West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
If you haven’t seen it in the SPDBlotter feed on the Crime Watch page already: 
A West Seattle robbery solved by fingerprints on a thrown beer can. The SPDBlotter report says it happened at “a convenience store in the 6300 block of 35th SW” (map) on December 12th; two people who tried to buy beer but were turned away for lack of ID started throwing beer cans at the clerk, then hit him, and one made off with the register in the meantime. They got away but prints were lifted from the beer cans and one was traced about a week ago to a 19-year-old man; turns out he’s i the King County Jail on an unrelated warrant, and has now confessed to this crime; the other suspect’s still being sought. Read the full SPDBlotter story here.
Our clip from July 10, 2009, captured the iconic moment of last year’s West Seattle Summer Fest – Dow Constantine talking about his eventual-landslide King County Executive campaign as he introduced Mudhoney, who performed for thousands in the heart of The Junction. Now the dates are set for this year’s Summer Fest – July 9, 10 and 11. And the five months between now and then will go fast, so Susan Melrose at the West Seattle Junction Association has an announcement to share:
I know it’s early, but we’re already planning for Summer Fest. There has been a steady stream of phone calls all month from regional craft and food vendors wanting to apply to this event. The good news is that West Seattle businesses get top priority!
In order to have a stronger West Seattle event, we are offering West Seattle businesses priority over non-West Seattle businesses if they apply by March 15th. If you’re a West Seattle business and want to apply for Summer Fest, visit www.westseattlefestival.com, download the appropriate application and write “West Seattle Local” in the comment section to be given priority. Applications received after March 15 will be handled like any other applicant.
(WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli: Link site with new crane many’ll see today for the 1st time )
From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar:
CONCORD ELEMENTARY OPEN HOUSE: It’s in South Park but aligned with middle and high schools: Concord International Elementary is having an open house tonight including information on its dual-language immersion program and the new Student Assignment Plan. 6:30-8:30 pm, 723 South Concord (map).
SENIOR CENTER OF WEST SEATTLE: Two series start today – “Painting Poetry,” helping people reveal and express a personal story over the course of four weeks, with its essence becoming a poem and painting. 1-2:30 pm. Same time period today, the Senior Center also will start an 8-week Great Decisions 2010 discussion group. Call (206) 932-4044 for registration information on either one.
KENYON HALL: Tonight and tomorrow, Nigerian-born British actor Tayo Aluko presents “From Africa to the White House: A Journey of Resistance, Triumph and Spirituals…a musically illustrated talk,” with Kenyon Hall’s Lou Magor at the keyboard, 8 pm. More info at kenyonhall.org.
MISSION’S 5TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY: We took a closer look at the Admiral District restaurant/bar in this story published Monday; tonight, help its owners celebrate their milestone 5th anniversary, 7 pm.
OTHER NIGHTLIFE: Open turntables at Skylark Cafe and Club at 6 pm (which is offering special Valentine’s Day deals if you haven’t heard), rock trivia at Feedback Lounge at 8 pm (both are WSB sponsors).
From West Seattle Girls’ Softball president Shawn Herrera:
Spring is just around the corner — that means West Seattle Girls Softball registration has begun. Through February 21st you can sign your daughter up for this year’s season. More details can be found at westseattlegirlssoftball.com The cost of registration includes one ticket for the player to the UW Huskies Softball game on May 2nd, a uniform for your daughter to keep and a trophy at the end of the season. For scholarship details please contact Shawn Herrera at wssshawnp@yahoo.com. See you on the field!
(Photos courtesy Bellavita Photography by Deborah Semer)
Though we do our best to canvass the peninsula for the West Seattle Weekend Lineup, we obviously had one glaring omission this past weekend: The Cock of the Block chicken-wing cookoff Saturday night at Alki Tavern. Didn’t hear about it till we got a Facebook note asking, didn’t they see us there and where’s the coverage? Turns out that Deborah Semer was there taking photos – and sent us the link tonight. Five cooks, and five bucks got you 10 wings. There were even blindfolded judges!
And the winner was …
That’s Alki Tavern’s own “Sweet Lou,” hoisting the ginormous trophy:
His second win in a row, by the way.
That’s a bit of iPhone video from a stroll along Longfellow Creek, south of the West Seattle Golf Course, one recent sunny day. It works nicely to illustrate a few notes we hadn’t shared yet from last Thursday’s Parks Board meeting in the City Council chambers downtown. There was some expectation of an overflow crowd, because of the controversy over the original draft of the proposed code, but in the end, the crowd maxed out around 50, with speakers focused on two issues: the code’s smoking ban (supporters and opponents spoke) and feared persecution of homeless park users. Next step: A vote when the board meets Feb. 11 (here’s the latest on that from the Parkways website). Alki-residing Parks Board Jackie Ramels (from Alki) said they’d received 135+ e-mails/letters about the code as of the meeting. And she asked that people understand the board isn’t proposing the rules – department staff proposes them, the board reviews them.
