Twitter keeps seeing Drew Barrymore on Capitol Hill…
And…
We called Barrymore’s production company Flower Films to find out if the movie star was working on any of the film projects we’ve been seeing around the Hill this week. According to Flower, Barrymore’s not working on anything in Seattle but “if she’s there, she could be just visiting.”
As for who *is* shooting in Seattle, some of the production you’ve seen on the Hill this month has been for the indie film Nothing Against Life that we noted here.
At the very bottom of your ballot is an important Supplemental Levy measure for Seattle Public Schools. As a parent of children in the Seattle public school system I can assure you that the State cuts to public education have drastically impacted programs and services in our schools. Unfortunately Olympia is likely to make more cuts in K-12 education in an effort to deal with a $4.5 billion budget shortfall. Please vote “YES” for this levy.
Forty-seven thousand students in Seattle’s public schools need our help.
The State has reduced funding to Seattle schools by $32 million since 2008. Our schools are facing at least a $28 million shortfall for the 2011-2012 school year.
Voters are being asked to approve a 3-year, $48.2 million levy that will only partially make up for state cuts to education. Funds from this levy will be used to:
Purchase textbooks and basic classroom materials for elementary music, middle school language arts, and high school social studies and science ($5.9 million); these books will replace worn out and outdated texts and materials.
Support our teachers with increased collaboration time, career ladders, and an updated teacher evaluation process ($16.8 million); this will allow implementation of the locally and national praised new teacher contract.
Reduce the number and severity of cuts to educational programs and services in our schools ($25.5 million); this will help ease teacher layoffs and increased class size.
Endorsers of the levy include local PTAs, the Seattle Council of PTSA, the Seattle Education Association (SEA), Principals Association of Seattle Schools, the entire Seattle City Council, League of Education Voters, and 34th, 36th, 37th and 46th District Democrats, and many more individuals and organizations.
For more information go to www.SchoolsFirstSeattle.org
Thank you, Barbara Kelley Parent and Schools First Board Member
Seattle Police searched the area around Volunteer Park Tuesday night for a mugger who hit a man in the face and robbed him before fleeing through the park.
The 45-year-old victim was treated at the scene near the Seattle Asian Art Museum for a head injury in the robbery reported around 9:20 PM Tuesday night. According to police, the victim said he was walking through the park when the suspect ran up behind him, punched him and knocked him to the ground. The victim said when he stood up and tried to call 911 with his phone, the suspect punched him again, took his phone and ran.
The victim told police his assailant was a black male in his 20s, around 6-feet tall with a thin build, short hair and wearing a dark hoodie at the time of the robbery. He said the suspect ran through the park after the robbery toward the amphitheater stage.
Police fanned out around the park and nearby streets to set up a containment area and called for a K-9 unit to be brought in to track down the suspect. That search lasted for about 30 minutes but the suspect was not found.
The Seattle Department of Transportation has released a travel advisory for the city’s streets and freeways as President Barack Obama returns for a day of campaigning on behalf of Senator Patty Murray. Obama is scheduled for an event at a private residence and an address at noon at the University of Washington on Thursday. He is scheduled to arrive just after midnight early Thursday morning9 PM Wednesday for a stay at the downtown Westin, according to the SDOT brief below. Unlike, Obama’s August visit to Madrona, there should be no sonic booms this time around. The FAA will be closing Seattle’s air space during the president’s visit.
Traffic Changes Today and Tomorrow in Seattle for President’s Visit
SEATTLE – Seattleites should be prepared today and tomorrow for occasional street closures or traffic slowdowns as President Obama arrives at a local airport, travels to various events, and departs on Thursday. Little information on the routes and times of his movements are announced for security reasons.
The President arrives tonight, so travelers can expect a possibility of rolling closures on the freeway or major arterials leading from a local airport. There will be street closures to provide security near the Westin Hotel tonight and tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning there will likely be closures on local streets as the president attends an event at a private residence, and then attends an event at 11 a.m. at the Edmundson Pavilion on Montlake Boulevard NE next to Husky Stadium.
Rolling closures are again likely on the freeway or major arterials as the President travels to an airport when leaving the city after the event at the Edmundson Pavilion.
Seattle Parks officials say that because of complaints about noise, litter and tagging related to the skatedot feature in the new Summit/John park, they are taking immediate steps to restrict skateboarding in the open space and looking for “a long term solution.”
We first reported on problems with skateboarders at the park in late September before construction on the space was completed. At the October meeting of the Skate Park Advisory Committee, the members heard reports of excessive noise, littering and tagging occurring at the park. One man who said he lives near the park, told the committee he had posted videos of the skateboarders’ activities on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/summitandjohn. While many of the videos don’t show clear illegal activity there are a few like the one embedded below that are a pretty clear illustration of exactly what was not intended use for the park’s infrastructure. (Thanks to West Seattle Blog for providing information for this post.)
