West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Just out of the inbox, from Steven:
My shed has been broken into twice within the last six months. I live on 11th Avenue, SW (Highland Park). There have been a string of automobile window-bashing within that same timeframe (12th Ave.) Don’t know if they’re at all related.
I want to replace the shed door with a steel or fiberglass unit, and also replace my basement door with the same…and also swap the deadbolt on the balcony/deck door to a two-way-keyed deadbolt. I’ve been quoted prices as high as $500 installation PER DOOR. That strikes me as a bit outrageous…considering the cost of the actual door itself.
I’m about to head out to both Home Depot and McLendon’s for some guidance help … but seriously, I have a wife and baby that I need to protect. What was stolen isn’t important, keeping my family safe is. Readers, please help me find a trustworthy WestSeattlite (or surrounding contractor) who performs good work at reasonable prices!
As we reported after attending the arraignment of the Alki 17-year-old charged as an adult with second-degree murder for the fatal shooting at 59th/Admiral on October 13th, his lawyer is arguing that he should be released from jail or at least have his bail cut. We now have the court paperwork with details of why the defense claims he would not be a threat to the community — and it aligns with the speculation some voiced when a call for witnesses was put out by lawyer Robert Perez:Read More
Big Fire Department contingent at 23rd north of Willow (just west of Delridge) because of a house fire. 9:50 AM UPDATE: Most of the fire crews are leaving now, but the house appears to be a total loss. 11:25 AM UPDATE: Brief P-I blurb says 7 people lived in the house and all got out OK.
UPDATE: As of 1pm there was still a fire crew on the scene. Here’s two pictures that were taken just half an hour ago.
Out of the inbox, from Dolly, for discussion — any insight?
After reading and contributing to the Admiral Slowdown post (last week) – which generated wonderful debate amongst our West Seattlelites and make a blog fun – I wondered if you would introduce this to the WSB: Why on earth do people coming from I-5 north > West Seattle Bridge Exit have to yield to people coming from Columbian Way? There are 10 times (at the very least) more cars coming from the freeway than are coming from Columbian Way – esp. during evening rush hour – so why do the majority of cars yield to the minority?
One thing I thought of was *possibly* – the numbers of cars from I-5 would make it hard for Columbian Way mergers to merge. But that isn’t the case for Columbian Way drivers merging into WS Bridge traffic going onto northbound I-5 (in the morning commute).
I hate this. It’s hard for I-5 evening commute drivers to even see if there’s a stoppage on the bridge as we’re getting off due to the massive curve that makes visibility of the road ahead of you so difficult, and pair that with a yield at the bottom of a curve you can’t see until you’re on it. It seems (and is, IMO) very dangerous. Compared to the relatively straight drive the Columbia Way mergers have that can see the I-5 mergers – they’d be able to stop in a flash better than the I-5’ers. So why do the I-5ers have to yield?
I really don’t get this!
That’s a photo from an EarthCorps event with Denny Middle School students at the Thistle Street section of Longfellow Creek, where they put in more than 200 native plants — all amid the weather craziness of 10/19. EarthCorps invites you to go check out the new plantings just north of the P-Patch — and a frequent WSB contributor @ EarthCorps also hopes you’ll consider their request for a different kind of community help — one that doesn’t involve digging or planting:Read More
From the inbox (keep those pumpkin pix coming) — Seahawks had the week off but Michael in North Admiral keeps the spirit alive:
MIDNIGHT ADDITION: Dave in Westwood says he spent the “bye week” productively too:
Sandi writes to say she found a “small female white poodle in the Genesee area” today. We’ll put you in touch if it’s yours. 6:55 PM UPDATE: Reunited. Yay!
If you haven’t bought your jack-o-lantern pumpkin(s) yet, you might want to check out Erik’s Alki Pumpkin Patch before dusk. As for those of you who not only have pumpkins but have also carved them, share your pix with WSB-land! Here’s the first batch, courtesy of the Grr Family:
In the tradition of Graham Street Apartments=Strata, etc., yet another California Avenue condo conversion has its fancy new name. The lettering above for West Water has just appeared on all the exterior fancying-up that workers have been doing at the former Watermarke Apartments (6960-6970 California, chronicled here in August and in September) for the past several weeks. West Water’s future website promises these will, of course, be “luxury condominiums.” (Found the complex’s pre-conversion sales price, $13 million, on this site, along with sales data on several other WS buildings we are now researching. EARLY MONDAY ADDENDUM: That brokerage site also has a blog, with what appears to be the behind-the-scenes story of this building’s sale.) Before/after pix (not the same exact angle but close enough) — one month ago, then today:
Earlier this month, the city invited citizens to an event to learn about the “multi-family code (zoning) update” in the works. It wasn’t in West Seattle but it was for the whole city; the topic may sound dry but for all the times we’ve all talked about development and zoning and city regulations and how did project X get through and … it’s important. Junction Neighborhood Organization (JuNO) president Erica Karlovits went to that event and kindly shared notes so we can all have the details of what was discussed, what these changes might mean for development here (and citywide), and what you might want to contact the City Council about before they vote on all this in the coming months:Read More
Remember the wild lightning-storm shots last month from Joe LeBlanc? This time (thanks, Joe!), he is sharing incredible views — again from Alki Point — of last night’s sunset:
High-school football playoff victory tonight for West Seattle HS: Wildcats 26, Bishop Blanchet 7. Next weekend, WSHS plays Evergreen.
35th is blocked off from Myrtle to Webster. Police officers are in the street investigating something; there was a medic call at Fire Station 37 (inside the blocked-off zone) earlier, but no details.
