August 2016

Seattle Public Schools will introduce new "bell times" across their entire system when the new school year starts on Sept. 7. The district has sent letters to parents announcing the changes which can be as much as 45 minutes later than they were in earlier years.

Bell time revisions for local schools can be found below and the complete list here: http://bit.ly/1XYIVGV

From the letter sent to parents by Pegi McEvoy, Assistant Superintendent Operations:
"Research has shown that teenagers benefit from later start times resulting in more sleep, better health, reduced discipline and improved truancy rates. During the district’s community engagement process, most feedback from the community supported earlier start times for our younger students. Additionally, research has shown no negative impacts on elementary students when school begins earlier.

By Sarah Cecil

During your working years, your primary investment goal is generally growth – you need your money to grow so that you can eventually afford the comfortable retirement lifestyle you’ve envisioned. But when you retire, should you change course and adjust your investment strategy from “offense” to “defense”?

By Peggy Sturdivant

Lauren Ziemski and Stan Rawrysz have known each other since high school back in New Jersey. They’ve been in the Northwest 20 years and loved their Ballard apartment the minute they walked in. It had corner windows facing northwest and the privacy of trees outside the kitchen window to the southeast.

They had been a couple for a long time but waited until they felt emotionally and financially ready to become parents. They sometimes looked at houses, but thin back on only one unmade offer with regret. Mostly they enjoyed living within walking distance of downtown Ballard, socializing with neighbors in other 4-plexes and duplexes of an area zoned multi-family, low-rise.

They woke to bird song and the sound of children playing across the street after school. There was storage for Lauren’s vintage typewriter collection and estate sale finds.

By Leslie Simons

Expect to be “chair-dancing” with the rest of the audience when you come to see Twelfth Night Production’s Hairspray playing at the West Seattle High School theatre this week. The music is joyful, even infectious. You will find it replaying in your head long after you leave. If you are uninitiated as a follower of Hairspray, here is your chance to take in the full experience in a community setting as good as it gets. The casting and artistic direction alone take this small venue event right in to the neighborhood of Broadway itself.

If you've used Google Maps in the last few years either on your desktop computer or a mobile device you've probably seen what the company has done to provide a "you are there" view through their "Street View" project.

A panoramic view of essentially everywhere from streets to trails to the interiors of many buildings is all accomplished by driving (or walking) around with a special set of cameras whose captured imagery is later stitched together to create a 360 degree view. Now they've added views of Seattle waterways including some familiar ones in West Seattle

They partnered with Coastwise Imaging to coordinate this project.

In 2012, Google introduced the Street View Trekker, a wearable backpack with a camera system on top. The Trekker is worn by an operator and is walked through pedestrian walkways or trails on foot, automatically gathering images as it goes.

In this case, the camera set up was put on the water, providing a different view of places you may not have seen from this perspective.

Despite the drumbeat of bad news that seems to surround newspapers the truth is that while the economics have changed and changes have had to be made, smaller papers like the West Seattle Herald/White Center News, Highline Times/Des Moines News, and Ballard News-Tribune are doing fine. In 2013 the Robinson Newspapers consolidated into a single brand, The Westside Weekly. Each paper is still represented inside and of course each has retained their online identity.

But a common question that comes up is, "Where can I get a copy of the paper"?

You can of course subscribe to the paper for only $38 for the full year. Senior discounts are available. But sometimes you just want to grab a copy.

Here's a list of the many retail and newsstand locations where you can find the Westside Weekly in Highline, West Seattle and Ballard.

HIGHLINE

• AM PM AMBAUM BLVD SW
• WAYNE’S SERVICE CENTER
• TOMS GROCERY
• 757 MINI-MART
• BURIEN UNION 76
• NORMANDY PARK SHELL
• SEAHURST HANDY MART

The Highline Times has been serving the community since 1945. That's a lot of news and information through the years all made possible by three things;

1. A long and distinguished group of reporters, editors, photographers and salespeople (including carriers)
2. A fantastic, supportive and loyal community of readers
3. Our advertisers

That's something we can't overstate. We are a small business. We always have been. We survive and keep bringing you the news, photos and information we do because we love it, you read it and more importantly our advertisers make it possible.

Please visit any of our advertisers, tell them you saw this story or their ad. Thank them for supporting your local paper. And we thank you for doing the same.

Highline Times/Westside Weekly Advertisers

• Daystar Retirement Village
• Merrill Gardens Senior Living

The Fenpro warehouse and studio has come down to make way for the new Nordic Heritage Museum.

Major deconstruction on of the building happened throughout last week after the groundbreaking on August 3. Mayor Ed Murray, Senator Reuven Carlyle, Washington State Rep. Gael Tarleton, and dignitaries from Scandinavian countries attended the event.

At the site last week, piles of metal were scrapped and heaps of debris were taken away in truck loads as monster backhoes and tractors knocked the once WW II munitions manufacturing factory to the ground, a place once bristling with activity from over 20 artisans and artists. The tenants have been out of the building since March. Bridge builders, machinists, glass blowers, woodworkers and artists have since moved on to studios spaces in South Park, Tacoma or Everett.

Despite the drumbeat of bad news that seems to surround newspapers the truth is that while the economics have changed and changes have had to be made, smaller papers like the West Seattle Herald/White Center News, Highline Times/Des Moines News, and Ballard News-Tribune are doing fine.

In 2013 the Robinson Newspapers consolidated into a single brand, The Westside Weekly. Each paper is still represented inside and of course each has retained their online identity.

But a common question that comes up is, "Where can I get a copy of the paper"?

You can of course subscribe to the paper for only $38 for the full year. Senior discounts are available. But sometimes you just want to grab a copy.

Here's a list of the many retail and newsstand locations where you can find the Westside Weekly in Highline, West Seattle and Ballard.

BALLARD
MARKET ST DELI
BALLARD MARKET
IMAN’S DELI MARKET
KEN’S GROCERY
SALEH’S DELI
JAVA BEAN
FIREHOUSE COFFEE
BOY’S & GIRL’S CLUB
ELK’S CLUB
LOYAL HEIGHTS COMM CENTER
AUTO LICENSE NW MARKET ST
BALLARD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE CENTER
BALLARD COMMUNITY CENTER
GREENWOOD SENIOR CENTER

The West Seattle Herald has been serving the community since 1923. That's a lot of news and information through the years all made possible by three things;

1. A long history of distinguished reporters, editors, photographers and salespeople (including carriers)
2. A fantastic, supportive and loyal community of readers
3. Our advertisers

That's something we can't overstate.

We are a small business. We always have been. We survive and keep bringing you the news, photos and information we do because we love it, you read it enjoy it and more importantly our advertisers make it possible.

Please visit any of our advertisers, tell them you saw this story or their ad. Thank them for supporting your local paper. And we thank you for doing the same.

West Seattle Herald/Westside Weekly Advertisers

• Daystar Retirement Village
• Merrill Gardens Senior Living