By Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

The Alki Community Council gathered last week for their October meeting, to talk about upcoming events and neighborhood concerns, with a visit from Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison.

The meeting was held in “hybrid” format, with attendees in-person at Alki UCC as well as online via Zoom, and was facilitated by president Charlotte Starck:

Starck credited Kevin Kramer (the group’s new Board Chair of Operations) with facilitating the technology for the hybrid meeting, to make things run smoothly.  Starck thanked attendees for being there, noting the mix of neighbors, group leaders, business owners, city staff, and law enforcement (including two SPD community-service officers who were there in-person). 

SPD Officer German Barreto from the Southwest Precinct provided an update via Zoom. He said that for the Alki area, looking at the past month compared to 2023, there has been an increase in sexual assault reports, but everything else (including thefts) is down. He noted the previously reported drive-by shootings on Alki on July 29th, September 6th and 14th, as well as an earlier incident on the 2100 block of Harbor SW. He said it was good news that detectives were able to thoroughly investigate where appropriate. He reminded attendees that the precinct has a new leader, in Captain Krista Bair (who took the position in June). An attendee asked about the “boundaries” related to the crime stats, and how much of West Seattle is included in those. Baretto confirmed that for the stats he cites in each community group meeting he attends, he tries to use data relevant to that specific area of town — in the case of the Alki group, it’s basically the 98116 zip code.

SW Precinct Operations Lt. Nathan Shopay (also attending online) said that for the upcoming weekend, they would be conducting “an experiment” in which dedicated officers would be patrolling the Alki/Harbor area specifically during the “hot time” (9 pm and later) and “won’t be pulled off Alki to go anywhere else.”  He said that the precinct with gather data and findings from the experiment to help inform future patrol assignments. Several meeting attendees thanked Shopay for this, and one noted that “I walk on Alki multiple times a day, and have noticed an increased law enforcement presence every day. I really appreciate it!”

Next up were remarks from Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison, who attended in-person, and is in the third year of her term:

She had talked to the Alki group just over a year ago, and referenced that visit several times during her remarks (she had to cancel a follow-up visit in May 2024), and thanked attendees for being there and for getting involved. She said that it’s important for civic leaders to “be knowledgeable on a local level, where the rubber meets the road” and that the strives to “make myself accessible and take the ‘front desk’ on the road.”

Davison said she has a staff of more than 100 and is the only elected city attorney in Washington (most others in the state and across the country are appointed to their positions). She said that she takes that responsibility seriously as an elected official and an independent prosecutor. 

From the “civil side,” she cited her efforts in suing the carmakers as part of ongoing issues with Kia/Hyundai vehicles being easy targets for theft because the manufacturers “knowingly sold vehicles” that were prone to theft, thus “promoting criminal activity.” She said she was the first in the country to file suit, and now 16 other government entities across the US have joined in. “We want manufacturers to recall the cars and put in anti-theft technology,” she said, noting that such requirements were already being met in Canada and Europe but the carmakers declined to do it here. She said the suit is a “strategic move to help law enforcement partners, who are already too busy” and that customers have been losing their car insurance and a whole host of other problems. 

She also noted her office’s work with the $160mm Monsanto settlement announced in July, the highest for any municipality in the country, as being a major win for public health and the community. She also cited her work as part of an amicus brief for the Grants Pass v Johnson case dealing with urban homelessness, saying that she wants to “let local policy makers make their choices” for these difficult issues. 

From the “public safety side,” Davison said her office has made huge progress dealing with the backlog of roughly 5,000 criminal cases that she faced when taking the job three years ago. She said her office’s goal is to close new cases within five business days, and they’re currently at seven days “and should meet the goal within a week or two” — and that they’re “staying on top of things.”

She said that she’s a big advocate of “data transparency” and providing the public with lots of information. “It’s cutting edge,” she said, “and not what most prosecutors want to do.” She said this is crucial to help her and other leaders make informed decisions — “we don’t want it to be anecdotal” — and that everything gets published to her office’s website including annual and quarterly reports. 

