West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Just out of the WSB inbox:
Our car was just broken into in the last hour. We live by 53rd and Andover . Our friend’s car was also broken into several blocks away.
10:55 PM UPDATE: After talking with police, the reader also reports the dispatcher said the thieves appear to be “looking for ID info, car registrations and anything with your photo on it (like work ID’s). We only lost a CD and a video game … I think.”
Tonight’s sunset at Lincoln Park, from WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham (prints of his WSB photos and other work are available at his site, mattdurhamphotography.com). We have three other seaside scenes to share, these taken by Mac Lerch south of Alki Point:
Any birders recognize that last group? The wings look ternlike but the only terns we’ve seen around here are white.
In east West Seattle, Cottage Grove Park “needs a tot lot,” according to North Delridge community organizers who are determined to make one happen. They say the park originally was supposed to have play equipment for 2- to 5-year-olds as well as the older kids, but the “tot lot” didn’t make the $ cut; now they’re ready to make it happen anyway. Can you help them — with ideas, materials, time? Join them for their first discussion tomorrow at Bubbles on Delridge (map), 4:30 pm. (If you can’t be there but might be able to help, e-mail betsy@hoffmeisters.com)
Heavy-equipment cleanup under way this afternoon along Harbor Ave, just southeast of the complex in which Sleepless Coffee nestles:
No development proposals in the work for this parcel so far as we can tell; however, we’re experiencing memory loss — wasn’t this the “other” parcel with one of the famous old boats? It’s not the one we showed here – that’s still intact (so to speak) a few blocks southeast.
*If you are coming here from the Sustainable WS newsletter, welcome, and please click the West Seattle Weekend Lineup category link beneath the headline to find the current WSWL … thank you!*
The last full weekend of February is full of fun … from a pancake breakfast to a soup and chili cookoff, from a pruning workshop to an open house for the Fire Station 37 project, from Parents’ Afternoon Out and Parents’ Night Out child-care offerings to Sunday fundraisers to help a brave child and a beloved pet. We’ve listed 39 events:Read More
Updated information from the Seattle Fire Department is that up to 600 gallons of dimethyl carbonate got into Elliott Bay after the Terminal 5 spill early this morning involving a punctured container being offloaded from the Hyundai Patriot. SFD was “wrapping up” its role in the operation as of early afternoon, with other agencies still involved in containment and cleanup. The fire department says no one was hurt.
Spotted by the WSB Sales Guy while out on rounds.
With the next public meeting set for the Morgan Junction park design, seems like a good time to update the Myrtle Reservoir park project, since it’s on a similar timeline. Virginia Hassinger from Seattle Parks tells WSB the next public meeting for Myrtle is not set yet because “we have several site specific details we are still discussing with Seattle Public Utilities.” However, according to two other Parks officials, Colleen Browne and Kevin Stoops, when the final proposed Myrtle design is presented, it will include some sort of skateboard feature. That’s what so much discussion has centered around in previous public meetings (WSB coverage of last month’s meeting is here). The schematic option below, from the 1/23/08 meeting, shows the area of the park proposed for the potential skatepark feature):
The City Skatepark Plan had earmarked either Myrtle or High Point for a skateboard feature, and Browne says it makes sense to proceed with proposing it at Myrtle because that’s the “bird in hand” — a project under development now, while in comparison, there is no new park development of any type currently on the drawing board at the High Point site. Another question had been where the money for a Myrtle skateboard feature would come from (also discussed at last month’s meeting), since the Skatepark Plan did not come with funding of its own; Stoops tells WSB it would come out of the Myrtle park’s budget. “It’s a million dollars,” he noted, referring to the budget, saying this would be just another feature to be budgeted in, “like landscaping (etc.).” Hassinger says comments on all aspects of the project continue to be welcome; her contact info is on the official project webpage.
A shelter for up to 20 men that was located in West Seattle until a year ago just moved back, according to a flyer received by neighbors (read a scanned copy of it here). The Calvary Lutheran Shelter, operated by SHARE, was at the church of that same name at 35th/Cloverdale from 1999 till last year, when CL sold the site to the former Gatewood Baptist Church (now Life Church). 
Now, as of last Friday, it’s located in the Church of the Nazarene building at 42nd/Juneau (photo left; map here), according to the flyer, which says there’s an informational meeting “for immediate neighbors” this Sunday night. The flyer includes info about how the shelter is managed and notes that the church has “temporarily hosted several other SHARE shelters in the past 5 years.” We have a message out to SHARE to ask a few followup questions; if you are interested in more information about the need for places for homeless people to go, the recent One-Night Count results are enlightening, as are pages from other groups such as the Committee to End Homelessness in King County. 11:18 AM UPDATE: Just talked with a rep from SHARE, and here’s what else we found out:Read More
Got some notes from folks awakened by helicopters: TV choppers covering this spill at Terminal 5. (Which part of the port is that, exactly, you ask? Here’s the official Port of Seattle directions.)
No, that’s not a file photo of kids in class BEFORE the midwinter-break week that wraps up today for Seattle Public Schools; those are kids in class DURING the break, photographed at Denny Middle School on Thursday, getting math coaching from teacher Gary Lai as part of a reading/math camp that’s been under way since Wednesday — with free lunch every day plus a bowling party when it’s all over today. It’s one of two midwinter-break camps wrapping up at Denny today — the other is 4th-8th grade music camp, where we videotaped participants on Thursday getting ready for a casual concert they’re planning today. Denny’s well-known music director Marcus Pimpleton is leading this first-ever program, with help from some student assistants, such as 11th-grader (and Denny grad) Chloe seen here helping a breakout group improvise a drum riff:
Another set of drummers worked indoors – the steel-drum players; what a lovely sound, even in short practice bursts:Read More
Starting a week from Sunday, the megachurch branch on 35th says no more shuttle buses – it’s asking all its attendees to park in the lots at the old Hughes (South Lake) school. Here’s the announcement (which doesn’t explain why the shuttles are going away; perhaps they’ll be needed for the new Belltown branch opening in March, plus their WS holding lot is slated for development).
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