day : 13/01/2015 10 results

Chief Sealth International High School ninth-grader Jessica e-mailed to say she and a group of classmates plan a beach cleanup on Saturday afternoon, and that your help is welcome:

For my Language Arts class, we are working on ways to spread awareness about ocean plastic pollution. My group chose to pick up trash at the beach in Lincoln Park. We’ll be there on January 17th around 12 to 4 pm. … We’d love to get help and have the community get involved! We’ll be by the picnic shelter north of the bathrooms.

Sincerely,
Jessica, Alyssa, Hamdi, ZamZam, and Nathalie (Chief Sealth students)

If you’d like to share their invitation, remember that hovering over the “ShareThis” icon below any WSB stories gives you options for social-media sharing on a wide variety of services or even just e-mailing the link (click the three-dot icon).

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West Seattle traffic alert: Dozens of trucks again tomorrow for Murray CSO project pour

January 13, 2015 5:44 pm

| Comments Off on West Seattle traffic alert: Dozens of trucks again tomorrow for Murray CSO project pour

| Environment | West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

After big concrete-pour days on Friday and Monday, the King County Wastewater Treatment Division has just announced another one is coming up tomorrow at the Murray Combined Sewer Overflow Control Project site across from Lowman Beach. Spokesperson Doug Marsano says it’ll work the same way as those two recent days – starting around 7 am, with up to 10 trucks an hour throughout the day bringing concrete to finish the base of the under-construction million-gallon tank.

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Arctic-drilling support at West Seattle’s Terminal 5? After intense debate, Port Commission supports proposed Foss lease, but…

January 13, 2015 4:20 pm

| 28 COMMENTS

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news

(UPDATED 9:54 PM with chronicle of how the discussion unfolded)

(October 2014 photo by Peter West Carey, shared via Twitter)
The issue of whether to pursue a lease with Foss Maritime, temporarily taking part of closed-for-modernization Terminal 5 to support Shell‘s Arctic drilling operations (here’s our previous report), wasn’t supposed to be up for a vote; on this afternoon’s Seattle Port Commission agenda, it was just a briefing.

But after more than 20 public commenters at the meeting, held at Sea-Tac Airport, and intense discussion between commissioners, Commissioner Courtney Gregoire said she believed they had to give staff direction – and so they did, not via an actual vote, but via opinions: Three commissioners (Stephanie Bowman, John Creighton, and Bill Bryant) said basically, they’re not in favor of Arctic drilling, but not allowing this lease to go forward wouldn’t make a difference, so they feel they have to support it, given the hundreds of jobs and ~$28 million revenue it would bring. Two (Gregoire and Tom Albro) said they felt the port, with its “green gateway” mission, should not become the “homeport of Shell Arctic drilling support.”

But beyond a decision on this matter, commissioners did voice support for coming up with a port “energy policy” that could set guidelines for any future decisions along these lines, and possibly other actions that the port could take to support a clean-energy future, beyond policies and procedures it’s already implemented.

We’ve been monitoring the entire discussion, held at Sea-Tac Airport, via live video, and live tweeting at @westseattleblog. If you don’t use Twitter, you can see our three hours of tweets (interspersed with a few other stories) in the box below – reverse-chronological order, just scroll through:

Tweets by @westseattleblog

And we’re writing up notes in a more-conventional manner to add here as soon as we can.

ADDED 9:54 PM: Scroll or click ahead for our narrative:

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Update: SUV goes off road, behind building at Delridge/Andover, takes out CenturyLink service

January 13, 2015 2:28 pm

| 26 COMMENTS

| Delridge | West Seattle news | WS breaking news

2:28 PM: Big police and fire response headed for the north end of Delridge Way on a “heavy rescue” call. Per scanner, a car went over an embankment. No serious injuries reported so most units are being canceled.

(Added: This photo and next two, by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
2:36 PM: The car involved is a Ford Explorer – it’s actually gone behind the brick business building on the northeast corner of Delridge/Andover.

