June 2012

Press release:

Rain or shine, chilly or bright, we will not be kept from our Walk-n-Talk! If we waited for the weather to make up its mind, we could wait a while.

So let’s walk on Sunday, July 1 for our TWELFTH monthly Walk-n-Talk! This will complete our first full year of random folks gathering together, exploring neighborhoods around Burien on foot and carrying on conversations with people they might not otherwise have met.
This month’s walk will be led by Burien Frequent Walker, Rob Johnson and his pooch, Romeo. The two volunteered to pick a route for us this month and lead the group astray. (Thanks, Rob!)

July’s walk will begin and end at the grassy knoll of Burien Town Square. We will circle east along SW/S 152nd St., past and around Highline High School and Mosier Field, as far as southbound Des Moines Memorial Drive, then back west along S/SW 156th St., and north on 4th Ave. SW.

Rob points out that this 2.25-mile route has sidewalks the whole way (!) and is mostly flat, so this is an ideal route for any folks with mobility issues or who are pushing baby strollers.

Update for June 27
The City of Tukwila has issued a statement of remembrance for David Fenton, 67, who was killed in a motorcycle accident on June 24 on W. Marginal Way:

The entire Tukwila community was saddened to hear of Dave Fenton’s fatal accident on Sunday, June 24. His commitment to the community and City – both people and programs will surely be missed.

Mr. Fenton was first elected to the Tukwila City Council in November 1997, and took office January 5, 1998. He chaired the Finance and Safety Committee his first year on the Council, and served as Council President his second year. He served eight years as a Councilmember and countless others as an involved resident, invested community member and business owner.

The summer time pleasure of watching a movie outside is back for another year in the West Seattle Junction as the West Seattle Outdoor Movies start again on Friday, July 20 with the film 50/50 Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen. This is an adults only event and the $10 admission fee is a fundraiser to support Thrive Through Cancer.

Coming the next night, Saturday July 21 it's Pretty in Pink, the classic 1980's teen angst film by John Hughes starring Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer and Harry Dean Stanton. Pre-Show entertainment will be provided by Bob "Bearcat" Rice and the film is presented by Bakery Nouveau, Dream Dinners, Nicholson Kovalchik Architects, Pediatric Speech and Language Therapy.

In addition to the press release below, the Highline Times/West Seattle Herald today interviewed Franciscan C.E.O. Joe Wilczek and Highline Medical Center C.E.O. Mark Benedum regarding the announcement of Franciscan Health System affiliating with Highline Medical Center.

Both C.E.O.'s say they see potential to reduce cost of healthcare in going at this together.

Mark Benedum: "With our board of trustees we have been going through an affiliation process over the past six months and the board selected Franciscan Health System as the organization that best met our criteria because of the alignment of mission. We feel they would support us best in supporting this community, so we are real excited.

"Highline Medical Center will remain non-religious. This is a similar situation to another two hospitals that became affiliated. Sisters of Providence is a large multi-state hospital organization and merged with Swedish in February. Swedish remained non-religious. This model is not unusual and has been implemented by other affiliations as well.

In addition to the press release below, the Highline Times/West Seattle Herald today interviewed Franciscan C.E.O. Joe Wilczek and Highline Medical Center C.E.O. Mark Benedum regarding the announcement of Franciscan Health System affiliating with Highline Medical Center.

Both C.E.O.'s say they see potential to reduce cost of healthcare in going at this together.

Mark Benedum: "With our board of trustees we have been going through an affiliation process over the past six months and the board selected Franciscan Health System as the organization that best met our criteria because of the alignment of mission. We feel they would support us best in supporting this community, so we are real excited.

"Highline Medical Center will remain non-religious. This is a similar situation to another two hospitals that became affiliated. Sisters of Providence is a large multi-state hospital organization and merged with Swedish in February. Swedish remained non-religious. This model is not unusual and has been implemented by other affiliations as well.

Burien and its Town Square developer may not get divorced, afterall.

