day : 08/11/2016 12 results

ELECTION RESULTS: Sound Transit 3 approval; Jayapal wins U.S. House seat; other statewide, local races

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(Voter dropping off ballot at High Point box in final hour. WSB photo by Leda Costa)

8:35 PM: While the presidential race tops the night, ballots in our area had more than three dozen local/regional/state races of note. King County Elections has NOT YET released its one count for tonight, citing “a delay.” But some other counties are reporting, so here are links to the biggies – including statewide issues. We will add summaries once King County is in.

8:53 PM: King County results are out in a “plain text” format only – you can search through them here.

9:04 PM: King County results are fully reflected in the links below.

10:32 PM: King County says it’ll be updating results again at 1:30 am.

1:35 AM: The county site has indeed updated results again.

SOUND TRANSIT 3 (3 counties) – results here – 1:51 am, 55% yes

U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT 7 results here – 1:51 am, Jayapal ahead with 57%

U.S. SENATORresults here – 1:51 am, Murray ahead with 61%

GOVERNORresults here – 1:51 am, Inslee ahead with 56%

LT. GOVERNOR results here – 1:51 am, Habib leading with 56%

STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTIONresults here – 1:51 am, Reykdal ahead with 51%

SECRETARY OF STATEresults here – 1:51 am, Wyman ahead with 53%

COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC LANDSresults here – 1:51 am, Franz ahead with 55%

STATE BALLOT MEASURES results here – 1:51 am, 1433 passing with 60%, 1464 failing (53% no), 1491 passing with 71%, 1501 passing with 72%, I-732 failing (58% no), I-735 passing 64%. In Advisory Vote 14 and 15, “repealed” is ahead; proposed constitutional amendment, “approved” is ahead.

**All statewide-office results here**

34TH DISTRICT LEGISLATORSresults here

SEATTLE INITIATIVE 124 – 77% voting to approve

**All King County-only numbers are here**

WEST SEATTLE ELECTION NIGHT 2016: Watching the presidential race; last-minute local voting

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6:38 PM: Our Election Night headquarters this year is Admiral Bird, which took reservations for its cozy space and is filling up.

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Results have been on the big screen here for almost an hour and a half. “If anything is certain about tonight, it’s uncertainty,” said one of the CBS anchors just now. A moment later, CBS called Connecticut for Democrat Hillary Clinton, and a cheer erupted – first one of the night. We’ll have updates from here and from the West Seattle ballot dropbox, where WSB photojournalist Leda Costa is stationed as the 8 pm voting deadline approaches. (added) Jon sent this photo of daughter Sydney “helping me vote!”

6:50 PM: If you’re looking for somewhere to watch – we just checked a couple nearby spots; nobody at the West Seattle Library (2306 42nd SW), which has results on until 7:45, and not many at Parliament Tavern (4210 SW Admiral Way).

7:02 PM: “White-knuckles kind of night,” declares another CBS anchor, suggesting people are drinking. Yes, here at Admiral Bird, where wine and beer are offered as well as coffee, and it’s a pro-Clinton crowd, they are. Meantime, LOTS of voting. Leda sends this photo of an overflow bag, brought in after the dropbox has already had to be emptied twice today:

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7:50 PM: A few minutes ago, the 15-minute warning was sounded at the dropbox:

As for the race, Trump has retained the electoral edge. The pro-Clinton crowd here has cheered when there was a reason to, such as the recent call of Colorado in her corner:

Minutes left to get your ballot in. And we’ll get local results – which we’ll publish separately – within half an hour or so.

8:02 PM: More cheers as projections came in with the West Coast poll closings.

8:22 PM: King County’s results release has been delayed. Meantime, here’s the countdown from the West Seattle dropbox at the top of the hour:

Here at Admiral Bird, the big screen remains on CBS and the current estimated electoral-vote count is 197 Clinton, 193 Trump, with some major states as-yet-uncalled.

8:29 PM: Local TV has put up some early numbers in the statewide races but with conversation continuing to buzz, few realize that those numbers include no King County results yet. Meantime, CBS has called Florida for Trump, who is back in the electoral lead, 222-197. “This night has gone much differently than anyone has predicted,” says an anchor. Meanwhile, a TV photographer has showed up here.

