Jail forum under way: Here’s the agenda
We’re at the Machinists’ Union Lodge in South Park for the first of two city-organized public forums on the two proposed West Seattle sites in the running for a possible city misdemeanor jail. The Highland Park Action Committee has a big presence here, of course – that’s HPAC’s Dina Johnson above, in the lodge hall with one of the signs group members have brought (cameraphone photo, sorry it’s not clearer). We’re NOT currently planning to liveblog the meeting – but if you are interested in occasional updates, follow us on Twitter, where we probably will post a few updates (twitter.com, and sign up to follow westseattleblog) if the wireless signal holds – a little spotty so far. The actual meeting doesn’t start till 6:30 – right now folks are milling about chatting; some citywide media crews are here. The agenda will include a “brief background presentation” at 6:40, small-group sessions to gather public comments and report back to the full group; at 8:40, it’s “city responses to issues raised,” closing comments at 8:55, meeting scheduled to end at 9 pm. (If you missed this one, the second city-organized public forum is July 26 at South Seattle Community College, 9 am, and HPAC will meet again 7 pm July 21.) 7:39 PM UPDATE: Highland Park Elementary teacher Laura Drake brought down the house with a speech full of fury and heartfelt emotion – some people are actually crying – we have it on video and will post it as soon as we get home when this is over; we can guarantee you’ll see part of it on the 11 pm news (though tv self-limits to about 20 seconds – we’ll show you the whole 2 to 3 minutes).
Traffic/parking alert: Road work in The Junction Friday night
We took that photo in The Junction this morning, then checked to see what the signs were for — a little sealing work tonight, we were told, no big deal. Well, now the city has issued an advisory because the work’s been pushed back, so if you’re planning on Junction nightlife late tomorrow night, you should be forewarned – read on:Read More
Viaduct update: New “scenario” renderings now available online
We’re still working on our summary of the briefing we liveblogged earlier – where state/city/county reps presented the 8 “scenarios” now under consideration to replace the “central waterfront” section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct – but in the meantime, we wanted to let you know the meeting materials including artist renderings have just been posted online; find them here (look for Scenario A through Scenario H).
Update: 35th/Morgan turn signal now up and running
Update on our post from this morning … here’s what we saw as we just passed through 35th/Morgan headed southbound on our way home from the Viaduct briefing downtown (liveblog notes here; summary still in the works, along with images of the options – if WSDOT doesn’t put them online soon, we’ll take pix of the printouts we have).
Parks bulletins: Morgan Junction money, Hiawatha delay
As we wrap up at the Viaduct briefing downtown (check out our live-blog notes in previous post; full summary later), here are two West Seattle items just in from the city Parks Department – more money for Morgan Junction’s park, which had been described at the last public meeting as in need of more $ for the favored design, plus a delay in construction of the Hiawatha Playfield improvements:Read More
Viaduct briefing: Live updates on 8 options just unveiled
(3:13 pm note, the briefing is now over – all notes below – we will write into a summary later.)
