September 2011

West Seattleites facing delays in getting to and from downtown Seattle during the nine day viaduct closure set to begin Oct. 21 can use a variety of routes and methods to avoid the issue or at least make it more tolerable.

Depending on time of day and of course traffic mishaps which could affect travel times, here are some suggestions:

1. Take an alternate route
Depending on your starting point your time to destination will vary of course but it's possible to take one of the following routes to downtown that will help you to avoid the crush.
A. Highland Park Way s.w. (sometimes called Boeing Hill) down the hill and over to West Marginal Way s.w. looping back to come over the First Avenue South Bridge. Once across the bridge First Avenue
is the natural route downtown.
B. From Avalon Way s.w. take the lower level Spokane Street Bridge to First Avenue South.
C. Take the West Seattle Bridge to the First Avenue South or Fourth Avenue South exit and head north.

2. If your employer allows it, use Flex Time

By Steve Shay

Talk about girl power, "Team Tracy" did it again, with 16 ladies, including team-leader, West Seattle's Tracy Dart, a breast cancer survivor, raising $40,000 for breast cancer research during the Susan G. Koman 3-Day for the Cure. This was Dart's fifth year participating. The 60-mile walk went Friday to Sunday, Sept. 16-18, and routed an estimated 2,000 walkers, women and men, through Seattle and the East Side. The walk concluded at Seattle Center as volunteers, family members and friends greeted walkers with applause and flowers as they marched into Memorial Stadium. (This walk often gets confused with a separate event, the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure, a 5K event.)

Dart wanted to acknowledge the other 15 Team Tracy members: Jennifer Witsoe, Trudy Muller, Desiree Holweger, Loreen Parkerson, Dena Johnson, Eleni French, Jennifer Rice and Stephanie Moores, all of West Seattle, and Samantha Prokopy, Marti Thomas, Jody Morrow, Lori McGovern, Emily McDonald, Sarah Swanson and Dawn Cox. Dart is the only team member with breast cancer, she said.

The Juneau Street Market has changed hands again, as of Sept. 1 and the new owner, Sam Ibrahim has some plans in the works to bring more food, and services to the location at 5901 Calfornia Ave. s.w.

Within the next 30 days he will add fresh sandwiches, chicken and lamb gyro's and lamb shwarma, fresh produce, and a place for people to sit and enjoy their food inside. There's an expanded red wine selection from Chateau Ste. Michele as well as some additional white wines in the cooler.

All this will require some minor modifications inside the store to move coolers and extend counters and shelving.

It will be Sandwich of the Day offer with standard Ham, Beef, and Turkey but other types may make it on to the menu. The sandwiches, gyros, and shwarma will all sell for $3.99 and come with a bag of chips.

He plans to become a Western Union money transfer agent at the store too.

Outside, uniquely enough, he will add a U-Haul franchise with two trucks there available for rent.

This, as his neighbor the Pan-Africa Grill (the former Ho-Win Chinese restaurant) prepares to open in the next few weeks.

King County Prosecuting Attorney Angela Kaake makes her living going after criminals engaged in identity theft and financial fraud, and she shared her years of experience with the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council on Sept. 20.

Before Kaake started her presentation, Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Pierre Davis gave out the latest in West Seattle crime trends.

The big picture
Kaake started out with the big picture and some sobering statistics on identity theft gathered from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC):

News Release:
Seattle Parks and Recreation, the Washington State University 4-H, and the Camp Long Advisory Council will celebrate the opening of a new challenge course at Camp Long this Saturday, September 24 from 2 to 7 p.m.

Camp Long is at 5200 35th Ave. SW.

The event will feature hot dogs, chips, and cake for attendees, and live music by the Rusty Gate Wood Shed String Band. The official ribbon cutting will take place at 4 p.m.

“We are very excited to expand the opportunities that Camp Long has to offer the community,” said David Kipnis, President of the Camp Long Advisory Council.

Several elements of the ropes course are integrated into the forested areas of Camp Long and will provide an integral part of the developed curriculum. WSU 4–H, through 30 years of adventure education experience, has created student focused curricula that use activities to strengthen critical life skills including decision making, self confidence, positive risk taking, self esteem, teamwork, and leadership.

