West Seattle, Washington
02 Friday
(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Heading into the heart of the commute, no problems reported in or from West Seattle, so far.
TRANSPORTATION NEWS: In case you missed them, stories here from the past 24 hours: 20-trucks-an-hour concrete pour set to start tomorrow … When will Highway 99 tunneling resume? What the ‘stakeholders’ group’ was told …
8:44 AM: First problem of the morning. SDOT reports a crash on the eastbound bridge:
Collision on the W Sea Br EB after Delridge in in right lane. Expect delays and use alternate routes pic.twitter.com/OZgw0Bxoiz
— seattledot (@seattledot) December 4, 2014
So far, no medical response dispatched for this, so it’s not on the 911 log.
8:53 AM: Update from SDOT – that was cleared quickly; all lanes open.
9:56 AM: Firsthand explanation from the driver whose car was rear-ended – in this comment.
3:22 PM: Last weekend, we mentioned the plan for a partial closure of the Alaskan Way Viaduct this Saturday night. Now, WSDOT says it will close both ways: “The closure – which will last from Saturday, Dec. 6 at 11:59 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 7 – will allow crews to move heavy equipment across the roadway and conduct survey work on SR 99.”
Seahawks fans – in case it’s not already on your calendar: Just six days until Malcolm Smith, MVP in the team’s Super Bowl win last February, will be at West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor). His visit is set for next Tuesday, December 9th, 6-8 pm. Thriftway tells us he’ll have a supply of posters to autograph. The store’s at California/Fauntleroy/42nd.
That 96-year-old beach house at 1766 Alki SW (map) was demolished today. It was a home with history, according to beach resident Roger Hayes (who shared the photos as well as the info):
The backstory of this house is, it belonged to Mary Starks, who was a longtime fixture in this little stretch of Alki Beach. She and her husband William “Bill” Starks, who passed away in the mid-’70s, originally bought this house in the mid-’50s. Mary was the neighborhood watch guard, avid gardener, raccoon caretaker, and beloved “grandmother” figure of our little Alki beach house community. She lived in the house up until early 2013 when her health was such that she could no longer live there alone, and was relocated to live with or near a niece in the Salt Lake City Utah area.
Sad to see the disappearance of another beach house that gave Alki Beach its original charm. However, totally understand the area and land is too valuable to not make way for progress of the modern day McMansions and multi-unit palaces that are becoming commonplace to the Alki Beach area.
Permits for this to be replaced by a larger single-family home were granted last summer. The site is zoned Lowrise-2, which would have allowed multi-family construction.
Since the big 3-day concrete pour at the excavation for the Murray Combined Sewer Overflow Control Project didn’t happen before the Thanksgiving holiday after all, we checked with the county today to ask about an official start date. It was just set today, according to Doug Marsano:
The first concrete pour is scheduled for this Friday, December 5. The last 2 pours are scheduled to occur next week on Tuesday, December 9 and Wednesday, December 10.
Work will occur from 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. on each day. The entire area will be extremely busy on those three days, and additional flaggers will be on site to ease congestion around the site. Local and emergency access on Beach Drive S.W. will be maintained throughout.
Starting tomorrow, Thursday December 4, no parking will be available on weekdays along Lincoln Park Way SW between Murray Avenue SW and Beach Drive SW, or on Beach Drive SW between the work site and Lowman Beach Park until the pour is complete.
As reported here two weeks ago, that pour will involve 20 trucks an hour.
At a City Council committee briefing that wrapped up minutes ago, Seattle Police explained new plans for responding to property-crime calls … the most common types of crime that neighborhoods deal with day in, day out. Here’s the slide deck with toplines:
… and here’s what was announced via SPD Blotter:
The Seattle Police Department is taking new steps to address property crime and street disorder, including additional training for officers and potentially changing how 911 calls are handled.
The department, for example, is considering increasing the priority of calls that come in regarding property crime, and dedicating staff to handle non-emergency calls, to reduce wait times.
