More local high-school swimmers headed for state, starting tomorrow! Here’s the announcement about West Seattle High School athletes:
Congrats to the West Seattle Boys Swim & Dive team – after a nearly undefeated dual meet season, the Wildcats recently finished 4th overall at the Metro League Championships, where they were also awarded the team Sportsmanship Award.
Thirteen Wildcats made Districts cuts during the season, 11 of whom competed at 3A Sea-King District Championships last weekend: Nate Boehmer, Enzo Conte, Luca Conte, Mason Duffy, Brisan Hruska, Casey Laplante, Lars Norman, Jeremy O’Keefe, Mac Rysemus, Ben Wrenholt, Tom Wrenholt.
Of this group, 10 athletes are headed to State this upcoming weekend, qualifying to compete in all three relays: 200 Medley Relay, 200 Freestyle Relay and 400 Freestyle Relay, as well as select individual events: Tom Wrenholt (500 Freestyle, 200 Freestyle), Ben Wrenholt (200 IM), and Mason Duffy (100 Fly, 100 Back).
Congrats to the whole Wildcat Boys Swim & Dive team and their amazing coaches — Karen Boehmer (Head Coach), Logan Rysemus & Ryan O’Donnell — on an awesome season, and good luck, State swimmers!
State competition is at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
6:00 AM: Good morning! Welcome to Thursday, February 19, 2026, with mid-winter break continuing for many schools.
WEATHER + SUNRISE/SUNSET
As it’s been all week, possible rain/snow mix is in the forecast for today, but we can also expect some sunshine. High in the low 40s. Sunrise at 7:07 am; sunset at 5:39 pm.
MORE TRAFFIC CAMS: All functioning traffic cams citywide are here (including links to live video for most); for a quick scan of West Seattle and vicinity-relevant cameras, see this WSB page.
See a problem on the bridges/streets/paths/water? Please text or call our hotline (when you can do it safely, and after you’ve reported to authorities if they’re not already on scene) – 206-293-6302. Thank you!
If you travel on the northbound 1st Avenue South Bridge, you need to know about this late-night alert from WSDOT:
The right two lanes of the northbound State Route 99 First Avenue Bridge in Seattle are closed beginning Wednesday night, Feb. 18 until further notice.
Washington State Department of Transportation bridge maintenance has closed the lanes and reduced the speed on the northbound bridge to 25 MPH following a routine bridge inspection.
WSDOT bridge engineers will be on site again Thursday, Feb. 19, to continue their assessment. More details will be shared as they are available.
The Rotary Club of West Seattle hosted West Seattle’s highest-ranking elected official at this week’s lunch meeting.
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who lives in West Seattle when not in D.C., has represented Washington’s 7th Congressional district since 2017. District 7 encompasses the majority of Seattle and the neighboring communities of Shoreline, Vashon Island, and Lake Forest Park.
Jayapal arrived after the Rotary’s lunch had concluded on Tuesday to speak about the current state of national and local politics, as well as welcome questions from members. She began by saying that her favorite part of the job is being home in order to engage with people residing in the district she represents. She wanted to highlight the work that she does on a hyper-local level to the Rotary because she felt that so much of the public focus otherwise is on higher-profile issues that she works on – like immigration and the Epstein Files.
The congresswoman said she has secured around $18 million for projects across District 7 in the past year dealing with transportation, arts and community, food banks, and housing. She said with regret that the current administration has only allowed these funds to support government projects and not nonprofits. She also said she has delivered 22 acres of new “parkland and community gathering space” to the district.
Regarding the Epstein Files, she said she has been working on exposing “powerful rich predators who were part of a massive global sex trafficking ring and have not been brought to justice.” Rep. Jayapal has collaborated with Epstein survivors, interviewing four of them for her podcast “The Power You Have,” which has another episode coming out this Friday. “It troubles me so much, it sickens me, really. It’s just a level of depravity that I’m finding it hard to find the words to express.” Jayapal gave immense credit to the survivors for “shaking the earth,” and is hoping that the resignations happening with prominent figures involved globally will soon begin in the United States.
Immigration reform was mentioned as well, with Jayapal describing the violent detention of both American citizens and undocumented immigrants as “bipartisan horror.” She noted that more than 76,000 people are currently incarcerated in for-profit immigration-enforcement facilities, or “jails” as Jayapal calls them because of what she describes as horrific conditions. She also mentioned how the partial government shutdown is affecting the Department of Homeland Security, saying she is pushing for significant reforms to be required if funding is to continue.
On the topic of bipartisanship, Rep. Jayapal pointed to her co-sponsorship of the Restore Trust in Congress Act. The bill would effectively ban members of Congress from owning or trading stocks, but is competing with a recent bill announced by speaker Mike Johnson which addresses stock trading, but doesn’t ban it entirely. She wanted to mention bipartisanship in a couple additional lights – the collaboration for humanitarian efforts in Sudan, and work in Syria to bring a true democracy.
