December 2012

I love words with multiple meanings and I love wordplay, which is why I was delighted by a description at the Seattle Housing Authority’s (SHA) Schwabacher House in Ballard. The Big Build, a project on Nov. 30 to create accessible gardens, was a hotbed of intergenerational activity and will provide actual hot beds for edible plants.

As a group lifted a cedar structure on its side to position soil, a young woman held out her gloved hands for me to admire a very long, healthy earthworm. Just as with another P-Patch related event last summer, I was then passed from one volunteer to the next, each one excited about the project and wanting to give credit to the other.

What was actually happening, along a parking strip on 59th NW St and at the rear of the SHA building, was the installation of raised garden beds that will be fully accessible to those using wheelchairs, walkers, canes or those with limited mobility. The cedar garden bed meeting the soil for the Big Build was the product of many groups, especially Seattle Department of Neighborhood’s P-Patch Program, and Seattle Tilth’s Just Garden Project.

Judy Thielen has been doing window art as a side hobby for about fourteen years. Her holiday artwork has adorned local businesses such as Marv’s Broiler and the Barrel Tavern. For this Christmas season she decorated the front windows of the Locker Room Tavern in White Center on 16th Ave. SW.

Ms. Thielen has had a creative bent since she was a young girl, expressing herself through her drawings. She was introduced to art by her father who did window creations as a side hobby, but was a painter on a much larger scale for the Boeing Aircraft Company.

Each creation takes about one day to finish. “I go to Google and print the art I want (for the intended purpose). The pictures are tiny; I use a sharpie pen and draw them by hand (onto the window).
Then begin the painting”.

Her window art lends a festive attitude to the business core of White Center

A Note to Our Friends and Neighbors of West Seattle and beyond –

Our friend Peggy Munsen passed away tragically from a fire in her home on November 24th. To quote her sister, Kay, “Peggy was a friend to all.” She was a wonderfully sweet and kind lady with a wicked sense of humor and a hearty laugh that could make you laugh; a dear friend who will be greatly missed.

When we first saw the news about the fire, all I could think of was “How would they find her sisters (both out of town) to let them know she passed?” and so we (my husband and I) raced over to Peggy’s that night and gave the fire commander the contact information, who then contacted her sister, Kay, of Bremerton.

With Peggy’s passing, it became very apparent to us that very few people would know how to reach our families (all out of town) if such circumstances were to happen to us.

Update, 2:52 p.m.: Cause of the power outage has been determined -- a seagull flew into a powerline. Certainly this makes reader Sierra's comment much more sad:

"I live near Sweedish Hospital in Ballard and I heard a boom outside when the power went out. Looked out the window and saw all the birds flying away from the Market St area. I hope the power comes back on soon."

Majority of power will be restored after 3 p.m.

Update, 2:35 p.m.: Estimated time for the power to come back on is 5 p.m. But that could change.

Original: Seattle City Light is en route to find out why a power outage hit Ballard.

Currently, the outage is hitting an estimate of 5,240 residents, from the Ship Canal up north to NW 70th St, west to Puget Sound and east to 9th Ave NW. You can see a map of outages at http://www.seattle.gov/light/sysstat/

Not everyone is affected.

We'll update with more info.

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On Sunday, passersby may have noticed an ill-conceived joke on the A-board sitting outside the Ballard Station Public House, a bar which just opened up back in August.

"We have more specials than a retarded playground."

At least three Yelp.com reviewers made mention of the sign -- giving the restaurant a low one-star rating -- two of which said they went inside and asked an employee about the sign.

"We went inside and asked that the message get changed and the bartender just replied by saying we didn't know how to see the humor in life. Not the right response, buddy. You just lost me and everyone I know as customers," wrote user P.K.

"I spoke with the person responsible for this sign, and he told me that he wrote it because he likes to find humor in life," wrote user John H.

