West Seattle, Washington
12 Monday
From the city Parks Department:
January
Nature Programs – AnimalsExplore the wonderful animal life all around us. Fascinating facts and features of
animal life whether crawling, swimming, flying or walking.Nighttime Low Tide at the Beach – New Year’s Eve!
Ages 6 and olderHelp bring in the New Year with nudibranchs, seastars and sea squirts! Gather your
friends and family and share in the fun of exploring the fascinating world of
intertidal life! After exploring, we’ll provide the toast for the New Year! Please
wear very warm clothing and waterproof footwear. Also bring a flashlight if you have
one or we will provide one for you. All ages welcome but must be able to walk on
slippery seaweed! Please register one day before beach walk. Please register by
calling 206-684-7434.Location: Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook
Course #49139 December 31, 2009 Thu 9:30 – 11:30 p.m.
Adult Fee $8, Child Fee $6Camp Long Owl Hoot
Ages 4 and olderJoin us for a dusk-to-dark owl prowl through Camp Long’s woodland. Early winter is
courtship time! Dress for the weather and bring a flashlight. Please pre-register by
January 15. Please register by calling 206-684-7434.Course #49133 January 16 Sat 5 – 6:30 p.m.
Adult Fee $8, Child Fee $6Nighttime Low Tide at the Beach
Ages 6 and olderStart the New Year off with nudibranchs, seastars and sea squirts! Gather your
friends and family and share in the fun of exploring the fascinating world of
intertidal life! Please wear very warm clothing and waterproof footwear. Also bring
a flashlight if you have one or we will provide one for you. All ages welcome, but
must be able to walk on slippery seaweed! Please register by calling 206-684-7434.Location: Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook
Course #49141 January 30 Sat 9:15 – 11:15 p.m.
Adult Fee $8, Child Fee $6Third Saturday Free Walks
Seward Park Old Growth FREE
Ages 1 and olderWhy would an Old Growth Forest need restoration? What else do these big old trees
provide besides shade and habitat? Walk among the ancient trees and learn about the
on-going restoration that was funded by a local philanthropist. Please register by
calling 206-684-7434.Location: Amphitheater in Seward Park
Course #50812 January 16 Sat 2 – 4 p.m.Me-Kwa-Mooks Beach Walk FREE
Ages 1 and olderMe-Kwa-Mooks, in the Nisqually dialect it means “shaped like a bear’s head” is land
that was donated to Seattle by West Seattle pioneers Ferdinand and Emma Schmitz.
Me-Kwa-Mooks sits above the best tide-pooling beach on the west side, but offers its
own unique forest habitat under restoration. Rumor has it a new Eagle’s nest resides
here. Please register by calling 206-684-7434.Location: Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook
Course #50817 January 16 Sat 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Nature Walks – Preschool/Tots
Immerse young ones in the great outdoors and let them explore the wonders of nature.
Most classes require adult participation.Are You Sleeping, Mother Nature? (2-3yrs)
Ages 2 – 3Adults, explore the wonders of nature with your Tots. Discover life in the pond,
forest, field and meet new friends. Please arrive 10 minutes before class time, and
wear weatherproof clothing. Up to two children can be registered with one adult. No
strollers please. $7 for one adult with one child. $3.50 for each additional person.
Pre-registration required by January 16. Please register by calling 206-684-7434.Location: Outdoor Space – North of Colman Pool
Course #49147 January 19 Tue 10 – 11 a.m.
Activity Fee $7Volunteer Opportunity
Camp Long Third Saturday Work Parties FREE
All ages, families
Leave your family legacy at Camp Long by helping to restore a patch of native
habitat in the park, building trails or maintaining amenities. Make some new friends
while preserving a future for ourselves and native plants and animals. Register by
calling 206-423-0762.January 16 Sat 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
February
Nature Programs – AnimalsExplore the wonderful animal life all around us — fascinating facts and features of
animal life whether crawling, swimming, flying or walking.Salamander Love Night
Ages 4 and olderDid you know that our two local mole salamander species mate and lay eggs right
around Valentine’s Day? Come with us to look for these long-toed lovers, their
Northwestern friends and eggs in their watery bedrooms. Please dress for the weather
and bring a flashlight. Please register by February 12. Register by calling
206-684-7434.Instructor: Stewart Wechsler
Course #49143 February 13 Sat 6:30 – 8 p.m.
