Wanted Drivers who:

• Are age 16 and above
• Own their own eligible vehicle
• Have a valid driver’s license
• Will allow a virtually unnoticeable data collection system to be installed in their personal vehicle for up to two years. There will be no permanent changes to the vehicle.
• Are able to read and complete questionnaires

Compensation provided $500 | Data kept confidential

If interested, contact us at 866-215-6617 and reference “Naturalistic Driving Study” or email [email protected]

This research is sponsored by the National Academies of Science.

For more information about Battelle Seattle Research Center or NAS, please visit www.drivingstudy.org

When the City of Seattle launched CPW last spring, homeowners in the eligible areas began to take advantage of government subsidized energy assessments and energy upgrades. Now that winter has arrived and homeowners are feeling the chill, the program is starting to heat up.

The CPW program currently offers rebates and incentives that help to off-set the overall cost of the upgrade to the tune of $1,000 for most homeowners. In addition, time-sensitive offers, such as a current incentive for homeowners to sign up by Thanksgiving to get an extra $500 off the cost of the upgrade. Affordable financing options are also available through the program, including a loan from the program that enables participants to put no money down and repay on their Seattle city light bill.

Washington Park home owner Allyson Adley said, “When we learned that 86% of the warm air in our house was escaping each hour and being replaced with cold air from outside, we were shocked. That provided us with the motivation to act.”

CPW is a federally funded, neighborhood energy upgrade initiative that aims to upgrade over 2,000 homes and small businesses in 24 neighborhoods throughout downtown, central and southeast Seattle. The process involves signing up for the program through CPW and working through CPW’s home energy experts to receive a deeply-discounted whole-home energy audit, getting expert advice on prioritizing the work based on the needs of the home and homeowner, receiving bids and having the work done by CPW’s highly-qualified partner contractors, receiving financing, rebates and incentives to help offset costs, and finally having work quality-checked by program experts. Residents can find out if they qualify for CPW by visiting the program’s website. The program will last through June 2013.

CPW is designed to help homeowners and small business owners invest in making their home and business space energy efficient. For example, many homes from downtown through the Central District down to Rainier Beach depend on oil heat, which is more costly and inefficient than more environmentally friendly alternatives, such as a heat pump.

The process starts with a $95 energy audit, which is normally $400. Then the homeowner determines what improvements should be made and selects a contractor, and if needed, a lender. The contractors only get paid once the worked has been quality checked by Community Power Works and customer is satisfied.

Many clients say they have learned more about their home through the energy assessment.

Carrie Evans and her husband bought a 1930s house in Mt. Baker last spring. Two months after moving in, she heard about the Community Power Works program from a friend and signed up for an audit.

“We learned a lot about our house,” said Evans. “The auditors were professional, thorough, and explained their process well. We knew that our old house was leaky and not very energy efficient. The auditor identified for us a list of potential projects and their estimated costs, which helped us prioritize what projects to move forward on now, and what can wait until a future year.”

“We go into homes and we write a prescription for a healthier home that is the solution that fits both the house and the home owner,” said Bob Thoreson, a home auditor with Home Rx.

To become a contractor with CPW, candidates have to undergo rigorous screening and adhere to High Roads standards including paying living wages and hiring crew members that are trained in local quality training programs.

“We don’t just do the retrofit,” said Ammen Jordan, manager of Home Performance Collaborative, one of CPW’s qualified contractors. “Our people are trained energy advisors.”

Community Power Works internal and field partner energy experts guide homeowners and renters (with landlord approval) through every step of the upgrade process.

All contractors are small, locally-owned businesses, 18% of which are minority-owned, 10% of which are women-owned, and 10 percent veteran-owned. Homeowners can choose from eleven CPW approved contractors.

After the work is done, a CPW energy auditor returns to conduct a Quality Assurance check, which is built into the program.

For Adley’s home, her energy use went from 24,000 kWhe to 10,000 kWhe, saving almost 60% over previous energy costs.

“I cannot get over how much value we’ve added to the house with the CPW upgrade. We feel good that we are not buying oil any more, and it’s a relief not to have to open that bill,” said Adley.

