West Seattle, Washington
18 Monday
By Charla Mustard-Foote
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
The U.S. Supreme Court decision to allow corporations (and unions) to make unlimited contributions on behalf of political campaigns has a direct effect on the efforts of a West Seattle political legend to organize against the idea of “corporate personhood: It pushed the issue to a front burner of local political discussion.
Six months ago, Georgie Bright Kunkel convened a group of West Seattleites to study the issue and to recruit and train speakers who could educate the community about the effects of a set of seemingly obscure court decisions that essentially gave corporations the same constitutional rights as individuals. And they’re getting ready to meet again.
COUPON FUNDRAISER: If you’re in or going to The Junction, look for West Seattle High School seniors at California/Alaska, selling Taco Time coupon books ($1) and Brown Bear Car Wash coupons ($8) to raise money for Grad Night. They’re expected to be there till 3 pm.
COYOTE SIGHTING: Quick note from Jennifer – “… at around 11 pm last night, I saw a VERY LARGE coyote at the missing totem pole on 35th.” Not surprising since West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park is just uphill from where the Camp Long greenbelt meets the West Seattle Golf Course.
(Our second report on Polar Plunge, with more video and photos, can be seen here)
If you haven’t seen the photos and updates in our Twitter stream yet – Special Olympics’ Polar Plunge at Alki made a huge splash this past hour or so. Organizers tell us about 350 people registered to plunge – triple last year (which was at a different location). The Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics is a special focus of this, and there was a big law-enforcement turnout – including Acting SPD Chief John Diaz, state Attorney General Rob McKenna and the chiefs of the Washington State Patrol and Lakewood Police Department, among others.
Awards were handed out in contests pre-plunge – among the winners, a Chief Sealth High School group (here with Athletic Director Sam Reed) for the most spirit. (Here they are pre-plunge.)
WSB was among the co-sponsors, which also included Ivars – donating chowder post-plunge, and swimmers to go in:
ADDED 12:32 PM: Some video – Plungers didn’t all go in at once, they were broken into groups. This one included the Chief Sealth students, and also, toward the end of the clip, a guy who loved the experience so much, he had to run right back in:
ADDED 1:39 PM: The warmup act for this cool event – the Seahawks’ Blue Thunder drum line:
ADDED 8:31 PM: The law-enforcement lineup before they went into the water – that’s Southwest Precinct Captain Joe Kessler waving:
The video of them going in, will be part of our followup later tonight.
POLAR PLUNGE FOR SPECIAL OLYMPICS: Looks like the air and the water will both be in the 40s this morning as a crowd of brave and giving souls – from police officers to high-school students – takes the Polar Plunge at Alki, for Special Olympics of Washington. Registration 9 am, into the water at 11 am. More here. And once you’ve dried off, a great day/night of dining out for a good cause is ahead:
FIVE WEST SEATTLE EATERIES IN DINE OUT SEATTLE FOR HAITI: Though the poster says “night’s proceeds,” things start early – Skylark Cafe and Club (WSB sponsor) will give ALL its brunch proceeds to Haiti quake relief – 9 am to 3 pm. Feedback Lounge (also a WSB sponsor) is in on “Dine Out” too, with the door swinging open at 11:30 am (and remember Sunday’s the day for the famous ribs, starting at 5). Spring Hill, Mission and La Rustica also are participating – plus 10 others citywide.
WHAT ELSE IS UP? Elsewhere in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup — Also at Skylark – art opening tonight (6 pm) for Lonjina Verdugo … and this morning/afternoon, as always, it’s the West Seattle Farmers’ Market (10 am-2 pm, 44th/Alaska) – read on for today’s Ripe and Ready list:Read More
Story, photos and video by Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Hosted and organized by Willie Murderface, the Saturday night fundraiser at Goldie’s for Officer Jason McKissack — injured while on duty in West Seattle—attracted supporters including Officer McKissack’s wife Kim, police from several precincts, and West Seattle businesspeople like Full Tilt Ice Cream‘s Justin Cline and Jessie SK from Skylark Cafe and Club (WSB sponsor).
4:16 am update – Willie reports via Facebook: “Between the 160 Joe Mullis raised [Wednesday at Yen Wor], the 190 that Goldie’s donated, 170 from my wage, 100 from cash donations, and the 780 from the raffle (that wouldn’t have been anywhere near what it was without help from Tracy Dart and Justin Cline), we raised 1400 dollars for Officer Jason McKissack and his family.”
