West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Seattle Police say somebody fired a gun during a street fight overnight in Gatewood. 911 calls reported up to 100 teenagers fighting near 36th and Othello (map) around midnight; just as officers were getting there, other calls reported a possible shot fired. Police say they saw about 30 teens as they arrived, all of whom fled. They also found a shell casing on the street and what the SPD Blotter report describes as “two intoxicated adult male victims,” one of whom told them that several male suspects wearing black clothing and black ski masks got out of a black car and tried to fight him, with one pulling out a gun and firing it into the air. No injuries, no arrests.
Shared by his family, here’s the “larger than life” life story of Frank Novito, whose memorial service is planned for next Saturday at Holy Rosary Church:
Frank Novito, a lifelong resident of West Seattle, died peacefully at Providence Mt. St. Vincent on March 7, 2014.
Frank was born to Joseph and Mary Novito, who had immigrated from Italy, and true to the American Dream, owned several successful dry-cleaning businesses in the West Seattle and Morgan Street Junctions. Frank attended Lafayette, James Madison, and West Seattle High School.
While still a student, Frank would ride his bike down to Alki to work at Lloyd’s Boathouse before school every morning, and then back up Fairmount Avenue to WSHS for his classes. He quickly became known among Lloyd’s customers for his fishing prowess out in Elliott Bay, and became a favorite of those who wanted to know where the “prime” fishing spots were. He had many stories to tell of near-misses with ferries in the dense fog.
After high school, Frank went to work as a riveter at Boeing, and just like in the movies, he met his bride-to-be, Helen Gembolis, who was his “bucker.” They married in 1944 and had three children, Wanda, Gail and Ralph, all who attended Holy Rosary School. He served in the Army until the war ended, when “Old Mr. Fiedler” took a shine to Frank and offered him a sales job at Gene Fiedler Chevrolet, where Frank sold cars for over 40 years, often ranking as the top salesman in the entire Pacific Northwest. Frank had enduring friendships with many return customers.
West Seattle Lions president Jimie Martin says everybody’s invited – and that means you! One week from tomorrow, Monday, March 17th On March 15th, the Lions are hosting their annual St. Patrick’s Day Dinner at the Senior Center of West Seattle in The Junction: “Festivities start at 5:30, dinner served at 6.” $15/person for corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, salad, bread, desserts, music, fun, and, they promise, “surprises.” Get your green on and go.
Two West Seattle Junction development notes:
CALIFORNIA/ALASKA/42ND CRANE UP: No, you weren’t seeing double. Two cranes are now up in one square block. The newest – in the foreground of the photo above – is for Equity Residential‘s two-building project at California/Alaska/42nd. That’s just a bit north of the one that’s been up since September for 4730 California. The new crane is rooted just east of the alley that splits its site:
The Equity project will total ~200 apartments with ~270 underground parking spaces. In all, there are now four cranes up in West Seattle – these two, the one over Spruce (formerly “The Hole”) at Fauntleroy/Alaska/39th, and the one for The Blake at 5020 California, which likely won’t be up much longer, as the building has topped out.
TRAFFIC ALERT: Back to the 4730 California project, next Friday (March 14th) its “Level 2” concrete slab will be poured, and the general contractor Compass Construction says that means a lane closure:
Northbound California Avenue SW will be closed during the pour from SW Edmunds Street to SW Alaska St. Uniformed police officers will direct traffic around the closure. The pour starts at 7:00 am and should last about 6 hours. We have the 17th reserved as a backup day. The midblock crosswalk will remain open during the pour.
This project is owned by The Wolff Company.
The 4800 block of 21st SW on Puget Ridge (map) is open again now that Seattle Fire units have cleared that crash scene. The driver of the car that hit the tree (which is atop a sloping stretch of West Duwamish Greenbelt open-space) was taken to Harborview Medical Center; her injuries were not major, according to emergency-radio information. A tow truck just arrived as we were leaving the scene, so the car will be gone soon too.
Three reader reports this morning in West Seattle Crime Watch:
STOLEN SUV: Tony reports from Gatewood this morning, “A 2000 tan Chevy Blazer was stolen on the corner of 39th and Willow. Be watchful, the car was taken from the driveway of the homeowner around 3:00 am.” Plate: ANJ1117. (Side note – the SPD crime-reports map shows 8 other auto-theft cases in the past week, a lower rate than last time we checked the big picture.)