8:40 PM: “I don’t understand how it’s this close,” says one of the 25-plus people here. Meantime, the one person in the room who seems oblivious to what’s unfolding on screen is many years away from voting:

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On screen now, Trump 227 electoral votes, Clinton 197.

9:02 PM: The King County votes are finally tallied in a readable way – so we’re tracking the local and statewide races/measures here.

9:16 PM: The presidential race hasn’t yet been called; Trump 244, Clinton 209, is the current count. The CBS anchors also have shown a number suggesting the financial markets are not happy about it. “Holy s–t!” is the exclamation here, in reaction to that. Some have gone home.

9:30 PM: Two rounds of cheering, but not related to the presidential race – they cheered reports that Pramila Jayapal has won the 7th Congressional District seat, and that Sound Transit 3, set to bring light rail to West Seattle in 2030, is winning. Meantime, the electoral tally is 244 Trump, 215 Clinton.

10:02 PM: The electoral #’s haven’t changed (if you’ve lost track, 270 is required to win). A local TV cut-in brought a brief glimpse of Governor Inslee, who’s winning re-election tonight, and that sparked a cheer among the remaining partygoers here at Admiral Bird.

10:21 PM: Another couple comes up to the bar at the Bird, where we’ve been sitting. Going home, they say. “Going to sleep?” they’re asked. “Probably not” is the reply.

10:40 PM: Someone just walked in, saying she didn’t want to be sad by herself. The CBS people on the TV keep pointing out how late it is, Eastern time, and wondering what’s holding things up – “absentee ballots?” asks one.

10:46 PM: Next to us at the Bird bar, a woman talks of a friend or relative whose 6-year-old half-Latino child is worried, saying that “Trump hates Mexicans, and I’m half Mexican.” The sadness is palpably mixed with fear.

11:40 PM: After six hours, the laptop died and we headed back to HQ, right after a Clinton campaign official told her supporters to go home, that she wouldn’t have anything to say tonight. Donald Trump, meantime, is expected to speak sometime soon. We’re watching NBC, which says Clinton has called Trump to concede.

TRAFFIC ALERT: Crash at 35th and Graham

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6:05 PM: Thanks to Marco for the tip and photo – SFD and SPD are responding to a crash at 35th and Graham. So far, no major medical response is included, but if you’re heading to the ballot dropbox at High Point Library, it’s just a block south of the crash scene, so be careful in the area.

6:29 PM: Seattle Fire has cleared the scene. Since no medic unit was ever summoned, that means no serious injuries.

WEST SEATTLE ELECTION DAY 2016: PM scenes

November 8, 2016 4:04 pm
|    Comments Off on WEST SEATTLE ELECTION DAY 2016: PM scenes
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

4:04 PM: Starting our pm rounds … including the inbox:

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Thanks to Barry J. White for the photos: “Here’s some shots of fifth graders from Gatewood Elementary who were encouraging turnout this afternoon. Pramila Jayapal walked over from her office nearby to meet the kids, a really wonderful scene.”

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Jayapal, the state senator running for Congress, has had a field office for some months in the former West Seattle Kids Salon storefront about half a block from the school. More to come. Again, the voting reminders:

King County Elections dropboxes, until 8 pm. Local ones are here:
-High Point Library (SW Raymond just east of 35th)
-White Center Library (1409 SW 107th)
-South Park Library (8604 8th Ave. S.)

Post Office – get there early – your ballot needs to be postmarked by tonight

If you can’t find your ballot, you can print a replacement (the KCE helpers at the High Point dropbox told us they have extra envelopes)

5:23 PM: We’re at Admiral Bird, a cozy space that took reservations for tables and will be standing-room-only. Here in the early going, they’ve been decorating:

We’ll have coverage from here as the presidential results come in over the next few hours -the bigscreen is already on a national results broadcast. And at 8:15-ish pm, when King County’s one and only results release of the night comes out, we’ll have the local/regional/state numbers for key races – since this is a statewide/presidential year, not many mega-local races, but Sound Transit 3 is the marquee measure.

