day : 18/07/2009 14 results

Primary Election Day is a month from today; your ballot will arrive in about two weeks. WSB is offering close-up looks — with West Seattle-specific questions — at races including the three Seattle City Council contests you’ll find on the primary ballot, starting with Position 8, which Richard McIver is leaving. Six candidates are running; two nights ago, we looked at Robert Rosencrantz, who won one of the 34th District Democrats‘ “dual endorsements” in this race; last night, the other endorsee, David Miller; now, Rusty Williams.

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

When you meet Rusty Williams, it won’t take him long to mention his mother, Jeanette Williams, a hard-working Seattle City Councilmember who served from 1970 to 1989, and his inspiration.

Williams, a 58-year-old View Ridge resident who used to play with the band Bighorn, is eager to follow in her footsteps. He has a business degree from the University of Washington and has worked a wide range of jobs, starting with a paper route. He was the Information Technology Director for Pacific Trail Sportswear’s production department.

Williams grew up overlooking Magnuson Park, and in recent years, has worked on thorny Magnuson Park issues. He is also a member of the Rotary Club and Ceasefire, which works to stop gun violence. Most recently he has been encouraging the city to name the West Seattle Bridge in honor of his mother, who died last year, for her leadership in getting the bridge built. (The council has voted unanimously to recommend this, as reported here last Monday.)

Williams says his favorite place in West Seattle “is anywhere you can see the sun set over the Olympics. The best sunsets in the world.”

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Wall-to-wall crowd for first Movies on the Wall show of the summer

July 18, 2009 11:43 pm

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| Fun stuff to do | West Seattle news | West Seattle Outdoor Movies

That’s the best crowd shot we have but it still doesn’t do justice to just how jampacked the courtyard between Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) and Dr. Wolff was, by the time tonight’s first Summer Outdoor Movies on the Wall show — “The Princess Bride” — got going around 9 pm. (People were still trying to jam in after the movie started!) We’ve seen some well-attended showings in the past few years but nothing like this one, with people even filling the eastern wing of the courtyard. For the pre-show festivities, Hotwire proprietor Lora Lewis hosted a “Dating Game” – here are your three bachelors (#1, at right, “won” – we’ll add video later):

One of tonight’s sponsors was Dream Dinners (WSB sponsor) – here’s proprietor Leslie Thomson (left) and assistant, who served up barbecue sliders:

West Seattle Christian Church provides the concessions, with proceeds going to nonprofits:

Next week: The original “King Kong” – with the preshow festivities intriguingly themed “Save Barbie.” Full movie list on the Movies on the Wall website.

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Tomorrow’s the day to “Stuff the Bus” for WestSide Baby

July 18, 2009 8:57 pm

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| How to help | West Seattle Grand Parade | West Seattle news

If you were at today’s West Seattle Grand Parade, you couldn’t miss the bright yellow banner, or the school bus:

The WestSide Baby contingent rolled, strolled and walked down California not only for the fun of it, but also to remind everyone about the organization’s biggest event of the year, coming up TOMORROW: Stuff the Bus. Buy disposable diapers (smaller sizes are most in demand) and take them to the bus at West Seattle Farmers’ Market, 10 am-2 pm tomorrow, and help WestSide Baby help thousands of West Seattle and White Center-area families in need (a bigger demand this summer than ever before). WSB is proud to be one of this year’s co-sponsors, and we’ll be publishing “live” updates during the event. See you there! (P.S. Still more parade-photo collections to come later tonight – meantime, scroll down the main page to see the ones we’ve already published.)

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West Seattle Grand Parade wrapup #4: The crowd-pleasers

July 18, 2009 5:49 pm

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| West Seattle Grand Parade | West Seattle news | West Seattle video

As our West Seattle Grand Parade coverage continues – that’s the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival contingent, from the award-winning “How Sweet It Is” float to this year’s Senior Court candidates (coronation 7 pm Monday at West Seattle High School, be there) to this year’s button designer. Other crowd-pleasers – of course, the Seafair Pirates (cover your ears!):

Perhaps the warmest welcome of the day was showered onto J.P. Patches, the beloved clown/TV host who returned to the West Seattle Grand Parade (courtesy of Bill and Cynthia Reid of John L. Scott in Westwood) after a year away, now that he’s feeling up to it:

