April 2014

By Gwen Davis

On Mon. April 21, the Seattle City Council voted to approve the Weingarten Megaproject’s alley vacation, 3-6.

The developers, Lennar Multifamily Communities & Weingarten Realty, will now build the Whittaker/Whole Foods project, once the building permits for the project pass (which are expected to meet city guidelines.)
Councilmembers Nick Licata, Mike O’Brien and Kshama Sawant voted no.

A long history
This issue has been vexing West Seattle residents for months.
The alley vacation at the West Seattle Junction – covering most of the block at Fauntleroy between Alaska and Edmunds – will allow the developer to build a mixed-use development. The facility will include a Whole Foods, along with 370 apartments and 650 parking spaces.

According to city law, if someone wants to take ownership of a piece of public property – such as in this case – they must pay the city for the land, and agree to build a project that will benefit the public.

Full Tilt Ice Cream is best known around Seattle as at coolest local chain of ice cream shops featuring not only outstanding and quirky ice cream flavors but beer and pinball. But sometimes owner Justin Cline goes to 11 pm and rocks out his stores with some of the best local music talent the region has to offer.

On Friday April 25 his White Center store was popping with two shows from the McCall, Idaho band Bouncing Souls and local Seattle act Cumulus.

Bouncing Souls founder Gregory Attonito and his wife Shanti Wintergate played an afternoon family show as their Children’s Theater Project called Play Date. Attonito described Play Date as a “quieter, mellower, lower volume version (of Bouncing Souls) that empowers kids to realize they are creators and can make music and do amazing things."

Later in the evening they put on their adult hats and entertained a beer drinking- ice cream eating crowd as the Pop Punk Bouncing Souls.

King County and the King County Ferry District officials were present at the April 25 keel laying ceremony at All-American Marine, Inc. in Bellingham celebrating the start of construction of two new King County Water Taxis.

The new catamarans will replace the Rachel Marie and Melissa Ann - vessels that have been operating from Vashon Island and West Seattle to downtown Seattle since 2010. The Ferry District also owns and operates a third vessel, the Spirit of Kingston, which will remain part of the water taxi fleet.

The new vessels will each carry 250 passengers, 78 more than the vessels they will replace. That added capacity means more passengers will be able to use the water taxis during the busiest weekday commute periods.

Passengers will notice other benefits, as well. The vessels will have wider doors which will help speed boarding and unloading. The vessels will also increase bicycle capacity from 18 to 26 and offer greater comfort for passengers.

Attending the ceremony on behalf of King County were Department of Transportation Director Harold Taniguchi and Marine Division Director Paul Brodeur.

information from the West Seattle Junction Merchants Association

The West Seattle Junction Association is seeking to hire an artist for a neighborhood beautification project. The West Seattle Junction has up to five signal boxes which are an excellent opportunity to create new art for our community. Our organization will provide funding, project oversight, and permitting. There will be a volunteer committee to choose the artist. The artist concept will need to follow City of Seattle guidelines and be approved by the City’s Arts Representative.

Please see map below for signal box locations:

Art Design Guidelines
Per the City of Seattle, the following guidelines define the considerations the Arts representatives will use to review the designs.
• Artwork should have a consistency of style and medium to create a unified aesthetic between signal boxes. Think of them as a series, rather than individual pieces of art.

Take a guided Early Morning Bird Walk and discover wild,
migratory birds at the zoo

WHAT: In celebration of International Migratory Bird Day, take a guided tour of zoo grounds with a keeper and learn firsthand about the wild birds that call Woodland Park Zoo home, and those that make it a temporary home during their annual migration. Zookeepers and expert staff will be your guides, giving natural history and birding tips to participants of all ages and levels of experience. The walk will last approximately two hours. Please bring binoculars and weather-appropriate clothing. A light breakfast of pastries and coffee will be served.

WHEN: Saturday, May 10, 6:45-9:30 a.m.

WHERE: The bird walk departs from the zoo’s South Entrance at N. 50th St. & Fremont Ave. N.