At first, management appeared to reject that an employee was the cause of the sign. In initial Facebook posts, Ballard Station management claimed that it was a regular who had tagged the sign and expressed frustration that an incident would ever occur. the Facebook posts have since been deleted.

The West Seattle Symphony Orchestra will present its Fall 2012 Concert, Russian Holiday, on Tuesday, December 4 at 7:00pm. Chief Sealth International High School Auditorium, 2600 SW Thistle St., Seattle.

Beginning with Mikhail Glinka's "Russlan & Ludmilla Overture", and finishing with the classic Tchaikovsky "Nutcracker Suite" you'll hear some of our favorites of Russian composers. In the middle, enjoy Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on Greensleeves" and another Tchaikovsky favorite, "Mozartiana"!

Donations suggested and appreciated. Post-concert reception.

Download a large version of the poster above at the link.

Today's 11.8 + high tide combined with gusting winds made for dramatic scenes along Alki Beach this morning. Photographer David Rosen was out around the area capturing photos of the heavy weather action.

The National Weather Service issued a Special Weather Statement this morning that notes that heavy rainfall over the past week and before will increase the potential for landslides but no specific weather warnings were issued for our area.

Alert:
...HEAVY RAINFALL OVER THE PAST WEEK AND ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL OVER THE LAST THREE WEEKS HAS LED TO AN INCREASED RISK OFLANDSLIDES...
RAINFALL OF 2 TO 5 INCHES IN THE LOWLANDS OVER THE PAST WEEK HAS INCREASED SOIL MOISTURE TO HIGH LEVELS ACROSS WESTERN WASHINGTON.

Ballard's "Art Church" is about to go away.

The old church at 2051 NW 61st St, which was briefly retrofitted into a home and art studio in 2009 by Marianne Maksirisombat, is slated for demolition.

According to a decision made by the Department of Planning and Development on Dec. 3, the demolition of the building will have no significant environmental impacts. During the process, neighbors should expect the usual noise associated with such work and a brief period of time where there will be more particulate matter in the air. But such impacts will be temporary in nature.

Since the church was more than 50 years old, it was referred to the Department of Neighborhood's Landmark Preservation Board to see if it would qualify for landmark status, but the structure was deemed unlikely to qualify, according to the DPD report.

Only one comment was received throughout the entire public notice period, asking what was going to be built there.

The 'Residences at 3295' at the corner of Avalon Way and 35th Ave SW are finally complete and now renting according to the building's management.

There are 60 units in the building ranging from studios to 2 bedrooms with two baths.
The rents will range from $1,175-$2,050. Square footage runs from 455 - 1,038 sq. feet. A $500 deposit is required.

Their website lists some of the building's amenities:

Unit Amenities

• Contemporary tile flooring in bathrooms
• Art glass lighting fixtures
• Custom self closing hardwood cabinets
• Wood-style flooring in kitchen & entry paired with modern carpet
• Chic quartz stone countertops with undermount sinks
• Extra large functional windows allowing abundant natural light
• Stainless steel energy star Whirlpool appliances including microwave
• Balconies with views of downtown Seattle & territorial views in select homes
• In-unit front loading Whirlpool washer & dryer

Community Amenities

After the Burien City Council has squandered time and money for several years on the annexation, ignoring existing city needs, North Highline has rejected the overtures of the council to annex North Highline.

A recent statement made by Burien City Manager Mike Martin, which appeared in the Nov. 16th issue of the Highline Times was an eye opener. The statement read, "It's a good thing to know where our borders are.” We knew where the borders were before all the annexation falderol. Brilliant statement.

Now it has been reported in the recent Burien City newsletter that the city has to dip into the reserve fund in the amount of $1.1 million dollars to make ends meet. Since King County could not provide desired and necessary services to North Highline, how would Burien have been able to afford the annexation?

Sounds like a lot of the costs of annexation were conveniently ignored or left out during the annexation appeal. The next election can't come soon enough.

James Sharkey
Burien