West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
(refresh for latest info, including updated comments)
Just like last night, we were out for a bit, got home, and suddenly there’s a helicopter – this one also sweeping around southwest West Seattle, Lincoln Park/South Beach Drive vicinity. We saw a few cruisers while we headed through that area a few minutes ago but nothing active except an empty car being checked out by an SPD cruiser with rollers, near the Lincoln Park 76. Listening to the scanner, of course, nothing obvious so far. 11:58 PM UPDATE: Comment from area resident says police told her/him it’s a search related to a robbery at Beach Drive/Lincoln Park Way. We saw two SPD units parked in that exact spot, no rollers though, while driving home at about 11:25 so this might match up. 12:06 PM UPDATE: From the scanner, report of suspect running southbound on beach from ferry terminal after jumping the wall. Helicopter (confirmed as Guardian One, operated by King County, but it assists Seattle Police, who don’t have a chopper) heading that way. 12:22 AM UPDATE: Heard from Lt. Ron Smith at Southwest Precinct: Search for “possible burglary suspects who fled southbound through Lincoln Park.”
Posted by the P-I tonight, the obituary for former five-term Seattle City Councilmember Jeanette Williams, recounting the story of how she fought for federal funding to get The Bridge built, and extensively quoting West Seattle-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, who got his city-government start on Ms. Williams’ staff. $60 million of the bridge’s $150 million cost came from the federal government. (April 1973 photo at left, from the Seattle Municipal Archives.)
Meet Cohen. His proud family wants to let the world know he’s one of the finalists in the CityDog Magazine “Cover Dog” search. We mentioned back in August that CityDog was coming to West Seattle Thriftway as part of the search, during an animal-adoption event; of the 500 dogs who entered both in West Seattle and other locations citywide, five finalists have been chosen, including Cohen. Ray Clemens tells WSB that Cohen is about 7 1/2 months old; he was adopted from the Seattle Animal Shelter in June, after having been abandoned in a park as a small puppy. Ray adds, “We are so proud of him.” Here’s how to vote: See the final lineup here. Send a note to info@citydogmagazine.com with COHEN in the subject line. (If you want to make it really easy, just click here to launch a mail window for the Cohen vote, pre-filled subject line and all.) By the way, you can see all the dogs from the Thriftway photo day by going to this Flickr page. (Side note, CityDog founder Brandi Ahlgren is a West Seattleite.)
Yes, by the time 3 o’clock approached, it was all too much for that West Seattle Junction trick-or-treating munchkin. But in the preceding two hours, such excitement:
That’s the view looking over the Thrill the World dance encore toward the adoring crowd on the southwest corner of the Walk-All-Ways intersection. (See video of their Occidental Park “official” performance here; they’re at Admiral Theater tonight at 9.) Earlier at that same intersection:
All along the streets of The Junction, businesspeople were waiting to hand out treats. Any guesses who this is?
That’s Dawn Leverett, president of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce board – for today, the Cham-BOO! of Commerce – outside Windermere Real Estate. We also found potentially shadowy characters outside Shadow Land:
Here’s who greeted trick-or-treaters at Zamboanga:
Back at Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor), Thrill the World-West Seattle organizer Lora Lewis was still in zombie garb, attacking her “Project Runway” star barista Blayne:
As for the West Seattle citizenry, a little cooking humor for Chris and Steve (with baby Owen):
Having been to a few conferences lately, we could appreciate the costume on the left side of this pic:
The Junction event was the first of three business-district trick-or-treating events this Halloween season. The other two are on Halloween, next Friday — the Admiral merchants welcome you 3 to 6 pm (see the WSB Holidays page for full details on the giveaway that’s involved) and Westwood Village 5-7 pm. Here’s hoping Friday has weather like today’s … like these two from Forsythe Studio, the sunshine was truly, well, groovy:
‘Cause if Halloween isn’t nice too, there will be just one thing to say: D’oh!
With that, we bid you adios:
(That photo is courtesy Meredith; all previous photos by WSB co-publisher Patrick and Junior Member of the Team Torin)
(WSB video of the entire 4-plus-minute Pioneer Square dance, added 1:33 pm)
The “Thriller” zombies have finished their invasion of Pioneer Square, and now it’s on to West Seattle: You can see their encore at Easy Street at 2 pm this afternoon (during Junction trick-or-treating); their official group dance as part of the worldwide record attempt is in the books. Or the coffins. Now atop the post, video from the Thrill the World/West Seattle crew joining the rest of the Seattle Thrillers — 166 total dancers — at Occidental Park this morning. (They’re also dancing at 9 pm at The Admiral tonight, while the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival [WSB sponsor] showings there have moved on to the “horror” theme including a special late night “Rocky Horror” screening.) Couple pre-dance pix:
The West Seattle contingent spent weeks rehearsing, and they also collected donations for local nonprofits including West Seattle Food Bank and WestSide Baby. ADDED 9:50 PM: According to this site, Seattle had the third-biggest group of participants.
That’s the apartment building at 6609 Admiral Way (map), immediately west of Bar-S Playfield, whose fencing you can see on the left. Because of its spot high over Alki Point, this building’s roof has been home to cell-phone antennas for more than a decade (you can see part of the history on the site’s official city-permit webpage) – here’s a closer look at one group on the northeast section of the roof:
In April 2007, we told you about neighbors’ concern over a plan to add more antennas; this past June, we reported that the city had approved the plan to expand a group of Verizon antennas from 3 to 11. (You can read the decision here.) Neighbors challenged that decision, and after various delays, their case comes before the city Hearing Examiner on Tuesday morning, and they sent WSB a letter inviting anyone who shares their concern to show up and support them. Their major concerns are twofold — read on:Read More
The prospect of more Seattle Public Schools closures in West Seattle has been hinted at during the now-under-way process of discussing the future of the Denny Middle School site — the district has said a “future elementary school” may be built there, but not as an additional school, instead as a replacement for three as-yet-unspecified schools to be closed. Now (hat tip to saveseattleschools.blogspot.com) the district has put up webpages about closure discussions (superintendent’s message here, FAQ here). More details could emerge by next Wednesday, when school-board members have a work session and special meeting regarding “capacity management,” which would include school closures. Here’s an excerpt from what’s now on the SPS website:
SPS has operated for many years with substantially more capacity than needed for the number of students enrolled; and we have more school buildings than other districts with comparable student populations. Many of these buildings are costly to maintain due to their age and amount of deferred maintenance.
The most recent Seattle Public Schools building closure in West Seattle was Fairmount Park Elementary, shut down at the end of the school year in 2007. If age is to be a factor in school-closure proposals, it’s worth noting the age of West Seattle school buildings that have not gone through recent renovations: Part of Gatewood Elementary dates back almost a century and has city landmark designation; Lafayette Elementary‘s buildings date back to 1941-1953; Arbor Heights Elementary‘s buildings were built between 1948 and 1958; Alki Elementary’s buildings are from 1954 and 1967; Roxhill Elementary opened in 1958; Schmitz Park Elementary opened in 1962; Sanislo Elementary opened in 1970. Next Wednesday’s School Board meeting is in two sessions, a 3-7 pm “workshop,” and 8 pm “special legislative session,” both at district HQ in Sodo.
| 40 COMMENTS