day : 12/12/2007 11 results

Denny-Sealth shared campus: NOT a done deal after all?

So suggested Sealth teacher Delfino Munoz toward the end of tonight’s Westwood Neighborhood Council meeting to update the project status; he was followed by West Seattle’s new school-board rep Steve Sundquist saying the board’s trying to get a legal opinion on whether they do indeed have the power to cancel the plan – if they wanted to. Bottom line, now more than ever is your time to speak out, if you have a strong opinion on the proposal either way; WNC president Steve Fischer provided lots of resources tonight on how to do that. Here’s our detailed report (updated 11:59 pm):Read More

West Seattle Christmas lights, 12/12/07

December 12, 2007 11:06 pm
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 |   Gatewood | Holidays | West Seattle Christmas lights

Two pix again tonight – this first one hit the WSB inbox just as we were getting ready to publish this item:

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First one is from Greg, and it’s at 4117 38th SW, east of The Junction; second one is on Gatewood Hill, on 37th SW north of Kenyon. Both are on our updated-nightly clickable West Seattle Christmas lights map, viewable any time on the WSB Holidays page, but getting to be so lively, we also wanted to show it off here:


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Schooner Exact scores Award #1

schoonerexactaward.jpgWest Seattle-based Schooner Exact Brewing Co. is celebrating its first award — at last weekend’s 3rd annual Winter Beer Festival, their “Hoppy Holidays” brew got 3rd place in the People’s Choice competition. If you want to try this award-winner, Marcus and company @ Schooner Exact say it’ll be available later this week at Beveridge Place Pub in Morgan Junction (which by the way appears to be making great headway on the new location next door; we’ll be checking with them soon for an official update).

Tree view in Seaview

December 12, 2007 6:11 pm
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 |   Neighborhoods | Seaview | Seen around town

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Bill Barna (disclosure: WSB sponsor) sent the photo (thanks!) with word that a big tree-planting project is under way on a number of streets in Seaview – this photo is from 49th south of Alaska.

Reader report: Apparent car break-in on California

December 12, 2007 5:39 pm
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 |   Crime | West Seattle news

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Hope that’s not YOUR car. Sarah Davies spotted it and sent the photo along with this – we share it as an alert to anyone else who parks in the area:

I passed this car on my walk home today around 4 pm in the 2100 block of California Ave SW. Looks like someone smashed the passenger window and grabbed the stereo (along with any valuables) in broad daylight.

Sarah hadn’t reported it as of our e-mail exchange but we urged her to call police, which is also our reminder to you if you see anything suspicious (or overtly criminal, of course). Keep their non-emergency number handy: (206) 625-5011.

Cool cars at college

December 12, 2007 3:24 pm
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 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

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West Seattle’s own South Seattle Community College just dedicated its expanded Automotive Collision Repair training facility – with $1.7 million in improvements, including new painting and paint-prep facilities. We weren’t able to attend the dedication but asked SSCC’s Michael May for pix and he kindly obliged. Some of the work will involve cool restored classic cars like the ones shown above; more pix ahead:Read More

Also on the demolition front – Schuck’s is closer

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It was really exciting about an hour ago – got a note from Todd that a backhoe had shown up at the burned-out ex-Schuck’s (California/Charlestown) — we stopped what we were doing, grabbed the cameras and raced (well, as fast as legally possible) down because this is one demolition we don’t want to miss — unfortunately, as we, and Todd, subsequently found out, looks like the backhoe is just scooping up the debris cleared from inside the building last week. (We’re going to check again in a bit just in case.) Thanks to Todd for the tip and the photo.

Demolition north of The Junction: Green goners

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The view this morning from the alley behind 4116 California, where the old green rentals are coming down to make way for apartments and retail (we mentioned the demolition permit just two days ago).

Upzone update: Where does it go from here?

upzonescreengrab.jpgLast night’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting spent more than an hour focusing on the much-discussed upzoning proposal for both sides of California between Hanford and Hinds (and a little further south on the west side, as shown on the city map at left). At the heart of this discussion: What happens next? Association president Mark Wainwright thinks the property owners, represented by Josh Stepherson (who attended last night’s meeting) and longtime local real-estate/property-management partners Roger Cayce and Mike Gain, should pull the proposal and start over. But that was just one of the suggestions at last night’s meeting.Read More

Traffic alert: Fender-bender on The Bridge

Leave a few minutes early if you come from the Fauntleroy end of The Bridge – there’s a four-car fender-bender blocking the left lane on the eastbound side, roughly parallel with Delridge. Note the solid block of headlights in the background of this west-facing bridgecam (8:35 AM UPDATE: the city has shifted the camera angle, and it’s now simply showing the backup, still looking west):

Here’s the backup on Fauntleroy (camera pointing east):

8:18 AM SIDE NOTE: We just heard the first radio traffic report about the Bridge problem on our news station of choice — one hour after it happened. As with other matters of WS-specific interest, we will do our best to monitor traffic trouble for you during rush hours, and we also appreciate your help — if you see a problem on a route into, out of, or within West Seattle, you can call or text us at 206-293-6302 (2062936302@vmobl.com) and one of us will post as soon as possible to get the word out.

Happening tonight: 2 meetings on multi-million-$ projects

DENNY-SEALTH UPDATE: It’s been a few months since the last general update on what’s going on with this fast-track Seattle Public Schools project to consolidate the neighboring middle and high schools on one campus. Tonight, the Westwood Neighborhood Council sponsors a gathering to get out the latest info. Read more here, including the meeting agenda. It all starts at 7:30 pm @ Southwest Community Center.

HIAWATHA PLAYFIELD IMPROVEMENTS: The city will present details on improvements to the field, iighting, and more that have been years in the making; read more here. This meeting happens at 6:30 tonight @ Hiawatha Community Center. (Got the reminder about this last night at the monthly meeting of the Admiral Neighborhood Association, where the main topic was the California/Hanford/Hinds upzone proposal; our full writeup on that is coming up a little later this morning.)