November 2014

Over 600,000 travelers will be going through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport during the Thanksgiving holiday week, with the busiest traffic days when everyone is headed home. It’s not the busiest time of the year (the summer is) but it may feel like it for travelers, so we offer these tips and some numbers for a little context.
 

Holiday Traffic Numbers
The busiest days for the November holiday season:
• Sunday, Nov. 30 (106,800 passengers), Monday, Dec. 1 (102,300), Wednesday, Nov. 26 (100,900).
• The lowest traffic numbers will be Thursday, Nov. 27 (67,746).  
                                Additional Sea-Tac Airport Traffic Notes:
• An average summer day (June-August) will see over 110,000 passengers and is the peak air travel time for Sea-Tac. August is traditionally the busiest month of the year followed by July, June and May (December is 5th, November 10th).
• For 2014, through September, passenger traffic is up 6.5% over 2013, including a 5.6% rise for international traffic. That trend will result in another record year at Sea-Tac with a projected total over 37 million!

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

To be special is to be at the right place at the right time. Every famous person had the intelligence and ingenuity to stand out from the crowd in some special way. It was the person who found themselves in the headlines that gained fame and notoriety. In centuries past, it was the warrior in battle who was lauded. Women were rarely thought to be worthy of fame. It was only when a woman was the only heir in a rich family hierarchy that she could attain power. The early kings established heralds who shouted out their glory. Now fast forward to modern times. Those who controlled the printing presses were the ones who decided what was newsworthy. Many women were forced to take pseudonyms in order to get into print. I was entranced by the woman who had to take the male name of George Sand to function in the mainstream of life. She even dressed in traditional male clothing so she could go out in public alone and associate with men who were allowed to meet at the local pub and discuss politics and the like. My own name, Georgie, gave me more status when those who read my name thought it represented a male.

Deadline for receiving Calendar items is Noon Wednesday for the following week’s Friday Times/News. Events are published based on timeliness and space available. Email submissions as soon as possible to: calendar@robinsonnews.com. Items can be accepted from nonprofit groups and government agencies only. Others may call Dona Ozier at 206.708.1378
for inclusion in our “Out & About” advertising column.

Boy Scout Christmas Tree Recycle
Burien Eagles Parking Lot
920 S.W. 150th St.
Sat. & Sun., Jan. 2 & 3. At Ambaum/149th, watch for scouts waving yellow Christmas Tree Recycle signs. Boy Scout Troop 375 Christmas Tree Recycle will raise funds to help pay for scouts to attend Philmont Scout Ranch next summer. All scouts, regardless of their economic status, participate in all troop events, using funds generated from this fundraiser. Bring your unflocked trees and a $5 donation. Happy New Year!

Board of Commissioners of King County Water District 20
District Office
12606 1st Ave. S.
Meets first Wed. and third Tues. of each month. Call 206.243.3990 for information.

I Can Prove the Seahawks Will Make the Playoffs
(and Please Buy Real Estate).

By Matt Parker

Dear Fellow 12’s,

I wanted to let you know that I can perfectly predict both the Seahawks results and the Washington State real estate market; they are directly mathematically linked.

Pundits blame supply and demand, perhaps Wall Street manipulation or maybe the interest rate for the diabolical real estate implosion of 2008. They are wrong.

(From a local real estate broker, “thank God” for Russell Wilson.)

Consider the prosperous 2006 and 2007 real estate markets in Seattle;  Residential real estate price appreciation, about 9% average for those two years, occurred in (about) 9 win seasons (9 and 10, to be specific).

The 2008 Seahawks (all due respect to former players and staff) lost 8 more games then they won (4-12).  Subsequently, the local real estate market hit the turf, falling 8%.

Coincidence?  Ha.  Read on.

The 2009 Seahawks lost 11 games, and so did, of course, the local real estate market fall 11%. 

Being a graduate of Glacier High School I recently attended
an all class reunion, a grand get together enjoyed
by many Glacierites and friends. I was thrilled to visit with a
number of people from my own class of 1972.

Let me back up moment. Enroute to the event I stopped by
Glacier to see how she had faired during the 42 years since
I graduated. The sad state of our once proud alma mater
was indeed disheartening. At the 100 building I peered in
the office windows only to find a smattering of furniture
scattered about. Walking along I looked into each
classroom and found only empty, dust covered floors.

