day : 28/11/2010 10 results

Just in from Wendy Hughes-Jelen, most recently of the Kitty Cornered kitten-raising saga, a High Point coyote close encounter tonight:

Late-night dog walkers on Graham at High Point Dr [map] were followed by a coyote after the courtesy patrol followed it down an alley. It looped down a walkway and came back to follow us on our block. Sophia and I ran for the porch and Steve ran it off. I am a country girl and believe in coexisting with wildlife; however, this life is more urban than wild and the coyote did not show the appropriate shyness or fear of 2 humans and a dog on a short leash. If I used an 18 foot flexi leash like most people do and also we were not aware of where our dog was and where the coyote was things could be different. Courtesy patrol is what pointed it out to us as it stood at the mouth of an alley we had just passed 30 seconds before and the car came around the corner toward us and caught it in its lamps. It was large for its breed and clearly hunting.

(Sophia is the Hughes-Jelens’ Italian greyhound.) Meantime … 2 other West Seattle sightings reported in the past few days. From Shannon on Friday afternoon:

I was just doing dishes and spotted a coyote hanging out in Greg Davis park through my window at 1pm today. He isn’t spooked by passing cars or my dog barking. Just a heads up to all the dog walkers that use those trails and park. It’s the corner of Brandon and 26th. [map]

And from John at 51st/College (map) early Wednesday afternoon:

FYI: Just saw a very healthy-looking coyote emerge from the greenbelt and walk down the street before ducking under our neighbor’s hedge.

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School notes: Sealth auction & events ahead; Lafayette playground

November 28, 2010 10:49 pm

| Comments Off on School notes: Sealth auction & events ahead; Lafayette playground

| How to help | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Back to school tomorrow – but we have three school notes tonight:

CHIEF SEALTH AUCTION TOTAL: The Chief Sealth International High School PTSA announced via e-mail tonight that the November 18th Seahawk Spirit Dinner and Auction “netted nearly $25,000 to support academics, athletics, the arts, and student activities.” (Here’s our story from that night.)

2 SEALTH EVENTS AHEAD – FILM FEST AND MULTICULTURAL NIGHT: Received a note tonight about an event at Sealth this week – a Community Film Fest of Digital Stories, “short environmental videos made by youth in the global leadership class,” at 6 pm this Thursday in the school’s Little Theater (2600 SW Thistle), everyone invited (here’s the official flyer). Meantime, the PTSA is reminding the community about the upcoming Multicultural Night at Sealth, 6:30 pm December 9th, including music, dance, and spoken-word performances by school groups; more details here.

LAFAYETTE ELEMENTARY PLAYGROUND PROJECT: The “Play It Forward” committee raising money to match a $100,000 city grant – with January deadline looming – has set a meeting for December 6 to provide a progress report, and is inviting community input on project design. The meeting’s at 6:30 pm in the Lafayette library (2645 California SW). (Here’s our recent story about the project and the quest to match the grant.)

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California SW ‘upzoning’: Back to council committee Tuesday

November 28, 2010 6:41 pm

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| California Ave upzoning | West Seattle news

This Tuesday morning brings the City Council Committee on the Built Environment‘s next hearing for the proposal to rezone a block-plus along California SW south of Admiral. The three-year-old proposal would rezone the area to allow taller buildings and bigger businesses; here’s our coverage of the committee’s first meeting about it, week before last. As decided then, the council will listen to oral arguments Tuesday, from both the neighbors who are fighting it by filing appeals, and from supporters. The agenda is here, with links to documents including the council’s official briefing memo; it’s the first item on the agenda for the 9 am Tuesday meeting at City Hall. Here’s our archive of coverage dating back to when the proposal was first made public in November 2007. There is no specific project proposed in the rezoning area, but supporters have argued that the new zoning will make “nicer” redevelopment more likely. If the committee does not vote on it Tuesday, they would take it up again next week; once they have voted, it goes to the full council for a final decision.

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Vashon Island fire: Smoke plume visible from West Seattle

November 28, 2010 4:44 pm

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| Not WS but we're mentioning it anyway | West Seattle news

(Photo added 4:53 pm, taken from Upper Fauntleroy)
It’s not West Seattle, but many people can see it from here, so it’s news here too — we have received calls/notes about a big plume of smoke visible from Vashon Island, if you have a view in that direction.

