West Seattle, Washington
26 Friday
Thanks to Dave Gould for that photo of the last sunset before summer arrives. Solstice is 4:59 pm our time tomorrow. Next photo is more about what you don’t see than what you do see:
That’s the view from the railing to the south of the ramp going down to the Elliott Bay Water Taxi dock downtown, if you didn’t recognize it. The small wooden float at the center with the upside-down boat had two visitors this afternoon while we were waiting to catch the WT home from our City Hall visit — they were gone before we could pull out the cameraphone, but we wanted to mention them: two otters! (Just in case you were still feeling sad about the one killed over here last weekend, looks like they have friends/relatives in the bay; hope the two we saw don’t try crossing Alaskan Way …)
Belated report on last night’s monthly meeting of the Delridge District Council, one of two “district councils” in West Seattle (as per the city’s “district” map) – Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle is getting ready for the second year of its program to harvest fruit from residents’ trees; City Councilmember Sally Clark talked about the latest changes in the process for reviewing neighborhood plans (and got to hear about some hot local issues since she arrived early, including the jail-sites fight); details ahead:Read More
As you can see from that photo Scott sent last week – the day grass seed was applied – the Myrtle Reservoir site is not only on a hill, it has hills of its own. And they seem to have provided a new wrinkle in the park plan, according to what the Parks Department’s project manager and architect told the city Design Commission downtown today:Read More
We usually just put the lost/found notes on the Pets page, but the one that just came in about the discovery of two tortoises begs for a wider audience. Check it out here.
6 am June 30th. Here’s the update that just came in from Charlestown Cafe co-owner Larry Mellum, 4 1/2 months after the fire that forced the beloved restaurant to close for a while:
The Fire Dept. has approved our new Hood System so we are “good to go!!” This week we will finish getting the restaurant put back together and cleaned-up. Believe me it has been a long and frustrating process but the end is near. So, we will make it official. We will be re-opening Monday, June 30th at our usual time 6:00 a.m. … The support we have received from this community has been incredible. We at ‘Charlestown want to thank you all very, very much!! We will see you on the 30th.
If you missed the original news of the February fire, you can catch up with our Charlestown Cafe news archive (newest to oldest), which includes the most recent update from Larry a week and a half ago, when he told us he’d just had a meeting with his staff to see how many he’d have to replace (since the restaurant had been closed so long) – and he reported “Everyone showed up!”
(first photo by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli; second photo by co-publisher Patrick Sand)
No one hurt and mostly smoke damage, according to the team member who’s just arrived on scene (“ton of firetrucks” according to one of the e-mail tips we received, as you can also see from the 911 log; thanks to everyone who e-mailed and texted!). Here’s a map; details to come. 1:52 PM UPDATE: Here’s what the incident commander told us at the scene: Mostly smoke damage; nobody hurt; cause unknown; investigators arriving now. There was some concern among neighbors that a dog might have been injured in the fire; incident commander says the residents’ two dogs might have breathed in a little smoke but are OK. ADDED 2:40 PM: Another photo from Christopher:
OK, don’t let the kids click ahead on this one. Well – the pix are really just PG, but a nine-letter word starting with “s” comes up. Burning Hearts Burlesque brings its “Bedroom Club” show to Admiral Theater on Saturday night, and its executive producer talked with us at her West Seattle home so we could ask the obvious question:Read More
First – Dump the Pump Day must be a roaring success; we couldn’t get a parking place within blocks of the Water Taxi dock, compared to two days ago, when we got here at 10 minutes before departure time and got a space within a few blocks. (Yes, we know, should have just left earlier and taken the bus all the way from home.) So we’re trying again for the 1 pm run. Meantime, a lovely view here at Don Armeni (cameraphone photo above), where our inbox just yielded the city’s official weekend traffic alert, including the 7:45-11 am time frame for the Saturday morning Viaduct closure we first told you about earlier this week – read on for the full citywide list:Read More
Thanks to Parks Department project manager Patrick Donohue for that drawing of the just-finalized city-approved site map for the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza, as they prepare to put out bids for construction. (We recently reported the newest developments in both the plaza-construction plan and the Plaza Project committee’s vision for the September celebration – read that report here.) Click the image to see the full-size version; as you’ll see in the legend on that version, the darker area will be brick, the dotted area will be concrete – the top of the drawing is the existing asphalt promenade (north). Just thought those who have been following the project closely would be interested to see this; note that no new color “pictures” are available from the city, according to Donohue — we’ve featured some of them over the months in our Alki Statue of Liberty coverage archive, and the Plaza Project’s site also has some of the original design art).
Thanks to Sue for the tip – after a round of testing this morning, following a few days in yellow-flashing mode, the new Fauntleroy/Dawson pedestrian signal is now in operation – just five weeks after the city told neighbors the construction schedule was being moved up in a big way (original WSB coverage here).
According to a survey just released by Jewish Living Magazine (read about it here), West Seattle is one of America’s top 10 Jewish neighborhoods. No surprise to WSB’s newest sponsor, Kol HaNeshamah, West Seattle’s progressive synagogue, 
which is advertising here to let you know it is celebrating its 5th anniversary during the Shabbat service tomorrow night at 7 pm (at Alki UCC, where Kol HaNeshamah has shared space with the church for all of those five years). The congregation’s rabbi, Michael Adam Latz, says, “I am profoundly humbled and honored to serve as the Rabbi of Kol HaNeshamah, where every day, people from all walks of life gather to worship, study, and work to repair our broken world.” Here’s what the synagogue wants you to know: “Kol HaNeshamah is a congregation of 145 member families. They include the young, old, singles, families, single parents, interfaith, lesbian, gay, and transgendered people. We pride ourselves on our inclusivity of all groups. Since Kol HaNeshamah joined the Seattle community, we have been highly active in areas of social justice. Our activities include building a home with Habitat for Humanity which provided a home for a Muslim family, the highest earning religious group for the AIDS Walk with Lifelong AIDS Alliance, and our newest endeavor to work with other faith groups in the newly formed Sound Alliance. Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) called Kol HaNeshamah one of its fastest-growing member congregations. This growth is influenced in part by the overall rate of increasing synagogue affiliation among American Jewish households, which grew by 15% between 1990 and 2001 even as the “core” Jewish population declined and the number of intermarried families grew. Rising affiliation rates are largely benefitting the Reform movement.” Member Kate Gordon says, “I can’t imagine raising my son in a more open, welcoming and accepting place. After moving to Seattle 3 years ago, not knowing anyone, this was the first place that felt closest to home.” Again, the 5th anniversary service is 7 pm tomorrow; here’s a map to Alki UCC. WSB thanks Kol HaNeshamah and all our sponsors, listed here along with information on how to join them.
Every day on the calendar has a promotional tie-in … National Chocolate-Covered Pickle Day, Worldwide Sing While Standing On Your Head Day, and on and on … but today’s is worth a note: “Dump the Pump Day” is meant to encourage you to try transit. This year, gas prices could certainly be an impetus – on Dump the Pump Day “Eve” last year (6/20/07), this WSB report showed the 35th/Avalon 7-11 at $2.99 for regular; as of our latest West Seattle-wide weekly survey Sunday night, that grade at that station was $4.33, up $1.34 in a year. We were already planning to use transit today (Water Taxi-ing downtown to cover the city Design Commission presentation on Myrtle Reservoir Park); if you need more convincing, Metro offers suggestions here. And the American Public Transportation Agency offers you the online game Whack-A-Pump.
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