July 2011

Seattle singer/songwriter Christopher Mansfield, a.k.a Fences, will be playing a free in-store at Sonic Boom Records in Ballard this evening.

Mansfield will be playing songs from his well-received debut album, Fences, which was co-produced by Sara Quin of Tegan & Sara.

Mansfield will also be selling his 7 inch split at the all ages performance.

Show starts at 6 p.m.

Visit the Fences myspace to listen to their music, here.

From the Seattle Police Blotter:

On Sunday, July 24th, Aggressive Driving Response Team (ADRT) officers issued the following citations:

Officers from the ADRT issued the following citations:

West Seattle Bridge – 45 mph zone

1 at 80 mph

1 at 76 mph

1 at 75 mph

1 at 74 mph

1 at 72 mph

1 at 71 mph

1 at 70 mph

1 at 67 mph

2 at 66 mph

4 at 65 mph

1 Suspended Drivers License – 3rd Degree

3 No Proof of Insurance

7300 block of 35th Ave SW

9 Cell Phone violations

1 Suspended Drivers License – 2nd Degree

1 Suspended Drivers License – 3rd Degree

1 No Valid Drivers License

4 No Proof of Insurance

1st Ave South Bridge – 45 mph zone

1 at 71 mph

1 at 69 mph

2 at 67 mph

2 at 66 mph

2 Cell Phone

2 No Proof of Insurance

Highland Park Way SW – 30 mph zone

1 at 54 mph

1 at 52 mph

2 at 50 mph

1 at 49 mph

2 at 47 mph

4 at 46 mph

3 at 45 mph

1 Cell Phone

1 Pedestrian Right of Way

4200 block of Airport Way South – 35 mph zone

1 at 56 mph

3 Cell Phone

The Seattle Public Library will host Seattle Opera previews of Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" at the Ballard Library today.

Starting at 2 p.m., Members of Seattle Opera's education staff will lead an informal opera talk designed to to answer questions and provide background information on the upcoming opera.

Gershwin's portrait of life and love on Catfish Row boasts some of the most beloved songs ever written, including "Summertime," "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin," "I Loves You, Porgy," and "It Ain't Necessarily So." Richly drawn characters experience real-life emotions in this one-of-a-kind masterpiece that combines action, humor, romance, struggle, and celebration to distill something universal about the American experience.

All programs are free and everyone is welcome. Registration is not required. Doors will open 15 minutes before each program.

For more information, call the Library at 206-386-4636.

The Seattle Public Library system will be closed Monday, Aug. 29 through Sunday, Sept. 4 due to citywide budget cuts. All libraries will be closed for the Labor Day holiday Monday, Sept. 5. Regular Library operations will resume Tuesday, Sept. 6.

All city departments are implementing cuts to address a $67 million gap in the 2011 city budget. The Library is funded from the city general fund.

The week-long closure will help the Library achieve its $3.7 million budget reduction target for 2011. The closure will save approximately $650,000. The closure will mean salary reductions for nearly 640 employees who will not be paid during that week and who are taking cuts in their cost of living adjustments. In addition, the book budget has been reduced, positions have been eliminated and 2010 cuts to branch hours have continued this year. Fifteen branches are only open 35 hours a week.

Services unavailable:

Most Library services will be unavailable during the one-week closure and will have the following impacts:

No materials will be due and no fines will be charged.

Lynn Wallace was recently appointed as the new CEO of the Southwest King County Chamber of Commerce (SKCC), replacing Nancy Damon.

Wallace comes into this position already having been the president and CEO of the Chamber of Eastern Pierce County from 1994-2004 and the executive director of the Astoria/Warrenton Oregon Chamber of Commerce in the early 1990's.

Despite this extensive experience, Wallace left for a career in the hotel industry for seven years. What brought her back? "I missed the community involvement and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity," Wallace explains.

Her job is not without its challenges, though, Wallace says. "Every community has its own unique flavor and different needs," she stated, "and I'm still discovering what that is."

Though she admits that she does not currently well understand the nuances between Burien, SeaTac, Tukwila, Normandy Park and Des Moines, she has committed herself to going out and familiarizing herself with local small businesses.

"I love Blue Vanilla," she declared, referring to the local Des Moines bakery and coffee shop she had discovered recently.

The Daisy Sonju Community Garden & Pea Patch at Sonju Park became Des Moines newest park earlier this summer.

