This month, students at Olympic View Elementary School will read more. And somewhere in another part of the world, a needy family will receive a farm animal - perhaps a cow, goat or llama - all because of the students' efforts.Each year at Olympic View, the student council selects a community service project that the school will participate in. This year, with the help of principal Timothy Moynihan, the students decided they wanted their peers to take part in a service project unlike any the school had done before.
The aroma of raw crab and funnel cakes fills the air inside a classroom at Roosevelt High School. The hustle and bustle of students in the cooking class doesn't distract the student team from practicing their craft for this year's Washington Restaurant Association (WRA) Education Foundation's ProStart Invitational. The competition will take place Saturday, March 24, and Sunday, March 25, at South Seattle Community College. This year, culinary and nutrition teacher Carolyn Garthwaite will take seniors Romesh Rao, Joe Bravo and Nhan Nguyen and sophomore Alex Kong, all of whom will compete in the hot-foods competition
Seattle Public Schools announced that the Columbia building will service as the interim site for The New School. Currently residing in the Columbia building located 2.5 miles north of the permanent South Shore site is the alternative K-5 Orca program. The program will relocate to Whitworth Elementary and expand to serve K-8, while Whitworth merges with Dearborn Park Elementary. In February, Seattle voters approved a $64.7 million capital bond for the construction of a K-8 at the South Shore site which expects to be completed in 2009. While the Columbia building remains slated for closure, it will serve as the home for The New School for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years.
BOEING FIELD - To hear King County Executive Ron Sims and outgoing Port of Seattle CEO Mic Dinsmore tell it, the proposal to hand off Boeing Field to the Port in exchange for an eastside rail corridor is a good deal all around.However, longtime King County Council member Larry Phillips begs to differ. He's not the only one on the council who has misgivings."There are several members of the council who are very concerned," Phillips said.There are also differences in opinion about a key element in the deal, which involves the Port paying the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad $103 million for the acquisition and up to $66 million for development of the 40-mile-long rail corridor into a trail that will stretch from King to Snohomish counties.The $169 million is a low-ball figure, according to Phillips, who pegs the true value of the general-aviation airport at around $400 million. And that's "just for the dirt," he said.
I looked in her cat. I didn't see nothing, so I thought it was all right."Do you understand this statement? Did you understand it immediately? I understand it now, but I was slow; I needed a few minutes to understand it. The speaker is a grieving 73-year-old mother who told me this is what her 41-year-old son told her. She believes God will not let her son die of AIDS. Hands and arms in a most unnatural position and body covered with sores, the man lies in a nursing home bed unable to turn over without aid. Sometimes he spits his food out because he can't swallow. I watched his mother attempt to feed him Neapolitan ice cream and lemon cookies he had requested. Much of the food landed on his pajamas and the linen. He recognizes family and friends, talks to them but not always coherently. He is prone to repeat what any one says to him. He greets every guest with a loud, "Hug me!"
Nancy Bainbridge Rogers and her husband, Steve Bainbridge Rogers, moved to Magnolia in 2003, she became a board member of the Magnolia Community Club (MCC) in 2005, and now she's the new president of the neighborhood organization.Rogers, a Renton native, has her hands full as Magnolia changes at an increasingly rapid clip, something that hits close to home. "I primarily got involved with the community club because I was interested in how they respond to things I can see out my window."Living in a house on the east side of Magnolia, her view includes the Magnolia Bridge, Terminals 90 and 91, a bit of North Bay and - off in the distance - the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
Artists young and older climb the stairs to the apartment-turned-studio art school in Ravenna to learn the basics of drawing and to experiment with color. A purple stairwell leads the way to the large classroom, with a small sitting room and storage area to the side. The entrance sits just off Ravenna Avenue Northeast and hosts pre-schoolers to graduate students who are learning the skill of art with Thrive Art School's step-by-step approach. Thrive teachers take much pride in their efforts to reach all students of any learning style.
Dupe the Clown performs at the Wednesday, March 14, grand opening of the Broadway Crossing development at the corner of Broadway and Pine. Notable for combining a Walgreens store with 44 units of affordable housing, the project also includes a new set of dance steps by artist Jack Mackie, who created the original steps along Broadway 27-years ago. (See the editorial on the project in the Opinion section.)
Having opened roughly 18 months ago, Cal Anderson Park is still a recent jewel in Seattle's park system. Located in the heart of Capitol Hill just east of Broadway and north of East Pine Street, residents and city personnel alike are concerned that the park remain both appealing and well used.With public safety a perpetual neighborhood concern, a large set of questions can be asked regarding just how safe the park is. Given that the perception of safety can be the reality - if people think the park is unsafe then on a functional level it is - the Seattle Parks Department's Randy Wiger wanted some answers about how people felt about the park. A survey seemed in order.Perhaps surprisingly, the results indicated that between 70 and 80 percent of those responding felt safe using Cal Anderson Park. Such a conclusion, Wiger said, was a very good sign.
It's a building with wonderful acoustics, a dramatic building with stained glass and an attention to interior detail that reflects another age. The former First Church of Christ Scientist, built in 1906 and closed last fall after years of declining attendance, is ready for its next use. The question is, what will that use be? The church, located at 16th Avenue East and East Denny Way, was sold last year to developers who planned to remodel the church and convert it into 12 upscale condominiums. The smallest unit would be roughly 1,000 square feet, the largest just shy of 2,000. Given the unique characteristics of the building, there's little doubt that they could be turned into something spectacular. Since the building is a designated Seattle landmark, it cannot be torn down or have its exterior altered.
Civilians interested in becoming police officers or advancing their careers in law enforcement can learn about employment and educational opportunities at a career fair to be held at Seattle University. More than 60 law enforcement agencies from around the Northwest will participate in the 2007 Law Enforcement Career Fair on Wednesdya, March 28, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Campion Hall on E. Cherry between Broadway and 12th Ave. E. Attendance is free of charge and open to the general public.
Sound Transit received Federal Transit Administration Success in Enhancing Ridership Award. Since its first full year of service in 2000, Sount Transit has served more than 12 million passengers. The Federal Transit Administration awarded Sound Transit as one of only three agencies serving more than a million passengers a year. Currently, Sound Transit services 43,000 passengers each week and expects more than 350,000 in ridership by 2030 with the completion of light rail trains.
During spring quarter, Seattle Central Community College will offer a new course, Sequential Art: History and Criticism of Comic Books and Graphic Novels or Humanities 270.The course will survey superhero comics, funny animals, war comics, underground comics, Manga and Anime, alternative comics, graphic novels and webcomics. The class will also include cartooning lessons.
For five years, I lived across from the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, that huge concrete box propping up part of Freeway Park at the cusp between Capitol Hill and downtown.More lately, I've occasionally temped there in between freelance gigs. I've gained a new appreciation for that city-within-a-city, that most earthbound segments of the floating world of business travel.Despite the glamourous image of the '50s-'60s "jet set," business travel's really what put the airline biz, hence Boeing and hence Seattle, into the big money. (In 1968, American Airlines advertised itself as a company "built for the professional traveler.")
Last week there was a ribbon cutting for a large, mixed-use project on Capitol Hill. The Broadway Crossing on the southwest corner of Broadway and Pine is now officially part of the neighborhood. This is a very good thing. It's likely that many people will drive by and not be aware that something remarkable took place. But the Broadway Crossing development represents a significant achievement. It's an asset to the neighborhood and serves as a example of mixed-use development done right