Thanks to Alice Kuder for that photo and word that the fence is finally coming down from around the big open field at what some dubbed “Denny Park” – the former Denny International Middle School site that now holds playfields and tennis courts (and is technically just an extension of nearby Southwest Athletic Complex, all Seattle Public Schools-owned). It’s been four months since the site officially opened for public use.

(WSB photo from 2011 ‘Stamp Out Hunger,’ donation-sorting at Junction post office)
Since it coincides with West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day each year, so we always ask that you donate to the Stamp Out Hunger food drive before shopping/selling that day – your Postal Service carrier will pick up donations of nonperishable food left by your mailbox or (if you have a mail slot) door. But here’s another way to help Stamp Out Hunger this Saturday – Audrey from White Center Food Bank sends word that volunteers are needed at the Westwood Village Post Office to help with the donated food:

Help Food Lifeline and help the White Center Food Bank. White Center Food Bank gets thousands of pounds of food from this every year…..

Volunteer at the 2012 Stamp Out Hunger food drive! Stamp Out Hunger is the county’s largest one day food drive. With the help of the National Association of Letter Carriers, we at Food Lifeline are striving to collect over 500,000 pounds of non-perishable food in the greater Seattle Area.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. Watch for the blue bag in your mailbox for the nation’s largest one-day food drive, Stamp Out Hunger on Saturday, May 12th. Fill your bag with healthy non-perishable food and leave it by your mailbox so your letter carrier, Food Lifeline and White Center Food Bank can make sure it reaches hungry people in your community.

Food Lifeline is recruiting 170 volunteers to serve at 17 postal stations around Seattle, Bellevue and Mercer Island. We’d love to encourage White Center folks to lend a hand at the Westwood Post Office – of all the remaining stations, Westwood is in need of the most volunteers – 14 spots!

Encourage your friends, family and colleagues to volunteer this May 12th (especially at Westwood Post Office) to help end hunger in Western Washington!

Food Lifeline told us last week that the Junction Post Office already has all the volunteers it needs. If you can help at Westwood – find out how by going here.

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.

Early on, Wohleb said: “I want to talk straight on about Ballard – it was fast-tracked, less than 4 months from study to construction. We’ve been studying this for almost a year, (and have a) clear understanding of soils, technology, how to take the water into underdrains and move it on down, way deep, far away from people’s homes so we can control the bioswale overflow … Having said all that, I understand this is a change, and that’s scary, and you’ve heard some nasty things …”

Chief among those “nasty” things – at least in context, for residents – would be residents having heard that the soil right beneath their homes is drainage-challenged “hardpan” – just like Ballard. Right beneath it, though, engineers say, is a different type of soil, “Vashon Advance Outwash,” and that’s what the county plans to drain this soil into. “We’ve been taking time to understand this neighborhood,” said consultant Steve Burke from SVR Design Company.

“We are going to be moving it down and away,” is how Wohleb put it.

In the absolute heaviest of rainstorms, there could still be “ponding” from one to 12 inches of water, which the county says would clear out within 24 hours. Residents remain worried about the possibility children could fall in and drown, since it is often warned that a small child needs only an inch or two of water to drown, and many of these streets are on the way to, or near, facilities such as E.C. Hughes Playground or Westside School.

“High Point has never had a person fall into its bioretention swales,” Wohleb noted. A High Point photo was shown as part of the presentation:

And about the concerns that someday money might run out and King County would suddenly abandon maintenance of the “bioswales”? “This is a facility,” she declared. “We are responsible for maintaining our facilities. We’re starting to put together a maintenance plan.”

She was joined at the meetings by consultants, primarily from SVR Design, which worked on the High Point project.

This all comes more than two years after the county’s Wastewater Treatment Division initiated the state-mandated process of figuring out how to cut down on the CSOs from pump stations including Barton; in December 2010, it announced that the “green stormwater infrastructure” plan was its choice for the “basin” feeding Barton, while for the basin feeding Murray Pump Station at Lowman Beach, it would instead put in a huge new underground storage tank (for which it has purchased and will demolish a block full of residential properties across from the city-owned beach park). This is the first time the county has tried this kind of project, and that too has caused trepidation among residents.

This round of meetings came at the end of the “preliminary design” phase; the county expects to start construction next year. The meetings were formatted with a presentation up front – here’s the complete PowerPoint that was shown (large PDF) – and then small-group breakouts, neighborhood by neighborhood, so that the targeted locations could be discussed with people who live on those blocks.

