Momentous Decisions For Council

Summer isn't a slack time for the Seattle City Council. On the contrary. In the next few weeks, the council must resolve some thorny issues, among them a controversial Sixth Avenue skybridge, placement of playfields at the proposed Seattle Commons park and possible acquisition of the AT&T Gateway Tower.

There's also the problem of what to do about a Metro plan to site some portable toilets as a package deal along with bus shelters and ad kiosks. At Monday's "blue-sky meeting," Councilwoman Jane Noland described the potties as "beautiful." She said, "They're a solution to our problems of litter and graffiti."

Faced with the weighty line-up, council members decided to revise their schedules. Originally, they had planned to forgo meetings on July 3 and 31.

They're still planning to skip July 3, the Monday before the Fourth of July. But why not meet July 31?

Luckily, Noland was present to explain. She said, "The history of that is that it was Sam's birthday." Sam, for you newcomers, is former Councilman Sam Smith, who left the council in 1991 after serving for 24 years.

Smith's gone, but he's certainly not forgotten.Road food: Once again Seattle is on the cutting edge of culinary trends with - believe it or not - meatloaf. In June, the Four Seasons-Regent hotel chain introduced a menu called "Home Cooking," designed to appeal to homesick travelers.

Pioneers of this retro cuisine are two Four Seasons Olympic chefs, Kerry Sear and Eric Ringlieb. Ringlieb got the recipe for the most popular entree, meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes, from his 85-year-old New Jersey grandmother. The Olympic's Garden Court has been serving the dish since May 1994.Shoe story: A North Seattle woman, trying on a pair of Via Spiga boots at the downtown Nordstrom on Saturday, turned to a passing shopper, a guy. She said, "Do these make my feet look enormous?"

"You're a tall woman. What do you think?" he asked.

"I think they're really cool."

He smiled and said, "That's all that matters, isn't it?"

The guy walked on. As she was buying the boots, a salesman said, "That was Kirby Puckett of the Minnesota Twins." Alas. She didn't even ASK for an autograph.

Pet project: The June edition of "Nine," the KCTS-TV magazine, displays candid shots of dogs and their owners.

"Serious Money" host Barry Mitzman is shown on the beach at Edmonds with his pets, two off-leash dogs. (Dogs ARE allowed to romp at Edmonds Marina Beach.)

Who would have supposed that the "Serious Money" host would own a dog named "Lucky"?

Brake for honkers: Drivers commuting to work on Westlake North last week screeched to a sudden stop at Aloha Street. The fearless jaywalkers were a Canada goose and her flock of eight goslings.

The drivers patiently waited while the geese waddled across. The honkers were heading for a patch of greenery on the east side of the busy thoroughfare.

All the nudes: Overheard at the Fremont Solstice Parade on Saturday was a woman spectator commenting: "Oh, no. Not eight naked men on bicycles. I hate naked men on bicycles."

Jean Godden's column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the Local News section of The Times. Her phone is 464-8300.