That photo is by WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli, as is this one of comedian/broadcaster Pat Cashman, who as King Neptune presides over all the Seafair festivities this year (and was just here in West Seattle last weekend for the Seafair Pirates’ Landing at Alki):

We mentioned the Seafair Clowns earlier, in our sidelines/behind the scenes report – we have video of them too:

More later – including more of the West Seattle community groups that turned out in force to strut their stuff, as well as the politicians who represented both in the parade and on the sidelines, and a closer look at paradegoers. And again, we have two photo galleries you can check out via Flickr – Christopher’s photo set here, and the West Seattle Blog group here (if you have parade photos, please consider joining the group to share some of ’em)!

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West Seattle Grand Parade wrapup report #3: The winners!

July 18, 2009 5:14 pm

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| West Seattle Grand Parade | West Seattle news

(West Seattle Sportsmen’s Club won the “Festival Trophy” in the Conveyed Float category)
ORIGINAL 5:14 PM SATURDAY REPORT: We will dress this up later with more images of the winners – still tons of photos and video to share – but we just got the list of West Seattle Grand Parade winners in from American Legion Post 160’s Dave Vague, and in case you were waiting to hear, we’re publishing it for starters in raw cut-paste format – read on for the winners in each category: (NOTE: NOW UPDATED WITH PHOTOS)Read More

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West Seattle Grand Parade wrapup report #2: The protectors

July 18, 2009 5:05 pm

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| West Seattle Grand Parade | West Seattle news | West Seattle video

(Photo by Christopher Boffoli)
The U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flyover (the chopper is based at Port Angeles) provided a memorable moment early in today’s West Seattle Grand Parade. There was military presence on the ground as well – with the color guard from Fort Lewis:

(Photo by Christopher Boffoli)
Two police motorcycle drill teams opened the parade, as usual, and we have video of both – first, Seattle Police:

Then, their counterparts from Vancouver, B.C.:

Representing the Seattle Fire Department, West Seattle’s own Engine 29:

(Photo by Christopher Boffoli)
You can see more of Christopher’s photos in his Flickr stream here; we’ve also got photos in the West Seattle Blog Flickr group here. And more parade reports to come – including within minutes, the list of winners.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Second-floor break-in

July 18, 2009 4:34 pm

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| Crime | Highland Park | West Seattle news

Just got a note from a Highland Park resident who wanted to alert people to the break-in at her home near 16th and Cloverdale (map)- read on for details:Read More

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Video: West Seattle Rotary Kiddies’ Parade 2009

July 18, 2009 4:09 pm

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| West Seattle Grand Parade | West Seattle news | West Seattle video

(Grand Parade report #1 is here)

This one’s a parade all its own, so we’re presented a video clip and will add some photos as pix continue coming in. Right before the West Seattle Grand Parade, the Rotary Club of West Seattle presents the Kiddies’ Parade, open to whomever wants to participate – as you can see in the video, Hi-Yu Junior Royalty and the Denny Middle School Marching Band were among today’s participants. (The Kiddies’ Parade runs from California/Genesee just north of The Junction to the same ending point as the Grand Parade, California/Edmunds, so it wasn’t seen by those who watched from points farther north.) ADDED: Two photos from before and after the Kiddies’ Parade:

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West Seattle Grand Parade aftermath report #1: Side notes

July 18, 2009 2:56 pm

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| West Seattle Grand Parade | West Seattle news

Now, the followup to our as-it-happened West Seattle Grand Parade coverage (which you can see here – be sure to follow the photo links!) – we’ll do this in several installments. First: We told you weeks ago that designer/barista/Project Runway star Blayne was going to be the Grand Parade Grand Marshal – but just how grand, managed to stay a secret till Parade Day. That photo’s from shortly after Blayne showed up with his “unicorn” in tow. We heard from Lora at Hotwire weeks ago that Blayne had the idea of riding a unicorn but they weren’t sure they’d find a white horse to fit the bill – they did. Blayne told us that when he showed up to check in, the parade coordinators were impressed, saying they hadn’t had a horseback rider in years. WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli caught him further down the route:

Speaking of design, from the staging area, here’s a famous car – the Illusions Hair Design (WSB sponsor) bug, promoting Pencil Me In for Kids, and the car wash at West Seattle Eagles tomorrow – that’s Heather behind the wheel:

