West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
For more than a few local schools, it’s a tradition to get out of the classroom and walk laps to raise money — and today, perfect weather graced Alki Elementary School‘s annual springtime fundraiser, the Alki-a-thon. Allison Carver from the Alki Elementary PTA explained, “We stagger the grades (from oldest to youngest) and each grade makes a grand entrance with their own unique colorful team t-shirt and theme song!” Music, refreshment, and games – Crabwalk, Limbo, Buddywalk – were part of the fun. (Next week, by the way, Sanislo Elementary hits the ground running with its Jog-a-thon.)
Thanks to Lori Willson of Arbor Heights for sharing these photos, taken just hours ago at Emma Schmitz Viewpoint, across from Me-Kwa-Mooks Park on Beach Drive.
Three days after confirming reports that teachers around the district were being notified of layoffs, Seattle Public Schools has just gone public with the total number of layoffs: “Approximately 172 teachers and other certificated staff (approximately 5% of the total certificated workforce),” according to a news release just sent out. Read on for the full text of the announcement (which does not contain a school-by-school breakdown):Read More
We’ve been tracking this for a few weeks – now it’s down to the final faceoff, and as WSB’er GenHillOne was first to announce in the WSB Forums, Chief Sealth High School is 1 of 2 schools remaining in KIRO’s High School Spirit poll. Voting’s under way now – go here.
Three big plant sales this weekend – Furry Faces Foundation (with a book-signing!), Sound Yoga (WSB sponsor), Tibbetts Church … plus, “A Night of Swing” tonight with the West Seattle Big Band at Grace Church, a busy Saturday slate including the West Seattle Sportsmen’s Club Kids’ Fishing Derby at Seacrest … Sunday brings the Walk With Us to Cure Lupus 5K on Alki plus the beer/gardening art event at West Seattle Nursery on Sunday … more than 40 events in the full West Seattle Weekend Lineup, brought to you by Skylark Cafe and Club:Read More
That’s what 34th District Rep. Sharon Nelson‘s legislative assistant Joe Fitzgibbon just told WSB, when we called/e-mailed to check before publishing a news release announcing Governor Gregoire had signed her payday-lending bill (HB 1709; history, info, documents here). As we reported yesterday, with video, Rep. Nelson had told the 34th District Democrats on Wednesday night that she was waiting to hear if the governor would sign her bill in its entirety. Fitzgibbon just replied to our inquiry with, “In the end, she did sign the whole bill as it passed the Legislature, and we are thrilled.” Here’s the news release, which explains what the bill does:Read More
(2008 Junction Car Show photo courtesy Mark B. Bauschke)
Just got an update from Liberty Bell Printing‘s Michael Hoffman, who’s coordinating the September 20th event: “The car show is an official go. We have had a great response from sponsors and are excited to continue planning the event.” WSB is proud to be among the West Seattle Junction Car Show sponsors again this year; there’s still room for more sponsors – the application can be downloaded here. That page, by the way, is part of the official West Seattle Junction Car Show website, now up and running at wsjunctioncarshow.com. Michael also lists a few of the highlights planned for the show this year:
Antique fire trucks from the Last Resort Fire Department.
SFD teaching Fire safety for kids.
The Oh Boy! Oberto hydroplane on display.
A DJ playing 50s & 60s Music.
Event T-shirts at a great value.
More room for more cars and fun
That last line refers to the fact they’ve gotten permission to close the Alaska/California intersection, as is done during the West Seattle American Legion Grand Parade (July 18 this year!) – not just two self-contained blocks like last year. The show will run from 8 am till 4 pm on September 20th.
It’s been down most of the week – and we know us news types aren’t the only ones who noticed, because more than half a dozen people asked us if we knew what the problem was – but now it’s back: Real-Time 911. Note, as always, this only reflects fire/medic calls, NOT police calls, but we know many find it invaluable for checking “why am I hearing sirens?” etc. (When we called Seattle Fire Department‘s media unit earlier in the week to ask what was wrong, they indicated it was down as part of a larger maintenance/repair issue that affected systems even more critical to their operations than the online log.)
