West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
On the same night that much-awaited Dumplings of Fury opened a few blocks away, another much-awaited new Junction restaurant had a very quiet “soft opening” – Kizuki Ramen and Izakaya (4203 SW Alaska).
We only noticed because of a reader tip that Kizuki might finally – after months of promising “soon” – be opening this week; then while running an errand this evening between coverage of unrelated stories, we detoured over for a look, and discovered they were allowing potential customers in.
“Irasshaimase!” could be heard from outside, every time someone stepped in – that’s Japanese for “welcome!” We subsequently sent in our photographer, who learned the official opening day will be next Monday (July 25th). From thereon out, they’re expecting to start with 11 am-2:30 pm lunch hours and reopening at 5 pm for dinner. It’s been almost a year since first word that Kizuki – at the time called Kukai – was on the way; many reader questions about its progress in the ensuing months led us to bring you multiple updates, like this one in February with a sneak peek at the design (compare to the photos in this story that we took tonight).
If you’ve never been closer to the Navos Mental Health campus on SW Holden than driving, riding, or walking by, you might not know those townhouse-style residences are part of it. They were shown off this afternoon during a visit by Governor Jay Inslee and County Executive Dow Constantine, a progress report of sorts on a task force they launched almost two years ago.
It’s the Community Alternatives to Boarding Task Force – an effort to help people find their way out of the mental-health-hospital system when they’re ready. “We ARE making progress,” the governor said, while acknowledging “a lot of work” remained. He said mental-health facilities have “more inpatient beds” and “more treatment options,” to get people “the right help at the right time … getting people out of locked wards.” The director of the programs spotlighted at Navos is Ravenna Candy, a West Seattle resident:
She spoke of the six “village-style townhouse units” in which 24 adults live. Around South King County, she said, “300 adults get low-barrier housing through Navos,” as an alternative to longterm hospitalization. The “people who should not live in the shadows,” as the governor called them – people like the resident who told her story, Sandra Anderson:
She said she had spent five years in Western State Hospital, and had also been homeless – 40 percent of people experiencing homelessness are dealing with mental illness, Navos says – as well as having been an addict and a prostitute. Now, she said, she’s been “clean and sober” for 12 years, and is living in her own apartment for the first time ever, at age 52. (It’s in Federal Way, after she spent time living on the Navos campus.)
After a short peek inside one of the “village” living units, media and other tour participants heard again from the governor and county executive. Constantine said, “Too often, people wind up where there’s space, rather than where they need to be” – that space sometimes even turns out to be the King County Jail. He and Inslee promised to pursue, in their budgets and other ways, more support for supportive housing like this. Here’s the news release with details on the task-force recommendations their visit was meant to spotlight.
We noticed this evening that the no-parking signs have arrived for Saturday’s West Seattle Grand Parade – both the parade route itself, down California SW from Lander (in The Admiral District) to Edmunds (in The Junction), and side streets. Take note of the signs so you aren’t caught by surprise on Saturday – all the ones we saw today are marked 7 am to 3 pm, and tow trucks DO get called out on parade morning for vehicles whose drivers ignore the signs.
As we’ve been mentioning, the parade has more than 70 floats, bands, groups, performers, and characters signed up. The official start time is 11 am, but the motorcycle drill teams – Seattle PD, and Vancouver, B.C., Police, who come to West Seattle as a Puget Sound exclusive – take off as early as 10:30 am.
New participants this year include Pacific Science Center and the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, whose executive director Clay Eals is this year’s Orville Rummel Community Service Trophy winner – honored at last night’s Concert in the Park – and will ride toward the start of the parade, as will the Grand Marshals, the Schmitz Family.
Find your spot along the route – or, participate in the fundraising, costumes-encouraged Float Dodger 5K (9:30 am – sign up here!) or Kiddie Parade before the WSGP (show up at California/Genesee, where the Kiddie Parade starts at 11). The parade is presented by the West Seattle Rotary‘s Community Foundation.
THURSDAY P.S. Jon asked in comments about the bus reroutes. They are now on the Metro site and will be in our remaining previews as well as parade-day coverage.
2:55 PM: Police are in High Point right now searching for someone believed to be related to an incident they described on Twitter as starting with a “dispute/fight between drivers on the West Seattle Bridge.” One person was hurt and treated by Seattle Fire in The Triangle.
3 PM: We are near the scene a few blocks east of the High Point Library as more police continue to arrive.
3:01 PM: A person police were looking for is reported to be in custody, having emerged from a residence into which they say they saw the person go.
3:09 PM: Police were looking for a “mid-’90s Crown Victoria” and traced the car here, a lieutenant tells us.
He confirms they took one man into custody and that they believe he is “party to aggravated assault.”
