July 2013

Information from the School Design Advisory Team (SDAT) meeting in mid-May and the quarterly Genesee Schmitz Neighborhood Council:

Demolition and construction timeline:
Eric Becker, Sr. Project Manager for Seattle Schools, reported in June that demolition of the existing building has been delayed somewhat. Demolition would begin in November at the earliest, or as late as the following spring. Construction is scheduled to start next May, with the new school to be completed in December 2015 and opening for students in January 2016.

Future meetings:
The next SDAT meeting will be in July, and the next community meeting on the school will be in the fall sometime.

Ram grad college bound

Jason McGlothern’s commitment to Virginia Commonwealth was a decision he knew would shape more than just his college career, but the foundation for his next 40 years The Mount Rainier High School graduate's determination to play soccer at the collegiate level led to his decision to join NCSA Athletic Recruiting, an exclusive recruiting network that provides student athletes with the opportunity and technology to be proactive in their recruiting process. Not only did Jason have the tools he needed for the recruiting process, NCSA also educated him on the steps he needed to take to achieve his goal.

McGlothern has demonstrated the true meaning of “student-athlete.” Earning a 3.30 GPA, Jason has taken multiple AP and honors courses in order to make himself as successful in the classroom as he is on the field. He plans to pursue a degree at the university located in North Canton, Ohio.

As a two-year varsity athlete, Jason was named to 2nd Team All-State and led his team to a 3rd place finish in conference. In 2010, Jason was given the Rookie of the Year Award. McGlothern also has four years of club experience with various soccer clubs in the area.

Gordon Wittenmyer has two major concerns about his career covering the Chicago Cubs for the Chicago Sun Times.

One is the perennial state of the Cubs, who have not been to the World Series since 1945, and the other is for newspapers in general.

"If I live another 100 years, maybe I'll see the Cubs win a championship," he said before the Cubs played the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field on Saturday. "But I don't know if there will be newspapers around then."

The Chicago Sun Times recently went so far as to lay off all of its photographers, in favor of using Associated Press and Getty Images photos -- and pictures from the I Phones of reporters.

"They had a Pulitzer Prize winner on that staff," Wittenmyer said of the missing photographers. "There's less people at the paper, fewer departments, and less wins by the Cubs. The Cubs have not been over .500 since 2009. Some things never change."

By Katie Nelson
HIGHLINE TIMES

An application to construct a pharmacy at the corner of First Avenue South and Southwest 160th Street in Five Corners was approved by Burien officials last week. Now, the city is waiting for a land use decision to be made before proceeding.

Rick Herr, owner of Herr Lumber, which occupied the space until its closure in June 2012, owns the property under consideration. The lot currently houses a local antique store, Lasting Legacy Antiques, and an independent coffee stand, The Bean Hut Espresso. These two businesses will go the same route as the lumber store, should Herr follow through on the sale of the land.

The businesses that could be affected by the pharmacy’s construction have received a letter from the city, Davis said.

“All of the property owners within a 500-foot radius of this sight were notified by letter of the development proposal,” he said. “So I’m assuming that any of the businesses that are operating in that area are probably aware of what’s going on.”

Information from City of Seattle:

City of Seattle offers services during heat wave

SEATTLE – The National Weather Service has issued an Excessive Heat Warning for Seattle and surrounding communities until 11 p.m. Monday evening. In response, the City of Seattle is offering services and information to help members of the public deal with the heat wave.

“Hot weather isn’t frequent in Seattle, so it’s important that we make sure we’re enjoying it safely,” said Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. “Please take a moment to check on your elderly neighbors and relatives to make sure they are staying cool.”

Many homes in Seattle are not equipped with air conditioning and may get very hot during the day. The City offers many locations for you to cool down when the temperatures start to rise. Visit 18 of the City’s libraries, senior centers or Seattle Center facilities for some relief to today’s record-breaking heat. See the lists below.

Ted Nicoloudakis bought Pegasus Pizza on Alki Beach 20 years ago (it was founded in 1984) and on July 1, he wanted to thank the community. How about all of us getting the gift? He said the entire menu would be 20% off for the whole day of July 1 to express his gratitude.

