April 2011

NASA Administrator Major General Charles Bolden Jr. speaking in a frequently emotional announcement for NASA announced that Seattle was not among those chosen for the home of one of the retired Space Shuttles.

Seattle was competing against the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Space Center and Houston. The Space Shuttle Discovery will go to the Smithsonian, Endeavour will go to California Science Center and Atlantis will go to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Each of the shuttles has one more space mission planned.

The shuttle Enterprise, used for testing, has not been in space and will go to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City.

The Museum of Flight, actually located within Tukwila's city limits, is scheduled to get the "trainer", the version of the shuttle that astronauts used to train for actual flights. There was conjecture that the trainer commitment may have had some influence on the final decision.

The Seattle Department of Transportation paving crews plan to pave Third Avenue N.W. between N.W. 95th to N.W. 97th streets on Thursday and Friday, April 14 and 15.

The crews may advance the work on Third Avenue to Wednesday, April 13 in the event that weather does not permit paving Holman Road on Wednesday as previously scheduled.

One lane for each direction of traffic will remain open on Third Avenue. On-street parking will be restricted. Traffic flaggers may assist traffic to and from side streets.

On the first day the crew will grind the old asphalt from the street surface, and on the second day, if weather is favorable, they will lay new asphalt.

This work is a part of SDOT’s annual arterial street maintenance program.

Ballard artist Lina Raymond is currently showing her newest paintings in the "Sugar on a Burn" show at wine bar and restaurant, Portalis on Ballard Avenue.

Raymond debuted her art in Ballard two years ago at Senor Moose. She has since exhibited her art at Cupcake Royale, 5 Corner Market and Portalis.

She said it feels good to have yet another Ballard showing.

"I love sharing my art with my fellow Ballardians and those who visit us," Raymond said.

Her previous art showing at 5 Corner Market cleared her out and forced her back in the studio to make new paintings.

"Probably the biggest difference for me is the confidence I think I am gradually gaining and a comfort level to be even more open and honest with the work," she said about the difference between "Sugar on a Burn" and previous art showings.

Raymond said that most of the paintings featured in the Portalis show represent "a sort-of muffled scream".

Ballard's outfielder Oliver Guarino was named KingCo player of the week for his offensive performance last week. The senior was 5-9 last week with two doubles and a triple allowing him to drive in six runs, helping his team win two out of three games.

This is Guarino’s first player of the week award.

The success from last week did not carry over into last night's game against Issaquah however.

Issaquah got ahead by one in the first inning and extended their uncontested lead to 6 to 1.
Ballard got a run over the plate in the fourth inning but so did Issaquah. In the sixth inning the Beavers got two more runs but they were unable to score in the seventh and last inning.
The Beavers lost 8 to 3.

On April 2 a panel of forensic and scientific experts convened at Seattle University to share their views and present "A Case for Innocence" for West Seattle raised Amanda Knox. The West Seattle Herald covered that story and presented a video of the panel.

In the coverage of the story, a Question and Answer period followed the panel's presentation that the Herald did not record on video. However, others did, specifically the students at Seattle University in the Film Studies program. In the interest of presenting the full story, that video is now presented in it's entirety.

In light of the lawsuit of the anti-tunnel referendum brought by City Attorney Pete Holmes, the West Seattle Herald will offer updates as we learn the City's response to Initiative-101.

Press release from SCAT:

INITIATIVE 101 QUALIFIES FOR THE BALLOT

This afternoon King County Elections completed the validation process for Initiative 101, Stop the Tunnel. Elections notified the initiative’s proponent, Seattle Citizens Against the Tunnel, SCAT, that it had submitted 21,173 valid signatures, 544 more than the 20,629 necessary for the initiative to qualify for the ballot. A notice of sufficiency will be issued by King County Elections either (Tuesday) or Wednesday.

Commenting about successfully completing the signature drive and qualifying the initiative Elizabeth Campbell stated, “This is an exciting win for the citizens of Seattle, we’ve said all along they should have an opportunity to vote on this project, now they will have it.

The West Seattle for Japan relief effort, spearheaded by West 5 restaurant owner and Chamber of Commerce President Dave Montoure resulted in $8591 be raised at more than 27 area busineses. He has sent a letter to gain the matching funds from an anonymous corporate donor.

Here is Montoure's letter:

Today I have submitted a request to an anonymous corporate donor to match the $8591.45 raised by our businesses and our community during the West Seattle for Japan donation drive on Sunday March 27th. If they agree to the full match our total raised will be $17,182.90.

This is an astonishing amount of money to be raised in such a short period of time. It speaks volumes about the caring nature of our businesses and our community. I couldn’t be more proud to call West Seattle home.

In addition to the funds raised and matched through our donation drive, I have worked with several other donors and wish to recognize the efforts of Nancy McManus of QuallyQue for her efforts during the “tweetup” raffle for Japan relief.

A Community celebration and dedication is set for the Myrtle Reservoir Park on April 30, 2011 from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The park is located at 6900 35th Ave s.w.

The event will feature live jazz provided by the Jacob Lakatua Quartet and an acrobatic dance performance by Capoeira Malês at 11:30 am. Those attending will have a chance to learn some of the basic movements and sequences of this Afro-Brazilian art form. It incorporates martial arts, dance and music.

The ARC Summer Day Camp program from the High Point and Delridge Community Centers are sponsoring an Arts and Crafts table where you can participate.

The park officially opened at the end of November but grass planted then needed time to fill in and become walkable.

The park is normally open from 4:00 am to 11:30 pm.

Today, the Seattle Seattle Department of Transportation determined that the retrofitting of Ballard Bridge is "not likely to have significant adverse impacts on the environment", allowing the project to move forward.

SDOT issued a Determination of Non-significance (DNS) today after review of the proposal's potential impacts on several elements of the environment.

Comments on the DNS and checklist may be submitted until 5:00 pm Monday, April 25. 
In addition, any interested person may appeal this DNS by submitting a Notice of Appeal and a filing fee to the Office of the Hearing Examiner no later than 5:00 pm Monday, May 2.  Please see the DNS for more information on providing comments and submitting appeals.

Read more about the retrofitting, here.

There's a new Henry mural at 5338 Russell Avenue N.W.

Some of his other murals can be seen in Fremont, on Stone Way, on Crown Hill's Value Village, and at Leary Avenue N.W. and 8th Avenue.