March 2011

The Ballard Rotary Club honored students Taylor Stern and Nick Onstad-Hawes as students of the Month last week and here's why:

From the Press Release:

Taylor Stern:
Athletic superstar, Taylor is varsity cheer captain, gymnastics captain, and has been State Athlete of the Week 3 years in a row. She was the Seattle Times Star of the Week in January, and last year placed 4th in state for gymnastics. Her cheer team also placed 3rd in state this year. Taylor helps out her community often by volunteering. She helps out at college gymnastics meets, is a camp counselor, and volunteers at Relay for Life. Taylor plans on attending a 4-year university next fall, hoping to continue athletics in either cheer or stunt and tumbling.

Nick Onstad-Hawes:

Last Monday a burglar broke in an apartment complex on the 9200 block of 2nd Ave s.w. overnight, pried his way into three storage lockers and stole approximately $5000 worth of Christmas decorations before heading up to the seventh floor and stealing $3500 in surround sound equipment. A resident gave police the name of a possible suspect who was seen driving around the complex near the time of the burglary, so the thief’s epic Christmas party may not come together as planned.

Press Release:
Seattle Public Schools Open Enrollment for the 2011-12 school year takes place March 15-April 15. During Open Enrollment, families may register their child to enter SPS in fall 2011 and may also apply for a school other than their assigned school.

Initial Assignment Letter:
Middle of March
Current students and those new to the District for fall 2011 who pre-registered before Jan. 31 will receive their assignment in mid-March at the beginning of Open Enrollment. Students who were "grandfathered" under the District’s new student assignment plan may remain through the highest grade of the school they attend, providing that services they need are available at that school. Students in the highest grade at their current school (rising from elementary to middle school or middle school to high school) will receive an assignment to their attendance area school, or another school based on availability of services.

14 fire units from engines to marshals responded to 9640 48th Av s.w. this morning to a residential fire. The first 911 call came at 7:56 a.m.

The Red Cross will be providing assistance to one person which could include shelter, food, clothing and other immediate needs.

Seattle Firefighters will be at the house for some time to put out hot spots (they arrived at 8 a.m.). No injuries have been reported.

Update for 10:30 a.m.:
According to Lt. Sue Stangl with the Seattle Fire Department firefighters arrived at the scene just before 8 a.m. and there were "full flames through every window." Everyone was out of the house by the time firefighters arrived and one adult male is being aided by Red Cross.

The house was set up with an automatic fire alarm (which Lt. Stangl said is rare for a residential house)that firefighters initially responded to, followed by several calls from neighbors.

Lt. Stangl said, upon determining the house was a loss, firefighters began concentrating on containing the fire to keep it from spreading to neighboring houses.

Update 2

For those of you who have been wanting to make changes in the way you travel around the city, or to incorporate more exercise in your daily routine, Seattle Department of Transport has launched a new round of the Walk Bike Ride Challenge. This program encourages trips by foot, bike and transit with prizes as an incentive to stay motivated.

Participants of the challenge convert trips by car to foot, bike or bus and earn chances to win prizes such as gift certificates to REI and Zipcar. The end of the year grand prizes include an electric bike from e-Moto or a night at the Pan Pacific Hotel.

For the March/April round SDOT is putting in extra effort to encourage Ballardites and Drew from Ballard Brothers Seafood and Burgers has joined in by offering prizes.

Participants will receive friendly reminders each week to keep you motivated, plus handy insider tips to make walking, biking and riding easier. 

"You’ll enjoy the benefits of walking, riding your bike and letting the bus driver deal with traffic," the SDOT blog states.

By Christy Wolyniak, News Intern

The Ballard First Lutheran Church congregated at the Fisherman’s Terminal to honor the fishermen and women embarking on their next fishing season during the 83rd Annual Blessing of the Fleet on Sunday March 13, 2011.

Friends and family gathered to recognize the danger and sacrifice that these men and women face every day on commercial fishing boats.

