West Seattle Blog…

Community-center changes: No more individual egg hunts

As spring nears, more people will be visiting local city-run community centers, possibly for the first time since major operational changes took effect. At Hiawatha Community Center this past Sunday, we talked with Parks’ Lakema Bell, who wants to remind you the changes come with a regional management structure change – she is one of two senior employees running this regional group, and they request “patience” while everything shakes out. Center hours are listed here. One BIG change will be noticed by hundreds of families this spring – no more individual community-center egg hunts like this one:

(Hiawatha 2010 egg-hunt photo by Jason Grotelueschen for WSB)
Lakema tells us that the former Southwest Community Center, which is now a Teen Life Center and future Neighborhood Service Center (we reported last month on the timetable for the NSC to move in), will play host to one major egg-hunt-and-more event this spring that will replace multiple smaller events. It’ll be a regional event on April 7th at the Southwest site, with staggered egg hunts for various age groups – on the athletic fields around the complex if the weather’s OK, indoors if not. They’re planning to make a festival of it by including a 1K fun run and a musical performance by West Seattle-based kindie-rock superstar Caspar Babypants. Full details are still being finalized – right now it looks like 11:30 am-3 pm with $5/person admission – but since it’s just two months away, you might want to mark that calendar now.

Why there’s a construction fence at Colman Pool in Lincoln Park

That construction fence around Colman Pool at Lincoln Park brought some questions our way over the weekend, so we walked into the park to check it out today, while also sending an inquiry to Seattle Parks. It’s for the second phase of a renovation project that began last year, and the work means that West Seattle’s only city-owned outdoor pool won’t open this year until late June (that was announced before last season ended – we mentioned it here in September). The work that’s getting under way now will “replace portions of the pool deck, pool shell, and provide a new plaster lining to extend the life of the pool,” as explained on the project page. Parks spokesperson Dewey Potter adds that, “The demolition work on the deck and other elements will begin this week, so people will start to see trucks going in and out.” If the work goes as scheduled, Colman Pool will open on June 30th.

West Seattle Crime Watch: Vandal driver(s) tear up Hiawatha lawn

Police are investigating vandalism on the east lawn of Hiawatha Community Center. An officer arrived while we were there looking at the damage a neighbor had called to tell us about. One or more vehicles drove over the east lawn – in repeated circles/criss-crosses, tearing up the grass in the area used for so many community events:

The neighbor who called us said it happened overnight – he believes he heard the noise of whatever vehicle(s) did this, but didn’t realize at the time what it was. The tire tracks are on the north side of the east lawn too:

We did not see any equipment or building damage, though, and it wasn’t clear what direction the driver(s) came from – there is a driveway but the locked bollards were up. The site is owned by Seattle Parks, and we won’t be able to check with them till Tuesday because of the holiday.

‘Build-out’ project for Dakota Place Park building goes to bid

(WSB photo from 2009)
When Dakota Place Park was dedicated two years ago, it was acknowledged that the old substation building at the site – a city landmark – still needed to be renovated. It was going to be used as extra space for Hiawatha Community Center programs, we were told.

Right about that same time, the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee voted to put money toward the project. But now, two-plus years later, with the city cutting back on community-center hours, and even changing one West Seattle community center to another function, you might think the project has gone on indefinite hold. It hasn’t – and in fact, this week, the call for bids appeared online, for about $350,000 worth of work. (See the call for bids here.) So we asked Seattle Parks what the building would be used for, now that the community-center system has been somewhat reorganized. Spokesperson Dewey Potter provided the reply:

Parks will use the Dakota Place building as a location for classes and programs as an annex of Hiawatha Community Center. Classes and programs held there will be for registered participants (no drop-in). Staffing for the facility will be included in the cost of the class or program. The space will open only when a class is scheduled. Programs will be offered Monday through Thursday.

The building will also be available for private and community rentals on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That will probably be handled through our event-scheduling office but that arrangement is not set up yet.

Another fact: The Hiawatha Community Center Advisory Council has contributed up to $170,000 to help Parks with the interior renovation and to buy equipment and furnishings.

