West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
April is Disaster Preparedness Month, and with the help of West Seattle preparedness volunteers/advocates, we are gathering and sharing information every night so that by the time we get to May, you are READY FOR ANYTHING. Tonight: Another dose of practical advice – what to have under your bed in case disaster (particularly a big quake) strikes in the middle of the night. Excerpted from government sources, provided by the folks behind West Seattle Be Prepared:
When disaster strikes, it may be difficult to think as rationally and as quickly as you would like. The more procedures you have in place, and the easier they are to remember and implement, the more effective and efficient will be your response. We recommend that you keep these basic response supplies under the bed. That way, day or night, you’ll know where to go to get the essentials.
Store these items under the bed
• sturdy shoes – to protect your feet from broken glass, each member of the family should have shoes under their bed.
• work gloves, preferably leather – to protect your hands from broken glass
• hardhat – to protect you from falling objects like chimney bricks, and downed trees and branches
• flashlight & light sticks – essential for a nighttime response
• an OK / Help card, available from your local office of Emergency Management, or one that you prepare yourself.
• a few bandaids – to hang the OK / Help card in the window or on the front door
If you are an all-or-nothing personality type like we are – just remind yourself, you don’t have to get ALL of those items before you can store ANY of them – the shoes, for starters, you can do right now (unless you’re currently wearing the ones you’re thinking of). The others, get them as you can, and stow them. Meantime, our nightly reminders: Sign up for the 3 To Get Ready (WSB sponsor) freebies; know your Emergency Communication Hub; join the West Seattle Be Prepared group on Facebook. (Our archive of nightly preparedness features is here.)
(Photos courtesy Megan)
We received a couple inquiries about an incident in High Point tonight, and just as we started to inquire with the Southwest Precinct about it, the SPD media unit posted the story on its SPDBlotter site. Police say a 33-year-old man kidnapped a 19-year-old woman from 23rd/Jackson in the Central District and drove her to an apartment in the 6000 block of Lanham Place SW (map). He assaulted her, they report; she escaped and called 911. Officers got there fast, arrested the suspect, and got medical help for the victim, who was taken to a hospital. SPDBlotter says the suspect faces potential charges including kidnapping, assault, auto theft, robbery, and attempted rape. His vehicle was impounded; we received two photos from Megan, including this one:
Police also say the suspect and victim were not strangers, but they’re not sure “to what extent they knew each other.” ADDED 1:22 AM: Central District News crossreferenced the suspect through the city’s online business-license database and noted his address matched up to the one where this incident happened. Tracing that same trail, we note the license issued to him for taxi driving, at that address, expired at the end of 2008.
From tonight’s Westwood Neighborhood Council meeting at Southwest Community Center: First, a RapidRide update from Metro’s Paul Roybal. WNC’s Donn DeVore said some in the neighborhood had wondered how far the future bus service will go; Roybal said that the southernmost point will be across the street from Westwood Village near 29th and Barton in front of Roxhill Park. He said at this stop the bus will let passengers out, take a brief break for a couple of minutes, and then go north. Second – Renae Gaines from the Southwest Healthy Youth Partnership said some of its work is winding down because the grant has just a few months left; another one that’s expected by August will only cover programs in the 98116 (north West Seattle) zip code. Though underage drinking/drug use remains a problem just about everywhere, she said, funding for prevention programs is becoming scarce. But the problem will be the subject of a town-hall meeting at Seattle Lutheran High School on April 24. The third and final hot topic: The future P-Patch at 34th/Barton, with development funded by Parks and Green Spaces Levy money. Laura Raymond from the Department of Neighborhoods told the group that the site, which is Seattle Public Utilities property, is in the process of being transferred to DoN, and that is likely to take place within a month. Once the transfer’s complete, she said there’ll be a neighborhood planning meeting for design input on the 10,000-square-foot site, which she described as flat, sunny, and very favorable for gardening.
Keep up with the Westwood Neighborhood Council online at www.scn.org/westwood.
A couple days ago, the weather talk for the next couple days had to do with potentially strong wind. A different four-letter word has emerged in the latest forecast – maybe a bit of snow. The newly updated city forecast says higher hills may see a bit of wet snow tomorrow night and possibly showers Friday morning (and over 600 feet – which rules out even the city’s highest point at the Myrtle water towers – tomorrow morning). Just another Seattle spring – be ready for anything!