4:49 PM UPDATE: It’s a fire, according to scanner traffic. One source on Twitter says it’s a three-story house. And crews are still actively fighting it. We don’t have location info so far, aside from one crew telling another “come down as if you were going to the Cove Motel.”

5:08 PM UPDATE: KING 5 has posted this video from viewer Brady Miller (note that it is preceded by a short commercial – placed by their site, not ours):

5:23 PM UPDATE: The scanner mentions “Paige Lane” as the command. That’s on the northwest side of Vashon (here’s a map). We’ll add any additional information we find later; moving back on to more WS news now.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Car prowling/egging combined

November 28, 2010 4:40 pm

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| Crime | Genesee Hill | West Seattle news

At the last West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, while noting that local crime has been down lately, Southwest Precinct leadership also warned that some categories invariably go up during the holiday season. Too soon to crunch the local stats but we have received more direct reports in the past few days than we have for a while, and this one from Sandy is the latest:

Sometime between 10 pm and 11 pm last night my Subaru Outback was broken into and when the perps couldn’t find anything, they egged the inside of the car. ARRRGH!! This was at 45th and Andover in the Genesee neighborhood of West Seattle. When I discovered this, I saw a young man running through the neighborhood. I called 911 and the operator was very blase about it. I saw the same young man running through the neighborhood between 11:30 pm and midnight and again called 911. This time I got a different operator who said he would send a patrol car through the neighborhood.

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Holiday gift idea: Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza brick or plaque

November 28, 2010 3:52 pm

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| Alki Statue of Liberty | West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

If your name or message isn’t part of the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza already – you’re running out of opportunities. David Hutchinson sends the latest on the brick/plaque sales (which pay for ongoing plaza maintenance, so that doesn’t come out of dwindling public funds):

The Alki Community Council would like to thank all those who have supported the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza this past year through the purchase of engraved bricks and plaques. Seattle Parks & Recreation has notified us that our most recent order for 168 additional bricks arrived at their warehouse in West Seattle last week. Now that the recent cold weather has moderated, Parks will be determining a date for installing them in the Plaza. This will bring the total number of engraved bricks installed to over 2,700. In accordance with our agreement with the Plaza designers, to preserve the spiral pattern on the main plaza floor, only about 130 bricks remain available for sale. Bricks will be installed each spring and fall until this supply is exhausted.

Order forms may be picked up from the info boxes at the Plaza or downloaded from the Sealady website at: www.sealady.org/brickform.pdf

There are also 4 bronze Tribute Plaques available for sale. Information on these can be obtained at: www.sealady.org

Proceeds from the sale of the bricks and plaques are turned over to Seattle Parks & Recreation, and are placed in a dedicated fund that is used to maintain the Statue and Plaza. By the end of this year, the ACC will have raised almost $40,000 for this fund.

Thanks again for your support, and we wish everyone a happy holiday season.

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Small Business Everyday: Meet West Seattle-owned b(earth)

November 28, 2010 2:22 pm

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| West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

In the spirit of Small Business Saturday (the new name for the day after Black Friday), we’re celebrating Small Business Everyday – as last Monday reminded us, our peninsula can be an island, so self-sufficiency via strong businesses (etc.) is vital! We learned recently about two West Seattleites co-owning an organic-baby-clothing company founded this year: Nathanial Duris of Arbor Heights is a co-owner of b(earth) – that’s his son Dash, modeling some of their creations. He explains, “We are a collection of eco-conscious friends who hope to reduce our impact on the planet – starting at birth – by making eco-thoughtful clothing and accessories for our children and the children of our friends.” According to Nathanial, they’re using “only 100% organic, sweatshop-free cotton, (and) water-based inks on our printed products,” plus they “also strive to work with local designers … and printing and embroidery shops whenever possible to help strengthen our local communities. We have also developed a philanthropic project called the Re-b(earth) project where when customers outgrow their clothing, we collect the garments, donate them to WestSide Baby, & give the customers a discount for future orders.” They’re doing most of their selling online right now, but they do have a few retail partners, including smallclothes in West Seattle.

