West Seattle, Washington
20 Tuesday
We told you last night about the problem that’s materialized on some of the inscribed bricks at the new Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza. Click ahead to read the update from David Hutchinson (who also provided the closeup photo above) on behalf of the Plaza Project Committee:Read More
That’s one of the signs you can expect to see around North Delridge before the next meeting of the North Delridge Neighborhood Council – purchased with money from an outreach grant, and unveiled at last night’s NDNC meeting. Also discussed last night: They’re still working on next steps for the Cottage Grove “tot lot” playground upgrade, for which they have received a $15,000 matching-funds grant from the city. Expect an official update soon. Meantime, next year’s Neighborhood Street Fund plans for the area were outlined – projects that have been requested for years, as NDNC co-chair Mike Dady pointed out – including a sidewalk along Brandon from Delridge to the park and traffic calming on 26th SW north of Brandon, between Cottage Grove and Greg Davis parks; still some work to be done on projects approved for this year, as well, including calming on the 21st/Dawson hill that’s “supposed to start any day now” (that’s the hill heading down to Oregon, scene of this guardrail crash we covered recently). For the “juicy invitation” and a few more items, read on:Read More
Seen at tonight’s Chief Sealth High School open house at the temporary (this year and next) Boren location – new T-shirts that the CSHS PTSA is selling, with BELIEVE in English on the front and many more languages on the back:
We dropped in as Sealth Principal John Boyd was saying a few words to the crowd:
Just general opening remarks, but significant in that this is the first open house in Sealth’s two-year home (while the permanent campus is undergoing renovation work, which started over the summer). Other activities tonight included dinner and chances for families to learn more about what’s being taught this year. Lots more school news on the CSHS website; the PTSA has its own site too, right here.
Several items tonight: First, we heard this week from Michael Taylor-Judd, who attended a recent city Pedestrian Safety Advisory Group meeting and came away with information he wanted to share, including some followup on comments made after the California/Dawson crash last week that killed 92-year-old Rosemary MacCorkindale (most recent update: police were looking for witnesses):
Shane DeWald spoke to me afterward. She is a Senior Landscape Architect with SDOT’s Urban Forestry division. She was very interested in learning more about the comments folks made after last week’s fatality about whether or not shading caused by trees could have contributed the accident. She encouraged folks to contact her with concerns about whether some streets/crossings might need a more aggressive trimming schedule. She can be reached at (206) 684-5041 or shane.dewald@seattle.gov.
2) Megan Hoyt also spoke to me afterward. She is the Pedestrian & Bicycle Program Coordinator for SDOT’s Traffic Management Division. She provided a general phone number and e-mail address for the program — (206) 684-7583 and walkandbike@seattle.gov — and encourages folks to make comments to the group about where safety improvements need to be made. More can be found out about the program on their website — http://seattle.gov/transportation/walkandbike.htm — along with links to work on the Pedestrian Master Plan.
Second, two reminders about next week: First, Councilmember Nick Licata is sponsoring a forum downtown on Monday night about his proposal to move $40 million-plus from the Mercer Street project to pedestrian/bicycle improvements (read more here). The next day, Tuesday, is the pedestrian-safety demonstration at 35th/Juneau (map), first mentioned here; the time’s now set for 3-4 pm and this flyer is being circulated:
Just out of the WSB inbox from “T and T,” near Lincoln Park:
Our cable internet and phone service were both down Monday night (9/29). The following evening when I returned from work, I called Comcast and Qwest to troubleshoot. When we were told by both companies that there were no known issues causing the outage, my husband and I went outside to check our wiring entering our home. We were surprised to find that someone had cleanly cut our phone line (i.e. with a wire cutter or similar) and two of our three cable wires. We figure that someone must have tried to break into our home via our basement door, but either got spooked by the giant dog next door or was unsuccessful getting in to our well-secured door. This happened on Kenyon just across the street from Lincoln Park (map).
By the time we called the police, the damage was more than 24 hrs old (since we had assumed initially that this was just a simple cable outage). We have spoken to police and are filing a police report, but wanted to make everyone aware. Two teenage youth were reportedly “looking out of place” and walking up our dead-end street that day, but we have also had neighbors call the police recently for “meth heads” (as they were described to us) who were stealing metal from our neighbor.
Reminder just in from SDOT: The American Heart Walk will close the Alaskan Way Viaduct 7 am-11 am Saturday morning.
That’s Jessie Summa-Kusiak, proprietor of Skylark Club and Cafe, standing next to her menus (the only ones we know of where WSB is mentioned, thanks to the tater tots and their nod in this popular post). Skylark has just joined WSB to sponsor the West Seattle Weekend Lineup every Friday (you can always find the latest one here). She says Skylark is all about “beverages, food, and entertainment.” On the first count – 13 new drink specials, 11 beers on tap, one hard cider.