During the presentation, one Wednesday attendee requested the chance to ask a question in front of the whole group, but was told “this isn’t really the forum for that.” Attendees were directed to the small groups. The county says the questions it collected will be posted online, though.

Questions we heard on Wednesday night included “how will the pipes (underdrain) not clog?” (Answer: Crews will have access to cleanouts.) “How were streets chosen (or excluded)?” Arterials were left out because of “permitting and restrictions on traffic flow,” for example, while a few streets got a pass because they “have a separate storm system.” A wide planting strip was considered ideal – that’s what we saw, for example, last Monday night, when meeting with concerned neighbors in the 7900 block of 30th SW:

One concern in that conversation: What about the trees? The briefers promised that “preservation of large existing trees is a priority,” as well as that they would “protect large trees on private property adjacent to the right-of-way.” But “small or unhealthy trees in the right-of-way may be removed or replaced.” The 30th SW neighbors had noted a recent visit by workers measuring to see if tree trunks were at least six inches wide; it was explained in the small-group discussion, that’s a city standard. One more tree note: Some of the underdrain boring would go UNDER the trees and their root zones – at least five feet down, says the project team.

The curb cuts for private driveways – the section that goes over the sidewalk – would be dug up while the underdrain is being installed, though project-team members say that wouldn’t take more than a day or two at each site. And then there are the potential curb bulbs (also marked on the very dense schematic at the end of this large PDF), which would jut out five feet into the existing street.

More uneasiness seemed to center on the “steppable zone” between bioswale “cells.” It was described as about six feet wide, with landscaping you could “step” on, “pretty easy to cross,” according to Jennifer Lathrop from SVR.

“(The rendering) shows a car blocking the ‘steppable zone’,” one resident pointed out.

Jennifer acknowledged that could happen.

The “cells” would have a failsafe, in case of that mega-storm – which could send the water back out into the street and into a drain that would connect to the combined-sewer system, if there was just no place left for the water to go.

The small group we observed on Wednesday night included the block along 30th where we met neighbors two nights earlier. In twos and threes, they stepped forward to the rendering on the wall depicting their specific block, to find out where the bioswales might be placed, and why those specific planting strips were chosen. “It’s custom,” explained SVR’s Peg Staeheli. “The detail changes on every block.”

WHAT’S NEXT: The project team is moving into “final design.” In early summer, they plan to come out to the neighborhoods, block by block, to meet with residents about specific locations, while continuing to evaluate the locations revealed at the meetings. Later in the summer, a workshop to look at the plants proposed for bioswales – then “continuing to work on final design with you.” In the meantime, they promised to continue adding information to the project website (which starts here). And here’s the timeline shown as a graphic in the public-meeting presentation:

(7900 block of 30th SW)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Tonight, Sunrise Heights/Westwood residents are expected to find out if the county thinks the planting strips in front of their homes are the best prospective sites for raingardens to reduce sewer overflows miles away.

The plan has been two-plus years in the making, as the county’s preferred solution to the problem of Puget Sound overflows from the Barton Pump Station near the Fauntleroy ferry dock – but only now is it becoming less abstract, more real, as final decisions get closer. And that is worrying the people who live in the 7900 block of 30th SW, who have asked County Executive Dow Constantine to stop the project.

After the county announced two meetings for tonight and Saturday morning, resident Sabrina Urquhart sent a “media advisory” to make sure the meetings would be covered.

We asked if she and her neighbors would be willing to talk in advance about their concerns. So a small group gathered in her living room Monday evening – joining Sabrina were neighbors Heather, Jim, and Kevin.

In addition to the public meetings that have been held about the project, this block has had two private meetings with county reps, they say – in May of last year, and again this month. They say they’re worried that the county is proceeding with the plan despite the discovery that their soil has much in common with the soil in the Ballard area where a city “green stormwater infrastructure project” went infamously wrong. In their letter to Constantine, the neighbors write:

• Managers for the project found the same impervious soils in West Seattle as in Ballard’s failed rain gardens. They plan to address this with under drains and deep wells — but have no proof that doing so will work — and that it won’t create new issues underground. Our city streets already have problems with storm drains clogging from debris running down the street. This demonstrates the proposed design will not work and drains will clog. No matter what yellow or red flags the team encounters, they continue to railroad the Barton project through — with no guarantees that their plans will succeed.

