West Seattle, Washington
19 Friday
Just out of the WSB inbox, from Deanna:
I live in the townhouses right next to the old Fairmount Elementary School (next to the baseball fields) and my car was vandalized sometime early Saturday morning (between 12 am and 8 am). These little f***ers for fun just ripped off my passenger side mirror and threw it into the street to get smashed. Good times! Also, they bent my neighbor’s antenna on her car so that it will no longer go up and down as her car starts.
Just thought you might want to know. Not that the police did anything other than take the report over the phone. But I hear kids out here all the time behind the abandoned school, and I think it’s time we start calling this stuff in and make them do something.
As we mentioned in e-mail back to Deanna, filing reports – no matter how small the vandalism, or theft, or other “property crime” seems to be – is really important, because tracking trends helps police determine how to deploy patrol resources, and which areas they need to keep a closer eye on. The nonemergency number is 206-625-5011.
We spotted the city’s newest fireboat Leschi cruising past Seacrest at sunset – no spray but scenic nonetheless. To the southwest, David Hutchinson caught this view of a sailboat near Alki Point:
One other photo to share – a different view of the Mount Rainier cloud we photographed from a ferry west of Fauntleroy last night – West Seattle resident Scott took this pic from Sunrise:
We love photos, from beauty shots to breaking news and beyond – editor@westseattleblog.com any time!
WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham sent that photo he shot a while back of West Seattle entrepreneur Ken Ahroni and his Lucky Break Wishbones, with word the Times reported over the weekend that Ahroni won his lawsuit against Sears. The story also says the long legal fight has taken something of a toll on Ahroni’s business, but he’s hoping to get back on the growth curve with a new marketing campaign.
As reported here last month, SDOT is proceeding with the Alki Point sidewalk project, which has sparked controversy on the partly-sidewalkless side of the west end of Alki Avenue. Project manager Sandra Woods expects to present the next major update at September’s Alki Community Council meeting, but in the meantime, resident Bill Leaming wrote to ask what’s in the plan for “traffic calming” — Woods replied, “We are moving forward with a design that maintains existing traffic conditions and provides accessible sidewalks for the entire project area using public right of way. We are also including several traffic calming measures in the design including improvements to the intersection of Alki Ave SW and 63rd Ave SW and raised crosswalks at both ends of the project.” Bill also inquired about the possibility of a Residential Parking Zone (RPZ); the city notes those have to be “community-initiated’ (more info here). He plans to bring it up for discussion at this week’s ACC meeting (7 pm Thursday, Alki Community Center).
Swedish Automotive recently joined WSB as a sponsor, and we’re telling you about it with a bit of a lag but in time to get out the word about its annual T-shirt giveaway/contest and bag giveaway. 
First, about Swedish Automotive: Swedish has been West Seattle’s Volvo and Saab repair service center since 1983. Owner Dave Winters says his business philosophy is based on his mother’s old saying – take care of your car, and your car will take care of you. Now, about the T-shirts: Right now Swedish is giving away free reusable canvas shopping bags (timely!) and free T-shirts to anyone who stops by. You do not have to have work done on your car to get a T-shirt and/or bag, nor do you have to own a Volvo or a Saab. But here’s another incentive to stop by for a shirt: Between now and the end of August, Swedish Automotive is having its annual T-shirt picture contest. Swedish wants you to send a picture of yourself wearing their T-shirt while on vacation. The person who sends the picture from the place FARTHEST away from Swedish will win dinner for two at Salty’s. (Get your photo to Swedish by 8/31; winner will be announced 9/15.) All pictures must show the wearer next to an identifiable landmark to be eligible. Dave tells us past winning photos have come from all over — Europe and Asia included. To date, the picture that was taken the furthest from Swedish was sent from the tip of South Africa. But even in this time of “staycations,” the T-shirt and reusable bag can come in handy, so visit Swedish Automotive at 7501 35th SW (map), 206-938-8685. We thank Swedish Automotive and all our other sponsors for supporting WSB; interested in joining them, to have your ad seen an average of 16,000+ times every day (6/08 stats)? Here’s where to start.
Another not-just-West-Seattle item, but as with the previous one, your tax dollars are involved here, so you ought to know. Just announced by Seattle Public Utilities:
The city of Seattle’s five automatic public toilets, the subject of intense controversy even before their installation in 2004, will be auctioned on eBay, beginning tomorrow (July 16).
Minimum bid on the Hering-Bau automatic public toilets is $89,000 each. A public meeting on the surplus sales process for the toilets is set for Wednesday, July 23, 2008, at 3 p.m., in the Bertha Knight Landes Room on the first floor of Seattle City Hall, 600 4th Ave.
The toilets will be removed from service — locked and fenced in — on Aug. 1. The units are expected to be physically removed by their new owner sometime later in August.
P.S. Also from eBay, the West Seattle Pizza Time auction has ended with no bidders. (Thanks to Marge for spotting the item.)