We’ll be following up on the expected construction timetable.

‘Southwest Community Center’ no more: Transition timetable

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

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:

Click to read the rest of ‘Southwest Community Center’ no more: Transition timetable…

West Seattle wildlife: Out on a limb in Lincoln Park

Danny McMillin spotted this barred owl during a New Year’s Day walk in Lincoln Park. (Is he/she one of these two? Would take keener eyes than ours to tell!) Thanks for sharing the photo!

West Seattle wildlife: On the ground and in the trees

Photos this afternoon from three of the photographers who have shared more than a few images va WSB over the months and years (thank you!) – first, Machel Spence and daughter India found “a stropharia and a sleeping slug” in the Thursday morning chill at Lincoln Park. That’s also where Bill Bacon got a squirrel to pose (after bribing it with a bit of sandwich) last week:

And Melanie Dixon spotted this juvenile bald eagle this morning near Me-Kwa-Mooks, on the lookout for salmon (after competing with a family of sea lions, she said):

Thanks to them and to everyone who has shared photos, from cameraphone breaking-news shots, to volunteers out doing great things in the community, to school celebrations, wildlife, sunsets/sunrises, and so much more … here’s how to connect with WSB any time.

Followup: Alki Crab and Fish loses Seacrest contract appeal

(UPDATED 4 PM with more reaction added where the story previously ended)
Alki Crab and Fish has lost its appeal of the Seattle Parks decision ending its years of operating the concessions at Seacrest Pier. (If you missed previous coverage, we reported December 5th that Marination had been chosen, in a story that included links to both operations’ proposal documents; we reported on ACF’s protest on Dec. 6, and on a rally by supporters on Dec. 10.) Here’s the announcement just in; it’s from deputy Parks superintendent Eric Friedli:

We have completed the appeal process for the operation of the Seacrest Boathouse Facility. The original decision to award the operation to Marination has been affirmed following the appeal for reconsideration filed by Alki Crab & Fish Company (ACF).

After a careful re-examination of the ACF proposal, including their letter of appeal, the evaluation questions and the raters’ scores for each question, we did not find any compelling facts or reasons that would warrant or justify a reversal of the original decision. The RFP appeal committee consisted of Kathy Nyland of City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw’s staff, Roque Deherrera, of the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development, Terry Holme, Seattle Park Board Chair, and Eric Friedli, Parks Acting Deputy Superintendent.

The appeal committee evaluated the ACF protest by raising several key questions related to the overall RFP decision making process:

Click to read the rest of Followup: Alki Crab and Fish loses Seacrest contract appeal…

West Seattle community centers: New schedules announced

With changes in community-center operations around the city – including Southwest Community Center changing into a Teen Life Center and Neighborhood Service Center – that means different hours in the new year, as new “tiered” levels of service take effect. Seattle Parks announced those hours today; here’s the overview. In West Seattle, High Point Community Center – this area’s “tier 1″ center – will be open 7 days a week, but all others will be open six days, except for Alki Community Center, whose schedule is five days a week. The community-center hours are all listed here, while the teen-program hours (including Southwest) are here.

From pub to park: Camp Long Advisory Council says ‘thanks’

Before this season’s benefit beer Whale Tail Ale arrived, local venues raised money for nonprofits by selling its predecessor Löwman Bräu. At Beveridge Place Pub in Morgan Junction, the shared portion of the proceeds went to Camp Long – whose Advisory Council invites you to come help them thank the BPP crew next Thursday. CLAC’s Mat McBride sent the invite:

It’s been a good year for volunteering in Seattle. Good people rolling up their sleeves and putting shoulders to the wheel. But all that volunteerin’ is hard work, and the Camp Long Advisory Council is taking a break in December.

The Beveridge Place Pub made a generous donation from the proceeds of Lowman Brau to the park, and we’d like to say “Thanks!”. On Thursday, December 15th, the Advisory Council will present a limited edition screen print by local artist Damon Brown [right], and then stick around a while to raise a few pints. You should come and join us, it’s a great opportunity to support your local. It’s also an opportunity to learn more about Camp Long, about Environmental Learning Centers in Seattle, and about why we care so much about getting kids into authentic encounters with nature. We’ll be there from 7:00 – 9:00 PM.