By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog
This edition of our periodic feature The WSBeat contains summaries written from reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers – generally cases that (usually) have not already appeared here in breaking-news coverage or West Seattle Crime Watch reports, but that might at least answer the question “what WERE all those police doing on my block?” Or on the bridge, or the beach, or …
*”Hey…..Hey!” was how one officer got the attention of a man he spotted relieving himself on the door of an Alaska Junction business. As the officer was writing a ticket, the owner of a nearby bar approached and complained that the suspect had a habit of leaving his liquid calling card at her business too, not to mention around the vehicles in the alley and parking lot. The officer said she could ban him from the bar property but had to tell him herself. When she did so, the man swore, called her a name, and offered up assorted other intimidating profanities. He ended up with the ticket in addition to the trespass notice.
*A man with a history of shoplifting at a Westwood Village store was asked to leave the premises around 7:30 a.m. on the 24th. In response, he aggressively threatened to physically assault one employee and then spat at her before leaving. Officers found him on a bus at Delridge and 21st. where he admitted his guilt. He was arrested for investigation of assault and harassment and booked into King County Jail.
*A man acting suspiciously around some cars near 37th and Kenyon admitted to officers that he didn’t live in the area, but that he was just walking home to Burien. It being 2 a.m., they recommended that he “stick to the main roads that are well lit…and stay out of the street.” On a hunch, the patrolling pair decided to circle the block before driving away. On this go-round, on the ground near where they had originally spotted the man, they found a pair of large bolt cutters, vise grips, lineman pliers, and a flathead screwdriver … all commonly used in break-ins. Officers put the tools in the cruiser’s trunk. Just then, they saw the suspect returning to the area–that is, until he spotted the officers, whereupon he ran down a driveway and dove under some bushes. He admitted that he was under Department of Corrections supervision but denied owning the tools. A records check showed that he currently had charges “suspended in the third degree,” so officers took the 42-year-old to a bus stop to catch a ride.
11 more summaries ahead:Read More
Couch Fest Films Sampler 2014 from Couch Fest Films on Vimeo.
Two months ago, we shared the call for people who might want to host Couch Fest Films screenings during this unique one-day film festival taking place in living rooms instead of theaters. This Saturday (December 6th) is the big day/night, and CFF organizers tell us they have three West Seattle hosts! Above, it’s the sneak peek at the short films that will be shown; here’s the official Seattle program, listing what’s being shown, when, and where. Your $10 pass enables you to visit as many of the venues around the city as you want to/can – buy it online here (or at the first screening site you visit Saturday).
P.S. West Seattle Office Junction (WSB sponsor) confirms their space is the one mentioned at 6040 California SW, where the documentary shorts will be shown (33-minute program in all) – the other two are 6017 49th Ave SW, with the “Inappropriately Awesome” shorts (32 minutes), and the “Mixed 1” collection will be screened at 3011 SW Cycle Court. See the descriptions for all of the shorts here.
(From the slide deck shown at Tuesday’s stakeholders meeting)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
While the Highway 99 contractor Seattle Tunnel Partners hopes to make its goal of opening the tunnel by the end of 2016, the state’s point person for the project says that might be “tough.”
To say the least.
WSDOT’s Matt Preedy briefed the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Project Stakeholders’ Advisory Group on Tuesday afternoon, during their every-quarter-or-so meeting at Safeco Field. He talked about what STP is doing while it’s not tunneling, and where the work toward fixing the tunneling machine is now.
The ring of pilings around the “access pit” is done, he said, and the dewatering system is on – the blue lines are wells:
The recently restarted excavation is now halfway down, about 70 feet. Once it’s done, a “concrete cradle” will be put in, and the tunneling machine will rest atop it after advancing about 20 feet under its own power. Then the big job to lift a 2,000-ton piece of the machine will begin.
The red mobile “lift tower” to bring it up is under construction now, Preedy said, pointing out that when it’s done, it will protrude a few feet above the top of the Viaduct, just a few feet from the elevated highway – “it will be an interesting visual impact for drivers on the Viaduct.”
