Hey folks, welcome back to the Osprey Update. I’m David Mendez, your friendly neighborhood newsman and reporting resident of Shoreline, Wash.

First things first, there’s been a lot of contract talk at Osprey World Headquarters. Between the Shoreline Education Support Professional Association’s new agreement, the contract quarrel at Seattle Public Schools¹ and my four year old trying to strike a deal making her the all-time chooser of the TV shows to watch while I make dinner, negotiations have been a hot topic around here.

But Seattle’s recent contract fight alerted me to one young journalist in Seattle, Rafael Brewer, who closely covers the Seattle school board both for his own site and for his school newspaper, the Garfield Messenger. Rafael gets it. He stayed late at SPS headquarters to get the story, worked the phones and published great coverage. Young journalists like Rafael deserve their flowers.

So if you get a chance, show some love to the young reporters of Shoreline. The journalists of the Ebbtide, at Shoreline College, are working to keep their school accountable. Shorewood High School’s The Tempest, Shorecrest High School’s Highland Piper and King’s Schools’ The Quill all dig into campus life to share what’s important to students. (Apologies for the lack of a link to The Quill — as of this writing, the publication’s website is down.)

Their work gives me hope for the future. And even if these young reporters and editors move on to other professions in their adult lives, they deserve recognition for their hard work today.

If you like what we’re doing or have learned something new, please consider sharing The Osprey with your friends and neighbors. We’re working to be the place for in-depth reporting on Shoreline — from local government to public safety to schools to events — and spreading the word will only help us grow.

Thanks for reading,
David Mendez
Editor, The Osprey

The Shoreline School District and a major staff union struck a tentative deal last week, avoiding a potential strike that would have shut down schools for at least a day.

Shoreline Educational Support Professional Association Co-President Mario Orallo said the deal wins “historic” salary gains for his members, including paraeducators, front office staff, nurses, crossing guards and many more jobs across the Shoreline School District’s 15 school sites and its district office.

“Does it fix everything? No,” Orallo told The Osprey. “But golly, it’s a really exciting start.”

Read more: Shoreline staff and school district reach agreement, avoid strike

Read previous: Shoreline school staff may strike starting Monday

The Shoreline City Council last month unanimously passed a resolution to oppose a pair of state ballot initiatives targeting children — especially transgender children — in Washington public schools. In doing so, Shoreline became one of the first cities in Washington to publicly oppose the ballot initiatives, titled IL26-001 and IL26-638.

The resolution, proposed by Councilmembers Laura Mork and Chris Roberts, is a statement of legislative intent. With it, the Shoreline City Council sought to live up to the city’s motto: “A Welcoming Place for All.”

“We need to be and we ought to be a place where people feel safe,” Roberts said from the council dais Monday night. “We want people to live here, we want people to feel comfortable working here, we want people comfortable going to school here. And that’s something that we, as elected leaders of this city, ought to continue to push for.”

Read more: A city 'for all,' not 'for some': Shoreline Council rejects anti-transgender initiatives

She’s beauty, she’s grace, she’s sweeping up the place.

Meryl Sweep — a bike lane sweeper designed to be towed behind a bicycle — is working to make bike paths safer across the city.

“My favorite part is when they walk past me and they turn around to look, and I see them in the rear view mirror,” said Ellie Miner, one of the volunteers who regularly signs up to tow Meryl up and down bike paths and trails.

The bike sweeper is part of a pilot program operated by Urbanist Shoreline, who purchased the cleaning tool — built by California-based, British Columbia-built company Bike Lane Sweeper — with the help of an environmental mini-grant provided by the City of Shoreline.

“Bike infrastructure can be fun! It can be something that brings people together, it can be something that makes people smile, like giving someone a crazy, unexpected thing on their commute home to look at,” said Urbanist Shoreline founder Katie Lorah. “That was sort of the goal, as much as cleaning the bike lanes themselves.”

Read more: Mamma Mia! ‘Meryl Sweep’ cleans up Shoreline’s bike paths

If you don’t know the history of the land beneath your feet, there’s a good chance that Vicki Stiles might. And that she’s already written about it.

“When I meet people from Shoreline that I haven’t met before, I like to know where they lived because then I want to immediately tell them about the history of where they live,” Stiles told The Osprey. “If they’re brand new, they don’t know the cool things that were happening right around where they live — sometimes right where they live.”

Stiles is the former director of the Shoreline Historical Museum, where she worked for nearly 30 years. This year, the museum published “Shoreline, Washington: From First People to a New City.” The book is the fruit of decades of work — and she just hopes it helps people tell their own Shoreline stories.

“That’s the whole purpose of this: To get the history into the hands of citizens and let them go with it. Find out more about your place and write your own history,” Stiles said. “There’s a book in every single person and their families.”

Read more: Stiles dives into Shoreline's history, line by line

Tuesday, Sept. 15: Informational session on Shoreline Prop. 1 - Shoreline city staff are running a series of virtual information sessions about Proposition 1, an item on the Nov. 3 general election ballot that, if approved, would create a park district designed to fund a new pool facility. Free. 7–8 p.m., Zoom session. Info here.

Tuesday, Sept. 15: Welcoming Week: Japanese Tea Ceremony - Watch a traditional Japanese ceremony demonstration complete with live narration and explanation. Enjoy samples of Matcha tea and Japanese sweets, presented by Chado Urasenke Tankokai Seattle Association and sponsored by the Friends of the Shoreline Library. Registration is full, but walk-ins will be allowed to fill open seats. Free. 6–7 p.m., KCLS Shoreline Library, 345 NE 175th Street. Info here.

Friday, Sept. 18 through Sunday Sept. 20: Friends of the Shoreline Library Book Sale - The Friends of the Shoreline Library are holding their semi-annual book sale, with three days of book bargains. On Friday, Sept. 18, from 5 to 7 p.m., a members-only preview sale and silent auction will give early birds a chance at digging through rare and unique finds. A general sale takes place on Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The bargains end Sunday with a Bag Sale — for $5, book lovers can buy a bag and stuff it with as many books as they like. KCLS Shoreline Library, 345 NE 175th Street. Info here.

Saturday, Sept. 19: Shoreline Tool Library Tool Sale - Thousands of tools, bikes, art supplies, baked goods and upcycled art will be available at the Shoreline Tool Library’s twice-annual sale. Tools, art supplies and some art will be sold for any offer; bikes, baked goods and anything inside the tool library’s Reuse Store is sold at a fixed price.
The best deals, and best selection, come when the sale opens at 9 a.m., and everything is free from 2 to 3 p.m. Come early — the line to enter quickly stretches down the block. Free admission. 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., Shoreline Tool Library, 16610 Aurora Ave N. Info here.

Thursday, Sept. 24: Constitution With a Beat - The City of Shoreline will host a community reading of the United States Constitution, accompanied by live background music. The event, the first in a three-part civics series, is intended to be an educational, nonpartisan celebration of civic engagement, community and democracy. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the reading begins at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be provided. Free. 6:30–8:30 p.m. Shoreline City Hall, 17500 Midvale Ave N. Info here.