HIT-AND-RUN #1: From Randy – this happened early Saturday on Genesee Hill:
About 3 am, the police were heard knocking on our front door. They informed me that our car was hit by an apparent hit-and-run driver. Our Saab was spun 180 degrees and came to rest against a utility pole. We had owned the car since new, 1988, and would save it if we could, but it is beyond repair. It can be utilized as an organ donor. The car was parked on SW Genesee outside our home kitty-corner from Genesee (Hill) Elementary School. The hit-and-run driver has not surfaced.
HIT-AND-RUN #2: Christine reported this via the WSB Facebook page:
(Friday) night around 7 just north of the post office on California, my visiting parents’ rental car was struck in a hit and run. There were some people out walking dogs and 1 nice women thought she saw the women who hit the car and them apparently a boyfriend came to help get the car and took off!
Contact police with info on any of the above – or any other crime. P.S. The next community crime-fighting meeting is a week from Tuesday; the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets March 18th, 7 pm, at the Southwest Precinct (Delridge/Webster).
(Eagle at Alki, photographed by Danny McMillin, shared via the WSB Flickr group)
Good morning – are your timekeeping devices all caught up? Here are the time-pegged highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm in The Junction. Market managers tell us a new vendor from West Seattle debuts today – Flight to Lebanon Foods, based in Delridge, offering Lebanese food. Go say hi to proprietor Arze Wehbe and the other vendors you’ll find at the market today. (44th/Alaska)
WEST SEATTLE ULTIMATE FAMILY FRISBEE: 11 am at Walt Hundley Playfield in High Point. Find out more about the league via its Facebook page. (31st/Myrtle)
DEMOCRATIC CAUCUSES: As previewed again last night, the 34th District Democrats invite you to the district caucuses today at 1 pm at the Evergreen Campus – if you’re a Democrat, be there to start the road toward 2016. (830 SW 116th, White Center)
WEST SEATTLE GREEN SPACE COALITION: Six pieces of long-idle public property – will they become private property, or is there a way to keep some or all of them as community open space? The group working on that, the West Seattle Green Space Coalition, invites you to its 3 pm meeting today at Delridge Branch Library. Here’s an update published here Saturday. (5401 Delridge Way SW)
FOLK MUSIC AT C & P: 3-5 pm at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), live folk music with Stefanie Robbins & The Straight Shooters and Cynthia Marie. (5612 California SW)
LADIES MUSICAL CLUB: Free concert at West Seattle (Admiral) Branch Library, with works for piano plus a Bach cantata. 3 pm. (2306 42nd SW)
‘THIRD’: First matinee performance of ArtsWest‘s current production “Third,” by Wendy Wasserstein. 3 pm. (4711 California SW)
BOOZE, BALLS, AND BINGO = BENEFIT! Camp Ten Trees is the beneficiary for tonight’s edition of drag bingo at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), 5:30 pm, hosted by Tru St. James. (6451 California SW)
That’s a WSB file photo of the King County Sheriff’s Office helicopter Guardian One – which helps in other jurisdictions too, including Seattle – and next Thursday afternoon, you just might notice it over south Highland Park and Greenbridge. White Center Heights Elementary PTA president David Sonsteng sent early warning of the plan. Kindergarteners are “working on their community-helpers module in class,” he explains, so Thursday (March 13) 1:25 pm-2:25 pm, they will “get to meet some of these community helpers.” In addition to Guardian One, they’re scheduled to meet KCSO Deputy BJ Myers (who’s based out of the downtown WC storefront office), a fire engine from the North Highline Fire District, and an ambulance from AMR. We’ll remind you again that day, but if you might be anywhere near the area, store away the info. (The school is at 10015 6th SW.)
Tomorrow’s the day that Democrats from West Seattle, White Center, Vashon/Maury Islands, and the rest of the 34th Legislative District are invited to caucus – “the first step in the journey toward the all-important 2016 election,’ per the 34th District Democrats‘ official caucus call. Registration starts at 1 pm at the Evergreen Campus, 830 SW 116th in White Center (map). While they aren’t voting on candidates – too soon for that – the “first step” includes electing delegates to June’s statewide convention, and collecting resolutions and platform issues for next month’s countywide convention. (State Republicans are not caucusing this year.)
How rainy is it? In the late afternoon, West Seattle-based environmental advocate “Diver Laura” James – whose specialties include stormwater-runoff education – caught these maxed-out sewer covers at the east dead-end of Yancy between West Seattle Athletic Club and Longfellow Creek (map).
