Plan on using alternate routes if you need to get downtown this Sunday.  Aurora Avenue will be closed on March 14 from N. 39th Street to the Western Avenue off-ramp for the Henry Weinhard’s St. Patrick’s Day Dash.  14,600 participants are expected to take part in the event.  Roads will be closed from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.  The Alaskan Way Viaduct will also be closed during that time.  

Grab your favorite bowling shirt and lace up your shoes.  Solid Ground (formerly    the Fremont Public Association) is looking for teams to participate in their annual Strike Out Hunger Bowl-a-thon at West Seattle Bowl (4505 39th Ave SW) on Saturday, March 27.  The event hopes to raise money and awareness for the group’s Food Security for Children program,   which keeps Seattle-area food banks (including Ballard, Greenwood, Phinney Ridge Lutheran and the Wallingford Family Works food banks) stocked with formula and healthy baby food for infants and toddlers.

March 19 is the deadline for teams of four to six to register.  Individuals are also welcome to sign up.  Registration and pledge forms can be found online here.  Each bowler who raises $200 or more in tax-deductible donations receives a special prize.  Start times are at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.  For more information on the event, contact Anna Ramos at 206-694-6857 or annar@solid-ground.org.

Members from the Sound Animal Rights Alliance (SARA) are planning to demonstrate outside Fremont Studios on Thursday night.  The animal rights advocates are calling for the retirement of Woodland Park Zoo elephants to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.  A press release from SARA says the group is concerned that the zoo’s surviving elephants will begin dying off if not taken to a more elephant-friendly life.

“Their health is rapidly failing from captivity-related diseases”, says Nancy Farnam, SARA’s director.  “Bamboo, Watoto, and Chai suffer from crippling arthritis and chronic foot infections, the leading causes of premature death in zoo elephants”, adds Farnam.   

The demonstration is set to coincide with Woodland Park Zoo’s annual thrive! fundraiser that begins at 6 p.m tomorrow night at Fremont Studios (155 N. 35th St).  Demonstrators plan to begin their protest at 5 p.m.

Karin Stevens Dance    celebrates its second season in Seattle with a performance of six new works on March 19   and 20 at the Fremont Abbey Arts Center (4272 Fremont Ave N).  The company, which is also the resident dance company of the Fremont Abbey, presents two concerts  a year in the Abbey’s Great Hall.  Their March show features a collaboration with visual/sound artist Craig van de Bosch, electronic composer Dave Capaitis and fashion designer Beki Wilson, as well as live performances with cellist Emily Anne Peterson and three original new pieces from the Mack Grout Jazz Trio.  Tickets for the show are $7 to $15 and can be bought online here.  Show starts at 7:30 p.m.  Doors open at 7 p.m. 

Tonight is the fundraiser to help send Ballardite Tracey Higdon back to Haiti to help with the non-profit Friends of the Children of Haiti (FOTCOH).

Higdon is on the left with a line of incoming patients behind her.

As we previously wrote, Higdon volunteered at the medical clinic last year long before the January earthquake. While there, she will manage the repair and re-painting of the medical clinic used by FOTCOH. The ten-year-old building is one of the last standing clinics in the region and Higdon says it will soon deteriorate if it is not properly sealed and repainted.

“A blitz of patients,” Higdon says.

Her goal is to raise $6,000 which would cover her travel, supplies, and hire labor in Haiti. Higdon knows the team of workers she will hire and tells us that each one of them has lost their home.

Tracy isn’t the only one who could benefit from tonight’s event. There will be raffle prizes donated by local businesses including:
-Two night stay at the 4-star Edgewater Hotel
-Free 1-month memberships to the LA Fitness in Ballard
-Paint from Miller Paint in Ballard
-Dinner at Mulleady’s Irish Pub in Magnolia
-Deluxe home coffee supplies from Starbucks
-Free 2-hours of services from OhBeckAndCall
-Free design consultation from One Earth, One Design in Shoreline
-Wine from Laurelhurst Cellars
-Services from Halo Salon downtown
-Dinner at Volterra in Ballard
-Cookbooks from local chef Becky Selengut
and more….

The fundraiser is tonight from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Leary Traveler (4356 Leary Way NW.)

The southbound right hand lane of the Aurora Bridge will be closed on Wednesday, March 10, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.  The closure is to allow Seattle Department of Transportation bridge crews to complete repairs on the underside of the bridge. 