Also photographed in the staging area where we all waited along Lander by Lafayette Elementary, the Pathfinder K-8 unicyclists:

West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival president Tim Winston and wife Carol Winston got to make two tours of the parade – after they accompanied the float, royalty and candidates, they circled back to ride in our entry, celebrating West Seattle Volunteers (they are among the first West Seattle Volunteer Recognition honorees announced at the Concert in the Park just this past Tuesday):

Honoree Beth Grieser walked with us too. Other unsung heroes of the parade include the police who keep everything orderly and watch the closed streets – but perhaps the most unique officer on view was Officer Lumpy:

He’s actually a Seafair Clown who lives in West Seattle, and is seen there checking the cab of the concrete mixer that led the clowns’ series of vehicles. Many non-clown officers were IN the parade, too, including the motorcycle drill teams from Seattle Police and Vancouver, B.C., Police – one of the latter got an offer of a cool-down shpritz about mid-route – thanks to Luckie for the photo:

Of course, our favorite parade people of all include YOU! – everybody who lined the parade route. We have loved the parade for so many years and walking in it is a real kick – great to see everybody still out there after more than two hours (we were toward the end of the lineup)

Back toward the start of the route, here’s the smoke clearing from the very first Seafair Pirates cannon blast of the parade – the crowd whooped mightily afterward:

Then back to the end of the route – after you’ve walked 2 miles or so in hot sunshine, the adrenaline can start to wear off – as it did for Junior Member of the Team, who assisted our Volunteers of West Seattle entry mightily by handing out candy to parade watchers all along the way – Christopher caught him in the home stretch:

We’re expecting word shortly of who the judges chose for Grand Parade awards – we’ll publish those in another update as soon as they’re in! P.S. Thanks to Rhonda from The Mortgage Porter (WSB sponsor) for adding tons of parade photos to the West Seattle Blog Flickr group pool – if you’re uploading parade photos to Flickr, please consider doing so too – that way we all have a HUGE pool of great pix!

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Next on the doubleheader: Outdoor Movies on the Wall tonight!

July 18, 2009 2:18 pm

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| Fun stuff to do | West Seattle news | West Seattle Outdoor Movies

(“Princess Bride” DVD trailer)
Doors open at the courtyard between Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) and Dr. Wolff (next to the Junction Post Office) at 7 pm for the first of six Saturday night West Seattle Junction Summer Outdoor Movies on the Wall (co-sponsored by WSB). Tonight, it’s “The Princess Bride” after a NFFTY short AND the pre-show “Dating Game.” Free, but bring money for concessions (by request, frozen Junior Mints will be offered, we hear) and raffles (Dream Dinners [WSB sponsor] $100 gift certificate). Bring your own chair and/or blanket. See you there!

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West Seattle Grand Parade updates via Twitter

July 18, 2009 9:27 am

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| West Seattle Grand Parade | West Seattle news

What you should see above this paragraph is a box with our latest posts to Twitter – which is easier for us to access while mobile than the site itself, though if any major news happens, we do have access and will publish it separately. When you see a Web address in one of the “tweets” above, it IS clickable, and will lead you to one of the photos we’re sending from the parade (and preps) via iPhone. You can scroll through the latest posts by using the vertical scroller on the right. (Also, if there’s major non-parade news, we’ll include it in the stream above – it’s showing whatever we’ve sent to Twitter most recently, regardless of the subject.) If you just see a big black square above, try refreshing the page. POST-PARADE NOTE: The widget remains “live” and has a buffer limit so if you see this sometime after oh say Saturday night, all our parade stuff may be out of reach, replaced in the widget by newer “tweets,” but you can always look at Twitter online (just go directly to our feed page at twitter.com/westseattleblog and keep clicking “more” at the bottom of the page to go back in time!).

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West Seattle Grand Parade and Kiddies’ Parade today!

July 18, 2009 8:02 am

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| Fun stuff to do | West Seattle Grand Parade | West Seattle news

Almost 80 groups/floats/vehicles are on the list for today’s West Seattle Grand Parade – and that means you’ll see hundreds of people participating, from the very low key (like us and those we’ll walk with again this year to honor West Seattle Volunteers) to the bold and brassy – cannon-deploying Seafair Pirates, loud and proud marching bands like the Seattle All-City Band, which got in some practice at school district HQ yesterday:

And remember, there’s more than one parade!

