March 2012

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn met with a packed house at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in Delridge on March 13 to answer questions from the community and discuss the future of jobs and education in the city.

Before he took the stage, the Vicious Puppies Dance Crew – part of the non-profit educator Arts Corps at Youngstown – upped the tempo of the evening with a vibrant dance set.

Possibly pre-planned, possibly off-the-cuff response, McGinn opened his statements with a promise to find funding for Arts Corps - an educational program serving 800 kids that does not qualify for funding from the Families and Education Levy due to a lack of measurable academic outcomes defined in the guidelines.

“We are just coming out of the longest, deepest depression since the Great Depression,” McGinn said, adding 35,000 jobs were lost in the city. With signs of improvement now showing, he said 18,000 jobs have been added since the big hit and Seattle has a slightly lower unemployment rate than the rest of the state and nation.

In the push to continue improvement, McGinn talked jobs and education.

press release:
Repairs are underway on the Duwamish Trail in West Seattle. The asphalt trail has been heavily damaged in places by tree roots and needs to be repaired for bicyclist and pedestrian safety. SDOT crews are grinding off the old asphalt, trimming trees, cutting roots, and placing new asphalt this week, weather permitting, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The crews are assisting pedestrians and bicyclists around the work area. Due to weather conditions, the trail is muddy in the work area. Bicyclists may need to dismount and walk their bikes in places.

Funding for this project is provided by the Bridging the Gap transportation initiative approved by Seattle voters.

The Duwamish Trail stretches from the lower Spokane Street Swing Bridge to South Park, following West Marginal Way SW on the west side the Duwamish River. The scenic views of the river from the trail are juxtaposed with the surrounding industrial area. The trail connects with the Alki Trail on the north and, after a route on streets, connects with the Green River Trail to the south.

By Elizabeth Wang, Intern

Even in March the Seattle winters are still very cold, and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church provides a warm haven for homeless people around the Ballard area to eat, rest and hide from the rain.

Five days a week, Meals at St. Luke’s offers free meals and coffee served by three cheery, gray-haired ladies bustling around in brightly colored aprons.

Clocking in around 7:30 a.m., Nancy Rogers, 79, sets up for the day’s meal and preps for the afternoon rush. At 10:30, she leads her group of volunteers and early arrivers in prayer before serving the food she spent the morning baking and seasoning.

For 23 years, Rogers has been dicing vegetables and plating desserts at St. Luke’s. She started Meals at St. Luke’s, then called Lunchtime at St. Luke’s, with six other women in her prayer group. They believed they were not doing enough to service the community and sought to do more.

“We decided that we wanted to do something more than just pray and read the Bible,” Rogers said. “So we decided to have a feeding program.”

The contractor for the Ballard Bascule Bridge Painting Project had planned to begin closing a single southbound lane of traffic on the Ballard Bridge on Monday, March 12 and continuing on weekdays into April.

Now, delayed by weather, the contractor expects to begin the closure on Thursday evening, if weather permits. The lane will remain open during peak traffic periods for southbound traffic, but closed from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays and then again at night from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following day, Monday through Thursday.

When the contractor closes the southbound lane, the west sidewalk will also be closed; until then, the east sidewalk is closed to allow the contractor to access to the bridge.

Bicyclists are detoured during sidewalk closures. Bicyclists may use the Fremont Bridge or may cross the ship canal at the Ballard Locks. (The sidewalks on the Ballard Bridge are too narrow to accommodate bicycle traffic in two directions on the same sidewalk).

Local attorney Henry Grenley buys a couple of cases of decent wine, adds some very expensive wines and raises money at the annual dinner and auction fundraiser for Ballard NW Senior Center by running a “wine toss.”

Magnolia resident Bernie Sadowski always buys an entire table so that he can invite new guests, but that’s just a fraction of his auction contributions. He is on the planning committee, solicits donations and spent so much at his first auction that his daughter said, “Daddy, are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
He’s sure.

