West Seattle, Washington
30 Tuesday
(Taken from the curb in front of Rite-Aid on California around 8:30 pm)
Starting a new post, about what’s happening tonight but mostly looking ahead to tomorrow. For starters, we just got word that Holy Rosary School will start at 10 am tomorrow. Also, Our Lady of Guadalupe will start at 10:30. More to come.
8:33 PM UPDATE: Just back from downtown. If you haven’t been there since the snow – it’s stunning how little evidence of it can be found there. A few ice crystals on the steps from the parking lot to Town Hall; otherwise, the bone-chilling cold air is all West Seattle seems to have in common with the heart of the city. (Separate report later on the Viaduct forum we went there to cover.) Took a longer way home just to survey some of the main streets – Bridge fine, Admiral hill to California fine, California all the way home, fine in the lanes, iced in the turn lane, and the side streets all look like some variation of this:
That’s the California end of SW Southern (map), which opens wide like a delta of sorts for some reason that probably made sense back when all this was getting graded in the first half of the last century.
9:11 PM UPDATE: Particularly for those who just don’t read comments, we have to share this: Roger looked into possible reasons for aforementioned “delta” – and discovered there was a streetcar route in the area (we’d never heard they went that far up the hill) – here’s the 1941 map he found. Meantime, we also wanted to share our photo of the Thriftway parking lot at the bottom of the hill — a little ice around the parking spaces but the driving lanes are in good shape (unlike at least one business parking lot we passed moments earlier – 7-11 at Erskine/California):
Metro bus riders – The “adverse weather” page notes that it will be updated for Tuesday after 4:30 am.
9:25 PM UPDATE: The new “forecast discussion” just appeared, from the National Weather Service. They suspect two more rounds of snow are en route:
MODIFIED ARCTIC AIR WILL CONTINUE TO FLOW INTO WESTERN WASHINGTON TONIGHT. … A FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL BRING MORE SNOW WEDNESDAY. COLD WEATHER WILL CONTINUE TO GRIP THE REGION ALL WEEK WITH ANOTHER CHANCE OF LOWLAND SNOW OVER THE WEEKEND.
10:12 PM UPDATE: A few more school notes: Hope Lutheran will start at 10:30 am tomorrow. Seattle Lutheran High School will start at 10. On Vashon, everything’s regular schedule except McMurray Middle School, which will start 3 hours late, with a bus meeting “commuter students” on the 10:20 am ferry from Fauntleroy. Kennedy HS (Burien) will start 2 hours late.
10:51 PM UPDATE: No word on Seattle Public Schools, by the way; they announced today’s decision around 4:45 am so may be planning to do the same. We’re watching the SPS home page and schoolreport.org. Don’t forget that if you were supposed to have Monday trash pickup, the city’s going to try again tomorrow, and if that doesn’t work, just bring it back and they’ll let you put out double next Monday.
11:22 PM UPDATE: Seattle Public Schools just posted. 2 hours late. Here’s the full plan:
2 Hours Late. Buses Operate on Snow Routes. No Door-to-Door Service. No Half-Day Kindergarten. No A.M. or P.M. Preschool. No A.M. or P.M. Head Start. No Activity Runs.
A reminder that the district will also be making those new “School Messenger” phone calls again in the morning – so if you already know what you need to know and want to sleep in after staying up late, turn off your ringer!
11:59 PM UPDATE: Sanding/de-icing truck sighting, at California/Thistle – it’s turning around to head back north on California.
After dealing with weather woes, need a drink? These lights in Westwood offer an illuminated cocktail break. It’s in the 8600 block of 32nd SW (map), and neighbor Dave sent it in, saying it’s just part of a display, and describing it as “a large martini glass (Happy New Year) replete with two olives (including pimentos) and a toothpick atop their flat roof garage.” Got great lights, or seen some? E-mail us! (photos welcome too)
Before launching the next round of weather-related coverage, a non-weather note – a door-to-door alert from Megan, who lives on Fauntleroy “a few blocks from The Junction” – she wants to know if anyone else has had this visit:Read More
(this update covered 1 pm to 7 pm; please go here for the evening updates – thanks!)
(The Olympics, with Blake Island in the foreground, photographed by Jana in Upper Fauntleroy)
After publishing a few other items, it’s time to start the Monday afternoon coverage, looking ahead to the commute back home from work and school. First, an update from Rick Sheridan at SDOT:
Out of 13 SDOT plow/sanding trucks working primary and secondary arterials citywide, we currently have eight trucks focusing on the streets of West Seattle. This emphasis on West Seattle has been ongoing since Sunday. The problem is that we will melt the ice with sand and liquid de-icer, but below freezing temperatures cause a rapid refreeze.
However, SDOT will keep working those arterials streets and will have plow/sanding vehicles standing by at the West Seattle Bridge and Alaskan Way Viaduct for the evening commute.
We mentioned earlier that one of the many treacherously icy non-arterials was SW Myrtle east of (and uphill from) Delridge, by Sanislo Elementary; here’s an update from Sanislo mom Lisa K, who said the street was closed by the time she reached the vicinity:
The principal was out with a few staff members trying to assist in buses turning around on the hill on 21st–not an easy thing to do. Bus drivers are sure earning their $$ today. Classes were about half full when school started, and the front office announced to teachers that two buses were still incoming. I just spoke to the school secretary, and she said that they were told the roads near the school would be sanded, but she hadn’t heard yet if that had actually happened. Even with the sand, it is a steep grade and next to the school there’s little passing room for errors–I don’t know that I’d try it unless things really melt off by afternoon. Those with more winter driving experience may feel more confident than I, however. If you’re fairly sure-footed and don’t have to carry little ones, I’d recommend parking on Delridge and taking the Myrtle stairway. We decided to take that route to school this morning, and although the stairway was a bit icy, it wasn’t terrible if you took your time and had on appropriate footwear (slippy shoes would be a bad idea on your way back down). Certainly easier than trying to negotiate Myrtle or 21st.
School, you’ll recall, started two hours late; we don’t expect to hear till much later tonight what the plan is for tomorrow, and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s announced. (And again, if you are affiliated with a private school, we appreciate getting that info too; we posted this list of all known school changes starting late last night and updating through the morning.)
Samantha from West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) just sent this update on their changes:
West Seattle YMCA health & wellness facility will close at 8 pm.
Family Programs will close at 6 pm.
Fauntleroy YMCA health & wellness facility will close at 8 pm.
No evening Kids Corner at Fauntleroy.
Classes at both facilities may or may not run, based on instructor’s ability to get in safely.
Call 206-937-1000 for Fauntleroy specifics, 206-935-6000 for West Seattle specifics.YMCA Childcare/School-based Programs:
Community Learning Centers will be closed.
Child care at Concord Elementary and Cooper Elementary will close at 3 pm.
Preschool at the West Seattle YMCA will close at 5 pm.
Child care at West Seattle Elementary and Arbor Heights Elementary will close at 6 pm (normal time).
1:31 PM UPDATE: It’s official – this was the coldest December 15 ever; Times says 19 degrees was the low at Sea-Tac, breaking the record of 20 set in 1964. A “special weather statement” is in effect, warning about the continued cold (tonight’s low could be even lower, and snow is still a possibility for Wednesday).
