February 2011

King County residents can expect to receive their 2011 property tax bills during the week of Feb. 14. Total aggregate property tax collections in King County are up 3.33 percent in 2011 over 2010, primarily driven by voter-approved levies. Whether an individual's tax bill has increased or not from the previous year is largely dependent on their location. The total value of property in King County continued to decline for the 2011 tax roll, but the drop is less than the previous year.

"Taxpayers may be wondering how their property values can go down, but their property taxes go up. I know this seems counter-intuitive," said King County Assessor Lloyd Hara. "Several factors can cause this to happen. The most common is that voters in their area have approved a property tax measure, typically a school levy, and that increased the overall property tax levy that is reflected on the 2011 bill."

Highline voters this week approved a four-year $188 million education programs levy. The levy was a replacement for a four-year $140 million levy that expires this year. The new levy rate will not be reflected on taxes collected for 2010.

How do Burien residents want their community to look 20 or 30 years from now? The city has launched a community-wide effort to answer that question and shape the long-term future of Burien.

All residents are being asked to help create a common, unifying vision for the city. The goal of the visioning effort is to provide the community with a sense of direction and a framework for evaluating future policy decisions. The vision that emerges will provide a foundation for upcoming city planning efforts in the areas of land use, transportation, parks and recreation and major capital projects.

Burien has hired the team of Brian Douglas Scott - Planning and Urban Design of Seattle, to facilitate a visioning process that will engage and involve citizens.

A 20-member steering committee began meeting in early February. Steering committee members represent the diverse Burien community. They include city council and school board members, business owners, professionals, retirees, students, and members of ethnic groups.

The Seattle Department of Transportation released the revised SEPA Determination of Non-significance (DNS) today, proposing to construct the Burke-Gilman Trail Extension. This construction will complete the “missing link” of the trail between 11th Ave N.W. and the Ballard Locks. 

A DNS for this proposal was originally issued in 2008, but the project description has been revised to include a trail alignment along Shilshole Avenue N.W. between 17th Avenue N.W. and N.W. Vernon Place.
 
As a result, SDOT has determined that the project is unlikely to have significant adverse impacts on the environment.  This decision was made after review of the proposal's potential impacts on several elements of the environment.

"It's good news because it moves the process forward," said Chuck Ayers, Executive Director of the Cascade Bicycle club.

The Burk-Gilman Trail is a main corridor for cyclists and runners as it runs unbroken from Issaquah to Fremont but ends in Ballard, where conflicts between cyclists, the city and businesses have delayed the completion of the Missing Link.

From the SPD Blotter:

The Seattle Police Department Office of Professional Accountability (OPA) received a complaint of misconduct that occurred during the early morning hours of December 12, 2010.

An off-duty male Seattle Police officer and his male friend were at a nightclub in the Ballard neighborhood when they discovered that their coats were missing. The off-duty officer noticed a woman outside of the nightclub holding the missing jackets. The off-duty officer identified himself as a Seattle Police officer and informed the woman that she had taken two jackets not belonging to her and asked for them back. The woman refused, claiming that the jackets belonged to a friend. The woman began to walk away. The off-duty officer called 911 and together with his friend followed the woman on foot. Both the off-duty officer and his friend were attacked from behind by three male subjects unknown to them.

Coming up on Saturday, February 12 from 8:00pm - 11:00pm the second and for now the final fundraiser for John Peck and the final arrangements for Jeremy Peck will be held at the Heartland Cafe and the Benbow Room 4210 SW Admiral Way.

The goal of the previous fund raiser at the Chelan Cafe and this one is to raise the last dollars needed to complete the mission established by Jeremy Peck's friends and family, a funeral service "complete with all the special touches."

"I want it done up right. We only get one chance to do this", said John Peck.

Organizer Kelly Crisp Irivne said, "Last time Jell-O shots were gone in 1 hour so we pledge to make enough to last a few hours! 1200+ shots is our goal! $1 each."

The appetizer food buffet will be free but there is a suggested $5 donation. "The appetizers cost $7 on the menu so this is a great deal. We want everyone to be able to eat, drink and enjoy themselves!," said Irvine.

