January 2012

A little over two months since Seattle Coffee Works announced they signed a lease for the former Tully's space on the east side of the busy 22nd & NW Market Street corner, Starbucks announced they will move their current Market Street location one door down into the empty 5 Corner Market space.

"We are very excited to be relocating our store in Ballard. Our current store will remain open until the new location is complete," said a Starbucks spokesperson. "We expect to open our new location in early June and look forward to continuing to be a gathering place for the Ballard community."

The 25 year-old restaurant space at 2200 NW Market Street formerly housed Lombardi's and 5 Corner Market, and will offer a lot more space and seating for Starbucks customers than the current location.

Press release
A U.S. Department of Labor grant awarded to Highline Community College’s Center of Excellence for International Trade, Transportation, and Logistics is targeting one of Washington State’s strongest – and relatively unknown – sectors.

“As an industry, supply chain management involves many different types of business processes,” says Allison Clark, Highline College economic development manager. “Because of that, I think many people don’t realize it exists, or know about how many great job opportunities there are in this area.”

According to a 2008 study conducted by Port Jobs, a Seattle-based non-profit organization which publishes international trade policy and industry research, public knowledge of the industry is limited, and educational and training options available at area colleges and technical schools are relatively new.

Press release

Four “gold medalist” Highline high-school students will be appearing with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra at a free community concert Tuesday, Jan. 17, 7:30 p.m., at the Highline Performing Arts Center, 401 S. 152nd St.

The four students are Martin Obrero, clarinet, Global Connections; Eden Ghirmai, flute, Mt. Rainier; Stephanie Anderson, trumpet, Highline; and Kirk Cieszkiewicz, French horn, Highline.

The Seattle symphony partners with local schools though its “Gold Medalist” program. For each community concert, local high-school instrumentalists who have achieved outstanding levels of proficiency are invited to perform with the orchestra.

They come to Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle to rehearse with the orchestra and receive coaching by Seattle symphony musicians. Then, they sit among the orchestra members and perform during the actual concert.

These four students will play with the orchestra on the first piece of the program, Weber’s “Overture to Der Freischütz.”

The USS Ronald Reagan made its way to The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton to undergo a years worth of maintenance on Jan. 10. It held up marine traffic this morning as it came through Rich Passage and was visible from West Seattle.

The carrier's homeport has been changed administratively from San Diego to Bremerton for the year long, extended stay of about 2500 sailors and their family. All of their vehicles were transported via the carriers deck. The carrier will undergo a $218 million dollar overhaul.

Here are some facts about the ship:

* The USS Ronald Reagan is the biggest and most technologically advanced aircraft carrier in the world. It is also known as CVN 76. She is the knights ship in the Nimitz class, the largest designation of flat top.

* The USS Reagan is 1,092 feet long.

* She is powered by two nuclear reactors and driven by four bronze propellers weighing over 66,000 pounds each.

* The ship reaches speed over 30 knots

* The carrier can hold about 6000 people at one time, half for ship crew and half for the aircraft community. Cooks make 18,000 meals a day.

Brian Bennett was selected Jan.9 as Burien’s new mayor on a 4-2 vote.

Bennett, who previously served as deputy mayor, replaces Joan McGilton, who had been Burien’s mayor since 2004.

Bennett will serve a two-year term.

Councilwoman Lucy Krakowiak, who has often been a lone dissenting voice on the council, gained a council ally with the swearing in of Bob Edgar. Edgar defeated veteran councilman Gordon Shaw in the November election.

Councilman Gerald Robison, who had been appointed to replace Kathy Keene when she retired to Florida, also was elected to his seat in November.

City attorney Craig Knutson swore Edgar, Robison and Krakowiak in Monday night.

Edgar nominated Krakowiak for mayor while Robison nominated Bennett.

Edgar and Krakowiak voted for Krakowiak while Bennett, McGilton, Robison and Rose Clark favored Bennett. Councilman Jack Block was excused from the meeting.