2:20 PM UPDATE: Some potentially helpful links looking ahead to the afternoon/evening commute:
Latest list of bus routes on “adverse weather” reroutes
School changes (though any for tomorrow are not likely to be announced till much later)
King County road alerts
Latest forecast
WSDOT trouble spots via Twitter
Washington State Ferries “service bulletins”
Live 911 log for Seattle fire/medic calls
Here’s the latest pic (refresh for updates) from the city camera pointed east on The Bridge:
Other cameras of West Seattle relevance are on our Traffic page.
3:42 PM UPDATE: From Dewey Potter at Seattle Parks:
Because of the icy street conditions on all access points at High Point Community Center, basketball practices are cancelled there for tonight.
Four teams were scheduled to practice tonight. Center staff will call coaches and participants to notify them of the cancellation. High Point staff will work with the coaches to schedule a make-up practice day for each team. For more information, the public can call High Point Community Center Coordinator Brian Judd at 206-684-7422.
And if anybody needs a reminder – Hillary sent this photo from 42nd SW – didn’t say where, but really, there are dozens of places like this:
The city had reported earlier that trash service was postponed today for all of West Seattle; maybe that message didn’t get to all the trucks, because Nathan sent us this photo:
He wrote:
things were not going well for at least one garbage truck trying to negotiate Holly St. near 44th Ave. SW. I took these pictures at 12 PM, looks like the garbage truck must have slid down the slight hill near the intersection of Holly and 44th SW and hit the parked Dodge Neon.
If you missed it this morning, here’s the city announcement again about trash service.
4:29 PM UPDATE: Just got word from Fran Z that Alki Bingo is canceled tonight — no session next week since it’ll be almost Christmas, so that means the next scheduled session is January 5th. (It’s on the WSB West Seattle Events calendar every week.) Fran also reminds those who do a lot of walking, like she does, that the sidewalks are very slick in so many spots, just like those side roads. Meantime, your editor here is about to head downtown for the Viaduct forum – with access along the way, of course, so we can provide commute updates from whatever we see in the other direction; co-publisher Patrick is holding down the fort at HQ for any updates in the meantime. Before the switchover — here’s a photo just in from Bob Bollen at Alki:
Side note: For the citywide traffic-camera network – click here. For the state highway traffic cams, click here.
5:27 PM UPDATE: Road report from your editor: No problem getting downtown (where the Town Hall Viaduct forum is about to start with a recap of everything that’s gotten the decisionmaking agencies to this point). Route: California from Thistle to Fauntleroy, Fauntleroy to the Bridge. All just great – of course, except for the stub of side street we had to travel first, and we saw many such streets shining with ice as we drove along Fauntleroy and caught glimpses in our peripheral vision. If you have to return to such a street – be very, very, very, very careful. And in fact, a road-closure report is just in from Melissa in Westwood:
SW Barton Place (in between Barton St. and Roxbury St.) is a sheet of ice and was closed this afternoon around 4:00 due to the bad conditions. I have no idea when it’s reopening, but since there are other ways of getting around, I don’t think it will cause too much of a hassle. Be careful!
6:12 PM UPDATE: Starting an evening post shortly (after 6:30 pm, when hopefully most folks are home safely and we switch to looking ahead to tomorrow). First a note – Winter Storm Watch now in effect for late Tuesday night through late Wednesday night; here’s the latest forecast. And one more daytime beauty shot – Vanessa photographed a windsurfer at Alki:
6:36 PM UPDATE: 911 log shows a “motor vehicle accident” at California/Dawson south of The Junction. No other details, but sounds like an extra reason to avoid the area for a while.
By size, within the scope of a big-city system, it was considered a “small” outage – but given that it happened in subfreezing weather, the outage last night in Gatewood/Morgan Junction was huge for hundreds of families. We just talked with Scott Thomsen at Seattle City Light, who explained the cause of the three-hour outage, why it took so long to fix, and why that area seems to be hit by outages frequently: “The area that was affected is served by a 4-kilovolt line – that’s some of the oldest wire in the system – standard (nowadays) is 26 kilovolts.” Scott adds that this is one of some “small pockets” in the city still served by that wire, and what went wrong is that it’s not made to handle the kind of demand placed on it when the temperature went way down and the heat went way up. It took crews a while to figure out the problem: “Ultimately they discovered the relays set up to deliver energy into that area were not set up to handle the increased load demand … as people were keeping their heat on. … So it kept cutting out, and tripping the breaker, and finally went out. They wound up feeding the electricity into that area in a different route to keep it from tripping the breaker, and they will keep that in place for as long as (the cold weather continues).” He says upgrading lines like that is part of the infrastructure investment called for in City Light’s five-year plan, but it’s not cheap – it would require new cable and new transformers – so if you live in that area and are tired of repeated outages, you might want to let the City Council know, since they ultimately hold the purse strings.
**We told you last summer about the pilot recycling project in city parks. Now the Parks Department hopes you’ll take a moment to answer a survey about it. Here’s the link.
**Reminder that tonight, in addition to the Alaskan Way Viaduct public forum tonight at Town Hall (5-7:30 pm), there are two big public hearings tonight at City Hall – the new tree regulations at 5:30 (more info on the City Council home page), proposed rules about guns in parks at 6:30 (more info here, including a link for online comment).
**Two weeks after Prost West Seattle opened its doors, there’s word West Seattle’s next drink-and-food — plus music — place is getting close. Feedback Lounge (between new Beveridge Place Pub and future Zeeks Pizza/ex-Corner Inn in Morgan Junction) has posted new pix and info on its MySpace site, and a hoped-for January opening is mentioned; its liquor-license application also has shown up on the state’s website.
**Also just got word that Spring Hill in The Junction has launched a blog-format site (an increasingly popular thing for businesses to do). See it here.
In the four days since first word of the two “scenarios” for Alaskan Way Viaduct Central Waterfront replacement — one, a “couplet” of surface streets; the other, a new single-deck viaduct, 2 side-by-side structures — WSB has brought you comments and commentary from: The two West Seattleites on the Stakeholders Advisory Committee, Vlad Oustimovitch of Gatewood (read his thoughts here) and Pete Spalding of Pigeon Point (read his, here), former West Seattle Herald editor Jack Mayne (read his guest editorial here), and the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce. We also asked West Seattle-residing (but entire-city-representing) City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen if he would share his thoughts; here they are:
As a resident of West Seattle I find the viaduct incredibly convenient to travel between home and downtown and to most areas west of I-5. Often, other routes are slower and less direct. For this reason the elevated options are attractive.
However, I believe we have to look at numerous factors as we make a decision we will live with for the next century. For historical context, your readers may recall the decisions made by the city nearly twenty-five years ago to build the high and low level West Seattle bridges were very contentious and controversial. The high level bridge was opposed in large part because it cost more than a low level drawbridge. The high level bridge was selected because it would meet current and future transportation needs.
The low level swing bridge was controversial because it employed a unique technology and replaced a four lane bridge with a two lane bridge which allowed the construction of shoulders, pedestrian and bicycle lanes and a clear shipping channel for future maritime needs. The low level swing bridge was more costly than other options but was selected because it too would meet current and future transportation needs.
