For our fellow Blue Angels fans as well as those who appreciate advance notice of possible loud flybys (with Boeing Field relatively close to West Seattle, etc.) — we have word from Seafair that the Angels are flying in around 11:30 am tomorrow, after a weekend airshow in Twin Falls, Idaho. Their official practicing doesn’t start till Thursday but you may see one or two flying in the interim, for special media flights and so on; once again this year, there’s a local pilot on the team — Lt. Cmdr. Craig Olson, a native of Kirkland. (Also remember, I-90 will have closures Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the practices and airshows; dates and times are listed here.)
Tomorrow afternoon at its 2 pm meeting, the City Council is expected to vote on the bag-fee and foam-ban proposal — you can read the full details here. If it’s approved as currently written, it’ll kick in the first of next year, and you’ll pay 20 cents for every nonreusable shopping bag you get at the store. So you may be in the market for reusable bags if you don’t have them already. No shortage of places to buy them – got one to recommend? (In addition to every supermarket imaginable, we know of at least two other places: WSB sponsor Click! Design That Fits sells Envirosax for $9.50; PB&J Textilestold us a few months back about bags they were selling for $4 at the time – haven’t checked lately if the price/availability has changed.)
Our earlier photos (here and here) were taken inside the bus – but at the end of today’s four-hour diaper drive, you could best tell by looking at the bus windows from back to front, it was pretty full! Congratulations to WestSide Baby. Moments later, we talked with WestSide Baby executive director Nancy Woodland in the day’s first brilliant burst of full sunshine:
We’re back in The Junction, where we revisited the WestSide Baby “Stuff the Bus” diaper drive for an update as it goes into its final hour – they were just about to pass 20,000 diapers (way to go, West Seattle!!!!), and there’s still room for more – even if you’ve been by once, maybe you have time to make another run? Look for this big yellow bus on 44th south of Alaska, alongside the West Seattle Farmers’ Market, where lots of friendly WestSide Baby volunteers are there to greet you and take your diaper donation till 2 pm:
Stil time to get a free car-seat check in the nearby Wells Fargo parking lot, too, courtesy of SafeKids-South King County. WestSide Baby is expecting to help local families in need with THREE-HUNDRED THOUSAND DIAPERS in all, before the year’s out – so even if you don’t see this till Monday (or later), check the WestSide Baby website to find out how you can help them help local families (with lots of other essentials too) any time of year.
We’re heading back to get a look at how things are going in the second half of today’s “Stuff the Bus” diaper drive … but in the meantime, WestSide Baby‘s executive director Nancy Woodland called with an update: More than 16,000 diapers as of noon! STILL room for lots more. Get down to 44th just south of Alaska (next to the West Seattle Farmers’ Market) before 2 pm.
It may look gray outside, but at the second day of the Alki Art Fair (stretching along the promenade from both sides of the Bathhouse), sunbreaks are happening and so is everything from live music (above, the Forget-Me-Nots, one of the acts playing this morning) to a silent auction (note the banner fluttering in the photo background at right) to kids’ activities like an art tent and a bouncy house. If you can’t quite shake the autumn-ish mood brought on by the clouds, we found at least one booth with handmade sweaters on sale:
Suzanne de la Torre (headquartered on lower Queen Anne) is selling her handmade creations – one of many artists whose wares you can admire, and if you are so moved, purchase. Other apparel for sale at the event includes Alki Art Fair T-shirts, past and present:
T-shirts and tank tops will run you $15 (look for the tent on the water side of the Bathhouse). The Alki Art Fair continues till 5 pm today.
We’re in The Junction, where we just dropped by WestSide Baby‘s “Stuff the Bus” diaper drive to see how things were going after the first hour – they had just passed 9,500 diapers! But that’s just enough to cover the back of the bus (photo above) — LOTS of room for more – lots of “westside babies” (and toddlers) are counting on you! Any kind of disposable diapers will do – go buy a package or two (or more) and get ’em to the big yellow bus (with lots of happy volunteers swarming around it) at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market by 2 pm. And remember, just to the north, the Wells Fargo parking lot (enter from 44th northbound, sign shown below) is where you can get a free car-seat check during the diaper drive:
New in West Seattle? Need a map to 44th/Alaska? Here you go. And if you can’t quite get to the Farmers’ Market, there are five other dropoff spots, including Red Cup Espresso (hand ’em over at the drive-thru window!) on the west side of California just north of Oregon, and Eats Market Cafe in Westwood Village (full list here).
