Quick update on tonight’s 2 big West Seattle meetings

At the mayor’s open house: About 50 people there (Southwest Community Center in Westwood) as of 7 o’clock. No formal presentation, the mayor really is just working the crowd, with a variety of other high-level city staffers there (including SDOT director Grace Crunican and deputy mayor Tim Ceis, both of whom are also West Seattleites). At the Water Taxi dock open house: Also about 50 people (Alki Community Center) as of this writing, including County Council Chair Dow Constantine. Easels are set up displaying the changes planned for the Seacrest dock, which will stretch it out beyond the existing “L” shape, to a “T” that would be perpendicular to the end of the current fishing pier; there’s also information about an upcoming study of parking in the area. A formal presentation is about to be made. 8:44 PM NOTE: We’ll be publishing separate stories on both events – which are now over.

6 Replies to "Quick update on tonight's 2 big West Seattle meetings"

  • sam January 15, 2009 (7:52 pm)

    the snow open house was really pretty useless. all in all the attitude was ‘yeah we know you had trouble getting around, were stuck, couldn’t get a bus, couldn’t get to daycare/ work’ but nobody there had a good response or said anything about what they would do next time.

    was asked about bus service. the response we got was, ‘yeah we know people had to wait an hour plus for a bus. at least your bus came- some people waited for a bus that never came.’

    we asked why there was bus bunching on so many occasions. (no bus for 1.5 hours, and then 4, all 10 minutes apart from each other). the response was, ‘we don’t know why and that happens sometimes even when there’s no snow.’

    we talked to SDOT about plowing. during the snow, we couldn’t get to a plowed arterial due to the topography. (our street is flat and wide, but the street leading to the plowed arterial is steep and curvy). the response was that SDOT would probably never plow residential streets.. even if the snow stops but is still on the ground, and the arterials have been plowed and salted.

    a waste of time

  • Ikonoklast January 15, 2009 (8:06 pm)

    I just got back and was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was pretty well done. All the city staffers I spoke with genuinely appeared interested and open to suggestions for change. It was very casual and relaxed and the conversations didn’t feel rushed which allowed us to really explore some of the topics. Plus lots of good, free stuff like flourescent bulbs and emergency flashlights. My wife remarked to me afterwards that that type of accessibility and openess would have never been possible in larger cities.

  • Ikonoklast January 15, 2009 (8:07 pm)

    In case I was not clear, I forget to say that I was at the Southwest Community Center event….

  • howie in seattle January 15, 2009 (9:49 pm)

    “mayor really is just working the crowd” is his way of being Obama-in-Seattle. His speeches suck but he can be mildly engaging 1to1. Look for the jeans and casual shirts, as soon as loses a few pounds.now he won’t say hi to me anymore.

  • Will on 56th January 15, 2009 (9:55 pm)

    There were at least 100 at the Water Taxi meeting.

    Some highlights:
    Docks to be reconfigured for safer landings in rough water. Also longer ramp so not as steep at low tide conditions.

    Recofiguration planned start end of September end at end of 2009.

    Year round service to begin early in 2010, but not in January. I think they want to work the bugs out of the new configuration in better weather.

    There is a plan for a new boat for the start of year round service.

    No increase West Seattle parking or shuttle service at this time.

    This is still interim location. They are still trying to abtain another location.

    Any additions or corrections from other attendees?

  • WSB January 15, 2009 (9:58 pm)

    Those are a few of the details we’ll be writing about; the parking study was interesting too.

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