day : 03/07/2008 13 results

Southwest Council: Spokane St. Viaduct; street lights; cleanup …

July 3, 2008 11:52 pm

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| Neighborhoods | Southwest District Council | Spokane St. Viaduct project | Utilities | West Seattle news

Jam-packed agenda last night for the Southwest District Council (representatives from neighborhood groups and other key organizations in the area of West Seattle that the city defines as the “Southwest District”; you can see the map here), with a Spokane Street Viaduct project update, the latest from Seattle City Light on street lights, and more – read on:Read More

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Likely to be a long night of sirens, pops, booms …

July 3, 2008 10:53 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| West Seattle fires | WS miscellaneous

Though a couple citywide-media articles implied police wouldn’t really go around dealing with fireworks calls, what we’re hearing on the scanner is a different story- plenty of them around the city, and it sounds like officers are being dispatched in some cases. Fire crews are busy too; Engine 37 (from 35th SW) just went to an “illegal burn” call at California/Willow south of Morgan Junction, reportedly “guys drinking and having a bonfire in the front yard.” We drove Harbor/Alki Aves just after dusk, noting the RVs setting up in prime streetside viewing spots in advance of tomorrow, and seeing bottle rockets bursting in air from the neighborhoods south of the beach. Here’s the live 911 link if you don’t already have it bookmarked and want to check what you’re hearing.

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West Seattle Little League All-Stars update: 11-12s win!

July 3, 2008 10:28 pm

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| West Seattle news | WS & Sports

Thanks to Cami for another update (and the photo) – that cheering you heard from Bar-S Playfield over Alki Point tonight was the sound of the West Seattle Little League 11-12 All-Stars winning the championship:

West Seattle Little Leagueâ€™s Majors (11-12) All-Star team defeated the South Highline Nationals 6-4 tonight at Bar-S and clinched the District 7 championship! The game included a grand slam homerun by West Seattleâ€™s Matt Weller in the bottom of the second inning.

The team will now advance to the Little League 11-12 state tournament in Mill Creek on July 19th. For the first time ever, West Seattle Little League swept the District 7 all-stars tournaments winning the 9-10, 10-11 and the 11-12 divisions. All three teams were undefeated! For more information, please visit www.westseattlelittleleague.com.

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West Seattle July 4th updates: Alki traffic; parade; fireworks facts

July 3, 2008 6:24 pm

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| Holidays | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

The West Seattle 4th of July page is the one-stop holiday shop, but we have a few additional details right now, from answers to some questions about the Alki traffic restrictions tomorrow night, to some fireworks facts you might find fun if you are info-nuts like us. First, we talked to Lt. Norm James – who wanted you to have first word of the Alki restrictions in mid-June (original WSB report here) – and he answered a few of the questions we’d been asked:

–Admiral: It will stay open. But the streets that head west toward Alki will all be involved in the traffic restriction when it kicks in around 6 pm.

-Buses: They will continue to go through along Alki/Harbor. (Links to the holiday bus/Water Taxi schedules on on the 4th of July page.)

-Who gets through: As previously stated in the police advisory, residents’ “guests” will be allowed through – Lt. James says he’s been advising that people who fit into that category get a note from their host(s) that they can show police, or have a phone number ready for officers to check.

Lt. James said few complaints have come in about the plan to reinstitute these restrictions (which were used some years back) and they expect everything to go smoothly.

Now, the parade reminder – Sherri Chun sends a reminder that the Admiral 4th of July Kids’ Parade is definitely on for tomorrow, starting @ 10:30 am at 44th/Sunset, followed by picnicking and games at Hamilton Viewpoint. The only other 4th of July parade in West Seattle is an informal neighborhood parade planned around the new Ercolini Park (which is looking ahead to its formal dedication on July 12th). Other events here.

Last but by no means least – THE FIREWORKS! Most of the fireworks you’ll see from north- and east-facing West Seattle are from the 4th of Jul-Ivar’s show, which traces its history back to legendary West Seattleite Ivar Haglund (seafood-eatery namesake). We’re planning to join the media tour of the fireworks barge in the morning as part of our holiday coverage (we’ll continue updating through the day). But before that, here are some fun facts about this year’s show, from the Ivar’s PR team:Read More

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Crime Watch reader report: Tire slashings

July 3, 2008 6:19 pm

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| Crime | West Seattle news

E-mailed by Rod:

… Wanted to let you know that the tires of at least three cars were slashed last night on Graham St between 41st and 42nd plus one (mine) on 41st st. SW :(

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West Seattle Little League championship game tonight

July 3, 2008 2:11 pm

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| West Seattle news | WS & Sports

Even more fun in the Alki area tonight, besides the art reception/show (5-8 pm) at the Bathhouse and general pre-holiday excitement – Cami from West Seattle Little League reports:

The 11-12 All-Stars team plays tonight at Bar-S field [map] at 6 pm against the South Highline Nationals. This is the Championship game for this tournament. If WSLL loses, a game will be needed tomorrow at 10 am to determine the champion. Go WestSide!

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Bus riders alert: Metro proposes 25-cent increase

July 3, 2008 1:49 pm

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| Transportation | West Seattle news

Just announced today and attributed to fuel prices; the county news release and other docs are linked here (find the proposed fare table here). If approved, it would start 10/1.

