June 2009

This Saturday, June 6, young professionals from across the city will volunteer to clean-up several parks in West Seattle in preparation for summer visitors.

For Seattle Works Day, volunteers in their 20s and 30s will be rebuilding bike paths, removing invasive weeds and protecting native vegetation at 29 different sites throughout the day, including Camp Long, Lincoln Parks, Longfellow Park, Nature Consortium and Concord Elementary School in South Park.

The work at each site will start at noon and end at 3:30, said organizers.

Whether you are a golfer or not it's worth knowing that West Seattle is home to one of the best golf courses in the Northwest.

The man to know there is Colin Gants, father of four, who loves West Seattle, the game of golf and especially his golf course. He's been the golf pro at the West Seattle Golf Course for the past 19 years.

"It's absolutely the most beautiful place you can find in the City of Seattle," said Gants. "Every day I come to work, i have not said the words, 'I don't want to go to work today'. I just love the facility, love the golf course and love it's rich history here in West Seattle."

Gants' four children all attend Holy Rosary School. He attended the University of Washington and has been involved in golf ever since he was a boy.

Surprisingly, while he does get to play in tournaments and other events, he is so busy with instruction and administration and only plays on average once a week.

I’m always torn in the summer, torn between chores and enjoying the weather. I have dinners and parties to go to, and I don’t want to be stuck in a mall trying to find a wee hostess gift. Or, how about those friends who have everything? What do you get them? AND do you want to spend time shopping indoors, when the weather is so nice out!

Have no fear, I am here! 

You can have your cake and you can eat it, too. You can make a one-of-a-kind gift quickly and easily without trudging through any mall. And you can enjoy the weather and “be green,” too.  

How much better can it be?  

Oh, it’s very affordable and can fit any budget. And, it’s very, very fun. 

Miniature gardening is a very adaptable idea. It can four inches wide, or 40 feet wide. It is a very malleable concept, that can suit almost any occasion and suit any personality. You can make just about any theme in a small pot: from a formal garden to rustic setting, from a birthday theme to a special occasion wedding theme, you name it, it can be done! 

The Seattle Parks Department will designate three parks in downtown Ballard as an exclusion zone, meaning someone banned from one park will be banned from all three parks.

After residents at a June 4 meeting showed support for the exclusion zone, Seattle Parks Department Superintendent Tim Gallagher said Bergen Place, Ballard Commons Park and Marvin's Gardens will become the 14th exclusion zone in the city.

"Done deal," Gallagher said at the meeting. "That will happen right away."

Exclusion zones are used by the parks department because people cannot be criminally trespassed from public property, said Larry Campbell, security manager for the parks department.

Since a 1997 city ordinance, people can be issued an exclusion from any property owned by the parks department. The exclusion zone simply groups a number of parks together.

When someone is issued an exclusion, they are banned from that park or zone for seven days. If they are issued a second exclusion, they are banned for 90 days. A third exclusion bans them for one year. After that, they can be charged with criminal trespass.

Susan Hutchison, a former anchor for KIRO-TV, today filed the necessary paperwork to place her name on the August ballot as a candidate for the office of King County Executive, her campaign announced this morning.  

Today, June 5, is the filing deadline.   

“King County is a diverse region, with unique interests and challenges,” said Hutchison. “If we are to move this region forward we must start working together to solve the complex problems we face.”

Hutchison is the executive director of the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences, chair of the Seattle Symphony and board member of several community institutions. She said, as county executive, she will bring business, labor and environmental communities together to move King County forward. 

Hutchison is running against current King County Council members Dow Constantine and Larry Phillips, as well as state Rep. Ross Hunter, state Sen. Fred Jarrett and Snoqualmie Project Manager Alan Lobdell.

Three outages, including one in West Seattle, left about 5,800 Seattle City Light customers without power on June 4.

Other outages occurred in Ranier Beach and Olympic View.

The West Seattle outage affected about 2,900 customers. The general boundaries of the outage were Alki Avenue Southwest on the north, Southwest Juneau on the south, 25th Avenue Southwest on the east and 44th Avenue Southwest on the west.
The cause of the outage was not immediately known.

