November 2012

By Karoline Morrison, owner of the Old Ballard Carnegie Library building

On Wednesday, Sept. 19, I learned how vulnerable owners of buildings in Seattle can be to well-meaning individuals.

They have the power to "preserve" a privately owned building which, by their nomination, can designate any structure of their choice to become a "historic landmark." Their intentions may be noble, but the effect on the property owner can be disastrous. Acquiring "landmark" status can result in a decrease in property value and be detrimental to building tenants trying to run a business.

My building, the Old Ballard Carnegie Library, was nominated by one individual and approved by a group of people from the Historic Landmark Board. Late on that Wednesday evening, after a long, drawn out slideshow presentation, a few Ballardites spoke up about their affection for the building. It was nice, but it had nothing to do with the process. I made my plea for the Landmark Board to let me continue my forty-eight years of caring for the property. The Ballard Historic Committee praised me for this, but my plea seemed to go unheard.

If you live near Gatewood Hill and hear some early morning racket it's only work crews in the process of replacing some aging steel gas lines along 41st Avenue SW.

Puget Sound Energy and their sub-contractor Infrasource are in the process of pulling up the former gas lines during the day, working around existing sewer and water lines and replacing corroded steel lines with a new polyurethane line.

Crews must first break up cement road panels to gain access to the soil, hence the racket, then carefully determine where other services are running, and build the new line around them. They work section by section from approximately Elmgrove Street SW to Ida Street pouring new concrete slabs as they go.

In the end the area will have essentially new road surfaces and all new gas lines. No service interruptions are anticipated and the work should be completed in the next couple of weeks.

By David Rosen and Patrick Robinson

UPDATE 9PM Nov. 5

Organizers shared a press release with more details on the display:

On Saturday, November 24th, Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Judy Pancoast will be presenting an outdoor Christmas concert at the home of Corey and Taylor Helmstetler at 3908 SW Charlestown. The public is invited free of charge, but attendees are asked to bring a donation for either West Seattle Food Bank or NW Parkinson’s Foundation.

Pancoast is visiting West Seattle as part of her third annual “The House on Christmas Street International Tour,” in support of her new CD, “Christmas with Mrs. Claus.” Concerts on the tour are performed on the lawns and in the driveways of the decorating enthusiasts who have become her biggest fans and use her music in their animated lighting displays. The Helmstetler home is well known in the area for its magnificent annual display. This is the first year that they have hosted Pancoast’s tour.

Last year West Seattle Lights collected nearly 1500lbs of food for the West Seattle Food Bank and nearly $3000 for both the Food Bank and NW Parkinson’s Foundation.

UPDATE: 12:20 p.m. Veraci Pizza was able to resolve the issues with the Health Department and will be open again next Sunday at the Ballard Farmers Market.

Turns out, it mostly just came down to workers running out of paper towels, co-owner Errin Byrd said in a phone interview. They had a handwashing station setup -- contrary to what the Public Health website states -- but just needed something to dry their hands with to fall within the proper guidelines. They were able to resolve the issues within minutes and in fact reopened a few minutes later.

Byrd also noted that they had left out olive oil for over two hours, which she said is a personal guideline that they failed. The health department's guideline is four hours, but inspectors still marked Veraci down for failing to fall within their own guidelines.

The health department also noted potentially hazardous food that were cooked at inadequate temperatures. Byrd said that there were indeed a few pizzas that fit the description, but they threw those out.

This is the first time Veraci has been closed down for health reasons in the eight years they have been open.

Burglarized, but not concerned
The one-time owner of a home on the 3500 block of S.W. 106th St. received a call from a King County Sheriff’s Office detective on Oct. 26 that someone was in custody and had some of his personal belongings. The victim was told to contact Seattle Police, did so, and told them he had abandoned the home six months prior because he could not pay the mortgage. He left several items inside the home and Bank of America had since resumed control. The victim told police he “no longer claim(s) any financial interest in the property or the items left inside” and had no interest in recovering the stolen goods. The suspect was arrested driving a stolen vehicle with several bags of possible stolen property inside.