Thanks to Susan Grossman of Singing Pixel Photography for sharing that view of a watchful harbor seal. Reminds us that we need to check with the Seal Sitters to see how their roster’s shaping up for this season, since birthing season starts in August. If you see a baby seal on the beach, remember — leave it alone and keep your distance; its mom is probably just off looking for food, and human interference with the baby lessens the chance of a family reunion. We published a lot of great pix and video last year, but all from a safe distance, thanks to zoom.
As always, here’s the Sunday morning link to what’s fresh at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market (and others citywide). And another reminder: Today’s the WestSide Baby “Stuff the Bus” diaper drive at the big yellow bus next to the market on 44th – take one or more packages of diapers; Costco’s matching the first 14,000. We’ll be updating as it progresses, 10 am-2 pm (additional dropoff sites listed here).
That’s WSB video of the West Seattle Hi-Yu float going by during tonight’s Seafair Torchlight Parade, from our vantage point across from the Rainier Club about two-thirds of the way down the parade route. The Hi-Yu folks had extra reasons for those big bright smiles — the Luna Park-themed float won the Smile Award during judging for tonight’s parade. (Full list of winners here.) We’ll add a few more West Seattle moments and parade observations later, but wanted to get this news up first (in case you missed our post to Twitter during the parade). ADDED VERY EARLY SUNDAY: Those assorted extras, including a clip of parade grand marshal Sig Hansen from “Deadliest Catch” (no West Seattle link that I know of, but having had some family ties to the fishing industry, it was interesting to see a fisherman treated like a rock star!):Read More
MEET THE NEW BRANCH MANAGER: Julie Enevoldsen from Friends of Southwest Branch Library writes to invite everybody to the branch on Monday night, 6:30-7:45, to meet the new branch manager, Theresa Mayer. Light refreshments will be provided at the event in the upstairs meeting room; the Southwest branch is on the southeast corner of 35th/Henderson (here’s a map).
READING RECOMMENDATIONS: Librarians from Southwest and West Seattle (Admiral) branches recently provided the official Seattle Public Library systemwide blog, Shelf Talk, with some reading suggestions, based on what local readers are enjoying this summer; read the list here.
The bus WestSide Baby hopes you’ll help stuff with diapers is now in place on 44th south of Alaska, where you’ll find it tomorrow, 10 am-2 pm, right alongside the West Seattle Farmers’ Market. Three things we’ve mentioned before that are worth mentioning again: First, Costco is matching donations diaper-for-diaper, up to the first 14,000, so your donation’s likely to count double. Second, during “Stuff the Bus,” WestSide Baby is offering free carseat checks at the Junction Wells Fargo parking lot across the street. Third, if you can’t make it to the Farmers’ Market, there are a few other dropoff locations during the “Stuff the Bus” drive — five of them, all listed here. This year they’re expecting to supply needy local families with THREE-HUNDRED-THOUSAND diapers – and hoping to bring in at least 20,000 tomorrow. See you there!
That’s the view Team WSB’s resident parade nut currently has – staked out on the Seafair Torchlight Parade route, across from the stately old Rainier Club at 4th and Columbia, which is about three blocks farther down the route than where we found curbside room at the same arrival time last year. Pet peeve: People who block off sections of sidewalk with ropes or tape, put their chairs out, and leave. Our code of parade stakeouts: Once you stake your spot, at least one person stays there (rotate out if you have to). The Rainier Club, by the way, has quite a party going – there’s a kid bouncy zone way off to the right side of the photo, and on the lawn at left, its entire lawn is planted with plastic pirate flags. (And they have blocked off what looks like 100 seats along the sidewalk.) Stakeout’s fun – you get to see the participants go by ahead of time – so far, a huge posse of bicycling Seattle Police officers, and a school bus with the Chinese Community Girls’ Drill Team. Anyway, we’ll be watching out for West Seattle parade moments – you can count on the Hi-Yu Festival float and West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician, plus Denny Middle School music director Marcus Pimpleton leading the All-City Band; other parade highlights will include the grand marshal, “Deadliest Catch” captain Sig Hansen, and the crowning of Miss Seafair at the start of the parade (contenders include 2006-2007 Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu Tricia Thompson). The parade starts at the Seattle Center end of 4th Avenue around 7:30 pm, but downtown will be tough to get through starting about an hour from now, since the Torchlight Run precedes the parade (and will close the northbound side of The Viaduct for a while). No worries, we’re still in position to cover West Seattle news tonight too, but here’s hoping for a quiet fun night on both sides of the bay.
