April 2016

By Amanda Knox

In middle school I was instructed on how to construct a physical timeline of my life so far using beads, shells, trinkets, and yarn. On one end of a single line of yarn I knotted a great, glassy, purple bead that represented my birth. A couple inches down the line I knotted a similar, pink bead that represented the birth of my sister, Deanna. A few more inches down, a small, plastic, blue bead designated my first day of kindergarten. And so on.

It was up to me to decide what happenings in my life deserved recognition. For instance, I didn’t mark my parents’ divorce—with a dramatic black feather, say—because I had no memory of their marriage, and it in no way seemed relevant to my life. I did mark—with a gold-colored charm-bracelet star—the miraculous goal I kicked all the way from the half-line when I was twelve. Only some inches past that, the line dangled bare—my future.

Barroom brawl on California Ave.
At 1:17 a.m. on Tues., March 22, officers responded to a call about a fight on the 4200 block of S.W. Admiral Way. One officer identified a possible suspect in an alley west of California Avenue and College Avenue S.W. Upon the officer’s arrival, two other suspects had fled on foot and could not be located.

The detained suspect said that he had been in a bar with two friends. When he stepped outside, he found one of his friends was being beaten up by a woman with a red Mohawk. He told the officers that after stopping the woman, he and his friends ran away.

The suspect was taken into custody, and the officers went to the bar and spoke with the woman, who reported a different story.

She said that the bartender had kicked the three suspects out of the bar and they had attacked the bartender in retaliation. When she tried to stop the fight, one suspect hit her from behind. She fought back and pinned him to the ground, before his friend came outside and pushed her off and the three then ran down the street.

Thieves on the Street

By Pat Cashman

After the old man ordered him to get out of the house and land a job, my brother Sean headed down to a nearby grocery store---found the manager---and asked him, “Hey, you guys ain’t got no jobs down here, do ya?”

It wasn’t just his use of a double negative that kept him from being hired that day.

Of course a kid can be forgiven for awkwardness in job-seeking skills---but the truth is it really never gets easier the older we get. It may be why so few 90-year olds are being hired as video game developers. After all, there are few more nerve-rattling, sweat-inducing, heart palpitating ordeals in life than seeking employment.
That’s why this week’s column is being offered: It presents job interviewing tips to anyone trying to get hired: Whether it be at Amazon---or in the Amazon; interviewing at the International Harvester Company---or the International House of Pancakes; trying to get hired at Albertsons---or by Albert’s son.

Here are ten tips that may not get you hired, but may help you from being arrested.

The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce announced the winners of the 2016 Westside Awards to be honored at the 2016 Westside Awards Breakfast on May 4th at Salty's on Alki. Tickets for the event can be purchased at www.wschamber.com.

West 5 Restaurant owner and former President of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce Dave Montoure was named Westsider of the Year.

Here are the winners:

Westside Not-for-Profit of the Year: West Seattle Helpline
Westside Emerging Business of the Year: HomeStreet Bank – West Seattle Branch
Westside Business of the Year: C & P Coffee
Westsider of the Year: Dave Montoure

By Dina Hrisko

Friday night, April 1, 2016, Olde Burien was invaded by all kinds of Aliens. Since this was their third April Fools Day visit to Burien, many of the townsfolk dressed up in outfits similar to what the Aliens were wearing in order to make them feel 'at home'. The crowd was much larger thsn previous years; however, the amount of 'returning' Aliens seemed to be down this year. Hopefully, those Aliens and Townsfolk, who upon hearing about all the fun that they missed this year, will return for the 2017 BUFO.

The Costume winners were: 1st place TIED between Sharon La Joie and Kallie Mitchell. They will split $250; 2nd place, $175, went to Dave Austin's Robot man; 3rd Place, $ 150, went to Zoe Georges & Fiona Fraser for their version of 'Little Green Alien Girls'.

The festival featured three bands, Twisted Groove, Seattle's finest in Original Funk; DJ Ramiro, uniting souls and Bowie Vision, a tribute band covering the hits of the late David Bowie. Burien residents and Aliens couldn't get enough of the music that rocked Old Burien. Whomever hired the bands did a great job!

If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to be in a band, on the road, often in a van with the other band members and all your gear, it is frankly not that glamorous. But making music is a calling and performing live is amazingly fun if not always financially rewarding. Touring bands have to deal with booking gigs, figuring out how to get places, where to eat, get gas, and where to stay. Imagine taking your vacation plans and multiplying them by a factor of 20. Touring can become a daunting task.

Now a West Seattle businessman has developed a solution that’s not only comprehensive, it’s free.

David Wall has created the GoodRoadNetwork.com (GRN) which helps touring musicians take full control, with relative ease, of everything they must deal with to make a tour work.

Wall, whose diverse background includes stints as a professional BMX Freestyler, a touring musician and UX architect for various tech companies, has been working with a team of developers for close to two years to build a tool for musicians that really provides them with a complete toolkit to maximize their shot at success.

Providence Elizabeth House located in the newly developed High Point at 3201 Graham Street celebrated their 10 year anniversary on Thursday March 31. It is a low income community which provides affordable housing to seniors 62 +

Several retired sisters from the mount st. Joseph residence were in attendance at the event.

The Providence Supportive Housing Ministry is comprised of 14 apartment buildings in Washington, Oregon and California and provides quality, affordable housing and service coordination for adults with special needs including the elderly and disabled. 

They can be reached at (206) 938-3276.

By Gwen Davis

A group of West Seattle homeowners cut 100+ trees, to make for better views. The massive cutting took place in the West Duwamish Greenbelt, according to a statement from the homeowners’ lawyer released this past week. The clearing gives homes at the top of the hill a better view of Seattle’s skyline. However, it also makes the steep hill vulnerable to landslides. The operation was illegal.

Christina Hirsch of Seattle Parks and Recreation said the department was “shocked and very upset” to learn about this. It left as many as 153 trees dead, most of them generations old.

The lawyer representing the homeowners released a letter to the media last week. One part included:

“A client … along with other neighbors, hired a landscaping business to top and prune some trees to improve the view from their respective residences. After limited discussions with the contractors, my client returned from an out-of-town trip to find the scene shown in the news reports: To our clients’ surprise and dismay, several trees were cut at or near the base, as opposed to just limited pruning work.”

News from WSDOT

Drivers should expect full weeknight closures in one direction of State Route 99/Aurora Avenue North during the next three weeks just north of downtown Seattle.

During the closures, crews working for Atkinson Construction will close one direction of the highway to install street lights, traffic sensors and sign bridges. The closures are part of ongoing work to build the roadway and ramp connections between Aurora Avenue North and the north portal of the SR 99 tunnel.

Closure details
Monday, April 4, to the morning of Friday, April 8: Crews will close all lanes of northbound SR 99/Aurora Avenue each night from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. from the south end of the Battery Street Tunnel to Valley Street.
Monday, April 11, to the morning of Saturday, April 16: Crews will close all lanes of southbound SR 99/Aurora Avenue North each night from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. from Valley to Thomas streets.

Monday, April 18, to the morning of Tuesday, April 19: Crews will close all lanes of southbound SR 99/Aurora Avenue North from the Fremont Way North on-ramp to the south end of the Battery Street Tunnel from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.