Or, at least, final dissolution has been delayed until July 18.

Burien City Manager Mike Martin sent a letter June 19 to Harbor Urban agreeing to extend the closing date for the city’s repurchase of three undeveloped Town Square parcels.

On June 4, the Burien City Council voted to exercise its option to buy back the parcels at 90 percent of what the developer paid for them. The original buyer, Los Angles-based Urban Partners has been renamed Harbor Urban after it bought Seattle’s Harbor Properties.

The developers had proposed erecting a cinema and one-story medical building on the parcels. They said the market has changed and could not support condos and small retail spaces. They pointed to the first Town Square phase where condos have sold slowly and only one business, Subway, has committed to opening a retail store.

Burien officials countered that the cinema would have cost the city $4 million while the one-story medical building was not what the city had in mind for the urban development.

The owners of Marination, who won the bid to move into the building at Seacrest on Harbor Avenue but then ran into numerous permitting issues, delaying their move until late summer at best are seeking the public's help to win a grant. They posted on their Facebook page a request for fans, friends and anyone else to vote for them in a grant program offered by LivingSocial and Chase bank. The effort by the two companies is to award "up to 12 individual grants of $250,000 to 12 small businesses."

Here's the Marination post:

"Okay you guys. This is seriously the most important post we've ever written.

Press release:

Celebrate the dedication of the new Puget Sound Park Playground on Friday, June 29th at 1 p.m. The park is located at 135 S.W. 126th St.

Please join City of Burien and King County representatives as we mark the completion of this neighborhood project, made possible through the King County Community Development Block Grant program, with funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The $120,000 renovation project replaced the existing play area by adding new KOMPAN play equipment and expanded the site by adding new swings.

In addition, a trail segment was added at the park, which connects the parking lot down to the main park trail, to better enable wheelchair access or parents with strollers to avoid the need to navigate stairs.

The project was constructed by Pacific Northwest Earthworks L.L.C, with R & R Construction providing the play equipment installation.

This project caps a series of recent renovations occurring at this park, also including replacement of the park picnic tables, benches, trash receptacles and basketball hoop.

Press release:

The Port of Seattle Commission has honored three airlines as winners of the 2012 Fly Quiet Awards for their efforts in 2011 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Alaska, Virgin America and SkyWest Airlines were honored for their strong commitment to noise reduction.

These awards highlight what can be accomplished when an airport and airline work together on noise reduction:
Fly Quiet Bravo Award – Alaska Airlines Awarded to the quietest airline among the top five carriers at Sea-Tac. 
Alaska has replaced their older MD80s with newer Boeing 737s, creating a quieter fleet of aircraft. Alaska has also been a key partner with the Port and the FAA to pioneer the Greener Skies Initiative, which is developing quieter and more fuel efficient approaches set to be implemented by 2013.

Fly Quiet Award – Virgin America
. Awarded to the quietest airline among all other carriers at Sea-Tac. 
 Virgin America has a full fleet of newer Airbus A320 and A319 aircraft and consistently excels in adhering to noise abatement flight procedures. 


press release
Roxbury Spine & Wellness Clinic and Stu Hennessey of Alki Bike & Board are teaming up to host a free and open to the public bike helmet awareness day, Saturday, July 14, 2012 from 10a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at 2656 SW Roxbury Street, in West Seattle to promote summer bike safety.

They will be giving away free bicycle helmets to the first 200 kids under 12 years old. Health and body fat screenings as well as creation of fingerprint identification cards for parents will be available and performed free of charge by Dr. Lawrence Clayman and his staff. There will be firemen from Seattle Bravest Charity, with a firetruck, and a Police Officer on bike to talk about bike safety.

Alki Bike & Board, and the local family networking group, Safe Kids will be fitting the bike helmets for each child that receives one and will have plenty of information to give away. Additionally, the active family and earth-friendly group, CoolMom will be there to share events and programs they have coming up as well as promote bike safety. There will be a variety of kid-friendly vendors that will be in attendance as well.