West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Just in from the 34th District Democrats‘ website: Sharon Nelson of Maury Island, chief of staff for West Seattle’s King County Councilmember Dow Constantine, was chosen tonight as the 34th DDs’ recommended choice for State Representative. (Photo at right, courtesy 34th DDs.) If the King County Council goes with the recommendation to appoint her, Nelson would succeed Joe McDermott, appointed to the State Senate last month after Erik Poulsen quit. Read more about Nelson here. The 34th DDs say the KC Council’s decision could come as soon as Monday.
Thanks to Jenny Simonds for e-mailing us about this on Halloween Eve; we didn’t mention it last night because of the cloud cover, but tonight it’s clear again, so if you’re up late tonight or on subsequent clear nights, you might want to check it out for yourself: Comet Holmes has suddenly brightened. This article has lots of info and near-nightly updates. Jenny explains:
If you look northeast, maybe a teeny bit East of NE, you can see 3 stars that are almost vertical to each other. Apparently these are part of the constellation Perseus, for those of you who are familiar with Perseus. (They’re actually a bit more prominent than what the picture shows.) To the left of the bottom two stars there’s a 3rd star – but if you look at it closely, it refuses to be a point of light, just a tight smudge. That’s the comet!
Jenny offers another link about the comet, and also this handy composite showing how to look for it:
DOG OWNERS, TAKE HEED: A post on the Westcrest Park Off-Leash Area Yahoo! group says Animal Control officers were at the park this week citing owners of license-less dogs. (The crackdown’s been under way citywide all year.)
BEACH DRIVE RESIDENTS ON ALERT: Beach Drive Blog shares a warning about car prowlers.
END OF AN ERA: We didn’t realize how sad we are going to be on Election Day until we saw the phrase in “print” in the online version of the newsletter for Fauntleroy Church, which plans a bake sale and bazaar for visiting voters (and others) that day and begins its pitch for volunteers this way: “For this last in-person election ever in King County …” BWAAAA! Seriously, we’re sad. We’ve voted in person every election, every place we’ve ever lived, since the very first elections for which we were eligible after turning 18, and as you have probably figured out by now, that wasn’t exactly yesterday. For some, trying to carve out time to get to “the polls” may have been a hassle, but for us we always found a way to make it a wonderful ritual and a time to remember how lucky we are. Sitting at the cluttered table marking up the ballot at our leisure just won’t be the same.
-Some especially excellent comments today, and we want to call your attention to them in case you don’t usually read the comment sections of WSB posts. Below our report about the Northwest Art & Frame broken window, we just heard from “TR,” the early-morning dog-walker who spotted the damage and called authorities. And after this post updating the “West Seattle Art Attack” pumpkin surprises, we heard from people (Randie and Ben) at two of the houses “hit” by WSAA. Thanks to everybody for coming to WSB and adding new information!
-Several people e-mailed us yesterday about a mysterious sign near “Walking on Logs,” close to the relentlessly patrolled area where political signs have been turning up, and coming down. Last night we did pull over to check out that sign — it is a printout of the city sign ordinance, with the relevant section highlighted in a marker color that we can’t help describing as “angry red.” We’ll see shortly if they have gone after the signs just put up by a certain City Council candidate who seems determined to let us all know she (hearts) The Viaduct. (Including in-person sign-waving at 35th & Fauntleroy this morning.)
-If you’re interested in acupuncture, a reader e-mailed us recently suggesting that more people might want to know about a community acupuncture clinic at The Mount on Monday afternoons, run by Angie Hughes. “Reasonable price and an underutilized resource,” according to the reader, so we’re tacking it up on our equivalent of the virtual bulletin board, with this post.
It’s been a few days since we put out the last WSB Reader Recommendation Request; we’ve got a few in queue, and here’s the first — it’s from Sarah in Gatewood, a West Seattle native who just moved back after 2 years away (welcome back!):
I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion on a good, very basic, beginners, yoga class in the area. I have never taken one before, but am really anxious to try. I am really not too interested in the Bikram classes (the only ones I could find for beginners), as I think they might be too intense for a brand newbie, but really would welcome any suggestions.
Leave yours as a comment on this post; remember, all previous RRRs are archived here.
At the court hearing we reported on last week, the lawyer for the 17-year-old suspect in the October 13th fatal shooting at 59th/Admiral said he would argue for his client to be set free on his own recognizance, released to “home detention,” or at least for his bail to be reduced. Then, earlier this week, we told you the lawyer’s rationale for that request — he contends his client was sexually abused for years by the man he is accused of shooting, has no history of violence, and would not be a danger to the community. Today, we have just learned from court documents posted online that King County Superior Court Judge Michael Trickey did grant a bail reduction earlier this week — cutting the amount of bail the suspect would have to post to get out, from the original $500,000, to the new amount of $200,000. However, according to the online jail roster, he is not out yet. He’s due back in court next Wednesday.
If you’ve been through The Junction today, you may have noticed the broken front window at Northwest Art & Frame. Manager Debbie just told a WSB team member that they don’t know when or how it happened — obviously sometime Halloween night — but they do know this: Somebody out walking their dog very early this morning noticed the broken window. Nobody of course was at NW A & F at that hour, but the dog-walker found somebody to tell, next door at Bakery Nouveau. They in turn called the Seattle Fire Department, which sent a crew, who cleaned up the broken glass, and put up some temporary covering (Debbie says Bakery Nouveau gave them treats in appreciation). Whoever the dog-walker was, NW A & F is very appreciative.
Two clips from West Seattle’s own homegrown Skeleton Theatre last night; you may recognize the soundtrack. (Read all about Skeleton Theatre, including where and when to go see it for Night 2 tonight, on the ST site.)
(video no longer available due to host’s shutdown, sorry!)
As we reported earlier this week, a hugely important date in the Water Taxi’s future comes next Thursday (11/8), 2 pm @ the county courthouse, when King County Councilmembers — 
meeting as the King County Ferry District board — have the one and only public hearing about what the KCFD should be doing in the year to come. In-person testimony is the most impressive, but if you absolutely can’t be there, the online form for your Water Taxi “testimony” is now ready, as promised by West Seattle’s KC Councilmember Dow Constantine. Find it here. Councilmembers will be especially interested in hearing your personal Water Taxi stories and why you support it, as well as affirmation for the positive effects of using boat transit to get traffic off the roads (and, in the case of the Vashon foot ferries that KCFD also will run, getting traffic off the state ferries from Vashon and therefore off already-busy WS arterials like Fauntleroy). P.S. Two things — remember tomorrow’s the Water Taxi’s last day of the year; also, check back here for more on the proposed operations/funding plan for the Ferry District, once it’s made public later today.
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