August 2011

Alki resident (and well-known Alki Tully's barista) Desiree Holweger has been raising money for the 2011 Seattle Susan G. Komen "3-Day for the Cure" will take place September 16 - 18. She recently set up a jewelry stand as we featured here. She is on "Team Tracy" with Tracy Dart, whose friends and supporters had thrown a benefit for her at the Bridge that we featured here.

Well Desiree is at it again, and invites everyone into Chelan Cafe tonight from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. to reach her goal of $2300.00 for the walk in September.

Come sing your hearts out with Pj the Dj
Selling Jello shots for $1.00
Chili dogs and chips $5.00 per plate

Chelan Cafe
3527 Chelan Avenue SW (Under the Spokane Bridge)

press release:
The contractor working for the Seattle Department of Transportation to widen the Spokane Street Viaduct will close the structure’s westbound lanes just west of I-5 for three nights: August 16, 17 and 18. On August 16 and 17 crews will start work at 11:30 p.m. and on August 18 work will begin at 10 p.m. In each instance the roadway will re-open by 5 a.m. the next morning.

During this work, southbound I-5 traffic will be directed to the S Forest Street exit to access surface streets. Northbound I-5 traffic and westbound traffic from Columbian Way will be detoured to surface streets at 6th Avenue South. Motorists will still be able to access West Seattle from southbound SR-99.

Also, on August 15 the right lane of the westbound Spokane Street Viaduct will be closed overnight, from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. the next morning. The I-5 westbound ramps will remain open.

See www.seattle.gov/spokane for more details on this project.

More than 150 people lined up for the new Admiral Safeway’s grand opening on August 11, lauded by Safeway officials as the most environmentally friendly store in their fleet.

CLICK THE PHOTO ABOVE TO SEE MORE

The Admiral Safeway was closed for just under a year as the original building was demolished – it was built in 1961 – to make room for the new modern facility with a long list of green features that earned the store a LEED Silver rating, a green building certification system.

Green highlights
The new store’s green features were revealed by Seattle Safeway’s Public Relations Manager Sara Osborne prior to the noon ribbon cutting and include energy efficient lighting, occupancy sensors to turn off lights if a room is not in use, a reduction in ambient light (and several large windows to let in the natural variety), and controls to reduce lighting at night since the store is open 24 hours a day. Employees will use only green cleaning products in the store and several components - from fans to water fixtures to refrigerators – are all more efficient than the original store’s.

The Summer Concert at Hiawatha for Thursday Aug. 11 features the band Yogoman Burning Band, and those attending can look forward to "a bit of reggae, a bit of soul and a lot of attitude."

From their website:
YBB has won the heart of the northwest corner populace, taking awards for Best Band by Cascadia Weekly for 2 years, and Best Booty Shakin’ Music from What’s Up Music Magazine (Bellingham's only music rag) for the past 5 years. YBB has toured with Iron and Wine, and shared the stage with RJD2, Dengue Fever, the Cave Singers, Heliosequence, Clinton Fearon, etc. and collaborated live on stage with Geologic of Blue Scholars, Pato Banton, Winstrong, Junior Reid, and many other live musicians. YBB is building a strong name by regularly touring the West coast, Western States, and growing outward from there."

Check out their video for a sample of their music.

Concerts start at 6:30 pm

Concerts normally start at 6:30 pm Thursday evenings on the east lawn at Hiawatha Park (just adjacent to Walnut Ave. s.w.). Tonight's concert is on Alki.

Click on image to start slideshow.

A couple dozen children participated in the first annual Kids Olympics on the morning of August 11.

Organized by the Loyal Heights Community Center, the Kids Olympics is geared towards children ages six and younger and featured soccer kick, running, balloon bounce, relay races, an obstacle course, and even a torch walk.

"It's about promoting health and fitness," said Dana Silva from the community center.

The morning started off with some stretching and a group jog around the field at the Loyal height Community Center.

After the games, the children were invited inside to make their own torch and medal. The morning ended with a healthy snack.

Loyal Heights Community Center is located at 2101 N.W. 77th Street. For more information, visit http://www.seattle.gov/parks/centers/Loyalhtd.htm.