Beveridge Place is at California SW and … of course … Beveridge Place. Camp Long sprawls across 68 acres of spectacular greenspace accessible at 5200 35th SW.

West Seattle Reservoir Park design resumes after $ snag solved

More money is being moved to the West Seattle Reservoir Park project, which is creating new park space adjacent to Westcrest Park in Highland Park after the formerly open-air WS Reservoir was covered (top photo). But that does NOT mean more features – in fact, it means fewer feature reductions than the project had been facing because of an expensive, unanticipated twist, and it means, as Parks’ senior capital-projects coordinator Virginia Hassinger puts it, they now can “get back going on the park design” since they figured out how to cover the costs for street improvements: Click to read the rest of West Seattle Reservoir Park design resumes after $ snag solved…

Seacrest Boathouse contract-controversy followup: Marination revealed as ‘new operator,’ and more

(File photos of Seacrest and Marination, both by Christopher Boffoli)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Multiple developments today on the story we reported yesterday, picking up on a report by our partners at the Seattle Times that the city-owned Seacrest Boathouse‘s longtime operator, owner of Alki Crab and Fish, lost the contract to run the site:

We’ve just confirmed with Seattle Parks that the operators of the popular food truck Marination Mobile, which has been visiting West Seattle weekly for more than a year, are the people to whom the city intends to award the contract. There’s also an online petition circulating to “save Alki Crab and Fish,” as first reported in comments on our Sunday story – and (added) one in support of Marination.

First – From Parks spokesperson Dewey Potter, in response to our inquiry this morning:

Alki Crab and Fish finished second to Marination by a score of almost 45 points. Going beyond the normal evaluation process, Parks staff had oral interviews with the top two candidates and that did not change the outcome.

We had actually sent a note to Marination last night after various things we’d heard led us to suspect they might be the winning proposer; we have not yet received a reply. However, Parks has included both the grading from the evaluation and Marination’s proposal – while we read through it to summarize, you can see the document here (PDF).

Second – The online petition is here. Diver/photographer Laura James created it early this morning. As of right now, more than 240 people have signed it. Parks says they are expecting a written protest from Alki Crab and Fish’s owner by the end of today; the formal procedure calls for that to go to Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams, who would have the final say (pending City Council approval early next year). The pro-Marination petition (also from WSB comments) was created in early afternoon, here.

ADDED 1:03 PM: Regarding the fate of Alki Kayak Tours, which has been a subcontractor at Seacrest, renting watercraft, skates, and bikes, and leading tours (with some of those services called for by Parks) – Parks spokesperson Potter acknowledges AKT owner Greg Whittaker “expressed concern that he would lose out as a result of the evaluation of the proposals Parks received … Parks staff have talked with (him) and advised him that renting boats for recreational fishing and general boating activities will continue to be an integral part of the operation at Seacrest moving forward, and that once the protest is resolved, the newly selected operator, assuming that decision stands, is interested in subleasing that side of the operation and that he is welcome to engage in that discussion about that possibility.”

ADDED 1:53 PM: Key points of Marination’s proposal, and some background for those who aren’t familiar with their operation (and ADDED 3:33 PM, more reaction including theirs plus the current contract-holder): Click to read the rest of Seacrest Boathouse contract-controversy followup: Marination revealed as ‘new operator,’ and more…

Seacrest Boathouse changes? City reportedly picks new operator

(Seacrest Boathouse file photo, by Christopher Boffoli)
Our partners at the Seattle Times report today that the city Parks Department has chosen a new (not-yet-identified) operator for Seacrest Boathouse. The owners of Alki Crab and Fish have been the official operators for a decade, the length of the city contract that expired last June; this past fall, the city put out a Request for Proposals for operating the food/drink concession at the boathouse/pier (see the RFP here, including the city’s terms and conditions).

