November 2008

(The) letter implying that No One Cares (Nov. 5) was both offensive and disturbing.

This historic election and the Obama victory has confirmed that America does care. We care that thousands of our brave soldiers died or been maimed over a needless Iraq War and tens of thousands of Iraqis have died. We care that our foreign policy puts special interests ahead the well being of the poor and abused.

We care that our health care system is broken, which leaves the elderly and young without the medical care they need to live healthy lives.

I had to buy a new cell phone

For recently, the one I own

No matter what the time or zone

Had neither ring nor dial tone

So with my Husband Dear in tow

We hoped to buy a phone to go

With numbers big enough that so

I'd need not squint, to read their glow

Our choice, we thought, would be just right

Which though, encased in plastic tight

'Stop lying to Fremont'

(Editor's Note: The Fremont Chamber of Commerce is battling the city over its intention to install parking meters.

After the Alaskan Way Viaduct has been replaced, West Seattle commuters may see their commute times to downtown double, making it as efficient to take the bus as drive.

Travel times - one measure of how well each of the eight proposed scenarios replace the viaduct - were unveiled at the Alaskan Way Viaduct Stakeholders Committee meeting last Thursday.

Jim Parsons, the manager of the independent team overseeing the project, presented numbers from the traffic models, showing the predicted numbers of trips people will take through downtown in 2015, based on each of the scena

When visitors drive across the bridge and enter West Seattle, one of the first things they see is a collection of vacant lots.

But around the triangular block of Southwest Alaska Street, Fauntleroy Way Southwest and 38th Avenue Southwest developers BlueStar and Harbor Properties will be making some major changes.

"It poses a great opportunity for creating a much more dynamic neighborhood," said Easton Craft, senior project manager of BlueStar.

BlueStar's Fauntleroy Place project, which includes a Whole Foods and Hancock fabrics, broke ground in this summer and

Roberta Roland Weeks was two years old in 1928 when "You're the Cream in My Coffee" became a hit. Its lyric "You're the sail of my love boat, you're the captain and crew" may sum up the sentiment of those who remember and loved her.

Roberta, or "Bert," as she was affectionately called, died October 29 of cancer. Her husband Ben, who died in 1987, helped establish Leckenby Steel, founded on Harbor Island by William S. Leckenby who later served in the State House of Representatives.

Kristen Morris is looking for the finest literary talent imaginable.

The West Seattle book publisher/packager is quite simply able to offer the kind of creative outlet which authors usually only dream about. Through Tigress Publishing, Morris and her authors work together to choose every feature of the book from the type of paper to the font to the cover art.

As the first of what might become a monthly event, six residents of Providence Mount St. Vincent made sandwiches for Seattle's Union Gospel Mission that serves the needs of the greater Seattle community, especially the homeless.

The idea was the brainchild of resident Chuck Dambrosio, 76. He previously made and donated sandwiches with St. James Cathedral Parish in the First Hill neighborhood for about a year prior to living at the Mount.

"You don't have to believe in Christ," said Dambrosio.

West Seattle students could see some major changes in the Washington's standardized student assessment testing with the recent election of Randy Dorn as the state's superintendent of public instruction.

Dorn, a former state lawmaker, teacher and principal emphasized a desire to replace the Washington Assessment of Student Learning for an alternative standardized test during his campaign.

"Schools should be about hope, opportunity and opening doors for all students," said Dorn.

The nonprofit Emergency Feeding Program of Seattle and King County says requests for emergency grocery bags is up over 25 percent over last year, while donations to the program have remained essentially static.

As the holiday season approaches, it is unclear whether there will be enough food available to meet the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors.