For former University of Washington art professor Richard Kehl, mystery is a celebration."I think of myself as a spokesman for the universe," he said. "I'm celebrating all that's intangible and can't be explained."'Everything is art'For about 20 years, Kehl has been making collages that are designed to ignite the imagination and evoke mystery. His collages have been shown in more than 70 galleries in New York; Paris; Tokyo; Washington, D.C.; St. Louis; Seattle; and Turkey. Like his images, the titles of his pieces - such as "I begin with what was always gone" and "A garden of reconciled opposites" - are taken from old books."To me, everything is art," he said. "When you name something, you just put it in some category in your brain and never see it again."
I don't think it possible to say enough about the Fremont Neighborhood Service Center, or any of the city's other 12 Neighborhoods Service Centers. How can you say too much about an office, tucked away under the Aurora Bridge in a largely industrial building, that no one knows exists? Especially when so many people would be able to do more and avoid unnecessary frustration if they only knew about this easily accessible resource.The bridgeThe city's bureaucracy confounds even the best and the brightest among us. The Department of Neighborhoods mission is "connecting people, communities and government." Yun Pitre, the Lake Union neighborhood district coordinator, sees her work in the service center as "being the bridge. When there are interesting projects, I can give ideas about what city funds are available, connecting groups with staff in the city." She directs organizations and individuals to city services, and she lets "the city know about issues at the community level." Yun admitted, "I think one of the issues is that we are not utilized.""One of my jobs is the Lake Union District Council (LUDC)," Yun told me. She coordinates several neighborhoods beyond Fremont, including Wallingford, Eastlake, Westlake and South Lake Union - "all the neighborhoods around Lake Union," she explained. LUDC meetings, held the first Monday of each month (although not in December) at 6 p.m. in Yun's office, gather neighborhood representatives to discuss common concerns and prioritize city funds for community projects and some street improvements.
Last week was, politically speaking, a cheerful week for the sea of blue partisans that is Seattle. Nationally, President Bush and the Republicans got a spanking many Seattleites have dreamed of giving for six long years - including, on the Eastside, the possible ousting of Dave Reichert from a district that has never elected a Democrat. Statewide, two terribly regressive ballot measures, Initiatives 920 and 933, went down in flames; by contrast, an alternative-energy initiative, I-937, passed. Voters also beat back a right-wing state Supreme Court challenge to Justice Susan Owens.The Wednesday after Election Day was an unusually good day to be a liberal.But lost in the "Blue Wave!" headlines, the details of Seattle's local ballot items told a much more mixed story. Sure, the votes cast were predictably liberal. The Sonics' effort to have taxpayers pony up for a new arena was rejected by a staggering three-quarters of voters, a spasm of taxpayer anger for which the new Oklaho-ma owners can thank the Mariners and Seahawks and festering, decade-long anger over having a billion dollars' worth of stadia rammed down voters' throats. But otherwise, we locals showed our usual, notorious willingness to tax ourselves silly, approving not only a long-overdue King County measure to expand bus service, but a citywide pothole proposition that comes very close to being an indefinite, open-ended tax.
After a four-year hiatus, construction of a new QFC store at 3920 Stone Way N. will begin this winter. At the end of September, the city issued a permit for construction of a five-story, mixed-use building. The building will consist of a 31,394-square-foot grocery story, 26 residential units and two levels of structured parking for 156 vehicles.Outstanding traffic issuesQFC originally applied for a permit in 2002 and was granted a land-use permit in August 2003, but did not proceed with construction. Since then the lot has sat unused, and QFC has paid more than $110,000 in property taxes for the land, according to county records. Wallingford residents voiced concerns with the original plans, including locating parking entrances on North 39th and 40th streets and Stone Way North and increases in traffic volumes. Traffic volumes are still a matter of concern in Wallingford. Some of these concerns are being addressed in the city's $6.7 million Fremont Circulation Project. The intersection of Stone Way North and Bridge Way North is among those the project aims to improve traffic flow through. Seattle's Department of Transportation is pushing a road "diet" for Stone Way North, and the Wallingford Community Council backs the plan.A traffic signal is being installed at the intersection of Stone Way North and North 39th Street to ease traffic flow to and from the QFC, saidSeattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) project manager Lorelei Mesic. The signal is scheduled to go up in early 2007, after construction on the QFC has finished.
Local community members and parents attended a community workshop at Hamilton International Middle School on Nov. 4 to discuss renovation of the school and how construction will affect the temporary closure of Wallingford Playfield. School constructionConstruction for Hamilton is anticipated to begin in fall 2008. Funding for this renovation will be decided by voters in February 2007. If approved, the $490 million Building Excellence III Levy will fund a list of elementary, middle and high schools in need of renovation, including Hamilton. The most recent remodel for the middle school took place in 1970. According to the school's annual report, Hamilton had 41 classrooms with a total of 724 students in October 2005. The estimated cost of renovating Hamilton is $73 million, with a new gymnasium to be built in the back of the building and hard-surface play courts located on the roof of a new parking garage. As the school undergoes construction, students will relocate to nearly Lincoln High School for two years. Mary Heim, whose sixth-grade daughter attends Hamilton, is looking forward to the renovation and technological improvements that will assist teachers in educating their students.
