June 2009

Ballard residents could have the opportunity to build backyard cottages, small dwellings on their properties that are not attached to the main house, as soon as this fall.

Legislation is being reviewed by the planning and land use committee of the Seattle City Council and, in the best case scenario, could be passed in September, Department of Planning and Development project manager Andrea Petzel said at the June 10 Ballard District Council meeting.

Backyard cottages can be used to house family members, such as elderly parents or grown children, or to rent out for supplemental income.

The city began allowing backyard cottages in southeast Seattle in 2006 as a pilot program, and Mayor Greg Nickels is anxious to see that expanded to the rest of the city, Petzel said.

"Frankly, we're getting a lot of pressure from the community," she said. "We've gotten a lot of phone calls from a wide range of neighborhoods wondering when this is coming to their area."

About a dozen Ballard residents attended the district council meeting to hear the presentation on backyard cottages. Most were supportive and seemed interested in building cottages of their own.

Seattle Department of Transportation crews will close the sidewalk and right-hand, southbound curb lane on the west side of the Fremont Bridge next week, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The crews are allowing three days for this work, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, June 15, 16 and 17, but they may complete the work sooner.

The closures will allow the crews to repair the sidewalk.

Pedestrians will be detoured at North 34th Street on the north end of the bridge and at Nickerson on the south end.

The Nordic Heritage Museum Tivoli/Viking Days festival dates were mis-printed in the annual Summer Celebrations guide published recently by the Ballard News-Tribune. The correct dates for the festival are July 11 and 12.

This eventful weekend offers unique Scandinavian entertainment, food, arts and crafts merchants and real live Vikings only seen in Ballard. The Taste of Scandinavia will represent each of the five Nordic countries featuring delectable edibles such as Swedish meatballs, Norwegian lefse, Danish æbleskiver, and a variety of Finnish and Icelandic goodies. Also enjoy our Traditional Swedish Pancake Breakfast and Famous Salmon Barbeque Dinner.

The Ravenstead Vikings will be on hand all weekend clad in their authentic costumes. They will show Viking Days visitors all aspects of Viking life in their small encampment. Viking arts and crafts such as weaving, spinning, woodcarving and cooking will be demonstrated, and will take you back to an earlier time. The Vikings will also lead discussions about many aspects of Viking life on both Saturday and Sunday. Visitors will also be able to view live performances of Viking battles.

The state ferries division will launch its summer 2009 ferry schedule on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 21, with additional vessels, sailings and service hours on the more popular tourism routes, according to a release from the state.

The summer schedule runs through Sept. 26.

The new 2009 summer schedules are available at all ferry terminals and on the vessels. Summer service changes for the Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth include extra weekend service on both Saturday and Sunday.

See the Fauntleroy to Vashon schedule here.

View the Fauntleroy to Southworth schedule here.

Other summer ferry schedule changes include:

Anacortes/San Juan Islands: an additional vessel and increased hours of service

Anacortes/Sidney, B.C.: two daily trips instead of one

Port Townsend/Keystone: additional weekend trips

Mukilteo/Clinton: extra service on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights

For Jessie Summa-Kusiak, opening a live music venue has always been a dream. So after eight years working as a design manager for Amazon, Summa-Kusiak left the corporate world in 2006 to open the Skylark Club and Café in West Seattle’s north Delridge neighborhood.

"I moved to West Seattle and thought there really should be more places for live original music,” said Summa-Kusiak.

When the Skylark first opened, the neighborhood had many doubts about whether it would be successful or not.

The location was questionable to find from within West Seattle, but Summa-Kusiak said it also has had its benefits.

“The location is both the challenge and the blessing,” said Summa-Kusiak. “I chose it because there was not a lot of density for noise complaints, but it’s a little hard to figure out how to get there from within West Seattle.”

Others wondered whether West Seattle would support an all original venue.

“People said ‘You can’t have live music in West Seattle, that will never work,’” said Charlie Russo, Skylark’s sound engineer.

Construction on the missing link of the Burke-Gilman Trail can begin after an appeal by neighborhood business and industrial groups failed.

On June 9, Sue Tanner, hearing examiner for the City of Seattle, upheld the Seattle Department of Transportation's determination of non-significance on the environmental impacts of completing the trail.

The appeal was filed against the department's determination Dec. 17 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.

In January, the Cascade Bicycle Club was granted a motion to intervene in the appeal.

The city is now free to complete the final portion – often referred to as the missing link – of the Burke Gilman-Trail. The missing link runs from 11th Avenue Northwest to the Ballard Locks, and plans call for the trail to have sections on both Shilshole Avenue and Ballard Avenue.

Chief Sealth High School students Ally Stariha, Nicole Stariha, Sara Schendel, Samantha Westler and DJ Ross were co-recipients of the Association of King County Historical Organizations Youth Award.

The award is presented to a King County student, or students, (K-12) who made an outstanding contribution to the heritage community through a project that has benefited the community at large. All five students were recognized for the mentoring work they did with students from Cooper Elementary on a local environmental and historical project associated with Project Earth Care.

Gary Thomsen, the teacher who lead the project, has won the prestigious Heritage Education Award from the Association of King County Historical Organizations.

The Heritage Award is presented to a King County teacher or an organization who has promoted King County heritage by the innovative incorporation of local history into the curriculum and/or through a project that involves students with the heritage community.

The High Point Neighborhood Community Center, expected to be completed by September just in time for its head start programs to begin, will offer two computer terminals to interface with different environmental elements of the new 20,000 square-foot building.

A live Web site will show how much energy the solar panels are generating and how much energy the entire building is using, wind speed, and indoor and outdoor temperature. The building's contractors will discuss on video vignettes why they chose their types of green technologies, like the three-pain windows and geothermal cooling systems.

"While not everyone has computer access, most people in the world have cell phone access," said Ray Li, director of strategic initiatives with High Point Neighborhood House. People around the world will be able to call our universal cell phone number associated with our displays and interviews and touch a number code to listen in Cambodian, Spanish, Somali, Amharic, and of course English."

(Editor's note: The following article appears originally in Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin's newsletter "Making it Work.")

On Tuesday, May 26, the Seattle City Council voted 5 to 3 (Godden, McIver, Rasmussen voting no) to repeal the admissions tax on small music venues that employ live musicians. The legislation will encourage the employment of live musicians and hopefully encourage the opening of more live music venues.

The repeal had been proposed last fall as part of the ‘City of Music’ initiative, but the council postponed action due to concerns about the budget implications. Now that the full budget situation is known, the majority of the council was ready to move ahead with this legislation, recognizing that the estimated $300,000 annual reduction in revenues will not make a significant difference in Seattle’s $900 million general fund budget.

Bruce, who has been using Personal Safety Nets® tools since we met last year, wrote to us recently from his home in New York City.

"New York is a cold, hard and uncaring city, right? I live in a building with 19 floors and, perhaps, 300 apartments. Well, yesterday, I found a flier under my door. The flier said:

Have you ever needed someone to water your plants, pick up your mail, or accompany you to or from a medical appointment? These are a few of the services residents in 372 CPW (where I live) will offer to help their neighbors. You can participate in this volunteer program by giving and/or receiving occasional assistance.

A 372 CPW Resident Resource Directory is in the works. On the other side of this letter is a list of suggested services. Please check any you might be able to provide on occasion and return to the front desk, addressed to KH, 18C.

"When I read Personal Safety Nets®, I realized that my Care-share network was not in New York. The people that I love and care about are mostly on the West Coast. Now that I have received this flier, I've realized that I can start giving care within my own building! I am smiling!"