COST: $20 per adult non-zoo member; $10 per adult zoo member. Children 12 and under are free. Parking: $5.25.

You must reserve your space to participate in the Early Morning Bird Walk. RSVP by emailing eric.kowalczyk@zoo.org. Space is limited to the first 50 RSVPs.

information from the West Seattle Rotary Club

Attention Educators, Parents and West Seattle Seniors the Deadline for the Gambriell Scholarship from the Rotary of West Seattle approaches

Continuing Education of our young people is such an important resource that every year the Rotary of West Seattle awards Scholarships to two or three graduating West Seattle Seniors towards their college education.

The deadline for applications is fast approaching (April), if you know a deserving West Seattle Senior please visit our website to fill out the application. It is open to any senior student in the West Seattle area.
Please email dotty.hughes@wafd.com for an application

In summary, the name of the scholarship is the Gambriell Scholarship and requirements follow:
· Available to any graduating high school senior student.

· Based on financial need and academic merit.

· Student would not otherwise be able to attend college without these funds.

· Preference given to West Seattle residents.

information from King County

Following the defeat of Proposition 1, King County Metro Transit must move forward with its proposal to cut about 16 percent of transit service, a step required to reduce spending and balance its budget in light of the expiration of the temporary Congestion Reduction Charge and the lack of replacement revenues.

“We’ve worked more than five years to create efficiencies and take other steps to avert service cuts and keep the buses rolling for our riders, so it’s deeply disappointing to see this measure defeated. As a result, we must now move forward to reduce the system to match our revenues, as any enterprise must do,” said Metro Transit General Manager Kevin Desmond. “We regret that many people who rely on Metro will lose service, be inconvenienced, or ride on more-crowded buses because of the service reductions.”

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will close NW Market Street/N 46th Street from Third Avenue NW to Phinney Avenue the next two weekends while department crews replace worn concrete panels in the roadway. The closures will be from 7 a.m. on Saturday, May 3 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 4 and again on Saturday, May 10 at 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 11. The detour route to the nearest arterials will be as follows: Eastbound travelers will go to Third Avenue NW, then to Leary Way NW, and then up N 39th Street to Phinney Avenue N. Westbound motorists will be encouraged to take Fremont Avenue N to N 39th Street and then down to Leary Way. Westbound traffic can also take Phinney Avenue N to Greenwood Avenue N then N 85th Street (Truck Route). There will be local access through this area for folks who live here.

SEX IN THE LIBRARY 29 April

Mary Jo Heller & Aarene Storms, Sex in the Library
Start: 04/29/2014 7:00 pm

Sex in the Library is the ideal source for collection development of materials dealing with sex and sexuality for teens. Bothpublic and school librarians will benefit from the guidance forestablishing selection policies in this area and for sharing those
policies with teachers, parents, administrators and teens.

The book provides no-holds-barred and no-body-parts-left-out reviews of more than 100 books to be considered for collections. The reviews include ratings
on sexual content, language, and violence as well as recommended age
level and the use of "alert" words - words that often spark controversy.
Readers also will appreciate as the ideas for educating students and
adults about the mission statements of school and public libraries.

Bring your questions!

THEODORE BOONE THRILL OF RIGHTS 30 April

The Department of Planning and Development has released an update for development in the Northwest area of Seattle.

Wilson Middle School in Greenwood is planned to be demolished in order to build another school. There is also a land use application to build a four-story, 30 unit structure in Ballard. In addition, there are three decisions for land use action and one announcement for design review for a six-story, 81 unit residential building. The plan provides 40 parking units.

Information provided by the DPD

Comments may be submitted through: 05/07/2014

1436 N.W. 62nd St.:

Land Use Application to allow a 4-story structure containing 30 residential units. No parking proposed. Existing structures to be demolished.

The following approvals are required:

Design Review

SEPA Environmental Determination (This project is subject to the Optional DNS Process (WAC 197-11-355) and Early DNS Process (SMC 25.05.355). This comment period may be the only opportunity to comment on the environmental impacts of this proposal.)