Appetizer Food Buffet will include:
Mini Corn Dogs
loaded Tater Tot~they are award winning!
Chicken Fingers
Spicy Boneless Chicken Wings
Sliders (only available in the first serving)

Des Moines Police Msgt. Barry Sellers has been named as the new Des Moines Police Guild president beginning on Feb. 28.
After meeting with the new guild leadership Des Moines Mayor Bob Sheckler said at this point he is not going to pursue his complaint against the guild after guild president Russ Stuth sent him a letter asking for his resignation.
Before the beginning of the year Stuth, acting as the guild president, sent a letter to Sheckler asking for his resignation because of statements made to the press regarding the police shooting death of a Newfoundland dog.
In the letter Stuth said if the mayor did not resign the guild would make the rest of his time in office as difficult as possible.
In a statement about the police shooting Interim Chief John O’Leary said he did not personally agree with the letter, but it was between the mayor and guild to figure out.
About a month after the letter was sent to Sheckler the guild held a meeting and came back saying the guild’s new policy was they were not going to make any more comments on the letter or pursue a meeting with Sheckler regarding the guild’s demand that he step down.

The award-winning Ballard High School Video Production Program will host "The Showing" on Friday, Feb 11, in the Ballard Gymnasium. Videos produced second semester by students in the Ballard High School Video Production Program will be screened and included short comedies, dramas and documentaries.

Two of the short films were recently awarded with prizes at the prestigious Annual Derek Freese High School Film & Video Festival. "Buy, Sell, Trade" by students Emily Deering, Amelia Elizalde and Blair Scott and "Real World" by Matt Law-Phipps, Tony Meyer and Ryan Zemke will have their Seattle premiere at The Showing.

The Showing will be on Friday, Feb 11th at 7 p.m. in the BHS auditorium. 1418 NW 65th St. Tickets are $5 and will be sold at the door.

The 17th annual Neighbor Appreciation Day is this Saturday and over 50 activities will take place throughout Seattle.

Every year, Seattle students enter the Neighbor Appreciation Day Student Art Contest with drawings depicting what it means to be a good neighbor. The drawings of the two first place winners have been used to make Neighborhood Appreciation Day greeting cards to be distributed for free at community centers, libraries, and Neighborhood Service Centers.

A total of 15 winners were selected out of nearly 600 entries and Mayor Mike McGinn and Seattle Councilmember Mike O’Brien will honor them at the awards ceremony at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Hamilton International Middle School in Seattle. The winners have been announced as follows:

Gold Medal Award ($100 each)

• Angel Corpuz, Dunlap Elementary School (Southeast Seattle neighborhood)
• Grace Corsi, Hamilton International Middle School (Wallingford neighborhood)

Silver Award ($50 each)

• Emily Gu, Roosevelt High School (Northeast Seattle neighborhood)

For the first time since West Seattle-raised Amanda Knox was imprisoned in Italy over three years ago, those who prosecuted her in the Perugia courthouse, the parents of the murdered victim Meredith Kercher, and Knox herself are all unified in a battle. They want the Lifetime cable TV film touted as being based on true events of the trial off the air, movie trailer and all. "Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy" is scheduled to air in the U.S. Feb. 21. It is licensed to then air in Great Britain, where the Kercher family lives, before hitting the Italian air.

The prosecution disapproves of the film because, according to some reports, its members have concerns they will be depicted as bunglers.

Meredith's father, John, who believes Knox is guilty and has a lawyer in the courtroom fighting to insure she and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito remain in jail in the wake of the current appeal trial, was quoted in Italy's largest daily, the Corriere della Sera as saying, "There is a lot of speculation or overzealous imagination about what happened, but in reality to see all this is very sad."

(Click on photo to start slideshow)

As part of the EV Project, ECOtality and the City’s Office of Economic Development are providing businesses with free electric vehicle charging stations, a $1,500 installation credit and an opportunity to be part of the revenue sharing model.

"We've been keeping an eye out for what's next," said Charlie Cunniff from the Seattle Climate Partnership. The electric vehicle has been coming for quite a while and now it's here.There will be at least 1,000 Nissan Leafs driving around Seattle this year and they're going to need a place to 'tap off' outside of their home," Cunnif said.

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded a $115 million grant to ECOtality to manage the EV Project, installing 15,000 charging stations in 16 cities in six states, 1200 of which will be between Everett and Tacoma.