A year and a half ago, we published Michael Merta‘s invitation to fellow rowers to join him in getting the sport going on the Duwamish River. This weekend, he shares this report – and photos – to announce that he and others have made it happen!

After a little over a year and a half of talking, planning, and fundraising, Duwamish Rowing Club has finally become a reality.

We have established a “boathouse” (really a 45-foot shipping container) in South Park near Duwamish Waterway Park. We have a double, a single, and a four-person rowing shell so far. We hope to buy another four in the coming weeks. Its a small start, but we are happy with what we have been able to accomplish.

Thanks so much to all the people who have helped us get this far, particularly the people of South Park. We look forward to growing this into a thriving club that will become an asset to the people in the Duwamish Valley, and we are happy to bring something very positive to the Duwamish River. Our mission is to develop a rowing club that is affordable, accessible, and open to everyone. If you would like to row or get involved, please contact Mike Merta at duwamishrowingclub@gmail.com.

MONDAY MORNING UPDATE: Here’s the update published on TSPN. West Seattle side note: Ladder 13′s firefighters were instrumental in getting the hose laid out to reach the fire – an unusually long way, 800 feet!

(Click for larger image)
With our recent traffic woes, more than a few West Seattleites might have wondered how things are going with the new South Park Bridge. Gatewood photographer/pilot Long B. Nguyen answers the question by sharing these two views from over the project. What’s left of the old bridge – closed a year and a half ago, its drawspan removed – is right next to where the new one is being built; the squares you see in the water are the “main bascule piers” for the new bridge, according to its official county webpage. It’s expected to open in mid-2013. Here’s the view from directly overhead:

P.S. If you’re interested in ground photos, King County Road Services is working with a photographer to document the progress – you’ll find plenty of photos, including some from just two weeks ago, here.

Meet the Flying Eagles, who are hoping you can and will help with this tomorrow:

Title: Baby Drive at PCC Sunday 11:00-12:30

Sunday 1/22/12 11:00 am-12:30 pm
West Seattle PCC
Baby Drive

The Flying Eagles Camp Fire Group is doing a Baby Drive collecting items for South Park’s Providence Regina House food bank.

We are collecting:
Infant Food
Formula
Diapers size 1-5

We will also accept new or gently used baby clothes, toys & board books. The kids will participate in handing out baby food at the food bank’s monthly Baby Cupboard Day which serves about 130 babies! [Note: We are not collecting any actual babies at this time.]

Four weeks ago, we got word from Joan about a toy drive with a collection box at Husky Deli, to benefit kids in South Park. Tonight, Joan shares the news that “we did really well,” with local donations resulting in more than 250 presents, distributed at a party attended by more than 450 kids and 350 adults (that’s where the photos are from).

Joan wanted to publicly say “thanks” to everybody who helped out.

So how did we wind up inquiring about Seattle Marathon recycling practices? It all has to do with that photo, taken Sunday at the South Transfer Station in South Park, where WSB’er Shellie was disturbed by what she and her husband saw: “2 large Penske trucks showed up and dumped SEVERAL cases of bottled water, unopened with plastic still wrapped around cases, into the large waste hole instead of recycling them.” She said her husband was told they were from the marathon earlier in the day. After she sent us the photo and note on Monday, we inquired with marathon management, which replied yesterday, promising to look into it, and then forwarded this response from the course cleanup coordinator today:

I recycle every day at home and at work but with the marathon this year it was almost impossible to separate the recycling from the garbage. Your reader did see plastic bottles still in the plastic wrapper which is not recyclable but they were all empty. That is how the water stations open and leave the bottles. They definitely were all empty as I was the one at the transfer station.

For next year my recommendation will be to have all water stations separate recyclables and garbage. We would need clear plastic bags to know the difference. We use two trucks now so one could be garbage and one could be recycle. It definitely bothered me also to not recycle but once it was all mixed I just didn¹t have any choice but to dump everything so that we could get the trucks back to memorial stadium for equipment pick up.

Thank you for bringing this to the attention of the management to make this happen. I am confident we can do a better job next year without incurring a lot of extra costs with the separation of waste and recycling at each and every water station.

