Video: You can call it the “Jeanette Williams Memorial Bridge”

| West Seattle news | West Seattle people | West Seattle video

Nine months after we first reported a proposal to give the West Seattle Bridge a new name in honor of former City Councilmember Jeanette Williams, the naming was officially commemorated beneath the bridge this afternoon. Shown in the photo above with Councilmember Tom Rasmussen – who worked with Ms. Williams for years – was her son Rusty Williams (who ran for City Council himself earlier this year). At today’s ceremony, Rusty explained how proud she would be:

Ms. Williams died a year ago. She had fought long and hard to get federal funding to build the “high bridge” – that covered $60 million of its $150 million price tag.

OP October 23, 2009 (3:16 pm)

Like asking people to stop calling it Kleenex and call it “tissue.”

Kay October 23, 2009 (4:45 pm)

i was born & raised in WS. that high bridge was the end of our small town community and totally changed everything. from grade school to graduating from college in 98 i noticed all the garbage that came over the “easy-access to west seattle” bridge. i would often take the lower bridge.
i no longer come back often to ws. all the newbies from other states and parts of WA are ridiculous.
the high bridge was the end of west seattle from my childhood. i couldn’t imagine raising children in ws now. too over-populated and the junction is crowded with junk. it’s sad really.

miws October 23, 2009 (4:59 pm)

It was a nice ceremony, with the typical Seattle weather!

I think Jeanette was there in spirit, ;) and may have been excited to see the sign, as a gust of wind knocked it off of it’s easel, and caused the cover to partially come off, exposing part of the sign several minutes before the actual unveiling.

We were also treated to an underside view of the lower swing bridge opening just before the ceremony, and it was great to see Patrick down there covering the event!

Mike

WSHC October 23, 2009 (7:12 pm)

I’m with Kay. I stopped going into cities once they were overrun by horseless carriages and the streets and homes were lit up by those horrible electric lamps.

bebecat October 23, 2009 (10:42 pm)

I never use the high bridge. They can call it what ever they want. I call it “in my way”. People just go too fast up there. I agree with Kay in that the bridge did change the feel of West Seattle. There was not much crime here because there was no clear getaway. If the bridge was up or the train was crossing Harbor Island…Busted…the cops would have you.

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