Seattle-based software company, Dinerware, joins the oasis of tech companies in Fremont by taking up shop in the Burke Building.  The 10-year-old company provides point of sale software for the hospitality industry to help restaurants run smoothly.  The company, which moved from its location under the Ballard Bridge, is now in the space formerly occupied by Tableau Software at 400 N. 34th St.  They’re planning to have an open house sometime in April to introduce themselves to the neighborhood.  We’ll keep you posted when we have more details. 

Pedestrian and car traffic will be affected this week by continued construction on the Burke Gilman Trail in Fremont and the Ship Canal Trail near Seattle Pacific University in Queen Anne.

The Army Corps of Engineers “expects to continue work along the Burke Gilman trail through Tuesday, March 9, and also expects to start work this week on the south side of the canal, affecting the Ship Canal Trail.”

It is recommended that trail users follow detour signs. For more information contact Andrea Takash at the Army Corps of Engineers at (206) 764-3464.

As the Legislative session is winding down, 36th District Representative Reuven Carlyle sends these notes from Olympia.

The fast-paced, 60-day state legislative session is slated to end on March 11 and our final days in Olympia are filled with late nights and intense budget negotiations. As we strive to wrap up the people’s business, I wanted to take a moment to provide a high level overview of some of my projects as your representative in the Legislature.

A new independent report says Washington is expected to lead the nation in job growth this year. It’s a great start to economic recovery, but we have a long journey ahead. The heart and soul of our job growth, as always, is small business.

We face a projected $2.7 billion budget deficit following a $9 billion deficit last year. This is from a total of about $34 billion. The Great Recession has caused a dramatic drop off in tax revenues while demand for public services in education, health care, foster care, prisons and much more have increased substantially. It’s a perfect storm requiring courageous honesty about the deeper, more substantive public policy challenges we face.

A vast majority of our work in these final days has focused on balancing the budget in a thoughtful, equitable and economically efficient manner.

Here are some of my personal priorities this year.

[Read more →]

For two weeks in 2009, Ballardite Tracey Higdon volunteered at a health clinic in Haiti through the non-profit organization Friends of the Children of Haiti.  After January’s massive earthquake, the clinic near Jacmel is  now one of the last standing in the region.  On March 26, Higdon is returning to the country to organize a Haitian team to repair and repaint the building.  There will be a fundraiser and bon voyage party at The Leary Traveler (4354 Leary Way NW) next Tuesday, March 9, from 6:00-9:00 p.m. to help send Higdon to Haiti.  For more information, visit the Send Tracy Back to Haiti Facebook page or email Tracey2Haiti@gmail.com.  You can also read more about Higdon’s trip on our sister site MyBallard.com. (Thanks to Heather for the tip!) 

Both 36th District Representatives Mary Lou Dickerson (D-Seattle) and Reuven Carlyle (D-Seattle) have seen success for bills that they’re sponsoring during this legislative session.

Rep. Dickerson has been working to ban the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) from baby bottles, sippy cups and other food and beverage containers used by children under the age of three and on Wednesday, that ban moved one step closer. The House voted 96-1 on Wednesday to approve SB 6248 with an amendment that adds the ban of BPA on sports water bottles, which pregnant women use. “This is a huge victory for children’s health and for parents. Dangerous chemicals like BPA have no place in baby bottles, sippy cups or any product children put in their mouths,” said State Rep. Dickerson, the prime sponsor of the house version of the legislation. “Parents can soon go to the store with confidence and buy a bottle for their baby that won’t contain BPA.”

Rep. Carlyle has been advocating for tougher laws for drivers using cell phones. On Wednesday, the House passed a bill which would make it a primary offense to text and drive. It also prohibits teenagers from using a cell phone when behind the wheel. “I’m disappointed we had to accept a Republican amendment to take out the provision making speaking without a headset a primary offense. We just did not have the votes to push it through without any of their votes. Still, I’m pleased that we moved forward,” Rep. Carlyle wrote on his blog.

Both bills must pass the Senate with the same wording the House passed before moving to Governor Gregoire’s desk.

SDOT reports Wednesday evening that debris is blocking the Burke Gilman trail, at Phinney Ave. N and North Canal Street. The Corps of Engineers is working in the area. While the trail is blocked, trail users headed to the west should detour to N 34th Street at Stone Way North, and those headed to the east should detour at 1st Ave. NW to Canal Street.

Adds Andrea Takash of the Corps of Engineers in comments:

We apologize for any inconvenience. Our contractor is working as quickly and safely as possible to remove the trees and keep debris out of the way. The contractor should be done on the Fremont side of the cut no later than Monday, March 8. No work will take place Saturday or Sunday.