On your ballot this November, you’ll find the city levy to raise $73 million over the next six years to fix up the Pike Place Market; the City Council approved it unanimously today. Right now, the council’s Committee of the Whole is discussing the proposed Parks and Green Spaces levy (live via Seattle Channel online or cable channel 21) – a final vote is due before the end of the month; this one’s future is iffier because the mayor doesn’t support sending it to voters this year – if you feel strongly one way or another, you’ll want to contact the mayor and council now (through seattle.gov).
As you can see in that video, not an easy task to move an iguana from one container to another. That’s Seattle Animal Shelter animal-care officer Michael Kokernak making the transfer earlier this afternoon at the shelter’s HQ in Interbay, watched by Sean, the High Point resident who rescued the iguana he’s nicknamed “Lucky.” If you missed it over the past few days, the story first started unfolding here with this post early Saturday, after another High Point neighbor, Ann, saw a couple drive up to the High Point pond, where they abandoned “Lucky.” She and others worried about the iguana’s fate, went looking for it; then Sunday, Sean wound up finding it in a tree near his home – appropriately enough, since he’s an arborist; here’s the photo he took after the rescue, which left him fairly scratched up because “Lucky” was somewhat stuck in that tree:
Sean didn’t want to talk to us on camera; he just wants to make sure “Lucky” finds a good home, and Seattle Animal Shelter is fairly confident it can help make that happen. So if you ever find yourself with a pet you can no longer care for – please don’t just abandon it somewhere – most such cases don’t turn out as well as this one. The shelter promises to let us know when “Lucky” gets adopted. And re: “citywide fame” – at least two citywide-media outlets picked up this tale of neighborliness and animal-welfare concern after seeing it on WSB; the first bit of coverage we know of for sure is via our ex-co-workers at Q13, who were at the shelter for the handoff, so you might see something at 9/10 pm tonight. 10:23 PM UPDATE: Short story on Q13, though they didn’t attribute to WSB, just said “according to a local blog.” Our material is copyrighted, FYI, and we have a strong policy of giving credit where credit’s due when we get info somewhere else, so we’re hopeful that will be remedied if the story is rerun.
For us, one HUGE reason we appreciate the Southwest Precinct and its law-enforcement team is the fact that they have trailblazed a new path to community partnership through their working relationship and info-sharing with WSB (shown above, your editor and young assistant with a few of the officers on Summer Fest detail keeping watch after a weekend full of lost kid/parent reunions and other actions that helped keep the festival VERY safe and pleasant for all). 99% of their time, of course, it’s a vastly more dangerous task, like the bank robbery/shooting two weeks ago and this West Seattle standoff a few months back:
And the most dramatic evidence of what officers face: The case of what happened to Officer Jason McKissack. All these guys and gals are out there (and at the precinct behind-the-scenes) doing an often-thankless job, so tomorrow’s a chance to offer in-person thanks. We’ll be there for the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council-organized Police Appreciation Day tomorrow and hope you will stop by too – any time between 10 am and 8 pm (so come by after work if you don’t have time till then), at the Southwest Precinct, northwest corner of Delridge/Webster, east of Home Depot. And if you have a chance to help with preparations today, there’s a WSB Forum thread right now to rustle up more donations of snacks and drinks for the event; check that out here.
You can even catch this one before the PR viewing party if you’re inclined to attend both: Wednesday night, the Delridge District Council hosts a screening of “Place Matters,” a half-hour-long episode of the PBS series “Unnatural Causes” which compares and contrasts healthy and unhealthy places to live – and the redeveloped High Point is spotlighted as an example of the former. 7 pm Wednesday, Youngstown Arts Center, everyone’s invited (here’s the flyer).
You saw it here weeks ago, but now it’s official – with the premiere two nights away, Bravo has officially announced the cast of “Project Runway” Season 5, including Blayne, the artistic barista from Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor). Here’s his official bio on Bravo’s site (with headshot links below it to the other 15 contestants). As we mentioned last week, Hotwire proprietor Lora Lewis has organized a viewing party for the Wednesday night season premiere in the community room at Ginomai (southwest corner of 42nd/Genesee, right around the corner from Hotwire), 8 pm, BYONABD (bring your own non-alcoholic beverage – and dessert).
Five days to the West Seattle Grand Parade, presented by American Legion Post 160. The Vancouver (B.C.) Police motorcycle drill team (shown above) is one of the 70-ish entries you’ll see (as previewed here earlier this month); the parade will begin with the Vancouver squad following their Seattle Police counterparts. The two have different styles, so having two motorcycle drill teams is by no means repetitive or redundant. And remember, if you loved the Seafair Pirates wading ashore at Alki (WSB coverage here and here), you’ll adore ’em on land. If you’re not already IN the parade, here are two open opportunities for participation: the Rotary Club of West Seattle presents the Kiddie Parade right before the Grand Parade – kids can sign in starting at 9:45 am Saturday at California/Genesee (map here; parade flyer here); and if you do/have done volunteer work of any kind, any amount, come have fun joining us in the first-ever Volunteers of West Seattle Grand Parade Marching Unit — no fancy marching steps required — just showing off the “people power” of volunteering — and there’s a reward involved (read about it here). We’ll continue rolling out more parade info as the countdown continues, leading up to Saturday; if you want to check out our coverage from last year — here’s a post with links to all of it.
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