New Year, New Forms of Communication

With each new year brings new beginnings. And this year is no exception for the Angle Lake Shore Club.  We are currently in the process of retiring some former communication formats in the interest of introducing new communication platforms to keep our community better informed and to encourage greater interaction between Shore Club members and neighbors.

We've recently launched our new Facebook Organization Page to replace the previous individually administered Person Page.  The significance for this change is that this will allow community members to ‘Like’ the organization page versus having to become a friend on the person page. This will enabling them to be notified of upcoming Shore Club events and by accept invites will enable calendar features such as event reminders.  

If you use Facebook, we hope you that you’ll ‘Like’ our new page.

We’ll also be decommissioning the ALSC Community Forum link on the Blog Site in favor of introducing a new social platform hosted by Nextdoor.com where authenticated neighbors can meet, greet and exchange information in a more secure online environment. 

What is Nextdoor?

Nextdoor is the private social network for you, your neighbors and your community. It's the easiest way for you and your neighbors to talk online and make all of your lives better in the real world.  And it's free! Thousands of neighborhoods are already using Nextdoor to build happier, safer places to call home.

People are using Nextdoor to:

• Quickly get the word out about a break-in
• Organize a Neighborhood Watch Group
• Track down a trustworthy babysitter
• Find out who does the best paint job in town
• Ask for help keeping an eye out for a lost dog
• Find a new home for an outgrown bike
• Finally call that nice man down the street by his first name

We believe that a neighborhood is one of the most important and useful communities in a person's life and Nextdoor's mission is to bring back a sense of community to the neighborhood.

The online community has the potential of reaching 496 households within our immediate area!  You can obtain further detail at the Nextdoor.com information page, or if you’re ready you can dive right in by clicking on the Angle Lake invitation page.

Volunteer Help Needed!

If you've been a resident of Angle Lake for years, have enjoyed the benefits of being a shore club member and might be wondering how you can give back to the community – we have some great volunteer opportunities for you to consider!

The Angle Lake Shore Club is seeking additional help in the production of the 2013 Neighborhood Directory and publishing of the Spring Newsletter.  These positions will not require attending meetings, soliciting door to door, calling on neighbors or making any long term commitments.  Most of the tasks, once assigned, are performed via computer and can be done from the comfort of your own home at whatever hours you choose – as long as the deadlines are met! :-)

Assistant to the Newsletter Editor

Volunteers will mainly assist in proof reading articles that the board members submit and depending on experience, may help in the format design of the newsletter publication.  Assistance is also being sought in producing address labels, folding, stapling and affixing labels on the printed copies.  The Shore Club will provide all supplies.

2013 Neighborhood Directory

Volunteers will assist in auditing the residential information compiled in the directory. Depending on experience, may help with artwork, advertising placement, overall design and production of the directory. 

These positions are intended to be only temporary, however if you discover you favor doing this type of work, actually find the assignments fun and enjoy working with great people – we can certainly accommodate as we’ll never turn help away.  

If interested in any of the opportunities above, please email Rosalyn at anglelakesc@gmail.com.  Thank you for considering sharing your talents for the benefit of your club. 

Closure of Angle Lake Park

The SeaTac City Council at the Regular Council Meeting cast unanimous votes in favor of the Angle Lake Park Enhancement Agenda Bill items: 3480 Phase II Improvements and 3481 purchase of Spray Park Equipment.

Approval of these initiatives thus authorizes work on the park to begin almost immediately (late February) so that the enhancements will be complete before the start of the International Festival Weekend at the end of  June.  To perform the necessary work and ensure job site safety, the plan included closing the entire park from public access until the enhancements and renovations were complete by the 30th of June.

Immediately following the RCM meeting, concerned resident and ALSC Treasurer, Judy Williams, resorted to wide distribution of an email letter to all council members, select city staff and Angle Lake area organization Presidents, highlighting key issues pertaining to the closure of the Park Boat Ramp for the proposed extended period.

Ms. Williams' opening statement justified sending the email communication due to the absence of any opportunity for the community to ask clarifying questions or offer additional information for consideration on these matters after staff presentation were made.  She then calls out a number of points that are considered to be very problematic, the first of which appears to be no mention of any proposed contact with the residents of the shoreline at the lake to make them aware of the plans to close the entire park which includes access to the boat ramp.  Since this will be happening in the very near term, any notice given now would be considered short and will involve most residents making hasty mitigation plans. 

Closure of the boat ramp for the period of February to June 30th is considered to have impact on the following areas: 

• Residents who would normally have their boats out of the water for the winter would need to be sure to have them launched prior to park closure
• Disrupt the stocking of the lake by the WA State Dept of Fish and Wildlife, creating additional concern for the ecosystem, particularly reducing a food source for the bald eagles, osprey and other migratory birds.
• Decrease the number of community members able to participate in the decades old ALSC Annual Fishing Derby, thus requiring probable revision in  event plans
• Prevent licensed guests any opportunity to fish at Angle Lake; Hughes property is designated as off limits to the public with no trespassing signs frequently displayed.
• Increased vigilance and rescue action by lakeside residents regarding safety on the lake since emergency personnel would not have easy access to surface waters during the park closure period.

Boat Ramp Access Will Remain Open

In response to the concerns conveyed in the letter sent by Ms. Williams, Parks Director Kit Ledbetter replied with the following construction announcement attached with a message indicating that staff was able to successfully work alternative plans with the Contractor which will enable the boat launch to remain open during the park construction. The agreement is that a temporary fence will be installed to create a single open lane all the way down to the boat launch from the park entrance on International Blvd.

