West Seattle Blog…

Friday night photos – plus, prominent photoblogger moving here

First: Deb sent the link to this West Seattle post on Vintage Seattle, through which we learned that VS blogger Jess Cliffe is moving to WS this weekend; welcome! Now, some current-day pix (from before the rain swept in):

That’s from Marybeth, as is this surf-level bird’s-eye view:

Next – two photos courtesy of Chas Redmond, who was on the Lincoln Park shore at a moment today when the water was sapphire blue:

Chas reports the afternoon winds gave that kayaker quite a bit of trouble.

Another new West Seattle map

Last weekend we told you about the draft West Seattle Walking Trails map (if you haven’t checked it out yet, feedback is still welcome) – tonight, the new Discovery Map, which we heard about from the folks at Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor). They’ve written about it on their bizblog (if you haven’t already seen the entry in the latest roundup on our Blogs page), and are offering free copies at their shop in the Admiral District. You can also preview the map online.

Admiral Safeway: Looking ahead at its future

More future West Seattle development news, this time from Admiral Neighborhood Association president Mark Wainwright: He says a representative from Safeway has contacted the ANA because, according to Mark, “They would like to start the process of redeveloping the Admiral store, and want to talk to the community. … No specifics at all right now, but it’s great that they’ve reached out to us early on.” It is indeed considered ideal for neighborhood associations to get first word of something major like that, and it’s another good reason to be involved with the association that represents your neighborhood — to see if there is one, check the WEST SEATTLE NEIGHBORHOOD GROUPS list in our sidebar.

Motorcycle crash at 35th/Graham

Just saw a major medic call at 35th/Graham on the 911 log and got a simultaneous reader report — “terrible accident, motorcycle hit by a car and destroyed.” Heading over to check it out. 4:17 PM UPDATE: Got there within minutes of the original post; the motorcycle was upright but clearly damaged (will add a photo in a minute); no car in sight, except for two police cars bookending the motorcycle, before a tow truck arrived moments later. The road was open. Our original tipster said the motorcycle rider appeared “hurt” but “was moving around.” 4:21 PM UPDATE: Photo added:

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A few fast Friday afternoon site notes

Before the next wave of news hits (we have some in the hopper, never fear), a few quick WSB notes:

NEW PAGE FINALLY READY FOR PRIME TIME: You may already have checked out the page titled MORE (in the navigation tab bar below the page header on all WSB pages) – We wanted to tweak it before officially announcing it but it seems announceable now: It’s where you can find the latest West Seattle headlines from citywide media sources (and a few regional/national ones that might mention WS from time to time). MORE is based on the same tech application that powers the BLOGS page, which displays the latest excerpts from 100-plus “Other Blogs in West Seattle” — so those are both pages you can check out any time to find fresh West Seattle stuff to read.

WSB MOVES FROM GOOGLE BLOGS TO GOOGLE NEWS: In recognition of the fact that we are as much a news site as a blog (if not more so), Google is now aggregating WSB content in Google News, rather than Google Blogsearch. You won’t see all WSB posts there; some are too short, but the meatiest stuff should turn up there (and is always quickly indexed in regular Google Search as well).

WSB FORUMS MILESTONE: More than 400 WSB readers are now signed up for the forums, a heartening percentage of the thousands who read them. Anyone can read ‘em; registration is required to post or comment, and we’re glad to see participation hit that level after just 2 months. We set them up so you could “talk amongst yourselves,” particularly with WSB Reader Recommendations — and here’s one great example of how WSB’ers helped each other, the saga of the metal plates. Also, we recently added a West Seattle Rants and Raves forum, thanks to a reader suggestion.

PLEASE TAKE A SECOND TO VOTE FOR WSB: For the second year in a row, WSB is in the “final four” of the Metroblogging Seattle blog tournament. Their format is a quirky little thing that’s a takeoff on NCAA March Madness; voting takes only a second, and you don’t have to register for anything – just go here (we’ve got a link at the top of the right sidebar, too). Voting’s open till Wednesday, after which we will plead for your vote one more time if WSB reaches the finals. Thank you!

License your pet, or else

The city just issued a reminder that it’s patrolling parks and neighborhoods to check for licenses.