Davison cited her partnership with the Seattle City Council in last month’s 8-1 council approval of the creation of Stay Out of Drug Areas (SODA) areas, targeting drug-related criminal activity in key areas (such as parts of Belltown and the International District) and authorizing courts to prohibit someone from entering those areas if they commit a drug-related criminal offense in those zones. She said that she lives in the north end and has had hard conversations with her kids while driving through areas like north Aurora Ave. “Public areas need to be protected; the anti-drug zones should help,” she said, noting that October 23 (one month after passage) would be the effective date for the new law. After it goes into effect, “I’ll see what the referrals are like. I’m the second leg of the process; SPD is first, then I get referral and can act accordingly.”

Davison closed her remarks by saying she’s lived in the city since 1996, when she first started working for the Seattle Supersonics basketball team “the year we went to the NBA Finals!” and is proud to have gotten involved with public service. “I never thought I’d be doing this kind of work,” she said, but that she’s been drawn to taking action on behalf of the community, and doing her part. 

Some Q&A from attendees:

• Q: How about the legality of city surveillance video being used in cases? Davison: I’m not the decision maker; as a lawyer if it’s challenged then our lawyers would defend it.
• Q:  Regarding State Senate Bill 5444 (prohibiting firearms in certain areas), the bill didn’t include parks and playgrounds. Will your office seek to amend the bill to include them?  Davison: I would support that, but would only get involved if my office gets involved. I’m not totally familiar with the specifics of the bill, but my office can follow up if contacted. I’m very aware of the disparity in penalties (364 days for a gross misdemeanor, 90 days for misdemeanor).
• Q: What about jail capacity? We’ve reported things in the past but officers told us they couldn’t book for most crimes, meaning that officers would try to take them to jail and nothing would happen, leaving me and public saying “why should we call?”  Davison: As SPD has said, we definitely need you to continue calling 911 so they have that data to help inform staff levels.  Booking restrictions are getting lifted (as announced last month) and when officers have probable cause for arrest then they should be able to book them.  My office believes they shouldn’t have those restrictions.  
• Q: Does your office deal with financial crimes like wire fraud?  Davison: No, my office doesn’t. 
• Comment from neighbor Barb Richter regarding the Alki Point Healthy Street revision that was installed last June:  We’ve been happy with this, it’s resulted in a 76% reduction of 911 calls. Great example of city working with community to reduce crime in the area.  Davison: I’m very glad to hear that, but can’t really take credit. Anne I can only take small credit. It’s nice to hear these things. I recently attended an event with builders and realtors, and they say it’s a different sense right now because everyone is working together, unlike some years prior. My approach when we need to get something done is to ask “are you a problem solver” and to gravitate toward those people. 
• Q: What about jail time and enforcement of home monitoring, instead of giving constant reprieves to offenders?  Davison: My prosecutors make recommendations. I’m the first woman to hold this office (of the 10 people who have held it), I take domestic violence very seriously, if you’re a kid exposed to violence at home, then you’re much more likely to commit those crimes. My office’s role is to make recommendations to the judge, if the judge isn’t convinced then we can’t force them, but we certainly do what we can.

Davison thanked attendees for coming and departed for another commitment, and the group took a break for some raffles. Then, group vice president Lindsey Pearsall (attending via Zoom) talked with the group about a new idea that came out of discussions with the Alki Elementary PTA, regarding the creation of a partnership to display student artwork in local businesses. Such a program existed years ago, and they’d like to bring it back, ideally by the beginning of 2025. Attendees agreed that this was a great idea and they were “all in,” and Lindsey encouraged anyone interested in helping to contact her at lindsey@alkicommunitycouncil.org. 

Next, board member Robyn Fritz (the board’s Chair of Parks) encouraged attendees to do what they can to help Seattle Parks staff to keep the area beautiful and safe. She said she has lived on Alki since 1987, and is out every day walking her dog. She plans to create and manage an online list of projects (such as broken park benches, areas of overgrown or unhealthy greenery, etc) that people can contribute to, and she’ll take the lead on working with Parks staff to get things done. She encouraged neighbors to ask themselves: “What do we need to do to make Alki even better than it is?”

