day : 25/02/2011 10 results

West Seattle Crime Watch: 2 break-ins

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A truck break-in that brought an unpleasant “welcome” to a new West Seattleite is one of two break-ins that are among the newest West Seattle Crime Watch reports we’ve received. Details after the jump:Read More

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West Seattle food truck Beloved Mexico showcased on KUOW

February 25, 2011 11:29 pm

| 9 COMMENTS

| Triangle | West Seattle news | West Seattle restaurants

Seldom have we seen a West Seattle story in citywide/regional media generate this many notes suggesting we recommend it to everyone! But our mailbox has overflowed this afternoon/evening with notes about KUOW Radio‘s story on the Beloved Mexico food truck that has taken up residence on the West Seattle Produce lot along Fauntleroy Way south of SW Alaska. Listen for yourself here.

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High-school basketball: Chief Sealth wins state-tournament game

February 25, 2011 7:40 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | WS & Sports

From Auburn: The Chief Sealth International High School boys-basketball team beats Foss HS, 68-46, to advance in the state tournament. Next game tomorrow afternoon. Video and details when our crew returns to HQ.

11:38 PM UPDATE: Sealth plays Lincoln at 3 pm tomorrow (Saturday), again at Auburn HS. More on tonight’s game after the jump:Read More

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Former Southgate skating rink to reopen, as a roller rink once more

February 25, 2011 3:33 pm

| 68 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | White Center

Story and photo by Deanie Schwarz
Reporting for West Seattle Blog/White Center Now

The long-closed former Southgate Skate Center in White Center will be a roller-skating rink once more.

After more than three months of negotiations with the owners of what is currently the Southgate Event Center at 9646 17th SW, John Venables of Lakeview Properties and Josh Rhoads of Lynnwood Bowl and Skate confirmed today to WSB/WCN that they have put down deposits and are awaiting the receipt of the keys on Monday, when they plan to sign leasing papers with an option-to-purchase clause.

Rhoads is a 14-year U.S.A World Team competitive artistic skater who currently manages the Lynnwood Bowl and Skate rink. Venables is an apartment-properties owner and manager, as well as a former cargo-ship steward. They intend to return the building (originally called the Southgate Rollerdrome in 1937) back to full use as a competition and training rink and family-oriented entertainment/sports facility with full concessions. It will once again be called the Southgate Roller Rink.

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Alki Homestead restoration review #2: View deck proposed

February 25, 2011 2:36 pm

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| Alki Homestead | West Seattle history | West Seattle news

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

At the Muni Tower downtown, the architects working on the proposed restoration of the closed-by-fire-damage Alki Homestead appeared today for the second time before the Architectural Review Committee of the city Landmarks Preservation Board.

No vote was taken – meetings of the Architectural Review Committee are informal gatherings for architects, property owners, and developers to get feedback before bringing complete proposals to the full board, which has to sign off on projects affecting official city landmarks like the Homestead (historically known as the Fir Lodge). But the discussion represented another step toward restoring and reopening the Homestead, a popular restaurant for decades before a January 2009 electrical fire put it (for now) out of business.

As was the case at the January review, the architects from Alloy Design Group (above) made the presentation, with Homestead owner Tom Lin in the audience. When they appeared last month, the focus was on the overall concept of what they intend to do – this time, the focus was on the “accessory structure” that is being proposed on the east side of the Homestead, to hold its kitchen as well as an elevator for accessing proposed banquet facilities on the second floor. As the architects explained, they need feedback on what will be OK with the “accessory structure” before they can figure out the plan for restoring the fire-damaged Homestead building itself. And that’s part of why projects come before the committee before going for an official vote – to get feedback on whether they’re going down the right road.

Much of the discussion centered on a proposed third-floor view deck, 598 square feet. Here’s a rough sketch from this morning’s informal presentation:

Alloy’s Mark Haizlip and Greg Squires suggested that a third-floor deck would bring back a historic aspect of the Homestead – the reason the Fir Lodge was located on that site in the first place – what was then a view of Elliott Bay.

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West Seattle schools: Denny musicians win big at jazz festival

February 25, 2011 1:45 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Just days after the raise-the-roof “Soul Jambalaya” musical celebration/benefit (WSB video coverage here) for Denny International Middle School, across the street at Chief Sealth International High School, both schools are represented at a big event out of state, the annual Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho. Leading them is Marcus Pimpleton, music director for Denny and band director for Sealth, and last night he sent word that the Denny jazz musicians had been honored “as an outstanding young ensemble … This is our first time winning on this level. Very exciting.” (You can see the Denny Jazz Band in action here.) The Sealth musicians compete tomorrow. Congratulations to all – and thanks also to the half-dozen-plus WSB’ers who forwarded the news to be sure we’d seen it!

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West Seattle schools: Lafayette Elementary’s new portable arrives

February 25, 2011 12:45 pm

| 11 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

More heavy equipment in the Admiral District today, not far from the ongoing work at the Safeway redevelopment site. Thanks to the WSB’ers who sent tips on this: West Seattle’s most populous elementary school — 500+ students — is getting its new double portable today, before midwinter-break week ends. A crane is helping move the portable into position at Lafayette Elementary, as you can see in our photo. We first reported almost two months ago that Lafayette, Gatewood, and Schmitz Park Elementary Schools would each get a new portable sometime before the next school year, to help handle growing enrollment.

