day : 27/10/2009 11 results

West Seattle Weather Watch: The sky’s high-rise

October 27, 2009 10:30 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

Babs shares that photo, taken from her Avalon Way deck, with the caption, “24 hours of crazy weather ends like this.” Crazy indeed. Tonight’s forecast suggests we have about 24 hours till the rain returns.

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High school sports: What’s next for Seattle Lutheran teams

October 27, 2009 6:16 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | WS & Sports

Update from Seattle Lutheran High School‘s Bil Hood:

The Seattle Lutheran Saints Girls Soccer Team ended their regular season yesterday with a perfect conference record, securing first place in the Sea-Tac B League. This assures them a place in the State Tournament November 20-21 in Sumner.

The Saints Cross Country Team travels to American Lake this Saturday to compete in Tri-Districts.

Finally, the Seattle Lutheran Football Team has two games to go in the regular season. Friday, October 30 and Thursday November 5. Both games are at West Seattle Stadium. If the Saints can win both games they will be headed into post-season competition.

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Got a proposal for parks levy “Opportunity Fund”? Read this

October 27, 2009 5:04 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

As promised by the Parks Department, the “draft criteria” for projects seeking a share of the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund have just been published on the Parks website; see them here. (The Opportunity Fund is $15 million set aside for citizen-proposed projects that weren’t specified in the levy.) We were at last night’s Levy Oversight Committee meeting as the draft criteria were reviewed and approved; two members of the public spoke before the vote, including Jeannie Hale from the Seattle Community Council Federation, who voiced concern about an emphasis on projects being within “urban village” boundaries – something Parks managers say could help close an ongoing gap between current parks/open space needs and realities in those areas. Next step is a public hearing on the draft criteria, 7 pm Nov. 9 before the oversight committee at Parks HQ downtown.

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What next for neighborhood planning? Pivotal meeting tonight

October 27, 2009 3:53 pm

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| Neighborhoods | West Seattle news

That’s City Councilmember Sally Clark (Avalon Glassworks glass pumpkin in the foreground) at the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce office last Thursday, when we sat in on the monthly “Lunch with LEO” (local elected official) brownbag at which she guested. Clark chairs the council’s Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee; a related issue we asked her about is coming to a head tonight, and while the meeting is not in West Seattle, it’s open to the public and those with an interest in neighborhood planning will want to attend.

This all links to the big event at Youngstown last July, in which more than 100 people from five West Seattle “neighborhood plan areas” showed up to talk about what’s changed since the Neighborhood Plans were approved a decade ago, and what should happen next. (The followup to that meeting is coming up Nov. 5 at Mercer Middle School on Beacon Hill, and it’s important to be there too.) The big questions now include, what happens with the neighborhood plan update process; will the city budget ehough money next year to continue proceeding with some plan updates each year; and whether a few updates per year is fast enough. That issue is so far up in the air, there’s a question about whether the citywide Neighborhood Plan Advisory Committee will even continue to exist – Councilmember Clark told us on Thursday that if it doesn’t, perhaps there could be a citizen committee as an adjunct to the Seattle Planning Commission paying attention to planning issues.

So tonight, the Advisory Committee has a special meeting to discuss its future, and to clarify city government’s commitment to the process. (Thanks to West Seattle NPAC rep Sharonn Meeks for the tip.) The meeting starts at 6:15 pm at City Hall downtown (Bertha Knight Landes Room) and a public-comment period is scheduled close to the end, around 8:10 pm.

EARLY WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Meeks says the committee voted to continue its work; now the question remains how the funding will fare in the budgeting process.

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Update: Lincoln Park cyclocross bike race canceled

October 27, 2009 1:53 pm

| 147 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle parks | WS & Sports

The Parks Department confirms that this Saturday’s planned cyclocross race at Lincoln Park is now canceled. We got first hint of this last night when CC’d in an e-mail exchange from a West Seattle resident to Parks, in which the resident wrote, in part:

Several years ago, a cyclo-cross race at Lincoln Park caused major damage to native shrubs, grasses and trails. At that time, a large number of complaints led to (I thought) a ban on this kind of race in our Parks, and a revocation of a permit for a future race.

However, I just learned that the Parks Department has issued a permit (or so the organizer claims) for a similar race in Lincoln Park for this Saturday. …

The attached map (and photo!) shows clearly that this Cyclocross race will cut through the forest, on social trails, and given the previous damage, and the stated intent of this race, will cause irreparable harm to the native vegetation and shrubs.

I ask you, as a resident and frequent user of Lincoln Park, to please cancel this inappropriate permit, and prevent the damage from being done (as they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure).

In a reply shortly thereafter, Parks spokesperson Dewey Potter replied to the original writer:

… Parks has taken a look at the event coming up this weekend, and we have decided to move it to another, more appropriate venue. Our staff will evaluate its success there, and make a decision about whether and where to permit future such events.

We checked back with Parks today, to see what that venue might be, and spokesperson Joelle Ligon just replied, “The cyclocross folks have cancelled all together. There will not be an event this weekend.” We will be contacting the race organizers too – they had also posted in the WSB Forums recently to get the word out about park-access changes in connection with the then-scheduled event. ADDED 2 PM: A little more information from Parks’ Ligon, answering our question about why this all played out at the last minute:

About four years ago, there was a cyclocross event at Lincoln Park. At that point, the community let us know that they did not like having cyclocross there. We made a commitment to not hold cyclocross at Lincoln again. When our files went electronic about two years ago, the prohibition on cyclocross at Lincoln did get translated into the new system; hence, permitting staff were not aware that they should not have permitted the event at all.