3:14 PM: Talked to Southwest Precinct Capt. Pierre Davis near the scene. He says it apparently began with a “fender-bender” on the bridge; one person was attacked, and somebody showed a gun – possibly a rifle – before taking off, and that’s when they started tracking the suspect vehicle. He confirms there might have been others involved. (Added 9:48 pm – A reader texted this photo of the incident, which was at the east end of the westbound bridge – we don’t know what role in it the person seen outside the red car played:)
4:04 PM: That’s why police are still in High Point. If you’re heading home from work or elsewhere, the center of activity has been near 29th/Raymond, and you might find closed roads. SWAT is involved, too.
4:54 PM: More arrests, per this SPD Blotter report just published:
Officers arrested four men in the High Point neighborhood Wednesday after a motorist was injured in a suspected road rage incident on the West Seattle Bridge.
Witnesses called 911 around 2:15 PM and reported that a group of men had stopped their vehicle on the westbound side of the West Seattle Bridge, pulled a motorist from his vehicle and assaulted him and then fled. Witnesses also reported the suspects had been armed with a rifle or shotgun during the incident.
The victim, who chased after the suspects in his own vehicle, also called 911 following the assault provided information about the suspects.
Officers found the victim, who suffered a bloodied nose, and immediately called for Seattle Fire Department medics to treat his injuries.
Police found the suspects’ red Ford Crown Victoria in the 6000 block of High Point Dr. SW and surrounded a home. The four suspects eventually surrendered to police and were taken into custody for assault.
When Mayor Murray‘s Find It, Fix It Community Walk comes to the Westwood/Roxhill area next Monday (here’s the map and schedule), it will end at Roxhill Park, which got some extra cleanup attention today:
Southwest Precinct Community Police Team officers were joined by participants in an SPD-coordinated city summer youth employment program.
This area on the south side of Roxhill Park has been the scene of unauthorized camping as well as illegal dumping.
Items found and trucked away included a wheelchair, bicycle, sleeping bags, clothing, and furniture, as well as this drum set:
On site were CPT officers Jon Flores (above) and John O’Neil (below, talking with local community advocate Amanda Kay Helmick):
The cleanup ran from about 9:30 this morning until noon. The Find It, Fix It Walk starts at the Longfellow Creek P-Patch next Monday night at 6:30 and will head east, through Westwood and then to Roxhill.
Three reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch today – two sent in hopes somebody saw something in relation to the two crimes:
HOME BURGLARIZED – ANY WITNESSES? A resident in the 4000 block of 35th SW [map] reports a burglary on Tuesday and hopes somebody saw something:
I want to report the brazen theft of personal property in broad daylight yesterday to see if anyone was a witness to the crime. The (burglar/s) entered through a side window and stole jewelry, money, passports, alcohol, etc. sometime between ~8 am and 4 pm on July 19th. The (burglar/s) then walked out the front door, leaving it wide open to boot.
CAR STOLEN, FOUND – ANY WITNESSES? From Linda:
WSB Friends: My silver 2004 Volvo XC70 was stolen from my home on Dawson Street in the Alaska Junction early Friday morning, badly damaged, and abandoned in the 3000 block of 48th Ave. SW. I was working out of town, so the vehicle was ticketed and towed about 9:40 Saturday morning from where it was found. I didn’t realize this until I returned home about midnight on Sunday. I recovered the car (Monday) and it might be a total loss. A neighbor saw a black van with its lights blinking idling in front of my house about 2:15 a.m. on Saturday. If anyone heard or saw anything that might relate to this, will you please comment so we may be in contact? I thank you in advance for your help.
And a followup:
STOLEN CAR FOUND: Last Friday, we published Nita’s car-theft report; her son’s 1999 Civic was taken from outside their home near 35th/Cloverdale. It’s since been found, she tells us, “abandoned at a condo in Burien. Thanks to the King County and Seattle Police, great teamwork. They ripped out the stereo system, stole my daughter’s north face jacket, west they took my 8-year-old son’s football gear.” But they did get a sentimental item back – the tag from their dog, who died recently.
(WSB photo)
11:05 AM: Seattle Fire is sending a “heavy rescue” response to Delridge and Trenton [map], for a reported two-car crash, one on its side. More to come.
11:10 AM: First crews on scene report that “all occupants are out,” which means they won’t need the full “heavy-rescue” response to remove anyone, and many of the responding units are being turned back. Avoid the area, though, for a while. They’re calling for a private ambulance.
(Reader photo, courtesy Rene)
11:18 AM: Our crew says the two vehicles in the photo are the only two involved. Two people are being checked out by medics. (added) The woman driving the black car will be taken to the hospital but her injuries aren’t believed to be major; the man driving the pickup was not hurt. Police are directing traffic through the intersection one direction at a time.
