West Seattle, Washington
14 Saturday
Checked out the monthly West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting tonight and came away with some eye-opening info which we will process for you by morning. Headlines include: Lincoln Park visitors should watch out for transients camping in the greenery; neighborhoods with nuisance properties have an amazing amount of guidance available for dealing with the problem; and the WSCSP needs an infusion of new community involvement or else the Seattle Neighborhood Group may have to stop providing the services of staffer Lois Grammon-Simpson to help oversee and facilitate its vital business of helping us all stay safe. This would be a big loss. More on that in a few hours.
The Seal Sitters aren’t just keeping watch at Alki – the baby seals are turning up all over the West Seattle shore. Clifton Leatherwood sent these photos (thank you!) from Luna Park this afternoon — first the blocked-off area, then the little seal resting in the shadow of a driftwood log:
Fifteen days after the death of its owner on Labor Day, and just a few hours after we photographed the bouquet resting against the then-still-closed-doors with a note of sympathy (photo left), Tervo’s Mini-Mart on Fauntleroy is back in business — doors open and neon signs lit, as of when we drove by a short time ago.
TOMORROW NIGHT: What should the city do with millions of your $ earmarked for transportation projects? Don’t wait till you read here that crews are on their way to (fill in the blank) and then say “Hey! Why don’t they (whatever) instead?” — stop by tomorrow night’s city Transportation Department open house at Youngstown Arts Center between 5 and 8 pm, look at what’s under consideration, register your preference. Or – if you absolutely can’t make it in person – the city has set up a webpage where you can see what’s on the potential project list and rank your preferences – click here, then choose South Sector; with 29 WS locations on the list, one just might be near you. Make your choices by September 27th.
ALL DAY TOMORROW: Chief Sealth HS hosts Seattle Earth Summit II 9:30 am-3 pm with an impressive guest list, including the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Wangari Maathai, as well as West Seattle’s world-famous photographer Art Wolfe. Also part of the agenda: a ceremonial tree-planting @ 11:30 am at Pelly Place Ravine, which Wolfe and local students are working together to revitalize as part of Project Earth Care.
Just ’cause we know you’re wondering … and ’cause we are … and ’cause 3 1/2 long months have passed since a WSB reader was told by TJ’s to “feel free to check back sometime this fall” … we jumped the gun here in the final days of summer and checked. 
The official Trader Joe’s party line, according to what their media-relations department told us by phone, is: Next Northwest store, Bellingham (opening a week from Friday). Next Northwest store after that, Bend, OR (where Hack Bend is watching construction closely). Then their “real estate team” delivers its next scouting report to Trader Joe’s kahunas in January or February. Hmm.
Found in the document billed as “highlights” of the budget Hizzoner presented to the City Council yesterday: $1 million “challenge grant” to help the community buy the Fauntleroy School building (page 8); $4 million for a new “outage-management system” (last page) so City Light can do a better job of telling us what’s going on when we’re powerless like those dark days last December.
–P-I columnist Robert Jamieson looks at an incident in WS that left a man injured after a clash with an off-duty police officer.
–The Times says Holy Family on Roxbury is one of the first area Catholic churches to take on the Latin Mass that the Pope now says is OK again.
A comprehensive update at Fauntleroy.net tells the tale of the Fauntleroy Creek “Reach to the Beach” project, all finished except revegetation, just south of the ferry dock …
Next step: Awaiting the salmon. According to the Fauntleroy.net writeup, some coho already have been seen off Lincoln Park, so they “are optimistic watchers will have fish to watch” when the annual Salmon Watch begins along Fauntleroy Creek next month. Sign-ups for volunteers are under way now; scroll to the bottom of thisÂÂ Fauntleroy.net page for contact information, and also mark your calendar for 5 pm Sunday, October 21st, when the community will gather at the creek’s fish-ladder viewpoint for drumming to call the salmon home.
A few folks have e-mailed in recent weeks to inquire about the definitive West Seattle neighborhood map. You would expect the city to have the final say, but upon a closer look at their neighborhood map boundaries for West Seattle — which, annoyingly, the city seems to consider separate from greater Delridge — we’re not so sure. Take a look at what the maps linked below say is your neighborhood; comment here if you disagree. (Note some neighborhood names are missing altogether, such as Pigeon Point.)
Links:
-“West Seattle” (small; large)
-“Delridge” (small; large)
Yet another WS event to add to the list of what’s happening Tuesday night: West Seattle High School has a community forum @ 6:30 pm tomorrow to talk about the recent announcement that it will change from 4-period days to 6-period days as of next school year. (There’s also a student-only forum at WSHS tomorrow afternoon.) This is a huge change for the school, which has had 4-period days since 1994, and described them in its 2006 annual report as “(facilitating) in-depth and hands-on learning.” Some of the arguments against the 4-period day were discussed in the unofficial Seattle Public Schools Blog a few months ago.
The next phase of work is beginning at the megaproject site across Alaska from Jefferson Square, former home of Hollywood Video etc., future home of QFC and Office Depot as well as other retail and residential units. A few days ago, the city granted a permit for excavation to begin; today, Christopher Boffoli took this photo of the first construction equipment to arrive at the scene:
More news from beverageland: The T(ea) Gallery, the friendly teahouse at 2707 Cali in the business block just south of Lafayette Elementary, is opening a second location! Not in West Seattle, though — this one will be downtown, on the north side of the Seattle Municipal Tower, open 7:30 am-4 pm weekdays starting on a TBA opening date in mid-October. The original Admiral shop‘s hours will stay the same (Tues-Thurs nights, all day Sat-Sun). Congratulations to T(ea) Gallery proprietor Tracy (who also has just posted about this at her official store blog)!