Like the West Seattle Bridge decisions, I hope the option selected by the state to replace the viaduct will be one which will best serve the City for many generations and that speed and costs are not the only criteria. For the long term benefit of the City I believe that we need to consider a number of factors. Speed, convenience, number of vehicles served are important but are not the only criteria. We should also consider the environmental and economic benefits and how we can improve conditions on our waterfront to make it more attractive to all of us including visitors and businesses.
The options that I favor are those which would remove the elevated structure and replace it with a combination of surface street and transit improvements without creating highway-like conditions on the waterfront. The options that I would support should meet our needs now and preserve the ability to construct a cut-and-cover or deep bored tunnel if required to meet any need in the future for additional non-stop transportation through the City. We can select an option today that preserves future options which are complimentary to the investment we would make now.
I want Seattle to support our current businesses and successfully compete for international trade and business. I meet with local business leaders and with executives who are traveling to Seattle to explore opportunities. Last week I met with executives of French-owned companies that have major businesses here and who are seeking new opportunities. It was interesting how often the beauty of the setting of our City is mentioned as being attractive to them. On more than one occasion individuals told me how they hope that Seattle does create a great waterfront. Other cities are doing this and I am confident we can too while meeting our transportation needs.
Tom Rasmussen
Last reminder, tonight is a major opportunity to voice your opinion “in person” — the public forum at Town Hall downtown, starting at 5 pm (here’s a map/directions to TH).
All WSB Alaskan Way Viaduct coverage is archived here, newest to oldest; project information is at alaskanwayviaduct.org. To read what citywide news sources are reporting about the Viaduct, see the latest links on the WSB “More” page (which also automatically picks up citywide media coverage of West Seattle).
(this post covered 5:12 am to just after noon – afternoon updates are in a newer post; click here to go there)
(latest image from city camera pointing east on The Bridge; refresh for updated image)
(latest image from city camera at Fauntleroy/Alaska, pointing NE; refresh for updated image)
Before the time-stamped updates, our link list:
WSB Traffic page with additional cameras/links relevant to West Seattle commuters
City info on snow/ice routes/procedures (including link to plowed-routes map)
County info on snow/ice routes/procedures (including Metro reroutes)
Metro “adverse weather” service status
King County road alerts
Latest forecast
WSDOT trouble spots via Twitter
Washington State Ferries “service bulletins”
Live 911 log for Seattle fire/medic calls
FIRST UPDATE AT 5:12 AM: Seattle Public Schools will start two hours late today, and its buses will be on their “snow routes,” per the district’s website; other area school changes here. More school and commute updates to come – once you get to work (or wherever), please share what your drive was like, so others will know – thanks! More to come. We’re monitoring citywide traffic reports and for starters, the “major routes are OK – side streets are still the problem” overview prevails. (We saw the plow going back along California, south to Thistle and then turning around to head back, again at 2 am.)
5:34 AM UPDATE: From Metro, its overview:
Because there was no significant precipitation overnight, most Metro Transit buses are operating with regular routing Monday morning. But, approximately two dozen routes – mainly in West Seattle, South Seattle, and East Kent – are experiencing problems due to icy side streets. As of 4:30 a.m., only a few were on snow routing. The other routes in those areas are operating with chains, which could slow service.
Here’s the Metro service status page; we’re checking for West Seattle specifics. (Here’s the full Metro news release.)
5:54 AM UPDATE: Metro’s Linda Thielke tells WSB the “adverse weather” info page IS BEING UPDATED NOW so currently has LAST NIGHT’S INFO – here are a few things from this morning: “Right now, the 22 can’t go on California between Morgan and Thistle. The 21 is running a shuttle through Arbor Heights, otherwise on regular routing. The Route 23 is staying off of Highland Parkway. The 37 and 53 are using Erskine Way to avoid 49th.”
6 AM UPDATE, BUS SPECIFICS NOW AVAILABLE: The Metro page IS updated now; it shows the 21, 22, 23, 37, 53 and 128 ALL on “adverse weather routing.”
6:10 AM UPDATE: Monitoring TV reports (as well as radio reports, police/fire/public works frequencies on scanner, websites etc.). The Bridge is OK (see “live” camera at the top of this post), onramps can be dicey (er, icy), it’s reported.
6:30 AM UPDATE: Sanding truck just went by our nearest arterial intersection (California/Thistle) again. We’ll be checking later on an interesting question: Will trash/recycling pick up today? (This is our neighborhood’s pickup day, anyway.) Thanks to everyone who continues to post commute reports in the comment section — some questions, there, too, so if you’ve been out driving, maybe you can help answer them, neighbor to neighbor. Adding to the school info: South Seattle Community College will start at 10 am today.
6:48 AM UPDATE: Wondering about the rest of the week? No more snow expected till Tuesday night and Wednesday – the forecast (for what it’s worth) on Wed. COULD, we say COULD, be ugly – “anywhere from a couple to as much as six inches of new snow for the lowlands” that day, according to the “forecast discussion.” So just in case – today/tonight’s a great time for shopping … Meantime, as commute comments continue to come in beneath this post, Elyse writes, and Scott C said this in e-mail, getting all the way to Everett was no problem – smooth sailing outside WS – 35th to The Bridge is fine.
6:57 AM UPDATE: That photo from Talani at Stor-More Self-Storage (WSB sponsor) via Facebook, with this note on the nearby Avalon/Yancy intersection (map):
We see cars driving down Avalon, we see busses driving down Avalon, we see cars driving down Yancy…we see them all going very slowly and cautiously…we hear crunching, even when they are on the black top…so sheets of ice are out there, even though it’s lookin’ better than yesterday…we care about ya…be careful out there…free hot chocolate, coffee, and mochas at Stor-More Self Storage today from 9-6 for all our brave neighbors.
7:29 AM UPDATE: Metro has added another route to its table of buses on “adverse weather” routes – NOT a West Seattle bus (it’s the 123) but nonetheless we want to make sure you’re getting the latest regional info in case you transfer – this is the newest screengrab (*removed because it’s outdated – see 11 am hour for latest one)
8:02 AM UPDATE: Another school change: Westside School is starting at 9:30 am. No major road problems reported so far. We’re going out for a pic of our intersection now that it’s light, just to see what several overnight deicings/sandings have done.
8:19 AM UPDATE: The Olympics are gorgeous pink and snow-frosted (finally). The sidewalks, death-defying. Just took a short walk outside WSB HQ for these views and nearly fell despite all efforts at safely. First one is looking north on California from Thistle – both looking well-sanded/de-iced; second, though, is what Mona would call an Icy Side Street of Death – SW Sullivan, a block south of Thistle:
8:35 AM UPDATE: Just got a note from Sharonn Meeks; in the Fairmount neighborhood, steep 37th is closed from Providence Mount St. Vincent north to SW Alaska:
8:58 AM UPDATE: Thanks to Michelle for letting us know that Holy Rosary School has now changed its status – instead of a delay, it’s closed for today. (Website confirms.)
COVERAGE CONTINUED TILL NOON – TO SEE THE REST OF IT, CLICK AHEAD:Read More
(NOTE: This is just a school-info list; please add morning-commute reports/questions, schools included, to this newer post – thanks!)