Adult Fee $8, Child Fee $6West Seattle Birding Loop
Ages 1 and olderExplore West Seattle’s fascinating array of parks while learning to identify winter
birds with Master Birder Woody Wheeler. This van-based tour will include short hikes
(2 miles total) into Jack Block, Alki, Me-Kwa-Mooks and Lincoln Parks, as well as a
bakery/hot drink stop along the way. We could see up to 30 species of birds while
exploring diverse and scenic parks that feature ecological restorations, marine and
forest ecosystems. Come prepared with rain gear, layers of warm clothes, warm boots
and binoculars. Families and beginning birders are welcome and encouraged to come
along! Meet in front of the lodge at Camp Long. Register by calling 684-7434.Instructor: Woody Wheeler
Course #50822 February 20 Sat 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Activity Fee $15Lincoln Park Owl Hoot
Ages 4 and olderJoin us for a dusk-to-dark owl prowl through Camp Long’s to Lincoln Park’s. Early
winter is courtship time! Dress for the weather and bring a flashlight. Please
pre-register by February 19. Register by calling 206-684-7434.Location: Outdoor Space – North of Colman Pool, Lincoln Park
Course #49135 February 20 Sat 6:30 – 8 p.m.
Adult Fee $8, Child Fee $6Third Saturday Free Walks
Puget Park Walk FREE
Ages 1 and olderThe sign may be gone, but the park does live on! This small piece of the Duwamish
Greenbelt is almost unknown to anyone outside of the neighborhood. Once home to a
riding stable, this little piece of heaven has been adopted by the neighbors who
have begun asking the question about daylighting the creek, which outflows into the
Duwamish River. Register by calling 206-684-7434.Location: Puget Park
Course #50818 February 20 Sat 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.Dr. Jose Rizal Park Walk
Ages 1 and olderNamed for a Filipino leader, this greenbelt adjacent to I-5 was a no-person land
until the mid 90’s when neighbors wanted better access and a place to walk their
four-legged friends. A Rotary Club tree planting in the mid 80’s peppered the
hillside with trees in a planting medium that was sure to strangle them. Let’s find
out who survived and how to navigate the space. Register by calling 206-684-7434.Location: Jose Rizal Park
Course #50815 February 20 Sat 2 – 4 p.m.Nature Walks – Preschool/Tots
Immerse young ones in the great outdoors, and let them explore the wonders of
nature. Most classes require adult participation.Winter Wonderland (2-3yrs)
Ages 2 – 3Adults, explore the wonders of nature with your tots. Discover life in the pond,
forest, field and meet new friends. Please arrive 10 minutes before class time and
wear weatherproof clothing. Up to two children can be registered with one adult. No
strollers please. $7 for one adult with one child; $3.50 for each additional person.
Pre-registration required by February 15. Register by calling 684-7434.Location: Outdoor Space – North of Colman Pool
Course #49148 February 16 Tue 10 – 11 a.m.
Activity Fee $7
Volunteer Opportunity
Camp Long Third Saturday Work Parties FREE
All ages, families
Leave your family legacy at Camp Long by helping to restore a patch of native
habitat in the park, building trails or maintaining amenities. Make some new friends
while preserving a future for ourselves and native plants and animals. Register by
calling 206-423-0762.February 20 Sat 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Thanks to West Seattleite Bill Schrier – also the city’s Chief Technology Officer and the 34th District Democrats‘ webmaster – for sharing photos from this afternoon’s swearing-in ceremony at City Hall; we were a few blocks away at the County Council appointment vote. Mayor Mike McGinn was sworn in by two of his children, Cian and Miyo; City Attorney Pete Holmes was sworn in by his wife, Ann M. Holmes:
You have two new councilmembers too – Mike O’Brien, sworn in by Carolyn Cairns:
And Sally Bagshaw, whose oath was administered by Rev. Dr. Sanford W. Brown:
Seattle Channel video is here; also taking the oath of office today, re-elected councilmembers Richard Conlin and Nick Licata. If you couldn’t make it to this afternoon’s event either, the mayor’s inviting you to a City Hall open house this Saturday, 1-5 pm; he’s planning a speech from the building’s Grand Staircase at 3.
Answering e-mail from someone seeking old photos of West Seattle, we wandered over to the Seattle Municipal Archives, which puts some of its historic photos on Flickr too – and found that one, added to Flickr just last week. It’s the Walk-All-Ways intersection at California/Alaska, circa 1956. (Click the photo, or here, to see it full size. “Block’s” is in the spot where KeyBank is now.) We dug back into the Municipal Archives themselves to try to get context for the photo; seems a City Light building in the 4500 block of California SW was being appraised – that’s north of Alaska, midblock, west side of the street:
The same address currently checks to Next-to-Nature. And yes, that grand facade was hiding a substation in the back (see it here).
