March 2011

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Denny International Middle School principal Jeff Clark was surprised at an assembly this afternoon to receive a $50,000 check, the Alliance of Education's Thomas B. Foster Award for Excellence. He told the West Seattle Herald the money will help buy books, instruments, and other supplies, items that will come in handy when his school crosses the street beginning this fall to share the new Chief Sealth High School building. Jody Foster, Thomas B. Foster's daughter was on hand for the ninth such award.

On hand were many public school and donor representatives. Interim Superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield and Alliance CEO Sara Morris presented.

"This award is given to a middle or high school principal who really exemplifies the best of what Seattle Public Schools is," said Enfield during her speech. "I think that Mr. Clark typifies the best of what Seattle Public Schools is."

Mayor Mike McGinn in the latest disagreement with the Seattle City Council has sent a legislative package back to them regarding the establishment of a homeless transitional encampment in the SODO district before next winter.

The council had rejected the package because they felt it had not passed muster under the State Environment Policy Act (SEPA).

McGinn, in a release to the press said, “We laid out a timeline that would establish a homeless encampment in SODO before winter weather sets in later this year. That timeline assumed that the Council would begin their review and discussion of the legislation at the same time as we continued through the SEPA process, which is expected to be complete in June. We never expected that Council could take action on this package until SEPA was done. Waiting until June to even begin a review of the full package will jeopardize setting up the encampment before next winter."

When Mayor Mike McGinn took a walking tour of the Westwood and Roxhill neighborhood last week he said he would share a recap of that visit as transcribed by a member of his staff. The West Seattle Herald covered his visit here.

But you have a chance to read the recap of the Q&A here.

The Mayor said in a note accompanying the release, "I'll be getting back to you in the next couple of weeks with answers to the questions about department heads posting consultant contracts on the web and parking enforcement in City parks."

While a National weather Service Tsunami warning is in effect for the coastal areas, the King County Office of Emergency Management announced the effects of the Japan tsunami are not expected to significantly impact King County.

The Office of Emergency Management is closely monitoring the situation after the quake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) issued an alert for the U.S. West Coast.

At around 8:45 a.m. Pacific time today, a small wave of 4.5 inches was recorded on the Seattle waterfront. The tsunami was smaller than a high tide, and no damage has been reported.

“Our thoughts go out to all those affected by this disaster,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine.

“While the tsunami didn’t affect King County, our Office of Emergency Management has been on top of developments and coordinating with our partners throughout the region.”

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an advisory for the Washington coast, forecasting waves of between two and five feet. The advisory means that widespread inundation was not expected, but currents in the area may be hazardous to swimmers, boats, and coastal structures for several hours after the initial wave.

I can hardly believe the time that has passed since I first picked up a wrench but “time flies” as they say, and here we are in 2011. I've wanted to write about our industry for quite a while – not just service tips and repair advice (my usual fare), but about our “car culture” and where it may be going. This will be the first installment in a three part series, and I hope you enjoy it.

Transportation has been vital to commerce ever since man invented the wheel. We got along for many centuries with horses, mules and wagons until the late 19th century when the industrial age gave us steam engines and inventors who saw a new opportunity for more modern modes of getting around. In the early days of the automotive age, there were many ideas and designs – some of which stuck around and are still with us. Names like Rudolf Diesel (the diesel engine), Charles Kettering (the electric starter, Freon for air conditioning, and other inventions) and Henry Ford all contributed to the vehicles that we drive today.

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West Seattle's Thursday night Art Walk featured a photo show by fungi photographer Machel Spence at the Alki Arts Gallery next to the Cactus restaurant. We recently featured the her work here:

http://www.westseattleherald.com/2011/02/12/features/machel-spence-make…

A constant cluster questioned the artist about close-up lenses, mushrooms, and other tricks of the trade. But there is no trick to it, just her skilled portrayals of nature's objects generally gone unnoticed.

West Seattle abstract artist Guy Peck was having fun describing to all ages the nuances found in his 10 acrylic and latex abstract creations, evocative of Jackson Pollack, at the Kenney. He believes that the color gray gets a bad rap.

