Election 2009 countdown: 1 week to send/drop off your ballot
We promised nightly reminders; here’s a quick one. Next Tuesday’s primary is the first major election since King County went all-mail – so you need to mail or drop off your ballot by 8 pm that night (August 18th). Election authorities project a fairly low participation rate, but there’s no reason it HAS TO turn out that way – there are major issues/races to be decided, from Seattle Referendum 1 (deciding whether to approve the disposable-shopping-bag fee the City Council approved last year) to narrowing down big fields to two “finalists” in races including Seattle Mayor and King County Executive. You don’t actually have to mail your ballot – you can also put it in one of the 24/7 drop boxes around the county, including the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center (5405 Delridge Way; map) and the King County Library‘s White Center branch (11220 16th SW; map). The first results will be out shortly after 8 pm Election Night.
Close call in Gatewood: Long-awaited rain brings big tree down
That photo comes with this report from Gatewood resident and West Seattle Internet business owner Bill Hibler:
This happened at 6:30 this morning. No one was hurt although my wife was pretty shook. The tree landed on the corner of the house where there is a bathroom. She was standing at the sink washing her hands when it hit, immediately causing the ceiling to sag and finally break through. I was upstairs and thought there was either an earthquake (the house shook pretty good) or lightning had just struck about 100 feet from the house causing the one of the loudest thunder claps I’ve heard.
There was NO wind. The root structure was rotten and just the weight of the rain on the very large leaves of a broad-leaf maple caused it to topple.
This is the kind of thing you want to have happen AFTER the West Seattle Garden Tour.
If you want a professional to examine the tree, call Mark Harman of Stonehedge at 206-937-7428.
Stonehedge is a WSB sponsor, we should note. As for the Garden Tour reference, Hibler’s garden was one of those spotlighted in our report during this year’s tour on July 19.
Swinery update: Remodeling “surprises,” September opening likely
An update tonight on the conversion of 3207 California SW (formerly Muttley Crew Cuts, now in Admiral) to the future Swinery: Two weeks ago, we brought you WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli‘s report on Chef Gabriel Claycamp‘s project, including a look inside the space they’re remodeling (that’s one of Christopher’s July photos, at left). This afternoon, WSB’er Michelle, 
who lives nearby, e-mailed to say work on the space seemed to have abruptly halted, and that a “stop work” notice was posted. We first checked city records; they confirm that someone filed a land-use complaint last week, regarding the need for more permits in the remodeling process (though a permit application to convert the space from “residential” to “food processing” is shown as filed). Then we checked with Claycamp, who says, “Everything we have done so far is OK to do without a permit,” adding that he has a meeting with the city tomorrow to present plans, after which he expects the complaint will be resolved. (We left a message this afternoon for the city inspector who is handling the complaint, and will try again tomorrow.) Claycamp did say that he and his crew encountered a few surprises while working on the building, and that fixing those will push the Swinery’s West Seattle opening date into mid-September (they were hoping for this month, at one point).
One more day to take The Survey – and we’ve been challenged
That’s the latest bar chart for responses to the neighborhood-plan survey we’ve been talking about – literally a once-in-a-decade chance to have an official say on where growth and planning goes from here. Whether or not you made it to the July 28th meeting to discuss the plans face to face, the city is hoping to get as many people as possible to fill out an online survey asking the same four questions. Yes, we know, it may not seem fair that Ballard/Crown Hill is ahead because it’s all lumped together as one neighborhood, while West Seattle has FIVE (Junction, Admiral, Delridge, Highland Park/Westwood Village, Morgan Junction), but nothing we can do about that now; it’s how things shook out a decade ago. But we’re not even being challenged by Ballard – our fellow online-only neighborhood-news providers at Rainier Valley Post are issuing a challenge to other neighborhoods. Not sure if this will turn into one of those Super Bowl bet deals where we each offer some famous local foodstuff (what IS an iconic West Seattle food, anyway? Husky ice cream, maybe?) – but we’ve up for a challenge. Before 5 pm tomorrow, go here to take the survey. If you don’t live in any of those five neighborhoods, fill it out for one that you frequently visit. The more voices are heard in this process, the better the end result; tell your friends, tell your neighbors, use SHARE THIS below to send this around.