The Olympic View outage was caused by the failure of an elbow connector and affected about 1,900 customers. The general boundaries of the outage were North 100th Street on the north, North 77th Street on the south, Roosevelt Way Northwest on the east and Aurora Avenue Northeast on the west.

The Ranier Beach outage affected about 1,000 customers. The general boundaries of the outage were South Cloverdale Street on the north, South 111th Street on the south, 55th Avenue South on the east and East Marginal Way South on the west. The cause of the outage was not immediately know.

King County Council member Dow Constantine officially kicked off his campaign for King County Executive Thursday, June 4.

Constantine is running in a crowded race against fellow King County Council member Larry Phillips, state Rep. Ross Hunter, state Sen. Fred Jarrett, former KIRO-TV news anchor Susan Hutchison, and Snoqualmie Project Manager Alan Lobdell.

More than 200 supporters including friends and family attended Constantine's kick-off at Daniel's Recital Hall, the former First United Methodist Church downtown. The Seattle landmark was slated for demolition until he intervened, enlisting political and community support to preserve the sanctuary.

Kevin Daniels of Daniels Davelopment helped introduce Constantine. Daniels spearheaded the purchase of both the downtown property and some land in Belltown where First United Methodist could relocate and rebuild.

Constantine emphasized King County's historic accomplishments and discussed how he would move the county forward.

With record-breaking temperatures June 3 and the mercury rising near 90 degrees again on June 4, Ballard experienced a serious heat wave this week.

Weather services warned residents to stay inside and keep cool, but few Ballardites seemed to heed that advice.

"I like it because we only get, what, 30 days like these all summer," Neah Ortman said as she sat in the grass at Sunset Hill Viewpoint Park.

Ortman said she was glad to have a day off work from The Scoop at Walter's, where the ice cream stays cold but the freezers get hot.

Ballard Commons Park was swarmed with children, skateboarders and anyone looking for a place to lie down in the shade.

Fleets of sunbathers in short and bikinis found Golden Gardens more than accommodating on a Thursday afternoon.

At Salmon Bay Park, Joshua Lang kept an eye on little Kaiden Lang in the sandbox.

He said the heat is hard on the little ones because they get uncomfortable and don't sleep well.

Liz Bookey said her daughter Gwynne, also in the sandbox, had gotten used to all the cold weather Seattle had been experiencing this year.

Temperature are expected to cool off this weekend and into next week.

Dear Editor,

Perhaps, West Seattle has turned a corner. In the past, it has been very generous in donating items to charities. Now, however, thieves have taken it upon themselves to plunder the donated items set out for certain charities to be picked up curb-side.

This week we set out about $300 worth of household items, children's toys, books, clothing and many other items. This stack of boxes was clearly labeled for pick-up by Northwest Center. Before they could arrive to pick up the donation, someone stopped by and in broad daylight stole our entire donation and that of a lady across the street. The thief left a note made to read like a "thank-you" from her foster children (who were probably in school at the time), but did not sign the note.

This is not the first time this has happened on our street. The last time it occured, I happened to walk by a parked pickup that had our items in full view. That time I quickly removed the stolen items and returned them to our donation stack that was clearly marked for pick-up by the charity.

After much deliberation, changes, and recommendations between the Seattle Landmark’s Preservation Board and the Washington Department of Transportation, the design for a suicide barrier that will be installed on the Aurora Bridge was passed in a 6 to 5 vote.

Board members were concerned with how the modern barrier would fit with the historic design of the bridge, but found it to be the best design choice after all.

The Aurora Bridge, officially named the George Washington Memorial Bridge when it was built in 1931, has the second highest rate of suicides in the United States after the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Since a shoe salesman first leapt from the bridge in 1932, 230 people are known to have committed suicide on the historic monument, the Ballard News-Tribune previously reported.

In response to the growing number of suicides, a committee was formed last year consisting of a design team from the state transportation department, community and business leaders from neighborhoods around the bridge.