January 2009

"Hot Planet Seeks Cool Moms" is the byline for the web site CoolMom.org. Cool Moms is a Seattle based non-profit that brings busy moms into the climate action network in three ways: through education, through lifestyle change, and by supporting policies that mitigate global climate change. About a year ago Camp Long and Cool Moms joined forces to co-sponsor activities and events at the Environmental Learning Center to support education and individual actions that counteract global climate change. Join us Friday, Jan.

Provided by Jon Gerhardt

This week, President-elect Barack Obama will become President Obama. Like people across the country, you will no doubt be greatly interested in how his actions will affect a wide variety of domestic and foreign-policy issues.

But from a personal point of view, you may also be thinking about what an Obama Administration will mean for your investment strategy. In reality, the actions of any administration generally have only a limited impact on the financial markets.

The Seattle City Council laid out its goals for 2009 under three overarching themes - fostering safe communities, fairly investing public resources and building a livable city.

A number of the 15 priorities set forward by the council at their Jan. 12 meeting could directly affect the West Seattle neighborhood in the coming year.

Councilmember Jan Drago made moving forward on replacing the Viaduct a goal for 2009.

The fire that was sparked last Friday morning at the Alki Homestead Restaurant will likely keep the historic building closed for at least six months, according to co-owner Tom Lin.

The fire, which is thought to be caused by too many Christmas lights plugged into one socket, caused approximately $400,000 in damages.

It broke out just after 5 a.m. Jan. 16, at the Alki Homestead Restaurant, 6717 61st Ave. S.W.

"Never again" seemed to be the battle cry uttered by city and county representatives of departments of transportation, utilities, and law enforcement at a recent public forum, there to assure the public that snow and ice removal will be better handled next time we have a "Level-2 Event." The venue, held at the Southwest Community Center, was set up like a science fair with experts manning kiosks of various agencies.

Mayor Greg Nickels approached area residents to ask how they coped with their storm experience and what he and the city could do to improve their storm response.

The 34th District Democratic Organization held an exciting meeting at the Hall at Fauntleroy on Jan. 14, electing new officers to serve for 2009-2010. In separate action the same evening the Democrats overwhelmingly endorsed Sherril Huff for election to the position of King County Elections Director. About 115 precinct committee officers (PCOs) and 38 other members attended the meeting.

The PCOs elected Tim Nuse as District Chair.

For any West Seattle resident who has even a slight interest in music, Easy Street records stirs up feelings of nostalgia. It has become a cultural center for the neighborhood, where you can wander through an eclectic mix of new releases or go treasuring hunting in the used section upstairs.

A public meeting was held Thursday night at the Alki Community Center to unveil the new interim Elliott Bay Water Taxi dock at Seacrest Park. County Councilmember Dow Constantine said the current dock is "shot," and needs to be replaced. The new, $2 million, 110-foot floating dock will be anchored slightly closer to the shore from the existing dock, and will lead to a new 75-foot by 15-foot floating dock.

Although the Seattle City Council has denied funding for the construction of a new skatepark in Delridge, project organizers continue to develop a design for the park.

The proposed park would be located in the northeast corner Delridge Playfied and measure 10,000 square feet.

A new skatepark for Delridge was identified as a high priority according to Seattle Parks and Recreation's Citywide Skatepark Plan, approved by the city council in 2007.

The Lafayette Elementary student council had a new idea this year while planning their annual food drive for the White Center Food Bank. They held a competition to see which class could collect the most items and kept track of the donations by teacher on a bulletin board in the front lobby. The donations quickly filled the collection barrel and started to fill the school's front lobby. All of the classes participated, but two classes led the competition: Ms. Rollin's class collected the most items (251) and Mr. Beal's class (203) came in second place.