December 2010

With 2010 coming to a close, here is a look back at some of the most popular stories of the year. Click the image above for a slideshow of the year in photos.

January

Small business boom in recession
By Emily Dreisback, Web Intern
2010-01-01

Conventional wisdom leads us to pity the person who chooses to open a business in the midst of the current recession, but there are small retailers who thrive in a risky economic climate — traditionally bars, repair shops, education and other services where demand increases as general societal thrift grows.
Ballard has its own collection of businesses that have opened in recent months, well into the current economic downturn.
Sustainable, Sound Gold Buyers, MovieCycle, and Buffalo Exchange all opened in Ballard in the last six months and are doing better than they had expected.

Local musician organizes benefit for Haiti
By Michael Harthorne
2010-01-19

Faustine Hudson, a local musician, was, like many others, affected by the Jan. 12 earthquake that struck Haiti.

I need to clear my conscience before the end of the year because what happened has been weighing on me, and the others, for almost all of December.

On the first Saturday of December my friends and I hogged a table at Café Besalu and the owner, James Miller, had to personally stop working butter into the dough that would become perfect, flaky croissants and speak to us. I can’t recall the exact words other than, “We need the table.” He was extremely pleasant. And yet, almost four weeks later there are five women over the age of 50 who feel like they were recently sent to the principal’s office. I’d also wager that not one of us ever did get sent to the principal’s office ‘in the day.'

We were in the wrong. We had stayed too long, past the lines of customers who were mostly transporting their brioches and lattes elsewhere, into the territory of three generations wanting to sit together in the warmth and smell of Seattle’s undisputedly finest-outside-of-France croissants.

On December 15, Ballard lost one of its great activists and voice for the less fortunate in the community. Randi Hansen, the tireless activist, passed away at Swedish Hospital from complications of pneumonia.

A Ballard resident for 58 years, Randi was a steadfast spokesperson for the poor, the homeless and those who had no voice themselves.

Born in Norway on Dec. 3rd, 1941 during World War II, Randi suffered from severe epilepsy and had several Grand Mal seizures a week.

In 1952, when she was 10 years old, Randi and her family immigrated to the U.S.

“The economic times were tough in Norway at the time,” said Arnie Hansen, Randi’s brother. “And there was a job opportunity for my father in Ballard.”

Randi found her activist spirit when Charles Royer ran for mayor of Seattle, and Randi got involved in the campiagn. Arnie Hansen said that campaign started her political activism.

Randi became one of the first volunteers and founders of what is now, the Nordic Heritage museum.

In the late 1970s, a council had formed which was dedicated to establishing a museum to pay tribute to Ballard’s Nordic ties. Randi was very involved in the council.

What kind of job would you imagine as ideal in one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the state? Jay Stratton has that kind of job. He has just hung his shingle out as an immigration attorney in White Center in an office on Roxbury Street. Over 60 percent of the immigrants in White Center and Boulevard Park came to this country within the last ten years according to the census of 2000 and 20% of those are hispanic speaking people.

Stratton whose roots are in Utah chose White Center because the highest concentration of immigration attorneys is in downtown Seattle near the court. He chose to be closer to the clients themselves. This is consistent with the way he approaches the work. But he also likes White Center because it is "very similar to the area I grew up in, in Salt Lake City. I like the Tiendas (grocery stores) and little taco stands (…) there was a little Mexican store around the corner."

Todd Ainsworth and Christopher Christensen, owners and operators of West Seattle Autoworks at 7501 35th Ave s.w. recently sent an email to the Herald about a customer who had the catalytic converter sawed off of his Toyota 4 Runner.

The customer’s Toyota had exhaust issues and he called Ainsworth to see about bringing his rig in. Ainsworth suggested he go to a muffler shop in White Center to save money on the repair, so the customer thanked him for his honesty and headed to the shop. Shortly thereafter Ainsworth heard back from his customer and it turned out his converter had been sawed clean off.

“And I said, ‘Uh oh,’ because we went through this a couple years ago,"Ainsworth said. "There was a rash of them (catalytic converter thefts)."

Catalytic converters are devices that reduce the toxicity of emissions from an internal combustion engine, or as Ainsworth put it, “to capture and complete the burning of any un-burnt fuels and gases that come out of the engine.”

Sound Transit will once again offer late-night light rail service from downtown Seattle this New Year's Eve with the last trains heading south from Westlake Station at 1:15 a.m. Saturday morning, with the last stops at the Tukwila and SeaTac/Airport stations.
The last scheduled weekday trains normally depart Westlake Station at 12:37 a.m. Sound Transit will add two trains departing at 1 a.m. and 1:15 a.m. running to SeaTac/Airport Station this Friday night/Saturday morning to accommodate holiday revelers.
Sound Transit services will operate under holiday schedules on Saturday, Jan. 1. There will be no Sounder rail service at Tukwila and other stations, and Sunday schedules will apply for all ST Express buses, Central Link light rail, and Tacoma Link in observation of New Years Day.
Sound Transit Sounder trains and ST Express buses will operate on regular weekday service on Friday, Dec. 31.

OK. So this is Alki Beach, not Waikiki, but the tradition continiues as the 11th Annual West Seattle/White Center Polar Bear Swim on New Year's Day approaches. The swim takes place across the street from Dukes Chowder House on Alki at 10:00 a.m.

The event was established by Kip Kolodziejski and Jeanne DeBaets.

“It was the Y2K year and we wanted to do something big for the year 2000," DeBaets told the West Seattle Herald at the 2010 swim. “It started with just us. The next year more people came. Then more the next. It just feels good. It wakes you up.”

Hot chocolate will be served.

Graupel snow, or snow pellets, fell over West Seattle and White Center about 12:40 pm today.

The latest forecast from the National Weather Service for the local area does call for a chance of snow showers:

From the NWS

This Afternoon: Rain showers likely before 4pm, then rain likely, possibly mixed with snow showers. Snow level 400 feet. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 41. Northwest wind around 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Tonight: A 40 percent chance of snow showers before 10pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 31. Northwest wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 39. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph.

Ballard Elks members will brave the cold Puget Sound water and take a plunge on New Year’s Day to raise funds for Elks Charities.

The Elks Charities include the Washington State Therapy Program, the Children’s Hospital, scholarships, and Veteran and Food Bank charities.

“We got the idea after seeing some people run into the Sound outside our lodge last year,” said Cindy Olsby who’s organizing the event.

“It’s a great way to raise money for Elks Charities,” Olsby said. “And to let people know the good things the Elks are doing in our community.”

Olsby said a large part of their fundraising is for The Washington State Therapy Program, which sends therapists to the homes of special needs children.

“That way, parents don’t have to travel with their special needs children, some of are just babies. We pay the salaries of those therapists," she said.

Olsby said that currently, she knows of 15 to 20 people who will brave the cold water on New Year’s Day with pledges of up to $600 each.

The Ballard News-Tribune has been publishing news and information for the North Seattle area and beyond since 1898, now we're offering the next step in community news- a Droid app.

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