West Seattle, Washington
17 Wednesday
Residents in some parts of West Seattle will come home today to find a surprise like that – 2 bags of free Cedar Grove Compost along their curb, maybe leaning against their streetfront garage. It’s the kickoff to a six-week-long giveaway promotion with Cedar Grove and Seattle Public Utilities – even if you don’t find the free compost outside your home, you’ve got another way to pick yours up – more on that shortly. Cedar Grove is made from recycled Seattle yard waste – yes, the stuff you put out on the curb in the big bin, or huge paper bags. Besides the residential dropoff, they also delivered a huge pile to the Delridge P-Patch on 25th SW. Before all this, there was a promotional show-and-tell this morning at the south-of-Admiral home of avid recyclers and gardeners Kirsten, Matt and Harrison Whittemore, who posed for WSB with cat Swaggr (note the nicely mulched garden behind them):
They are avid recyclers and gardeners. If you don’t have free compost bags waiting outside your home, you can get a coupon by going to cgcompost.com, redeemable at locations including the South Transfer Station in nearby South Park; if you don’t want to use your free bags, donate them to the White Center Food Bank, which serves part of West Seattle and can use the compost for edible gardening.
This week two West Seattle businesses announced they’re leaving their storefronts but want to be clear they are NOT closing their businesses:
AUTHENTIC HOME, which specializes in paint and interior design, will continue to sell their exclusive paint line not only online but also through resellers (listed here); proprietor Kathy Banak is also continuing to book color/interior design consultations at 206-937-3070 or info@authentic-home.com. And she says new products are in the works. (Saturday is AH’s last day at its storefront north of The Junction.)
SOLD HOME DECOR is leaving its storefront on 35th SW across from Southwest Library, and just announced a big sale of the used furniture in its showroom there. But proprietor Maria Groen also notes that – as was her focus before – she will continue to offer real-estate staging/consultation and redesign/interior-design consultation. Her contact info is online at soldhomedecor.com. The store’s last day in Westwood is April 25th.
One more West Seattle biznote – a challenge of sorts:
RED CUP ESPRESSO’S EARTH DAY CHALLENGE: Red Cup owner Tricia DiBernardo says her solar-powered Junction coffee shop has adopted the West Seattle-based Nature Consortium in honor of Earth Day, and they’re encouraging you to volunteer with and/or donate to the nonprofit that’s devoted to restoring the West Duwamish Greenbelt, the largest contiguous forest left in the city. She says Red Cup (4451 California SW) has volunteer sign-up sheets for NC, and if you sign up, you’ll be entered to win a T-shirt or hoodie with the group’s cool logo. DiBernardo adds, “This is a wonderful non profit that we would love to support and hope others will also. All of us Red Cuppers have signed up to volunteer as well as about a dozen or so customers .. but we need more people!”
(WSB photo from April 2009)
More than half a dozen sites in West Seattle are part of the annual Duwamish Alive! Earth Day work parties next Saturdays – cleanup, restoration, invasive-plant removal, myriad tasks to help our greenspaces and waterways (including the Duwamish itself). Many of them, we’re told, still need more volunteers to sign up – so please set aside some time; it won’t even take the whole day – just 10 am-2 pm so that you can check out the Earth Day Festival 2-4 pm at Pathfinder K-8, adjacent to one of the sites (Pigeon Point Park, also the scene of the 2009 photo shown above). Here’s the list of sites and info on who to contact to sign up.
From the WSB Forums: Lowman Beach Park neighbor Dr. Ron Sterling has set up a website to rally those concerned about the possibility of the park being dug up to place a large wastewater-storage tank underground if King County chooses that as the solution to “combined sewer overflows” (CSO) into Puget Sound. He had the most to say at the county-led public meeting last week on what the county has announced as its 3 options for the Lowman Beach (formally known as Murray) pump station’s CSO solution. His new website is at soundangels.org. As he writes on the site, the next chance for public discussion is the April 21st Morgan Community Association meeting (7 pm, The Kenney), but in the meantime, some of those commenting on our coverage of last week’s meeting had asked how to get involved. In addition to sending official comments to the county (go here), those who are concerned can join an online petition just linked from the soundangels.org website.
