Summer noise alert from Boeing Field managers
An interesting item forwarded on the mailing list for the North Delridge Neighborhood Council (one of the neighborhood groups having a big sale on West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day next Saturday, by the way):
King County International Airport
May 2, 2008
Community Notice
Seattle/Tukwila/Renton metropolitan area residents may experience temporary increases in aircraft noise levels from the Museum of Flight and SEAFAIR celebration events from May-August 2008. Please note the following dates:
May 21-24 EAA B-17 Bomber Visit
May 24 Cascade Warbirds Fly-In
June 21-22 Wings of Freedom 2008 Bomber Tour
July 31-August 3 SEAFAIR Blue Angels Week
For further information about any of these visits, tours and fly-ins, please contact the Museum of Flight at 206-764-5720. The Blue Angels are sponsored by Seattle SEAFAIR, whose number is 206-728-0123.
Your editor here is a total Blue Angels geek so we’ll be pretty much camped out at MofF those days. Last year we only had a still camera; this year we’re video-equipped so watch out…
City traffic alert: Three marches tomorrow
The city just sent out a traffic alert about three May Day marches tomorrow that might affect you even though they’re not in West Seattle – particularly if you use Alaskan Way or East Marginal Way – so we’re passing it along:Read More
Traffic alert: Major crash in South Park
We’re mentioning this because someone just texted us about it and it’s a route many people use to or from West Seattle: Major crash in South Park, 5th S and S Cloverdale (map), described as “multiple casualty incident” on the 911 log. Avoid the area for a good long while.
In case you see this ship out in the bay later …
We happened to be on the downtown waterfront a little while ago and just had to go over and check out this ship docked at Bell Street Pier, since we didn’t recognize its flag. Turned out to be the Peruvian navy cargo ship “BAP Mollendo.” Capped an international morning for us – we were by Pier 66 because the World Affairs Council across the street had invited us to come chat with a German delegation touring the US to learn more about how “new media” is utilized here. Talking with the trio (from Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk radio, the Leipzig Public Library, and Der Spiegel) after they asked us a bunch of questions about WSB and community-news blogging, we learned: (a) Not many Germans blog, (b) The Internet isn’t a big deal for kids/teens in Germany the way it is for American kids, and (c) Wikipedia is REVERED in Germany — editors have meetups, etc.
New website for Nicholas Francisco search, 1 month later
Not really a West Seattle story any more, but Nicholas Francisco‘s wife just announced the new website in a comment posted on this WSB item (don’t know where else she announced it; nothing comes up in blogsearch or news search so far), so for those wondering “what ever happened …” (some people asked us about it just yesterday) we’re mentioning it: It’s been one month today since he vanished, and with no obvious evidence of “foul play,” police have long since pulled back on an active search. (There’s backstory in this article from last weekend.) The new site is findnicholasfrancisco.com.
Job cuts at Starbucks’ HQ
This isn’t strictly West Seattle but we know many people who work at Starbucks HQ in Sodo live on the peninsula, and this hasn’t gotten wide media exposure yet – apparently big job cuts announced today. An e-mail tipster says a friend is one of those who got the ax. This is the first official word we’ve seen, more to come, we’re sure. 12:21 PM UPDATE: Just hearing a radio bulletin about this now – 200 job cuts at corporate HQ, more than 300 open jobs that won’t be filled. Yet more details here.
For those seeking Nicholas Francisco search updates
Our visitor logs show a sizable number of people landing here as the result of web searches for information on the search, since our previous reports show fairly high in Google results, so we’re summarizing the latest. First – to recap – Nicholas Francisco is a SeaTac man who disappeared after leaving his Queen Anne job last Wednesday; he and his family attended Mars Hill-West Seattle until recently, so we’ve reported on the search (original post with the full-color search flyer is here) because of his WS ties. Last major development reported publicly was the discovery of his car at a Federal Way condo complex yesterday morning – here’s what’s come out since then: This site posted an “official update” from relatives/searchers last night; this KOMO report quotes authorities as saying the car was seen in different parking spots at the complex before they impounded it yesterday; the KIRO noon TV news report we just watched said authorities didn’t find any signs of “foul play” during their first search of the car and are deciding what to do next.
