West Seattle, Washington
22 Thursday
Be on the lookout for that display around West Seattle in the months to come. It’s part of the next phase of an effort that really started to rev up last year. If you were a WSB’er last spring/summer, you may recall our coverage of special events introducing neighborhoods to community meeting places (like this one), designated just in case of major disasters — someplace you could go to get connected with information and help, if all the other channels fail. There currently are eight such neighborhood gathering spots around West Seattle which are now dubbed “emergency-communication hubs.”
Saturday morning, many of the volunteers who are working on this got together in Morgan Junction for a discussion including guests from the city and county — and that’s where we all learned about help that’s needed right now for a “corps” that hopefully will never have to spring into action – the Public Health Reserve Corps. Don’t let the name scare you off – they’re looking to sign up volunteers who are NOT health pros, too — read on for more about that, and about the state of disaster readiness in local neighborhoods:Read More
What? A Seafair Pirate behaving? We caught the pirate known as “The Marquis” posing with the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival Senior and Junior Courts this afternoon at The Hall at Fauntleroy, for the annual Hi-Yu Spring Tea – a smash success, selling out every available seat. This gives us the excuse to mention that the Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu Scholarship Competition has some great opportunities for young women interested in competing to be part of the Senior Court chosen this summer, and there’s ONE MORE WEEK TO APPLY … here’s the official info again:
Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu Scholarship Competition: Applications due
3/30/09Young women who live, work or attend school in West Seattle are invited to apply for the Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu scholarship competition. There are several scholarship awards given out at the pageant, including, but again, not limited to: Athletic, Media Career, Community Service, Academic, Miss Congeniality, Creative Expression, and Hi-Yu Involvement. There are three titles awarded: Queen and two Princesses.
Each title winner receives a scholarship (Princesses- $1,000 each, Queen- $2,000), crown, and sash. The Queen will receive $1,250 at the end of her reign and $750 after completing the Miss Seafair competition. She will represent the community during the 2009-2010 festival year and travel to several Northwest parades with the Hi-Yu float. The Senior Court members must be available to participate in the Hi-Yu Summer Festival activities.
While there is some work involved, West Seattle royalty will have a lot of fun serving your community, making new friends, increasing confidence, and developing leadership. New this year, all candidates will have the opportunity to work with a local businesswoman as a professional mentor and spend a day with professional health & beauty professionals receiving advice on hair, make-up, and dress. Hi-Yu serves the West Seattle Community by providing fun and affordable entertainment for adults and children alike.
The application, found at www.hiyu.com, must be postmarked by March 30, 2009. Mail your completed application to Candidate Coordinator, West Seattle Hi-Yu, PO Box 16130, Seattle, WA 98116. If you have questions, call Shirley at 206-935-5224.
Again, here’s the direct link to the application. And one more photo from today’s Hi-Yu Spring Tea – a closer look at the design of this year’s float, which you’ll see in the West Seattle Grand Parade July 18th as well as a variety of other parades around Western Washington:
As reported here back in December, the theme “How Sweet It Is” was dreamed up by this year’s Junior Court.
As reported here on Saturday, this weekend’s Alaskan Way Viaduct shutdowns were for more than the semiannual inspection — lanes were restriped, soil samples were taken for the proposed tunnel, and more. And now – WSDOT sends word, The Viaduct is officially open again – and the Battery Street Tunnel has reopened early too.
Out of the WSB inbox, from Lindsay — this happened just a few blocks from the one reported here Saturday, but it packs an extra frustration factor:
Our car (Mitsubishi) was broken into on the 3700 block of 34th Ave SW again! This is the 3rd or 4th time our car has been broken into in less than a year and a half. All other times it was done when our car was parked in the alley behind our house in a parking spot so we got a bright light that is always on over the parking spot. That didn’t stop them so we stopped parking out back. Now they broke into our car right in front of our house. Don’t know what else to do! This is very frustrating…
Here’s the official Seattle Police advice on deterring car prowls.
Volunteers tabled and walked along Alki today in honor of World Water Day — to make sure you know that something we take for granted — a clean, safe water supply — is still elusive for way too many people worldwide. Find out more here (including info about an event at Seward Park on May 30th, in which participants will try to walk 5 kilometers carrying 5 gallons of water — which water1st.org notes is “the average walk made by women and children in poor countries who lack access to safe, convenient water supplies”). Another day of awareness with local involvement is just two days away — World TB Day on Tuesday, with local students helping put on a big event downtown:
The World TB Day event Tuesday night at Town Hall is free – and promises to be an eye-opener. Full details here. If you thought tuberculosis was a thing of the past – this King County-specific information alone will cure you of that notion. (The local rate, in fact, hit a 30-year high in 2007.) Student organizers also have been sending out TB info via Twitter – follow their tweets (and see the archives) at twitter.com/worldtbday.
Last time “possible snow” was mentioned fleetingly in the “forecast discussion,” this happened. (Was that really only A WEEK AGO?) So in the interest of “no surprises,” we’re noting that it’s mentioned fleetingly here in the regional overview for tomorrow:
ONCE AGAIN…PRECIP TYPE MAY BE TRICKY DURING THE EARLY MORNING HOURS WITH LIGHT OFFSHORE FLOW…TEMPS IN THE LOWER 30S AND LOW SNOW LEVELS. COULD SEE LIGHT SNOW IN THE LOWLANDS…ESPECIALLY THE HOOD CANAL REGION.
Last year, we had a few brief bouts of spring snow, including one as late as April 19th (here’s the proof).
(Saturday evening photo by David Hutchinson, taken near Don Armeni)
VIADUCT REMINDER: The second of the Alaskan Way Viaduct‘s two 12-hour inspection shutdowns is scheduled 6 am-6 pm (note that they often end “early” on the 2nd day) today, while the Battery Street Tunnel is to remain closed till 5 am tomorrow; go behind the scenes during shutdown day 1 in this WSB report.
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: Daffodils and goat-meat sausage are among the items on today’s “fresh list” for the market (see the complete list here), 10 am-2 pm in The Junction, 44th/Alaska – while you’re there, look for the Junction Plaza Park volunteers, who continue to gather pledges of volunteer help to get the park done.
WEST SEATTLE EDIBLE GARDEN FAIR PLANNING MEETING: 1:30 pm, Duwamish Cohousing – join the group that’s getting ready for an event to show the whole peninsula how to get involved in growing food. (More info in this preview we published Friday.)
Also today – World Water Day at Alki, a free concert at Hope Lutheran, the Hi-Yu Spring Tea, and more – full list in the Sunday section of our West Seattle Weekend Lineup.
| 4 COMMENTS