West Seattle Crime Watch: Did you see this business burglary? Plus, 2 car prowls

We start West Seattle Crime Watch this afternoon with a business burglary caught on video:

Those are the two clearest short clips of what happened at The Guenther Group‘s HQ overnight. From proprietor Kelly Guenther:

Guenther Group was broken into at 10:44 last night — someone lobbed a paving stone through a huge plate glass window. If anyone heard or saw anything, it would be great to know.

Address is 3444 California Ave. SW. Break-in occurred at 10:44 last night and was fully recorded by security camera footage. Only the doors are armed to the alarm system, so the alarm apparently did not go off. But the thief was brazen. He returned to steal even more stuff a 2nd time and then was on the scene again a minute before police arrived at 12:12 am. Thief was in a hoodie — still determining if he wore gloves.

Given the earlier time of the break-in and the Seahawks win last night — and my proximity to apartments and live-work townhomes, I”m amazed no one heard this or called the police earlier. You can actually see people walking by during this. Some good Samaritans finally called it in about midnight.

If anyone has any information, it would be great to know about. I’d like to catch this guy if possible and witnesses will be key to this. He kept returning to the scene — and was pretty obvious with a hoodie parka pulled over his head on a warmer night.

Also today, two car-prowl reports:

CAR PROWLER(S) STEAL DIAPER BAG: From Darci: “Last night my car was broken into in the High Point neighborhood and all they took was my diaper bag. There’s nothing of value in it so I’m hoping they just ditch it. If they do ditch it I would love for someone to be able to get it back to me.” It’s a black Fawn Design-brand diaper bag.

FAUNTLEROY CAR PROWL: From 45th SW/SW Director, Matt reports, “I had managed to avoid it for my six years of living here, but am sad to announce that I have now joined the not-so-exclusive car prowl club. Our Prius was accessed and the center console was rummaged through sometime between 1AM – 7AM today (Election Day). It doesn’t appear that anything beyond spare change was taken, and no damage was done to the car, so that’s some silver lining. This happened in our open carport that is equipped with motion sensing lights (which hopefully were part of the reason not more was taken).”

WEST SEATTLE DEER: New sightings, and renewed plea to let it be

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(Saturday photo, courtesy Owen)

We’ve just received the first West Seattle deer-sighting report since Saturday – Marsha e-mailed to say it was an “incredible sight” to spot the deer on Wickstrom Place SW in the Alki area this morning.

Nine days after first word of the deer (nicknamed “Westley” by WSB commenters) surfacing in West Seattle, we know at least one other person has seen him today – while we haven’t heard from them directly, we know about the sighting because of a call from Tracy Bahrakis, acting field-services manager for the Seattle Animal Shelter. She mentioned a report this morning and wanted us to let you know that while SAS is continuing to talk with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the animal authorities continue to contend that unless the deer is badly injured or in distress, trying to capture it would do more harm than good – so please just let it be.

If you’ve missed our previous coverage, this is the first deer spotted in West Seattle in years. First word came in a photo tweeted by Peter, October 30th on Pigeon Point; the next day, it was seen to the west, near West Seattle Health Club; the day after that, we learned it also had wandered onto the spawling site of Nucor, which reported it to WDFW but was told to leave it alone. On Friday, a series of sightings and photos showed it on the move from Fairmount to Beach Drive. On Saturday, it was seen in North Admiral.

Bahrakis says the person who called her this morning from West Seattle was concerned that the deer seemed to be limping; this has been an on-and-off description over the past week, but she says “they hurt their legs all the time” and do best healing on their own. (Reader video clips we’ve published show it quite mobile and running quite ably.) Bahrakis says that a past deer-relocation attempt – by shooting it with a tranquilizing dart, capturing, and moving it – left it dead the next day from stress.

So she says their request remains: Leave it alone. Keep your distance. Don’t put out food for it or otherwise entice it to stay. Just let it be. And if you still have questions or concerns, she said, WDFW invites you to talk with them directly – the main number is 360-902-2200.

West Seattle Hi-Yu: Future still in flux

November 8, 2016 11:43 am
|    Comments Off on West Seattle Hi-Yu: Future still in flux
 |   West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival | West Seattle news

From last night’s West Seattle Hi-Yu meeting at the library in Admiral:

The Hi-Yu board continues to view what they’ve been doing for the past few months as reorganizing, not shutting down. New president Chris Henggeler says he believes that with improved outreach and more volunteers, Hi-Yu could create “a better and more inclusive product” that the community and its other organizations can rally around. Youth participation is at the heart of it, and he’s hopeful that some form of Hi-Yu will be around for years so those opportunities will continue to be available.

