Build a new viaduct – over the old one?
Got a note inviting us to a briefing next week where a Florida man will try to get traction for his idea to replace the Central Waterfront section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct without having to tear down the old one first: The rendering you see above is from the website for the “Seattle Skyway” (which, a few pages in, also proposes an alternative replacement for the 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington); its proponent, Jim Powers, says the 70-foot-high “Skyway” could be built for less than a billion dollars. No cost estimates yet on the 8 Viaduct “scenarios” currently officially under consideration; Powers says his idea is really just a variation on “Option D,” officially sketched by the state as follows:
Powers’ briefing is next Wednesday night, the day before the next meeting of the Stakeholders Advisory Committee (4 pm Thursday 9/25, City Hall) that’s helping evaluate possibilities as state/city/county leaders move closer to a Central Waterfront decision.
West Seattle scene: The pipes between the sirens
(click to see larger version of the photo)
From WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham: “Medic 32‘s Mark Colley strolls back and forth along the rear bay of Station 32 on SW Alaska St. as he exercises his pipes. Seattle Firefighters Pipes and Drums’ newest member was kilted at the annual 9/11 police and fire get-together at the Red Door this year. The group plays at memorial and ceremonial events associated with fire and police.” Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available at his site, mattdurhamphotography.com.
Update: Admiral Safeway proposal unveiled tonight
(view from the northeast – if you were looking down from a helicopter high over Admiral Starbucks – click for larger version)
Even before tonight’s community meeting, the folks at Safeway cautioned that what they are showing tonight is more their “vision” for the sight than what they will take to the Design Review Board next week — since there’s a set procedure for those meetings, reviewing three options for general size, shape, layout, etc. But nonetheless, it’s our first look at what they are hoping to build on their current store site that takes up the southern half-plus of the block fronting California and 42nd between Admiral and Lander: a bigger new store, plus more than 30 residential units, and a separate small retail building on the northwest corner of the lot. Just ahead, three more views (all four are courtesy Fuller/Sears Architects), plus Safeway’s description of its hopes and dreams (followed by our bullet points from tonight’s meeting:Read More
Alki Community Council: Sidewalk controversy resurfaces
(click image to see full three-page document with city’s “final design”)
First update from tonight’s Alki Community Council meeting: Issues are still simmering with the city plan to finish the sidewalk on the north side of Alki Sw, from 63rd SW west to the other side of Alki Point. What you see above – difficult as it may be to decipher (even if you click on the image to see the full three-page document) – is what’s described on the city’s webpage for the project as “the final design,” and labeled on the document as “100% review” (dated tomorrow, by the way). At one point, the ACC had hoped that city project manager “Sam” Woods would be at tonight’s meeting; instead, she has been going door-to-door through the affected area this week to talk with residents. Just one problem, said a few attendees at tonight’s meeting: The letter from SDOT director Grace Crunican (read it here) says those visits were happening yesterday and today – but some didn’t even get the letter till today. They say they still have safety concerns about the plan and would like to see it presented one last time (the previous, contentious community meeting was this one in April) – with safety details highlighted (beyond the two raised crosswalks, at 64th and at Alki/Beach, as reported here in July) — before it’s finalized prior to construction (which Crunican’s letter says will start early next year). ACC secretary Larry Carpenter says he’s certain that such a meeting is already in the city’s plans; we’ll check with SDOT tomorrow, and we’ll also be asking about a report tonight that the project is $150,000 over the original budget.
Almost a year after 59th/Admiral shooting, case close to trial
We told you recently that two of the three 2007 West Seattle murder cases both ended with plea bargains instead of trial — Brian Walsh pleaded guilty last month to a reduced charge of second-degree murder for killing “Benny” Reside at Cal-Mor Circle and is awaiting sentencing; Jabarie Phillips pleaded guilty earlier in the year to a reduced charge of manslaughter for killing Dewayne West outside West’s house at 37th/Findlay, and was sentenced last month to 13 years in prison. 
That leaves the case of the shooting last October 13th inside a car at 59th/Admiral (10/13/07 scene photo at left, arrow points to the car) that killed 33-year-old Francisco Bailey-Ortiz. The suspect, an Alki resident, was 17 when it happened and is now 18; we stopped identifying him when his defense labeled him a victim of child sexual abuse (detailed in our report last October 29th). He has remained in jail, though his bail was cut to $200,000, and we have continued to watch the case through a fairly standard string of hearings, continuations, legal motions, etc. Now, it looks like the case is going to trial; a date’s been set for early October, and a pretrial “omnibus” hearing is scheduled for tomorrow. We checked with the suspect’s lawyer, Robert Perez, today, to find out if there was any chance a plea bargain was in the works for this case too. His reply: “I can assure you there will be no plea bargaining in this case. (The defendant) is not a felon and he has no intention of becoming one based on the victimization that led to this tragedy. He will seek justice from a jury of his peers. The case will go to trial during the week of October 6.”