We’re downtown, 24th floor of the Wells Fargo Building (view above is from the briefing room), headquarters of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Program, for the briefing on the Alaskan Way Viaduct progress so far – will post notes here as it goes. NOTES: 8 possible scenarios identified so far … A-C surface, D-E above ground solutions, F-H are below ground “SR 99 components.” No longer any 6 lane replacements in the solutions they are considering. All are 4-lane, either elevated or below-ground. Retrofit is “one of the solutions we are not considering any further.” Scenario A highlights: this solution is a 4-lane surface street on surface Alaskan Way, combined with a lot of improvements to downtown, I-5, increased transit … Ron Paananen was laying out the previous … Bob Powers: these are systems approaches … government leaders directed us to go back and look at those … that’s why Ron said six lanes no longer being considered … we have assembled the building blocks, these are the system approaches to the solutions … Paananen: We think we’ve learned all we need to know about 6-lane solutions through previous efforts … the 2 we boiled it down to a little over a year ago, couldn’t advance any further .. looking at the problem differently … looking at it in a way we don’t NEED A FULL CAPACITY SOLUTION … because of improvements on streets, transit … Powers: A is “low capital solution” … looking at trying to add a transit lane from Olive to 520 northbound on 5 … changes in HOV lanes southbound … (We note, the Scenario A map takes into account a Delridge Rapid Ride bus route as well as the other one already on the drawing board) … Powers: 2 lanes in each direction along the waterfront on Alaskan Way, with signalized intersections up to the Battery Street Tunnel going northbound, you’d go through tunnel, there would be signalized intersections north of there … “intent is to reconnect the grid system E-W north of the Battery St Tunnel” … NOTE: This will be long so we are breaking it off to its own page. Click the post headline and keep refreshing if you want to follow the notes.Read More
Street safety: New flags, new lights
Thanks to Erin for the tip on this – she spotted that new basket of pedestrian flags at Avalon/Yancy (map) – while out and about this morning, we spotted two others on California SW, one north of The Junction, one south. The basket says they’re from SDOT and bears the slogan “Grab, Walk, Wave” – we’re checking to see if more are on the way (we checked some previously flag-bearing intersections around WS like the notorious 47th/Admiral, and it still has the old orange flags). Also seen while out and about:
The signal at 35th/Morgan is off at the moment (see the temporary stop sign at lower left) and a new configuration of turn lights appears to be on the way — this view is facing south on 35th.
Happening today/tonight: Jail, Viaduct, campaigns, safety, more
JAIL: Tonight is the first of two city-organized public forums about the two potential jail sites in West Seattle. This one’s in nearby South Park, 6 pm, 9125 15th Place S. (Archived WSB coverage of the jail-sites fight map). (is here.)
VIADUCT: This afternoon, city, county and state officials will discuss where the search for a “central waterfront” Viaduct replacement stands, before the Viaduct Stakeholders’ Committee has its next meeting. We’ll be at the briefing downtown at 2 pm; the public is welcome at the committee’s meeting, 4 pm, City Hall.
SAFETY: If you’re in southeast West Seattle or White Center, the South Delridge/WC Community Safety group meets tonight, 6 pm, St. James Place (9421 18th SW). As with the nawly renamed West Seattle Crime Prevention Council, this group focuses on crime and other safety issues and gets updates from law enforcement – with free dinner as a bonus.
CAMPAIGNS: West Seattle’s three state legislators – Sen. Joe McDermott, Rep. Eileen Cody, and Rep. Sharon Nelson – are having a joint reelection-campaign kickoff event at Youngstown Arts Center, 5:30 pm.
Those are just four of today’s highlights – see more on our West Seattle Events Calendar.
Ercolini Park updates: Playground tweaks, and a parade plan
Bernicki sends two updates from Ercolini Park west of The Junction – first one explains the two photos above:
We spent the afternoon at Ercolini Park. The kids were spinning around on the merry-go-round while three parks dept. guys stood by. Once the kids all got off, the parks guys moved in to adjust the “governor†(the big doohickey that regulates the speed) around the merry-go-round’s base. The kids were sidelined for about ten minutes, and then whirling resumed, at (presumably) a safer speed, as the parks guys admired their work. I was impressed at just how thoughtful these guys were: instead of throwing everyone off the toy, they waited for the kids to finish.
Bernicki also reports there’s a “Parade around the Park” at Ercolini at 11 am on the 4th of July, with neighbors invited to decorate strollers, bikes, trikes, whatever, and join the fun. We’ve added it to our West Seattle 4th of July page, where you will also find links to info about the Admiral 4th of July Kids’ Parade that morning and lots of other holiday happenings (as well as the practical stuff like bus, ferry, and Water Taxi schedules).