But in the meantime, Hi-Yu, with its 80+-year history, remains in a state of flux. The board has suspended its bylaws about member participation so that feedback can be more open to the wider community. And the need for more community participation remains. Right now, what form Hi-Yu will take in 2017 has yet to be decided. Whether they’ll even have a float for local and regional parades is not yet settled. But by year’s end, the board will finalize a message for community groups and organizations, and will be reaching out to them as well – service clubs, PTSAs, neighborhood councils, the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Junction Association, etc. They’re also working on updating their online presence, which has mostly languished in recent months.

Hi-Yu also hopes to achieve more flexibility in fundraising by changing from a 501(c)(4) nonprofit to a 501(c)(3), but that could take at least six months.

Board members are meeting in executive session between the monthly public meetings, so the discussions and plans are evolving almost continuously. The time for the December 5th meeting is not yet set.

West Seattle Tuesday: It’s not ALL about the election tonight …

November 8, 2016 11:01 am
|    Comments Off on West Seattle Tuesday: It’s not ALL about the election tonight …
 |   West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

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Thanks to Michael Taylor-Judd for sharing the photo from this morning, looking across Elliott Bay at our beautiful peninsula. Here’s a quick look at a few things you should know for the hours ahead:

ELECTION RESULTS VIEWING PARTIES: Not a big list, but here are the ones we found in West Seattle.

DINNER TO HELP WSHS ATHLETICS: Support West Seattle High School sports via the West Seattle Booster Club by getting dinner from Chipotle in The Junction tonight, 5-9 pm. Tell the cashier that you are supporting WSHS Athletics and half the proceeds will go to the cause. (4730 California SW)

ADMIRAL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION IS OFF: The regular monthly ANA meeting has been postponed to a TBA date because of Election Night, per president Larry Wymer. (We’ll publish an announcement when there’s a new date.)

FAUNTLEROY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION IS ON: 7 pm at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, the FCA board IS going ahead with its regular meeting, according to president Mike Dey. (9131 California SW)

ELECTION NIGHT KARAOKE: By 9 pm, if you feel like singing, The Skylark is the place to be, for Baby Ketten Karaoke. (3803 Delridge Way SW)

LOOK INTO THE FUTURE … via our complete calendar page.

YOU CAN HELP: West Seattleites reaching across the miles to help ailing mom-to-be

In case you’re still feeling dispirited about this year’s campaign and want to do something life-affirming this Election Day … here’s one option. Coach Sonia Sillan from Elite Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu of Seattle (WSB sponsor) in North Delridge and her students are reaching out across the miles to help one student’s sister, who in mid-pregnancy learned she had cancer.

Michelle Bonilla is an amazing human who is going through a difficult time right now, and we are asking for your help. As she entered her second trimester of pregnancy, the doctors finally figured out why she was experiencing sickness and pain – she was diagnosed with stage III lung cancer. The doctors believe that she had ovarian cancer, which metastasized to her lungs and throat. The diagnosis quickly evolved to stage IV. Michelle is currently in her third cycle of chemotherapy, and is making trips to the hospital four times a week. The doctors at some point will have to induce childbirth, and Michelle’s daughter will be introduced to the world prematurely to increase the intensity of her treatment. Unfortunately, because of her pregnancy and cancer, she is unable to work, the endless bills are piling up.

Michelle’s sister Harly, an Elite BJJ student, is crowdfunding coast to coast to help her sister – here’s the link. She says, “Mikki is one of the most easy-going, gentle, and noble people that I know. She is also the best Tía (aunt) to my eight-year-old daughter. She had been wanting to be a mother for a long time, and we were all excited when life granted her that wish and she became pregnant. Our world was turned upside down as we progressed through different stages of her illness.”