Vik Muniz is an artist/philosopher/trickster. In the most appealing way, he plays with your brain as much as he satisfies your eye. He would say that brain-eye interplay is what art is all about, and indeed it is. But he has found ways to force his viewers to consciously assess that duality.The diverse array of photographs now at the Seattle Asian Art Museum combine sophisticated interpretation of the nature of perception and art with the most accessible, indeed whimsical, images. It's a show of discovery with a surprise around every corner. And each surprise offers a new insight into how we see and interpret reality.As you walk into the first gallery, there's a sense of familiarity. On one wall are well-known photos, ones you've seen hundreds of times: John-John saluting his father's coffin, a little Vietnamese girl running down the road with her skin falling off after a napalm attack, the flag raising at Iwo Jima.As you look more closely, you see that they appear to be a bit blurry; then, before long, you realize these aren't those famous photos at all. They are something else. Actually, they are photos that Muniz made of memory drawings. Muniz had bought the photo book "The Best of Life" shortly after he immigrated to the United States from his native Brazil. When he lost the book, he tried to draw his favorite images from memory.You've been fooled by them. You brought your memory to his photos of memory pictures, making them the real thing. When you first saw them, your brain caused you to see them as something they weren't. Muniz revels in illusions of this sort.
Described by promoters as Seattle's favorite up-and-coming DJ, DJ Kyler spins for the club Sugar on Capitol Hill during their weekly Twilight event each Sunday evening. The event began a few weeks ago, and though it seems to have had a slow, even rough start, Sugar nightclub's promoter Ric Ibarra is devoted to turning it into a successful endeavor. Applying Kyler's musical talent should enhance the event, since Kyler is well known in Seattle's music scene. Every Monday, for instance, DJ Kyler works the "drive-at-5" on C89.C89 - FM 89.5 - is a club dance music station with no commercials and the newest techno and R&B; hits on the air. It's the largest and most influential educational radio station in the country, according to Rolling Stone magazine.According to promoters the Twilight event at Sugar is an effort to bring back the popular Seattle Sunday afternoon dance experience. The advertised start time is 4 p.m. to midnight, but Ibarra indicates that 6 p.m. is when DJ Kyler starts mixing his "sexy house music." Kyler describes the music as "generally house, progressive mainstream dance." Ibarra adds that the sound has a "characteristic energy that allows for either dancing or sitting with friends and enjoying the ambiance."It's the kind of ambiance that encourages intimate social interaction.
The building has had many names in its different locations. In the late '80s, it was the Big Yellow House. Before that, members called it The Church Basement. But its proper name is the Capitol Hill Alano Club.As stated on its Web site, the club was founded by Seattle's recovering gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgenered community "in 1982 to support 12-step groups in their primary purpose of carrying their messages to those seeking recovery by providing a safe and permanent meeting place." Located at 1900 E. Madison, the Alano Club hosts over 60 12-step meetings weekly in seven different recovery programs. No pictures, or last names, of members were given for this article, as all 12-step programs contain statements regarding member anonymity.Jack O, an original Alano Club member, also served as a leader on the first board of directors when the organization took shape at the former Methodist Church 1601 E. John St. Sober since 1978, Jack said many people were involved in the beginning."Almost everyone back then was involved in getting (the Alano Club) started. Laura B. and Chuck W. were very involved. They hunted down the lease with the first landlord at the church," he said. "Part of the motivation to start it was that as the church went, so did the meetings. The church was very supportive, but if anything were to happen to the church the gay and lesbian recovery community would be at risk. We decided to branch out and get longevity."The search for longevity prompted the Alano Club to find its East Madison Street location. Previously, it has been at five other sites in nearly 25 years, including a stint at the building that's now home to Lambert House on 15th. Back then, it was referred to as the Yellow House for its bright exterior color.
Well, it's been a long time, six years and change, since I felt I could look my fellow citizens (most of them anyway) in the eye and not wonder just how simpleminded they might be.Of course I am talking about the election results, locally and nationally, from last week.I have mainstream friends, less cynical than I, who say, "We've got our country back."I wouldn't go that far. The current Democratic Party is not my dad's Roosevelt Democrats; in fact, these centrists in liberal glad rags are not even LBJ's Democratic Party.And across the country, people irritated at an unending war and an economic rape of the lower and middle classes are more than irritated that gay people want to be married. Numerous states banned gay marriage or refused at least to support it last Tuesday.This is backward thinking in a country where the conjugally joined are outnumbered by the solitaries for the first time in recorded American history.But who in their right mind (an important qualification) can feel too bad seven days after Rummy is forced to resign and eight days after the voters of Washington state have overwhelmingly told Mike McGavick to go back to economically disenfranchising workers and their families for his own benefit - lay off 1,200 SAFECO workers, give self $4-million bonus and then claim you "care" about the average citizen - and leave the public coffers alone?
