West Seattle, Washington
12 Thursday
As you might recall, for our first year as organizers of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (the 4th-annual edition was this past Saturday), we added a couple contests to the mix, asking entrants to e-mail us photo entries by mid-afternoon today. That big bag of duck decoys shown above is the “Most Unusual Item” winner (open to shoppers as well as sellers) — Pam (who writes Nerd’s Eye View) reports she found it at the alley sale near 37th/Holden. Pam gets a Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) card. Meanwhile, we promised two prizes in the contest with the most entries, and that was “Best Sign” — our winners are:
Cheryl gets the Illusions Hair Design (WSB sponsor) gift certificate for that sign promoting the sale that raised money for her upcoming participation in the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk (Sept. 12-14; her fundraising page is here; you’ll recall the 3-Day came thru West Seattle last year – WSB coverage here). (P.S. Cheryl says teammate and garage=sale-mate Jana Sorsen made the sign; here’s Jana’s 3-Day page.) And the other “Best Sign” winner:
That’s Val, who proudly reports about her sign, “Please note: all materials used were recycled from a party a couple of years ago, nothing was purchased!” Val gets a gift certificate from the new Body Bar dayspa. And we have one more bonus prize:
Ashley, who joined other sellers in the Hotwire courtyard, was the only person to enter BOTH contests; we have a Hotwire coffee card for her too. The photo shows her beautifully lettered sign (her candidate for “Most Unusual Item” was betta-fish tanks she offered for sale). Congratulations to all (we’ll e-mail the winners to make arrangements for delivering prizes); thanks to Hotwire, Illusions, and Body Bar for donating the prizes; thanks to everyone who was part of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day; stand by for an online survey we’ll be setting up within a few days, and mark your calendar for the 5th annual WSCGSD on May 9, 2009!
We are always thrilled to get contributions — stories, photos, tips, suggestions — that help WSB become a place where together we all tell and share even more of the ongoing story of West Seattle and its people. Tonight, Camp Long‘s Sheila Brown wanted to share an article and photos (including the one above) about a new grant that will help Camp Long and other Seattle city park/recreation facilities provide more outdoor opportunities for young people (such as climbing) — read on:Read More
Now that the brick fourplex at 3811 California is officially deemed unqualified for city-landmark status, the project to replace it with a 4-story apartment/retail building is proceeding. Next step, a Design Review Board meeting just set for June 12, 8 pm, Madison Middle School (following the 6:30 pm meeting, same place, same date, for 4532 42nd SW, as reported here last week). A much bigger West Seattle project has also just reappeared on the city’s “upcoming Design Review meetings” page — the 6- and 7-story Conner Homes buildings at California/Alaska/42nd in The Junction, which drew a lot of constructive criticism at their first DRB meeting exactly one month ago (WSB coverage here) — this project is now tentatively set to return before design reviewers at 6:30 pm May 29 in the Southwest Precinct meeting room. (As mentioned here earlier today, Conner Homes reps are scheduled to speak to the Junction Neighborhood Organization, along with reps from BlueStar — developing Fauntleroy Place (Whole Foods project) and Gateway Center (old Huling showroom) — tomorrow night, 6:30 pm in the community room @ Ginomai, southwest corner of 42nd/Genesee.)
This note from Sonja at Washington Reading Corps, a branch of Solid Ground, is not only a request for help, but also a heads-up about some door-to-door activity you may see tonight or tomorrow (if you haven’t already):
We are currently looking for businesses and neighborhoods in the West Seattle area to participate in a food drive on *Friday, May 16th, from 10-2pm*. The food donations are being distributed to *Solid Ground’s* *Hunger Action Center. *Household items that are gathered will be placed at our transitional houses and shelters, such as *The Bethlehem House, Family Shelter, and JourneyHome*.
Our service project will include a minimum of two members from our team setting up a table outside of local West Seattle businesses with pamphlets regarding Solid Ground and our purpose. We will encourage the purchase of household goods (such as cleaning products, toiletries, and non-perishable foods) and non-perishable foods for donations.
We will also have a crew collecting donations from households in the Delridge, Admiral and Junction neighborhoods. We will be distributing flyers door-to-door within the next 24 hours to inform the community of how they can assist those in need within their community by leaving donations for us on Friday, May 16th.