Attendee Steve Pumphrey, who is an organizer of an Alki/Harbor neighborhood group (focused on the three blocks around Don Armeni and Duwamish Head), then talked about safety issues relevant to that area. He said he lives across from the diagonal parking and boat launch, in the apartments on Harbor Ave. He said the area is a popular place for groups to meet and then go to Alki Beach and back. He said that his group was pleased to recently get a group from the city to come out and walk the area, and that the group included SPD leaders and someone from mayor’s office. He said they walked between the parking lot area and the boat launch, and talked about the problems, and were able to show the broken glass and tire-burn marks, and that he expects a status report from the group soon. Pumphrey encouraged attendees to attend the budget meeting on Nov 12^th at 5pm at the council offices city hall, at which Councilmember Rob Saka will propose speed-activated cameras and a study for addressing diagonal parking. “We need a big crowd to testify in favor of these things,” Pumphrey said.  He added that typically the signups open at 4pm and then the meeting starts at 5pm.  Robin Fritz noted that big crowds were on the beach recently for the northern lights, walking around, and Pumphrey said the area is always crowded but usually for no good reason. “Between 930-10pm it’s mostly people racing around; at 11pm it’s supposed to be ‘no parking’ but nobody pays attention to that.” 

The next portion of the meeting was a quick update from Sean Blackwell from the city’s CARE Department (Community Assisted Response and Engagement), who confirmed that the program plans to expand its number of Community Crisis Responders (CCRs) from 11 currently to 28 eventually, which will include an expansion into the South Precinct and into West Seattle’s Southwest Precinct in the first quarter of 2025.  He said the CCRs aim to support and complement police and fire responders, and to focus on crisis mitigation including connecting people to necessary services. 

The group then highlighted two upcoming events:

• Saturday Oct 26^th  Alki Beach trick-or-treating, from noon-2pm. This spans the business district along the beach, from 57th to 63rd. Info is online at alkitrickortreat.com. The Alki council will have booths near Ampersand Coffee with coffee and donuts.
• Saturday Nov 23^rd Alki Holiday Lights from 7-9pm (along with the Argosy Christmas Ships visit).  During the meeting, group member Stacy Bass-Walden (co-founder of Alki Pride, which just celebrated its 10th year) and other members turned off the overhead room lights and gave a preview of festive holiday lights, reminding everyone that the Christmas Ships visit is very early in the season this year (just one month from now! The ships will be at Don Armeni on Sat Nov 23rd from 5:35-5:55pm, and at Alki from 8:35-8:55pm; full schedule here).  Bass-Walden said that they want to bring back some of the “shore festivities” that accompanied the ships’ visits in past years, which have waned recently.  They’re getting local business involved and want to have cocoa and fun activities. This is a “trial event” to help set the stage for future years, and they plan to have a booth with a survey to gather feedback about what residents would want to have in future years — “we want to ‘glow-up’ Alki!” they said.  

Have you been impacted by power outages in West Seattle in recent years? If so, group member Wyatt Carlock wants to hear from you, he is a design intern for a startup called PwrOn whose mission is to improve residents’ experiences during power outages (particularly for refrigeration and internet service). He said that areas like Alki are susceptible to this.  If you’re interested in getting involved and sharing your experiences, contact him at: wyattcarlock@gmail.com.  

As the meeting came to an end, members noted that their annual election of officers will occur in next month’s meeting, and they’ll need to identify candidates and renew memberships. They’ll be doing their budget as well (yes, the group is a 5013c), and they’ve been talking with other neighborhood groups like Fauntleroy to get ideas. 

The Alki Community Council can be contacted at hello@alkicommunitycouncil.org. The group meets on the third Thursday of each month, with upcoming meetings as follows:

• Thu Nov 21 at 7pm – hybrid format, Zoom and onsite at Alki UCC
• December – No member meeting

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Lots of info as usual at the quarterly Morgan Community Association meeting, facilitated last night in Westside Unitarian Universalist Congregation‘s downstairs meeting room by MoCA president Deb Barker.

POLICE: “Making a lot of progress in hiring,” said precinct operations Lt. Nate Shopay. As the chief herself said in a recent interview, she’s probably staying on a while longer. He said the new commander Capt. Krista Bair is “an exciting person to work for” and they’ve been switching up their strategy. We asked if there’s anything at all they can say about the most recent homicide, at Shree’s Truck Stop on SW Detroit last Sunday; in short, no (Lt. Shopay then told us today on followup that detectives are pursuing several leads). Barker asked if any traffic control is planned for ballot boxes around the deadline on Election Night; Lt. Shopay said he hadn’t heard of anything but could certainly consider a request. Crime Prevention Coordinator Jennifer Satterwhite noted the annual Seattle Public Safety Survey is open for the next six weeks, and reminded everyone that it informs community-policing plans for the neighborhoods. She also showed the crime-data dashboard you can access any time on the SPD website; for Morgan, for example, August had far fewer crimes reported than a year earlier, and September stats should be available soon.