After these notes, Jayapal opened it up to questions from Rotary members, of which there were many, but time only allowed for five.
Question 1
“If you could spur the citizens to do something to help the current situation, what would that be?”
“Speak out,” Jayapal replied. She urged listeners to use whatever platform they had access to to speak on important political issues, and importantly, to bring “as much legitimacy to what you are saying as possible.” She also advised people to get involved with organizations such as the ACLU and the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, as well as to participate in mutual-aid assistance for Minnesota. “Hopelessness and powerlessness are tools of an oppressor,” she warned.
The congresswoman polled the room for individuals who had taken her Resistance Lab training. The training is aimed at giving the public precise tools and tactics to help resist against a dictatorship.
Question 2
“What is your solution to the homelessness situation?”
Jayapal talked about her bill, the Housing is a Human Right Act, and explained her belief that “everything starts with having a home.” She said the federal government has disinvested in housing over the years, and that affordable housing is essential to combatting the crisis. Specifically in Seattle, she brought up that private equity investors are contributing to the growing number of empty units, by purchasing units that were previously available for rental. “Poverty and homelessness are failures of policy, not people,” she said.
Question 3
“What does the restoration of public health look like?”
Jayapal explained the consequences of the destruction of data sets at the federal level. “Federal data sets that track epidemiology of a disease emerging no longer exist, they have been scrubbed. Rebuilding is going to be a very difficult and long process, long after RFK Jr. is out of office.”
She emphasized that building public trust is the most important aspect of public health, and that currently, trust has not been established between the United States government and its public.
“How do you rebuild from a place of complete destruction, not only in the infrastructure but in the basic ethos of ‘the government is here to help me’?” she mused.
Question 4
“How do we keep the midterm elections safe and secure? How do we make sure the outcome is respected?”
Jayapal started by mentioning last week’s vote on the SAVE Act, saying she considered it an “attack on our voting system and an attempt to forward Trump’s push for nationalizing elections.” She has been fighting to keep elections safe and secure by helping to file lawsuits against states that are trying to ban mail-in voting. She urged the importance of “walking the line” between taking these risks seriously, versus taking them so seriously that voter turnout would be depressed by the belief that one’s vote wouldn’t count. Lastly, she wanted people to turn their attention to investing in voting infrastructure and workers.
Question 5
“What is the winning strategy in Congress to assure that we have free and fair elections this midterm and in the next presidential election?”
“Do you want the bad news first?” Jayapal joked. She outlined that the “founding framers” didn’t give Congress enough power in comparison to the president, and that Congress will never really be able to control the executive. “Framers assumed that the majority party would care more about the Constitution and their constituents than about one cult-figure person.”
She urged the audience to organize, and truly think about who they vote for, saying the public needed to continue to elect people who are actually going to make things move, and are in politics to contribute to the public good.
The Rotary Club of West Seattle (a WSB sponsor) meets at noon most Tuesdays. Information about attending as a guest can be found here.
ALKI COMMUNITY CENTER’S FUTURE: Chad asked about whether Alki CC will reinstate any recreational programming once it reopens along with the adjacent school; it’s been child-care-only for a few years now but previously had more-typical programming. We’ve reported before that Seattle Parks has declared it to be permanently child-care-only, but we asked again, Spokesperson Karen O’Connor replied with a reiteration that it is, and will continue to be, child-care-only. The center will reopen in fall, as a site for Seattle Preschool Program classes (applications for 2026-27 SPP open March 16) and after-school care, she added.
NEW CITYWIDE BROCHURE: Meantime, the community centers that are continuing – or resuming, in the case of Hiawatha CC – recreational programming have listed spring offerings in the newest combined brochure. See it here now and get ready for registration – for programs that require it – starting March 3.
4:30 PM: Lots of reports of a dark helicopter circling over east West Seattle. It’s not on radar and we have no correlating reports of ground activity so far, but we’re driving around looking.
4:43 PM: We are in High Point and have eyes on the helicopter but no ID and not seeing anything unusual on the ground.
4:50 PM: Multiple readers say it’s a Guardian 1 chopper (King County Sheriff’s Office but they support multiple local law enforcement agencies).
4:52 PM: Now out of our sight – sounds like it’s headed west. We are checking with KCSO.
5:05 PM: Commenters now report a helicopter sighting over Admiral (still no radar ID).
5:43 PM: Still trying to find out what the circling was for, checking archives of a variety of radio channels, but haven’t found a clue yet. Didn’t see any ground law enforcement when we had the helicopter in view overhead in High Point vicinity. Will update this story if/when we get info.
10 PM: Commenters are discussing the tail number seen by those who got a clearer view of the helicopter, and it does not appear to have been Guardian One; we’ve heard back from KCSO, too, and our contact said they weren’t aware of anything working in our area.
Thanks to Tom Trulin for the photos and info! Tom reports that today is the first day that Sunfish, the fish-and-chips restaurant at 2800 Alki SW, is back open after its traditional winter break.