Sabrina pointed us to a website with Ballard photos that the neighbors fear could be the shape of things to come, though they say the county has assured them this will be different. Those assurances also were voiced at a public meeting one year ago – where a city rep was even in attendance to field questions about the Ballard woes. The county said its advance testing and exploring – which we’ve covered along the way – would give them information that wasn’t obtained in advance of the city’s Ballard project. It’s been more than a year since the testing has brought scenes like this to area neighborhoods:

(WSB photo from March 2011)
The research also has included surveying residents to discover more signs of drainage trouble – asking who has trouble with water in their basements, for example. And today – in advance of tonight’s meeting – the county has updated its website to add a page of information about what the testing revealed; it mentions the low-drainage soil type, but says a lower layer should help with drainage.

Sabrina and her neighbors say the drainage challenges apply to their block and in their view should have ruled them out. But they say they have been told that the “infrastructure” could include a drainage system that would channel the water from raingardens/swales to a holding zone somewhere nearby – and they worry what it would take to dig the holes for those pipes. From their letter to the county executive:

• Managers for the project initially said they would not place the bioswales onto properties already experiencing water issues—but now plan to do so. They cannot guarantee that existing water drainage problems (flooded basements, standing water in water meters in planting strips, etc.) won’t worsen due to the project. Instead, we’re being asked to retain more water adjacent to our properties.

Another issue for the neighbors: The county, as it noted very early in the process, has not done this before. This would be a first. Again, from their letter:

• Managers for the project could not cite a single example of where the proposed design is installed and working. Pieces and parts are being pulled together from other projects, but as a whole, the proposed Barton project design has not been tested. This would be a very costly and risky experiment — of citizens’ lives and tax dollars.

• Project Managers point to other “rain garden” examples (e.g. High Point) that do not match our neighborhood. High Point was built from scratch with permeable sidewalks, a retention pond, etc. The Barton project would be a retrofit in an old, established neighborhood. The only previous — and disastrous — example we have of this is Ballard.

They also are concerned about children falling into standing water, pointing out that their neighborhood is near playgrounds and schools.

Several neighborhood representatives plan to be at tonight’s meeting and Saturday’s meeting (the county says the material to be presented at each is identical) to make sure their concerns are voiced. And they wanted to reiterate, they are not opposed to the sustainability goals of this project – but it seems to them like an experiment that may well not yield the results it’s supposed to, and will instead carry a high cost.

What’s next? We’ll find out starting at 6:30 pm at Westside School (7740 34th SW) tonight.

(WSB photo of test site at 34th/Trenton, March 2011)
Fifteen months after announcing its plan for “green stormwater infrastructure” to reduce combined sewer overflows (CSOs) at Barton Pump Station by the Fauntleroy ferry dock, the county has narrowed down the potential sites where it might place raingardens and swales to keep stormwater from overwhelming the system. (It’s been testing in the neighborhoods – with equipment like the truck above, as well as drill rigs – for the better part of a year.) Here’s the map showing which streets (in green) have been identified for closer study:

(Sorry, the streets weren’t named on that map, but you can see a larger version, along with the accompanying letter and “fact sheet,” by going here.) News of the map follows King County’s announcement of two meetings, March 28 and March 31, promising status updates. Read the announcement in full, ahead:

Two public meetings will provide status updates on a King County project to build green stormwater infrastructure to control combined sewer overflows (CSOs) from the Barton Pump Station in West Seattle.

The first meeting is on Wednesday, March 28, at Westside School, 7740 34th Ave. SW from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Another meeting with the same presentation material will follow on Saturday, March 31 at High Point Community Center, 6920 34th Ave. SW from 10 a.m. to noon.

Combined sewer overflows occur during heavy rains in older parts of Seattle where pipes designed long ago to carry both stormwater and wastewater fill to capacity. To protect public health and water quality for Lincoln Park users, King County is working closely with residents in West Seattle’s Westwood and Sunrise Heights neighborhoods to plan and build a system of swales and rain gardens to capture and reduce the amount stormwater that gets into the sewer system during heavy rains.

The meeting will enable neighbors to learn about which areas were selected for additional study, the process to identify these potential sites, and opportunities for future public input. People will also be able to ask questions about the next steps in the siting process and how to remain informed and involved as the project moves forward.

Additional information about the project is available at http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/Construction/Seattle/BartonCSO-GSI.aspx, or by contacting Kristine Cramer at 206-263-3184 or kristine.cramer@kingcounty.gov.

Joey Genzale is excited about all the improvements at his Westwood produce megastand, Tony’s Market, which just reopened at 35th/Barton a few hours ago after its traditional post-Christmas break. It’s a later reopening than usual, and here’s why:

That’s just part of the new 24-foot refrigerated produce case lining the north wall – which means the produce stays fresher longer – “Perfect lettuce! Perfect mushrooms!” enthuses Joey – and that’s good for customers as well as for the store’s bottom line. There’s also a brand-new cooler up front by the checkout stand, for non-produce merchandise. And even on the south side, the non-refrigerated items – such as tree fruit – is arranged up against the wall, improving traffic flow inside the store.

