January 2015

By Amanda Knox

Charly McCreary fumbles with an encrypted text message app on her phone as we sit down at a table by the window inside the Uptown Espresso on Delridge. “He’s getting a little more cautious about protecting his communications just because there’s allegedly a five million dollar bounty for the capture of an American where he is right now,” she explains.

He is John Murphy, McCreary’s ex-husband, business partner, and best friend, who left West Seattle on December 15th to provide humanitarian relief to the Yezidi, an ethnic and religious minority in Northern Iraq facing forced conversion, slavery, and extermination by the jihadist group, I.S.

information from SDOT

The medians on Southwest Admiral Way between Southwest Olga Street and 39th Avenue Southwest are scheduled for cleaning on Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 20-21.

Gardeners from the Seattle Department of Transportation, Urban Forestry, will groom the medians from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. The inside lane in both directions will be closed for worker safety.

Drivers should expect congestion and allow extra time or take an alternate route. Please slow down and watch for workers in the area.

SDOT crews maintain 123 acres of landscaped public right of way and tree pits in the city of Seattle.

By Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles

It is exciting to see Seattle’s landscape and economy grow and evolve, but for every new crane on the horizon, there are hundreds of personal stories to be told.

Unfortunately, economic growth too frequently results in a lack of affordable housing, leaving many people displaced from their homes, scrambling to find affordable housing. These can include tenants who cherish their independence having to find roommates. For seniors and individuals with disabilities on fixed incomes, there can be enormous, even insurmountable challenges to avoid becoming homeless.

We're kicking off 2015 with a special luncheon on Thursday, January 22. Join your Chamber friends as we welcome the new head of the Seattle Police Department, Chief Kathleen O'Toole. Bring your questions, and hear what Chief O'Toole has to say about the issues that matter to you.

Please RSVP to sue@ballardchamber.com by Monday, January 19! Cost is $20 for members, and $25 for non-members. No-shows will be billed.

Gretchen's will be catering. Choose from one of the following box lunches, and let Sue know your choice when you RSVP:
Italian classic on a baguette
Steak sandwich on a baguette
Turkey, avocado, and Swiss on whole wheat
Greek tuna salad

information from Metro Transit

Football fans can climb on King County Metro Transit game day shuttles to the Seahawks playoff game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Jan. 18.

Shuttles require cash fare and leave specific park-and-ride locations two hours before kickoff, and return to those park-and-rides after the game. Travelers in the SODO, Pioneer Square and downtown Seattle areas can expect traffic congestion and delays before and after Seahawks games.

Sunday, Jan. 18: Seahawks vs. Green Bay
Non-stop Seahawks shuttles to the 12:05 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18 game at CenturyLink Field leave designated park-and-ride lots beginning two hours before kickoff.

Per the SPD Blotter a 17-year-old boy managed to escape a drive-by shooting in the High Point area Wednesday night after running to his home for safety.

On Jan.14 at approximately 8 p.m. the teenage victim and a friend were standing in front of a convenience store on Delridge WY S.W. and S.W. Findlay when a blue or black SUV slowly drove past.

The victim and his friend observed the occupants of the SUV staring them down.

When the SUV made a U-turn to come back in their direction the boys ran away with the victim making it to his home. As soon as he was inside the door the sound of several gunshots rang out. Responding officers with the gang unit found numerous bullet holes on the outside of the victim’s home.

Though no one was injured an 11-month-old baby and 12-year-old child were inside the house at the time of the shooting. Gang Unit detectives as well as officers with the Southwest Precinct are currently investigating.

More information to come as it develops.

Information provided by Seattle Police Department
Written by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee

Not every dangerous situation faced by officers on a daily basis can be resolved with police-issue equipment. At times, officers must use their wits, their words, or the calming power of a bowl of noodles to quell a violent outburst.

Staff at a restaurant in the 8500 block of Greenwood Avenue N. called police just before 5 pm Sunday after an employee began screaming and swinging a tea pot, before stumbling into a table and collapsing on the floor.
Officers quickly arrived at the restaurant and asked the man if he needed medical attention. The man responded by swinging and kicking at officers, missing them by a distance of several feet. As Seattle Fire Department medics arrived to check on the man, he lunged at officers and began trying to bite them.
Police were able to avoid the man’s gnashing teeth and get him into handcuffs, allowing medics to discover he was suffering from a severe case of low blood sugar.

From tots to adults, the community has helped Woodland Park Zoo achieve its highest attendance ever in 2014: 1,276,314. The total attendance surpassed record-breaking attendance in 2013 by nearly 16,000.

“The number of people passing through our gates for a zoo experience is affirmation that Woodland Park Zoo is a special place for many to experience wonder and joy while connecting with wildlife and nature,” said Dr. Deborah Jensen, President and CEO of Woodland Park Zoo. “We are grateful to the children and adults alike who join us on our journey to help create a future in which animals and people can co-exist and thrive together.”

The zoo wrapped up the year with its highest attendance to WildLights presented by KeyBank, which drew 84,500 to its third annual winter lights festival. More than 40,800 music fans swayed to jazz, folk and bluegrass at the 31st annual BECU ZooTunes presented by Carter Subaru summer concert series.

Kane Environmental, Inc., has just been awarded a five-year, $5 million Environmental Lab Sampling Services Contract for Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Northwest.

Kane is a environmental and geotechnical consulting firm based in Fremont.

“This contract supports our continued growth in the Pacific Northwest and increases our capabilities for our continued expansion throughout the United States,” said John Kane, CEO/President of Kane Environmental.

From starting in a garage in 2000, the company has grown over the years. Kane employs 10 people, including himself, who are professionals in environmental engineering or geology.

Headquartered in Fremont, Kane Environmental has offices in Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, Mississippi, and Maryland, as well as nationwide project experience in 23 states.

Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, joined fellow Democrats this week in sponsoring Gov. Jay Inslee’s requested oil transportation legislation in the state Senate (SB 5087).

“There is a massive amount of oil and coal moving through our state on our railroads,” said Kohl-Welles. “This bill does not curtail that movement but simply requests that those who transport oil through our state bear some of the burden of spill prevention and response.”

How to address increasing oil transportation has been an ongoing debate in Washington and across North America in recent years. North Dakota and the Bakken region of Canada are experiencing an oil boom, and spills and explosions have followed as a result of substandard rail cars, flagging regulation and inadequate industry oversight.

Roughly sixty-million gallons of volatile crude oil pass through Washington every week, and over a million gallons of crude oil was spilled from trains in North America in 2013, more than in the previous 30 years combined. Numerous explosions also occurred, including the explosion in Quebec that killed 47 people.