West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Three hours after the safety rally at 35th/Juneau ended, a minor car accident tonight briefly blocked part of 35th at the exact same spot. No major injuries, and it cleared fairly quickly – police were pulling away as we pulled up, so the image at left is all we could get – but it underscored what neighbors like Lynda Bui told us at the rally — this is a spot with frequent problems, and they’re pretty sure they know why:
(VIDEO CLIP NO LONGER AVAILABLE)
The rally wasn’t just about that spot on 35th, but the speeding (and other) problems that have earned it the nickname “I-35.” Organizers chose this spot because it’s where a crash injured a High Point teenager last month. The city didn’t let today’s rally go unanswered. In fact, we got e-mail from SDOT communications director Rick Sheridan hours earlier, noting that city reps had met with organizers ahead of time and that the two groups “had a very positive discussion about making 35th Avenue SW a better corridor for all. As noted in our handout, drivers can help this effort by obeying the speed limit and being more aware of pedestrians.” More on that handout – a city-prepared document – plus organizers’ reaction and other followup, ahead:Read More
That’s a photo by Karen Derby – who you met in this story we published 2 weeks ago about her recovery from serious injuries in a June crash in Westwood, when her motorcycle collided with a minivan. We got word late today from John Smersh at Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) that Click! will show Karen’s photographs during the West Seattle Art Walk this Thursday (6-9 pm). Click! is waiving all commission, so that Karen can apply all the proceeds of photography sales toward her medical expenses. John also tells us Karen’s expected to be at Click! sometime after 6:30 pm on Art Walk night, so drop by, say hello, and check out her photographs.
(photo by Christopher Boffoli)
ORIGINAL REPORT: Cal-Mor is the cylindrical building on California just north of Fauntleroy. First engine there said “nothing visible”; now they’re investigating inside the building. 8:27 PM UPDATE: WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli is there and says California is closed at the scene. 8:34 PM UPDATE: We’re arriving at the scene and it appears California is open southbound, blocked northbound next to Cal-Mor; the California/Fauntleroy intersection is flowing OK. 8:43 PM UPDATE: Both sides of California OK now, but emergency vehicles curbside so still a little bit slow going. Just talked to the incident commander on the scene, Bill Zander; he tells us that it was a case of burned “food on the stove” — only damage from the door that had to be broken down so fire crews could get in, because the tenant apparently resisted requests to open the door. The incident commander says the tenant was having a bit of respiratory trouble from the smoke, got treated with oxygen, but chose to return to his apartment rather than being taken to the hospital for a precautionary checkout.
This Thursday night, the High Point mixed-use proposal at 35th/Graham — officially, 3420 SW Graham (map) — comes back before the Southwest Design Review Board, which voiced major concerns in August about the first design proposal and asked for a second round of “early design guidance.” Tonight, you can preview the presentation that will be given to the board on Thursday, because the city has posted it on the Design Review website (download the 43-page PDF here). Thursday’s meeting is at 6:30 pm at Hiawatha Community Center.
If you see a two-piece tile artwork that resembles what’s shown above – you may be able to solve the mystery of a ripoff at West Seattle’s newest dining/drinking establishment, The Bohemian. Proprietors Jason and Eirik Rice‘s mom Terri wrote us with the details:
I was so upset that a person stole our beautiful tiles from the front of our Ladies Room door on Saturday night. We have tried so hard to make everything nice & comfortable for our guests and to be treated like this it is a real disappointment. Our neighborhood friends are also upset that this has happened in their place. Please put something in the blog that will let this “person” know that they should be ashamed of themselves. And their Mother would be also.
She says there’s a bottle-of-wine reward for anyone who returns the stolen tiles (not taken during a break-in, but during hours when The Bohemian was open, “on a busy Saturday night”).
Not only were concerned residents out along 35th at Juneau for this afternoon’s rally — so were representatives of organizations including the High Point Neighborhood Association, Neighborhood House, Providence’s Elizabeth House, and Safe Futures, including these young participants:
A major city contingent was on hand too: SDOT reps including communications director Rick Sheridan, and Seattle Police including Community Police Team Officer Kevin McDaniel:
A radar-wielding motorcycle officer was stationed on the west side of 35th as well:
On the east side, just north of the rally site, there was an SPD cruiser with radar-equipped speed readout on the east side. SDOT reps actually met with organizers including Neighborhood House’s Denise Sharify yesterday to talk about what has been done on the street and what they plan to do next, and Sharify tells WSB she’s “very optimistic.” We’ll post another report later with video as well as details of what the city says it will do. Meantime, you’ll likely see something about this on tonight’s TV news, as we counted at least three photojournalists at various times during the hourlong rally.
Just in from King County Councilmember Dow Constantine‘s office, the official announcement:
With a month left in the 2008 sailing season the Elliott Bay Water Taxi continues to attract new passengers—and break records.
A total of 167,748 riders used the West Seattle-to-downtown foot ferry through the end of September, exceeding last year’s record of 161,331 riders. September 2008 ridership was up 9.7 percent over last September’s totals.