KIDDIES’ PARADE: This happens before the Grand Parade and there’s still time for participants to get back to their seats along the route and enjoy all the sights and sounds. You can walk or ride – just be at California/Genesee and look for the organizers (Rotary Club of West Seattle).

KEEP YOUR TOES OUT OF THE ROAD: The Grand Parade begins with two motorcycle drill teams – Seattle Police and Vancouver (B.C.) Police – and they use almost every inch of the road, so don’t plan on putting your blanket on the street. Here’s another reason you’ll want to stick to the curb:

BE READY TO APPLAUD, SALUTE, CHEER: Plenty of opportunities. You’ll see amazing performers like the Pathfinder K-8 unicyclists and more than a few drill teams. You’ll see the Honor Guard from Fort Lewis. You’ll see famous faces – like Grand Marshal Blayne and the Seafair Clowns’ special guest Jim Dever from Evening Magazine. And you’ll see some of the folks you don’t get to thank for the hard work they do every day, including the police and firefighters (Engine 29 is in the lineup).

ON THE SIDELINES: The official parade lineup is only part of the story. For example, the list only includes three politicians, but we’ve seen notes from several more who plan to be working the sidelines, since this is a big election year for local offices.

FREE, BUT BRING MONEY: With the route on California passing so many West Seattle businesses, you’ll find opportunities to spend. And fundraisers too, like the annual Dogs 4 Cats at Hotwire Coffee just north of The Junction (right at the start of the Kiddies’ Parade route), benefiting Furry Faces Foundation:

3rd Annual Dogs 4 Cats wiener sale this Saturday outside of Hotwire from 11 am to 1 pm. Grab a delicious Hebrew National hot dog or veggie dog and support animal rescue. Cost is $4.00 per dog and we’ll have all the toppings too including the usual stuff plus sauerkraut and even coleslaw. While you’re grabbing lunch browse the tie-dyed shirts made locally or pick up a handmade magnet by WeeJess Buttons.

Hotwire is of course the spot where you’ll want to be back this evening for the first Summer Outdoor Movies on the Wall presentation, “The Princess Bride” – more here.

PHOTO TO SHARE? As always, we’ll have photos and video, but if you’re taking pictures, you may capture a moment that we’d completely miss. We’d love to add that moment to post-parade coverage – editor@westseattleblog.com (or share to the West Seattle Blog Flickr group).

FOLLOW VIA TWITTER: We’ll share photos and tidbits from the staging zone – and from the parade itself (though texting might be a little tough while carrying a big sign) – follow us on Twitter at @westseattleblog or check it from the Web at twitter.com/westseattleblog. (Send us a message if you plan to tweet too!) We’ll also add our “latest tweets” widget here before leaving the house – it usually lives toward the bottom of the WSB Twitter page.

Remember that by 9 am, California will be closed from just south of Admiral to the south end of The Junction – so approach from the side to find parking (or take a bus).

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Burglary + car theft = advice

July 18, 2009 7:38 am

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| Crime | West Seattle news

Karen sends word of a burglary/car theft on 37th SW south of Dawson (map) – it happened a week ago but she and Block Watch neighbors just confirmed it, and it yielded advice she wanted to share:

The burglar(s) stole several large items and got away by stealing the SUV that was parked in the garage. One of the neighbors had noticed the garage door open while walking to work last week, but because he didn’t know the victims were out of town he didn’t bother to check on it.

The burglar(s) tried to pry the front door with either a crowbar or large shaft screwdriver but could not get in that way; they then broke through the downstairs back bedroom window.

Their comment to me: “…didn’t tell us that they were away. It’s really a good idea to tell your trusted close neighbors when you are on vacation or extended period away from your home because we can watch out for one another.”

One great way to get to know your neighbors – have a block party on Night Out, coming up August 4. You need to sign up by July 31 to get approval to close your (non-arterial) street; find out how by going here.

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Not registered to vote? Today’s the deadline for most

July 18, 2009 12:52 am

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

Unless you’ve just moved to this state, in which case you have till Aug. 10 to register in person, today’s the day to be sure you’re registered in time to vote in the August 18th primary (which has not only the mayoral, council and county executive primaries, but also the bag fee). You can do it online here.

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