Tom is usually the first Sunfish fan to report in on their late-winter reopenings, which we appreciate!
It’s easy for community meetings to get stuck on one particular issue or hotspot, if the facilitator(s) let them.
To avoid that last night at the quarterly Southwest Precinct Advisory Council community meeting, SPD Crime Prevention Coordinator Matthew Brown and SWPAC’s community lead Ella McRae stressed focusing on issues with “West Seattle-wide” or even citywide effects, and how the community can collaborate on solutions.
The two-dozen-plus people in attendance at the precinct took that mostly to heart. First, here’s our video of the meeting so you can see/hear it all for yourself:
PLANNING FOR SUMMER SAFETY ON ALKI (AND ELSEWHERE): SW Precinct commander Capt. Krista Bair said summer-safety planning is starting early this year, as it didn’t begin until May last year and it was agreed, that was too late. They’re working with “partner agencies” again this year – it “can’t be just (SPD)” tasked with safety. But so far, she said, she’s “impressed and encouraged by this group of people” and notes the results will be “measured and tracked” a lot more than last summer.
Unique this summer will be the FIFA World Cup games; Capt. Bair said some resources will definitely be “reallocated” from the precincts but “most officers” will remain. She’s expecting an influx of tourists to West Seattle and side effects such as possibly increased Water Taxi runs.
Speaking of staffing, an attendee asked her about it. SPD overall is still up 90+ officers after last year’s hiring outpaced departures; she said their recruiting is much more visible outside Seattle than it had been. Precinct staffing, she said, remains at the same level since she took over more than a year and a half ago.
CRIME TRENDS: SW Precinct Lt. Wes Collier took over for this update. He cited the same citywide stat as heard at community meetings since the start of the year, that crime dropped almost 20 percent overall. Though this area had no homicides last year, he said it’s noteworthy that citywide, 86 percent of all homicide cases were cleared last year, compared to about 50 percent for the preceding year. West Seattle violent crime is down 9 percent, property crimes down 20 percent, Collier said.
WESTWOOD VILLAGE: This remains a “property crime” hotspot in West Seattle. But police say they’ve been collaborating more closely with center security and that’s been leading to arrests like the ones mentioned here: “We’re trying to change the environment over there.” If you’ve noticed red signs in windows at WWV businesses, that’s part of a “trespass warning” program, and Lt. Collier said 90 percent of the businesses there have signed up. “We have a great relationship with the security guards over there,” he added. And they’ve been working with prosecutors to “be sure cases get the proper attention” and to provide them with the information needed to file charges.
WESTSIDE NEIGHBORS SHELTER: The shelter in The Triangle was a major topic of last fall’s SWPAC meeting (WSB coverage here). Lt. Collier said the shelter and police are continuing to collaborate to try to “deter some activity” – drug use, etc. – in the area, and that shelter management has made some changes too. SPD has an “emphasis car” there when possible, he added. Later in the meeting, Chris Mackay, who represents the West Seattle Junction Association (of which she is executive director), said the shelter remains a major concern for merchants who believe some of the street disorder continuing in The Junction is a spillover effect. Conrad Cipoletti, vice president of the Morgan Community Association, mentioned the trouble at bus stops; Lt. Collier noted they’re the purview of the King County Sheriff’s Office Transit Police, and encouraged online reporting of non-urgent situations (otherwise, 911 when something is happening now)
SECURITY CAMERAS: During the incident updates, Lt. Collier mentioned the Connect Seattle program through which residents and businesses can register their cameras. Charlotte Starck, the Alki Community Council president who represents ACC on SWPAC, asked for more details. Brown noted that this area has the most registered cameras so far. “We’re not reaching into your house, not looking at your stuff,” Capt. Bair emphasized – the program is voluntary, and when you register, you’re in a database so that if something happens nearby, police can more easily find out who might have had cameras that might have recorded something. Also, signing up does not obligate you to turn over your video. That led to a question about whether city-owned cameras are part of the program, and from there, the issue of whether city anti-crime cameras might be removed. That’s when newly elected City Attorney Erika Evans was announced as in attendance:
Evans noted that it’s up to the mayor to make that decision (as Mayor Katie Wilson had noted in her State of the City speech earlier in the day).
CRISIS RESPONSE: The meeting also heard from a Crisis Response Team officer, explaining where they differ from the CARE Team and Community Service Officers as well as social workers who respond to certain crisis calls too. A CSO explained that mental-health responses are not their specialty – helping access resources for people “who just might be having the worst day of their life” is.
ICE RESPONSE: Brown said that if you think you see ICE activity, don’t try to interrupt “because that’s a crime” but do “be a good witness” – with your camera if you can – and call 911 because SPD “can make sure everyone’s safe” by responding to the scene.
REPORTING CRIME AND SAFETY CONCERNS OVERALL: Here’s the list Brown put on the whiteboard in the precinct’s community room:
But if you’re not sure, Brown said, call 911 and they’ll help guide you to the right place.
