June 2011

Press release:
Seattle Public Schools will hold a community meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14 at the Southwest Community Center, 2801 SW Thistle St., to let the public know about the upcoming demolition of the former Denny Building to make way for the new Denny International School.

At the meeting, Seattle Public Schools will introduce the project team, and representatives of Bassetti Architects and BN Builders will describe the project, outline what neighbors can expect to see over the next few months of construction, and answer questions. There may be impacts on the available parking for the Southwest Community Center and Pool during construction, which begins on June 27, 2011 and ends in January 2012.

The new Denny International Middle School will open the first day of school for the 2011-12 school year.

Press release:
High Point Community Center, 6920 34th Ave. SW, will hold its “Bite at the Point” Community Potluck from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 22.

The potluck is an opportunity to share the many cultural cuisines represented in the neighborhood, so community members are invited to make and share a dish that represents their cultural roots. Enjoy food and fun, and celebrate the High Point Community through succulent sensations from around the world!

The potluck will also feature jumpy toys and field activities for the child in everyone.

Please submit recipes to High Point Community Center by fax to 206-684-7402, email to Lakema.bell@seattle.gov, or US Postal Service to High Point Community Center, 6920 34th Ave. SW, Seattle, WA 98126. Parks asks for the recipes in order to make diners aware of any allergens a dish may contain. The objective of this event is to encourage diversity exchange and communion among several cultures and to provide a space to engage families in fun.

For more information about the potluck, please call High Point Community Center at 206-684-7422.

The West Seattle Little League in cooperation with the Seattle Parks Department will finally be able to perform their official dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the completion of their new concession building and storage building at Bar-S Playfield, 6425 SW Admiral Way, on June 18 at 3:00 pm.

The improvements to the field were originally scheduled to happen March 26 but construction and weather delays cancelled those plans and the Jamboree as well.

League President Mark Terao said, "Please come and celebrate with us as we give a big Thank You and show our appreciation to all of the people and companies that helped this dream of over 50 years come true.

Through the help of many we were able to construct a first class facility that will be enjoyed by thousands of families throughout the Seattle area for years to come."

It's been an amazing year of growth and change for the the West Seattle Tool Library as it celebrates its first anniversary on Saturday, June 11. They began in a location at SSCC and quickly outgrew that space moving to their new location at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center on Delridge Way in early April.

The anniversary party will begin with a community welcome, an intermediate class on tool use and safety and the inaugural meeting of its very own Fixers’ Collective.

The Tool Library is a project of Sustainable West Seattle and was founded in an effort to help build West Seattle into a more sustainable community.

From a few donated tools in a storage closet at SSCC to a new dedicated space at Youngstown complete with a full tool storage area and a 500 square foot community woodworking shop, the Tool Library has come a long way in a short time with the help of dedicated volunteers. More than 230 members have signed up to use the collection of over 1,000 tools, most of them donated by the community.

Burien City Manager Mike Martin clarified June 6 the city's process on a decision concerning North Highline annexation after a local blog published a story about the possible "fast-tracking" of the process.

Three speakers at the council meeting expressed alarm about a quick annexation decision based on the Web-only news site's posting.

The blog posting quoted a letter from Mayor Joan McGilton to King County Library System trustees saying the annexation question would be resolved by the end of July. Library system staffers have proposed that both the White Center and Boulevard Park libraries be closed and a new library be built somewhere in between. Library officials cited uncertainty over annexation as a reason for difficulty in planning library improvements in the area. If Seattle annexes North Highline, it would take over library service in the area from the county system.

As announced previously, Martin said his staff would seek direction from the council on June 20 on how lawmakers wanted to proceed with annexation.
McGilton joked that the blog article implied that she would call for a vote on annexation that night.

Press release:
Event Reroute – Rts 15, 18, 21, 22 & 56

Metro Routes 15, 18, 21, 22 & 56 will be rerouted off of 1st Av S in both directions between S Lander St and S Atlantic St/Edgar Martinez Dr S after weeknight, weekend and holiday Mariners games.

The northbound reroute for routes 15, 18, 21, 22 and 56 is via S Lander St and 4th Av S.

