June 2011

Ever wonder what Ballardites are jamming to on their iPods, in their cars or in their homes?

Here's the Top 25 albums sold at Ballard's Sonic Boom Records last week compiled by owner, Jason Hughes.

Top 25 Albums at Sonic Boom Records for June 13 -19, 2011:

1. Eddie Vedder “Ukulele Songs” (Monkeywrench)
2. Fleet Foxes “Helplessness Blues” (Subpop)
3. My Morning Jacket “Circuital” (ATO)
4. Death Cab For Cutie “Codes & Keys” (Atlantic)
5. Head & The Heart “Head & The Heart” (Subpop)
6. Neil Young “Treasure” (Reprise)
7. Battles “Gloss Drop” (Warp)
8. Grand Hallway “Winter Creatures” (Porchlight)
9. Sallie Ford “Dirty Radio” (Partisan)
10. Motopony “Motopony” (Tiny Ogre)
11. Sebadoh “Bakesale dlx” (Subpop)
12. Adele “21” (Columbia)
13. Raphael Saadiq “Stone Rollin” (Columbia)
14. Arctic Monkeys “Suck It And See” (Domino)
15. Vetiver “Errant Charm” (Subpop)
16. Black Keys “Brothers” (Nonesuch)
17. Seapony “Go With Me” (Hardly Art)
18. Explosions in the Sky “Take Care..” (Temp. Residence)
19. Tedeschi Trucks Band “Revelator” (Sony)
20. Beastie Boys “Hot Sauce Committee Pt 2” (Capitol)
21. Junior Boys “It’s All True” (Domino)

The second annual Dodge Rock 'n' Roll marathon takes place in Seattle this Saturday, which will affect Aurora Avenue, The Fremont Bridge, the Alaskan Way Viaduct, and the I-5.

Most road closures and detours will be in effect between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. The races begin at 7:00 am, and streets will reopen on a rolling basis as soon as the last participant has passed and all course support materials have been removed. Streets along the earlier miles of the route will open earlier than roads along the end of the route.

Streets along the race course will be marked with No Parking signs approximately 72 hours before the event. Vehicles in violation of these posted signs will be ticketed and towed at the owners’ expense.
Please review the road closure grid and course map for more information. Residents and businesses located near the race course are urged to plan ahead and to be aware of road closure schedules and alternate access routes.

Please look at the attached flyer or visit the website for the exact closures and how they might affect your travel.

By David Rosen

A cargo train derailed on Harbor Island and spilled 600 gallons of fuel near the West Seattle Bridge on June 20.

Dieter Bohrmann, Department of Ecology media relations, released this statement to the West Seattle Herald.

"The Washington Department of Ecology, Union Pacific Railroad, the U.S. Coast Guard, Seattle Public Utilities and a cleanup contractor are responding to a diesel fuel spill from a Union Pacific locomotive on Harbor Island. The spill was reported to Ecology at 7:40 p.m. Monday.

Union Pacific Railroad has hired NRC Environmental Services to conduct the cleanup effort. The contractor estimated that 600 gallons of fuel spilled to the gravel railroad bed when the engine and two railcars went off the track. The release has been stopped, and no impacts to water have been observed.

The locomotive held up to 2,500 gallons of fuel. It was estimated to be carrying 1,500 gallons. The contractor used a vacuum truck to remove the remaining 900 gallons of fuel from the engine.

An investigation is under way on the cause of the derailment. More information about the spill will be provided as it becomes available."

As the West Seattle Herald reported last week, the Delridge Produce Co-op is forming a Buyers Club and the first meeting is set for Tuesday evening at 7:00 pm. You will get to sample fruits and veggies, and planning what and how much to order.

Here are the details about the meeting:

When: Tuesday, June 21st, 7:00 pm
Where: Delridge Community Center - 4501 Delridge Way SW
FREE FOOD? Yes! (We'll be sampling the fruits and veggies we can order)

What is a Buyers' Club?
A Buyers' Club is an informal food-purchasing cooperative. It is a way for us to buy food at low, wholesale prices directly from local farms before our storefront becomes a reality.

What will happen at the meeting?
We will work out the details of the Buyers' Club and place the first order. Bring your grocery list and check book (or cash or farmers' market EBT tokens)!

Can I bring friends?

A reader tip lead to this photo of what looks to be an illegal dumping of the soil, fertilizer and plant stalks of a discarded marijuana growing operation on 3rd Ave S.W. in White Center on June 20.

The plants were well picked over by the time the photograph was taken and a nearby neighbor, Skip, said, "Some kids were at the site yesterday, going through it, so it looks like they took anything they wanted."

Sgt. John Urquhart with the King County Sheriff's Office said the dump had all the tell-tale signs of a marijuana operation.

"And yes, growers will dump what's left over pretty much anywhere, although this is a little more urban than usual," he added.

If you see a story you think we should cover contact us at WestSeattle@robinsonnews.com

Food, fun and entertainment is on tap during the SeaTac International Festival at Angle Lake Park June 25-26.

Long after sports practices ended, Mt. Rainier High School's track was filled with people on the move.

Beginning the afternoon of June 11 and continuing round the clock until the next morning, community members walked as part of the Relay for Life event to benefit the American Cancer Society.

Putting one foot in front of the other, they walked with the hope of moving towards a cure.

Students frequently participate in the annual event, but this year a group of Mt. Rainier seniors formally mobilized and organized a dedicated fundraising effort. A group of seven founded the "I.B. Killin' Cancer" team in January and coordinated four fundraisers which raised over $800.

"That $800 is a pretty big number and it feels good to know I was a part of that," says Merima Hadzimuratovic, an 18-year-old senior. Hadzimuratovic contributed by co-hosting a community bake-off at Geno's Coffee Shop and Bakery in Burien.

We’ve all been there. We go to the doctor, sign in and sit in a lobby flipping through irrelevant magazines for what seems like an eternity. We finally get called to the doctor’s office only to face another eternity waiting for a nurse or doctor to open the door … flipping through more magazines, curiously inspecting the medical equipment and having hopes raised as footsteps near the door only to have them dashed as the steps walk on past. Once we finally get to speak with a medical professional they tell us we need to speak with a specialist across town (or down the hall if we are lucky). Eternities mount up and in the end it’s no wonder we avoid doctor visits whenever possible.

Group Health realizes the traditional health care model is not the best in terms of customer (or patient) service and is in the process of developing a new system – one that, in theory, will put the patients’ experience first.

We have more photos from Burien's Wild Strawberry festival on June 18 and June 19. The photos were taken by freelancer Kurt Howard, who everyone agrees is a very nice man. Please click on the photo to see everything you may have missed at this year's festival.

The King County Library System (KCLS) is considering consolidating the White Center and Boulevard Park libraries in a location yet to be decided.

Although the White Center Library is already within the new boundaries of Burien, uncertainty over future annexation of the rest of White Center plays into the consolidation issue. The area around the Boulevard Park Library was annexed into Burien in April 2010.

This consolidation would be in a new building that would be a 10,000-15,000 square-foot facility, significantly larger than the current 6,000 square-foot White Center Library and the still smaller Boulevard Park building.

It would be located between the two libraries, most likely in Burien.

KCLS management has stated that the traffic and circulation is over 30 percent higher in these larger facilities as opposed to those with a 5,000-6,000 square-footage. This is the model, KCLS management claims, that maximizes the efficiency of patron usage.

It is not traffic, though, that Rachael Levine, president of the White Center Library Guild, is worried about -- it's access.