More than 150 guests dined and partied out on Elliott Bay last Friday afternoon, for the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce's annual fundraiser "Aloha from Paradise."
It's been nearly a year since Ethan Delavan released his documentary "Stories of Silence: Recovering from Boyhood Sexual Abuse" and aired it on KCTS Channel 9. He has received requests for the DVD from Scotland, Trinidad, Puerto Rico, England, Australia and Guam.
The number of raccoons in Queen Anne is growing almost as fast as home prices are rising in the neighborhood, and one man is taking action. The man, who lives on Ninth Avenue West near West McGraw Street, declined to speak to the News following an initial appointment this reporter missed.
This year's Magnolia car show almost didn't happen, which isn't a surprise. The last organized one took place in 2006, although an informal show did take place last summer when some local car owners showed up almost spontaneously, according to Eric Berge, a car nut and lifelong Magnolia resident.
Developers of commercial and multifamily residential projects past a certain threshold in Seattle can't just whip up some plans, get a permit from the city and start building. The city doesn't get a free pass, either, on capital-improvement projects.Instead, both camps have to go through a design-review process implemented in 1994 for private projects and in 1968 for the city's capital-improvement projects.
While Seattle may be known as the birthplace of Starbucks, local coffee shops like B&O; Espresso, Vivace and the Dilettante reign supreme on Capitol Hill. B&O; Espresso has been on the Hill for 33 years and hasn't budged from its original location on East Olive Way and Belmont Avenue. But the three establishments are about to experience a caffeinated version of musical chairs.
When someone finishes college, he or she might choose to take some time off, perhaps start a new job or travel. For Capitol Hill resident Justin Hanseth, his path is something of a combination of the three. Hanseth, who graduated from Seattle University in June, is leaving his job with a local development company. Come the first week of September, Hanseth will arrive in the African nation of Burundi, where he'll spend at least a year working on an innovate hospital project in a small village that lacks access to health care.
The idea for Leo Saul Berk's latest work came to him during a hiking trip. "I went to Guatemala with a group of friends," he said. "One person had planned out the entire trip, and one thing they lined up for us was a trip to this cave that pretty much no one goes to visit."That cave was Naj Tunich, a Mayan site of such importance that it gave rise to the field of Mayan Cave Archeology. As well, the site became the eventual point of inspiration for "Cited," a new work currently on exhibit at Seattle University's Hedreen Gallery, inside the Lee Center for Performing Arts.
■ MU1 David Bogart (foreground) leaves the decommissioning ceremony of NOAA ship John N. Cobb at NOAA's Western Regional Center at Sand Point on Aug. 13. Having served for 58 years, the John N. Cobb is the oldest and only wooden-hull ship in the NOAA fleet. photo/Bradley Enghaus
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) plans to replace four open reservoirs, including one in the Maple Leaf neighborhood, with buried ones in an effort to improve the quality and security of water while increasing open space by more than 75 acres. "Being underground allows protection to the water quality," said project manager Stephanie Murphy. "We will be replacing the existing reservoirs and putting back a new, same-sized, same-location, but reinforced-concrete structure," she said. Open reservoirs are highly susceptible to the growth of algae and contamination, resulting in health risks and poor tasting water, she explained. It has also become increasingly important to address security concerns, especially since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Burying the reservoirs is one of the most effective ways to protect the water system, she said.After completing replacement work at the Magnolia reservoir in 1995 and the Lincoln reservoir in 2004, SPU will replace four additional reservoir by 2012. They include the Beacon, Myrtle, West Seattle and Maple Leaf reservoirs.
Moving closer to its goal of eradicating the threat of suicide jumpers, the SR99 Aurora Bridge Fence advisory committee sat about a dozen strong on Aug. 12 at Seattle Pacific University, debating every nuance of the proposed preventative barrier.Comprised of key community figureheads and members of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), the committee's goal is simple: to advise WSDOT as it moves forward in the design process. The project is currently in its first phase (the design phase) of two, with the subsequent $5.9 million construction phase still pending legislative approval. The state Legislature had approved a $1.5 million design budget for a fence on the Aurora Bridge after a record nine suicide jumps in 2006 from the 77-year-old bridge.
