April 2009

Madame K's, the Italian restaurant on Ballard Avenue known for its brothel-like theme, will not be closing its doors as early as previously reported.

Due to issues with the landlord, which owner Kristen Burt said she could not discuss at this time, Madame K's will remain open for the 17 months left on its lease.

Burt said the restaurant will close for good at that time.

In February, Burt told the Ballard News-Tribune that she was selling the restaurant because her heart was not in it anymore and she had been focusing her energy on her new restaurant in Carnation, Lazy K's.

Burt had said the sale of the decade-old restaurant would happen within weeks of the announcement.

Wes and Eugene's Cabinet of Wonders rolled into the Tractor Tavern April 1.

The tour is a collaboration between musician/writer John Wesley Harding and comedian Eugene Mirman.

Each show is different depending on the city and what local artists are invited to perform.

Seattle, the third stop on the tour, featured writer/poet Sherman Alexie, Long Winters vocatlist/guitarist John Roderick, Posies founder Jon Auer, Tripwires guitarist/vocalist John Ramberg, and Thee Sgt. Major III (Kurt Bloch, Jim Sangster, Mike Musburger, Bill Coury and Leslie Beattie).

The Ballard Sound is a slideshow showcasing an evening of music in Ballard and Fremont.

If you are out enjoying music in the Ballard area and would like to see your photos in The Ballard Sound, please email photos (no more than 20), location, date and your name to michaelh@robinsonnews.com.

The Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, whose mission is to protect Puget Sound by stopping the discharge of toxic pollutants into its waters, is hosting its second annual Oyster Roast benefit at the Golden Gardens Bathhouse later this month.

The fundraiser will take place April 26. Tickets are $50 each and can be purchased at Soundkeeper offices or Brown Paper Tickets.

Tickets can be ordered for one of two sitting's, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

According to the organization, the Oyster Roast, based on the popular roll-up-your-sleeves southern tradition, features sacks of fresh Taylor oysters in the shell dumped on hot metal plates over outdoor grills and covered with wet coffee sacks until juice starts to bubble out of the shells.

"Then they are shoveled onto platters and delivered to tables where they need a nudge from an oyster knife to release the top shell and seductive aromas. Empty shells are discarded into buckets at the ends of the tables. Sausages and side dishes are served family style."

Seattle contemporary performance group Manifold Motion announces the premiere of its newest production, "Woolgatherer," May 2 through 10 at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center.

Intertwining the arts of performance and craft, fiber artists and dancers take the stage to tell the story of an iconoclast who tears down the walls of her oppressive society and discovers a secret, wild world inhabited by extraordinary creatures. Manifold Motion weaves together contemporary and aerial dance, original music, and live video with the fiber-based set and costumes to create the fantastic environment in this must-see production.

To create the miles of material needed for "Woolgatherer," nearly 20 community members have gathered with Manifold Motion for weekend “yarn-raisings” over the past three months, logging hundreds of hours with yarn and needle in hand. 

"Woolgatherer" is conceived of and created by choreographers Bridget Gunning, Keely Isaak Meehan, and Nicole Sasala, fiber artists Chaya Branley and Brenna Flood, composer Randy Jones, multimedia artist Mike McCracken, and video artist Leo Mayberry.

Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains played a free, in-store set April 1 at Sonic Boom Records.

Sebastien Grainger is a former member of Death From Above 1979 and comes from Ontario, Canada.

The Ballard Sound is a slideshow showcasing an evening of music in Ballard and Fremont.

If you are out enjoying music in the Ballard area and would like to see your photos in The Ballard Sound, please email photos (no more than 20), location, date and your name to michaelh@robinsonnews.com.

After more than a year of working with the Southwest Police Precinct and reporting to Seattle's Department of Planning and Development (DPD), Mike Dady has grown tired of complaining about the vacant homes in his north Delridge neighborhood.

"These houses sit there and cause nothing but problems," said Dady at a Delridge District Council meeting on March 19. "They are not providing shelter in any safe or sane way."

He's not alone in his frustration. A number of neighbors see the abandoned, run-down homes in their neighborhood as a drain on the local community.

"It takes energy out of our neighborhood," said Dady. "It takes away the quality of life."

But finally, it seems that some city officials are listening to the neighborhood's complaints. This Friday, April 3, Seattle City Council members Sally Clark and Tim Burgess, Stella Chao, director of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, and Diane Sugimara, director of the planning department will be joining Dady on a tour of the properties.

(Editor's note: This article appears originally in Seattle City Council member Nick Licata's Urban Politics newsletter.)

You may remember that last November, council member Tim Burgess and I, using slightly different approaches, convinced the council (click here) to embark upon a project to newly assess whether the city's use of jail beds can be reduced by adopting a more treatment-focused approach toward the
enforcement of certain lower level drug offenses.

The city has begun this project. The preliminary work done thus far supports the conviction I had last fall that we need to question the inevitability of needing a new seven-acre facility, estimated at $110 million to build and about $19 million a year to operate.

BACKGROUND

The city’s contract with King County for jail space expires in 2012 and without a contract with the county, the city has no place to jail arrested misdemeanants. For this reason, $4.5 million of next year's city budget have been dedicated to siting a new jail which the city determines could be built by the end of 2013.

Following a 7-0 shutout at the hands of Newport, the Ballard High School tennis team remains winless on the season.

The previously lost 1-8 to Issaquah and 3-6 to Garfield.

Despite the losses, coach Charles Brenner said the team is showing improvement against some very good tennis teams, including Newport.

"We played really well," Brenner said. "I was proud of our girls."

The Beavers will look for their first win at 3:45 p.m., April 2 at Lower Woodland against Inglemoor.

Members of the Division 26 Kiwanis in Seattle are asking people to bring non-perishable foods to the White Center Food Bank on Wednesday evening April 8, 2009 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. 

Members of the Kiwanis will be stationed outside the food bank at 10829 8th Ave. S.W under a canopy to collect donations. 

Kiwanis International is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.

The White Center Food Bank says the most needed food items are Hamburger Helper and Rice-a-Roni type products as well as canned meat (not tuna), canned fruit, cereal, and jelly. 

The White Center Food Bank serves a diverse ethnic population so ethnic foods are always welcome. The food bank also accepts $5 and $10 gift cards from Safeway, QFC or Albertsons.  Cash donations can be sent to the White Center Food Bank at 10829 8th Ave. S.W., Seattle, WA  98146. 

Mayor Greg Nickels announced today that Seattle City Light will respond to declining revenue from its surplus power sales by making
cuts in its operating and capital budgets this year.

The reductions will allow the utility to avoid any changes in rates, according to a city press release.

“These budget cuts will have some impact to customers, but during a recession, we have to be sensitive to our ratepayers,” Nickels said.

The revenue City Light generates from selling its surplus power on the wholesale energy market is tied closely to natural gas prices. With the downturn in the nation’s economy and lower demand, the price of natural gas has dropped more than half since July 2008.

The utility now projects $78.9 million in surplus power sales in 2009, down from a forecast of $142.2 million at the end of 2008.

“In addition to the recession, we are facing a lower than normal water year," said Jorge Carrasco, City Light superintendent. "While we anticipate having enough power for our own customers, it means we also will have less power to sell to an already depressed market."