Election results update
King County has posted its latest ballot count, and in Seattle School Board District 6, nothing has changed from last night – looks like it will be Steve Sundquist (left) vs. Maria Ramirez (right) for the West/South Seattle school board seat that Irene Stewart is giving up. After today’s count, Sundquist has 51.8% of the vote, Ramirez has 24.1%, with Dan Dempsey at 17%. The unofficial Seattle Public Schools Blog notes that more people voted in our district than in the other district with a primary battle, North Seattle District 2, and also notes that while the primary votes were by district, the entire city votes for all school board races in the fall, so Sundquist and Ramirez (along with other school board candidates) will have to campaign citywide. One other WS note from the election: King County Councilmember Dow Constantine lopsidedly (91%-9%) beat his eclectic fellow Democrat primary challenger Goodspaceguy Nelson, and now goes on to a general-election race against Republican John Potter (who doesn’t seem to have a campaign website).ÂÂ
From the “be on the lookout” file
Reader e-mail:
I’ve noticed a couple of well dressed guys driving around in a new Ford Explorer, blue. They’re trying to pull the age old scam of saying that they were out on an install for ‘home theater equipment’ and that they accidentally picked up a double order and they’re willing to sell it to you for dirt cheap. This is a scam … also when I turned down their offer to buy this home theater system they got upset and hostile.
One of the comments on our last door-to-door alert thread mentioned, ask to see a “residential sales license” before buying anything at your door from anyone.
A rant & 2 raves
Not related but we’re putting them all in the same post for balance. First the rant and side-note rave, from the WSB inbox:
Sunday there was some guy parked sideways across the
Roxbury Schucks’ ONLY disabled parking spot. I very politely let them
know as I walked in, so they could take care of it. The response? A
shrug.
I walked through the store to see if they had what I wanted, and heard
the two guys who were working there begin talking. They were talking in
what they thought was a “retarded” voice and saying stuff like “heh,
look at me – I’m handi-CAPABLE!” It went on for 2-3 minutes getting
more and more stupid, and more and more insulting. I finally walked out,
glaring at them. They didn’t even notice. (FYI, I use a cane due to a
spine problem)
Yes, I will be writing a letter to the CEO. I’m really pissed.
What saved my mood was that afterward I went to Tony’s (he had fresh
Okra! And corn picked that morning!) Tony was there. He gave me a great
deal on a flat of strawberries. And he insisted on carrying my bags to
the car for me since the “other half” wasn’t there. He’s a big sweetie.
The other rave we wanted you to hear about was this nice tale from the WS Herald Letters to the Editor.
Lost summer?
For everyone looking for proof that the Seattle summer weather this year truly is as exceptionally lousy as it seems … our favorite non-WS bloggers, at Capitol Hill Seattle, have crunched the numbers one more time.
For the first time since Spanky’s went out …
… there’s a sign on Cali prominently advertising “adult” merchandise.
We noticed the new “adult DVDs” addition to the sign at the Short Stop market on the north edge of Morgan Junction several days ago and felt a little hinky about it, but then thought, nah, we’re just prudes. A day later, we got reader e-mail voicing concern, and we decided it’s worth raising the question here. The reader wrote, in part:
It’s lit up and elevated up on a big pole, which is unfortunate for the neighborhood. What’s next, strip clubs? Now when my family comes to visit, I’ll have to tell them “Take a right at the Adult DVD store.”ÂÂ
Now, in fairness, this sign is not exactly next to a school or day-care center. Chuck & Sally’s Tavern is the second building to the north, Beveridge Place Pub is the next one south. But it is next to the site of a future park, and smack in the middle of a neighborhood in transition — with a big condo conversion and future townhomes also steps away. So what do you think? “Unfortunate,” as the reader wrote? Or no big deal?
4132 Cali arson, four days later
If you also happened to be wondering: Seattle Police tell us this morning they have nothing new to report on last Friday morning’s big fire, just that they are “actively investigating” it. Also, they are still choosing not to talk publicly about what evidence they found that led investigators to call it arson. If you have any idea about who’s to blame, or saw anything (as police put it) “even remotely suspicious before, during, or after” — the hotline to call is 800-55-ARSON. (Photo below is one we didn’t get around to posting in the fire aftermath — chillingly charred sign nearby.)
