June 2009

Fall sports

Football: The most memorable play was when the Wildcats were down 16-13 to the Rainier Beach Vikings. With 3:33 on the clock, senior Chris Morson recovered a fumble. Then senior T.J. Lee set up a 56-yard run to score a touchdown, beating Rainier Beach 20-16. The victory also gave the Wildcats the Metro Sound Division Title.

Girl's soccer: One of the best games was when the Wildcats beat the Eastside Catholic Crusaders 1-0. Junior Kayla Kliphardt scored on a pass from senior Tanya Tarabochia. The team has stepped up their defense to save three to four goals for senior goalie Alex Ormsby.

Volleyball: A 3-2 victory over the Ingraham Rams satisfied the Wildcats volleyball team. There’s always been a fierce rivalry between the Wildcats and the Rams. Last year, the Wildcats were unable to beat them. But during their first meeting of the year, the Wildcats won a thriller five set match.

Cross country: At the Metro championship meet, nearly everyone in the varsity team had broken their personal records. The team had advanced to the district tournament for the first time in this decade.

KRAM Improv presents CSI: Seattle – Crime Scene Improv, a fast-paced improvised crime comedy about a team of investigators who use both bleeding-edge science and old-fashioned police know-how to solve crimes.

The show is this Thursday and Friday, June 11, 12 at 8 p.m. for $10 at ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery, 4711 California Ave. S.W. Tickets are at the door only.

Inspired by the popular television series, CSI: Seattle – Crime Scene Improv invites the audience to follow criminals, cops and other low-lifes through a different mystery each night. With the savoir-faire of Inspector Clouseau and the subtlety of David Caruso, the intrepid team solves the crimes (usually) and avenges the victims (even when they maybe don’t deserve it).

KRAM is made up of: Angela Bennett, Alex Dittmar, Rachel Jackson, Megan Nyce and Matt Williams.

The track team had another terrific season this year and topped it off by competing admirably at the metro, district and state meets.

Track coach Tom Burggraff said the team had an overall outstanding effort at all the tournaments this year. The boys’ track team placed fifth overall in the state meet, just short of last year’s performance of third place.

Markeem Adams placed first in the 200 meter dash with a time of 21.47 seconds. He also ran the 100 meter dash, placing second with a time of 10.89 seconds behind Anthony Wright of Lakes by a mere 0.03 seconds.

The 4x100 meter relay team- Aaron Grymes, Markeem Adams, Ian Keithly, and Jules Guay-Binion, placed third with a time of 43.10 seconds. They were behind Foster and Lakes. Seniors Lizzie Perkins and Grymes both placed fourth in the long jump.

“We performed very well at the state meet," said Burggraff. "There was lots of pressure involved. A lot of the team had their best performance of the year. The boys 4X100 had their best time all year. Markeem competed in four events, and scored in three of them. Aaron competed in three events and scored in all of them.”

QFC will be moving into the retail space at Ballard on the Park, the mixed-use development on 24th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 58th Street, in June and will attempt to finish the interior by Thanksgiving, according to a press release.

The new QFC will be 40,000 square feet with underground parking for 411 vehicles, replacing the 23,000 square foot store that closed in December 2007.

Ballard on the Park will also include 268 apartments and a smaller retail space.

The project, adjacent to Ballard Commons Park, will include a covered outdoor space along 24th Avenue Northwest.

The Crown Hill QFC location at Northwest 15th Street and 85th Avenue Northwest will be closing by the time the new Ballard QFC location opens.

The lease for the Crown Hill store expires in August, but QFC is working toward an agreement to let the location remain open until the Ballard store is complete.

At the next and final meeting of the North Seattle Industrial Association until this coming September, Grace Crunican, director of the city's transportation department will discuss various projects that impact the industrial business area.

The meeting is Tuesday, June 23 at 7:30 a.m. at Car Wash Enterprises, 3977 Leary Way N.W.

The agenda:

▪ 7:30 a.m., Introductions / Announcements
 
▪ 7:40 a.m. Project Updates:  Shoreline Master Program, Burke-Gilman Hearing Examiner Appeal, Pedestrian Projects in our area, review of candidates for various offices 


▪ 7:55 a.m. Grace Crunican, director of Seattle Department of Transportation, will discuss the various projects that impact the business area.  The deep bore tunnel, Nickerson, 15th Avenue, Mercer, and the Burke-Gilman Trail are some of the issues that could be discussed.