That’s Eddie Sherman, from the second generation of family ownership at Pacific Plumbing Supply, a regional business headquartered next to the West Marginal/Highland Park Way site that’s one of two potential West Seattle locations on the “final four” list for a public jail. Those two sites were the focus of a three-hour city-organized public forum at South Seattle Community College today. One major revelation from the city officials and consultants who were on hand: The process is slowing a bit now that Seattle is looking at teaming with north- and east-county cities on one semi-regional jail; that means the next round of hearings, on environmental impacts, won’t be till fall (there was originally talk of those hearings happening next month). The concerns expressed by jail opponents, meantime, continue to expand. Hear more of those concerns, and see what happens next, ahead:Read More
Earlier this month, we linked to a short newspaper report about a West Seattle entrepreneur’s big victory in court. His business is one of a kind: Making plastic wishbones so everyone gets one on Thanksgiving (or Christmas, or whenever else you serve turkey – or, so you can have one even if you DON’T serve turkey; face it, no wishbones in Tofurky or Field Roast). Having never met Lucky Break Wishbone Corp. president Ken Ahroni, we envisioned perhaps a slightly wild-eyed eccentric, oh, say, toiling out of an artsy spot at a facility like ActivSpace. But when he agreed to chat with us for a followup on the court case and what’s next, we discovered we were way wrong:Read More
First thing this morning, vendors were getting ready for the Alki Beach Art Fair, today and tomorrow 10 am-5 pm, rain or shine, and the Statue of Liberty Plaza construction isn’t getting in the way – as the photo above shows, there are booths to the west, and also lots of booths to the right, on both sides of the bathhouse. Let’s hope things stay dry because tonight is parade night:
That’s the West Seattle Hi-Yu float, royalty, and volunteers in last Saturday’s West Seattle Grand Parade – towed because of ongoing trouble. They have received a “very special exemption” from Seafair to be towed the entire length of tonight’s Torchlight Parade route downtown. (If you’re not going to the parade, remember many downtown streets will be completely or partly blocked off – the main parade route goes down 4th, from Seattle Center to the International District, and it’s preceded by the Torchlight Run, which puts the northbound Alaskan Way Viaduct out of commission approximately 5:30-8 pm.)Meantime, back on our side of the bay, it’s Movies on the Wall night again next to Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor):
That’s the trailer from the ’80s classic “The Goonies,” tonight’s movie, starting at dusk (9 pm-ish); free admission, but bring a nonperishable food donation for the West Seattle Food Bank, which also is the beneficiary of concession sales presented by West Seattle Christian Church (WSB sponsor). One more outdoor movie note: There’s an outdoor showing of “An Inconvenient Truth” in Fremont tonight – $5 donation suggested – and the proceeds will be split by Sustainable West Seattle and Sustainable Ballard. (North 35th/Phinney Ave. North, map; “doors” open 7:30 pm.) And on the indoor-activities front, Fauntleroy Church(WSB sponsor) continues its centennial celebration:
That’s the crowd that turned out for last night’s Bean Feed and Talent Show, paying tribute to a long-ago church tradition; this afternoon, Fauntleroy Church has an open house, 1-4 pm — if you’ve never been there, it’s worth checking out the steepled sanctuary in its beautiful wooded sanctuary across the street from the old schoolhouse (9140 California SW; map). What else is up, you ask? Check the West Seattle Weekend Lineup.
WSB has learned tonight that the mayor plans to announce next week that there will definitely be a “Car-Free Day” at Alki this summer. This information comes from CoolMom, whose leaders are helping organize part of the event on Alki next week at which details will be announced. We were first to report that a day like this was expected to be included in the city’s “Give Your Car The Summer Off” campaign (here’s our report from June 12th), but when last we checked with SDOT, it wasn’t a done deal – till now. We don’t have the exact date, but CoolMom’s been told that it will be for six hours, on a Sunday. One other important note: Apparently it won’t be 100% vehicle-free — a lane reportedly will remain open for the Water Taxi shuttle and for local residents on the stretch of Alki SW whose homes (particularly the condo buildings) cannot be reached any other way. More info on the Alki “Car-Free Day” as we get it. (CoolMom, by the way, is a moms’ group founded to support lifestyles with lower ecological impact; we told you in April about its West Seattle chapter, which meets monthly; contact info is here.) 11:57 PM ADDITION: Since we first published this, we’ve learned the Alki “Car-Free Day” date is expected to be Sunday, September 7th.
