Semi-secret streets
Just when we thought we knew every square inch of West Seattle … sharp reminders that we don’t, not by a long shot. Drove out to look for something that somebody e-mailed us about; haven’t quite found it yet, but we did find incredible curving semi-secret streets on the bluffside over Beach Drive (such as 54th south of Genesee), stretches of road we never knew existed (Hillcrest to Andover north of Genesee is pretty wild too, especially the steep slope on Andover). Next time you’re bored with the same ol’ scenery, check ’em out (but not in a big car — they abruptly dead-end with driveways).
Pointlessness at the Polls, weekend #1
Since we’ve got our ballots and you probably do too, let’s call this the first weekend of the election, which could be dubbed Pointlessness at the Polls, even though we’re not going to the “polls,” aka “polling places” (however, the big envelope of dead tree matter that accompanied the ballot reveals we can drop off the ballots rather than entrust them to USPS, so we’re going for that option — here in WS, a dropoff spot will be open at High Point Community Center on 3/8, 3/9, 3/10, 3/12, and 3/13 **only** — before 3/8, the only dropoff available is downtown). As a service to anyone still deciding whether to go no/no, yes/yes, no/yes, or yes/no, here are today’s related headlines: “Tunnel lite” MIGHT work (Times), Scare tactics in the election? EEK! (Times), N/N wins Stranger poll (Slog), P-I editorial board boss sort of plugs retrofitting (P-I). P.S. To hear in-person debating on all this, check out the WS Chamber’s transportation forum at WSHS Tuesday night.
Restaurant reports
-Ryan, owner of the forthcoming Garlic Jim’s in The Junction, says the grand opening next month will now kick off with an 11 am ribboncutting on March 19 featuring WS-residing City Council member Tom Rasmussen. Ryan also notes he’s still looking for drivers (with tips, he says, they could earn $18-ish an hour).
-Not even a week after its closure, the ex-Guadalajara Hacienda is already sadly signless:
In the Elite Eight, without being seven feet tall
And only YOU can get us into the Final Four. That seemingly endless blog popularity poll at Metroblogging Seattle has just moved to the next round (recap, it’s pretending to be like the NCAA basketball tournament, brackets and all) and YOU HELPED US GET THERE! But we need your vote again. Please go here and vote for WSB. Today, tomorrow, every day for a week. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We’ll give you the trophy. (Or is there one?)
Priming the pump
The Times reports on this morning’s biodiesel-mania at Admiral Safeway. A member of the WSB posse managed to pop by for a photo. That’s Hizzoner on the right, amid the throng.)
Lost stuffed animal
We just learned a blogger trick: look for unusual local Craigslist ads to spotlight. We could resist almost everything … except this. (Hope someone finds it!) AFTERNOON UPDATE: Re-checked the ad, it’s now bannered “it’s been found.” Was it a WSB reader? We may never know.
Nameless no longer
A city press release is out with official names for two West Seattle parks. No surprises, though — the site known as Junction Plaza will be Junction Plaza Park, and the site in the Delridge/Cottage Grove area is Cottage Grove Park.
Early warning
High Point-to-Delridge drivers, beware: Cindi from the Morgan Community Association alerts us to more upcoming traffic woes; this excerpt is from the latest Morgan Junction e-mail newsletter, quoting the major construction company on the High Point project:
“SW Morgan / Sylvan Way will most likely be closed for a short period (one to two weeks) during late February/early March. This closure is being planned in conjunction with work taking place on an unrelated development east of High Point. This coordination will minimize the impacts to the neighbors and surrounding area. SW Morgan / Sylvan Way will then be temporarily closed for a longer period (several months) this summer to allow for complete rebuild of the roadway and utilities associated with our project. We will provide notification to local residents and businesses and will have a detour route well-indicated. Every effort will be made to minimize the duration of street closures.”
We’ve been asked before about the deplorable condition of Sylvan Way closer to Delridge; Cindi is checking on whether repairs to that stretch might be included in those summer closures.
This one may hit home
Also from the P-I: a little hand-wringing about the teardown trend — not homes-to-townhomes, which seems to be West Seattle’s most popular flavor, but homes-to-bigger-homes. Our favorite quote in the story (which doesn’t feature WS but still seems relevant) is an explanation of why people are moving from the burbs back to the city:
“It’s the commute,” he said. “If you’re not working at Microsoft, why would you want to live in Issaquah?
(For us, the commute is only one of about 6,955 reasons we don’t want to live in the burbs, but that’s another post.)
You might have noticed this sign that just went up in The Junction, over Matador. Seems to be a personal-training franchise, according to 
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