Asked about his motivation for producing this fundraiser, Willie says: “I went home that Sunday night and read about (Officer McKissack’s denial of benefits) on the blog. It hit me because it happened while he was protecting West Seattle.” Willie is a lifelong West Seattle resident, and both he and his mother are West Seattle High School graduates. “I proclaimed myself Mayor of West Seattle and decided it was my civic duty to do something.” He announced his plan here, the day before the news conference in which Officer McKissack, with wife Kim at his side and dozens of other officers presence for support, talked about what it was like to receive the recent letter saying he was no longer with the department because he hadn’t recovered enough to work:
You may have heard the story already today – a 56-year-old Metro bus driver beaten unconscious while on the job, driving her bus in Tukwila early today. In some reports, like this one from KING5, the assault was somewhat overshadowed by the fact two police cars crashed while rushing to help. Tonight in the WSB Forums, member “breanna43” says the driver is her mom, an Alki resident, and asks for prayers. A news release from King County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. John Urquhart says:
The incident occurred just after midnight this morning (January 23rd). The Route 124 bus stopped in Tukwila at S. 144th and International Blvd [map] to let passengers off. A group of seven or eight youths gathered at the back door but only two got off before the doors closed. At least some of the group went to the front of the bus and the driver was punched in the head several times, knocking her unconscious.
Meanwhile two suspects kicked and hit the rear door of the coach, breaking glass and bending the door frame. All suspects then ran off. A Tukwila K-9 dog tracked the group to a house in the 13700 block of 45th Ave South. Eight people were detained. Eventually witnesses from the bus identified three people who were directly involved in the altercation. They were arrested.
All three were booked into the Youth Center, including a 15 year-old boy from Renton for felony assault. Two males were booked for felony vandalism, ages 16 and 17, from Tukwila and Kent, respectively.
Neither of the officers whose cars collided – one KCSO, one Tukwila Police – was seriously hurt; one was treated at the scene, and the other was treated at a hospital and released. The bus driver is at Valley Medical Center. In her WSB Forums post, the driver’s daughter writes, “What would be so hard about building metal enclosures to keep our drivers (and relatives) safe from physical attacks?” In a followup e-mail exchange, she tells us her mom’s been with Metro for 7 years, adding, “I’d just like to say that she is a strong person and was just doing her job. I pray that King County will review its policies regarding Metro drivers’ safety. My mom was defenseless last night. I appreciate all well wishes, and she will too.”
ROCK 4 RELIEF POSTER: From West Seattleite Jamie Chamberlin, on behalf of Rock 4 Relief, the concert at Showbox SODO next Thursday night raising money for Haiti quake relief — here’s the official poster, featuring the music lineup:
Chamberlin says the poster’s by West Seattle designer Wes McDowell. As the poster says, it’s $15, 21 and over only, and you can get tickets online by going here.
EASY STREET LIST: From Rod at Easy Street Records, word that a hot Top 50 list is all in one place now – three recent posts on the Easy Street website ran down owner Matt Vaughan‘s choices for the past decade’s Top 50 In-Store Performances (West Seattle and Queen Anne stores) of all time, and they’re now consolidated in one – read the countdown and the memories here (bet you can guess which one – it happened in WS – tops the lineup). And if you like that list – here’s another new compilation of Easy Street lists – staff picks for the best of 2009.
You’ve heard of beached whales, seals, sea lions .. but you don’t see an octopus quite that often. Jana shared that photo after the discovery on a West Seattle beach. Just last weekend, as noted here, the Seattle Aquarium sponsored the Giant Pacific Octopus Census, asking divers off Seacrest and other area spots to count what they saw. The Aquarium also is bringing its volunteer beach naturalists – who are summertime fixtures on West Seattle shores – to the beach south of Alki Point for a nighttime low-tide walk next Friday (1/29), 8-10 pm. More info here, including the link to RSVP.
Just in from SDOT:
SDOT’s contractor completed this weekend’s work early and expects to reopen the ramp from northbound I-5 to the West Seattle Bridge early this evening (Saturday, Jan 23). The ramp from Columbian Way (from Beacon Hill) to the West Seattle Bridge will reopen at the same time.
Several long-term closures that began last night (Friday, Jan 22) will remain in place for the Spokane Street Viaduct widening project. Lower Spokane Street from First to Sixth avenues is closed to both east and westbound through traffic. The Fourth Avenue South off- ramp from westbound lanes on the Spokane Street Viaduct is permanently closed.