The following information was provided by the city's Department of Planning and Development. Written comments on projects should be mailed to 700 Fifth Ave., Suite 2000, P.O. Box 34019, Seattle, WA 98124-4019.The project number is in parentheses. For more information, call 684-8467.INTERPRETATIONS501 N. 72ND ST. (3009287) for the property developed with a single-family residence. A business named the Nurturing Knowledge Preschool, Green Lake Campus, is operated within the existing single-family structure. The question for interpretation is whether the preschool business is being operated within the regulatory standards of the Land Use Code for a "home-occupation" child-care program. The request suggests that a majority of the home's floor space is set aside for preschool facilities and therefore appears not incidental to the home's use as a dwelling; the primary homeowner or business owner does not live in the subject house, and the employee who lives in the house also lives elsewhere; and the resident is "frequently not on site during business hours, so that the business is operated primarily by non-residents."The DPD decision is that the principal use of the property is as a single-family dwelling. There is an accessory child-care center in the single-family residence that is operated within the guidelines for a home occupation as set forth in Seattle Municipal Code (SMC) Section 23.42.050. The available record indicates that no more than 12 children participate in the child-care center per day, and a legal resident of the dwelling unit on the property operates the child-care business. The Land Use Code does not specifically require the "operator" of a child-care program "in the home of the operator" to be continuously present during business hours. Further, a child-care program may have multiple non-resident employees, whereas other home occupations are limited to only one non-resident employee. While the owner of the property is not the resident, there is no Code requirement that a property owner also reside in a house on his or her property for a home occupation on the property to meet Code standards. The house remains designed and arranged as a single-family residence, and the Code does not regulate how a residence is furnished or decorated. Thus, the child-care program is a "clearly incidental and secondary" use of the property within the definition of a home occupation.Appeal of the Interpretation may be submitted through 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, and must be accompanied by a $50 filing fee in a check payable to the City of Seattle. The appeal must be sent to City of Seattle, Hearing Examiner, 700 Fifth Ave., Suite 4000, P.O. Box 94729, Seattle, WA 98124-4729.
The following are selected reports from the Seattle Police Department's North Precinct. They represent the officers' accounts of the events described. BUT SHE PAIDA woman in her 40s walked out of a restaurant in the 6400 block of Roosevelt Way Northeast without paying for her bill around 7:25 p.m. on Aug. 14. A restaurant employee yelled for her to return to pay her bill, but the suspect continued walking on Northeast 65th Street.Police found the suspect, who had a distinctive haircut and clothes, a few blocks away. She said she paid the bill with a $30 bill.The woman was booked into King County Jail.
Fremont has art. We have art chosen to grace a particular location (Troll, Interurban, etc.) or "temporarily" installed with departure nearly permanently delayed (Lenin, Guideposts, Rapunzel, etc.), and pieces cast off from previous locations (Dinosaurs, Rocket, etc.)This is the first time, I believe, Fremont has been chosen to host a sculpture on behalf of a community to which we are an almost insignificant portion - a memorial statue people throughout Seattle, King County and the Pacific Northwest region have demanded.On Sunday, Aug. 17, Gov. Christine Gregoire stood in the Solstice Plaza, and "on behalf of the people of the state of Washington," she honored the great legacy of Julius Pierpont (J.P.) Patches and Gertrude. "We thank them for letting us be kids forever!" she remarked.
Sometimes trees just need to be taken down - there's no question about that, especially where human safety and property damage are concerned. If a tree is growing too close to someone's home and pressure from the trunk is starting to crack the foundation (as trees often do with sidewalks throughout the city), then you either cut it down or pay thousands in home repair. With those options, the average homeowner is going to take down that tree. A weeping poplar tree near Fremont's Lenin statue has become the center of attention lately. The trunk of the big tree straddles the property lines of Patricia Halsell and Dan Cawdrey. Halsell wants keep the tree; Cawdrey says he likes it but worries it's a safety risk and that the tree will damage his property. Though limbs hang over his property, it's not planted anywhere near his mixed-use building. Nonetheless, just days after a committee of arborists voted to give the tree Heritage Tree status, Cawdrey had some of the tree's limbs cut.