West Seattle Weekend Lineup: March marches in

Prime rib, puppets, yachts, health, discount comedy if you mention WSB, classic-rock tributes, a book sale, live theater, and lots more — 49 West Seattle weekend events listed ahead: Click to read the rest of West Seattle Weekend Lineup: March marches in…

Harbor Properties buying West Seattle’s only motel – and more

As we briefly reported yesterday afternoon, Harbor Properties not only is building Mural in The Junction and proposing a residential/commercial building on the ex-Huling land it’s just bought at 38th/Alaska, it’s also “under contract” to buy West Seattle’s only motel — the former Travelodge, now Seattle West Inn and Suites. This morning, we have more details — on all three — after talking with a Harbor Properties executive: Click to read the rest of Harbor Properties buying West Seattle’s only motel – and more…

Hey, bidder, bidder: School-surplus auction tomorrow

Thanks to Eddie for the tip: Seattle Public Schools is raising a little extra cash by auctioning a lot of stuff off at Boren tomorrow, starting at 9 am. More info (list, photos, etc.) here.

Floating a concept: What Hi-Yu has in store this year

There’s the latest example of plans for summer getting under way well before the end of winter – that’s a preliminary sketch for this year’s West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival float, which represents WS in parades all over the region and of course appears in the big WS parade too. As previously reported here, this year’s theme is Luna Park, celebrating West Seattle’s historic amusement park. The sketch was shared with WSB by Danette Carufel of the Hi-Yu Committee, who also says:

Hi-Yu is still looking for a place to hold work parties (painting, cutting, gluing) to help build the float. If you know of an empty work space or garage that could be used please contact us through the Hi-Yu website. Once a location is found we will schedule work parties and hope that the community would like to join us in building the float. If any clubs, organizations or anyone looking for community service hours would like to join us at a work party please (also) contact us.

We’ve got one more sketch to show you, plus Danette has a few words of thanks regarding a recent Hi-Yu event: Click to read the rest of Floating a concept: What Hi-Yu has in store this year…

5020 California, 9030 35th advance through Design Review

At left is design option D for 5020 California, aka Spring Hill (not the restaurant), which got the best reviews from the Southwest Design Review Board tonight at Denny Middle School during a semi-rare second round of “early design guidance,” mandated because the first round didn’t go well (WSB coverage here). One of the main concerns that architect David Hewitt was asked to address with this 6-story, 90-unit apartments-and-retail building was the fear it would leave the single-family neighborhood behind it with their alley-facing back yards staring at a big hulking wall. Board members’ consensus tonight was that the revised proposals removed that concern, and also moved more of the building’s “mass” onto the California SW street front, as they also had asked. The dozen or so neighbors who attended tonight’s meeting voiced fewer concerns than the larger group who showed up last month; one outspoken neighbor, Nancy Woodland, noted that reps from the developer, BlueStar (which is also handling Fauntleroy Place, aka the Whole Foods project), had even come to her house for a first-hand survey. Next step for Spring Hill will be the “recommendations” Design Review meeting. Before re-reviewing Spring Hill tonight, the SWDRB got its first look at 9030 35th SW, smaller but not without controversy: Click to read the rest of 5020 California, 9030 35th advance through Design Review…

Alki’s spectacular sunset

Thanks to Marybeth for sharing that sunset photo from Alki, and this one:

Basketball playoffs update: West Seattle HS boys win

Thanks to Paul Cozens for the latest update:

In a hard-fought battle which went down to the last second, the West Seattle boys beat Cleveland 56 – 53 Thursday night at Bellevue Community College (BCC.)

West Seattle now plays Seattle Prep for third place in the Sea-King District. The game is at 3:00 PM on March 1 at BCC. Win or lose, the Wildcats are going to the state tournament!

Let’s see how many fans we can pack in the BCC gymnasium Saturday.

Go West Side!

West Seattle Crime Watch: Latest report roundup

Postponed from last night: the latest reports from the Southwest Precinct: Click to read the rest of West Seattle Crime Watch: Latest report roundup…

West Seattle rabbi sentenced for 47th/Admiral crash

Per KOMO website: Ephraim Schwartz, the West Seattle rabbi who hit and killed city council aide Tatsuo Nakata at 47th/Admiral in November 2006, must pay a fine and do community service, and loses his driver’s license for 2 years, but no jail time. 10:36 PM UPDATE: Many more details in this P-I story, including City Attorney Tom Carr calling the sentence “outrageous” and the judge calling Schwartz “a lousy driver.”

