July 2007

We were invited to sit in at the dedication of the Jim Wiley Community Center and as I listened to the various dignitaries speak I was struck by the fact that little old White Center, the place where we started our own career in 1951, has once again captured the attention of the power structure.

It was just on the cusp of a five-year boom that the business district enjoyed

The arrival of five major grocery chains, three furniture stores, three drugstores, three appliance stores, and three banks.

With baby boomers pushing 60 there will be a focus on care-giving for their aging parents. Our own baby-boomer offspring are assisting me in being there for their father, who recently fell and broke his pelvis. Interesting fact. Medicare doesn't pay for a care center stay while you are healing your own pelvis. But what else is new in the present health care dilemma? You will soon know after seeing Michael Moore's new tell-all documentary "Sicko."

Every one of my friends has advised me to take care of myself. "Now, get your rest. Remember, you need to have an outing once in a while.

As Seattle's building boom goes forward at warp speed in the name of "urban density," we are all trying to catch up.

We are bustling - we are growing - higher and higher. There are three major developments planned just in the Alaska Junction. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but what's the rush?

Everywhere we turn, people are saying, "slow it down" and "what can we do about all this change?" Those are statements often misread as anti-progress or anti-change, but that's not what people mean.

We all have a right to protect our communities.

Last Sunday Boeing rolled out its new 787 Dreamliner in true "Oscar-esque" style befitting the showmanship of the Academy Awards. The event was beamed around the world from Everett's Paine Field, signaling Boeing's return to the forefront of commercial airplane innovation and production.

Boeing's 787 order book is approaching 650 aircrafts, worth well over $100 billion. Later this year, the new composite bird will take to the air on its maiden flight. The first Dreamliner is scheduled for delivery next May.

The 787's success is pivotal to both Boeing and Washington.

When it comes to mass transit, Puget Sound's new selling point is that open water requires no expensive workers to design, build, pave, stripe or repeatedly patch its surface.

"The route is free," said King County Councilman Dow Constantine at a "mosquito fleet" forum last week at Salty's on Alki.

"It just makes immense sense," said Seattle City Councilwoman Jan Drago.

Sponsored by the Cascadia Discovery Institute, the July 2 forum put King County elected officials together with city officials, representatives of boat builders, maritime labor unions, chambers o

Alki's new bronze Statue of Liberty is cast and paid for, but there's not enough money yet to build the plaza around it.

A fundraising campaign for the project ran out of steam after the organization Northwest Programs for the Arts had spearheaded the effort for several years. So Alki residents Libby and Paul Carr recently took up the fundraising torch. Their goal is to raise between $150,000 and $200,000 in hopes of building the statue's new setting by next year.

The scaled-down version of Lady Liberty on the Alki promenade is entangled in the Carr's heartstrings.

The last vestige of the former Park Lake-now Greenbridge neighborhood is the Jim Wiley Community Center, which officially reopened Friday after a $5 million remodeling job.

The pyramid-like 1980 building is the only structure in the Greenbridge neighborhood left from the Park Lake days. It's been closed for months as construction crews renovated it.

The building is home to the Southwest branch of the Boys and Girls Club. It's also where the Greenbridge office of Neighborhood House is located.

The Metropolitan King County Council last week unanimously confirmed Sherril Huff as director of the King County's Records, Elections and Licensing Services Division, with praise for her leadership in implementing the council's recommendations for election reforms.

"Under intense public scrutiny, Elections has made tremendous strides, and as assistant director of Records, Elections and Licensing, Sherril has been involved in implementing the programs and the change of culture within Elections that resulted in those improvements," said Council Chairman Larry Gossett.

King County's sewer utility crews responded early Saturday morning to a small wastewater overflow at the Murray Avenue pump station after a power failure shut down pumping equipment about 4:30 a.m.

A backup power generator came on about 10 minutes after the initial outage and enabled the pump station to resume normal operations.

It's estimated that between 500 and 1,000 gallons of wastewater flowed into Puget Sound while power was off at the pump station.

In last week's issue, Russell Simmons was incorrectly identified. Simmons is the co-founder of the Def Jam record label and an author. He was not a member of the hip-hop group Run DMC.