West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Porterhouse, the new restaurant/pub in the old Blackbird Bistro space by Admiral Theater, is opening at 3 pm Wednesday – just got that confirmed from a staffer. First to report it was the West Seattle-headquartered Washington Beer Blog, via Twitter (@beerblog). Also, thanks to Sarah, who e-mailed us a little while ago about a note on Porterhouse’s door announcing the Wednesday opening. Our most recent update on Porterhouse was this story on July 22nd; our first report was June 5th. Toplines, from those previous stories: It’ll be open to all ages; food hours 11 am-11 pm for starters; menu “gastro-pub … pub food with a twist”; 25 taps (21 added to the space’s pre-existing four!).
(Alki, photographed this afternoon by Chas Redmond)
We’ll admit we’re enjoying the long-needed rain. The latest forecast suggests most of it will be over by tomorrow afternoon – and that would be in time for the first of THREE outdoor concerts in West Seattle in the next four nights: Tuesday night, it’s a city-presented Music in the Park concert outside the Alki Bathhouse, with the Toucans Steel Drum Band scheduled to play at 6 pm. Here’s a YouTube clip of the Toucans at Folklife in 2008:
The concert is sponsored by the Alki Community Center Advisory Council; no admission charge but you’re asked to bring a canned-food donation for local food banks. Then on Thursday, the fourth of six Summer Concerts at Hiawatha, presented by the Admiral Neighborhood Association (and co-sponsored by businesses including WSB), featuring the Elizabeth Carpenter Trio, 6:30 pm, also free – click the button to hear one of their songs:
By the way, concert organizer Katy Walum told WSB tonight that if there’s rain Thursday night, the concert WILL GO ON:
I have confirmed with Hiawatha CC that we are welcome to use their gymnasium in case of rain. We’ll try to make it as much like the outdoor venue as possible – bring your blankets and chairs, sit on the floor, bring your picnic dinner, etc. The stage will be set up at one end of the gym. The Elizabeth Carpenter Trio is a fantastic jazz trio with an incredibly talented female vocalist, and I hope that our lovely audience will not let a little rain deter them from checking out this week’s act. We may be missing summer, but we don’t have to miss summer music!
Again, that’s Thursday night at 6:30, at Hiawatha. Then Friday night in the Fairmount neighborhood, the second of four Summer Concerts at the Mount (WSB sponsor), with Maia Santell and House Blend, who performed in the series last year too – here’s our video from that show:
Showtime (also free) at The Mount is 6 pm; gates open at 5 and food/drink is available for sale. (Then, after all that great outdoor music, there’s an outdoor MOVIE Saturday night – “Pirates of the Caribbean” is next up for West Seattle Outdoor Movies on the Wall – but we’ll talk more about that later.)
We’ll be reminding you daily from here on out to get your ballot in the mail – we need the reminder too, as diehard oldschool in-person voters who are being dragged kicking and shrieking into the all-mail-voting age. 
Our favorite VOTE! reminders today come from Hella Bus, a site for the youngest voters, who they’re imploring to prove certain stats wrong. Meanwhile, the county King County Elections Department is publishing nightly 8 pm updates on how many ballots it’s received back — tonight’s update says they’ve received just under 8% so far: See the count here. (It’s broken out in various ways including cities and county-council districts; among the latter, the one including West Seattle – District 8 – has the second-highest percentage of ballots mailed back so far, 9.2%, second only to the 9.4% of District 6 (metro Eastside). If you would prefer to drop off your ballot rather than mail it, there are two nearby drop boxes, both available 24/7 till the voting cutoff time, 8 pm August 18th — the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center (5405 Delridge Way; map) and the King County Library‘s White Center branch (11220 16th SW; map) – here’s the full list of dropboxes countywide. Once you’ve dropped off or sent your ballot, keep checking here to make sure it’s been received. And if you’re still deciding how to vote – we’ve profiled many of the candidates and have a few more stories to run, plus a last look at the mayoral hopefuls; see what we’ve published so far, and watch for upcoming stories, by checking the WSB Politics coverage category (on the CATEGORIES list toward the bottom of the sidebar, where you’ll also find RSS links for each category, if you prefer to get your news via RSS). You should have received a voters’ pamphlet by mail as well as your ballot(s); if you want to find the guides online, here’s the city guide; the county/port guide links are here.
New information tonight from William Khazaal, son of Phoenecia at Alki restaurant owner Hussein Khazaal, who died suddenly over the weekend at age 63 (here’s our Sunday report, with dozens of memories and tributes in its comment section). William says his father’s funeral will be at noon tomorrow at House of Mercy in Covington (15004 SE 256th; map), and there will be a memorial celebration on Alki — with food — in the grassy area by the Bathhouse, right across from Phoenecia, this Friday night at 6:30; the family says the public is welcome at both events. Friday is a day when Mr. Khazaal’s family had hoped to be celebrating something very different: William says that would have been his father and mother’s 40th wedding anniversary.