Got chickens, or thinking about them? One of our newest WSB sponsors can help you feed them. We welcome Scratch and Peck, a regional chicken-feed company (delivery or pickup), which like all new sponsors gets the chance to tell you about their business: “Many of us are trying to eat healthy foods grown close to home – that’s a big part of the reason we keep chickens in our yards. We are a local, chicken-owning family business dedicated to providing the cleanest, most wholesome animal feeds possible without the use of soy. We use only organic or non-gmo grains, most of which are grown in the Pacific NW. We currently specialize in chicken feed and are also working on creating feeds for other urban farm animals (goats, rabbits). We are in the process of building a feed mill to produce a line of organic feeds made with Washington-grown grains. Our customers seek us out because they want organic chicken feeds so the eggs and meat the chickens give are the cleanest, healthiest possible for human consumption. Most comments center around the idea that the chickens absolutely love the feed and their people love the look and feel of it. The grains are ground or whole and look similar to granola. Many folks say that it looks good enough for them to eat it themselves! My customers return again and again because their chickens thrive on the feed and they feel confident that they are providing the best feed available. My customers are very appreciative of our delivery services. We enjoy it as well because it enables us to visit with our customers and to meet their special chickens up close and personal. Their lives are enhanced because we are helping them in their goal to live as local and organically as possible.” Scratch and Peck is affiliated with the Seattle Urban Farm Co-op, Puget Sound Food Network, American Pastured Poultry Producers Association, and Sustainable Connections. You’ll find them online at scratchandpeck.com – phone and e-mail information is here.
We thank Scratch and Peck for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news on WSB; find our sponsor team, and info on joining, all here.
Every Saturday morning, volunteers descend on some of West Seattle’s green treasures — for cleanup, for restoration, for a helping hand to make sure natural spaces survive in our city. One of them got some TLC today, and Mike Arizona shared the photo above, with this report:
On any given Saturday along West Seattle’s Longfellow Creek you will find volunteers working to restore the creek and the greens spaces that surround it to a more natural habitat. This Saturday was no exception!
Thanks to a energetic group of volunteers from Seattle Works, 500 square feet of the Delridge Natural Area was freed from invasive blackberry and the entire area was mulched and cleared of trash. Today’s volunteers prepared the site for planting of native plants and trees this fall.
Check out Longfellow Creek at www.longfellowcreek.org and learn how you can help preserve and enjoy a West Seattle treasure.
Most Fridays, our weekend preview features work-party listings around West Seattle for the following day; you can also check ahead for opportunities here and around the city via the Green Seattle Partnership website.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
For the second time in two weeks, King County Wastewater Treatment brought a team to West Seattle to explain and discuss proposed solutions for a problem that sends more than a million gallons of untreated wastewater and stormwater into this part of Puget Sound in the average year.
This time, at Monday night’s meeting about proposals for the area feeding the Murray pump station at Lowman Beach, the proposed trio of solutions drew even more concern than the trio explained earlier this month for the area served by the Barton pump station by the Fauntleroy ferry dock. (The entire meeting presentation, by the way, is now online – see it here.)
One of them would involve digging up most of Lowman Beach Park, including its unique beachfront tennis court and two century-old trees. Another would involve acquiring homes across the street from Lowman, through eminent domain if necessary. Read on for a look at all three and what the crowd of about 40 at the Southwest Community Center meeting heard and said about them:Read More
At the two pump stations that bookend Lincoln Park, King County Wastewater Treatment has to cut down the number of times that large quantities of wastewater flows into Puget Sound because the system’s overtaxed. They’ve chosen three options for each of the areas (“basins”) feeding those two stations. A week and a half ago, they presented the three options for the Barton (by the ferry dock) “basin” (WSB coverage here); tonight, it’s the presentation for the three options for the Murray (Lowman Beach) “basin,” three different underground-storage options (explanatory links at bottom of this page), one involving the station site (county photo at left), Lowman Beach Park itself. The county says it’s got to choose one within a few months, so this may be your last best chance to ask the experts your questions. 6 pm, Southwest Community Center (map). Side note: The county has an online map showing the status at its “combined sewer overflow” spots like the 2 by Lincoln Park, and it suggests there’s been an overflow at Murray in the past 48 hours; we’ll check on that.
After the 9 am kickoff ceremonies, those volunteers are now at work along Fauntleroy Way planting trees. City Council President Richard Conlin joined the opening celebration at Fairmount Playfield too; at the center of the photo is a new Tree City USA flag. Major participants include the Rotary Club of West Seattle, Boy Scouts from Troop 284, Cub Scouts from Pack 793 and Keller Williams Realty.
We’ll be back out soon to check on the actual tree-planting!
