Meetings. I have never been a big fan of them. I think the reason is because it always seems to take hours to make a point or to reach some conclusion that seemed rather obvious. But judging from my calendar, you would never sense my disdain for meetings. In the last month, I had them, daily, sometimes multiple, often back-to-back. Meetings. Lots of meetings.I suppose this is what happens when your neighborhood is under siege, or it feels like it is: a proposed red light district to the north of you, and a possible dump to the south of you. Unfortunately, we have some big issues occurring simultaneously.
Courtney Orrock (left), Michelle Williams, Cary Badger and Susan Garter bust a gut while loading a heavy bag of yard debris into a wheel barrow at a Beacon Hill home on Saturday, April 29. The women, part of a group of 20 volunteers, are members of the Junior League of Seattle. They all took part in the weekend cleanup program called Rebuilding Together Seattle.
Magnolia Post 123 of the American Legion met April 6 at Freedom Grove Memorial next to the Chapel in Discovery Park to honor those who fought and died during the Korean War.
Neighborhood meetingMay 9, 7 p.m. at the Methodist Church. On the agenda: Michael Cogle of Kirkland Parks Department discussing plans for the l24th Street park; Colleen Cullen talking about the Green Kirkland project; election of officers (nominations accepted from the floor); coffee and cookies; Kevin Miller re the Woodland Park community playground; and what should be a rousing discussion on housing development and density in our neighborhoods (are we happy with what's happening?).Traffic calming/speed cushionsIt's no surprise that many residents dislike them - especially those who drive considerably over the speed limit. Proposed are cushions - not bumps. Ballots were recently sent out to our Bridle Trails residents and are to be returned by May 26; please vote and say "yes."Alice Prince and your writers have been active in the speed-watch program for the Kirkland Police Department for more than seven years, mostly on N.E. 60th Street, and we are still shocked by the speeding drivers on a school-walk route and by the lack of respect for crosswalks.Speed cushions should slow down the many drivers traveling 35 miles per hour or higher - in a 25 mph zone. We've clocked many exceeding 40 mph and several in the 50 and 60 range. So, please vote yes on all the traffic calming measures both on 60th and for l22nd Ave. N.E. south of 70th. Your vote may prevent an injury or save a life.
I am pleased and honored to be able to bring you all the latest news from the Friends of Woodlands playground project. Most of you know from reading this column that I believe this to be the most exciting community building event to occur in North Rose Hill in years. In other columns I have spent considerable time describing the project from its beginnings and how it has progressed. Today, I will keep it brief and report on the status of the project and how you can help.Playground updateIt is amazing to consider that we are now just six weeks away from gathering together to build our very own neighborhood playground. Much work has been put forth to get us to this point by a dedicated, hard-working group of neighbors, some of whom are pictured in the photo below. On April 15, volunteers got together to meet for one last time as an entire group to prepare for the final push to "build week" scheduled for June 14-18. Throughout the day, individual committee leaders met with their respective groups and with the consultant from Leather and Associates.
Dave's WayReuben Gounder stands just over 6 -feet tall. His smile warmly welcoming, assuring his visitor this is a safe place. He narrates the story of this Wendy's restaurant becoming a training restaurant in an Ernest Hemmingway-like voice. Reuben has managed this Downtown restaurant for the last four years. He had been a training representative with Certified Restaurants, a government agency assuring restaurant quality.Reuben comments about that job: "I did that for too long and got bored. If you don't see me on the front counter, then I'm in back training. It is important that I maintain a standard. My employees look to me for an example. When the line at the counter grows I will go out and take orders. I try to memorize them so that when I recognize someone in the line, I can write their order quickly."Dave has won several awards, including store of the year and "international sparkle certification." On May 2, Reuben will travel to Vancouver, Wash. to receive the Dave's Way award.Cleanliness is highly important. They normally clean four times a day. "It will be very hard to meet the cleanliness standard this year," Reuben told me, " because Central has been torn up."