"I want to sincerely thank the West Seattle community for being so loyal to us throughout the years," Nicoloudakis said, "A big thanks to all of our staff past and present, and to my managers Sarah, Clara and my son Nick - without all of you this wouldn't have been possible. Here's to another 20 years!"

The business moved from it's old location 2758 Alki Ave SW in 2008 to its present address at 2770 Alki Ave SW and built a reputation for unique pizza offerings like "Tom's Special" and other Greek Style pizzas. They have a full bar, and are situated on Alki offering an excellent view of the water. There's also outside dining.

By Kyra-lin Hom

It is currently way too hot for thinking. My apartment is on the third floor of an old, air tight converted house. It's air tight to cut down the sound pollution from the nearby airport. This it does remarkably well. So we don't suffocate if we so choose to shut and lock every window, however, there is an internal ventilation system. Unfortunately this cannot be made to serve as an air conditioning unit. We just get the rising heat from the lower apartments. That and my unobstructed window faces west, rendering my normal workspace as hospitable as midday asphalt come evening.

The upside is that this weather is perfect for evening walks. I have in fact just returned from one. See, in researching both this column and my previous one on ag-gag legislation I have rendered myself unable to eat a lot of the foods I would normally enjoy. The walk was to clear my head and acquire a dinner that didn't turn my sensibilities.

The Copper Gate, "The place your mother warned you about" and "Scandalnavian since 1946" according to signs placed outside, had its last call yesterday, Sunday, June 30.

Recently, the Copper Gate was sold to locals who were fans of The Viking (which was located right across the street and closed due to development) and who wanted to recreate, in a sense, that kind of bar in Ballard, according to Copper Gate co-owner Jon Alberts. While rumors fly that there might be more of a focus on sports, nothing has been confirmed yet.

A liquor license application is in to the Liquor Control Board for a new bar called "Olaf's."

"I feel like on the one hand, we love the place (Copper Gate). We had fun running it and we loved being here and the music scene here. ... I feel like it's very positive looking back at the last seven years," said Alberts, who co-owns the Copper Gate along with Graham Graham. "At the same time, it's a business decision, not an easy decision to come by, (but) the fact that it's Ballardians doing something Ballardian and not not something corporate is kind of nice."

Denmark, specifically Copenhagen, was a stopover for me and my new bride Elsbeth on our trip around Europe in the winter of 1968. I had lost my first wife to cancer. It was tough but getting remarried made sense, since I still had two young boys at home and they needed more than I could provide as a single parent.

I was lucky. I had known Elsbeth from her days as a waitress at the old Epicure Restaurant in White Center. It was a short courtship and marriage with a small coterie of friends in attendance.

Then, off to Yurp, as I like to say. "Beth" was from Germany, near Dusseldorf. Ironically I was working at Boeing during WWII, building the very planes that bombed that city into dust. Beth dodged all the bombs and married a G.I. there, after the war. The marriage did not work out, leaving her in White Center with three young ones of her own to manage.

As I said, I was lucky. We combined our families and celebrated 43 years together before I lost her two years ago.

The somewhat oddly named "SpudNeuter" event at Ola Salon on June 30 was a blend of food, music and fun and included a very famous presence who kindly lent his name to the effort to raise funds for feline rescue organization Kitty Harbor.

In attendance were the now famous Oskar the Blind Cat and his companion Klaus who have become internet sensations following appearances on the Ellen Degeneres show, Keith Olberman's show on MSNBC and others.

Oskar, who has been blind since birth was seen in the first video batting at the air coming from a hair dryer (on cold setting). It has been seen over 2 million times and his humans Mick Szydlowski and wife Bethany have taken him around to places all around the nation. They moved from Omaha to Seattle in November of last year. They went on to make a series of other videos including one of Oskar as a kitten playing with toys that has been seen 4 million times. Oskar's toy video won a $15,000 grand prize in the Friskies Video Contest.