Cafe Revo: A progress report, as we meet the owners
That’s how the exterior of Cafe Revo – at the former Murphy’s site on Avalon – will look soon, compared to this:
and if you want to go back further (almost 60 years), here’s a blast from the building’s past:
We got those pictures while talking last week with Chef Sean Goff and wife Sofia Zadra Goff, who are happy to report they now have the liquor license and electrical-work permit – which means work can accelerate on the Italian restaurant they are creating in the space (first reported here on WSB early last month) – Read on to learn more about their plans (and to see a video tour of the space before construction really revs up):Read More
West Seattle Summer Fest: WSHS football players’ goal
Earlier this week, we brought you the first look at the program for West Seattle Summer Fest, the street festival in The Junction coming up July 11-13 (two weeks from Friday!). Of course, the program doesn’t reveal every little detail of the fun, or the food – part of which will be good chow for a good cause. Eric Radovich from BlueStar, a Summer Fest sponsor, 
tells us about a food booth that hopes to score enough cash to kick off their fundraising program to get new jerseys for the West Seattle High School football team. The ones they’ve been using are more than five years old, and “tired” to say the least. 70 jerseys will cost about $5,000. So football players and parent volunteers, possibly cheerleaders too, will staff a food booth at Summer Fest. The players, in fact, will be taking a course this Saturday at the West Seattle Eagles‘ HQ to qualify for food-handler cards (the course has been on our Events page for a while and is open to the public if you know anyone else who needs to take it). They’re hoping the food booth will bring in at least $1,000 in “seed money” to get the jersey drive — which Marc Patnode is heading up — rolling; they plan to serve chicken sandwiches on French bread, chicken Caesar salads, ice-cream novelties, and soft drinks at the booth, so look for them when you’re hungry/thirsty at Summer Fest.
Reservoir tour: Myrtle milestone revealed during Beacon Hill visit
(clip no longer available)
That video clip shows something we might never get to see again – the underground view of a 50-million-gallon reservoir before it’s filled. (That’s 250 times what it takes to fill Southwest Pool.) This is Beacon Hill Reservoir (map), one of four reservoirs the city is putting underground — two of the other three are in West Seattle, and when we joined various city officials including Mayor Nickels for the Beacon Hill underground media tour this morning, we learned about a milestone happening today at Myrtle Reservoir here in West Seattle:
You can’t see it from that above-ground photo, of course, but “final acceptance testing” has begun at Myrtle today – testing all systems together for about a week, after a period of testing each system individually – and if that goes well, the reservoir could be filled as soon as next week. We also got some info on the Highland Park project to put West Seattle Reservoir (map) underground – read on for that, other views beneath Beacon Hill, and some words from the mayor:Read More
One more 4th of July activity: Shopping
At least one store in West Seattle will be open on the 4th of July (and we’re adding this to our new West Seattle 4th of July page): Hancock Fabrics; we just verified its last day in business will be July 5th – then it’s closing to make way for construction of Fauntleroy Place (groundbreaking-ceremony coverage here). When FP opens in 2010, a new Hancock store will be one of two retail tenants, along with Whole Foods. (Thanks to Marcia for the tip; she wanted to share it with fellow shoppers because she says store employees told her no more markdowns are planned — if you want something, go look now before it’s gone.)
From the comment files: Update on crash victim
Since few people check comments on posts more than a few days old, we wanted to highlight this here – an update this week on the motorcycle rider hurt in a West Seattle crash 10 days ago. “Sarg” wrote:
Visited Derby [Sunday], she was in very good spirits but not very hungry yet. Her foot, ankle and facial orbital surgeries are this week. She is very optimistic and talkative … that is a very good sign. Keep your prayers coming as our dear gal has a long road of recovery ahead of her. I would like to mention that she is in a room with another gal who incurred a m/c accident. Her name is Zoe and she is in much worse shape than Karen. Say a few words for her too. Thank you
2 playground proposals: Admiral dream; Delridge architect search
The popularity of new Ercolini Park is a reminder of just what a playground, and park, can mean to a neighborhood. Neighbors in two areas of West Seattle are working now to make similar dreams come true, and we have updates on both: The first one’s a dream for this Admiral park that you might not even recognize as a park:
Just beyond the tree in the foreground, that triangle of land at California/Hill (map), immediately southeast of Admiral Congregational UCC Church, is indeed a park, called California Place (official city page here). Manuela Slye, who also happens to be opening the new Spanish-language preschool Cometa (as mentioned here), spoke to the Admiral Neighborhood Association at its last meeting about her dream of creating a playground there. She is in the very early stages of trying to figure out what that would involve, but already has a touching presentation (as read to the ANA) with children’s art and words about what it would mean to have “a place to play” there.