Something else new:

Joey says he’s been working on improving his hand-lettering sills for the signs that have long been a trademark of the produce market, run by his dad Tony Genzale till his untimely passing in December 2010. He had some ready to go last night – and then the rain swept in and undid his work. “My dad’s getting even with me,” he laughed.

When we were there in the 1 o’clock hour, they were still finishing setup, but almost done, and definitely open – and Joey is asking everyone what they think of the improvements (which include some fresh interior paint): “After 16 years, it was time.”

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:

Combined sewer overflows occur during heavy rains in older parts of Seattle where pipes designed long ago to carry both stormwater and wastewater fill to capacity. To protect public health and water quality for Lincoln Park users, King County is working closely with residents in West Seattle’s Westwood and Sunrise Heights neighborhoods to plan and build a system of raingardens to capture and reduce the amount stormwater that gets into the sewer system during heavy rains.

The meeting will enable neighbors to learn how fieldwork activities last fall influenced project design. People will also be able to ask questions about the next steps in the siting process and how to remain informed and involved as the project moves forward.

Additional information about the project is available at kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/Construction/Seattle/BartonCSO-GSI.aspx, or by contacting Kristine Cramer at 206-263-3184 or kristine.cramer@kingcounty.gov.

About 2:00 (Tuesday afternoon) I heard a vehicle stop in the alley next to my home, (in the Westwood neighborhood) and looked out to see 2 men taking something heavy from my neighbors’ yard and loading it into their pickup truck. Just as I got outside and to the alley, they were driving off, but stopped when I spoke to them. I asked if they had permission to take “that thing.”

I didn’t know what it was, because it was wrapped in black plastic – an indication to me it was something my neighbor wanted. After conferring with each other in Spanish, the driver said no, so I told them to put it back. I just pointed and demanded, and they put it back! I told them they couldn’t take things without asking, and they said OK, sorry, they didn’t think anyone wanted it, goodbye, and drove off.

I called the SPD non-emergency line, and they recommended calling 911 if it happens again, as a “theft in progress.” So watch for 2 polite Hispanic men, mid-20s or so, in a brown Chevy pickup with a white canopy, damage to the driver-side hood and bumper, passenger-side glass replaced with plastic, missing one passenger-side canopy window. License # given to police. If you see them taking something, try telling them to put it back. I didn’t want them to return and take my neighbor’s construction trailer or little boat too.

Before publishing this, we followed up with Mary to see if she had checked with her neighbors later. She had – and confirmed the item in question (a sink) was NOT anything they had given anyone permission to take, and was indeed something they wanted to keep. It’s now someplace more secure.

P.S. The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets next Tuesday, January 17th, 7 pm, at the Southwest Precinct (Webster/Delridge).

As of yesterday, the city-owned facility at 2800 SW Thistle that was Southwest Community Center is officially Southwest Teen Life Center and the future Southwest Neighborhood Service Center.

Four months after the planned change was announced by city leaders during a West Seattle media briefing, the new budget mandating the changeover is officially in effect, so we asked the city about the transition process.

We’ve subsequently learned the dates and plans for closing the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center and opening its replacement at Southwest, and also some things you need to know about what’s NOT changing at the Southwest building:

As is the case with Delridge now – ever since the closure of the Neighborhood Service Center in The Junction last year – the one at Southwest will be the only NSC in West Seattle. (If you’ve never been to an NSC, here’s what they offer.)

The NSC’s citywide are now under the wing of the city’s Finance and Administrative Services Department, whose spokesperson Katherine Schubert-Knapp tells WSB: “The Delridge lease expires at the end of March, so at this point, our goal is to close that site March 30 and open in Southwest on April 2. We don’t have any formal diagrams to share but the concept is to replicate the exact footprint we have in Delridge at Southwest. Parks needs to take a look at mechanical systems (HVAC, fire suppression, etc.) to see if this is doable.”

Parks, meantime, wants you to know that while “the facility is no longer operational as a community center,” as spokesperson Joelle Hammerstad puts it, the pool and Teen Life Center are “fully operational” (pool hours are here; Teen Life Center hours are here).

In addition, the facility is also continuing to host and offer private rentals. The Family Learning Program for homeschooling families – featured here in WSB coverage last fall – is continuing to operate there, Hammerstad says, and you can find their program offerings on page 15-16 of this brochure. So is EuropaKids International Preschool, and the Seattle Slam wheelchair-rugby program.