Come with me on my daily stroll around our fair neighborhood and see what I see. Often, what I write here comes out of those early morning walks, as I look around and see what is new around town. It is amazing what one can observe at the truly "grassroots" level (pardon the poor pun)! I begin my day in my own cul-de-sac, usually checking on the homes of my close neighbors, many of whom are older and need a bit of assistance now and then. One or two have recently had some health issues that remind me to drop in to say hello or send a card.More importantly, is the reminder to dig up any contact information for relatives of theirs should they be unable to contact them on their own. In my opinion, this is just part of being good friends and good neighbors -caring for each other - just in case.I continue my journey around the corner, listening and enjoying the sounds of the morning. Birds are everywhere, especially this time of year. They overcome the drone of the freeway a couple miles away and remind me of just how special the Juanita Valley is. Suddenly, I catch a flash of black and white in front of me. It is the elusive renegade Juanita bunny twins -two exceedingly cute rabbits that are running wild in my area.
Egg hunters brave the cold The weather in April sure does vary. Two years ago at the Highlands Spring Egg Hunt we roasted, last year it poured and this year we froze. But at least it was dry - it rained all day except during the event. A very WARM thank you to Lina Kramer and Susanne Park for organizing the egg hunt, and to Tim Park for donning a bunny suit for the cause (shh, don't tell his daughter!). We had a great turnout, and Susanne's homemade cookies and cranberry scones were incredible.Cedar View Park weeding party May 6Please come help weed Cedar View Park on May 6 at 10 a.m. It should only take an hour or less. Please bring labeled weeding tools, rakes, clippers, buckets, gloves. If you haven't visited the park recently, the plants we planted 18 months ago are thriving! And the view is as lovely as ever.Sister 'hoodOnce upon a time, North Rose Hill and the Highlands were connected. Then I-405 was built, and for almost 50 years, the two neighborhoods were inaccessible to each other by foot. A couple of years ago, the emergency vehicle/pedestrian bridge was installed, and now the neighborhoods are connected again. If cities can have sister cities, perhaps neighborhoods can have sister 'hoods, and I'd say that North Rose Hill is ours.Now our sister 'hood has embarked upon an impressive undertaking. They are building a large playground with donated money, materials and labor. This is no ordinary playground: It's a castle, and it was designed by children. Volunteers are needed to help build the playground (shifts are only four hours) and donate money, materials, tools and food to feed the builders.
Enjoying Book-It Repertory Theatre's adaptation of Edith Wharton's "House of Mirth" to its unique form of literary theater made me realize again how resonant this author's work remains. In detailing both a society and a heroine so exhilaratingly emblematic of who we were and are, Wharton takes measure of the American Dream.
After taking a break from the media for several weeks to enjoy great spring weather, I picked up The New York Times last week to catch up on current events. Sadly, the news grows bleaker each day. Skyrocketing gasoline prices; more reports on global warming with no action on the horizon; the Taliban and al Qaeda flooding rural areas of southern Afghanistan with men and weapons; the U.S. Senate voting for $71 billion to fund the war in Iraq; and international tensions between the U.S, Iran and now Russia growing. Does anyone care that our government is hobbled by greedy oil executives, a military industrial complex Dwight Eisenhower warned against, and fervid ideologues who use religion and patriotism to push America toward the brink of bankruptcy and the days of the Cold War? Many people do care, but feel hopeless to make change and have grown complacent. We knew our voices fell on deaf ears in Washington, D.C., when we protested the buildup to war in Iraq and so we gave up.
It's become a worldwide phenomenon. Cirque du Soliel, the Quebec-based circus troupe which formed in 1984, has, at present, six touring shows and another six residential productions. More than 7 million people will see a Cirque du Soliel show this year alone.And if you care to brave the 520 bridge and head east to Redmond, you could be among those lucky 7 million. Under the big top at Marymoor Park, Cirque's "Varekai" makes a limited appearance. "Varekai" - the word means 'wherever' in Romany - is the first Cirque show to make it to these parts since 2003.
