day : 12/11/2010 12 results

Val shared that photo of what just materialized in a Westwood alley:

Attached is a picture of some more illegal dumping in the alley between Cloverdale and Trenton between 34th Ave SW and 35th Ave SW [map]. Only a dishwasher this time. GE was willing to give me the name attached to the serial number but it had never been registered with them. A report is being filed with the City.

Here’s the appropriate Seattle Municipal Code chapter, in case you’re curious. And if you need to report illegal dumping, there’s a hotline and an online report form – both available here.

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3 more days for West Seattle Volunteer Recognition nominations

November 12, 2010 10:44 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle people

They work like crazy to make our peninsula a better place – and they don’t get a cent for it – “just” the knowledge that they’re making a difference. A big difference. In hopes of spotlighting more wonderful West Seattle volunteers, the Southwest District Council and Delridge Neighborhoods District Council co-sponsor the WS Volunteer Recognition Awards twice yearly with WSB – and you have three more days to nominate a person or group for the next round! Tell the judges (who are from the district councils – we only co-sponsor, we don’t judge) all about your nominee(s) by using this online nomination form; the deadline’s Monday night, 11:59 pm. Thanks – and join us in The Junction (time TBA) for the honors during the first Hometown Holidays Sunday on December 5th!

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West Seattle finale for voting-rights centennial celebration

November 12, 2010 9:12 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle people | West Seattle politics

It’s a party that was a century in the making. All week, West Seattle Democratic Women have been celebrating the 100th anniversary of women’s voting rights in our state. Tonight, a gala at the West Seattle Golf Course is wrapping up the weeklong party that also included a film/discussion last Sunday (WSB coverage here) and the Day of Jubilation last Monday in Olympia. From left at tonight’s event – Seattle Port Commissioner Gael Tarleton and WSDW’s Beth Grieser, Lynne Ingalls, and Karen Chilcutt; Lynne and Karen co-chaired the event. Along the wall in the banquet room – photos of women currently serving this area and our state in elected office:

(Recognize everyone? From left, 34th District State Rep. and Sen.-elect Sharon Nelson, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, Gov. Chris Gregoire, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, and 34th District State Rep. Eileen Cody. The display on the table beneath the photos is headed, WE’VE COME A LONG WAY, the event’s theme.)

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Traffic alerts: Not in West Seattle – but might affect you

November 12, 2010 5:08 pm

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| Alaskan Way Viaduct | Transportation | West Seattle news

As the week comes to an end, SDOT has just sent a raft of traffic alertsL

THIS WEEKEND: Viaduct work will lead to closures on parts of Alaskan Way and Royal Brougham – which might affect you if you’re attending the Dave Niehaus tribute – here are details.

BATTERY STREET TUNNEL LANE CLOSURE MONDAY MORNING: Southbound lane, 9 am-noon Monday, details here.

VIADUCT REPAIRS NEXT 2 WEEKS: Southbound lane closures are scheduled to fix guardrail damaged in a recent crash – days may change but here’s what’s expected as of right now.

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Zero Race participants to stop in West Seattle tonight

November 12, 2010 4:17 pm

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| Environment | West Seattle news

Stars of that video are Team Trev, one of four teams currently in the Zero Race, an 80-day around-the-world renewable-energy-car race that’s officially stopping in Seattle tomorrow – but this team is due in West Seattle tonight, since participants are being hosted by local residents, as explained by Leah LaCivita via e-mail:

Founded by Louis Palmer, the first person to drive a solar-powered car around the world, the goal of Zero Race is to generate popular enthusiasm for the use of renewable energy sources for vehicles. In order to compete in Zero Race, vehicles must be propelled by an electric motor, drive approximately 156 miles at an average speed of 50 miles/hour, and carry at least two passengers. Vehicles are judged according to their speed, reliability, energy efficiency, design, safety, and utility to everyday life.

Zero Race began in Geneva, Switzerland on August 15 and will end when the teams reach Geneva again in January 2011. The race route covers a distance of 30,000 km, approximately 18,600 miles, across 16 countries. The North American leg began in Vancouver, Canada, and follows the West Coast until Los Angeles, where the route turns southeast and eventually enters Mexico. The race will also visit the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun at the end of November before returning to the European continent.

There are currently four teams in the race, hailing from Germany, Switzerland, South Korea and Australia. Team members and race organizers will spend the evening in private home throughout Seattle. Hosting them are members of the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association, (SEVA) a volunteer led educational organization that promotes the advancement and adoption of electric vehicles.

SEVA member Matt Schneider will be hosting Zero Race’s Team Trev at his Gatewood home this evening. In 2008, Schneider converted a VW Vanagon to electric power and has been commuting in it since then. He is looking forward to the visit as a chance to talk shop, but also to “check out a really cool car.”

Leah says their arrival time isn’t set yet – they’re heading down from Canada. She also says that from there, the Zero Race cars will continue to head south, stopping in Portland on Sunday. If you explore Team Trev’s website – you’ll see Trev is the car, and they’re the team from Australia.