Here’s what we know as of 9:01 am (updated), regarding weather-related changes for Monday, for West Seattle schools (and a few nearby):
AREA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Seattle Public Schools: Starting 2 hours late, with buses on snow routes
–The SPS home page
Highline Public Schools: Starting 2 hours late, with limited bus service
Vashon public schools: 2 hours late
(both per)
–SchoolReport.org
AREA PRIVATE SCHOOLS:
Holy Rosary School, 9 AM UPDATE – CLOSED FOR THE DAY
Our Lady of Guadalupe School, 10:30 am start
Hope Lutheran School, 10:30 am start
Seattle Lutheran High School, 11 am start
Explorer West Middle School (office recording at 1 am said check back after 6:30 am)
Shorewood Christian School CLOSED
Holy Family School, 10 am start
Kennedy High School, 10:30 am start
Tilden School, open
Westside School, 9:30 am start
West Seattle Montessori School, on-time start
SOUTH SEATTLE COMMUNITY COLLEGE (main campus in West Seattle): Starting at 10 am
If you need to find the website or phone number for any other schools, try our Schools page. Any school that wants to add change/closure info here is welcome to e-mail us at editor@westseattleblog.com or call 206/293-6302.
Just got word of this and wanted to share the link: Cooper Elementary‘s community has put up a website to get the information out about their fight to keep the school “program” from being closed, as is now listed as a “potential final recommendation” as Seattle Public Schools tries to find a new home for Pathfinder K-8. The site is at cooperschoolworks.com, and among other info, it lists the next round of meetings this week – district public hearing at Genesee Hill tomorrow night, School Board meeting Wednesday, and a meeting at Cooper on Thursday, with more content promised. It also links to the Cooper “fact sheet” we told you about last Wednesday. (On the “closure info” page at the official Cooper Elementary website, by the way, you can now read a handwritten letter by a student in Cooper’s autism program.)
(refresh/scroll down for the newest information; Monday school changes we have so far – Holy Rosary 10 am start, Holy Family 10 am, Our Lady of Guadalupe 10:30 am, Hope Lutheran 10:30 am, Seattle Lutheran 11 am, Shorewood Christian CLOSED)
(California/Thistle after dark tonight – look close to notice the glistening ice)
Our Sunday morning coverage is here; our Sunday afternoon coverage is here; now it’s time to start a new post for Sunday night – especially as we look ahead to tomorrow, and what conditions will be like as people look ahead to the workweek, and school (the last week before winter break, for most). Keep posting your reports, and sending photos to editor@westseattleblog.com – the information you provide is helping thousands of your West Seattle neighbors stay up to date with what’s happening, particularly important since most accounts suggest our area was hit harder than other parts of the city. Thanks again for your collaboration. First up, another update from the Goulds, reporting on multiple areas in south West Seattle:
Barton Street fairly good. Buses moving up the hill fine. Some folks are still a bit nervous going down, including the buses, so quite a bit of slow going down hill, at times. Did see a another sander and a de-icer truck going up.
It is our sense that the sand is in short supply and they are using it very judiously. It has been very hit and miss where we saw the sand. They may have also been trying to hit the worse spots as quick as they could, covering as much ground as possible, until they had time to do more thorough coverage.
Barton east of 35th – now much better, I followed the sander and de-icer to Target. 35th from Roxbury to Avalon is generally good. Some spots both lanes are not completely clear so folks are trying to avoid the icier lane. Most people do seem to be driving quite sensibily, but you can easily tell who the
folks are that are not having a fun time.Roxbury – east and down the Olsen Place hill and across the Cloverdale Bridge: Roxbury overall is in better shape than 35th. Olsen Place hill is fine – clear and no apparent problems.
Also for folks interested in Thistle, I saw the sander and de-icer coming east on Thistle, crossing 35th and continuing on. So my guess is, is that Thistle is also in pretty good shape now.
The newest forecast now says “quite cold through next weekend” and flatly declares “SNOW” for next Wednesday; see it here. Another road report now from Kevin in Arbor Heights: “100th west of 35th appears to be sanded but still very slick. I’m a couple of houses south on 42nd SW and our street is just solid ice as most likely the case with all the other side streets.” He says vehicles DO appear to be proceeding slowly and cautiously. However, Meg reports a nearby trouble spot:
There are three cars stranded at the curve on Marine View Dr SW, just south of 45th and Endolyne Joe’s. It’s very slippery on the curve headed South, and on the straight-away part of the hill where you come out of all the foliage. No sand or de-icer truck all day, which is typical, the hill is treacherous.
Updates as we get ’em (photos welcome too – anybody going to the Christmas Ship? – editor@westseattleblog.com) 6:05 PM: Folks are discussing power flickers in the comments – no power outages listed on the city site so far; here’s where they will be, if something big happens (hope not!). 7:39 PM UPDATE: As mentioned in the comments, some people in that area of Morgan Junction lost power entirely. That’s not listed on the city site; we’ll check by phone to see if there’s information on what’s going on. We’d heard from Vlad Oustimovitch, who lives in the area, that his wife Kathryn had called City Light to ask about the microoutages and was told about “20 blocks” were affected by the blickering and that crews were en route. However, now, in addition to the comment here, we also just received a note from someone whose friends near Thriftway are without power. 7:48 PM UPDATE: City Light says the outage is affecting 200 “customers” (which means homes/businesses) between SW Graham north, SW Webster south, 39th SW east, 47th SW west, and says crews are “currently patroling to find the cause of the outage.”
8:10 PM UPDATE: No outage updates yet. Meantime, we’re watching both the Seattle Public Schools site and SchoolReport.org for any school info for tomorrow morning that might affect folks in this area – as we mentioned earlier, though, the district often does not make the decision until early in the morning. It’s also a tough call when the weather conditions don’t affect the city (and therefore the district) uniformly – you may remember a time a few years back when the north end had snowy, icy conditions, while West Seattle was in relatively great shape, but schools were closed anyway because more routes were dangerous around the city than not. One other note – the WSB Forums have a few weather-related topics going, including “what’s better for your driveway/walkway: kitty litter or salt?” Join the conversation here. Good news for bus riders (and drivers who share the road with buses): King County promises buses will be chained tomorrow! (That same link contains other general commute-related info from the county, mostly re: unincorporated areas.)
8:23 PM UPDATE: Just a note while things are relatively quiet – besides watching schools and roads, we are also watching for other information relevant to tomorrow – government agency operation changes, major employers, what have you, so please share that kind of information too if you think it’s of value to more than a few people (comments and/or editor@westseattleblog.com). Besides keeping watch till late tonight, we will of course be updating for the morning commute too, monitoring various sources for West Seattle-specific/relevant road info. Both the city and the county promise to be on their game.
8:50 PM UPDATE: We have paged Seattle City Light media reps in hopes of getting an update on the Morgan/Gatewood outage. If we don’t get any new information soon, we’ll head down the hill (the area is a mile directly north of us) and look for crews. Meanwhile, a photo just in from David Hutchinson, one of many people who contributed great photos earlier today too:
David says, “Just got back from seeing the Christmas Ship near the Don Armeni boat ramp. A small group braved the cold temperatures and wind. The bonfire was appreciated.” Also: Michelle, in comments, reports one West Seattle school change has been announced: Start time for Holy Rosary is 10 am tomorrow. By the way, if you’re looking for the website or phone number for a West Seattle school, we have a fairly comprehensive list (probably missing a few preschools – those are hard to track) on the WSB Schools page.