(Photo by David Hutchinson)
Just posted beneath our second report on last night’s 56th/Alki duplex fire (first report here), this message from the duplex tenant:
I would like to thank the Seattle fire dept, they did an amazing job in taking care of myself and my family in this difficult time.
I would also like to remind people that the fire dept could have had an easier time if thay hadn’t needed to deal with all of the spectators. You might want to think in the future, how would I like people to behave if it were my house and my family in danger.
Sincere thanks to all the truly concerned people in my neighborhood!
We saw a small demonstration of that concern just this morning, while briefly stopping in the area for this short followup — one passerby stopped to ask a man outside the charred building if he lived there (he told her he was a friend of the tenant) and if everyone was OK. Meantime, the Seattle Fire Department tells WSB that investigators still need to talk with the duplex’s owner before they can officially determine/announce the fire’s cause. ADDED EARLY SATURDAY: Browsing YouTube, we just found video (posted by “carloberti“) from the fire that we hadn’t seen before – obviously from a cameraphone so low-quality but it shows two things from VERY early on: First, toward the start you can clearly hear authorities on a loudspeaker asking the crowd to make way (as mentioned above); shortly afterward, you see the flash as the growing fire takes out a transformer:
We’re counting down to Sunday’s annual “Stuff the Bus” diaper drive for WestSide Baby, which helps thousands of local families every year — buy 1 or more packages of disposable diapers, drop ’em off at the big school bus you’ll see parked by the West Seattle Farmers’ Market 10 am-2 pm Sunday (or a few satellite locations listed on the WestSide Baby home page). And as we mentioned yesterday – Costco is matching the first 14,000 diapers donated, diaper for diaper! Two other bonuses – first, ever wanted to honk a school-bus horn? You can do it when you drop off your donation on Sunday. Second, across Alaska at the Junction Wells Fargo branch, free car-seat inspections are being offered during “Stuff the Bus,” thanks to SafeKids-King County South (more info on this page). We’re planning in-progress reports on Sunday; see you there!
9 am-noon tomorrow, at South Seattle Community College (in Brockey Center on the southeast side of the campus; map), it’s the third of four city-organized public forums about the “final four” potential locations for a city misdemeanor-offender jail – the second one about the two sites that are in southeast West Seattle (map), and the first one to be held IN West Seattle (the previous one was a month ago in South Park, and got pretty testy at times; WSB coverage with video, here). If you haven’t been following the issue all along, here are resources: WSB coverage archive (newest to oldest), Highland Park Action Committee‘s “NO-JAIL” site, city website’s “Municipal Jail” info section. (Which says, by the way, that doors open at 9 am for tomorrow’s forum, but nothing will actually happen till 9:30 am.)
FIRST: A “public auction” sign is now up at the closed-last-month (WSB coverage here) Corner Inn (auction’s next Tuesday; here’s the item list, on the James G. Murphy auctioneers site) … SECOND: Illusions Hair Design (WSB sponsor) has sent an e-mail alert to customers that sidewalk work outside their business and others (west side of California SW between Juneau and Findlay) will start Monday, last three weeks, and affect parking. THIRD: Pink notes like this are on doors at Denny Middle School:
Thanks to the WSB’er who tipped us that Seattle Public Schools posted notices that it’s treating Denny with pesticide today. The notices say they’re doing it in the lunch room and bathrooms, and the pesticide is Onslaught.
For our fellow 
Earlier this month, we linked to 
at which details will be announced. We were first to report that a day like this was expected to be included in the city’s “Give Your Car The Summer Off” campaign (
which helps thousands of local families every year — buy 1 or more packages of disposable diapers, drop ’em off at the big school bus you’ll see parked by the West Seattle Farmers’ Market 10 am-2 pm Sunday (or a few satellite locations listed on the 
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