Washington State Department of Transportation maintenance crews will close the Alaskan Way Viaduct for its semiannual inspections on the weekend of Oct. 13 and 14.Meanwhile, Seattle Department of Transportation has announced that the Fremont Bridge will be closed from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, through Friday, Oct. 19. The bridge will be closed to all traffic, even (gasp) pedestrians and bicyclists, as SDOT's contractor continues to work on the bridge's mechanical and electrical systems.
The other day while I was having coffee, a friendly but complete stranger complimented me on my turquoise ring. He'd just returned from Arizona and had been traveling through Navajo land and had seen a lot of the Native American jewelry.I've worn the ring since the fourth grade. Turquoise, I have since learned, was among the first gems to be mined and is found in primarily three areas; Iran, the Sinai Peninsula and the southwest United States. The deposits in California and New Mexico were mined by pre-Columbian Native Americans using stone tools, some local and some from as far away as central Mexico. Bisbee (Arizona) turquoise is considered some of the finest in the world.
We the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce applied for Neighborhood Grant. To our surprise and disappointment we were not notified that our sidewalk project was accepted, or of the Sept. 18 public meeting on Queen Anne. The Magnolia Neighboorhood was not given a fair chance to have a voice on this very important project. Doesn't the Magnolia taxpayer deserve better? Project 2007-094 is a public-safety issue for the residents of Magnolia.
The cries from everyone I know: "too cold, too suddenly."It is true. The only indication that the calendar date is not November-some-late-date is that there is still an abundance of leaves on our deciduous trees. And watching them, as their colors slowly unfold bit by bit, before the outrageous autumnal cacophony of late October, is a visual delight in these early, too-cold days of October.
We have another election coming up, and if I don't issue some opinions, they may revoke my column heading.I'm sure you've seen the ads running on TV about Referendum 67. There was the one with the lawyers, huddled in a conference room saying they didn't care if insurance rates went up as long as they made a lot of money.And there's the latest one showing this John Boy character sitting on the front steps of a Walton-like home, and saying in a soothing tone that if R67 passes, lawyers will get triple damages and your rates will increase. Then a young boy comes out of the front door, and dad asks if he's ready to leave. No doubt, they're going to church, or perhaps to play baseball.If you haven't figured it out by now, these ads are the work of the insurance industry. The organization paying for these ads, Consumers Against Higher Insurance Rates, is actually a front group entirely funded by the insurance industry.
I was talking recently with a young woman I know glancingly who has been working in a local mortuary. Her conversation concerning the newly dead tweaked my thoughts in the direction of Ted Zink, a unique individual who was the Kitsap County coroner most of the time I was a reporter over there. Ted had a sense of humor and a seemingly complete indifference to the fact that many people knew they couldn't, and wouldn't want to, do his job. Once while I was eating a late breakfast in a crowded pancake and bacon house in Port Orchard, surrounded by overweight folks wolfing down French toast, sausages, eggs and biscuits slathered in honey, jelly and butter, Ted walked in and made a show of panning around the crowded eatery very slowly.A question begged to be asked.
The phrase "shotgun wedding" could really be applied to any general election. But for Nov. 6 this year, the usual forced marriages of money and democracy or politicians and marks, er, constituents have a more vivid pair joining them at the altar: mass transit and roads. Two great tastes that not only don't taste so great together, but generally despise each other. Yet in order for $10.8 billion for an Eastside extension of Sound Transit to kick in during this year's Proposition 1, voters must also approve another $7 billion for new, expanded and upgraded Seattle area roads. And vice versa. There's no way for voters to "send a message," as with last spring's local Alaskan Way Viaduct plebiscite, by rejecting one or another or both sides and giving the state legislature guidance with which to go back to the drawing board.
Come see outstanding martial arts skills performed by masters and experts from the Northwest at the International District/Chinatown Community Center, 719 8th Avenue South, on Saturday, Oct. 13 from 6 - 8 p.m. The cost is $10. For more information, call the International District/ Chinatown Community Center at 233-0042.
A boy in the 1300 block of North 121st Street let his cat in around midnight on Oct. 12 and found the cat limping and with blood near its mouth. A veterinarian told the boy's mother the cat had a "wad of metal," possibly a bullet, lodged in its chest cavity.
PERMIT APPLICATIONS: 559 N.E. 80th St. (3008110) for a Land Use Application to change the use of a building from food processing (commercial kitchen used for catering) to restaurant...Building permit be needed but was not included in this application. Written comments accepted through Wednesday, Oct. 24.
I have a 4-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter. The transportation system in the metro-Seattle area that they have when they are grown will depend on a vote in the next month. This November, voters in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties have the opportunity to reduce traffic and improve our quality of life by voting yes on Proposition 1 - the Roads & Transit plan. The plan will help us right here in North Seattle.
Not surprisingly, many Fremonsters enjoy Halloween, and we have two occasions to celebrate the season this year. Unlike most of our festivities, however, these are intended as cozy community events and not public spectacles.Trolloween began as a birthday celebration for the Fremont Troll, who took up residence under the Aurora Bridge in fall 1990. Maque daVis has produced plays, musicals, opera and pageants at the Troll on Halloween night for 17 years. This year he's put together a variety show, themed "dark, fun and mysterious" and enlisted many familiar Fremont favorites.
During the month of Ramadan, more than 1 billion Muslims around the world abstain from food, drink, sex and negative thoughts. From dawn until dusk, the lunchtime sandwich, bottle of water and afternoon snack are pushed into the backs of minds, making room for pure thoughts and actions. Recently, the University of Washington Muslim Student Association (MSA) challenged non-Muslim students on campus to fast for one day as a part of the MSA's annual Fast-A-Thon.
Work on The Center for Spiritual Living's expanded campus (right) at 5801 Sand Point Way N.E., is more than halfway completed. Its members and project team celebrated a milestone last July by signing the last piece of structural steel (see ADDITIONAL PICTURE) before it was placed atop the new, two-story sanctuary. The project, which also a classroom building, is expected to be done in March.
Seattle Pacific University student Chester Pineda, 19, helps remove some weeds and other waste from Meadowbrook Creek, 10517 35th Ave. N.E., during Seattle Pacific University's (SPU) CityQuest community-service orientation on Sept. 22. New SPU students spent their first day taking part in such projects as fixing up houses, organizing food banks and removing graffiti. At Meadowbrook Creek, the SPU students joined members of Maple Leaf Community Church to clean up the creek, remove invasive weeds and work on the trail. Other SPU students also assembled classroom kits for nature discovery projects for Seattle Public Schools at the Seattle Audubon Society, 8050 35th Ave. N.E.