COVERAGE CONTINUED THROUGH MIDNIGHT – TO SEE THE REST OF IT, CLICK AHEAD:Read More
Before we launch our Sunday night edition of snow coverage, wanted to mention this – since it turned out to be particularly timely: Saturday morning, hours before the snow hit, volunteers from neighborhoods all over West Seattle got together to test emergency radios that could be used for West Seattle-wide info-relaying in case of catastrophe – the photo above shows preliminary results (broken lines are iffy, solid, better) – here are photos taken before participants fanned out for the actual test:
That second photo is Ron Zuber, a radio expert who coordinated the test (and the one we mentioned on Night Out in August) — that test had mixed results, so this time, they tried more powerful radios. Cindi Barker from the Morgan Community Association reports, “Not a perfect result, but there were enough inter-neighborhood connections that we think we can stick with family service style radios, and that way Block Watch and SNAP groups can hear our communications. Alki and Fauntleroy will be our biggest challenges, we may have to get a repeater to boost the signal all the way from end to end.” They’ll meet again next month to further develop the plan.
(this post covered the weather situation from noon till 5 pm – follow this link to find Sunday night updates – thanks!)
Starting a new post. Tons of info in the morning post, so if you haven’t read that already, start there, but please add new comments here (and e-mail us photos). Now, the latest: Jana called to say that Thistle is closed at 35th to the top of the hill (heading west). 35th/Roxbury has a stalled bus. The photo above is from The Goulds on Barton in Fauntleroy, who report:
Barton Street is an ice rink. Barton St, between the Ferry Dock and 35th is a graveyard of buses – 4 of the Route 54s and one Sound Transit 560. Buses were sent out this morning with no chains, some sort of bad call by Metro Transit authorities. Drivers indicate there are only two trucks for all of King County that can rescue the buses and get chains put on them. Some folks can get up and down Barton, others cannot and give it up. Success seems to be tire and driver skill related. We have seen all 4 wheels on some 4-wheel drives spinning.
Here’s another one of their photos:
They promised to try to walk to Westwood Village to see how things are there. 12:22 PM UPDATE: Heather has provided some photos from Alki – first, Alki Ave doesn’t look much better than the roads in higher areas of West Seattle:
Another angle:
Seattle Public Utilities has just sent a news release headed “Coldest Weather in 18 Years Forecast, Take Steps Now to Protect Pipes From Freezing.” We’ll upload the news release as a PDF here in a minute if we can’t find a link on the city website. (Here it is.) Editorializing now, that is the FIRST official communication we have received from local governments all morning. Maybe there’s a media list we’ve missed being on. But media lists aside, the websites are not updated (just look at seattle.gov). Can’t someone at least be updating them from home? Good business for us, but we would much rather have Web/RSS/Twitter/etc. access to official info to filter for you and link to – WSDOT is something of a trendsetter in that regard. In our old-media days, many of us were under orders to get to work even if we had to walk, to get TV and Web coverage going. 12:49 PM UPDATE: Looks like sanding/plowing may have made some progress – check the latest “live” picture from the Fauntleroy/Alaska traffic camera (looking to the northeast):
Remember, the WSB Traffic page has screengrabs of all the West Seattle-area traffic cams (and related ones on I-5, 99, etc.) – find it here. As for other areas – not so lucky. This just in from Julie:
We live on Admiral Way and 53rd. Admiral is a mess. There have been no snow plows this side of California Way on Admiral and it’s a sheet of ice. Drivers are attempting it and either getting stuck or rethinking and turning back down the hill. We had planned to go to the grocery store and tried to go out in it but about 6 cars were stopped or stuck in various parts of the road. According to the city snow plow map, they only service Admiral up to California Ave, and not West.
ANOTHER EVENT CANCELLATION: The Esoterics concert at Holy Rosary is cancelled. It was scheduled to begin at 3:00 pm. We’ll also add that to the “events canceled/happening” post we’ve been keeping. AN EVENT STILL HAPPENING: If you are able to get to The Junction SAFELY (walking, perhaps?) – Santa is on hand at Cupcake Royale as planned – for photos, with donations to benefit local nonprofits – till 4 pm. (More info on the West Seattle Junction [WSB sponsor] website.)1:03 PM UPDATE: An explanation from County Executive Ron Sims himself on what’s up with the lack of bus info online – We sent a message via Twitter (which he uses quite avidly) to ask why no updated bus info on the Web; he said “Our network went down” and, they’re fixing it. 1:08 PM UPDATE: Another snow hazard, just described on the scanner – location unknown, may not be West Seattle but certainly could happen here – blowing snow suddenly falling from branches, roofs, awnings, etc. So walkers beware as well. (We see this happening in our back yard right now, in fact.) Also – JayDee is back from a trip to PCC and sent photos (we’ll post in a moment), as well as saying, “Overall, I don’t understand why people are driving. The 51 I took home was fishtailing and if he’d had to stop on the hill the driver said ‘If I stop on the hill, I am spending the night on the bus’.” First photo’s from 55th/Spokane:
This one, 56th SW near Schmitz Park:
Another photo to add – this one’s from David Hutchinson, who took it at Don Armeni, where the Christmas Ship is due at 7:10 pm tonight:
1:21 PM UPDATE: Looks like Metro’s website is indeed now offering updated information – here’s the bus-problems page. If your route is on a “reroute,” here’s the link again with the map of all such snow/ice routes. (That’s from our early morning post with a long list of helpful links – see it here if you missed it.) A new comment says Hanford is closed east of California (map). 1:45 PM UPDATE: Just went out to watch the California/Thistle plateau intersection. Lots of turning around from people reaching it and looking eastward up the Thistle hill. A smidge of video shortly. (Scanner has somebody totally stuck further east on Thistle, at 36th, calling for a tow truck. Update – that may be a bus – Jana called to say one is stuck around Thistle/41st, which is where the 22 usually turns to head north.) Meantime, scanner reports complaint of people riding motorcycles (ATV’s?) on the sidewalk on northbound California at Fauntleroy. Great. Also, another Morgan Hill update from Pamela McCarty: “It is not sanded or plowed. I have lived by here for 10 years and have never seen it closed. 35th is sanded and plowed and saw a 21 bus pick up going north (with no chains) at 1:09.” Photo, taken two blocks west of 35th:
We’ve had a suggestion we post some fun photos too. How about video? This was uploaded to YouTube by Jeff Johnson, who sent us the link:
And from Darren Pilon in Arbor Heights, a dog who looks quite at home in the snow, his American Eskimo named Abby:
2:07 PM UPDATE: The good news for those of us here in Upper Fauntleroy is, there seems to be a snowplow pointed west on Thistle. The bad news is – there’s a Sound Transit bus sideways blocking its progress (thanks to Jana for the phone tip on this):
2:21 PM UPDATE: And another break for a “cute kid in snow” photo – this one’s from Admiral
As for the roads – update from Mona, who’s in Arbor Heights, stuck behind 2 stalled buses at 35th/106th (map) – she also sent this photo:
If you’re just joining us, remember to read the comments too – lots of great info there and while we will repost major items (road closure reports, etc.) here in the main post, that doesn’t cover anything. Meantime, here’s even more about the Arbor Heights situation (and vicinity), from MargL:
Just walked up to the intersection of 106th and 35th in Arbor Heights. Talked to a Metro 21 bus driver (pic attached) who said he’d been stuck at the intersection since about 8AM. He estimated that last 21 that got thru was probably around 10AM. He’s waiting for his supervisor to bring some chains and enjoying the circus show of folks trying to get around the corner from 35th AVE to SW 106th. We were both pretty surprised bus maintenance decided not to chain the buses this morning given the advance weather reports and the condition of the roads. 106th heading east toward White Center is a sheet of ICE. Saw many many cars fishtailing and skidding down the hills and one delivery truck stuck sideways on the curb. Saw no evidence of plowing or sanding anywhere. On the walk home also spotted a Seattle Public Utilities employee on a service call to a house – but it wasn’t a power outage, just some low hanging wires.
