September 2009

A free seminar for people who want to learn more about fall planting will be offered at Swansons Nursery on Saturday, Sept. 19 titled “Shrink Your Lawn, Grow Your Garden.”

Greg Rabourn of KUOW’s Greendays Gardening Panel and KCTV’s Yard Talk, will discuss how to convert some or all of your lawn into a beautiful landscape featuring native plants and attractive perennials.
 
When fall rolls around, many people start putting the garden tools away – the planting season as they know it is over. But what they often don’t realize is that fall is also a great time to plant, according to gardeners as Swansons.

The fall is the time of year when plants and trees turn their energy from growing leaves and flowers into growing roots.   Cooler autumn air and increased rainfall are the perfect conditions for developing strong roots ahead of dry summers.

Healthy roots make for more drought-tolerant and disease-resistant plants. Plus, gardeners can take advantage of “free” autumn rains to water young roots instead of using a hose. 
 

Archbishop Alex J. Brunett of Seattle will bless Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús, permanent housing for families transitioning from homelessness, on Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 2 p.m.

Church and community leaders are scheduled to participate. The site is located at 2427 S.W. Holden St., in the Delridge neighborhood of West Seattle. A reception will follow. 

In addition to Archbishop Brunett, speakers at the blessing will be: Tobias W. Washington, Jr., president of Homestead Capital; Adrienne Quinn, director of the City of Seattle Office of Housing; David Wertheimer, senior program officer, Pacific Northwest, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and Evelyn Gomez-Ortiz, a resident of Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús. 

The Archdiocesan Housing Authority (AHA) is the developer of the site, and manages it. The housing is fully occupied. 

Santa Teresita provides 26 two- and three-bedroom units in four buildings. Two of the units are reserved for persons with physical disabilities, and six are reserved for large households. Also on site are two offices for residents to meet privately with counselors and case managers.

On Friday, a pilot made a bit of a hard landing off of Shilshole after running low on fuel while trying to check his plane's performance. En route from Bremerton to Payne Field he had trouble with his landing gear. Thinking it was down, he landed. But only one of the gear had dropped down, and the plane flipped over. Luckily the pilot was able to escape with only a cut to his head. A police boat was called to the scene to help maneuver the plane to the marina.

Just after midnight on Monday, a man with a gun robbed a gas station in the 9000 block of Holman Road. The clerk gave him $90 from the till, and he ran off through some nearby buildings. A K9 unit tried to track the suspect but was unsuccessful. He is described as a white male of medium build, about 6 foot 2 inches with short blond hair and a light-colored beard. He wore a black sweatshirt with a blue circular logo.

It’s true, this October the West Seattle Herald is leaving the office in the Admiral District that it has inhabited for the last few years. But, we are not leaving the community we have served for 86 years. Not even close.

While our base of operations will officially be the Robinson Newspapers publishing offices in Burien, we will not be covering West Seattle from Burien.

The West Seattle Herald reporters and ad sales staff will be working from our Burien office, our home offices, and out in the field wherever we can plug in a computer to best serve you, the readers.

Please see our new Web site, www.westseattleherald.com, for up-to-the-minute news, sports and features throughout the day, as well as slideshows, videos, stories and columns that are exclusive to the Web. We are now covering West Seattle at a level never seen in our history.

It’s no secret that the current recession and the rise of online news sources have hurt the newspaper industry, by streamlining our operations through office closures and mail-only delivery, we hope to be able to continue providing accurate, timely and newsworthy information about the community we love.

Down at Alki Playfield on Tuesday, a soccer coach noticed a man walking by the scene, watching the girls on the field. The coach greeted the fellow, whose response was “F(&* you.” The coach then said “Have a nice day,” to which the fellow responded with another “F(&* you.” When the coach also noticed that the man was holding a large syringe with a two-inch needle he called 911. An officer found the man about ten blocks away. He was argumentative, stated he was a “protected witness,” and refused to provide any identification. He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of unlawful use of a weapon.

On Tuesday, officers were dispatched to the 9100 block of 45th to question a man who had been camped outside an apartment complex for six hours. The 33-year-old University-area resident said he was waiting for a woman and asked officers to contact her (though he had no phone number). After a records check showed that he was wanted on a Department of Corrections no-bail escape warrant, the man was booked into King County Jail.

