May 2011

Burien lawmakers indicated May 9 that they will reject major changes suggested by the state Department of Ecology (DOE) to the city's Shoreline Master Plan.

The council plans a formal vote on May 23.

The DOE approved Burien's plan with some changes in April.

The points of contention between the city and the state agency include the DOE's requirement to increase the vegetation buffer from 20 feet in the city plan to 50 feet and a building setback from the buffer of no feet in the city plan to 15 feet on marine shorelines. Under Burien's plan, new developments would need to be a total 50 feet from the normal high water mark. The DOE is calling for a total distance of 65 feet.

Council members also said they would reject a suggested DOE change that would allow public watercraft access on Lake Burien. Currently, there is no public access to the lake. Watercraft owned by lake property owners is allowed. Burien's plan would forbid launching of watercraft from any future public access point.
Councilman Gordon Shaw said he was disappointed with the DOE document.

A lot 2 miles south of the Duwamish Longhouse is the new home for Nickelsville, the transitory homeless encampment that has been in search of a permanent place since it's inception.

Trucks unloaded tarps, and all the worldly goods of homeless residents at the site 7116 West Marginal Way s.w. late on Friday, May 13.

Nickelsville Liason Peggy Hotes said, "We're here because this is the spot where we were as the very first site and that was 2 1/2 years ago. This is our 17th move and nothing has been done with this land in all that time so we could have just been left here couldn't we? This could be our permanent site and we're hoping that it is. "
Up to 1000 people at a time have called the encampment "home" which recently has been in a former fire station #39.

Nickelsville and its residents and representatives have expressed their disappointment with the city's inability to create some kind of more permanent solution for their placement. Their website states

In less than one week, one of the biggest summer kickoff events hits the street at Alki: the third annual West Seattle 5K Run/Walk, benefiting West Seattle High School PTSA and kicking off this year’s Seattle Summer Streets “car-free day” on Alki.

Enjoy the most scenic 5K road race in the Puget Sound region! Afterward, stick around for some summer fun sponsored by Seattle Summer Streets, Alki Community Council and many of the participating businesses and community groups.

For event information or to register for the West Seattle 5K visit: www.westseattle5k.com Online registration closes at 6 PM on May 19th; after that, you can register in person at West Seattle Runner located at 3727 California Avenue SW #2A or on race day at Alki Bathhouse.

The King County Water Taxi West Seattle-downtown Seattle route will offer extra late-evening trips on Saturday, May 14 to accommodate soccer fans returning from the Sounders FC game. The schedule for the late Saturday trips follows:

10:30 p.m. - departure from Seattle (regular trip)
10:45 p.m. - departure from Seacrest
11:00 p.m. - departure from Seattle
11:15 p.m. - departure from Seacrest

Bright sunshine against the backdrop of blue skies was insufficient to clear out the clouds that darkened the results for Class 2B SeaTac League champion Seattle Lutheran of West Seattle in a five-inning nonleague 11-1 girls fastpitch loss at Class 1A Cascade Christian on the Shackett Field venue in Puyallup.

"We made errors," said Saints head coach Mark Henderson. "The fielding was messy and we didn't hit the ball. We beat this team early in the season, so it's possible that the girls may have thought this would be easier and let down. Our big win a few days ago to win the league championship (Seattle Lutheran's sixth straight) against Quilcene was really emotional and could have had an effect. Everything (strategy wise) I tried to get us back into the game backfired. It was just that type of game. Normally, we're a fairly good hitting team. There was a let down. Their left fielder (Jeni Haas) and third baseman (Emily Curry) fielded well. We're still working on our defense."

The Protect Seattle Now organization that collected 28,929 signatures to bring the deep bore tunnel project to a vote in Seattle, over twice the required threshold, filed the signatures with the Clerk's office, then was sued one hour later by City Attorney Pete Holmes, was told by a judge today the suit will not stand.

King County Judge Laura Gene Middaugh ruled that the project was in some ways a legislative, not just administrative, decision, as Holmes protested because of the City Council's agreements with the state on utilities, right-of-way, insurance and other issues. The judge said that if the City Council just voted to approve the agreements, then that vote would have been an administrative action following the 2009 policy decision and not subject to referendum.

UPDATE Friday, 2:30 p.m.

Ben Schiendelman is with the Protect Seattle Now communications team, and also writes for www.seattletransitblog.com.

By Cassandra Baker, Intern

1:40 p.m. on May 9th. 46th block of Greenwood Ave. N

A woman called police after a man waved what she believed was a loaded gun at her. The victim said that she was walking along Greenwood Ave. when a man sitting on a porch asked her how old she was. She asked him why he wanted to know this, and he jumped up and ran at her, waving a gun. The victim began to walk away, and the suspect told her that the gun was only a cap gun. A man jogging nearby witnessed the incident. As he ran by the suspect, the suspect offered him the gun butt-first, but the witness ignored him and caught up with the victim, who called 911.

Press release:
On Friday, May 6th, Seahurst Elementary School's Math Club hosted 150 of Highline's top 4th-6th-grade mathematicians for the 2011 Elementary Math Bonanza. This was their second year running the event, which they intend to continue indefinitely. "We love seeing so many students excited about extracurricular mathematics!" said Tom Clymer, the Seahurst Math Club's advisor, "Hopefully they'll take that excitement back to their school and will be able to experience it year-round in a Math Club of their own."

After some opening instructions, students took both an Individual Written Test and an Individual Mental Math Test. The difference between these formats is significant: in the former, students may perform scratch work while arriving at their answer, but in the latter, the ONLY thing a student may write is their final answer to each problem; all work towards this end must be done mentally.

Press Release:

Construction has started on Ballard's first zero-energy house. This house is so efficient that it will produce more energy than it uses.

Behind this one-of-its-kind home is a young, just-married couple who have been working hard since last October to make this project happen on a tight budget.

“We’re hoping to spread the word to people in Seattle and elsewhere who care about saving energy and saving money that this sort of house is not out of reach,” said owner Eric Thomas.

“Green building is often seen as a luxury, but we’re trying to prove that it doesn’t have to be. If we can do this with a little creativity and very limited funds, just about anyone can do it.”

Eric Thomas and Alexandra Salmon moved into their Ballard apartment in 2009, and they fell in love with the neighborhood immediately.

"We’ve been interested in finding ways to cut our personal energy use for as long as we can remember, but the idea of building a zero-energy house came to us relatively recently," Thomas said.