December 2010

After a couple of meetings filled with contentious discussion, Lake Burien residents were denied their request for a down zone of the area surrounding the lake by the city council.
Lake Burien residents requested the land surrounding the lake be re-zoned from moderate density single-family residential to low density single-family residential.
Many lake residents testified that changing the density is in the best interests of the health of the lake. They said increased housing density around the lake would compound an already growing problem with existing homes not having adequate storm-water drainage.
Storm water runoff from the driveways drains into the lake, bringing pollutants with it.
Chestine Edgar said, “When you have one home on a piece of property and you increase it to three houses…there will be a net loss.”
Tanya Engeset, a Lake Burien resident, said there is not adequate storm water drainage with the number of homes they do have, saying the system cannot support more.

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The Ballard Boys & Girls club is undergoing its third remodel in 25 years and invited BNT to come take a look.

“This past summer we had 50 kids on the waiting list,” said Mark Hendricks, Executive Director. “The remodel will almost double the space we have now.”

The $2.1 million remodel adds an additional 5,000 square feet of classroom space. The parking lot is also being renewed, which will have an entrance on 63rd street instead of 64th street.

“We’re not necessarily looking to increase but to give the kids more elbow room,” Hendrick said, adding that 130 to 145 kids make use of the club’s rooms on a daily basis.

“We try to maximize every inch of space on this property,” he said pointing out that the gym doubles as a breakfast space in the morning, a playground during the day now that construction is moving the playground, and a training ground for the many basketball teams and leagues in the evening.

The club has not closed any of its programs and is making the best out of the construction period.

Highline High School students coming out of the cafeteria after lunch on Monday, Dec. 13 were drawn to Heather Mae Lerch's dream car, parked at the curb.

Heather had bought her dream car, a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt SS, as a 19-birthday present for herself. She had worked hard, graduating with honors from Tumwater High School and was attending Centralia College.
Getting off work from her job at a Tumwater Subway sandwich shop about 10 p.m. on Feb. 23, she was on her way home on a familiar road.

About two miles from home, Heather lost control of the car on a curve. The car flipped and Heather was killed. Her parents checked the call log on her cell phone and determined she had been reading and sending texts on her phone right up to the moment of the fatal crash.

Now, Trooper B.L. Kessler of the Washington State Patrol had towed the horribly mangled car to the high school in Burien as a powerful visual demonstration of what can happen when anyone texts while driving.
The Highline students peered into the shattered windows and read the information panels describing the dangers of texting while driving and a biographical sketch of Heather.

Press Release:
The Seattle City Council today unanimously adopted a comprehensive update to how townhomes, apartments, row houses, and cottages are developed in Seattle's low-rise multifamily zones. These changes will allow for more variety in housing types, improved landscaping and open space use, incentives for green building, along with greater flexibility and improvement in building design.

"Over the past decade, many townhouses popped up and multiplied in ways that caused unfortunate impacts to the surrounding communities," said Councilmember Sally J. Clark. "We saw too few other housing styles and what we did see wasn't welcomed by neighbors in most cases. I think these new rules will lead developers to build housing that fits better in our neighborhoods and creates a better home in which to live."

The new code should prevent most of the features that inspired the majority of neighborhood complaints by creating a new Streamlined Design Review (SDR) process that will allow for closer scrutiny of project design. SDR will be required for townhouses with three or more units, but not for row houses, cottages or apartments in multi-family zones.

This is not news to Old Timers.

I spent a couple of days there. With a bruised liver. Yep. How they could could tell a bruised liver from any other liver beats me. They all look bruised at the store. But here is what happened.

We had a great snow storm in the forties. Much like the one that cost Greg Nickels his job as Mayor several winters ago when he got blamed for making the hills of West Seattle slippery.

Drivers hate snow but kids love it and after my kids badgered me into taking them sledding so I called a buddy who just happened to have a Flexible Flyer and we gathered at the top of a hill near the water tower.

Daredevil me, ready to prove some mythical skills on hills as a youth volunteered to go first but sensing some heavenly hazard my own sons chickened out.

