Fauntleroy YMCA drop-in child-care program closing TFN
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Two West Seattle parents contacted us to share this news: Parents who use the Kids Corner drop-in child-care program at the Fauntleroy YMCA (WSB sponsor), which is based at Fauntleroy Church, got word today that the program is closing after this Wednesday. A letter from West Seattle YMCA branch executive Josh Sutton explains, in part:
You may know the church will be going through a significant remodel beginning in December and lasting through May. During this time some YMCA program spaces and access will be limited, and we expect overall use of the facility will likely decrease.
To promote child and staff safety, the Seattle Y has a 2-staff requirement at all times for children’s programs. While our staff and volunteers have done much work to improve the draw of the Fauntleroy Y’s Kids Corner, it does not sustain the number of visits per day that would keep it viable through the remodel. … Programs will remain closed for the duration of the remodel, and we will assess long-term decisions in the spring.
The letter also notes that for the duration of this, the West Seattle Y location in The Triangle “will be open to all Fauntleroy Local members at no additional cost,” and that the Triangle location offers 50+ hours of drop-in family programs. Sutton was at the Fauntleroy location much of today and plans to be there again tomorrow morning to answer questions. He told us the Y “weighed a lot of options, and came to this.”
Dreaming of an Opportunity Fund park project? 2 updates
Two meetings tonight, both involving the Parks Department – we’re writing up the quick highlights of the second Delridge Playfield meeting shortly, but first, a few notes from Pete Spalding on the Parks and Green Spaces Levy (which is funding the playfield work) Oversight Committee meeting downtown: Both involve the levy’s Opportunity Fund, a chunk of cash set aside for neighborhoods and others to pursue park projects that weren’t specified in last year’s levy. First, Pete says the committee approved the criteria for projects pursuing a share of that money, without major changes from the draft criteria; second, a West Seattle meeting is scheduled so that potential applicants can get technical assistance – if you’re thinking about pursuing an Opportunity Fund project, mark your calendar for January 7, 6:30 pm, High Point Community Center.
2 more Board Game Afternoons planned at Southwest Library
Just out of the WSB inbox, from Julie Enevoldsen of Friends of Southwest Branch Library:
Friends of Southwest Branch Library invite all ages of board game enthusiasts, casual players, and anyone interested in learning a board game to our next two Board Game Sunday Afternoons, December 6th and January 10th, from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. in the meeting room upstairs at the branch (9010 35th Ave. S.W.).
Members of the Friends plan to bring a variety of board games and will be available to assist with learning to play them. (Examples? At our last Board Game Afternoon, people played a Catan game, a Ticket to Ride game, and a couple of word games and two-person strategy games.) If you have a board game you’d like to play or teach, please feel free to bring it.
Families with children old enough to enjoy board games are welcome; we request that parents consider their child(ren)’s temperament in deciding whether they would enjoy this event, and plan to attend with their child(ren). We are unable to provide child care for this event.
To let us know you’ll be attending, what games you’d like to play, learn, or bring, or for questions, please contact us at swt-friends@wlonk.com. Drop-ins are welcome, but we can plan better if we know you’re coming!
This event is sponsored by the Friends of Southwest Branch Library – which had a pilot Board Game Afternoon earlier this fall.
West Seattle (and/or West Seattleite) scenes: Catching up
Alki Point’s Guy Smith – known most recently for the tale of the newly returned brant as well as for the Joy D. Smith Wildlife Raft – photographed the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis this morning as it headed back to Bremerton. Further east along the shoreline, we stopped by the West Seattle/Alki Wildlife Habitat Project demonstration garden weeding/planting party on Saturday morning.
If you hadn’t guessed from the photos, the garden’s at Seacrest:
Now to the rainforest – actually, Arbor Heights second graders doing a rainforest ballet as part of a recent event at Pacific Northwest Ballet:
Teacher Angie Nall explains the McCaw Hall performance: “Kayti Bouljon, Manager of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Community Education Programs, led Arbor Heights’ students in a 2-month study of dance that connected ballet with a rainforest unit. What culminated was a rainforest ballet!” Not far from there, last week a group of West Seattle moms and babies were at Seattle Center to join in a call for action against toxic household products:
Those are some of the moms and babies in the West Seattle Stroller Strides group. Proprietor Athena Frederick says more than 40 Stroller Strides moms from around the city showed up to join in the “Million Baby Crawl” event – she shared photos including this one of West Seattle rocker Chris Ballew, performing his family-friendly music as Caspar Babypants:
Followup: Comcast HD additions Tuesday in West Seattle
Four weeks ago, we wrote about Comcast‘s latest TV changes in West Seattle, including a plan to add HD channels on November 24th. The other night, “bl@ster” added a comment to that story wondering if that date – tomorrow – was still on. We checked with Comcast’s Shauna Causey (a West Seattleite), and she says the engineers confirmed to her that the channels should be up and running in WS by 9 am tomorrow. “If they have an HD TV, HD set-top box and a package that includes HD channels, they’ll automatically get the channels,” she adds. (What they are, was detailed here.)
Thanksgiving coupons on WSB: Dinner discount; coffee freebies
Quick note about Thanksgiving coupons added to the WSB Coupons page, where six WSB sponsors now have special offers – $5 off when you let PCC Natural Markets do the cooking for Thanksgiving, and four newly added coupons for Hotwire Coffee – two for free drinks Thursday-Sunday, two offers that are good from Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve. See the Coupons page here – and note, we have a special link there for printing the holiday coupons on one regular sheet of paper, so you don’t waste paper printing out the header and the sidebar. (Speaking of Thursday coffee, we are almost done checking to see who’s open on Thanksgiving – Hotwire’s there 8 am-2 pm – and we’ll add the list to the WSB Holidays page as soon as it’s done.)