We just heard from the cyclocross organization, and they have let us know that they intend to hold their event on Nov. 15 at Lower Woodland Park. We will waive their permit fee for the Nov. 15 event, and we have refunded the Lincoln permit fee.

3:35 PM UPDATE: As Zac announced in comments, the race promoters’ website now has a long explanation of what’s transpired from their standpoint, and what’s next — read it in its entirety here. WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: The race will be held at Lakewood Park in White Center instead – as announced on Twitter by MFG Cyclocross, and confirmed by this post on the King County Parks news site.

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Comcast digital/HD changes in West Seattle, starting today

October 27, 2009 11:29 am

| 86 COMMENTS

| Utilities | West Seattle news

Three months ago, Comcast‘s Shauna Causey (a West Seattleite) sent word of upgrades on the way – here’s the story we published then. She just e-mailed word that they’re taking effect starting today – “In West Seattle: Comcast is converting channels 30 and above to a digital format today. We’re launching the HD channels in West Seattle on Nov. 24.” It’s part of what Comcast calls “The World of More,” explained here.

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Traffic alert: Crash blocks southbound Delridge in 6800 block

October 27, 2009 11:08 am

| 4 COMMENTS

| Delridge | West Seattle news

Described on the scanner as one driver hitting two parked cars. Driver is not seriously hurt, but southbound traffic in the 6800 block of Delridge (map) is blocked “significantly.”

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Election 2009: One week left to vote

October 27, 2009 10:52 am

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

One week from tonight, 8 pm, the voting’s over and the vote-counting begins. Remember there’s an alternative to mailing your ballot – drop boxes (here’s the list, including Delridge Neighborhood Service Center and White Center Library). Also be sure NOT to miss some important issues on the ballot – the King County Elections home page explains why you might accidentally overlook at least one. (WSB city-candidate closeups continue with the last pair, Council Position 4, tonight.)

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Update: 1 teen stabbed, 1 in custody in 4500 block Delridge

October 27, 2009 8:55 am

| 12 COMMENTS

| Crime | Delridge | West Seattle news | WS breaking news

(Photo by Christopher Boffoli)
ORIGINAL 8:55 AM REPORT: The stabbing happened in the 4500 block of Delridge. Scanner says the victim is a 17-year-old boy who’s about to be taken to Harborview. We have one person on the scene and another on the way, details as we get them. 9:10 AM UPDATE: Police tell us on the scene that this began as “a fight between two juveniles” – one is hurt, one is in custody. 10:06 AM UPDATE: We have confirmed that this happened at Southwest Youth and Family Services. We waited at the scene to talk with SWYFS executive director Steve Daschle. He says it happened in one of the classrooms at SWYFS – both boys attend classes in one of the programs there. One other student and teacher were present when it happened. Right now, Daschle says, the students are debriefing with counselors and staff; they are working to convey to them all that it’s a safe place to be. He says there is no indication this was gang-related or anything more than a disagreement between the two involved. SWYFS happens to be the lead agency in our area working on the city’s Youth Violence Prevention Initiative; Daschle acknowledges an incident like this is a setback, but promises they will work even harder toward their goals. 10:40 AM UPDATE: Just talked to Det. Mark Jamieson in SPD media unit – he says the victim was stabbed in the back and leg but the wounds were described as “not life-threatening.” Weapon was a “kitchen knife” and was recovered at the scene. Christopher’s video shows the sizable emergency response – which cleared fast once the situation was resolved:

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Alaskan Way Viaduct fake-quake video: How much it cost, etc.

October 27, 2009 2:41 am

| 38 COMMENTS

| Alaskan Way Viaduct | Transportation

This morning, seattletimes.com (WSB partner) follows up on the WSDOT Viaduct-earthquake-simulation video release with a few more tidbits, including the price tag – which many asked about in comments here and elsewhere after the video started making the rounds Sunday night: $80,000. The Times story also questions why the video turned up “first” on a KING5 newscast – though it does not mention what we pointed out here Sunday night: WSDOT actually published the video to YouTube on Friday (which you can verify through Google Video Search, as well as the datestamp on the video’s YT page).

The Times and Publicola both note that the “public disclosure request” WSDOT cited as reason for the 2-year-old video’s release was filed by tunnel opponent Elizabeth Campbell of Magnolia – who says she didn’t see the video she’d sought till it went public Sunday night.

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West Seattle Volunteer Recognition: Time for round 2!

October 27, 2009 1:45 am

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle people

Last July, when the first six West Seattle Volunteer Recognition recipients were honored, organizers promised another round of recognition opportunities would be forthcoming – and here it is. This morning we’re opening nominations for Round 2 of West Seattle Volunteer Recognition, co-sponsored by the Southwest and Delridge District Councils. The first one was a little free-form, to see how it went – so this time, there’s a little more structure. We’ll honor:

*2 individual volunteers from community/neighborhood-related group efforts
*2 individual volunteers from youth-related efforts
*2 individual volunteers from environment-related efforts
*1 group award

“Volunteer” means unpaid work, done for a nonprofit-type organization, facility, campaign (etc.), primarily serving West Seattle. And when you send your nomination – please remember that what you write is all the judges have to go on, so don’t hold back on describing the great work your nominee has done! The plan is to honor the recipients at the West Seattle Community Tree Lighting in December, always well-attended, to make sure they get a hearty round of applause from the community that benefits from their hard work. So how do you nominate someone? You’re just a click away – here’s the online form.

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