PARK-ADDITION SITE CLEANUP: The toxic soil left over from the gas station and dry cleaner on the Morgan Junction Park Addition site has been dug up and hauled away by a licensed hazardous-waste transporter. Barker said the contractor told her the soils were more contaminated than expected, so they had to excavate a bigger area, 850 square feet more. She was told the expansion was determined by results of testing as they worked. Soil testing was done on site. Now Parks has Department of Ecology clearance. The hole is still awaiting being filled because a permit is needed for filling SDOT right-of-way in the extra excavation area, Barker said. Once they’re ready to start filling, it won’t take long – maybe two weeks or so.

ALL-WHEELS AREA DESIGN: Josh Radick from Morgan Junction All-Wheels Area said it’s been a very fruitful summer with grant-funded design work as well as volunteer work. MJAWA’s Matthew Johnston said they made it through first level of Parks’ internal ProView review; next level is Pro View Tech, scheduled for October 29 – “if we clear that gate, Grindline will start drafting construction documents, that should take 4 to 6 weeks, we hand those over and MJAWA moves on to an advisory role.” You can see the approved website on their website – that’s the one going to ProView Tech. Johnston said Parks asked them to engage in more fundraising – MJAWA’s contention is that all the grant-funded and volunteer-powered contribution they’ve made are plenty. “We’re not adding a lot to the project – we paid for the design.” They got feedback in support of “a plaza design with a little bit of everything” – 6′ x 3′ wide, 12″ ledge, quarter pipe with a hip, seated ledge for spectating or skating – front piece on California with Morgan Junction lettering – existing elements are all going to be reused – Johnston says part of it is inspired by Duwamish River running under the West Seattle Bridge. Radick says the Morgan all-wheels area is going to be a learning space, as compared to the skateparks at Delridge and Roxhill, “much smaller, much less intimidating, something anybody can learn on.” Parks is still projecting construction for next year.

NEW BIZ: Annalise Johnson from Charcuterie by Annalise was introduced. As reported here, the lifelong West Seattleite recently opened a storefront after operating her business – creating “beautiful and delicious charcuterie spreads for any occasion” – as a mobile business. She’s hoping to launch her lunch sandwiches by December.

(WSB photos, 2015 crash at 49th/Graham)

49th/GRAHAM: Zelma Zieman has long been working on safety at this uncontrolled intersection – after getting hit and going sideways in 2015, with SFD having to extricate her and her son. She tried working with SDOT on safety improvements, “didn’t work out.” Then this May, a neighbor also got hit and injured. “The neighborhood is very concerned about this intersection.” Her She said her neighbor’s crash got no police response so is not on the record, but: “This is the only uncontrolled four-way for a number of blocks around it.” They managed to get an SDOT visit but they haven’t heard much since. “We don’t know what the answer is, but we know we need to do something to make it safer.” She’s been trying to research how many of Seattle’s intersections are uncontrolled – and has found thousands. “We know we’re the tip of an iceberg.” She challenged everyone to drive through that intersection and see for themselves = ‘take your time.’ She also challenged everybody to talk to friends and relatives about ‘uncontrolled intersections.’ Longer term, she thinks there needs to be more education about uncontrolled intersections, which folks from other areas might not fully understand.

SDOT: Talking about other intersections, SDOT’s Ching Chan was a guest via video connection. First, an update on Fauntleroy/Rose – the crossing improvements are “moving forward” and they’re working with consultants on the “design concept … evaluating the different treatment options” – they’re hoping to have a concept soon, with construction sometime nect year. Might be a rapid flashing beacon, might be a signal. Is lighting being considered? Chan said she’d find out and get back to the group. Meantime, she reiterated that, as noted earlier this year, Fauntleroy/California is not a good candidate for a walk-all-ways treatment – it might lead to unacceptable wait times for all users, among other problems. Attendees continued offering reasons why safety improvements are needed, including bus-related backups from the RapidRide stops on California NB north of the intersection and westbound Fauntleroy west of the intersection.