Second, in North Delridge, the “tot lot” project (previous WSB coverage here) for Cottage Grove Park is now seeking an architect. They are hoping to find a landscape architect that can donate her/his services for this small playground project, but there’s a possibility their grant-seeking could include some money for fees, so they want to hear from anyone interested. Read on for a full description of the work and who to contact:Read More
White Rose Reception: Hi-Yu Festival’s ladies’ night
Tonight at Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor), West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival queens and princesses present, past, and potentially future (the current “candidates”) gathered for the annual White Rose Reception, a ladies-only event. As exciting as it was for the gowned young women you see above, it was also a big night for camera-wielding moms and mentors:
Before the cake break that led to the photo-op shown above, memories were shared as women and girls from past Hi-Yu courts stood up and introduced themselves – here are a few:
The five candidates vying to be the next Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu introduced themselves tonight; all five with a long list of accomplishments, as you can see here. (We shot video tonight for a future feature, as the candidates get ready for a variety of events leading up to the Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu coronation and reception on July 21.)
Crime Watch reader report: Burglary on 35th
Just out of the WSB inbox, from Karen:
I wanted to let you know that there was a burglary in our Blockwatch area today, in the 5000 block of 35th Ave SW, mid-block, on the west side of the street. It occurred sometime between 7:00 AM & 5:30 PM while the owners were gone. The burglars entered through a window & took small electronics & other things that are easy to carry.
Our Blockwatch area covers a two block area just south of Providence/Mt. St. Vincent, between Dawson & Hudson streets. It is called the Hansen View neighborhood, which is part of Fairmount.
Thanks for getting the word out!
West Seattle 4th of July: Our holiday-info page is now up
With the 4th of July just a week and a half away, it’s high time to start thinking about it. A lot. So we’ve finished the WSB West Seattle 4th of July page 
and you can find it now from the row of page-navigation tabs atop every WSB page — or just click here. It’s your one-stop shop for everything from the Alki traffic-restrictions plan we first published here a week and a half ago (important info so read it now if you didn’t read it then), to holiday events such as the Admiral Kids’ Parade and the High Point Commons Park celebration, to Water Taxi, ferry, and bus info, and even all the details we can find about the fireworks shows you’ll watch from West Seattle — or elsewhere (we’ve got the statewide list linked on the page too). If there’s some other Independence Day info you’re looking for – or if you have an event to add to the page – please e-mail us, as we’ll keep updating it till the holiday’s over.
Tuesday notes: Berry delay, boat trip, shoe drive, coffee talk
BERRY DELAY: This afternoon’s weather is picture-perfect typical June, but we all know what a weird year it’s been otherwise. As a result, the Rotary Club of West Seattle won’t get the first delivery for its berry sale — the strawberries — till next month, so the pickups originally set for this Friday and Saturday are postponed till July 11-12 – when raspberries will be available too. You can order berries through the Rotary Club’s website.
BOAT TRIP: If the forecast holds out, this is going to be spectacular: The Northwest Environmental Education Councill and Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition have a two-hour boat trip on the Duwamish this Saturday, 10 am-noon. It’s $20/person and you can sign up online here.
SHOE DRIVE: If you have any “gently used shoes” you’re thinking of getting rid of, save them for next month – Edie’s Shoes in The Junction sends word of a drive to benefit Soles 4 Souls – they’ll offer $10 discounts to customers who bring in “gently used shoes” to donate to the drive during July.
COFFEE TALK: Every Thursday night starting this week, 6-8 pm, special “coffee hours” are planned at Cafe Rozella as part of the King County Food and Fitness Initiative — looking for your thoughts about the availability of activity opportunities and healthy food in Delridge and White Center. Read on for more info:Read More
| 3 COMMENTS