By Joe Veyera

The newest body of work from a Ballard photographer will be on display at the Nordic Heritage Museum as this autumn’s visiting exhibition.

The Color of Time: Ballard from Dusk to Dawn, by photographer Tod Gangler, takes a look at 21st century Ballard and will be on view from September 19 to November 16.

According to the press release announcing the exhibition:

Gangler’s photographs are made with a unique process that includes a long exposure time, which not only creates beautiful, intriguing images, but also alludes to the rich history of the art and science of photography. The effect of these long exposures is a sense in the photographs that time is collapsed, segmented out, and emphasized. The images also highlight which elements are in motion, and which stand still. Driving cars are nothing but streaks of light and bar-goers look ghostly, but buildings and backgrounds are still.

Gangler, who lives and works in Ballard, has devoted himself to mastering tricolor photography and color carbon printing, processes that inventors were experimenting with in the very earliest decades of photography. For several years, Gangler has been loading old film cameras with black and white film, and making three separate photographs of each scene though red, green and blue filters.  After developing his negatives, Tod prints them onto homemade, pigmented gelatin emulsions of rich cyan, magenta and yellow pigment.

In conjunction with “The Color of Time” exhibit, the museum will also play host to, “Home Sweet Home,” an installation work and related drawings by French artist Laurence Landois, guest-curated by Laurie LeClair from September 12-30. The work is inspired by the story of Edith Macefield, who turned down an offer of $1 million to sell her Ballard home to make way for commercial development.

(Photos courtesy of the Nordic Heritage Museum)

By Joe Veyera

The Ballard Food Bank (5130 Leary Ave NW) is collecting donations through Friday for those dealing with the devastation of the wildfires in Eastern Washington.

Nancy McKinney, former Ballard Food Bank Executive Director, is now living and working in the Methow Valley, and is coordinating relief efforts there to help those that are facing the loss of their homes and displacement while the wildfires continue.

“She’s spearheading this effort over on the east side, where the wildfires are happening, and we’re doing what we can here,” said Erin MacDonald, Development Associate at the Ballard Food Bank in an email.

Items needed include basic supplies, specifically pots, pans, linens, towels, clothing, paper plates, diapers, batteries, baby food, dog & cat food, and other non-perishables. On Facebook, the Food Bank noted that cash donations are also being accepted. If you wish to donate a gift card, you’re asked to donate Visa ones, as there are limited shopping resources, and it may be some time before debit/credit/ebt cards work at the normal places in the Methow Valley.

Donations will be accepted at the Food Bank between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Thursday, and between 8 a.m. and noon on Friday. Items will be taken to the Methow Valley this weekend.

By Joe Veyera

A pair of ballot measures aimed to put Seattle’s new, phased-in $15 minimum wage law to a vote this fall failed to gather enough signatures and will not appear on the November ballot.

On Tuesday, King County Elections announced it had sent a letter of insufficiency to the City of Seattle for both Referendum Measure Nos. 2 and 3, neither of which had enough valid signatures for a measure to be placed on the ballot.

While 18,929 signatures were submitted by Forward Seattle for Referendum No. 3, only 14,818 were deemed valid, well short of the 16,510 needed to qualify for the ballot. The other measure, from Save Our Choices, submitted only 455 signatures that were valid out of 568 submitted and checked.

Back in June, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously to approve a plan to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 over several years. Large businesses (those with 500 or more employees, either in Seattle or nationally) will reach $15 per hour in three years — four if they provide health insurance. Small businesses (businesses with fewer than 500 employees) will reach a $15 per hour minimum wage in seven years.

In a post on Forward Seattle’s Facebook page on July 15, co-chair Angela Cough said, “Even if we fall short once the count is complete, WE ARE NOT DONE.” It’s currently unclear how the group will proceed after the referendum’s failure to reach the ballot, but the post also noted that, “while a referendum is the best option for re-visiting this issue with the City, we have other options available to us to effect change in the near future and state-wide.”

Any questions about the referendum petitions can be directed to Monica Simmons, Office of the City Clerk, City of Seattle, at 206-684-8361.

By Joe Veyera

The Ballard Community Taskforce on Homelessness and Hunger will host a screening and discussion on a series of four short animated films on Thursday morning, all of which describe the experiences of families living with homelessness and poverty.

American Refugees — a project of Seattle University’s Center for Strategic Communications — features the work of six acclaimed Seattle-area filmmakers, who worked with students, staff, and community partners to create films in an effort to tell the stories of the thousands of families in Washington state who are homeless or living in poverty. The project was supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and was managed by Lindy Boustedt.

“Super Dads,” by Sihanouk Mariona, an Emmy award-winning stop-motion animator, features fathers and children sharing their worries, feelings, challenges and how they overcame being homeless using stop motion animated clay characters.

In “The Beast Inside,” by Amy Enser and Drew Christie, a teen in a homeless family describes his challenges and celebrates the triumph of his creative self, as told through spoken word rap and illustrated with hand-drawn animations.