With the success of recent Western-style movies like "Brokeback Mountain," Three Dollar Bill Cinema choose to stage its Tough Love film series. Throughout May, on Thursday nights, Three Dollar Bill Cinema presenta three films that deal with the theme of homoeroticism in western movies. The movies being screened are "Johnny Guitar," "Red River" and "Lonesome Cowboys." The first film, "Johnny Guitar," was screened last Thursday, May 4, and it was well received by the people who attended."I loved seeing it with an audience," said Jason Plourde, programming director for Three Dollar Bill Cinema. The films are all 35 mm archival prints, obtained from the original film studios, and now return to the big screen after many years. "It was really good seeing them, not on a television screen, but as they were really intended," said Plourde. The next two films in the series are "Red River" (1948) on Thursday, May 11, and "Lonesome Cowboys" (1969) on May 18. "Red River" is a "traditional western" directed by Howard Hawks. It stars John Wayne, Montgomery Clift and John Ireland, and the film looks at various issues in the Wild West in the context of a cattle drive led by Wayne."Lonesome Cowboys," on the other hand, is a classic Andy Warhol film. Described as a "funny and erotic spoof on the Western genre," the movie deals with looking for love in the open spaces of the western United States.
Between Harrison and Republican streets on 13th Avenue East you'll find a special garden. Free from the hustle and bustle of urban living, it exists as a quiet sanctuary for peace and contemplation.The garden was created and maintained for many years by Gary "Pepe" Krukowski. His care and love for the garden has only grown over the years, but after suffering from an illness, Pepe, who has been HIV positive for the last 25 years and suffers from serious back pain as well, is no longer able to provide the attention he once did for the garden.As a gesture of thanks and appreciation, Pepe's neighbors gathered on Saturday, May 6, to give back to Pepe what he provided for them. The garden had been untended for more than six months, until neighbors got together to lend a helping hand for a friend in need.
To be healthier, I've embarked on some bizarre shopping habits. I buy only those items that are guaranteed to taste bland, be difficult to chew using only your teeth (an industrial grinder would be more helpful) and have posted on the side of the package a list of the nutrients you will be consuming that is so long they use a negative font size just to get the entire thing written down.Last week, I bought something touted as being "heart healthy." I believe they lied, since simply chewing this stuff nearly gave me a cardiac arrest. Yes, I soaked it in fat-free milk first, but I might as well have dipped a bowl of pebbles in milk for all the good that did me. Perhaps they need to advertise this cereal differently. Saying that it's "heart healthy" isn't truth in advertising. If they had said that consuming this cereal would be all the cardio workout you'd need for a month, then that would be truth in advertising. Plus, I'm quite certain I chipped a tooth and then swallowed that chip. I suppose that upped my calcium intake for the day.
Although the legislative session that ended a day early on March 8 was only 59 days, the pace was grueling. Short sessions are traditionally used for making modest adjustments to the biennial budgets. Nevertheless, nearly 900 bills were introduced in the Senate alone, with 376 bills of some 2,000 proposed passing the Legislature.With the economy still booming and the resulting additional $1.6 billion for the biennium ending June 2007, the Legislature took the responsible course of setting aside $946 million in three savings accounts. We targeted our limited spending at priorities for our families and our future - and left more than $227 million in the bank.To create jobs and grow our economy, we provided $56 million in targeted tax incentives.EducationWe made big strides in helping students, teachers and schools. With $215 million for K-12 education, we'll assist students who are unable to pass the WASL, raise pay for school employees and extend the school breakfast program. We will fund nearly 500 enrollments at our public colleges and universities. Fifty foster-care youths will be able to attend college, thanks to Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson's bill.I sponsored legislation to create the new Department of Early Learning. The House companion bill, signed by Gov. Christine Gregoire, consolidates the state's child-care programs and services.