Multiple fire trucks partially blocked N.W. 75th Street between 1st and 2nd Ave N.W. late this morning while a team of firemen climbed onto the roof of a vacant house.

One of the firemen assured us that it was just a drilling practice. The vacant house will soon be taken down and provided the fire department with great practice ground.

We think public officials have created a sense of false urgency about replacing the Alaska Way Viaduct.

Over the last couple of years we have watched and studied the debate and now believe further consideration must be given to this important  project.

(There is a familiar pattern here. Over time, entrenched private interests  and politicians have managed to hornswoggle voters here and used our money to force feed us projects like the Kingdome, Quest Field and Safeco Field. In our view, none of those projects should have been located downtown. Why not? Each of those projects have contributed to maddening traffic congestion at various times of the day and week to principally benefit private organizations. We have been asked to subsidize wealthy sports team owners time and again.)

Now, we are being asked to pay for a road in a tube for which the financing is indeterminate, the potential likely cost overruns must be borne by taxpayers (the Metro tunnel digging device was broken and had to be dismantled and removed, with a delay of nearly a year to the project. Guess who pays for that) and using the tunnel will cost $9 a day in tolls.

On Sundays, delicious smells of freshly baked cookies waft through the hallways of Ballard Kitchen on Market Street. Inside, Alison Dahmen is slaving away for 15 hours to bake and package 1,200 of her one-of-a-kind Skydottir Epic Cookies, each of which will be delivered to thirty different locations throughout Seattle the following day.

“That will last me a week and I go back into the community kitchen to make the dough one evening and bake all day Sunday,” Dahmen said.

Founded in July of last year, Skydottir Epic Cookies sells only one item – handmade old fashion chocolate chip cookies.

But Dahmen’s chewy, old-fashion chocolate chip cookies are anything but simple. They’re vegan and gluten-free, health and environment conscious, as well as fair-trade.

Dahmen spent a lot of time and trial-and-error baking to create the perfect mix of organic and mostly locally-produced ingredients.

“The mix is pretty unique,” Dahmen said. “It includes quinoa, brown rice and tapioca flour, coconut sugar crystals – the world’s most sustainable sugar – and fair trade dark chocolate.”

Update for Aug. 31
And coming full circle, Berkley has found a good home. Here is a note from Jan Magnuson, Des Moines Animal Control Officer on the news:

Hey Everyone- Here is a cute pic of Berkley in his new home with his favorite person! If you remember, Berkley was found as a stray at Highline Community College in Des Moines, but never claimed; we had him vet-checked, neutered, vaccinated, micro-chipped, and groomed, and then offered for adoption.

He was adopted by DMPD Community Service Officer Kory Batterman, his wife Cindie and son Klayton! They love him and he is one lucky pup!

Thanks to everyone for helping to care for Berkley so he was ready for his new home. A special Thanks and "Shout Out" to Friends of King County Animals for funding his veterinary care- you guys are great! Jan~

Original post from Aug. 10
We received a message from Des Moines Master Animal Control Officer Jan Magnuson about an unclaimed dog looking for a home. You can contact Magnuson at 206- 870-6549 or 206-878-3301.

Here's Magnuson's description of the dog:

Please click the photo above for more Ifly action from the Hollywood operation.

A new sport is coming to Tukwila: iFly is scheduled to open Friday, Aug. 12th and will offer customers a flight-like experience in a vertical wind tunnel that lifts them off the ground.

It is located at 349 Tukwila Pkwy. Drivers along Interstate 405 have been noticing the tall red building as it goes up just west of Lowe's near Southcenter.

"This is the new sport; you learn the art of flight," iFly Marketing Director Lysa Adams declared. "Our demographics are mom, pop, and the kids, military, skydivers, and even for celebrations."

These indoor skydiving chambers have gradually been gaining popularity with three other locations currently in the U.S., and a handful across the world.

"This is the first all-glass chamber ...[and] it's the first chamber with two airlocks," Adams explained.

This means that, unlike Plexiglas models, the walls are curved and prevent eddies of irregular current. Having two airlocks also allows you to enter and exit the chamber at anytime, rather than forcing the fans to shut down during the flight session.