West Seattle food & drink notes, including new Caffé Fiore
More details to come on all of these, but some quick notes before the night’s out:
NEW COFFEE SHOP IN ADMIRAL: Looks like North Seattle-headquartered Caffé Fiore is indeed the coffee shop that’s been rumored to be on the way to the new live/work/townhouse building just north of West Seattle Fabric Company (WSB sponsor) in the 2200 block of California SW. We saw the business name in DPD records a couple weeks ago and have been seeking comment ever since; haven’t received the requested comment – but tipster Jeff says a sign has gone up. (We’re heading out for a photo shortly Late-late-night photo added.)
LUMPIA WORLD COMING TO HIGHLAND PARK: They had a short-lived stint in the south-of-Junction Rite Aid parking lot, and now Lumpia World is headed back to West Seattle – not just for the already-announced appearance at Mobile Chowdown in The Junction on October 2nd. According to the LW Facebook page announcement tonight, they’ll be setting up regularly in the Highland Park Improvement Club parking lot (12th/Holden) starting on October 8th.
PAN AFRICA GRILL OPENING DATE: WSB contributor Bill “Hutch” Hutchison has been working on another followup regarding the restaurant moving into the former Ho-Win Chinese Restaurant spot at California/Juneau (here’s his original story from May). They had told him they were hoping to open next week. Extra confirmation of that apparent plan came today when an online “deal” circulated for Pan Africa, listing September 20th as the expected West Seattle opening date. They’ve just painted the front of the restaurant, too, with patterns over the distinctive “rock” siding.
Followup: City asks for, gets return of questioned grant $
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
A new development late today, related to allegations made last night by the 34th District Democrats, who passed a motion asking for city and state investigations into a purported youth-arts publication that they alleged was instead political-attack literature – funded by a $1,000 city grant.
The city says that today it asked for, and got, the money back.
Here’s our story, as it developed late last night and into the morning, including a scanned copy of the “2011 Youth Arts Compendium” publication, created with a grant received by West Seattle-based Unified Outreach, whose director David Toledo is campaign manager for King County Council candidate Diana Toledo, who was promoted in several of the publication’s articles.
Answering our request for comment right after the 34th DDs’ vote, Unified Outreach sent a statement saying in part “… We at Unified Outreach are confused by the allegations. As all stories were written by youth with no intentional biases or promotion of one candidate over another. There was NO input from ANY campaigns or political figures and no copies of the paper were released prior to printing..”
This morning, we sent several questions to the city Department of Neighborhoods, which issued the Small Sparks grant to Unified Outreach.
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Arbor Heights fire aftermath: Some hydrants to be upgraded
Another followup today on the water-pressure/access problems that hampered firefighters in the early going on August 27th, when flames gutted an Arbor Heights home, sending black smoke so high into the sky that it could be seen for miles around. We have reported that Seattle Public Utilities, which is accountable for hydrants and water service, plans an “after-action review” with the Seattle Fire Department. And today, we just got word that SPU plans to take two steps for starters:
First, SPU spokesperson Susan Stoltzfus tells WSB, eleven hydrants in the area will be replaced with larger hydrants – she says those hydrants are attached to some of the area’s larger water mains, and could be upgraded to provide better water pressure. (Those 11 do not include the two hydrants that firefighters first tried to use on August 27, she says, because they are connected to smaller mains and just enlarging the hydrants wouldn’t do any good.) Second, she says SPU and SFD will decide on a way to make it obvious to firefighters which are the lower-pressure hydrants and which are the higher-pressure hydrants. These are not the only steps they’re going to take – that review is still ahead – but she says this is something they can do relatively quickly (within three months) to help.
(The family who rented the home, you may recall, was out of town when the fire happened; as we reported last week, they are continuing to get back on their feet.)
Update: Westwood apartment fire blamed on electrical short
1:16 PM: Seattle Fire has sent a “full response” – multiple engines and trucks, medic unit, etc. – to a fire reported in the 8600 block of 25th SW (map). The first crews to arrive saw smoke. We have a crew on the way.
1:21 PM: Via scanner, we’re hearing crews report they’re putting water on this fire through a hole they cut in the roof. The fire is just about two blocks south of the Chief Sealth International High School/Denny International Middle School campus. It doesn’t sound like a major fire, though – they’re canceling some of the units.
1:34 PM: Just talked with the incident commander on scene. This was a second-floor apartment, nobody home, no injuries. They’re still checking the extent of damage, and investigating the cause. (added) The fire was between the rafters and the roof, and SFD says the unit itself was the only one involved, and was not heavily damaged.
FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE: We checked back with SFD re: the cause and damage, and spokesperson Kyle Moore provided this info: “A Seattle Fire Investigator determined the cause of the fire as an electrical short in the attic. The damage estimate is $14,000 to the structure and $1,000 to the contents.”
Update: SWAT standoff over in Highland Park, 1 in custody
(Photos by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
12:32 PM: Thanks to multiple tipsters who say the SWAT team’s in the 7900 block of 18th SW and the road’s blocked off. We’re on the way. It started as a domestic dispute, according to SPD’s Officer Renee Witt, just before noon. They’re looking for someone accused of sending death threats to a relative via text message, and possibly also vandalizing the house with an ax, but Officer Witt says they don’t know if the suspect is in the house they’re responding to – the call came from a house nearby.
(Photos showing officers were added after incident ended)
1:03 PM: Adding photo of police blocking 18th SW down the street (since it is a SWAT situation, we are not publishing any images that would show the positions of the officers around the house). As is usual in potentially volatile situations like this, our crew is being kept fairly far back. We are also monitoring the scanner here at HQ.
2:02 PM: We’re back at the scene after a side trip to the Westwood apartment fire. The situation hasn’t changed much; police are talking with the suspect, who can be heard yelling. Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen was at the scene for a while. So was a TV helicopter that police asked to back off because of noise interference. We’re adding a few more photos.
2:16 PM: Police have gone in; suspect is reported to be in custody, and is being taken to the precinct.
2:48 PM: Added photo of suspect being cuffed – we’ve blurred his face; he’s in the tank top. He was last heard observing loudly that “20,000” police cars were in the neighborhood.
Citywide weekend traffic alert, including WS Junction Car Show
It’s still technically summer, and around the city, there’s a busy slate of festivities over the next four days. SDOT is already out with its weekend traffic-alert roundup. Note that this ONLY includes events they believe might affect traffic. As such, the only West Seattle event mentioned is the WS Junction Car Show, 8 am-4 pm on Sunday, since it’s closing California SW in The Junction between SW Oregon and SW Edmunds (which means some bus re-routing, too). Read on for the entire citywide list:Read More
Sorry, no full-size West Seattle Thursday preview today – you can always check 
Josh Stepherson was the busiest man in West Seattle on Tuesday night. He is a consultant for the city, getting information out about the upcoming Fauntleroy Expressway Seismic Retrofit Project. We
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