May 2009

Twenty-eight probable cases of swine influenza A (H1N1), also known as swine flu, have been identified in King County through the Washington State Public Health Laboratory.

"We know that the H1N1 virus is circulating widely and the disease has proven to be relatively mild, so we believe that many cases are not being formally diagnosed," said Dr. David Fleming, Director and Health Officer for Public Health Seattle and King County. "We need to find new ways to reduce infections besides focusing on diagnosed, probable cases. We will no longer recommend school closure when we have just one or two probable cases in a school. Instead, we will recommend symptom checks at home and school."

At the next Seattle Board of Park Commissioners meeting May 14, the board will discuss a proposal to change park operating hours to standardize them across the city.

The board will hold a public hearing on the issue. Now most parks are open from 4 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. There is a procedure for changing the hours in a specific park that has resulted in a wide array of park operating hours. At issue is whether to standardize the hours. Parks staff briefed the board on the issue on Feb. 26, and the board will discuss and make a recommendation to the Superintendent on its May 28 meeting.
 
The May 14 meeting is scheduled at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 14 in the Park Board Room, 100 Dexter Ave. N (at the corner of Dexter and Denny in Denny Park).

The highly anticipated pizzeria, Zeeks Pizza, officially opened its doors Friday in the Morgan Junction to dozens of hungry West Seattleites.

According to president and partner Dan Black, the restaurant was slammed right away. So many pizzas were on demand that delivery service had to be suspended for the evening.

"We’re probably three-times busier than we expected to be tonight,” he said.

It’s easy to justify the frenzy when you take a look at Zeeks’ menu. It features no less than 25 pie combinations along with a build your own pie option.

Cary Calkins, a restaurant guest who enjoyed the Dragon pie, said that considering the amount of people Zeeks had in attendance, the staff and service was excellent.

Black, who was delivering pizzas to eagerly awaiting guests opening night, said the goal for the West Seattle location was to create a quintessential neighborhood pizza joint.

“It’s important to be a great place to gather, serve good pizza, great beer and wine, but we also know that it goes beyond that," said Black. "Being a member of the community; that’s what we’re about.”

The Ballard High School choir, under the direction of Courtney Rowley, has been invited by the University of Washington’s Giselle Wyers to accompany her in a performance at the Lincoln Center in New York City on Memorial Day 2010.

Wyers, an assistant professor of choral studies at the University of Washington, was invited to be a guest conductor for the performance, sponsored by Distinguished Concerts International in New York City.

Wyers had seen Ballard’s choir perform a number of times within the past year and was really impressed with the growth of the program and thought it would be an exciting opportunity for the choir to attend, Rowley said.

The choir will be accompanying Wyers in a performance of Randall Thompson’s "Frostiana."

“This is a large piece of work with the orchestra, so we’ll be working on that over the next year and most likely also working on other songs on our own that we can perform around places in New York,” Rowley said.

Rowley expects the 38-student choir will be gaining more students within the next year before the performance.

All three lawmakers from the 34th District will host a town hall meeting to talk about the 2009 session and what future steps our state should take.

"This wasn't an easy session," said Sen. Joe McDermott, D-West Seattle. "The budget cuts will be hard on everyone, and I know people were already worried about losing their job or their home. But this won't last forever. It will take all of us, working together, to bring our state back to prosperity."

The meeting is set for 10 a.m. May 16 at the Jim Wiley Community Center, 9800 Eighth Ave. S.W.

"There's nothing more important than hearing from the citizens we represent," said Rep. Eileen Cody, D-West Seattle. "It's nice to be back home and talking to real people at the grocery store or the coffee shop."

The lawmakers returned home after the end of the legislature's 105-day session. The legislature passed a balanced budget, but left a handful of bills uncompleted that might require a short special session.

A mother and son in South Park are dismayed at their loss of income: They had their daughter/sister smuggled across the border in order to join her husband here in Seattle. In return, the husband was to pay a fee to the family. Though the husband has been making payments, the mother and son have refused to let the young woman leave their apartment until the fee is paid in full. On Tuesday, they threatened to kill the husband if the wife left with him. Officers explained to the family that they cannot hold the young woman against her will, and they stood by as she removed her belongings from the apartment. Officers placed into evidence the “promissory note/receipt” showing how much the husband owes. Meanwhile, mother and son were primarily interested in knowing what the officers were going to do about the outstanding debt.

Dear Editor,

We are ratcheting up the opposition to the I-99 tunnel in Seattle that is planned to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. We think it is time that some honesty and responsibility came to this matter, including that the State of Washington and the city of Seattle have buried a reasonable alternative to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, a cable stayed bridge, six lanes (in contrast to the four planned for the tunnel) in the right-of-way of the Viaduct, that will provide access to Northwest Seattle and Downtown, but most importantly costs $450 Million, and with ramps and utility replacement barely breaks a $1 Billion in total cost (see the full story and the documentation for this at www.yesviaduct.com).

Many might say, "oh it's elevated," "oh it's a bridge," but we think who cares? It is functional, it maintains all the aspects of the present Viaduct, access to all points north, south, east, and west, maintains through-put capacity, vehicle capacity, and opens up the central waterfront just like all the supporters of the tunnel want.

Dear Editor,

During the past year of stakeholders meetings, we have written letters concerning the Alaskan Way Viaduct. In one of those letters we suggested that the communities of Ballard, Queen Anne, Magnolia, and West Seattle join together as a group regarding the replacement of the SR 99 Highway.

Our state legislators and the Governor decided that they know what is best and decided to ignore the stakeholder’s options. The two options were a replacement elevated structure and a surface street option.

In opposition of the people’s vote in March 2007 election the people voted 70 percent against a tunnel.

The tunnel option does not offer the same access to that of the current viaduct. It prevents access to and from the three communities. Support for the Seattle tunnel is already caving in.

Le Gourmand Restaurant is inconspicuous. But after watching chef/owner Bruce Naftaly start a sauce reduction with six cups of stock, a bottle of red wine, four cups of heavy cream and four cups of cognac I’ll never pass that corner of Northwest Market and 9th with the same eyes.

Evidently cognac is as essential as salt (per Bruce it always needs more salt). The unexpected lesson from Le Gourmand’s cooking class was insight into my partner’s relationship with food preparation.

Before Martin and I merged our knives, larders and cookbooks I should have attended one of Bruce’s relatively unpublicized yet always full last Sunday of the month cooking classes. Sitting next to Martin on one of 14 chairs compressed into the restaurant kitchen for the evening class was like being able to observe him in the womb.

Jackie Bush innocently helped her daughter by babysitting her male puppy for one month 10 years ago. The two became very attached and T.J. became Jackie's.

Her daughter, Teisha, got another Pomeranian. T.J. is very protective of Jackie and you can see why. They walk twice a day, at least once to Roxhill Park, then they run around the perimeter and walk back home.

Jackie said "we walk for exercise, health and fun." T.J. also loves to ride the bus and lets out a happy bark when it comes into view as if to say "here it is." T.J. loves when Jackie's husband, A.C., gets home from work, he is a chef and often brings home little treats. Daily doggy chicken strips are also a favorite treat.

How to nominate your pet:

Want to nominate your pet for Pet of the Week? Stop by the VCA West Seattle Veterinary Hospital at 5261 California Ave. S.W. and just ask for a form. A nomination is not a guarantee of appearance and your name and photo may appear in our newspaper and online.