Press Release:
Sanislo Elementary School, 1812 S.W. Myrtle St., will be closed today (Monday) because of a water leak due to the recent cold weather.
We are making repairs and hope to have the school open tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. School starts at 9:25 a.m.
There is an air of mystery about her that hauntingly recalls fairytale stories of a beautiful princess beckoning from the castle to her prince passing by. Perched high on a hill she is irreplaceable, one of a kind, a past haven to many, and today a testimony to yesteryear's breathtaking architecture.
Yet, her purpose was and is to be a valued servant to folks in need. It started with the Masonic Order 1920s project to provide home and care for Mason brethren and their families. Nearly 90 years later, the Masonic Home's majestic presence at 23660 Marine View Dr. S. is unforgettable.
Built in 1928 and renamed The Masonic Retirement Center of Washington, this aging beauty stands as a magnificent monument to the Masonic Order's values and City of Des Moines location identity. The masterful building design creates a landmark with uniqueness of character and community connection to drivers, boaters, walkers and all things nearby. The name is now "Landmark by the Sound."
By Mark Davis
“Ballard is rapidly becoming a community of carpetbaggers and commuters. More than 100 years after the first land boom in Ballard, another land boom is making affordable housing a faint but fond memory.” - quoted from Early Ballard (Arcadia, 2007)
Here, then, is a rundown of the “land boom” in 2010.
Blandmark
The main—or at least the largest—development stories in Ballard revolve around large, mostly featureless, five-plus-story, mixed-use blocks. Some finally opened, months behind schedule. Others were reviewed and approved by the City’s Design Review Board. No new blocks broke ground in 2010.
Earlier in the year, I wrote about the Ballard Blandmark. I described a “Blandmark” as essentially the inverse of a landmark, an absence, rather than a presence, and noted how the contenders for Blandmark status were lining up in Ballard, so many, in fact, that it might make sense to just designate a Blandmark District.
It was business as usual, except for one thing, during last year's "No Pants Light Rail Ride." The 2011 event is Sunday, Jan. 9. Participants are meeting at 3 p.m. at Seattle's Westlake Plaza. Once on the train, the pants come off for the ride to Tukwila and SeaTac.
(Editor's Note: As promised last week, Jerry Robinson recalls some of the highlights of over half a centuryof bringing readers the local news. He starts with the White Center News.)
Though main street on the county side of White Center in 1950 was only two lanes of paved road, cars parked in a series of deep puddles. Drivers hated it and women avoided it.
So the first crusade we embarked on was getting rid of the huge puddles.
Our editor was a great cartoonist and created a denizen named Gregory Groundhog, who resided in the deepest swamp.
Then we did a series of stories that embarrassed the county and one major businessman got mad at us and got up a petition to get the county street widened and paved to four lanes, He was Omar Schau, the White Center bakery owner who got mad at me and urged me to get out of town. But he also owned several properties and the local bakery. It would cost him a bundle but he formed a local improvement district and, voila, the county paved 16th SW all the way to Yerington's funeral home.
Have you ever thought to yourself: "I wish someone would do something about that?"
Many people have issues regarding their neighborhoods such as litter, crime, pedestrian and vehicle traffic, and safety problems near schools.
The Neighbors Without Borders Action Committee was created to address these issues in SeaTac and Tukwila. It came to be when neighbors-- who happened to live in two separate cites-- were discussing various things about their communities they wish would change, including the mess along Highway 99.
With the large amount of pedestrian traffic, especially near the Key Bank at 3434 S. 152nd St, which often blocks vehicle traffic trying to get through the area, a "danger zone" is created and everyone involved is at risk.
"Let's do something about our neighborhood," said Mary Koontz of Tukwila, co-chair of NWOBAC.
"There were the same concerns on this side of the road," said Pam Fernald of SeaTac, also co-chair of the committee.
Fernald also serves on the SeaTac City Council.
The group was co-founded in the spring of 2007 by Koontz and Fernald.
The Seattle Department of Transportation tweeted at 5:57 am. Monday that the right lane of EB Highland Park SW, headed downhill toward West Marginal Way SW, was closed due to ice.
There's also serious ice buildup along Beach Drive, caused by water coming through and down the hillside of the 6000 block, where the latest mudslides have occurred. It has built up what amounts to compact ice over the roadway creating an ongoing hazard as long as temperatures remain low.
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From Twitter at shortly after 6:00 am KIRO 7 reported a rollover accident at SB 509 & Cloverdale.
The accident was being cleared at 7:00 am.
Another accident happened at California and Orchard Street at 8:30 am. Engine 37 responded to the scene. It appears that the ice near the scene was involved since scanner traffic had officers calling for de-icer to be applied from s.w. Myrtle to s.w. Orchard.
The ice sheet was approximately 90 feet in length.
Sleep Country USA’s Foster Kids Shoe Drive
Jan. 3 - Jan. 30. Donations of new shoes for boys & girls in all sizes can be dropped off at the nearest Sleep Country and they’ll be matched with an area foster child in need. The gift of new shoes is a small but important step towards helping foster kids put their best foot forward. For information: www.sleepcountry.com or 1-888-88-SLEEP.
Discovery Shop BOGO Sale
4535 California Ave. S.W.
206-937-7169
Monday, Jan. 3 to Saturday, Jan. 8 only. All clothing - Buy One and Get One Free (of equal or lesser value). Blue tagged items are 50% off. The Shop is open on Sundays, 11-3 p.m. All other days (except New Years Day) the Shop is open for our valued customers and donors (contributing goods, estates or financial assistance) from 10-4:30 p.m. The Discover Shop welcomes with open arms new volunteers.
American Sewing Guild Monthly Meeting
The Kenney Home
7125 Fauntleroy Ave. S.W.
Disorderly female drops pants and makes threats
Two employees of the Highline School District Department of Transportation arrived at a local elementary school to pick up two students. They were in a marked school district sedan, one was driving and the other was acting as a monitor for the students. A pickup truck was parked in a no parking bus zone at the school so the monitor approached the vehicle and asked them to park in a spot across the street next time.
The female passenger in the truck stated they were picking up their child and began shouting obscenities at the monitor. The monitor walked back to the sedan and got in while the truck parked in another spot and the female passenger got out and approached the sedan. She continued to yell obscenities and made threats of violence to the monitor. The female eventually walked back to the truck and pulled down her pants exposing her buttocks and made more threats. The truck left before officers arrived.
Shots fired at Southcenter Mall
The West Seattle Herald asked some fascinating folks about their New Years notions:
Pete Seazle, Reporter, West Seattle Funblog.
2010 was twice as good at 1005. I wasn’t alive then, but I’ve read things and it sounded pretty lame. 2010 saw new writers join the West Seattle Funblog as well as the birth of our sister site, the Austin Funblog. The Funblog Convention in Vegas was… oh yeah, we can’t talk about that. But we can talk about the Funblog Food Drive benefitting the West Seattle Food Bank! Our readers and friends raked in over 2,000 lbs of non-perishable food and supported local businesses in the process.
2011 will be even better. Patty Seazle got me a crystal ball for Christmas, but it’s from Ikea and I haven’t figured out how to put it together yet, so the year will just have to come as it may.
Edda Mellas, Arbor Heights, Amanda Knox's mother.