Photo:
2:31 PM UPDATE: Thanks to Hopey for sending the Metro real-time bus tracker link, which she says appears to be up to date (find it here). Meanwhile, Cathy Woo sent some pix from Alki including a snow-o-saur and snow family:
2:49 PM UPDATE: Speaking of families, the question has come up: What about school tomorrow? From old-media experience, we can say that the call sometimes isn’t made till very early morning – Seattle Public Schools, for example, sends a bus around to test the routes. However, given that you can kind of tell NOW what tomorrow morning’s going to be like, perhaps a decision will be reached sooner. One good place to watch (we’ll watch too) is the “emergency messages” page on schoolreport.org, which has member school districts (and some private schools) all over the region that report in. If you are a West Seattle or White Center private school and you DON’T report to SchoolReport.org, we invite you to call or e-mail us (all WSB contact info is here) when you make your decision and we’ll be happy to post it tonight/tomorrow (and of course beyond). On another note – 911 dispatch is sending two engines to 34th/106th, close to scene of the bus photos above, for a “motor-vehicle accident” call. ADDED 3:03 PM: Well, there’s more trouble, a “heavy rescue” dispatch to northbound I-5 – car into guard rail 200 yards before the West Seattle Bridge exit. Will monitor. Meantime, Vanessa is back home on Alki after a trip to LA and sent some photos from her return, including a view from the airplane window, followed by The Bridge (with heavy sanding evidence):
If anyone travels the Roxbury-to-Olson-to-509 airport route later today (or has already been), we’ve got at least one person in WSB-land who really needs to know the latest for that area, for a trip later tonight. Switching gears, another sledding video from Jeff Johnson:
3:15 PM UPDATE: The iced arterials near WSB HQ have finally gotten some sanding/plowing love – suddenly there arose such a clatter, we looked out the front window to see what was the matter, then what to our eyes did appear but:
A moment ago, it took off northbound on California, same way it’s pointed in that photo. (For the other side of the weather spectrum, this link just appeared in our Twitter feed: LA’s expecting an inch of rain tonight/tomorrow. 4:06 PM UPDATE: Back from a neighborhood walk to see how things are out there. Neighborhood kids/parents are sledding; e-mail reminds us that sledding in the street can be very dangerous if the street’s not closed (we just saw one close call ourselves). Also got word that the “Morgan hill” between 35th and Fauntleroy Way is open again — technically — Cindi Barker from the Morgan Community Association says, “the signs are now down but the conditions are only improved a little and will become icy again as the temperature falls,” so avoid that area anyway. Also from the inbox, a short news release from SDOT:
SDOT crews worked throughout last night and through today, Sunday, on major arterial city streets. Many sea-level streets remained bare and wet, but streets at higher elevations, on hills, and in shaded areas were icy. Crews used 18 vehicles to apply de-icer and sand as needed.
Crews are working on 12-hour shifts. The forecast for tonight calls for continued low temperatures. Night crews will replace day crews and will continue with 18 vehicles to patrol streets and treat as needed. As the night progresses, crews will focus on preparing streets for the Monday morning commute.
Got a Twitter message from Melanie that a plow was recently spotted heading westbound on Admiral. And another “Morgan hill” update from Cindi – it JUST got sanded. 4:22 PM: Going back through the inbox to make sure we didn’t miss anything big. We did miss an Admiral update from Bree hours ago, but this advice in her note still stands:
Also, can you please remind drivers to pay extra special attention when driving on ice. This morning I almost got rear-ended twice, first a guy on his cell phone was trying to go the speed limit and was following me way too close. The second time it was a couple of kids on Admiral who were going too fast and then slammed on his brakes, scary!
Nancy Folsom also sent an update on the Delridge group in this morning’s Jingle Bell Run downtown:
Some of the Delridge team had to bow out to colds and minor (we hope) surgery. But a few of us made it downtown for the run. It was fun. I don’t know how many people usually attend but it sure seemed jam packed for each event. It was particularly silly fun when we entered the first tunnel and the crowd broke out into song. “Jingle Bells,” of course, at full strength. Who cares if it was just one chorus over and over?
The only hard part was waiting for the return buses which we guessed were held up to due to weather or road conditions in West Seattle. Yea Metro drivers for getting people around town safely in these icy conditions!
4:36 PM UPDATE: Heads up that after 5 pm or so, we will start a “Sunday night” post – like this one, the Sunday morning version, and the Saturday night version – but for now, a few more things. Josh Sutton from the West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) sends word on their schedule:
WS YMCA will close early at 6 pm tonight (no evening Yoga or Volleyball). Fauntleroy YMCA closes at 5 pm (normal). WS Y will be open at normal time (5:30am), but likely that many classes & programs won’t be running in early am – depending on instructor’s ability to get there. Fauntleroy will be wait & see, but likely open by 6 am. Status of our school-based programs will be based upon School District decision (if closed, we’re closed, etc).
No word yet on school; as mentioned earlier, you can watch schoolreport.org and, for Seattle Public Schools, their home page. Also — MAYBE some more snow in the hours to come – from the midafternoon “forecast discussion”:
FORECASTING DETAILS OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS HAS BEEN DIFFICULT TO NEAR IMPOSSIBLE. TODAY MOISTURE WRAPPING AROUND AN UPPER LOW OFFSHORE THAT IS MOVING SOUTHWARD HAS MADE IT UP TO TACOMA-SHELTON-HOQUIAM. AS A RESULT…THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY HAS BEEN EXTENDED OVER SOUTHERN LOWLAND LOCATIONS UNTIL 10 PM THIS EVENING. THE AIR MASS SEATTLE NORTHWARD IS DRY. ALSO…PRESSURE GRADIENTS ARE INCREASINGLY NORTHERLY. THAT COMBINATION ALONG WITH ALL GUIDANCE WOULD STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT SNOW SHOWERS MAKING IT FARTHER NORTH THAN IT ALREADY IS WILL NOT GIVE ACCUMULATIONS. WHAT IS TROUBLING IS THAT RADAR AND SATELLITE CONTINUE TO SHOW MOISTURE STREAMING NORTHWARD INTO WHAT APPEARS TO BE A DEVELOPING DEFORMATION ZONE WRAPPING INTO THE OFFSHORE LOW. IF THIS FEATURE MAKES IT FARTHER NORTH AND STALLS…HEAVIER AMOUNTS COULD OCCUR IN PLACES LIKE HOQUIAM…SHELTON…OLYMPIA…AND EVEN UP TO SEATTLE. WE WILL BE MONITORING SATELLITE AND RADAR CAREFULLY OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS.