A low ropes course is a set of real and imaginary challenges that inspire a group to collaborate to get a task done.

Mayor Mike McGinn announced today that his upcoming 2012 Proposed Budget will allocate a number of revenue sources to invest in the maintenance, preservation and improvement of community centers and streets.

The Northwest Senior Center in Ballard and the Ballard Community Center will benefit under this budget, each receiving much-needed roof improvements.

Community infrastructure has suffered in recent years as a result of the Great Recession and weak Real Estate Excise Tax revenue collections but for the coming year, McGinn aims to make an extra effort to preserve and improve existing community infrastructure.

"Even in a time of constrained revenue, we are making an extra effort to invest in existing community infrastructure and assets, such as senior and community centers, parks facilities, and our streets. These investments will pay dividends to Seattle residents now and well into the future," McGinn said.

The long-term investments announced today include:

A steady, reliable source of food bank funding for King County from the federal government was cut this summer, leading to tense times for the White Center and West Seattle Food Banks as the number of needy families continues to grow.

The funding came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), under the program named Emergency Food and Shelter Program. According to a KUOW report by Amy Radil, King County received $1.2 million from the program last year. This year the number is zero.

Food banks received word in July that qualifications for the program changed and King County no longer qualified because the unemployment rate is too low.

For the White Center Food Bank (WCFB), Volunteer Coordinator Audrey Zemke said that means a $32,000 budget cut to funds that were always set aside to buy dairy, eggs and meat. West Seattle Food Bank (WSFB) Executive Director Fran Yeats said she doesn’t have an official number yet, but the cuts will be significant.

As an injured economy and budget shortfalls reach from Washington D.C. to Washington State, cuts may be coming from all levels.

I know you've seen him. You simply can't be a Des Moines resident without seeing him.

Powering up and down South 223rd Street and then stopping at most every business along Marine View Drive is Jack, the town mascot, wearing his orange safety vest.

For years I wondered about Jack -- who he was, where he was going and why he went there. Well, after a short visit with Bob (78) and Norma (76) Kelsey, I found out.

Jack was born on Oct. 31st in Sacramento and will be 59 years old, this year. He has two other natural siblings, along with four others from a blended marriage and fostering. At the age of three, Jack was diagnosed as mentally disabled.

As with many parents of the disabled, doctors recommended that he be put in an institution. However, Bob and Norma had other ideas.

Since Bob was a Boy Scout leader, Jack was able to be a part of the pack. He was also given the benefits of special schools and loving siblings that always included him in their activities.

With help from Neighborhood House of Seattle, High Point Open Space Associaion and KaBoom!, the Windermere Foundation (the charitable organization of Windermere Real Estate) will amass over 200 volunteers on Friday, Sept. 23 to build a new playground at Bataan Park in High Point.

State Representatives Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbons will be in attendance for the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Volunteers will start building at 9 a.m. and plan to finish up between 2:30 and 3 p.m. The ribbon cutting will follow shortly thereafter.

Bataan Park is located at S.W. Bataan Dr. and High Point Drive S.W.

Additional information from their press release

More than 200 volunteers from Windermere Real Estate, Neighborhood House of Seattle, High Point Open Space Association and residents of the local community will join organizers from non-profit KaBOOM! on Friday, Sept. 23 to build a new playground at Bataan Park. The new playground’s design is based on drawings created by children who participated in a Design Day event in July.

On Monday, September 26, The Seattle Department of Transportation will host an open house to share the latest information regarding two important street projects in north Seattle before construction starts this fall.

Beginning in October (exact date not yet determined), SDOT will reconstruct N/NW 85th Street from 15th Avenue NW to I-5 with new concrete pavement in the most heavily traveled areas and will repave the remaining lanes with asphalt. SDOT will also repave Greenwood Avenue N from N 85th Street to N 73rd Street with new asphalt. Both streets are heavily traveled and have deteriorated over time.

Starting in January, NW 85th Street will be closed in the eastbound direction, section by section, starting from the west end and working toward I-5. The entire project on both streets is expected to be complete by fall 2012.