February 2013

Four families are waiting to donate 9.4 acres of wooded land with a stream that will be added to Burien’s second largest park.

But there’s a glitch-- the city does not have an ordinance that sets forth the procedure to formally accept donated property and carry out the terms of the donation.

Burien lawmakers plan to remedy that at their Feb. 25 council meeting.

City Attorney Craig Knutson introduced the proposed ordinance at the Feb. 4 meeting. It would authorize City Manager Mike Martin to accept donations or bequests of money or property on the city’s behalf. The city manager would also be delegated to negotiate and accept any conditions for the donation. If the conditions are not met, the property could revert back to the original owners.

If there are no conditions, the city could use the property for any municipal purpose.

The city manager would also designate the appropriate city fund or department to which the donation would be allocated. Knutson noted the city manager could also refuse a donation.

By Shara Wallace and Steve Shay
HIGHLINE TIMES

3 Tukwila men shot
Responding to a shooting Monday morning, Feb. 11 in the 15800 block of 39th Place S., Tukwila police officers found two victims that had been shot; A 50-year-old male with a gunshot wound to the chest and a 20- year-old male with a gunshot wound to the leg. The two victims are father and son.
The suspect, a 35 year-old male was quickly located by a Tukwila police K-9 unit. Once in custody, it was discovered that the suspect had a gunshot wound to his shoulder.
Both victims were transported to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
The suspect was treated for his injuries and was released from the hospital. He was interviewed by Tukwila detectives.

Burien Man detained at Sea-Tac

Sound Transit is beginning their Ballard transit expansion study soon to figure out whether Ballard is a candidate for high capacity transit (HCT), e.g., light rail or street car.

For Ballard, which is tucked away in the northwest corner of Seattle and far from I-5 -- yet still has a popular nightlife scene on Ballard Ave and the third most visited tourist attraction, the Ballard Locks -- it's a long time coming.

The study was first approved by voters in 2008 when they passed the ST2 plan, which included studying potential HCT options from Ballard to Downtown.

The study will have to answer a difficult question, though: How to cross the ship canal. A new bridge could be costly, but there may not be enough capacity on current bridges for HCT.

Sound Transit and the Seattle Department of Transportation will study the following:

• Identify project goals and objectives
• Identify possible alignments between Ballard and downtown Seattle
• Evaluate and refine potential HCT light rail and rapid streetcar alignments and station locations

On Wednesday, Feb. 13, get ready for another Ballard District Council meeting. It will feature the introduction of a Ballard-to-Downtown high capacity transit study (which could mean light rail for Ballard); the Ballard District Council's much awaited transit survey (coughRapidRideDcough); a "chat" with City Councilmember Tim Burgess, who is also running for mayor; and the introduction of Officer Tim Wear, who will be taking the place of the much beloved Scott McGlashan on the community police team (we're sure Wear is great, too).

Here's the full agenda:

--

7:00 -- Introductions & Short Announcements - please hold announcements to not more than one min.

7:15 -- Ballard to Downtown Transit Expansion Study, Karen Waterman, PM – Sound Transit
and Michael James – SDOT

Sound Transit and Seattle DOT formally launch this project which will evaluate demand, potential transit alignments, and modes of transit service between downtown Seattle and Ballard. For more information

http://www.soundtransit.org/x7914.xml

On Sunday, Feb. 17, people from Ballard and beyond will be protesting the proposed coal train terminal near Bellingham. The proposed terminal would bring about 18 one-mile-and-one-half trains through Seattle and the Ballard neighborhood on their way to the terminal.

At 11:30 a.m., a 30-minute rally will take place in the northern end of Golden Gardens Park at one of the two shelters. It will feature speakers, including Mayor Mike McGinn. Organizers say there will be plenty of red balloons to make them easy to spot.

Then, protestors will form a “walking train against coal trains,” starting at Golden Gardens and going along the Burke Gilman trail about a mile down to Ray's Boathouse.

The day of the protest lands on the same day as a march planned in Washington D.C. against fossil fuels. The public comment period on the environmental impact review officially ended in January.

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By Christopher Duclos

It was a classic Seattle basketball game as Ballard traveled to Juanita High to take on their rival, Garfield.