At the 400 building I reminisced, remembering the fear
Miss Moore put in me. This teacher required each
student to present a book report to the class once a
month, a task dreaded by students such as myself who
quietly sat in the back of the class hoping not to be noticed.
Stepping off the 400 building’s deck I noticed the 200
building had at some time been removed. I wondered why
and when.

Nearing the 300 building I could see many windows either
broken or boarded up. Mid-building on the south side I

50-year-old woman assaulted on street

On Nov. 17, Seattle Police responded to an assault that happened on the 6400 block of Eighth Avenue Northwest. Officers went to Swedish Hospital in Ballard to speak with the 50-year-old female victim. She told officers that she had been walking and a male suspect approached her and asked her if she had any money. The victim told the suspect she had no money for him and then he demanded all the money she had and punched her in the face. She was knocked down and the suspect continued to punch the woman and left. The victim was transported to the hospital that morning but was released with abrasions to her head and bruising. The victim returned to the emergency room that evening. The police report states that the victim had a strong smell of alcohol permeating from her. Officers asked the nurse if there were any new injuries since the morning and she said there were none. Swedish did a CAT scan on the victim and officers photographed her injuries.

Dog walk leads to laptop taken

By Rob Ketcherside

Rob Ketcherside writes local history articles from time to time for the Westside Weekly.

The old scene is about 1912 and shows the offices of the Seahurst Land Company near Lake Burien at what's now 22nd SW and SW 152nd. It was run by William H. Coughlin, a Seattle realtor who had been pushing Seahurst's beach for several years as a great summer weekend steamer destination.

The train tracks and platform visible in the photo were for the Highland Park & Lake Burien Railway, which opened July 1, 1912. The Burien line was meant to create a new suburb, and it did eventually. But after only three months running the 10 miles from Youngstown to Lake Burien a landslide near Riverview shut it down. Seattle surprisingly accepted the line as a free gift and dug out the tracks, reopening service as a continuation of the Ballard line in 1914.

The Ballard Natural Drainage System (BNDS) project made progress last week with Seattle Public Utilities issuing a Determination of Non-Significance (DNS) for environmental impact.

Seattle Public Utilities, the lead agency for this proposal, has determined that the project does not have a probable significant adverse impact on the environment.

The DNS is a step needed for the BNDS proposal to move forward. The proposed project is for construction of raingardens along 22 city blocks in Ballard. The project has been in the design phase (second phase) since last year. Last September the Ballard News-Tribune wrote an update on the project www.tinyurl.com/p99a36c, which revealed that the first phase of the project tested stormwater mitigation with raingardens. SPU found that the raingardens reduced peak flow rates by over 80 percent and reduced the amount of overflow into Salmon Bay. Then later in 2013 preferred blocks were identified after public outreach and initial investigations that analyzed infrastructure and soil composition.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Good natured fun dominated the day as Evergreen edged Tyee, 72-71, in a staff/alumni fundraiser basketball game Friday.

Such was the case even after the show in the Evergreen gymnasium ended.
"We got the win," quipped Evergreen athletic director Chris Dubois while cleaning up along with Tyee athletic director John Yellam. "A dominating win."

"One point on a ghost technical, right," responded Yellam.
The "ghost" technical foul Yellam was referring to came with 1:16 to play in the game and turned a 69-68 Evergreen lead to 70-68 on 1-for-2 free throw shooting.

Evergreen added two more free throws in the waning seconds of the game, then Tyee closed the final score to 72-71 on a three-point shot with one second left.

To the winner went a silver trophy to keep for a year until the next meeting.

But this game was not so much about the game or the trophy as it was about raising funds for the athletic programs at both schools.

With a combined 840 years without an environmental incident, 84 Foss Maritime and subsidiary companies' tugs and tank barges have been recognized by a major maritime organization for their environmental safety records.

The Chamber of Shipping of America (CSA) announced the 2014 Environmental Achievement Awards honoring the Seattle, WA. company's work on Nov. 13, 2014, in Washington, D.C. Foss and its sister companies have seen an average of 10 years without an environmental incident, with 12 vessels achieving 20-plus years of environmental excellence, including the Stellar Wind and the Arthur Foss.

"At Foss, environmental stewardship is built into our culture," says Paul Stevens, president and CEO. "Plus, our customers demand it. So, having 84 vessels recognized for environmental merit really underscores the importance of this commitment."

The awards are open to all owners and operators of vessels that operate on oceans or inland waterways.