Mark Hendricks

That’s Alki Kayak Tours‘ Greg Whittaker in the hat, coaching would-be paddlers at last weekend’s Duwamish River Festival. Your chance to explore the river, from that same starting point, is tonight – one of the highlights from the WSB Events calendar:

2ND-TO-LAST COMMUNITY KAYAK TOUR OF THE DUWAMISH: Every two weeks, all summer, Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition has presented the tours, in partnership with Alki Kayak Tours – meets 5:30 pm at Duwamish Waterway Park, 7900 10th Avenue S. in South Park; RSVP to (206) 953-0237. Tours cost $45 per person; $5 donation per person to DRCC also requested. All equipment, instructions, and guiding are provided. More info.

(Photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand, added 10:47 am)
NEW STATE LIQUOR STORE NOW OPEN: As of minutes ago, it’s the first day of operation for the new Junction liquor store, on the northwest corner of 41st/Alaska (here’s our video-tour preview from yesterday).

VILLAGE GREEN PERENNIAL NURSERY SUPPORT/FORECLOSURE-AWARENESS RALLY: As previewed here earlier this morning, the event is 5-9 pm at Big Al Brewing, 9832 14th SW in White Center (full details here).

METROPOLITAN MARKET WINE TASTING: 5:30-7:30 pm at the Admiral store, taste wines to complement the fruit offered at Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor) during the ongoing Peach-O-Rama.

JAPANESE ARTISTS PERFORM ON ALKI: Word of this came in late last night – note the weather caveat:

4 very talented artists and entertainers will be performing at Alki Beach, August 31 6:00pm near the Statue of Liberty.

They said they would like as many people to view their performances since they are here for only a short period of time.

1. Bosshiko is a high-profile artist in Asia winning various awards. He will be performing a live painting using black sumi ink on Japanese washi paper. The painting will be enourmous and will be done in 30 minutes.

2. Sayoko Hirano is an artist from Kyoto learning under Bosshiko. She will also be performing a live painting.

3. Chiaki is a professional dancer and will perform a powerful martial arts inspired contemporary dance.

4. Gon is one of the few traditional Japanese storytellers left even in Japan. His storytelling always gets the crowd laughing even if you don’t understand Japanese.

They will cancel the performance if it rains.

BUY IT WHERE THEY GROW IT: High Point Market Garden farm stand, 4-7 pm, 32nd Ave SW and SW Juneau. This is a weekly Farm Stand selling seasonal fresh organically grown produce right in the garden where the produce is grown.

BUDGET-CUT CLOSURES: Seattle Public Schools is on a systemwide furlough day, and district employees aren’t even supposed to answer e-mails … Seattle Public Library‘s now-annual budget-cut closure continues today (the system reopens next Tuesday, after the Labor Day holiday following the closure week).

SEASON EBBING AT COLMAN POOL: Colman Pool continues its 7-day-a-week summer operations through Monday, and then, after one last “post-season weekend,” it’s closed till next year. Pool schedule/other info here.

EARLY REGISTRATION DEADLINE FOR CAR SHOW: If you want the early-registration $15 fee for the West Seattle Junction Car Show (co-sponsored by WSB) on September 18th, you have to get your registration in by tomorrow – details here.

Our neighbors to the east in South Park are continuing to roll out the welcome mat while they cope with a dead end where a bridge was, and will be again – and last night, the welcome mat came in the form of a wrestling ring, for a celebration of Mexican masked wrestling, “South Park Espectaculo: Lucha Libre” (if you haven’t heard of it, here’s an explanation of the sport). While we had to get back to West Seattle before the matches, we caught this demonstration of some key moves by Luchadores Independientes of Washington:

Here’s why handstands are important, when you’re in the ring with an opponent:

A drawing for those in attendance included distinctive masks like these, worn by luchadores:

South Park, of course, would love to see you any old time, special event or not. Their new catchtheculture.com website makes that point (and offers ideas). But guess what – they have something else big NEXT weekend; it’s been in the WSB Events calendar a while, but if you haven’t heard yet about the annual Duwamish River Festival, it’s next Saturday, with lots of info here (and consider joining the Walk/Bike/Paddle to get there from West Seattle!).

The summer fun continues this coming weekend, August 19 – 21, with a wide variety of events happening all around the city. Whatever your preference, there’s plenty from which to choose – from food, dance, foot races, and art to parades, music, cars, and all things hemp – even a touch of fall with a pre-season Seahawks football game. Motorists should plan their travel keeping in mind that there will be traffic congestion surrounding the various events.