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Anniversary celebration for West Seattle entrepreneur

November 12, 2010 3:58 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle people

Got that cameraphone photo from Jean Lange of Cucina Fresca – after team members at the company surprised its owner, Chef Brad Glaberson of West Seattle, with a seventh-anniversary cake today. It’s not his seventh anniversary of owning it, but rather 7 years since he joined the company in 2003. He bought it three years later, and now it produces 30 pasta and sauce products sold in 400 stores in 10 states. According to Jean, not only has Cucina Fresca moved to bigger production facilities twice, Glaberson now employs 40 people and is focusing on “green” business practices. He’s been a chef since age 19. This afternoon, his staff surprised him with his favorite kind of cake (yellow with chocolate frosting), to mark the anniversary. (Cucina Fresca is headquartered near Boeing Field.)

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Grocery workers’ contract talks to resume next week

November 12, 2010 2:49 pm

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| West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

If you are concerned about reports that tens of thousands of grocery workers around the region have voted to authorize a strike – you’ll be interested to hear that another round of contract talks has just been set by the workers’ unions and the companies with which they’re negotiating: Safeway, Albertsons, QFC, and Fred Meyer (represented together by Allied Employers). One of the unions, UFCW 21, says the two sides have agreed to sit down and talk again next week, on Thursday and Friday. They’ve been negotiating now for eight months and they say the sticking points include pay, health-benefit, and pension-cut proposals.

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West Seattle Autoworks: Welcoming a new WSB sponsor

November 12, 2010 1:12 pm

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| West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

Today we welcome a new WSB sponsor, West Seattle Autoworks, owned and operated by Todd Ainsworth and Chris Christensen, both longtime West Seattle residents.

(Todd and Chris with team member Nathan Huie)
West Seattle Autoworks has been open for a little over a month, but the staff brings more than 60 years of combined experience. Todd and Chris say they are working to earn each customer’s trust by giving straight, honest assessments of what work needs to be done. The shop is ASA-certified and the staff all have obtained ASE Master certifications. The work on all domestic makes, German, Japanese, and some select European makes. They also specialize in working on hybrid vehicles.

West Seattle Autoworks is the first garage in the neighborhood to offer oil changes using re-refined oil from Universal Lubes. Todd says that by using a re-refined product, we can cut down our use of imported oil by two barrels per oil change, and the re-refined oil only adds $10 to the cost of the average oil change. West Seattle Autoworks is open Monday through Friday from 8 to 5:30. You can make an appointment by phoning 206-257-5344 or you can book an appointment online by going to this page on their website. West Seattle Autoworks is at 7501 35th SW (here’s a map), and you can find them on Facebook too.

We thank West Seattle Autoworks for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news on WSB; find our sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here!

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West Seattle winners! Pete Spalding, Manuela Slye, SSCC

November 12, 2010 11:50 am

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle people

That’s Pigeon Point/Delridge uber-advocate/activist/volunteer Pete Spalding at left, with Delridge Neighborhood District Coordinator Ron Angeles, after Pete accepted a Seattle CityClub Community Matters Campaign “People’s Choice Award” last night at City Hall downtown. We were glad to be there to cheer him on; as you can hear in this clip, he has a long list of accomplishments –

But they didn’t even list everything he’s involved with right now in West Seattle – off the top of our head, we know of the West Seattle Food Bank, Southwest Precinct Advisory Council, Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council, Delridge Neighborhoods District Council, and on a city/regional basis, the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Project‘s South Portal Working Group and the Seattle Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee … Congratulations to Pete; we also thank CityClub for naming your WSB co-publisher team as one of the three other citywide People’s Choice Award winners. The CityClub event also unveiled the Greater Seattle Civic Health Index – showing that people in Seattle volunteer more than the national average, for example; relevant to our business, the report also shows that Seattleites trust neighborhood and national news sources more than those inbetween. The event also included a panel discussion on civic involvement with Pete and West Seattleite Lola Peters among the panelists. (Not familiar with CityClub? Read about it here.)

Another West Seattle winner to tell you about today:

Manuela Slye of bilingual Cometa Playschool in the Admiral District is being honored by KCTS 9 with the Washington State Exceptional Caregiver Award. KCTS says the awards “honor the practices of exceptional caregivers” and are “judged by professionals and experts in the field of early childhood development.” Manuela and the five other statewide recipients will be honored during a professional-development conference tomorrow, and they’ll receive on-air recognition from the public-TV station too. She is Cometa’s owner and lead teacher.

Also in the education department – South Seattle Community College made the finalists’ list for Top Education and Training Company as chosen during NWJobs.com People’s Picks 2010. Congratulations to all!

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City budget watch: Junction center, some Alki CC hours saved

November 12, 2010 10:01 am

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

The Seattle City Council Budget Committee (essentially the entire council) is about to launch into another round of votes on changes to the mayor’s budget proposal, leading up to a final vote that’s a little more than a week away. Among them, the issues that many West Seattleites have watched closely (mentioned again last night in our coverage of what Councilmember Sally Clark told the 34th District Democrats) – including canceling the closure of the Neighborhood Service Center in The Junction (budget doc here) and adding 15 more weekly drop-in hours back to Alki Community Center, explained here (for Alki and others) in an excerpt from that budget doc:

The increased Community Center drop in hours shall be in addition to the 15 – 20 hours of drop-in time included in the Mayor’s proposed 2011 and 2012 budget. Council intends that this additional funding will be supplemented by drop- in fees and class surcharges, in order to maximize the additional drop-in hours at these five Limited-Use Community Centers. These additional hours will permit these five Community Centers to be open for public use that includes access to gyms, classrooms, and other appropriate spaces at these centers.

