December 2014

What happened at City Hall this week is nothing short of tragic. The public statements from the City are short on detail with the goal to minimize damage to the City’s and Glenn Akromoff’s reputations, but people deserve to know what really happened, so I am offering this personal account of facts and opinion. Four Councilmembers are responsible, and rest of Council and City staff are still reeling at the damage they have done. Waters, Bishoff, Munslow, all Councilmembers with less than one year experience, and former mayor McEvoy, conferred in private to dismiss the City Manager with a motion to be introduced at Tuesday’s Council meeting and a 4-3 vote, with no specification of cause. The best possible outcome was to instead accept an involuntary resignation with severance pay.

Tonight I and eight other family members left the Highline Performing Arts Center in Burien after a wonderful performance of Scrooge by the Burien Dance Company to have dinner at a restaurant that we have frequented for 12+ years.  We had 5 kids aged 11, 8, 7, 6 and 6mo.. All who have eaten there many times over the years, they even affectionately named it the Dragon restaurant for all of the golden dragons on the ceiling. As we began our dinner the baby, Nehamiah began to fuss, I held him and tried to feed and comfort him but he is teething also. Needless to say he was having none of that and began to cry very loudly. Now I will admit that Nehamiah has a set of lungs but what happened next was beyond anything I have ever experienced (and that's saying alot). After about 3 minutes of unsuccessfully trying to quiet him I had decided to take him to the restroom but before I could do so our waiter came up to me and asked me to take the baby and leave the restaurant.

I believe parents and community members want what is best for their kids, their neighbor’s kids and their neighborhood schools.  Planning a bond to solve district-wide problems, like we are considering now, it is so hard to prioritize with finite funds.

That said, I have some concerns about this current bond proposal, and whether it will address the needs of my neighborhood in the Evergreen service area, and further, whether it will adversely affect Evergreen area neighborhood schools, especially the quality of our high school.

Highline, Tyee and Evergreen are all operating far past their intended lives and need to be rebuilt, and students at all three schools deserve much better.  My concern with the Highline High School rebuild proposal, is that if voters approve a new $160 million dollar Highline High School, there will be a deep and stark divide between the “haves” and the “have-nots” among Highline Secondary Schools and neighborhoods.

The Burien Arts Gallery is starting up the new year with a mixed media show featuring paintings by Mia Schulte and tin assemblages by Nia Michaels.

You can meet Mia and Nia at the Gallery’s gala opening reception on Friday, Jan.2, 5-8 p.m. The Gallery is located at 826 S.W. 152nd St. in Olde Burien. The exhibit runs Jan. 2-Feb. 1.

The Burien Arts Gallery is the only fine-arts gallery between Tacoma and West Seattle.

Mia Schulte was born in Turkey and grew up in a family that traveled and lived in many Middle East and European countries.

Her careers have ranged from corporate work in Washington, D.C. to art teacher to full time artist.  She moved to Washington State 11 years ago, and currently resides in Olympia.

Inspired by the natural beauty of the state, she incorporates many of the landscapes in her abstract compositions.

She is now working as a full time artist. Her art has been shown in exhibitions throughout the state since 2007. She was selected as one of the featured artists for an exhibition at South Puget Sound Community College entitled: “Drawn to

Abstraction:  Four Artists, Four Visions.”

As members of the Highline School Board, we were heartened by our community’s overwhelming display of support in the November election, when more than 59 percent voted in favor of our capital bond measure. While we fell just 215 votes shy of the 60% we needed to gain approval, it is clear that citizens of Highline understand that we are facing major challenges, including severely overcrowded classrooms and aging buildings. Despite the failure of the bond, our challenges remain, and we must come together to solve them.

Since the November election, we have been seeking feedback from citizens across the district. We have heard from thousands of people through our telephone town hall, our online survey, and conversations in coffee shops and grocery stores. We are grateful for your feedback.

Discovery Shop
4535 California Ave. S.W.
206 937 7169
The volunteers at our shop would like to wish you and your families a wonderful holiday. Please know how much we appreciate the strong support of the West Seattle community. Without you, we could never meet our goal of helping to fund cancer cure research. The American Cancer Society shop will close at 1 p.m. on Christmas Eve and, of course, be closed on Christmas. When we reopen on the 26th, we will be having our store wide sale and everything not marked "no discount" will be 40% off and all items with pink tags will be $1. Our regular hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays and all other days 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

West Seattle Clothing Drive
State Farm agent Dave Newman
3435 California Ave. S.W.
Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Dave Newman State Farm Insurance agency is collecting donations of clean clothes, coats and shoes through the end of December. For those who have donations but are unable to transport their clothes, coats and shoes to the donation location a pickup may be available.
For further information contact the State Farm office at (206) 932-1878.

By Tim Clifford

Stopped short at gunpoint
Shortly after 6:30 p.m. on Dec.11 police received a call concerning a drive-by gun brandishing incident at the intersection of 14 Ave. S./ Dallas Ave. S. The victims, a man and a woman, were walking along Dallas St. when a red Honda Accord pulled up to them. As it stopped a passenger leaned out of the window aiming a handgun at the couple.

The victims could see that there were three men inside the Accord, all wearing masks. The suspects held the couple at gunpoint without saying a word. After a short time the suspects drove off northbound on Dallas Ave. S. The victims were unable to get a read of the license plate as the car sped away and could not provide any significant details about the suspects. According to the victims there is no one who would wish them harm and the incident appears to have been completely random.

Luggage theft

By Tim Clifford

This week, as reported by numerous affiliates, SPD released the names and photographs of three suspects who stole toys from a West Seattle drug store. Sandra Garcia, Raul Hernandez, and Omar Cruz-Resendiz have been identified by SPD as the three suspects.

On Dec. 15 the suspects walked into a drugstore on the 9400 block of 16 Ave. S.W. around 7 p.m. and began stealing toys. One of the suspects, identified as Hernandez, can be seen on surveillance video loading a shopping basket full of toys and walking out without paying.

An employee with the drug store attempted to confront the suspects on their way out and followed them to the parking lot. While the three were loading their car the employee began taking pictures of the license plate with his phone.

At that point the female suspect, identified as Garcia, walked up to the employee and snatched his phone away. When she couldn’t unlock the phone in order to delete the pictures the suspect identified as Hernandez threatened to return and “deal with” the employee.

“New Year Ponderings”

A newspaper writer in my hometown was as predictable as a tunnel-digging budget shortfall. As the end of the year approached---every year---he would inevitably write his annual “Predictions for the year to come” column. It was a boring, tired cliché that he fell back on again and again.

That’s why I’m doing it here---as a tribute to him.

Some people may question my qualifications for predicting the future. Fair point. I’m not even that good at predicting the past. Perhaps prognostication should be left to the experts---such as right-wing radio hosts.
Even Cisco Morris---the guy who gives gardening tips---is likely better suited to forecast the year ahead: “Oo la la,” he might say. “If you prune too early, you could wind up killing the tree!”

And I say, if you prune a plum tree too early, won’t you wind up with prunes and not plums?

A proposed five story apartment building on Delridge Way SW that began its journey to actual construction in 2008 when the early design guidance was first submitted is finally up for Streamlined Review with the Southwest Design Review Board on Jan. 15, 2015. The building designed by SMR Architects would contain 4000 square feet of retail space and 36 apartments with parking for 39 cars in the building. The location at 4106 Delridge Way SW would put it across the street and close to Bartell Drug Headquarters and the Youngstown Flats apartments. SMR was the firm that handled the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center also Delridge Way.

You still have an opportunity to comment on the proposal. Here's the Department of Planning and Development post.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION