March 2013

Press release:

The Highline Historical Society is pleased to announce that it will showcase the work of four outstanding Highline-area quilt artists for two weeks at the end of March.

“A Sense of Place: In My Garden, Under the Sea – Four Highline Quilt Artists” will feature the work of Marie O’Kelley, Carla Stehr, Sonia Grasvik and Linda Johanson.

It will be available for viewing from March 18-29 at the Burien Community Center (14700 6th Avenue SW, Burien) during that facility’s regular open hours. Admission is free.

The exhibit will be curated by Lloyd Herman, a Highline Historical Society board trustee and Director Emeritus of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., and by Highline Historical Society curator Nancy Salguero McKay.

The Historical Society seeks a few more volunteers to staff an exhibit information table in 4-hour shifts (3 shifts/day on Monday through Thursday, and 2 shifts on Fridays).

Press release:

Burien Little Theatre announces auditions for BLT’s 2013 Bill & Peggy Hunt Playwrights Festival of four brand spanking new plays. These scripts have never been produced elsewhere. Each play will be part of a double-bill, and each will have six performances.

The producer is seeking actors to portray 19 male and female characters ranging in age from 16 through 60s, including five that are specifically black, plus some ethnic-neutral roles. Actors of all ethnicities are encouraged to audition. Details on shows and characters are listed below.
The festival runs May 3-May 26 at Burien Little Theatre in Burien. Performances of main-stage plays are Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons.
Rehearsals for some shows will begin around March 25, and others will begin around April 7.
Auditions are Tuesday, March 12 and Wednesday, March 13 from 7 to 10 p.m. Callbacks are scheduled for Sunday, March 17 from 6 to 9 p.m., and there may be additional callback dates.

Press release:

The Port of Seattle Commission has selected Courtney Gregoire to fill the seat vacated by Gael Tarleton.

Gregoire, daughter of former Gov. Chris Gregoire, joins the port after serving as the director of President Obama’s National Export Initiative and other high-profile work to support economic development in Washington and across the country.

“Courtney brings unparalleled accomplishments and relationships that will advance the port’s mission to create family-wage jobs by growing trade. We’re excited to welcome her to our team,” said Commission President Tom Albro. “We had a great opportunity to watch all our outstanding finalists in action during our open public process, a process we will also use for our second vacancy.”

Gregoire is an attorney at Microsoft, where she supports the firm’s worldwide sales group. She served previously as deputy chief of staff to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and legislative director to Sen. Maria Cantwell.

She has degrees from Harvard Law School and Willamette University.

Press release:

Local attorney David Gehrke, senior partner in the Des Moines law firm, Gehrke Wegener & Doull, has announced his candidacy for Des Moines Municipal Court Judge.

Gehrke filed his campaign documents with the Public Disclosure Commission in February and will be on the November 2013 ballot.

This will be the first time the city of Des Moines has elected its own judge.

A life-long resident of the Des Moines area, Gehrke says he is looking forward to the opportunity to give back to the city of Des Moines where he and his family have lived for many years.

“I have 35 years’ experience as a trial lawyer. I think people deserve to have the best and the most experienced presiding over our community courts where most people have their one and only chance to see justice at work. What a privilege it will be to serve my own community in this way.”

By Sam Reed
Athletic Director/Activity Coordinator
Chief Sealth International High School

How quickly time flies. As I sat down to work on this season’s recap – something that has become one of my favorite parts this job – I looked through my files to see that this is my 11th season recap over the past 4 years. And while this season didn’t bring State rankings, divisional championships or the local media blitz that’s been associated with so many of our recent sports seasons, these recaps remind me what is special about high school athletics. 181 Seahawk student-athletes participated in a winter sport and they did so not because they were promised their name in the paper, a State title, or event recognition by their peers. Instead, they sweated through 14 weeks of practices and games because they valued the camaraderie of their teammates and the bond that comes out in competition.

If you've driven down Seaview Ave recently, you may have seen a couple oddities by the Ballard Bridge: an old 1903 steam crane, the framework of what looks like a ranch and a sign that says, simply, "PONO" and "PonoRanchBallard.com."