This project is phase two of restoring the historic Fremont Cut colonnade. We will be replanting 40 poplar trees this year and 400 understory plants. The goal of this project is to maintain a healthy state along the collonade.

After the contractor is done on the Fremont side, they will move to the South Ship Canal Trail near Seattle Pacific University. All work will be complete no later than March 14. A total of 29 trees will be removed during this phase.

If you have questions or concerns, please call me at 206-764-3464.

Under the new Student Assignment Plan, all students will be assigned to the school within their boundary area (look up your school here.) If the attendance area school isn’t your first choice, you can apply for your child to go to another school within the Seattle Public School system. The open enrollment period runs from today, March 1 through the end of the month. The school district stresses that all the applications will be processed at the end of March - there is no advantage to applying on March 1 vs. March 31.

If you’re interested in sending your child to an option school, such as Salmon Bay K-8, there will be a “Family to Family Option School Fair” from 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, March 13 at the John Stanford Center (2445 3rd Ave. S.)

On March 16th, enrollment staff will be on hand at the Green Lake Library from 5:30 - 7 p.m. to help answer your questions. You can use this opportunity to enroll new students and/or submit School Choice Forms for next school year. Make sure to bring all necessary documents to register your child. The staff will also be at the Ballard library on March 24th from 5:30 - 7 p.m.

On the other hand, if you’re satisfied with the school that was noted in the letter sent out by the school district last month, no other action is needed.

The call for artists to design the 46th Street Mural Project has been narrowed down to three finalists.  On Tuesday, March 2, the community is invited to meet artists Susan Brown, Todd Lown and Kristen Ramirez at an open house where they will each share their ideas for a mural to brighten the underpass under Highway 99 (Aurora Ave) at 46th Street.              (Logo by Bob Suh)

The project received an award from the Department of Neighborhoods’ Small and Simple Projects Fund in January.  Some guerrilla art appeared on Thursday afternoon, reminding people of the project that is slated to begin this summer.  The hand-painted signs mark the area near where the mural will be created.

(Photo by Linda Clifton)

Tuesday’s meeting to meet the 46th Street Mural Project finalists is at the Fremont Abbey (4272 Fremont Ave) from 6:30-8:30 p.m., and will also be an opportunity for the artists to hear what the community would like to see.  Light refreshments will be provided by Lighthouse Roasters and Marketime.  For more information and updates on the project, visit their Facebook page.  (Thanks to Kirby for the photos!)

The annual Spring Fecal Fest is here again. The popular Zoo Doo has been piling up and the “Prince of Poo” is ready to get rid of the “most exotic and highly prized compost in the Pacific Northwest,” as the zoo calls it.

Photo courtesy Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo
To enter for a chance to buy some of this steamy Zoo Doo or Bedspread (similar to Zoo Doo, but with higher amounts of wood chips and sawdust), send in a postcard from March 5 through March 20.

You are only allowed to send in one postcard for each drawing. For Zoo Doo, mark your postcard “Zoo Doo.” For Bedspread, mark your postcard “B.S.” Entry cards will be selected randomly for as many entrants possible. Dr. Doo will contact the lucky drawn entries only. Send a standard postcard to:
Dr. Doo
Woodland Park Zoo
601 N. 59th St.
Seattle, WA 98103.

Include the following information:

• Name
• Day and evening phone numbers
• Preference: Zoo Doo or Bedspread
• Amount of Zoo Doo or Bedspread you’d like to purchase (anything from a garbage bag to a full-size, pick-up truck load)
• Weekday or weekend preference for pick-up

The cost for Zoo Doo and Bedspread: Pick-up truck 8×4 bed: $60; 6×4 bed: $45; 6×3 bed: $35. Limit one full truck per person. Garbage cans: $8 to $10 depending on size; bags: $4 to $6 depending on size. Two-gallon and pint-sized buckets are available anytime at the ZooStore for $14.95 and $4.95, respectively.

Pick-up dates for Zoo Doo or Bedspread begin April 16 through May 2. The lucky winners load the compost, using shovels provided by the zoo.

In the spirit of the carnival season, Hale’s Palladium is hosting its first Vicars & Tarts themed costume party this weekend on Saturday, February 27. 

The popular English tradition (made memorable by Bridget Jones’ bunny outfit) is a party where men dress as clergy and women as tarts - or even the other way around.  Saturday’s Vicars & Tarts party will feature live music, a dance floor, cabaret acts and, of course, a costume contest.  Cost is $15 with a costume, $20 without one.  The Palladium is located in the back warehouse of Hale’s Brew Pub (4301 Leary Way NW, Fred Meyer side).