May 2011

Seattle Parks and Recreation is holding a public meeting to give people a chance to meet with the design team for the Highland Park wading pool conversion to a spray park. It's been a nearly two year process to bring the plan to fruition but this public meeting, set for Wednesday, May 25 is the next step.

The design team will present an overview of spraypark features and wants to get feedback on how these features can be integrated into the Highland Park wading pool site. This renovation project provides for the conversion of the existing wading pool into a spray park as Identified in the Parks and Green Spaces Levy.

The meeting is set to last just over one hour from 7:15 – 8:30 p.m. at the Highland Park Improvement Club, 1116 SW Holden St.

In baseball everything is about statistics. Going into this weekend’s playoffs for the first time in five years, the Ballard varsity baseball team will not only have the best batting statistics in the KingCo conference, the team also has one of the highest grade point averages in the league.

With a team average GPA of 3.49, the Ballard baseball players show they’ve been working hard on and off the field.

“When your grade point average is better than your batting average, that’s good,” said assistant coach Jim DuBois.

The grade point average was taken from the day the players entered Ballard High School up until the recent third quarter grades.

“This is a great example of a team who makes the “student” part of student athlete a top priority. This is a great accomplishment for the Ballard Athletic Program and one that sometimes is overshadowed by athletic skill and accomplishments,” said Athletic Director, Carrie Burr.

Kay Fuengarom is the owner of the Bang Bar Thai restaurant and lounge currently under constuction in the West Seattle Junction at 4750 California Ave. s.w.

It will be the third restaurant she has opened in the Northwest. One is in Everett, called Zab Thai Cuisine, open since 2007 and another in Northgate called Chaiyo Thai Cuisine, has been open since 1993.

"We're finishing up the construction hopefully by Sunday and then clean up on Monday...that's the plan right now," Feungarom said. She doesn't have an opening date as yet but said it would be before the end of May. "We tried to set it for May 11 but it didn't work out," she explained.

The cuisine offered at the Bang Bar won't be exclusively Thai. Instead it will be "asian-fusion" with influences and menu items from other asian cultures. They will also offer specialty cocktails in their full bar.

No live music will be offered "at least at first" Feungarom said and she estimates the restaurant will seat 70 in the dining area and 25 in the bar.

SAT’s, the prom, college admissions and choosing that perfect outfit to impress your crush should be what’s on the mind of a typical high school girl. Rachel Aboukhair, however, is far from typical. Interviews and book signings are the current focus in her life. At 16, this Texas native has published a book, “The Grumpy Girl’s Guide To Good Manners.”

“Getting the book published was surreal,” says Rachel. “From editing to the actual publication was a long process, so I don't think it really hit me until I went on my first book tour and did my first TV interview.”

Rachel was in town at the end of April for a book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Federal Way. (Full disclosure: She also happens to be my second cousin; I had not met her until this visit.) A week before the event, I picked up the book and read it. Just as the title says, she is grumpy. However, she is also very entertaining.

Growing up, Aboukhair says she was always fairly grumpy. “Unfortunately I don't have a more sympathetic way of thinking. I think in satire, it's one of my many faults.”

With two medical marijuana dispensaries and one lounge either already open or on the verge in White Center and Top Hat, several questions - from the possibility of a King County moratorium on more dispensaries to what law enforcement can do about the existing ones - were raised at the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting on May 5.

King County District 8 Councilmember Joe McDermott and King County Sheriff’s Office Captain Joseph Hodgson were on hand to answer questions from the council and a solid turnout of 30 citizens.

The law enforcement view on dispensaries
Main concerns raised by the council and crowd were over the recent rush in dispensaries opening in White Center with particular concern over the GAME Collective Green Piece Lounge (which you can read more about here)where card-holding patients are allowed to smoke and, once the proper food licenses are secured, eat their cannabis on premise.

The Seattle Maritime Festival kicks off on Thursday with the world’s biggest tugboat races, a chowder cook-off, survival suit races, quick and dirty boat building competition and lots of family fun.

If you want to be part of the tugboat race, you have until the end of today to bid on a chance to ride aboard Seattle's fastest tugboat during the Seattle Maritime Festival.

An eBay auction for a chance for four people to ride on Crowley's tugboat, Hunter, ends tonight and has already reached $400.

"The Hunter has won every single year that it has competed since 1995," said Crowley's Chris Peterson, vice president, marine services. "And this year should be no exception. This is a great opportunity for a group to take part in the excitement while also giving back to a worthwhile cause."

All proceeds from the auction will benefit the Seattle-based not-for-profit Ryther Child Center, a recognized leader in behavioral health services for Washington state children and their families facing complex challenges.

by Christina Hahs

As you might already know, there are an abundance of apple and pear trees here in West Seattle, each of which produce more fresh fruit than any one household could possibly consume. Yet, every fall, most of that fruit falls to the ground and rots, leaving behind a smelly mess for homeowners and maintenance crews to clean up.

The West Seattle Tool Library offers an old-fashioned alternative to that mess. It has two cider presses available to help you turn extra fruit into fresh cider. Perhaps the best part is that perfectly good cider can even be made from imperfect apples, so you don’t need blue ribbon-quality fruit for pressing.

Both cider presses operate along the same principles. First, whole fruit is placed in the grinder, where it is chewed into a pulp by metal teeth. Then, the pulp falls into the cage where a large wooden disc is placed on top and pressed against the fruit by a ratchet. As the ratchet is turned, fresh juice just pours out of the bottom of the press.

Tonight, Seattle Channel's City Inside/Out with C.R. Douglas examines what is happening as services and housing for the poor spread out from downtown.

It used to be that Seattle’s homeless found shelter and support almost entirely in downtown facilities. But in recent years, more and more low-income housing and social services have been dispersed in neighborhoods across the city. The reason? The expense of downtown real estate and the sense that the homeless problem is citywide.

This week, City Inside/Out takes up this growing trend and gauges neighborhood reaction. First, we travel to Ballard and look at how one community is struggling with these changes.

Representatives of a business association, property owners and housing and human-services providers give their take on this issue and representing the Ballard community on this issue is Dave Jarrell from the Ballard Preservation Association.

Kids ages 7-18, of all golfing levels, are invited to participate in the free junior golf program offered by the Fir State Junior Golf Foundation beginning Sunday, June 5, at Seattle’s Jefferson Park Golf Course.

Three-hour sessions will take place from 3-6 pm every Sunday for 11 weeks (June 5 – August 21) at Jefferson Park Golf Course, and will include several tournament play opportunities.

Program registration and Membership will be held from 1-4 pm, Sunday, May 29, at the Seattle’s Jefferson Park Golf Course clubhouse. Parent or guardian must be present to sign release. Enrollment in the program is limited, and interested juniors must pre-register.

The Fir State Junior Golf Foundation is the charitable arm of the Fir State Golf Club, established in 1947 to increase access to golf in the minority community. The Foundation operates a free inner-city junior golf program and provides instruction, bags, clubs, and competitive opportunities. The Foundation also provides tuition scholarships for college-bound junior golfers.

Residents near Lowman Beach Park and the King County Wastewater Treatment Division (KCWTD) agree on three major issues, that a million gallon tank should not, and will not, be buried under that park, that a new treatment plant is necessary, and that the project will cost about $40 million. Beyond that, however, some residents find little common ground with the KCWTD and its plan to demolish six residential structures directly across the street from the park. One might say the sewage is beginning to hit the fan.

An aging sewer generator system, the Murray Pump Station, is currently under a small section of the park. Two miles south, the Barton Pump Station, by the Fauntleroy Ferry Dock, also has plans to expand.

Property owner