New WS liquor-license filing that just bubbled up: Pioneer Coffee Roasting Company is seeking a beer/wine license for 2536 Alki, the onetime Alki Mail & Dispatch building between Coastal & Slices. (Hard to see from the angle below, but there’s a Pioneer Coffee sign in the window closest to the plywood.)
We have notes out to Pioneer and to property owner Tom Lin to ask what they can tell us about what’s planned there; the city business license for Pioneer Coffee Roasting at the address is under the category “miscellaneous food stores.”
Tomorrow’s a big day in West Seattle — we already have mentioned two major events (the SWFYS breakfast and the WSCSP meeting) — now here’s another one: Clementine, next to Pagliacci in The Junction, will be open till 9 pm tomorrow with tons of fun to celebrate its first birthday. (In addition to its regular website, Clementine also keeps a blog highlighting new offerings.) Happy birthday!
We keep trying to catch up with the Seal Sitters who have been keeping watch for weeks to protect the baby harbor seals that turn up to take a break on the beach at Alki. Almost connected after hearing about their 1 pm picnic on Sunday — then rain forced them indoors — but at least our videographer found one of the seals. Adorability awaits:
One WSB reader asked us if the Seal Sitters are on duty 24 hours a day. Seal-sitter organizer Brenda Peterson says they’ve been trying their best to cover most of the clock, as volunteer availability allows. (If you’re interested in volunteering, e-mail us and we’ll forward her your contact info.) Wondering why Seal Sitters are needed? Here’s just one anecdote underscoring the need. You can read more about harbor seals and the laws protecting them here.
As the number of pay-to-park lots around WS increases, watch closely for the signs, and do be aware that the enforcers make the rounds — as discovered today by the spouse of a regular reader. Reportedly, more than a dozen cars in the lot near Wells Fargo in The Junction all got simultaneously ticketed during the Farmers’ Market across the street. The reader went back for a closer look at the signage … and yes, it’s posted (reader photo @ right) … but that doesn’t make the $35 ticket any easier to take. (Payable online, courtesy of the industrious folks at Diamond Parking.) Yes, of course lot owners have the right to charge whatever the traffic will bear, as discussed after our recent post about the future Fauntleroy Place site converting to a Diamond-managed pay lot. But you can’t help wonder if it’s a slippery slope. The Junction merchants have worked hard to keep several free lots available for us all, and lobbied against paid parking on WS streets (earning us the envy of other neighborhoods). But as the pay lots multiply, can the city resist trying for a cut of the action?
Just four months into its hopefully long lifespan, Sustainable West Seattle continues to grow. Tomorrow night, you’re invited to its next meeting — 7 pm, Camp Long, family-friendly, so kids are welcome — where county and city reps will talk about transportation and climate-change issues, respectively. The latter is of special note, with a Seattle CAN (Climate Action Now) kickoff event in WS next Saturday. (Here’s a new reason to care about climate change.) If you can’t make tomorrow’s meeting, see the Sustainable WS website, which includes contact info for the people running its action groups (Energy, Transportation, Food & Health, Water & Waste Reduction, Green Building & Planning).
Crews working on the bus shelter next to KeyBank in The Junction — spotted this morning as we headed to the Farmers’ Market — reminds us it’s time to talk about many changes for WS bus riders …
Some of those changes involve renovations, repairs, and replacements for many other WS shelters. More on that in a few sentences. First: Some bus routes will change starting next weekend, in preparation for the reopening of the downtown bus tunnel on Monday, 9/24. Lots and lots of changes, all detailed here. People who know the quirks of the Metro system much better than we do say that some of the changes are positive for links between WS and other parts of the area. Now, as for those bus-stop/bus-shelter changes — after a few people e-mailed us with questions about work they had noticed, Chris Arkills from the office of West Seattle-representing King County Councilmember Dow Constantine was kind enough to get us a list of what Metro’s working on. We’ve had this in queue for about a week and a half so some of these projects may already be done, but you might find it handy anyway (it also explains exactly what those crews shown above are doing at the shelter by KeyBank):Read More
–The Northwest Hope & Healing Half-Marathon (and accompanying 5K walk) takes off from Lincoln Park @ 8 am. Click here to see the route they’ll follow on their long loop back to LP.
-Meet West Seattle authors at Square 1 Books’ “Words from the WestSide” event @ ArtsWest, 1 pm.
On each and every WSB post, there’s just no telling where you all will take the discussion — or if you’ll choose to discuss at all. Last month, we mentioned the addition of an ADULT DVD sign to a Morgan Junction market, with a headline citing Spanky’s, the adult retailer that closed on mid-Cali some years back. That led to some discussion of Spanky’s in the comments; tonight, its former proprietor wrote us (comments are closed on the original item since 3+ weeks have passed) to set the record straight. Here’s his note:Read More
Our logs show a fair amount of WSB visits from people with IP addresses from the University of Washington … so here’s hoping some of you can help this reader, whether you are a UW student or UW employee!
I have been attending SSCC for the past year and graduated this spring. Now, I have been accepted to UW Art School and am having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to make my commute to the campus from West Seattle manageable. I am not going to be taking my car as the parking on and around campus is too expensive for me. So far, I have found no direct options from West Seattle to the campus on the metro. The best I can find is an hour long journey involving two transfers. I am looking at using my bike as part of my daily commute possibly too. I was wondering if maybe you could help me find out how other West Seattle residents attending the UW get to and from school?
Though this post is 10 days old and long since fallen off the WSB home page, it’s still getting comments because of other related sightings, including one last night in Pigeon Point — worth another look before that next knock at your door, especially the police advice in this newsletter. (Which reminds us, next Tuesday is the monthly West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting – 7 pm @ the Southwest Precinct – and as we all were reminded last month, it’s a great place to get updated information on what/who to watch out for and how to protect your home and your family.)
| Comments Off on Community crimefighters