November 2011

Press release:
In September 2011, the City of Des Moines announced the start of a new road safety camera program to prevent speeding in school zones. The School Zone Safety Program aims to protect students, drivers, and passengers from injuries or crashes caused by speeding near Woodmont Elementary School. The city has installed speed compliance cameras in the school zone along the northbound and southbound lanes of 16th Avenue South.

This School Safety Program initially had a 30-day introductory period where warning notices but no fines will be issued to the registered owner of any vehicle photographed while speeding. This introductory and public education phase was due to expire on November 1, 2011. Due to some scheduling issues, the warning notices were not mailed out to the registered owners during the full 30 days.

The purpose of the School Safety Program is to alert drivers to the school zones, reduce speeds, and increase safety for students. A vital part of this new program is to educate the community of this program before enforcement begins.

In celebration of Ballard's green spaces, Groundswell NW features and celebrates a "Park of the Month" and the community around it. In November the spotlight is on Crown Hill Glen. Tucked away between 19th and 20th NW where the two avenues dead-end at NW 89th Street, Crown Hill Glen is more natural area than park.

From Groundswell NW:

First identified as an open space opportunity through Groundswell's Open Space Inventory in 1996, the site is a hidden gem, and testament to the ongoing stewardship of its neighbors.

The natural surroundings look as if they have always been there...but this is not the case at all.

George and Theadora Plumis, who were married in 1931, bought these four lots and the adjoining house and lot to the south in 1940. This was the Plumis' first home and its then rural surroundings gave Mr. Plumis a chance to recreate a bit of the farming culture of their Greek homeland by raising chickens, goats, sheep, and fruit trees. During the war, it served as a Victory Garden. It was plowed by horse until well into the 50's!

Groundswell NW announced that it will match donations up to $2,000 for the Sunset Hill-Shilshole gateway project.

The combined amount of money raised will go toward the Neighborhood Matching Fund grant project to develop an overall concept plan and implement initial improvements on the connection between Sunset Hill and Shilshole.

The improvements aim to enhance the walkability, safety and appearance of the main southern connection between Sunset Hill and Shilshole, on the area from Seaview Ave NW and the Burke Gilman Trail up 38th Ave NW and NW 61st St to the block of 36th Ave NW divided by an overgrown landscaped median.

Your donation will go toward plants, watering and maintenance costs to install and establish low-growing, low-maintenance, drought-tolerant plants, preserving sightlines for safety.

To donate, send a check to Groundswell NW, with "Gateway" in the memo line, to Dawn Hemminger, Treasurer, PO Box 17163, Seattle WA 98127; or do it online using PayPal. Contact Dave Boyd, at dave.boyd1@comcast.net or (206) 498-6636 for more information.

press release:
Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT) contractor for widening the Spokane Street Viaduct will close both westbound lanes of the structure between I-5 and SR 99 each weeknight next week. Closures will begin at 10 p.m. and wrap up by 5 a.m. the next morning in each instance.

During the overnight closures, southbound I-5 traffic will be directed to the S Forest Street exit to access surface streets leading to the lower Spokane Street Swing Bridge. Northbound I-5 traffic and westbound traffic from Columbian Way will be detoured to surface streets at Sixth Avenue South to the detour route leading to the swing bridge. Signage will be posted to direct drivers along these routes.

Motorists will also be able to use southbound SR-99 to access the high-level West Seattle Bridge.

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

826 Seattle founder Teri Hein and Ballard High School student Meron Kasahun were at the White House today to receive an award from First Lady Michelle Obama.

The award recognized 826 Seattle for its effectiveness in developing learning and life skills in young people by engaging them through the power of the written word.

826 Seattle is the city's only nonprofit dedicated to improving the writing skills of youth, age 6 to 18, and helping teachers inspire students to write.

Kasahun, 17, is a senior at Ballard High and the daughter of a single Ethiopian immigrant mother. She began attending 826 Seattle's afterschool programs more than five years ago, and has been a regular at the Greenwood-based nonprofit ever since.

Kasahun has served as a Youth Mentor at 826 Seattle and is currently a member of its Youth Advisory Board. She is also president of the Ballard High Black Student Union, is an active member of Teens Against Tobacco and has been an editor at her school newspaper.

Today, Kasahun stood in the East Room of the White House to accept the 2011 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from Mrs. Obama.

