September 2012

Shilshole Bay Marina Celebrates 50th Birthday

While everyone is tied up celebrating Seattle Center and the Space Needle's 50th Birthday -- a.k.a. the anniversary of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair -- there is another, perhaps overlooked birthday closer to us here in Ballard: Shilshole Bay Marina is turning 50!

And of course this is cause for celebration, folks. Tonight, starting at 5:30 p.m., will be the kickoff of a series of events dedicated to the Marina's history. According to the website, there will be music, a bouncy house, birthday treats, dinner and free sailboat rides courtesy of the Seattle Sailing Club (space is limited!)

It looks to be a nice family fun event, but it could also be the start of a date night. Grab a girl or a guy, go on a sailboat, have a picnic, walk along the bay to Golden Gardens and watch the sunset.

More info

Grand Openings for Romanza and Nick's Off Market

Two Ballard businesses are having their official grand (re)openings this weekend, and you should take some time to stop by and show your support for our local guys. And a hearty "Welcome back!"

Kevin Carrabine has lived in Ballard for 24 years. He co-founded Friends of the Burke-Gilman Trail and serves on the Board of the Cascade Bicycle Club.

Seattle’s diverse neighborhoods are a source of pride and joy, and each contributes something unique to the weave of our civic fabric. Ballard is foremost among them, and a place I’m proud to call home.

Unfortunately, for Ballardites who want to travel to and from other neighborhoods in ways that limit pollution, keep us healthy, and set an example for our children, the streets often feel too dangerous. We are forced to weave through fast-moving traffic or negotiate poorly maintained or absent sidewalks and bikeways.

The Ballard Boys & Girls Club wanted to pass along a "BIG THANK YOU" to Regal Cinemas, who not only donated to and supported the club this summer, but even went as far as to give kids a movie and tour.

The All Girls Tech Camp visited the Regal Cinema at Northgate to watch 'Chimpanzee' and then got a tour from Avi (pictured above), a King County Boys & Girls Club alumna.

Sounds like they had fun!

SLIDESHOW: Click on photo for more

The Annual Port of Seattle sponsored Duwamish River 101 Port tour left balmy Bell Harbor Marina Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. for a two hour tour. With Argosy's Captain Paul at the wheel, the ship was fully-booked, with environmental experts, Boeing and Port reps, neighborhood activists and other citizens. Speakers discussed the unique challenges the Duwamish faces including cleanup of its toxic river bed in the face of jobs, the Georgetown and South Park residents, and wildlife. The river bed contains PCBs, arsenic, dioxin and numerous other chemicals.

The Port partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency, Boeing, Duwamish River Clean Up Coalition (DRCC), Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS), Manufacturing Industrial Council, and Vigor Shipyards. These groups supplied speakers. The Port's Sally del Fierro organized the event, and Port historian George Blomberg hosted.

October 3 will mark the one-year anniversary West Seattle-raised Amanda Knox was acquitted with her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, of the brutal murder of her British college roommate, Meredith Kercher, in Perugia, Italy. Ms. Kercher was stabbed to death Nov. 1, 2007. The trial grabbed both headlines and imaginations worldwide. It transformed those involved into unwilling celebrities trapped in a gruesome ordeal.

The first trial found Knox, Sollecito, and Rudy Guede, guilty. Guede was born in the Ivory Coast, and described by some as a career criminal and drifter. The appeal trial followed, and the murder verdict was overturned for Knox and Sollecito. Guede's guilty verdict stuck, and he remains in prison. DNA experts discredited original findings, and the judge discredited at a least one of the prosecutors' "star witness", a homeless drug addict who recently passed away.

In an impressive season opening performance as the girls from Kennedy simply swam away from a young Highline/Evergreen team 125 to 43 at the Evergreen Community Aquatics Center Sept. 13.

Kennedy coach Sean Prothero said he was impressed with his swimmers and that his girls had “a lot of best times”.

Kennedy competes next at Foster HS on September 18th.

Rachel Loy- Highline/Evergreen coach was pumped about her team’s performance. “For a first meet against Kennedy (always tough) I think they did really awesome”.

Rachel will take her team to Mt. Rainier HS on the 18th of September.

SLIDESHOW: Click on photo for more

The Annual Port of Seattle sponsored Duwamish River 101 Port tour left balmy Bell Harbor Marina Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. for a two hour tour. With Argosy's Captain Paul at the wheel, the ship was fully-booked, with environmental experts, Boeing and Port reps, neighborhood activists and other citizens. Speakers discussed the unique challenges the Duwamish faces including cleanup of its toxic river bed in the face of jobs, the Georgetown and South Park residents, and wildlife. The river bed contains PCBs, arsenic, dioxin and numerous other chemicals.

The Port partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency, Boeing, Duwamish River Clean Up Coalition (DRCC), Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS), Manufacturing Industrial Council, and Vigor Shipyards. These groups supplied speakers. The Port's Sally del Fierro organized the event, and Port historian George Blomberg hosted.

Highline public school students have closed the gap in test scores with other students in the state in math for every grade level.

That was among the conclusions presented Sept. 12 to Highline School Board members by the district’s chief accountability officer, Alan Spicciati.

Spicciati highlighted state test scores achieved by sixth-graders during the spring tests. The state standard was met by 61.9 percent of Highline sixth-graders. The state average for meeting the standard was 61.4 percent, slightly below Highline’s percentage.

He said the district realized it had a problem after the 2006-2007 school year when only 32.9 percent of Highline sixth-graders met the math standard, compared to 49.6 percent statewide.

“It would have been hard to find anyone then who would have bet on Highline catching up,” Spicciati declared.

He noted the district as a whole improved math scores by 29 percent. Latino students gained 30 points.

“If we can do it in sixth-grade math, we can do it anywhere,” Spicciati declared.

The BEX IV Levy whose extensive list of impacts will include the complete replacement of Arbor Heights Elementary School is the subject of a community meeting set for Sept. 24 at Madison Middle School.

In a press release today the school district described the purpose and details of the meeting and two others:

"Seattle Public Schools will host three community meetings – on Sept. 20, 24 and 27 – to share information and ask for comments about building construction projects to be included in the Building Excellence IV (BEX IV) Capital Levy package. Once approved by the School Board, this list of construction projects will be submitted to Seattle voters in February 2013.

The community meetings will be held:
· Thursday, Sept. 20, 6:30-8 p.m. at Whitman Middle School, 9201-15th Ave. N.W.
· Monday, Sept. 24, 6:30-8 p.m. at Madison Middle School, 3429 45th Ave SW
· Thursday, Sept. 27, 6:30 -8 p.m. at McClure Middle School, 1915-1st Ave. W.

To read the latest list of projects on the proposed BEX IV levy, please visit http://bit.ly/SPSBEX

UPDATE: Saturday, 6:00 p.m.

By Steve Shay

Furney’s Nursery in Des Moines hosted the AmpleHarvest Seattle Festival Sept. 15 to benefit AmpleHarvest.org, a web-based resource that enables home gardeners to donate their excess produce to local food pantries. Currently, 5,500 pantries and food banks are registered, including those in Des Moines, White Center and West Seattle.

Featured speakers supporting AmpleHarvest included gardening expert Ed Hume, and Emmy Award-winning TV chef and author, Graham Kerr, who many remember as the "Galloping Gourmet." He and his wife Treena, who also attended, have lived in Mount Vernon, WA. for 12 years.

Kerr told the audience he understood temptation of fattening food and gave this example, "A sugar-glazed doughnut filled with jam that you can dunk into really-leaded coffee on a cold morning, steaming up with that fragrance.