HIGHLAND PARK WAY: MoCA joined in the multi-group

letter offering alternatives to the proposed elimination of a downhill lane on Highland Park Way SW, expressing concern that it is important to keep at full width in case it’s needed again as a relief valve for getting traffic off the peninsula. They’re meeting at 4 pm Oct, 29 to walk from the top to the bottom. “This is such a key corridor for West Seattle, so MoCA decided that articulating some concerns” was called for. West Seattle Bike Connections and the Highland Park Action Committee are involved too.

ZONING MAPS: As reported here earlier in the day, the city has come out with new proposals for zoning.

CITY COUNCIL RACE: Neither candidate for the citywide Position 8 seat was available – appointed incumbent Tanya Woo had to be at the council budget hearing (which ran past 10 pm); challenger Alexis Mercedes Rinck was ailing. So their campaign managers spoke in their stead.

NEXT MEETING: Watch MoCA’s website for word of the next meeting, third Wednesday in January.

This week brings several community meetings of note – including the Morgan Community Association‘s quarterly gathering, 7 pm Wednesday (October 16), in person at the Westside Unitarian Universalist Congregation‘s lower-level community room (7141 California SW) or online.
This meeting is always wall-to-wall with important community info, so if you’re interested in Morgan Junction (and often lower Gatewood) matters, be there. The agenda says discussion topics will include what’s next for the Morgan Junction Park expansion, where contaminated dirt was recently dug up, and plans to add an “all-wheel area” to the park (here’s our most-recent update). Traffic safety, police updates, and a new business will get some time too, as will the race for City Council citywide Position 8 beteen Tanya Woo and Alexis Mercedes Rinck. All are welcome, no RSVP or membership required – just show up or click in!

By Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

The Alki Community Council met online last week for their September meeting, with an abbreviated agenda as the group winds up its summer activities and prepares for the fall.  

The meeting was facilitated by president Charlotte Starck, and began with an introduction of the group’s two newest leaders: Kevin Kramer (Board Chair of Operations) and Robyn Fritz (Board Chair of Parks).  Kramer has a background in technology and operations, and will help the council ramp up their efforts in those areas. Fritz will help foster the council’s partnerships with Seattle Parks, and she joked that she is best known for walking her dog in the area, and meeting people (including Parks representatives) in that way. 

Next on the agenda was a police update from SPD’s Southwest Precinct, with Officer German Barreto and Captain Krista Bair (who became the precinct’s leader in June) both in attendance.  They discussed recent events such as the RV sweeps near Westwood Village, the Alki shootout on September 6 and an incident on the 2100 block of Harbor SW. Barreto gave an overall update similar to what he presented at last week’s meeting at the Admiral Neighborhood Association, and emphasized that citizens should call 911 (not the SPD non-emergency number) if they see anything suspicious. Bair talked about the challenges related to “encampment sweeps” on the peninsula, and commended Barreto for his ongoing work on that. For Alki specifically, Bair also noted that she recently talked to a long-time Alki resident who said that while increased traffic and “cruising” has always caused added issues on Alki in the summertime, in recent years the activities have often been more “destructive” and invasive in the summer months, and Bair agreed that it takes a strong partnership between the community and the police in order to make things better. 

The next portion of the regular meeting was an update from Sean Blackwell from the city’s CARE Department (Community Assisted Response and Engagement), which includes a team of community crisis responders as well as a 911 call center, as we’ve reported previously. The department’s leader, Chief Amy (Smith) Barden, had attended and participated in the Alki council’s May meeting, and Blackwell provided some additional context in last week’s meeting regarding the department’s mission. He said that the team has their own mobile units and can respond promptly to calls, and because team members have expertise in social work and community engagement, they can be a resource to free up time for SPD officers to handle more urgent calls. Blackwell said that in the time since the team launched in October 2023, it has handled 767 call events (with an average of 40 minutes per visit), with 37% of those resulting in the team transporting someone to get needed services.  The team started with 6 officers, and based on current plans will be expanding to 18 officers and 9 response vehicles, eventually serving West Seattle (their current focus is downtown). 

To close out the regular meeting, attendee and neighbor Barb Richter gave a quick update on the Alki Point Healthy Street revision that was installed last June, saying that it’s been successful in reducing speeding and other issues, giving residents and visitors “a safe place to walk, ride and roll.” She acknowledged that there have been some concerns about parking (some of which we reported on in August, as it relates to the northern portion of the street) but she said that in her observation, legal parking was readily available during the summer months. 

