day : 25/08/2009 10 results

West Seattle neighborhoods: Your next chances to get involved

August 25, 2009 10:53 pm
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 |   Crime | Delridge | High Point | West Seattle news | White Center

Many West Seattle neighborhood/community groups skip August meetings because it’s such a busy time for vacations, back-to-school prep, you name it, but now they’re about to rev up again. Here’s some of what’s coming up:


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HIGHLAND PARK ACTION COMMITTEE: Tomorrow night, 7 pm, HPAC meets at the Highland Park Improvement Club building (address/mapGoogle Street View above). On the agenda, from the preview sent out by HPAC chair Dan Mullins today, “a presentation from a local youth group that has been cleaning up Westcrest Park and the greenbelt, AND, former HPAC Chair and Seattle City Council candidate, Dorsol Plants will tell us about his election campaign experience and answer your questions …” This is also the only regular neighborhood-group meeting with a business spotlight (Cafe Rozella this month) AND a raffle.

ADMIRAL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: This Thursday is the grand finale in its first-ever series of six Summer Concerts at Hiawatha – and they’re meant to be a neighborhood-building opportunity as well as good old-fashioned outdoor fun. Come enjoy the West Seattle Big Band, free, at 6:30 pm Thursday, east lawn of Hiawatha Community Center, meet the ANA reps who’ll be on hand (and then join them at the regular September meeting, 7 pm 9/9 in the basement meeting room at Admiral Church).

NORTH DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: Next regular meeting is Wednesday 9/2 (6:30 pm, Delridge Library) but we’re reminding you again about the Ice Cream Social THIS Thursday, all neighbors invited, with games as well as treats (here’s the invite). 6:30 pm Thursday, Cottage Grove Park (address/map).

SOUTH DELRIDGE/WHITE CENTER COMMUNITY SAFETY COALITION: Crime and safety news for southeastern West Seattle and beyond, St. James Place, 9421 18th SW (map), 6 pm Thursday (free dinner).

Looking a couple weeks into the future, this meeting was just announced today:

HIGH POINT NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION’S QUARTERLY MEETING: 6 pm September 10th, Commons Park Amphitheater. Topic, according to Jennifer Cobb – how to be a good neighbor(hood), by getting involved, pitching in, etc. Refreshments! RSVP via Facebook.

Close call for West Seattle driver in hit-run crash tonight

Luckily, nobody is hurt. But it was a close call for the driver of that car — she got sideswiped earlier this evening at California/Charlestown (map). WSB’er Diane called to let us know as others summoned police. The driver says she was heading north on California when a silver 4-door BMW, maybe a year or two old, sideswiped her while turning left onto eastbound Charlestown, from southbound California, before she was out of the intersection. Witnesses say the driver stopped briefly a half-block or so away, looked at his car – which would have front-end damage – then got back in and kept driving. The Seattle Municipal Code is very clear (as you can see here) about a driver’s duty to stop after a crash. 11:11 PM: Check the comments – where Larry says a similar-sounding car hit his in the same time frame.

Multi-national ship delegation to pass West Seattle shores

The Russian Border Guard Vessel Vorovskiy is one of the ships you can expect to see off West Seattle shores tomorrow as Coast Guard ships from several Pacific Rim nations arrive for to continue the Pacific Unity exercise. According to a media advisory tonight from U.S. Coast Guard District 13, “Japan, Russia, Canada and the United States are sending vessels to take part” in the exercise, while “China and South Korea will be participating as observers. Specifically, the partner nations will be coordinating simulated search and rescue, aids to navigation, law enforcement and security operations during the three-day event.” Arrivals are expected on the downtown waterfront around 2:30 pm, so watch for them earlier in the afternoon; others heading this way include the Canadian Coast Guard Hovercraft Siyay, shown here in Coast Guard video from the Port Angeles area, where the exercise also has been under way:

The USCG has lots more info online, including links to other video clips, reachable from this special page.

West Seattle business notes: Brickyard; Cherry; A Child Becomes

BRICKYARD BBQ: Word was forwarded to us that the new barbecue joint at 2310 California SW (map) will open Friday instead of tomorrow, because of “late last-minute finishing touches.”

Meantime, a new business is open further south on California:

CHERRY CONSIGNMENT: Thanks to Jennifer for that photo and word that Cherry Consignment is open at 4142 California SW (map). The space was formerly home to Designer Labels; Cherry Consignment opened under brand-new ownership, and its website notes that the store is dealing in both women’s and men’s clothing, 11 am-6 pm Mondays-Saturdays. (Added 11:09 pm – a note from proprietor Nyla Bittermann with more info:)

We look forward to establishing ourselves as a Women’s/Men’s consignment store that caters to women and men of all shapes, sizes and lifestyles. We plan to provide those “hard to find items”: plus size, maternity and men’s business attire, in addition to women’s clothing.

We are SO excited to be new business owners in West Seattle. My husband grew up in WS, I have been here almost 20 years and we are raising 3 kids in this amazing community we call home!

We are currently in transformation with a new name, new signs, website in the works and a coat of fresh paint. In our two weeks of business we have met wonderful people who have welcomed us with open arms and we look forward to getting to know even more of our WS neighbors.

She says a grand-opening event is planned for September 1st (next Monday).

A CHILD BECOMES : Teaching assistant Hope from A Child Becomes Preschool e-mailed to share the news that the school has moved – it’s now based at Admiral Church (California and Hill; map) – and has opened a new Pre-K class that still has openings, Tues/Thurs/Fri, 11:45-2:45.