The National Weather Service has two alerts out for our area – a Special Weather Statement that warns the rain “has led to an increased threat of landslides in Western Washington … The threat will increase tonight into midday Sunday as heavy rain affects the area. Several inches of rain over the past several days has increased soil moisture to high levels across Western Washington,” and a Flood Watch that speaks for itself. Here, by the way, is the runoff’s outfall to Longfellow, as noted by Laura:
To find out how to minimize the toxicity of what’s in runoff water, check out tox-ick.org. You can also check this real-time map to see which marked outfalls have combined-sewer overflows happening right now, the same kind of overflows that city and county projects under way now are aiming to reduce.
P.S. The NWS says the official gauge at Sea-Tac has collected almost four inches of rain in the first week of March – ending yesterday.
Two meetings in the next four days will deal with the six ex-substations City Light is getting rid of:
GREEN SPACE COALITION TOMORROW: Can’t make meetings on weeknights? The West Seattle Green Space Coalition, working on the future of six City Light-owned ex-substation sites in our area, invites you to its meeting tomorrow afternoon:
The West Seattle Green Space Coalition will meet Sunday, March 9 at 3:00 pm at the West Seattle (Delridge) Public Library. Topics will include follow-up on the WSGSC’s March 5th meeting with representatives from Seattle City Light and Tom Rasmussen regarding SCL’s project to decide within months what to do with former substations that have sat idle for decades, including ones in West Seattle. We made good progress on how to work with the City to come up with best ways to give the Neighborhoods more time to keep these open spaces for the community.
Here’s our report on the Wednesday tour mentioned above. Then on Wednesday:
CITY COUNCIL ENERGY COMMITTEE: A briefing on the ex-substations is on the agenda for the 9:30 am Wednesday (March 12th) meeting of the Energy Committee, chaired by Councilmember Kshama Sawant. Mary Fleck from the WSGSC is among those who will be participating. You can see the city’s slide deck here, including this slide outlining what happens next:
The Wednesday meeting is in council chambers at City Hall downtown; there will be a public comment period.
1:08 PM: Thanks to Diane and Keith for the tip: Police and fire are blocking 37th in Admiral, near Hinds (map), in the aftermath of a crash. Diane reports a private ambulance has arrived – no medic unit was dispatched, indicating no life-threatening injuries – and that there’s debris in the street. So if you have to get around in that area, avoid 37th for a while.
2:16 PM UPDATE: The road’s open again, Diane reports. And Keith sent photos that we’re adding – in the one immediately above this paragraph, he says the car in the background by the ambulance also was damaged. Both mention one person transported by ambulance.
Students from Middle College High School (based at Neighborhood House’s High Point Center) are doing it – and you can do it too! Deborah Vandermar from the High Point Neighborhood Association shares the photos and an update on Keep High Point Green:
Keep High Point Green (KHPG) is a project that evolved last year as a community response to High Point’s need for weed control and its commitment to sending only clean water to Longfellow creek by avoiding the use of herbicides. HP Open Spaces Association assigned 30 plots including park beds, roundabouts, and parking strips to the The High Point Neighborhood Association (HPNA) for maintenance.
KHPG has been organizing teams of neighbors in and around High Point into teams to weed and providing ongoing classes that include garden analysis, plant selection and garden design. These classes are conducted by green gardening experts such as Vera Johnson of the Village Green Perennial Nursery and Janice Nyman, Architect and Landscape Designer.
The HPNA won a grant from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods to cover child care, translation, and outreach so that all members of the High Point Community can be engaged. Seattle Public Utilities partnered with KHPG to produce a film about weeding featuring Garden Hotline teachers Katie Vincent and Justin Maltry. It will be on SPU’s YouTube site shortly. Other projects include a large garden fence mural by YELS in Hip-hop style.
Our first team of gardeners, students from Middle College High School, started Thursday at Morgan & Sylvan. In spite of the cold and rain, they were enthusiastic and began the conquest of vetch that has taken over the south west corner of Commons Park.
Anyone can join a gardening team in High Point. Classes, tools, mulch and plants are free. Volunteer opportunities include bringing snacks, taking pictures, working with kids, fixing fences, outreach, doing research for theme gardens and more.
For more information, contact Deborah at 206-225-5627 or dvandermar@gmail.com. And check out more about the Middle College HS students’ work here!