12:21 PM UPDATE: If you drive along Fauntleroy Way, you’ll notice the tree-planting stretches almost all the way to the business district’s heart at California SW. Here’s a photo shared by Anne from Ventana Construction (WSB sponsor), showing three volunteers with one of the dozens of new trees that will change the face of Fauntleroy Way for decades to come:
ADDED EARLY SUNDAY: Another photo from Anne. That’s little Trevor helping with the tree:
From our photos – that’s Council President Conlin with organizers just before the event started; note he rolled up on two wheels (see helmet and bike):
This is more progress toward the city’s goal of having a 30 percent tree canopy within 30 years. Read more about that goal – and see how to check your own neighborhood’s canopy – by going here.
Just in from the Port of Seattle – it’s offering a tour of two of its West Seattle parks, two facilities that some don’t realize are port-owned/managed. Read on for the announcement and how to sign up:Read More
We’ve mentioned this a few times and with Saturday just around the corner, it’s time for another reminder: The Rotary Club of West Seattle is helping lead the way in a big tree-planting project along Fauntleroy Way this Saturday, along with local Boy Scouts and the city – and hopefully, with you too! Just be at Fairmount Playground starting at 9 am Saturday. Meantime, here’s the latest news release – read on:Read More
(June 2008 Riverview-area photo by Christine – click to see larger version)
We’ve had a few reports in recent years of bee swarms (particularly the summer of 2008), followed by frantic searches for information on who, if anyone, to notify. This year, the experts have reached out first – with this note in the WSB Forums today. Beekeeper Brad Jones writes that if you find a honeybee swarm – he and other local beekeepers (including Sustainable West Seattle president Brian Allen) will help find it a home. Their contact info is in the Forums post – worth bookmarking!
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
A years-long process now comes down to the next few months: King County will decide this summer which of three options to pursue for reducing overflows from the Barton pump station (by the Fauntleroy ferry dock – county photo at left), as part of a process to achieve that goal for four such stations near Puget Sound beaches that have “combined sewer overflow” (CSO) problems. Last night, more than a dozen county reps and consultants came to Southwest Community Center to present, and answer questions about, the three options – one of which drew the most community concern – read on:Read More
Got a couple notes about a strong chemical-like odor in the Gatewood area at midday. Not an avalanche of reports, so at first we weren’t going to write about it – but it does provide an opportunity to remind you that odor IS an air-quality issue and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency wants to hear about it. So if something is persistent or otherwise worrisome, file a report – at least this will help them track it. The information is on the PSCAA website – you can file online or call during business hours.
12:54 PM: The Nature Consortium‘s celebrating its success and looking to its future right now at The Hall at Fauntleroy, during its second annual Benefit Brunch (co-sponsored by WSB). In the capacity crowd, we spotted King County Executive Dow Constantine, State Sen. Joe McDermott, and Seattle School Board rep Steve Sundquist. The Nature Consortium is a West Seattle-based nonprofit, headquartered at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in North Delridge, and its main work involves restoring the West Duwamish Greenbelt – with lots of volunteer help! Their work parties are listed on greenseattle.org – lots of chances to help (including the upcoming Duwamish Alive! events in honor of Earth Day, April 17). 1:54 PM: Added photos – including, at right, NC board member Becca Fong.
(Photos in this story courtesy John Lang unless otherwise credited)
In our Saturday report on this year’s Fairmount Ravine cleanup, we mentioned that organizer John Lang had found an apparent transient camp earlier in the week and asked for police help before the volunteer event. There was a lot more to the story, as you’ll see now that John has written up his account of not only the cleanup but also the discovery, and a close call he had along the way, as well as what they’re hoping for the future:
The 18th annual spring cleanup was a great success! 23 people participated on the sunny and warm Saturday. There was participation from students from Kennedy, O’Dea and West Seattle High Schools including one who drove all the way from Federal Way. That is dedication!
That’s our photo of the teens – John’s story continues after the jump, including what happened when he discovered the camp – and was attacked by the campers’ dog – plus, how your help might be needed (not just for future cleanups):Read More
Those are most of the 20 volunteers who teamed up for the 18th annual Fairmount Ravine cleanup under this morning (a few had to leave before they wrapped around 11 am, when we dropped by). As usual, volunteers cut and pulled piles of ivy away from trees – the ivy is what you DON’T see on the trees in this photo:
And they picked up what amounted to a hill of trash:
The cart you see in that photo was apparently used by people who had been camping under the bridge, according to cleanup organizer John Lang. He spotted signs of the encampment earlier in the week – including a dog – and asked police to make sure the area was clear before the cleanup. He says they found dozens of cans of dog food while cleaning up today, and planned to take it to the West Seattle Food Bank (which offers pet food to clients with pets, when available). By the way, today’s volunteers included a group of high-school students – from West Seattle HS, Kennedy and O’Dea.
