day : 07/03/2009 10 results

Big day for work parties! Thanks to Josh Sutton for the pix and this report:

Rotarians Bill Fazekas (left) and Ryan Reese split firewood today at YMCA Camp Colman, where the weather held out most of the day. Located on Key Peninsula, Camp Colman has an almost-100-year connection to West Seattle, founded by families in the Fauntleroy area.

Ten Rotarians (and three of their kids) joined forty other volunteers who cleaned winter debris, spread woodchips on trails and prepped camp for schoolgroups and spring campouts. YMCA Camp Colman also offers summer camp and is taking signups now @ www.ymcacampcolman.org If you’re a Camp Colman alumni, you can find a group on Facebook. Also, the annual Goop breakfast is coming up on Saturday, March 28 at the Fauntleroy YMCA.

The Fauntleroy Y is part of the West Seattle Family YMCA, which is a WSB sponsor. One more photo, this one of the whole group:

Meantime, we’re proud to be a co-sponsor of the first-ever Winter Movies on the Wall series in The Junction, which kicked off tonight with “The Mummy” – preceded by a race that’s hard to explain – you just have to see it:

The winner took home a gift certificate for Square 1 Books in Jefferson Square. Two more Winter Movies on the Wall, coming up the next two Saturday nights – the original (Gene Wilder) “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” next Saturday 3/14, and “Napoleon Dynamite” on 3/21, showtime at West Seattle Christian Church‘s brand-new activity center at 7 pm, doors open 5:30 pm, bring your own chairs and donations for West Seattle Food Bank.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Police search for Gatewood prowlers

March 7, 2009 11:06 pm

| 3 COMMENTS

| Crime | Gatewood | West Seattle news

Received the alert from Shelley via Facebook, police searching for suspected prowlers right now in the 37th/Thistle vicinity (map) – she subsequently talked to one of the officers; read on for what she reports:Read More

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California Place Park design proposals: “Where’s the playspace?”

March 7, 2009 10:59 pm

| 29 COMMENTS

| California Place Park | West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The question came about two-thirds of the way through this morning’s design workshop — second in a series of 3 exploring possible changes at tiny California Place Park in North Admiral:

“We wondered what happened to the playspace — it’s gone,” said the spokesperson for one of the tables that had spent the previous half-hour reviewing and chronicling comments on the design proposals with which landscape architect Karen Kiest (photo above) had started the workshop.

That was no small question, for many reasons. The whole idea of possible changes to California Place Park, which currently is a triangle of grass and trees that some thought was part of the property of adjacent Admiral Congregational Church, began with a playground proposal.

It evolved to “natural playscape,” Kiest reminded the gathering of nearly 100 this morning after the “what happened” question, adding: “All of the concepts shown today do show how the park can feel bigger and have more uses … the areas that are called ‘soft spots’ could have a sandbox, a piece of art. We don’t see any play equipment.”

With that, a central part of the big controversy that has hovered over this little park seemed to shrink. But before we finish going down that road, for those who couldn’t make this morning’s workshop – which, as noted in our brief report earlier, was vastly calmer than the first one – we’ll show the three designs (thanks to Kiest for providing digital copies):Read More

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Saturday night notes: “Spring forward”; snow; door-to-door

March 7, 2009 7:02 pm

| 21 COMMENTS

| Door-to-door alert | West Seattle weather | WS miscellaneous

“SPRING FORWARD,” ANOTHER REMINDER: At 2 am, it’ll suddenly be 3 am, in the third year of early-arrival Daylight Saving Time. We’ll get the hour of sleep back on Sunday morning, November 1. Did you know Daylight Saving Time isn’t U.S.-only? Here’s a worldwide list.

WEST SEATTLE WEATHER WATCH UPDATE: “Snow showers” are still in the forecast, though things have been pretty calm since that hour or so of snow this morning (WSB coverage, with video, here). Around 6 pm, according to King County’s Twitter feed, Northgate and environs were getting hail. John sent us a note saying he saw SDOT treating The Bridge around 5 pm, he thinks with salt, although our understanding is that only deicer is put down pre-storm – we’ll see if we can find anything out. 8:43 PM UPDATE: Per comments, and Twitter, snow in various West Seattle locations – Morgan Junction, Myrtle Reservoir area, 21st/Juneau, Highland Park, The Junction — not here in Upper Fauntleroy so far, though. 9:01 PM: OK, *now* we have light snow – very fine crystal/flakes.