Via Twitter, Pam from Nerd’s Eye View forwarded a link to this ominous-looking radar “blob” of wetness appearing to be heading this way. 4:52 PM UPDATE: Just pointed out in comments – Lander is closed below Admiral. Also, a question was posed in comments re: the condition of Barton between 35th and Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor), where there’s a choir concert in an hour — Pigeonmom just noted it’s “fine … just go slow.” Switching locations – before we move on to evening coverage, two views of the Alki Statue of Liberty in the snow; one from Amy, who had insomnia last night and decided to go see the snow at Alki; second one, from David Hutchinson earlier today:
We — and you! (thanks SO much for comments, photos, info) — are continuing to add to the “Sunday morning updates” post (and will switch to an “afternoon updates” post later) but we also want to have a separate list of what we know IS happening and what we know is NOT happening.
HAPPENING: West Seattle Farmers’ Market, usual hours – here’s one of the photos taken by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli just before it opened:
HAPPENING: Santa photos at Cupcake Royale (with donations benefiting local nonprofits), till 4 pm as scheduled
CANCELLED/POSTPONED: Glee Club concert at Peace Lutheran
CANCELLED/POSTPONED: WSB Forum members’ holiday party
CANCELLED: The Esoterics concert at Holy Rosary
CLOSED: Log House Museum is usually open till 4 pm on Sundays but we just got word it’s closed today
Please e-mail us with word of any other events scheduled for today that are canceled or postponed.
(this post covers snow coverage 8:41 am-12:09 pm Sunday. Follow this link to afternoon coverage)
(photo looking east up Thistle from California near WSB HQ)
(sunrise from 39th and Andover, courtesy of John)
(photo courtesy Babs)
Just got a note from Ron that the #128 bus is stuck on the Morgan hill at 39th, going eastbound. He adds, “Cars are also going west, down the hill and sliding most of the way down. I hope SPD or SDOT closes the road soon.” JayDee “above Alki” is hearing tire-spinning that doesn’t “sound successful.” Here’s the “live” city traffic cam looking northeast from Fauntleroy/Alaska:
Lina just added this comment on our early-morning post: “35th/Roxbury looks sketchy and the few cars i see are going really slow by my house.” 9 AM UPDATE: Just checked the conditions outside our house and at the nearest major intersection. The snow is CRUNCHY — aka ice — different from the softer texture when we were out walking after midnight, and the cars coming down Thistle hill toward California to turn north are going very slowly. This, to boot, is a “plow route.” This is the view looking north on California:
More photos welcome, road conditions and otherwise – editor@westseattleblog.com – official information on city roads is hard to come by so info-sharing like this is the best way to share word of what you’re seeing. A new forecast has just been posted – the “winter weather advisory” has been extended till 3 pm and there’s a prediction of possible “new snow accumulations” this afternoon. (Wondering how the Jingle Bell Run is going downtown? Here’s a pic that Mark from West Seattle just sent out via Twitter – and another one from when it started – quite the crowd!) Wildlife note: Previous post’s comments included a discussion about how to help hummingbirds (the flowers “ours” usually drink from are now frozen over) – here’s a WSB Forums post with a suggestion (and photo). 9:34 AM UPDATE: Shari reports, “I just wanted to let everyone know that 35th Ave SW at Camp Long is a sheet of ice. The road doesn’t look bad so I went and checked and it is ice — I was slipping all over in shoes. I see people helping heading to go down the hill but I haven’t seen anyone coming as though they came up the hill.” We can say the same thing for California/Thistle – just went out with video camera to see if anyone, snowplow included, would drive by, but not a soul – and if you walk out into the street, you can tap inch-high ice ridges with your shoe. Meanwhile, WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli reports from The Junction that THE FARMERS’ MARKET IS ON – 15 to 20 vendors are there now, setting up. He’ll be sending pix in a bit but also reports, “Some of the vendors from outside of Seattle said that things outside of west Seattle were better. They were surprised the roads in WS were so bad. They said the bridge was pretty nasty getting over here.” Earlier in The Junction, Larry got this photo – describing it as “street art”:
CLICK AHEAD TO READ THE OTHER SUNDAY MORNING UPDATES, WHICH CONTINUED TILL NOON:Read More
Once it’s light, we’ll be checking on conditions, especially the roads, around West Seattle, since a lot is happening today — from the weekly West Seattle Farmers Market, to Hometown Holidays Sunday in The Junction (with Santa photos and more prize drawings), to the WSB Forum potluck holiday party and donation drive (everybody invited!) at Big Al Brewing. In the short term, some helpful links if you need them in the very early am:
City info on snow/ice routes/procedures (including link to plowed-routes map)
County info on snow/ice routes/procedures (including Metro reroutes)
Metro “adverse weather” service status
King County road alerts
Latest forecast
National Weather Service “storm reports” (record snowfall, etc.)
City Light power-outage list
WSDOT trouble spots via Twitter
Washington State Ferries “service bulletins”
Live 911 log for Seattle fire/medic calls
One more note – the Jingle Bell Run to raise money for arthritis is scheduled downtown this morning (here’s the course map; here’s the timetable).
Just discovered, while looking for snow/ice info on the SDOT website, that the department has posted the promised “Q & A” following up on the December 1st “open house” regarding the proposal to reconfigure – “rechannelize” — Fauntleroy Way between Alaska and California. Among other things, the city maintains that the changes would not add more than a minute to travel time along that stretch, and explains why this is considered to be different from the proposal that Morgan Junction community members voted down a decade ago. Read it all here.
WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli has just sent snowy photos from The Junction vicinity, including that one from the “West Seattle Bros.” tree lot on Alaska west of Fauntleroy. We’ll be adding more of his photos – and others that came in from all over West Seattle, in just the past half-hour or so – for this early report (original Saturday night snow coverage here). CLICK AHEAD to see 10 more photos:Read More
(this post covered updates till 12:33 am Sunday; the next post is here)
(video from California/Thistle [map], added 8:50 pm)
At least here on one of the “higher hills,” as the forecast always refers to it. We have at least two Twitter reports of Alki/Beach Drive snow, too, so it seems to be West Seattle-wide. Adding photographic evidence shortly. “Teensy little flakes,” reports the snow-country-born half of the team, “must be REALLY cold up there (in the clouds).” Forecast has warned of the possibility of snow “showers” so we’ll see how long this lasts. 8:46 PM UPDATE: Getting heavier. And drivers on our hill are starting to sound, shall we say, challenged. Send pix if you have ’em! editor@westseattleblog.com
CLICK TO SEE THE REST OF OUR SATURDAY NIGHT SNOW UPDATES, WHICH CONTINUED TILL WE STARTED A NEW POST AFTER MIDNIGHT:Read More
That video’s from the windswept shore at Seacrest less than an hour ago, as the Christmas Ship and its entourage visited to serenade onlookers with holiday music by Northwest Girlchoir Vivace. A different choir — Canterbury Belles — will be on board when the Christmas Ship stops at Lowman Beach (8:50 tonight) and Alki (9:40 tonight); Soundwave will sing during its stop at Don Armeni at 7:10 pm tomorrow. Here’s the full schedule for the rest of its season. (If you’re new to the area – the Christmas Ship is a civic enterprise of sorts, in partnership with tour-boat operators Argosy Cruises; different choirs are on board the boat as it makes scheduled stops throughout much of December, and in addition to listening for free from the shore, you also can pay to be on the Christmas Ship itself — sold out for the rest of this season, but there’s room on some of the “follow boat” voyages — that same schedule page will lead you through the ticketing process.)
