July 2013

News release:
Storytelling has become a worldwide phenomenon. The Puget Sound’s newest annual festival, hosted at PowellsWood Garden on the upper edge of the Redondo greenbelt, is expanding this year to include a global-village emphasis. Tamil storyteller Jeeva Raghunath, based in Chennai, India, will be headlining the PowellsWood Storytelling Festival, now in its second year.

The festival runs July 26 and 27th and features a day of workshops in addition to a full day of storytelling.

One of the garden’s four storytelling venues, the spectacular and newly redesigned Perennial Borders, will feature a daylong program with an international focus titled, “Lively World Folktales for All Ages.” Raghunath (right) will be contributing along with Heather Forest and internationally-renowned local teller Margaret Read MacDonald. Festival newcomer Syd Lieberman will also co-host a session in the Spring Garden titled, “Traditions: Tamil, Jewish, Borneo.”

In addition, Donald Davis will share evocative tales from his North Carolina childhood, and Heather Forest will delight with her singing fables and with stories of her life as a gardener.

Ballard is one of the most walkable neighborhoods (cities?) in all of Seattle, with a near perfect score of 94 -- a "walker's paradise," according to walkscore.com. It's also fairly friendly to transit, with a score of 51, and to bicyclists, with a score of 74.

Our neighborhood falls behind four others, in order from first to fourth: Denny Triangle (98), South Lake Union (97), Belltown (97) and Cascade (95). But, it's still fifth out of 100 neighborhoods. Not too shabby.

What makes Ballard so walkable?

People here don't need a car to run daily errands. Between groceries (Safeway, Bartell's, Walgreen's, Ballard Market), mail (Sip and Ship, Ballard Mailbox, the Post Office), the Ballard Branch Library, several parks and more, people can usually go about their day with no greater engine than their own two feet.

Additionally, as if it's any news to anyone, there are lots of restaurants, bars and coffee shops. There are 130 of them, and people can walk to an average of 19 within five minutes.

News release:

Highline School Board Member Angelica Alvarez was honored with a SOAR Partnership Award for Early Learning for her exemplary leadership and contributions to King County communities.

Alvarez has served on the Highline School Board since 2009 and works at Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD) as a PreK-3 Systems Coach. Previously, she was with Child Care Resources for fourteen years.

SOAR is a community coalition that promotes the healthy development of children, youth, and families in King County.

Alvarez is one of just three people to receive the award.

In addition to her work at Highline and PSESD, Alvarez is also Chair of Families and Children Early Support (FACES) South, a coalition of organizations that supports young children in South King County.

if you suffered a burglary and lost something, there's a chance it's among the items recovered from thieves arrested on Sunday, July 7. Seattle Police have posted 70 photos of the items they have and are asking the public to take a look. You can click on the thumbnail photos on the Seattle Police Blotter page and see enlarged versions of each item.

The recovered property includes camera gear, iphones, jewelry, binoculars, and a lot more.

Check the blotter post here: http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2013/07/10/detectives-need-your-help-retu…

UPDATE July 11
The issues that shut down the newly installed Highland Park Spraypark have been resolved according to the Seattle Parks Department and it is open today as of 12:30pm. The sophisticated recirculation and filtering system moves a large amount of water and the system, even from the first day was not completely reliable causing several shutdowns.

Original Post Wednesday July 10
The Highland Park Spraypark that just opened on June 28, after a few stops and starts is now closed so the problems can be addressed. Attempts to keep it operating normally have not worked.

According to Seattle Parks Department, "The temporary solution to keep Highland Park Spraypark in operation has failed. The parts are now in Seattle and Orca Pacific needs to install. They have indicated they will be able to come on Thursday morning. 
 
We are closed today and if the repair goes as planned the site will reopen on Thursday but the time is not known."

Ballard District Council is taking place tonight, Wednesday, July 10, 7 p.m. at the Ballard Branch Library.