OTHER COMMUNITY CONCERNS: Mackay mentioned business break-ins (The Junction has been heavily affected as well as Alki) An attendee asked whether drug use in public is now legal (there was confusion several weeks back); Evans said no, but the law still favors trying first to get people into treatment and “we’ll prosecute if that’s not progressing.” Kay Kirkpatrick from HPAC said the burned van was only one of at least seven vehicles in seven weeks in the West Duwamish Greenbelt, but at least the gate at the bottom of Highland Park Way hill has been replaced and its lock fortified. Kirkpatrick said that the upcoming Glassyard Commons RV/tiny-house site was also likely to draw more trouble to the nearby greenbelt areas.
NEXT MEETING: The SWPAC will reconvene in May (if you have concerns for SPD in the meantime, there are usually reps at other regular neighborhood-group meetings including Admiral, Alki, Fauntleroy, Highland Park/Riverview/South Delridge, and Morgan). When Brown asked last night’s group what topics/guests they would like to see considered for the May meeting, suggestions included SDOT to talk about traffic, King County Sheriff’s Office to talk about how they and SPD collaborate, and security for the World Cup games, which will be just a few weeks away by then. If you have suggestions – or crime-prevention-related questions – Brown is reachable at matthew.brown@seattle.gov. And Capt. Bair had a final request: If crime happens, “please don’t NOT report.”
Another West Seattle business burglary to report. Alki in particular has been hit disproportionately, and that’s the location of the report we just received from proprietors Erika and Jorge, with security video:
We’re reaching out to share that our restaurant, Fire Tacos, was broken into early this morning at approximately 4:30 AM.
Two individuals were captured on our security footage forcing entry into our establishment . one tall and one shorter, both appearing to be white. They broke into our cash registers, stole several tablets and laptop used for our point-of-sale system, and took cash boxes used for our food truck operations. No money was stored in those boxes.
This is our first break-in. As a small, family-owned business, this is especially difficult during the slower season. Situations like this are very disheartening, and it’s hard. A police report has been filed, and we are handling the matter appropriately.
10:19 AM: Thanks for the tips – multiple readers say Xfinity has confirmed an outage in north West Seattle affecting, at last report, up to 2,000 customers, reported to be affecting internet and TV, with the cause listed as “network damage.”
12:44 PM: Commenter “Onion” says below that their service resumed about 10 minutes ago.
Lots of possibilities today including Ash Wednesday events – here are highlights, mostly from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
WALKING FOR WELL-BEING:10 am Wednesday walks leave from 47th/Fontanelle (so if you didn’t see this in the calendar in time, here’s a reminder for next week).
TODDLER READING TIME AT PAPER BOAT: 10:30 am at the bookstore. (4522 California SW; WSB sponsor)
ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE & COMMUNITY ASH WALK-BY: Alki UCC (6115 SW Hinds) has a noon Ash Wednesday service and, whether you attend that or not, a comunity “walk-by” 1-2 pm where you can walk up to the church exterior and be marked with ashes. Info on both here.
ASH WEDNESDAY AT ADMIRAL CHURCH: As reported here Tuesday, tonight’s 6 pm Ash Wednesday service at Admiral Church‘s temporary location (3050 California SW, enter at 42nd/Hanford) is the first service that will be led by the church’s new pastor Rev. Jermell Witherspoon.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT RUN: Get moving at midweek on the weekly 6:15 pm group run with West Seattle Runner (2743 California SW; WSB sponsor) tonight – all welcome, all paces!
SKYLARK OPEN MIC: West Seattle’s longest-running open mic! 7:30 pm signups for the weekly event at The Skylark. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
KARAOKE AT ADMIRAL PUB: Sing at the pub starting at 8:45 pm, after trivia. (2306 California SW)
Planning something that’s open to community participation/observation? Please send us info so we can add it to West Seattle’s only comprehensive event calendar! westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
Chief Sealth Boys Swim & Dive had an outstanding performance at the Sea-King District Championships this past weekend!
The team finished 3rd overall with 160 points, competing against schools from across the district. Our swimmers posted 21 personal records throughout the weekend, demonstrating the hard work and dedication they’ve put in all season.
Most exciting, we’re sending athletes to the State Championships:
• Two individual events qualified for state. (Theo Franzen)
• Our 400 Free Relay team secured their spot with a thrilling 0.54-second victory over Renton in the final event. (Cole Peloza, Theo Franzen, August Truman, Dominic Melanese, David Ohta, and Nico Balducci)
Thank you to all our swimmers, families, and supporters. Best of luck to our state qualifiers as they prepare for the championship meet this Friday!
MORE TRAFFIC CAMS: All functioning traffic cams citywide are here (including links to live video for most); for a quick scan of West Seattle and vicinity-relevant cameras, see this WSB page.
See a problem on the bridges/streets/paths/water? Please text or call our hotline (when you can do it safely, and after you’ve reported to authorities if they’re not already on scene) – 206-293-6302. Thank you!