Clark was elected to a one-year term as deputy mayor. McGilton nominated Clark while Edgar, again, nominated Krakowiak. Bennett, McGilton, Robison and Clark voted for Clark. Krakowiak and Edgar voted for Krakowiak.

Bennett's background

I was stopped outside the Des Moines Post Office today by 2 young men who asked me, “Are you ready to dump Obama?” I replied “Absolutely not” and went into the post office.

I asked a clerk about it and she said they had contacted the police who advised them they can do nothing to stop it.

I am appalled at the lack of respect to an elected official and the position served. No matter one’s politics, respect is warranted. I am hearing this same type of rhetoric on TV; not candidates telling us what they can do to improve our country, but how to destroy the serving president.

The candidates’ place is to offer the voters something better, and the voters’ place to show their feelings is on the ballot. Having so little respect for elected officials evolves itself into lack of self-respect, in my opinion.

Elizabeth Jackson
Des Moines

I have always been hesitant to write to you because I’ve tried to live by the words of Samuel Clemens that “it is better to keep quiet and let people think you’re an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

As a resident of Burien for 30 plus years, it has become my hometown and I feel extremely fortunate to live here with its temperate climate, rain, greens and blues of the forests and waters, proximity to downtown Seattle and SeaTac Airport and more.

In closely following the White Center annexation issue for a time now, I’ve come to believe that the “small is beautiful” option would be a better choice for the economic health of our respective communities.

Small can be nice. Small is identifiable and a small town image is marketable for both Burien and White Center. It should be a business decision, not as some would argue, a great social issue.

An identifiable community image is important to economic health of any community. It becomes a real tangible asset in marketing a community to the region as a great place to live, work and play. After all, the Highline area IS a great place to live, work and play.

Opening Wednesday, January 18, 2012, and playing through February 12, ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery will present the Seattle premiere of Shirley Lauro’s explosive, theatrical portrayal of life inside the Third Reich.

Four German, gentile women manage their lives in very different ways through the rise and fall of Adolph Hitler. This Jefferson nominated best play of 2006 - based on actual interviews with women who navigated the landscape of fascism from the inside – received its New York debut in 2009, and will be directed by Artistic Director, Christopher Zinovitch in a highly theatrical style.

Artist Thomas Whipple is one of the community voices featured on the Ballard News-Tribune BLOG. Every week he shows people how he sees Ballard - through the lens of a camera and reworked using HDR technology.

This week Whipple featured the Ballard Locks:

"The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks are a complex series of locks that sit at the west end of Salmon Bay, part of Seattle’s Lake Washington Ship Canal. They are known locally as the Ballard Locks.

I live aboard a boat only a few blocks from the Ballard Locks. These Locks and surrounding area have provided many interesting sights. Planning and construction of the Locks started around 1906 and the first vessel passed in 1916 before the official opening in 1917.

On the particular day when this photo was taken, I arrived just as “The Island Breeze” was pushing a 56-foot-wide barge through the 80-foot-wide lock. Doing the math makes us realize that it had only 12 inches of wiggle room on each side."

At the first Hi-Yu general meeting of the year, held at the High Point branch of Seattle Public Library on Jan. 9 the group came together to review their current status and take a look at the year ahead. Like many community organizations, Hi-Yu runs on a very low budget with under $25 in their checking account and just over $600 in savings at the moment.

Facing Hi-Yu is the need to pay for the parade float that every year travels to 13 different parades. The float itself also needs to be worked on to reflect the theme, and stored in a safe and dry place year round. Right now, that's in Everett and soon they will not have a place for that storage. With just over a month left to decide if, for the first time, Hi-Yu will not even have a float it's looking decidedly uncertain, according to the Hi-Yu officers. "If we can't find a place to store it and work on it, sad to say but we won't have a float this year," said Hi-Yu President James Cline. It requires a space roughly 30 foot by 10 foot space to store it with a 12 foot door. To work on it, means a little more space. To transport it means renting a large truck which is another expense.