A guest from Australia will be making a guest lecture and Ballardites will learn about how the Bike Master Plan affects them.

But if those two items aren't enough to convince you, then you should know that it's the annual ice cream social!

With that in mind, you can expect reporter/renowned ice cream lover Zachariah Bryan to be there.

Agenda

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

7:15 -- What can Ballard and Sydney, Australia learn from each other about good urban design, accommodating growth, and broadening participation, Andy Marlow, Cox Architecture, Sydney, Australia.

Andy is a well recognized architect/urban planner in Australia. He is in the U.S. studying community engagement practices in Seattle, Vancouver, BC, and Chicago.

7:35 -- Staff Report, Rob Mattson

7:40 -- Executive Committee Report, Catherine Weatbrook

7:50 -- Annual Ballard DC Ice Cream Social. This year, America West Bank is proving the ice cream.

By Peggy Sturdivant

My family lives back east, including my sister and three nieces, sharing a cottage in the summer with my parents. My nieces often pronounce me 100% more hilarious than their own mother. They love to watch me tease their mother, as a big sister was born to do.

Every once in a while my sister sputters, “Well, you’re the one they consider hysterical.”

“Hilarious,” I correct her, with a meaningful wink toward at least one of the twins.

However this year my completely undeserved reputation for humor has spread farther. Over the course of an unprecedented six weeks with family (longest period since college) I sent desperate missives by email and text to a friend in Seattle.

“You know you’re hilarious,” my friend told me upon my return, but she didn’t mean it in a completely good way. “You send these messages that are absolutely biblical in their despair and now you return and say it was wonderful. You’re hilarious.”

She might by confusing hysterical in this case. She says it must be part of what makes me a writer. Unless she’s trying to avoid saying it’s what makes me a liar.

Ballard families have a unique opportunity to share our great American (or great Ballard) culture with visiting students. The American Homestay Network has a short term opportunity for families here in Ballard to be a "homestay host" for a visiting international student.

Here are the details:

• As part of an upcoming “Be American” tour, the American Homestay Network (AHN) is hosting a group of 20 Chinese students from July 28th through August 13th to learn the ins and outs of the American Culture.
• The students will be studying at Seattle Pacific University (SPU) on the north side of Queen Anne.
• AHN is seeking host families within the Ballard, Queen Anne, Fremont, U-District, and Wallingford areas to host one or two students for their visit to our city.
• All of the students are high school aged, and they can share a room if there are two twin beds. Internet should be available to them.
• Hosts are asked to provide a self-serve breakfast, help the students pack a lunch and eat dinner with them for the two week session.

From King County Wastewater Treatment Division

To protect public health and the environment, King County is continuing to build a new 84-inch siphon pipe under Salmon Bay between the Ballard and Interbay areas of Seattle. The project will prevent sewer overflows into Salmon Bay and sewer backups in North Seattle homes and businesses.

Beginning tomorrow, July 10, crews will be grinding the existing asphalt and paving the south shoulder of Shilshole Ave NW near the Ballard Siphon project site. The paving will support a detour around the project site when it extends into Shilshole Ave NW later this summer; see below for more information.

During paving, Shilshole Ave NW near NW Dock Pl will be reduced to alternating one-way traffic between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Crews expect to complete this work by July 17 and will not be working weekends.

What to expect during paving work:

• Alternating one-way traffic on Shilshole Ave NW near the project site from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Traffic control signs and flaggers to ease congestion through the area
• Parking restrictions in work area

West Seattle merchants now have a slogan and theme for the summer (and beyond) you'll see in various forms around the area in coming months. "We Have That" is meant to reflect the abundance of choices people here, or even those visiting here have for entertainment, dining, recreation and shopping.

The effort is part of a re-energized "Buy Local" campaign being led by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce and the West Seattle Junction Merchants Associationchamber(WSJA).

The WSJA is encouraging people to share your photos with them by uploading it on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #wswehavethat