Bulletin: Major milestone for Fauntleroy Schoolhouse purchase plan
Just last week, we checked in with Kevin Wooley of the Fauntleroy Community Service Agency for this update on the longrunning talks to buy the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse and some or all of its land from Seattle Public Schools, which put it up for sale as surplus property. Tonight, he just forwarded this announcement sent out by Kim Sheridan of Fauntleroy Children’s Center, which is based at the schoolhouse:
We are very pleased to announce that the Fauntleroy Community Service Agency has reached agreement with the Seattle School District on a term sheet for the purchase of the Fauntleroy School Building. The details of the term sheet were presented to the School Board Wednesday morning.
The purchase price for the school building and an additional 32,500 square feet in the existing paved parking lot and playground area is $1.825 million. We expect to secure the funding for the acquisition from a combination of City and State funds. The deal will close no later than August 31, 2009.
We have also agreed to continue discussions on an option to purchase the remaining playground space, as well an exploration of concepts for joint efforts for redevelopment of the back lot.
There are many steps still to come, but we wanted to take a moment and share this exciting news with you. Thank you for all your support.
Denny/Sealth update: Meeting tonight; results from last night
Reminder that the school-district-organized Design Team charged with helping settle the future of the current Denny Middle School site meets 7 pm tonight at Denny, two days after the Westwood Neighborhood Council‘s meeting to discuss the community’s hopes for the site (WSB coverage here), once the school is demolished after its replacement is built on the Sealth campus. Meantime, the Departure Advisory Committee tasked with reviewing the district’s request for code “departures” as part of the Sealth/Denny consolidation — to enable less parking and more height — settled on a recommendation last night. Member Monica Kenny says the committee recommended approving the “departures” with a fairly sizable list of conditions, including signage, some street-parking restrictions in nearby neighborhoods, angle parking on the east side of 27th between Thistle and Kenyon, and providing neighbors with a “master calendar” of major events planned at the school. They’ll meet again Oct. 20th to make a final decision.
Southwest Pool update: Still on track for Nov. 1 reopening
Almost four months after Southwest Pool (map) closed for major renovation work, it’s almost done. We took you behind-the-scenes for a preview of the work back in June; then in August, we reported the original reopening date had been pushed back about a month, to November 1st. This week, we checked back with Parks Department project manager Garrett Farrell to see if West Seattle’s only indoor municipal pool was still on track for reopening then – short answer, yes; long answer follows:
We are making great progress toward the November 1st opening and we still have a lot of work to do.The rains last month had some impact but the contractor has made up a little of the lost time.
The main pieces of equipment are in place (you can see the big gray box has moved from the parking lot to the roof) and we are busy connecting wiring, piping and ductwork so everything can be checked out. The next three weeks will be critical as we basically take the wrappers off everything and make sure fans turn the right direction, boilers boil, and pumps pump.
In the meantime, West Seattle has private indoor pools at the WS Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) and Allstar Fitness. There’s a county-operated pool in White Center, Evergreen Pool.
Sanislo Elementary “officially” celebrates its new sidewalks
That video clip shows one of the most crowded, and liveliest, ribbon-cuttings we’ve ever seen, and after all these years in media, we’ve seen our share. Sanislo Elementary School (map) students joined Mayor Nickels – and other city officials including SDOT boss Grace Crunican, who like Nickels is a West Seattleite, plus City Council Transportation Committee Chair Jan Drago, as well as reps from the pedestrian-advocacy group Feet First – to celebrate the new sidewalks leading up Myrtle to Sanislo. We first showed them to you as work was finishing up in August; here’s how they look today – this is the view eastward down Myrtle:
At today’s event, Sanislo Principal Debbie Nelsen introduced one of her fifth-grade safety helpers, Miles, who talked about the difference the new sidewalks have made:
None of the five schools listed this morning as getting safety improvements next year is in West Seattle, though Concord isn’t far away; here’s the official city news release with the full list. Councilmember Drago noted that the improvements along Sanislo walking routes also included the nearby staircase down to Delridge, which she took us to have a look at (note the new lighting fixture at right):
That’s the same staircase City Council members visited eleven months ago as they announced a new emphasis on pedestrian safety (WSB coverage, with video, here). Today, meantime, Drago even brought along a favorite walking partner — her 19-year-old “grand-dog” Nicky, who recently came to live with her and, she said, successfully completed his first circumnavigation of Green Lake before they came to the Sanislo event:
The mayor also announced more schools in line for pedestrian improvements next year; more on that, and more video from this morning’s event – including a student’s speech! – coming up.
“Walk This Way” Day: Alki Elementary walkers get high-level help
That’s one of many “official” photos taken as what turned out to be a crowd more than 50 strong celebrated Walk This Way Day – part of Walk to School Month – this morning with a stroll from Bar-S Playfield (map) to Alki Elementary (map) — accompanied by Mayor Nickels, in the first of two West Seattle school appearances this morning (the second was at Sanislo Elementary; more on that in our next report). The morning’s events started with the young walkers – and the mayor – learning a chant from Deb Will (a child-safety educator from Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital) representing Safe Kids, which (along with FedEx) offered raffle prizes and stickers to participants:
Nancy Woodland from WestSide Baby, which often partners with Safe Kids (including car-seat safety checks back on Stuff the Bus Day), was there too:
Then, with the crowd continuing to grow in size – including police and fire escorts (with Engine 29 alongside), they were off, led by Allison Carver of the Alki Elementary PTA:
After walking up the south side of Admiral to the crossing-guard-staffed intersection at 59th, the walkers arrived at Alki Elementary, where an outdoor assembly followed.
If you’re an Alki Elementary parent, look for safety info coming home via “kid mail” today, because of today’s activities; there’s a PTA meeting tonight too, 6:30 pm at the school, with a different kind of safety — Internet safety — on the agenda.
West Seattle Crime Watch: Does this car look familiar?
That photo comes from Helen, who wonders if anybody happens to be “missing” this abandoned car, which turned up overnight (open trunk and all):
I live in the 5900 block of 18th Avenue SW (map), and as I set out to go to work, I saw a car in front of my house this morning. Turns out that my neighbor across the street and 3 or 4 houses south of me had his van stolen around 5 am today. A police officer was there taking a report, and told me he’d run the plates on the car in front of my house, but we all felt it was highly likely that it was stolen.
No word on that yet, but we thought we’d run the pic in case you or somebody you know is looking for that car.
Libraries in the budget crosshairs again? A plea for help
Got this from West Seattleite Beth Martin Quittman with Friends of the Seattle Public Library, which is asking again for support to beat back the budget ax:
The Friends of the SPL have an urgent request for support for the library. The library’s collections budget has been severely cut in the Mayor’s most recent budget. There is a 2.2 million dollar shortfall – this in the face of registrations that are up and a growing city population. The library’s collection budget is still at less than 2002 levels.
The collections budget is what is used for putting materials on the shelves. When it takes six months to get a book that you are waiting for, the shortfall in the collections budget is the reason why!
The Friends are asking for support from the public to let City Council members know how important the library is. People can write letters, send e-mails, or best of all attend the Council meetings …
There’s lots more information about this at the Friends’ blog, friendsofspl.wordpress.com – including specifics on hearings tonight and later this month, and how to send e-mail that would be considered “official testimony” if it’s received at a certain time (more on that here).
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