West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
(Members of the 2015 graduating class – photo courtesy South Seattle College)
Tonight at Benaroya Hall downtown, South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) became this year’s final West Seattle school to celebrate its commencement. The photo and announcement are from SSC:
South Seattle College celebrated the achievements of its 2015 graduating class at the 45th Commencement … All told, more than 800 graduates received degrees and certificates surrounded by cheering family, friends and South faculty.
“Graduates, you need to be very pleased and proud of your accomplishments and completion of your certificates, two-year and four-year degrees,” South Seattle College President Gary Oertli said to the full house at Benaroya Hall. “I’m truly proud and honored to share this special occasion with you. Your hard work, drive, and commitment have helped you earn this special day.”
This year’s commencement address was delivered by Class of 2015 graduate David Yama. Yama, who dropped out of high school at the age of 14, started at South to earn his GED, and today will graduate with an associate of science degree. This year, Yama has been recognized as the top-scholar on the All-Washington Academic Team and also earned a spot on the All-USA academic team as the top-scholar. During the ceremony, Yama was honored by Congressman Jim McDermott for his outstanding academic accolades. Yama will continue his education in pursuit of a doctorate thanks in large part to the Jack Kent Cooke scholarship, which he will be awarded with a value of up to $40,000/year for the next three years.
South’s 2015 graduating class is as diverse as the degrees and certificates they obtained. Awards included bachelor of applied-science degrees, associate transfer degrees (which open up the opportunity to transfer to four-year colleges and universities to pursue bachelor’s degrees), high-school diplomas, and associate degrees and certificates that prepare graduates to enter the workforce with desirable skill sets.
Summer quarter at South will begin on Monday, June 29.
For coverage of our area’s high-school graduations, see the links on the right sidebar.
7:15 PM: Applauding friends and family lined the track at West Seattle Stadium as purple-shirted cancer survivors walked a special lap to open this year’s Relay for Life less than an hour ago. It’s an all-night fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, with more than 20 teams participating this year; they’ll each keep someone on the track until closing ceremonies tomorrow morning. You’re welcome to visit and cheer them on until tonight’s luminaria ceremony (10 pm) is over, and again as they wrap up tomorrow morning. More photos once we’re back at HQ. P.S. Here’s where to donate online.
8:14 PM: Just added our photos from the early going. Above, a sign of support for a young cancer patient, shown to us by longtime Relay volunteers Gerry and Lauri Cunningham (you might know them as the mother-and-daughter team who raise money through grab-and-go dinner events each year). Also there tonight, Key Club members from local high schools, working on their tent:
Most teams have tents/canopies in the infield for the duration of R4L. And many have signage, sometimes whimsical, related to the team name:
The gophers were courtesy of Team Go For It. Meantime, back on the track, supporters were invited to walk with the survivors after their first lap:
While the luminaria ceremony at 10 – in honor of those who are gone, as well as those in the fight now – is open to the public, the stadium gates close from 11:30 pm until early morning, but you can see on the schedule (bottom of this page) the activities that Relay for Life participants have planned all night long.
1:03 AM: Thanks to stadium-area resident Ann for sharing the photo from the luminaria ceremony, including HOPE spelled out in lights in the stadium stands:
(WSB photos)
5:29 PM: Thanks to those who texted to report a crash at Delridge and Dakota (map), blocking southbound Delridge, reportedly involving a bicycle and car. We’re en route to check.
5:43 PM: Police are still at the scene, toward the side of the southbound lane; traffic is getting through both ways. More on the people involved as soon as we talk with them.
5:55 PM: We’ve just confirmed with police at the scene that a woman was seriously injured and taken to the hospital. She was riding a bike that collided with a car whose driver is still in the car so far as we can tell.
The SPD unit that investigates major collisions is here.
6:15 PM: If you are approaching this part of Delridge any time in the next few hours, please go very slowly and carefully – while as we noted, traffic is currently going through in both directions, police have to do their work in the street, to take measurements and other assessments to figure out what happened. We have seen some southbound bicycle riders divert westbound on Dakota to get around the scene.
7:30 PM: Via the scanner, we’ve just heard that investigators have finished their work at the scene. No new information on the victim’s condition.
MONDAY AFTERNOON: We’re still trying to find out more information. We have learned a little from SFD, whose spokesperson Kyle Moore says the victim is in her 30s and was in critical condition when transported from the scene Friday – unconscious and not breathing when medics first found her, but she had a pulse, and Moore says they “assisted her with breathing.”