Speakers included Pastor Laurie A. Jones and Pastor Erik R. Wilson Weiberg, Congressman Jim McDermott, Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, and King County Council members Bob Ferguson and Larry Phillips.

The Ballard First Lutheran Church choir led the audience in hymns such as “My Life Flows on in endless song”, and “Lord of the everlasting hills.”

Senator Kohl-Welles said, “[We] recognize how important the fishing industry is to Seattle and to Washington – it’s vital to the community. [The industry] provides $846 million in salaries and over 700 commercial fishing boats.”

Following the service, Pastor Erik R. Wilson Weiberg honored Skipper Dave Franklin’s boat, “Haida Warrior,” with a blue and white flag to fly from her mast.

The third annual Cove 2 Clover race on Sunday March 13 from the Fauntleroy Cove in Normandy Park to the Burien Town Square drew close to1500 runners, walkers, kids, families, dogs though the official number was around half of that all to benefit the Highline Food Bank, Hospitality House women's shelter and Highline Schools Foundation for Excellence.

The race itself had three starts. One for wheelchairs, one for kids and then every body else as it began, immediately coming to the headline obstacle in the path, the 500 foot rise in elevation called "The Snake" which some ran, many walked and most just endured. There was also a a “Wee Race” for kids and families that began at St. Francis Catholic Church at SW 152nd and 21st Ave. s.w. Both races had their finish line at Burien Town Square.

The Irish weekend began with a Pub Crawl, started at Mick Kelly's Irish Pub and opening ceremonies at Town Square at 11:00 pm.

The Genesee-Schmitz Neighborhood Council will be holding a Neighborhood Event on March 31st.

To kick-off year two of the Genesee-Schmitz Neighborhood Council, the event will start with a town hall forum where neighbors can share the concerns and interests they want the council to focus on for year two.

Then family fun begins with a hoedown led by instructor Dina Blade and live music from the Canote Brothers. Neighbors will make new connections with each other and families can step into spring with lively music and camaraderie.

6:30 to 8:30 with dancing starting at 7PM at West Seattle Christian Church, 4400 42nd Avenue Southwest. $3 per family donation is requested.

Find out more at www. genesee-schmitz.org.

Kenyon Hall on 35th Ave s.w. was packed to near capacity Saturday night, March 13, for the West Seattle Community Orchestra’s first Spring Gala fundraiser event.

75 tickets were pre-sold and several more showed up to pay at the door, making the event a success “in the black” according to Rob Duisberg, WSCO principal conductor of the upper orchestra and president of the board.

Food, drink and a silent auction augmented the live entertainment on stage, including a “woodwind ensemble, a brass quintet, a father-son trombone duo and a string quartet” according to the press release.

The money raised will be put towards WSCO’s youth program to provide “orchestra membership, coaching and mentorship to any interested K-12 student,” according to the event press release.

WSCO was started about six years ago by founder Toni Reineke, and originally called the Westside Symphonette, according to Duisberg.

“With all the funding cuts in school, music is not math, right, so it gets cut. The music programs are really suffering, especially orchestral,” Duisberg said of the driving reason Reineke started the program.

District 34 Representatives Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon along with Senator Sharon Nelson met with over 100 citizens at the High Point Community Center on March 13 to discuss tough budget cuts ahead for Washington State in the face of a $4.6 billion revenue shortfall for 2011-2013.

A state budget update passed out to attendees summed up the problems with the following:

“The challenge is enormous: We could cut our entire public system of higher education, close down all our prisons and end all environmental protection efforts, and we still wouldn’t solve the current problem.”

“We are at 36 months (in recession), were still double the debt of most recessions and we are still scraping along the bottom,” Senator Nelson said. “This state has lost 195,000 jobs; we have recovered 20,000 to date and that is the reason local governments are having difficulty and the state. We are heavily reliant on sales tax and people can’t afford to spend and so our revenues continue to decline and next week we expect the forecast to go south even further … with an additional $500 million to a billion shortfall in revenue.”