West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
At the Rotary Club of West Seattle‘s annual installation banquet tonight at The Kenney, Steve Fuller was honored as Rotarian of the Year. Josh Sutton from the West Seattle/Fauntleroy YMCA (WSB sponsor) sent the photo and info, explaining that Steve is “our most recent International Chair. Over the past two years, Steve has led our club’s efforts in supporting demining in Cambodia, fresh water wells in Vietnam, building the great Baikal Trail, put in solar refrigerator, generator & wiring at the East African Center in Takaungu, Kenya. He was pretty surprised! Outgoing president Carol Coram presented” the award. (By the way, the Rotarians have two more rounds of berry sales this summer – orders are being accepted now; check their website for info.) P.S. Also congratulations to Amy Lee Derenthal from The Kenney, installed last night as the new Rotary president.
Good news from Sherri Chun – the people represented in that photo from just before last year’s Admiral 4th of July Kids’ Parade, West Seattle’s ONLY Independence Day parade, will be back for this year’s edition on Saturday! Sherri just e-mailed to say that Mayor Nickels and the Hi-Yu Junior Court have confirmed. And she’s putting out the call for something specific:
We are anticipating nice weather – I am seeking volunteers to bring water balloons for the annual water balloon toss. Please e-mail me if you’re willing to bring 20 filled water balloons. sherri.chun@att.net. You can drop them at my house the day before, or I can come get them. Get out your red, white and blue, and we’ll see you there!
Every kid in West Seattle is invited to be part of the parade – be at 44th and Sunset (map), 10 am Saturday (that’s a half-hour earlier than previous years). And if you can, please bring a dollar donation per child – as Sherri explained two weeks ago, the fund that pays for the parade permit (and fun activities afterward at Hamilton Viewpoint) is running low and they’ll have donation boxes out to collect money to make sure the parade happens again next year, and beyond.
Thanks to Lisa for sharing that photo with the news that the West Seattle All-Stars, from the West Seattle Association of Pee-Wee Baseball, won the Maltby Invitational Baseball Tournament last weekend – taking the title in the U-10 bracket, with the leadership of head coach Manny Flores. Congratulations! (Got good news to share? Lots of ways to get it to WSB, any time!) ADDED WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON: Some upcoming Pee Wee Baseball info from league president Eric Olson:
Our 10U team is hosting the 2009 West Seattle Mustang Tune Up on July 10th – 12th.
Twelve of the best 10U teams from around the region will be at this tournament. This tournament gets them ready for the Pony Sectional tournament which is the first step in the process of making it to the Pony 10U World Series later this summer.The West Seattle Niners will be hosting the 2009 West Seattle Junior Mustang Shootout on July 17th – 19th. Again, 12 of the region’s best 9U teams will be in attendance.
Both tournaments are held at the West Seattle Pee Wee Fields at Lower Riverview. The address is 1200 SW Myrtle St. Tournament schedules can be found at www.westseattlepeewee.com.
(photo from Daniel, added 9:07 pm)
We got a call from someone thinking the huge plume of smoke to the east was from Beacon Hill. Nope – it’s an apartment building in Renton. We’re following photos and info via Twitter – here’s one photo, and another. Here’s a link to whatever’s the latest reported here;; a map to the exact location is here. ADDED 9:05 PM: A few more photos via Twitter – the flames; the smoke from Mercer Island. And we added a photo from Daniel (thank you!) showing the smoke as seen from Westwood. (P.S.) @alexpietsch on Twitter says the building that’s burning is newly constructed Harrington Square.
Just made public: The long-range plan for Washington State Ferries, which says the system is $3.3 billion short of what it needs for the next 22 years. Here’s the link; read on for the news release – we’ll be analyzing it for Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ramifications:Read More
Whether it’s here in the news section or in the WSB Forums, food never fails to cook up a lively discussion. With that in mind, and his own interest in the subject, WSB contributing journalist Christopher Boffoli has been taking a behind-the-scenes look at some local restaurants, including the Luna Park business district’s 4-months-old Café Revò (WSB sponsor), and with a holiday weekend ahead, we wanted to share the video he put together – as well as the article that begins below. Before we get to that: Knowing we would be running this, we also checked with Café Revò’s Sofia Zadra Goff to see what’s in store for the 4th of July – she says they’ll be open at 11 am as usual, breakfast and frittata menu till 3, then dinner; planning to stay open till 11 unless it gets “really slow.” She says they’re suggesting also to customers that “people can come get food to go from Cafe Revo to take to the beach or picnic, or buy their favorite wines from us for their 4th of July events since we have our retail wine license.” Now, as a companion to the video story above, here’s Christopher’s report in text:
By Christopher Boffoli
WSB contributing journalist
The longer I live in the Pacific Northwest, the more it reinforces the extent to which I count myself fortunate to be living in one of the most interesting regions for food in the country. Still, as an East Coaster of Southern Italian descent, it is not always so easy to find many of the familiar foods and flavors of my childhood. The Italians and their “soul food” are here. Somewhere. You just have to work harder to find them. Their presence is not as well-defined as, say, the Nordic or Asian communities in Seattle. For every bright star like Salumi or Via Tribunali, it seems there are many more watered-down red-sauce joints that pass themselves off as Italian but are just a copy of something that wasn’t very authentic to begin with.
