Late-night site notes: H4H reminder, plus “vote for WSB”
H4H IS DAYS AWAY: If you missed the announcement the other day, a group of energetic, creative, community-minded WSB Forum regulars have is organizing an awesome-sounding charity-benefiting event this Sunday afternoon at Beveridge Place Pub — you’re invited, and you might be able to help even if you can’t be there in person. Read all about “Handbags for Hunger” here, and join its organizers in the forums here.
VOTE FOR WSB: The group-blog site Metroblogging Seattle resumed its “blog tournament” just in time for a Final Three vote-off, and WSB is one of the final three (as is Accidental Hedonist, run by West Seattleite Kate, featured in our continuously updating Blogs section). Please consider taking a few seconds to hop over here and follow the link to vote for WSB. The “awards ceremony” will be here in West Seattle, no matter who wins – and we’re planning to show up, win or lose – 6:30-8:30 pm this Friday @ Skylark.
Morgan Junction park: Popular design, but it’s over budget
Happy crowd at tonight’s third and final public meeting about the Morgan Junction park (to be officially named later) that’s going in north of the new Beveridge Place Pub — the final design schematic, shown above, drew praise for being responsive to concerns voiced at previous meetings (including this one we covered in January, at which three design options were shown). Just one catch, revealed to the crowd of about 35 toward the end of tonight’s meeting — Parks Department project manager Virginia Hassinger — building this version of the park could cost up to $60,000 over the $367,000 budgeted for it now. ADDED 9:10 PM: what could be done to get that money — and more on what exactly the park plan involves:Read More
Junction parking discussion at JuNO: RPZs in the ‘hoods?
As promised during our briefing last month with city Transportation Department managers about the upcoming Junction parking review, 
SDOT is starting to make the rounds of West Seattle meetings to outline what’s ahead and answer questions. One of the first stops: last night’s meeting of the Junction Neighborhood Organization (JuNO), whose members have a somewhat different take on area parking issues than people who don’t live in the Junction vicinity – they are interested in possible Residential Parking Zones (RPZs), which are marked with signs like the one shown in the photo at left (from a street near the Fauntleroy ferry dock), and require residents to pay a relatively small fee for a permit exempting them from the restrictions. Here’s a city page with more about RPZs; they’re set up to help neighborhoods besieged with a large amount of non-resident parkers for long periods of time. Right now in the residential areas surrounding The Junction, the challenges are twofold: “Park-and-hiders” — people from other neighborhoods who drive and park there to get closer to major bus routes — and construction workers coming in to work on Capco Plaza (41st/42nd/Alaska) and Mural (behind Petco), a subset of parkers that will only get bigger as other projects are launched, such as Fauntleroy Place (Whole Foods) and the California/Alaska buildings that will be presented to the Southwest Design Review Board on April 10. (By the way, the location for that meeting is now set — Chief Sealth High School – and after the California/Alaska project is reviewed at 6:30, the Harbor Properties project at 4550 38th has been added for 8 pm — more on that in our next post.) At JuNO last night, Mary Catherine Snyder from SDOT outlined the process for the Junction Parking Review and answered questions about where RPZ consideration might fit in:Read More
West Seattle Crime Watch: Burglar alert near Schmitz Park
Just out of the WSB inbox, from Nancy:
This morning between 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. a home in my neighborhood on 56th Avenue SW near Hanford Avenue was broken into. They entered via the bathroom window using a lawn chair to reach it. The owner thinks the window may have been unlocked. The burglar did rummage through nearly every drawer in the house, but only took cash from a purse. The police were able to get finger prints off of her bathroom window. We also had a burglary on Frater Avenue at 57th Avenue SW last week.
The burglar is still at large and seems to be canvassing our neighborhood. Please double check to make sure your windows are locked when you leave the house. Also, if possible, remove/move anything that can easily be used at a “ladder.”
Here’s a map of the area Nancy mentioned.
Update on Fauntleroy Place update: Everybody stand down
Just alluded to this on the original post from late last night: Eric Radovich from BlueStar, developers of Fauntleroy Place (plus the forthcoming Spring Hill), says the artwork we posted, given by a rep from his company to project neighbors who showed it at last night’s JuNO meeting, is NOT a new look for the future home of Whole Foods/Hancock Fabrics — he says it is for MASSING ONLY. That means showing the approximate size and space that will be taken up by the buildings, but not their colors, decks, setbacks, etc. — he says the drawing was done so that Whole Foods could see where its entries would be. Radovich says there is not a final, final rendering yet for what Fauntleroy Place will look like, past this one that’s on the BlueStar website now:
… but architects are “on the brink” of the next one, which he reiterates will follow what the Design Review Board stipulated in previous reviews. He requested that we take down our photo of the drawing; we are honoring that request, and we have his 24-hour phone number for comment on anything else that turns up in the future. We apologize on all fronts for the fire drill – once in a while, that’s what happens in newsgathering/reporting, in all media – you report something quickly, and it turns out there’s more to the story; we are committed at WSB to as close to a perfect accuracy rate as we can get, so we certainly can, and will, do better.
Westwood loose-dog concern continues, 2 weeks later
That photo was taken today by the same Westwood neighbor who sent us the one in this report, during the aftermath of the attacking-pit-bulls-shot-by-police incident on Feb. 26. (Original coverage here; victim update here; dog-owner update here.) He writes:
We’re still struggling with the loose dog problem here in the Westwood Village neighborhood where Rosie the chihuahua and her owner were attacked last month. I wanted to ask if you could post the attached photo of two dogs running loose in the middle of Trenton Street 1/4 block from busy 16th Ave SW, along with the Animal Control number. These dogs are constantly allowed to roam free in the neighborhood. They do not appear to be dangerous animals, but they share their unsanitary droppings with all the neighbors and dig in yards and garbage cans. Also, they will one day cause a major traffic accident on 16th Ave SW. They have matted fur and look neglected. I hope that neighbors will call Animal Control and report these dogs for their own safety. I called this morning, but it usually takes 3-5 calls for Animal Control to do anything. The automated number is 206-386-7387 press 7 to report a loose dog. That is the LAST choice on the menu that you have to wait through, sheesh!
Here’s a map of 16th/Trenton (about a half-mile east of where the original attack/shooting incident happened). We’re checking with the Seattle Animal Shelter this afternoon regarding further followup on that original case, and will ask about policy on something like this.
Fauntleroy fish-hatch follow-up
If you’re a nature geek like us … you might appreciate the thrill. Just back from talking with Judy Pickens along Fauntleroy Creek, and we got to see four of the new baby salmon (mentioned here last weekend) up close and personal. They all line up and swim bravely, relentlessly, in place against the current (something most of us can identify with from time to time). Sorry we didn’t have any photographic equipment in tow that could do it justice, but it’s a great sight to see. Judy says the little fish are just a few weeks old at this point. As mentioned in this update on Fauntleroy.net, a fish biologist will be doing an official survey soon.
Liftoff at Lowman
From WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham: Dale Baker of West Seattle helps his friend launch a “Beetle Kite” from Lowman Beach Park Tuesday evening. A Beetle Kite is operated with two strings, so it can achieve precise maneuvers. (Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
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