June 2011

Lynn Sweeney and husband Matt Pedersen talked about what the intent was in the re-invention of West Seattle's only motel, The Grove West Seattle Inn, during a public open house June 27.

Using a code phrase known and understood by locals Pedersen said, "It's West Seattle."

He's a proud former West Seattle Herald carrier too (back in the 70's) so their family roots here are deep.

Getting this project done was a challenge as any major makeover can be.

Sweeney said,"Initially we knew we wanted to clean it up and we wanted to give something for the community to have a place to stay but at point it was, 'how far do you go?' and as the owners and people who are invested in this financially theres the fine line between the vision and everything you want it to be and what pencils financially and how to go about doing it the right way. That was a process and it took some time. Once we got going then all of sudden it was like, 'we're moving on this' and how do you keep up with it. I've been jokingly calling a 'Labor of Labor' because that's a little bit of what it's been. It takes a lot of effort to get it to the point where you want it to be."

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 20 -26, 2011:

1. Bon Iver “Bon Iver” (Jagjaguwar)
2. Death Cab For Cutie “Codes & Keys” (Atlantic)
3. Fleet Foxes “Helplessness Blues” (Subpop)
4. Eddie Vedder “Ukulele Songs” (Monkeywrench)
5. My Morning Jacket “Circuital” (ATO)
6. Adele “21” (Columbia)
7. Head & The Heart “Head & The Heart” (Subpop)
8. Helms Alee “Weatherhead” (Hydra Head)
9. Beastie Boys “Hot Sauce Committee Pt2” (Capitol)
10. Viva Voce “Future Will Destroy You” (Vanguard)
11. Neil Young “Treasure” (Reprise)
12. Gomez “Whatevers On Your Mind” (ATO)
13. Blue Scholars “Cinemetropolis” (self released)
14. Dave Alvin “Eleven Eleven” (Yep Roc)
15. Radiohead “King of Limbs” (TBD)
16. David Bazan “Strange Negotiations” (Barsuk)
17. Battles “Gloss Drop” (Warp)
18. Raphael Saadiq “Stone Rollin” (Columbia)
19. Seapony “Go With Me” (Hardly Art)
20. Owl City “All Things Bright & Beautiful” (Uni Republic)
21. Sloan “Double Cross” (Yep Roc)

West Seattle got out of the gate quickly and convincingly at the District 7 All Star Little League baseball tournament for ages 10/11.

The West Seattle team pummeled the PacWest squad from the Burien area by a 9-0 score Saturday, June 25.
The tournament is being hosted by the PacWest organization at the former Highline East Little League fields near SeaTac airport. They are now named after PacWest.

Double elimination action continues through the first final at 6 p.m. Tuesday, with a second final to be played at 6 p.m. Wednesday if necessary. The team going into the championship with one loss must beat the team with no losses to force the second final.

The District 7 age 9-10 all-star tournament has its action running through the first final Saturday at 10 a.m. at PacWest and the second final Sunday at 10 a.m.

Leading up to the final, the winner's bracket semifinal is at 6 p.m. Wednesday and the loser's bracket semifinal at 6 p.m. Friday.

The Majors age 10-12 tournament will be hosted by West Seattle at its recently renovated fields at Bar-S near Alki Point.
West Seattle opens that tournament at 1 p.m. Saturday against the Rainier District team.

On Sunday, June 26, at approximately 9:30 a.m., a woman was retrieving cash from an ATM near 21 Avenue NW and NW 56 Street when a 28-year-old man wearing a makeshift ski mask approached her and ordered her to give him the money.

The suspect then grabbed the woman’s cash and took off running.

Several by-standing citizens, including an employee of the Prosecutor’s office, chased down the suspect. In an effort to stop the citizens from chasing him, the suspect threw down the money.

The citizens caught the suspect but he managed to get away. He then ran back and picked up the money and ran off again.

Yet the citizens outran the suspects, caught up with him and held him down until officers arrived to the scene.

One citizen suffered pain to his leg, another had a $200 pair of eyeglasses broken and a third lost their sunglasses.

At the precinct, the suspect told the screening Sergeant that he was a former registered nurse gone bad. The man was booked for Investigation of Robbery.

Local entrepreneurs Matt Mostad and Matthew Sutton have partnered up to revolutionize the music industry. Launched last week, their sheet music app, iSheetMusic, enables musicians to access thousands of songs anytime, anywhere.

