JET CITY MAVEN - VOL. 5, ISSUE 9, SEPTEMBER 2001

Copyright 2001 Park Projects. Please feel free to use the article and photos below in your research. Be sure to quote the Jet City Maven as your source.

Section added to Burke-Gilman Trail

July 28 marked the grand opening of a new piece of the Burke-Gilman Trail.

The section of the trail from the Aurora Bridge to the Fremont Bridge was completed in 1999 but was rarely used because it led to a dead end.

With the opening of a half-mile Quadrant Lake Union Center section, which connects the Fremont Bridge to Phinney Avenue N, bicyclists traveling along the Burke-Gilman Trail can now continue through Fremont uninterrupted.

At Phinney Avenue, riders meet a section of trail which was already open and in use. The section used to end at 8th Avenue NW in Ballard, but a second new section which also opened on July 28 now takes the trail a quarter mile further west to 11th Avenue NW.

The section of trail which runs through the Quadrant Lake Union Center was built and paid for by Quadrant. The City of Seattle paid for the bulk of the Ballard link with a small portion of the cost contributed by Fred Meyer.

Lake City golf tourney winners announced

The Lake City Chamber of Commerce's 7th annual golf tournament took place on July 20 at the Nile Golf Course in Mountlake Terrace. Fifty players competed in the event.

In the scramble competition, the winner was the team of Bruce Edwards of Edwards Jones Investments in Lake City, Phil Smith of Snap-On Tools, Tom Hyde of Hyde's Espresso and Tom Lord, a retired Nathan Hale High School principal. The team posted a low score of 51.

The women's long-drive competition was won by Lynn Edwards, librarian at Broadview-Thomson Elementary School, who hit the ball the farthest while still keeping it on the green.

She also led all women in hitting the ball closest to the pin - a contest where players try to hit the ball closest to the pin on a short par-three hole. Edwards came within 13 feet, 8 inches.

Mike Fleming, of Consolidated Carpet, won the men's long drive competition.

Steve Grzadzielewski, advertising director for the Jet City Maven, won the men's competition for hitting the ball closest to the pin.

Tom Lord won the putting contest by negotiating the putting green with only 25 puts.

"The weather was perfect and the course was in perfect shape," said Bruce Edwards who organized this year's tournament. "It's really a popular event with all the business people in Lake City. I think it'll keep getting bigger."

Deaf Olympian sets new record in Rome

Heather Lightfoot, a deaf athlete who grew up in Ravenna and now lives in Glenn Dale Maryland, traveled to Rome, Italy, this summer to complete in the Deaf World Games, also known as the Deaf Olympics.

Lightfoot won a gold medal in the hammer throw with a length of 149 feet. That performance not only broke Lightfoot's personal record but set a new deaf women's world record as well. She also won a silver medal in the discus.

Lightfoot raised the money for her trip with help from History House, a neighborhood history museum in Fremont that hosted a benefit concert on her behalf in May. The concert, which raised $1,100, featured jazz music performed by a band that included Lightfoot's brother, Jack.

Heather Lightfoot, 25, has since returned to Maryland where she works as a high school art teacher.

Repairs set to begin on Green Lake shellhouse

The Parks Department began repairs on the Green Lake shellhouse in September after Labor Day. The building was was red-tagged immediately after the Feb. 28 earthquake due to major damage to walls, support pilings, roof structure and doors. The floor shifted five inches towards the lake. The shellhouse provided storage for the shells, a launchhouse and public restrooms. There were also cracks in the path by the Aqua Theater structure.

The shellhouse has since been temporarily replaced by portable building which has only two-thirds of the capacity of the regular building.

Joelle Ligon, spokesperson for the Parks Department, said they hope to complete the repairs in November. The path will remain open during construction.

Meanwhile, earthquake woes didn't stop the Seattle Canoe Club, based at the Green Lake Small Craft Center, for garnering multiple honors at the National Canoe and Kayak Championships in Rancho Cordova, Calif. The team, almost entirely composed of North Seattle residents, took first place in the 14-and-under and 18-and-over divisions and won a total of 91 individual metals with 51 gold metals. Among the individual winners were Jordan Malloch from Fremont who won eight races and Lizzie Resta from Ballard who won five races.