May 2017

information from the Department of Justice

A former Des Moines, Washington man was sentenced today in U.S. District court in Seattle to 27 years in prison and lifetime of supervised release for producing and possessing images of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. ROBERT D. THORSON, 58, was convicted following a four-day trial in February 2017. THORSON was arrested May 30, 2016, after his girlfriend called Des Moines police after finding sexually explicit images of minors on THORSON’s phone. At sentencing, Chief U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez said, “This is one of the most egregious cases this Court has handled. . . Mr. Thorson repaid the kindness shown to him [by two by sexually abusing and exploiting the children.”

District 1 City Councilmember Lisa Herbold shared an update on the Longfellow Natural Drainage Systems Project and asks the public to take part in a survey.

"If you live near the Longfellow Creek, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) wants to hear from you. When it rains, it has a big impact on our water quality; our yards include pollutants such as pet waste, fertilizers and pesticides, and our streets have oil and heavy metals from vehicles. When it rains, these pollutants run off into the local waterways. You can see SPU’s long-term plan to protect the waterways here.

With this project, SPU is hoping to improve water quality in Longfellow Creek, as well as manage stormwater drainage, slow traffic, and beautify streets. SPU is asking for the community to take a survey before May 26th for your input to be considered. Click here to take the survey."

The musicians of the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle (LMC) will present NINE FREE public concerts throughout King County in May and June 2017, including its first concert in South King County at the SeaTac Community Center on Saturday, May 13. Other concert venues include Seattle Art Museum, Frye Art Museum, Seattle Central Public Library, West Seattle Library, University House Wallingford, Bellevue’s Crossroads Community Center Theater and South Lake Union’s Mirabella. (venue addresses are listed below). All programs are FREE, performed in an intimate setting and appropriate for all ages. Most concerts are one-hour in length.

Seattle Parks and Recreation invites the community to learn about the future of the Lowman Beach Park seawall.

Lowman Beach Park is located at 7017 Beach Dr. SW. just north of Lincoln Park. The meeting is set for May 31, at 6:30pm at the Hall at Fauntleroy 9131 Calfornia Ave SW.

The Lowman Beach Park seawall is failing and needs to be removed or replaced. As visitors to the park have seen, the existing seawall is slowly falling over towards the water. It is Seattle Parks and Recreation's goal to remove the remaining seawall and continue the shoreline restoration work that began when the south half of the seawall failed in the the 1990s.

The $20 million revamp of Fauntleroy project from SDOT has reached the 90% design stage but SDOT, showing due diligence, continue to share the latest feedback from the community and design updates. The most recent was a presentation before the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce on May 11.

Project Background

Urban Edge Alki Beach Condominiums, a six unit, three story project got the go ahead from the Seattle Dept. of Construction and Inspections (the new name for the former Dept. of Planning and Development). The existing structure will be destroyed.

The following approvals are required:
Shoreline Substantial Development Permit to allow development in the Urban Residential (UR) Shoreline Environment.
SEPA – Environmental Determination (Seattle Municipal Code Chapter 25.05)

How to appeal a decision.

The famous Fauntleroy Schoolhouse will celebrate its centennial year on May 21 with a party and a big hug from the community for its many years of service. The event will feature keynote speaker Jim Whittaker and a special photo op, following the flag raising at 11:30 for a "Group Hug" with hundreds of well wishers gathering around the school. Also part of the event will be music, games, and snacks. The schoolhouse is located at 9131 California Ave. S.W., right across from Fauntleroy Church and YMCA.

You can join the Schoolhouse Facebook group @
http://www.facebook.com/groups/fauntleroy/

Sign up on the website
http://www.fauntleroyschoolhousecentennial.org

The event will run from 11:30AM to 3:00PM but please arrive early to be part of the group hug photo.

History of the Fauntleroy School

By Lindsay Peyton

Burien chef Tony Hayes doesn’t like to call the diners at his restaurant Classic Eats “customers.”

“I call them ‘my guests,’” he said. “This is my house, and they’re guests in my house. I want them to be comfortable.”

Hayes took over as chef and co-owner in December. The restaurant, located at 918 SW 152nd St, was formerly Mark Restaurant and Bar.

Hayes partnered with his father-in-law Jamie Ramos to rebrand and reinvigorate the restaurant in September.

They kept the place running under its original name, while fixing it up and slowly changing the menu. They kept the existing staff, and the former owner Debra George stayed on as manager.

Hayes’ vision was for a family restaurant and neighborhood hangout. The space hosts jazz concerts, wine and painting nights and trivia games. There’s an outdoor patio for sunny days and a private dining room for parties.

For the menu, Hayes wanted to showcase flavorful dishes and top-notch ingredients.

“Quality is the biggest thing for me,” he said. “I want every entrée to come out like a photo. I love to hear ‘oohs and ahs.’”

Bring gently-used clothing and household items to the Ballard High parking lot Saturday May 13th, from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm for our Fundrive with Value Village. We welcome your clothing, shoes, accessories, toys, sporting goods, linens, books household items and small furniture. Help us raise money to cover costs related to our recent trip to Houston, TX where we won the WORLD ROBOTICS CHAMPIONSHIP!!

Contact Sharon with any questions or to arrange for an early pick up if you can’t make it on 5/13 parker2551@msn.com

The Ballard High School Viking Robotics team made school history last month by taking top honors at the FIRST Robotics world championship competition in Houston, Texas, marking the first time the school or any team from the Pacific Northwest secured a trophy.

The competition was held on April 20 -22 and 400 teams were invited from all over the world, which included Canada, China, Israel, Mexico, and Turkey.

The competition is known as “Varsity Sport of the Mind™,” for students grade nine through 12. During a six-week period teams raise funds and engineer a robot to performs a series of tasks; Teams have limited resources and time to organize their own “brand” of robot with the capability to perform the competition tasks.

FIRST Washington reported that the average cost for a robotics team is $24,000 and team sizes are between 15-150 with not limit to member size.

In a main competition of the event robots compete in a game much like basketball or soccer while students operate them remotely.