West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Yes, those geese AGAIN, though with a dramatic background this time – West Seattle photojournalist Matt Durham from mattdurhamphotography.com shares the photo, looking south toward Salty’s. (Personal aside: We are just back from there, where tonight we helped celebrate the wondrous wedding of our dear friend Shep, a West Seattleite who we’ve known since the year he, and we, arrived here, 1991. Mazel tov!) Now, from outside to inside:
The Kenney hosted its annual fundraising brunch today – that’s CEO Kevin McFeely circulating in the photo above – the main goal was to raise money for a fund that helps residents stay at The Kenney even if they outlive their financial reserves.
It’s not on the Camp Long website yet, and it’s not available in print till sometime next week, but you can see the summer brochure for Camp Long (and other Seattle Parks Environmental Learning Centers) right now — Sheila Brown from Camp Long sent it via e-mail today and we’ve uploaded it here.
Five of the six candidates for Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival (meet all six here) posed for us on Seacrest Pier this morning as the West Seattle Sportsmen’s Club Kids’ Fishing Derby was in its final moments, just yards away. Once again this year, brilliant sunshine for WSSC members to host a temporary fishing pond at the pier for kids 12 and under – we caught two catches on video:
The next scheduled Hi-Yu event is the American Legion Candidates’ Reception on June 11th; the Hi-Yu float, meantime, fresh off its award-winning Sequim appearance last weekend (WSB coverage here), was scheduled to be up north again today, at the Rhododendron Festival Parade in Port Townsend.
(Sen. Joe McDermott at left, Rep. Eileen Cody at right)
By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
After a particularly brutal legislative session, lawmakers meeting with a friendly and appreciative audience at Jim Wiley Community Center in White Center said this morning they were really happy to be home from Olympia.
Lawmakers from the 34th District — Sen. Joe McDermott (D-West Seattle), Rep. Eileen Cody (D-West Seattle) and Rep. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island) — invited their constituents to a Town Hall meeting to review the wins and losses of the session, some of which they had also discussed at the 34th District Democrats‘ meeting last Wednesday (WSB coverage here).
While budget cuts were the theme for most of the session, there were some wins, including $1.4 million for the Greenbridge Early Learning Center project, and $2 million for the High Point Neighborhood Center.
Six weeks after two city councilmembers joined a Delridge delegation on a tour of problem properties – long-vacant houses used by squatters, or otherwise threatening neighborhood health and safety (WSB coverage is here and here) – we have two updates. First, 4117 Delridge (map) – where we got the above video clip during the April 3 tour, with North Delridge Neighborhood Council‘s Mike Dady talking about the frustration that site has caused him for years – now has a demolition permit, issued just yesterday. (We saw a work crew at the site earlier today, though no backhoe in sight.) The permit says demolition will resolve a DPD case. Meanwhile, one of the councilmembers who joined in the tour, Sally Clark, mentioned her action plan in her monthly newsletter that’s just been e-mailed out:
… As a result of the neighborhood’s advocacy we will be looking at a change in the land use code to allow quicker demolition of a single family house. Right now you can’t demolish unless you have a plan and permit to rebuild. This concept makes sense in protecting housing stock and should be retained for multi-family areas. In single-family zones the requirement prevents owners who want to do the right thing from removing derelict homes. It’s not a perfect solution. I would rather see these houses reclaimed and lived in, but for some neighbors the wait for the perfect solution has already been too long. Watch for PLUNC to take up this idea this summer. If you’d like more information or have feedback about the idea of allowing demolition of single-family homes without a new building permit in hand, please contact me.
Here’s Councilmember Clark’s contact info; PLUNC is the Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee that she chairs — track its meetings and agendas here. Councilmember Tim Burgess was on the tour too and promised at the time to pursue a proposal to make property owners more accountable, though it hasn’t come up yet before the Public Safety (etc.) committee he chairs.
There’s a lot more to being a good landlord/property manager than collecting the rent checks. With that in mind, Seattle Neighborhood Group joined WSB as a sponsor to get the word out about its one-day workshop for landlords/property managers – coming up this Wednesday in West Seattle. Here are the details:
Property manager or landlord? Searching for practical tips on managing your rental property? On May 20, an affordable, effective workshop is scheduled in West Seattle.