"We're bringing sheet music into the 21st century," said co-founder Matthew Sutton in a phone interview.
"Sheet music has been one of the things that have been rather untouched by new technology. Only two percent is sold digitally."

But Mostad and Sutton are changing this by creating the world's first full dynamic mobile sheet music app.

Sutton said the idea came to Mostad while playing his guitar on the beach one day.

"We were out on the beach with a guitar and Matt couldn't remember more than a few songs. He's the kind of guy who likes to solve problems and thought, "How can I have sheet music with me wherever I go?'," Sutton recalled. "He came to see me (because I'm a guy who builds software) and I thought it was a great idea."

What makes the software special is that the sheet music is optimized for the screen size.

Getting Pizzeria 22, the new thin crust pizza restaurant open in the Admiral District has been a six month process for owner Cary Kemp. Finally, June 27 arrived and the next phase, actually operating, can begin.

As the West Seattle Herald previously shared, Kemp has a busy schedule, doing up to 20 catered events per month but will now scale that pace back as he gets the restaurant going.

Located at 4213 College Street ( across from Blockbuster Video) the restaurant occupies a reasonably narrow yet elegantly remodeled space.

The back wall is adorned by a painting of an erupting Mt. Vesuvius painted by Torrez.

He held a soft opening last week and it went well.

"The soft party was awesome," Kemp said. "It couldn't have been a better night. It was amazing."

Just prior to opening Kemp hung a good luck charm over the doorway, An ornament of Pulcinella.

The International Student Exchange has issued an urgent request for anyone who might serve as the host family for a Vietnamese exchange student named Thinh (#25819)

He's a 15 year student, born in Ho Chi Minh city and maintains a Grade A average.
He's in 10th grade, had completed 4 years of English and enjoys music, soccer, walking, school activities, and basketball.

The exchange describes him as follows"

Thinh is an inquisitive person that is kind hearted, organized, clean, tidy and always looking for new things to do. He is a hardworking A student and his favorite subjects are Math and Chemistry. He spends a lot of his time studying and searching things on the internet. Thinh is a serious basketball player and hopes to continue playing while in the USA. He enjoys spending time with his younger sister and he helps his mom with the household chores and cooking. *Pre-AYP English

If you or someone you know can serve as the host family please contact Clarissa Cope at clarissa.cope@yahoo.com for more information.

According to the Seattle Department of Transportation blog, SDOT and the Ballard Terminal Railroad are moving forward with enhancement work on a Burke-Gilman Trail railroad crossing on 6th Avenue NW and NW 40th Street.

That particular section of the trail meets the train tracks at a 45 degree angle and a rubber mat was installed in order to prevent cyclists from catching their tires in between the trail pavement and the track rails. However, cyclists are reporting that this mat can be slippery, particularly during wet and freezing conditions and has been a cause of multiple accidents.

As the Ballard Terminal Railroad is responsible for crossings of its tracks, SDOT is partnering with the railroad to realign the crossing. The mat material will be removed and the crossing will be realigned so that it is closer to 90 degrees.

The new crossing will be made of asphalt to enhance traction in adverse weather. The enhancements should be installed in July.

If you look around the vicinity of 16th s.w. and s.w. Roxbury today you may notice it has been beautified.

It's not Mother Nature. It's the work of Erika Van Merr and Clark from the Community Harvest of SW Seattle, and Judy de Barros, a White Center CDA member.

They lead the planting in downtown White Center last Sunday, June 26. Nearby Pho Lynna and Decoracion's Ely volunteered to take care of regular watering.

If you look at the slideshow you can see how much was done.

Nhan Nguyen of the WCCDA offered the organizations assistance for more efforts like this, "I’m thinking we can organize a mini clean-up in our business district every now and then. If a few business owners would like to take charge of organizing them, the CDA can provide supply: trash bags, trash pickers and gloves."

Dear Editor

Regarding the letter from Mr. Calvin Bannon: Reject the tunnel vote.

It really doesn't matter how you vote, it doesn't matter what the people want....sad to say the tunnel is a done deal. Millions upon millions have already been spent, the politicians have decided and as is so often these days they don't give a rats ass what the people want.

Harriet Benjamin
Seattle