New business? Moved? Expanded? Special event? Let us know (all our contact info’s here); businesses also are welcome to post sales/special deals in the WSB Forums’ Freebies, Deals, Sales section, and job openings in the West Seattle Jobs Offered section, both free.

West Seattle Crime Watch: 2 incidents along Fauntleroy Way

One, a business break-in attempt – the other targeted a car (whose owner is puzzled why the thief/thieves took what they did) – read on for both reports (one includes a photo):Read More

Port says “Nickelsville” encampment must go by end of September

Followup to last week’s update from a spokesperson for the homeless encampment that calls itself “Nickelsville”: The Port of Seattle has just published a statement saying it’s rejecting the encampment’s request for an “extended stay” at Terminal 107 Park in eastern West Seattle, and will post new trespassing notices this week, expecting the camp to clear out by the end of September. We’re checking with encampment organizers for their reaction/next steps; they moved to the site a month ago.

Happening now: West Seattle photographer’s freebie for jobseekers

(WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli)
That’s West Seattle photographer Rasmus Rasmussen in the foreground, Kelly Cline in the background. They’re at C & P Coffee till 6 pm tonight, or till they’ve photographed 120 jobseekers taking advantage of the “free headshot” offer (announced two weeks ago). We just checked in with Kelly via Twitter and she says it’s been a “slow-but-steady trickle” since this began at 11 am; she adds, “Happy people and gracious hosts. Very awesome feel-good vibes all around.” 4:12 PM: Diane just called, saying she’s just back from the photo setup and they haven’t maxed out yet, so they’ll definitely be there till 6. 10:27 PM: Here’s tonight’s Channel 13 TV story on the event.

Back-to-school concerns? Meet your school board rep tomorrow

August 25, 2009 12:01 pm
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 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Seattle Public Schools are back in session two weeks from tomorrow, and if you’ve got concerns/issues to discuss with your School Board rep, Steve Sundquist has issued an open invitation to his next coffee chat, 9 am tomorrow at Uptown Espresso in The Junction (California/Edmunds/Erskine). From the announcement:

This is an opportunity to share what’s happening in education here in West Seattle, with students from West Seattle and across the district. I hope you can join me, and spread the word with the people in your community. If you cannot make it, feel free as always to contact me with your concerns at (206) 252-0040 or steve.sundquist@seattleschools.org

Delridge Skatepark construction funding takes another turn

Funding for the future Delridge Skatepark has taken as many twists and turns as a virtuoso performance by one of the talented skaters who will use it someday. First it was going to be in this year’s city budget – then that changed at the last minute. Then, half a million dollars was found after bids on other work – including Hiawatha Playfield renovations – came in much lower than planned, and another $250,000 was moved from what once was to be a “skate spot” at the future Myrtle Reservoir park (which is currently behind schedule for non-Parks reasons). Now, we have news from last night’s Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee meeting that the funding situation has taken another turn: Committee member (and Pigeon Point resident) Pete Spalding tells WSB:

The monies that the Parks Department had originally earmarked for this project vanished last month. This was once again attributed to the ongoing financial issues the City of Seattle is facing. The folks at Parks are committed to trying to make sure that the Delridge skatepark gets built. At last night’s Parks & Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee meeting a proposal was brought forward to use 500k in surplus Opportunity Fund dollars from the Pro Parks levy to fund this portion of the Delridge skatepark. There was lots of discussion of the pros and cons of making this transfer but eventually a motion was made and after more discussion the motion did pass. Now this has to be turned in to legislation that will go to the City Council for approval later this year. The folks in our community that support this project need to send e-mails, write letters and/or make telephone calls to all 9 of our City Council members encouraging them to support this legislation when it comes before them for a vote.

(Pro Parks is the levy that preceded Parks and Green Spaces.) We have messages out to other city sources to get more details on this situation, and will add that information as we get it. Meantime, here’s the contact information for City Councilmembers – West Seattle-residing Tom Rasmussen chairs the Parks Committee but since all members are elected “at large,” no one represents this area in particular, and it’s vital to express your opinion to all of them. 1:52 PM UPDATE: A bit more information: According to Parks spokesperson Dewey Potter, the $500,000 “vanished” because the city Finance Department said no to moving it to the Delridge Skatepark budget. (We’re still looking for the reason WHY the Finance Department said no; meantime, note that this was NOT money that the Levy Committee had a say over, in the first place – it didn’t come from the levy; it came from other projects, including Hiawatha, that came in with under-budget bids. Potter says last night’s committee vote to use remaining Pro Parks Opportunity Fund money “makes the budget whole” and faces the following Council action: “This money will be included in the 4th quarter supplemental budget legislation and adopted with the budget in November.” Meantime, the council Parks Committee will vote next month on the $250,000 move – so if you’re contacting councilmembers with an opinion, you’ll want to let them know what you think about that too, since it’s not a done deal yet.

Neighborhood-plan survey: More than 1000 from West Seattle!

After extending the deadline for the once-in-a-decade survey to help update neighborhood plans around the city, the Seattle Planning Commission has posted that final tally of how many surveys it received per neighborhood. Yes, technically, Ballard/Crown Hill finished first, BUT as noted before, that area has just one plan, while West Seattle is broken into five neighborhood-plan areas, so if you add them up — Admiral, Delridge, Highland Park/Westwood, Morgan Junction, West Seattle Junction — the peninsula finished first, with 1,076 total. Watch for word of followups this fall, including meetings to discuss how the survey information (and input from last month’s meeting at Youngstown Arts Center) will be used to update those plans. Never seen your (or the nearest) neighborhood plan? You can find the plans for those five areas — developed a decade ago — in the right sidebar here.