July 2012

It's going to be a busy Saturday, July 21 in West Seattle with the West Seattle Grand Parade as the highlight.

One of the parade organizers Dave Vague spoke to the Herald about this year's event.

"We will have 90 entries this year, about 12 more than last year. This year the differences are we are short on floats with just the Hi Yu and Marysville float but we made up for it with bands and drill teams. If you count Junior and Senior we've got about 16 drill teams and eight bands including Blue Thunder (the Seahawks drum centric band). To start us out typically we have the SPD motorcycle drill team, followed by the Vancouver Police Drill Team but this year our Seattle Police Pipe and Drum band went to Boston so they will follow the police this year."

The main parade starts at 11 am from Lander Street in the Admiral District but the SPD Drill team drill master Officer John Bernasconi, is retiring this year. They chose the West Seattle Parade for the retirement ceremony. They will start at 10:30am and get up to Charlestown Street and as he retires his motorcycle goes off the route and the new rider's motorcycle goes on the route.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

A split left West Seattle shy of its championship goal at the Washington State Senior Little League age 14-15 baseball tournament held at Sherman Anderson Field in Mount Vernon.

The Westsiders -- who won the District 7 tournament the week before to qualify -- opened the tournament on the right foot, however, by blanking the Redmond/Bellevue Thunderbirds team, 5-0, on Monday, July 16.
West Seattle made a return trip to Mount Vernon the next day, but this time were knocked into the loser's bracket by Richmond by a narrow 5-3 score.

The Westsiders recovered to score a 5-1 victory over South Kitsap Western on Wednesday, before playing the same Redmond/Bellevue Thunderbirds squad they defeated in the opener and losing this time in a tight 2-0 ballgame.

West Seattle manager Vinnie Sposari had hoped pitching would carry his team through the tournament, and it did result in one shutout win and one game where they allowed only one run.

"This team has great pitching, and that's the key," Sposari said going into the tournament.

Thrive Through Cancer, an organization dedicated to helping young people with cancer not only survive but thrive is the sponsor for the first West Seattle Outdoor movie event of the season.

Friday, Aug. 10, Doors at 6:30 p.m., Survivors speak at 8, movie at dusk

As an addition to the West Seattle Outdoor Movies series, Thrive will be showing the film "50/50" to celebrate young adults' victory over cancer!

We will have:
- Cancer survivors telling their stories
- Luminaries in honor of those we have lost to cancer, and those facing this disease today
- Snacks for sale, including cupcakes from Sugar Rush Baking Company
- Thrive shirts for sale

The event is free with a suggested donation of $5 to $20! Funds will support the Thrive "Hope Tote" program.

Bring chairs, blankets, family and friends!

"50/50" tells the incredible, true story of a young man diagnosed with cancer. However, the film is rated R for language throughout, sexual content, and some drug use and may not be appropriate for children.

See the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAykqVD5n0U&feature=fvst

“This will be my fifth budget since I’ve been on the council, and every one of them we have had to cut and lower the budget. I’ve never been there when we were adding … so I look forward, someday, to having the luxury of that,” Seattle City Councilman Tim Burgess said in reflecting on years of tough budget decisions while speaking at a joint meeting of the Southwest District Council and Delridge Neighborhoods District Council on July 18 in West Seattle.

Burgess provided a preview of budget realities heading into next year as the deadline for Mayor McGinn’s proposed budget approaches (Sept. 24), followed by a city council deadline of the first Monday in December to finalize their balanced budget.

“When we started the year, the estimate was we would have to cut another $40 million or so and things are improving … we are seeing an uptick in construction, we are seeing an uptick in sales tax, so now we are down in the range of maybe about $20 to $25 million in cuts,” he said.

Press release:

The Des Moines City Council passed Resolution 1197 to place a proposition on the November 6, 2012 ballot to increase the City Utility Occupation Tax for Des Moines Streets paving improvements.

If approved this proposition would increase the current 6% utility occupation tax to 8%
authorizing 2.0% for City street paving improvements for a period of ten (10) years.

A statement for and a statement against are included in the voter pamphlet prepared by King County Elections. Persons interested in serving on Committees to write the pro and con statements are needed.

Each statement must be no more than 200 words in length and must be submitted to King County Elections no later than 4:30 p.m. on August 15, 2012. Any rebuttal statements are due by August 17, 2012.