In an e-mail that is being sent to people who have sent the parks department complaints about the issues, officials list measures they are taking to curb the problems including adding blocks to the park’s rails (“which were not intended for skateboard use,” the e-mail notes) and installing a sign documenting rules and hours for the area. Here is a copy of the e-mail sent to CHS:
Seattle Parks has received many individual complaints in relation to the skateboard feature and other features used by skateboarders installed at John and Summit Park, recently opened on October 1st.
The skatedot feature was advocated for though the public involvement process during the design phase of the project. A skatedot is a singular skate feature within an overall park and these features are included in the Citywide Skatepark Plan. http://www.seattle.gov/parks/projects/Skatepark.htm
In response to the complaints Parks has received we are planning to make some modifications in order to improve pedestrian safety at the park.
* Skate stoppers will be installed on the stairway rails (which were not intended for skateboard use).
* Two bollards will be installed at the South West plaza entry from John St. to make the approach to the skatedot safer for all park users and pedestrians
* A sign with a skateboarding code of conduct and hours will be installed.
Parks anticipates that these additions will help slow down the skate traffic in the overall site, allowing pedestrians to safely use the park.
We are also in the process of reaching out to the Parks Rangers and SPD for their feedback and assistance with the issue.
A trash can was installed on October 7.
Parks will continue to review your concerns and monitor the use of the park and we are coordinating with the Skate Park Advisory Council (SPAC) and other City officials to develop a long term solution.
Rick Nishi, a Parks Levy Manager responsible for the Summit/John work, confirmed for CHS that the new features were not part of the original Summit/John plan and will cost the department extra beyond the park’s budget to install. Nishi said he expects the elements to cost a few thousand dollars but won’t have an exact number until later this month.
Summit/John’s skatedot feature is a small “skateable” element on the downslope, western side of the park. It’s basically a curb — a really good curb, designed for skateboard use. Local community groups organized to raise about $50,000 to build the feature. UPDATE: Parks contacted us to clarify that the skatedot feature was scaled back because of budget issues and that the actual price tag on the current feature was $12,900.
Hi, in your recent post you said that the skatedot feature cost $50,000. Actually it cost $12,900. $50,000 was the cost estimate from the design consultant, but that feature was dropped it from the bid since we couldn’t afford it. Then, because the construction bid was low, Parks submitted a modification proposal for a skatedot and paid the $12,000 out of project contingency funds (built into the budget for every capital project).
**END UPDATE**
We’ve reached out to the man who attended the skate committee meeting and posted the videos to YouTube to ask him about the situation. We’re also checking in with Matthew Lee Johnston of Seattleskateparks.org to get more on his take on the situation and the steps being taken by Seattle Parks. He dissected some of the video footage uploaded to YouTube in this post. “It will be interesting to see how this plays out,” he wrote in early October. “We certainly want to build more integrated skatedots into city parks, and what happens here will definitely inform how Seattle Parks makes decisions in the future. Pretty soon it will be raining all the time, the noise will die down, and these neighbors will have to find something else to write the City Council about.”
With a campaign against bullying that began with a video featuring a rather well known Capitol Hill couple now gaining national attention, the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival’s free screening of a documentary exploring the topic of anti-gay bullying has drawn such strong interest that organizers have moved the Wednesday night presentation to the 295-seat Broadway Performance Hall. Wednesday is being celebrated as Spirit Day — you are encouraged to wear purple to show your support for LGBT teens who have been bullied. And, hey, why not get a deal on Broadway.
BULLIED, the latest film from the award-winning Teaching Tolerance program of the Southern Poverty Law Center, is a hard-hitting documentary about one student’s harrowing ordeal that may put an end to antigay bullying in schools. Jamie Nabozny suffered verbal abuse in middle school that soon escalated to kicks and punches. School administrators ignored his pleas for help and even blamed him for the bullying. Eventually, Nabozny stood up to his tormentors and filed a federal lawsuit against the school that led to a landmark court decision holding public schools accountable for not stopping anti-gay abuse. Nationally, more than 80 percent of LGBT youths said their teachers never or rarely interrupt homophobic remarks, and 50 percent of all youths said gay students are bullied most or all of the time in their schools. BULLIED offers an inspiring message of hope to those still fighting harassment. After the screening, the Safe Schools Coalition will copresent a panel discussion of these issues as they relate to our community’s schools. FREE
Bullied screens at 6 PM, Wednesday at the Broadway Performance Hall on Seattle Central’s campus at Pine and Broadway.