That’s Shelly‘s beagle. She e-mailed WSB to share her story about an incident you might describe as “dog-walking rage” – someone literally lashing out at her and her dog when they stopped for a bio-break – read on:Read More
Two West Seattle items from recent Land Use Information Bulletin and Daily Permit Issuance lists:
“DETERMINATION OF NON-SIGNIFICANCE” FOR 33 HOMES NORTHEAST OF PUGET PARK: The street address is listed as 4741 15th SW, which isn’t on Google Maps‘ radar, so the closest we can link you is the same block of 16th, immediately west. The notice of this decision says the project comment period was originally open in 2006, but there’s an appeal window now that the DNS decision is in, deadline August 24th. You can see the notice, and how to appeal, here; the project page is here but doesn’t list any other permit applications so far. Now to the other side of West Seattle:
APPLICATION TO REMOVE 13 EVERGREENS (AND OTHER VEGETATION): The city has opened a public-comment period for that proposal in the neighborhood pictured above, at 8746 Fauntlee Crest Way in Fauntleroy (map). The online notice doesn’t specify the exact location of the 13 trees/2,800+ square feet of vegetation “to be removed in an environmentally critical area,” but does mention a steep slope and a “re-vegetation management plan.” We have a request for comment out to the landscape architect listed as the contact. The notice says comments will be taken through August 19th. The project page is here; no other permit applications are listed.
(Tip: Want to know what development activity is pending in your neighborhood? This DPD map is one way to keep tabs.)
The City Council just postponed a briefing it had been scheduled to receive this morning on the “Central Waterfront Concept” for the Alaskan Way Viaduct corridor – aka, the bored tunnel. But there’s new information on the project today: WSDOT has finally gone public with videos that were previewed to “working group” members earlier this summer. The one above takes you through the tunnel; this one, what the waterfront would look like after The Viaduct comes down (currently expected around 2016):
WSDOT discusses the simulations in more detail here. Meantime, the “working groups” are on summer hiatus, but scheduled to meet again in fall to review the latest proposals for not only the tunnel itself but also the transportation systems/networks/grids at both ends. (Here are links to graphics showing what they’ve been looking at so far.)
While West Seattle only has one RPZ – Restricted (formerly “residential”) Parking Zone – right now, potential changes in the rules have attracted attention here because other areas are interested in RPZs, particularly residential neighborhoods in The Junction. After a long round of hearings and meetings, the city has now released its “draft Director’s Rule” on RPZs, triggering a month-long public-comment period. See the 20-page proposal here; see the contact info for comments here. In the “draft rule,” page 14 is where you will find the proposed criteria for establishing a new RPZ, including these points:
An RPZ may also be initiated as part of a comprehensive neighborhood parking plan. For example, in 2005-2009, SDOT established 10 new or expanded RPZs with extensive community engagement as part of broader on-street parking management plans. …
The Director may establish a new or expand an existing RPZ when 75 percent of the curb space
parking on 10 contiguous blocks (20 block faces) is generally occupied, and when over 35
percent of those vehicles are used by non-residents. If these conditions are not met, SDOT will
formally notify the person(s) requesting the RPZ that it did not qualify. Even if these criteria are
not met, the Director has authority to establish an RPZ when the parking problem would be
ameliorated and the public interest would be served by creation of an RPZ. …
(The first is noteworthy for The Junction, since its “comprehensive neighborhood parking plan” review is still in progress.) September 8 is the comment deadline; contact info is on this page.
Just called SFD to get an update on the Saturday night fire at a house in the 3000 block of SW Manning (map), noticed by many not because it was a big fire — the flames and smoke did not last long — but because of the location on a slope between the south end of Admiral Way and the east end of the West Seattle Bridge. Spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen says it was accidental — a paint tarp with primer on it “spontaneously combusted” in the basement (as noted in our original report, neighbors had mentioned ongoing remodeling work at the house). SFD estimates the damage totaled $55,000. (Saturday night photo by Tony Bradley)
The spokesperson for the homeless encampment that calls itself “Nickelsville” — ensconced at Terminal 107 Park in West Seattle (July 24 photo at left by Christopher Boffoli) for two weeks now, after a month and a half at another WS site — sent out a media update last night with several new developments. Key among them: What they say is a new tactic, authorities serving what they describe as “eviction papers” to individual campers, ordering them to appear in King County Superior Court. Read on for the full update:Read More
| 21 COMMENTS