Lynne and Mike Bush always donate a round of golf at Broadmoor for the auction, attend and bid generously. Lynne Bush became involved through her late friend Diana Hovland, a former sorority sister who was a Senior Services Coordinator. Her late friend’s husband Al Hovland has now been chair for so long they’ve stopped pretending there is any other auction chair.

None of the above even live in Ballard.

Yet they all support the “Spring for Seniors” fundraising event every year along with a crew of committee members, staff and volunteers.

Beginning April 9, the K-5 STEM program, emphasizing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics will be led by Dr. Shannon McKinney at the Boren School on Delridge Way s.w.

She met with parents, and teachers at Madison Middle School on March 13 to talk to them about the program, answer questions and to get to know people.

Dr. McKinney currently lives in Tucson, Arizona and has more than 22 years of educational experience including classroom teaching, and served as a both an Assistant Principal and Principal in Tucson.

She plans on moving to Seattle in two weeks and brought her mother, Melinda along for the trip. The two have been actively house hunting.

It's been a long, long five years since fans of the University of Washington's women's basketball program had something to cheer about.

The Huskies were picked for a postseason berth in the Women's National Invitational Tournament last night, a reward befiiting their remarkable turnaround this season under first-year coach Kevin McGuff.

The announcement came at 9 p.m. PST, two hours later than originally planned by the WNIT.

Former Kennedy Catholic standout and UW freshman 6-foot forward Aminah Williams was at home in West Seattle, with her parents Guy and Monique, when she got word on her cell phone.

"It was nail-biting," said Williams Tuesday evening.

Once she got the announcement Williams was elated, along with her parents, she said.

"It's so exciting to be part of this college experience as a freshman. The postseason is so big and I'm excited to compete."

The last time the Huskies went to a major postseason tournament was on St. Patrick's Day in 2007, when Iowa State beat them 79-60 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

It's been a long, long five years since fans of the University of Washington's women's basketball program had something to cheer about.

The Huskies were picked for a postseason berth in the Women's National Invitational Tournament last night, a reward befiiting their remarkable turnaround this season under first-year coach Kevin McGuff.

The announcement came at 9 p.m. PST, two hours later than originally planned by the WNIT.

Former Kennedy Catholic standout and UW freshman 6-foot forward Aminah Williams was at home in West Seattle, with her parents Guy and Monique, when she got word on her cell phone.

"It was nail-biting," said Williams Tuesday evening.

Once she got the announcement Williams was elated, along with her parents, she said.

"It's so exciting to be part of this college experience as a freshman. The postseason is so big and I'm excited to compete."

The last time the Huskies went to a major postseason tournament was on St. Patrick's Day in 2007, when Iowa State beat them 79-60 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

It's been a long, long five years since fans of the University of Washington's women's basketball program had something to cheer about.

The Huskies were picked for a postseason berth in the Women's National Invitational Tournament last night, a reward befiiting their remarkable turnaround this season under first-year coach Kevin McGuff.

The announcement came at 9 p.m. PST, two hours later than originally planned by the WNIT.

Former Kennedy Catholic standout and UW freshman 6-foot forward Aminah Williams was at home in West Seattle, with her parents Guy and Monique, when she got word on her cell phone.

"It was nail-biting," said Williams Tuesday evening.

Once she got the announcement Williams was elated, along with her parents, she said.

"It's so exciting to be part of this college experience as a freshman. The postseason is so big and I'm excited to compete."

The last time the Huskies went to a major postseason tournament was on St. Patrick's Day in 2007, when Iowa State beat them 79-60 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Professional actor, Brian Sutherland, who portrays a superhero on a web TV series, chased a purse snatcher for a mile today and retrieved the item, belonging to woman in her late 60's. Sutherland, a former West Seattle resident, stars as a soldier in the just-completed, and West Seattle-produced "All My Presidents", filmed here on North Admiral.

He also happens to portray a superhero named "Super Star" in The Collectibles, a satirical web TV series scheduled to be launched in April. Many in its cast and crew live in West Seattle.

Sutherland was heading back from an audition on Queen Anne with some fellow actors from "All My Presidents" when he witnessed a man in his 30's stealing a woman's purse.