Reba Haas

I love trying out new restaurants and it's always good to find a great deal too. In this year's Urban Eats is a wonderful list of places to try out and one that I had the pleasure of checking out earlier this week during a client dinner is Ama Ama.

Located in West Seattle, this lovely place has a gorgeous interior with lots of chocolate colors and modern light fixtures. It was warm, inviting, and very hip. I could totally see this interior design easily fitting in to Belltown and here it was one block south of "the junction" of California and Alaska streets. The 3 for $30 menu had some great food options and we were not disappointed. I'll be back!

Message from the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency

Stage 1 burn ban called for Pierce County

First Puget Sound-area burn ban of the season and first since a new state law went into effect

January 16, 2009 - Due to stagnant weather conditions and increasing air pollution levels, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is issuing a Stage 1 burn ban for Pierce County, effective at noon, January 16, 2009.

Air pollution levels in King, Snohomish and Kitsap counties do not warrant implementation of a Stage 1 burn ban at this time. Clean Air Agency staff are closely monitoring these conditions and will take additional actions as necessary if conditions degrade to unacceptable levels.

Stagnant weather conditions are entrenched over the Puget Sound area and are expected to persist through Monday. These conditions greatly increase the potential for air pollution to reach levels considered unhealthy for sensitive population groups, especially in Pierce County. In many areas persistent fog and mixing are providing some benefit and helping to keep pollution levels in acceptable ranges.

During a Stage 1 burn ban:

* No burning is allowed in fireplaces or uncertified wood stoves, unless this is your only adequate source of heat. Residents should rely instead on their home's other, cleaner source of heat (such as their furnace or electric baseboard heaters) for a few days until air quality improves, the public health risk diminishes and the ban is cancelled.

* Natural gas, propane and pellet stoves or inserts ARE allowed.

* No visible smoke is allowed from any wood stove or fireplace, certified or not, beyond a 20-minute start-up period.

* All outdoor burning is prohibited, even in areas where outdoor burning is not permanently banned. This includes recreational fires such as bonfires, campfires and the use of fire pits and chimineas. *Burning of storm and flood damage debris is also prohibited.* The Clean Air Agency encourages people to take advantage of free flood-debris disposal coordinated by their county.

* Burn ban violations are subject to a $1,000 penalty.

This ban is in effect until further notice.

Clean Air Agency staff will continue to monitor the situation to determine when the burn ban can be lifted. You can check conditions and forecasts at www.pscleanair.org/airq/aqi.aspx# .

The Washington State Department of Health recommends that people who are sensitive to air pollution limit time spent outdoors. Air pollution can trigger asthma attacks, cause difficulty breathing, and make lung and heart problems worse. Air pollution is especially harmful to children, people with heart and lung problems, and adults over age 65.

This is the first burn ban of the season and the first since a new state law went into effect lowering the air-quality trigger for calling a burn ban. The trigger level was lowered to align with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) health standard for fine particle pollution, which was tightened in 2006 to better protect public health. Answers to frequently asked questions about burn bans can be found at www.pscleanair.org/airq/burnban/faqs.aspx .

For additional information visit www.pscleanair.org .

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The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is an air quality management agency serving King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Created as a result of the 1967 Washington Clean Air Act, the agency protects public health and improves air quality by adopting and enforcing air quality regulations, educating individuals and businesses about clean-air choices and sponsoring voluntary initiatives to improve air quality.

Today I was at a Biznik meeting that is a bi-weekly gathering of business owners that are working either in professional fields that are focused on "green" products or who are working to further develop their "green" practices. One of the fellows I met is Wayne Stephens, the proprietor of Armadillo Consignment up at the corner of 125th and Greenwood in North Seattle's Broadview district just north of Phinney Ridge and Greenwood.

Normally this is a very busy intersection with lots of cars cruising by daily - so from a commercial real estate point of view there is good drive-by traffic numbers. The problem is that most folks are cruising by so quickly they haven't yet discovered this new, local gem of a business. Only around for 16 months it is already beginning to get a following but as a local real estate agent who likes to support local businesses, I think they could always use a little more business.

What I love about the concept is that it's in that middle ground of not being a "thrift shop" but not necessarily a high end consignment place. In fact, it thrilled me when he said they DO NOT take antiques. That means to me that they have more contemporary products for the home, which is a good thing. It probably also means their store smells better than others too since it won't have that "antique smell" either. Amy Woidtke, a fellow Bizniker who works in design, likes that they really merchandise the products in their store so that it's easy to see what's available. Clothing is taken here too so it's a variety of products that are available and likely it makes for a much more fulfilling shopping trip for anyone who ventures in. For anyone who's just starting to build their household it's a great alternative to new furniture stores and it's a great way to reduce, reuse, recycle. If your starting to reduce what's in your household then this is a great way to find a new purpose for your things. I'm certainly going to check it out for our staging work and perhaps use it to trade out products over time and to keep things fresh for our inventory.

