Much is said about the need for accountability in government spending, but when it comes to action, we're like the mice in Aesop's fable asking, "Who will bell the cat?" A provision in a bill from state Rep. Mark Miloscia might just put a bell on the cat's collar when it comes to Seattle Housing Authority's continued destruction of low-income housing and the use of state money to pay for it.Miloscia, a fourth-term Democrat from Federal Way, chairs the Housing Committee. In the last session he championed bills for performance audits of state programs and a plan to end homelessness. The latter created a new state and local funding source with a $10 surcharge on real estate transaction documents, generating close to $20 million a year for cities and counties to serve their homeless populations. In order to access this money, local governments must provide hard data and put in place plans for ending homelessness. While we have criticized King County's Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness, we admire Miloscia's bill because it requires jurisdictions that were formerly doing nothing to start addressing the needs of their homeless citizens, and because it demands accountability in how the funds are spent.
Christopher Paul Curtis, the author of award-winning children's novel "Bud, Not Buddy" will be in the South End this week to speak to residents and to view Book-It Repertory Theatre's stage adaptation of his story at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts CenterAdditionally, Curtis will appear at Aki Kurose Middle School as well as at a free public event at the Seattle Public Library's downtown branch on Jan. 20. He will also meet guests and share parts of some unreleased work at a Jan. 21 fundraiser for Book-It's educational arm. On his current speaking tour, Curtis talks about his life, including a 13-year stint at an automobile factory. Kay, his wife, whom he said has always had faith in his writing, encouraged him to take time off to pen his first novel.
"I have parents that will do that," Connie So volunteered after an organizer for the Rainier Beach Community Empowerment Coalition's (RBCEC) Community Action Town Hall Meeting announced that she will need Chinese, Vietnamese and Spanish translators for the event.So represented the New School, one of the dozens of organizations forming the RBCEC, which is working to improve the lives of local youths and families and to revitalize the Rainier Beach neighborhood. The meeting, held on Jan. 12 at the New School on the Rainier Beach Community Center campus, drew about 15 coalition members seeking to put the finishing, organizational touches on the group's Jan. 26 Rainier Beach town hall meeting. The group managed to secure pledges for set-up help, childcare providers, a food service crew and door prize donations.
"Every two-and-a-half minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted," according to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network's website, www.rainn.org. The group also claims that "44 percent of rape victims are under the age of 18." Such disturbing numbers call for something to be done to protect today's youth from becoming one of the 44 percent. To that end, Seaspot Media Group, at 1265 S. Main St., and Southeast Youth and Family Services, at 3722 S. Hudson St., are collaborating to create a program designed to assist King County sexual assault victims while educating local youth about sex crimes. Youth today are bombarded from the media with messages in magazines, music, movies and the Internet, to name just a few. As a result, today's youth-focused, non-profit organizations face a difficult task when it comes to gaining the attention of youth for the programs designed to educate them on how to properly interact with each other.
It's that time of year: runny noses and puffy eyes abound, as cold and flu season takes hold. Here are a few suggestions for staying healthy.Consult with a doctor before taking any new supplements or medications, especially if you are taking blood thinners or have a preexisting health condition such as asthma or high blood pressure. If you have asthma, it's best to see your doctor when you have a cold or flu because your medications may need to be adjusted and your respiratory capacity monitored more closely as asthma can be a life-threatening condition. During pregnancy, most herbs are contraindicated. PREVENTIONFirst, the basics: Wash your hands frequently to prevent the spread of cold and flu germs both to you and to others. This means rubbing your hands together in warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds. Hand washing is the single best way to prevent the spread of illness.
Growing up in Magnolia between Dravus and Barrett streets, I had abundant opportunities to explore my immediate surroundings.There were plenty of parks and playfields in the area, most with adjoining greenbelts generally referred to as "the woods." It seemed every neighborhood had at least one overgrown lot where we youngsters played war games, picked blackberries and constructed any number of camps, tree houses and underground forts.I was perhaps a bit more fortunate. I made use of woods directly across the street from our home, within easy earshot of a parental holler. I inherited a treehouse from neighborhood kids who had gone on to organized sports, and I set about arranging the small space according to my own standards.
One of the by-products of my recent 100-day stay in Olympia, performing home healthcare for an elderly person who watched CNN and Northwest Cable News 10-to-12 hours a day, every day, was to cancel my morning newspaper subscription once I returned to the Big Smoke on Puget Sound. This action was something that in the past I'd never have even considered. For years I believed that reading a daily paper was essential to my mental health.I realized in Olympia that I no longer need a daily fix. I read The Seattle Times once a week, Wednesdays, read the P-I Fridays and get a Sunday New York Times to go with my subscription to Time magazine. And I learn more reading The New Yorker every week, especially about Iraq, than I can learn reading all the other previously mentioned publications together.
When my wife, Gale, severely broke her leg a couple of months back, requiring her to put no weight on it at all, I was pressed into a number of household chores that heretofore had been her province.One such task was the feeding and care of our 14-year-old cat, Beamish. We adopted him, and his now-deceased brother, Guinness, when they were both 3. As in many households, the job of feeding them, cleaning the litterbox, etc., fell to Gale, with me only occasionally performing these jobs when she was indisposed.But now I've been feeding Beamish: not twice a day but three times a day, because he's showing signs of kidney failure and eats smaller meals. It's not unexpected in an older cat, and with a special diet and luck, we might keep him going for a couple more years.In the old days, BMHTFC (before Mike had to feed cats), I'd hear Gale in the kitchen, with Beamish cheering her on, and then I'd see him waddling with his sumo-like gait in front of her as they made their way to the laundry room where he eats, him casting anxious glances over his shoulder to be sure she was following with the food dish. Generally, I'd look their way and then return to my TV program, or to a magazine.All that has changed, and I've learned a lot more about our cat.
