Yet another group of folks working hard in the hot Saturday sun — the 40-plus volunteers helping put the almost-finishing touches on the preschool playground at West Seattle Elementary in High Point. These few seconds of video will give you an idea of just how busy they were:
Just steps away from where all the work was under way on the west side of the school, this window display chronicles the playground project’s progress:
Organizers at the site told WSB today that this work would leave the playground 90% complete, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony to formally open it will be scheduled very soon.
Some of this work traces back to the “Day of Service” event that brought Governor Gregoire, U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, and other dignitaries to WS Elementary on King Day (WSB coverage here); we photographed early playground-project prep during a preview a few days earlier.
Monday night’s Highland Park Action Committee meeting is likely to be lively – the agenda includes the city’s recent announcement of two jail sites almost literally in Highland Park’s back yard (click on the map above for exact addresses). While covering an unrelated event in Highland Park (neighborhood map) tonight, we received a copy of a bright yellow flyer neighbors are circulating, with text exhorting those concerned to “attend what may be the most important meeting for our revitalized neighborhood.” To recap – the city is deciding whether to build a jail for misdemeanor offenders, and a week and a half ago announced that the list of potential sites is down to four (WSB coverage here), including these two. A decision is expected later this year. A section of the city website is now devoted to this potential project (see it here) and the city has hired a consulting firm, The Keller Group, for public outreach; a representative, Cynthia Scheiderer, attended the Southwest District Council meeting in West Seattle shortly after the jail-sites announcement week before last. We checked with Scheiderer on Friday to see where things stand; she told us, “We’re working hard right now to get community meetings planned and scheduled; no dates/locations are set just yet but will be soon and we’ll keep you posted. … There will be multiple opportunities for people to attend meetings and they’ll be held June/July. Also, we’re happy to attend community meetings and provide handouts of the maps/information and take questions and comments.” She also provided us a contact on the city team working on the jail-site project, and we’ll be talking with them next week for another update. Meantime, the Highland Park Action Committee meeting is at 7 pm Monday, at the Highland Park Improvement Club, 11th & Holden (map); the HPAC website is at highlandpk.net; the city’s accepting comments/questions through this webpage.
Whole lotta love at the Admiral Theater this morning as local TV legend JP Patches put on a show for loyal fans of all ages, known as “Patches Pals.” That’s a clip of JP signing autographs and meeting fans in the lobby afterward – more video ahead:Read More
The wall along the sidewalk on the Delridge side of Youngstown Cultural Arts Center got a facelift at midday today, thanks to a group of UW students — one of whom is Vitaliy Demyanik (at left in photo below, with participant Inigo Esteban), who manages a local College Pro Painters franchise. He’s a 4th-year student at the UW, and led a team described in the official announcement as “15 students from the Business and Economic Development Center at the Foster School of Business” in today’s cleanup, with donated materials and labor. (The paintout was scheduled for three hours, but when we got there barely 2 hours into it, they’d made quick work of it.)
We caught those young women and their penguin pal staking out The Junction to promote the nearby Hope Lutheran rummage sale, raising money for a summertime mission to Mexico. (They’re going till about 2 pm; another rummage sale at nearby West Seattle Christian Church [WSB sponsor] has a similar goal, and it’s continuing till 5 pm; you can hit both in the span of about a block.)
Thanks to John Smersh from Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) in the Admiral District for that photo from nearby Admiralty House Antiques, which he says is open today for the first time in a long time, selling tools at 50% off on outdoor tables (you’ll recall it “closed for remodeling” in January; WSB coverage here). Now, to the other side of West Seattle, and the High Point Community Center:
The women in the blue shirts are nursing students from Seattle University standing by to help you get healthier at their High Point Health Fair, under way till 4 pm at High Point CC. Door prizes and refreshments, too, all free – plus some educational exhibits:
That exhibit about indoor air quality was manned by Abby Suplizio, who we introduced you to here in our recent feature about the West Seattle chapter of CoolMom.org, which she leads. She teaches a twice-yearly course about indoor air quality and other safety concerns through the American Lung Association of Washington (more online here). We’ve been out covering many of the day’s other events too, including JP Patches at the Admiral Theater; more coverage coming up later.
That’s the start of a trail into the West Duwamish Greenbelt — which covers many acres of eastern West Seattle but isn’t nearly as well-known as the trails of Lincoln Park, Camp Long, Schmitz Park, and so on. From that trailhead at 14th SW and SW Holly (map), we joined a group Friday afternoon on one of the free guided monthly hikes offered by the West Seattle-based Nature Consortium, whose executive director Nancy Whitlock led the way:
More photos, video, and what we learned about this semi-secret stretch of greenery that’s not very far off the beaten (and driven) path, ahead:Read More
ANOTHER APARTMENT BUILDING UP FOR SALE: The 32-unit Garden Terrace apartment complex at 4830 Fauntleroy (just south of the Triangle area) just went on the market (listing details here), $4,650,000. Its flyer includes a page pointing out future mixed-use developments in the area, but seems to be a little geography-challenged by which parcel is identified as Harbor Properties Mixed-Use (unless they know something we don’t).
WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli sent us that photo recently from the megaproject construction site at Alaska/41st/42nd – just one of dozens he’s contributed to WSB in the past year-plus. His contributions have been invaluable, a word that barely begins to describe it – not only has he shared lovely shots like those of a heart-melting baby seal, he also is incredible with breaking news (remember the Fauntleroy car-on-cable?) — often the first word we’ll get about a major breaking story is a text from Christopher, who’s already there. (Charlestown Cafe fire and the recent Delridge-area SWAT incident, just two cases in point, as well as the “wire fire” south of The Junction.) Right now, Christopher’s getting a national showcase in the current issue of Everywhere Magazine (the magazine, shown at right, is sold in West Seattle at Barnes and Noble). In this edition, you’ll find photographs he took in Copenhagen, plus his article about Japanese electronic toilets. This is the May-June issue of Everywhere; you won’t find its content on its website, so you’ll have to check the newsstands. Here’s a shot from Christopher’s spread (click it to see a larger image):
who’s already there. (
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