West Seattle Crime Watch: Counterfeit-money alert
Just in, this alert from Paul at Coffee at the Heights (WSB sponsor):
Thought that we would put it out to all the West Seattle businesses, we took a counterfeit 20 today, about 12:30. Description of the guy is 6’1″ dark complexion, slender build, 3 Inch afro that was kinda messy, appx 30-35 years old, with a slight accent. Wearing yellow, green and blue striped oversized polo with faded light blue baggy jeans. We don’t know if he was on foot or in a car, but he headed out of our shop north on 35th Ave SW. Just a word to the other business owners out there.
To elaborate on the location, Coffee at the Heights is in the building on the northwest corner of 35th/Webster (map).
Picnic at the Precinct this Saturday: Meet West Seattle’s police
On behalf of the Southwest Precinct Advisory Council, Pete Spalding reminds us of the big block party coming up this Saturday afternoon: It’s time for the annual Picnic at the Precinct (official flyer here). Not only will you get the chance to meet many of the SW Precinct-based police who work all over West Seattle (and South Park), as well as precinct leadership, but, as Pete says, “There will be free food, entertainment, most of the divisions will have their equipment out there, and we have 20+ community and service organizations signed up to be there to tell the community about the work they do here in West Seattle.” Covering the picnic these past two years (2007 here, 2008 here), we’ve noticed the equipment often includes high-tech crimefighting tools (like the robot in the ’08 clip above) that tend to impress picnic-goers young and old. Drop by between 1 pm and 4 pm Saturday – SW Webster will be closed on the precinct’s south side (map), just west of Delridge. (Forecast doesn’t sound too bad so far.)
Delridge shop owner a no-show at appeal hearing downtown
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As reported here last week, Stoyan Tanev, the owner of Delridge Vacuum and TV, was challenging the city’s revocation of his license, and an appeal hearing was scheduled for this morning before the Hearing Examiner downtown. We got to the Municipal Tower a few minutes late and discovered the hearing room empty, except for the examiner’s paralegal, who told us that Tanev did not show up, so the examiner will issue a “notice of default.” That means, according to the department’s published rules, the appeal is dismissed, as is allowed in cases where “without good cause, the appellant fails to appear or is unprepared to proceed at a scheduled and properly noticed hearing.” Last spring, he faced trial on charges of “receiving stolen property” but the case was dismissed because of an agreement in another case, reported here on April 21 after assistant city attorney Beth Gappert briefed the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council. That case involved charges of not having the proper license and not retaining used goods for the required 30 days before selling them. The shop was expected to close this summer; we have messages out to Gappert to check the current status of the situation.
West Seattle CoolMoms (and kids) visit senators’ offices
(Monday photo courtesy CoolMom.org)
In that crowd of more than 40 people visiting federal offices in downtown Seattle Monday morning were Tara Reynolds, Terri Glaberson, Jen Bradbury and Cynthia Tamlyn from the West Seattle chapter of CoolMom. The visit – which also included people from Washington Environmental Council, Fuse Washington, Climate Solutions and People for Puget Sound, among other groups – was meant to urge Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to take “action on a climate/energy bill that President Obama can take with him to Copenhagen in December,” as Glaberson explains. The bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (HR 2454), passed the U.S. House in a close vote earlier this year — after a CoolMom visit to the office of Seattle’s Rep. Jim McDermott – and now is facing a U.S. Senate vote (legislative details here). More on Monday’s visit on the CoolMom website; they also have a photo gallery here. If you want to tell the senators what you think about the bill, Sen. Murray’s contact info is here; Sen. Cantwell’s, here.
Though it seemed to have a ring of finality, remember, the 
Registration opens at noon today for fall programs at not just Alki, but all of West Seattle’s city-run community centers — which also means
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