A document on the city website includes Q/A with the city in response to an unidentified “interested proposer” (see it here). As that document notes, Alki Kayak Tours is a subcontractor to the restaurant operator. We asked its proprietor Greg Whittaker, who has offered tours as well as rentals (not just kayaks, but skates, bikes, and standup paddleboards, among other things) for 7 years, how this would affect his operation. His reply: “I am not really sure how this all will turn out. We have worked really hard to develop this business and hope to negotiate a solution with Seattle Parks and Recreation.” Alki Crab and Fish’s owner told the Times he plans to send the city a protest letter.

The reported plan to turn Seacrest over to a new operator requires City Council approval, with a vote expected early next year. We’ll be following up with Parks tomorrow.

Roxhill Park Playground: New castle, climbing dome, and – you?

For all the public meetings that participants have characterized as “the (host department/agency/officials) made up their mind before they came to talk to us,” last night’s final design meeting for the Roxhill Park Playground overhaul, like the first two, has worked the other way. The first two meetings yielded such strong sentiments about the current wooden “castle” structure at the park, which is being replaced because Seattle Parks says it’s at the end of its lifespan (that part is not open for debate), that project managers went to its designer to ask about a replacement.

It’s not a replica, and it’s not as big, but the main structure in the resulting proposal by Leathers and Associates won strong support last night for incorporation into the project. The photo above is from one of six layouts – mostly returnees from previous meetings – that Parks brought along. Another feature that was even more strongly favored – a climbing dome:

If you want to get a firsthand look at a similar dome, there’s one at Golden Gardens in Ballard, it was noted. Those in attendance last night just barely made it into the two-digit range – but two children were there, including 8-year-old Gabe, who voiced a vote for this castle alternative (in case the one at the top turns out to be too expensive):

(By the way, the tree stays, also by popular demand.) Speaking of cost, one key may be public involvement. Parks’ Kelly Davidson and Shwu-jen Hwang explained that Leathers and Associates prefers its creations to be “community-built” – as was the current Roxhill castle – but will provide a contractor if needed, adding about $25,000 to the cost. So if their structure makes it into the final design, there may be a campaign to round up 70-80 community volunteers to build it some weekend next summer – though Parks made it clear, that has to be a community-organized campaign. Another possible cost-saving measure: Incorporate “little kid” features to the side of the Leathers-built structure, instead of adding an extra structure off to the side, and reduce concrete features such as “seating walls.”

As for additional features beyond the play structure and dome, that depends on how the numbers crunch out, according to Parks – swings for sure, though. They are taking last night’s input and starting work to come up with a final design proposal – no more meetings are scheduled but you are welcome to send your thoughts (the sooner the better) to kelly.davidson@seattle.gov. (And keep an eye on the project website.) If the schedule proceeds as planned, this would go to bid next spring and be built next summer (along with the neighboring skatespot, whose final design meeting was 2 weeks ago.)

Another shootdown for parks’ gun ban, but city still fighting

(Short-lived gun-ban sign photographed by Hillary at Lincoln Park in 2009)
Remember two years ago, when a man challenged the then-new gun ban at Seattle Parks facilities by trying to enter Southwest Community Center with his concealed weapon (WSB coverage here)? That was just one of the challenges to the ban. The court fight over it has continued all the while – and today, the city has announced that, while an appeals court ruled against the ban last month, it’s now taking the case to the state Supreme Court. From the office of City Attorney Pete Holmes:

Because an appeals court misread earlier holdings of the Washington Supreme Court, the City on Wednesday asked the state’s highest court to reverse a ruling that struck down Seattle’s ban on guns in areas of parks, community centers and other facilities where children are likely to be present.

Attorneys for Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, which represents the City on a pro bono basis, told the Supreme Court — in a petition seeking review from Division 1 of the Washington Court of Appeals — that Seattle was seeking a second look not only on behalf of its residents but for all forms of local governments in the state that want authority over their own properties.

The news release continues: Click to read the rest of Another shootdown for parks’ gun ban, but city still fighting…

New play equipment almost ready at ex-Denny site

Thanks to Val for these photos of the new play area on the southeast side of the former site of Denny International Middle School (30th/Cloverdale).

