West Seattle Blog…

200 West Seattle homes in ‘One Less Truck’ biweekly trash test

(UPDATED Wednesday morning with additional information from Seattle Public Utilities)

(Click to see full-size map, as PDF)
ORIGINAL 11:56 PM TUESDAY REPORT: 200 homes in Highland Park will only get trash pickup every two weeks, for six months, starting in July. You might have heard about the city’s “One Less Truck” pilot program, to see if every-other-week pickup will work (explained here); tonight, we learned that part of West Seattle will be in the program. Carl Woestwin of Seattle Public Utilities made the announcement during the WS Crime Prevention Council meeting tonight (though trash pickup has nothing to do with the group’s usual scope). The area affected is bounded by SW Barton on the north, SW Roxbury to the south, 15th SW to the west, and 11th SW to the east.

Woestwin says homes from single-family through fourplexes in the area will be required to participate, and will get a $100 stipend for their trouble. All the affected homes have been notified via letters and/or flyers, he said. They can choose to get larger trash containers, or try to see if they can make it work, and that’s what the experiment is for. Woestwin said that the city estimates changing to every-other-week pickup could save $6 million citywide. This part of Highland Park is the only test area in West Seattle and one of only four citywide; a community meeting is planned in early June (he wasn’t sure of the date – we’ll seek confirmation Wednesday) and then SPU will come back to the neighborhood in September “to find out how they’re going.”

ADDED 11:25 AM: We followed up this morning with SPU, whose Brett Stav provided some information, including the FAQ they have put together (apparently, though, it is not on their website, because, he says, “We’re trying to keep the study as scientific as possible and avoid confusing our non-participating customers, so we haven’t broadly advertised this project outside of the participating neighborhoods”) and the rate card for participants – read on: Click to read the rest of 200 West Seattle homes in ‘One Less Truck’ biweekly trash test…

Sunrise Heights/Westwood raingardens on Wednesday DNDC agenda

(King County rendering from March community meeting in Sunrise Heights)
Wednesday night’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council includes an update on one of the most vigorously debated public-works projects planned for West Seattle, the Barton Pump Station basin combined-sewer-overflow-control project – “bioswales” (raingardens) in planting strips along multiple streets in the Sunrise Heights/Westwood area, to reduce the water going into the system and downhill to the pump station. The presentation, including project manager Mary Wohleb, is scheduled for around 7:20 pm during the DNDC meeting, which begins at 7 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW). The county’s most recent community presentations were in March; here’s our coverage.

Advisory group meeting Thursday for Murray sewer-overflow project

As the county gets closer to building a million-gallon underground storage tank across the street from Lowman Beach Park, in hopes of reducing combined-sewer overflows from Murray Pump Station, the project’s next Design Advisory Group meeting has been announced: 6:30 pm Thursday at Fauntleroy Church (9140 California SW). The county has linked meeting-related documents from its calendar page, including the agenda, the project timeline through this December, and a “preliminary design feedback summary” – find it all here.

West Seattle power outage update: More than 2,000 customers

ORIGINAL 1:43 PM REPORT: So far we’ve gotten reports from Pigeon Point and Puget Ridge that some are without power. City Light‘s “system status map” happens to be down right now for maintenance, but we have a call out to the utility to find out more about what’s going on. Please let us know if you’re reading this via something battery-powered because the outage is affecting you too.

1:53 PM UPDATE: Just heard back from Scott Thomsen at City Light. He says the outage is affecting 2,061 homes/businesses. They’re not sure about the cause but he says dispatchers got a report of “balloons in the wires” somewhere in the area – and if that’s the problem, he says, it should be a quick fix (p.s., Scott adds, please DON’T release balloons, especially the mylar ones, they’re bad news for power lines); if that’s not the cause, it may not be so quick. The boundaries SCL lists – which are never precise, so this does NOT mean everyone in this area is powerless, nor does it mean no one is without power outside the “boundaries” – are Brandon SW on the north, SW 106th on the south, 21st SW in the west, 10th SW in the east. In comments here, and via the WSB Facebook page, we’re also hearing that part of West Marginal Way South – which is part of South Park – is affected too.

2:18 PM UPDATE: Thanks for all the updates. Some in Highland Park report their power’s back on. Haven’t heard from other areas yet.