Reminder: 3 days, 2 big events, 1 West Seattle neighborhood
The neighborhood: The Junction.
The events: The first-ever West Seattle Junction Car Show (co-sponsored by WSB), 8 am-4 pm Sunday, and Holy Rosary’s West Fest (WSB sponsor), 6-10 pm Friday, 10 am-10 pm Saturday.
The highlights: At West Fest on Friday-Saturday, live music for all ages, bouncy rides for kids, food, fun; see our full preview here (including info about advance purchase of wristbands). At the Junction Car Show on Sunday, more than 200 classic cars — among them, the 1968 convertible Dodge Dart GT shown above; Knight — who just moved to West Seattle — tells WSB, “This will be the 1st car show I’ve ever entered since I bought the car in Florida 2 years ago.” 2 1/2 blocks of California will be closed, block by block, between Edmunds and the post office. There’s still room for day-of entries – first come, first served, staging entry will be from the east side of Edmunds/42nd. Breakfast options now include a special Elliott Bay Brewery breakfast menu 10 am-2 pm (in addition to the West Seattle Eagles‘ Sunday breakfast starting early, at 7, and Puerto Vallarta breakfast at 7).
Rezoning for 6-story building now part of The Kenney’s plan
At the first of two community meetings about the $150 million plan to “reinvent” The Kenney, the century-old retirement center in Fauntleroy, management and consultants revealed two big changes since the plan was first previewed over the summer (not only in this WSB article, but also in meetings with Kenney residents): There’s more “park-like” space planned for the northwest section of the site, which is famous for its greenery now, but in order to make that happen, The Kenney wants to double the height of one new building in the middle of the complex — that means six stories, and it would require rezoning, if the City Council approves. Tonight is the second of two community meetings to discuss the latest plans for the project – here’s our full report on what happened at the first meeting:Read More
Tonight: Admiral Safeway plan; Kenney plan; Alki Community Council
ADMIRAL SAFEWAY: We first reported in February that Safeway had advised the Admiral Neighborhood Association its long-anticipated plan to redevelop the store site was ramping up. Last month, general bullet points emerged when Safeway applied for a permit. Tonight, the company unveils its design at a community meeting at Hiawatha, 7 pm.
THE KENNEY: Last night, the century-old Fauntleroy retirement center discussed its major redevelopment plan — all but one building will be torn down — last night with neighbors. (Our article will be published later this morning; two major changes were revealed last night, including the proposal for one building to be 6 stories high.) Tonight, The Kenney’s management and consultants are presenting the plan again, in a meeting geared toward local community groups and organizations (though everyone’s welcome), at The Kenney, 6 pm.
ALKI COMMUNITY COUNCIL: West Seattle’s fabled beach community has had a lot going on this summer – what’s ahead for fall? Attend tonight’s ACC meeting to find out. 7 pm, Alki Community Center.
Later today – we look ahead to a few of the big events coming up in the next few days beyond tonight, including Holy Rosary’s West Fest (WSB sponsor) tomorrow and Saturday and the first-ever West Seattle Junction Car Show (co-sponsored by WSB) Sunday.
Bucket Brigade offers you a garden for very little green
This Saturday morning, if you get to a certain Gatewood address in time, you will score one (or more) of those repurposed buckets, planted with winter veggies, for … believe it or not … $5 each. So says the Urban Land Army, in announcing its Bucket Brigade. Here’s how Sandy Pederson explains it:
Bucket Brigade is a project of West Seattle-based Urban Land Army (www.urbanlandarmy.com), a new local business and website that connects urbanites who want to become more self-sufficient and improve the health of their neighborhood. Growing more of our own food and reducing waste is a big focus, and Bucket Brigade lets us do both!
The buckets are donated by a local westside bakery, Little Rae’s Bakery. They are sturdy, food-safe containers, but they cannot be recycled in Seattle, so we have rescued them from the landfill and planted them up for the people! We have cooking buckets with swiss chard, kale, Pac Choi, beet greens, mustards, and Chinese Cabbage, and Fresh Eats buckets with 3 kinds of lettuce and spinach. All of these plants can be harvested through the winter and are easy to care for (but we have instructions just in case!). They are perfect for people in apartments or condos, fun for kids, and for those who just love a good veggie bucket.