In the two days since the two “scenarios” for Alaskan Way Viaduct Central Waterfront replacement were announced — one, a “couplet” of surface streets; the other, a new single-deck viaduct, 2 side-by-side structures — we have brought you expanded comments from some well-known voices: The West Seattleites on the Stakeholders Advisory Committee, Vlad Oustimovitch of Gatewood (read his thoughts here) and Pete Spalding of Pigeon Point (read his, here), as well as former West Seattle Herald editor Jack Mayne (read his guest editorial here). Tonight, another voice, advocating on behalf of West Seattle economic concerns: the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce. WSB received a copy yesterday of this letter sent Thursday to area elected officials:
Re: Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Options
Dear Governor Gregoire, Executive Sims and Mayor Nickels:
The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce adopted position statements in May 2006 on various transportation issues. Included in this document is a position for the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project:
The Alaskan Way Viaduct capacity needs to be fully replaced in either an elevated or tunnel alternative, the “boulevard” concept is unworkable.
Importantly, the current plan to remove all viaduct capacity during two years of construction is completely unacceptable due to the disastrous consequences of such a plan to both commuters and emergency vehicles.
These positions were adopted after very careful consideration. While the West Seattle Peninsula continues to absorb great population growth (home to approximately 20% of the City’s population), our region has failed to be recognized as meriting the transportation and economic infrastructure that it deserves to create a community that can be self sustaining.
Given this dynamic, West Seattle’s population continues to seek employment, medical care, goods and services that are situated off of the Peninsula. Our community sends thousands of cars OFF of the peninsula onto SR-99 and I-5 every day (presently including the Southworth and Vashon ferry traffic as well as industrial / freight transport) and thousands of cars returning each day. Our gravest concern is that the construction impacts along the waterfront will impede our community’s ability to access job, critical medical care, and services not available on the peninsula. It is equally clear that the re-routing of traffic to I-5 will cause great hardship to our commuters, our businesses, the neighboring industrial community, and emergency vehicles. We must remind you ALL that access to jobs and medical care is paramount.
We have strong concerns about the long term impacts of a surface design and strongly urge you to retain at least one tunnel option on the short list.
The tunnel options provide for on-going movement to the downtown corridor during construction; lessens the overall impact of any additional congestion on I-5; maintains capacity for freight and commuters thereby easing a significant burden on West Seattle; and after completion, provides for both through access and an improved waterfront boulevard, the best of both worlds.
We request you give careful consideration to the long term impacts on the West Seattle community that would result should a surface option be implemented. We formally request a more thorough investigation and disclosure of genuine economic and social impacts on the West Seattle community as a whole.
The superficial and cosmetic appeal of a surface option will quickly disappear when the West Seattle Bridge and Spokane Street Viaduct become parking lots; when Alaskan Way, Second Avenue and Fourth Avenue become truck routes; and traffic sits idling at stop light congesting our streets.
We urge officials to preserve the tunnel options and consider truly “putting people first.”
Our organization is committed to working with state, county and city transportation agencies to bring about change for the good, to help meet the demands, but our adopted positions are ones that speak clearly on behalf of our community.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Dawn Leverett
Chair
(West Seattle Chamber of Commerce board)
Thanks to those who have shared their Viaduct opinions with us so far; there’s still room, and time for more (editor@westseattleblog.com) – and your comments are vital too. All WSB Alaskan Way Viaduct coverage is archived here, newest to oldest; project information is at alaskanwayviaduct.org; and as mentioned previously, an important opportunity to voice your opinion “in person” is the public forum at Town Hall this Monday night, starting at 5 pm (here’s a map/directions to TH). To read what citywide news sources are reporting about the Viaduct, see the latest links on the WSB “More” page (which also automatically picks up citywide media coverage of West Seattle).
(photo added 3:26 pm, after SUV was righted, view from slope on north side of bridge at Avalon end)
ORIGINAL 2:36 PM POST: Westbound bridge is closed – that word from Desiree – not sure how far it extends but we are en route to check out a “heavy rescue” call westbound on The Bridge at Admiral, which undoubtedly is the reason why. More shortly. The traffic camera that points westward in that area isn’t showing much, but the one pointing eastbound shows the lanes empty all the way back to 99, which suggests there is a detour or barricade that far back. 2:52 PM UPDATE: Looks like the westbound bridge is open again – traffic camera now shows vehicles heading that way. Patrick found a viewpoint and sees a maroon SUV, on its side, that’s apparently about to be hauled/towed away. He also saw an aid car leaving the scene. 3:02 PM UPDATE: There may still be some slowing for a bit – authorities are checking now for any “(oil) sheen” on the bridge and getting ready to clear the scene – sounds like SDOT will sand the area after the wreckage is cleared – it appears that traffic is now being diverted off at the Admiral exit till the towing and sanding is done (Patrick is watching from the Fauntleroy foot bridge). So if you’re seeing this from downtown or points further east, a good idea to delay your trip West Seattle-bound for a while. 3:28 PM UPDATE: Still no word on the people who were in the SUV that crashed; this photo is from Sharonn Meeks, looking at where the bridge was blocked off just past Admiral:
Just back from a whirlwind visit to two holiday bazaar/sale events under way in West Seattle till 3 pm. Above, sisters Danielle Aguilar and Bri’Anna Smith are selling not just warm handmade hats at the Delridge Community Center bazaar, but also the coolest recycled-material lunch bags we’ve seen in a while — quilted out of plastic grocery bags. Bri’Anna makes it all and you can find her online at myspace.com/knitagainstthemachine – meantime, we found another West Seattle sister team selling holiday-gift treats (including flavored nuts and creatively packaged candies) nearby:
Those are from Twisted Sisters Emporium, created by Connie O’Donnell and Diane Radischat (who you may know from Special Editions Studio). Also at Delridge Community Center till 3 pm, those gorgeous West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival handmade glass ornaments, with Hi-Yu Queen Margo Femiano and Junior Court Princess Anna Fuller on hand:
Next, it’s over to C & P Coffee, where a cozy but bustling arts/crafts sale also continues till 3 pm. We were captivated by these neighborhood-pride (little map segments of West Seattle and other Seattle neighborhoods) magnets that Cyn Moore (cyncity pendants) is selling:
She says you can find her neighborhood pendants and other items at Twilight in The Junction, too. One more craftsperson you’ll find at C & P today – Machel Spence of WavyShell:
More of today’s events (Christmas Ship tonight – three West Seattle stops!) are listed on the WSB West Seattle Weekend Lineup.
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