Topics include:
· Screen applications legally and effectively
· Create strong, enforceable rental agreements
· Attract and retain reliable tenants
· Prevent unwanted activity
· Motivate residents to report problems to you before they escalate
· Enhance physical spaces to make them safer & more secure for people who use them
· Recognize signs of drug and criminal activity
· Work with police and other resources to address trespass andillegal activity
· Recent changes in landlord/tenant law
· Crisis resolution, notices and evictions
The workshop is scheduled 8-4:30 Wednesday May 20 in West Seattle, at 2300 SW Webster (at Delridge Way SW), in the community room of the Southwest Precinct. At 8 AM, participants begin signing-in and pick up materials and a continental breakfast. At 8:30 AM, the workshop will start. Cost for the day is $25, including manual. Lunch: BYO or in the neighborhood. The workshop will end at 4:30 PM. Participants will receive certificate of completion. To pre-register, go to: www.sngi.org/landlord_register.html (through PayPal). For more information, contact SNG. E-mail lois@sngi.org or call 206-323-9666 / 206-323-3150.
The online brochure for this workshop can be seen here.
If you have a little more time to browse WSB this weekend and don’t routinely go off the main page, a couple things of note … In the WSB Forums, Wilson writes to let everyone know about the Good Samaritans seen in action, and Rockergirl kicked off a discussion that has nothing to do with West Seattle but has drawn lots of replies, looking for a “great place to stay in Las Vegas.” Other areas of our site off the main page with frequent updates include the More page (WS-relevant news links from citywide/regional sources PLUS the newest WS links from almost all Craigslist categories), the Blogs page (pointing to the newest updates from 100 WS-based writers) and the Twitter page (recent “tweets” from people mentioning West Seattle, plus a direct link to our “tweets”). All three of those pages automatically fetch updates from their sources continuously, so there’s always something new.
That’s a photo from last year’s West Seattle Sportsmen’s Club Hi-Yu Kids’ Fishing Derby; this year’s edition happens this morning at Seacrest, 8 am-11 am. Kids through age 12 are welcome – it’s free – and you get to keep your catch. Or — perhaps you and your family are in the market for a pet?
That’s Riley, a “senior dog” who needs a new home. Animals First Foundation is scheduled to bring Riley to the Furry Faces Foundation plant sale today (raising money for animal rescue), 10 am-4 pm (tomorrow too) along with info about other pets AFF has available (more into cats? they’ll be at the plant sale tomorrow). Lots of info about the sale and the pets can be found here (and the book-signing!). That’s one of THREE big plant sales today, by the way, along with the sale at Sound Yoga (WSB sponsor) to benefit the American Cancer Society and the sale at Tibbetts United Methodist Church. Not interested in plants, pets, or fishing? LOTS more happening – including state legislators’ Town Hall in White Center (which has a big community cleanup today too) at 10 am, The Kenney‘s big brunch fundraiser at 11 am, and many entertainment options … click here to go directly to the Saturday section of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup.
That’s the subject line of e-mail just in from Betsy Hoffmeister of North Delridge — sent not only to alert folks to possible trouble ahead, but to explain what many might not find out about till morning:
Any friends on 26th Ave W/Graham SW area [map] or possibly Snake Hill area or even up in High Point who wake up to property crime, vandalism, or broken windshield/windows are invited to join our police report. At 1:30 a.m. I was awakened by loud voices. My husband had watched a group of young people walking south on 26th yelling at each other. This group was on the bridge across Longfellow Creek yelling, hitting, and carrying on. We reported it to the police who despite my directions were there in seconds; when we went outside we saw that they had jumped on our windshield and shattered it. I wouldn’t be surprised if every windshield on the street is in a similar condition; we didn’t see them do it, so there’s no proof, but if the cops care they could measure footprints cause there’s a huge one in the dew on our car.
Lest you have any doubt – if you hear or see something/someone suspicious, police have reiterated at recent meetings, it IS the right thing to do to call 911 as soon as possible.
ORIGINAL 1:57 AM REPORT: Every so often, somebody e-mails to ask what the deal is with Cavvy’s, the never-open (yet not-empty) West Seattle store shown above in Google Street View, 5251 California SW, between Ephesus restaurant and Rick’s Barber Shop. Just half an hour ago, we got the tip from Rick himself – that Cavvy’s is supposed to open at 10 am today “after a mysterious 13-year hiatus … Everything will be on sale so shop early and shop often.” (Yes, we love 1 am news tips, or any time 24/7 …
editor@westseattleblog.com … 206-293-6302 …)
10:40 AM UPDATE: Sign on the door as of a few minutes ago says “Not open yet.”
11:58 AM UPDATE: Rick says in comments it’s now looking more like Monday. … And half an hour later, an update: Tuesday.
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