Setting sail into a second decade, we present the annual Top 10 Stories of the Year in Highline column.
In 2010, Highline communities generated enough news, controversy and intrigue to fill up a couple of newspapers seven days a week. In fact, through annexation, Burien surpassed the population of Olympia, which sports a daily newspaper.

As usual, the rankings are somewhat arbitrary. Feel free to cut and paste in order to create your own personal top ten.

1. To avoid foreclosure, Burien Town Square developer Urban Partners hands over ownership to a division of its loan lender.
Urban Partners will manage the project. It'll take longer than hoped to get it all straightened out, but there are businesses and people waiting to move in when the price is right. Kudos to pioneer resident Renna Pierce who cheerfully reports it is "a wonderful place to live."
Meanwhile, city of Burien staffers would love to have the tax revenues and the downtown vibrancy from a full Town Square. But the city seems to be running well without it. I guess I was wrong about the crafty developers suckering naive lawmakers into a deal that privatized the profit and socialized the risk.

2. Three Tree Point and Lake Burien residents organized, hired attorneys, and packed public meetings to get a Shoreline Management Plan they could live with.
They got the continuation of a 20-foot setback requirement but the state Department of Ecology, which has to approve Burien's plan, seems skeptical. It took Des Moines three tries before its plan was OK'd. Hold on, the fat lady hasn't sung yet.
Proximity to waterfront is a great asset around here and well worth fighting to protect. Public participation in our government is a good idea. But. I just wish we could get the voices of our non Gold Coast residents heard more often, too.

3. Battles between two factions intensify in SeaTac
We don't want Burien to hog all the highest spots.
Two new council members often teamed with Deputy Mayor Gene Fisher but were outvoted by the four lawmakers sometimes dubbed as the "Angle Lake Democrats."
In November, four seats are up for grabs, including one expected open seat. Also, an elected-mayor proposition most likely will be on the ballot. Last time, it lost by nine votes and the proponents feel King County Elections cheated them out of a victory. Expect an epic election battle for SeaTac's soul.
The new Wally Park park-n' fly garage at International Boulevard and South 188th Street is an example of SeaTac's new direction. Under ex-planning director Steve Butler, who departed for Mill Creek after his department was slated to be merged with others, the idea was to have a landscaped low-rise retail development back from the highway with a parking garage tucked discreetly behind. What eventually got built is a giant garage that takes up most of the parcel with retail spaces crammed along the sidewalk. Kind of ugly, but a financially viable private parking structure finally got built in SeaTac.

4. Burien takes on the southern portion of North Highline and endures business closures but emerges in pretty good financial shape.
Guess those gloom-and-doom petitioners were wrong that annexing North Highline would bankrupt the city. White Center may be more of a financial challenge. So far, both Burien and Seattle have backed away from annexing the rest of North Highline because of the cost.
At one point during 2010, half of Burien's six new car dealerships had either closed or began selling only used vehicles. Car Pros brought back the Nissan franchise but Auto Row, Burien's largest sales tax revenue source, is still struggling.
But Burien lawmakers passed a budget without breaking a sweat, unlike surrounding cities. With a population of 41,500, Burien has 16,500 more residents than SeaTac but a lot fewer city workers and has been prudent in its finances.

5. Rosie, a Newfoundland dog, is shot and killed by Des Moines police officers.
People are divided about the importance of this story. But happening around the same time that a Seattle police officer shot and killed a homeless man, the story has resonated with hordes of people, especially Newfoundland dog owners.
Anything on our website about Rosie-new stories, old stories, letters-brings a flood of responses from around the country.

6. The Highline School District faces multiple challenges, including the firing of a substitute stadium manager for conducting physical exams without the proper credentials. The district and Evergreen High athletic directors are reassigned after an investigation of the district's athletic program.
Wow, what a nightmare for a school district already struggling with low student academic achievement. A well-respected athletic director was hired full time to tighten up the sports program.
Cascade and Chinook Middle schools also received a large federal grant to transform the schools. Hopefully, lessons learned at the two schools can be applied to Highline's other struggling schools. Board member Susan Goding is taunting the superintendent to make even more radical reforms but is not getting support from her board colleagues.
The district is facing a black hole in funding from the state. Highline administrators have decided the economic time is still not right to press on with the capital plan that needs voter-approved bonds to finance reconstruction of secondary schools. A lot will be riding on February's programs levy election.

7. Des Moines' budget problems continue
Des Moines has a beautiful marina and beach town business district, not to mention great potential along Pacific Highway South. But it doesn't have SeaTac's airport parking lots, Tukwila's Southcenter or Burien's car dealerships to generate tax revenues.
Also many residents of its Sound view, hilly neighborhoods can still count the rivets on the planes as they fly low overhead. That doesn't do much for property tax revenues.

8. Normandy Park's federal-stimulus funded First Avenue construction project proves not to be shovel ready
Disputes between the city and contractor kept the project near South 200th Street going way past the expected completion date and inconvenienced drivers and businesses at the Normandy Park Towne Center.
Meanwhile, around Normandy Park's other shopping area, city officials are planning a Manhattan Village zoning plan that will encourage multi-family housing in the area. This Manhattan project should not be confused with the nation's secret World War II plan to build an atomic bomb but it has caused some residents to blow up over it. Looking at the bright side, you can now get a Normandy Park single family home with an indoor swimming pool in the targeted area for $240,000.
Or another way to look at it is the guardians of the state Growth Management Act designate a future population figure for all cities, including Normandy Park. You can stick the extra people in town homes over on First Avenue or subdivide the leafy half-acres in the interior.

9. Highline Medical Center opens a new state-of-the art Emergency Room and patient care unit.
It looks like health care will be one of the few booming industries of the future. You can't offshore emergency hospital visits.

10. The Port of Seattle renovates its second runway and continues work on new Part 150 noise study.
It would have been hard to imagine a few years ago that a Sea-Tac airport story would barely make the top ten. But as a guy who's been looking at houses to buy, I can testify to the devastating effect of the airport on Highline housing values.