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Seen along West Seattle shores: Parking alerts, tidewalkers

July 3, 2008 1:14 pm

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| Seen around town | Seen at sea | Transportation

At Don Armeni, parking restrictions kick in at 4 pm this afternoon, according to that sign and others. Not far away, parking is OK until mid-afternoon along California Way and Ferry Avenue, which have these signs:

Closer to the Alki business district, you’ll see no-parking signs which are actually for Saturday’s Seafair Pirates Landing extravaganza. (But don’t forget, as we’ve mentioned repeatedly, Alki and Harbor Avenues are going to be off-limits to all drivers but residents by late afternoon tomorrow – click here to read details.) More holiday coverage in the hours to come, and on our 4th of July events/infopage. Meanwhile, the lowest tide of the month bottomed out about an hour and a half ago; we surveyed the scene off Beach Drive across from Me-Kwa-Mooks:

Seattle Aquarium naturalists are out at Constellation and Lincoln Parks till 2 pm today and will be out again 11 am-3 pm tomorrow (-3.4 low tide at about half past noon tomorrow; monthly chart here).

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Amazing Space Needle lightning view from Alki

July 3, 2008 10:19 am

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| West Seattle weather

Just in from Susan Grossman at Singing Pixel Photography. She says she caught this image from Alki at 1:45 am today and adds, “It took snapping, oh, a photo every 60 seconds for 66 minutes to finally catch an image of an instance of all the lightning that was tearing around this morning.” (P.S. The latest official “forecast discussion” suggests it’ll be dry, with some cloud breaks, by fireworks time tomorrow.)

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Statue of Liberty Plaza update: Construction starting shortly

July 3, 2008 9:46 am

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| Alki Statue of Liberty | West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

(fall 2007 photo by Mark Bourne)
Today’s weather gives us one more chance to use that photo (as we did in rainy early June). If you are near the Alki Statue of Liberty today while tidewalking (very low tide @ 11:40 am), tomorrow for the fireworks, or Saturday for the Seafair Pirates Landing, take a last look because this section of Alki is about to change (as we first reported in this project update 2 weeks ago). Paul and Libby Carr of the Statue of Liberty Plaza Committee have just updated their sealady.org website but also included a few more details on the impending work in the following information e-mailed to WSB last night, including impending groundbreaking:Read More

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Natural fireworks: 3rd of July lightning show

July 3, 2008 8:33 am

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| Arbor Heights | Fun stuff to do | West Seattle weather

Thanks to Jill for that photo of the lightning early this morning – she’s in Arbor Heights (which also had one of the best views of the lightning a few nights ago too), and you can see a few more pix on her Flickr page. Meanwhile, with tomorrow’s holiday, we’re all watching the forecast – today looks soggy but tomorrow and Saturday may be better — lots to do all three days, including the Seafair Pirates Landing at Alki on Saturday and the Alki Bathhouse art show/reception tonight (5-8 pm), with a chance to browse creations like this (thanks to Jana):

More on the Events calendar page (and for tomorrow’s plans – with helpful holiday info as well as activities – on our 4th of July page).

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West Seattle, tourist destination: Concierges’ Junction tour

July 3, 2008 6:07 am

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| Seen around town | West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

It started with a bus ride on the 37 – met at California/Alaska by West Seattle Junction Association executive director Susan Melrose (in sunglasses, at left). Last night, more than a dozen concierges from downtown hotels came to The Junction to find out more about places they can recommend their guests visit. From the bus stop, they set off on foot:

Next stop, champagne at Clementine, whose owner Linda Walsh (facing the camera at left) hatched the idea with Georgia Blu owner Krista Means:

The Junction contingent got Russell Hathaway of the Seattle Hotel Concierge Association (and Hotel Vintage Park downtown) to assemble the “tour group”; along with visiting other spots (we didn’t follow the whole tour), they had dinner at Ama Ama. Interesting side note: Several of the participants said visitors thinking about moving to Seattle are the ones who most often ask questions about our side of the bay.

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Reader report: “Wonderful people in West Seattle”

July 3, 2008 12:55 am

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| West Seattle people

Out of the WSB inbox, from Sherry:

I just wanted to tell you about a couple of incidents in West Seattle where good people have saved me from great difficulty caused by my own carelessness.

A few weeks ago, I set my computer bag down at the rear of my vanpool van while waiting for another rider to arrive with a key for the van. When he arrived, we jumped in the van and drove all the way to Redmond for work. When I opened the back of the van, I realized that I had left my laptop bag on the street (with my employer’s laptop in it, of course!). I sped back to West Seattle and found a message on my answering machine from my dentist: the kind young man who found my bag had found an appointment reminder in the bag, and called the dentist’s office to ask them to contact me and give me his phone number so I could retrieve my computer bag.

My office mate, who is from India, remarked that that is what he loves about the United States: If you lose something, people will always return it. Weeeelll, not necessarily, I said. I was very lucky that an honest person found my bag.

Then, apparently [Tuesday] night my wallet, containing my debit card and a credit card, fell out of my purse, either in the parking lot at the Jefferson Square Safeway, or on the street outside my house. I noticed that it was missing, but thought it must have fallen out in my car. [Wednesday] morning when I opened my front door to go and retrieve my wallet from the car, I found the wallet in my mailbox.

I was able to thank the young man who returned my computer bag in person. Whoever the kind person is who returned my wallet, THANK YOU!!

We have some wonderful people in West Seattle.

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