Colman Pool, Day 1: Margaritaville without the margaritas
With the bright sunshine, sapphire sky, and warm turquoise salt water, the season’s first public swim at Colman Pool this afternoon really did feel almost tropical. And even with the summery weather, the crowd wasn’t overwhelming. Colman will be open tomorrow and Monday, then the following two Saturday-Sunday weekends before beginning 7-day summertime operations on 6/14. Do note (this one almost tripped us up) that the “preseason” weekend/holiday days through 6/8 have a different schedule (NOT reflected in this online schedule, but it IS in the brochure), with public swim 3-4:45 (instead of the “regular” 1:45-4:45) and another late-afternoon lap swim 5-7 (during the “regular” season, that’s half lap swim, half family swim). Colman is one of only two outdoor pools in the city system; it’s a few blocks’ walk from either side of the Lincoln Park waterfront. Here’s a good map of the park; if you don’t live close enough to walk from home, park in the Lowman Beach area and walk southwest down the end of Beach Drive (map) and onto the Lincoln Park beach walkway; park in the central Lincoln Park lot and walk through the wooded area to the trail down to Colman; or park near Lincoln Park’s south end and follow the paved waterfront walkway north to the pool. Note that the Lincoln Park parking lots fill up fast on sunny days, and neighborhood parking near the park’s south end (closest to the ferry dock) has new rules because of RPZ restrictions.
Crime Watch reader report: Car vandalism
E-mailed by “j”:
Last night around 1130 we were awakened by some banging that sounded like fireworks. I went out on the front porch and saw nothing …. all was quiet. About 15 min later there were a couple of police cars in front of our house. Someone got ALL of the windows smashed out of their car and apparently other cars on the block were hit. We’re on 44th and Findlay [map].
(P.S. Crime Watch side note for those in north West Seattle — sorry, still no further details on last night’s search.)
Honoring heroes: Scouts’ work at Forest Lawn today
As noted on our Events page, Forest Lawn (east of High Point) will hold its annual Memorial Day service at 2 pm Monday. What we almost missed (until a note from Creighton, who mentioned it on his site) was the preparatory work that local Scouts do, marking the graves with crosses and flags each Memorial Day weekend. At Forest Lawn a few hours ago, we caught up with this group — including 8 Boy Scouts from Troop 284, 1 Boy Scout from Troop 398, and I Cub Scout from Pack 381:
They had hours of work left when we stopped by. But the results will all be in view if you attend Monday’s service, which one WSB’er noted last year is presented by American Legion Post 160, and is one of the city’s longest-running Memorial Day services. If you haven’t been to Forest Lawn before, here’s where to find it.
A side note from the folks at Forest Lawn: They told us today that after the Monday service, the Senior Center of West Seattle‘s Ukulele Band will perform.
Reader report: Charlestown Cafe work-crew sighting
Thanks to PS for snagging and sending that photo this morning. As we reported last weekend, the Charlestown Cafe finally has its permit to proceed with the work needed to get the restaurant back in shape after fire damage closed it in February, and then co-owner Larry Mellum told us a few days later that we wouldn’t see a lot of site activity immediately because the new hood is being built offsite. He’s hoping to reopen next month sometime; a lot of CC fans are anxiously awaiting that, like PS, whose e-mail accompanying the photo included: “… activity this morning at Webster’s! At last! Mmmmmmmm. French toast!” (Reminder, you can find out the latest on the CC situation any time by going to the WSB Categories list down the right sidebar and clicking Charlestown Cafe; WSB Categories archive all coverage that we filed under those categories, in newest-first order – you can also use the links next to their titles to add specific categories to your RSS reader, if you read WSB that way.)
Door-to-door alert: If anyone says they’re with the Dems …
Just sent to us by 34th District Democrats chair Ivan Weiss, his response to a note he received about solicitor concerns in the Fairmount Springs area — someone reportedly asking for $100 contributions to the Democratic Party:
From the e-mails forwarded to me, I would say this is *not* legitimate.
NO one should be canvassing in our District claiming to represent the Democratic Party who is not working with the 34th District Democrats or with a specific candidate’s campaign — ESPECIALLY if they are asking for $100 donations!!!
There is at least some precedent for this. The Democratic National Committee, under its (thank goodness) former chairman, Terry McAuliffe, did send solicitors door-to-door for contributions to the DNC in 2004. I thought Howard Dean had stopped this practice.
Even so, neighbors should refer any such solicitors to me. If they are, in fact, sent here by the DNC, I will get to the bottom of this but FAST! This is NOT the face of the Democratic Party that *I* want represented in our communities. When we canvass door to door, I want our volunteers to be able to say “We are your neighbors!”
Bottom line, if anybody shows up on your doorstep saying they’re soliciting for the Dems, contact Ivan. You can e-mail him at ivan.weiss@centurytel.net. In the same area, someone had written us pointing out a lot of recent concern about security-system soliciting, which one neighbor reportedly checked out and discovered to be legitimate.
2 efforts to get local people better food, for better lives
That photo is courtesy of Aviva with Community Harvest of West Seattle, which held its first container-vegetable-growing class at White Center Food Bank (which serves part of southern West Seattle) on Wednesday. Aviva sent us this report, including something you can do to help future classes like this:
Participants learned that with a sunny deck or patio, fresh vegetables could be grown and harvested our their back doors. Lettuce Link and West Seattle’s Backyard Greenhouse provided starts ranging from common leaf lettuce to exotic raddichio. Containers and soil were donated by individuals and local businesses (West Seattle Nursery, Junction True Value). We hope that this class improves access to the 5-a-day and increases self-reliance in obtaining healthy foods. We hope to continue this program and are soliciting donations of pots (1-5 gallon) – plastic or other lightweight material. For more info: info@gleanit.org
And as we mentioned Wednesday night, a big effort to improve local access to not only healthy food but more fitness options is under way in the form of the King County Food and Fitness Initiative, with Delridge/White Center as an area of emphasis. Wednesday night’s update came with a brainstorming session at the monthly Delridge District Council meeting; read on for the latest:Read More
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