4:21 PM UPDATE: No formal followup info from SCL yet but more people have reported getting their power back. The “system status” map is back too and indicates one lingering trouble spot, in Puget Ridge.

Maintenance work Tuesday at Murray Pump Station

Quick note for the Lowman Beach area – the county Wastewater Treatment Division will be doing “some planned maintenance work” at the Murray Pump Station this Tuesday. County spokesperson Annie Kolb-Nelson says it’s NOT related to the combined-sewer overflow control project across the street from the pump station and park, but since you might wonder about that if you see the work crews on Tuesday, she’s sharing the heads-up. Crews will be there 8 am-2 pm; the county’s flyer has more details on exactly what they’ll do and what they’ll use.

West Seattle power outage update: Most customers back on

(Screengrab from City Light map, when outage affected 187 customers)
10:45 AM: Thanks to Stu for letting us know about this outage; there was a “wires down” call in the 1900 block of Bonair in Upper Alki around 9 am, and now, an outage too. The City Light map says 187 homes are without power as of about half an hour ago, and they’re not sure yet when it’ll be restored.

11:44 AM UPDATE: Stu says his power is back, and the City Light map confirms the outage is down to 7 residences.

Sunrise Heights/Westwood ‘bioswales’: County insists they won’t be Ballard Raingardens Redux

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

After two community meetings in the past five days, residents of Sunrise Heights and Westwood know exactly which planting strips the county is eyeing for potential “bioswales” to keep rainwater from causing combined sewer overflows (CSO) at Barton Pump Station, miles downhill – specific spots along the 31 blocks identified in early March.

They also know how the county hopes to keep them from “ponding” during all but the heaviest rains – through a complex underground “underdrain” system.

But some remain skeptical that the “green stormwater infrastructure” project will not be Ballard Roadside Raingardens, The Sequel, though the project manager insists it won’t.

The ghost of that problem-plagueed city project has long loomed over this county plan, despite reassurances, promises, and explanations of how the two situations differ. There were more of those Wednesday night at the first gathering inside Westside School (the second meeting was Saturday at High Point Community Center), even as project manager Mary Wohleb tried to keep Ballard from being the proverbial elephant in the room.

Click to read the rest of Sunrise Heights/Westwood ‘bioswales’: County insists they won’t be Ballard Raingardens Redux…

SPU trailblazer retires: Meet Kerry Copeland of West Seattle

(Photos courtesy Seattle Public Utilities)
By Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

March 2nd was the last day of a 30-year career for a West Seattle woman who has been called a “trailblazer” and a “pioneer.” In the beginning, though, the names she was called weren’t so complimentary.

Kerry Copeland has just retired from Seattle Public Utilities, where she was one of the first female water-line workers hired in the 1980s.

Being a water-line worker is being “on the front line.” It’s hard work, with lots of digging, often in difficult weather conditions. When SPU started recruiting women, Copeland was interested because she’s always been very physical and attracted to non-traditional jobs. “One of our tests was digging a 2×2 trench within a certain amount of time. We went to the West Seattle Reservoir to do it, and the place looked like a graveyard because so many groups of people had been digging trenches!”

Copeland passed the test and became one of the first women on the “front line.”

Click to read the rest of SPU trailblazer retires: Meet Kerry Copeland of West Seattle…

Lowman Beach sewer-overflow project: Design meeting Tuesday

(Click for larger view)
Landscape design for the county’s Murray Basin sewer-overflow-control project, across from Lowman Beach Park, is at the “30 percent” stage – and the current draft will be reviewed Tuesday night by the community Design Advisory Group. Their meeting at 6:30 pm Tuesday at Fauntleroy Church also is scheduled to review community feedback on the “refined preliminary facility design concepts” for the facility itself. The full agenda and related documents are linked from this page. The project is centered on a million-gallon underground tank to keep stormwater and sewage from spilling into Puget Sound when the pump station across the street gets overwhelmed; it will be built on land across the park that is now the site of residential properties the county is buying.