Sonja’s contact info is: 206-788-7484 or sonjaspinarski@gmail.com
Received this from Alki-area businessperson Tom Lin:
A group of local high-school students asked me to help them develop a viable summer business project. They have come up with a few propositions so far. Among them:
1. Shaved Ice (snowcone) at Alki.
2. Paid Parking at Alki during busy sunny days.
3. Alki Dog Walking Service
4. Car WashingThey are looking for help with all aspects of business development. If you have any suggestions or experience in the above fields,
please call Lucas at 206-226-9964 or send me an e=mail, Thomas Lin, at alkihomestead@yahoo.com.There will be a meeting for all interested parties at Alki Homestead Restaurant 11:30AM Sunday May 18. If you are over age 16 and are interested in starting your own business, you are welcome to join the group.
This is a project for the youth to start a business venture that is profit driven. If you have a creative mind, please come and join
us. However, all the advisors are volunteers.Please RSVP if you are interested in this project: alkihomestead@yahoo.com
Busy day for the Southwest Precinct – another update just in from Lt. Steve Paulsen: “We just arrested another burglar who has been working the North Admiral neighborhood. That is a total of 8 burglary arrests in the last week.”
In the Alki neighborhood along and around Stevens near 59th, SDOT crews are out today putting up the parking-restriction signs we first told you about three weeks ago. These aren’t new restrictions, but rather official demarcation of the existing rules regarding parking within a certain distance of intersections, driveways, etc. (On a slightly related note, we’ll take this occasion to remind you that the neighborhood meeting about the 59th/Stevens development is a week from Thursday; previous WSB coverage here.)
Quick update from Lt. Steve Paulsen at the Southwest Precinct: A suspect is now in custody in connection with the purse-snatching attack that preceded the now-famous citizen pursuit involving local businesspeople from Husky Deli and Mashiko. (We talked to the victim, a local real-estate agent, a few days ago, and she’s doing OK.)
Don’t let the tarp fool you — underneath it you’ll find part of the area’s “smallest certified organic garden,” which stretches across two plots, and into a greenhouse, on a site along SW Avalon (map).
This is part of Transitional Resources, whose invitation to visit in advance of their “Garden Party” this Saturday provided us with another one of those “been in West Seattle 17 years but had NO IDEA this was here” moments. Growing food and herbs at this site is a sideline for an organization that provides residential and drop-in services for more than 100 people every month who are working on having productive lives while dealing with mental illness. (Read more about TR here.) It saves taxpayers big bucks — the cost for someone to live and work here is a fraction of state or hospital institutionalization — but operates on a shoestring. (As TR’s Karyn Mikkelsen explains, “Without TR, clients would have fewer options and more would remain incarcerated, hospitalized or homeless, all at a high expense to society in loss of creativity and productivity, not to mention the huge financial expense of incarceration and hospitalization. The average annual cost of providing outpatient case management services to a client is $4,657. One year in the hospital or jail costs $146,000.”) To raise awareness and $, they’re inviting community members to come spend the day helping in the garden — and enjoying food prepared by a well-known local chef — read on:Read More
For starters, that’s what was “up” over the weekend; WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham caught West Seattle resident Fred Cavazos, owner of “Above the Rest,” maneuvering his blimp-borne photographic equipment over Huling land in the Fauntleroy Triangle. (Matt reports: “The blimp is tethered without power and the camera is controlled remotely from the ground. A video camera sends an image from the camera viewfinder where the operator can view it from a small screen mounted on the controller. This type of aerial photography can be used to better understand the views before developing a condominium or other high-rise venture.”) Matt adds that Cavazos couldn’t discuss exactly what he was working on, but certainly there’s plenty of development proposals in the area (see our clickable map here). This week brings two chances in West Seattle for you to find out more about development and issues relating to it: First, at the Junction Neighborhood Organization (JuNO) meeting Tuesday night (6:30 pm, Ginomai @ SW corner of 42nd/Genesee), reps from major players in current Junction-area development are expected; read more at the JuNO site. Second, the Alki Community Council meeting on Thursday (7 pm, Alki Community Center) is expected to include an agenda item on the upcoming multifamily code revisions, according to member Karen Clegg; read on for information she wants you to know about it:Read More
Thanks to West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival president Tim Winston for sending photos, as promised, of the Hi-Yu float’s 2008 parade debut in Sequim this weekend — on Friday, you may recall, he put out an urgent call for driving help to get it there; drivers came through, but that wasn’t the end of the crisis, as you’ll see in the next round of photos — and there’s an “emergency meeting” tonight to figure out how to get through the season — read on:Read More
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