West Seattle, Washington
12 Saturday
One night after the statue’s unveiling, a chance to pause — briefly — and look ahead to what’s next. First step, tomorrow night’s meeting (7 pm, Alki Bathhouse) described in the official city press release as a chance for “attendees to participate in the decision-making process that will lead to the community’s desired outcome for the statue.” But that’s not all; first, we pause for one more good look at the new statue (shown with West Seattle resident Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and Kevin Keating from the Bronze Works in Tacoma, where the statue was recast last year; photo courtesy Rasmussen staffer Brian Hawksford):
While decisions are made about the “new” statue’s surroundings, the “old” one is slated to take up residence at the Log House Museum; we’ve got messages out in hopes of finding out when. (Thursday update – the museum has canceled its 9/22 fundraiser but is now focusing on a 10th anniversary fundraiser at Salty’s on November 3rd.) Meanwhile, Mayor Nickels will soon send his 2008 budget plan to the City Council, including $50,000 proposed for the plaza project; a public hearing on the budget already is set for October 10th. And plaza backers are now officially taking donations. But our favorite next step is the simple fact that everyone can now stroll Alki without having to face the empty base. Even those who don’t understand all the fuss.
Did a double-take driving through Morgan Junction this evening — after almost four months, Cal-Mor Circle is out from under the renovation-masking yellow and white mesh (described most famously by the Schooner Exact folks as reminiscent of a frothy mug of beer). Before photo left, after photo (tonight) right.
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We mentioned last month that Starbucks is taking over the Infinity Espresso spot at the northwestern corner of Jefferson Square, but hadn’t heard when Infinity would be closing. Now we know, per this e-mail:
CLOSING TOMORROW AFTER 10 YEARS!!!! the new building owners didn’t
renew our lease and they kicked us out and let starbucks in!!!!! We are selling
everything so people are welcome to come in and make an offer!
The Infinity folks say they’ll be open 8-6 tomorrow. Friday and Saturday, people will be at the store, but they’ll just be packing up and moving out, so if you want to “come in and make an offer,” tomorrow’s the day.
–Taco Del Mar in Westwood Village has opened.
-Also in Westwood Village, Pet Pros — one of the 6 pet stores WS now has, counting the newly opened All the Best Pet Care on Alki — says it’s having a grand-opening sale 9/28-9/30.ÂÂ
-Another business is celebrating a grand opening: We just heard from TouchTech Systems, which has moved into the former West Seattle Helpline spot (they’re now in the WS Community Resource Center) in The Junction (along the corridor at 4517 Cali). Company president Brian Presser, a WS resident, describes TouchTech Systems as:
We are a small local company that provides multimedia marketing and communication solutions for the internet (such as websites) as well as interactive kiosks for a multitude of uses. We sell and provide service for essentially all Apple computer equipment and are a reseller of most major hardware and software brands including Xerox, HP, Adobe and Microsoft.
Continuing today’s unplanned “in other blogs” theme … beware the F-bombs if you are sensitive, but that said, if you drive the WS bridge, you might identify with this driver’s fury.
Rhonda at Beach Drive Blog caught a sign of frustration at 4233 Beach Drive — the future teardown next to Schmitz Viewpoint that we mentioned 8/30. Looks like the neighbors filed a complaint in addition to posting that sign. The city site shows permits were granted 8/27 to demolish the old house and build two new single-family homes there, plus a DPD decision dated 8/30; the permit applications were filed 15 months earlier; property records show several transactions for the site since it was sold in March of last year by someone who’d owned it for a decade. (Its owner appears linked to a homebuilding company with addresses in Bothell and Lynnwood.) With all that recent administrative action, likely means the bulldozers are on the way, but in the meantime, the complaint certainly means that city inspectors are too. The city explains rules about vacant buildings on page 9 of this DPD newsletter.
That’s the headline for the latest Mars Hill-WS blog post about this Friday’s Alki mass baptism (which we told you about last week). 2:10 PM UPDATE: They’ve posted about it again, with an attempt at humor suggesting that lightning might strike any MH’er who ignores the “don’t park at Alki, take the shuttle from WSHS” pleas.
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