March 2015

By Bob Sims

It has been a long time coming for Aminah Williams and the Washington women's basketball program.
Washington has made the NCAA tournament, the Big Dance, at last. After an eight-year wait.
The Huskies team gathered at Husky Stadium's Touchdown Terrace with family and fans Monday to watch the NCAA "Selection Show," letting out joyous yells when they learned they were picked the No. 6 seed in the Oklahoma City Region in the prestigious 64-team tournament.
"I was an awesome atmosphere, to have family and fans there who have supported us from the start," said Williams by phone Thursday afternoon from her team hotel in Iowa City, Iowa. "My parents (Guy and Monique Williams of West Seattle) were ecstatic. ... It's great to have this feeling as a senior, to be experiencing the NCAAs tomorrow for the first time. I love it."
Washington (24-9) plays No.11 seed Miami (19-12) at 9 a.m. Friday in Iowa City. The game will be televised on ESPN2 and broadcast on 1150 KKNW AM radio and 1150 kknw.com.

Today the City announced $544,761 in matching funds to support neighborhood-initiated projects across the city of Seattle. Twenty-nine community groups received awards from the Neighborhood Matching Fund (NMF) for projects as diverse as youth fitness programs to pop-up parks.

“These projects are the result of community members collaborating on ways to improve the quality of life in their neighborhood,” said Mayor Murray. “Over its 27-year history, the Neighborhood Matching Fund has been a vital resource for neighborhoods across this city. I’m looking forward to seeing these projects come to life.”

The Small and Simple Projects Fund, one of three funds provided by Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, provides cash awards of up to $25,000 in matching funds to community organizations committed to fostering and building a better community. The 2015 March awards range from $6,860 to $25,000, and the organizations pledged to match the city’s $544,761 investment with resources valued at $728,878. Recipients of the fund match their awards through a combination of locally raised money, donated materials, and volunteer labor.

By Bob Sims

It has been a long time coming for Aminah Williams and the Washington women's basketball program.
Washington has made the NCAA tournament, the Big Dance, at last. After an eight-year wait.

The Huskies team gathered at Husky Stadium's Touchdown Terrace with family and fans Monday to watch the NCAA "Selection Show," letting out joyous yells when they learned they were picked the No. 6 seed in the Oklahoma City Region in the prestigious 64-team tournament.

"It was an awesome atmosphere, to have family and fans there who have supported us from the start," said Williams by phone Thursday afternoon from her team hotel in Iowa City, Iowa. "My parents (Guy and Monique Williams of West Seattle) were ecstatic. ... It's great to have this feeling as a senior, to be experiencing the NCAAs tomorrow for the first time. I love it."

Washington (24-9) plays No.11 seed Miami (19-12) at 9 a.m. Friday in Iowa City. The game will be televised on ESPN2 and broadcast on 1150 KKNW AM radio and 1150 kknw.com.

On March 19, 2015, the South King County Fire Training Consortium conducted a live fire training at 10635 4th Ave. SW between the hours of 7:00 am and 7:00 pm.

Live fire training is a carefully controlled burning of a specially prepared house that exposes firefighters to the conditions that they would find at an actual house fire. Firefighters practice extinguishing the fire, searching for victims, and clearing smoke out of the building.

Prior to the house being burned, all the oil based materials including carpets, tar paper, and asphalt shingles are removed to reduce health risks and pollution. Unfortunately, some smoke will be produced as the training is conducted. We recommend that people living in the area close their windows as a precaution. Those with respiratory sensitivity may want to consider being away from home during the training times.

The new 10,000 square foot White Center Library to be built on 107th SW got off to a hopeful start with the groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday March 19. Library officials, area students and King County Councilmember Joe McDermott were on hand for the event and all struck a positive and hopeful tone in their remarks before a crowd of around 90 people.

The new library will be larger and brighter, with more windows, more study tables, study rooms, dedicated spaces for kids and teens, more materials, more computers, better wireless, and a large flexible community meeting room that can be opened up for general use when not reserved for use by the community.

It is being built as part of the $172 million capital bond approved by voters in 2004 for the expansion and upkeep of King County's libraries.

Gary Wasadin, Director of the King County Library System was the Master of Ceremonies for the event.

Architect Nathaniel A. McDaniel noted in his remarks that the new building will have floor to ceiling glass on several walls plus glass skylights meaning that reading inside the structure will be possible by daylight.