The 42nd/Alaska work mentioned by @seattledot is on *both* streets alongside Junction Plaza Park. Through tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/bUthEzTQn7
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) June 19, 2015
When we tweeted that photo a few hours ago, we THOUGHT the work at 42nd/Alaska was continuing through tomorrow. But SDOT has just announced it’s stretching through Tuesday:
Crews from the Seattle Department of Transportation are restoring pavement at 42th Avenue SW and SW Alaska Street following work on underground utilities at that location. Their expected completion time has been updated to 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
During this work the crews are closing 42nd Avenue SW north of SW Alaska Street. Local access is permitted on the north end of 42nd at SW Oregon Street. Also, the bus lane is closed westbound on Alaska approaching 42nd and just through the intersection.
If you can’t tell from our photo, the free West Seattle Junction Association parking lot on 42nd *is* open – the “road closed” sign is only halfway up the block – and that’ll be especially important to remember on Sunday, when California will be closed between Alaska and Oregon 7 am-4 pm for the second in-the-street edition of the West Seattle Farmers’ Market (market hours are 10 am-2 pm).
After public meetings, petition drives, and a walking tour, the city’s final plan for 35th SW will be announced by mid-July. That’s what SDOT project manager Jim Curtin told us when we checked in with him today. Once a meeting date is finalized for the second week of July, SDOT will announce it in a variety of ways, including via postal-mail postcards to residences, businesses, and others on and near 35th SW in the project zone, from Fauntleroy Way SW south to SW Roxbury. The latter, of course, has its own changes in the works, as announced in April, and that work will be done first, Curtin tells WSB: “We intend to combine our work on Roxbury and 35th to save on construction crew mobilization costs. Work on Roxbury is expected to start the week of (August) 17th and we intend to move over to 35th as soon as Roxbury is complete. I believe work on 35th would begin in early to mid-September.” SDOT unveiled “design alternatives” for 35 in March; during last month’s lightly attended walking tour (WSB coverage here), Curtin said “Option A” was looking the most promising for most of the project zone.
It’s almost here! Tomorrow brings the Morgan Junction Community Festival (presented by the Morgan Community Association, with co-sponsors including WSB), in and around Morgan Junction Park, both sides of California SW just north of Fauntleroy Way, 10:30 am-6 pm. Our final preview includes two more new features of the festival – first, with City Council District 1 voting starting when ballots arrive in about a month, it’s decision time, and if you’re still making yours, this might help:
District 1 City Council “Candidate Corral”
We’ve arranged for each candidate to have a table in a central gathering area, the Beveridge Place Pub parking lot, where you can sit and have one-on-one time with each candidate. You can visit with as many or as few as you like. Don’t have anything to ask in particular? Hang around and listen in and we’re sure you’ll want to join the conversation. All the candidates have indicated they will be at the Corral (we hope they won’t have last-minute schedule changes!). The candidates will be at tables between 1:00 and 2:30-3:00 pm, just to talk with YOU.
Also new this year:
A first for the Festival! The Seattle Police Mounted Patrol will visit in the afternoon, targeting between 12:30 and 4:00.
While the Mounted Patrol serves the entire city, it’s headquartered here in West Seattle, on the edge of Westcrest Park in Highland Park.
Lots more info in our previous Morgan Junction Community Festival previews:
*Food
You’ll also find booths with local businesses and organizations you might be interested in finding out more about, both in the park and in the lot behind Zeeks Pizza (WSB sponsor) / Feedback Lounge – we’ll see you there!
(Photo by Trileigh Tucker: Baby chestnut-backed chickadee awaiting food-bearing parent)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar for today/tonight:
MEGA-PARKING-LOT SALE: Until 4 pm today (and again tomorrow), go check out the thousands of items on sale in the lot at Shorewood Christian School, as explained here. (10300 28th SW)
RELAY FOR LIFE: Starting with the opening ceremony at 6 tonight, the cancer-fighting all-night fundraiser at West Seattle Stadium continues into Saturday morning. Find info on the West Seattle Relay for Life webpage – that’s also where you can make an online donation, and find (scroll all the way down the page) the full schedule of events, including the ones open to the public including the opening and closing ceremonies and, at 10 tonight, the lighting of luminaria to remember loved ones lost to cancer. (4432 35th SW)
FREE MOVIE NIGHT AT HPIC: Doors open at the Highland Park Improvement Club at 6, movie at 7 – no admission charge, but bring $ for fundraising concessions. Details (including movie hint) here. (12th/Holden)
SWING DANCING IN FAUNTLEROY: 6:30 pm lessons, 7 pm music and dancing with the West Seattle Big Band as you “Swing Into Summer” at The Hall at Fauntleroy! Not too late to buy your ticket online – the link and other info can be found in our preview from earlier this week. (9131 California SW)
MORE FOR TODAY/TONIGHT/THIS WEEKEND/BEYOND … on our calendar!
