West Seattle reps split on store beer/wine-tasting bill
The State House has given thumbs-up to the grocery-store beer/wine tasting bill, discussed here last month after e-mail from concerned Admiral resident Liz Wilhelm. At the time, she wrote “thank goodness none of our 34th District legislators support this bill” — but in addition to State Sen. Joe McDermott having voted for it in the State Senate (before Liz’s note), one of West Seattle’s two State House members, Rep. Eileen Cody, voted for it Friday. The other one, Rep. Sharon Nelson, voted no; roll-call links are on the bill’s official status page. A few interesting excerpts from the legislative staff report on the bill:
The pilot project is for 30 stores with at least six tastings (but no more than once per month) at each location between October 1, 2008, and September 30, 2009.
The pilot project locations must be equally allocated between independently-owned and chain grocery stores. To be eligible, the primary activity of the store must be the retail sale of grocery products for off-premises consumption and the store must have a fully enclosed retail area of at least 9,000 square feet. …
Control of sampling will be by hand stamps. Tastings will not be a party event.
P.S. If you’re wondering about another bill discussed here — the speeder-cam bill – it doesn’t appear to have moved out of State House committee-land.
16th/Barton crash
WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli sent that photo of cars involved in a crash that caused some trouble in the 16th/Barton vicinity (map) around midafternoon. No word of any major injuries, so far.
Another option for a farm-produce fix between Sundays
Somebody forwarded us another newsletter we weren’t signed up for (until we found the “subscribe” link moments immediately after reading it): the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center update. Plenty more is happening there than “just” arts — like this announcement of a West Seattle Farmers’ Market fixture making midweek visits:
Tiny’s Organic 2008 harvest season CSA program is coming to West Seattle, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center!! Pick up your weekly share of the best hand-picked organic fruit and vegetables from Tiny’s Organic family farm starting right here Wednesday, June 18 for 22 straight weeks.
Not only will you enjoy quite possibly the best tasting selection of fruit and vegetables ever but you’ll also receive a newsletter complete with storage tips, recipes, news from the farm and much more.
Tiny’s Organic is a local, family-owned and operated, 100% USDA and WSDA certified organic farm and orchard located in Wenatchee, growing more than 100 delicious varieties of organic fruit and vegetables. By becoming a CSA member, you’ll be feasting on Rainier cherries, Saturn Donut Peaches, Dapple Dandy Pluots, Apriums, Heirloom tomatoes, Fresh herbs, Arugula, Sweet Rainbow Carrots, a great selection of Mixed Greens and much more while enjoying only the most superb, organic, fresh-picked produce all season long.
Sign up early to reserve your harvest share! To learn more go to www.tinysorganic.com or call 206.762.0577 for more information or complete the online member application today.
The Youngstown newsletter subscription link, if you’re interested, is here. Also mentioned in the latest edition, the falafel truck that’s visiting Youngstown 11 am-1 pm Mondays (more here).
WS businesses help West Side MOPS pamper moms for a morning
West Seattle moms who belong to West Side MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) — may be feeling just a tiny bit less stressed today, if they attended the group’s annual Spa Day. 33 local businesses donated goods and services for the event — from treats to trims, massage to makeup, plus gift bags and door prizes. Here’s a quick clip of just part of the busy scene Friday morning at West Side Presbyterian Church:
West Side Presbyterian is also where West Side MOPS members regularly meet – 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month, October through May. If you want to find out more, contact info is on the group’s website.
One dog (and many cats) hoping for new homes
That’s Randy, the latest adoptable pet added to the WSB Pets page (which features adoptable pets, lost/found pets, and random pix from the WSB Pet Photos Flickr group). Not only is Randy looking for a happy new home – if you’ve got room in your home and heart for a new cat, the Seattle Animal Shelter‘s presenting an adoption event this afternoon at Southwest Community Center, featuring cats currently being cared for by volunteer foster families. (Personal aside, we found one of our two ex-shelter cats at a city foster-cat adoption event like this; she was sitting in a carrier, trembling, and seemed more than ready to go someplace good, for good, never again having to endure the indignity of show-n-tell. Of course, she has owned the house ever since.) Cats @ SWCC, noon-3 today.
