West Seattle, Washington
19 Friday
After months of organizing, the big cleanup along the Fauntleroy end of The Bridge, from Walking on Logs to 35th/Fauntleroy (where Department of Corrections crews have just done some pre-clearing, as per photo above) is finally here. From organizer Nancy Driver:
It’s looking like we are going to have a really beautiful day for a cleanup. Thanks to the terrific response from the community, we will have well over 200 volunteers at the cleanup tomorrow. I’m really excited to see what it will look like after we’ve finished. Here’s what you need to know for tomorrow:
Where to check in: 4545 Fauntleroy Ave SW – in the parking lot of the former Huling showroom at the corner of Fauntleroy and 38th SW. There will be some parking available here but please consider arriving by foot, bicycle, bus or carpool.
What time: Welcoming ceremony starts at 9:00 a.m. and hopefully shouldn’t run more than 20 minutes. There will be a special declaration read tomorrow morning but we’ll let it be a surprise. Shifts run 9:30 – 11:30; 11:30 – 1:30; 1:30 – 3:30. All volunteers should check in at least 20 minutes before their shift so they can sign and be issued a safety vest. Everyone will be required to wear a safety vest at the clean up site. Right now we have an overabundance of volunteers for the 9:30 shift so if you haven’t already signed up as a volunteer and want to help out, please arrive for either the 11:30 or 1:30 shifts.
What to wear: I recommend long pants and shoes that will protect your feet. I know it’s going to be warm tomorrow but you’ll want to protect your feet and legs from getting scratched up from blackberries and other scratchy debris on site. We’ll have gloves available except for children – unfortunately, we will not be able to provide gloves for small hands. Just adult sizes small, medium and large. If you have your own favorite gloves – feel free to bring them but just be sure to hang onto them.
We’ll have water and other beverages as well as light refreshments available in the staging area. Water will also be available at the clean up site. We’ll also have a port-a-potty at both the clean up site and the staging area.
The City is providing all tools necessary so no need to bring tools.
The Mayor will be showing up around 10:30 at the clean up site and will be handing out reusable grocery bags to volunteers after they finish their shift.
Thanks again to everyone who has volunteered to help with this project.
Nancy / Fairmount Community Association
Six quick West Seattle business notes:
FRESHY’S: Got a note from owner Amber that her shop across from Hiawatha is now serving beer/wine and will expand to a later closing time (9 pm) starting Monday.
THE BOHEMIAN: After one daytime-only week, next Monday, The Bohemian adds dinner and cocktails; proprietor Jason Rice says Sunday brunch will join the lineup October 5th.
HOTWIRE COFFEE: Tomorrow’s another installment of the 6th anniversary celebration for WSB’s inaugural sponsor – latte/chair massage combos for $15 between 9 and 3.
SKYLARK CAFE AND CLUB: The lively Delridge venue just announced a new “open turntable” night, last Tuesday of each month (next one 9/30), sign up for a half-hour between 9 pm-2 am when you can play your records (yes, vinyl!) onstage (signups start at 9).
SNAP FITNESS: The new Jefferson Square fitness center co-owned by longtime WSB’er Jim Flynn will have an info/membership table 4-7 pm daily next Monday-Thursday and 11 am-3 pm Saturday 9/20.
FRIENDS AND COMPANY: The crafts store in The Junction marks its 11th anniversary with special events and demonstrations tomorrow.
First word comes from Chris Monsos – it’s on the 911 log too. Adding a cameraphone photo in a moment. Not sure yet about details of the incident. 4:39 PM UPDATE: Added photo. Heading that way to find out more, now that the 39th/Holden drug raid is wrapped up (see previous post). Chris says whatever it was must have been small – nothing’s visible but he could smell smoke when he pulled up, and he sees the fire crew “squeegee-ing up water from the lobby.” 4:46 PM UPDATE: Our crew is there now – fire alarms can still be heard, and water can still be seen coming out of the lobby. We’ll let you know as soon as we find out what happened and whether it’s affecting club operations for the rest of today/tonight. 4:50 PM UPDATE: Two sources – the fire commander at the scene, and Cami from Alki (quoting the owner) – say it was a laundry-room fire; the commander says it started in the lint trap; out now, no injuries reported. Employees tell WSB the owner hasn’t decided how the rest of the night will go – first concern is getting people who were inside the club when this happened, back inside now to get their stuff. (Later note: Still no official word, so just call before you go.)