With the first-ever Seattle International Film Festival showings in West Seattle now less than a month away, WSB is co-promoting an Admiral Theater event to celebrate this major moment in WS cultural history: An opening-night party on June 5. The party is just taking shape – it will be fun but informal, probably something of an open-house format that night, before the 7 pm showing of the ever-so-appropriate choice “The Admiral.” On behalf of Admiral entertainment director Dinah Brein-McClellan, we’re asking you: Got any ideas for who or what should be part of that party (an all-ages, drop-in event)? If you’re a local business or organization, maybe you’d like to be part of it? Leave a comment here or e-mail 
Dinah, dinah@admiralentertainment.com – and stay tuned for party details. In the meantime, a reminder that tickets for the 25 SIFF movies to be shown at The Admiral June 5-11 are on sale now – ticket sales are all done through SIFF, *not* the Admiral, so you’ll want to snap them up sooner rather than later. The movie slate is here; ticket sales start here; details on special multi-show ticket deals are here.
(entrance and courtyard for new Denny Middle School)
We’ve just received these new renderings of what Denny Middle School — as of next fall, Denny International Middle School — will look like when its new building is complete on the Chief Sealth High School campus nearby. This view is looking west:
They’re from a presentation made to the Denny PTSA this week; you can see the full presentation, with other renderings, including the plan for the current Denny site, here. (While the presentation says the new building will be done in late winter 2011, we’re told that Denny principal Jeff Clark still plans to move the staff that summer and start classes there in fall 2011, as he told us two months ago .)
More on this week’s presentation, and other aspects of the ongoing CSHS renovation/DMS (future) construction project, can be found on this district-maintained website. The site also includes monthly construction updates (with photos).
Earlier this week, we reported on major progress toward construction money for the future Delridge Skatepark — 
the Skatepark Advisory Committee‘s recommendation that Parks Levy money for a Myrtle Reservoir skate feature move to the Delridge project (future site at right) instead. And this afternoon, there’s word the in-progress skatepark design will go public next week — the agenda for next week’s Seattle Design Commission meeting just arrived, and it includes a review of the Delridge Skatepark’s schematic design, next Thursday, 2 pm at City Hall. (We’re also watching to see if the proposed money move turns up on the next Parks Levy Oversight Committee agenda – the meeting is set for 7 pm May 26, and when the agenda is out, you’ll find it here.)
Aaron’s Bicycle Repair (in Morgan Junction) and BECU (all over) sponsored the West Seattle “commuter station” this morning as part of Bike To Work Day today – thanks to a different Aaron for sharing his photo. West Seattle bicycle commuters tell us a steady stream of riders went by as part of today’s event; stations like this were set up all over the city during the morning commute. Any other West Seattle bicycle commuters with BTW Day photos to share, editor@westseattleblog.com — we’ll add ’em! Thanks, and we wish you a safe ride home. ADDED 5:32 PM: Via Twitter, @greggscycles noted sightings of 150 bicycles while riding from West Seattle to Green Lake. 11:03 PM: Also from Twitter, King County Council Chair Dow Constantine (of WS) reported addressing a BTW crowd downtown. And West Seattle’s @bikehugger DL Byron has posted some of his BTW Day scenes. Final note: Bicyclist Kerry says that upon arrival at the WS commute station – the counter clicked to 599 – and #600 arrived shortly afterward!
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Sometimes when the public-comment period arrives midway through meetings of the Southwest Design Review Board – one of 7 such volunteer boards around the city charged with evaluating major development proposals – the concerns and complaints tend to meander away from the topic at hand, the project’s design.
Not last night, as The Kenney‘s redevelopment proposal returned to the SWDRB for a third “early design guidance” meeting (here’s our original as-it-happened update from last night; here’s coverage of the previous meeting in January).