Following some closing remarks, the ACC group then transitioned into a virtual “executive board working session” to discuss organizational growth, strategy and other updates.

The Alki Community Council can be contacted at hello@alkicommunitycouncil.org. The group meets on the third Thursday of each month, with upcoming meetings as follows:

• Oct 17 at 7 pm – hybrid format, Zoom and onsite at Alki UCC
• Nov 21 at 7pm – hybrid format, Zoom and onsite at Alki UCC
• December – No member meeting

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

For the first time since May, the Admiral Neighborhood Association had a general gathering, with president Joanie Jacobs facilitating. Here’s what was discussed during last Tuesday’s meeting at Admiral Church:

AUTO THEFT DOWN & OTHER POLICE UPDATES: Officer German Barreto, the precinct’s community liaison, brought updates. Two crime categories have gone up in Admiral year to year – burglaries, aggravated assaults – and auto thefts are down. For shots-fired incidents, he mentioned the September 6 Alki shootout and an incident in the 2100 block of Harbor SW. One attendee asked for more context about the increase in aggravated assaults; Officer Barreto didn’t have specific incident info as to whether they were random or not. Another question was about the collision that injured a pedestrian at 42nd/Admiral; he had no updates on that. What’s behind the drop in auto theft? The increase was in no small part due to the Kia/Hyundai social-media-how-to trend, so the decrease seems to be because those models’ owners are figuring out how to thwart that, he said. What’s up with officer hiring? Barreto said, “I’m hearing we are getting people” but no specific stats. The nature of the work keeps evolving, he observed, and “about 90 percent is knowing how to talk to people.” How about the CARE responders? asked Jacobs. They’re supposed to go citywide at some point, Barreto noted. He also reminded people, regarding the other part of CARE, the 911 center – don’t EVER call the SPD non-emergency number. The 911 center operates differently now that it’s civilianized, he said, leading to “a problem” with police not getting dispatched to things they should be – “if there’s something that you see, and they try to send you to the non-emergency number, hang up and call back (on 911)” he said. And do call, it was stressed, to get everything on record. “And if you call 911 and don’t get the service you want to, email” to point that out. Also “be sure you get an event number or case number” when you call 911. Also, if you want to be contacted by an officer, you can ask for them to call you instead of coming to your door – though sometimes that might mean your phone rings a few hours later.

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Neighborhood-group meetings in West Seattleare usually scattered throughout the month but due to two reschedulings, this week has three:

FAUNTLEROY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: Monthly meeting, postponed one week because of the presidential debate last Tuesday. 6 pm Tuesday (September 17), conference room at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse (9131 California SW). The agenda is in our calendar listing.

ADMIRAL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: Every-other-month meeting, postponed one week to give participants more time to “settle in” with the back-to-school routine. 7 pm Tuesday, Admiral Church (4320 SW Hill). Agenda highlights:

We will have reps from the SW Precinct, Department of Neighborhoods and the Seattle Emergency Communications Hub. We will also be recapping an amazing Summer as well as previewing upcoming Fall and Holiday events.

And ANA will be collecting gently used winter coats for the West Seattle Food Bank Clothesline – bring one (or more) to the meeting if you can!

ALKI COMMUNITY COUNCIL: Usual meeting night, third Thursday (September 19), 7 pm. This time it’ll be online, with a short general meeting followed by a work session for executive-board members. The general meeting will include updates from SPD and CARE. Full details and the attendance link are in our calendar listing.

Having a Night Out neighborhood-safety/solidarity block party on August 6 but not registered for street-closing permission yet? Southwest Precinct crime-prevention coordinator Jennifer Satterwhite wants to be sure you know that tomorrow (Sunday, July 28) is the deadline to register: You can have a Night Out party in many places – schools, apartment buildings’ community rooms, courtyards – but you need to register for permission to close your (non-arterial) street to vehicle traffic that night. SPD has a registration link here. They’ll also offer the option for your Night Out party to be shown on the citywide map (not mandatory). One more note – we’ll be out taking party photos on Night Out as usual – if you’d be OK with us stopping by your party for a photo, let us know where and when, westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you, and thanks to those who’ve already emailed!