2:46 PM UPDATE: The vehicle’s driver is going to the hospital via private ambulance. Our crew at the scene has spoken with the building’s owner Christopher Price, who owns the businesses (Allstate and HR Block) based there; he says so far the main damage includes a broken window. Traffic-wise, Delridge isn’t affected much – most of the effects are on Andover east of Delridge.

3:14 PM UPDATE: As discussed in comments, CenturyLink Internet service is out because the driver took out a box at the crash scene:

5:02 PM UPDATE: Thanks to Dan Jaramillo for the photo below, showing two tow trucks working to get the SUV out of the crash spot along that steep section of SW Andover:

Once that’s done, the road should be clear – we won’t be able to check back for a while, so please comment if you do see it back to normal condition.

9:21 PM: As commenters are noting, the CL service is still out.

12:36 AM: WSB’s Christopher Boffoli went back to the scene late tonight and found a crew still working on those repairs:

They had already poured a new footing for the most-uphill box, Christopher reports, but they acknowledged getting everything back will take days, not hours.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Stabbing charge; suspected tool theft

January 13, 2015 2:02 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports today:

STABBING SUSPECT CHARGED: The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has filed a charge of second-degree assault against Beverlee Darden, the 52-year-old High Point woman arrested after last Wednesday night’s stabbing outside South Seattle Market at 35th/Morgan. In the charging documents, prosecutors say the suspect thought the 17-year-old victim, described as a volunteer at West Seattle Food Bank who lives near Darden, was interested in Darden’s husband, and had been calling her insulting names based on that. On Wednesday night, the victim confronted her about it, and, prosecutors say, while they were arguing, Darden stabbed her. The charging documents say the knife appears to be the same one used when Darden was accused of stabbing her husband last November, a case in which no charges appear to have been filed, but she does have a record – 12 bookings into the King County Jail since 1986, and 10 arrest warrants. She remains in jail with bail set at $50,000.

SUSPECTED TOOL THEFT: From a resident near 21st/Roxbury:

About 10 am this morning I noticed a man in the middle of my planted parking strip. He was messing with some tool boxes. I’m assuming he just stole the two boxes, and a white Home Depot bucket full of stuff. He couldn’t carry it all, so threw what he could in the bucket and took off. My dog was barking at him, and possibly he saw me, so that is why he took off so fast. He only took a drill out, and the rest of the two boxes had stuff in them. So, if your tools were stolen this am, the police have most of them.

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6 possibilities for part of your West Seattle Tuesday night

January 13, 2015 12:06 pm

| Comments Off on 6 possibilities for part of your West Seattle Tuesday night

| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

Our photo below stars an overwintering Black Turnstone, photographed on Alki by Bill Bacon. Now, six notes for tonight:

HIGHLAND PARK PLAYGROUND/PARK PROJECT: Second community meeting about the project, 6:30 pm at Highland Park Elementary. More info on the project, and notes from the first meeting, are here. (1012 SW Trenton)

JUNCTION NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATION: 6:30 pm, Senior Center of West Seattle, wide-ranging agenda from Emergency Communication Hubs to Junction project updates and more. (Oregon/California)

CHIEF SEALTH PTSA: 7 pm at the Confucius Center on campus, with the agenda including concerns about the blended honors and International Baccalaureate programs, as detailed in the meeting preview on the PTSA’s website. (2600 SW Thistle)

ADMIRAL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: First meeting of the new year for ANA, 7 pm, The Sanctuary at Admiral. (42nd/Lander)

FAUNTLEROY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: 7 pm at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse‘s board room. Tonight’s FCA agenda “includes discussion of a Fauntleroy School building handrail, a neighborhood survey, a walk-around with City of Seattle officials, an update on business memberships, discuss with City Light representative about the neighborhood substation, a Cove Park update, a Fauntleroy Center makeover, new neighbor bags, board recruitment, committee reports, and more.” (9131 California SW)

HIGH-SCHOOL BASKETBALL: Chief Sealth IHS and West Seattle HS both have boys-varsity home games tonight, both at 7:30 pm: Sealth vs. Franklin (2600 SW Thistle); WSHS vs. Cleveland (3000 California SW)

AND THERE’S MORE ON OUR CALENDAR … browse it here!

