West Seattle, Washington
11 Thursday
1:20 AM UPDATE: Yet another update from King County’s elections dept., which appears to be finally calling it quits for the night after one more vote update. Now 99% of precincts are counted, but of course thousands of votes mailed as late as Election Day will still be trickling in. According to the county site, the votes counted so far represent 25% of registered voters in King County. One shift in the latest count: Incumbent Alec Fisken is now behind Bill Bryant in the race for Seattle Port Commission Position 5.
11:55 PM UPDATE: Yet another new count is out in the past half-hour. The Seattle Port Commission results are worth watching, given West Seattle’s ties to port operations. Incumbent Bob Edwards is losing; incumbent Alec Fisken is barely ahead in a squeaker.
11 PM UPDATE: The second batch of King County votes is in. No changes on the races mentioned below. Steve Sundquist looks to be on his way in as West Seattle’s next school-board rep, still ahead of Maria Ramirez 60%-40%. And Roads & Transit Prop 1 is losing 44%-56% — back to the drawing board (again) for the people trying to work out transportation solutions. Next big transportation issue to be tackled here in King County, remember, is the Ferry District, which includes Water Taxi operation, with that major public hearing coming up Thursday.
9:40 PM UPDATE: If you are waiting breathlessly for the next round of updated vote counts — King County says it’s not planning to release that next round till about 10:30. (But you can keep checking the links below just to see if it happens sooner!) Other notes from the first round of results: The City Council turned out to have a couple interesting races. Venus Velazquez (who has WS ties) is well behind Bruce Harrell; David Della is losing in a big way to Tim Burgess. In the school board districts outside West Seattle, the incumbents who are behind, at least in the first round of returns, are Sally Soriano (who has WS ties) and Darlene Flynn.
8:20 PM UPDATE: First results are in. King County voters are going against Roads/Transit, 45-55%. Steve Sundquist leads Maria Ramirez for West Seattle’s school board seat, 60%-40% (and two incumbents are losing in other races). Incumbent Dow Constantine leads challenger John Potter for West Seattle’s King County Council seat, 75%-25%. Here are the direct links for the latest numbers in races of particular West Seattle interest:
Roads & Transit Proposition 1 and statewide ballot measures
King County Council including District 8 (West Seattle/Vashon Island)
Seattle School Board including District 6 (West/South Seattle)
Seattle Port Commission (two races)
Seattle City Council Positions 1, 3, 5 (including West Seattle’s Tom Rasmussen, who had no opponent)
Seattle City Council Positions 7 & 9
All other results from King County & its cities/districts
Between the end of tonight’s bridge backup and the start of tonight’s election results … we wanted to take a moment to share this happy e-mail from Kathy Harper:
West Seattle Blog readers should know that West Seattle’s own Junior Football Team, the SWAC Cougars, won the Puget Sound Junior Football League Championship in the Bantam Division (Ages 9 to 12) with a victory over the Benson Bruins (7-6) this past Sunday in Auburn. These boys went nearly undefeated in their division with a final record of 9 and 1. They will go on to play the Puyallup Rough Riders in the Junior Football Super Bowl this Sunday in Sumner. Our season is almost over for this year, but join us next fall for another exciting season of football. Home games are played at the Southwest Athletic Complex on Thistle, across from Chief Sealth High School. SWAC is a nonprofit community organization that provides a healthy environment where youth learn teamwork, sportsmanship, and athletic skills. For more information, go to www.swacfootball.org.
We wish the Cougars good luck in Sunday’s big game!
6:35 PM UPDATE: All westbound lanes of the high bridge are open again, after being closed for 4-plus hours just past Admiral because of a motorcycle accident that injured two men. Check the “live” cameras in the post below for the latest views of the backup that will take a while to clear. EARLIER: We also have received e-mail about an accident on Delridge near the currently empty ex-Boren Junior High – the 911 site shows crews have cleared but that doesn’t mean the road is cleared, so if you are planning to head that far on Delridge, beware.
