August 2013

By Shara Wallace
HIGHLINE TIMES

Man rams truck into hospital
A 58 year old Seattle man was captured after ramming his truck into Highline Medical CenterAug. 3. The man drove to the hospital and drove his truck into the hospital’s outpatient care entrance causing significant damage to the entrance and lobby. The suspect is known to Burien police for having suspected mental health issues.
Burien Police were called to the hospital and encountered the man as he was trying to leave the area in his pickup. The suspect then tried to ram a deputy’s patrol car and yelled for the deputy to kill him. The suspect drove away and that deputy pursued the suspect. The Seattle man successfully rammed the pursuing deputy and also hit a light pole near the Burien branch of the King County Library system.
The Burien deputy was able to use a PIT (pursuit intervention technique) to get the suspect stopped. Then two deputies pinned the car into a pole at the intersection of Southwest 146th Street and 4th Avenue Southwest where the pursuit ended. The suspect was pepper sprayed and taken into custody with minor injuries.

It was only a matter of time until it hit Ballard. Micro-apartments -- aka, “aPodments” -- are on their way.

Already a superheated discussion on Capitol Hill, the now notorious aPodment debate may be brewing in Ballard.

Some view aPodments as a creative way to fill demand for affordable housing, as they squeeze a lot of people into little space and provide shared kitchens. Other residents have been concerned about parking, traffic and a different demographic being introduced.

On 15th Ave NW and NW 52nd St, by the Brown Bear Car Wash, a single-family residence is being knocked down to make way for the microapartment unit -- a 49-bedroom congregate residence with three shared kitchens. Each of the bedrooms range from 160 sq. ft. to 220 sq. ft. No parking will be provided.

The aPodments are being designed by the same architect firm -- ecco design inc. -- who did the Videre Capitol Hill Townhomes, a six-unit townhome project that houses 46 residents.

The developer did not respond to requests for comment.

The 3rd annual White Center Promise Celebration Friday, Sept. 6th from 5-9pm at Greenbridge Plaza (9910 8th Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98106) in White Center will be chocked full with educational activities, entertainment, $2 food trucks and more. In 2012 more than 1200 people attended according to the organizers.

They are asking that you register if you plan to attend. See the link below.

Residents can get backpacks for k-12 students.

Register here:
http://whitecenterpromise.org/blog/2013-white-center-promise-celebratio…

Additional details:

The 2013 Promise Summer Celebration is the third annual event focused on the White Center Promise (WCP) Initiative. The Promise Summer Celebration will be Friday, September 6, 2012 from 5:00PM-9:00PM and will take place at the Greenbridge Plaza at 9800 8th Ave SW in White Center.

Similar to last year’s event, the celebration will feature live performances and local delicious food for $2 per person. Highline Superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield will be the keynote speaker on Friday. Several local food trucks will also be on hand including Falafel King, Lumpia World, and Muy Macho.

The Conservatory Students at West Seattle's ArtsWest Theater are presenting the comedy classic Once Upon a Mattress Aug. 7 through 11.

If you thought you knew the story of "The Princess and the Pea," you may be in for a walloping surprise!

Did you know that Princess Winnifred actually swam the moat to reach Prince Dauntless the Drab? Or that Lady Larken's love for Sir Harry provided a rather compelling reason that she reach the bridal alter post haste? Or that, in fact, it wasn't the pea at all that caused the princess a sleepless night? Carried on a wave of wonderful songs, by turns hilarious and raucous, romantic and melodic, this rollicking spin on the familiar classic of royal courtship and comeuppance provides for some side-splitting shenanigans.

Synopsis

Update, August 12

The Ballard Skillet Diner is now officially open for business. It had a soft opening over the last few days but today is the grand opening. Make sure to get your nosh on.

Original, August 5

The new Skillet Diner (2034 NW 56th St) will be opening in the Greenfire Campus next Monday, Aug. 12.

Fans of Skillet can pretty much expect the same atmosphere, albeit a little bit bigger. Whereas the Capitol Hill location seats 75, Ballard will seat 100, with about 20 additional seats on the patio. A long 40-foot curved bar provides plenty of front row seating for all of the handcrafted cocktails you could want.

The Skillet team says that the menu will have their classic signature fare -- maple braised pork belly and waffle, southern fried chicken and their legendary kale Caesar -- but will also have a few uniquely Ballard dishes.

The new restaurant will be open daily from 7 a.m. to midnight. The Ballard News-Tribune will stop by sometime soon to check it out.