Tuesday: Happening today & tonight
FREEWAY FRIGHT ’07, FOURTH-TO-LAST WEEKDAY: The I-5 work crews have reached a milestone. (Maybe we’re just punchy; we childishly giggled at the text clump toward the end of that WSDOT page’s full web address: Crewsfinishjoints …) Now they’ve just got some more paving to do — weather permitting. Only two lanes open till they’re done. To check the live cams before your commute, go here.
PRIMARY ELECTION ’07, 7 AM-8 PM FOR IN-PERSON VOTERS: On the ballot you will see City Council races, Port Commission races, the School Board District 6 race, a smattering of county contests, and 2 park levies. All the info you could possibly want, even video voters’ guides, can be found from the list of links here. (We’ll have links to results here tonight.)
HELP FIGHT, AND PREVENT, CRIME, 7 PM TONIGHT: Everyone’s invited to tonight’s meeting of the West Seattle Community Safety Partnership, 7-8:30 pm @ the SW Precinct. Main topic: Protecting your home from burglary. You’ll also hear updates on recent area crime, and neighborhood reports.
Pizza plan
A little more information is now available about what’s proposed for the new Pegasus Pizza building. Linked from the city site announcing the project’s Design Review meeting this Thursday is assembled info including simple sketches for the plan (none of those fancy color renderings, though, nor could we find anything on the architect‘s site). Here’s the downloadable info; it includes three alternative sketches of what the new building might be like.
Freeway Fright ’07: Five mornings left
On the good side, we soon won’t have to worry any more about I-5 (and ripple effects); bad side, the added early Water Taxi run will end when the project does. The folks who unveiled the Pier 2 dock/terminal proposal last week sent along this photo of the WT’s biggest line on its biggest day (today’s commute info continues below) …
This week is still prime time because I-5 is down to two lanes north of the WS Bridge until the work is done; that made things crunchier last Friday morning and today’s rain won’t make it any better. (Also note the bridge ramp to NB 5 will be closed overnight for the next few nights.) Meantime, here are a few relevant “live” cameras (refresh this page for the newest picture, or click on the images to go to the cameras’ “home” pages); as of this writing, the Seattle city website has been out of commission since late last night, so we won’t link those cameras here; check our permanent cams page to see if they’re back. (Left to right below, three state cams: I-5 @ Spokane just before the construction zone, I-5 @ Holgate through the construction zone, Highway 99 on the southeast side of WS)
Don’t forget Tuesday’s election
If you don’t vote by mail, don’t forget to visit your polling place tomorrow, on our state’s earliest Primary Election Day ever. Two noncontroversial (as far as we can tell) county ballot measures (park-related levies) will be decided. Otherwise, ballot highlights include City Council and County Council races, and most notably for West Seattle, the open Seattle School Board seat for District 6 (incumbent Irene Stewart chose not to re-run). We covered the forum at Pathfinder K-8 two weeks ago including all 4 of the active District 6 hopefuls; there wasn’t enough time at the forum for organizers to ask all the questions submitted by the audience, so they later sent the candidates the full list and invited them to reply. One of the candidates, Dan Dempsey, just sent us a detailed document with his responses to those questions; we uploaded it to our site so you can read for yourself (click here to download it as a Word doc). We haven’t received, and can’t find online, any other candidates’ responses to those same questions, but if you want to check out the District 6 candidates’ websites, besides Dempsey’s site (hotlinked to his name above), Maria Ramirez‘s site is here; Steve Sundquist‘s site is here; Edwin Fruit is siteless. ELECTION DAY VOTING HOURS: 7 am-8 pm tomorrow.
Bye-bye, Box
Noticed this week that 3256 Cali is for sale, the site best known for its little brick business duplex with the timeless Beauty Box sign on the south wall; appears its owner died earlier this year. Before we got around to mentioning the listing here, reader e-mail tipped us that the Beauty Box shop is closing next month; big sign in the window verifies it, GOING OUT OF BUSINESS/EVERYTHING FOR SALE. No development application filed for the site yet so far as we can tell from the city database.
“Crashing on Logs”?
That’s the subject line of reader e-mail we just received — wondering if “Walking on Logs” was OK after a crash in the area last night — the reader was driving past that spot on the Fauntleroy end of the WS Bridge approach and saw an overturned car (as well as police cars and a tow truck). We won’t be able to go by to check for a few hours; in the meantime, any and all info appreciated. 7:40 PM UPDATE: Just drove by, looks none the worse for wear.
Scenes from a soggy Sunday
Within just a few minutes’ time — the view westward from Alki Avenue; the view south from Constellation Park:
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These links will take you to the newest available results:
Sign on the gate @ 
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