day : 04/10/2012 12 results

The house at 36th and Morgan that has been a hotspot of concern for its neighbors is boarded up tonight, with NO TRESPASSING signs.

It came to light here five weeks ago after this Crime Watch report about a suspected thief being chased there. In comments on that story, neighbors described frequently reporting the house to authorities for concerns including suspected stolen property. Then it came up at the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting two weeks later (WSB coverage here), where City Attorney’s Office precinct liaison Melissa Chin talked about what could be done to deal with the situation. And late today, we got a tip about the boards and signs. We checked with Chin, who tells us that the owner had been under pressure from not only her office but also Seattle Police, the Department of Planning and Development (which had issued a citation for junk storage), and King County Public Health – so, Chin said, the owner “voluntarily kicked out the tenant, posted up ‘No Trespassing’ signs, cleaned up the yard, and told us she was going to board up the house.” Which, as our photo shows, was done. Meantime, the man whose arrest was noted in the original report has, so far, not been charged.

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West Seattle scene: Superintendent at Duwamish Longhouse

October 4, 2012 9:58 pm

| Comments Off on West Seattle scene: Superintendent at Duwamish Longhouse

| West Seattle news | West Seattle people

(Photo courtesy Anne Higuera)
Two nights after speaking to and with West Seattle and South Park families at Concord International School (WSB coverage here), first-year Seattle Public Schools superintendent José Banda returned to this side of the city, for a gathering tonight at the Duwamish Longhouse. He was there to meet with Native American families, to “brainstorm solutions and create a collaborative plan of action … to support and improve the performance of Native American students,” according to his letter of invitation to Native community members, who have implored the district to do more to help students succeed.

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West Seattle scene: Sunset beauty, and more sun to come

October 4, 2012 7:49 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

Thanks to Mike Russell for sharing that view of tonight’s spectacular sunset via Facebook. The forecast once again stretches at least a week without any sign of rain.

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West Seattle traffic alert: Crash on northbound 99

October 4, 2012 5:55 pm

| 6 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(Refresh for latest “live” picture from traffic cam looking at NB 99)
5:55 PM: A crash on 99, first reported on southbound, then northbound, is affecting bridge traffic too – per the scanner, police intend to block off the 99 exit from the eastbound West Seattle Bridge “to alleviate (the) traffic mess.” No details of the crash itself, but we’ve been monitoring the traffic effects.

6:09 PM UPDATE: Metro says this is affecting buses too. Traffic apparently at a complete standstill.

6:39 PM UPDATE: Still backed up. No ETA yet. No scanner updates yet – if you are in it and finally get out of it, **when you get to your destination** (no texting and driving!) let us know, because we’re about to be away from the scanner for a while, though we’re monitoring other information channels. Thanks.

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Election 2012: Legalize marijuana? Forum planned at High Point

October 4, 2012 5:04 pm

| 22 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

Though the election is just a month away – and voting by mail starts in just a few weeks – there have been few discussion forums in West Seattle, despite the prevalence of hot topics. Just got one announcement, though: A forum with presentations and Q/A regarding marijuana-legalization Initiative 502 is set for 5:30-7:30 pm October 18th at Neighborhood House’s High Point Center (6400 Sylvan Way SW). On the pro-legalization side will be University of Washington professor emeritus and substance-abuse counselor Roger Roffman; on the anti-legalization side, Steve Freng, who works with the Northwest High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. All welcome.

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Trick-or-treat trifecta: Admiral, Junction, Westwood Village dates

October 4, 2012 4:03 pm

| 4 COMMENTS

| Holidays | West Seattle news

It’s a West Seattle tradition times three – business-district trick-or-treating. Today, we have the complete picture of who’s doing what, when:

(WSB photo from 2011 Admiral Treats and Treasures)
ADMIRAL TREATS AND TREASURES: As first reported here last month, The Admiral District’s merchants are presenting this popular event – with a treasure hunt enhancing the treat-collecting – 3-6 pm on Friday, October 26th. Today, Admiral District Business Association president Parris Sadow of Atomic Boys also sent the full list of 47 participating merchants/sponsors:

Click the image to see a full-size view and read the list.

WEST SEATTLE JUNCTION HARVEST FESTIVAL: Also first announced last month, the West Seattle Junction Association and its merchants are expanding trick-or-treating into a full-blown Harvest Festival this year. 10 am-2 pm on Sunday, October 28th, the streets will even be closed (granting an oft-expressed wish from local families) for not just the trick-or-treating, but also a costume parade, fun activities (preliminary list here), and a special West Seattle Farmers’ Market setup in the street.