Persons interested in serving on the Committee to write either statement must submit an application to the City by close of business, Wednesday, August 1, 2012.

press release
The Green Seattle Partnership Forest Monitoring Team is a collaborative effort between Seattle Parks and Recreation, EarthCorps and volunteers like you. Join a growing community of volunteers in the Forest Monitoring Teams third year to collect valuable data in Seattle’s 2,500 acre urban forest, while learning about forest ecology and plant identification.

Join the Forest Monitoring Team and help collect data in your local parks such as Fauntleroy Park, Lincoln Park, Longfellow Creek, Roxhill Park and Camp Long.

The next opportunity to participate in an introductory training will be Saturday August 11th at 9:30am-1pm. This will include a background into forest monitoring, an overview of the monitoring protocols and a field exercise to learn the tools and methodology of collecting data. Monitoring efforts occur May- October, and we ask that you just commit to assisting with two plots throughout this field season (although more is encouraged!). All equipment, site locations and any additional support are provided by the Program Coordinator. No experience is necessary, just a willingness to learn, explore and have fun.

New apartments being proposed for the block between 64th and 65th on 24th Ave could change the look and feel of the neighborhood in the near future.

Property owner Bill Parks and architects from Johnston Architects PLLC held a meeting at the Neighborhood Service Center Conference Room Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the project. Despite an uproar of online comments, and due in part to relative lack of publicity for the meeting, no community members showed up. Instead, Parks and the architects -- Ray Johnston and Megan McKay -- went over the project with the Ballard News Tribune.

Johnston said that the development is planned as an 18-month project, with construction starting in Spring of 2013 and nearing completion at the end of 2014.

Currently, there are two pieces to the development. The first, which has already been permitted, sits along 65th Ave. The second, which the developers are still seeking a permit for, stretches the first phase out to 64th Ave and encompasses a house and two established businesses, 2 and 1/2 Happy Barbers and The Viking tavern.

The cleanup of the contaminated Lora Lake Apartments site won’t begin until the spring of 2014, the state Department of Ecology’s site manager told Burien City Council members on July 16.

The site near South 152nd Street and Des Moines Memorial Drive contains ten to 100 times the mandated cleanup level of Dioxin, according to David South.

But although Dioxin lasts a long time, it does not spread as a vapor, South noted. The apartment buildings have been torn down and the site is completely fenced off.

As for particularly dangerous spots that might have to be cleaned up immediately, South noted, “there is nothing screaming hot.”

Lora Lake and a dredge area across Des Moines Drive are also contaminated, South said. However, South added, tests have shown that nearby Miller Creek has not been adversely affected.

Contaminant concentrations in Miller Creek are much less than in the shallow three-acre Lora Lake, South reported.

South said preliminary plans are to excavate parts of the apartment site and cap the contamination. Lora Lake, which is on fenced-off Port property, may be filled.

Gov. Chris Gregoire visited a rain garden in Burien and toured Seahurst Park and the park’s Environmental Science Center Wednesday afternoon as part of a daylong event to highlight a series of projects underway to restore and improve the health of the Puget Sound.

In 2005, when Gregoire created the Puget Sound Partnership, she called for a “swimmable, fishable, diggable” Puget Sound by 2020. The projects she toured were aimed at meeting that goal.

Joining Gregoire on the tour were chair of the Puget Sound Leadership Council Martha Kongsgard, former council chair Bill Ruckelshaus and the new executive director of the Puget Sound Partnership, Col. Tony Wright.
Gregoire visited a rain garden cluster in the 2400 block of Southwest 150th Street in the Seahurst neighborhood of Burien.

Stephanie Berg, who spearheaded the neighborhood project, explained to the governor how she organized her seven neighboring homes into undertaking the project with the sponsorship of Stewardship Partners.

If you happen to have an apple, pear, plum, fig, cherry or peach tree in your yard that produces more fruit that you can consume, non-profit City Fruit has a deal for you: They’ll come to your house, pick whatever you don’t need and transport it to someone who could really use the nourishment.

Here is their mission statement:
Urban fruit trees are a valuable community resource. Often fruit goes unused because people are not sure when to harvest it, how to eat it, or they are put off by damage caused by preventable disease and pests. We are reclaiming the urban orchard, showing people how to harvest and use what they need, and to share the rest with others. Join us in reclaiming urban fruit!

A City Fruit spokeswoman, speaking to the Southwest District Council and Delridge Neighborhoods District Council on July 18, said the program is coming to West Seattle with plans to harvest the extra fruit and distribute it to local food banks, meals programs, senior centers, schools and anyone else who can use it.