On the second count (menus here) – her recommendations include mac and cheese, meatloaf, SFV sandwich, or if you’re dieting, the grilled chicken spinach salad, though she also notes they’re “baking delicious desserts from scratch, and we offer not just lunch and dinner 6 nights a week but weekend brunch Saturday AND Sunday.” Plus, she’s got a lunch punch card; after 7, #8 is on the house. Re: entertainment (calendar here) – “Free live music 6 nights a week, closed Mondays. Mostly local original acts, all genres. We link to music clips on our website so neighbors can listen to a sample before deciding whether to head down. Lots of opportunities for YOU to be the rockstar. Karaoke, open mic, open tease, open turntables. Kids are welcome until 11 pm on Sundays for our all-ages show (and before 9 pm every other night).” Jessie moved to West Seattle 11 years ago and opened Skylark two years ago (she was previously a manager at Amazon). She elaborates: “My husband Charles and I met as I was forming a band here in the late 90s (he was my bass player), and we discovered that we had an odd thing in common. Both our fathers supported the family growing up in the 70s by playing guitar in rock bands. His dad was in a disco/funk cover band that played in Atlantic City, mine fronted an original jazz-fusion band in Boston. My dad currently is a composer and does film scores for Errol Morris. (johnkusiak.com; a movie he scored, “Secrecy,” screens at the Northwest Film Forum Oct. 10-16) I’ve been booking bands since college and I managed Ladyfest Seattle 2004. I always wanted my own club, even when I lived in Boston. Here in WS I also realized there was a need for a laid-back, neighborhood place that wasn’t too upscale or intimidating. All the new places going in at the Junction seemed so fancy. Also I wanted to create a place where a woman could go, alone, and have a drink and read or work on her laptop or whatever without being hit on or feeling weird. That we do have solo female regulars tells me I’ve succeeded in creating the right ambience. No TV was another requirement, since I find TVs so distracting when I’m out with friends. Exceptions are games and elections, of course … we’re planning a big election day party (cancelling karaoke for the night) and we’ll have the results projected on a big screen as they come in.” She’s launching weekly Trivia Nights on 10/15 and doing monthly Open Turntable nights (mentioned here; next one is 10/28). Welcome to Skylark Cafe and Club, 3803 Delridge (map); look for its banner atop the West Seattle Weekend Lineup tomorrow morning. Meantime, thanks for your support of all the WSB sponsors who make it possible for us to bring you fresh West Seattle news/information/discussion 24/7; they’re all listed here along with information on how to join them.
This isn’t West Seattle-specific, but if you go through the training, you CAN do it at your own home: The Seattle Animal Shelter has an orientation session coming up for people interested in providing foster homes to dogs. (SAS has a foster-cat program too; that’s where one of ours came from.) Read on for the announcement:Read More
Tonight, 9:30 pm, bring your singing voice to Bamboo on Alki for the second and final audition round of “Alki Idol.” Want to see who won the first audition session last week? The list, and videos, are posted here.
It’s the building boom that doesn’t get talked about nearly as much as the one in The Junction, but it’s also transforming an area: We told you in January about the permit application for 2775 Harbor (map), shown above in a photo we took at the time; this week, according to the city planning website, land-use and construction permits (here and here) have been granted for the project, described as “a 5-story 13,101 sq. ft. office building with an 800 sq. ft. caretakers unit … Surface parking for 15 vehicles to be provided.” Thanks very much to the architecture firm Shugart Bates for rapidly responding to our request for a drawing (the driveway goes to Harbor Ave, in case you were wondering):
This is one of several major projects in the area, including the rather extensive-looking WestBay in the 2200 block of Harbor (map), which has a sketch on its leasing listing.
SOUTHWEST LIBRARY ART SHOW: Registration is now open for the 17th Annual Artists Showcase at the Southwest Branch of the Seattle Public Library (35th/Henderson; here’s a map). Interested artists can either register at the branch or call 206-684-7455; October 25 is the deadline. Organizers say this is a non-juried, nonprofit exhibit; you’ll be able to see it on display at the branch from Monday, Oct. 27, through Saturday, Nov. 15.
WEST SEATTLE ART WALK ONE WEEK FROM TONIGHT: As mentioned last month, the next Art Walk has a record-high list of participants – 43 venues, all over West Seattle! Now it’s just a week away; 6-9 pm Thursday, Oct. 9. Here’s the list; new additions (highlighted on that document) include venues in Delridge and on Alki!
Thanks to tips from eagle-eyed WSB’ers, we were able to tell you yesterday morning about the movie “The Whole Truth,” starring Eric Roberts and “Law and Order”‘s Elisabeth Rohm, shooting in Lincoln Park. Today, we know where they’ve moved on to – our friends at MyBallard.com found them shooting in a more publicly accessible spot right on Ballard Avenue. P.S. The movie’s director, Colleen Patrick, briefly mentioned yesterday’s West Seattle shoot in the newest update on her blog.
That’s the solar-power system making history on the roof of Red Cup Espresso in The Junction. We mentioned the other day that it’s one of the stops on a tour of solar-powered businesses and homes coming up this Saturday; Eric Thomas from West Seattle-based Solar Epiphany, who installed it (and is co-owner of Red Cup), describes it as a “1.2kW Photovoltaic System … that tracks the sun throughout the day! First of its kind for Seattle (4th in the country) (flat-roof mounted tracker). Should produce 25%-30% of Red Cup’s electricity.” He’s posted more about the installation at solarepiphany.blogspot.com.
Halloween’s just four weeks away, pumpkins are at the stores and produce stands, and you might be starting to think jack-o-lantern. We want to showcase your creations like we did last year (see some examples here), so once you get around to it, be sure to get pix and send them to us — editor@westseattleblog.com — so we can share.
No blockbuster items on last night’s agenda for the Southwest District Council, where reps from local neighborhood groups and other key organizations get and give updates on what they’re up to. One citywide hot potato did get the spotlight for a while – read on:Read More
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