We last showed it as a work-in-progress a month ago. As BNBuilders‘ River Steenson reiterated in a comment following our last update, it’s expected to be completed within a month, and Val says the crew at the scene thought it would be open within a few weeks (we’ll make a formal inquiry next week). This site, which also includes a softball field and tennis courts, remains under school district ownership/management, and as such will not be considered an official “park,” nor will it be named, the district has said.

Video: Roxhill Park Skatespot design review, the final round

Roxhill Park‘s future “skatespot” is going into the final design phase before construction next year, now that the project team has presented the newest round of design concepts. In case you wanted to be there but couldn’t go, we have the full hour on video in our clip above (if you just want a quick look/listen at the concepts, fast-forward to about 12 minutes in).

More than 20 people attended the meeting at Southwest Library. As with the 2nd meeting last month (WSB coverage here), design firm California Skateparks was represented by its lead designer Colby Carter, who brought two concepts, each with two variations. Votes were requested; “Plan A” was the favorite by far …

… with “Plan B” a fairly strong second, while the other two got a combined total of one vote. One key feature requested: Something unique that can’t be found at any other skatepark in Seattle.

We’ve requested electronic versions of what was shown last night; in the meantime, keep an eye on the official project website for updates. This is to be built at the same time as the Roxhill Park Playground renovations, which get their own final design meeting on November 30th (6 pm, also at SW Library), with completion projected for next fall.

11:11 AM UPDATE: Thanks to Parks project manager Kelly Davidson for the full PowerPoint from last night’s meeting; see it here (from it, we’ve added the Plan A rendering inline, above).

Reminder: Roxhill Skatespot design meeting tomorrow night

If you’re interested in seeing the latest design proposal for Roxhill Park’s “skatespot” skatepark – before a design is finalized – tomorrow night is your big chance. As first reported here last Monday, the meeting originally planned for a final review of both the skatespot and renovated playground will now focus ONLY on the skatespot (the playground review was moved to 11/30). It’s at 6 pm tomorrow in Southwest Library‘s upstairs meeting room. The previous design draft, described as a “basic street plaza,” was shown there a month ago (here’s our meeting coverage, including video). There’s much to discuss, according to city Skatepark Advisory Committee chair Ryan Barth:

Parks and California Skateparks received a lot of feedback on the preliminary design schematic presented at the second design meeting in October and received additional feedback since that meeting. The Parks Project Manager has told me that all of the feedback received to date has been provided to California Skateparks and they are currently working on a formal presentation and new design layouts to show at Monday’s meeting. There are currently two favored footprints (different from what was shown at the 2nd meeting) and both include varied layouts within those footprints. There are also some experiments with other alternate footprints. They will reduce these footprints/layouts down to the top three that work best within the space and present these at the meeting.

By the way, Barth and the rest of the Skatepark Advisory Committee will hold their regular meeting immediately after the Roxhill review, 7 pm at SW Library. That’s not the usual location, but since the skatespot discussion is of high interest, they decided to have it there.

Change in plan for Roxhill Playground, Skatespot design reviews

If you’re following the progress of the two-part project to renovate the Roxhill Playground and build a Roxhill Skatespot: The city has just changed its plan for the final public reviews of the two design proposals, adding a new meeting to the calendar.

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.

West Seattle Soccer Club to inaugurate new Walt Hundley Playfield turf

A little more than a year after the field got its new name – honoring Seattle’s first African-American Superintendent of Parks – Walt Hundley Playfield has its new turf. The completion of the $1 million Parks and Green Spaces Levy-funded renovation has just been announced, and the Seattle Parks news release says that West Seattle Soccer Club will officially kick things off with a day full of games this Saturday. The city announcement quotes WSSC board member Tim McMonigle as saying “this will be one of the very few synthetic lined U-10 and U-11 surfaces in the Puget Sound area.” The field (south of High Point Community Center) also has football and Ultimate Frisbee reference markings. It’s the third West Seattle playfield to get new turf in less than two years, after Hiawatha and Delridge.