“Home for Sale,” by Laura Jean Cronin, chronicles the experiences of prospective buyers walking through an empty, foreclosed home while seeing moments from the family who had previously lived there, and what led to them losing their home.

“The Smiths,” by Neely Goniodsky, uses hand-drawn animation, along with digital cutouts and paintings, to tell the story of how a family has fallen into homelessness, and how they move out of it with the help of a compassionate, supportive community.

The screening begins at 10:30 a.m. in the east meeting room at the Nyer Urness House (1753 NW 56th St), with the discussion to follow based on the guide produced by The Center for Strategic Communications.

For more information on the Ballard Community Taskforce on Homelessness and Hunger, click here. View the trailer for American Refugees by clicking on the video below.

By Joe Veyera

Seattle reLeaf is gearing up to open the application process for its Trees for Neighborhoods program, in which Seattle residents can receive up to four free trees for their yard or in front of their home.

Starting Monday, August 4 at 10 a.m., residents can apply for trees which they can plant around their home.

Since 2009, the program has resulted in the planting of over 4,000 trees in the city limits. The program offers a variety of small, medium, and large trees appropriate for planting under power lines, along the street, and in the yard. This year’s offering includes Montmorency cherry, Douglas fir, and Vine maple for yard planting, and White oak and Silver linden for street planting, among others.

Participants in the program receive up to four free trees (a maximum of one cherry tree), a watering bag for each tree, training on proper planting and care, assistance on applying for street tree planting permits, and ongoing care reminders and workshop opportunities, such as pruning.

For more information on the program, click here, or call 206-615-1668, or e-mail treesforneigbhoods@seattle.gov.

By Joe Veyera

A pair of Ballard breweries are among the 18 Seattle-area restaurants participating in the fifth-annual Spoke & Food biking and dining event next Tuesday.

Barking Dog Alehouse (705 NW 70th St) and Peddler Brewing Company (1514 NW Leary Way) are encouraging people to bike to and from their locations for dinner on July 29.

Each participating restaurant has agreed to donate 20 percent of all patron revenue from the evening of the event to the non-profit chosen by event organizers.

This year, the Seattle based non-profit Outdoors for All Foundation will receive the evening’s proceeds. The foundation provides year round instruction in outdoor recreation for people with physical, developmental, and sensory disabilities.

Last year, over $6,000 was raised for Bike Works, up from the approximately $4,500 raised for the FamilyWorks Resource Center & Food Bank in 2012, and the $3,200 raised for the Children’s Garden Program at Seattle Tilth in 2011.

According to their website, the top goal for organizers is to influence the culture of Seattle by prompting people to use their bicycle more in their daily life. Other event goals include:

1. To improve our community by creating an event that people can do in their local neighborhoods.
2. To promote a healthy lifestyle by creating an event that requires exercise.
3. To improve our city’s regard for the environment by exposing how easy it is to not use our cars for simple activities such as going to dinner.
4. To raise funds for well-deserving local non-profits.
5. To expose how fun biking to dinner is!

For more information on the event, click here.

By Joe Veyera

A Ballard restaurant has been recognized for its wine selection by Wine Spectator magazine.

Volterra (5411 Ballard Ave NW) was the lone restaurant in Ballard among 3,748 award winners around the world to be named to the magazine’s 2014 Restaurant Wine List Awards, taking home the Award of Excellence. That honor recognizes restaurants that offer a wine list that sports an interesting and diverse selection of wines that are well-presented and thematically match the restaurant’s cuisine in price and style.

“The commitment of this year’s winning restaurateurs to building high-quality wine programs has been extraordinary,” said Marvin R. Shanken, Editor and Publisher of Wine Spectator, in a press release. “There has never been a more exciting time to be a wine lover.”

The complete list of award winners is featured in the magazine’s August 31 issue, available on newsstands today.

“As wine consumers’ knowledge and interest continue to expand, wine directors are taking advantage of new opportunities to develop inventive programs that put the world’s most interesting wines on the table,” said Thomas Matthews, Executive Editor of Wine Spectator in a release. “We’ve been delighted to see the emergence of a growing number of bold, diverse wine lists, both large and small.

Since its opening in April 2005, Volterra has received the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence every year.

For more information on Wine Spectator and its 2014 Restaurant Awards, click here. To learn more about Volterra, click here.

By Joe Veyera

An afternoon of family-friendly entertainment will be on tap this Sunday at Populuxe Brewing (826B NW 49th St), as it hosts a Sunday Family Funday on July 27.

While adults can take in one of the brewery’s locally crafted beers, both children and their parents can take in an array of activities from 2 to 5 p.m.

Seattle ReCreative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting creativity, community, and environmental stewardship through creative reuse and arts education, will offer crafts and games for kids of all ages. Meanwhile, the house band from School of Rock Seattle will provide live music for the afternoon.

A pair of food trucks will be on site, with Hungry Me offering its takes on Asian Fusion cuisine, and Seattle Cookie Counter scooping out ice cream.