Happening today: Help moms and babies
10 am-2 pm, you can be part of the Community Mother/Baby Shower organized by WestSide Baby and the Seattle South chapter of Soroptimist International. They’re collecting diapers, newborn- and toddler-size clothing, books, baby equipment, and $ donations for local families in need, as well as $ donations for the Malawi Baby Formula Fund. Just bring your donation(s) to the John L. Scott office in Westwood Village (north side of the center, in the breezeway between Bed Bath Beyond and Jamba Juice). For more on what’s happening today (and tomorrow), check our West Seattle Weekend Lineup.
Fauntleroy salmon surprise: All is not lost, after all!
(2007 view of Fauntleroy fish ladder)
Heartening news from Judy Pickens — the worst-case fears about Fauntleroy Creek‘s salmon season apparently are not coming to pass:
We DO have home hatch in Fauntleroy Creek! We had thought that all the eggs from last fall’s spawning surely washed out in the December 3 storm but not so. Several coho fry were sighted March 6 above the fish ladder and more may show up during a thorough survey. The ability of redds to survive the scouring of a major storm is remarkable and truly heartening for the future of salmon in our urban creeks.
If you’ve never been to the Fauntleroy fish ladder, it’s directly east of (and up the slope from) the ferry terminal. Read its history here.
West Seattle Crime Watch: Alki window culprit(s) update; more
From the reports at the Southwest Precinct: Remember the car-window shooting on 61st SW reported by Mark two days ago? 
A day later — yesterday around 3:30 pm — a passerby spotted “two juveniles” on the roof of a house in the same area, 3000 block of 61st SW, with suspected pellet/airsoft handguns. One of them was believed to be a 15-year-old boy who lives in that same house, but nobody was home when police arrived minutes later; no arrest yet but it’s a high-priority case. Now, the rest of the stories, including a drunken teen on the run, and stolen donations at a local school:Read More
More info on March 22-23 shutdown of The Viaduct
The state’s monthly Alaskan Way Viaduct e-mail update just came out (read it here), and it confirms the inspection shutdown previously announced for March 22-23 is planned for 6 am-6 pm each day – 
The Viaduct WILL reopen 6 pm Saturday-6 am Sunday, but the Battery Street Tunnel will stay closed for the entire weekend, 6 am Saturday 3/22 through 6 pm Sunday 3/23. Also, if you’re interested in joining a walking tour for a firsthand look at The Viaduct while it’s closed to traffic, they’re offering tours on the lower deck 9 am-noon on 3/22; no kids, no pets, and you must make a reservation — call 888/AWV-LINE or e-mail viaduct@wsdot.wa.gov.
Alki Ave paving next week
This announcement just in from the city Transportation Department:
Next week SDOT paving crews will work on Alki Avenue
Southwest between 1732 Alki Avenue Southwest and Bonair Drive Southwest.
From 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. one lane will be open, shared by northbound
and southbound traffic, assisted by traffic flaggers. Once the asphalt
surface is ground down, until new asphalt is laid, the roadway surface
will be rough and there will be raised castings.
The crews plan to begin on Tuesday, March 11, and complete the project
by Friday, March 14.
That explains all the extra “no parking” signs we saw this afternoon east of the 53rd SW pump-project site — we THOUGHT that was a little too much to be blocking off.
Next new Junction megaproject: Details from developer
Just talked with Alison Conner from Conner Homes, the company that — as we reported last night here and here — is now going forward, again, with plans to redevelop close to half the east side of California and west side of 42nd between Alaska and Edmunds in The Junction. No renderings yet – but she did supply many other details that the bare-bones city online filings don’t get into:Read More
West Seattle Weekend Lineup, “spring forward” edition
OK, so the weekend’s an hour shorter (Daylight-Saving Time kicks in at 2 am Sunday, as in Saturday night), but the WSB list of West Seattle weekend activity options is long, including two live-theater productions, a free yoga class, a free Nia class, the Community Mother/Baby Shower to help families near and far, the return of Seattle Chinese Garden tours, a cat adoptathon, and an Admiral Theater Saturday morning matinee of the first movie your editor ever saw, 39 events ahead:Read More
Alki pump station update: Major work set to start next week
You’ve probably seen the NO PARKING signs now up along Alki Ave (thanks to Angela for sending the photo) for the major project that’s about to start to expand the 53rd SW (underground) Pump Station. So how soon will the major work start in earnest? We just got another update this afternoon (after the first version of this post was published) from Erika Peterson from the county Wastewater Treatment Division; she says excavation work is likely to start next week, and work crews are in and out for “limited activity” between now and then, including some work in the street today. This project is going to last more than a year and a half, so it will be a fixture on Alki for not just this summer, but summer ’09 as well, with traffic effects along the way; you can find lots of details online, including this “what to expect during construction” page with a 24-hour hotline to call. (By the way, the pump-station project at Lowman Beach north of Lincoln Park is scheduled to start work next year.)
