January 2012

Friends, family, and well-wishers gathered near the corner of Maplewild SW and SW 172nd St in the Three Tree Point neighborhood for the annual Three Tree Point Polar Bear Swim on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012.

Approximately 40 swimmers entered the chilly Puget Sound waters to feel the exhilaration of life the Polar Bear Swim exemplifies.

Burien Resident and current host of the event, Bob Hubbs, recalls experiencing his first polar bear swim at Three Tree Point. “When we moved out here in ’04 they used to go off the public point, and there were like 4 or 5 (people) so that first winter my ex-wife and I said ‘just come on down and use the boat ramp, it’s a lot easier than hopping over and crawling down and stuff.’ And it’s just gradually grown since then."

Please click the image above for more.

It’s become so popular that a trophy has been created to mark the event.

The trophy is presented to the swimmer that exemplifies the spirit of the polar bear swim. Or as last year’s winner Bart Bryon put it, “Have a lot of enthusiasm, plunge with a certain style. Just go for it and enjoy life…and enjoy being out here with friends and family and fellow Burienites."

A Fred Meyer representative informs us that construction on the expansion of the Greenwood Fred Meyer and the consequent demolition of the Greenwood Market will start March 1.

Last July, Fred Meyer filed a land use application wishing to expand the existing Greenwood Fred Meyer store by 55,305 sq. ft. and demolish the Greenwood Market.

After a public meeting was held in October, Fred Meyer extended Greenwood Market's lease until early February, which will mark the closure of the neighborhood grocer.

The Fred Meyer remodel will be a $28 million, 55,000 square foot expansion – all to the west of the existing building, said Melinda Merrill, Director of Public Affairs for Fred Meyer.

"We will also do significant work on the landscaping and the parking lot. We met with the neighborhood this past fall and they made some comments on design and landscaping that we have incorporated," Merrill said.

The remodel is in lieu of Fred Meyer's previous decade-long redevelopment plan for a below-grade, mixed-use store, which was scrapped in 2010.

The Beloved Mexico food truck has followed West Seattle Produce across the street to take up residence on the east side of Fauntleroy Way s.w. "We're happy that they moved and we've got a little indoor buddy bar set up in here," Brian Bright, part of the WS Produce staff said.

The produce store reopened Dec. 1 in the former Hertz Tool Rental site at 4722 Fauntleroy Way s.w. but elected to sell Christmas trees for the season, which delayed the move for Beloved Mexico.

The produce market also made major improvements in the decor of the space, adding large wooden beams, and produce display carts to the interior, making the shopping experience, especially in cold weather much more pleasant.

The West Seattle Herald profiled Beloved Mexico last March.

Deadline for receiving items for Community Calendar is 5 p.m. Wednesday for the following week’s Times/News. Events are published based on timeliness and space availability. Email submissions to: hteditor@robinsonnews.com Items can be accepted from nonprofit groups and government agencies only. Others may call Dona Ozier at 206-708-1378 for inclusion in our “Out & About” advertising section.

Theatre
The Hi-Liners-- DownStage Center production of “Oklahoma, G2K.” This Getting to Know You Edition for Young Actors is perfect for young audiences and families. Jan. 6th, 7th, 8th, 13th, 14th, and 15th at The Burien Annex, 425 S.W. 144th St. All seats reserved, $10. For tickets go to www.hi-liners.org or call 206-617-2152.

January 7
League of Education Voters Education Activist Training--Workshops, including a keynote speaker and breakout sessions. Registration begins at 8:15 a.m. and sessions will begin promptly at 9 a.m. Registration fee of $25. Highline Community College, Building 8--The Student Center, 2400 S. 240th St. www.salsa.wiredforchange.com

Posted by Detective Renee Witt - Seattle Police Blotter

On 01-01-2012, just shortly before 3:00 p.m., officers responded with school security, to an alarm at a school in the 1800 block of SW Myrtle St.

Officers set up containment and used Seattle Fire Department ladders to gain access to the rooftop, where the 2 suspects (men 27 and 19 years-old) were hiding. The suspects were taking into custody without incident.

The suspects had two packs filled with items stolen from the school. They also had burglary tools.

Both suspects were booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Burglary.

press release:
Seattle Parks and Recreation has announced new Community Center and teen programming hours for 2012 and, following significant discussion throughout the last year, also announced that a tiered system will replace the traditional Community Center model.

In response to challenging budgets and a directive from City Council, Seattle Parks and Recreation spent 2011 meeting with community stakeholders and staff to develop a new plan for operating community centers in 2012. That work has resulted in a new tiered system for operating community centers that reduces operating costs, while maintaining essential services.

In the new system, community centers are grouped into five geographic areas of five centers each. They are managed and programmed in a coordinated fashion. The new system partially or fully restores the current limited use sites. Five limited use sites were established in 2011, which involved a significant drop in public operating hours. The new tiered system for 2012 saves approximately $1.23 million in the 2012 budget.

Swedish Medical Center announced that the first baby of the new year was born at Swedish/Ballard at 4:34 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 1.

The 6-pound, 13-ounce baby boy, named Christopher William, was born to first-time parents Connie and Justin Holmerud of Northgate and delivered by Dr. Lisa Mohr.

In celebration of the momentous occasion, Swedish/Ballard presented the Holmeruds with a congratulatory newborn gift basket.

In 2011, 886 babies were born at Swedish/Ballard.

[Insert epic movie trailer voice.] Oh. My. Gawd. It's the year two-thousand and twelve, and we're all gonna die. You have been warned. [End epic voice.]

Or something like that, right? In 2008-9 Columbia Pictures launched a stealth marketing campaign under the guise of the fictional “Institute for Human Continuity.” This farce of an organization used TV spots and various forms of online media to encourage people to prepare for the ultimate end of mankind. The goal was to promote their movie sensationalizing the 2012 apocalypse scare fittingly entitled “2012.” And while the campaign was spectacularly successful, leading way too many people to see a truly atrocious film, it also promoted uninformed panic.

For those who don't know, this film was inspired by the latest doomsday theory, which predicts that the world will end on December 21, 2012, beginning with a slow decline starting mid-March of course. No one knows precisely how the world is going to come to a screeching halt, but that hasn't stopped people from throwing their theories around.

Every culture has its patterns of communication but eye contact, at least in Western culture, seems to be important in establishing relationships. Since young women learn informally that men expect them to give the come-on signal, they lower their eyes and engage in provocative body language. High heels for women facilitate the swinging hips which signal attraction. That is not universal, however. I remember visiting the studio of the artist R.C. Gorman in Taos, New Mexico. None of the women in his paintings or lithographs were facing the viewer. I was uncomfortable about the fact that this artist never depicted women giving eye contact. I wondered about this until I researched this phenomenon and learned that in some cultures women are not allowed to initiate such contact.

If you don’t plan on selling your house soon, or even if you do, here are some handy hints for fixing the place up. I learned these tricks over many years and am now willing to share them with you.

           I’ve done it all. Plumbing, electrical, wallpapering, house painting, window glazing and even septic tank cleaning.

Bowling shoes are not a good choice for this work.
 
         We had a two-bedroom house near Sea-Tac airport in the 40’s. Not very big, no basement and certainly no room for a workshop to suit the handyman in me. Shortly after moving in I fashioned an opening in the second bedroom closet ceiling. I’d never owned a house before so the word attic was not in my vocabulary.

        I pushed on the thin ceiling board to reveal a hot, musty space not quite 4 ft-high at the highest angle and enough room to nail down two sheets of plywood. I strung an extension corded light from a nail hook on the roof truss. I built a ladder and hung  some extra hooks.