A happy followup today to the orca sightings that brought many out to the West Seattle shores yesterday afternoon, hoping to glimpse J-Pod passing by … Orca Network says the researchers who were following the whales for a while spotted a new baby! It’s been designated J47, born to mom J35, and you can see photos on the Orca Network website (scroll down from that photo and you’ll see the five babies born to the “Southern Resident” orcas last year – their population is now up to 88).
Brief followups tonight on two weekend incidents. First, several people e-mailed us Sunday afternoon about an incident early that morning in the 4500 block of 40th SW (map), involving police using a bullhorn to call to someone. We got a bit of info today from Southwest Precinct Lt. Norm James, who says it was ultimately a false alarm of sorts, first called in as “a burglary in progress where the complainant did not know the address. Officers arrived in the area but the witness refused to come outside to contact the officers. A loudspeaker was used to try to contact the witness and have him come out. Once the officers made contact with the complainant, it was determined that there was no burglary or any other type of criminal activity.” Second, we also asked a question brought up by several commenters on Saturday – whether there are any indications that the two burglary suspects arrested on The Bridge (WSB coverage here) were linked to other burglaries beyond the one in which they’re suspected of involvement that day; so far, says Lt. James, no.
(Councilmember Drago sworn in by Superior Court Presiding Judge Bruce Hilyer, official county photo added 5:15 pm)
2:47 PM: As noted toward the end of our earlier report, the King County Council is back in session. It is now moving back to the item regarding appointment of a new councilmember to fill the seat left open when Dow Constantine became County Executive. Larry Phillips has suggested reconsideration of former Seattle City Councilmember Jan Drago – procedural points are being discussed. (A motion to appoint Drago failed three weeks ago in a 4-4 deadlock, as did a motion to appoint State Sen. Joe McDermott, who is supported by the 34th District Democrats, which has a contingent of supporters here as was the case during the 7-hour meeting three weeks ago.) Councilmember Patterson says she’d vote no on Drago; she’s in favor of appointing McDermott. (Drago is not here.) Phillips says he supports McDermott too BUT he doesn’t see another way for the 8th District to go ahead and get representation, aside from the Drago move. Councilmember Larry Gossett says he’ll vote no on Drago – saying he got three more pro-McDermott e-mails just since the council meeting resumed. Gossett says it seems clear McDermott will get voters’ support later this year, so why postpone the inevitable and appoint someone else in the interim? Chair Bob Ferguson says he will vote against reconsideration, too. 1st vote, to reconsider: As he said he would, Phillips goes with the 4 Republican members, and the motion to reconsider passes 5-3. Phillips then defended his move, saying that there is no other way to break the impasse, and saying Drago had an excellent career and will be a good councilmember.
3:12 PM: Councilmember Reagan Dunn says Phillips is doing “a noble thing”; several in the McDermott-support group in the chamber groaned at that. He says, “It may take 12 months but everybody will get what they want here.” He also suggests that maybe it’s better that McDermott not be representing the district while running for the office because campaigning is a “big job.” He says it’s not good for democracy to put somebody in who is “anointed. … But I just want to remind folks, these are all solid Democrats who are here … we followed a process, we worked hard not to hold it up, we haven’t put a Republican name in there … I hate to say it but I think we are being very fair in this process … in the end of the day, democracy wins.” Now there will be a vote to amend the legislation to add Drago’s name. That passes 5-3, the Republicans plus Phillips. And that leads to one more vote.
3:21 PM: Patterson says “it’s a done deal so I’m switching my vote to aye.” McDermott supporters from the 34th District Democrats have gotten up and left the council chambers. Ferguson says he also will vote yes on final passage. And the appointment of Jan Drago passes unanimously. She is not in the chambers but reportedly will be tracked down to be sworn in (not clear at this point if that will happen today).
4:01 PM: We talked briefly with Sen. McDermott afterward. Here’s his short comment on video:
We’ll also be adding video of Councilmember Phillips explaining why he broke ranks. (5:52 pm – here’s the clip):
4:26 PM UPDATE: Drago has been sworn in. Photos at Publicola.
5:15 PM UPDATE: The county shared its official photo, which is now atop this report. With Councilmember Drago, from left, are Councilmembers Dunn, von Reichbauer, and Phillips.
5:47 PM: Congratulatory statement from County Executive Dow Constantine:
“I know that Jan will do a great job as the caretaker in this important office. We have had the opportunity to work together on a number of issues, including the viaduct replacement. I look forward to working with Councilmember Drago to serve the people of the 8th Council District.”