"I really like working with gray," he said. His work will hang there for a month.

His wife, Delores, was also there, selling her elegant purses and jewelry she handmade, called Lella Rae Designs. Former Daystar Care Center communications director Marnie Wrenn was also selling jewelry at her table in the lobby.

Ballard High School’s Vikings Robotics team is one of 100 teams competing in the FIRST Robotics Competition at the Qwest Field Event Center next week and they're poised to be a strong contender.

The FIRST Robotics Competition challenges students under guidance of professional mentors to design and build a robot to contend in competitions that measure its effectiveness, the power of teamwork and the determination of students.

After irreparable technology malfunctions plagued the team’s robot last year, the Vikings are confident their hard work and engineering know-how will land them in the top eight at the regional competition March 17th through 19th and secure a spot at the national competition in St. Louis next month.
 
Since mid-January, Vikings Robotics has been working tirelessly to design and build a robot capable of competing in a game called “Logo Motion,” where teams go head-to-head on a 27-by-54-foot field with poles, driving their robots to earn points by hanging as many different shaped rings on the poles as possible. The robot will also deploy a mini bot to climb vertical poles for a chance to earn additional points.
 

At its annual Thrive fundraiser yesterday, Woodland Park Zoo announced it has received the largest challenge gift in the zoo’s history—a $4 million matching challenge to help the zoo build new tiger and Asian bear exhibits and complete the zoo’s $80 million comprehensive fundraising campaign.

The gift came from an anonymous donor.

From the Press Release:

The new exhibit complex, known as the Asian Tropical Forest, is the centerpiece initiative of the zoo’s $80 million More Wonder More Wild comprehensive campaign. With this recent gift announcement, the zoo has successfully raised $59 million—or 74% of its campaign goal—to date through the campaign’s private phase. The challenge gift provides critical momentum for the community phase of More Wonder More Wild.

The community phase kicked off at Thrive to a record-breaking crowd of more than 600 civic, business, conservation and education leaders. More than $300,000 was raised today at Thrive marking the first gifts from the community to be matched by the challenge gift. The zoo hopes to complete the campaign in 2012 and open the first phase of the new exhibit in 2013.

Uncertainty over federal funding is the only glitch in plans to restore Seahurst Park's north beach and seawall, Burien council members were informed March 7.

The lawmakers were told there is not enough money in the proposed federal budget for all construction projects planned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The budget is being hotly debated currently in the U.S. Congress.

But Steve Roemer, project manager for Burien Parks, said plans are underway to restore the north beach in much the same way as the south beach was renovated in 2005.

"The existing north shore will become like the south shore but more so," Roemer declared. "It's much larger
and the change will be more dramatic."

Restoration will include the removal of the seawall, rock riprap, rock groins and fill, restoring beaches to replicate natural slopes and adding nourishment of gravel and sand.

The project area includes 2,800 feet of shoreline. It extends from the park's lower parking lot to the northern park boundary and to the lower slopes of the forested bluffs.

A playground will be placed where the current turnaround is and the turnaround moved father north, according to Roemer.

The designated noise contours around Sea-Tac International Airport will "absolutely" shrink as a result of the Port of Seattle's new noise study, the airport's program manager told SeaTac lawmakers March 8.
The existing noise contours were updated in 2002. So, it seems unusual that the noise contours would become significantly smaller following the opening of the third runway.

But the Part 150 noise studies in 1998 and 2002 took into account the expected added noise from the new runway in drawing up the contours, noise program manager Stan Shepherd said in a Times/News interview.
Chief reason for the shrinking contours is that modern aircraft are quieter, according to Shepherd. Alaska Air Lines and its partner, Horizon, have replaced their older planes with newer quieter models. Alaska and Horizon account for almost half of the flights at Sea-Tac.

Another reason is that fewer planes are using Sea-Tac. The airport counted 318,000 flights last year. Staffers had projected 475,000 flights. Shepherd noted airlines are using larger aircraft and making fewer flights. The larger planes are getting much quieter, he added.