For more info, visit http://skilletstreetfood.com/restaurants/skillet-diner-ballard/

From Ballard P-Patch

Art in the Garden is celebrating its 13th year at the Ballard P-Patch Community Garden! It is poised to be our biggest and best yet. Join us for a few hours, or for the entire day on Saturday, August 10 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., rain or shine, for this free event. The garden is a hidden gem nestled at 8527 25th Ave NW.

Walk around gorgeous dahlias, ripening tomatoes and giant sunflowers as you discover 18 local artists, enjoy live acoustic music, grab a bite to eat from Seattle Biscuit Co. or Curb Jumper food truck, and relax with a cold Maritime Pacific at our Beer Garden on the patio.

Our talented gardeners will have homemade baked goods for sale and freshly handmade pies to auction off – prices go up fast and pies go even faster. Try your best bidding tactics at the silent auction to win artwork, gift baskets of wine, and much more. Kids will have fun sign painting, and visiting the chicken meet and greet to learn about urban farming. There will be garden ambassadors to answer any questions you may have, from the history of the garden to helping you identify what is growing in over 80 individual garden plots.

From the Duwamish to the Sound, for four hours on May 30, 2012, West Seattle was locked in a state of fear as a gunman responsible for the shooting deaths of five innocent people – four at Café Racer in North Seattle and one at a First Hill parking lot downtown – roamed the peninsula as every law enforcement officer available scoured our streets for their suspect.

The physical harm he unleashed upon others that day had ended, but the loaded firearm and several backup cartridges stashed in his backpack during that time illustrate the carnage could have continued.

At 4 p.m., the bloodshed came to an end as 40-year-old Ian Stawicki, a Seattle man with a history of mental illness, shot himself as police approached in West Seattle’s Fairmount Park neighborhood. It was a little over a mile away from where he ditched a SUV stolen, on Delridge Way S.W., from the woman he killed on First Hill.

If you didn’t know what exactly she was talking about, you might think that Stephanie Butow’s longwinding rants and sharp criticisms have something to do with wage theft, gender inequity, Trayvon Martin, or any number of supercharged hot topics.

But she’s not talking about any of those things. Rather, P-Patches are on her mind. The popular Seattle community garden program with a waiting list of well over 1,000.

The higher-ups at the Department of Neighborhoods have decided that they are going to limit the maximum size of gardeners’ P-Patch plots in order to make room for more people.

The plot sizing guideline will result in 70 additional plots for families beginning in 2014, while taking space away from gardeners who have amassed bigger plot sizes over the years. The new policy will cause 45 gardeners in 14 P-Patches to relinquish up to two-thirds of their plot in December. In 2014, more than 60 gardeners in Southeast Seattle -- which includes immigrant populations -- will be targeted. No one will be grandfathered. Currently, there are upwards of 3,000 gardeners.

Craigslist: Not the best place to sell medical pot
A man trying to obtain “donations” for his medicinal marijuana decided to put out an advertisement on Craigslist. He was contacted by a man on July 26 who was interested in purchasing said pot, and they made plans to meet up at a store on the 2500 block of S.W. Trenton St. They met shortly after 8 p.m. in front of the store, but the buyer asked the seller if they could walk around to the back to complete the transaction. Behind the store was another young male associated with the buyer. They asked to see the weed, and one of them pulled out a handgun and pressed it to the seller’s chest, stating “Give me everything.” The victim handed over his drugs, $400 in cash, driver’s license and house keys before the suspects fled in a blue convertible. Able to memorize the license plate, the victim gave it to police and they tracked the vehicle to a home on 50th Ave. S.W. They went to the home, found the car and questioned the suspects but no arrests were made at that time (the actual suspect descriptions were very light on detail, according to the report). The victim was given a ride home by police.

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

Yes, I know. You have learned all about Mt. Rainier and don’t need another reminder of its glory. But hear me out. No single view is a duplicate. The Puget Sound area is blessed (if I may use that religious term) with this majestic eruption of lava which has become our area’s landmark. Our family inherited a view of this peak when we built our new house many years ago. I could look out of my kitchen window and be distracted from doing dishes, at least on clear days.

No matter how many thousands of people have experienced the mountain up close and personal our family called it ours. My oldest brother, Ray, was a park ranger at this mountain for many years. My brother Norman, the long distance runner, climbed it with my sister Sarah. My sister, Grace, spent many weekends exploring the trails. And her daughter worked in the gift shop giving her a chance to meet her future husband who became a park naturalist there. No wonder that one of her splendid quilts was an original design of Mt. Rainier.