WESTWOOD VILLAGE TRICK-OR-TREATING: Today we stopped by the shopping center to find out the plan for this year. As usual, merchants will offer trick-or-treating on Halloween itself – 5 to 7 pm on Wednesday, October 31st.

(If you want to get a jump on other Halloween events – we have more than a few listed in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar – just scroll down the page to browse as far ahead into the fall as you’d like!)

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Reminder: Find out tonight about South Delridge raingardens and other potential sewer-overflow-control plans

October 4, 2012 2:37 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| Delridge | Environment | Utilities | West Seattle news

(Click image to see larger version as PDF)
Though we didn’t publish a standalone daily preview today – please remember, ALL the preview information is available on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar at all times, 24/7, for the current day and future days/weeks/months – we did want to make sure South Delridge residents remember to check out Seattle Public Utilities‘ big community briefing tonight: It’s about the possibility of raingardens and/or new storage tanks to reduce combined-sewer overflows that have been going into Longfellow Creek. Here’s the city webpage with an overview. We’ve reported on this three times in recent weeks – a preview here before the Delridge Neighborhood District Council was briefed (here), followed a week later by the Highland Park Action Committee briefing (here) – but tonight is the big chance to get details and answers. 6 pm at the Salvation Army Center, 9050 16th SW.

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Aloha! Marination ma kai opens its Seacrest Boathouse doors

October 4, 2012 1:07 pm

| 9 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle restaurants

Right under a sign that welcomes you with ALOHA, not one, but three Japanese maneki-neko (“beckoning cat”) figurines – symbols of good luck – are at the Marination ma kai ordering counter to welcome you too. We dropped by just after the doors at Seacrest Boathouse were unlocked for an unspecified period in “soft open” mode. The sign on the door explains the “limited menu” we reported last night – the basic fare their truck serves:

By 11:10, they were already fairly busy. They’re expecting to stay open tonight till 8.

P.S. See more of what’s happening inside and outside the renovated restaurant space in our sneak-peek report from last week.

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Lincoln Park ‘resident goose’ attacked by dog, readers report

October 4, 2012 10:22 am

| 137 COMMENTS

| Pets | West Seattle beaches | West Seattle news

(Added: August photo of the geese, courtesy of Myrtle)
10:22 AM: We’ve received two reports of this so far. First one was from Sig:

A man on a bike with his dog running loose at the south end of Lincoln Park at about 8:15 this morning allowed his dog to attack one of the beautiful white geese. The dog injured the goose on the land and took it out in the water all the way to the moored boats. No sign of the goose so hopefully he will show up. His partner is honking on the beach and very frightened. The man got on his bike as soon as he could get the dog to come back (still no leash in sight) and took off in a dark Subaru Outback with a bike rack on the back and top. Hopefully someone can watch for the injured goose and help him.

Second one came from a reader who didn’t want to be identified:

I just got back from a walk at Lincoln Park where some bozo’s dog – off leash – attacked the resident geese on the beach.

I arrived just after the event so my story comes second-hand from a Parks employee who witnessed this and told me what had happened.

Apparently the dog attacked the geese, leaving feathers all over the path, and then chased one of the birds through the water all the way to the ferry dock.

As I arrived the dog’s owner, who had walked south down the private part of the beach, about halfway to the ferry, coaxed the dog back to shore then high-tailed it out of the park on his mountain bike. (He was wearing a yellow and black biking shirt)

There were about 20 of us watching and looking for the goose. I continued my walk then returned to that area about 20 minutes later- but no goose..

I am sharing this because dogs are not allowed on public beaches (period) and there is no off-leash area in Lincoln Park yet I see dogs running free there almost every day. Each time I do I grumble to myself about it rather than confronting the owners. I know people love their dogs.

If you’re not familiar with the Lincoln Park/Fauntleroy area white geese – here’s a photo of one – they (or, perhaps, their relatives) have been on the beach there for years (we remember seeing them more than a decade ago). Their room to roam is curtailed right now, possibly forcing them further south, because of the Barton Pump Station Upgrade Project work that has taken over the pocket beach at Cove Park immediately north of the Fauntleroy ferry dock. We’ll be following up to see if we can find out what has happened since the search mentioned above; please let us know if you hear/see anything.

3:01 PM UPDATE: If you haven’t seen this in the comment thread yet: We checked with Parks, and they told us Animal Control was planning to visit the park to investigate – they had indeed received a call about this to dispatch earlier today. A commenter subsequently reported that both geese were found and seem to be OK, which was confirmed by a beach resident who has seen them.

