Sunday traffic alert: President Obama headed to Seattle

ORIGINAL FRIDAY REPORT: In case you hadn’t heard yet – President Obama is coming to Seattle on Sunday for political fundraisers, report citywide outlets including The Seattle Times (WSB partner), and that generally means two things for our area: Possible Air Force One sightings, and potential traffic effects when I-5 is closed for the motorcade. We don’t have specific times so far, but his first event will be in North Seattle, second one in Medina, and there’s at least one indication he’s staying downtown until Monday morning. Whatever we know by Sunday morning, we’ll include in our daily preview.

ADDED SATURDAY AFTERNOON: We now know that the President is due to arrive after 4 pm, and is indeed staying overnight, leaving Monday morning for San Francisco. Interestingly, Air Force One will not be at Boeing Field as usual – the official Presidential schedule says he is flying into and out of Sea-Tac.

ADDED SUNDAY MORNING: SPD has published details of closures/detours downtown while the President is staying overnight.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON: The President arrived on schedule and as of this update – 4:30 pm – is or will shortly be in transit to North Seattle for the first of the two private Democratic Party fundraisers he’s headlining (the second one is in Medina).

JanS November 22, 2013 (6:29 pm)

I understand that the function in the north end has a $20,000 price per person….guess that leaves a few of us out ;-)

Mark November 22, 2013 (8:00 pm)

Obama has set a new bar for over promise and under deliver. What a huge disappointment. Stop the wars? Transparency? Change? …..

Not again November 22, 2013 (8:24 pm)

I hope those supporters get over being starstruck enough to get real and ask him about the secretive NDAA, drone strikes, NSA spying and the ‘Obamacare’ IRS two-step just to name a few. Throw money at that Seattle go ahead. -2XObamavoter

New Resident November 22, 2013 (8:39 pm)

The Tea Party should have given the President a 30 day extension back in October and then shut down the government on the day of the Affordable Care Act rollout. Then the Republicans would have had leverage to defund Obamacare.

East Coast Cynic November 22, 2013 (9:25 pm)

@New Resident

Only to have the republicans replace Obamacare with the republican version of health care as outlined by Alan Grayson—“Don’t get Sick, and if you do get Sick, die quickly”.

carole November 22, 2013 (10:20 pm)

For all the Obamacare complainers, washington post recently compared it to the part D medicare rollout under Bush, which was a disaster that took months to correct. And yet the republic still stands. Chill out people. The tech work was contracted out to private companies…it will get fineXtuned.

JanS November 22, 2013 (10:53 pm)

Not again…could you explain “IRS two-step, and connect links to it? Thanks :)

JanS November 22, 2013 (10:55 pm)

New Resident…so you condone shutting down the government at the price of $24 billion, billed to…oh, yes…you and me? Seriously?

Smitty November 23, 2013 (7:27 am)

“washington post recently compared it to the part D medicare rollout under Bush”

Well, of course they did. I would expect nothing less.

Bruce G. November 23, 2013 (7:47 am)

Hey, could we just have one website that is politics-free???? Political ranters, go away.

WSB November 23, 2013 (8:13 am)

WSB has never been politics-free BUT there’s an even better place to chat/rant than comments on individual stories, where the shelf life is relatively short – the WSB Forums, which has its own Politics section, and where threads can go on for days/weeks/months (and have) – https://westseattleblog.com/forum – TR

B. Gaumond November 23, 2013 (8:12 am)

Can we please have one website that is politics-free? Political ranters, go away.

No Name November 23, 2013 (8:40 am)

Obama can’t visit Seattle because it is wasting money and time!!! I will kick him out!

Patricia Bailey November 23, 2013 (4:17 pm)

Mr. President Obama:

l. I have asked for a picture of you and the
first Lady for My Aunt’s President and First Lady book. I would be very grateful if you do.

The majority of the population would like to see Obama Care go away. We want to look after everyone but we don’t need to destroy jobs and make more people have no insurance.

Happy Thanksgiving,Merry Christmas and Happy New year to you and your family and God Bless you.

Free Cascadia November 23, 2013 (6:28 pm)

Barack Hussein Obama should stay in the other Washington with his corrupt buddies.

But I guess he needs to cavort with the 1%, after all who else will sign those corporate friendly laws for political donors.

miws November 23, 2013 (7:36 pm)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/22/1257214/-A-message-from-the-Health-Insurers-of-nbsp-America?detail=email

Def November 24, 2013 (12:14 am)

Good timing for the arrival, should have a great view of Rainier from SeaTac and of the sunset coming into town. If he’s not too busy to look.

phil dirt November 24, 2013 (9:13 am)

He’s out raising money for the 2014 elections and for the ill conceived initiative I-594 campaign. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the more he stays away from the other Washington, the less damage he has time to do to health care and the economy. I prefer that he plays more golf.

s. hanson November 24, 2013 (11:59 am)

haven’t been able to find any info regarding I-5 and other highway closures due to Obama visit; only info I’ve found is about downtown Seattle closures. Does anyone know where to find info regarding I-5, 99/599, etc, or what the closures are?

WSB November 24, 2013 (12:44 pm)

SH – those are not announced, and are not time specific – depends on when AF1 lands and takes off. I would suggest that I-5 and every place around Sea-Tac Airport be avoided starting around 4 pm and until after you hear he’s arrived in North Seattle. Twitter is a great thing to monitor if you use it; unless some massive breaking news erupts between now and then, we plan to monitor the arrival and publish an update for traffic purposes (and we’ll cover tomorrow morning’s departure during our regular daily “Traffic/Transit Today” update). If anything changes and there ARE further announcements between now and the President’s arrival, we will add them here, as we are constantly monitoring many sources – Tracy

mm November 24, 2013 (6:11 pm)

I haven’t seen anywhere timing for his departure tomorrow morning. Wondering how this will impact the commute….

WSB November 24, 2013 (6:21 pm)

In the 8 am hour. It’s linked above.

US Vet November 24, 2013 (7:04 pm)

How about all the complainers here do something more than hide behind your computer. Step out and stand up to defend what you believe in. I spent 4 years defending your right to complain now stand up and give me the right to have health care, a small business that isn’t taxed out and schooling that builds a smart and understanding future for our children. This is a democracy not a dictatorship so stop acting like President Obama is the single reason for our nations issues. Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Partiers = Politicians. Politicians are in the pocket of Corporations. Politicians + Corporations are the whole problem not one individual. WAKE UP AMERICA!

sparkybo November 25, 2013 (12:06 am)

Well said US Vet. It takes more than 1 person/politician every 4 or 8 years to mess up USA. Plus all you complainers, remember there are many good reasons and outcomes to have government and laws. I may not always agree with them, but there are some good/necessary ones too.

JS November 25, 2013 (8:16 am)

US Vet, you make very good points. Thank you. Let’s not also forget that the UNIONS are a big force in politics. Reference the Whole Foods project and their relationship with McQuinn. Reference the AFL-CIO with all their visits to the WH and how they want special exemptions to Obamacare. We are all to blame. Most of “us” work for a corporation or a union, or both. Let’s fix our own house. Get corporations and unions out of politics, but we’re a government of the people, for the people……

Walt November 25, 2013 (1:17 pm)

This is BS. My kids/grand kids were headed to our home and had to take a big detour thru the city where there is already construction. NO reason, no explanation, I couldn’t figure out why, no construction notice. AND NO HELPFUL DETOUR signs or anything to tell them where to get back on the freeway. They aren’t that familiar with the city and got lost for a while.

Sorry, comment time is over.