Update: Harbor Island part of widespread Seattle power outage; most back on after an hour

(Scroll down for newest info on big outage – mostly OUTSIDE WS – and its effects)

(Photo added 2:24 pm – Spokane/Chelan light, apparently the west edge of the outage)
FIRST REPORT, 1:37 PM: WSB’ers are telling us of a power outage stretching from Georgetown to SODO – but the City Light system-status map isn’t showing anything yet. We’re going to see what we can find out via other methods. Just got a note mentioning Harbor Island’s out, too.

1:43 PM UPDATE: Just talked to Scott Thomsen at Seattle City Light. Their “outage management system” is not letting people in for updates and that’s why the map hasn’t updated – but they apparently have TWO separate feeders out, totalling more than 6,300 customers (homes/businesses). No idea yet what caused it, but crews are being dispatched, Scott says.

1:51 PM UPDATE: WSB’ers are mentioning other areas in comments too, such as Beacon Hill. SDOT points out via Twitter that the signals in SODO are out along major streets such as 1st and 4th.

1:54 PM UPDATE: City Light just tweeted that 28,000 homes/businesses are affected:

2:03 PM UPDATE: The City Light map is working now. Screengrab in a minute. It verifies Harbor Island is affected (we have a crew headed that way, too).

2:10 PM UPDATE: Our crew checking out Harbor Island says the intersection by Chelan Café is out, just west of the low bridge. Chelan Cafe itself has closed their restaurant, but the bar is still open. Meantime, if you have kids in schools in the outage zone – which does NOT include any of West Seattle, to our knowledge, beyond the Chelan Cafe area and Harbor Island – Seattle Public Schools has tweeted this:

Seattle City Light now says the problem is at the “South Substation” (3839 4th Ave. South, the big SCL facility right off the ramp from the eastbound West Seattle Bridge) and that some might not get their power back till 6 pm.

2:34 PM UPDATE: As many commenters are pointing out, the power’s come back on for most. Scott from City Light tells us about 600 homes/businesses are left to be restored. He says the problem happened when a power line that was being worked on at the South Station touched another piece of equipment and caused a short that led to the outage. Nobody was hurt.

3:01 PM UPDATE: And one last update from City Light via Twitter:

Seen in The Junction: South breezeway closed; survey crew

Just back from an errand in The Junction, during which we happened onto two unrelated but notable things:

BREEZEWAY REPAIRS: The Junction’s south breezeway – between Puerto Vallarta and Northwest Art and Frame – is closed today (and possibly longer; we’re expecting an update later from Liz with the West Seattle Junction Association). A pipe problem has to be fixed. So if you’re parking in the 44th SW lot behind that area, you’ll either have to use a business’s back door, or walk around via Edmunds. (4:17 PM NOTE: The breezeway is expected to be closed for 4-5 days.)

SURVEY CREW: In case you wondered: The one that was working on the west side of California, around the SW Alaska intersection, says their work is on behalf of the new property owners on the southeast side of that intersection (Equity Residential, which, as first reported here in January, expects to start construction this year at the site they bought in December from Conner Homes).

West Seattle power outage: Almost 300 Admiral homes affected

Thanks to everyone who e-mailed with news that the power’s out for a stretch of the Admiral area. The City Light outage map says almost 300 homes are without power but should be back by late evening (the “estimated restoration time” is usually a very general estimate – could be earlier). The boundaries are shown as north of Admiral Way, between 47th SW and 53rd SW. No indication at this point of what caused the outage (no fires/lines-down incidents on the 911 log, etc.) – let us know if you’re seeing Seattle City Light crews (we’re out looking too).

6:22 PM UPDATE: Just saw a truck near 47th/Admiral – our crew is going to see if they can get close enough to find out anything about the outage.

6:34 PM UPDATE: Thanks to Karl de Jong, nearby resident and vice president of the Admiral Neighborhood Association, for sharing a photo of that crew. WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand talked to them very briefly before they moved on – they said they had fixed a “burned connector.” The SCL map still shows the power out, but one commenter says it came back on at 6:23, and we are seeing streetlights/porch lights on in the area.

Monday trash pickup at your house? Robo-call on the way!

Seattle Public Utilities sent this late today:

Nearly 4300 single-family West Seattle residences – whose garbage, yard waste or recycling collection day is Monday, February 20 – will receive a recorded phone message on Thursday afternoon, February 16, reminding them that collections are on a normal schedule for the President’s Day holiday on Monday, February 20.