Around this time yesterday, a huge Seattle Fire Department response rushed to the 4100 block of 48th SW for what turned out to be a basement fire, nobody hurt. We just checked with SFD spokesperson Helen Fitzpatrick to get the cause: She says a waterbed heating pad ignited, catching the mattress and then the frame on fire. Damage total: $70,000. (On the WSB Facebook page, a relative of the family mentioned that while the fire damage itself wasn’t so much, there’s a lot of water damage and many keepsakes were lost.) Photo by WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli
If you drive Thistle between California and Delridge, you’ve probably noticed that banner outside Peace Lutheran Church. We first reported June 6 about the Tour de Revs heading this way — three Lutheran ministers on one special bicycle, pedaling around the country to fight global hunger — and now we’ve got an update on the street party/barbecue that Peace Lutheran is planning for their visit 6-8 pm Thursday — Kristie says everyone’s invited to a barbecue, and to ride with the “Revs” afterward:
We’ve officially been granted the permit for this all-invited Block Party featuring the three cycling Revs on the bamboo bike designed by well-known eco-bike maker Craig Calfee … Bring a donation for the West Seattle and White Center Food Banks and something to share. Picnic fare available. Ride with the Revs and hear about their cross-country journey! 6-8 pm, ride following.
Peace Lutheran is at 39th/Thistle (map). You can read all about the Tour de Revs (and see their unique three-person bicycle) at their website – including this section with frequent updates.
West Seattle is one of the city’s three focus areas for the Youth Violence Prevention Initiative – as discussed during last Thursday’s City Council town-hall meeting in Fauntleroy — so anything related to it is news here, even if it’s an event happening in another part of the city, like this one: It’s just been announced that Marian Wright Edelman is coming to Seattle for a YVPI summit next Tuesday in the Rainier Valley – read on for the official announcement:Read More
Just received from Dow Constantine‘s campaign:
Rivals Jarrett and Constantine Jointly Call for Greater Openness and Transparency in King County Executive’s Race;
Phillips and Hutchison continue to refuse to make public candidate questionnaires
Today, two of the major candidates for the office of King County Executive, King County Council Chair Dow Constantine and State Sen. Fred Jarrett, issued an unusual joint statement pointing out that they are the only two candidates to have been fully open and transparent in making public the detailed candidate questionnaires they have submitted to a wide range of constituency groups and organizations.
State Rep. Ross Hunter has posted some, but not all, of his questionnaires on his web site. King County Councilmember Larry Phillips and former television anchor Susan Hutchison have refused to make any of these important documents available to the public.
In response to this noteworthy lack of transparency, Jarrett today said: “The selection of the next King County Executive is one of the most important decisions that voters will face this year, and will have a major impact on the future of this region. One of the significant challenges the next Executive will face is changing the county culture to one of openness and transparency. If candidates are not willing to be open and transparent with the voters now their willingness to meet that challenge is doubtful. That is why it is so important that all of the King County Executive candidates give voters a clear and detailed understanding on where they stand on a wide range of issues, and why I issued my challenge to all candidates to post their completed questionnaires. Unfortunately, Dow Constantine and I are the only candidates to have done so.”
Dow Constantine added, “As rivals for the office, we disagree on issues. But on the need for full openness and transparency Fred and I are in agreement. That is why we have both posted all of our candidate questionnaires on our respective web sites. The other major candidates owe it to the voters to make public the full range questionnaires that they have privately submitted to the various interest groups with a stake in the outcome of the race.
“The voters have a right to make an informed choice about the next King County Executive. How can they expect to believe the promises of change and reform coming from some of the major candidates when those same candidates continue to hide their views on major issues from the light of public scrutiny?”