DOOR-TO-DOOR ALERTS: We’ve received two in less than 24 hours – first, we didn’t get to this one last night because of the Rite-Aid incident, but Renee sent us this note via Facebook (we’re WS Blog):

Twice tonight someone knocked on my door. I asked “who is it?” and got a reply “(inaudible)- glass company”. I replied “no thank you” the first time. (around 8:30pm) The second time someone knocked again around 9:50pm, when I asked who it was I got the same reply as first time along with someone trying my door knob! (and I mean really forcefully trying!) Thankfully I keep my dead bolt locked! Police have been notified.

To make matters scarier, Renee doesn’t live far from last night’s robbery/SWAT scene. Then tonight, we got e-mail from David, who wrote: “A group of young adults is doing the door-to-door subscription sales bit. They just came to our house, we’re on the 3700 block of SW Webster.” He notes that some of those types of sales teams have been known to represent “unscrupulous companies,” as has been discussed here before; we have a followup note to him to ask if this group had a license, as is required by City law.

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Mummy cupcakes, anyone? Movie starts at 7!

March 7, 2009 6:19 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| Fun stuff to do | West Seattle Outdoor Movies

Lora Lewis from Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) sent that photo as screening time draws nigh for the first-ever Junction Winter Movies on the Wall — “The Mummy,” 7 pm, West Seattle Christian Church activity center (on 42nd south of Genesee, around the corner from Hotwire), bring a chair and a donation for the West Seattle Food Bank (which will count extra since the Feinstein Challenge is under way).

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West Seattle weekend scene: Annual cleanup at Fairmount Ravine

March 7, 2009 3:10 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| Environment | West Seattle news | West Seattle people

Snow? What snow? A few flakes didn’t stop 15 hardy people from volunteering their time this morning for the annual — every year since 1993! — cleanup of Fairmount Ravine, which runs along Fairmount Avenue, including under the Admiral Way bridge. John Lang told WSB they were glad to find less trash this year, and not surprised to find a whole lot of spray-paint cans. (You can see some of the paint vandals’ handiwork in our photos from last year’s cleanup.) They’re also working to clear invasives like ivy from the big trees along the slope.

If you look really closely – that blue jacket is being worn by one of the volunteers who was all the way up the slope under the bridge when we stopped by. Tully’s and Admiral Safeway donated coffee, hot chocolate, and donuts. (Congrats also to everyone who volunteered in today’s other work parties, including Lincoln Park and Camp Long; we include work parties in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup every week – they’re usually on Saturday mornings/middays and a great way to kick off the weekend.)

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Update: Diver from Friday incident near Seacrest didn’t survive

March 7, 2009 1:54 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news

(WSB photo from Friday)
This was reported in comments on our Friday coverage, and it’s confirmed in this discussion on the Northwest Dive Club forum: The man who suffered some kind of health problem while diving near Seacrest yesterday afternoon — resulting in an emergency medic response that closed Harbor at Fairmount for a while — has died. This post from a friend who was there when it happened tells the whole story. Though the official cause of death is still pending a report from the Medical Examiner, which won’t be out before Monday, all current accounts say it was apparently a sudden health problem, not a diving equipment problem or other accident.

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Update: California Place Park design workshop #2

March 7, 2009 10:44 am

| 3 COMMENTS

| California Place Park | West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