Video: Fight to save Southwest Community Center goes downtown

Supporters of Southwest Community Center converged on the City Council budget hearing downtown last night, hoping to convince councilmembers to drop the current proposal to dramatically change the center. In essence, as reported here in September, it would no longer be Southwest CC, but would become Southwest Teen Life Center, with part of its space taken by a Neighborhood Service Center (the only one in West Seattle, moving from its current spot in Delridge). Kathleen Lonergan of the Family Learning Center, a program based at SWCC, shared photos (that’s her at the microphone in the top photo) and an update on their efforts:

We had a great turnout for the City Council meeting last night. We had over 50 people show up to support the effort to save SWCC. We signed in as two groups and were able to speak for 10 minutes. The speakers were myself, Erica Forrest and Michael Goerz. We submitted almost 250 signatures on our petition – these were gathered in the lobby of SWCC in less than one week! We intend to keep the petition available at SWCC (and online at change.org) right up until the final vote on November 21st. We also continue to direct people to our facebook page so we can keep them up to date on the fight to keep SWCC open and available to all of our neighbors in Southwest Seattle.

Here’s the Seattle Channel video of the entire hearing – if you drag the “play” button ahead to the 73:30 mark, you can watch what the Southwest CC supporters said:

Kathleen adds that Karen Crisalli Winter of West Seattle spoke on behalf of Southwest CC as a private citizen (87:30 on the video). We asked Kathleen what else they are doing as a followup to the hearing:

Right now we are encouraging the community to write follow-up letters to the meeting last night. We will keep the petition going. Councilmember Tom Rasmussen is coming by at 2 pm on November 4th to tour the center with us. Our kids are taking flyers door to door in our neighborhood, asking people to contact city council. That’s all we have at the moment. We’d love to organize a meeting but we need more community members to get on board with us, otherwise we’re just talking to ourselves and we’ve already done a lot of that!

What we would love is for more members of the SW Seattle community to contact us, put pressure on the city council, and help spread the word about what’s happening. … Our biggest hurdle is still the fact that so few people really know what’s happening.

We REALLY want to keep the NSC out of Southwest. We don’t feel this relocation benefits anyone except the city. It destroys the available space at SWCC. Even private programs, such as ours, that are being offered space at SWCC after the closure, will be hard-pressed to fit into the center once it’s been remodeled to accommodate the NSC. And it puts the NSC in a much less accessible location for anyone riding the bus. It’s a bad fit all around. We want the community to get as mad about this as we are!

You can contact Kathleen at klonergan@gmail.com to get involved with these efforts, as well as the Southwest CC Advisory Council, chaired by Tom Foley at lilmoto@hotmail.com. City information about the community-center changes is here, though it’s spread across multiple documents.

‘Denny Park’ takes shape at site of demolished school

Play equipment has now arrived at the site of the now-demolished former Denny Middle School, as construction of a Seattle Public Schools-owned park/recreation site continues. The district has said it will have no formal name – it’ll be maintained as an extension of nearby Southwest Athletic Complex – but nearby resident Alice Kuder has dubbed it Denny Park, and has been taking photos of the progress, including the ones shared in this report. The site where the main school building stood has been seeded with grass, and some of the new trees detailed in the plan are there too (along with a few of the old ones that have been saved):

If you want to see the site plan, take a look at this June WSB report from a community meeting previewing the project. If you drive along SW Thistle, you can also see the blacktop now in place for tennis courts, and the softball field beyond. The informal field on the ex-school building site may be used for construction of a new elementary school years down the line, the district has said, but there are no official plans so far.

1 more week to have your say on Roxhill Skatespot design

(Click for full-size view, as a PDF – upper right of rendering is 29th/Barton)
When Seattle Parks next convenes a meeting to talk about the upcoming Roxhill Park Skatespot and Playground project, they’ll be showing something close to a final design – so they want to make sure they hear from as many people as possible before that almost-final design is crafted. In particular, they’re issuing a last call for comments on the skatespot – deadline, next Monday. Here’s our coverage of the recent meeting showcasing the “schematic” (draft) design; you can get a closer look at the graphics on the project’s official webpage. Then send your thoughts to project manager Kelly Davidson at kelly.davidson@seattle.gov.