That’s West Seattle’s newest coffee stand – Portside Coffee Company (6720 West Marginal Way; map – that’s near the Subway and commercial fueling station), open for business as of today. Portside serves, appropriately enough given its exterior, Silver Cup Coffee. Hours: 4:30 am-2 pm Mondays-Fridays, 8 am-noon Saturdays, closed Sundays. (By our count, it’s the fourth West Seattle drive-thru, after Red Cup in The Junction, West Bay on Harbor Ave, and Starbucks in The Triangle.)
Two items of note when the Seattle School Board meets Wednesday night for the first time this year: First, the next steps in the district’s transition from “school choice” to a neighborhood-based Student Attendance Plan – with 
the board scheduled to review and vote on many more details regarding how it’s going to work starting this fall. Second, other agenda items include the approval of the second part of the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse purchase deal – as first reported here in September, the Fauntleroy Community Service Agency is using $1.1 million in additional state funding to buy more of the site, beyond the first $1.8 million deal for the schoolhouse itself and 32,000 square feet in the playground/parking lot area. Here’s the full agenda for Wednesday night; the board meeting starts at 6 pm at district HQ in SODO (map).
It’s not on the city website last time we checked but a news release came in from Mayor Mike McGinn‘s office in the hours before his ceremonial swearing-in (which you should be able to watch live via Seattle Channel in about 10 minutes) – he’s making moves to tighten the financial reins on city bureaucracy – with possible job cuts to come. Read on for the announcement (plus a 5:31 pm addition – other info sent today regarding mayoral staff salaries and org chart):Read More
We’re back at King County Council chambers downtown, where we spent seven hours three weeks ago, 
the night councilmembers kept deadlocking on who to appoint to the council seat (representing West Seattle, White Center, Vashon among other areas) left open when Dow Constantine became County Executive. The meeting is scheduled to start at any time; we’ll publish updates as they happen – once it starts, you also should be able to watch live on cable TV or online (here’s the link). As happened three weeks ago, a contingent from the 34th District Democrats (photo above) is here to show support for State Sen. Joe McDermott; he too is here. More as it happens; here’s our running coverage from the meeting three weeks ago. 11:28 AM UPDATE: The meeting just started. 11:48 AM: Chair Bob Ferguson says the item will be held till this afternoon – last item on the agenda – and that means after the lunch break they’re about to take. 11:55 AM: The afternoon meeting is scheduled to start at 1:30 pm; we expect to report other news between now and then, so we will start a new item once the meeting resumes. 1:36 PM: We’re back in the council chambers and the meeting has yet to restart. 1:56 PM: The meeting has resumed. The appointment is the last item. We still expect to start a new item atop the page when that discussion begins.
BACK TO SCHOOL! Winter break’s over.
TRAFFIC ALERT: If you drive through SODO, reminder that several major traffic alerts kick in today – here’s the heads-up we published last week.
NEW COUNTY COUNCILMEMBER? Three weeks ago, we reported live as the County Council spent 7 hours deciding not to decide (then) who will fill the remaining almost-year of County Executive Dow Constantine‘s former council term (representing West Seattle, White Center, Vashon, and some turf north and south). When they meet at 11 this morning, they’re expected to try again. Here’s what the Seattle Times (WSB partner) says could happen. The agenda’s here; watch live online here.
NEW CITY LEADERS: It’s inauguration day for Mayor Mike McGinn, City Attorney Pete Holmes, City Councilmembers Mike O’Brien and Sally Bagshaw (and re-swearing-in for returning Councilmembers Richard Conlin and Nick Licata). It’s all at City Hall, 2 pm, followed by a public reception around 3. Watch live online at seattlechannel.org.
WEST SEATTLE HI-YU FESTIVAL MEETING: Last meeting (WSB coverage here), Hi-Yu members chose the 2010 float theme, “Dreams Do Come True.” Tonight – 6:30 pm at St. John the Baptist Church Fellowship Hall – they’re scheduled to choose the 2010 button design.
NEW NIGHT FOR TRIVIA AT CHRISTO’S ON ALKI: Tom Hutyler, also known as the voice of Safeco Field, sends word that Christo’s on Alki has moved the Trivia Night he hosts back to Mondays, as of tonight, 7 pm. (Other West Seattle trivia spots include Feedback Lounge [music @ 8 pm Tuesdays] and Skylark [6:45 pm Wednesdays], both WSB sponsors, and Beveridge Place Pub [8 pm Wednesdays].)
Even more happening today – see the WSB West Seattle Events calendar!
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