West Seattleite’s “Exile Project” opens tonight @ WSHS
This weekend and next weekend, you have two live-theater options in West Seattle. One is ArtsWest‘s continuing “The Sweetest Swing in Baseball” (WSB sponsor); the other is “The Exile Project,“ opening tonight at the West Seattle High School Theater. (Shown in the photo above, Wendy Woolery and Gary Reed.) It’s billed as “an original Seattle musical-theater production” about “one man’s efforts to build a life after prison.” It’s produced, choreographed, and co-written by West Seattle’s Holly Eckert (and the music is by another West Seattleite, Amy Denio). We asked Holly if the tone of “The Exile Project” is as heavy as the subject matter could be – her reply: “This is a human story, and human stories are always filled with both light and dark sides. Remember, this man has just been RELEASED from prison, that’s a pretty happy moment for him filled with fantasies about pretty girls and cold beers. He returns to his mother’s house where he finds comfort as a middle-aged man in the arms of his mommy. This is a story that also penetrates this man’s subconscious and as we all know, that terrain is full of irony, satire, wisdom, humor and sadness. This play travels through both light and dark moments to tell a human tale. It’s that diversity of emotional territory that make it entertaining and engaging. Often, as we all know who have walked through it ourselves, tragedy is scattered with satire and humor. If you love a good story, great music, and terrific dancing, you’ll enjoy The Exile Project.” The production has its own website here with tons of information including performance times and ticket info; it plays at WSHS this Friday-Saturday-Sunday and the same three days next weekend.
“Sustainable Storm” gathers at West Seattle Chamber
If your mental image of a Chamber of Commerce resembles something centering on a tight-knit clique of good ol’ boys in leisure suits, boozing and schmoozing in a back room somewhere, you should know that bears no resemblance to what’s going on with the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce these days. Just the other day, in fact, West Seattle Chamber executive director Patti Mullen facilitated the latest edition of a semi-regular gathering that was the antithesis of that old stereotype — a casual event reaching toward the traditional goal of a healthy business community in a largely nontraditional way:Read More
More of these on the way to The Junction
WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham sent that photo — showing spectators looking up at the crane that’s on the 41st/42nd/Alaska megaproject — just before we turned up details of the new proposal kitty-corner to this site. As promised atop the original post below, we’re ending the night summarizing what we’ve learned (pending attempts on Friday to find out more from project participants):
*An “early design guidance” Southwest Design Review Board meeting is set for April 10 for two projects proposed to span roughly half the Alaska-to-Edmunds block in The Junction, from California to 42nd
*The west-side project, with the parcel stretching from 4700 California (Super Supplements) southward to 4710 California (Rubato), is described as 12,000 square feet of ground-level retail with 5 floors of apartments and 2 underground levels of parking
*The east-side project, stretching from the current Rocksport/Neighborhood Services Center frontage south to the site where Harbor Properties is building Mural, is described as 21,500 sf of ground-level retail with 6 floors of apartments and 2 underground levels of parking
*Both filings list Weber Thompson (architects) and Conner Homes (builders)
*The Design Review Board meeting on April 10 will be at 6:30 pm, location not yet listed online (meetings are usually at Denny Middle School or the Southwest Precinct)
*City records show previous proposals here in 2002
*The current owner bought the 1925-built west-side site for $1.4 million in 2000, the 1922-built east-side site for $2.1 million that same year
*Side note: Nothing in The Junction business core is on the list of official city landmarks, though the city Department of Neighborhoods has signaled some interest in certain sites like the Campbell Building (Cupcake Royale/Swee Swee, etc.), the Hamm Building (Easy Street et al), and the the former Kress building (Matador/JaK’s) – you can search the DON survey archives for any property (WS or not) here
Almost six months after 
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