The city’s trying to find a way for Seattle families to have access to affordable, voluntary “Preschool for All,” and wants to hear from you about how it might work. 6-8 pm Thursday (March 13th) you can come to a West Seattle meeting – with free dinner and child care – to share your thoughts and ideas. It’ll be at Neighborhood House’s High Point Center (6400 Sylvan Way SW); here’s the official flyer, listing some of the specific topics they want to talk about. The child care is for ages 2-8 and if you’d like to take advantage of it, e-mail upk@seattle.gov with the number of children you’ll be bringing and their ages.
(Male Anna’s hummingbird, photographed by Mark Wangerin)
Happy Saturday! Notes and events:
TRAFFIC ALERT: I-5 expansion-joint work continues; tonight until Monday morning, WSDOT is closing up to 3 northbound collector-distributor lanes downtown. The main lanes remain open, as do exits (follow the link to see a map), but this could still lead to some backups.
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME STARTS TONIGHT: OK, technically tomorrow (Sunday) morning, 2 am.
ADMIRAL ADOPT-A-STREET CLEANUP: 9 am, join the Admiral Neighborhood Association outside Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor) and spend a few hours helping beautify your community. Perks, too, as noted in our preview. Young helpers welcome too. (41st/Admiral Way)
INTERNET BASICS, 1 & 2: Know someone who isn’t quite Web-savvy? This class might be just what they need. 11 am-12:30 pm at the High Point Branch Library. Call quick to see if there’s still room – registration is required. Details in our calendar listing. (35th/Raymond)
WEST SEATTLE TOOL LIBRARY: Pre-spring cleaning? Fixing? The West Seattle Tool Library is open 11 am-4 pm on Saturdays, on the northeast side of Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
DUWAMISH RIVER, THE FIRST 15,000 YEARS: 1-3 pm presentation by geologist Devin O’Reilly, sharing how glaciers, volcanoes, earthquakes & humans have shaped the river. Free; more information here. Duwamish Longhouse. (4705 W. Marginal Way SW)
PATHFINDER K-8 AUCTION: 5 pm in Brockey Center at South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor), it’s the Pathfinder K-8 School auction, themed “Starry Night in the Woods” this year. (6000 16th SW)
3 PLAY RICOCHET: “Bluegrass, Old-Time, Ragtime, & String-Band Americana” music, live, with 3 Play Ricochet at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7-9 pm. (5612 California SW)
By Tracy Record & Katie Meyer
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
For the first time in the two weeks a King County Superior Court jury has spent hearing the case in the second-degree-murder trial of Lovett “Cid” Chambers, they have heard his voice.
As is standard in a criminal trial, the defendant is in the courtroom for all on-the-record proceedings, so the 15 jurors (including three alternates) have seen Chambers (at right, WSB courthouse-hallway photo from Wednesday) day in and day out. But he has not been on the witness stand. Thursday afternoon, before the trial went into recess until Monday (March 10th), prosecutors played parts of the video recording made during the hours he spent in a Seattle Police interview room – sometimes alone, sometimes with SPD personnel – after the January 21, 2012, shooting by Morgan Junction Park that left 35-year-old Travis Hood dead.
The video playback came while Detective Cloyd Steiger was on the witness stand. It happened in two somewhat lengthy stretches – the first was mostly quiet, in which Chambers appeared to be resting on a chair in the corner. (The jury watched on the wide-screen monitor used to show evidence; the defense, and gallery, were in view of a laptop screen from which the video was being played back.)
(Photo courtesy Jaydee)
Though some clouds were around at sunset, as our Skies Over West Seattle correspondent Alice Enevoldsen tweeted a little while ago, it’s a great night for stargazing. And for walking, which Laddie and Polly did, from Alki to Anchor Park:
(Photo courtesy Christine)
Earlier – even for wading:
(Photo by John Hinkey)
Thanks to everyone who shared photos! P.S. Remember Daylight Saving Time arrives tomorrow night – 2 am Sunday; spring is less than two weeks away – March 20th.
Congratulations to the two Chief Sealth International High School students whose achievements we heard about from assistant principal Cheryl Sullivan:
Chief Sealth International High School seniors Tasha Addington-Ferris [right] and Teianna Chenkovich [left] have been awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award! They were honored at our Student of the Month luncheon today and received a certificate and a letter from President Barack Obama. We hope that future Chief Sealth students and other youth in the community look up to these two young women as role models and examples of what youth can do to improve their communities!
