December 2010

The following was posted on the Seattle Police Department Blotter regarding a Chevrolet SUV colliding with parked vehicles near 9th Ave s.w. and Henderson Place s.w. (map) around 2 a.m. on Dec. 29. This story will be updated once more information is available.

From the SPD Blotter:

Collision with serious injuries

On December 29th at around 2:04 a.m., Southwest Precinct patrol officers responded to a report of a collision with serious injuries near 9th Avenue SW and Henderson Place SW.

An adult female driving a Chevrolet SUV had been traveling southbound on 9th Avenue SW approaching SW Henderson ST. The driver attempted to continue on 9th Avenue SW at Henderson Place SW but collided with a parked vehicle. Due to the force of the impact, a chain reaction occurred with one parked vechicle pushed into another. Six parked vehicles sustained damage in this regard.

The Salmon Bay Playground Steering Committee has secured funding through the Department of Neighborhoods to enter into a community design phase for the playground renovation at Salmon Bay School.

The first design workshop will be on Saturday, Jan 22, at Ballard First Lutheran Church. The community is invited to share their design ideas at the workshop in order to ensure that the playground continues to be a community asset that reflects the vision of our community.

The vision for the playground renovation is to create an innovative design that will appeal to all children ages 5-12, including those students, friends and neighbors who have ASD (autism spectrum disorder).
Children with ASD react differently and enjoy different activities on the playground.

The Committee has selected Johnson | Southerland Architects, an award-winning LEED-certified design firm, for the project.

They were selected for their commitment to create places that embody the values of engagement, expression, environmental health, comfort, fun, and function, and they have extensive experience with public process.

Press Release:
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is carefully monitoring weather forecasts for Seattle and planning for snow and ice response accordingly. The forecast is for temperatures just above freezing overnight with up to one-half inch of wet snow possible, and an additional one inch of snow possible tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

SDOT crews are proactively applying salt brine in roadway areas where frost or black ice is prone to develop, especially on bridges and other elevated structures around the city.

Starting at 4 a.m. Wednesday, SDOT spreader trucks will be prepositioned throughout the city, ready to spread rock salt on major arterial streets (primary snow routes, Levels 1 and 2) for the morning commute if conditions warrant.

The snow plan calls for plowing when there is more than one inch of accumulated snow on the roadway, which is not in the forecast at this time.

SDOT will continue to monitor the weather conditions carefully and respond accordingly.

For more information on Seattle’s winter weather response plan and to view a map of snow routes, please see SDOT’s website, http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/winterweather.htm

Phones and electronic gadgets make great holiday presents but what about the olds ones?
Local organizations gladly take the older models off your hands and out of your house to be reused and recycled. By donating your phone, you’re not just freeing your house of clutter, you’re helping those in need and helping the environment by not creating more electronic waste.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that Americans own nearly 3 billion electronic products. For each new product that comes along, one or more becomes outdated or obsolete. Consequently, we’re discarding (and storing) older electronic products faster than ever.
These discarded, surplus electronic devices are referred to as e-waste (electronic waste) and the incorrect processing of which create serious health and pollution problems.

Consumer Electronics Association reports that in 2005 alone, an estimated 304 million electronics (up to 2.2 million tons of waste) were removed from US households with about two-thirds of those still in working order.

These devices however can be used to do good.

Firefighters responded to a fire in a single family residence on the 8100 block of 12th Ave s.w. at 10:22 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 28.

According to Lt. Sue Stangl with the Seattle Fire Department, food on the stove started the fire at the elderly couple’s home (their names were not released) and nearby neighbors were able to get the couple out of the house before serious injury occurred.

Stangl did not know which neighbors helped the couple out.

“The woman ended up with a little bit of a burn on her forehead,” Stangl said. “Both people were checked out by medics and were left on the scene.”

Firefighters were able to contain the fire to the house which incurred “extensive” damage that Stangl said was due more to smoke than fire.

Stangl estimated $100,000 in structural damage and $30,000 in content damage.

Press Release:

Mayor Mike McGinn today released a status report on his Seattle Nightlife Initiative, a group of policy proposals to increase public safety, help the local economy and improve urban vibrancy.

In remarks scheduled for this evening at Washington Hall, a historic Seattle ballroom, and in the written report, Mayor McGinn said that since announcing the Nightlife Initiative in July he has heard feedback from more than 2,400 residents.

Among the highlights:

- Residents and business owners alike appreciate the Initiative’s comprehensive approach to managing nightlife activity
- The Code Compliance Team has a 95 percent success rate resolving late-night club related issues
- The amplified sound threshold has been lowered to 65 dBC
- Three new late-night transportation alternatives are being launched
- Response to concerns regarding Race and Social Justice

The original proposal includes these eight components:

1. Code compliance enforcement: Develop an assistance and enforcement strategy with nightlife businesses.

Press Release:

With snow showers in the forecast for Wednesday morning, King County Metro Transit is urging bus riders to prepare by making sure they are signed up for Transit Alerts and that they know the snow routing for the buses they will ride tomorrow.

Then before traveling, riders should check www.kingcounty.gov/metro/snow for the most current status of Metro service. Updates to the online information will begin at 4 a.m. each morning.

Remember, Metro is operating with a reduced schedule this week, which means some commuter and school-oriented routes do not operate, and other routes have individual trips canceled. This is indicated by an “H” in the timetables.

Current weather forecasts indicate if snow falls Tuesday night into Wednesday morning in the lower elevations of King County, it should be mostly in the form of snow showers with no significant accumulations. But, the snow could be heavier at higher areas in east King County or if a convergence zone sets up inside the county. Bus operations could change rapidly.

Here are some tips for bus travel if it does snow:

Those strolling around Ballard or Fremont looking for a delicious Caribbean sandwich will be disappointed to see that both Paseo locations are still closed.

The crew is taking a well deserved vacation, the door sign and website states.

They will be back to serve up their wildly popular sandwiches the first week of February 2011.

Paseo is located in Fremont at 4225 Fremont Ave N. and in Ballard at 6226 Seaview Ave N.W

Mama Cass can't sing but she's an eager and willing companion for Charlie Worsinske, especially when he goes to work. She loves to go with him. Cass is an Old English Sheepdog, is purebred and turned four years old in April.

"She was a rescue from some folks out on Whidbey Island who had her but when she developed some medical issues they couldn't keep up with her so we got in contact with them," Worsinske said. "My dad passed away around Christmas of last year and we had raised sheepdogs when we were kids and we sold a sheepdog to Merrilee Rush (famous northwest recording artist) , so this is a Merrilee Rush dog. When we went through my Dad's stuff we found a picture of Merrilee and the puppy so I got in touch with Merrilee and got to talking and then Cass kind of came up and so here she is."

Merrilee and her husband Billy Mac still raise Old English Sheepdogs on their farm outside Redmond called Merrimac Farm.
To learn more visit their site http://www.merrimacoldenglishsheepdogs.com/

The National Weather Service is predicting some snow for West Seattle for tonight and Wednesday.
From the NWS West Seattle Page:
Tonight: A chance of rain showers before 10pm, then rain and snow showers likely. Snow level 1600 feet lowering to 900 feet. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 34. North northeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Wednesday: A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 42. Calm wind becoming northwest between 8 and 11 mph. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Winter just started and if how the city handled the cold snap and snow in November is any indication it will be even more important to be prepared. The City has a partnership with Take Winter by Storm, part of govlink.org and they have a very useful checklist you can download and print from the link above.