February 2009

Along with 300 others, I was bewitched last Friday night by a small woman with a giant presence in the unlikely setting of the Adams Elementary School cafeteria. The author Julia Alvarez can work as much magic in person as her beloved character Tia Lola. For unrushed hours she was Tia Julia to all.

I cannot imagine another author, especially one as celebrated as Julia Alvarez, talking to cafeteria crowded with all ages, admiring each piece of artwork inspired by their work and then interacting with an hour long line of children clutching a paperback edition of her work to be signed with a personal message. Julia Alvarez clearly loves people, especially children. A purple Mexican head dress woven into her dark hair the Latina writer engaged with everyone in the packed room and seemingly endless line.

Cottage housing style homes are continuing to be built in Ballard, with six more units planned for 1548 N.W. 61st St., to be developed by Serana Homes, LLC.

The Land Use Application, which has been approved by the Seattle Department of Planning and Development, calls to subdivide one parcel of land into six-unit lots, each roughly between 1,300 and 2,000 square feet. The two-story units will have surface parking accessed from the alley.

The construction of the cottage units have also been approved and the subdivision of property is only for the purpose of allowing sale or lease of the unit lots.

The issued construction permit authorizes demolition of the existing house and construction of six cottage housing units.

The site, comprised of two adjacent parcels, totals 9,500 square feet, and sits above the street several feet, with a small concrete retaining wall near the front property line and steps cut through to the sidewalk. The area, zoned Lowrise Duplex Triplex, is a mixture of single family residences, newer town home developments and a 16-unit apartment complex adjacent to the site on the west.

In mid-January the Cascade Bicycle Club filed a motion to intervene in the appeal filed by a number of business and industrial groups seeking to halt the city's planned completion of the Burke-Gilman Trail's missing link.

On Jan. 20 the city's hearing examiner granted them intervener status. This status gives the club the right to call and cross-examine witnesses and bring evidence during the March 23 appeal hearing.

David Hiller, advocacy director for the Cascade Bicycle Club, said the club's motion was approved because it has spent the past 30 years investing money and time into completing the trail and was able prove that track record to the hearing examiner.

The appeal was filed Dec. 17 against the Seattle Department of Transportation's determination of non-significance on the environmental impact of the project that would allow construction on the trail to begin this spring. It was filed by Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel, the Ballard Chamber of Commerce, Ballard Oil, the Ballard Interbay Northend Manufacturing and Industrial Center, the North Seattle Industrial Coalition and the Seattle Marine Business Coalition.

The city plans to create bicycle parking in areas of the city, but Ballard is not first on the list.

"We plan to install them at various locations around the city, but have not yet decided on all of the locations," said Seattle Department of Transportation spokesperson Marybeth Turner. " I would expect that there could very well be this type of bike parking in West Seattle and Ballard if there is interest."

By mid February new bike facilities will be installed: Mid-block of Broadway East between East Harrison Street and East Republican Street (by Broadway Market); at the corner of 12th Avenue and East Spring Street (by Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Cafe Presse); and at the corner of Woodlawn Avenue Northwest and Northeast 70th Street (by the Greenlake Condominium).

On-street bike parking will be filled with bicycle racks and surrounded by a raised curb and take the place of one to two motor vehicle parking spaces. Bicyclists can enter the parking area from the sidewalk and each car-sized space will accommodate up to eight bikes.

Swedish Medical Center has announced significant layoffs and it is unclear how the Ballard campus will be affected by the downsizing, said Ed Boyle, a spokesperson for the hospital chain.

"At this point, the Ballard campus is not being effected to the extent of the larger downtown campuses," said Boyle. Boyle was not able to confirm as of yet whether there would be any job losses in Ballard.

Earlier this week Boyle said, "The restructuring changes announced yesterday are in non-patient-care areas and the changes did not directly impact the Swedish/Ballard Campus."

Swedish announced this week significant financial losses during the fourth quarter, due in large part to the national economic downturn that has hit the health-care industry particularly hard. Therefore Swedish has taken difficult steps this week toward the financial health of our organization, according to the release.

Swedish has eliminated four vice-president and 22 director positions from the organization. Most leaders currently in those roles will be leaving by the end of the week. The vice-president positions eliminated include:

The large lock channel on the west end of the Chittenden Locks, better known as the Ballard Locks, between the railroad bridge and the entrance to the large lock, will be restricted in width starting at 7 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 9 as Manson Construction's crane barge Scandia begins doing work for the City of Seattle and Washington Department of Natural Resources in the area.

The restrictions are scheduled to be in place until 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12, though the city and Washington Department of Natural Resources are trying to get the work done in three days.

The barge is 220 feet by 75 feet in the beam and will be tied up to the north wing wall of the locks. During the time frame, it will be moved 150 feet from the railroad bridge east towards the large lock entrance.

This is not an Army Corps of Engineers project, which runs the Locks, though the Corps will be in charge of safety during the safety.

According to operations manager, Dave Carpenter, there will be room for vessels to get by, but passing barges might have to assist tugs help them get by the Scandia.

Manson is planning on leaving the barge in place, without a tug, during the evening hours.

After 21 years, the Northwest Flower and Garden Show is up for sale until March as show creator Duane Kelly, chairman of Salmon Bay Events, is stepping down to move on to other interests and endeavors.

Kelly hopes to find a buyer for the show to continue the rite of spring tradition in the Pacific Northwest. If not, this will be the show's last blooming.

The possible final Northwest Flower and Garden Show will be held this Feb. 18 to 22 at the Washington Convention Center. It was the first major event ever produced at the convention center.

Salmon Bay Events owns and produces both the Northwest and San Francisco Flower and Garden Shows. They are the second and third largest flower shows in the country after Philadelphia. More than 1.5 million have attended the show since its inception, and annual attendance ranges between 60,000 and 80,000 people.

"The business started right here in Ballard," Kelly said. "I started my first company in Ballard in 1979, a commercial fishing magazine called Pacific Fishing and nine years after I started the flower show."

In the Feb. 4 issue of the Ballard News-Tribune ("Initiative could stop deep-bore tunnel"), Dow Constantine was incorrectly referenced. He is the Chair of the King County Council. We regret the error.

All the Best Pet Care, a local pet store with eight locations, will be opening a new location on Market Street in March.

The new store will be located between 20th Avenue Northwest and Tallman Avenue Northwest.

Its location will put it in competition with downtown Ballard’s other pet food supplier, Bark Natural Pet Care.

All the Best was started in 1985 to focus on nutritional dog and cat food not available in commercial pet food stores.

The other locations are Mercer Island, Aurora, Lake City, Madison, Queen Anne, Alki, Redmond and Issaquah.

With four school-age kids, my wife Wendy and I struggle everyday with the realities of the good, bad and ugly of public education in Seattle. Like all parents we’re often thrilled and frustrated with our kids’ education at the same time. As a legislator tackling education reform, I find the theoretical policy issues are at times disconnected from the classroom.

The challenges in Seattle are well known: Only 17 percent of our graduates are fully prepared for college; our dropout rate is shocking; we have among the nation’s highest percentage of private-school attendance; the lack of academic rigor is frustrating to parents; and capacity is a major issue throughout the city.

As a public-school parent in Seattle (Salmon Bay and John Hay) and a legislator on the budget-writing House Education Appropriations Committee in Olympia, I believe it’s time to tackle education reform in Washington. The challenge we face today is not merely about money, teachers or bureaucracy, it’s about all of that and much more.