That house in the 8600 block of 9th SW in Highland Park – a few houses north of SW Trenton – was the scene of a big made-for-media announcement this morning that brought out a swarm of TV and radio crews as well as your friendly neighborhood local online news source. Congressmember Jay Inslee (whose district is mostly to the north and west of Seattle), State Rep. Bob Hasegawa (from the 11th District south of West Seattle/White Center) and leaders/workers from the Laborers International Union of North America were there to announce the first home in the Northwest to be weatherized as part of LIUNA’s program involving federal “stimulus funding.”
The home that’s being weatherized first belongs to Carolyn Ostrom, who’s in the UFCW T-shirt in that photo, standing with a group including Rep. Inslee (right), Rep. Hasegawa (left), and LiUNA’s regional vice president Mano Frey (center), who’s based in Alaska. Within his first minute and a half of remarks, as you’ll hear in our video, Rep. Inslee tied this event into the energy bill passed in the U.S. House last week and bringing troops home from Middle East wars:
The union’s big talking point today was a training program to credential workers for weatherization jobs, and some of the trainees were in the crowd watching the announcement:
Inside the house, the weatherization work was under way:
And the homeowner said she’s looking forward to the results:
Now the big question: How to apply for either the training or the weatherization. We circled back with contacts and, for the training, were pointed here; for the weatherization, check with the Moontown Foundation (we still have a few inquiries out and will add anything more we learn).
Just launched, a city-assembled page of “recession resources” links — see it here.
If you didn’t see it Saturday — either via WSB or via being stuck in it in person — Creighton sent that photo of the eastbound bridge backup during the Alaskan Way Viaduct‘s shutdown for the Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon (compounded by other road changes/closures). SDOT did send out lots of advance warning, as noted here and elsewhere, but on Saturday, numerous WSBers reported that the “Viaduct Closed” warning lights in West Seattle and on The Bridge weren’t on. Marybeth Turner from SDOT acknowledges it was human error, not a mechanical problem:
SDOT’s procedure for using the warning lights that alert motorists that the Viaduct is closed is clear: in coordination with the Seattle Police Department, if the Viaduct is closed, the lights should be on. This weekend, the policy was not followed. We have re-acquainted and re-focused key staff on our procedure.
Something similar happened last October. The lights were installed in late 2007. ADDED 12:51 PM: So if it DOES happen again, whether a human or mechanical failure, is there a hotline to call? we asked. Turner’s reply:
People may call (206) 386-1218 and report the lights are not functioning. There is someone on hand to answer this phone 24-hours a day.
That’s the same number you’d call about emergency road problems “after hours.”
We’ve collected event listings, fireworks/travel/transportation/etc. information and other holiday notes on one page as in years past. See the 4th of July page here – and please let us know if you see something missing or have a holiday-related question it doesn’t answer. Thanks!
Will Seattle’s future townhouses transcend the dominant design critiqued in that city photo/graphic? City Councilmember Sally Clark hopes so. Tonight — almost one full year after she, Mayor Nickels and West Seattle architect Brandon Nicholson stood together at the Capitol Hill announcement (July 2008 WSB coverage here) of the proposal to change the Multi-Family Code, particularly as it affects townhouse design, the committee Clark chairs brings the topic to West Seattle. At 6 pm at Youngstown Arts Center, her Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee convenes a “review and discussion of issues surrounding townhouses and other low-rise housing.” Those issues are detailed in this 12-page memo, if you have time for a little advance studying – after which, if you have something to say, tonight’s agenda has room for it, with a full hour set aside for public comment. (And if you want to check on the status of the entire Multi-Family Code proposal, that’s all here.)
Before you see it in the West Seattle Grand Parade on July 18, you should know the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival float “How Sweet It Is” has been racking up awards elsewhere on the summertime community-parade circuit around Western Washington: Tim and Carol Winston from Hi-Yu just shared these photos from last weekend’s Port Orchard Fathoms O’Fun Parade, where it won the award displayed here by current Hi-Yu Queen Margo Femiano:
(The weekend before, the float won an award in the Marysville Strawberry Festival parade.) Margo’s close to the end of her reign, as are the rest of the Senior and Junior Court – here are two of the latter, Queen Zoe and Princess Elyse:
That brings us to two more items of Hi-Yu news: First, applications are still being taken for this year’s Junior Court. July 14 is the deadline; interviews and coronation are July 17. Download the official application form here. And you can meet current Junior and Senior Court members, as well as the Senior Court candidates tonight at the Hi-Yu White Rose Reception – a women-only event, Fauntleroy Church, 7 pm.