Components have been brought in “from throughout the globe” to put together the lifting mechanism. But even once the piece is out, that’s just the start…
Thanks to Mark Wangerin for the photo of sanderlings huddled on a scrap of beach not swamped by the Tuesday high tide (our Instagram video caught the wind/waves, though nothing near Saturday’s scale). By the way, we’re told his West Seattle Wildlife benefit calendar is all but sold out – you might inquire at West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor) about a possible few remaining copies. Meantime, speaking of calendars, today’s highlights from ours:
HOME OFFICE/CO-WORKING MEETUP: Work outside the traditional office setting? Noon-1 pm on Wednesdays, you’re welcome to join the home office/co-working (etc.) meetup at West Seattle Office Junction (WSB sponsor), as explained here. (6040 California SW)
SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD: At district HQ in SODO – 4 pm meeting, 5 pm public comment, 6 pm action items – including introduction of proposal to make interim superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland permanent, and boundary-change discussion. Here’s the agenda, with internal links including Dr. Nyland’s recent evaluation and the boundary-change presentation. (3rd Ave. S./Lander)
‘CRACKING THE CODES’: As the Ferguson situation has intensified discussions of racial inequity coast to coast, a new film/discussion series starts in West Seattle tonight, with a screening of “Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity.” Here’s an excerpt:
Facilitated discussion to follow. Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL: 6:30 pm at Senior Center of West Seattle, short business meeting before holiday mingling, with refreshments. Public welcome. (Oregon/California)
KIWANIS CLUB OF WEST SEATTLE: Now meeting at 6:30 pm Wednesdays at Senior Center of West Seattle. Interested in finding out who’s in Kiwanis and what the club does in the community? Drop in for the meeting. And/or go to the annual Community Pancake Breakfast this Saturday – see the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide for details on that! (Oregon/California)
WHAT ELSE IS UP? Check out the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar and Holiday Guide for today/tonight/beyond.
Tonight, the Seattle School Board meets, with hot topics including the sudden move to offer interim superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland the permanent job, plus a vote on boundary changes that have raised concerns for several West Seattle school communities. (See our Monday night coverage.) Whatever happens tonight, you have a chance to hear from West Seattle’s school board member Marty McLaren tomorrow, as the Lafayette Elementary PTA is hosting her at a public forum (6:30 pm Thursday, December 4th, free child care). While its announcement (after the jump) includes school-specific items, the forum is not limited to those topics, as Lafayette PTA president Katy Walum tells us anyone in the community is welcome – note they’re also expecting replies from state reps on statewide school issues:
(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
7:15 AM: Nothing out of the ordinary so far on the routes in/from West Seattle.
7:48 AM: Per text, bus broken down on Delridge onramp to eastbound bridge. (Photo added:)
Should the issue of improving safety on 35th SW also take into consideration the proliferation of signs at some businesses? An attendee at Tuesday night’s Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council meeting brought that up, according to meeting notes from co-chair Joe Szilagyi. And from pre-scheduled agenda items, what he describes as “a rolling discussion about the Mayor’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda and future growth impacts on the Westwood/Highland Park Urban Village” yielded a dozen discussion points.
Our #WWRHAH and #HighlandPark Urban Village map. pic.twitter.com/cl9CBwT8Oy
— WWRHAH Council (@WWRHAH) December 3, 2014
See those points, and the rest of the meeting notes, here. Next WWRHAH meeting: 6:15 pm January 6th, Southwest Branch Library.
Holiday decorations are officially up in The Junction. Wreaths were added to streetlight poles this morning, and their lights are aglow tonight; garlands are decking storefronts too.
Just in time for Hometown Holidays (co-sponsored by WSB) to gear up starting later this week – that’s one of the holiday notes we’re sharing tonight:
SHOP LATE THURSDAY, HOLIDAY PARTY SATURDAY, SANTA & CARRIAGE RIDES SUNDAY: This is the first big holiday week in The Junction, with the first of three Shop Late Thursdays coming up two nights from now, 6-9 pm on December 4th. Then on Saturday, another chance to shop into the evening, with the Junction Holiday Party before and after the tree lighting – see the list of participants here (and in the West Seattle Holiday Guide), and what’ll be happening at this neighborhood-wide party 4-8 pm on Saturday. On Sunday, 10 am-2 pm in The Junction, bring your own camera for photo ops at the Santa Meet & Greet at City Mouse (4218 SW Alaska), and ride the mule-drawn carriage that will be making regular departures from California/Alaska.
FESTIVUS PARTY FRIDAY: The only official one we’ve heard of so far this season is this year’s Sustainable West Seattle/WS Tool Library gala, 5-9 pm Friday (December 5th) just a short ways across the bridge at SODO MakerSpace (1914 Occidental Ave. S.) Full details are on the SWS website.