About the Westwood pit-bull case, and dogs on the loose

That’s a photo sent to WSB by a man who lives in the Westwood neighborhood where police shot two dogs, described as pit bulls, night before last. (Original WSB report here.) The neighbor believes those are the same dogs – even if not, he says there’s a dog problem — irresponsible owner problem, maybe more like it — in his neighborhood: “I have called Animal Control AND Police on these dogs NUMEROUS times. I have photos attached of the dogs hunting/stalking during the day right in a neighborhood where children play outside all day and walk to and from school. … I have many, many photos of these and other loose dogs stalking my neighborhood day and night.” On the night of the police/dogs confrontation, we heard scanner traffic indicating a history of previous trouble with the dogs that police shot. Now we’ve seen the full police writeup of what happened Tuesday night, and thought you might be interested in additional details: Click to read the rest of About the Westwood pit-bull case, and dogs on the loose…

Coyote sighting & TV-crew sighting

If you’re wondering what the TV live truck is doing at Lincoln Park, channel 4 is following up on our report Monday about the “Coyote Warning” flyers papered throughout the hillside neighborhood over the central part of the park. Haven’t seen their story yet but the reporter told us they found the family who says a coyote snatched their dog. Meantime, we got a coyote-sighting report this morning from Dean, who wrote: “I live on the hill above La Rustica along the Me-Kwa-Mooks greenbelt and about 1 am today i was awakened by a howling coyote nearby. Very cool!” (Reminder, info you should know about coexisting with coyotes is in this WSB report about the recent citywide info meeting.)

Cheap comedy for WSB’ers, and other Admiral events

Didn’t know about this till it landed in our inbox but we of course have no choice but to let you know: Admiral Theater boss Steve Garrett is offering WSB readers a discount at this Friday night’s comedy performance by Dante (from “Last Comic Standing“) — according to Steve, “Tickets are normally $15 in advance, $20 at the door, but we are extending this to West Seattle Blog viewers: Come into the theater before the show and mention that you saw it on the blog and receive comedy tickets for only $10.” Also mentioned in the latest Admiral bulletin, this Saturday night’s the monthly “Rocky Horror Picture Show” extravaganza, and next Wednesday night @ 7, the 75th anniversary showing of “Duck Soup,” which Steve says “will be introduced by Frank Ferrante, world-class Groucho impersonator.” (Dante’s show Friday is at 10 pm, according to the Admiral website; you can find out more about him on his MySpace site, which includes clips.)

Three Thursday afternoon notes

5 months after we reported townhouses are planned for the site of that 95-year-old house at 5232 California (across from West Seattle Nursery), the demolition permit has just been granted.

A few blocks north, 5020 California — the “Spring Hill” mixed-use proposal — gets its next Design Review Board hearing, featuring the new design options shown above (full details reported here), 8 pm tonight @ Denny Middle School Library (after the 6:30 pm review of 9030 35th).

1 month after that new paint job went onto Slices on Alki – it’s applied for a new liquor license; the applicant is “Cocktails Inc.” and the category is “snack bar.”

New info today about Harbor Properties’ Junction-area plans

Harbor Properties — currently developing Mural on land including the ex-Petco lot along 42nd, across from Jefferson Square — is going public today with more info about its Junction-area plans. First, as reported here earlier this month, it’s proposing a 6-story mixed-use building (mostly residential) along 38th, south of Fauntleroy, on parcels including a former Huling Bros. service facility and West Seattle Montessori School, and Harbor Properties has now closed the deal for the Huling-owned portion of that land. The other bit of new info: Harbor is also “under contract” for the site of West Seattle’s only motel, the ex-Travelodge, now Seattle West Inn and Suites (site of a headline-making crash last week), and other nearby sites. What will go there? We’re scheduled to talk with a Harbor Properties executive a little bit later this afternoon, and you’ll see a full report here later tonight.

Welcoming a new WSB sponsor: State Farm’s David Newman

Another new sponsor joined WSB this week — West Seattle State Farm Insurance agent David Newman (shown at right below in the afternoon sun/shade outside their office at 3435 California Ave a few days ago, with, left to right, administrative assistant Maggie Johns, associates Corrie Greene and Chris Little, and wife Melissa Newman), who you can reach online or at 932-1878:

Here’s what David wants you to know about his business: “We are a friendly office located in the heart of West Seattle, and take pride in our effort to support our West Seattle neighbors the best we can. Between our longtime staff and agent, we have a combined professional experience of over 50 years. West Seattle families who understand the importance of properly insuring themselves are happy that we take the time and make the effort necessary to protect the things that they find important. This office has a long history of supporting local youth sports teams and schools with sponsorship and donations. Most of our new clients find their way to us by referral. We are making a concerted effort to market our service in an ecologically friendly way by doing all we can to avoid mass mailings and other ecologically damaging mediums. Thanks for your business – it means a lot to us.” That’s one thing you can say for online advertising – it’s green! And it’s a great way to get your name in front of thousands of people who live and/or work in West Seattle, 24/7/365; to find out about joining the roster of our much-appreciated WSB sponsors, please start here.