It’s a vinyl barrier, about 300 feet long, installed last fall as a test, to see if it could help keep water in the part of the historic peat wetland, which has been a source of concern over the years as it’s run dry. Now, the simple sight of standing water thrills those who’ve worked on the problem for years. Through a tangle of branches, here’s what we saw Monday on the south side of Roxhill Park:
This water is evidence the test barrier is working. And the rain that fell Monday brought more water to the wetland, while dousing us during a mini-tour with Sharon Leishman of the Duwamish Alive Coalition and Danielle Devier of Seattle Parks. They were two of the key participants in a 2021 online meeting we covered laying out the plan for “fixing the bathtub via blocking groundwater from leaving it, with a barrier – not just to save the bog, but to save the park, where trails and bridges have been sinking as the bog dries out.
They explained how the vinyl barrier was deemed to be the least damaging way to block it – they wouldn’t have to tear up so much of the bog in the process. Leishman stressed the collaboration that led to the plan, including Natural Systems Design and the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, which has been organizing volunteer restoration-work parties in the park – look closely at this photo and you’ll see a tiny starter clump of grass planted during one of those events:
Bog restoration projects are more common outside the U.S., we learned during the mini-tour, and they also serve an educational purpose – to teach people about peat’s role in carbon sequestration. All the harvesting of peat that’s sold or gardens is releasing a lot of it. So what’s happening at Roxhill Bog is just a start – more of the bog could be restored, and an outdoor education lab could follow, for example. Past surveys have shown area residents have an intense interest in access to more natural areas, and they hope to see some of them at the celebration Thursday, 10:30 am to noon, which will include art, speakers, and most importantly, guided bog tours so you can see and hear about all this firsthand,
Clouds staged a double feature this afternoon, both dark and bright. The first two photos are from David Hutchinson – the very dark wall of clouds to the east, eventually followed by a thinner dark line to the west:
At sunset, they also made room for a burst of color – Brooke Gosztola is one of the photographers who caught that:
Penny photographed this pink breakthrough:
And April K caught the colors fading:
Following all that, we’re already in the 30s, and a rain/snow mix remains a possibility until early afternoon, the forecast says.
Just back from the Southwest Precinct Advisory Council meeting; we’ll publish our full report tomorrow, but tonight we wanted to bring you two updates of note from the meeting, presented. by SW Precinct Capt. Krista Bair and Lt. Wes Collier:
HIGH POINT GUNFIRE: Police said the incident January 14 that involved at least 60 shots was determined to have been “targeted.” But the woman who was injured was not an intended target. They added that enough people in the vicinity had security cameras – registered with Connect Seattle – that investigators have been able to identify some of those involved. Arrests were not mentioned, though.
(Reader photo, last month)
WEST DUWAMISH GREENBELT ‘ARSON’: They said the early January fire that gutted a van in the greenbelt, first categorized as “arson” due to a suspected “incendiary device,” was not. It turned out that the stolen van had been started “in a creative manner” and whatever was involved in that is what was mistaken for a fire-starting “device.” The city’s Unified Care Team helped coordinate getting the burned-out van removed before it attracted further activity.
The next event at the past-and-future Highland Park Improvement Club site is one week from Saturday – pick up free compost – 10 am-2 pm February 28. HPIC’s announcement says, “In partnership with Seattle Public Utilities, we will be offering free compost from Lenz Enterprises for members and neighbors to pick up. Bring your shovels and buckets to the HPIC parking lot to swap seeds, share extra plants, load up on compost, and help your plants and neighbors thrive! There will be free coffee on-site. One load per household, please.” RSVPs not mandatory but appreciated – go here!
The New Year’s celebration – welcoming the Year of the Horse – is happening all week at the Vietnamese Cultural Center in West Seattle (2236 SW Orchard). The center is usually open to the public on Saturday afternoons, but this week it’s open to visitors daily, noon-2 pm, through Friday. The big celebration, also open to all, is Saturday (February 21), starting at noon, with a lion dance and flag-raising ceremony, no charge for admission.
King County is doing nighttime survey work to learn about conditions below the ground in (northeast West Seattle). Work began on Monday, February 16, and will continue through Friday, February 20. To do this work, crews will temporarily close lanes during work hours. At least one lane will be open to trucks and vehicles at all times.
We are completing this work at night to avoid daytime traffic impacts. Please watch for signs and equipment and follow directions from flaggers.
This work will help King County design new facilities to help reduce pollution and keep our local water clean.
When
Work began on Monday night, February 16, and will continue through Friday, February 20
Work hours Monday through Friday, 6 pm to 6 am the following day
Where
Along West Marginal Way Southwest and Southwest Spokane Street (see map above)
What to expect
Crews lifting maintenance hole lids and taking measurements at each survey site
Temporary lane closures during work hours
At least one lane open for vehicles at all times
Work happening at one location at a time
Construction equipment and trucks, cones, and portable lights on site
Engine noise, hammering, and vibrations while crews are working
Clean sites and reopened lanes once work is complete
Why
To learn about conditions below ground in North Delridge
To help design facilities that will help reduce pollution in the Duwamish River
Here’s our summary and toplines, including two brief West Seattle mentions toward the end.