The automatic phone message is an opportunity for Seattle Public Utilities to use its outdialer system during a non-emergency event while still conveying valuable information to its customers. From information gathered from using the system, Seattle Public Utilities will be better prepared to convey critical information to members of the public during emergency events.

We think this is a first, but we’re checking.

ADDED 9:49 PM: SPU’s Ingrid Goodwin confirms to WSB that this is a test of sorts:

Yes, this will be the first time SPU is using its new outdialer system. At this point, we haven’t determined if it will be used for regular outreach messages, like holiday garbage pick-up, or if it will be used primarily for emergency communications. That’s something we’ll be evaluating from feedback we receive from our customers and other sources

Lowman Beach overflow-control project: Advisory group meets Monday

It’s not on the online calendar, but we got word tonight from King County Wastewater Treatment Division that the Design Advisory Group for the Murray (Lowman Beach) combined-sewer-overflow (CSO) control facility will meet Monday night. The rendering you see above is one of the preliminary design sketches discussed when they met last month (we covered a subsequent briefing given to the Morgan Community Association). At this meeting, according to Doug Marsano from the county, “The group will be reviewing refined design concepts and discussing the public art process.” The main feature of the project is a million-gallon underground storage tank to be built across from Lowman Beach Park on what are currently residential properties that the county is in the process of buying. All are welcome to the advisory group meeting at 6:30 pm, Fauntleroy Church, 9140 California SW.

Update: Water-main break fixed in Fauntlee Hills

(Photos by WSB editor Tracy Record, added 8:34 am)
7:44 AM: Some residents in the Fauntlee Hills area woke up to water trouble this morning, according to several notes we have received. Greg reports, “Awoke to low water pressure and brown water coming from taps. Called city and they said there was a water emergency in the area and it would be at least 3 hours before water was restored.” Liz, who says she was given that same time frame, says her water service has been out since at least 3 am and that she was told the problem was a water-main break. We’re heading out to check.

8:26 AM: Just back from talking to the crew at the site of the break, which is on 39th SW just a bit north of SW Barton (which is wet for a few blocks downhill – luckily not quite cold enough to freeze). They have already fixed it and are flushing the lines. Just a cold-weather break, they told us, one of the 100-plus water-main breaks in the city every year (about 140, SPU reps told the recent meeting regarding Arbor Heights upgrades). This 12-inch main feeds homes for a 5-block area that zigzags around the spot where the pipe broke. Our photo shows the main and the silver clamp over the spot where it broke; the smaller green line on the right feeds the closest home, whose resident was out looking at the work and saying he’s glad it’s done because he’s overdue for his morning coffee.

Community briefing February 8th for West Seattle ‘green stormwater infrastructure’ project

Just in from King County – your next chance to get an update on plans to reduce sewer overflows into Puget Sound by building “green stormwater infrastructure” like rain gardens in neighborhoods feeding the Barton Pump Station:

People are invited to learn about King County’s progress on a project to control combined sewer overflows (CSOs) from the Barton Pump Station in West Seattle through green stormwater infrastructure.

A public meeting is planned on Wednesday, Feb. 8, at Westside School, 7740 34th Ave. SW. from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

The announcement continues ahead: Click to read the rest of Community briefing February 8th for West Seattle ‘green stormwater infrastructure’ project…

West Seattle outages: Beach Drive power, Fauntleroy Comcast

11:45 AM: Couple of outages at the moment, just in case you’re affected and wondering if you’re alone … Seattle City Light has 22 homes without power along Beach Drive, in the Weather Watch Park vicinity (see the map); the cause is listed as “unknown,” though Melissa tells us via Twitter that it “sounded like a transformer blew.” Meantime, here in Upper Fauntleroy, our Comcast Internet service is out, and the utility tells us we’re not alone – they’re attributing it to storm-related damage.

2:59 PM UPDATE: The City Light map shows the Beach Drive outage is over.

Morgan Community Association: Park concerns; CSO design

After last Saturday’s shooting by Morgan Junction Park, some discussion centered on safety concerns in the park itself. Some of those concerns came up at last night’s quarterly meeting of the Morgan Community Association (a week later than originally scheduled, because of last week’s snow/ice).

