Tough day. One memorial gathering this afternoon for Bob Markholt, a great community and workforce advocate in Southeast Seattle who passed away recently from lymphoma. Bob was crusty at times, always willing to tell you what was what, and always quick with a smile. He helped countless people move from poverty and no-possibilities into pride and responsibility through jobs. His legacy, beyond his family, is that he improved literally thousands of lives.

One later tonight for Theresa Butz, the South Park resident murdered in her home by an intruder Sunday morning. Her partner was injured, but survived.

Whatever it is, it's great to see it from a kayak on a July afternoon. Greg Whittaker from Alki Kayak Tours took us (the Clark staff minus Karen, the intern, who we left in charge of the office) on a tour of the upper Duwamish this afternoon for a water-level view of the industrial activity so dependent on the water; the few shore restoration sites under way; and the overall scale of clean-up work needed. The Duwamish is the artery that feeds and moves water-based industry in South Seattle, whether it's shipping box cars to Alaska on enormous barges, making cement, pressing out drywall or, in the case of the Muckleshoot, fishing in historic tribal waters. The cool thing about Greg as a tour guide is that he worked in environmental planning before opening up his kayak shop and he has a vision of the future Duwamish as a place that will have both successful (less polluting) industry and successful "cracks in the sidewalk," points and places in between where we will have successfully restored the river bank and recreated salt marshes that create habitat for fish.

On the trek we were followed for a bit by a sea otter and eyed suspiciously by the largest osprey I've ever seen. King fishers, purple martins, blue herons, gulls and the ubiquitous urban crow. It's a terrific tour, but probably better in the evening. Check out the every-other-Monday night Duwamish River tours Greg and his staff guide from now until the end of September.

That doesn't seem like a big deal, but it's actually huge. No, not that I was able to muddle through the ticket machine instructions, although I did get lost the first try. It's huge that we, Seattle, have light rail! Over the next few weeks, the start of a new age, there will be critics who say not enough people are riding to justify the costs and who want to rehash technology debates. Let them. Link is a major element of a system of trains, buses, street cars, bikes and feet that connects people, jobs and areas of the city and region in a way we've failed to do previously. It makes truly rational growth just a little closer to our grasp. And the art is cool.

My only frustration so far - that we must wait until 2016 for the northern leg to the U-District to open and until 2020 for East Link to Bellevue.

While we (Councilmembers Godden, Burgess and myself) continue the quest to get the P-I Globe recognized by the city as a landmark, Historic Seattle took the Green Lake Milk Carton Derby by storm this weekend with a fantastic milk carton replica of the globe. The entry took first place in the derby's Commercial division and first place in the overall design category. Congratulations, Historic Seattle!

Thanks to Seattlepi.com for the photo