October 2011

Press release:
Hitachi Zosen Corp. of Japan cemented its role in the SR 99 Tunnel Project on Wednesday, signing a contract with Seattle Tunnel Partners to supply the machine that will tunnel beneath downtown Seattle.
 
“Signing this contract gets us one step closer to taking down the vulnerable Alaskan Way Viaduct,” said Gov. Chris Gregoire. “This state-of-the-art technology allows us to keep SR 99 – and the region’s economy – open for business during construction to replace this critical state highway.”
 
In July, Hitachi signed a letter of intent with Seattle Tunnel Partners, the Washington State Department of Transportation’s design-build contractor for the tunnel project. The letter of intent allowed the Japanese firm to begin preliminary design of the machine this summer. WSDOT will pay Seattle Tunnel Partners approximately $80 million for the machine, an amount included in the tunnel project’s $1.35 billion contract.
 

Seattle Public Schools is inviting the public to Family Symposium: Families as Partners Supporting Student Success on Saturday, Oct. 15.

The symposium, which runs from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., includes a resource fair with community booths and activities for children ages 4 and up. Families will learn how to support their children in the areas of early learning, math, reading and writing, college and career readiness, special education, essay writing for college entrance, graduation requirements and four-year planning, and financial planning. A light continental breakfast and lunch will also be provided.

In addition, SPS enrollment specialists will be available to help parents complete early enrollment paperwork for the 2012-13 school year, and interpreters will be provided.

For those needing transportation, school buses will pick up families about 9 a.m. from the following locations: West Seattle Elementary, Bailey Gatzert Elementary, New Holly/Rainier Vista, Hawthorne and Concord. Drop-off will occur immediately following the event.

The symposium is being held at Garfield High School, 400 23rd Ave.

Press release:
The City of SeaTac today announced they have joined the ChargePoint® Network and will now offer electric vehicle (EV) charging services for the community.

The city has installed two ChargePoint® Networked EV charging stations that are part of Coulomb Technologies’ $37 million ChargePoint America program, that will provide nearly 5,000 free EV charging stations for individuals and businesses throughout the United States. The charging stations were provided and installed by Coulomb Technologies’ northwest distributor Charge Northwest.

“We are excited to be a part of the ChargePoint America program and provide charging services to the region given our easy access from Interstate-5,” said Todd Cutts, city manager. “We host many regional meetings as we are centrally located so we are hopeful many will take advantage of the charging stations while they are conducting business in SeaTac.”

Humanities Washington’s popular Think & Drink program is coming back to Seattle’s Naked City Brewery & Taphouse for another evening of refreshing beverages and great conversation.

Surrounding the theme of "Remaking the Metropolis", the lively discussion will be about urban planning and development.

Admission is free and taking part in the conversation are Steve Scher, Event moderator and host of KUOW's Weeday; Nicole Huber, Professor of architecture at the UW; Bryon Ziegler, Urban Planner and designer at Strategy Workshop LLC

Think & Drink takes places at 7 p.m. on October 18 at Naked City Brewery & Taphouse, 8564 Greenwood Avenue North.

Press release:
Orphan Relief and Rescue invites you to join us for an open house at our office here in Burien. Amazing stories, new friends and tasty appetizers await you.

Support the life- changing work of Orphan Relief and Rescue in West Africa, and see how you can make a difference in children’s lives!

Orphan Relief and Rescue is a voice with action for orphans and vulnerable children in West Africa that no one else will help. The organization is currently serving 22 orphanages in Liberia and Benin, with a vision to expand throughout Africa.

When? Nov. 6, 4 – 8 p.m.
Where? Orphan Relief and Rescue’s office at 1416 SW 151st St., Burien, WA 98166
Who? Everyone is invited.
What? Hear amazing stories, meet your neighbors, and enjoy great appetizers.

Contact Rebecca Pratt, co-founder and VP of Programs, with any questions. Office: 206-453-3158

Orphan Relief and Rescue (ORR) works with orphaned, abandoned and abused children in Liberia and Benin, West Africa, who have simply been forgotten, that no one else will help.

About 1,000 local elementary school students are getting a lesson in recycling the first month back at school. King County challenged students at Burien's Shorewood Elementary and Des Moines' North Hill Elementary to collect as many used plastic bags as possible in order to raise awareness of plastic bag recycling at grocery stores.

Please click the image above for more.

On Wednesday, Oct. 12, King County announced the start of its second annual 'Bag your Bags. Bring 'em Back.' Campaign at North Hill Elementary School.

Students stuffed the bags collected from both schools into a yellow school bus. The bags were taken to a bag recycling facility.
The campaign is a partnership between the King County Solid Waste Division and local grocery stores to show residents the best way to recycle plastic bags.

"Most people have a stash of plastic bags at home, so we want to make sure those bags don't end up in the landfill," said Karen May, King County Solid Waste Division project manager. "The best way to recycle a whole variety of plastic bags is to bring them back to your local grocery store."

Press release:
Burien nonprofit community mental health provider Navos has been awarded a $1.8 million grant by the Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The award, to be funded over four years, will support and promote better primary care and behavioral health services for individuals with mental illnesses and/or substance use disorders.

The program will be aimed at improving the physical health of people with serious mental illness by supporting Navos and the community to coordinate and integrate primary care services into publicly funded community mental health and other community-based behavioral health settings. Navos, with primary locations in West Seattle and Burien, will enter into a partnership with Public Health-Seattle/King County to develop and expand their offering of primary healthcare services for people with serious mental illness, resulting in improved health status. The funds are awarded and administered by SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS).

Alki Community Council announcement:

October 7, 2011

Dear Mayor McGinn and Council President Conlin,

The Alki Community Council (ACC) held a meeting on September 15 to address landslide mitigation. Participants included representatives of many different condo buildings, individual homeowners, and representatives from Seattle Public Utilities and Council member Michael O'Brien's Office. The Council voted to establish a committee to work with the City on this issue.

Based on the committee's findings and recommendations, the ACC respectfully requests the following from the City:

1. Establish a task force comprised of those agencies with responsibilities for surface water and hillside parkland (Seattle Public Utilities, Department of Transportation, Parks and Recreation, and Department of Planning and Development).

2. Charge the Task Force with developing a plan to mitigate the risk of slides on Alki and Harbor Avenues.

As the City of Seattle faces a $67 million budget shortfall, the Seattle City Council and Mayor's office are developing plans to make serious cuts in service to neighborhood community centers. As the West Seattle Herald reported previously these cuts will mean reduced hours, reduced services, and less staff.

But Councilmember Sally Bagshaw is reminding people on the web, the specifics of the changes are still subject to adjustment and a series of public meetings are meant to both educate and get input as to what people want, but working within the new limitations the limited budgets will allow.

As Bagshaw states on her page:
"Last fall, we went into the budget process knowing three things: 1) the City faced a $67M shortfall; 2) we wouldn't be able to make all the reductions through budget cuts alone; and 3) the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) would be severely impacted.

One might speculate that debit card processing is less expensive for banks than checks -- just as it has to cost businesses more to process checks (including people time) than cards.

The new fee spotlights more of the greed that led banks to create the current massive, ongoing recession/unemployment/housing crisis.

And, today I get my statement from BofA which includes a notice that customers will be charged $3 to print check images on the statement (this, after banks stopped returning physical checks). I'll be closing the account.

So, when futurists predicted moving from a paper money (including checks) society to electronic money they didn't tell us the banks were going to become even greedier as financial transactions became cheaper. Profit margins go up and service goes down.

Hooray for capitalism!

Stephen Lamphear
Burien