I hope you too will stop by soon and actually hit this "I ain't no road kill" Armadillo!

I can't believe that at least 2 winters had gone by and I hadn't touched my x-ctry skis. When I moved to the Seattle area 20 years ago it was to start a bit fresh from the flatlands of Kansas and to be back in the place where I recalled living as a small child and developing those first memories of gray skies, water, mountains, and snow.

On Sunday I went out with a couple of my women friends and we drove out to Cabin Creek, just beyond Snoqualmie Pass, and spent a couple of hours silently skiing through the snow - okay, maybe not so silently since we were three 40-something chicks catching up on each other's lives. There was an immense amount of snow. Snow so white that when it's piled that deep you can see bright blue when there are holes or cracks in the snow piles. GORGEOUS!!!!!

It all reminded me of my mid-20's when I really got into the outdoors here and started hiking, climbing, skiing, snow shoeing and more. I love this place and to me being out in these beautiful spaces is a way to reveal the soul of why I love what it is that I do.... it's because I love living here and any chance I have to help someone come this way, whether by relocation or moving within the area, is a way for me to connect with more of the places that are here.

All I know is that I will be heading out to ski again as soon as possible - and most likely next weekend. It's a great, relatively short trip that packs a big punch of personal goodness to it: exercise, stress reducing, friend building, beautiful views of the landscape and more. Although I have to admit it probably wasn't enough skiing to offset the big burger and onion rings we stopped to get at the local XXX in Issaquah. Those burgers are enormous! Oh, and their root beer is VERY good too....

I hope you love where you are and what you do just as much!

I'm on the email list for Richard Conlin who provides updates on various council activities and in this month's newsletter issue is interesting news about the possibility of an interconnected trolley line in the City of Seattle taking shape at City Council meetings. Apparently work is afoot to bring the various trolley lines at play in 3 areas of Seattle to a method of interconnecting - this would potentially connect South Lake Union (SLU) (although they prefer the name of Seattle Streetcar), Belltown, the Central District, and possibly more areas such as Ballard. It would be great if the goal can be accomplished. I'm curious if the 1st Avenue portion is the biggest factor since it will be impacted by what happens to the viaduct.

Having an extended trolley line would be great for all of those condominium dwellers in each of the areas marked for potential development because it would make it easier to live car free and could also be a boon for shopping and restaurants in each of the areas as people realize they can go from area to area without having to worry about finding parking or switching bus lines over and over.

For your reading pleasure and consideration is the article as it came to me from Richard Conlin's e-newsletter:

STREETCAR NETWORK PLAN APPROVEDOn Monday, December 8, the City Council adopted legislation delineating a conceptual network for future streetcar development. The resolution endorsing the network plan was approved by a vote of 6 (Conlin, Drago, Licata, Clark, Burgess, Godden) to 3 (Rasmussen, McIver, Harrell).The resolution outlines the plan for possible future lines, and sets tentative priorities if funding becomes available. It does not commit the City to proceeding with developing the streetcar network. Rather, it includes a set of conditions for development of any particular line, including a complete funding plan and criteria for determining whether the proposal will be cost-effective and is efficiently coordinated with the Metro bus system.The resolution was prompted by the success of streetcars in other cities, and the situation that is developing in Seattle, which may lead to three disconnected streetcar lines, all of which are currently funded. The South Lake Union line, whose construction was funded 50% by businesses and 50% by grants, has been in operation for a year, and recently celebrated its 500,000th passenger, significantly more than initially projected. A streetcar connecting the Capitol Hill light rail station to Jackson Street is funded in Sound Transit's Proposition 1, which received voter approval in November, and will go into construction with the light rail line. A replacement for the former waterfront streetcar, now in hiatus, is likely to be funded as part of the Alaskan Way Viaduct project; this line may run on First Avenue, where it would see higher ridership than on the waterfront. None of these lines will require major investments from City of Seattle funds.Having three separate streetcar lines that do not connect to each other seems inefficient, and would require duplicating maintenance bases. A modest investment would be required to ensure interconnection, and that is likely to be the first priority for any possible future funding. The network plan suggests that extending the South Lake Union streetcar to Fremont-Ballard and/or to the University District are the next possibilities, as well as extending a line out Jackson Street to 23rd Avenue and connecting east-west from Capitol Hill to the Seattle Center.The many cities that have built streetcar networks (including Portland) in recent decades have reported that ridership has been strong and that streetcars have proved to be cost effective. If funding can be found for linking and extending the Seattle lines, it is likely that they will prove to be a modest but useful part of our growing transit system.

Read the Streetcar Resolution 31091 here.