Update: Dow Constantine to outline 100-day plan at swearing-in
Update on the plan for tomorrow’s ceremony to swear in West Seattleite Dow Constantine as King County Executive – he’ll also announce his “100-day plan”:
King County Executive-elect Dow Constantine will be sworn in as the eighth County Executive in the history of King County’s charter form of government on Tuesday, November 24, in ceremonies at the former First United Methodist Church, a downtown sanctuary and landmark he helped save from demolition.
King County Elections is scheduled to certify the results of the November general election on Tuesday.
Immediately upon being sworn-in, Constantine will outline plans and initiatives for his first 100 days in office.
The ceremony and speech will be held:
Tuesday, November 24
4:00 p.m.
Daniels Recital Hall
Fifth and Marion Street [map]
People elected in November aren’t usually sworn in till January, but because of the nature of the transition before him – Ron Sims leaving before his term ended, Kurt Triplett taking over till the election – Constantine takes office tomorrow. With the ballot count almost final, Constantine’s victory has a 19-point margin – 59% of the vote, to 41% for Susan Hutchinson; in raw numbers, he got 101,000+ more votes than she did.
West Seattle Holidays updates: More info; more ways to help
We’re updating the WSB West Seattle Holidays page daily – everything holiday-related in West Seattle and vicinity that we’ve heard about, seen, been told about, etc. – and wanted to mention some of what’s been added: For starters, 
the West Seattle Junction Association now has more details about what you’ll find at Hometown Holidays celebrations in December – our links are updated, and this one takes you directly to the HH info page on the WSJA’s newly remodeled/expanded website. Also, the events we’ve added – thanks SO much to everyone who’s sent information! – include not only more holiday fun (more holiday-music performances, for starters) but also additional ways to help: Two involve Barnes and Noble, which has the ongoing Page Ahead drive (buy and donate at the store) and also a Bookfair this Friday-Sunday to raise money for West Seattle High School Grad Night (voucher # is on the Holidays page); Dec. 2, you can make tree ornaments in a drop-in workshop that’s benefiting Scholastic Journeys, helping educate Third World kids; Dec. 6, First Lutheran Church of West Seattle has a St. Nicholas Faire, a fundraising bazaar on behalf of West Seattle Helpline and West Seattle Food Bank. And did we mention the Full Tilt Thanksgiving potluck, in addition to The Hall at Fauntleroy and West Seattle Eagles free dinners on Thursday? Keep checking the Holidays page for new highlights – and let us know what we’re missing – our whatever-works-for-you contact options (e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, phone, text) are all here. (2008 photo of a Pigeon Point hummingbird, from Jim & Laurie)
West Seattle Crime Watch followup: Burglar pleads guilty
It was one of this fall’s most memorable Crime Watch stories – a Gatewood burglary victim (who subsequently identified himself here as “burglarbustindad“) 
followed a hunch to a supermarket Coinstar machine, where he found the 19-year-old who’d broken into his house, cashing in the change from BBD’s son’s coin jar. Commenting on another story last Friday, BBD disclosed that the person he caught, Kenneth Shouting, had pleaded guilty and been sentenced. Checking court records this morning, we found that indeed, Shouting pleaded guilty last month to residential burglary and was sentenced to 12 months plus 1 day in prison, which is within the “standard sentencing range.” According to court documents, Shouting’s past record included a conviction for attempted burglary almost two years ago – a case from Normandy Park, in which he also pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to serve less than 3 months behind bars.
Update: Demolition starts at Link site in The Triangle
(Photo courtesy Harbor Properties)
As reported here yesterday, construction is beginning for Link, Harbor Properties‘ 200-unit, 14,000-square-foot-commercial building along a block of 38th running north from Alaska (map). Harbor says the former school building in the photo above and the former auto shop on the site’s south end will both be demolished over the next 10 days; other equipment, including excavation gear, will arrive within a week; the big “tower crane” should be up by mid-January; construction is projected to last about 17 months. ADDED 1:30 PM: Teardown work started on the north side almost simultaneously – here’s how it looked by midmorning:
We have a few more project details to add shortly, after a followup chat with Harbor execs.
County budget: Local program endangered by 1 cut’s side effect?
Later today, the King County Council is scheduled to adopt the county’s 2010 budget. One component of the most recent budget revisions could endanger programs the county doesn’t even pay for, according to a rep for the King County Food and Fitness Initiative – they explain that the county budget calls for the complete severing of King County’s ties to the Extension program (which also involves Washington State University), because the small amount of remaining funding was cut completely. (Originally, the budget called for 84% less funding than the year before – leaving about $100,000 – but that was cut late last week.) They explain that if Extension is left with NO financial relationship with King County, they will lose a $1.2 million grant just offered to the Food and Fitness Initiative (which has been sponsoring programs in West Seattle and White Center), and they will be unable to offer even volunteer-run programs such as Master Gardener and 4-H. They say even a tiny amount of funding will keep the county’s Extension ties alive and allow them to continue pursuing outside grants. So they’re asking for support in hopes the budget will be amended before this afternoon’s scheduled final vote by the council, whose contact information is here.
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