Did you notice how stealthily your left-over, 37-cent postage stamps became useless last week?Effective Jan. 8, the United States Postal Service (USPS) raised the price of first-class mail by 2 cents. I don't know about your household, but that meant the roll of 37-cent stamps I purchased a couple of months ago became useless-not useless in the familiar definition of the word, but useless in the sense that a fix was required.I have to fix this problem, much in the same way I'd have to repair a defective appliance. Now, to bring the total postage to 39 cents, I have to add another stamp on the envelope, adjacent to my old stamp.In order to fix the problem I am forced to travel to the Magnolia Post Office, wait in what I anticipate will be a long line, and then purchase the two-cent stamps. I won't bother commenting on the once-upon-a-time penny post card and its new price. Fuggidaboutit!
The holidays are a special time to celebrate what we have. It's a time of year to enjoy family and friends. We celebrate, rejoice, exchange gifts and partake in many other traditions.It's also the time of year many of us choose to donate to charities, missions and other worthy causes. The amount of donations given each year in the month of December is much higher than any other at time of year. Now that this holiday season has drawn to a close, our lives have returned to the everyday routines of work, school and everything else we do to fill our days. Unfortunately, many of us also return to our routine of neglecting to donate. Giving and helping seem to slip away in the normal course of our lives.
The other day I think I saw two giraffes, two zebras, two bears, two turtles, two goats trudging up to the top of Queen Anne Hill. Is there an ark-building project going on in someone's garage? Have you heard any sawing of wood or pounding of nails nearby?As for the other building projects under discussion on the top of the Hill, the last meeting for public input on the Picture Perfect Queen Anne project will be on Thursday, Jan. 19, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Bethany Presbyterian Church. My hope is that all of the merchants and property owners will attend the meeting and ask the hard questions.Who will care for all the new amenities? Who will water the hanging baskets? Who will clean up the bird offerings on the benches? What happens to the overall integrity of the design if a merchant does not want a bench placed outside their establishment? How long is the process for removing and replacing the crumbling sidewalks? Who cleans the graffiti off the artwork or the trash receptacles? The list goes on.
In Italy, it's passegiata; in France, it's rue piétonnaire. Our vision for Queen Anne Place on Queen Anne Avenue is to create a center where people can shop, walk around the plaza or share a cup of coffee with friends at an outdoor, shaded table that's away from the noise of traffic. This will be a place where families feel welcome and where shops are accessible to all. Our goal is to create a well-designed, high-quality, two-story retail environment with a grocery store on the first level and 15,000 square feet of specialty retail above. We plan to bring a project that is pedestrian friendly, centered in the heart of the Queen Anne Hill neighborhood, that will preserve the character of the community. We encourage everyone to stay involved as we navigate through this process.We know this is an emotional issue for some, and that there are some who oppose any change. Many of you who have lived on the Hill for a while know that we have had plans to redevelop the property for several years. The building is outdated, out of character, obsolete and has been standing for more than 40 years. In fact, we have owned the property for more than 50 years. We have been planning this development for more than 10 years. We tried very hard to continue the long relationship with Metropolitan Markets. During this time Metropolitan Markets developed several other locations in the Seattle area. In September 2004, Metropolitan Markets gave notice to ownership that, due to development of other locations, its future plans did not include this site. We had no alternative but to look for another tenant. It's now time to move forward with our plans for the site.
One of the byproducts of my recent 100-day stay in Olympia, performing home healthcare for an oldster who watched CNN and Northwest Cable News 10 to 12 hours a day, every day, was to cancel my morning newspaper subscription once I re-turned to the Big Smoke on Puget Sound. This action was something that in the past I'd never have even considered. For years I believed that reading a daily paper was essential to my mental health.I realized in OIympia that I no longer need a daily fix. I read The Seattle Times once a week, Wednesdays, read the P-I Fridays and get a Sunday New York Times to go with my subscription to Time magazine. And I learn more reading The New Yorker every week, especially about Iraq, than I can learn reading all the other previously mentioned publications together.
The Queen Anne Community Council Transportation Committee will meet Wednesday, Jan. 25, 7:30 p.m. at the Queen Anne Community Center, 1901 First Ave. W., across from the swimming pool.David Goldberg of Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation will speak about the sidewalk and other transportation aspects of refurbishing the Historic Queen Anne Boulevard system. Parks owns 3.4 miles of the 4-mile Boulevard system.The Queen Anne Boulevard system is a ring route of 14 street segments circling the Queen Anne hilltop.
Kip Gilmartin, a 42-year-old fisherman, had been missing for three weeks when his body was recovered from the waters of Fishermen's Terminal on Dec. 22, and fellow fisherman John McDonald thinks unsafe conditions at the marina were responsible for his death."When I saw the body bag coming down the dock, the policeman said he slipped off the dock and hit his head," McDonald said, adding that he wasn't surprised by the news."These docks are water-soaked," he said. "When it freezes, it turns into a skating rink." McDonald said he's heard of other people slipping off the docks because the wood is slick; he also said he knows an insurance agent who won't walk on the docks when they're wet.