(more photos added to the bottom of this post late Friday night – scroll down)
Thanks to Rebecca for the tip. Holden is blocked for a few blocks starting at 41st and heading east; the first officer we saw at the scene said simply, “Drug raid.” We’re gathering more information; stand by. 4:14 PM UPDATE: Added photo of police vehicles near the scene; cropped it closely because we have no idea whether there is some sort of standoff involved, and it’s always been SOP not to publish anything during a standoff that might alert someone to the position of police at the scene. 4:21 PM UPDATE: Witnesses tell us one person was “taken away” by officers shortly after this all started 45 minutes or so ago. 4:32 PM UPDATE: The street’s open again now, though there are still officers outside the house where the “raid” apparently happened. We’re checking for additional information. 4:37 PM UPDATE: Lt. Norm James confirms one suspect arrested, but can’t elaborate beyond the fact this is a drug case; he says police are just wrapping up administrative-type details on scene now. ADDED LATE FRIDAY NIGHT: Thanks to Brian Hartman from photoelan.com for these photos taken as police moved in:
The autumnal equinox isn’t till a week from Monday, so you actually have two more summer weekends left, counting this one (and the weather sure looks semi-summery) – events include the first weekend of “The Vertical Hour” at ArtsWest (photo above by Matthew Durham), the Barbecue Championships at Alki, the huge West Seattle Gateway Cleanup, and a whole lot more – 47 West Seattle events for tonight through Sunday night, listed ahead:Read More
Tim Winston, best known lately for West Seattle Hi-Yu but serving this time around as a “Chief Sealth band fan,” sent the above photo with the following info:
Chief Sealth High Band has been raising money for new uniforms for several years and is closing in on the goal. They are trying to raise the last bit that will push them over the top.
The band members in the picture are wearing their current, difficult to fit & maintain, uniforms and holding a picture of the new uniforms. The new design has been a collaborative effort by band members, led by their director, Deborah Meyer.
If you can help out, please send your tax deductable donation to:
Chief Sealth Performing Arts
PMB #249
1606 SW 104th St
Seattle, WA 98146
Our Lady of Guadalupe School tells WSB its students are getting an environmental lesson by cleaning up the overgrown corner at 34th/Myrtle (north of the school, east of its playground) – and they’re going to get some help starting tomorrow from a herd of goats! The goats will be on site Saturday through Tuesday. OLG development director Chantille Henry adds, “Our Lady of Guadalupe School believes in teaching children the importance of stewardship and each class is assigned a different project to better the world around them. One class cleans Longfellow Creek, and another collects clothing and visits WestSide Baby, helping sort clothing and cleans the grounds, to name a few.” Meantime, tomorrow’s also the day for the huge West Seattle Gateway Cleanup along the Fauntleroy end of The Bridge, from 35th/Fauntleroy to Walking on Logs, where some clearing’s already been done in preparation for what hundreds of volunteers will do tomorrow:
Goats didn’t work out for this cleanup, but organizer Nancy Driver has reported previously that she and fellow organizers are very grateful to the state Department of Corrections for lending people-power to the pre-clearing project. Also a traffic reminder – the outside lane along the cleanup site will be closed tomorrow, 8 am-4 pm-ish, so if you’re coming back to West Seattle via The Bridge at some point, either take the Admiral exit or just remember to go slow!
