May 2015

Born April 29, 1923 in Flasher, ND to Andrew and Frida Beckstrom, Victor Beckstrom, 92, died May 20, 2015 in Burien, WA.

Vic was a Staff Sergeant in the 75th Infantry Division, serving in WWII in Europe. He served in the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded the Bronze Star.

He met and married Ruth Warner in 1946. Vic went on to North Dakota State University, graduating as an Electrical Engineer. The couple came to Seattle when Vic was hired by Boeing.

He was active in Scouting, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, woodworking, photography, and gardening. After retiring early from Boeing, Vic and Ruth started and ran a Rhododendron nursery until he retired a second time.

Predeceased by his son, Dr. Dwight Beckstrom, in 2002, Vic is survived by his wife of 68 years, Ruth Beckstrom; sons, Bruce (Bing) Beckstrom and Scott (Carla) Beckstrom; daughter, Julie (Andrew) Crain; daughter-in-law, Myra Beckstrom; four grandchildren, Rachel, Erin, Ethan and Charlie.

If your neighborhood plans to participate in the 31st Annual Night Out on August 4, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods has a fund to support your event.

The Small Sparks Fund provides matching dollars for neighborhood-initiated projects that promote community engagement. Community groups can request up to $1000 to help fund Night Out planning and activities such as outreach efforts, educational fairs, bike parades, and neighborhood cleanups, to name a few. The deadline for applications is Monday, June 22 at 5:00 p.m., but you must register first in our web-based application system by June 19 to apply.

For information on the application process, visit seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nmf/smallsparks.htm or call 206-733-9916. The Small Sparks Fund is open to applications year-round.

Night Out is a national crime prevention event designed to heighten crime prevention awareness, increase neighborhood support in anti-crime efforts, and unite communities. To learn more about Night Out, visit seattle.gov/police/Nightout/.

information from Southwest Seattle Historical Society

Fifteen fir logs arrived in the Alki Homestead parking lot Thursday afternoon, May 28, awaiting use in replacing damaged logs in the southeast corner of the building.
The logs are stored in a trailer that owner Dennis Schilling drove from Mountain Log Homes in Kalama, north of Portland. Each log is about 16-1/2 feet long.

Schilling said work will begin soon on shoring up the interior of the southeast corner of the Homestead to allow eventual replacement of damaged logs that have been marked for several months with blue tape.
In preparation for this work, Schilling’s crew installed anchor fence to surround the front entrance of the Homestead as a protective measure.

There is no set schedule for the log replacement, but some of the work may begin by the time of a group photo to be taken of 900 students from Alki and Schmitz Park elementary schools the morning of Friday, June 5, 2015. As part of the brief event, speakers will include King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle City Council member Tom Rasmussen.

The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with South Seattle College developed a questionnaire for the candidates for Seattle City Council District 1.

It was submitted to all candidates and 6 of the 9 responded. They asked that they limit their responses to 50 words and let them know that the answers would be posted unedited. You will find the answers the Chamber site at the bottom of the home page in a Special Feature section.

Here are the questions posed to the candidates:

Why are you running for office?

If elected, what are three specific actions that you would pursue in the first year to help create jobs in District 1 and the Greater West Seattle Peninsula?

How would you support the educational institutions in District 1?

What do you see as the two most pressing issues for the Greater West Seattle business community and how would you address those issues?

The West Seattle Junction will host KEXP’s Hood-to-Hood Day on Friday, May 29 from noon to 6:00 PM for a live broadcast of The Midday Show with Cheryl Waters and The Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole, featuring live performances by John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, Australian band Miami Horror, Hop Along, and Telekinesis, plus a free street festival with bands, booths, and a beer garden serving Redhook.

This event is FREE, all ages, and open to the public.

Following the live broadcast and other activities, KEXP’s own DJs will take over the neighborhood, spinning at various venues around West Seattle – plus provide two nighttime concerts.

Here's the schedule of events:

KEXP Hood to Hood Live Broadcast
Alaska Junction
Noon to 6:00 PM
1:00 PM: Live set by John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats
3:00 PM: Live set by Miami Horror
4:10 PM: Live set by Telekinesis (Acoustic)
5:30 PM: Live set by Hop Along

KEXP DJs Take Over West Seattle
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
KEXP DJs include:

• DJ Darek Mazzone – Ma Kai Marination

Information provided by Ballard Urban Design and Seattle Department of Transportation

Thank you for your participation in the Ballard Urban Design and Transportation Open House on May 7!

Public comments on the draft Urban Design and Land Use portions of the Urban Design Framework are now available online.

If you haven't had a chance yet, you can review DPD's draft Urban Design and Land Use portions of the Urban Design Framework online. Send your comments to David Goldberg at davidw.goldberg@seattle.gov.

Throughout the summer, the SDOT project team will continue to evaluate your comments and suggestions to develop a draft transportation priority project list. Learn more about Move Ballard, SDOT's multimodal transportation plan for the Hub Urban Village.

After reading Chris Robinson and Gavin Kovite’s debut novel, War of the Encyclopeadists, I find myself wishing I could write about it in their narrative voice. I too want to be clever and sensually-aware and write lines like, ‘he drifted back to a sort of mental hand-wringing,’ and, ‘she moved in an invisible cloud of woman-smell.’ I too want to be as insightful and eloquent as the line, ‘life is just a string of ends, none of them simple, all of them seeds,’ suggests about these two young writers/friends.

Here’s another: ‘They had no real artistic talent, but they had a knack for carrying stupid jokes to their absurd conclusions.’ This is page one, and comes across as an explanation for each successive page to come, a challenge to the legitimacy of their own literature. Except that this is a novel about Halifax Corderoy and Mickey Montauk, who are and are not Chris Robinson and Gavin Kovite. What’s true? None of it. All of it. It might as well be.

Autumn Martin’s original take-and-bake molten chocolate cakes, the namesake product of her beloved brand Hot Cakes, have been nominated for a SofiTM Award—the awards given by the Specialty Food Association. The Molten Cakes are up for the gold in the “Cookies, Brownies, Cakes, or Pie” category.

An expert panel will determine the winners this summer at the Fancy Food Show in New York City, and gold winners will be announced in a ceremony on Monday, June 29.

This is especially exciting for Hot Cakes, as last year they were the only company in the country that was nominated for a whopping three awards. In the end, the S’mores Kit took home the gold for Best Food Gift, and the Smoked Chocolate Chips and Vegan Salted Caramel Sauce were both finalists.

Keep your fingers crossed for the molten cakes to bring the big prize home to Seattle this year!

Grow, don’t mow! This tour includes more than a dozen gardens to explore within walking distance of West Woodland Elementary and the entry fee supports Sustainable Ballard’s community projects throughout the year. West Woodland itself has a new edible garden and will have gardening and art activities on the day of the tour.

Now in it’s 7th year, the Edible Garden Tour has been an inspiration to hundreds of gardeners every June. This fun walking /biking tour highlights creative uses of parking strips, containers, raised beds, bee houses, chicken coops, goats, fruit trees, berries, herbs and veggies galore!

This year, in addition to inspiring gardens, goats & chickens, we will include artists’ displays in the gardens!

We are still seeking gardens and urban farms in SE Ballard to include on the tour. If you’d like to show off your approach to urban food production and live between 3rd and 14th NW, south of NW 65th St, please contact Paula to learn all about being on the tour!