ALSO FRIDAY, OLG ‘LIGHT UP THE NIGHT’: Something new at Our Lady of Guadalupe‘s outdoor celebration of light this year, coming up 7 pm Friday at 35th/Myrtle: This year, OLG won’t be lighting up the big tree outside its church – the cost has jumped, we’re told, and the church needs to devote its resources elsewhere. But you’re still invited to a celebration of light and community, same place, near the highest spot in Seattle – there’ll be lights, just not on the big tree, and there’ll be carols and holiday cheer. Also a food drive – bring nonperishable food to fill the sleigh in the parish center across SW Myrtle from the church.
HOLIDAY EVENT PLANNED? We’re still updating the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide with new events/info at least once a day – if you have a bazaar, community party, decoration display, Santa visit, concert, performance, anything holiday-ish to which the community’s invited, please e-mail us the info ASAP! editor@westseattleblog.com – thank you – and keep checking the guide for updates (we already have a sleigh-full of new info to add later tonight).
Congratulations to West Seattle Elementary Chess Club members who did very well at a regional chess tournament before the Thanksgiving break. The fifth-grade team placed third overall and two students qualified for the state tournament, Rory Moriarty Carey and Jimmy Oto. Thanks to Ritchie for sharing the news.
(P.S. – You might recall that chess at WSES made news last spring, when the school was visited by international chess star Phiona Mutesi.)
Monday afternoon, we showed you the USS John C. Stennis heading past West Seattle, going out for training after the carrier’s quarter-billion-dollar maintenance project.
(Photo by Guy Smith)
Today, we received a photo from Lt. Cmdr. Sarah Higgins in public affairs for the Stennis’s group. She wrote, “Thanks for covering USS Stennis’ departure from Bremerton yesterday! Attached is what our view looked like. Absolutely gorgeous day in the PacNW.”
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Ignacio D. Perez)
Click either photo for a larger view.
(Photo courtesy Nature Consortium)
Big news today from West Seattle-headquartered Nature Consortium, which focuses on forest restoration and environmental arts for youth: A successor to founder/executive director Nancy Whitlock. Meet (above left, with Whitlock) Merica Whitehall, who becomes NC’s new executive director on December 15th, a year and a half after Whitlock announced she planned to step back. Ahead, messages from both:
Alert for Genesee Hill residents – cleanup work starts tomorrow at the former Dakota Substation. This is one of the “surplus” ex-substation sites whose fate has yet to be decided. Here’s the official announcement we received:
Seattle City Light will start work this week to cleanup the former substation located at 4918 SW Dakota Street. The work is expected to take approximately 2-3 weeks to complete. Planned work will remove soil, debris and some vegetation due to contamination. Pesticide contamination at the site is many times higher than the state’s required cleanup level. This work will not involve planned electrical outages.
Removal of soils in treed areas of the property is necessary; however, City Light plans to preserve the trees in these areas. To protect tree roots, City Light will use vactor trucks to remove the contaminated soil. The vactoring technique has been successful at each of the sites in which City Light has used it, including the Fauntleroy site in West Seattle. The utility has received recognition and thanks from community members for the successful protection of the trees on the Fauntleroy site.
Work will include operation of heavy equipment such as backhoes, dump trucks and vactor trucks. This vactor soil removal process will result in louder noise levels than conventional methods of excavation. Noise studies have been performed on this type of work and have indicated that sound levels are considered safe for residents near the work site.
A communications rep for the project tells WSB that notices have been circulated to neighbors already via e-mail, and that door-hanger notification is under way too. The Seattle Green Spaces Coalition, which began as a West Seattle-based group but has expanded to a citywide focus, has been working to find ways to keep sites like this one saved as open space.
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is lifting the King County burn ban as of noon, so fireplace and woodstove use will be OK again (as will outdoor fires where approved, including the fire rings at Alki Beach).
This is our last freezing-cold morning for a while, so we’re sharing Karen‘s icicle photo (thank you!) along with today’s list of calendar highlights:
VIADUCT/HIGHWAY 99 ADVISORY GROUP: The quarterly-or-so meeting of the merged stakeholder groups is at 4 pm today at Safeco Field (entrance by the home-plate gate).
