August 2013

The largest shoreline restoration project in the Puget Sound area will begin next month at Burien’s Seahurst Park.

“This is the most important thing that has happened in my 12 years on the council,” Burien City Councilmember Joan McGilton declared at the Aug. 5 council meeting. “This has national significance.”

Seahurst Park will close in late September and when it reopens in May, the north seawall will be gone and the adjacent beach restored to natural conditions.

A narrower pathway will still extend along the north beach to the science center and marine technical laboratory.

The north beach will begin to look like the park’s restored south end. The seawall was built in 1972.

Parks development and operations manager Steve Roemer told lawmakers the beach will become more friendly for marine habitat while the park’s recreational features for residents will be preserved.

“We are trying to get our shoreline back,” Roemer explained.

Juvenile black lab found on 4th Ave. SW & 122nd.

Today in unbearably cute news, the Woodland Park Zoo just played host two days ago to what may be the Earth's most adorable creature (sorry, koala bear): the baby giraffe.

The new giraffe, which they just found out is a boy, was born August 6 at 7:03 p.m. to six-year-old Olivia. The father, seven-year-old Chioke, passed away back in January. The baby, still unnamed, stands at six feet and weighs 144 pounds.

All seems to be normal health-wise. Blood tests show the calf is nursing normally and he's been moving around just fine. Dr. Darin Collins, the zoo's director of animal health, says, “The first 24 to 72 hours are critical for giraffe calves, but so far he seems to be doing well."

As for seeing the little guy, it could still be a while. It might be a week or two before follows his mom outside, but already he's showing signs of wanderlust.

Tonight, the Seattle Department of Transportation will be holding an open house on the Missing Link, the gaping hole of the Burke Gilman Trail between the Ballard Fred Meyer and the Ballard Locks.

It will take place in the Ballard High School Commons tonight, Aug. 8, from 6 to 8 p.m.

SDOT had to go back to the drawing board with the Missing Link after businesses, led by Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel Co. and Ballard Oil, sued to prevent the Burke Gilman from going along Shilshole Ave, through the driveways of several Ballard industrial businesses.

"The City must study these issues and prove it can safely build a recreational trail through the heart of the maritime and industrial industry in Ballard without putting people’s lives at risk,” said Ballard Oil's now retired owner, Warren Aakervik, at the time.

Now, the city is doing that study and is taking comments from the public.

Stations at the meeting will include the EIS Scoping process and timeline, existing area zoning, and aerial maps for the public to note how they suggest connecting the Burke-Gilman Trail through Ballard.

Thursday, August 15th the Admiral Theater will host the Crooked Trails Organization for a one screening of the documentary TAPPED. The event begins at 6:30 pm.The screening is free and open to the public with a suggested donation of $5.00 which will allow the organization to continue its vital work. A Q & A session with the organization will follow the screening.

From the Crooked Trails website:

TAPPED is about the use of plastic water bottles and the harm they are doing to our planet, health and society. It isn't just an issue about the environment - access to clean drinking water is a basic human right. Now it has become a commodity that is sold for an insane markup; Americans spend more than $15 billion dollars annually on bottled water.

Thanks to the North Delridge Neighborhood Council for the following information:

The North Delridge Neighborhood Council, along with the City of Seattle’s Department of Parks and Recreation, will be hosting the 7th Annual Delridge Day Festival on Saturday, August 17th from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Delridge Community Center and Park (at Delridge Way S.W. and S.W. Genesee St.). The park is the neighborhood’s central gathering spot offering activities for all ages.

There are over 10,000 people who live or work within the Delridge Neighborhood. Delridge Day is a time for us all to celebrate our neighborhood and all it has to offer.

Log House Museum notice:

Join Will Winter to learn history of Alki Lighthouse on Thursday evening, Aug. 8

Thursday, Aug. 8, 2013
6:30 p.m.

Did you miss the 100th birthday celebration of the Alki Lighthouse on June 1, 2013? Would you like to catch up on the history of this centennial landmark in our community?

Alki resident Will Winter, a member of our historical society and of the all-volunteer U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, will present a program on the history of the lighthouse at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8, 2013, at our Log House Museum. In addition, we will present a new video about the centennial festivities.

Den-City

By Carol Smith

Like a glutton who’s first at the table to take
The biggest and best of whatever you make
Developers have planted their forks like a stake
In the Westside as if it were their piece of cake

With pockets of dough and immense appetites
They’ve gobbled up blocks of defenseless old sites
Then touted improvement as their way of rights
To supersize scale to unreasonable heights

But as long as indifference grips density’s vice
Our reward is a future where we’ll sacrifice
The right to a lifestyle in which every slice
Is not cut in half and now double the price!

From 9 a.m. on July 31st to 1:45 a.m. on Aug. 5, six black males between the ages of 18 and 25 are believed responsible for a “spree” of 10 robberies across Seattle, in some cases using guns and knives to threaten their victims, according to police.

Two of those attacks hit home, according to a Seattle Police Department plea for more information.

In the first West Seattle incident, the suspects (who are described as possibly East African or Somali and potentially driving a green Toyota Camry) surrounded a man on the 5500 block of 16th Ave. S.W. (near South Seattle Community College) around 11:30 p.m. on Aug.1, shoved him to the ground and stole his iPhone and money at gunpoint, according to police. This was only a half hour after they allegedly stole four pizzas from a delivery driver in Holly Park at knifepoint.

On Aug. 4 around noon, the same group is believed responsible for snatching another iPhone from a 13-year-old girl’s hands near 60th Ave. S.W. and Alki Ave. S.W.

Anyone with information on the suspects and any other victims are encouraged to call SPD’s robbery unit at 206-684-5535.