You may be aware that there is now a Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce. You may not know that the new chamber has a face.Brought on board in September, Amani Ellen Loutfy is the chamber's interim executive director. Charged with getting the nascent business organization up and running, Loutfy's position runs though January. She has an ambitious list of tasks she wants to accomplish in that time, as well as considerable confidence that she'll be able to pull it off.Having an actual paid director is a significant step for the re-established chamber. When the last chamber folded two years ago, one of the reasons cited for its demise had to do with the lack of professional staff. An all-volunteer organization, that chamber had evolved to the point where too few people were trying to do too many tasks.With the city's adoption of the Broadway Action Plan last summer, and with it city funding of $125,000 toward Broadway improvements, recreating the chamber became a practical reality, one referenced in the plan. Having a paid executive director was a logical and necessary step.
They were two small businesses in tiny, temporary structures placed at one end of a parking lot. But Boma Fine Art and Jump Gourmet Espresso, businesses located in the Diamond Parking lot at the corner of Broadway and East Mercer Street, have become retail casualties.Both businesses received sudden notice that their month-to-month rental arrangements had been terminated by the parking company. Reasons for the eviction went unsaid, but the timetable was clear: Each received a scant 15-day notice to vacate on Oct. 27. The letters, on Diamond Parking Services letterhead, were brief and to the point: "Please accept this as our fifteen (15) day notice to terminate our agreement dated August 19, 2004."There is considerable speculation about the future use of the property. A vacant lot would be ripe for redevelopment, and given that next door the Jade Pagoda closed its doors a few months ago such suspicions are understandable. One rumor has the property being used as a staging area for the Brix mixed-use development being built at the old Safeway site across the street. A call to Diamond Parking went unreturned as this paper went to press, but whatever the property's upcoming use, it is certain that two small business owners will not be a part of it.
Beacon Hill resident Aaron Dixon) celebrates Election Night with his Green Party campaign supporters on Nov. 7 at the Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave. Though Dixon ultimately received only 1.21 percent of the votes for U.S. senator, Dixon thanked the volunteers and his other supporters for a "good run."
When the Democrats formally take control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, there will be talk of this being the first step toward a Democratic president in two years. Maybe. But more than likely we are looking at a Democratic movement that really doesn't have the legs to make a real run in 2008. Democrats won because George Bush and his programs failed, corruption ran rampant and the war in Iraq went terribly wrong. We did not win because we had a program better than the Republicans, and, from close observation, we did not do a good job organizing our Democratic base. I have had this conversation with African American and Latino American political activists over the last 20 years or more. We had another campaign season in which our communities did not get very well organized. Another season in which our plea to put money and people into low-income neighborhoods early went unheeded. But because the party won big without doing it, they are even more unlikely to do it between now and 2008.The 37th legislative district runs from the University of Washington almost to Renton, along Lake Washington. It's one of the most diverse districts in the state and has been solidly Democratic for at least three decades or more. I cannot remember when this district has had the ability to turn out more than 50 percent of the eligible Democratic voters.
Last week was, politically speaking, a cheerful week for the sea of blue partisans that is Seattle. Nationally, Bush and the Republicans got a spanking many Seattleites have dreamed of for six long years - including, on the Eastside, the possible ousting of Dave Reichert from a district that has never previously elected a Democrat. Statewide, two terribly regressive ballot measures, I-920 and I-933, went down in flames; by contrast, an alternative energy initiative, I-937, passed. Voters also beat back a right-wing State Supreme Court challenge to Justice Susan Owens.The Wednesday after Election Day was an unusually good day to be a liberal.(pause for a moment of quiet gloating)But lost in the "Blue Wave!" headlines, the details of Seattle's local ballot items told a much more mixed story. Sure, the votes cast were predictably liberal. The Sonics' effort to have taxpayers pony up for a new arena was rejected by a staggering three-quarters of voters, a spasm of taxpayer anger for which the new Oklahoma owners can thank the Mariners and Seahawks, and festering, decade-long anger over having a billion dollars' worth of stadia rammed down voters' throats. But otherwise, we locals showed our usual, notorious willingness to tax ourselves silly, approving not only a long-overdue King County measure to expand bus service, but a citywide pothole proposition that comes very close to being an indefinite, open-ended tax.Why is this a problem, when these are both surely necessary and appropriate functions for local government? It's a problem because of what wasn't on this year's ballot. Most notably, Seattle City Council decided in September, just after learning that cost estimates for a waterfront tunnel had risen by a billion dollars and that a poll showed voters favoring a new viaduct instead, to not put a question on the ballot asking voters our opinion on what to do with the Alaskan Way Viaduct.A solid majority of council members (as well as the mayor) support the tunnel option, and so the ballot measure idea was quietly dropped - because council members feared that we wouldn't vote the way they wanted. In other words, democracy is fine, so long as the rabble vote the correct way.
Results from Seattle Public Schools' ongoing water testing program show that lead levels in some of the water samples collected last spring are higher than School Board-mandated standards of 10 parts per billion for lead content. Seattle's standard for lead is among the toughest in school districts nationwide - half of that allowed under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.The results indicated lead levels above district standards at 32 out of the district's 97 schools, involving a total of 323 water fountains and sinks. The samples were collected last May after the water had been shut off for several weeks to allow for arsenic tests.