2011 Leschi Holiday Potluck & Fundraiser

December 3, 2011, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Central Area Senior Center

(500 30th Avenue South)

Planned Schedule:

6:00 – 6:30 p.m.  Arrive, deposit potluck items to kitchen volunteers. Mingle. Buy raffle ticket. Bid on silent auction items. Live music.

6:30 – 7:30 p.m.  Dinner line open. Volunteer service staff work the line. Holiday choir.

7:30 – 7:35 p.m.  Last reminder to bid on auction items. Santa sighting?

7:35 – 8:00 p.m.  Dance troupe

8:00 p.m.             Bidding on silent auction closed. Raffle ticket sales closed.

8:00 – 8:30 p.m.  Raffle & silent auction item winners announced.

Potluck Guide:
If your last name begins with…

A-D           E-P         Q-T                  U-Z

Appetizers       Main            Sides/Salads       Desserts

Other Need-To-Know Stuff:

Raffle tickets: $5.00 each, one prize per person.

Silent Auction items must be paid for by the close of the Holiday Party, at 8:30 p.m. Delivery for auction items will be arranged with the winners of each item.

There will be a Children’s Corner open. Parents are asked to sign their child in, and return within 15-30 minutes. Otherwise, it is imperative that parents stay with their young children at all times.

Attire: Festive.

We need volunteers for set-up, clean-up, and to procure auction items. Please contact Denise Colvin to express your interest in supporting this event at [email protected], or call Diane Morris at 206/322.7648.

A report evaluating the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative says the number of young people arrested for violent offenses in targeted areas of the city fell over 20 percent, compared to 12 percent in areas not targeted by the initiative.

The initiative focuses on areas of the city with ongoing youth violence issues, including the Central District as well as southwest and southeast Seattle.

The report comes just a few years after the program got off the ground in 2009. It aims to find youth who are at risk of falling into violence and provide a more “holistic” approach to preventing that from happening, according to the report:

To ensure that Seattle has safe youth and a safe community, the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative…

… connects and coordinates services to youth through the establishment of Neighborhood Networks led by longstanding community organizations.

… assesses the needs of at-risk youth, helps them set goals and connects them to the help and services they need to succeed.

… deploys street outreach workers to meet and engage youth wherever they are.

… trains and employs youth and helps prepare them for the world of work.

… mediates conflicts before they escalate by deploying School Emphasis Officers in four middle schools.

… teaches youth how to manage anger. … empowers youth by engaging them in the design and creation of their own recreation and arts programming at youth and community centers.

… connects youth to caring adults as mentors.

… engages and funds community and grassroots groups to provide programs and services through matching grants and sustaining funds.

The initiative was a response by Mayor Nickels’ administration to a wave of youth violence, and it was given preliminary funding in the wake of the 2008 Halloween killing of Quincy Coleman near 25th and Jefferson.

The goal is to reduce violent juvenile court referrals and suspensions from certain middle schools (including Washington Middle School) by 50 percent. And the city put over $4 million behind the plan in 2010. The report outlines the spending:

See below for the full report:

SYVPI-2011ProgressReportlowres

Tired of holiday catalogs clogging your mailbox and recycling bin?  Remember that Catalog Choice, the non-profit service for removing your name from Yellow Pages delivery, also helps you get your name off catalog and other promotional mailing lists. It takes a little effort to enter the mailing information for each catalog, but It’s easy and really works!   A little up-front work for the long-term benefits of combating waste, pollution and commercialism, and saving trees and your time.  https://seattle.catalogchoice.org .

My wife just found a bloodied man lying unconscious on the sidewalk on Spring and MLK.  She called 911 and fire and paramedics responded in quick time.   He may have been inebriated but the medics commented that his pockets where pulled out and it looked like he had bruising on his face.  I think they took him to the hospital and I sure hope he’s ok.

I’m very curious to what the final police report says.  Seems like there’s been quite a lot of incidents recently around the Spring,MLK,Marion block with the stabbing, robbery last night and now this.  Very Troubling. 