The Duwamish Tribe has just heard back from the Port of Seattle, one week after telling the port it “would like its artifacts back,” the latest in a long-running dispute over items found on historic Duwamish land across the street from its West Seattle longhouse. Last summer, personnel from the Burke Museum removed the artifacts from their display cases at the Duwamish Cultural Center in the longhouse. Last week, after getting word that the Port would give the artifacts to the South King County-based Muckleshoot Tribe, Duwamish chair Cecile Hansen sent the Port a letter offering to buy them back; we published that letter last week. Today, the tribe has just sent the reply it received from Port CEO Tay Yoshitani:
(If you can’t see the letter in the Scribd window above, here it is as a PDF.) The tribe says chair Hansen is “not commenting on (the Port’s letter) at this time” but adds that the port signed an agreement with the Muckleshoot two weeks ago.
Remember Michael Sean Stanley, the convicted rapist arrested in an Admiral alley in October after leaving Canada, where he’d been sought for cutting off a monitoring device? He has been in the King County Jail, serving time for harassment since pleading guilty in January, and it looks like he’s getting out this Monday as previously announced – the County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says he won’t be charged with allegedly sexual assaulting a teenager before his arrest. The statement we received:
The King County Prosecutor’s Office has completed its review of a case involving Michael Stanley. The case is being declined for criminal prosecution because there is insufficient evidence to prove that a forcible sexual assault had occurred.
Canada does not want him extradited; he is an American citizen. At the time of his sentencing in January, the City Attorney’s Office noted that his history in our state includes burglary and DUI. Conditions with which he must comply in this case require him to “provide a DNA sample; obey written anti-harassment orders protecting the three victims; not violate criminal law; have no alcohol or drug offenses; abstain from marijuana; undergo chemical dependency treatment; possess no weapons, and update the court on his current address.” He will be under Municipal Court jurisdiction for two years.
(New state ferry Tokitae under construction at Vigor Shipyard; photo by Carolyn Newman)
Fun stuff from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, for the hours ahead, starting now!
SHARON BEST’S RETIREMENT PARTY: Now until 7 pm, at The White House, lawyer Sharon Best‘s retirement party, combined with an open house for Best Escrow LLC, as previewed here. (3909 California SW)
CONRAD WESSELHOEFT AT ‘WORDS, WRITERS, WEST SEATTLE’: 4-6 pm, the West Seattle author is the next to read/sign in this series celebrating local writers. Meet him at Barnes & Noble/Westwood Village. (2800 SW Barton)
PACO DIEZ AT NORTHWEST WINE ACADEMY: Tapas, wine, and music with Paco Diez tonight at Northwest Wine Academy on the South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) campus, 5-9 pm, with Diez performing 5:30-7. (6000 16th SW)
GET THE BLUES AT THE CORNER BAR: Highland Park Improvement Club‘s pop-up Corner Bar features DJ Rich 6-8 pm and then the Yada Yada Blues Band 8-10 pm; details in our calendar listing. (12th/Holden)
‘SWEET, SWEET MUSIC’: 7:30 pm at Fauntleroy Church, music and dessert! Details here. (9140 California SW)
With the Open Enrollment period for Seattle Public Schools wrapping up – though registration does continue even after today – we have updates for families considering Fairmount Park Elementary, reopening this fall after post-mothballs expansion (thanks to Kevin and Anand for sharing the links):
FAIRMOUNT FAQ: A “frequently asked questions” document is available via the Seattle Public Schools website. You can download the newest version here.
APP TESTING: With Fairmount offering the APP top-level-gifted program, they have a special round of testing available for some potential APP students later this month. Here’s the eligibility and deadlines; here’s the form.
Thanks to Kelly for the photo – the last semifinal round of Global Reading Challenge competition at the Seattle Public Library downtown is over, and this one turned out to have FOUR West Seattle elementary schools competing – Gatewood, Highland Park, Roxhill, and West Seattle. Kelly reports that all four tied for 3rd place (along with 2 other schools) but that’s not high enough to advance to the finals. So as far as we’ve heard, Arbor Heights Elementary‘s Super Ultimate Nerdy Ninjas are the only West Seattle team headed to final competition on March 18th (also at the Central Library).
2:08 PM UPDATE: Confirmed with Mary Palmer from SPL, the lineup for the citywide final (just in case you’re wondering about the non-WS teams against whom AH will be competing) – their schools & team name (each school had multiple teams in the early round, with intraschool competition):
View Ridge
Marvelous Mind MastersWhittier
Word WarriorsAdams
The Little Team That CouldOrca
Radiant ReadersNorthgate
Seahawk ReadersVan Asselt
Book ThievesArbor Heights
Super Ultimate Nerdy NinjasGreenwood
ChickadeesGraham Hill
Olympic ReadersLeschi
Golden Seven
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