West Seattle Christmas lights, 12/10/07
Tonight, two featured homes, one theme:
On the fence in front of the first home, along Thistle east of 42nd (Upper Fauntleroy), are big white snowflake lights. Dangling from the eaves of the second home, along 106th near 31st (edge of Arbor Heights; thanks to Vickie for the tip), are blue-and-white snowflake lights. Both homes are now added to our clickable West Seattle Christmas lights map, viewable any time on our Holidays page; plus, you can find all previously featured homes on this archive page. And we’re still thrilled to get your tips about the best of the brightest, homes and/or entire neighborhoods!
Reminder: Neighborhood policing meeting tomorrow
Thanks to LyndaB for forwarding this reminder of an important Seattle Police Department meeting Tuesday night that’s not happening in West Seattle but involves a plan that definitely will affect us. Here’s the full text of the city announcement:
The Chief’s quarterly City Wide Advisory Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 11th from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. at the Seattle Vocational Institute (SVI) in room #509 (5th floor). SVI is located at 2120 S. Jackson and we have permission to park, at no cost, in the lot directly behind the building.
Meeting Topic:
The entire meeting will focus on the new Neighborhood Policing Staffing Plan that will begin to be implemented in January 2008. Deputy Chief Clark Kimerer will present the plan and answer any questions. This plan affects anyone who lives or works within the City of Seattle. If you know community members who are interested in this plan please bring them to the meeting.
“The Neighborhood Policing Staffing Plan is the most significant change to how we police our city in more than 30 years. It will not only expand our patrol force, it is a faster, stronger and smarter approach to protecting our neighborhoods: faster response time regardless of the time of day, day of the week, or season of the year; stronger police presence when responding; and smarter use of patrol resources to focus on persistent problems that can affect quality of life in the city. The plan puts officers where they’re needed when they’re needed.”
Mars Hill money trouble?
So suggests the fifth bullet point in this entry on “Pastors’ Prayers,” one of the many official Mars Hill Church blogs. Quoting here:
Multiple pastors request prayers for our financial state. With the deep deficit, it is a test for all the staff to choose Jesus over anxiety when ministry funds are cut short and the possibility of lay-offs and additional budget cuts is on the horizon. Please pray for repentance by those who are disobeying God in their giving …
Now, before the Mars Hill critics fire up their typing fingers to snark, we also did want to note there is a sad West Seattle-related item in the same long Mars Hill blog entry: Jeanne Clem, wife of Bill Clem, the pastor who led Doxa in the building that became MH-West Seattle, is described as “slipping away” in her battle with cancer. (She is interviewed starting about 3 minutes into this recent Mars Hill video clip we found on YouTube.) TUESDAY MORNING ADDENDUM: Thanks to Adam on Alki, who points out in the comments below that Mars Hill has gone back and edited out the “disobeying God in their giving” line. We briefly cursed ourselves for not getting a screen grab, then remembered the miracle of Google caching, where it had already been captured. So just in case you didn’t believe us (full cached version here):
Mystery lights, finally explained
Several people have e-mailed us about those light poles that have popped up on strategic spots along West Seattle arterials — two round lights and a solar panel — wondering what they are for. We hadn’t gotten around to checking with SDOT or WSDOT yet but Ty has saved us the trouble (thank you!) — he says at least one of them now has a sign saying “ALASKAN WAY VIADUCT CLOSED WHEN FLASHING.” Great idea! (Will they add a second sign beneath saying “so don’t bother leaving West Seattle right now, k?”)
More proof this ain’t your grandma’s West Seattle
Or maybe even your mom’s. Back when we moved here in the early ’90s, really not THAT long ago, we lamented that we would have liked to do more shopping in The Junction, but everything seemed to close so early — “rolling up the sidewalks,” as the small-town saying goes. 
Not these days, and here’s the latest proof: Coinciding with this Thursday night’s West Seattle Art Walk in The Junction is “Wrap It Up,” with participating stores open well into the night for holiday-shopping fun. And it’s not just The Junction that will be jumping — on the north side of West Seattle, we’ve heard from more shops planning to be open late on Thursday, including WSB sponsor Click! Design That Fits and Shanti in the Admiral District, and along Avalon, Murphy’s Furniture Studio has an event planned Thursday night for late-night shopping while raising money for GambiaHELP. All in all, Thursday’s a good night to spend your $ where you live. Here’s the “Wrap It Up” flyer listing Junction participants, by the way:Read More
Reader report: 3425 California fire follow-up
Excerpted from what Mark just wrote in the comments below our original report on the small fire that closed California for a while Sunday morning:
I was visiting with several residents at the Admiral Plaza Condominium … At one point I was a resident there and am familiar with many of the neighbors. Apparently a less than competent owner on the courtyard level fell asleep with a cigarette in hand. It was his next-door neighbor, an RN who just happened to be home on a Sunday, that detected smoke odor and pounded on his door. After what seemed like an eternity he answered, disheveled; smoke was apparent and she immediately called the fire department. … The victim sought shelter with the assistance of the Red Cross in a W. Seattle motel. … It was by God's grace and Maggie the RN's quick thinking that prevented what might have been a disaster. Most of the damage appeared to be limited to his one-bedroom unit.
| 1 COMMENT