12:06 PM: Just verified that the scene is now clear. Police told us that they were investigating the possibility the crash happened because one of the drivers was having “a medical issue.”
As part of the Alki Homestead / Fir Lodge restoration and remodeling, the former restaurant’s neon sign has finally been taken down, to await its part of the facelift. The sign had been vandalized before the operation to bring it down. The video was published late last night by Clay Eals of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, who included this information in the extended caption:
On Monday morning, July 18, 2016, Alki Homestead owner Dennis Schilling, his son Matt and five-member crew removed the building’s iconic neon sign so that it can be restored as part of the landmark building’s overall renovation and restoration. The removal took just shy of two hours.
The sign restoration will cost $25,000 to $30,000, and the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, which secured city landmark status for the building 20 years ago, helped Schilling in 2015 to obtain a $15,000 grant from 4Culture for the project. … The neon sign is being stored temporarily inside the Alki Homestead. (The restoration work will cover up the graffiti with which vandals defaced the lower portion of the sign in late June 2016.)
The rest of the restoration work has been proceeding through the city system; a construction permit was granted in May, after the city Landmarks Board OK’d the “rehabilitation” plan for the 112-year-old building – heavily damaged by a 2009 fire that closed its restaurant operation.
(Woodpecker Wednesday! Pileated woodpecker, photographed by Mark Wangerin)
Here’s some of what’s up for your West Seattle Wednesday, from our event calendar (where you can look into the future any time – days, weeks, months):
FIREFIGHTER STORY TIME: 10:30 am, guest readers from the Seattle Fire Department teach preschoolers about fire safety at Southwest Library. (35th SW/SW Henderson)
LOW-LOW TIDE, WITH BEACH NATURALISTS: Today’s tide is out to -1.8 feet at 11:54 am, and Seattle Aquarium Beach Naturalists are out at Lincoln and Constellation Parks until 1:30 pm.
HIGH POINT MARKET GARDEN FARM STAND: Fresh produce, grown steps from where it’s sold, 4-7 pm. (32nd SW/SW Juneau)
THOSE NEIGHBORHOOD VOLUNTEERS THE MAYOR WANTS TO CUT OFF … are meeting tonight at Highland Park Improvement Club. As we’ve reported here and here, what was to be the monthly meeting of the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council has expanded to a gathering of neighborhood-district-council participants, supporters, and anyone else interested, from all over the city, not to decry Mayor Murray‘s plan to cut off city support, they say, but to talk about what they’ve accomplished and could accomplish with more support instead of less. All welcome. 7 pm. (12th SW/SW Holden)
MORGAN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: 7 pm quarterly meeting at The Kenney – agenda is in our listing. All welcome. (7125 Fauntleroy Way SW)
POETRY AT C & P: 7 pm at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), “join City Artist grant recipient Katy Ellis and four talented young writing students from the public and home school community for an evening of poetry that explores familial relationships as they relate to animal instinct, animal affection and a sense of where and how we belong to one another.” (5612 California SW)
NIGHTLIFE X 5: See the listings on our complete calendar.
(WSB file photo, Alki Art Fair Busker Stage)
The music schedule is out for this weekend’s Alki Art Fair, 10 am-6 pm Saturday and Sunday on the promenade, with music continuing until 9 pm Saturday, 8 pm Sunday. Two stages – the main stage is by the Bathhouse, and we’re sponsoring the “Busker Stage” further west, closer to the picnic-shelter area. See the schedule here. The fair is free to attendees; you’ll find artists showing and selling their work, as well as kids’ activities, a silent auction, and more. Plus: A free shuttle from the West Seattle Bridge park ‘n’ ride and from Admiral Junction – details are on the Alki Art Fair home page.
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
(Click any view for a close-up; more cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
6:52 AM: Good morning! No incidents in or from West Seattle so far. What you need to know:
NO BRIDGE CLOSURES AFTER ALL: SDOT has postponed its plans to close the Fauntleroy Expressway tonight and tomorrow and says it’ll reschedule.
SATURDAY REMINDERS: This Saturday (July 23rd) brings the West Seattle Grand Parade, Kiddie Parade, and Float Dodger 5K; California SW south of SW Admiral Way, to The Junction, will be closed from early morning into early afternoon; watch for signage on some of the immediate side streets too, for parade staging and dispersal.
1:27 AM: Thanks for the texts about 10-12 suspected gunshots in South Delridge before 1 am. Police have been dispatched to check it out; so far, we haven’t heard anything indicating they’ve found confirmation of gunfire – such as shell casings or property damage. Definitely no gunshot victims reported in this area. The texters have mentioned the 16th/17th/Barton/Henderson vicinity; one tells us the sound “very close by” woke them up.
1:40 AM: Now we hear there was word of an apparent bullet hole in a car at 16th/Henderson.
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