"There is a lot of community interest," said Kim Richmond, who donated over 200 hours to prepare the gardens. "Every month we get another person interested in a pea plot, and now there's a wait list."

The property was originally donated by Daisy Sonju in 1996, and a master plan was drawn up a couple of years after, but a lack of a plan and funding left the property to stagnate.

It was not until last July that the project was organized and Richmond became the project manager. "With my love of gardening and growing things, it seemed like a natural fit," Richmond stated. "It was a project waiting for a manager and I was lucky enough to do it."

Since then, over 800 hours of volunteer work have been put into the project by more than 150 community members. Most of those people are local residents, but some have come from as far away as Seattle, Richmond said.

Though her position is unpaid, Richmond has helped not only to clear land for the plots, but she also has researched existing community gardens.

Jim Glennon, teacher and professor for fifty years, retired from Highline Community College at the end of this last Spring Quarter.

After a career that introduced him to around 16,000 students and stretched from rural Rosalia, Washington, to Mt. Rainier High in Des Moines, and Highline, he is finally retiring to spend more time with his wife.

This is no small task for him though; "The students are my battery," Glennon explains. "If I'm not feeling well, and I could make it to school, I felt better. As a result, I've missed around 15 days in 50 years. ...All of my awards came because of my students, not because of me."

He realized his love for teaching when he began his career in Centralia, both as a history and economics teacher as well as a football coach. Though he soon realized that he didn't know the subjects he taught as well as he had thought he did, his dedication to his profession led him to take summer classes. "If I knew how little I knew that first year, I would never have done it," Glennon said.

"But every summer I took classes to strengthen my background knowledge."

The King County was expected to vote on the $20 Congestion Reduction Charge on Monday, July 25, but after hearing from hundreds of transit riders, the Council chose to delay a vote on the proposed vehicle license fee intended to prevent dramatic cuts to transit service.

"The County Council is still working on this issue, and the Executive appreciates the willingness of Councilmembers to take more time to carefully consider the merits," said Frank Abe on behalf of the KIng County Executive.

"Clearly the hundreds who turned out to speak with one voice for a rescue of Metro bus service made a difference, and we thank them for their passion and commitment," Abe said in a statement.

"The Executive looks forward to working with the Council toward an outcome that preserves transit, keeps people moving and helps get our regional economy back on track."

The Congestion Reduction Charge would raise $50 million for King County Metro Transit service. Without the money, Metro officials say they will have to cut 600,000 hours of bus service.

By David Rosen and Ty Swenson

Update 2 for July 26, 9:19 pm: When the 65-year-old man collapsed in front of Salty's on Alki several off-duty firefighters celebrating a Seattle Fire Department Chief's retirement at the restaurant rushed outside to aid the man in cardiac arrest, according to Kyle Moore with the SFD.

Moore continued, "several off-duty firefighters jumped in and immediately began performing CPR. When the first engine arrived, the man did not have a heartbeat. But due to the work of the off-duty firefighters, the man’s heartbeat came back and he was transported to Harborview Medical Center."

Update for July 26, 12:12 pm: Kyle Moore with the Seattle Fire Department was able to provide a few more details. Moore said the unconscious 65-year-old man was taken to Harborview Medical Center after receiving CPR for a cardiac event. The man's name was not released so the Herald is unable to check his condition at this time.

Original post: According to witnesses, a man was found unconscious face down in the grass outside of Salty’s on Alki on July 25 shortly after 9:50 pm.

Recently "our falsely scare the hell out of seniors" President Barack Hussein Obama after failing to answer how he would reduce the cost of government, stated that he would form a commission to help him with this Impossible Mission.

From his perspective, cutting $100 million out of a $3.5 trillion budget, which is a whooping 0.00285 percent reduction from the most cost efficient governmental organization in the world, is an Impossible Mission!

And the commission will only have 90 days for this awesome task. What a challenge! Consider if you will this problem if presented for solution to an actual "producer" having to make this same percentage reduction in their annual earning of $50,000. It would require less than a minute to implement that non-essential spending reduction of $142.50 from the family earnings.

Now the assignment for this "special commission should be identify a $100 million reduction every hour during the ninety day session as we have approximately $1.4 trillion in non-essential government "services" and you may be talking real reductions in the size of the inflated government.