Staffing effects of the Neighborhoods and Parks changes are not yet clear. You can follow along live in the video stream above (click “play”); the full agenda, with document links, is online here. We’ll add notes here as the morning goes on.

10:34 AM UPDATE: The community-center item has just passed – 8-1 with West Seattle-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen opposed, stopping the otherwise-fast-moving proceedings to express concern that the Parks Department did not work closely enough with communities and staffers before these changes were proposed – he expressed particular concern about a since-amended plan to move office workers into some non-WS facilities.

10:39 AM UPDATE: They have just voted to cancel the proposed closure of the Junction NSC, to only cut 3 Neighborhood District Coordinators instead of 7, and to restore $300,000 to the Neighborhood Matching Fund. Those were the last of the items we were closely watching, but the votes continue – then the council plans to meet the media at 1 this afternoon, with the mayor doing the same at 3.

10:56 AM UPDATE: West Seattle isn’t directly affected by this, but of note – the council has also just voted to cancel the mayor’s proposal for paid parking on Sundays (where it’s pay-station or meter-controlled).

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West Seattle Friday: Parks furlough; voting party; student dramas

November 12, 2010 9:19 am

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| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(Leaves along Harbor Avenue SW; photo by David Hutchinson)
It’s an unpaid-furlough day for many Seattle Parks workers, and that means most community-center programs aren’t in operation today, nor are swimming pools including Southwest Pool or environmental-learning centers including Camp Long … Interested in “green jobs”? There’s a forum today at Greenbridge presented by the Got Green? project, as a possible prelude to job training – noon-2 pm … Tonight’s the big event for West Seattle Democratic Women‘s weeklong celebration of the centennial of Washington women’s right to vote, 6 pm at West Seattle Golf Course (history-evoking costumes welcome!), tickets $25, contact WSDW at 206-935-3216 or wsdwomen@yahoo.com … Also tonight: Second-to-last performance of the West Seattle High School student presentation “12 Angry People,” 7:30 pm, same time as the first of two performances for Seattle Lutheran High School‘s fall drama “The Odd Couple” … Two holiday events, the Bella Nouveau European Day & Medical Spa open house 4-7 pm, 4204 SW Oregon, and a holiday bazaar at Providence Mount St. Vincent, 10 am-4 pm – details in this WSB Forums post … And tonight at 9, Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) hosts the CD listening party for Post-Modern Heroes, kickoff to an event-filled weekend (more here) …

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November’s West Seattle Art Walk: From kale chips to ironwork

November 12, 2010 8:28 am

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| West Seattle Art Walk | West Seattle news

West Seattle-based food writer Kim O’Donnel not only autographed her new “Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook” at Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) during the November West Seattle Art Walk last night – she made snacks, too, and shows/explains them all in our video clip. Among them: Kale chips. From Click!’s new Junction location, we headed over to see the guest artists featured by two more WSB sponsors, who are both along 42nd SW just north of SW Edmunds:

Filmmaker Leah Warshawski guested at Mural; the photo’s from her work in Rwanda, subject of a documentary-in-progress; steps away at Wallflower Custom Framing and The Shooting Gallery, you’ll find the photos of Sara Tro (at right, with Wallflower proprietor Courtney Sievertson):

From there, it was across the peninsula to Westwood’s Barton Street Lofts. This is artist and author David Bloomfield (aka Starheadboy) posing with his art:

(This photo, and those that follow unless otherwise credited, by Ellen Cedergreen)
Bloomfield told WSB contributor Ellen Cedergreen that his work is a mixture of realism and characters; he’s working on a children’s book in that style (available soon at Blurb.com) to help young children with their self-esteem. Speaking of kids, they came out to the Barton Street Lofts show too: Artist and illustrator Brandon Baker poses with young patron Zoe, who shows off her newest purchase (one of Brandon’s).

Hopping back to The Junction, Twilight opened Northwest Anvil 2, Survey of Contemporary NW Ironwork.: Its curators are Lisa Geertsen and Andy Blakney. The Caveman pictured between the two belongs to Andy:

The West Seattle-based wife and husband team teach, too, and their work is hanging alongside their students’ through 12/4 at Twilight – here’s “Peacock” by student Kayla Blincow:

The forged pieces drew attention from all ages:

Some of the artists explained to Ellen that the metal-smithing community readily shares craft and techniques, creating a strong sense of camaraderie.

One more Junction note – we found West Seattle Hi-Yu‘s Carol Winston with Hi-Yu fundraising ornaments on sale during the West Seattle Family Zone-sponsored show upstairs at the Senior Center of West Seattle: