January 2008

The Boyles donated as a "way of honoring our family."

When Dan and Pattie attended the Statue of Liberty gala fund-raiser at Duke's Chowder House on Dec. 27, they went intending to pledge money toward a bench, in addition to bricks they had bought.

"At Duke's, when we donated, I didn't realize...." said Pattie. "Well. It's a big deal."

Their families have lived in West Seattle since the 1920s. Dan's grandfather helped build Holy Rosary, where Dan later attended as a student.

The Seattle City Council passed legislation last month to update Seattle's noise ordinance to ease conflicts between noisy bars and nearby residences.

The new noise thresholds are still to be determined by the city's Department of Planning and Development, but the updated code will include a set of financial penalties for club and bar owners found to be in violation.

Council member Sally Clark, who chairs the committee in charge of reviewing nightlife laws, said the current noise code is inadequate because it's based on subjective measurement standards.

"The wa

Mayor Greg Nickels has added $2 million to the city's Neighborhood Street Fund in his 2008 budget and that addition means the fund will grow to $10.1 million over the next three years.

"We listened carefully to neighborhoods, and expanding this program was clearly a top priority," Nickels said.

New signs are popping up around the city that read, "Alaskan Way Viaduct closed.

Notes from the east

By Peggy Sturdivant

Somewhere between the fresh snow, icicles and icy sidewalks of holidays on the East Coast I found time to check my Christmas story about the North Pole in Ballard in the on-line edition. Two children had left messages for Santa. Please reply they both wrote after making their respective pleas for a baby doll to feed and a "psp." They too had been looking for the North Pole.

A few days later there another response - a message from the former owners of the "North Pole," Martin and Colleen Lysness.

Two busy Ballard intersections, and 17 others across the city, will have "red-light" cameras installed this year, Mayor Greg Nickels said last week.

Cameras will show up eastbound and westbound at Northwest Market Street and 15th Avenue Northwest and southbound at 15th and Northwest 80th Street.

A total of two dozen cameras will be put up to catch irresponsible drivers who run red lights at some of Seattle's most hectic intersections, including several downtown and in south Seattle.

Mayor Greg Nickels has nominated Julie Nelson as the new director of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights.

Nickels selected Nelson after an extensive nationwide search, headed by a committee made up of community representatives and representatives from Seattle Office of Civil Rights's three commissions - Sexual Minorities Commission, Seattle Women's Commission and the Human Rights Commission.

Rezoning opposed by Conlin

By Richard Conlin

On Monday, Dec. 17, the City Council approved legislation reducing the size of commercial and retail uses that can be constructed in areas zoned industrial.