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Rescued Lincoln Park bees, followup #2: Tunnel, box, vacuum…

November 28, 2010 11:09 am

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| West Seattle news | Wildlife

If you peer at that photo, you’ll see Rob, aka the bee rescuer, who has sent one more followup, after noting the intense interest in the previous chapter of the saga. If you’re just joining us: Monday’s storm brought down trees in Lincoln Park – and one had been home to a wild beehive, found in pieces on the ground, as shown here. The bees were rescued by a West Seattleite who usually keeps bees elsewhere; after he posted an update in comments here, we asked if he would share more info/photos, which he did here – and now, today, even more in a new chapter, involving a box, vacuum, and tunnel:

On Friday, the roads were clear and Thanksgiving well-celebrated, so I was able to fetch some better bee-keeping equipment for the “rescued” Lincoln Park hive. I repacked the hive into the new box, along with fresh comb foundation frames:

I improvised a “bee vacuum” to suck up bees who had chosen to fly around the room instead of letting themselves be moved into their new home:

This was just a plastic gallon jug mounted on a dust-buster, with a mesh bag covering the vacuum intake, so the bees wouldn’t get sucked in. I could then pour these stragglers back into the hive and seal it up.

In order to keep the hive indoors in its weakened state, I constructed a sealed cardboard gangway out a gap in a window:

The girls have found their passageway, but are still not too enthusiastic about how cold it is outdoors. If this configuration proves stable, I intend to keep them like this until perhaps April at which time, they’ll should be ready to move back outside. We’ll see how it goes. For more pictures and video, visit Trileigh‘s “Bees in the Bedroom” collection on Flickr.

The top photo, by the way, not only shows Rob through the window, but that’s also the outside view of the bee box and “tunnel” entry.

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West Seattle Sunday: Pathfinder wreaths; pet adoption; live music

November 28, 2010 10:02 am

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| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(Photo added Sunday evening – the Pathfinder K-8 wreath sales mentioned below)
In contrast to event-laden Saturday (scroll down the home page to see all the coverage!), today is relatively low-key around West Seattle – at least so far as our Events calendar goes. But there’s still plenty to do. Going to the West Seattle Farmers’ Market? The Pathfinder K-8 school community is scheduled to start selling its handmade wreaths today – raising money to help subsidize students’ outdoor education – more details here (scroll down). Also at the market, 10 am-2 pm as always at 44th/Alaska, here’s what the weekly Ripe ‘n’ Ready list says you’ll find. … Also in The Junction: Friends of the Animals Foundation will have adoptable pets at Next to Nature today (still checking on the times) … And in the “not just Small Business Saturday but Small Business Everyday” vein, three WSB sponsors are among the local businesses that can help you savor your Sunday: Skylark Café (3803 Delridge Way) serves brunch till 3 pm and then there’s all-ages, no-cover live music tonight, with Petros (from Foundry Fire) at 7 pm, The Frost Giants at 8:30 pm (full calendar here); at C & P Coffee (5612 California SW), your Sunday-afternoon relaxation will include live music 3-5 pm by Jacob McCaslin (full calendar here); and at Feedback Lounge (6451 California SW), Sunday ribs have returned, starting at 5 pm.

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WSB Extra: Writers in the Schools report from West Seattle HS

November 28, 2010 6:03 am

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | WS culture/arts

Some of the news we share from local schools is quickly summarizable – a photo, a few words. This report is more verbose – because it’s about words. Just before what became this snow-extended Thanksgiving break (most students have been out since noontime Monday, if not earlier), West Seattle High School language-arts teacher Kira Hopkins shared her news about WSHS and Writers in the Schools, working with her ninth-grade students. Here’s what WITS writer-in-residence Katie Ogle writes about her experiences so far – including a sample of student work:

Writers in the Schools at West Seattle High School

Writers in the Schools, a program of Seattle Arts and Lectures, employs local teaching artists to bring creative writing into King County public schools–and I, Katie Ogle, am delighted to be a 2010 writer-in-residence at West Seattle High School.

I visit Kira Hopkins’ four 9th-grade Language Arts classes each Friday. The early morning classes are usually still waking up and the afternoon classes are sprinting toward the imminent weekend, and yet they still are able to give me astute observations about published work I bring in to examine and push themselves to create stunning responses to my challenging writing prompts.

So far we are learning about the autonomy the writer has over language, the efficacy of literary devices, and how to develop honest, interesting poetry and writing. In keeping with Mrs. Hopkins’ course-theme, Identity, we have written self-portrait poems, odes to cherished objects, and poetic memoirs. I am so pleased to share one of many sharp and well-crafted poems that has come out of our short time together:

Click ahead to read that “well-crafted poem,” and a bit more from Katie Ogle:Read More

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