October 2013

Franciscan Health System is planning to open “Franciscan Medical Clinic Westwood” on Dec. 2, 2013 at 2511 S.W. Trenton St. on Westwood Village property in between Staples and Massage Envy in what used to be a state and private liquor store space.

Howard S. Wright Construction is gutting the space and building it back up with 14 exam rooms in what Construction Manager John Hansen called a 10-week “fast track” project that should be complete in early November.

Franciscan Regional Administrator Vickie Jimenez said the space will have exam rooms on east and west facing walls while the center of the space will include labs, bathrooms and medical assistant workstations.

She said the goal of this clinic is primary care, but they do have larger exam rooms that might be used for specialty rotations in the future (like a cardiologist, for example), although no decisions have been made at this time.

With this new clinic opening up, Jimenez said Franciscan will close their Roxbury Clinic (9635 17th Ave. S.W.) and move existing staff to the new building. They plan to close the Roxbury Clinic over Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 30) and reopen at the new location on Dec. 2.

Seafair 2013 was a saddening break from tradition for many as the U.S. Navy was forced to cancel their Blue Angels flight squadron show and Fleet Week ship visits due to budget cuts. On Oct. 18, the U.S. Department of Defense announced they plan to bring the fun back, albeit in a limited capacity.

Pentagon officials announced the plan “will enable the military services to resume conducting community and public outreach activities in the new fiscal year, but at a significantly reduced capacity. This cost-cutting measure will yield a savings of $104 million in … 2014.”

“It is unfortunate that sequestration restrictions have kept us from connecting with nearly a half-billion people worldwide over the last six months, and required us to withdraw support from more than 2,800 events throughout the country,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a press release.

The Department of Defense said all outreach will be cut by 45 percent this year, but specifics were not given.

A Navy statement released the same day said the Blue Angels will be back with “full schedules” and five Fleet Weeks are returning, including Seattle.

It's been a week of heavy news in West Seattle, so we thought we'd share this little breezy tidbit:

Marination Ma Kai, the Hawaiian/Korean fusion joint located on Harbor Ave. S.W. on Alki, was paid a celebrity visit on Oct. 23 from actor Eric McCormack of TV sitcom Will and Grace fame.

Marination tweeted,"Hey, a celebrity appearance at ma kai today ...! Aloo-haa to Eric McCormack."

According to McCormack's Facebook page, he is in Seattle shooting an independent film called "The Architect" with Parker Posey.

From King County Metro:

On Sunday, October 27, from the start of service until about 4:00 PM, Metro bus routes 22, 50, 128, the RapidRide C Line and DART Route 773 will be rerouted in the Alaska Junction area due to street closures associated with the West Seattle Harvest Festival.

Visit the Metro Service Advisories page for complete information about revised bus service, routing and stops for this event. A link is also provided at the top of the story.

Visit Metro’s Online Regional Trip Planner to find out how to get to and from this event and other locations.

Thank you for riding and for using Metro’s services.

For more information on the West Seattle Harvest Festival, please check out our preview.

The high-risk sex offender who fled Canada earlier this month, ended up in Seattle, and was arrested in West Seattle on Oct. 22 for investigation of harassment and sexual assault charges made his first court appearance on Oct. 23.

According to an Associated Press report, Micheal Sean Stanley plead not guilty to the harassment charge on Oct. 23. His bail was set at $100,000 and King County jail records show he remains behind bars.

Police are still investigating the sexual assault claim against Stanley involving a 16-year-old boy in West Seattle.

For more information, please see our coverage from yesterday.

The circumstances of Bryan Johnston's disappearance are maddening as they are elusive.

"He just vanished into thin air," said daughter Kelly Hubbard, sitting inside the historic Johnston home in the Sunset Hill neighborhood. After two months, she and her mother, Susan Johnston, still have no evidence, no closure on what happened to Bryan.

Bryan, age 71, had left Aug. 22 for a two- or three-day trip to the Olympic National Park. He was reported missing the following Wednesday, long overdue.

