West Seattle, Washington
08 Tuesday
That’s the subject line on the forum post of the week, just up within the past few hours. So sweetly written, you might want to read it even if you don’t usually check the WSB Forums.
That short video peek inside Brockey Center at South Seattle Community College might present a scene resembling the average multi-participant event … tables, booths, etc. … but today’s West Seattle Chamber of Commerce Business Expo presented more than your usual options, offering West Seattle businesses and other groups a chance to put their best foot forward (in more ways than one, as you’ll see just ahead):Read More
It’s been almost five months since the initial info about Metro RapidRide bus service to/from West Seattle began making its way around West Seattle (including that bus-concept sketch we photographed at a JuNO meeting). Routing announcements were to be made “within a few months,” Metro officials said at the time; no formal announcements yet, but the next major progress report is expected on Tuesday, when the Seattle City Council’s Transportation Committee has this scheduled (9 am):
What’s going on with Rapid Ride, Metro’s bus rapid transit between West Seattle and downtown? The Committee will be briefed by Seattle Department of Transportation Director Grace Crunican and Metro’s General Manager Kevin Desmond.
RapidRide isn’t supposed to start rolling till 2011, but routing decisions were to be made now so that preliminary work could begin.
In the Admiral District, Revolution Coffee proprietors David “DJ” Johnson and Angie Houck threw a sidewalk party today to celebrate their shop’s third anniversary.
Meanwhile, on Alki, well-wishers were invited to sign a big old door propped up out front of Coastal Boutique, celebrating its fifth anniversary today with a beach sandbox party today. Even the littlest partygoers got to leave their mark:
“A.L.L.” stands for Art Lending Library, which is debuting at Delridge Day (under way till 4 pm at Youngstown Arts Center). We’re heading out and about to more of today’s events but thought we’d post that as well as this photo of Kore Ionz, one of the groups performing today (you’ll find fun outdoors as well as indoors @ Youngstown):
Lots more later, from this event and others (the West Seattle Weekend Lineup list has the full lowdown on everything that’s happening today — and tomorrow).
Just went through a couple more days worth of police reports – this list is nowhere as long as the one we posted the other day, but a few unusual incidents — five, to be exact — starting with the case of the defiant shoplifter:Read More
Thanks to the folks who have sent us the link to a citywide-media story today about The Junction’s food-waste composting program. We broke that story here a month and a half ago (original WSB coverage here). But this is exactly why we set up the “More” page – so you can also keep track of what citywide/regional media sources are saying about West Seattle – the P-I story and others are linked there right now (the link lists are frequently and automatically updated, and the second half of the page includes the latest CL listings tagged West Seattle). P.S. If you missed it, the latest WSB Junction coverage involves a request for your input on the upcoming city parking review — check that out here.
That photo shows the trial run last year for a lemonade stand you’ll find 10 am-4 pm today at 31st/Henderson (map), raising money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to fight childhood cancer. Also at 10 – the first of two weekend Nia classes to raise $ for earthquake relief in China. Those are two of myriad events happening in West Seattle today — full list here in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup — Delridge Day at Youngstown Arts Center and the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce Business Expo at SSCC are the biggies — two businesses are having anniversary celebrations today (Revolution Coffee in Admiral and Coastal on Alki) — and in the middle of it all, Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott is having a Town Hall meeting at the Admiral library branch at 2 pm.
From the unofficial Seattle Public Schools blog at saveseattleschools.blogspot.com: District leaders say they’ll solve the problem that threatened to leave some West Seattle High School students out of the Advanced Placement Language Arts class they wanted to take next year. The WSHS website doesn’t reflect the reported change yet, but in a nutshell, here’s what happened — 87 of next year’s 11th graders wanted to take the class; the school said it only had room for 60; after saveseattleschools.blogspot.com contributor Melissa Westbrook wrote about it in the second part of this post, site founder Beth Bakeman e-mailed Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson about the situation, and she told them all the students will be accommodated, saying, “What a great problem to have.”
Daily through June 23, you can visit The Mount to see its annual Intergenerational Art Show, with works on display (and offered for sale) in the first-floor hallway. The artists are not only the kids of The Mount’s Intergenerational Learning Center, but also some of the facility’s residents too. Meantime, students at two West Seattle schools showed off their artistic talents last night — we’ve got a few photos ahead:Read More
WSB’ers were among the first to get a chance to comment on the draft version three months ago — now, the first-ever West Seattle Walking Trails map is hot off the printing press, according to Chas Redmond, who says the free map will be available at upcoming events including the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce Biz Expo at South Seattle Community College tomorrow – look for it at the Sustainable West Seattle and WS Chamber booths/tables.
Out front at that Highland Park house, you see the start of a wheelchair ramp. This weekend, volunteers hope to finish renovating the house inside and out for the person who needs it, Addie Killam, a West Seattle native who is on a long road to recovery after a freak surfing injury (original WSB coverage here). They are asking for help with what they call “the big push” — in particular, anybody with hardwood-floor-refinishing experience. Full details on what’s needed, where, and when can be found on this site detailing the ongoing project.