(WSB photo, this morning)

The Morgan Junction Park addition site, north of the park [map], has been an agenda item for the Morgan Community Association at dozens of meetings since the city acquired the site a decade ago. But last night’s meeting brought some big news, plus updates on several other matters. Here are our toplines:

MORGAN JUNCTION PARK ADDITION SITE CLEANUP: Seattle Parks‘ Kelly Goold told MoCA that the date is finally set for the start of long-planned soil cleanup work (a dry cleaner was one of the two businesses formerly on the site, and auto work was done nearby). Thursday, August 8, is the date it’s scheduled to start, with work expected to last about seven weeks, 7:30 am-3:30 pm weekdays. Five days will involve heavy-equipment use, Goold said. The work will involve two dirt containers on the site, and multiple trucks hauling back and forth. Once the soil has been removed – the contamination is about 15 feet down – it’ll be replaced with clean fill, and hydroseeded, so that the site can potentially serve as open space before park construction next year. If you live/work nearby, look for signage and notices the week before cleanup work starts.

FUTURE ALL-WHEEL AREA: When the addition goes into construction, an all-wheel area – aka “skate dot” – is planned for the south side of the current park, and the community group MJAWA continues working on that. MJAWA’s Matt Johnston said the group’s Summer Fest outreach went well, and their next milestones involve meetings with Seattle Parks – a design review on August 15, and a technical review later in August. (Here’s our recent report on their design progress.)

POLICE: Officer German Barreto had no major Morgan-specific news but said Southwest Precinct (West Seattle and South Park) crime is similar to a year earlier, with upticks in two categories – robberies and gunfire. He also noted that some juvenile carjacking suspects were arrested earlier in the day in South Park (we’re following up with SPD’s media office in hopes of finding out more).

DEVELOPMENT: MoCA has been working to stay updated on the future StoryBuilt development site at 41st/Graham [map], planned as more than 30 “stacked townhomes” (here’s our 2022 report). Its developer was not at the meeting but has been in email contact with MoCA president Deb Barker, who said there’s no indication of construction any time soon but the developer continues monitoring the property and is asking neighbors to be watchful too.

PREPAREDNESS: Cindi Barker from the Emergency Hubs says their work with Gatewood Elementary (which we featured last year) continues, so that the school has a preparedness plan in case of catastrophe. They’ve been working with nearby neighbors who are committed to helping with communication while school staff focus on keeping the kids safe until they can be reunited with their families.

NEW BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: David Hancock told MoCA about West Seattle Wildscaping, his ecologically friendly landscaping and horticulture business. He offers landscaping and landscaping consulting along with small tree (25′ or less) work, rainwater systems, and some small pathway work. In August he’ll be putting in a bulk order for native plants. If interested, you can contact him.

WHAT’S NEXT: MoCA meets on third Wednesdays in July, October, January, and April. Watch for updates at morganjunction.org.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Community-group meeting seldom have surprise endings. Wednesday night’s District 1 Community Network meeting did, as a scheduled discussion about logistics quickly pivoted into a disbandment decision.

More on that later. First, here’s what else happened:

HIGHLAND PARK WAY HILL PROJECT: James Le from SDOT, who led the project presentation and discussion at HPAC last month (WSB coverage here), did the same at the D1CN meeting. He was joined by project teammate Willow Russell. We’ve written about this project several times since it emerged four weeks ago – four years after SDOT decided to shelve a possible uphill bike lane for the stretch. Le recapped the three options – all of which would replace the current outside downhill vehicle lane: A protected bike lane, a multi-use path, or eventually both. This was the last scheduled public presentation during the feedback period, which is scheduled to close in a week.

After a relatively short presentation, the SDOT reps fielded questions.

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(Admiral Way Bridges from Fairmount Avenue, via Google Maps Street View)

Yet another transportation project of note is in the wings for West Seattle – the Admiral Way Bridge (really two bridges) earthquake-strengthening project. When the Admiral Neighborhood Association has its next gathering this Tuesday (7 pm May 14), an SDOT rep will be there to talk – and answer questions – about it. ANA’s preview of the gathering also notes, “You will also hear updates from the team leaders of our upcoming events and ways in which you can volunteer … AND you’ll also witness the unveiling of the next chapter of a Summer favorite.” This is an in-person event at Admiral Church (4320 SW Hill), all welcome.