March 2011

The 9 percent pay increase given to the Port of Seattle Manager Tay Yoshitani is outrageous. Raising his pay from $334,300 to $366,825 is totally inappropriate.

The $32,525 increase is more than many Highline families earn. (Governor Christine Gregoire receives only $166,891.) Port Commissioners Gael Tarleton and John Creighton must be commended for voting against the raise. Yoshitani has an interesting record of expensive changes but few outstanding achievements.

The Port still receives corporate welfare in the form of $73.5 million property tax assessment from King County Taxpayers. How does the Port justify a 3.5% general raise when schools are facing huge cuts and many homeowners are hurting from increased property taxes?

How does the Port justify exporting a major bulk of the 31.5 million airport tourists and passengers on foreign flag cruise ships from Seattle docks to Alaska and the Orient at King County taxpayer expense? When was the last time a new hotel was built? Those potential tourist dollars are being wasted by lack of management imagination.

"We are excited to announce that the scholarship amounts have been increased," said Chuck Tuman, President of Highline Schools Foundation for Excellence. "We now offer $36,000 in scholarships, $6,000 more than last year and a 20 increase. "

The STIA Scholarship is awarded to three Highline Public Schools students who will be pursuing a college education in 2011. Two $14,000 scholarships will be awarded toward university/college education and one $8,000 scholarship will be awarded toward a vocational or community college education. All scholarships are distributed over a 2-year period.

Applications must be postmarked by Friday, March 25

STIA scholarships have been helping students fulfill their dreams since 2002. In the last nine years, 27 scholarships worth $231,000 have been awarded.

Former Global Connections High School student Mahlet Zeru, who received a STIA scholarship in 2006, said, "The STIA Scholarship helped my dreams of attending college possible."

February 22nd, in a thankfully rare regrettable decision, the Tukwila City Council voted to end gaming in Tukwila in five years.

It was a 4-3 vote with council members Duffie, Hernandez, Robertson and Hougardy voting in the majority.
In 2010, gaming revenues from three house bank commercial card rooms, a.k.a. mini casinos, came to $2.1million. It might have been more but one mini casino had already temporarily shut down and may not reopen. Accessory business like food supply and hotel bookings is estimated at greater than $1 million.

If this ordinance remains in effect, closures will begin earlier than the deadline of five years. The council recognizes that it has no plan to deal with the results of its decision. In my opinion, the council has kicked the can down the road hoping for state Legislative change that will allow future council members to revise or replace this ordinance. The result? Over $2 million in tax revenue a year gone. Loss of accessory business. Over 400 mini casino employees lose their jobs.

The below article tells me we have taken "diversity" too far and it is now becoming a burden on our schools and various other services with no SIGNIFICANT help in acclimating non-English speaking refugees and immigrants.

I don't care if my statements are politically incorrect or not, but South King County is slowly losing its tax base and income potential because of all this "diversity."

We place no requirements for newly arrived persons to learn English, thereby delaying their adaptation to OUR Country and its rules/regulations. A few years ago I thought that multi-culturism was a good idea but with new information I find this philosophy has failed but no one is honest enough to admit it.

The concentration of differing cultures in one area (South King County) has caused significant degradation in our education system and the need for non-tax paying services/businesses/entities in our area. This has all been done before with similar results in the 60's as the white majority fled the inner cities to the suburbs/gated communities for better schools, etc. This same pattern gave rise to the gang culture and has not abated since.

While working at Boeing in 1943, I bought a 1933 Plymouth for $50. It was really beat up, rusting out and in need of motor work. But it steered more easily than my old Model A Ford. I drove it till the day my wife and I decided to have a picnic at Martha Lake, north of Seattle.

We had our firstborn son Michael in the front seat with us. Some friends were riding in the rumble seat.
Somewhat frustrated after getting lost trying to find the place, we were heading down a steep hill to the lake going about 35, when we hit a huge chuckhole.

We suddenly found our car veering off the road, while watching both front wheels roll down the road in front of us. As we headed helplessly for a ditch, we were absolutely out of control.

The car narrowly missed a phone pole and crashed head-on into a giant pile of brush workmen had cut and left for later disposal. Nobody had a scratch. The baby didn't even cry.