Thwarting the robber

According to Seattle Police, a couple living on the 9300 block of Fauntleroy Way S.W. in West Seattle "had quite a start" around 2:45 a.m. on Nov. 5 when they woke up to their door alarm going off.

Det. Mark Jamieson wrote that the husband went downstairs to investigate and saw an unknown male dressed in black inside his home. He quickly retreated upstairs, locked the bedroom door, and called 911.

Southwest Precinct officers responded to the scene and contained the house. They could see the suspect walking around on the main floor and gave him verbal commands to turn himself in.

Jamieson said the suspect ran and hid. Officers entered the home and eventually found their suspect behind a basement couch.

He was arrested without incident, but refused to give police his personal information. He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of burglary.

Brian LeBlanc

Last week, Congressman Jim McDermott (D-7) faced off against popular conservative talk show host Michael Medved.

The educational debate, titled “Mind The Gap: 2012 Issued Debate,” was put on by the Student Freedom Project at the University of Washington. The debate, which was determined as not a campaign event, was rebroadcast on UWTV and can be found at http://www.uwtv.org/schedule/index.aspx?date=11/3/2012.

The debate moderator was Dr. Anthony Gill, a professor in the UW Political Science Department and the debaters were given the questions in advance. The first part of the debate featured prepared questions and was followed by questions submitted by the audience. 20-30 UW students packed the front rows nearest the stage and 40-50 slightly older members of the general public sat in the rear of the auditorium.

Questions included topics such as whether the wealthy should pay more taxes, what government spending should be eliminated, whether there was too much regulation on businesses, whether there should be a second $2 trillion stimulus and what the purpose of college was and the government’s role in protecting it.

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

What does it mean to retreat? We all know what a vacation means—getting away from work and one’s usual home environment. But retreat has another connotation. It means to go somewhere far from the madding crowd and lay back and meditate and replenish oneself. When I was taking care of my late husband for several years I had only one vacation visiting my niece in Mexico City. Since I got sick soon after arriving, it was not the usual vacation I can tell you. So after that I settled for going on the comedy stage to let off steam, as it were. Previously my husband had gone with me to give me moral support in my efforts to polish my comic persona. When he could not leave the house because of his condition, he would send me off with this remark, “Break a leg.” In the entertainment business this is a backhanded way of giving support to someone going on stage.

By Christopher Duclos

Friday night was an emotional game for the Ballard High football seniors as the visiting Mariner Marauders (Everett, WA) dealt Ballard their eighth loss of the season. Being the final game of the season for the Beavers, the boys were coming off high energy, having downed Lynnwood the week before in a non-conference game.

However, Mariner had other plans. Defensive woes troubled the Beavers as they surrendered 20 total points per half. The final score was Ballard - 28, Mariner - 40.

Ballard did not respond to the Marauders on the scoreboard until the second quarter, when running back Dominique Smith ran a two yard touchdown play. It was not until the fourth quarter when the Beavers showed up big, totaling 21 points in the final minutes of regulation.

Senior quarterback Johnny Verduin threw for 14 completions for 210 yards and two touchdowns on the game. Wideout Nate Rauda was the recipient of one of those touchdowns from 25 yards out.

Metro Transit is adding trips to the new RapidRide C Line during the evening commute between downtown Seattle and West Seattle they announced today, Nov. 5.

Two additional trips will be added during the evening commute, and two more trips will be added starting Tuesday, November 13.

In a press release Metro explained:

These four additional evening trips will target gaps in C Line service that occur when buses are delayed - primarily due to traffic conditions - between 5:15 and 6:45 PM. Three of the added trips will start from Belltown in order to avoid traffic delays in the lower Queen Anne area.

Metro has been monitoring and making operational changes to address challenges that emerged with the RapidRide C and D Line service since they began service on September 29.

Last month, Metro first tackled reports of overcrowding due to an increase in West Seattle ridership, adding two trips to the C Line during each weekday commute starting on October 8.