ADDED: As WSB’ers pointed out, the Gatewood and Schmitz Park portables have arrived too. Here’s our photo from Saturday showing the one on the Gatewood playground:

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Remembering Andrew Fife: Wake planned March 5th

February 25, 2011 12:01 pm

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| Obituaries | West Seattle news | West Seattle people

Andy Fife was “a resident and dear friend to many in West Seattle,” as Art Cuellar explains, in asking us to share Andy’s obituary and word of a wake planned next weekend:

Andrew “Andy” Fife, aged 56, passed away in West Seattle on February 23, surrounded by a group of his close friends.

Andy, a proud Englishman, was well known in West Seattle for his great physical fitness and love of hiking in the mountains. What was probably not so well known was the fascinating life Andrew had led prior to this. He was born in Tripoli, Libya, in 1954, where his English father worked in the oil industry. His mother, Bozena, had escaped from Poland during WWII and met her future husband during this journey. Andrew attended boarding school in England and said that he loved to watch the Harry Potter films as they so reminded him of school.

In his 20’s Andy came to the States to attend commercial pilot training. He earned his wings and went on to fly commercial aircraft for a variety of different airlines. After the airline industry went through a rough spot in the 80’s he turned his mind to physical training and spent time in both the States and the UK working with athletes and rugby teams, to include the famed Leicester Tigers Rugby Team in England, a fact that he was exceedingly proud of. He also worked as an outdoor tour guide for a company called Trek America, taking groups of tourists to spectacular places all over America and Canada. This ultimately brought him to West Seattle, where he lived, worked and played for the next 15 years or so.

He was well known for spending vast amounts of his time at All Star Fitness, training the Seattle Rugby Club, hiking in the mountains and watching rugby at a variety of pubs around town. For the past several years he was busy working on developing a new piece of fitness equipment, the ThundrrBell, which he planned to have in every gym across the nation in the not too distant future. Andrew also had a special passion for the care of the wounded soldiers of the United States and Britain, and had visited the facilities in both countries where they were going through rehab. Andrew is survived by his mother, Bozena Fife, of Goring-on-Thames, England.

There will be a Wake held at the Beveridge Place Pub on Saturday, March 5 at 4:30 PM to celebrate Andrew’s life. Please come and share stories, have a beer and a laugh, because that is what Andy would want.

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Spirited sendoff for Delridge’s Ron Angeles: ‘This is my community’

February 25, 2011 9:01 am

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| Delridge | West Seattle news | West Seattle people

That’s just part of the crowd that filled the theater at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center last night for a community celebration in honor of Ron Angeles, who’s retiring from his job as Delridge district coordinator for the city’s Department of Neighborhoods, though that title barely cracks the surface of what he’s done as an area leader over the past few decades.

If you weren’t there – we rolled video on the main events: First, the half-hour of on-stage tributes, starting with a Seattle City Council acknowledgment, read by Brian Hawksford from City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen‘s team, and including a tribute by former Department of Neighborhoods leader Jim Diers. The tributes were emceed by Delridge community activist Pete Spalding and included a few words from Ron himself (about 18 minutes in):

It wasn’t all speeches and solemnity (in fact, if you watch that first clip, it wasn’t all that solemn, period). Check out the breakdancing! Ron took a turn onstage (along with his nephew Brysen Angeles, who’s with the acclaimed breakdancing crew Massive Monkees):

Ron’s words of wisdom included his observation that community organizing is “not rocket science.” Maybe not, but it’s certainly an art, and his talent for that art was amply celebrated last night. His last day on the job is scheduled to be in mid-March.

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West Seattle Friday: Traffic alert; new game night; Rainbow Bingo…

February 25, 2011 8:12 am

| 2 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

Clear weather has arrived as the weekend approaches – clear and very cold, 20s this morning and not much warmer later – bundle up! From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar: Tonight’s the first of three overnight closures ahead as part of the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project – the eastbound lanes (east of 1st Avenue South) will close 11 pm-5 am … Girl Scout Cookie sales begin around Western Washington (here’s our preview from last weekend, including a link to the list showing where and when) … The West Seattle Garden Club meets 10 am-2 pm today at its new location, Daystar (2615 SW Barton), including brown-bag lunch at noon followed by a program on irises … NEW GAME NIGHT! Kristy sends word that you’re invited to Uptown Espresso in The Junction (4301 SW Edmunds) 6-11 pm to play games – they’ll have board/card/dice games or bring your own. They’re hoping to do this every Friday; call her at 206-491-2769 with questions … Also in The Junction, it’s Mardi Gras Rainbow Bingo Night at the Senior Center of West Seattle – doors open 6 pm, bingo at 7, preregistration encouraged (call 206-932-4044, extension 4) … High-school basketball, boys’ state tournament: Chief Sealth vs. Foss at Auburn High School (map), 6 pm tonight … More on the calendar!