ADDED: From Dewey Potter @ Parks: “One employee observed most of the incident, confronted the individual about his dog being off leash, and notified Seattle Animal Shelter. The Sr. Gardener who called me back said the description in the WS Blog of the dog owner is accurate. If anyone can provide a name, a license number, or other identifying information, SAS staff will talk with the dog owner and tell him what the penalties are for having a dog on the beach and for harassing wildlife.”

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Another West Seattle traffic alert: North Delridge road work

October 4, 2012 9:41 am

| 7 COMMENTS

| Delridge | West Seattle news

Just in from SDOT:

SDOT crews will resurface an area of Delridge Way SW between SW Andover and SW Genesee streets from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today (October 4). One lane of traffic will remain open in each direction. This spot repair was funded by King County Metro.

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West Seattle traffic alert: 35th/Avalon signal problem

October 4, 2012 8:57 am

| 8 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news

8:57 AM: Thanks to everyone who has messaged us about this: There’s signal trouble and a resulting backup at 35th and Avalon. Checking it out; more shortly.

9:04 AM: Problem is that north-south signal is stuck on red and east west is stuck on green. Police just arrived.

9:31 AM: The officer directing traffic got the north-south flow going again. A couple of notes we’ve received indicate the signal was also having trouble around 8 o’clock last night, though the sudden flood of reports that came in around 8:45 are the first we’d heard of it. We’ve left the scene for now but will go back to check – let us know if you see it fixed BEFORE we report an update. Thanks!

11:07 AM: Looks normal now. Noticed an SDOT worker on scene, too.

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Metro bus changes, weekday #4: Thursday reports, updates

October 4, 2012 7:03 am

| 126 COMMENTS

| Transportation | West Seattle news

(Wednesday afternoon photo, looking east on SW Alaska while northeast-bound on Fauntleroy Way)
All week, West Seattle bus riders have been reporting what they’re experiencing, in the first week of RapidRide C Line service and other Metro changes. It’s now weekday #4, and we’re again inviting you to share your experiences. One note: On Tuesday night, Metro shared some responses to the ongoing concerns, including an overview of which routes are available for getting into and out of West Seattle. They’ve sent an updated PDF with working links, so if you weren’t able to use the previous (docx) version, try this.

So far this week:
Wednesday rider reports
Tuesday night: Updates from Metro
Tuesday rider reports
Monday pm reports
Monday am reports
Saturday informational event
Saturday morning: 1st RR bus

9:37 AM UPDATE: Just a note for later-in-the-commute riders – there were delays around 8:45-9 am that you can’t blame on the bus system:

That’s our photo looking at the northbound lanes on 35th while the north-south signal at 35th/Avalon was stuck on “red.” We started getting messages about the problem after 8:30 and headed over to check it out; around 9 am, a police officer arrived and started directing traffic, but several buses were stuck for a while.

2:44 PM UPDATE: Even before we could check in with Metro for an update, we’ve received one from spokesperson Jeff Switzer:

Thursday morning we had two full RapidRide C Line buses that had to pass stops in West Seattle, but we had two standby RapidRide buses added at key times to help serve that peak commute time demand. Things continue to work into a more reliable rhythm for riders and bus operators.

We have two standby buses available Thursday afternoon also, and coordinators are actively monitoring demand with plans to add the buses when needed. This could occur when they see delays in the system from congestion, or when buses fill up more than expected. We continue to analyze demand, knowing that delays and ridership can be dynamic day to day.

On Friday, we again will have two standby buses and a transit coordinator tracking when best to add them to serve transit demand and keep the service operating.

5:29 PM UPDATE: And we’ve heard from County Councilmember Joe McDermott, who we’d contacted earlier today to ask for his take on how things have been playing out – he represents West Seattle (and surrounding areas) on the County Council, and is a member of its Transportation Committee:

Like many West Seattle residents, I am closely watching the implementation of the recent service changes, particularly the RapidRide C line. I rode the line into work and back home again on Monday and saw the overcrowding firsthand. It does appear that are some unanticipated loads during these early days of implementation.

I have been in contact with Kevin Desmond and Metro on a daily basis. He has shared with me the same plan of action that I believe he has shared with you. Metro has added two additional fleet buses plus two cover buses for peak times, tapped into the service hour reserve pot and continues to count passengers at peak times to better inform our next steps.

I recognize this was a somewhat rough start to the beginning of this service, but I hope the additional coaches and service hours will help relieve the congestion. I will continue to keep an eye on this.

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