West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Meet the new president of the Alki Community Council, just elected tonight, Jule Sugarman. He has a long history of nonprofit and government work — from running the nationwide Head Start program for its first five years, to serving as our state’s Secretary of Social and Health Services, to his current role as president of West Seattle Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (and lots inbetween). He succeeds Jackie Ramels, who’s leaving ACC leadership as are secretary Peter Stekel and trustee Gary Ogden; those jobs are now in the hands of new secretary Paul Carr (who you know from the Statue of Liberty Plaza Project, which just hit the $250,000 fundraising mark) and new trustee Lee Johnson. Re-elected officers and trustees are vice president Randie Stone, treasurer Larry Carpenter (an inaugural West Seattle Community Recognition Award honoree), and trustees Tony Fragada and Cami MacNamara (who’s also editor of the Alki News Beacon — which from now on, take note, will only be mailed to ACC members, so if you want to receive it, be sure your dues are paid up!).
Before any more time elapses – the rest of our notes from the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting last night (first report here, including an explanation of DNDC) – with events and initiatives we’re betting you’ll want to know about:Read More
After the malfunction involving the “Alaskan Way Viaduct Closed When Flashing” lights 
in West Seattle and elsewhere last month, the city Transportation Department said there would be a test before The Viaduct’s planned closure this weekend. Now, according to a news release sent out by SDOT this afternoon, it appears the “test” will be concurrent with the actual closure, and the system won’t be proclamed “fully functional” until and unless it works throughout the shutdown (6 am-6 pm each day, Saturday and Sunday; the Battery Street Tunnel will be closed for the duration, 6 am Saturday to 6 pm Sunday). Here’s the full text of the city news release:Read More
We are celebrating the first full day of spring with a new addition to WSB — a new section (note the “tab” link on our header) with selections from the popular book “West Seattle 101” by Lori Hinton (right). 
We’re committed to continually expanding the amount of West Seattle-related news, information, and discussion we can offer you, so when Lori contacted us to see if WSB might be an additional place for people to find her stories, it sounded like a no-brainer to us. “West Seattle 101” began as a series of columns Lori wrote for the West Seattle Herald and grew into a book. As we start this partnership by publishing three features from the book (they’re linked from the WS 101 on WSB “home page” here), we also have Q and A with Lori so you can get to know her better:Read More
Just in from the office of King County Councilmember Dow Constantine:
Service on the Elliott Bay Water Taxi is set to resume Sunday, April 27 as the West Seattle-to-downtown passenger ferry begins its summer season.
Last year was the busiest ever for the Water Taxi, as total ridership increased by 32 percent over the foot ferry’s record 2006 numbers. A total of 161,331 riders took the taxi last summer, as compared with 122,650 in 2006. The extra revenues generated by this record ridership allowed King County to extend commute hour service through late October.
“In the past decade, the Water Taxi has become a treasured community asset, as both a viable commuter option and an enjoyable “shortcut†that takes West Seattle visitors out of traffic and on to Puget Sound,†said Metropolitan King County Councilmember Dow Constantine. “The newly established King County Ferry District will finally provide a stable funding source for this vital service. In the coming years, we will be improving the boats, sailing times, and dock facilitiesâ€
A kickoff event is planned for April 27. Event details and Water Taxi schedules will be announced shortly.
We’re checking on the various components of this for a followup later today, but in the meantime, this is bigger than the More page roundup, so in case you haven’t heard – as reported (so far) in the P-I and on Q13 and at KING5.com, someone cleared a section of city-owned slope over the 1600 block of Harbor Avenue (area map), without authorization. Neighbors blame a homeowner trying to get a better view. Police are investigating, and the culprit could face criminal charges. ADDED 4:55 PM: Added the photo, which shows the general slope area where this happened (just below the hedge-ish plants at the bottom of the white draping); difficult to get a close-up shot of the stumps from where we tried. Just talked to the Southwest Precinct – no new developments in the investigation today; cases like this take a while to develop (everyone may think they know who did it, but you need evidence). A parks spokesperson tells WSB that once there is definite identification, they “will determine an appropriate fine for the perpetrator based on the economic value of the trees and damage to the area.” Still waiting for word on how, and how soon, the city might restore the damaged area – since there are certainly erosion and slide concerns on a slope like that. ADDED 10:15 PM: Did manage to get a closer view of the apparent slash zone earlier this evening:
Last night we sat in on the monthly meeting of the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council, one of two district councils in West Seattle, each including representatives of neighborhood groups and other major noncommercial organizations. This time around, the Delridge Council hosted two guests from City Hall: Council President Richard Conlin (who’s made two other high-level appearances in WS recently, at the Southwest District Council and at the Alki Community Council), and Mayor Nickels’ community-outreach director Pamela Green. Both had a lot to say – as did the regular attendees – and we’re going to break it out into several updates, starting with this one about two ways the city’s looking for YOUR opinion right now:Read More
Thanks to the folks at WSB sponsor Ventana Construction for snapping pix at Fauntleroy/Alaska a short time ago, as they spotted this “FOR LEASE” sign going up on the ex-Huling/Gee lot on the southeast corner. Here’s the leasing company; as of this moment, the listing isn’t on their site, nor is it coming up in a general search of commercial sites “for lease.” Data point: Unlike many surrounding parcels, this land isn’t actually owned by the Hulings, according to King County property records. MARCH 26 ADDENDUM: The completed sign says for sale OR for lease.
Highlights from our West Seattle-wide Events list (frequently updated here) and beyond:
THIS MORNING: Toddler Spring Egg-stravaganza at High Point Community Center; fun starts at 10 am, egg hunt for the little ones at 11 am sharp.
TONIGHT: Help shape and protect the future of our Puget Sound shoreline – be at the “visioning” meeting tonight; open house at 6:30 pm, workshop starts @ 9, High Point Community Center.
TONIGHT: One of West Seattle’s liveliest community councils meets — Alki Community Council, 7 pm, Alki Community Center. Here’s what happened last time.
EASTER UPDATES: The Events list now includes a section with Saturday egg hunts in West Seattle (more than half a dozen!); also, thanks to the WSB’ers who have sent us added info for our West Seattle Easter Sunday Services page (which includes the sunrise services at Forest Lawn and Alki as well as more than 30 WS churches). As we mention on the page, many of these churches also have breakfasts, brunches, even egg hunts in addition to the Sunday services (plus other Holy Week events today and tomorrow) so follow the links to their websites for the added details.
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