May 2011

The King County Road Services division is planning on sending out regular construction updates on the South Park Bridge that was just dedicated May 5 and is making it possible for the public to stay in touch with them regarding the project. As part of that effort to keep the public informed they shared these details today in a letter to the public:

Who is moving into that new trailer on Dallas Street?
The construction management team-made up of King County Road Services staff members and our bridge design and construction consultants-will be moving into their new construction offices on Dallas Street within the next week. Their job will be overseeing the construction to make sure it is on schedule, within budget, and built in accordance with the design plans, specifications, and permit conditions. You'll probably see a few familiar faces from King County, including Tim Lane, deputy project engineer, and Trinh Truong, project manager. Be sure to say hi!

What was here 1,000 years ago?

Press release:

Seattle Department of Transportation crews are restoring the stairway on Southwest Spokane Street between SW 60th and SW 61st streets. They are now performing preliminary work at the site and by Monday, May 23, they plan to close the stairway to begin construction work. They expect to complete the restoration by midsummer.

The 62-foot stairway provides a pedestrian and bicycle connection from Beach Drive SW along the water to the top of the hill. The existing 62-foot long stairway is more than 60 years old, in poor condition, and does not meet current standards. The stairs are made of rails and concrete slabs salvaged in the 1940’s when the city converted from trolleys to buses, and now have a hand rail on only one side.

The new stairs will be more than five feet wide, made of reinforced concrete, and will have a railing on each side. A “runnel” (a ledge on which to set the wheels of a bicycle) will be added to allow bicyclists to push their bikes up and down the stairs.

These improvements are funded by Bridging the Gap transportation initiative approved by Seattle voters.

The soccer game was played at Foster. Hockinson prevailed with 2 to Evergreen's 0.

SLIDESHOW: Click on the photo to see some awesome dynamic photos taken at the game by Kurt Howard.

Nine productions by students in the Ballard High School Video Production Program have been nominated for National Student Television Awards of Excellence.

The Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which is the professional organization that gives the Emmy awards, presents these awards to honor the best in student television production. The regional awards celebrate the most outstanding productions from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska.

The nominees were selected by industry professionals in the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

This is the fifth year in a row that Ballard High School video producers have been nominated. Last year they received six nominations and won awards in the categories of Public Service Announcement and Dramatic Presentation.

The winners will be announced at the 48th Annual Northwest Regional Emmy Awards on June 11th.

Ballard's nominations span four categories, from Public Affairs to Fiction.

These are the nominations by category:

Public Affairs:

Faces by Dana Baumgartner, Emma Hutchison & Chloe Warner-Moyer

The Bridge School, a new independent, cooperative school serving grades K-2 opens in Fall 2011 in Burien. A grassroots group of parents from the Highline area has been meeting since late 2009 to create an educational option for families wanting high parental involvement in their child's education. The school will be located at the Burien Community Center Annex on SW 146th Street and 4th Avenue SW.

Cooperative schools have been around for many years and are becoming popular all over the country.
Schools that use "cooperative" models support strong teacher-family partnerships. Teachers plan and implement the curriculum while parents work regularly in the classroom and run the business of the school. The Seattle area is home to a number of successful co-op schools including University Cooperative School, KapKa Cooperative School and public cooperative schools in the Edmonds, Northshore, Marysville and Puyallup school districts.

The Ballard softball team won their second playoff game last night against Newport. Following Tuesday's close 2-1 win, the Lady Beavers played another nerve-wrecking close game against Newport, winning 1 to 0.

"They like to do that to me for some reason," said Coach Kyle Gray. "But I'll take it anyway we can."

Morgan Bailess batted in the game-winning RBI in the second inning and the game was scoreless after that. Pitcher Andrea Jewett pitched the full seven innings, striking out eight batters.

The Lady Beavers play the Kingco Championship game tonight against Eastlake. The winner of which will earn a spot at State, which would the first time in BHS softball history.

"It's going to be tough,' Gray said. "We played them before and lost 2 to 1. They have a great defense."

Gray added that he hoped the Ballard bats will wake up in time.

"We're one game away from state and creating a lot of excitement," he said.

Gametime is 5 p.m. at Hartman Park in Redmond.

“This is really scary,” a client told me at the end of our coaching session. Up until then, she had been funny, forthright, in a no holds barred way, confident, and exuberant. She has half of a book written, writes every week, and hired me to help her take the next step in her writing goals. Her announcement of being scared shifted her from a successful forty-one year old woman to a little girl in a matter of moments.
“I know,” I said. “But it’s also very exciting.”
In a quiet voice she replied, “I guess. But what if I suck? What if only my friends think I’m funny?”
“I wouldn’t have taken you on as a client if I didn’t like your writing. You have a strong voice and a fascinating story to tell, you don’t suck.”
She brightened upon hearing these words and transformed back to the woman she was when she entered my office.

Maritime Pacific Brewing Company was selected to be the official 2011 Seattle Beer Week brewery and had the honor to make the 2011 Seattle Beer Week beer.

The Martitime Pacific crew have been brewing the Seattle Beer Week beer, the Decompression Ale, since March and will be available for its first tapping tonight at the Jolly Roger Taproom.

Brewed exclusively with Falconer Flight hops, the Decompression is a beast, said head brewer, Corey Blodgett in a note on the website.

"The color is designed to remind you of the sun setting beyond the Olympics to the west. Thanks to the careful addition of Falconer’s Flight hops, you will have no doubt you are in the Pacific Northwest. Decompression’s strength and complementary malt complexity nudges you on the shoulder and says, “It is spring in Seattle," Blodgett describes.

Seattle Beer Week's official kick-off will take place at the Jolly Roger Taproom at 5:30 p.m. with the Mayor's Proclamation and the first tapping of the SBW beer but events will start as early as 11 a.m. today.

Today's schedule of SBW events:

And the 2011 Syttende Mai Parade winners are:

Band
1st Columbia River High School, Vancouver, WA
2nd Chief Sealth High School Marching Band
3rd Olympic View Marching Band

Drill Team
1st Highlander Drill Team (entry #44)
2nd Shooting Starts Drill Team
3rd North Queens Drill Team

Float
1st -- Sons of Norway -- Edmonds Lodge

Motorized
1st Ballard Robotics
2nd Pacific Fishermen Shipyard

Novelty
1st Swedish Cultural Center Pancake Drill Team

Scandinavian
1st Norwegian Ladies Chorus
2nd Norwegian Male Chorus
3rd Sons of Norway -- Tacoma

Youth
1st Trolls from Ballard Boys & Girls Club
2nd Whittier Wildcats
3rd Matheia's Ribbons & Rhythm

The trophies may be picked up at Union Bank (formerly Frontier Bank) on 5602 15th Ave NW.

Two Chief Sealth International High School students whose stop frame animation films were shown at the Seattle International FIlm Festival on Tuesday, May 17 came to the show through a program sponsored by the software company Adobe called Youth Voices.

Their films reflect their view of the world and are made simply (if not quickly) employing a kind of visual poetry that seems to come naturally to both of them. Neither of them are driven by the technology used to create their films. In fact they can't name the camera they used. They did use the Adobe Premier Pro software to assemble the final products and a tool called OnionSkin to permit them to see previous frames, but their primary motivation was to tell a simple story, each using animated clay figures.

Rachel Townsend, soon to be 17, is used to being prolific. She wrote a 50000 word novel in 30 days for National Novel Writing Month in November and a comic book in last year. She enjoys drawing, acting, and likes to sing too.