My buddy volunteered his 5 year old daughter to hang on and go piggy back. She never blinked, and away we flew. At mach 90, tears flowing down my cheeks,we began drifting toward a big ditch on the left side of the street.

No problem, just drag your foot and, and, and - which foot? Wrong foot. I forgot which foot and whoosh, we swerved headlong over a ditch and hit a huge snowbank.

A few weeks back (but worth mentioning), on Nov. 27, police were busy repeatedly responding to complaints of loud fireworks being lit off in the 3000 block of s.w. Andover St between 2 and 3 a.m. Police had responded to three 911 calls, but each time the suspects were able to hide from authorities. Finally, on the fourth 911 call, a fed up neighbor identified the house being used as base camp for the out-of-season firework display. When officers arrived, the suspects’ house was “ablaze with light and music was playing inside.” They could smell the lingering scent of exploded fireworks and found the lawn littered with spent bottle rockets, mortars and roman candles. The officer knocked loudly on the door, the music died and he heard people running around the house. No one answered. He knocked a few more times, then walked to the back of the house and found the rear door wide open.

The 15 celebrity chef participants in the January 29, 2011, Gifts from the Earth gala have been announced.

Among them are several program graduates and former students, including Chef Jeff Maxfield, executive chef of the Space Needle’s SkyCity Restaurant, and Chef Jeremy Bryant, owner of New Century Catering and executive chef for the Seattle Mariners baseball team.

The gala raises funds for college programs and student scholarships, and features hors d’oeuvres, wine tasting and a silent auction, followed by dinner and a live auction that includes unique wine and dining packages. The event is a sure sell-out, so get your tickets early.

If you are interested in volunteering, contact Heather Foss at 768-6616. More information online at http:// www.southseattle.edu/foundation/giftsfromtheearth/.

At the end of last month, Seattle Public Schools released its second annual District Scorecard and its first individual School Scorecards.

The scorecards show the schools’ academic growth, student climate, accountability, family, staff engagement, and overall school performance.

Seattle Public Schools intends to give parents, students and the community important information so we can all learn from and act on the data.

But some numbers have raised questions of data accuracy. Ballard High School as well as the school district as a whole scored surprisingly low in college readiness.

Initially, it was reported that only 17 percent of students in the district are ready for college.

Brad Bernatek, the district's director of research, has confirmed that some errors may have been made in the assessment and evaluation of that statistics and they’re working on gathering more accurate statistics.

“I was disappointed with the numbers because the general public looks at these numbers as the truth,” said Ballard High School Principal, Keven Wynkoop.

“Miscalculations have been formed which create negative perceptions of Ballard High School.”

Rain that deluged the Highline area over the weekend hit Three Tree Point particularly hard.
On Sunday, several chunks of a retaining wall let loose by a mudslide hit a house in the 2300 block of Southwest 172nd St. Firefighters evacuated three people out of the home.
A block away, in the 2400 block, the home of a 94-year-old artist slipped down a hill Sunday morning. His daughter was to have to spent the night with him, sleeping in an area that was hit by the slide. The city of Burien has red tagged his home and his neighbors may also have to move out.
Around the Cove in Normandy Park, roads flooded when Miller and Walker creeks went over their banks. Power went out, also, to 214 Normandy Park residents.
Sea-Tac International Airport reported a record rainfall for Saturday with 1.42 inches of rain. The old record of 1.32 inches was set in 1955.

Dear Editor-

I live in the Lowman Beach Park neighborhood and I consider Lincoln Park to be my backyard. I was a part time attendee at the Murray Citizen’s Advisory Group meetings concerning Combined Sewer Overflows. I learned many things that the public should be aware of. Unfortunately, despite the development of controversy and contention between two separate areas of West Seattle, there is way too little space dedicated in newspapers to the full development of all the issues. Read on for a short hand version of the controversy:

1) Water (and sewage) flow downhill unless you spend quite a lot of money to deter gravity.

2) The Barton and Murray Basins are geographical areas designated on King County maps that naturally funnel water (and sewage) into certain locations on the western, or downhill, edges of those basins.

3) Lowman Beach Park is the natural location where untreated storm water (and sewage) from the Murray Basin stops unless you want it to go straight into Puget Sound.