Short takes

Missed connection: As we were wandering around the neighborhood this morning looking at graffiti, Ken Myrabo (president of the Madison Park Community Council) pointed out this heartfelt, rain-protected posting on a telephone pole near the parking lot at Starbuck’s. Believe it or not, there’s actually a website for this kind of thing: http://www.missedconnections.com/. No word in this case on whether our CBB realtor has since made her connection.

More on the list of specials than just the Pod Thai? It’s not really a Madison Park story, but it became one when the newspaper and television crews descended on our neighborhood’s Thai Ginger restaurant yesterday to get shots and provide live coverage for the story on the restaurant owner’s day in court. For those who missed the story, owner Varee Bradford has been indicted on charges alleging that she paid various workers tens of thousands of dollars to marry her relatives so they could remain in the United States. My neighbor, Jim Waltz, was the cameraman for KIRO’s live coverage last night, and I’m indebted to him for suggesting the tag line above. For KIRO’s complete coverage, click here.

Watcher in the park is still around: There have been additional sightings of a tall black man supposedly standing around watching children in the playground area of the park. The police advise residents who see any such suspicious behavior to call 911 rather than confronting the man.

Fecal coliform levels remain elevated at Madison Park: King County's regular testing of Lake Washington water at our beach this week again showed higher-than-normal levels of these bacteria. However, the count has declined significantly, from 470 on June 15 to 220 on June 22. This is still considered of "Moderate Concern" under the County's measurement system, but as an individual reading it is not particularly bad news since the trend is in the right direction. According to Dean Wilson, the County's program manager for beach monitoring, higher amounts of fecal coliforms will be present after peroids of rain. The beach is definitely not considered dangerous to swimmers at this level.