March 2016

By Sarah Cecil

April showers may bring May flowers, but March is National Umbrella Month. While ranking high on the list of truly obscure celebrations, this “Month” can still teach us a few things – especially if we think about “umbrellas” that can help us protect our financial goals.

Consider these key areas:
• Your vulnerability to emergencies – It’s a good idea to maintain an emergency fund containing three to six months’ worth of living expenses. Without such a fund, you may need to dip into your long-term investments to pay for unexpected, and unexpectedly large, expenses such as a new furnace or a big bill from the doctor. You’ll want to keep your emergency fund in a liquid, low-risk account.

By Lindsay Peyton

Kate Becker has a vision. She wants Seattle to take a starring role in the film industry and move into center stage as a music city.

And Becker is in just the right spot to move the agenda forward. As director of the city’s Film + Music Office, she is poised to help filmmakers and musicians produce their dream projects.

It’s been an ideal job for the culture maven.

“I’ve been a music lover as long as I was alive, and, from a young age, I was interested in photography and film,” she said. “That passion has continued up to this minute. I love going to shows, love listening to music. I love film and the stories that are told in film.”

She is also a major fan of the city – and is proud to shine a spotlight on local culture.

Becker first came to town in 1991 while on a road trip from her New England home. She set out for adventure after receiving her bachelor’s degree in filmmaking from Hampshire College and landed in Seattle at a pivotal moment.

A well-known local personality wrote a book of his memoirs a few years ago. He was an acquaintance of mine, and I delighted in watching him promote his tome with much fanfare, loads of publicity and a bunch of local TV and radio appearances. I was thrilled when I received my copy.

Then I read it.

From nearly the first page came a torrent of misspellings, grammatical missteps and messed up punctuation. The book contained more slips than a lingerie company; more errors than a blindfolded shortstop; more boo boo’s than a ghost convention. (I attended analogy school for a semester.)
When the author of the book finally asked me, “What’d you think?”---I decided to be brutally honest. “It was absolutely terrific,” I stated boldly.

He replied quickly, “You didn’t notice all the mistakes?”

“What mistakes? “ I asked with typical candor.

“Oh, come on,” he said. “You had to notice that there are more slips than a lingerie company; more errors than a---“I cut him off. “Yes, “I admitted. “I did notice one or two.”

By Pat Cashman

A well-known local personality wrote a book of his memoirs a few years ago. He was an acquaintance of mine, and I delighted in watching him promote his tome with much fanfare, loads of publicity and a bunch of local TV and radio appearances. I was thrilled when I received my copy.

Then I read it.

From nearly the first page came a torrent of misspellings, grammatical missteps and messed up punctuation. The book contained more slips than a lingerie company; more errors than a blindfolded shortstop; more boo boo’s than a ghost convention. (I attended analogy school for a semester.)
When the author of the book finally asked me, “What’d you think?”---I decided to be brutally honest. “It was absolutely terrific,” I stated boldly.
He replied quickly, “You didn’t notice all the mistakes?”
“What mistakes? “ I asked with typical candor.
“Oh, come on,” he said. “You had to notice that there are more slips than a lingerie company; more errors than a---“I cut him off. “Yes, “I admitted. “I did notice one or two.”

Watching the rise of Donald Trump it seems to be such a natural confluence of human tendencies, and changes in the media.

From the earliest times of the town crier alerting people to events to the instagram image people have been drawn to those elements of life that are the most provocative.The news adage “If it bleeds, it leads” has never been more true.

With the rise of news outlets from personal Facebook pages to blogs, forums, and every traditional media outlet all publishing and sharing the same news the law of supply and demand comes into effect. Since the human attraction to the most provocative, dramatic and lurid is so profound, the most adrenaline producing news has come to have even greater importance.

Hence news in the form of text, images, video, since it can appear in so many places is devalued. As that devaluation has taken place we’ve seen the rise of mobile internet use. By its nature, the mobile consumption of media is typically more brief.

By Amanda Knox

Maybe it’s the Peter Pan production I saw recently, the image of the lost boys clapping Tinkerbell back to life. Or maybe it’s the almost-Spring weather, the sky like an infant’s face, sometimes fresh and cheerful and bright, sometimes clouded over by a stormy tantrum, and in-between, a gray-white calm.

Update 2:29
4182 more customers out of power from high winds in West Seattle. A downed tree was the cause, no time of restoration has been established. That brings the total to 5820 without power.

Update 1:49pm
Power for 1638 homes was out due to high winds in West Seattle. From Beach Drive SW and west to SW Morgan on the South, west just past Fauntleroy Way SW.
No estimate on restoration has been determined.

Original Post
The high winds forecast for Sunday arrived in North Highline and immediately took out the power for 3797 Seattle City Light customers beginning at 1:16pm.
The outage stretched in pockets from SW 152nd in the south to SW 108th near White Center to the north and over to Myers Way to the east.
Estimated time of restoration was 7:16pm

If you have power or a mobile device you can check the City Light System Status here
http://www.seattle.gov/light/sysstat/

information from King County Sheriff

A customer drinking coffee at a 7-11 this morning shot and killed a man who entered the store and attacked him and the clerk with a hatchet.

Deputies received the call around 5:45 this morning at the 7-11 located in the 11000 block of 8 Ave S. The clerk and customer told police that the suspect entered the store wearing a mask and armed with a hatchet.

The suspect did not make any statements but swung the hatchet at the customer and then went behind the counter and attacked the clerk. The customer drew a pistol and shot the suspect. King County Medics responded and attempted to resuscitate the suspect but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The customer, a 60 year old Seattle man, was not injured. He has a valid concealed pistol license. The clerk, a 58 year old Seattle man, received a minor injury to his stomach from the hatchet attack. The suspect, believed to be in his 40’s, has not yet been identified.

Once completed, the investigation will be forwarded to the prosecutor’s office for review.

The King County Medical Examiner will identify the suspect and determine nature and cause of death.

Opposition is building against the Port of Seattle’s move to potentially implement paid parking at Shilshole Marina.

According to the Port’s website, last November the Port issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a parking management system for the marina. It asked potential parties to submit a proposal outlining a plan for parking at the marina.

“The port will review the proposals, conduct interviews and then select the most appropriate vendor to manage the Shilshole Bay Marina parking lot for a fixed period of time,” the Port stated on the site.

Since then the Port has reported that they have put the RFP action on hold.

“We are still in the process of gathering the information that will help inform our decisions on parking at Shilshole Bay Marina. We will be in close contact with Shilshole moorage customers as we have further discussions,” Peter McGraw of the Port of Sseattle.

McGraw would not comment further on the Port’s plans.

Damon Darely moors at Shilshole Marina and is a member of the Sloop Tavern Yacht Club (STYC). Darely released a public letter inviting concerned citizens to oppose the Port’s move.

By Gwen Davis

The annual Gathering of Neighbors event that took place Saturday morning, brought in dozens of concerned and committed community members who provided their ideas and heart into creating a stronger West Seattle.

The theme was the 'growing pains' of West Seattle.

Taking place at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, the 2016 community-centered forum was put on by VieWS (Visualizing Increased Engagement West Seattle), Southwest Youth & Family Services, and the Delridge Neighborhood Development Association.

Focuses included West Seattle's rapid growth in population, jobs, housing and the benefits and drawbacks that growth bring to the neighborhoods.

"This is a nice opportunity to hear about the current issues here in West Seattle, and for the people here to get together and see each other,” said Kirsten Smith, Delridge resident, before the meeting.

What does Smith think city officials should do about the growing West Seattle population?