ORIGINAL 10:44 AM UPDATE: The meeting room at Alki Community Center is standing-room only again as the second design workshop for the proposed California Place Park project (WSB coverage archived here, newest to oldest) gets under way. “Today is about concepts,” says landscape architect Karen Kiest as she begins her presentation of possible designs for potential improvements to the park. She has asked not to be interrupted (which she was last time). (15 minutes into the meeting, that’s only happened a couple times.) 11:12 AM UPDATE: Kiest has finished her presentation. The crowd stayed quiet and is now discussing the project in small groups. We have electronic copies of the four proposed options and will use them in our full report; here’s a PDF of what is being reviewed at the tables now, showing all four (plus a look at the “southern triangle” of SDOT-owned land that is southwest of the park and across Hill). 11:34 AM UPDATE: If you are near Alki Community Center you may see medics – someone is having chest pains in the lobby and 911 has been called. 12:04 PM UPDATE: The meeting ended at noon as scheduled. Much different than last time – no disruptions – tables had lots of suggestions and feedback – short round of applause at the very end. Most popular idea, reclaiming the northern section of the park parcel which apparently was paved over long ago and isn’t even currently recognizable as part of the park. Full story to come later. (We counted almost 100 people there, by the way, including two tables of very young kids working on art – also very quietly! – during the meeting.)

SATURDAY NIGHT NOTE: The full story is still in progress. Barring breaking news, will be done by 11 pm, likely sooner.

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West Seattle Weather Watch: Saturday morning snow

March 7, 2009 8:30 am

| 12 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

(refresh/scroll down for the newest updates)

(video added 9:18 am from outside WSB HQ)
FIRST REPORT, 8:30 AM: Just switched from rain to snow here in Upper Fauntleroy. Forecast links etc. to come. Photos, road reports., etc., very much appreciated as the day goes on if this continues – editor@westseattleblog.com and, if you’re not by a computer at some point, be sure to have 206-293-6302 handy. First photo in from Holly in Seaview:

Pamela from Nico and Zoe Toys shares this photo from upper Morgan Junction:

8:53 AM NOTES: As pointed out here the other day, we had late-March snow last year, so this is not so unusual. We wanted to note that there are MANY MANY MANY activities scheduled around West Seattle today, indoor and outdoor (here’s the direct link to the Saturday list on our West Seattle Weekend Lineup), and if any plans change because of the weather, please e-mail/call us so we can announce that here. One of today’s biggest non-entertainment events is the California Place Park design workshop at Alki Community Center, 10:30-noon, and tonight’s highlights include the first Winter Movies on the Wall showing, “The Mummy,” 7 pm at West Seattle Christian Church’s new activity center (doors open 5:30 pm, BYOC[hairs]).

9:04 AM: National Weather Service still says “accumulation” not expected to pass an inch, but “snow showers” are still in the forecast off and on for the next few days. Meantime, remember that as reported here late yesterday, King County promises to use Twitter and a blog-format site to get the word out about any Metro trouble – and just reported this:

We aren’t yet seeing any impacts to transit or roads in King County due to snow but we’ll let you know if it happens

You don’t have to sign up for Twitter to check updates online, as long as you have the direct link – for example, we’re at twitter.com/westseattleblog and King County is tweeting bus updates at twitter.com/kcnews. (Our latest Twitter update also appears in a box that’s in the lower section of the WSB sidebar.) We’re also on Facebook (as WS Blog), where someone just dubbed this round of snow “March Madness”! Funny, Cliff Mass posted half an hour before the snow started that it was still too warm for snow at sea level.

9:27 AM UPDATE: Roads are still bare/wet even up here (300′ or so). From Gatewood, NerdsEyeView author Pam sends this photo (frosted duck decoy):

If you need to check The Bridge and other key roads before heading out, remember the WSB Traffic page has cams and a link to area “traffic incidents” – go here.

9:58 AM UPDATE: We’re off to Alki for the park meeting, will report on any notable weather sightings along the way, but it’s REALLY lightened up here – likely to be off-on for a long time to come.

10:33 AM: Between Fauntleroy and Alki, barely a sign of snow. Even on big grassy areas like Alki Playfield (photo taken about 10 minutes ago):

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Back to West Seattle Weather Watch: Snow still possible

March 7, 2009 12:46 am

| 8 COMMENTS

| West Seattle weather

Thanks to Greg for sharing that photo of the Friday night sunset. Will the cloudbank behind it bring snow today? The National Weather Service “forecast discussion” late Friday night suggests the Eastside and North Sound are most at risk. But famous forecaster Cliff Mass says it could happen anywhere, maybe as soon as mid-morning.

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