We were in momentary shock from our miraculous escape but then got out to assess our problem. The wooden spokes had broken out of the wheels (the rims and tires were what we had seen rolling down the hill) and the headlight glass was broken.

"Also in the planning stages is a proposed 16-mile long "Lake to Sound Trail," writes Times/News Editor Eric Mathison in his front-page story, "Can elms, bikes coexist on road?"

Sure, sometimes dangerously.

How safe do you feel passing a bicyclist near the edge of a narrow highway? Scary huh! One wrong move and a car/bike destroying "Wham, bang bust" is possible.

As to replanting trees along Des Moines Memorial Drive, hooray for Burien Councilmember Rose Clark efforts and supporters. Restore the beauty and sheltered feeling elm tree branches provided. Entering Des Moines was even more special under the umbrella of tree branches.

Editor Mathison also described several nature trails planned to connect to each other and widen local transportation options for the cities of Burien, Des Moines, Sea Tac and Renton.

Dan Brewer, Des Moines transportation engineer and assistant director of Planning and Public Works Department said, walking trails are becoming more in use, due in part to transportation's present negative conditions with price of gas and economy being major incentives.

Taxi driver held at knife point by Des Moines man
A man got into a cab in Mukilteo and asked the driver, Daniel Negasi, to drive him to his Des Moines home. About 15 minutes into the 40-mile drive, Negasi found out the passenger only had $11 to cover the $100 trip. The driver asked for $50 and the passenger allegedly snapped, pulling out a knife. The man put the knife to Negasi's throat and the other on his head pinning him. The driver pleaded with his attacker to let him go unharmed. They hit a construction area and traffic slowed in the southbound lanes of I-5. Negasi hit the brakes and the knife bounced away from his throat. Negasi got out of the cab, as did his attacker, who bolted down the highway only to be arrested later. Glade King is being held for investigation of attempted robbery in the incident. A friend of the accused said King is not a violent man and he was drunk when his friends put him in the cab. He is the sole caretaker of his 85-year-old mother.

Sex offender arrested in Des Moines

West Seattleites Carmela and Steven D' Amico, the couple behind the best-selling children's book steries, Ella the Elegant Elephant, have published a new book and will be celebrating the launch with a party at Ballard's Secret Garden Books on Friday, March 19.

After the success of their four Ella the Elegant Elephant books, Steven and Carmela D'Amico are now introducing a new character - Suki: the very loud bunny.

"Suki is a young, exuberant bunny who is just very enthusiastic about life," author Carmela D'Amico said. "There's no maliciousness about her, she's just very excited about life and very loud. But bunnies aren't suppose to be loud. They're suppose to be quiet and listen to their mommas.Suki doesn't like doing what she's supposed to do and her big voice leads her into some BIG trouble."

Through a sudden adventure away from the burrow, Suki learns when and how to use voice and it ultimately helps her get back home safely.

"The story is about using what has been seen as a flaw and see that it also has a side of strength," D'Amico said.

A friend recently told me I was “completely unemployable.” He wasn’t insulting me, he was merely clarifying that my daydreaming about getting a JOB was merely that, a dream. Seeing as he is someone who chooses to work on a contract basis rather than as a fulltime employee, I listened rather than bristled when he said, “Part of you will die if you work for someone else.”
After our conversation I started to dissect my fantasy about getting a “real job” to see what that yearning was really about. I’ve been working for myself, from home, for ten years and until recently assumed I would always do so. Fear around money started to shift that assumption. This quickly spiraled into thinking a part time writing job, or on really bad days, any job with a steady paycheck and health insurance for my kids and I was desirable. The reminder that I felt as if my soul was dying when I worked for someone else not only snapped me back to reality, it got me out of a place of reacting due to fear to one of being proactive based on my hopes and dreams.

The 2011-2012 theater season for ArtsWest was debuted Monday evening March, 14 and it promises to be more ambitious and intriguing than ever. The host for the evening was Alan Harrison, Executive Director of ArtsWest who prompted various directors and actors to talk about the work they will be part of next season. The six plays are wildly diverse but fill the mission of the theater as Harrison said, "We don't just do plays because we think they are cool."

The highlight for many may be the return of the raucous over the top "Evil Dead the Musical".