Starting Monday at 9 a.m., Fourth Avenue South under the viaduct will be restricted to one lane in each direction from S Horton to Industrial Way, and will remain restricted for several weeks.
Today the contractor positioned barriers blocking the Fourth Avenue off-ramp from the westbound lanes of Spokane Street Viaduct. The contractor expects to begin demolition of this ramp next week.
Closures similar to this weekend are planned for next weekend if the weather is favorable. Watch for updates.
9:28 PM UPDATE: SDOT confirms the ramps are open.
The Department of Neighborhoods’ P-Patch program has sent around a document showing a big achievement by Fauntleroy’s relatively little Lincoln Park Annex P-Patch (uphill from the tennis courts). The document from Solid Ground tracks the amount of food donated by each P-Patch and its gardeners. For starters, as this chart shows, the P-Patch had by far the biggest amount donated per acre:
The garden also ranked second in the number of pounds of food donated by gardener, 51. Overall, P-Patches around the city gave more than 13 tons of fresh food to people in need; see the full report here.
At last week’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting (WSB coverage here), the crime trends discussed by local police indicated car prowls had been on the decline lately. Today, though, we have reports of at least three incidents since then, west and southwest of The Junction – read on:Read More
If you haven’t checked out the WSB Forums yet today, two items of note: “Smitty” says dog owners violating the law at newly renovated Hiawatha Playfield are being ticketed (read the post here); and there’s word of MORE free yoga, in addition to the Limber Yoga classes mentioned earlier – at SoundYoga (also a WSB sponsor), a free restorative-yoga class is happening at 1 pm (details here).
Another big Saturday. FULL list is in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup – here are a few of the highlights:
FREEWAY REMINDER: Don’t forget, some ramp closures (temporary and permanent) related to the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project are in effect this weekend – here’s a refresher.
FREE YOGA: New WSB sponsor Limber Yoga in The Junction has four free classes today, including one for kids – here’s the schedule as posted in the WSB Forums.
SCHOOL OPEN HOUSES: West Seattle Montessori School (WSB sponsor) and Cometa Playschool both have open houses today – 1-3 pm at WSMS (map), 10 am-noon at Cometa (map).
WEST SEATTLE FILM FORUM: This semi-new movie-viewing/discussion group will watch “Gran Torino” this morning starting at 10:30, Southwest Branch Library (map), coffee and pizza provided – read all about it here.
BENEFIT FOR OFFICER MCKISSACK: Karaoke benefit for injured Officer Jason McKissack‘s medical fund, West Seattle-residing host Willie Murderface at Goldie’s in Georgetown, 9 pm, including a raffle with a long list of businesses donating (see the newly expanded list on the Facebook event page).
Our news partners at the Seattle Times have the details – while stressing that the individual franchisees aren’t in Chapter 11, only the parent company. And till the reference in the Times story, we hadn’t realized Taco Del Mar not only has two locations in West Seattle (Westwood Village and Jefferson Square), it also has corporate headquarters here (2414 SW Andover). The Times reports that the corporate HQ employs 16 people now, less than half its peak staff of 40, and owes creditors at least $1 million.
The peninsula hooped it up Friday night, as all three high schools in West Seattle played host to visiting basketball challengers. Outside the gym at Chief Sealth/Boren, the hallway was home to a Haiti-relief fundraiser, as student volunteers (all from the junior class, the group above told us) held a bake sale to raise money for post-quake help. Back in the gym, the Sealth boys won – as did the peninsula’s other two boys-varsity teams – and the Sealth girls lost, as did the other two girls-varsity teams. Ahead, notes short and not-so-short from the three of us who covered the games (and video too) *ADDED 12:10 PM – story and photo from WSHS girls’ game*:Read More
Two solicitor alerts that WSB’ers wanted to share tonight. Both could well be legitimate, but the recipients’ eyebrows were raised a bit – read on for both reports:Read More
Story and photo by Mary Sheely
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Between 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. today, Saigon Boat Café, 2632 Alki SW (map), served 20 customers. For many restaurants, that probably wouldn’t be such a great number. But for a restaurant on its opening day, with no fanfare save a lit-up “open” sign? Not bad at all.
Owner Nhung Tran, who with her sister Thu Tran is the proprietor of Saigon Boat Café and Red Nails, around the corner at 2648 59th SW, two businesses that we have covered previously, is smiling as she stands in the cheerful space that used to be a dreary rental house.
“We just opened, they come!” she says.