“You ready for this?” she began, warning it might be her longest speech ever.
Her trademark phrase “This is YOUR city” was heard shortly thereafter.
She said it’s an important time to look at history as we are in troubled times, while also acknowledging the confluence of important occasions – Black History Month, Lunar New Year, Ramadan, and overall “a season of reflections and new beginnings,”
She insisted she is not viewing the city through rose-colored glasses, but with hope. “You have to make the decision every single day to keep moving forward.” She said the double murder of teenagers in Rainier Beach was the most difficult thing that has happened so far in her term, and that the loss needs to lead to change, to protect people. “We have to do better for our kids. … Hopes are not enough …. My job is to take action.” She said an “intensive stabilization plan” for the affected commmunity is in the works, too. “But we can’t just react and stabilize … we have to get to the roots of the problem,” She said, without details, that a new gun-violence action plan will help with that, “tailored to the needs of our neighborhoods and our communities.”
Next, she moved to homelessness. “We simply do not have enough housing, shelter, and services for everyone who is living unhoused.” She said, “We’re doing some things right,” helping thousands each year. But if you look around the city, you will agree, she said, that our approach to homelessness has not been successful. “We cannot keep moving people from place too place and call it successful.” She said encampment removals will continue but she wants to minimize harm to people in encampments as well as “taking seriously” safety and access to public spaces. She brought up her quest for expanding emergency housing and shelter. “I know we have a big hill to climb,” but she vows to add 1,000 spaces this year “and we are well on our way.” (She did not mention specifics such as the Glassyard Commons RV lot/tiny-house village planned for West Seattle.)
Next topic – ensuring that Seattle is ready “to respond to threats from our federal government.” To be ready for any possible ICE surge here, the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs has been bolstered. And a new webpage is available at seattle.gov/stand-together. She said organizing “the strongest possible community response” is vital, as observed by a staff member who went to Minneapolis to learn about their response when ICE arrived in force.
Regarding the controversy over city’s plan for more surveillance cameras, she said there are strong arguments on both sides – crime victims’ concerns, privacy advocates’ concerns – for leaving them up or not. For now, “my team will continue to dig in” to figure out what’s the right thing to do, with no particular deadline.
On to the affordability crisis, “you should not need a six-figure income to live here.” But she said the “economic squeeze has been going on so long, it’s hard to believe we can do anything about it.” She talked about past solutions such as the creation of Pike Place Market. “Affordability is not just a poor person’s issue, young person’s issue,” it reaches “high up the scale.”” She announced an Affordability Agenda with four key emphasis areas:
-affordable housing
-affordable child care
-affordable food
-affordable city to build a small business
She said more than 6,000 people already have answered her Renters’ Survey. “We have heard about people forced to move every year because the rent keeps going up, and more. She reminded that it’s open through Friday, and then she will work with the City Council. She said she’s hearing from property owners and managers too.
And builders – she says more housing must be built and she looks forward to work with many groups “to move forward bolder policy … we need to build a ton of housing” but added that she’s aware this won’t necessarily make housing more affordable “any time soon” so she is working on other ways to help with that.
On to social housing, which is advancing because of a City Council vote last week that will move $115 million into the Social Housing Developer’s operations. Social housing will “give us a new tool to expand our non-market housing,” as approved by voters.
Regarding child care, she acknowledged the much-publicized parental help she’s received, but “right now there are so many gaps for so many children, and our whole society pays the price.”” She said Seattle is seen as a national leader but “that’s a little unnerving as any parent will tell you there’s still so much to be done.” She talked about making it easier to build child-care facilities and building more family-size housing. Preschool and child care should be “treated as public goods, accessible to all” like K-12 education, she declared.
On to food, she talked about grocery-store closures though these stores “are essential community assets.” Programs like Fresh Bucks – which 17,000 participants use – help boost access to food. She said her administration is still exploring the idea of a “public grocery store” but has no specifics yet.
As for small businesses, she said she recently lunched with a group in the ID and heard a horror story about a two-year permit process. “I know some businesses never open” because of permit waits, not to mention high rents and other factors, She said taxes and minimum wage aren’t what she hears businesses complain the most about, but rather red tape as well as issues like public safety and homelessness. She wants small businesses to apply for currently available programs.
Directly addressing business leaders, bigger ones – she said “affordability is not government’s responsibility alone.” Her message to “Seattle’s employer community” was “we want you at the table” to discuss solutions, “Seattle has always been a city of builders,” building innovation and solutions and more. She wants their help in building “a world-class city that we can all be proud of.”
Mayor Wilson said she didn’t list potential price tags for what she mentioned because first, it’s time to reach consensus and “set the stage to achieve even more …. so let’s start from a place where we agree.”