▪ 9 a.m. Adjourn 


The next North Seattle Industrial Association general meeting will be Sept. 22.

The Admiral Neighborhood Association continues to make progress in planning a summer concert series for Hiawatha Park. They have established an official partnership with the Hiawatha Park Action Committee and booked two of the six bands.

A goal sponsor has also been found, though more are still needed.

Tom Colwell and the Southbound Odyssey, which recently played the Pete Seeger 90th Birthday Celebration at the Admiral Theater, will play July 30 and the West Seattle Big Band is expected to play August 27

While PCC Market will be the primary sponsor for the series, additional sponsors are still needed to fund the concerts.

Mayor Greg Nickels has been invitied to the event but has not confirmed his attendance yet.

The concerts will be held on Thursday nights between July 23 and August 27 behind the community center and take place from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Event organizer Katy Walum expects local families to mingle and enjoy picnic dinners.

"I'm aiming for a classy musical affair," Walum said. "Im really excited about it."

If you are interested in sponsoring the event please contact Walum at katy.walum@gmail.com.

Live Girls! theater, located in downtown Ballard on Northwest Market Street, is excited to present Vrooommm! A NAScomedy,  a super charged spoof of America’s fastest sport!

An all female cast portrays the all-male universe of NASCAR daredevil antics, in this side-splitting summer sensation, written by Janet Allard and directed by Shawn Belyea.  This is the second show in Live Girls! 10th anniversary season.

Shows start on June 19 and run through July 11, Fridays at 8 p.m. and Saturdays 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday, June 29, and July 6. There are no shows on July 4.

In this high energy “NASComedy," the fast lane is stalled to a screeching halt by the arrival of a woman driver on the NASCAR circuit. When Holly “Legs” Nelson takes the lead in the season standings, egos are bruised, mullets are ruffled and all hell breaks loose on the circuit.

Sabotage, scandal and an all female cast combine to make an evening of high octane hijinks and crazy gender-fender-benders you won’t soon forget. The Vrooommm! universe offers up crazed fans, daredevil drivers, suspicious sponsors and more mustaches, beer and karaoke bars than you can imagine. 

As newly constructed and proposed high-rise projects have become more common in the Alaska Junction neighborhood, local residents have grown increasingly concerned that the character of their neighborhood could be lost.

Most recently, the seven-story Conner Homes project planned for California Avenue Southwest, Southwest Alaska Street and 42nd Avenue Southwest has drawn numerous community complaints about the height and scale that is appropriate for the local business district.

But a local design firm and neighborhood associations are developing a proposal that they hope will protect the character of their neighborhood for years to come.

The West Seattle Junction Association and Junction Neighborhood Organization have been working together with Nicholson Kovalchick Architects—where Southwest Design Review Board member Brandon Nicholson is a principal—to develop proposed upper-level setback requirements for the Junction.

Schmitz Park School tipped its hat to the Bard Tuesday, June 9 with two performances of its production of a "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Teacher Craig Parsley supervised but was quick to credit the students for being creative in interpreting their own characters as they saw fit. Students designed and painted the background scenery and designed some of the costumes.

They also handled the lighting and controlled some of the directing.

"In my 10 years experience with fifth graders this is the best show ever I have seen," announced Parsley on stage before the evening performance began.

Schmitz Park Elementary School librarian Judi Lybecker is retiring after 20 years, and the school hosted a celebration on June 9 in the library, of course.

Current and past students, parents, friends and family attended. Speeches were made with the reoccurring theme that she has instilled in her students a love of reading, a love of books.

"Ms. Lybecker has made the school a school of readers," said Gerrit Kischner, Schmitz Park principal. "Our kids consume books constantly, and are constantly coming down here to the library. We call her 'the pusher' because she just gets kids reading all the time and we'll treasure that forever and keep them reading."

"I'm going to do some traveling, volunteering, and reading," said Lybecker, who lived in Burien until she moved to West Seattle four years ago.

She said she does not recommend the same author or book to all the kids.

"Different kids have different likes and needs and I have tried to figure out which book each student might read," Lybecker said.