Not our headline – that’s how the city slugged its announcement of two forums called by Councilmember Sally Clark (who toured The Junction a month ago at the invitation of resident Sue Scharff; WSB coverage here). Our only question: Why isn’t either forum happening here in West Seattle, where so much townhome construction is under way? Anyway, here’s the announcement:Read More
Thanks to Friends of Ercolini Park for that photo from last weekend’s fun in the sun at the new park – though it hasn’t had an official “grand opening” event yet (still in the works), it is now truly open (west of The Junction, 48th and Alaska). This is also the second weekend of preseason operations for Colman Pool (see our coverage from last weekend here), and lots more going on, including the big Gatewood Elementary centennial, Delridge Day, and West Seattle Chamber of Commerce Biz Expo events tomorrow — 45 listings in all, straight ahead:Read More
Just in from SDOT:
SDOT paving crews will repair failed concrete panels on the east side of Delridge Way Southwest at Southwest Elmgrove Street on Saturday, May 31.
The crews plan to work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., starting with breaking out and removing the damaged concrete. One lane will remain open to traffic. Flaggers will assist drivers through the area. On-street parking will be restricted. When the new pavement has sufficiently cured, expected Saturday evening, the full street will be reopened to traffic.
Maps don’t show Elmgrove and Delridge directly intersecting; you can see the vicinity (north of Thistle) on this map.
First the city – then the Water Without Waste campaign – now, West Seattle’s County Councilmember Dow Constantine is behind a “no bottled water” county proposal that gets a final vote week after next. Here’s the news release:Read More
As you can read in our coverage of last night’s development meeting — and many other related stories — more than a few people are worried about losing what makes The Junction special. On a semi-small scale, here’s a chance to help save part of its specialness by coming to the rescue of one of its unique works of public art — another of its history-depicting murals (here’s more about all of them) — the ferry mural behind the ex-Morton’s-now-Pharmaca building. More photos and info ahead:Read More
Thanks to the person who cameraphoned us with that photo of the Denny Middle School band serenading West Seattle Elementary School about an hour ago, as the Feet First walk-to-school month of Fast Feet Fridays finished up. (Our coverage of the first one is here.)
That’s Charlie Conner, president/owner of Conner Homes, whose California/Alaska/42nd project went back to the Southwest Design Review Board last night for a second round of “Design Review Guidance.” He was clearly there to lead the team making the case for the project; this time, he directly addressed the crowd to open what is usually the architect’s presentation to the board — and that followed time he spent before the meeting introducing himself to members of the standing-room-only crowd as they arrived. Then, more than half an hour after the meeting, he was outside the Southwest Precinct, still talking with a small group of attendees in which we recognized at least one Junction merchant. Our full report on what happened, and what happens next, straight ahead — long report, for a long (more than 2 hours) meeting:Read More
AWARD: Congratulations to Clay Eals, honored in the IPPY (Independent Publisher) Awards with a “silver” award for the biography category (see #28 in the list here) on the first anniversary of his acclaimed book “Steve Goodman: Facing the Music.” The awards will be presented tomorrow in Los Angeles.
READING: Longtime South Seattle Community College instructor Arleen Williams has published “The Thirty-Ninth Victim: A Memoir,” about what her family went through in connection with her sister having been one of the Green River serial-murder victims. She will read from the book during an event June 6th at SSCC’s Cascade Courtyard and Wine Tasting Room. The event runs 4-6 pm and includes a preview of two SSCC wines to be released in the fall; Williams’ reading will start at 4:30 pm.
Standing-room-only crowd at the Southwest Precinct for the Design Review Board meeting on the Conner Homes project in The Junction, two buildings at California/Alaska/42nd. Conner boss Charlie Conner attended and directly addressed the crowd as the meeting began, saying he thought people might want to put a face to the name. Board members were disappointed some of their recommendations from the first “early design guidance” meeting didn’t seem to have been considered in tonight’s presentation; after public comments that board chair David Foster described as “brilliant,” they have some very specific recommendations, but also agreed to let the project move to the next phase of Design Review. Full report in the works.
You may have heard about this in the citywide media; it’s been mentioned we post about it here, in case the whale wanders past West Seattle shores when it inevitably eventually heads back north: A humpback whale’s been hanging out near south Vashon Island for a few weeks. At least one tv station has video. Best chance to try to get a glimpse of it would be via the Tahlequah-Point Defiance ferry that travels between south Vashon and Tacoma; our favorite way to get there from here is to take the Fauntleroy ferry to (north) Vashon (schedule here) and drive down the island to the Tahlequah dock (schedule here). We usually only take that trip during our annual jaunt to Zoolights at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, but might have to go look for the humpback in the next day or two!
As first reported here in February, the city’s planning a formal “parking review” for the Junction area. When we covered the first briefing, the start date wasn’t set; we have since checked with Mary Catherine Snyder from the Seattle Department of Transportation, and she tells WSB the Junction parking review is scheduled to begin in September. But with the rising tide of Junction development, it’s clear that parking concerns are rising too, and fast. West Seattle Junction Association president Dave Montoure talked with WSB about that, and asked us to solicit your opinion on related issues – read on:Read More
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