On Jan. 12, 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 could directly affect the Ballard neighborhood in the coming year.
Council member Jan Drago made moving forward on replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct a goal for 2009.
What happens when a miniature gardener and a glass artist get together? Wonderful glass terrariums that can fit, or hang, almost anywhere, what else would you expect?
Barbara Sanderson is well known throughout the garden community here in Seattle.
A fire, originating upstairs, possibly by a furnace, broke out just after 5 a.m. Friday (Jan. 16), at the historic Alki Homestead Restaurant, 6717 61st Ave. S.W. No one was injured.
"I think the place is pretty dark," said co-owner of the building Tom Lin. "It's all covered with smoke."
At about 5 a.m. Friday morning, Lin heard sirens from his Alki home. Curious, he followed them down the street.
Dow Constantine, who represents West Seattle on the King County Council, has come out in support of the plan to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a deep bored tunnel because of the value to West Seattle commuters.
"Every other proposal held the possibility of significant disruption for West Seattle commuters," said Constantine. "This deep bore tunnel creates the possibility of uninterrupted traffic flow if we can figure out how to keep the viaduct safe for travelers until the tunnel is ready."
Since Gov.
The Cooper School community made sure their objections were made known to School Board members over the proposal to shut down their program, despite a public hearing not being required.
Before any public school building can be closed district policy requires that a public hearing be held, at which community members can testify in response to the proposed closure.
Now Seattleites can get a really good idea on which plants are hardy enough to withstand Mother Nature's less-than-occasional wrath.
We've had several extremes in the course of one month here in Washington State: freezing temperatures, heavy snow, drenching rains and whipping wind. This kind of weather is not entirely unlike our current economic climate, and for some, it came on just as fast.
Walking around my garden, I can only hope that some of my more fragile plants come back to me when the weather warms up in spring.
Ballard residents and business owners are speaking out against state, city and county officials' plan to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a deep-bored tunnel.
"I don?t think it?s the best decision for the public in the long term," said Warren Aakervik, owner of Ballard Oil and member of the North Seattle Industrial Association Board.
Plans to develop an eight-story, 260-unit condo at the old Denny's site on the corner of Market and 15th has been put on hold due to recent economic troubles, according to a representative of the developers Rhapsody Partners.
Louie Richmond, a spokesperson for the developers, said financing is still being sought and there is still a desire to move ahead with the project.
Your favorite Seattle restaurant had to make a pretty big adjustment on Jan. 1, the first day of the ban on Styrofoam take-out food containers.
You might think, as I did, that it shouldn't be a big deal for a restaurant to start buying alternatives to Styrofoam, but I soon learned that the price for compostables is quite a bit more, and if your food business does many to-go orders, overhead has just shot up.
"We use a lot of boxes," explained Ott Pinbang, manager of Thai Siam in Ballard. "We are a small business, and we do a lot of take-out."
Pinbang said he's glad for the change because it's good for the environment, but there's no denying a financial impact. He did a lot of research on alternatives before deciding which to use.
"I paid about 7 cents for each Styrofoam box, and now I pay 34 to 44 cents per box," he said.
Ouch. And in this economy, he doesn't feel right about raising prices.
Mark Donnelly, a 10-year coach in the Ballard Knights junior football organization, passed away Jan. 3 after a private battle with cancer.
In eight seasons as the head coach at the Bantams level, Donnelly won five championships and was loved by his players.
"He didn't treat anybody like a little kid," Frank Airey, 14, said. "He treated them like grown men and spoke to them like that."
Cathy Miller, a friend of Donnelly's whose sons were coached by him, said she found out third-hand about his illness in the spring.
Miller said Donnelly was a private person and made it clear he didn't want the illness to be a focus. His close friends didn't even find out he had cancer until this fall, she said.
Rick Alba, who coached with Donnelly for a number of seasons, said he was one of the greatest coaches and treated the players fairly and with respect.
