August 2012

Jason Bourne, who art not in this movie, why does the title bear your name? The original Bourne trilogy never felt much like a franchise along the lines of James Bond, but somehow it has now managed to get this treatment. Despite the title character being nothing more than a casual mention in this film, The Bourne Legacy finds its own strides with a new likeable assassin, sans amnesia.

To call The Bourne Legacy a sequel would be a little misleading -- it’s more of an appendage or supplementary device than anything. It takes place sometime during the first two Bourne movies where Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is at large and looking for answers about his forgotten past as a super assassin for the government project, Treadstone. Aaron Cross, played by Jeremy Renner (The Avengers), has a parallel journey to Bourne as he escapes the program and seeks independence from the drugs Operation Blackbrier (the “new Treadstone”) has been giving him and to help a Blackbrier doctor, played by Rachel Weisz (The Mummy, The Fountain), along the way.

By Joshua McNichols, co-author of the Urban Farm Handbook

There are some among us who believe this local food obsession will die out when we all get jobs. The garden will go to seed when our free time disappears. We'll return to McDonald's when we can suddenly afford to. Bah! Did my grandfather, who lived through the depression, ever allow himself to spend more than a dollar on a cup of coffee? No! Over half a century later, he stubbornly remained in the car grumbling about highway robbery while my mom ran into Starbucks for a $4 latte. The lessons we learn in times of financial strife stick with us. Many of us began gardening because we were feeling thrifty. Others, for the taste. But whatever brought us to this place, many of us will stay. The memory of a backyard tomato does not fade. In fact, it expands in the mind, like an unstaked tomato plant in late summer.

A meeting that will be a major turning point in the potential future for the Alki Homestead has been set to take place Aug. 28 at the Stimson-Green Mansion on Capitol Hill.

The Homestead's owner, Tom Lin will meet with historic preservation experts from the state of Washington and City of Seattle to discuss issues related to a path forward for the 108 year old building.

The purpose of the meeting is to "get everyone on the same wavelength and get things done," said Lin speaking exclusively to the West Seattle Herald.

The meeting will be between Lin and Nicholas Vann (Historic Architect) Allyson Brooks Phd. (State Historic Preservation Officer) both with the Washington State Dept. of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Karen Gordon (Historic Preservation Officer, City of Seattle Dept. of Neighborhoods), Kathleen Brooker (Director, Historic Seattle), and Jennifer Meisner (Director, Washington Trust for Historic Preservation).

As part of the Engage Seattle initiative, in order to ensure that as many people as possible who live, work, or play in Seattle are able to voice their concerns and offer their feedback directly to the mayor, we're holding a series of town halls in every part of the city. There's one coming up later this month at the Southwest Teen Life Center:

Mayor's Town Hall
Tuesday, August 28th
Southwest Teen Life Center
2801 SW Thistle St, 98126

5:30 to 6:30 pm: Community information fair
6:30 to 6:40 pm: Youth performance
6:40 to 8:00 pm: Open Q&A with Mayor McGinn and City staff

You can download a flier here. The community center is located directly on the 22 bus route, and it's also near the 21, 85, and 120. For full transit directions, go to www.metro.kingcounty.gov.

From the opening gun of the first race Highline School District-area teams made their presence felt at the Tuesday, Sept. 7 All-Cities swim meet.

Arbor Heights of the West Seattle/White Center area hosted what is the championship meet for the Seattle Summer Swim League that was first formed in 1960.

The action opened with Reva Zacharias of the Burien-based Gregory Seahurst team winning the girls age 13-14 50-yard freestyle race in a time of 25.45 seconds.

Soon thereafter, Jack Velling, Will McGlothlin, Lucas Richardson and Ian Vanderhoef of Arbor Heights captured second in the boys 8 and under 100 medley relay with a 1:18.56 clocking. Jack Wolff III, Mawell Mudge, Henry Heater and Ethan Reed of Gregory Seahurst were fifth in 1:27.14.
The girls 9-10 100 medley relay had Victoria Dow, Grace Felner, Taylor Johnsen and Jessalynn Traynor of Normandy Park finish fourth in 1:11.03.
Zacharias then teamed up with Angela Gagliardo, Sami Robbins and Emily Zacharias to take the girls 13-14 200 medley relay in 1:53.26.

In case you missed the live action view last Saturday, the Washington State Department of Transportation created a time-lapse video of the first pontoon for the SR 520 floating bridge going through the Hiram M. Chittendem Locks.

As you can see, the pontoon is a tight squeeze for even the large lock, which is 80 ft in width and 825 ft in length. The pontoon is 75 ft in width and 360 ft long, giving only about a 2 1/2 foot clearance on either side! It's hard to imagine that this process will be repeated 76 more times.

The next pontoon is expected to come through sometime this evening.