WESTWOOD-ROXHILL-ARBOR HEIGHTS COMMUNITY COUNCIL: Some councils are taking December off, but not WWRHAH – so if you live and/or work in any of those neighborhoods, don’t miss it! 6:15-7:40 pm at Southwest Branch Library. Agenda:
6:15-6:30: Introductions & Community News; New Business
6:30-7:10: Committee & Neighborhood Council Updates – Metro Committee, Infrastructure Committee (35th SW, bus-loop pavement issues), Bog Committee, Roxhill Park Committee, DNDC, SWDC
7:10-7:40: Housing Affordability: The Mayor’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda is a hot topic for the City. We will discuss this, as well as the Westwood / Highland Park Urban Village.
WEST SEATTLE BIKE CONNECTIONS: Also meeting tonight, 6:30 pm at HomeStreet Bank (WSB sponsor) in The Junction. Details on the WSBC website. (41st/Alaska)
FAMILY STORY TIME: 7 pm at Delridge Branch Library – songs, rhymes, AND stories. (5423 Delridge Way SW)
BLUES TO DO: 8 pm at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), tonight it’s Sweet Billy Spaulding & His Soulful 88s. Details in our calendar listing. (6451 California SW)
MORE!!!! Full list of today/tonight events on our regular calendar, and ongoing listings including nightly light shows and tree lots are part of the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide (which you’ll want to browse to preview the MANY, MANY, MANY events coming up next weekend).
Update on a community fundraising effort first mentioned here last month, to help Jasmin Egan, a West Seattle native and mom of 3 fighting leukemia. This Thursday is the night you can go to Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) and not only have a good time with some great music – Rocky Votolato is performing a special live acoustic set! – but also bid for some spectacular silent-auction items. Sarah, who’s organizing the benefit, points out for one thing, golfers might want to come bid for BIG items including a 6-day, 5-night golf trip to Maui (at the Kapalua Golf Villas) and “a chance to golf at the famous Lakeside Golf Club in California with Kiefer Sutherland, Oscar De La Hoya, and PGA pro Duffy Waldorf.” Other silent-auction items have been donated by more than 20 businesses in the area – listed at the bottom of the official flyer. Drop by The Feedback on Thursday night, any time after 6:30 pm.
(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
7:02 AM: Good morning! Freezing (or just below) temps out there again today, but it’s going to start warming up. No trouble reported in our area so far.
8:34 AM: Had trouble with an ORCA card reader this morning? Jeremy and Colleen did (see Twitter exchanges below), and Metro says it’ll check that out:
@kcmetrobus @westseattleblog looks like many (all?) curbside ORCA readers in West Seattle are busted ("UNIT FAULTY")
— Jeremy Kahn (@trochee) December 2, 2014
9:04 AM: Thanks to Flint for sharing this video of the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry, time-lapsed to a minute and a half:
This was recorded in the Monday sunshine.
Remember those wild waves at Alki on Saturday?
(Saturday photo by Long Bach Nguyen)
(More video/photos here.) Monday, it was cleanup time at Statue of Liberty Plaza:
(WSB photo)
We spotted those workers while catching a quick view of the USS John C. Stennis. Later, David Hutchinson shared a clearer look at what Seattle Parks had to pick up:
One inch of sand, David points out. Plus plenty of driftwood:
The afternoon high tides for the next few days are about as high as they were over the weekend – but without the strong north winds and extra stormwater, they’re just, well, high tides.
The person who e-mailed us this report asked to remain anonymous; it was reported to police, and we see an incident number logged. Though we won’t be able to follow up with them until tomorrow, here’s the reader report, just so you know:
I went up Thistle about 5:45ish and turned right onto 30th; there stood a white guy with his pants pulled down to expose his “nether region,” standing by a newish gray Ram 4×4 with license plate B83…didn’t catch the rest.
My kids screamed, “he’s got his pants down!” so I did a U-Turn when I saw him pull up his pants AFTER I drove by and yank them down again when another car behind me went by. I turned around to get the license # etc. After he did this AGAIN, I turned around again to call 911; then he got in and drove away. I was headed to Target so I was behind him anyway and told them where he drove. He turned right on Trenton.
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