From the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor), we have word tonight that youth baseball/T-ball signups are wrapping up for ages 3-10 – there’s still room on some teams; you can sign up at westseattleymca.org until this Sunday, or in person at the Y’s Junction and Fauntleroy locations. Practices start the week of April 26; the season ends June 26. Meantime, another victory for the West Seattle High School varsity baseball team, now 6-1 on the season – we have the latest report from assistant coach Scott Meaker – read on for the recap!
The WSHS Varsity Baseball team hosted Bainbridge HS Tuesday afternoon at Hiawatha Sports Complex. The mighty hitting attack of the Wildcats overwhelmed the Spartans earning an 11-4 win. The Varsity is now 6-1 with their only loss coming to Bishop Blanchet, the number one ranked team in the state.
Freshman Sam Hellinger started the game pitching and had a terrific outing with 4 1/3 strong innings of pitching on 2 hits and 9 strikeouts. Sophmore Jeff Freeman actually earned the win by pitching 2 1/3 innings allowing only 2 runs, walking none.
In the barrage of 17 hits , sophmore Jeff Watkins led with a 4-for-4 performance hitting 2 HRs and 4 RBI. Senior Stephan Adams went 2-for-3 with a triple and scored 3 runs. Sophmore Tim Tinkler continued his hot hitting going 2-for-3 with an RBI, a stolen base, scoring 2 runs. Senior Trevor Martin also added a HR . The Varsity hosts Nathan Hale HS on Wed. at Hiawatha at 3:30.
The WSHS JV traveled to Bainbridge HS on Tues, losing 10-0. Freshman JT Snow pitched well, giving up 3 runs in 5 innings of work. There are no other highlights to report on this game! The JV travels to Nathan Hale on Wed. and hosts Hale’s JV at Hiawatha on Friday.
Thanks again to Coach Meaker for taking the time to provide these reports!
The fight to eradicate breast cancer isn’t won yet – but not for lack of fighting – and your help is needed in a big way. Two things to tell you about tonight:
WEST SEATTLE WALK: Evergreen High School student Anastasia is organizing a Breast Cancer Walk-A-Thon in West Seattle as her senior project. She says, “I hope to bring awareness to the community and help to fight this battle. I’m honoring my French teacher who passed away and my mom who is still fighting. Come join in the fight!” It starts at 10 am Sunday, April 18, at Keller Williams in The Junction and will end on Harbor SW near Salty’s. $20 to register, which gets you a T-shirt and refreshments. Sign up by e-mailing officer@lifeinbalancept.com or e-mail the registration form, with fee – the address is on the form here.
FASHION SHOW: Northwest Hope and Healing, led by West Seattle’s Shari Sewell, is getting ready for Style ’10, this year’s edition of the fashion show that raises money for NWHH’s work to help newly diagnosed breast-cancer patients. The event is April 29 at Showbox SODO, but many West Seattleites are involved, including boutiques Carmilia’s, Coastal and Sweetie. You can buy your tickets here.
ADDED 8:32 PM: Another event that’s coming up this weekend and is also a benefit for breast cancer – Dog Makeovers and Bake Sale for the Cure this Sunday at Muttley Crew Cuts, 9 am-4 pm. Here’s the Facebook event invite.
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli)
Big contingent from Chief Sealth High School at this morning’s West Seattle Chamber of Commerce annual awards breakfast – there to celebrate the first-ever “Westsider of the Year” honoree, basketball coach Colin Slingsby. From left, it’s athletic director Sam Reed, student athletes Daniel Davis and Tre’von Lane, principal John Boyd, Coach Slingsby, and Mary Davis (Daniel’s mom), who nominated the coach:
In his acceptance speech, the coach said he was proud to be representing Chief Sealth, and the many improvements it’s made – not just in sports. He also won the Seattle Times Coach of the Year award this past season. And though basketball season is over, his work isn’t – Sealth is now looking ahead to their much-lauded Summer Basketball and Life Skills Camp this summer, the 14th annual edition, for 2nd through 9th graders – you can see the brochure here.