She listed upcoming events and plans that she said would be steps toward becoming that world-class city that she is certain everyone wants this to be. This is where the West Seattle mentions came in. Reopening Hiawatha Community Center this Saturday is one step toward the city she wants to build – she’ll be there on Saturday – and she also mentioned the upcoming reopening of South Park Community Center., “Community centers are such an important part of” the city. She also name-checked Sound Transit’s Crosslake Connection, opening in March, and then briefly mentioned light rail extending to West Seattle and Ballard. Other transit, she said, must be restored to pre-pandemic levels. She also mentioned the World Cup games this summer, the newly opened waterfront park, an upcoming new exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo, a new Rainier Beach skatepark, the Garfield Superblock.
“I’m not naive …. I know there will be outrages of the week on social media … but I’ve never been more hopeful or excited about what we can accomplish.” She sees the hope around the city, “yes, we can do big things.” And she sees hope in “all the people who make city government run.”
Summarizing, she said, “everything we build” helps build hope, too. She wants her term to be judged on whether people “are excited to live here,” whether this is “a welcoming city” – and to get there, she wants to see people open up to recognize that “another world is possible.” In a year, she says, she hopes people will believe “this city is the best city in the world.”
Three weeks after we first reported plans for an RV “safe lot” and tiny-house village planned for state-owned property in southeast West Seattle, prospective operator LIHI has just sent the official annnouncement, It answers a few of the questions we’ve been pursuing, including who the previously unnamed “religious” spoonsor is. Here’s the announcement in its entirety (which erroneously describes the site as in South Park):
The Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) is pleased to announce plans to open Glassyard Commons, an RV safe parking lot, on state-owned property in South Park, West Seattle. The property is located at 7200 2nd Ave. SW by W. Marginal Way SW.
Glassyard Commons will have space for 72 RVs, 20 tiny houses, and community facilities. The land is owned by WSDOT and comprises 169,757 SF or 3.90 acres. Because the Glassyard Commons site is located on public property, the goal is to lease the land long-term for RV safe parking. LIHI’s previous safe parking site in Interbay, Salmon Bay Village, had to close in May 2025 as the private owner is constructing a sports facility for pickleball.
“The target population for Glassyard Commons are homeless people who have no other option but to live in old, unsafe RVs. The goal is to secure permanent housing for vehicle residents and to dispose of the RVs. LIHI works with households to sign over their RVs for demolition and removal. We do not want to see dilapidated and fire prone RVs sold or recirculated in the community. We thank the Seattle City Council for their leadership in funding RV safe lots and tiny house villages as an innovative solution to the homelessness crisis,” states Sharon Lee, LIHI Executive Director.
“I’m excited that the Glassyard site is on track to open mid-year. My district has the highest proportion of lived-in RVs in Seattle, and my support for this project was conditional on priority access for RV residents already living in District 1. I’m grateful for the collaboration of the City’s Human Services Department, Mayor Wilson, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, and WSDOT in moving this forward. LIHI’s model, which has proven successful in other tiny home village locations, focuses on helping people transition permanently into long-term housing with wraparound support services. I look forward to supporting them and their continued success,” states Rob Saka, Seattle City Councilmember, District 1.
The largest concentration of RVs on city streets is located in Council District 1, including South Park and Georgetown, Districts 6 and 7, which include the areas around Interbay and Ballard. LIHI is partnering with UHeights to conduct outreach to RV dwellers throughout Seattle. LIHI’s target is to open the Glassyard Commons in time for the FIFA World Cup.
Salmon Bay Village demonstrated a successful track record of moving people out of RVs into tiny houses, and then moving into permanent housing with the help of on-site case managers. 87 people were sheltered at Salmon Bay Village and 67 RVs were removed from the streets of Seattle. LIHI had a 60% success rate of moving people into housing, which is a high ratio compared with other forms of shelter.
Within the next month, LIHI will host a community meeting and reach out to neighbors and community members to discuss plans for Glassyard Commons. A Community Advisory Committee would be set up to include businesses, neighbors, and faith organizations. These monthly meetings will be open to the public. The New Hope Missionary Baptist Church is the religious sponsor of Glassyard Commons.
The 20 tiny houses serve a critical need. The 8’x12’ tiny houses are heated, insulated and furnished. As many RVs are in poor condition, people are eager to move out of them. Mold, inoperable appliances and the risk of fires continue to plague older RVs. Glassyard Commons will include a shared kitchen, dining, community gathering place, hygiene facilities, showers, laundry and case management offices. All community spaces and a number of tiny houses are handicap accessible. Staff is on-site 24/7 and a fence will surround the property with a security pavilion at the front entrance to control who goes in and out.
There is a lack of RV and vehicle safe parking spaces in Seattle. A large percentage of unhoused individuals, close to 50%, have spent time living in vehicles. Ideally, other safe parking and village sites would be located in Seattle to address the need. The city reports that the Unified Care Team, which conducts outreach to resolve encampments, has only 5 dedicated beds available daily to offer citywide.
