Seattle News and Events for Sept. 6 through October 2014

PHOTO: Thousands of people showed up for Bumbershoot, the international music and arts festival held annually at Seattle Center over Labor Day Weekend.  This year’s event featured national musical acts like Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Wu Tang Clan, Foster the People, Mavis Staples and Pacific NW talent like the The Loneley Forest and Otieno Terry.  In addition to music the festival also showcased comedy, art and literature. Susan Fried photo

Second Round Of Metro Service Reductions Detailed

King County Executive Dow Constantine this week sent the Metro Council a proposal for February service reductions that would reduce 169,000 hours of Metro Transit service.
As recommended Aug. 28 by the Ad-Hoc Committee of County Councilmembers Joe McDermott, Jane Hague, Rod Dembowski, and the Executive, the February service reduction would eliminate 16 bus routes and revise or reduce 32 others. 
The Council this summer already approved a first round of 151,000 hours of service reductions to take effect Sept. 27.

Taken together, the two rounds would cut 320,000 of the transit agency's 3.5 million annual service hours. Additional service reductions will be examined as part of King County's upcoming biennial budget process. 
For more information go to www.metro.kingcounty.gov.

College Spark Invests $12 Million on Math Skills Program

College Spark Washington announced today a $12 million investment over seven years in a new College-Ready Math Initiative to help low-income students graduate high school with the math skills needed to avoid remediation and succeed in college. 

The College-Ready Math Initiative invests in evidence-based strategies and programs designed to help students improve their score on the 11th grade Smarter Balanced Assessment, which measures a students’ growth on the Common Core State Standards. Education experts have predicted that 70 percent of the students who take the 11th grade Smarter Balanced Assessment in 2015 will score below the college-ready level on the math section of the test. 

For more information on the College-Ready Math Initiative visit www.collegespark.org/page/127/College-Ready+Math+Initiative+

Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park Celebrates Salmon

Drop by the Olympic Sculpture Park on Saturday, Sept. 6 from 10 a.m. -- 3 p.m. for this year’s free Salmon Return Family Festival.

Celebrate the late-summer return of the salmon and learn about Native American cultures. Find out how to care for our planet with earth-friendly art making, fantastic family tours, exciting live performances, and more.

Showcasing a spectacular display of arts and crafts artisans, live music performances, Northwest Native American storytelling and more, this end-of-summer tradition includes activities that will educate and entertain the entire family! Up-to-date information about Salmon Return Family Festival can be found in the Seattle Art Museum online calendar at www.seattleartmuseum.org or by calling 206-654-3100.

HireLive Bremerton Job Fair Offers New Lyft Customers Free ride

HireLive will be working with multiple Fortune 500 companies, industry leaders and local businesses bringing candidates and companies together for a free of charge one day hiring event in  Seattle – Bellevue, Wednesday, Sept. 17, from 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 3225 158th Avenue SE, Bellevue.

Participants should bring 10-15 resumes; dress “business professional.”

Job Opportunities include:

Inside Sales Reps, Outside Sales Reps, Account Executives, Retail Managers, Account Managers, Insurance Sales, Customer Service, Technical Sales, Sales Managers, Pharmaceutical Sales, Telesales, Sales Trainer, Merchandiser, Mortgage Brokers, Financial Planner, Route Sales, Retail Sales, Retail Management, Human Resources and much more.

HireLive has also teamed up with Lyft to provide a free $25 credit ride for first time users to and/or from the event. Register for the career fair at www.hirelive.com to receive promo code.

Get Your Business Ready for Disaster at Free National Preparedness Month Webinar Series

Each year small businesses nationwide are forced to close their doors in the aftermath of severe storms, flooding, tornadoes, wildfires and hurricanes.  Business interruptions, even if they last just a few hours, are costly in terms of lost productivity and profits.

You can get help with your own business preparedness planning through a series of free webinars in September hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration and Agility Recovery.   The September series is presented in collaboration with FEMA’s Ready Campaign as part of National Preparedness Month.  

The half-hour webinars will be presented at 2 p.m., Eastern time, each Wednesday in September. 

SBA has partnered with Agility Recovery to offer business continuity strategies through their “PrepareMyBusiness” website. Visit www.preparemybusiness.org to check out the archived webinars and for more disaster preparedness tools. 

Seattle Japanese Garden Presents Moon Viewing Sept. 6

From 7-10 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6, the Seattle Japanese Garden will light up lanterns, luminaries and floating boats to welcome the full moon in keeping with Japanese tradition.

The community is invited to this enchanted event that will take place after-hours in the garden. Traditional Japanese dances will be performed by the Fujima Fujimine Dance Ensemble and music will be played on shakuhachi and koto by James Jennings, Marcia Takamura and Chigusa Kitai.

Evocative movement art will be performed by Kogut Butoh, and Haiku Northwest will host a poetry writing contest. Visitors can get a special look at the moon through telescopes provided by the Seattle Astronomical Society.

Three tea ceremonies, led by Tankokai, will be held in the Shoseian Teahouse in the garden. General admission tickets are $15. Admission with a tea ceremony is $25. Tickets must be purchased in advance.

The Japanese Garden gates will open at 6 p.m. for the event. The garden is located at 1075 Lake Washington Blvd. E. For more information, please visit www.seattlejapanesegarden.org/moonviewingfestival.html.

Attend Home Retrofit Workshops at The Seattle Public Library Sept. 6 and Oct. 4

Homeowners can learn how to reduce earthquake damage to their home when The Seattle Public Library hosts retrofit experts at two Library locations on the first Saturday of the month in September and October.

The workshops, presented by the Seattle Office of Emergency Management, are free and open to the public. Registration is required. To sign up, email [email protected] or call 206‐233‐5076. Free parking is available at the branches. Times and locations are:

·  2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6 at the Greenwood Branch, 8016 Greenwood Ave. N., 206-684-4086

·  11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4 at the West Seattle Branch, 2306 42nd Ave. S.W., 206-684-7444

For more information, call the Library at 206-386-4636 or go to wwwspl.org.

Find more news and events in Seattle and Portland on The Skanner Community Calendar