Plus, there’s a tot gym on Friday mornings for everyone, overseen by the Associated Recreation Council – you’re welcome, for $2 admission.

The changeover from community-center status, Hammerstad adds, is not affecting the adjacent Southwest Pool. But, there are a few dates she shared with us that facility users should know about:

Southwest Pool Neighborhood Appreciation Day: Saturday, Feb. 11, free refreshments in the lobby 12 noon – 2 pm and a free swim 1 – 2 pm.

Building closure: “The entire facility, including the pool, will be closed from March 26 – April 1 while the gym floors are refinished,” Hammerstad explains.

After that, as mentioned above, the new Neighborhood Service Center location is expected to open. But also:

The pool closure continues beyond April 1st: Immediately after the refinishing-related closure, the pool stays closed until April 16th for draining and preventive maintenance, but the rest of the facility will be open. (Hammerstad says the pool/gym work have to be done separately “because the fumes from the floor resurfacing will restrict anyone – other than staff working on the project – from being in the building.”)

We’ll continue following up on the transition.

The process had started with an August meeting about both, continued with separate October meetings about each one (skatespot here, playground here), and then was supposed to conclude with a November 14th meeting about both. But according to a postcard just mailed by the Parks Department, they’re now going to have that meeting next Monday focus only on the skatespot design, while a November 30th meeting has been added, to focus only on the playground design.

Both meetings will be at 6 pm on their respective dates, at Southwest Library (35th/Henderson), same time/location as previous meetings.

Another round of business trick-or-treating is under way – this time at Westwood Village, where WSB sponsor Wyatt’s Jewelers‘ namesake Wyatt was handing out the treats when we stopped in (that’s dad/shop owner Kirk Keppler off to the right). Lots of kids out and about here too!

The new ownership of Westwood Village promised more candy this year; trick or treating continues till 7.

Giannoni’s Pizzeria on the south side of Westwood Village WILL be open on time at 11 this morning, owner Donna says – but that’s after some cleanup work they would rather have not had to do. What you’re looking at in our photo is a hole in the wall at Giannoni’s, cut by burglars who broke in and then went through the wall to get into Taco Del Mar next door. Donna tells us the burglars made off with quarters from the pizzeria’s Pac-Man video-game machine, among other things, so they’ve alerted the nearby QFC in case anyone turns up at Coinstar with an unusual amount of quarters. We’re checking with police for more details on the break-in, but in the meantime, Donna says the burglar(s) were apparently scared off while inside TDM, and it’s believed to have happened around 2:30 am, so please contact SPD if you were in the area and saw anything suspicious.

(Photo courtesy Barton Street P-Patch)
The “web” continues to take shape at West Seattle’s newest P-Patch (Barton/34th), but unlike spider webs, this is no solo effort – it takes a community of gardeners and helpers, and Terri Lindow sends word they’re looking for more assistance, even in simple ways:

The Barton Street PPatch is seeking more community to help build our community
garden! If you are interested in learning to build mortar and reclaimed chain link walls (a family-friendly “mud pie” activity), want to swing a sledgehammer, spend some quality time with a wheelbarrow and some wood chips, or would like to provide snacks for our workers, you are invited to stop by. Over the next 6 weeks we’ll be holding work parties Saturdays 9:30-3 pm and Sundays 11-3 pm. All are welcome!

For more about the Barton Street P-Patch’s progress, check out their Facebook group. There’s also info on the city Department of Neighborhoods website, where Barton is P-Patch #85.

1:16 PM: Seattle Fire has sent a “full response” – multiple engines and trucks, medic unit, etc. – to a fire reported in the 8600 block of 25th SW (map). The first crews to arrive saw smoke. We have a crew on the way.

1:21 PM: Via scanner, we’re hearing crews report they’re putting water on this fire through a hole they cut in the roof. The fire is just about two blocks south of the Chief Sealth International High School/Denny International Middle School campus. It doesn’t sound like a major fire, though – they’re canceling some of the units.

1:34 PM: Just talked with the incident commander on scene. This was a second-floor apartment, nobody home, no injuries. They’re still checking the extent of damage, and investigating the cause. (added) The fire was between the rafters and the roof, and SFD says the unit itself was the only one involved, and was not heavily damaged.

FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE: We checked back with SFD re: the cause and damage, and spokesperson Kyle Moore provided this info: “A Seattle Fire Investigator determined the cause of the fire as an electrical short in the attic. The damage estimate is $14,000 to the structure and $1,000 to the contents.”