West Seattle, Washington
29 Friday
That’s one of the photos sent by Mayor Mike McGinn‘s staff via Twitter (@mayormcginn) during the City Hall open house this afternoon, with a caption saying he was working on his inaugural speech at the time. A few hours later, he gave that speech at City Hall, and now the video’s available from Seattle Channel online. (Rather just read about the speech? Here’s coverage from our partners at the Seattle Times.) P.S. Voted yet for your favorite citizen proposals on what the mayor’s priorities should be? No? You can do it here. (Among them: This one proposing an off-leash dog area at Lincoln Park.)
NEW JUNCTION BUSINESS: Got a note and a tweet about this late last night; we’d already been checking into it after the notice turned up online: A liquor-license application notice is posted at the former Georgia Blu storefront next to KeyBank in The Junction; the application says a “beer/wine specialty shop” license is being sought, under the name Bin 41. We reached the proprietors, but they’re not ready to discuss their venture yet.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE TOTEM POLE CASE? Also from the e-mailbag, a few notes this week asking whatever happened in the case of the stolen/recovered West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park totem pole (coverage archived here). The suspect still is not officially charged, but prosecutors told us this week they expected the case to be referred to their office “soon.” A special task force of the Rotary Club of West Seattle, which donated the pole and its park to the city more than 30 years ago, will meet with the Parks Department next week to talk about next steps in returning the totem pole to the park, and whether it needs restoration work first. The Rotarians also continue to accept donations for the Totem Pole Restoration Fund (go here).
All those sailboats you saw off West Seattle shores today? The Three Tree Point Yacht Club‘s 31st annual Duwamish Head Race (here’s the home page). Thanks to JayDee for the first three photos.
The race’s starting point was Des Moines.
That’s also where members are now gathered to wait for the results. The next photo is courtesy Russ Walker:
And shortly after we published this – another note with photos came in, from Chris D:
Then another one – from JH!
Thanks to JayDee, Russ, Chris and JH – got photos to share? editor@westseattleblog.com (or via Facebook, where we’re WS Blog) any time!
Good news from Siobhan, who sent a Crime Watch report on a stolen red Neon a week ago: The car’s been found:
I am happy to be able to say that it has been recovered and has very little damage. They broke the keyguard on the door handle to get the lock opened, and then broke off the bottom plastic piece on the steering column to get it started. They rummaged through everything, including the trunk, figuring out that the back seats folded down from inside. They took a few things, but nothing that I really care about, except for the fact that they were my items and they took em. Nothing valuable.
My birthday was January 6th and I kept hoping they would call me… all day long.. nothing.. then at 6pm I got the call that my car was at the TBT Towing impound lot on 1st ave. What a great birthday present. :)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Friday night’s not usually prime time for public meetings.
Last night, however, an extraordinary gathering filled a meeting room at the new High Point Neighborhood Center: Two Seattle School Board members, a contingent of top Seattle Public Schools officials including the Chief Academic Officer and two local principals, and dozens of parents with translators serving them in languages including Somali, Vietnamese and signing.
Neighborhood House had sent us word of the meeting earlier in the day, saying it was a followup to a December 21st forum in which High Point families shared concerns about effects of the new Student Assignment Plan, including the fact that West Seattle Elementary is now the default school for the area. (Before the new Student Assignment Plan moved the district back to neighborhood-based schools, parents citywide were allowed to choose what schools they wanted their children to attend, near or far.)
Here’s why some are concerned about WS Elementary:
Thanks to Creighton for sharing an interesting link: For tomorrow’s edition (dated 1/10 but it’s online today), the New York Times took Netflix data and turned it into a mouseover map showing who’s renting what in a dozen cities, including Seattle. Click on Seattle at the right side of the page (direct link’s not possible since it’s all Flash) and mouse over to see each zip code’s top 10 list, including West Seattle zip codes. Here’s the start page.
By Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
It’s Charles Smith’s 35th birthday; he’s an artist, his friends are artists and he wants to do something big. So , he and 350 of his closest friends will be gathering at Elysian Fields in Pioneer Square tonight to celebrate his birthday while viewing the work of eleven different artists — four of whom, including Charles, are from West Seattle – and listening to music (also including WS performers)
Charles has studied art and design internationally and currently works for Starbucks’ Technical Design Division. The bags you buy your coffee beans in are his designs—including the latest red Christmas Blend bags. The art he does in his personal life however, is very different.
INAUGURAL OPEN HOUSE: New Mayor Mike McGinn is throwing open the doors of City Hall downtown today and inviting Seattleites to come down, have a look around, learn about city services, and listen to his inaugural speech. And it’s not just “come wander around tables in the lobby”; the official list of activities (see it here) includes tours of the mayor and councilmembers’ offices, as well as guided tours of the public art at City Hall, and musical performances on several levels. 1-5 pm, with the mayor’s speech on the grand staircase at 3 pm. Never been to City Hall? Here’s a map.
2 WEST SEATTLE FOOD NOTES: Street-food stars Marination Mobile are skipping the High Point stop today, because of the Mobile Chowdown in Interbay. And as already mentioned here multiple times, it’s the official public grand-opening day for Table 35 (California/Edmunds) in The Junction, starting at 10 am.
“AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS,” PLUS A COUPON: 2nd day of the 3-day run for Twelfth Night Productions‘ “Amahl and the Night Visitors” – 3 and 7:30 pm. Get 20 percent off your ticket with the coupon on the WSB Coupons page.
LIVE MUSIC, VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES, MORE: See the West Seattle Weekend Lineup for the rest of what’s up today, tonight, tomorrow.
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