Beat the gray-sky blues: Think Summer (Fest)!

Nothing like a blue-sky photo from last summer to chase the gray-sky blues away if you have ‘em … that’s from West Seattle Summer Fest 2007, and we’re rerunning it as we share the news that the dates are set for Summer Fest 2008, as published on the SF site: Friday-Sunday, July 11-13. West Seattle Junction Association executive director Susan Melrose tells WSB that the first planning meeting of the year happened just last night, so look for more details to come; they won’t start taking applications for table space till April.

Change at the top at the Southwest Precinct

Before we post an overdue Crime Watch roundup plus a followup on the Westwood pit-bull-shooting case from the other night, we have news about the Southwest Precinct itself: As part of a leadership reorganization involving several precincts and divisions within the Seattle Police Department, Chief Gil Kerlikowske is moving the SWP’s commander, Captain Mike Fann (official SPD photo @ left), to lead the Traffic Unit, and moving Captain Joe Kessler to head up the SWP. Capt. Fann has led the West Seattle-based precinct for almost three years. (P.S. The semi-nearby South Precinct is also getting a new commander, Captain Les Liggins.)

Memorial planned Saturday for Herald reporter Tim St. Clair

As reported earlier this week, longtime West Seattle Herald reporter Tim St. Clair died Monday night after battling cancer. (His obituary is on the Herald site.) This morning, we just received word that his memorial is set for Saturday on Alki:

A celebration of life for Tim St. Clair, Mr. West Seattle, is being held on Saturday, March 1st, at the Alki Bathhouse, 2701 Alki Ave. SW., from 4 PM to 7 PM. It is open to the public, Tim’s family would love to hear stories about Tim and his time in West Seattle as a reporter for the Herald. Please post this on your site at the request of his family. There will be photos of Tim from his life as well as mementos and awards and memories of a wonderful man who contributed so much to the community.

Video wrap-up of Denny-Sealth vote: “It’s not over”

So said one Option 2 (shared campus) opponent, right after the school board vote. You’ll see that clip at the end of this post. First, let’s backtrack:

Click to play WSB video

There, you see the opponents of the Denny-Sealth shared campus who stood silently throughout much of tonight’s Seattle School Board meeting (WSB liveblog archived here), until and during board members’ 5-2 vote in favor of the project — here’s the roll call:

Click to play WSB video

Ahead: More clips including West Seattle’s board rep Steve Sundquist explaining his support for Option 2 and board member Harium Martin-Morris explaining why he opposed it, plus public comments before the vote (including one FOR the shared campus), and that “it’s not over” vow: Click to read the rest of Video wrap-up of Denny-Sealth vote: “It’s not over”…

Crime Watch reader report: Police chase burglar

Out of the WSB inbox, from Trissa:

Just wanted to let you know that someone tried to break into a house on the 4000 block of 23rd Ave SW tonight at 8:00 pm. There was a lot of police activity and they brought dogs to try and catch the person or persons. So a thank you to our police and hopefully they will catch the person(s)!

Side note, we were at the Southwest Precinct reviewing police reports, including last night’s pit-bull shooting incident, just before going to the school-board meeting, and will be writing that all up after the Denny-Sealth wrapup report.

ArtsWest announces lineup for next season

We’re monitoring other news while liveblogging the School Board meeting; ArtsWest (WSB sponsor) just sent the lineup for its next season: Click to read the rest of ArtsWest announces lineup for next season…

School-board vote on Denny-Sealth: Continuous meeting updates

9:50 PM: Back at WSB HQ now. Processing video for a separate wrap-up post on tonight’s School Board vote.

