West Seattle, Washington
18 Thursday
WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham shares that image of a boy walking on driftwood logs at Lincoln Park at sunset, with the ferries Evergreen State and Tillikum passing in the background. (Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
For everyone who wonders when construction will finally start on Fauntleroy Place, aka “the Whole Foods development” at the current east-of-Junction site of Schuck’s/Hancock Fabrics, we check in periodically with its developer, BlueStar Management. Today, BlueStar’s Eric Radovich told WSB it’s looking now like groundbreaking will be in “late April or early May” — a little later than last estimate — “due to a handful of minor details being wrapped up this month.”
That’s the sign at 35th/Holden Chevron, about an hour ago. This may not be the only West Seattle station where regular is posted at $3.50 or higher, but it’s the first one we saw (and we did pass about half the other West Seattle stations in the 20 minutes before this sighting). We’re not planning another full roundup till the weekend — in the “baseline” one we did two nights ago, this station was at $3.46/regular, $3.69/super (the two grades for which we noted prices at all WS stations) — but we did want to make note of first $3.50 (higher than regular ever reached in WS during last year’s spring run-up).
From the Southwest Precinct Public Safety Newsletter just sent out by SWP Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow – don’t miss the last paragraph:
The T9 Traffic Squad focuses on aggressive drivers. They drive the Dodge Charger Police cars. The T9 Squad, along with other members of the Traffic Section, issued the following school zone citations between September 01, 2007 through February 11, 2008:
* Arbor Heights – total – 94
65 Speed, 1 Pass School Bus, 28 other –
* Highland Park – total – -540
363 Speed, 4 Pass School Bus, 1 R/W Ped, 172 other
* Holy Family – total – 245
189 Speed, 1 Pass School Bus, 55 other
* Sanislo – total – 56
47 Speed, 9 other –
* Total – 935
Last week the T9 Squad started working the school zone at Gatewood Elementary in 7000 block of Fauntleroy. Yesterday Officer Cavin stopped a driver traveling 45 mph while using the center turn lane to pass 6 other cars in the 20 mph school zone. The driver said he was late getting to the Ferry Terminal. He was cited for Reckless Driving.
For the next two months, donations to either or both of the two food banks that serve areas of West Seattle — the West Seattle Food Bank and White Center Food Bank — will bring the agencies and their clients an extra boost. This news release explains why:
$1 MILLION FEINSTEIN CHALLENGE TO BENEFIT LOCAL Food BankS
March and April donations to West Seattle Food Bank and White Center Food Bank will qualify for Feinstein Challenge
The West Seattle Food Bank and White Center Food Bank are encouraging community members to make donations between March 1st and April 30th so they can be submitted for matching funds from the Feinstein Foundation’s $1 Million Challenge.
For the past 11 years Rhode Island philanthropist, Alan Shawn Feinstein, has made $1 Million available to help anti-hunger agencies. For every cash and food donation received by the end of April the Feinstein Foundation will add a financial contribution.
“It may be hard for many to believe,†said Fran Yeatts, executive director of the West Seattle Food Bank, “but more than 3,200 families visited the West Seattle Food Bank in 2007. That’s 10% more than the year before. And the White Center Food Bank served 3,812 families, a 16% increase from 2006. So it’s obvious that the threat of hunger is very real in both our communities.â€
“The more we receive during the challenge period,†said Ms. Yeatts, “the greater the match we’ll get from the Feinstein Foundation, which will help us provide for the babies, teens, adults and seniors who depend on our two organizations .â€
For the West Seattle Food Bank, donations may be mailed to 3419 SW Morgan, Seattle, WA 98126. For information about the West Seattle Food Bank’s programs benefited by the $1 Million Challenge, visit www.westseattlefoodbank.org or contact Fran Yeatts at (206) 932-9023, or email wsfb@teleport.com.
For the White Center Food Bank, donations may be mailed to 10829 8th Avenue SW, Seattle, WA 98146. For information about the White Center Food Bank’s programs benefited by the $1 Million Challenge, visit www.whitecenterfoodbank.org or contact Rick Jump at (206) 762-2848, or email wcfb@drizzle.com.
Information about the Feinstein Foundation and the $1 Million Challenge, visit www.feinsteinfoundation.org
At least we hope that’s the right neighborhood description for this new home at 10012 47th SW. It drew a crowd today as part of a media-and-industry-invited event touting it as the first West Coast home certified as “Fortified … for safer living” by the Institute for Business and Home Safety (an insurance industry-supported group), a certification that means it’s “disaster-resistant.” Among other aspects of the house (listed for sale for $1,695,000, by the way) that make it disaster-resistant — strong enough to withstand 130-mph winds and big earthquakes — is the fact it’s framed with insulated concrete forms rather than wood. We’ll be adding some video and more info to this report in the next hour or so, but in case you were in that area and wondered what all the fuss was about (one neighbor stopped us to ask, in fact), here’s the baseline. ADDED 12:51 PM: Since we promised in the comments – here’s the first clip, the view (main-floor deck):
Next: less visual but more central to the disaster-resistant concept, the concrete forms:Read More
That was one of Mom’s favorite sayings, applicable in almost any circumstance. We invoke it this morning as part of a request for help: A grass-roots West Seattle-wide disaster-readiness effort is under way, and Cindi Barker from the Morgan Community Association is creating a list of neighborhood point people to help. These can’t just be the same neighborhood-council leaders who already have taken on an Atlas-esque amount of tasks – some additional help is needed. It’s not time-intensive but it’s a good deed you can do on behalf of your neighbors. Right now, people are needed to volunteer for the Admiral and North Delridge neighborhoods. You can e-mail her to find out more, no obligation — cbarker (at) qwest.net. (And you’ll be hearing more here in a few weeks about quick, easy ways to get more peace of mind via home preps. Later today, also, you might get a few hints; we are about to head out to tour a new local home touted as “disaster-resistant.”)
The view from Constellation Park this morning, as one last stretch of fog reached out from the passageway to Bremerton, behind the south end of Bainbridge Island.
TONIGHT: Four restaurants in West Seattle participate in the Dine for Darfur fundraiser (more info here).
TONIGHT: Family Night at Chief Sealth High School is tonight, 6-8:30 pm, potluck dinner plus speakers with info on helping your kids stay safe and healthy in a challenging world. Here’s the official flyer.
NEXT WEEK: Just announced by West Seattle Second Thursday Art Walk organizers — three of West Seattle’s hot boutiques will join with the relatively new Junction branch of Twilight Art Collective to present “wearable art,” models and all, during the March edition. 6-9 pm Thursday 3/13; more info on the Art Walk blog. If you’ve been waiting for the winter chill to pass before checking out the Art Walk, no excuse left now! (Plus, with Daylight-Saving Time starting this weekend, it’ll still be light for the first hour or so.) ADDED 10:24 AM: Here’s the full list of participants (23 – new record!), plus the official map, just e-mailed by Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) proprietor Lora Lewis:Read More
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