March 2014

information from SSCC

South Seattle Community College’s Puget Sound Industrial Excellence Center (PSIEC) will host How Current State and Business Policies Impact Your Business, with guest speaker George Allen, as part of the Business Breakfast Series on March 12 from 8-10AM at South’s Georgetown Campus.

Allen serves as Senior Vice President of Government Relations for the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. His presentation (followed by a Q&A discussion) will focus on how Seattle Mayor Ed Murray’s Income Inequality Advisory Committee is approaching the debate over Seattle’s minimum wage, plus other local policy topics. Questions to be covered include, “What are the trends, policies and plans?” and “How do they affect your business and hiring process, and how can you be engaged?”

PSIEC’s Business Breakfast includes a continental breakfast, networking, and a review of current policies being put forth by state, county and city governments and how they impact your business.

Registration is now open, and tickets are $30. Please register online at www.bizbreakfast.eventbrite.com

An application for proposed site and accessibility improvements at the West Seattle Library, http://www.spl.org/locations/west-seattle-branch/wst-about-the-branch SW. was approved yesterday at the meeting of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board.

The Board approved this summary of proposed changes: "Replacement of exterior ramps and stairs, new handrails and guardrails, painting of exterior light fixtures and landscape improvements."

The library was renovated and reopened in 2004.

It was an 8 to 2 vote.

The Seattle Public Library site has the following information on the building.

ARCHITECTURE
The renovated West Seattle Branch opened Saturday, April 3, 2004. It is the seventh project completed under the 1998 voter- approved "Libraries for All" building program. (See the West Seattle Branch Building Fact Sheet.)

The renovation was designed by Snyder Hartung Kane Strauss Architects and built by W.G. Clark Construction Co.

Seattle's Department of Planning and Development has posted the latest new apartment project on its site. The developers propose to demolish an existing house at 4439 41st Ave. S.W. and replace it with an apartment building of 46 units. Five parking spaces are proposed. It will be a livable basement and 3 stories wood framed above the basement. Approximate 15,000 GSF total.

There's a special grading requirement and this is in a salmon watershed. It would be located directly behind Hope Lutheran School.

The owner is listed as Si Ith of Seattle.

It is listed as Project #3015444 and is getting comments already from area residents.

You can make a public comment on the project with the information here or by email to prc@seattle.gov, by fax to (206) 233-7901, or by mail to:

Neighborhood activist group "Getting It Right for West Seattle" has been active for months with the primary aim of influencing what they refer to as "smart development" and focusing on the Whittaker, the project now in process and proposed to be built at the corner of Fauntleroy and Alaska Street. They have done their own studies, conducted surveys, held public meetings, created posters and built a website to address the issues they see the project causing. The group is in part funded by UFCW21.

As currently designed, the project would have 370 apartments, some small shops and a major grocery store, likely Whole Foods.

New flashing beacons have recently been installed at 11 schools throughout the city, including four in West Seattle reminding drivers to adhere to the 20 mph speed limit in school zones. For the safety of students, driving the school zone speed limit of 20 miles per hour is especially important.

The schools receiving new beacons:

· Bryant Elementary School & Assumption- St Bridget School – NE 65th St

· Denny Middle School & Chief Sealth High School – SW Thistle St

· Gatewood Elementary School – California Ave SW

· Hawthorne Elementary School – 38th Ave S

· McDonald Elementary School – Latona Ave NE

· Montlake Elementary School – 24th Ave NE

· Rainier View Elementary School – Beacon Ave S

· K-5 STEM at Boren – Delridge Way SW

· Whitman Middle School – 15th Ave NW

A charge of Murder in the First Degree was filed today by the King County Prosecutor's office against Jose Gonzalez-Leos, 20, who is accused in the December 2013 murder of Nga Nguyen in West Seattle.

Nguyen, 46, was found deceased in her home on December 14. Her death was found to be the result of strangulation and a severe beating.

The charging documents (see the link above) state that Gonzalez-Leos entered the victim's apartment through a second floor window, where he confronted her and killed her. The preliminary findings of the King County Medical Examiner's office indicate that Nguyen was beaten and strangled and found at autopsy with large subgaleal hemorrhages on the left side of her head, back of her head and right side of her head. She had a large subdural hematoma on the right side of her brain. "The victim's throat showed classic evidence of manual strangulation," the documents state.

A land use application to build a row house at 1730 N.W. 60th Street is in the application process with the Department of Planning and Development.

This sounds like a typical announcement but upon closer inspection of the site plans it’s apparent that the new structure will be built directly on the property line, which upsets neighbor Laurette Simmons.

Leroy and Laurette Simmons and Laurette’s 97-year-old mother live next door to the site that was recently approved for land action. They bought the lot six years ago and built a three-story home.

“Parts of our house lie two and a half feet from the lot line and other parts are more since the rule used to be that structures must have an average setback of five feet. So in some places we would be able to paint the new structure wall from our house! This is just crazy, and I don't think it was the intended result of the DPD,” said Simmons.

However, according to Bryan Stevens, Customer Service Manager and Seattle's Industrial Permit Liaison for the Department of Planning and Development, that is what they have in mind. That is, not to upset Simmons, but to place row houses in that manner.

By Katy Wilkens, MS, RD

In a world where items labeled "low-fat" are marketed as healthy, and there’s a new diet craze each month, how should we eat?

First, don’t give in to the most recent diet fad, whatever it may be. And second, don’t assume that "low-fat" is necessarily healthy, or that you should eat one kind of fat exclusively.
It is true that saturated fats (the ones that are hard at room temperature, like butter or shortening) raise blood cholesterol more than anything else in your diet.

Yet one current fashionable diet suggests we eat more coconut fat for better health. But that’s the most saturated plant fat you can buy, and certainly one of the last things I’d suggest people to try as part of a heart-healthy diet. Instead, keep healthy and prevent high cholesterol levels by choosing small amounts of saturated fats and small amounts of fats that are unsaturated.

By Peggy Sturdivant

Suzanne Griffin was traveling by horseback on her way to a remote clinic in the Bamyian Province of Afghanistan. She and her local counterparts had left their Russian-made Jeep stuck in mud. It may have been as the horses managed to scale the muddy bluff that she knew in her bones she would not be returning to her position as a Dean of Instruction at South Seattle Community College at the end of her sabbatical.

At an age when some people retire Dr. Griffin remains committed to helping Afghanistan rebuild after the Taliban and three decades of war. Since 2002 she has been establishing schools for girls through international organizations and working with their Ministry of Education to provide resources that will allow the country to better help itself.

Update:

Charges for White are first-degree murder, second-degree unlawful gun possession and attempted second-degree robbery. 35 years in prison would be the penalty if convicted. White remains jailed with a $2 million bail.

Original:
Byron White, the 17 year old Ballard High School student arrested for the murder of a Greenwood man will remain in a juvenile detention center for the time being. White is expected to be charged as an adult with murder today after he waived his first court appearance Monday.

White was arrested for the murder of David Peterson which occurred at the Fred Meyer in Greenwood on Feb. 23. It was reported that White tried to steal Peterson’s phone, but Peterson resisted and called 911. When White realized the police had been called he shot Peterson in the chest with a handgun.

Port of Seattle Police detained White in Sea-Tac while he was attempting to board a plane bound for Atlanta. White admitted to shooting Peterson.

KING 5 spoke with White’s mother.

"Byron was not homeless. He came from a two parent background. He was a good student and a respectful student," Yvette Watkins said. "We gave him all that he needed."