If you take kids to the Farmers’ Market, save extra time tomorrow so they can participate in pumpkin decorating. Or you might want to save extra time anyway, since there’s a lot to love on the weekly “Ripe & Ready” list from the folks who run the markets citywide:Read More
We can’t zoom this taken-on-the-fly photo any closer — but this banner spotted on the Fauntleroy overpass about an hour ago says, “Help 7-year-old Dylan Fight Leukemia!” and gives the name Phil Remlinger and a phone number (206, didn’t catch the rest). Can’t find any obvious corroboration online for Dylan or Phil (closest we have found is a Tacoma first-grader named Dylan who’s fighting leukemia) — if anyone knows more about this, e-mail us. It’s the second one we’ve seen pop up on the much-policed overpass in the past few days (the other one was a birthday wish that was up in the morning, gone by evening):
(Hi! If you are finding this post because of a 2008 search for Junction Trick-or-Treat info: the event is Saturday, October 25, 1-3 pm; we have tons more Halloween – and winter holiday – event info here – thanks!)
(Original 2007 post follows) As you can see in this photo looking up the sidewalk along California, north from Easy Street — it was elbow-to-elbow, mask-to-mask for this afternoon’s Junction trick-or-treating:
Along that stretch, the treat scene outside Coffee to a Tea with Sugar:
And it seems the Hi-Yu Parade is not the only time you can spot pirates in The Junction’s walk-all-ways intersection:
More business trick-or-treating coming up on Halloween — Admiral merchants 3-6 pm, Westwood Village 5-7 pm (these and other Halloween night events here).
The most unusual something-o-lantern we saw while out on a long walk today:
If you’ve got a great something-o-lantern (traditional pumpkins are great, too), send us a photo, or if you see something awesomely Halloweenish but don’t have a camera, send us the location, since we’ll be out and about taking pix, too.
Halloween itself may not be till Wednesday but you’d never know that with all the activities this weekend. (Some calendar synergy finally comes into play next year when it’s on Friday, and 2009 on Saturday.) You can see the full list in the latest edition of the WSB West Seattle Weekend Lineup, but here are more of today’s highlights (graced by good weather, too!):
SPIDER-POWERED CARS: Happening 10 am-1 pm @ Hotwire Coffee on the north edge of The Junction, cool Halloween craftmaking to benefit animal rescuers.
TRICK OR TREAT IN THE JUNCTION: Big fun expected throughout the business district in the heart of West Seattle, 1-3 pm.
HALLOWEEN IN THE FOREST: Two sessions tonight @ Camp Long.
FAMILY REUNION IN HELL: At Skylark, starting at 9 pm.
WHO’S MORE HALLOWEENISH THAN ‘BAT BOY’? ArtsWest presents a special late performance tonight at 11 (in addition to the regular show at 7:30).
We’ve been tracking the Admiral Theater‘s evolution in recent months (scroll down its category page for archived posts); today, there’s a nice feature about the Admiral in the P-I. Reporter Kery Murakami had asked us, while working on the article, if we had any Admiral memories; as we told Kery, unfortunately we don’t — unless you count having watched “Garfield The Movie” there a few years back and almost fainting with laughter at the clumsy product-placement overkill — but we’re glad Kery found some West Seattleites who do. The Admiral will be jumping tonight, by the way, with the “Rocky Horror” Halloween bash, featuring live music from Sister Hyde, 9:30-2 am, $15.
Getting into and out of West Seattle via the high bridge will be a logistical challenge this morning, 1-10 am, because the city’s closing most on- and off-ramps to get storm drains in shape for winter. Full details here.
Every city-run community center in West Seattle had a Halloween/Fall carnival tonight; we stopped briefly at Southwest Community Center to check out the decor:
The signature event at the adjacent Southwest Pool happens this Sunday — a Halloween family swim at 2 pm, with pool games including the chance to swim among floating pumpkins. (Family swim means kids under 12 must have parents in the water with them, regardless of how well the kids can swim.) Tomorrow afternoon, it’s West Seattle’s best-known Halloween event — trick-or-treating in The Junction, 1-3 pm. See the WSB West Seattle Weekend Lineup for dozens more fun options. Side note, one thing that’s got us a shade unsettled this weekend — the Saturday night before Halloween is traditionally the night the clocks get set back, but not this year (good news for partiers); that’ll happen on Saturday night 11/3 (technically Sunday morning 11/4).
Several West Seattle projects turn up in the latest edition of the city’s Land Use Information Bulletin:
JUNCTION MEGA-PROJECT BEHIND PETCO: A land-use decision is in for this 7-story, 136-apartment, 5K-sf-retail project, to be called “Mural” (more info here on the developer’s website). Construction permits are the next step.
4116 CALIFORNIA: Land-use decision on a 4-story, 40-apartment, ground-level-retail building proposed here. (map)
3636 BEACH DRIVE: Application filed to officially reclassify this one lot into five; townhouse permit already issued for this site. (map)
WEST SEATTLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH ADDITION: The land-use decision is in for a three-story structure adjacent to the church. (The project is explained on the church’s website.)
We’ve said it dozens of times and want to say it again today: West Seattle Blog works because of you. The photos, the information, the tips, the rumors, the questions, the comments, the announcements, or even simply reading WSB and using the info to become more involved in community events and concerns … thank you to everyone who contributes in every way. That said, we have a big shoutout today to someone who agreed to cover the White Center/South Delridge Community Safety meeting for WSB last night, when we realized neither WSB editor could go. Here’s his report, full of information that might be of value to you even if that’s not your end of WS, including more on the latest West Seattle crime trends:
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By Evan Baumgardner
WSB contributor
This was my first time attending a Community Safety Meeting. I have to say, it was a real eye-opener for me, and I highly recommend checking one of these out if you haven’t yet. …Read More
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