Presenting the awards this morning was State Sen. Joe McDermott, shown in the next photo with WestSide Baby board member Anne Higuera (from Ventana Construction [WSB sponsor]) accepting the Community Hero Award on behalf of WestSide Baby executive director Nancy Woodland, who was on a long-planned family vacation:
Anne read a letter from Nancy, talking about keeping the nonprofit’s ship steady – but it turned into a speedboat! She was also lauded for her “boundless energy and good humor” while building the nonprofit that helps thousands of local families in need. Meantime, your co-publishers were honored to represent thousands of WSB’ers in accepting the Business of the Year Award:
That’s us with (center) Chamber board president Jerome O. Cohen. (The Chamber explained the award choices in its original announcement last month, which we published here.) Cohen also paid tribute during the event to departing board members Dawn Leverett of Windermere, Rico Smith of Rico’s Auto Buff, and Bill Hibler of West Seattle Internet:
The awards breakfast was put together this year by First Mutual Bank‘s Dotty Spadoni Hughes, who stopped for a photo with City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen:
And though we don’t have her in a photo, a shoutout as well to always-working-behind-the-scenes Chamber president/CEO Patti Mullen. Except for the annual awards breakfast, the Chamber meetings are monthly lunches, and in May, the guest speaker will be West Seattle-based entrepreneur Sunny Kobe Cook.
It’s on the WSB Events calendar but an extra shout-out might give you advance warning to go clean out your tool cabinet/garage/etc. – We last updated you in January about the West Seattle Tool Library, a Sustainable West Seattle project that’s getting close to reality. This Saturday, during West Seattle Nursery‘s 11 am-3 pm open house, you can bring a tool to donate, and get a full-day, 20%-off discount coupon for regularly priced WSN items, as long as the tool meets these qualifications: In working order; not gas-powered. (The Tool Library will open soon on the South Seattle Community College [WSB sponsor] campus.) The WSN open house features guest speakers too, on topics from orchids to chicken-raising – full details here.
Thanks, garage-sale fans! We now have almost 50 sales on the list for the 6th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, presented/coordinated by WSB, coming up Saturday, May 8, 9 am-3 pm,. If you’re new to this – it’s not one big sale, but instead MANY (close to 200 last year) sales big and small, all over the peninsula. Registration continues till April 22 (then we start mapmaking). Two sites have spaces if you don’t have somewhere to sell your stuff: There’s room for 20 in the Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) courtyard (but hurry! here’s the flyer). Also, C & P Coffee is a group space again this year. If you plan to sell in one of those spots but still want your own “ad” – up to 10 words about your sale – on the map, please register and pay as an individual, noting the group site as your sale address (each of those locations will otherwise simply be on the map as “site with multiple sellers”). Ready to register and be part of a fun day of shopping/selling all over West Seattle? Here’s the form; any questions, e-mail garagesale@westseattleblog.com.
In so many recent stories, the city’s budget challenges are the undercurrent, if not the main theme (example: our story from the last Parks Board meeting). The long process of honing a budget plan – and addressing the shortfall – includes stops for citizen input along the way, and the city has just announced two of them. Neither is in West Seattle but if you are passionate about an issue (parks? libraries? police? or?) you will want to know. The first is April 28th at the New Holly Gathering Hall, 7054 32nd Ave South (map), 5 pm sign-in, 5:30 pm hearing; the second, May 4 at North Seattle Community College cafeteria, same times, 9600 College Way North (map).
(Easel display from February reservoir-park meeting; photo by Dina Johnson)
As reported here in February, the third city meeting about the new park at the West Seattle/Westcrest Reservoir is set for April 24. Today, the city is sending official reminders about that meeting (here’s the flyer), which like the last one will be at 10 am on a Saturday morning at Southwest Community Center. We covered the first two meetings – here’s our report from December, and our report from February.
WEST SEATTLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AWARDS: This morning at Salty’s on Alki, the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce has its annual Awards Breakfast. This year’s honorees were announced last month: Nancy Woodland from WestSide Baby is the Community Hero of the Year, Chief Sealth High School basketball coach Colin Slingsby is Westsider of the Year (a new award), and WSB is honored to be accepting the Business of the Year award. The event starts at 7:30 am.
SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL: Reps from community councils and other major organizations around western West Seattle – what the city calls the Southwest District – meet at 7 pm in the South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) board room. The agenda includes City Council President Richard Conlin and a presentation/discussion of the Admiral Neighborhood Plan, as the SWDC starts a months-long look at the neighborhoods in its jurisidiction that have such plans.
WESTWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: Three big topics on the agenda for this group, 7 pm at Southwest Community Center: An update on Metro’s RapidRide and how it will serve the Westwood area; the future P-Patch at 34th/Barton; and teen drinking. More at the WNC site, www.scn.org/westwood.
(ADDED) FINE FILMS AT FRESHY’S: Screening tonight at Freshy’s Coffee in the Admiral District, 7 pm – “Jackie Chan Kung Fu!” as the announcement puts it – “Legend of Drunken Master.” Here’s the Facebook event invite.
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