the smoke rings are cool..
i saw several in a row one day:)

but then.. i am so fascinated by industry that i am going on the Duwamish tour a second time:)

The real "beauty" of Seattle is that it is both a working port and a metropolitan city. Without industry we wouldn't have much of a port... harbor or no harbor.

And once in awhile the steel plant will blow a perfect smoke ring. I've seen it a couple of times... always worth waiting for... :)

I do think that a community effort to re-do the entrance is a worthwhile cause. Probably wouldn't need to cost a lot of public money if a volunteer and donation effort were spearheaded. I'm a "yes" vote. It would be a good spring and summer project to get involved in.

Actually my daughter is always pretty excited to see the steel plant as we drive by. It's big, it's recognizable and sometimes it makes interesting steam clouds. I'm excited because it's part of her college fund portfolio :-D

I am far happier seeing Nucor continuing to operate than watching Chinese steel come through our port.
Embrace the beauty of industry!
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Besides, union jobs help stabilize the middle-class. There are damned few private sector union jobs remaining in our Nation, we probably shouldn't be so cavalier about, or dismissive of Nucor.

ceilidh

just in case you didn't catch it..
there is a group

Nancy Driver is already spearheading an effort to get public participation in the maintenance of the Walking on Logs and surrounding area.
There's a meeting on March 23rd and it'd probably be a great place to bring up your ideas and concerns.
http://westseattleblog.com/2010/03/west-seattles-walking-on-logs-time-to-step-up-and-help

The entrance to West Seattle has been an eyesore for the 14 years I've called WS home. AlkiBeach - love your ideas here. I just drove past that area this week and noticed how overgrown everything has become.
I was really embarrassed to live in WS when I first relocated here from the East. A coworker suggested it was a great place to live and it was convenient for work at the time. But I just cringed every time I drove by all the billboards on the freeway, the steel mill, Alki Lumber and all the run-down business establishments near 35th. I was so sure it was a neighborhood in transition and that it just might have hopes of resembling Vineyard Haven someday. Well, ok..maybe not Martha's Vineyard..bit of a stretch..but better anyway.
Over the years it's the wonderful people of West Seattle that have made it home for me. I've come to overlook many things that so bothered me at first. Maybe you start to see right through the blight after awhile. But that's wrong. We all should make whatever improvements we can to help the image of West Seattle. A good first image makes a lasting impression.
Alki Beach - I know very little about dealing with SDOT or the Chamber but if you start a group to improve the area or know of one,I'd participate.

you have me laughing so hard i am struggling to breathe...

I say that because everytime a person finds out I'm from West Seattle they will exclaim "We just LOVE Alki!" (so do I by, the way)

or "West Seattle....it can't ALL be Alki" ; )

Maybe the sign could say "West Seattle... The hole neighborhood welcomes you!"

maybe we could each just throw some out as we drive by:)

now doesn't that give the term drive by a whole new meaning:) our own little johnny appleseed movement :)

Oh, the Alki Lumber holes are easily covered with signs for some Eyman initiative or D'no' Rossi, or, as I am anticipating for '012, the Palin/Beck campaign signs.
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Let's spray the hillside with native wildflower seeds.

AlkiBeach - I live two blocks from the "The Triangle" and walk this area quite a bit (by myself as well as with my two year old). It was obviously not designed with pedestrians in mind. It is unfortunate that as West Seattle's "front porch" it is also West Seattle's eye sore - when approaching by car from the bridge it's as if you've suddenly entered depressed suburban blight. Definitely not representative of all the other beautiful areas of West Seattle.

That being said, in these economic times there is no way major public money is going to be spent on the area. New businesses moving in will slowly improve the look and feel, but it will be a very slow process.

The biggest eye soar that should be a no brainer - Alki Lumber. I'm mean, WTF!? Why don't they use some of the lumber they sell to upgrade their buildings. What a dilapidated crap hole.

this week i stopped to talk to someone gardening in one of the traffic rounds in my neighborhood and asked her how she came to be responsible for that garden...

she looked up smiled and said.. "i just do it.. no-one seems to mind when the flowers come up"

it may not be as easy for the side of what is essentially a hiway at that point... but the basic premise is the same.

if it bothers you.. join those who want to do something about it.

i think Nancy Driver has the right idea...
right now we have too many other priorities for public money...

MargL,
My point is, I would be willing to bet those same dead plants won't be left their season after season, year after year. That eye sore has... Yes, the Junction will always be able to attract businesses...it's our own little downtown. Building on my point, West Seattle is growing; the "Junction" will soon merge with the "Triangle", with more vacancies and more opportunities. If I was a business owner, I would want every reason for that person living in Green Lake to jump in their car or bus and come here to have lunch/dinner and shop. If the lasting impression they have is one of dirty steel mill and of a community with a natural billboard this unmaintained and suffers from neglect, why not go somewhere that is more visually pleasing?!?
Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks for putting up the link; after reading the OP that's what I was queueing up to do. Also on the business list:

Wing Dome (part of ex-Capers space)
Liberty Tax moved to the ex-laundromat down by Yummy Teriyaki
the perfume store coming to the former alterations space

Also re: 35th-to-the-hole - a new city-involved planning process for this area is launching, and local citizens already have been agitating to make sure there's a Triangle vision. We've reported on walking tours and other conversations in recent months. Watch soon for word on public involvement opportunities.