The more volunteers who can pitch in tomorrow morning for the annual Fairmount Ravine cleanup, the better, particularly under the bridge – and that photo taken by John Lang this week shows exactly why. He went up to survey the scene in advance and found a worse mess than usual … what you don’t see as you drive, ride or walk through the ravine between the Admiral District and the Harbor Ave. waterfront. Before you get on with your Saturday plans tomorrow, spend an hour or two helping. From the announcement John originally sent, published here last week:
Fairmount Ravine Preservation Group will sponsor the 18th Annual Spring Cleanup and Reforestation of Fairmount Ravine, Saturday March 6th at 8:30. Meet at top of ravine (Forest St. and Fairmount Ave.). Wear boots and gloves. Bring a pruning saw if interested in removing ivy from trees. Delicious Tully’s coffee and hot cocoa along with donuts will be served. We extend a special invitation to those who use the ravine to access the waterfront; please donate an hour of your time to keep this greenbelt healthy and pristine. More info – call John at 932-5151.
Here’s a map to the meeting place.
Thanks to a tipster (who didn’t want to be credited) for pointing out the Coast Guard’s report of a partially submerged 65-foot tugboat at Island Tug and Barge, in the Duwamish, just north of The Bridge. It had more than 6,000 gallons of fuel and oil on board, but according to the Associated Press, it was brought back up this morning without spilling anything but 25 gallons of oily bilge water.
(Sign at Lowman Beach after Murray Pump Station overflow in 2007)
There wasn’t much turnout last fall when we covered two meetings about upcoming “CSO” – Combined Sewer Overflow – projects that King County is pursuing in connection with two pump stations on West Seattle shores, Barton (by the Fauntleroy ferry dock) and Murray (by Lowman Beach). One recent commenter wondered if perhaps the longer-than-expected 2-year duration of the 53rd Avenue Pump Station expansion project on Alki might lead to more interest in projects like these. With that in mind – here are two meeting dates just announced by King County: 6 pm March 18 for the Barton project, 6 pm March 29 for the Murray project, both at Southwest Community Center. The CSO projects are meant to come up with ways to keep stormwater and sewage from flowing into Puget Sound during storms that overload the system; the county is looking for opinions on the various ways of making that happen – which could even involve building big storage tanks near the existing pump stations (both of which are underground), to store the excess water until the weather eases. Read more about the CSO-control program here.
That’s one of our photos from last year’s Fairmount Ravine cleanup – just part of what neighborhood volunteers picked up and took out of the ravine during several hours of work. They could have done more, with more help – and here’s the advance alert in hopes that you will join them for this year’s cleanup, just a week and a half away. From John Lang:
Fairmount Ravine Preservation Group will sponsor the 18th Annual Spring Cleanup and Reforestation of Fairmount Ravine, Saturday March 6th at 8:30. Meet at top of ravine (Forest St. and Fairmount Ave.). Wear boots and gloves. Bring a pruning saw if interested in removing ivy from trees. Delicious Tully’s coffee and hot cocoa along with donuts will be served. We extend a special invitation to those who use the ravine to access the waterfront; please donate an hour of your time to keep this greenbelt healthy and pristine. More info – call John at 932-5151.
(Google Maps doesn’t seem to recognize Forest/Fairmount but the meeting spot is just east of the spot marked on this map.)
When we stopped by the Fauntleroy Church electronics/appliances recycling event at midday Sunday, the crew from Issaquah-based 1 Green Planet already had filled one truck with recyclables. We checked with Judy Pickens to see if they had received a grand-total report; here it is – four truckloads (24-foot, two 16-footers, and a 14-footer), totaling between 15 and 20 TONS of recyclables. Judy says they’re talking about doing it again this fall; in the meantime, you can use E-Cycle Washington to find out how to recycle these types of items.
An hour and a half into the five-hour recycling event at Fauntleroy Church, the 1 Green Planet crew already had filled a truck! We caught them during a brief lull before a couple more cars pulled up:
They are a relatively new, nonprofit operation, based on the Eastside. They recycle electronics and appliances for free – while some other recyclers still charge fees. They tell us that some aspects of the operation (taking apart old computers, which have myriad recyclable components) subsidize the others. If you miss this event, they say you can take recyclables to their facility in Issaquah – full info on what they take and where they are is on their website. But in the meantime, they’re scheduled to be at Fauntleroy Church (9140 California SW) till 2 pm – and they had big props for West Seattleites’ obvious recycling zeal.
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