July 2013

Update, Aug. 26

Geo's Cuban and Creole opened up for business over the weekend. We'll have a full article up sometime today.

Update, July 26

A new post on Geo's Facebook reveals that they plan on opening next week. We'll stop by and try to get a peek.

Original, July 25

According to the Liquor Control Board license applications, a new restaurant appears to be on its way: Geo's Cuban and Creole.

The restaurant owners applied for a beer/wine permit and will be located at 6301 Seaview Ave NW, just south of the popular Cuban sandwich place Paseo.

No details yet. The only sign of the restaurant is a blank Facebook page with two pictures.

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It was a record-setting crowd for a SeaTac City Council meeting on July 23 when more than 200 people jammed into council chambers and overflowed into the adjoining municipal courtroom as lawmakers voted unanimously to place the airport workers minimum wage initiative on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Despite nearly two hours of testimony geared toward swaying lawmakers, council members didn’t have much choice. Since the initiative received enough valid signatures, the council was required to either adopt the ordinance outright or send it to general election voters. Council members declined the first choice.

And sounding the last note of the nearly three-hour session, Mayor Tony Anderson noted it likely will be the courts, not lawmakers or voters, who decide the initiative’s final fate.

City Attorney Mary Mirante Bartolo reported a King County Superior Court judge on Nov. 19 refused to grant an injunction barring the council from sending the measure to the voters.

She added the judge did not rule on the measure’s validity.

“That’s looming out there,” Bartolo added.

Three burglary suspects are in custody on July 24 after allegedly stealing several firearms and other items from a home on the 10700 block of 4th Ave. S., according to King County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Cindi West.

West said KCSO received a call of suspicious activity in the early afternoon after a neighbor saw an unknown vehicle backed in near the home and people walking in and out of the house with loot.

“A detective in an unmarked car arrived and watched the situation unfold,” West said. “He saw a few young men leaving the house carrying guns and what looked like a pillow case full of items.”

The detective started following the suspects as they left the scene and when a marked deputy vehicle arrived as backup four of the five occupants fled the still-moving vehicle. The driver was arrested on the 11600 block of 4th Ave. S. and the victim’s belongings were found inside the car.

Two of the suspects who fled were apprehended in North Burien later in the afternoon and two are still outstanding, according to West.

Press release:

Highline Director of Technology Services Mark Finstrom is one just 75 school district technology directors across the country to earn the distinction of Certified Education Technology Leader (CETL).

Only two other technology directors in Washington state have passed this rigorous certification program since its inception three years ago.

“This certification demonstrates Mark’s understanding of cutting edge education technology,” said Superintendent Susan Enfield. “We are extremely proud of Mark’s hard work and dedication to his profession and Highline Public Schools.”

CETL candidates must have a Bachelor’s degree, a minimum of four years of education technology experience, and pass a comprehensive two-part exam based on 10 skill areas.

These areas of study include leadership and vision, strategic planning, ethics and policy, instructional focus and professional development, team building and staffing, stakeholder focus, information technology management, communication systems management, business management, and data management.

In response to the letter in the July 26 Highline Times, “Why is Area Y still getting Burien newsletter,” our answer is , residents in Area Y are NOT receiving the newsletter, or at least they shouldn’t be.

The City stopped sending newsletters to the proposed annexation area after the measure failed at the polls last November. If anyone in Area Y still received the newsletter, it was an addressing mistake and not intentional. We’re certainly not still paying to send newsletters there; our lower post-annexation payments for newsletter postage reflect this.

The mailing of the newsletter will no longer be an issue in September when the City begins electronic distribution. Previously, all households and businesses in the City automatically received the newsletter in the mail. The upcoming fall 2013 edition will be available through email or on the City website. We will continue to send a printed version to those who are on our mailing list.

(Editor’s Note: Normally, we do not publish anonymous letters to the editor. But given the letter writer’s fear of retribution, we are making an exception in this case.)

WILL YOU SLEEP BETTER KNOWING THE KLAN IS WATCHING?

In the late hours of Friday, June 28, a coward crept through my Burien neighborhood and left his hateful calling card on all the neighborhood driveways.

The despicable calling card was in the form of a zip-lock bag containing a note that read “NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH” in big block letters. The flip side of the note read “you can sleep well tonight knowing the UKA is awake!” It was signed with the name and logo of the UKA—the United Klan’s of America (a faction of the Ku Klux Klan.)

This citizen will NOT sleep well knowing that the Klan is alive and watching.

UKA; STOP LITTERING MY DIVERSE, FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD WITH YOUR RACIST PROPAGANDA.

Your neighbor
Burien

On July 27, Burien Arts and GreenStage will present “King Lear” at Dottie Harper Park, 421 S.W. 146th St., at 7 p.m.

“A Midsummers Night Dream” will be presented at the park on Aug. 3.

This is a reversal of the schedule originally published.

Press release:

Each year, Employees Community Fund (ECF) of Boeing Puget Sound makes gifts that reflect the generosity of Boeing employees, who graciously give their time and talents to help communities in which they live and work. In fall of 2012, The ECF awarded a grant to the Highline Medical Center Foundation in the amount of $39,454 to upgrade the family rooms in the Intensive and Critical Care units at Highline Medical Center.

Renovation started in winter of 2012 and was completed in Spring 2013. The upgraded family rooms now have a more home-like, welcoming space for families to gather, along with comfortable furniture, entertainment and options for rest.

They also have mini-kitchens and family spaces to prepare a favorite meal for their hospitalized loved one and a private room to discuss medical care with the healthcare team.

Press release:

The City of Burien will accept proposals from qualified consultants to assist the city with conducting a search that will lead to the selection of a new City Manager. The city is interested in completing the search and selection process for the new City Manager by the end of January, 2014.

Details of the RFP may be found on the City’s web site at: www.burienwa.gov. Services to be provided include recruitment, screening, interviewing, and selection assistance, and may also include participation in, and assistance with, site visits of finalist candidates.

SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS
Proposers must submit ten copies of their proposal. Information that must be included for a proposal to be deemed responsive to the RFP is available on the City’s web site: www.burienwa.gov.
RFP responses are due to the City of Burien Human Resources Manager, 400 SW 152nd Street, Suite 300, Burien, WA 98166, by 5:00 pm. PDT on Tuesday, August 6, 2013. Full details are available at the City’s web site listed above. Any questions regarding this project should be directed to Angie Chaufty, 206-248-5504 or angiec@burienwa.gov.

Ballard's prolific liquor thief, who would steal hundreds of dollars of liquor at a time, was caught trying to steal shoes from the Northgate Mall's JC Penney.

As we reported last week in our police blotter, the suspect was confronted by security at the Market St Safeway when he attempted to shoplift $800-worth of booze on July 12. He had tried to cut one officer's neck with a knife and he proceeded to run away, leaving his prize behind.

On July 20, at the Northgate JC Penney, security had struggled with the same man. He and an unidentified white female -- 5'8", 150-160 lbs, brown hair and wearing a black sweatshirt and brown boots -- had attempted to steal shoes by taking them out of boxes and placing them in a bag.

Then, they appeared to get spooked, dropped the bag containing the shoes and left the store.