January 2017

By Peggy Sturdivant

I hate a late Friday surprise. That’s why I don’t always read Friday’s “Office of the Mayor” email if I’ve had a long week. I don’t recall when I read the Mayor’s December 9, 2016 missive, but I distinctly remembering screaming.

What I consider a bombshell was masquerading as a headline: “City uses surplus property to support affordable housing.”
No. No. No. The Mayor of Seattle cannot just decide to sell surplus property. Or does Mayor Murray’s claim of a creative way to finance affordable housing render the guidelines null and void?

The surprise isn’t that the City of Seattle has property that no longer is needed by various departments for its original purpose. The shocker is that with a paragraph in his weekly newsletter Mayor Ed Murray changed the definition of “surplus property” to “available for sale.”

Frankly there’s no land owned by the City that should be considered excess or surplus. We’re out of land. As my colleague Mary Fleck of Seattle Green Spaces Coalition counters with regard to any of the city’s holdings, “that property isn’t surplus to the people.”

West Seattle Meaningful Movies will present Promised Land at 7:00 PM, Saturday, January 7, 2017
by Corey Elliot at the High Point Neighborhood House, 6400 Sylvan Way SW Seattle, WA

Promised Land is a social justice documentary that follows two tribes in the Pacific Northwest: the Duwamish and the Chinook, as they fight for the restoration of treaty rights they’ve long been denied. In following their story, the film examines a larger problem in the way that the government and society still looks at tribal sovereignty.

http://www.promisedlanddoc.com/

By Amanda Knox

On the morning of December 21st I scanned my Twitter feed as usual and came across this video. Like many other Twitter users, I was alarmed by what I saw: two young Muslim-American men were being escorted against their will off their Delta flight. One of the men, Adam Saleh, explained that the reason he and his friend were being kicked off was because neighboring passengers had overheard them speaking Arabic and had protested to the flight staff that this made them uncomfortable. Saleh’s camera panned over these passengers, who waved Saleh and his friend off the plane with glee. The camera then panned over other passengers who looked embarrassed and bewildered, and still others who proclaimed their dismay over how Saleh and his friend were being mistreated. “Because I was speaking a different language, you feel uncomfortable?” cried Saleh. “This is 2016! I’m about to cry right now!”

If you would like to obtain some well considered financial advice, contact Sarah Cecil 206-938-6017.

Brought to you by Sarah Cecil Financial Advisor with Edwards Jones Investments.

Sponsored post.

By Peggy Sturdivant

I hate a late Friday surprise. That’s why I don’t always read Friday’s “Office of the Mayor” email if I’ve had a long week. I don’t recall when I read the Mayor’s December 9, 2016 missive, but I distinctly remembering screaming.

What I consider a bombshell was masquerading as a headline: “City uses surplus property to support affordable housing.”

No. No. No. The Mayor of Seattle cannot just decide to sell surplus property. Or does Mayor Murray’s claim of a creative way to finance affordable housing render the guidelines null and void?

The surprise isn’t that the City of Seattle has property that no longer is needed by various departments for its original purpose. The shocker is that with a paragraph in his weekly newsletter Mayor Ed Murray changed the definition of “surplus property” to “available for sale.”

Frankly there’s no land owned by the City that should be considered excess or surplus. We’re out of land. As my colleague Mary Fleck of Seattle Green Spaces Coalition counters with regard to any of the city’s holdings, “that property isn’t surplus to the people.”

GET YOUR NOT FOR PROFIT EVENT LISTED HERE FREE. SEND IT TO CALENDAR@ROBINSONNEWS.COM

Daystar Toastmasters
Daystar Retirement Village
2615 S.W. Barton
Sat., Jan. 7, 10–11 a.m. Come as a guest to experience the safe, supportive atmosphere in which you can grow your communication and leadership skills. Improve your ability to think-on-your-feet and become more comfortable speaking to groups. Meetings are the first and third Sat. morning each month from 10–11 a.m.. Arrive 5 to 10 minutes early for orientation. For more information visit daystarclub.toastmastersclubs.org. or call Bill at 206.932.6706.

Alki UCC ‘Music
with a Heart’
Alki United Church of Christ
6115 SW Hinds

By Pat Cashman

While the rest of the world was always promising to lose weight, exercise more, read lots of books or be kinder to others---my dad’s annual New Year’s resolution remained the same every time. The 6’ 6 “ man said that in the coming year he planned to lose up to four inches…in height.

He said he was tired of ducking under doorways, stooping to use the bathroom mirror---and folding himself in half to get into a car. As near as I could ever tell, he never quite pulled off his height-loss resolution---although he did create an optical illusion by wearing his pants higher.

Through the years, like many of us, I have also made some personal resolutions. There was 2010: “The Year Without a Doughnut.” Not a single cruller, old-fashioned or maple bar passed my pie hole. But plenty of pie did, so the caloric benefits were a wash.

The following year was “The Year Without a French Fry.” The resolution also included tater tots, jo-jo’s, au gratin, mashed, boiled, potato soup, potato salad, latkes, hash browns, baked potatoes and even skins. I succeeded, but friends from Idaho stopped talking to me.

Burglary on Delridge Way S.W.

A business located on the 5200 block of Delridge Way S.W. was burglarized sometime between 8:30 p.m. on Thurs., Dec. 22 and 8:15 a.m. on Fri., Dec. 23. A husband-and-wife team run a children’s center on the property, and the business is attached to a multi-family dwelling with four renters. The wife opened the building in the morning and noticed a number of missing items, including a projector and two laptops. The victim said there were no signs of a break-in but admitted that she may have left the door unlocked. She also noticed that a vacant home next door was missing a board and expressed concern that someone broke in there as well. Police conducted a perimeter search of the home.

Burglary of a residence on S.W. Trenton Street

By Amanda Knox
 
On the morning of December 21st I scanned my Twitter feed as usual and came across this video. Like many other Twitter users, I was alarmed by what I saw: two young Muslim-American men were being escorted against their will off their Delta flight. One of the men, Adam Saleh, explained that the reason he and his friend were being kicked off was because neighboring passengers had overheard them speaking Arabic and had protested to the flight staff that this made them uncomfortable. Saleh’s camera panned over these passengers, who waved Saleh and his friend off the plane with glee. The camera then panned over other passengers who looked embarrassed and bewildered, and still others who proclaimed their dismay over how Saleh and his friend were being mistreated. “Because I was speaking a different language, you feel uncomfortable?” cried Saleh. “This is 2016! I’m about to cry right now!”