Pierce County Search and Rescue found his truck at the Ozette Ranger Station within an hour of the report, but after that they had no sign of where he would have gone. The search included the Loop Trail, where he said he would be going, and walked the coastline between Shi Shi Beach and the Norwegian Memorial. Efforts by land, sea and air all turned up nothing.

Everything leading up to his disappearance appeared normal. He told family before he left simply that he was going on a hike, bought a ticket for the ferry and bought lunch. Several receipts from Port Angeles were found in his truck.

"The feds don't have a clue. They've never encountered anything like it," Hubbard said.

– Over the next week, SeaTac Firefighters’ Local 2919, with Local 1257 from the Port of Seattle, will be handing out warm winter jackets to over 300 kindergarten age children at three elementary schools.

The jacket donation is part of the Firefighters Coats for Kids Foundation and Operation Warm (www.operationwarm.org) and is supported by the International Association of Firefighters.

In SeaTac, 19% of children live in poverty. This means that many have to do without things that others take for granted. By providing new jackets to needy children, firefighters promote a higher sense of self-esteem in the kids and help free up tight family resources, which can create more opportunities for them.

The scheduled days and times:

Thursday, October 24 at 1:30 pm
McMicken Heights Elem.
3708 S. 168 Street
SeaTac, WA 98188

Monday, October 28 at 9:00 am
Bow Lake Elem.
18237 42 Ave. S.
SeaTac, WA 98188

Monday, October 28 at 12:45 pm
Madrona Elem.
20301 32 Ave. S.
SeaTac, WA 98188

Donations to the SeaTac Firefighters program can be made at https://donate.operationwarm.org/page/contribute/SeaTac

City of SeaTac, Wash., (October 23, 2013) – The 2013 Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards have been awarded to the City of SeaTac. These two budgeting awards were received for the City’s first biennial budget, presented for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. The City received both the Washington Finance Officer’s Award, and the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) award. The national GFOA budgeting award is the highest form of recognition possible in the area of governmental budgeting.

“Both of these awards are gratifying accomplishments for the City and a great display of the financially sound budgeting practices evident in our City, as well as reflecting the hard work of our staff that continues to result in noteworthy statewide and national level achievements,” said Todd Cutts, City Manager for the City of SeaTac. “We hold ourselves to a high standard and strive for continuous improvement.”

Dear Editors,

Hard work and integrity. Those are the characteristics that anyone serving in public office should aspire to, and commit themselves to. Those are the characteristics of Judge Veronica Galvan.

Unanimously appointed by the City Council, for six years she has demonstrated her hard work and integrity as our judge in one of the lower-profile (though most important) positions in City of Des Moines government. Only because of a recent change in state law does she have to stand for election.

While a separate part of the government, Judge Galvan has worked cooperatively with City staff to make streamlined improvements to our court. Her efforts have resulted in lower costs to the City, thus freeing up funds to be spent on closing our structural budget gap. On her own initiative, she applied for and received grants to make important changes to the court. All of these things have shown how Judge Galvan's hard work has paid dividends to our citizens.

By Peggy Sturdivant

Earl F. Ecklund Jr. was born in 1945 but has no memory of a time in his life that his family didn’t own Lockhaven Apartments, at least until August 26, 2013.

In the uproar since Lockhaven’s sale to Goodman Real Estate and Pinnacle’s initial mismanagement of a tenant relocation process, I contacted the Ecklunds, who are still part of the equation.

Earl and Denise Ecklund are now living in the family house on Sunset Hill, where his parents lived from 1945 until their respective deaths in the late 1990’s. Although they managed a rare two-night getaway since the sale, they’re still Ballard.

When a tenant got locked out last week the call was forwarded to the Ecklund’s home phone. A mistake, but fifty years of being “the number to call” will not be erased overnight or even over the next few months.

In fact the Ecklunds still talk about Lockhaven in the present tense and using a collective “we.” I couldn’t help but wonder what it is like for them to see their former tenants, displaced en masse for renovations and rallying against the rent increases.