“The Water Taxi has routinely exceeded its 2007 ridership totals all summer,” said King County Councilmember Dow Constantine. “This puts another record year on the books as we look forward to year-round Water Taxi operation in 2010.”
The King County Ferry District took over Water Taxi funding earlier this year. This countywide special district also funds the operation of the Vashon Island-to-downtown passenger-only ferry and is expected to add up to five demonstration routes serving other Puget Sound and Lake Washington communities in the next few years. … The 2008 Water Taxi season runs through Friday, Oct. 31.
Last weekend, we covered two Blessing of the Animals events, presented Saturday by The Mount and presented Sunday by St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church (photo left). Today, we just got word of another one – 10 am this Sunday at Alki Congregational United Church of Christ, whose announcement follows: In honor of St. Francis, Patron Saint of Animals, bring your pets and human friends to this very special service. We all worship together — children, adults, cats, dogs, goldfish, birds, and last year we even had a jar of bees (who put a jar of honey in the offering plate!). Dogs on leashes and cats in carriers, please. For information, e-mail alkiucc@attglobal.net.
FIRST UPDATE: We promised to check on the cause of the outage that left an estimated 4,000-plus south West Seattle homes and businesses without power for more than an hour, right about this time yesterday. Just heard back from Scott Thomsen at Seattle City Light; he says it’s listed as an underground cable failure – those happen from time to time for a variety of reasons, anything from age to damage caused by weather conditions in earlier months and years. SECOND UPDATE: We checked on the Arbor Heights/Fauntleroy Comcast outage reported by Hopey this morning in comments on this post; Comcast’s Shauna Causey tells WSB that two technicians are in the area right now and if it’s not fixed yet, it should be shortly.
A week and a half ago, when we followed up on the news a day earlier of a barbecue joint coming to the Fauntleroy/36th building (next to Tervo’s) by talking to its proprietor, he told us he didn’t want to say too much till he’d finished up some more paperwork. Late last night, he called WSB to say his city license is a done deal and he’s ready to talk. Otis Austin also says that instead of rebranding as “Sammich Slingers,” he’s going to keep the OK Corral name by which his barbecue is well-known in the North End – the new sign in the Fauntleroy storefront’s window (photo above) is already evidence of that. Read on to find out more about his plans:Read More
That’s the historic ex-substation building (an official city landmark) at Dakota Place Park, which has mostly languished (the site sign and city webpage mention ’06 scheduled completion) at California/Dakota (map) north of The Junction for some time. In the comments on WSB coverage of the Prop 2 (parks levy) campaign stopping at Delridge Playfield weekend before last, DW asked what’s going on with Dakota Place; West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen (Parks Committee chair) then posted he’d get the answer. Here’s what he found out: Bids are due tomorrow on the “exterior construction” package for the park; the project is to be complete by next January, with elements including: “Plaza with integrated artwork, ADA access, site lighting, multiple seating elements, refurbishing existing historic elements, automated irrigation, and extensive community-provided landscaping.” Meantime, work is to be finished by next spring on the “building package,” which includes “hazardous material abatement, historically correct window replacement, new roof, brick re-pointing, and seismic upgrades are complete.” Though the above-mentioned city webpage for Dakota Place isn’t entirely up to date, you can see the site schematic design there; the website for the citizens’ group that announced in January the city had committed to finish the park by last May (WSB report here) is no longer up and running. TUESDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Councilmember Rasmussen asked the Parks Department what’s led to the delays on the Dakota Place project; he was told that one big problem was that the “… project manager was reassigned to finalize the Statue of Liberty project. That project came in on time and on budget. What is so challenging for the Parks Department is that they have only so many project managers and when their attention is moved to time-consuming projects with great sensitivity to deadlines like the Statue other things will be delayed. Park’s does a great job but is stretched thin.”
Highlights from the WSB West Seattle Events calendar (besides this of course being the night of Presidential Debate #2):
PEDESTRIAN-SAFETY RALLY: As first mentioned in this report, everyone concerned about safety on West Seattle streets is invited to join a rally 3-4 pm today at 35th/Juneau in High Point (map) – that’s the intersection where a 15-year-old girl was hit last month.
SCOUTING: Another local Cub Scout pack is signing up new members tonight – the sign-up meeting for Cub Scout Pack 799 is at 7 pm tonight, Arbor Heights Elementary lunchroom. Boys 1st-5th grade are invited.
DENNY/SEALTH PROJECT DEPARTURE ADVISORY COMMITTEE: As mentioned in our report from last night, this group is reviewing the request for zoning “departures” required by the Denny/Sealth combined-campus proposal – less parking, more height. The public’s invited to tonight’s meeting, 7 pm at the Denny cafeteria (more info here).
Seriously breezy but not catastrophically windy; no major problems reported overnight or currently. The National Weather Service‘s morning “forecast discussion” says this system is moving through “as advertised” and things should quiet down later this morning, with the next notable development some colder air on Thursday with daytime highs as low as the upper 40s. 7:43 AM UPDATE: In comments, Hopey notes a Fauntleroy/Arbor Heights Comcast service outage. We’ll update if we can find out more about its status.
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