Have to confess we STILL have not been there. But here’s the next best thing – Mary T tells the story of a Walker Rock Garden visit with words and pictures on her site Shelterrific. (The “garden” is also featured here on WSB in the West Seattle 101 section.)
Thanks to a neighbor’s tip, we broke the news back in April that, two years after the district closed it, Fairmount Park Elementary would reopen for summer school this year. Now, we’ve now from the summer session site coordinator (principal), Angela Sheffey, who says teachers arrive Wednesday and students start next Monday – she wanted to share some data points with the community:
1. Summer school will be in session daily from July 1st to July 30th.
2. The school hours will be 8 AM to 1 PM.
3. We will have approx. 350 students attending summer school.
4. The faculty will need all of the (small) parking lot parking, as well as the street parking.
5. Please report any and all suspicious activity to the police @ 911
Sheffey says the students who will be at Fairmount Park are all grade-schoolers – second, third and fifth grade, to be specific. As for what’ll happen to the building – hit recently by break-ins – in the future: We reported last week that the city has provided opinions regarding possible uses of this closed school and 7 others citywide (including Genesee Hill and E.C. Hughes in West Seattle). The School Board, incidentally, meets Wednesday, with an agenda including a final vote on the sale of Jefferson Square “air rights” to the company that had been leasing them for the apartments over the shopping center.
(photo added 7:11 pm)
First we heard the aid call for an unconscious (but responsive) man aboard a Metro bus at Fauntleroy/Fontanelle (map) … then Duyen sent a photo (which we’re not using) showing the same man, who had appeared to be asleep under a seat on the bus, a 54 express, as far back as downtown. We’re reporting this in case you passed the fire/medic units with the stopped bus along busy Fauntleroy and wondered what’s going on; as we finish writing this, the medics reported they’re doing CPR. More units are being called in. 7:12 PM UPDATE: No word on the man’s condition – because of medical privacy laws, we may not be able to find out. In addition to the fire/medical crews, Metro sent a supervisor, as you can see in the photo we just added.
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli, this one added 5:26 pm)
ORIGINAL 5:15 PM REPORT: Fire in a house – we’re on our way. According to the scanner, crews are searching the house (in the 4100 block of 48th – map) to make sure nobody’s inside. Also per the scanner – The fire’s in the basement and is now “tapped.” 5:24 PM UPDATE: WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli is on the scene and reports “lots of smoke” before the fire was tapped. (photo added 6:11 pm)
The response has been scaled back but several engines remain on the scene, working to fully extinguish the basement fire. 5:42 PM UPDATE: Christopher spoke with the Fire Department’s incident commander, who confirms that nobody was hurt, and adds that investigators are on the way to figure out how the fire started.
Car prowlers remain the most prolific criminals in West Seattle – striking at least three times a day in the past two months, 
per Southwest Precinct property-crime stats – and here’s another case. From the east side of Morgan Junction, Pamela and Andrew sent that photo; as he reports: “My car was broken into on Saturday night/Sunday morning close to 35th and Morgan [map]. The culprit smashed the back window of my car. The car alarm did not go off, or didn’t wake us. They took a bunch of computer hardware that was in the car. It’s all replaceable of course, but very annoying. I would encourage all W. Seattle residents to not leave stuff in your car around here, especially during the summer months. I normally take everything out of my car, but forgot just one time and suffered the consequences as a result.” Pamela added, “This is the first break-in/car break-in we have had in 11 years at the same home.”
The deadline’s just been extended for artists to propose a project for the Delridge Community Center park (shown in clickable Google Street View above), explained by North Delridge’s Nancy Folsom as “a separate, companion project to the planned Delridge Skatepark. … Youngstown Cultural Arts Center is shepherding this community-driven project.” You have till July 31st to apply; as the application says in part,
The artist will consider the structure’s access and location to the skate park and accommodate its possible use by skateboarders, spectators, visitors, and neighbors. Design and placement of the artwork will focus on its relationship with the skate park and the social environment by serving as a gateway to the Delridge neighborhood.
Get the application here – and get it in by the end of July!
From the city’s traffic-alert list for the SODO area (you can sign up for the list from the bottom of this page):
Repaving 4th Ave S between S Royal Brougham Way and Airport Way S begins tonight, Monday, June 29, and will continue through the end of July. In order to minimize traffic interruptions, most work will occur during the evening hours between 6 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
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