"Do you leave dead or dying plants in pots on your front porch?"
Uhm... yes. Have quite a few out there right now.

"...open a business in the Junction or “The Ave”..."

Well, we've had or are going to have quite a few new businesses open here just recently despite the dead plants on our doorstep.

Beer Junction, planned
Bin 41, open
Donna Ryan, scheduled to open
Wax Bar, open
Mountain to Sound, open
Bella Nouveau European Day and Medi-Spa, open
Fleurt, scheduled to open

and that's just a short list I'm sure
quite the happening place given the economy!

Nancy Driver is already spearheading an effort to get public participation in the maintenance of the Walking on Logs and surrounding area.
There's a meeting on March 23rd and it'd probably be a great place to bring up your ideas and concerns.
http://westseattleblog.com/2010/03/west-seattles-walking-on-logs-time-to-step-up-and-help

Mpento,

Too Funny!

Nice twist JoB,
Do you leave dead or dying plants in pots on your front porch? Do straighten up a window shutter that is hanging from one nail… It’s about an image, one that would add color to those gray decisions in life, such as whether to buy in West Seattle or Ballard, to open a business in the Junction or “The Ave”. Or simply jumping in the car or bus and getting out of the neighborhood to eat lunch somewhere. This area, reminds me of growing-up in the Midwest and seeing spring reveal the grit left behind from a harsh winter! This is not a hillside along I-5. This is, in essence, our billboard!

although i do think getting permission for a community sponsored make-over is not such a bad idea...

i have to confess that a view is not what i think most about when considering spending public dollars these days...

Sorry, my finger accidently hit the enter key, and the rest was/is history...

I WANT A BIKINI BARISTA SETUP TO REPLACE THOSE SILLY LOG JUMPING STATUES!!! AND YES I"M SHOUTING THE LOUDEST SO MY OPINION COUNTS MORE!

me too...

Try that again in English.

I got a major WTF going here.

I would love to hear from everyone on this. This should be "step-one" West Seattle's Over-Haul! It doesn't matter if you live in the Delridge Valley, North Admiral, Alki, Lincoln Park, Westwood Village, perhaps even as far as White Center (stretching it here!) But our fellow city residents, visitors and our elected city officials view West Seattle's doorway at the west end of the West Settle Bridge. That being the case, I believe we are in a very badly needed over-haul of Seattle front porch. Specifically, I'm talking about a "Total Makeover" of the two (west-bound) left lanes that become Fauntleroy (West Seattle Bridge to 35th Ave SW). We need to counter the Nucor eye-sore and draw attention to the land of the kids playing on the logs and the non-profit of the month trying to grab our attention. While I'm sure SDOT will have the final say on any project here, let's not forget who pays SDOT to salaries. So what do you think?
Here's my vision...thinking outside of the box, of course. First we would need to find out if we have the buy-in from SDOT on a private-public partnership. We would ask them to turn over the landscaping and properties management to the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Second, we would ask them to permit this over-haul to be dealt with as a 'pilot project’. Allowing its care to be taken over and micro-managed “locally”, but with a few hitches, it would be turned over to the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce. There would be no committee formed; only project oversight would be done by West Seattle Chamber Commerce (WSCC). They (WSCC) would put out for bid(s), with West Seattle contractors given preference, to design and manage the entire strip (West Seattle Bridge to 35th Ave SW) site on weekly bases. On top of providing the winning bids to showcase their landscaping management capabilities they would be awarded the only commercial signage on this site that is visually pleasing but says something to the extent …(this property is “professionally designed and managed by…”) no logos, no lights!
The trees and scrubs all along this strip look like there at deaths door. I’m sure if we traded out the existing trees for ones that have a life yet to give the planet would actually gain some positives. If the call is to save these helpless saps then we should ask that that contractor bury them in a forest of green! If you’re a neighbor, who has property next to West Seattle second worst eye sore and with-in view of its worst, what do you want? View blockage? Sound Deadening? Walking trail? (One only has to remember what REI’s front yard use to look like 10 years ago…) Waterfalls? Retaining walls? Local Northwest plantings only? Blackberry free zone? P-Patch? Flowers?
(Second Step) Have the city address the corridor between 35th SW/Fauntleroy and THE (W)HOLE! New sidewalks, curbs, concrete roadway, Trees, Street Lights w/hanging flowering baskets, Sittings benches…(i.e. Mercer Mess over-haul)
But there can only be one step at a time; what are your thoughts on Step One?