ELECTION DAY 2016: Morning sign-waving

By the time we got to 35th/Avalon/Fauntleroy around 8:30 am to look for morning sign-wavers, this was the last person left, standing at the SB RapidRide stop:

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But we have photos from earlier, thanks to readers who were up on the pedestrian overpass over the Fauntleroy entrance to the bridge. Chris Porter sent these two (that’s him at left in the first one, with fellow West Seattleite Liliana Eagan):

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From left in this photo, West Seattleites Lisa Wolters, Sawyer Wolters. Pat Bowen:

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(Thanks to Lisa Cipollone for also sending a photo of those three, and the IDs!)

And Cause Haun sent this photo:

(Anyone else out this morning? editor@westseattleblog.com – also, if you’re planning to be out sign-waving this afternoon, tell us where and when.) Quick voting reminders:

King County Elections dropboxes, until 8 pm. Local ones are here:
-High Point Library (SW Raymond just east of 35th)
-White Center Library (1409 SW 107th)
-South Park Library (8604 8th Ave. S.)

Post Office – get there early – your ballot needs to be postmarked by tonight

If you can’t find your ballot, you can print a replacement (the KCE helpers at the High Point dropbox told us they have extra envelopes)

And here’s our list of local viewing parties (can still add others if you’ve heard of any).

TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Election Day updates, alerts, previews

(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)

7:02 AM: Good morning and welcome to Election Day 2016. Right now, no incidents in/from/near West Seattle.

While we have the chance, here’s a look ahead to the holiday that will end this week:

VETERANS DAY ON FRIDAY: Schools will be closed … Metro will be running “reduced weekday” serviceNo West Seattle Water Taxi service.

8:24 AM: Thanks to everyone who’s sending sign-waving photos! We’ll have an Election Day Morning update in a bit. editor@westseattleblog.com is our preferred way to get pix but you can also text to 206-293-6302 – thank you!

We also have a traffic advisory for tonight, sent this morning by WSDOT:

One lane of northbound State Route 99 will be closed overnight to allow crews to transport large bridge girders into a work zone near Seattle’s stadiums.

Crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will close the left lane of northbound SR 99 between South Holgate Street and Railroad Way South from
9 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8 to 5 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9. Crews may close additional northbound lanes for short periods of time, if needed, to maneuver the bridge girders into the work zone.

The girders are part of a new bridge that will serve as the off-ramp from northbound SR 99 to South Dearborn Street after the new SR 99 tunnel opens to traffic.

West Seattle Crime Watch: Robbery suspect out of jail; three reader reports

Three reader reports to share – but first, a followup:

ROBBERY SUSPECT OUT OF JAIL: A week and a half after his arrest, 19-year-old robbery suspect Ayub M. Rage is out of jail. He was the lone adult arrested after a chase and crash two and a half weeks ago, and then was charged with robbing the Admiral 7-11 and trying to rob the 41st/Admiral Chevron. He got out of jail Monday night, hours after pleading not guilty to the charges, and being granted his request for bail reduction. Rage had been held in lieu of $75,000 bail; a judge allowed his release on condition he participate in the CCAP program, described online as a program that “holds participants accountable to a weekly itinerary directed at involving the participant in a continuum of structured programs and classes.” His next court appearance is set for November 17th.

BALLOT THEFT: Luke messaged us via Twitter on Monday night: “Ballot got stolen from mailbox at Holden/35th between 6 pm and 8 pm while I was home!” We’ve heard secondhand of at least one other case of ballot theft. With mail thieves still on the loose, our advice is to use the free dropbox or take your ballot directly to a Post Office. If you do lose yours, you can print a replacement.

PACKAGE THIEF: The video and report are from Abraham in Highland Park:

Just wanted to get the word out on this guy … he stole packages from my doorstep Thursday, November 3, at 2:52 pm. He got a light gray ski jacket from me …. might be wearing it now.

The unusual thing is that after pinching the packages, the thief sat on the steps to check them out, as you’ll see on the video. It’s been reported to police.

BURGLARY REPORT: It’s a few weeks delayed but thank you to the Arbor Heights resident who thought we should alert people about this:

I wanted to share with you a recent burglary that took place in our Arbor Heights neighborhood. During the last crazy windstorm in October, our neighbor whose wife is quite ill had to call for help and the Fire department and an Aid Car came and took her to the hospital. While they were gone the home was broken into and (burglarized). This recap is from our other neighbor so its secondhand but the point being is that these criminals are organized and listening to the scanner for when families are called away on an emergency and taking an opportunity to strike.