It took the Beavers some time to find their footing against the Bulldogs as they were outscored in the 1st period 17-6. Eventually, the Beavers were able to come back to narrow the lead, coming down to a reachable two-point difference in the 3rd quarter. But the Beavers were still unable to catch up to Garfield. Garfield broke away again in the 4th quarter. As the final seconds ticked down, Garfield kept scoring, leading to a loss for Ballard, 55-41.

Scoring Summary – Johnny Verduin, 12 points; Ray Owens, 11; Seth Berger, 7; Nate Rauda, 7; Nick Brown, 2; Stuart MacGeorge, 2.

The season is not yet over. In order to be eliminated from playoff contention, the Beavers must lose twice. They will play their next game against Newport on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 4:45 p.m. The season will end for whichever team loses that match-up.

Notes:

• Johnny Verduin scorred his 700th career point for Ballard against Friday night’s action against Garfield.

By Elizabeth Wang

While 18 staff members of Ballard High School (Update: the number is now 43) have joined the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) boycott, Ballard parents have exhibited a different spread of opinions.

As the father of two Ballard High School students, Michael Lemon, BHS PTSA president, said he isn't sure which end of the debate he sides with.

“I have mixed feelings about it as a parent,” Lemon said. “It is a distraction from other curricula that (the students) are supposed to be paying attention to. It's not required for them to graduate and a lot of them don't take them seriously for that reason.”

One of the main concerns of MAP protesters is its inefficient use of resources. Because it is a computer-based test, taking the MAP requires pulling students from their regularly scheduled classes to use the computer labs, which have been restricted to other students for use during testing hours.

Friday, Feb. 8
Boys basketball
Kennedy 46, Auburn-Mountainview 40
Kennedy prevailed in Friday's playoff game held in the Auburn-Mountainview gymnasium.
Foster 44, Lindbergh 43
The Bulldogs slipped past the Eagles in Friday's postseason action.
Girls basketball
Lindbergh 41, Foster 37
Williams scored 11 points and Donkor 10 for the Bulldogs in Friday's loss to Lindbergh.

Saturday, Feb. 9
Boys basketball
Lakes 57, Kennedy 34
Kennedy Catholic took a loss Saturday but still received a second round berth into this week's West Central District action.
The Lancers play Mount Tahoma or Mountain View of Vancouver in a 4:30 p.m. game at Franklin Pierce High School this coming Friday.
Port Townsend 44, SCS 33
Seattle Christian absorbed an 11-point loss in Saturday's playoff at Port Townsend.
Ev. Luth. 70, Mount Vernon Chr. 51
Evergreen Lutheran of Des Moines delivered a lopsided win over Mount Vernon Christian this past Saturday.
The Eagles go to Mount Vernon Christian to play Lummi in 7 p.m. action Tuesday.
Mount Rainier

As the Highline High School girls gymnastics team huddled on the mats listening to the announcer listing the final team standings, it was confident it had done its best no matter what the results might display.

Going into the final rotation, the Pirates trailed Port Angeles by a slim margin and held a slight advantage in the scoring over North Kitsap.

After sticking a solid beam performance, they felt good about their efforts, but knew it would be close for the third and final team allocation to the state gymnastics meet to be held on Feb. 15-16 at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall.

"It's the best night we've ever had," commented assistant coach Kevin Tessandore at the time. "It's really going to be close for the third spot."

The team standings report continued as a nerve-wracked Highline squad wondered if its hard work and effort would finally send the team to state for the first time.

Mount Rainier's sixth place team total of 162.875 was not enough to qualify to state, but a trio of talented athletes attained the opportunity to compete as individuals in the 2013 state gymnastics meet held at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall on Feb 15-16.

Emerald Ridge scored an impressive 176.375 to fly away with the No. 1 seed to state. Thomas Jefferson edged out Mead of Spokane 169.7 to 169.2 for the final seed from the eight-team West Central III/Greater Spokane League VIII bi-district meet held at Mount Rainier on Sat., Feb. 9.

"We had a rough start on beam, but did really well on the other three events," said Ram head coach Ali Kestle. "It just was not enough. Katya and Kerrie are going and so is sophomore Ava Welch. I'm extremely happy for Emeral Ridge. We're pulling for them."

The top three all-arounds from a non-state team qualified as well as the top 10 individuals on each event from non-state contingents.