A shot was fired when a man resisted a robbery around 10 p.m. November 25, according to SPD. According to police, the man pulled a hammer from his bag and charged at three attempted robbers. Nobody was injured.

From SPD:

On November 25th, at approximately 10:09 pm, East Precinct officers responded to a report of shots fired with a victim standing by for contact with officers in the area of 27th Avenue East and East Marion Street.  When officers arrived, they learned that a group of unidentified suspects had attempted to rob the male victim at gunpoint.  The weapon was fired during the confrontation, but no one was struck.

The victim told officers that he was walking on 27th, approaching Marion Street when he passed a group of males standing on the corner. As he passed the group, three of the suspects began following him.  He stated that he turned to speak to the suspects when one of the men produced a handgun and demaned his bag.  The victim pulled a hammer out of his bag and held it high in an effort to intimidate the suspects.  According to the victim, the suspects repeated their demand and the victim charged toward the suspects.  It was at that time that the gun was discharged, although the victim was not sure if the shot was aimed at him or not.  The suspects then fled northbound on 27th Avenue East. 

The victim ran a few blocks and called 911.  The responding officers conducted an area search, but the suspects were not located.  It does not appear that anyone or any property was damaged by the gunshot.  Officers did recover one spent semi-automatic shell casing from the street at 27th and Marion.

The description of the suspects is as follows:

#1 Black male, early 20s, 6’0, 140-150, wearing black hooded winter coat and khaki pants.  Armed with gun.

#2 Black male, early 20s, 5′ 8″, 150, wearing black coat and black pants.

#3 Black male, early 20s, no further description.

In the middle of Thanksgiving dinner, residents thought there was an earthquake. A loud sound went through the neighborhood and the ground rumbled. But when neighbors and residents near S Main Street and Lavizzo Park went outside, they saw the cause: A very large tree had fallen into a parking lot, crushing and damaging several cars but narrowly missing the multi-story Seattle Housing Authority apartment building at 2035 S Main St.

Though damage to several vehicles will be expensive, nobody was hurt when the tree fell.

“Everyone was inside eating dinner, so nobody was outside in the parking lot,” said Jan Berumen, the manager of the property. In fact, they do not currently believe there is any damage to building despite the fact that the tree was originally leaning toward the structure.

But several residents now have damaged cars, and Berumen says it all could have been avoided had the tree’s owner taken care of the problem. She said she has tried for a year to get the tree taken care of because it was sickly and leaning toward her building.

Unfortunately, she said she has had trouble finding who owns the property.

The Low Income Housing Institute (“LIHI”) recently purchased many pieces of property along S Jackson St to build affordable senior and workforce housing. Over the summer, the Jackson Street Music History Project opened in the vacant lot with the blessing of LIHI.

The property at 2020 Jackson St was purchased out of foreclosure in September 2010. We are working to contact LIHI to confirm they own the property.

As part of a recent feature on city noodle makers, The Seattle Times went inside Northwest Tofu at 19th and Jackson to show how they make their popular tofu noodles. 

From the Times:

Growing up in Guangdon province, Cantonese tofu-maker Yong Huang ate tofu. But tofu noodles? “We never heard of tofu noodles,” says his sister, Lisa Li. You likely never heard of them, either.

Unless you’re a tofu fancier like the folks crowding the inner sanctum of Northwest Tofu — a factory, retail shop and Chinese cafe in the Central District. In the cafe, those lightweight noodles are served as a simple, carrot-strewn salad and a popular takeout item, or better still, twisted into knots and floated with five-spiced tofu and mushrooms in a winter-worthy stew made by the siblings’ uncle.

Huang and Li were teens when they arrived in Seattle, joining their mother’s extended family. Now 40, Huang was in his 20s when his culinary education began. Their mother’s friend owned a small tofu factory. Knowing nothing about making tofu, they bought the place. Huang would meet his destiny in the spacious tofu shop out back — and it came with a bonus: a master Taiwanese tofu-maker. Huang worked as his apprentice for two more years. He learned fast and eventually developed his own way, his sister says.