Not too late to jump in and sign up – we’re happy to be co-sponsoring the first Alki edition of Polar Plunge for Special Olympics of Washington and the Law Enforcement Torch Run, this Sunday at Alki – plungers include police, local students, and more! – Sunday is also Dine Out Seattle for Haiti, with five West Seattle restaurants participating last time we looked, including WSB sponsors Feedback Lounge and Skylark Cafe and Club. Saturday – it’s the West Seattleite-organized karaoke benefit at Goldie’s to benefit WS Officer Jason McKissack‘s medical fund (more here) – earlier in the day, school open-house season continues, with the doors swung open at West Seattle Montessori School (WSB sponsor) and Cometa Playschool … Saturday afternoon’s also when you’ll find puppet theater at Alki Bathhouse! From tonight through Sunday night, FIFTY events/activities in all, brought to you by Skylark Cafe and Club, where you’ll find FREE live music and rockin’ food (and don’t forget the Sunday benefit):Read More
Thanks to WSB’er “kmo39” – who has shared updates before on the progress of the King County Water Taxi dock project at Seacrest – for sharing that photo taken this morning: Now that the pilings for the new dock are in, concrete pouring is under way. The Water Taxi is scheduled to start running again in April, and if funding is finalized over the summer, its year-round operations could start this fall; the dock project is a prelude to that, since the previous wooden floating dock – shaky even in summertime – didn’t suit rough-weather operations. Also a reminder – the King County Ferry District board (King County Council members) is scheduled to take up the new proposed fare structure (including a 50-cent increase if you pay cash) on Monday (1:30 pm, County Courthouse), with a public hearing – here’s our story from last week.
Just got word from Feedback Lounge co-proprietor Matt that The Feedback has joined another WSB sponsor, Skylark Cafe and Club (participating during brunch), as well as La Rustica, Spring Hill and Mission in donating part of the proceeds this Sunday to Haiti earthquake relief. It’s part of a citywide promotion – more on its Facebook event page; we’re continuing to catalog West Seattle efforts here.
While wildlife authorities usually evangelize coexistence with coyotes (and other urban wildlife) – as pointed out in this recent WSB report – they decided to take a different tack with two coyotes seen recently and frequently in Magnolia, trapping and killing one this morning, according to the Seattle Times (WSB partner). Though state wildlife agents indicated they were most concerned about the coyotes’ attacks on pets – which happen in other Seattle areas too, West Seattle included – the Times report says they are NOT planning a citywide anti-coyote effort.
Thanks to Sharonn for sending that photo after we mentioned this earlier on Twitter: After a note from Deborra asking about the unusual-looking white ship in the middle of Elliott Bay. We looked it up with a website you should bookmark if you get curious about ship sightings too: marinetraffic.com’s Seattle map. It’s the Mona Lisa, a chartered passenger ship according to this info-page (which also has a closeup file photo). More background here helped indirectly point us to confirmation of what Sharonn said she’d heard – The News Tribune reported last week that Mona Lisa is one of the ships headed to Vancouver to serve as floating hotels for workers coming in for the Winter Games. 3:33 PM UPDATE: Zack shares a closer view – first, the entire photo, then a closer view, since his note to us called attention to the funnel art honoring the ship’s namesake:
Two updates in the story of Jason McKissack, the Seattle Police officer viciously attacked during a West Seattle call more than a year and a half ago, 
and still not recovered enough to work, but losing medical benefits because state law does not cover “catastrophic disability.” Since we reported Tuesday on the Seattle Police Officers Guild news conference (left) in which he and others spoke in support of EHB 1679 — state legislation reintroduced this year to fix the situation — a public hearing has been set: Next Monday, 3:30 pm, House Ways and Means Committee. West Seattle Rep. Eileen Cody is on that committee; here’s how to contact her; here’s the full list of committee members. A message on the “Support Officer Jason McKissack” Facebook group says the hearing will be short “but we need all the help we can get … to show the level of public support for this legislation.” The John L. O’Brien Building at the State Capitol (map) is where to be. Meantime, the next local fundraiser for Officer McKissack’s medical expenses is karaoke at Goldie’s in Georgetown at 9 pm tomorrow. Karaoke host Willie Murderface, a longtime West Seattle resident, organized it and has rounded up raffle prizes from businesses including Skylark Cafe (WSB sponsor), Cherry Consignment, Full Tilt Ice Cream, C and P Coffee, Proletariat Pizza, Pegasus Pizza, Pagliacci Pizza, Envy on Alki, Alki Beach Tattoo, Via Tribunali, Club Motor. Here’s Willie’s event page for this.
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