We’ll publish date/location information on the promised community meeting when we get it.
P.S. The actual address where you’ll find this in permit files is 7201 2nd SW, not the 7200 in the news release.
What a time for a pastor to start a new gig: Rev. Jermell Witherspoon‘s first sermon as the new pastor of West Seattle’s oldest church will be on Ash Wednesday.
The title: “Do You Want to Be Made Well?” (From John 5, 6-10.)
That is not a reference to “fixing” anyone. In fact, one of the first things we discussed in a chat with Admiral Church‘s new pastor on Monday was the difference between being an “affirming” church and a “welcoming” church. It’s easy to say everyone’s “welcome,” he explains, but not so easy to find a place that will affirm you as what and who you are.
But before we get into that, a bit about who Rev. Witherspoon is.
He’s the new minister called by Admiral Church after the departure of Rev. Andrew Conley-Holcom. He’s from a family of ministers, though he grew up in “the Pentecostal space,” he says, so his family’s churches are “directly opposite” from what he’s been preaching, teaching, and exploring for more than seven years, most recently at Liberation UCC downtown.
UCC = United Church of Christ, same denomination as Admiral Church (along with Alki UCC and Fauntleroy UCC, making UCC the only denomination besides the Catholic Church to have three congregations in West Seattle). Rev. Witherspoon also worked with the Disciples of Christ denomination “to help churches become open and affirming.” When he chose to enter the ministry, “being a queer man, I felt the call for something more .., I said, ‘God, I want to continue to be a Christian, but I need you to show me a way that’s life-giving for me.’ I found UCC believed a lot of the things that I believed,” including standing for justice and inclusion.
Back to the difference between welcoming and affirming. Too many churches, he says, say you’re “welcome” because “we gotta get you in here and then get you saved! We’ve created a space where people have to be everything other than what God has called them to be … God manifests in so many different ways … you’re coming here so you can help to change US so we can live more like what God has called us to be … and affirm who God has called you to be.”
So how does that sound from the pulpit? “Our sermons must be relevant culturally, present-day relevant with all the craziness happening around … you gotta name what’s happening and name the hope that is there, that’s part of the gospel … not just despair but also beauty, resurrection … hope that the things we all have to go through in life, that we’re going to find a way to make it better … we have agency, and we are the hands and feet of God working in the Earth.”
But what about the seemingly prevailing sentiment of this time, that churches are dying? Rev. Witherspoon sees the hope for churches in that “we are co-creator with God.” Rather than ask God “what are you doing?” he suggests, “God says, ‘what are YOU doing? How are you being in the Earth in the ways I’ve called you to?” That, he insists, is “important as we invite people to church (who may have been) ostracized, pushed out of religious spaces … We have to stand as public apologies for the way others have been handled … we have to demonstrate the good of God.” Not, he says, the path of some churches that “have these big humongous spaces, seeking money and fame, condemning people to hell, scaring people into donating huge sums … Jesus’s way is not the most popular, but the way that leads to life.”
Speaking of spaces, we should mention that Admiral Church is currently in a cozy one, what they call their chapel, a light-filled but relatively small space at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church. They moved in because, as we’ve been reporting for several years, they chose to partner with Homestead Community Land Trust to turn much of their 4320 SW Hill campus into housing, with the church’s future home for services and the community groups they’ve long hosted.
(2024 rendering of concept for what you’d see turning off California onto Hill)
Admiral Church’s Anita Shaffer, who invited us to meet the new pastor, says groundbreaking is expected before year’s end, and construction could last up to two years, so they hope to be in their new home before the end of 2028.
And Rev. Witherspoon is looking forward to it. “When we shift into our new church, that will be so electrifying and so affirming, people will be called to come, we will listen to the spirit of God – I’m looking forward to that.”
First, he’s looking forward to the task at hand – leading Admiral Church into the season of Lent. He begins work with a reservoir of admiration for what they’ve already done: “When I … realized how brave Admiral was, what spirit was calling them to do, desiring growth not just in number but in consciousness … it seemed like the perfect setup … I can be a co-creator with the community to figure out what spirit is calling us to do next … there is potential to build community in a deeper way.”
But why do that through church? we asked. The pastor sees it as “the power of collective community, building something that honors one’s neighbor and honors one’s God … I think there will always be a call to be called to each other … definitely a space for a church like this.” And yes, he acknowledges that some churches have caused harm – “we’re doing some of that correction at Admiral and that’s one of the reasons I’m here.” He hopes to “co-create” “a place where you feel safe and honored and loved … like minds and different minds… a space where everybody can feel like they are somebody.” And, a place of hope. Including his hope, “that the spirit of Admiral becomes contagious to the community.”
He will be involved in the community beyond the church as well, including the organizations that Admiral has hosted, such as West Seattle PFLAG, meeting tonight, and others in the community at large, including the Westside Interfaith Network. As for that Ash Wednesday debut, tomorrow’s service is at 6 pm; Admiral’s temp home at St. John’s is at 3050 California SW.
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