The SDOT camera that points west shows the backup being directed off at the Admiral/Avalon exit right now (the bridge is still closed westbound just beyond that point because of the motorcycle crash). Here’s the link; refresh this page for the latest image – NOTE: the city moves this camera from time to time so if you are seeing a blank image, we have no control over that – if it doesn’t come back soon, we’ll take the camera off this page but you can keep checking the WS CAMS tab at the top of this page, which has links to freeway cameras all over the area:
One report quotes the city as saying the westbound closure just past Admiral is expected to last a few more hours — so alternate routes are highly encouraged. Remember that you can head south on 99 and then up through White Center to double back into West Seattle, in addition to other alternates such as the “low bridge.” (If you have other advice for your fellow westbound drivers, please leave a comment on this post! We’ll keep it at the top of the page till this is all cleared up, with updates as available.) ADDED 5:30 PM: The city bridge cam looking east (toward 99 and I-5) is important too – showing what a mess this still is, and is likely to be until at least 7:30 pm, according to the latest reports:
Thanks to reader tip: The Seattle woman held in a European murder case (British newspaper story here) lists West Seattle as her hometown on MySpace. One public database check would seem to correlate.
Bad accident, involving two motorcycles, west end of westbound, between Admiral exit and “Walking on Logs.” 3:45 PM UPDATE: Our traffic spotter just went by in the other direction and says eastbound is open, though busy, but the high bridge westbound is COMPLETELY closed just past the Admiral/Avalon exit, so if you’re heading west, you have to get off there. If you have to get to south West Seattle, get off sooner – take the Delridge exit – or take the low bridge.
That’s the scene after the morning voter rush at Peace Lutheran @ 39th/Thistle, with poll worker Frank at right. Conventional wisdom among poll workers seems to be that this is probably not the very last in-person election after all — looks like they’ll be working the presidential primary in February — but most likely the last “big” election, if King County really gets mail-only voting in gear for November 2008, with President, Governor, and more on the ballot. (More info on today’s election is in this earlier post; you can check here for local results and West Seattle-specific notes once the counting begins @ 8 pm.)
Two weeks have zoomed by since we brought you the West Seattle Food Bank’s request for your help this holiday season. Lots of great response so far – and room for more – literally … take a look inside the WSFB cooler; we did, during a visit to interview WSFB executive director Fran Yeatts, who narrates:
Frozen turkeys and other Thanksgiving-dinner donations will help the most people if you get them to the Food Bank by the end of next week. Meantime, Fran also told us something you probably don’t know about the people the WSFB serves:Read More
Peter McKay, the West Seattle bicyclist who survived getting shot on Delridge last week, updated his blog early today. He writes that he rode to work and back yesterday, and also shares many gracious words of appreciation for the people who took care of him, as well as for the vast majority of drivers who share the road with him without actions such as those taken by whoever shot him (still no arrests reported). P.S. The City Council has now approved the Bicycle Master Plan. This map shows what’s in it for West Seattle.
If you haven’t already voted by mail, you can vote in person (probably for the last time) 7 am-8 pm today. Here are links to the King County Voters’ Pamphlet, with details on what you’re deciding as well as arguments for/against: ballot measures here, candidates here, “video voters’ guide” here. Since there are five City Council races and two city Charter Amendments on the ballot as well, the city has its own voters guide for you (find it here). Here are a few more West Seattle specifics regarding today’s election, including exactly what Proposition 1 promises WS:Read More
They’re your one-stop shop for holiday gifts and all kinds of other surprises. Fauntleroy Church is having a bazaar and bake sale today, 8 am-6 pm, to coincide with the visit of voters (but everyone’s welcome even if you don’t vote there), Another one of the upcoming bazaars you’ll find on the WSB Events page still has room for more vendors: The Holiday Gifts & Crafts Bazaar at Elizabeth House in High Point, this Saturday, 10 am-4 pm (with a bake sale!) in the EH community room (map). One prerequisite: 10% of the proceeds must be donated to EH (find out more about it here). E-mail organizers Rose or Jean.
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