Search update: Nicholas Francisco’s car has been found
Five days into the search for Nicholas Francisco, the South King County man (and former West Seattle church member) who’s been missing since Wednesday (his photo’s at left; the full poster with other pix is in our post here), his car has been found at an apartment complex in Federal Way. Thanks to everybody who e-mailed to let us know. Details are on various citywide news sites including here; the searchers’ official website is here.
2 more politix pix: Obama crowd in Seattle, JP in Olympia
ADDED 6 PM: Thanks to Cami for sending this close-up photo from the Obama KeyArena rally:
From earlier:
That’s one more from Josh at KeyArena earlier, while Sen. Obama was speaking. If you squint at the stage on the lower right quadrant of the pic, you’ll see Rep. Adam Smith, Gov. Gregoire (in the reddish-pinkish top), and West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician (bringing that phrase back for old times’ sake) behind him. For those who asked if the speech was archived anywhere yet – just checked all four tv news sites, both dailies, plus Slog … not yet. Now, a photo from Olympia:
We told you last night that West Seattle’s state Sen. Joe McDermott was introducing a resolution today honoring Chris “JP Patches” Wedes on the 50th anniversary of the start of his classic local kids’ TV show. This pic sent by Sen. McDermott features him with Chris Wedes – sans the makeup – and the senator’s cousin Emmett Blake (“Patches Pals and West Seattleites both,” notes Sen. M). Also, he sent a link to the text of the resolution introduced today.
Caucus Eve update: Obama crowd heading into the Key
Equal time for last night’s Sen. Clinton publicity: Sen. Obama is touring a South Seattle business this morning and speaking at KeyArena early this afternoon – we spun by about an hour ago and noted a good-sized crowd on the west side of the Key – listening to the scanner, they have just opened the doors and it sounds like madness — just heard something about the line stretching to Fifth Avenue (east of Seattle Center). One quote from somebody on the scanner: “This is the longest line I have ever seen in my entire life.” Many citywide media outlets are promising to cover the speech live, including KIRO Radio and KING5.com, which promises to stream an Obama event shortly, and is streaming Sen. Clinton’s Tacoma town hall right now. (Info on tomorrow’s caucus is linked from the top right of this page; we’ll be adding to that info shortly.) TRAFFIC ALERT: We’re also hearing about traffic woes on East Marginal because of Sen. Obama’s visit to McKinstry, so that’s a good area to avoid till he’s moved on to the Key around noontime. 10:40 AM ADDENDUM: Back at the Key, latest radio chatter sounds like they’re expecting capacity and turnaways.
Coyotes 1, candidate 0
So Team WSB set out a couple hours ago with the following intention: Drop by the Magnolia open house on “coexisting with coyotes and other wildlife” just long enough to get info to bring back to report here, then move on to the Sen. Clinton rally at the Pier 30 Event Center. No, not that we are officially endorsing anyone here, but it seemed like history to us, and we would check out the Sen. Obama KeyArena rally tomorrow morning too if not for a conflict with a meeting we have to cover. Anyway, we’ve got the coyote scoop – it wasn’t just an open house after all, there was a rather engaging/informative presentation and we will write that up for tomorrow morning – but no candidate. For all the fuss about Hillary lukewarmness (as compared to Obama-mania) — it was a ZOO down there for MILES around. People were walking all the way from the ferry dock to the north, and from the WS Bridge to the south. (Tow trucks were starting to target those who dared to park in no-parking zones.) And the people we saw from our vantage point in the Alaskan Way traffic jam weren’t just the “old Democrats” ridiculed by The Stranger and others as the alleged Hillary base, but plenty of young adults, and young families with kids in tow. We shot some vid from the car:
Meantime as expected, she’s running late; we’re watching for the promised webcast of the speech, hasn’t started last we heard. (And as we typed that, we heard scanner traffic indicating she hasn’t landed yet and is expected to start speaking around 9:30. Oh, plus the PD is launching a major parking-enforcement effort because “parking is so bad that some people have parked on the railroad tracks.”) 9:05 PM ADDENDUM: Scanner now says the Hillary venue is full and “they’re turning people away.” 9:30 PM UPDATE: If you’re interested, looks like the rally’s under way. Live on KING5.com.
But the water it protects flows to and from West Seattle shores, and as we were discussing this afternoon with a WS entrepreneur who’s on the 
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