It’s still almost three months out, but summertime roars by, so you might want to start planning now to participate in the 2015 West Seattle Car Show, which, as announced here earlier this month, will be at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) – 10 am-3 pm on Sunday, September 13th, with load-in at 8 am and awards at 3. Co-presenters Swedish Automotive and West Seattle Autoworks (also both WSB sponsors), with the help of Webcami, have the application form up now at westseattlecarshow.com (the rest of the website will be launched soon), so you can download it and send it in before the summer gets busy.
(Four WS-relevant views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning and happy Friday! We start with an alert for today and weekend previews:
JUNCTION ROAD WORK: 42nd SW north of SW Alaska will be closed for road repairs most of today and tomorrow, per SDOT’s announcement published here Thursday.
OTHER ONGOING PROJECTS OF NOTE: Curb ramps at two Alki SW spots – info here … Murray CSO Control Project work at 48th/Beach Drive/Lincoln Park Way – info here … 47th/Admiral/Waite signal & crosswalks – info here.
SATURDAY – FESTIVALS: Though neither of these Saturday events involves road closures, remember the Morgan Junction Community Festival (10:30 am-6 pm) and Westwood Village Street Fair (10 am-6 pm) when you’re out and about tomorrow.
SUNDAY – FARMERS’ MARKET IN THE STREET: This Sunday will be the second one for the West Seattle Farmers’ Market in its new home, California SW between SW Oregon and SW Alaska. While market hours on Sundays are 10 am-2 pm, that block will be closed to parking and vehicle traffic 7 am-4 pm.
By Patrick Sand and Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog co-publishers
We are here not to walk on the water, but to walk on the Earth.
That was the heart of a quotation offered by Our Lady of Guadalupe pastor Father Jack Walmesley as he welcomed more than 150 people to an interfaith gathering last night, “Praised Be,” celebrating the encyclical letter on the environment, “Laudato Si,” issued earlier in the day by Pope Francis, which begins:
1. “LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”.[1]
2. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters. …
Underscoring that the Earth should be cared for on behalf of future generations as well as ours – it is described in the encyclical’s subtitle as “our common home” – a copy of the Pope’s message was carried into the church by OLG sixth-grader Emily Amesquita (top photo).
OLG parishioners Dan and Robyn Campbell, introduced as committed environmentalists, talked about losing a tree in their yard and having to answer their three-year-old’s question about where the squirrels would live.
They built a little house for the squirrels, they explained, saying it was a “teaching moment,” helping them to instill in their children a reverence for the Earth and how we must all take care of it.
Father Walmesley also spoke of understanding “the breath of God,” not just how it is experienced on Earth but how scientists have seen through the Hubble Telescope and in other ways that it is alive in the galaxies and stars whose light reaches us now from across seemingly endless space. We’re here, he said, to understand the complexity of the world that St. Francis of Assisi understood and that Pope Francis has called all people to understand now.
Those in attendance also heard from Dr. Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos, director of the Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture at Seattle University.
She spoke about the theology of the encyclical and how it applies to daily life.
And a closing prayer, the Chinook Blessing, was offered by Sister Pat Eley from the Sisters of Providence, also a member of the Duwamish Tribe:
Then Emily carried the encyclical out of the church, as people followed, invited to stay and learn more about living sustainably
Before the service, visitors were invited to see and consider the sustainability-focused features of OLG’s 3-year-old Parish Life Center.
In our photo under some of the center’s solar panels are, from left, visiting Father Thomas J. Marti; LeeAnne Beres of Earth Ministry; the center’s architect Richard Glasman; OLG pastoral assistant Frank Handler; and Jessie Dye of Earth Ministry, who also had spoken during the service. (Earth Ministry’s mission is “inspiring and mobilizing the religious community to play a leadership role in building a just and sustainable future.”)
WHAT NOW? The back of the event program offered advice for “taking action on Laudato Si,” listing simple lifestyle changes such as:
Eating lower on the food chain
Walking or taking the bus more often
Changing to compact fluorescent light bulbs
Insulating or installing solar on our homes and parishes
Purchasing used items
Not buying toxic cleaning or lawn products
Generally using fewer resources
P.S. The encyclical, the second by Pope Francis, was written in Italian but can be read in English here.
Seattle Police are investigating a crash at 16th and Kenyon (map). No major injuries reported – no medic unit dispatched – but officers at the scene just advised dispatchers that 16th will be closed both ways at the scene for a while.
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