September 2016

By Lindsay Peyton

A whole different type of pep rally was held in the Matt Griffin YMCA gym at noon today.

Instead of getting a student body pumped up for an upcoming game, the goal of the event was to ignite passion in the community members for a cause.

The movement is called “Graduate! Highline” – and the mission is to boost the number of students who leave the district with diplomas.

J.D. Hill, executive director of the Matt Griffin YMCA, serves as the community leader for the program.

“It’s a movement driven by the community to push highline graduate rates sky high,” he said. “I represent a team of community members, business leaders, parents, grandparents, friends and advocates, who came together a year ago to see how we can help.”

Hill posed a single question to the audience. “What if the entire community rallied around one goal?”

He outlined the mission -- to promote student success and provide guidance on a path toward graduation and careers beyond the high school years.

The Duwamish Tribe's fight for recognition by the federal government has been going on for decades and came to what looked like a conclusion in July of 2015, when the U.S Department of the Interior issue what it called a final decision. But none of the tribal members took it as final. Now a new documentary, Promised Land that looks at the issue for both the Duwamish and the Chinook tribes is out and is being presented as an official selection of Northwest Film Forum's 19th Annual Local Sightings Film Festival at SIFF Cinema at the Uptown September 27th, 6:00 p.m. (doors at 5:30 p.m.)

Promised Land is a social justice documentary that follows two tribes in the Pacific Northwest: the Duwamish and the Chinook, as they fight for the restoration of treaty rights they've long been denied. In following their story, both in our regions shared heritage and in their modern struggles for federal recognition, the film examines a larger problem in the way that the government and society still looks at tribal sovereignty.

information from South Seattle College

South Seattle College celebrated its largest incoming class of 13th Year Promise Scholarship recipients on Sept. 15 since the program’s inception in 2008. 110 student completed orientation this week and will start their higher education at South this fall with their first year of tuition paid for through the scholarship program.

The celebration came at the end of a three-day “Bridge Program” orientation, where incoming 13th Year scholars learned key skills and resources to help them navigate the transition from high school to college.

“I want to truly encourage you to take advantage of this great opportunity,” South Seattle College President Gary Oertli said to the incoming class. “Be committed in your heart to say ‘I’m going to do this,’ whatever your goals may be.”

For Chief Sealth International alumni Matthew Burckhard, that goal is training to carry on a family tradition.

“I’m going into culinary or pastry because my grandfather was a baker … (and) a couple years ago he passed away and I figured I should take on his legacy and see if I can become a baker as well,” Burckhard said.

By Lindsay Peyton

A proposed temporary emergency overnight shelter became the center of a heated debate tonight at the TAF Bethaday Community Learning Space in White Center.

The facility was packed with area residents for a special presentation by the King County department of community and human services about plans for a shelter that would be located at 10821 8th Ave SW.

The crowd could barely contain their cries against the project, while the speakers outlined their plans. Calls of “don’t open the shelter; we don’t want it here” were projected – and then echoed by several members of the audience.

During the public comment session, residents said they were worried about public safety, especially for children, as well as drugs and alcohol use by shelter guests.

Some members of the audience voiced concerns about the location of the facility, specifically its proximity to schools and parks, while others spoke against using a faith-based model for the center.

Update 9/28
Renovation is underway at the Admiral Theater though some minor delays, which are inevitable it seems, have pushed the opening date back a bit. The work has started in Pier 1 (the theater to the east) while Pier 2 remains open. The ladies room is completely gutted which means one restroom, now equipped with a lock, must serve everyone. The Admiral is open and showing films but the early show has been cut to allow workers to remove the old and prepare for the new. The new seats are now stored in the lobby, in boxes, waiting for the theater spaces to be renovated and revised. No firm date on the actual completion of the work is yet available but work is proceeding.

Original Post 9/15/16
information from FarAway Entertainment

With all required city ​building permits in hand, upgrades, expansion and renovations of the Historic Admiral Theater in West Seattle will begin in earnest on Monday, ​Sept.​ 19 with completion expected in November.
 

information from Seattle Parks

Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) is now accepting applications for three Seattle Park District-funded programs for community activities in 2017.

Arts in Parks
- This program funds outdoor arts and cultural events in parks throughout the city.

- Funded projects include new and established festivals, events, and temporary public art that bring life to Seattle's parks, especially in underserved areas of the city.

- Individual artists, neighborhood arts councils, and local community-based groups are eligible to apply.

- Applications are available online at www.seattle.gov/arts/arts-in-parks, in multiple languages. Applications are due by October 19, 2016 at 11 p.m.
- For more information, please call Jenny Crooks at 206-684-7084 or email her at jenny.crooks@seattle.gov.

Get Moving/Recreation for All
- These programs fund culturally relevant physical and enrichment programming to under resourced communities and in neighborhoods where health and enrichment disparities are prevalent.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

High schools
Football
Highline Memorial will host a double-header Friday, with Washington at Evergreen at 5 p.m. and W.F. West at Highline at 8 p.m.
Seattle Lutheran, meanwhile, will entertain Neah Bay at 6 p.m. at West Seattle Stadium.
Four other area games start at 7 p.m. that day.
West Seattle hosts Garfield at the Southwest Athletic Complex as Chief Sealth goes on the road to Sammamish. Foster entertains White River at the same time and Mount Rainier is at Tahoma.
Kennedy Catholic waits until 7 p.m. Saturday for a home game against Kentwood at Highline Memorial.

Volleyball
Kennedy visits Graham Kapowsin for a 7 p.m. match Thursday before dropping in on Auburn Mountainview at 7:15 p.m. Monday. Mount Rainier is at Federal Way at 7:15 p.m. Monday.
West Seattle travels to Eastside Catholic and Chief Sealth to Seattle Prep at 7 p.m. Thursday, with Evergreen hosting Washington and Foster entertaining White River at the same time.
Tyee hosts Foster at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at 7 p.m. Foster is at Washington and Evergreen at Foss.

After a recent story was published about a trash pile accruing as a result of an unsanctioned homeless encampment at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, a growing conversation has evolved on the Ballard News-Tribune website, and the Army Corps of Engineers has entered that conversation.

Three weeks ago the BNT reported that a pile of over 30 bags of garbage was building up at the “Ballard Jungle” near the Ballard Locks. The encampment is located on top of a slope running between the Ballad Locks fence and the railroad tracks, which is an easement. The Army Corps of Engineers owns and operates the Ballard Locks but does not own the property where campers are living. Campers there told the BNT that they had an agreement with the City to place their trash near the tracks for pick-up. The City confirmed the agreement, however the trash pile had not been picked up in over a month and neighbors were complaining. The City treats the trash there as illegal dumping, and Seattle Public Utilities’ Illegal Dumping unit responds when there are complaints.

By Peggy Sturdivant

We picked up others as though we were a walking school bus, two at one corner and another one at the next. I’d wavered on joining this walk. One friend I see several times a week but it had been long time since I’d seen the others who socialize frequently. Still, a good long walk and catch-up…I took the plunge.

Some of our lives used to be more entangled by living on the same block, then crossed with extended friends of other parents, widening out from school and soccer. Now all our kids have graduated, if not actually launched from the nest.

The plan was to walk to Swanson’s from South Sunset Hill, picking up others in North Beach. It was Labor Day weekend, cloudy with a chance of rain. Walking by houses triggered my ongoing obsession with the stories within houses and new construction. Another friend wanted to photograph a sculpture she’d seen on a walk.

I mentioned the Early Design Guidance meeting planned for the development of site of El Camion. “How do you hear about these things?” Kay asked.