The event is free, but attendees are asked to consider making a donation to Seattle ReCreative, who recently announced they had secured a physical location to host their children’s classes and a small retail operation in the lower level of the  Woodland Park United Methodist Church (302 N 78th St)

For more information on the Sunday Family Funday, click here.

(Photo courtesy of Amy Besunder)

By Joe Veyera

The King County Council unanimously approved a compromise plan on Monday to move forward with Metro service reductions for September of this year, and February of 2015, while also deferring an additional 200,000 hours of reductions originally slated for June and September 2015, pending the adoption of the King County budget for 2015/2016.

According to the Metro site detailing the proposed cuts, a pair of Ballard routes are set for deletion, both in the bottom 25 percent of productivity in accordance with the County’s adopted Transit Service Guidelines.

Route 61, which runs daily between Ballard and North Beach through Sunset Hill and Loyal Heights, and Route 62, which connects Downtown Seattle to Ballard via South Lake Union, Seattle Pacific University, and Interbay are both scheduled to stop running in September.

The council also approved 188,000 hours of service to be cut in February 2015, but did not approve the specific routes to be eliminated or revised. In the original listing of cuts for February, Route 29 (connecting Downtown Seattle and Ballard via Seattle Pacific University and Queen Anne) was set to be cut north of 7th Avenue West and West Raye Street, along with the reduction of three morning and three afternoon trips.

The ordinance approved today served as a compromise after King County Executive Dow Constantine asked the Council to approve legislation that would reduce Metro bus service by 550,000 hours between September 2014 and September 2015 after the failure of Proposition 1. The ordinance also calls for a report from the County Executive by September 30 of this year describing revenue and expense reduction options available to avoid service reductions proposed for 2015.

“I appreciate the broad support expressed by today’s Council vote supporting a measured and budget-based approach to transit service changes,” said Councilmember Rod Dembowski, chair of the Council’s Transportation, Economy and Environment Committee, in a press release. “We listened to the community and today’s action is responsive to the concerns that have been raised. I thank my colleagues and Executive Constantine for their hard work in forging today’s legislation.”

It’s currently unclear what the future holds for Seattle routes, with the Seattle City Council voting last Thursday to send a measure to the November ballot, for a $60 car tab fee and 0.1 percent sales tax increase in the vain of Proposition 1 to prevent cuts to Metro bus service within the city limits. 66 percent of Seattle voters approved Proposition 1 despite its county-wide failure.

By Joe Veyera

Shilshole Bay Marina (7001 Seaview Ave NW) is bringing back its free, family-friendly outdoor movie series for a pair of showings this August.

Despicable Me 2 will shown on Friday, August 15, and Hook will be shown the following Friday, August 22. Both movies are rated PG, and the showings begin at 8 p.m. each night.

Free parking, and (perhaps more importantly) free popcorn will be provided. Attendees are asked to arrive early to set up their spots on the lawn, where blankets and low chairs will be allowed. Regular chairs will be allowed to the sides and in the back.

Guest moorage is also available, with reservations being accepted by calling 206-787-3006.

Movie goers are welcome to bring snacks, but alcohol is prohibited. Leashed dogs are also invited to attend with their owners, but in the event that a four-legged companion is disruptive, staff will ask that the dog be removed from the event area.

For more information on Movies at the Marina, click here.

By Joe Veyera

Neighbors of Ballard’s Gilman Park (923 NW 54th St) have reported an increase in crime over the past few weeks, according to a report from KING-TV’s Natalie Swaby.

The Seattle Police Department’s North Precinct has increased their patrols in the area to address concerns, after receiving complaints about crime in the park last Monday, and having an officer meet with the community block watch the next day.

One nearby resident was quoted in the story as saying that, ”Basically it has turned into a drug hub for the local area.”

The report also noted that a surveillance camera captured a man stealing a car near the park last Sunday afternoon, and that several drug needles were found on a corner near the park’s entrance on Thursday.

To read the full report from KING-TV, click here.

By Joe Veyera

A Ballard-based pet insurer posted a strong showing in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

Trupanion, with its offices at 907 NW Ballard Way, finished Friday at $11.40 per share, up from its original listing price of $10, with CEO Darryl Rawlings ringing the NYSE bell to celebrate the IPO launch. The company employs a total of 335 workers, and had 181,634 pets enrolled in health insurance programs as of March 31 of this year. That number is up from the 31,207 pets insured as of January 1, 2010.

“We are greatly appreciative of the hard work and contributions from our staff and partners to make Trupanion the amazing company it is today,” a post read on the company’s blog. “A company that loves pets and wants to help them receive the best veterinary care possible.”

In the company’s prospectus filed with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Trupanion noted its belief that the growing human-animal bond has led to an increasing willingness by pet owner’s to spend on their pet’s health, and the market for medical coverage for cats and dogs in North America is the largest in the world. The prospectus also noted that the proceeds from the stock offering were to add to the company’s financial flexibility, while creating a public market for its stock, obtaining additional capital and increasing its visibility in the marketplace.

For more information on Trupanion and its stock offering, click here.