Additionally, Mr. Ledbetter indicated that he had just finished talking to the State Fish and Wildlife staff person who is responsible for stocking fish who stated that WDFW will continue with the same fish stocking of Angle Lake as they have in the past. 

So for now, it appears that Ms. Williams voiced concerns over the closure of the ramp access have been heard and the response measures seem to resolved most of the issues – although it is not yet clear where visiting boaters will be able to park their vehicles and trailers while out on the lake, nor how traffic flow will be mitigated when more than one vehicle traveling in opposite directions occurs – but surely solutions will surface for those conditions and any other voiced community concerns that may arise. 

ALP Enhancements Survey Results

At the request from a few Angle Lake Community Residents, a survey was created containing specific questions relating to the city’s intention of purchasing and installing a water spray feature at Angle Lake Park. The survey was targeted toward the Angle Lake Community and posted on the ALSC Blog, however it was technically open and available to anyone with access. 

Public access to the survey was initiated on January 29th at 11:55 pm and remained available until February 7th at 7:45 pm.  During this period, the survey had collected 71 responses of which only 21 respondents chose to reveal their identity – 49 elected to submit their responses as anonymous.  

While the overall majority comprised of anonymous submissions (53.5%) the predominant opinion was for approving the purchase and installation of the water spray equipment as planned, whereas the majority of named response (47.6%) indicated that the existing park investments including the guard shack, dock and boat ramp should be administered to first before investing in additional features is considered. Click the following link to view the Summary Results.

Initial speculation may lead one to believe that opinion may favor with the overall majority even though the majority votes were submitted anonymous – resulting in no record of who submitted them and hence no certainty that each vote was submitted by a different individual and provides no validation that they were submitted by a resident of SeaTac. However, one could also speculate that these anonymous votes may have originated from individuals residing outside the Angle Lake Community when considering Angle Lake is not a neighborhood park but instead a citywide asset. 

The survey details have been delivered to the Mayor; Deputy Mayor; City Council Members; City Manager and Parks Director; however there is no previous agreement that any of these officials will consider the survey results in their decision process. The survey was simply intended to provide some additional insight toward community opinion. 

News from Around the Corner

Blumenthal Uniform Company announces additional capital investment in SeaTac.

Joe Blumenthal started the Blumenthal Uniform Company in a small office in downtown Seattle in 1948. Blumenthal Uniform Co., Inc. is still a Northwest based, locally owned provider of uniforms and equipment for public safety, transit, postal service, security, and business with locations in Washington, Oregon, and California.

In 1991, a decision was made to open a new location near the Sea-Tac Airport in Des Moines, WA. This new location was necessary to serve the growing demand in South King and North Pierce Counties. After several years of increasing growth, it was evident that the Des Moines store was outgrowing its original location. In 1998, the store was moved to its present larger and more efficient location at 216th and Pacific Hwy South.

In 2007, the administration and accounting offices, along with the embroidery department was moved from the Seattle store’s building to a new location in SeaTac, Washington. Additionally, the SeaTac building provided the added warehouse space necessary for the company to handle the needs of larger uniform programs.

In 2008, after several years of contracting Tactical Jumpsuit manufacturing with outside vendors, the Street Command jumpsuit division was brought in-house. The company invested in an Eastman computerized cutting system, and the Street Command Tactical Jumpsuit division was located inside Blumenthal’s Des Moines store’s location. This change provided better quality and service to the growing number of customers that had added Tactical Jumpsuits to their uniform programs.

Early December 2012, Blumenthal Uniforms announced additional capital investment in SeaTac area through a recent acquisition of the site where the former V.I.P. Tavern is located on International Boulevard near S. 208th Street.  Demolition and removal of the old building is planned to be complete in early 2013 so that the property can be re-purposed to site a new store, clinic, or office. The future is still uncertain as to what the new use will be. Anyone interested in this location is encouraged to contact the company president, Mark Blumenthal at (206) 824-7711 x1002.

SeaTac is fortunate to have this family owned business operating, growing, and choosing to continue to make investments within our community.  We wish Blumenthal Uniforms much success in 2013 and for years to come.

Advertising Available in the Community Directory

It happens about every two to three years. Volunteers from the Angle Lake Shore Club start to work on gathering name; address with post id; and phone numbers from community members for inclusion into the neighborhood contact directory and services guide.  These directories are then produced and made available exclusively to our Shore Club member households.

Brenda Brodigan-Taylor and Marge Murtha have stepped up to manage the 2013 directory committee members who’ll invest countless hours collecting and validating resident information and will work tirelessly at performing data entry and page formatting to get the directory ready for print and  distribution to over 200 homes in the community.

To help defray material and printing costs, the committee will again be selling ad space to local businesses interested in promoting their products and services to our community members via pages of the directory. A business card ad is just $25, half page costs $50 and 5”x8” artwork is only $100 for full page display. Please contact Marge Murtha if you are interested in advertising your own business or have a favorite local provider that you’d like to recommend that we contact for inclusion into the directory. Her number is listed in the 2010 directory!

The 2013 Neighborhood Directory and Service Guides are targeted to be ready in early spring and are expected to be delivered by volunteers who’ll be going door to door selling Fishing Derby admission and raffle tickets.  Please write to the blog email address if you have any questions.