Pending sales around western Washington during August jumped nearly 21 percent from a year ago and inventory dropped more than 18 percent, according to new figures from Northwest Multiple Listing Service. 

Multiple Listing Service member-brokers said those indicators, along with signs of stabilizing prices, set the stage for brisk activity in the next few months as first-time buyers try to take advantage of the Nov. 30 deadline for tax credits.
 
“The typical August cool down in the market did not happen this year,” observed Northwest Multiple Listing Service director Kathy Estey, managing broker at John L. Scott’s office in downtown Bellevue.

She said agents are busy with both first-time and move-up buyers, and they’re reporting multiple offers on homes priced up to $700,000.
 
Brokers reported 7,539 pending sales (offers made and accepted but not yet closed) for August, up 20.7 percent from a year ago.  That volume out-gained July’s total by 260 transactions.
 
In the four-county Puget Sound region, pending sales of single family homes and condominiums (combined) surged 25.7 percent from a year ago. 
 

Any donations less than $5,000 made to the new Hazel Heights P-Patch in Fremont before the end of the year will be tripled thanks to pledges by Groundswell NW and Seattle’s P-Patch Trust to match contributions.

Groundswell NW President Andrea Faste said now is a great opportunity for neighbors to make donations to the P-Patch, which is close to being finished with its fundraising.

“We’re hoping this will put them over the top,” she said.

Hazel Heights, located at Northwest 42nd Street and Baker Avenue Northwest, is slightly outside of Groundswell NW’s territory, Faste said. But, she said the organization decided to get involved because of the P-Patch’s unique rainwater collection system and the wonderful people working on the project.

Ground was broken on the Hazel Heights P-Patch May 11. It will hold 19 gardening plots, and organizers hope it will be ready to be planted this fall.

The garden includes an 8,000-gallon underground cistern to gather rainwater from the roofs of neighboring houses, according to a Groundswell NW press release.

An estimated 150,000 people will swarm the Seattle Center over Labor Day weekend for this year’s Bumbershoot, the nearly 40-year-old arts and music festival.

Bumbershoot is one of the largest music and arts festivals in the world, with hundreds of artists and acts appearing in more than 20 venues around the Seattle Center.

This year’s festival features such notable names as The Black Eyed Peas and Modest Mouse in music, Patton Oswalt and Eugene Mirman in comedy, and Melvin Van Peebles and Tom Douglas in literature.

Photos and interviews from Bumbershoot will be posted daily at www.westseattleherald.com. Be sure to check out our Web site over Labor Day weekend to get a glimpse of the wide array of arts and music the city will be offering.

On Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7, most transit service will operate on a Sunday schedule, according to the King County Department of Transportation.

If a route does not normally run on Sunday, there is no service on Labor Day. Holiday/Sunday fares will be in effect on Metro bus routes.

One exception is the Elliott Bay Water Taxi, which will operate on a Saturday schedule. The Water Taxi land shuttle, Metro Route 773, will also operate on a Saturday schedule.

All Metro offices will be closed on Labor Day. See Metro Online for more information.

On Friday, Sept. 4, most Metro and King County offices will be closed as one of 10 scheduled 2009 cost-saving furlough days. Metro will operate regular weekday bus service and regular fares apply on Friday.

An estimated 150,000 people will swarm the Seattle Center over Labor Day weekend for this year’s Bumbershoot, the nearly 40-year-old arts and music festival.

Bumbershoot is one of the largest music and arts festivals in the world, with hundreds of artists and acts appearing in more than 20 venues around the Seattle Center.

This year’s festival features such notable names as The Black Eyed Peas and Modest Mouse in music, Patton Oswalt and Eugene Mirman in comedy, and Melvin Van Peebles and Tom Douglas in literature.

In addition, Bumbershoot 2009 will be bringing a bit of Ballard to the masses.

Lo-Ball: The Local Ballard Comedy Show will have its turn in the spotlight at 4:45 p.m., Sept. 5 at the Comedy Stage West.

Lo-Ball is a sketch and stand-up comedy show produced by the People’s Republic of Komedy that takes place on the first Friday of every month at Live Girls! Theater in Ballard.

Photos and interviews from all three days of Bumbershoot will be posted daily at www.ballardnewstribune.com. Be sure to check out our Web site over Labor Day weekend to get a glimpse of the wide array of arts and music the city will be offering.