By Citizens Against Raising Car Tabs

Please tell us "How pray tell, does any of that benefit Seattle's neighborhoods or address it's mass transit needs?"

"And there's no money in Prop 1 for this city's most critical mass transit need - more bus service hours, more stops, more frequency"

"And only 29 percent of Prop 1 goes for road improvements and there's '0' dollars in it for Bridge Repairs. The last we checked buses needs roads and bridges too!"

Pro-Side says Prop 1 will improve bus travel times. According to "deliverables" identified in the package, at most 1.6 corridor improvements will be completed per year. The average speed increase will be 4 minutes over the entire length of a route, allegedly. For perspective, one of the corridors mentioned by proponents is about 80 minutes end-to-end. We will spend millions for that 4 minute speed increase when....

The most critical mass transit need, however, facing this city, is more funding for increased bus routes or hours. Prop 1 provides NO FUNDING for additional hours or routes.

It has been five years since Seattle was slammed by the Dec.14 - 15 wind storm of 2006. Alki Beach recorded peak gusts of 67 miles per hour in the storm that brought down trees throughout the city, destroying power lines and leaving thousands of families without electricity for days.

Weather experts are predicting a cold, wet La Nina winter for the Pacific Northwest, prompting Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn to hold a press conference on Nov. 2 to discuss city improvements since 2006 to better respond, and encourage residents to take precautionary measures just in case the power goes out again.

In a press release from the Mayor’s office, McGinn said half of Seattle City Light’s distribution system was knocked down in 2006, prompting them to install “a computerized outage management system to coordinate restoration work and customer communication.” The new system provides estimates for power restoration, sets up automated calls when power is restored (for customers that opt in), and a more agile system of adding crew resources to areas in need of restoration.

Flanked by local health care leaders, Mayor Mike McGinn today called on Seattle to vote “Yes” on the Families & Education Levy so the City can continue providing successful “wrap around” services, including student health centers, to Seattle’s public school students.

If re-approved by voters, the City’s Families & Education Levy will provide nearly $232 million in continued funding for:

• School-based health clinics in middle and high schools that any student can use;
• Early learning programs, like health screenings and preschool for low-income kids;
• Extra learning time for kids struggling to get to high school;
• Sports programs and transportation at every middle school; and
• After-school and summer programs.

Approximately $44.4 million, or 18.8 percent, of the $231.5 million levy will provide continued funding for health clinics in middle and high schools where any student can go to receive physical, mental, and dental health support.

Hal and Jackie Baldwin love their dog Miss Piggy, who is so named because, "she has a soft palate and when she snores she sounds like a pig, and when she sniffs on the ground she sniffs like a pig." She's an American Pitbull and she's "3-ish" years old.

The couple got her from Bullseye Rescue and found her at an event sponsored by the American Kennel Club where the organization had a tent with 'Adopt-Me' dogs. They had previously found "Pirate" their other dog (and American Bulldog) at a similar event.

Jackie was practicing loose leash walking in the park with Miss Piggy on Saturday but this is a dog with good manners and behavior. She doesn't know a lot of tricks but sits and lays down on command.

Miss Piggy does have some toys but prefers bones and rawhides and "the little antlers you get from Mud Bay. When she gets home she likes to grab them, run outside and get you to chase her. That's what she and Pirate do a lot in the back yard," said Baldwin.

Created as a joint project between local tableware designer, Rosanna, and long-time Seattle institution Bartell Drugs to foster a sense of community, Bartell stores are now offering iconic Ballard Neighborhood mugs.

The mugs depict all that is Ballard including a ship, fish, the Ballard Locks, Market Street and even some "Uff Da".

It is one in a series of neighborhood mugs, plates, and Christmas tree ornaments that celebrate neighborhoods up and down the Puget Sound.  

"Ballard was one of the first neighborhoods chosen for design because of the iconic locks, fishing industry, history, and personality of the neighborhood," said Chris Winn, Public Relations and Media Coordinator at Rosanna Inc.
"There has been a real trend during these economic times for people to get back to what's important---family and community.  These mugs were created as a way for people to feel more connected with their neighborhood."   

Rosanna and Bartell are hoping to further foster that sense of community and will be purchasing a park bench for the neighborhood showing the most neighborhood pride.