December 2011

The Ballard District Council is convening for its monthly meeting tonight and topics on the agenda for the evening include Combined Sewer Overflow, homeless in Ballard with Council Member Mike O'Brien.

As usual, the meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Ballard Library 5614 22nd N.W.

AGENDA:

7 p.m. Introductions & Short Announcements - please hold announcements to not more than one minute.

7:15 p.m. Combined Sewer Overflows Part II: King County’s Recommended Plan presented by John Phillips, Project Manager, King County CSO Control and Sediment Management Program

-King County’s recommended plan for cleaning up Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) with special focus on
recommendations for the Ballard area
- Current infrastructure and options that are on the table in Ballard, and how you can comment on them.

7:40 p.m. Homeless in Ballard – Who is stepping up to address this issue in our community
1. City Council Member Mike O’Brien
2. Graham Pruss, Chair – Ballard Community Task Force on Homelessness & Hunger
3. Nancy McKinney, Executive Director – Ballard Food Bank
4. Beth Boram, Compass Housing Alliance

Shawnee Tucker got her dog Snow 12 years ago. Snow is an American Eskimo and he was a rescue dog. He's a little small in stature for his breed. "They are usually a little bigger," said Tucker. "We got Snow from the American Eskimo Rescue woman who lives in Burien when he was one year old. My twin sons and I adopted him."

Snow is "an excellent guard dog," said Tucker, "but what is interesting is that I've developed a relationship with a lot of birds in the area. I have a lot of crows that come and a one legged seagull who lands on our deck and I feed her. He's completely fine with these birds. They land near him and there's a complete acceptance of each other. I was surprised by that. I think he senses the relationship."

press release:
Harbor Properties started construction this week on Nova, a multifamily project located at 4600 36th Ave. SW in West Seattle. Nova’s start comes just a few months after the successful lease up of Harbor’s LINK Apartments project, located just a few blocks away, in the quickly reemerging Triangle neighborhood.

The West Seattle Herald published the story about the project last March.

Nova is a 5-story building that features 62 compact, 1- and 2-bedroom apartment units. The Built Green-certified building is located adjacent to the newly renovated West Seattle Motel property. Nova is due for completion in December 2012.

press release:
South Seattle Community College’s Career Center, one of seven area WorkSource Affiliate sites, provides a wide range of employment-related services to students and the community, offering workshops, guidance, and counseling designed to produce positive job search results. Last year, over 30,000 employment services were provided to candidates, ranging from faxing resumes to career counseling.

The need for these services is particularly evident in this tough economic climate. WorkSource staff is seeing many laid off, experienced professionals who possess no current job search knowledge or skills.

The Center is open to the public and its computers, phone, fax and copy machine are available for use in job search. It also houses a career library with resume, cover letter and job search resources including books, video and audio tapes. Visitors may also utilize software and Internet sites to assess skills, practice interviewing, compose cover letters, and create resumes.

The following free workshops will be offered winter quarter:

press release:
Construction along California Av SW between SW Graham and SW Findlay streets may result in short-term, intermittent closures of bus stops in both directions during the next week.

Stop impacts change as the contractor works; it is not possible for Metro to know in advance when stops will be affected.

Customers who want to board or exit routes 22, 54, 128 or DART 773 are encouraged to be
aware of conditions in the construction area, watch for posted Rider Alerts at affected
bus stops or use regularly posted stops north of Findlay or south of Graham during this time.

Deadline for receiving items for Community Calendar is 5 p.m. Wednesday for the following week’s Times/News. Events are published based on timeliness and space availability. Email submissions to: hteditor@robinsonnews.com Items can be accepted from nonprofit groups and government agencies only. Others may call Dona Ozier at 206-708-1378 for inclusion in our “Out & About” advertising section.

Christmas Ships
Dickens Carolers—Dec. 15. Ships begin at Des Moines waterfront, 7-7:30 p.m. Dash Point, 8:10-8:30 p.m. Return to waterfront, 9:15 p.m.

Classes
The Hi-Liners DownStage Center's Winterfest at Hogwarts Academy—Dec. 26-29, 10 a.m.-1p.m, Ages 5-18. Burien Annex, 425 S.W. 144th St. Join us for Magic at Hogwarts with Professors Dumble-Curry and McGona-Webb! Graduation Performance December 29th, 6:45 p.m. at Winterfest in the Main Hall. Please come prepared for: Sorting into Appropriate Houses, Rudimentary Wand Construction, House Song Competition, Potions and Spells. Hogwarts Academy accepts school age Witches and Wizards in training. www.hi-liners.org.

Events

Our taxpayer dollars are being nickeled and dimed out of our pockets by drivers behaving badly.

Three weeks ago a pedestrian sign was ripped off the post and two mailboxes were destroyed by some stupid driver who did one of the following: failed to stop at the stop light, drove while texting or talking, drove while drunk, or just plain drove recklessly.

Early this morning, the same sign was broken at the base of the post. My neighbors and I are tired of replacing our mailboxes, calling 911 to report the damage and calling the city of Burien to reinstall the sign warning drivers about pedestrians.

About a year ago some teens knocked down three mailboxes and hit one of my trees. It appeared as though they were trying to do a u-turn between a utility pole and two driveways. The car they were in lost some parts.

The next morning an adult drove three teens to the crime scene, driving very slowly past my house and the houses on the other side of the street. She didn't do anything but survey the damage. So the teens got away without having to assume responsibility for their actions.

The spirit of giving is alive and well in Des Moines.

In November, a kind lady brightened our day. Two seniors thank the unknown benefactor who paid for our lunches.

We will pay it forward.

Jeanne Serrill
Dona Costello
Des Moines

Thanks for Jerry's view. I look forward to reading recollections of his early years during the Depression. Jerry has managed to capture a desperate time in our history and present it to the reader in a "You are there" writing style. Moreover, writing in a way that describes some of the attributes we lost -- families that worked together to survive, and the fun of that.

When I hear contemporary Americans describe their plight today comparing now with the Great Depression, I think of my relatives from that time. A fat person was a rarity. I decided to look at pictures of the day -- people were thin. There were no concerns about calories, the type or source; the concern was in getting enough of them from whatever source.

And, there were never "jobs that Americans wouldn't do."

Paul Willoughby
Tukwila

(Note: Parts of this Christmas story were originally printed in a 2002 issue of the Times/News.)

Who forgets childhood Christmas memories?

Not me. The thrill of colorful lights in downtown Seattle when our family-- Mom, Dad, Grandma, five kids (and the dog) piled into a well-used Oldsmobile sedan to cruise by downtown store windows. Wide-eyed we looked at “The Bon” windows that seemed a land of make-believe. For Depression kids it was unreal.

Seattle’s Bon Marche’s (now Macy’s) famous roof-top Christmas Star was sparkling and huge store windows were decorated with dolls, trains, bikes, night robes, slippers and gifts galore. We kids were very sure none of that would ever be at our Christmas tree. Money was scarce in the Depression era for anything but essentials such as beans, potatoes, oatmeal, milk, homemade biscuits and clothing.

All else was wishful thinking of a kid’s fantasy, except for seeing Santa in the store’s big corner window and standing in line to tell him what we want for Christmas.