identical clothing committed a similar robbery at a store in the 1600 block of Queen Ann Ave N in Seattle.