Other major agenda items included an update on design of the Murray CSO-control project across from Lowman Beach Park, and upcoming electrical-cable work in Gatewood. Read on for details: Click to read the rest of Morgan Community Association: Park concerns; CSO design…

Arbor Heights water-main upgrades: Community meeting Thursday

This hasn’t been announced to the media yet, so big thanks to Kevin McClintic for scanning and sharing the postcard he received this weekend: The community meeting promised by Seattle Public Utilities regarding upcoming water-main upgrades is set for this Thursday (January 26), 7-9 pm at Arbor Heights Community Church (4119 SW 102nd). As first reported here last month, water mains totaling two-thirds of a mile will be upgraded this year, as part of a process that began when last August’s big house fire called attention to problems in the system. (That day, firefighters had to run hose almost half a mile to access an adequate firefighting supply.) That process also has included hydrant upgrades; here’s our report on that, from November. (August 27 photo by Katie Meyer for WSB)

Missed trash pickup this week? City update on what’s next

Missed trash/recycling pickup this week? Seattle Public Utilities just sent out the word on how things will work when “normal service” returns on Monday: Click to read the rest of Missed trash pickup this week? City update on what’s next…

Unusual side effect of sewer-storage project: ‘Garage sale’ ad brings out deputies, crime tape at Lowman Beach

We first heard about this at midmorning, when Richard sent a note about a King County Sheriff’s Deputy and “crime tape” at a home across from Lowman Beach. We suspected it had something to do with the county taking over that property and others, for the future Murray Pump Station Combined Sewer Overflow project, which will replace the residences across from Lowman Beach with a million-gallon underground storage tank and its support faciliities. When we got there for a photo early this afternoon, that looked so obviously to be the case, we didn’t even seek out the deputy who was parked there, figuring we’d go look up property records.

Then while back at HQ we got a note from Robin, who said she had seen a Craigslist ad about a garage sale at the address today, got there at 10 am – and instead of a sale, she found a (different – in a KCSO car, while this afternoon, it was Burien PD) deputy, the house cordoned off with crime tape, and NO TRESPASSING signs put up:

She says the deputy who was there at the time explained that the renters already had moved out and the sale listing was “fake,” one of those “everything including the fixtures are for sale” listings. We looked around online and saw some corroboration of this on CL:

Further searches showed some hint of the original post, but it’s already been removed, even from caching. Online county records confirm this site is now owned by the county; the sale closed December 30th, but the purchase price is not listed. We’re seeking further info from the Sheriff’s Office (such as, was anyone arrested?) and will also be researching the ownership status of the other properties on the block – the county’s timetable calls for demolition as soon as this spring, though construction isn’t expected to start till next year. More info on today’s incident, as we get it.

West Seattle traffic alert: Water-main break on Alki Avenue

Just east of Alki Point, a section of Alki Avenue SW – from about 63rd SW to the point – is closed so crews can fix a water-main break. Thanks to Kenna Klosterman for the tip, and the photo above. We just went over to check it out; crews aren’t sure yet how long it’ll take to fix, but they say it was a relatively small plastic water pipe, and it’s affecting service to the homes on the water side of the street (north).

7:02 PM: That’s our photo from the repair site; on the WSB Facebook page, you can see a video Kenna shot earlier, while the crew was pumping water out of that section of the street.

Controlling Lowman Beach sewer overflows: Open house Monday

(Photo courtesy Anne Higuera)
Another community open house has just been announced for the ongoing process of designing the Combined Sewer Overflow-control project across from Lowman Beach Park, to include a million-gallon underground storage tank. This is one of two CSO-control projects King County is currently planning in West Seattle, and it’s known as the Murray project, after the pump station that’s beneath the park, and the “basin” that feeds it. This comes shortly after a round of test drilling to gather more data about geological conditions in the area (photo above). The open house is set for 6:30 pm next Monday (November 14th) at Fauntleroy Church (9140 California SW). From the county’s announcement:

During the meeting, project staff will discuss design themes and present conceptual drawings that were developed in response to the ideas community members shared at an all-day design workshop on Oct. 29. People are invited to review and comment on these early design plans, and to provide any additional feedback.

P.S. We recorded the project’s most recent open house, in October, on video, previously unpublished, in case you’re following closely and want to know what’s been said so far:

More information on the Murray CSO project is here.