West Seattleites’ role in helping choose the next president
Our state’s Presidential Primary is exactly two months away (February 19). But its results will only count for roughly a fourth of our state’s voice in the presidential nomination process –
all state Democratic delegates, and 49% of the Republican delegates, will be chosen in a process starting at the statewide caucuses on February 9. Members of our area’s best-organized political group, the 34th District Democrats, already are working to get out the word about those meetings. For those who haven’t participated in caucuses before – or are wondering why the focus is on the caucuses and not the primary – we sent questions to 34th DD chair Ivan Weiss; the Q & A with his e-mailed replies is just ahead. (Disclaimer, we know there are 34th District Republicans out there somewhere too – we’ve just never heard from them! Can’t find any comprehensive info about GOP caucuses online, either.)Read More
Reader Recommendation Request: Brake pads
From Kate:
I have an Audi that needs new brake pads and I would like to take it to a reputable shop but I haven’t done this in West Seattle. Can you recommend a good local place for brake repair?
Please post responses as comments; as always, we remind you all RRRs and resulting responses are archived here.
More Denny/Sealth updates from school board meeting
Meeting’s in a 10-minute break right now. Since the previously mentioned public comment against the project (no one spoke in favor):
-District superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson and West Seattle school-board rep Steve Sundquist both reiterated (as he had told us would happen) that the scheduled votes later tonight would not commit the board to the Denny/Sealth project as it now stands. It also was announced that the board DOES have the authority — last week, Sundquist said they were awaiting a legal answer on this — to “modify the project if we see the need.”
-Board president Cheryl Chow asked members to clear time on their calendar the afternoon of January 9, before the next board meeting, for a work session on the Denny/Sealth project.
–Susan Harmon from the Westwood Neighborhood Council, speaking during the public-comment period, asked the board to delay Denny-Sealth votes until after a meeting WNC is working to organize for late January or early February to examine both the potential impacts of the shared high school/middle school campus concept, and the future of the current Denny land if the project proceeds as currently planned.
More details as they happen, plus a full all-in-one wrapup by night’s end in the morning (we have a followup question out). 8:46 PM UPDATE: The meeting is adjourned. The matching-funds item involving the Denny-Sealth project passed unanimously, after yet another reiteration that it does not commit the board to the project as it now stands. One other note of interest, Sundquist will chair the board’s Finance Committee next year.
Happening now: Sealth/Denny opponents @ board meeting
You can watch it right now on channel 26 – public comment at the start of the school board meeting, and several people (including two students and two teachers) have spoken against the Denny/Sealth consolidation project. (It’s open public comment, for those who signed up ahead of time, so other topics are being discussed too; as mentioned last night, there’s a Denny/Sealth-related item later on the agenda.) More to come.
West Seattle crime watch: “Peeper” update
Just back from the Southwest Precinct, where Lt. Steve Paulsen kindly made time to talk with WSB about West Seattle, its neighborhoods, its crime and safety challenges, and how all of us can work together to be safer, etc. While there, we took the occasion to ask for a followup on the “peeper” reports from a few weeks ago. Background — the first reports emerged on November 26 (our coverage here); then Dec. 3, we ran a reader report about another sighting, and on Dec. 6, another reader reported a police search with K-9 officers in the same general area. Lt. Paulsen confirmed for us this afternoon that those were all part of the investigation — not only did they bring in the K-9s after a “suspicious person” sighting on the night of 12/5, but they also assigned officers to patrol the neighborhoods on foot after those first reports in late November. Lt. Paulsen notes that no new reports have come in during the past couple weeks and says they have identified a potential “person of interest” but don’t have probable cause to make an arrest at this point.
Remember the one about the Santas and the cab?
No, that doesn’t refer to some old joke – rather, to that 35th/Avalon crash that Creighton told us all about on Sunday morning. Last night, that post drew a comment from “lara7,” who included a Flickr link to the following photo:
Explanation from “lara7”:
I was one of the 3 Santas in the Cab- lady ran the red light by the KFC and plowed into the cab and another car. No one was hurt. But if you want coal in your stocking, hitting Santa’s cab is a sure way.
Now, you ask, what was the deal with all those people in Santa suits who didn’t exactly look like they’d just been spending their evening listening to tiny tots’ wish lists? Following a link from lara7’s photo, they appear to have been part of Santarchy 2007 (explained here).
Chelan Cafe crash
Thanks to everybody in WSB-land who e-mailed about this after seeing the scene while passing by this morning – the Chelan Cafe confirms that a truck crashed into the building overnight, and “took off” after taking out the front wall of the lounge. However – the cafe is still open; just has quite the mess to clean up. We’ll have a photo up later.
Fire callout on 42nd
If you’re wondering why what seemed like half the fire department rushed a little while ago to 6050 42nd — it’s SOP to have a big callout when fire is suspected in a residence of any type, but in this case, it was just a chimney problem. 8:07 AM UPDATE: Details from WSB contributing photographer Christopher Boffoli, who says it was a “dirty furnace chimney that made smoke back up into the house – no injuries or damage.” Most of the units pulled back fairly quickly. Christopher’s photos:
One more note from this incident – our other WSB contributing photographer Matt Durham also checked out the scene; Matt, who also works as a professional firefighter, notes, “Often this (type of incident) is a result of a furnace that needs servicing such as cleaning and filter replacement. Dust falls into the burners and disperses a small amount of smoke through the house that smells like the onset of fire.” Good reminder for us all to keep an eye on the condition of our furnaces.
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