The southbound reroute for routes 21, 22 and 56 is via 4th Av S to S Lander St.

The rerouted buses serve all posted stops along 4th Av S.

There are no reroutes prior to Ms games; Metro service operates via regular routes & stops prior to games, with possible delays when traffic is heavy.

There are no post-game reroutes for games that start prior to 7:00 PM on weekdays.

Expect possible transit service schedule delays during stadium events and at other times when traffic is heavy in the SODO or stadium area.

This weekend is packed with graduation ceremonies, races, festivals, and parades throughout Seattle, which could produce traffic congestion.

The Seattle Department of Transportation encourages motorists headed to any of the weekend events to help reduce traffic congestion by taking one of the many alternate modes of transportation available - Metro Transit, the West Seattle Water Taxi, the Sounder commuter train, Link light rail, car pool, bicycle or walk, if feasible.

List of traffic-congesting events:

Friday, June 10:

Juneteenth Festival: 12 noon - dusk
Pratt Park (1800 S Main Street)
300 attending
Expect heavier traffic on streets surrounding the park.

Fremont 5K and Briefcase Relay: 6 p.m. – relay; 7 p.m. – 5k
Adobe Plaza in the Fremont District
1,500 participants
Street closed for staging at 5:45 p.m.: N 34th Street between Fremont Avenue N and Stone Way N.

Yesterday, the Woodland Park Zoo and a visiting expert in elephant reproduction performed another artificial insemination procedure on Chai, the zoo’s 32-year-old Asian elephant. The last procedure was performed on Chai in March of this year.

Semen for the procedure was contributed by a 13-year-old bull at Albuquerque Biological Park Zoo. With no offspring to date, he is genetically valuable to the North American population of elephants, according to the zoo.

It will be approximately 15 to 16 weeks before the zoo can confirm a pregnancy by ultrasound and through hormonal changes in Chai. If she is pregnant, her due date will be in 2013.

Chai has been inseminated with this proven technique during nine ovulation cycles since 2005 but only one has resulted in a pregnancy. The pregnancy, in 2008, unfortunately ended in an early miscarriage, which is not uncommon in mammals, especially during the first trimester.

Chai was also the mother of Hansa, a female elephant who was born at the zoo in 2000 and died unexpectedly at 6½ years old from a newly discovered elephant herpesvirus. Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of Hansa's death.

Sirens and lights from police and fire rescue vehicles disturbed downtown Ballard at Market and Leary last night. The Ballard News-Tribune received inquiries regarding this incident around 11 p.m. and today, the police reported it had been a DUI collision.

At approximately 10:46 p.m., North Precinct patrol officers responded to the collision at NW Market Street and Leary Avenue NW and Seattle Fire medics were called to the scene to provide emergency care.

A black Toyota sedan traveling north on Leary Avenue NW apparently ignored a red traffic light at NW Market Street and collided with a brown Chrysler sedan.

A DUI officer determined that the driver of the Toyota was impaired. The Toyota driver was placed under arrest and transported to Northwest Hospital for a blood draw to determine the level of intoxication.

Medics transported the driver of the Chrysler to Harborview Medical Center for further treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

Copper wire thieves are now looking skyward for their quarry, scaling power lines in King County and City of Seattle to cut out the coveted wires and scrap them for money, according to King County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. John Urquhart.

Power outages can occur if critical wiring is cut during the high-risk theft.

“The cost is more than financial, as these outages impact customer service and safety,” Sue Anderson, vice president and general manager of CenturyLink in Seattle said in a KCSO press release.

“Hospitals, schools and public safety organizations are all affected as well as residential and business customers. We urge the public to call law enforcement if they see suspicious activity,” Anderson added.

For Burien, KCSO reports 150 feet of cable were cut down near S. 128th and 12th Ave S. on June 2.

In SeaTac, KCSO reports 250 feet of cable cut down from poles in the 3200 block of S. 162nd St on May 2. In that instance 330 telephone customer’s service was affected.

Sgt. Urquhart asks that the public keep an eye out for suspicious pole climbers.