What is it? It's a new restaurant and cafe: Pono Ranch Restaurant and Le Ponte Cafe (Shilshole Ave NW and NW 46th St), owned by Jon Burgett and set to open the summer of 2013. While there's still some time until completion, the people behind the restaurant say they plan to have a "variety of organic omnivore and herbivore menu offerings, including cafe sandwiches, salads and pastries, plus a take-n-grill selection of meats and veggies for our self-serve BBQ deck."

Additionally, Pono can serve as a pit stop for bicyclists on the Missing Link section of the Burke-Gilman trail -- in case they need respite from all of the trucks on Seaview Ave.

Human trafficking isn't getting any breaks in the Washington State Senate. 36th District's Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Belltown) and others have been hard at work pushing through bills to prevent and stifle the problem.

On Monday, March 4, the Senate passed two bills to crack down on traffickign minors for commercial sex: SB 5488, sponsored by Kohl-Welles, and SB 5669, sponsored by Sen. Mike Padden (R-Spokane Valley).

SB 5488 is Kohl-Welles' second attempt on penalizing online sex trafficking. It would impose an additional $5,000 fine on top of existing penalties when online ads are used for sex trafficking of minors. The money would go toward the state's prostitution prevention and intervention account.

SB 5669 would expand the definition of crimes related to sex trafficking and strengthen penalties against abusers.

Both bills passed unanimously.

“Every year we have to come up with a response to some new way that people, especially children, are being victimized, and SB 5488 is an example,” said Padden, a co-sponsor of the measure.

As part of Celtic Swell Irish Pub’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, they are holding a “family-friendly” pet costume contest on Saturday, March 16 at their Alki location. Donations made during the event will go to the Seattle Humane Society and if the weather cooperates, an informal "Pets and Their People" parade will take place.

Here are all the details from Annie Allison with Celtic Swell:

Alki’s Celtic Swell Irish Pub Hosts First Annual St. Patrick’s Day “Pets & Their People” Pet Costume Contest to Benefit the Seattle Humane Society

Help West Seattle’s Authentic Irish Pub & Restaurant Support the Seattle Humane Society, Celebrate St. Pat’s Day with Family-Friendly Pet Costume Contest, Free Photo Booth, Food, Drinks and Prizes!!!

Sat. March 16th at The Celtic Swell, 2PM- 4PM

Update, April 24

Governor Jay Inslee signed House Bill 1647 into law on Tuesday, April 23, which will require landlords to safely secure spare and master keys to rental units.

Update, April 13

Rep. Gael Tarleton (D-Ballard)'s bill, House Bill 1647, which would require landlords to safely secure spare keys has now passed the state Senate. Her bill passed 42-5 yesterday.

“I know that House Bill 1647 is necessary because I lived through what happens when bad people have unchecked access to duplicate keys,” Dana Widrig, whose story inspired Tarleton to create the bill, stated in February during public testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. “I expected to feel safe in my home and I was not safe on December 5, 2009, because my landlord did not protect my key from unauthorized access by its maintenance person.”

The bill will now go to the governor for consideration.

Read the original story below for more details.

Original, March 6

“Didn’t you tell them we didn’t have a fireplace damper?” Martin asked me afterwards. “They didn’t ask,” I claimed. When scheduling the energy audit with Sustainable Works there was discussion about cleaning the fireplace beforehand because of a “blower door” test. I dutifully cleared ashes from the fireplace.

In truth I was clueless. Clueless about what the energy audit would entail. Clueless about the fact that having a fireplace without a damper in the living room was the equivalent of an open window at all times and as clueless about the ability to have a warm home as I once was about where babies came from. But that’s a separate story of ignorance.

This particular story starts about four years ago when Martin and I both had 45 days to sell our respective homes. Five days before closing (and perhaps not coincidentally at the first snowfall of what would become the blizzard that put Mayor Nickels out of office) he had an incident that ultimately involved the fire department, an accidentally closed damper and an unimaginable amount of smoke in ten minutes. Moving into a home with no damper actually seemed safer.