Certainly the presidential election has taken fascinating turns – but that’s just one race on a huge slate you’ll face when your ballot arrives in the mail, or when 
you go vote in person on November 4th. We got quite the reminder of that while covering Wednsday night’s meeting of West Seattle’s biggest political group, the 34th District Democrats – they got endorsement pitches from supporters of initiatives that may not even be on your radar screen yet. They also heard local organizers’ presidential get-out-the-vote strategies too. Two and a half hours of what the 34th DDs call “all the democracy you can handle” — here are the highlights:Read More
Before that round of handshaking followed the ceremonial groundbreaking an hour ago for the Alaskan Way Viaduct electrical-line relocation project, state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond (center of pic, white shirt) pointed to the BECU billboard in the upper left corner of the photo and said it hits home the point that Viaduct work “has arrived”; here’s video with her explanation of this project’s overall significance:
If you’re trying to envision exactly where those to-be-moved lines are – they’re visible on the underside of the Viaduct’s lower deck:
Seattle City Light’s chief of staff Sung Yang said the lines carry major supply far beyond the immediate local area:
They’ll be moved off the structure to help prepare for its teardown and replacement, starting next year (this work should be finished by late ’09). The only traffic effects you should notice during the yearlong, $17 million electric-line project are described this way in the official WSDOT news release: “During construction, drivers should expect occasional lane closures or traffic revisions on S. Atlantic Street, S. Royal Brougham Way, and S. Dearborn Street between First Avenue S. and Alaskan Way S. In addition, some parking near the sports stadiums will be removed in the area needed for construction.” Frank Coluccio Construction is the contractor. This isn’t the first major Viaduct project, by the way; the column-stabilization work (WSB coverage, with video, here) was finished earlier this year. Last note: Next Viaduct weekend-long inspection shutdown is currently set for October 18-19, as permaposted on our Traffic page.
Seems Magnolia/Interbay and West Seattle have a lot in common these days – not only the jail-sites fight (see below), but also future Whole Foods stores. MagnoliaVoice.com broke the story of a slowdown on the nearly complete WF in Interbay; as soon as we saw it early this morning, we e-mailed Eric Radovich at BlueStar – which is developing Fauntleroy Place, with the West Seattle WF (final approved design shown above) – and he replied early this am, “Still full (speed) ahead for us at this point … target Feb. of 2010,” which means no change from previous projections. A similar reassurance was issued a month ago, and FP has swung into major excavation since then. (Side note: If you haven’t heard of Magnolia Voice before, it’s a new neighborhood-news site affiliated with MyBallard.com, both operated by people who, like your WSB co-publishers here, are veteran journalists we happened to know personally long before they ventured into the online-community-news business.)
(Thursday night photo courtesy MagnoliaVoice.com)
MagnoliaVoice.com covered last night’s community meeting focusing on the Interbay location that’s among the city’s current “final four” in the search for where to build a jail for misdemeanor offenders; the other three sites, as you probably know, include two in southeastern West Seattle. According to our friends at Magnolia Voice, one of those sites, the one on Myers Way (map), was mentioned by City Councilmember Tim Burgess as one of the two most likely sites (along with the Interbay location, which he reportedly had singled out in July). We have a request for comment out to Councilmember Burgess (who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee); meantime, you can read the MagnoliaVoice.com story about last night’s meeting here. SATURDAY MIDDAY UPDATE: Councilmember Burgess has posted a comment on the White Center Now version of this post saying that he was referring to the “First Avenue South Bridge” site, not the Myers Way South site. The city has not labeled any site as “First Avenue South Bridge” but the West Marginal Way/Highland Park Way SW site is certainly closest to the bridge; we have a note out to Councilmember Burgess to further clarify (he had not responded to the request for comment that we mentioned yesterday, except to ask for the Magnolia Voice link, which we promptly provided). Will let you know what we find out. UPDATED SUNDAY AFTERNOON: Councilmember Burgess’ reply:
Correct, the West Marginal site which is about 1.5 blocks off the southwest corner of the bridge. The site is partially owned by the city and partially owned by WSDOT which used it as a staging location when the bridge was repaired a few years back. I refer to it as the First Avenue South Bridge site because that helps people understand the geographic location better than the intersection.
In less than two hours, state and local leaders will preside at a ceremonial groundbreaking for the next major Alaskan Way Viaduct project – yearlong work to relocate nearby electrical lines, to get ready for the South End replacement. State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond and City Light Superintendent Jorge Carrasco are scheduled to participate in the event along the Sodo end of The Viaduct. We’ll be there too. Note that this project is not expected to have many traffic effects, since it’s happening mostly on nearby private property. Lots going on with the AWV, though, including another state open house here in West Seattle, 5:30-7:30 pm at Fauntleroy Church next Tuesday; the focus: getting your thoughts on what should replace its Central Waterfront section (here are the so-called “options” currently under review).
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