9:10 PM: Just back from wading into reaction interview central in the foyer outside the board room. Talked to Sealth staffers Delfino Munoz and John Wright, both of whom spoke against Option 2 tonight. Munoz quote: “It’s not over.” But what’s next – he says it’ll take some time to step back and reassess. (The board meeting continues, by the way; we will continue monitoring in case of anything WS-related.) P.S. The opponents were clearly disappointed as they cleared the chambers after the vote, but were classy about it – no loud boos or other disruptions – in case you were curious (and didn’t happen to be watching on TV). The board’s now discussing future transportation plans for students; high-school students are scheduled to stop getting “yellow bus” transportation as of next year, and are to be given Metro passes instead. WEST SEATTLE-SPECIFIC NOTE: District staff confirms this is the last year that Spectrum kids (one of the district’s gifted programs) from West Seattle who go to Washington Middle School will have the opportunity to ride regular school buses; that ends next year, though Metro passes would be made available for them too. (Meeting adjourned at 9:20 pm.)

9:05 PM – The vote is 5-2 for Option 2. The no votes are from Mary Bass and Harium Martin-Morris.

After the jump, the rest of our liveblogging of tonight’s meeting, in reverse chronological order, exactly as we filed it during the meeting: Click to read the rest of School-board vote on Denny-Sealth: Continuous meeting updates…

Crime Watch reader report: Kids shoot window

Steve lives in the 2400 block of 44th SW and just sent this (we’ll be looking for the official police report during our forthcoming trip to the Southwest Precinct):

Yesterday (Tuesday 2/26) we were disturbed to learn that our next-door neighbors’ house was shot at by a group of five young boys. There is a sizable bullet hole in their front picture window, and police who responded to the incident confirmed that the hole was made by something larger than a BB gun. According to our neighbor, she was returning home from walking their dog when she noticed the boys congregated on the landscaped parking strip in front of their house. The boys appeared to be of middle-school age. One of them was holding a gun pointed at the house. The gun holder tucked the weapon into the front of his pants took off running south down 44th Ave SW with the rest of the boys when she called out to them asking what they were doing. She began to pursue them but pulled up short when one of the boys called out to the others “She’s after us!” followed by something about using the gun.

When she returned to her house she noticed for the first time the large bullet hole in her front window and called the SPD. The bullet passed through the main living room where the family often spend time. Fortunately no one was home when the shooting occurred.

This happened around 9:30 am on Tuesday.

Real-estate updates, Beach Drive and beyond

That’s yet another new sign on the big lawn in front of the “Painted Lady,” aka Satterlee House (inset right), in the 4800 block of Beach Drive, this time for Ewing and Clark, at least the third time it’s switched listing agents since we started watching it a year and a half ago. Current price, $2.2 million. As we reported earlier this month, the proposal to build three houses on that lawn is going before the city Hearing Examiner in a few weeks; the Landmarks Preservation Board has a say because the Satterlee House is an official landmark, and its ruling is what’s being appealed. One more Beach Drive real-estate note: The fourplex at 4131 Beach Drive is up for sale, $3,050,000, and the listing says it’s in the process of condo conversion. And regarding real-estate in general – it’s been reported that prices are falling more slowly in Seattle than the rest of the country; if you want to track West Seattle real estate, WS realtor (and WSB sponsor) Bill Barna is now offering a regularly e-mailed “market tracker” report. Click here to e-mail Bill for the Market Tracker; or you can see a sample version here. (He also has an automated “new listings e-mail” service that we find useful to monitor for local listings which might be worth noting here.)

“Viaduct Closed” lights surprise: It was a failure, after all

As reported here about this time yesterday, at least a few eastbound drivers heading out of West Seattle were startled to see those semi-new “Alaskan Way Viaduct Closed” lights flashing yesterday morning –considering The Viaduct was wide open at the time. We called the city Transportation Department and were told it was a test. Why no warning, then, some commenters sensibly asked. We had a followup question out and didn’t hear back till SDOT communications chief Rick Sheridan just called with new information: It was a system failure, after all. He says SDOT was confused when we first asked yesterday morning because some testing WAS actually happening elsewhere along the chain of warning lights — a crew was out in the north end along Aurora, where similar lights are set up for southbound drivers, testing individual lights; Sheridan says that was at the same time a “field communications device component” failed here in West Seattle, turning on the whole system. The faulty component has since been replaced. We asked why there was no advance public alert about the test that WAS going on; Sheridan says there wouldn’t be one for a “one light at a time, quickly off and on, with a crew standing there” test like the one on Aurora, but he promises there will be one for a systemwide test he says is planned in about three weeks. (Which would be right before the actual scheduled inspection closure of The Viaduct March 22-23.)