Where and when, you ask? 3726 SW Austin (map), 9 am-noon this Saturday. (Side note: Their site points to Not-Just-For-Profit; our fellow small/sustainable businesspeople may want to check it out.) AFTERNOON UPDATE: Sandy says KOMO Radio saw this item and called for an interview, so you may hear her on AM 1000.
WaMu Q-A
It’s the bank with the most branches in West Seattle (five by our count, including the Junction driveup and the Thriftway in-store), so you might be interested in this helpful “what does the situation mean to you?” Q-and-A that the P-I put together. If you still want to know more about the whole “federally insured deposit” promise, the FDIC website has lots o’links here.
West Seattle Gateway Cleanup: The final word, and what’s next
If you’ve driven the westbound Fauntleroy Way end of The Bridge in daylight since Saturday, you’ve probably noticed the difference more than 200 people made with long hours of work under the blazing sun that day: Months in the making, the West Seattle Gateway Cleanup cleared tons of overgrowth, trash, and other materials from the stretch between Walking on Logs and 35th/Fauntleroy, which is where, at one point, we passed this solo worker:
No doubt, getting out there and slogging through the mess last Saturday was a chore. So was organizing the whole thing – with a lot of hard work done by the woman whose name you saw on updates posted here in the weeks and months leading up to it:
Nancy Driver took the podium for a moment before the cleanup started on Saturday morning, just for final logistics and marching orders. After it was all said, done, bagged, picked up, cleared away, hours later, we asked her to put together a final wrapup when she had a chance. And we wanted to share that with you tonight, interspersed with more photos:Read More
West Seattle Crime Prevention Council: Gang Unit briefing
Timely topic at last night’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council — a briefing from Sergeant Jim Dyment, who leads the Seattle Police Gang Unit. Just a day earlier, we had shared the story of the latest wave of gang-related (or at least gang-inspired) tagging in Highland Park (photo at left), so tagging came up as well as many other topics, including what kind of gang activity is most prevalent in West Seattle. Southwest Precinct reps had something to say about graffiti, too. Read on:Read More
West Seattle scene: Another “amazing sunset”
“Amazing” is how Shauna described it as she sent us her pix of tonight’s sunset, taken from Alki. In a note earlier, JD explained that the sunset colors are due in large part to smoke from three big fires burning in Oregon, and weather conditions (southerly flow) bringing it this way. ADDED 9:35 PM: Another view from Alki, courtesy of Scott C:
West Seattle Crime Watch: More P-Patch pilfering
From the city P-Patch managers via the North Delridge mailing list — thieves spotted at the Delridge P-Patch:
Our office got a call this afternoon from a neighbor of the P-Patch stating she witnessed two men roaming the garden with shopping bags stealing produce at about 1:30 pm this afternoon. She confronted the thieves and called police, but disappointingly they never came or called back. She described the thieves as two caucasian men in their thirties. One had reddish brown hair and was wearing gold pants. They were both thin and tall according to the neighbor. They ran across Delridge in opposite directions, one toward the boarded up green house across Delridge and the other into the wooded area across Delridge. She has seen them around the neighborhood before. Please be aware and on the lookout. Hopefully her confronting them will deter them from stealing more.
You may recall, we reported Lincoln Park P-Patch theft (which subsequently attracted citywide-media attention) two months ago.
WestSide Baby needs your help now: Newborn-size diaper shortage!
Just out of the WSB inbox from Nancy Woodland at WestSide Baby – can you help?
WestSide Baby has empty diaper shelves in the Newborn size! Although we were lucky to collect 27,000 diapers at Stuff the Bus at the end of July, we started supplementing the smallest (newborn) and largest (5&6) the very same week. As often occurs, most diaper drives result in a lot of diapers in the 1-4 sizes and our smallest and largest baby bottoms are missed. We will take open packages and we’re thrilled to announce a NEW Diapers Only drive-thru drop off location in the West Seattle Junction at Red Cup Espresso: 4453 California Ave. SW. Diapers can also be dropped off at any of our other drop off locations found at www.westsidebaby.org.
We also collect carseat and booster seats that are in good condition, less than 6 years old and that have not been in an accident. We really need those carseats as well and we can accept them at the drop off locations.
The specific dropoff locations are listed on this page of the WestSide baby site.
It’s a tradition for some school-board members and now West Seattle’s Steve Sundquist is jumping in: He plans a monthly coffee hour during which anyone can drop by to “discuss education issues.” It’ll be the fourth Wednesday of the month, 9 am, 
| 33 COMMENTS