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Another day, another aircraft carrier: USS Nimitz now Bremerton-bound

January 13, 2015 9:43 am

| 3 COMMENTS

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news

(WSB photo by Patrick Sand, substituted for tweeted version shown here earlier)
9:43 AM: Thanks to the texter (206-293-6302) who called our attention to the Kitsap Sun‘s report that the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) is en route from Everett to Bremerton right now, for 16 months of maintenance. Naval Base Kitsap says via Facebook that it’s expected to arrive around 11:30, so if you can’t see it from West Seattle shores yet, it can’t be far. It’ll be the second consecutive day of aircraft-carrier sightings – the USS John C. Stennis headed northbound yesterday, leaving Bremerton for more training.

10:29 AM: Looking north from the Alki promenade, we’re seeing it in the distance now, passing West Point.

11:08 AM: Back from watching until it turned into Rich Passage.

(Update: Photos added, including Greg Snyder‘s view of the turn, above.)

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Fire alarm brings SFD response to Cottage Grove Commons

January 13, 2015 9:22 am

| 2 COMMENTS

| Delridge | West Seattle news

(Thanks to Christine for the photo)
9:22 AM: For everybody wondering about this (thanks for the texts): A fire alarm is what brought a Seattle Fire response to DESC’s Cottage Grove Commons building in the 5400 block of Delridge. No fire, but sprinklers went off, so there’s some water cleanup under way.

9:36 AM UPDATE: More units are being dismissed at the scene; sounds like two will remain.

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West Seattle youth sports: WS Little League signup time

January 13, 2015 8:59 am

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| West Seattle news | WS & Sports

(Photo courtesy West Seattle Little League)
Another major youth-sports organization in West Seattle is in signup mode. In case you need the nudge:

Registration for the West Seattle Little League is open! WSLL is currently registering players for its Spring Baseball season. Divisions include T-Ball, Coach-Pitch, Rookies, Minors, Majors, 50/70 and Juniors. Please visit westseattlelittleleague.com and click on the “Register Now” button to register your player.

You will find additional information regarding WSLL area boundaries, division ages and descriptions on the website. Register before January 30th to avoid a late registration fee. Documentation night will be held on January 27. Tryouts for Minor and Major divisions will be held on March 1st. Rookie League assessment — new this season — will be held on March 8th.

Please contact us with any questions: wsllgeneral@hotmail.com. See you this season!

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TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Tuesday updates and alerts

January 13, 2015 6:16 am

| 7 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
And we’re off! Welcome to Tuesday. Transportation-news notes for starters:

THE BUS SERVICE YOU’RE BUYING: On Monday afternoon, a news release went out saying that Mayor Ed Murray and King County Executive Dow Constantine are formally sealing the deal for three years and $120 million of bus service that’ll be funded by what you voted for last year. It didn’t get into specific routes/times, so we asked for documentation detailing those and hope to get it today. (Added Wednesday: Find it here.)

9:10 AM: Just in case you ran into this problem – Metro has responded to Maggie’s tweet and says they’ll check it out:

@kcmetrobus @westseattleblog ORCA card reader broken at stop 19790 (Morgan Junction, West Seattle). pic.twitter.com/KsxYXof5nR

— SudsyMaggie (@SudsyMaggie) January 13, 2015

4:56 PM: Water Taxi’s 4:45 and 5 pm runs have been canceled for mechanical trouble (thanks to Jana for the tip via Twitter, before the official alert!) – the county says it’ll resume at 5:15 pm from downtown.

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