By Stanley Cohen

Editor's note: The following article was written by a Ballard resident whose grandchildren attend a local school.

December 14, 2012, a day which will “live in infamy.” No, I’m not talking about Pearl Harbor. I am talking about Sandy Hook Elementary School and the tragedy that occurred there on that day in which 20 elementary school students and 6 school staff members were shot and killed by an active shooter who entered the school. From that indescribable horror there arose at the same time the idea for a possible solution that may prevent such an incident from occurring in the future here in Ballard or anywhere.

Two teachers at that school, Teacher Roig and Teacher Soto, upon hearing gunshots and the announcement of a school lockdown, hid their students in a bathroom and a closet. When the shooter arrived at their classrooms, he did not see any targets, because the students were hidden in a closet and a bathroom, and he moved away looking for more students to shoot. The students who were hidden lived.

Fifteen Ballard High School students started a club that made a big difference to individuals living at Tent City Three, a homeless community that was living at Seattle Pacific University.

Their club, called Tent City Three Club (TC3) meets every Monday after school. It was formed to raise awareness and support the 100 individuals living at Tent City Three.

In December club-members helped set up Tent City Three on the SPU campus. They also donated food, clothing and medical supplies to the individuals at the site.

Residents were recently moved to Shoreline, and TC3 Club was there to help in any way they could.

“Last weekend, half of the club and I went down to SPU and helped them pack up their belongings for their move …we helped them disassemble their tents and organize the belongings into boxes,” said TC3 Club President, Casey Cooper.

Cooper is a junior and started the club after viewing the original construction of Tent City Three. The TC3 director at SPU and news and media relation manager, Tracy Norlen, is Cooper’s aunt.

“One of the things that makes Ballard such a great neighborhood is its mix of uses. Obviously we have a great hub urban village, a neighborhood business district, a real interesting industrial area and a thriving residential area,” said Nathan Torgleson, Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Development.

On March 3, the Department of Planning and Development hosted a community meeting to gather input from the public for the future of industrial zones. They proposed policy changes that would preserve industrial and manufacturing areas.

The City hopes to adopt these policies as part of Seattle 2035, the City’s comprehensive plan that determines how the Seattle will grow.

The DPD held the second of three meetings last week in Magnolia. A third meeting will be in George Town.

David Goldberg of the Department of Planning and Development and the Ballard Partnership for Smart Growth (BPFSM), provided a context for the proposals.

By Rebecka McKinney

The West Seattle High School Diversity Club put on their sixth annual Diversity Dinner, Wednesday, March 18th, to celebrate the many cultures that make WSHS what it is. Over 200 people came to the evening full of delicious food and great entertainment. This was the largest turnout for the event in its six year history.

The night started at 6 p.m. with a wide variety of cultural food that people brought to share. There were many cultures represented with a variety of dishes that included pad Thai, injera, lasagna, pupusas, pan dulce, rice and beans, lumpia and many more.

“It was a great turnout, even more than I expected,” said senior Diversity Club co-president Emily Fiso. “It was a great atmosphere, seeing different cultures interact with each other.”

After everyone got food, the entertainment began with the WSHS Latino Club. They performed the punta dance. This group included WSHS seniors Shaneen Walter-Edwards, Brian Silva and Maaza Tsegai.
“It meant a lot to me to be able to perform because there’s not very many Hondurans in Seattle,” said Walter-Edwards. “I was happy to share my culture.”

After an initial filing last fall in which a West Seattle residential project was described as "a 62 unit residential development to include 18 single family residences and 22 two-unit townhouse buildings. One parking space for each unit to be located within every structure," the proposal has been revised.

Now a Land Use Application has been filed to allow a 54 unit residential development with 37 townhomes and 17 single family dwelling units. Parking for 79 vehicles will be provided on the site.

Seattle's Department of Planning and Development allows comments on the project during this early design guidance phase.

OPPORTUNITY FOR COMMENT

The Director will accept written comments to assist in the preparation of the early design guidance through April 1, 2015. You are invited to offer comments regarding important site planning and design issues, which you believe, should be addressed in the design for this project.

Comments and requests to be made party of record should be submitted to PRC@seattle.gov or

City of Seattle – DPD – PRC
700 5th Avenue, Suite 2000
PO Box 34019
Seattle, WA 98124-4019

PROCESS