Referring to the six-story “donut” building in the plans — a new formation since The Kenney announced it was shifting the design to scrap the panned plan to tear down the cupola-topped Seaview building — one neighbor declared, “I don’t want to live next to the Pentagon.”
“That’s a perfect design comment,” observed board chair Christie Coxley.
The building in question is envisioned in the newest design documents (see them all here) as actually more of a square, but before recommending that The Kenney move to the next phase of design review, board members had their own thoughts about it and other project aspects too, while architect Gene Guszkowski (from Wisconsin-based AG Architecture) revealed some news since the new design proposal was previewed at a community meeting last week:
Another update this morning as 16-year-old Chief Sealth High School student Coreena Wolford 
continues her fight to recover from major injuries suffered in a crash 9 days ago. As reported previously (last week’s story here, Monday update here), Coreena collided with another driver the afternoon of May 6th, while she was driving to South Park’s Concord Elementary for her volunteer work with the Team READ tutoring program. She has been in the hospital ever since, and her family is now approving updates to a Caring Bridge website set up to provide information on her recovery (that’s where the photo at left is from). This morning, there’s a new post – a fund is finally set up for those who want to donate to help with Coreena’s expenses:
Bank: BECU (Boeing Employees Credit Union)
Account Name: Benevolent Account for Coreena Wolford
Account Number: 3583245599 (checking)
BECU Routing Number: 325081403
You can donate at any BECU branch, or use that information for a transfer from your own account at any bank. Meantime, a short update on Coreena’s condition accompanies that information, saying she is “doing much better.” You can sign her online guestbook here.
Since Furry Faces Foundation‘s big plant sale this weekend is all about raising money to help animals, a bonus event on Saturday fits right in: West Seattle author Val Mallinson will be signing and selling copies of her books “The Dog Lover’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest” and “The Dog Lover’s Guide to Seattle” for the first four hours of the first sale day, donating $1 from each book sale to F3. As F3’s announcement puts it, “Together with her faithful companions Cooper and Isis—also known as “The Wonder Wieners”—Val reveals the best dog-friendly romps, digs, and eats in the Pacific Northwest in these two new guidebooks.” She’ll be there 10 am-2 pm tomorrow (Saturday); the plant sale is 10 am-4 pm Saturday and Sunday; the location both days is 3809 46th Ave SW (map). And did we mention the plant sale also will offer pet-adoption opportunties? in addition to the “1,200+ healthy, nursery quality plants at reasonable prices, beautifully suited for Pacific NW gardens” – even more details here.
Kokoras Greek Grill in Morgan Junction (foreground) and Eats Market Cafe in Westwood Village (background) were two of the food purveyors at Thursday night’s Taste of West Seattle at The Hall at Fauntleroy, benefiting West Seattle Helpline – and even in the early minutes, when we dropped in for some quick pix, the place was buzzing:
Others on the long list of Taste of West Seattle participants included WSB sponsor Cafe Revo (added Friday – Revo won “best bite”!). As we mentioned earlier in the day, it was a busy night around West Seattle. We also made the rounds of some of the West Seattle Art Walk venues – first, it wouldn’t be Art Walk night without food, and neon-bright cupcakes were offered at The Skate Church in The Junction:
Then we caught up with a few artists – at Clementine, William A. Herberholz:
At Keller-Williams Realty, artists included Mark Morgan and Krissy Maier:
And before the night was out, we went to Alki to catch the post-sunset glow – the Bathhouse was a beautiful Art Walk venue, with the view blending right in as an artwork in its own right:
The West Seattle Art Walk has venues from Fauntleroy to Alki to Admiral to Morgan Junction to Delridge, all over the peninsula, and you can enjoy the next one on June 11th – do note, many of the art shows are up for the entire month, not just WSAW night. At ArtsWest, though, the annual student exhibition is only up two more days – today and tomorrow.
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