The Seattle Department of Transportation encourages event-goers to consider leaving the car at home and trying one of the many alternate modes of transportation available – Metro Transit, the West Seattle Water Taxi, the Sounder commuter train, Link light rail, car pool, bicycle or even walking, if feasible.

Friday, August 19

Sunset Supper at the Market: 7:30 – 11 p.m.
Pike Place Market
1,275 attending
Streets closed 3 – 11:59 p.m.: Pike Place between Pine and Virginia streets, and Stewart Street between Pike Place and First Avenue.

Seattle Hempfest: 12 Noon – 8 p.m.
Myrtle Edwards Park
40,000 expected
Plan on major congestion near the Park.

Saturday, August 20

Seattle Hempfest: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Myrtle Edwards Park
80,000 expected
Plan on major congestion on the streets near the park.

Magnolia Car Show: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Magnolia Village

850 expected

Streets closed 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM W McGraw Street between 32nd and 34th Avenue W, and on 33rd Avenue W between W Lynn and W Wheeler Street.

Central Area Community Festival: 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Garfield Community Playfield (2223 E Cherry Street);

480 Expected

No streets closed, but plan on congestion in the surrounding area.

Summer Streets and Rainier Heritage Parade: Parade – 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Summer Streets – 3 p.m.

Columbia City area

2,500

9 – 11 a.m.: Parade staging on 42nd Avenue S between Rainier Avenue S and S Ferdinand Street.

Parade route – starts at 42nd and Rainier Avenue S; moves north on Rainier to S Alaska Street; disperses on S Alaska Street east of Rainier.

Summer Streets follows with celebration taking place on Rainier between S Orcas Street and S Alaska Street. Rainier will be closed from 10:45 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Seattle Police SW Precinct Picnic: 1 – 4 p.m.

2300 SW Webster Street

450 attending

Street closed 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.: SW Webster SW Webster Street between 24th Avenue SW and Delridge Way SW.

Honoring Mother of La Vang: 5:55 – 7 p.m.

Vietnamese Martyrs Parish (1230 E Fir Street)

1,530 participants

Religious procession on streets around the parish. Seattle Police will escort.

South Park Espectaculo: 4 – 8 p.m.
South Park – Mexican-style wrestling event
1,000 attending
Streets closed 12 noon – 10 p.m. : 14th Avenue S between S Cloverdale Street and S Dallas Street.

Seahawks vs. Minnesota Vikings (pre-season game): 7 – 10 p.m.
CenturyLink Field
55,000 attending
Expect congestion surrounding the stadium before and after the game.

Sunday, August 21

Seattle Hempfest: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Myrtle Edwards Park
50,000 expected
Plan on major congestion on the streets near the park.

Lake Union 10K: 7:30 a.m.
Westlake Avenue N and Aloha Street – parking area gathering point
1,000 participants
Race leaves the Westlake Avenue N and Aloha Street parking area moving clockwise around Lake Union staying on sidewalks, bike trails and streets returning to original parking area.
No street closures associated with this race.

Tonight while checking out the truck-crash scene near South Park, we also took this photo of a nearby project that we’re often asked about: It’s Seattle Public Utilities‘ new South Transfer Station for trash and recycling. Ground was broken on a frosty day last fall; the facility is expected to open in about a year. The city’s official info page for the project is here; we found additional details and renderings on the architects’ website, including the big stats: Nine acres, 141,000 square feet of structures.

(Photo courtesy Erik Walum)
A business fire in South Park this afternoon sent one person to the hospital with burns (not believed to be life-threatening). We checked it out after notes from several people who either saw the smoke – visible from east West Seattle – or heard the sirens (responding crews included some from West Seattle stations). The business address, in the 7900 block of 2nd South (map) – between Highways 509 and 99 – is listed as a recycling firm. The fire was mostly out when we got there – a pile of charred debris was visible outside the building:

Investigators had just arrived; fire crews told us they were still sorting out the circumstances, including how it started, and how the victim was burned – they say he had been in a motorhome on the business’s property.

ADDED MONDAY: The fire was declared accidental – SFD Lt. Sue Stangl says it actually started in the engine compartment of that RV, spreading to the adjacent warehouse area, and that the victim was not seriously hurt – burned fingertips.