Specific notes of West Seattle interest: Longfellow Creek was mentioned when board members talked about the naming process for park land along Thornton Creek – to use a protocol such as “(name) Access to Thornton Creek Natural Area” – and said it would be used for other creeks in the city, most likely coming next to Longfellow. (Here’s the briefing paper on the Thornton process plan.) Also: Deputy Superintendent Christopher Williams said Superintendent Tim Gallagher plans a series of meetings at Parks facilities around the city this year, and two were listed in West Seattle – mark your calendars – April 28 at Delridge Community Center, October 7th at Hiawatha Community Center. Williams noted Parks is “developing guidelines” for use of Facebook and Twitter – “looking to have a policy that’s more liberal than a government organization might provide.”
ORIGINAL 8:49 PM REPORT: Just got that photo via Twitter from @sntxrr who says it’s his view of the house burning right now in South Park, 500 block of South Trenton. If you are in eastern West Seattle, you might have heard the sirens – and another engine from central West Seattle (E32 from The Junction) was just called out to join the fight too (some of the responding engines/trucks on the 911 listing are from here too). Scanner hasn’t indicated any injuries so far, but the house was reported “fully involved,” from its garage to its attic. (Looks like this is the Google Street View angle closest to the one the photo shows.)
9:04 PM: At the fire scene is photojournalist Cliff DesPeaux – check his Twitter feed at @despeaux for photo/video links.
9:38 PM: Seattle Fire spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen says they don’t know the fire’s cause yet, but it’s out, adding that six people got out of the house safely, no injuries. She says the fire, which started in the garage, was first noticed by someone walking a dog.
1:08 AM: Just checked back with the SFD media hotline and there’s been a major development: Vander Houwen now says they found a body in the burned garage where the fire started. No word on identity or even gender; they also aren’t saying yet how the fire started – more information expected later today.
UPDATE: SFD has not announced a cause yet. Damage totaled $310,000. The victim was a teenage boy.
From tonight’s West Seattle Hi-Yu meeting – Jim Edwards just sent that cameraphone photo of the official drawing for this year’s float. We were there two months ago when the theme was chosen, “Dreams Do Come True” – the drawing shown tonight comes from the concepts displayed that night by young Hi-Yu enthusiasts, including Junior Court members:
Tonight’s meeting also was scheduled to include a decision on this year’s button design – we’ll let you know when we get word of that. You’ll see the finished float in this year’s West Seattle American Legion Grand Parade on July 24 (if you don’t happen to get to one of the earlier parades to which Hi-Yu travels to represent West Seattle, which is the ONLY Seattle neighborhood still to have its own parade float – others have festivals, none have floats). Our archived Hi-Yu coverage is here – including the recent story about the opening of application season for Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu (qualifications, forms and info here).
Story and photos by Mary Sheely
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Sixty percent of new restaurants fail within three years. But Mission Latin Restaurant & Lounge, 2325 California SW, is about to celebrate completion of year five.
If there’s a secret to Mission’s success, Eric Cozens, who owns the restaurant along with Peter Morse, says he doesn’t know what it is.
“We feel very blessed to have had it work out,” Cozens says. “I don’t know what the formula is. It was a lot of things coming together: the right place, timing, personalities, economics.”
It helps that Cozens and Morse complement each other in skills as well as personality.
From the WSB inbox – two West Seattle homes, next door to each other, burglarized over the weekend – read on for the report, including the unusual choice of loot:Read More
(WSB photo from Race for the Cure, heading north onto The Viaduct, 6/7/2009)
Not West Seattle-specific, but it does affect many people here in many ways — Just got a note that registration is open for the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, a tradition for your WSB co-publishers and thousands of other Seattleites – and noticed in the fine print, it’s not going to be on The Viaduct this year – the location is instead listed as Seattle Center. Not surprising, since construction in the area is accelerating, but this doesn’t seem to have been reported elsewhere yet, so we thought we’d pass it along, for those who will miss walking with that great view, and for those who will be happy to have one less traffic-closure morning, among others. Here’s the race information; here’s how to register. The date this year: June 6, only four months away. ADDED 1:41 PM: We asked R4TC for the official reason behind the move, and it’s partly as expected – from Danie, “Due to scheduling issues with the Sounders at Qwest field and the viaduct coming down in 2011 a location change was necessary. The route is still TBD, but the venue has great potential and participants will be VERY pleased.” (That’s the SOUTH end of The Viaduct coming down next year, of course, not the central section.)
For those interested in Mayor McGinn’s push for a White Center vote this November on annexing to Seattle (as reported here last Wednesday) – the City Council briefing has wrapped up, and we’re writing up toplines as fast as we can on partner site White Center Now – see the story here. The timeline laid out this morning is: First the council would vote March 8 on indicating an interest in the November vote – but wouldn’t have to commit to it till August; in the meantime, the rest of the process – including the state/county Boundary Review Board – proceeds. Next step, prior to the hoped-for March 8 vote, would be a February 19 hearing before the Development/Sustainability committee chaired by Council President Richard Conlin. ADDED 1:51 PM: Just got the requested copy of the PowerPoint presented at today’s briefing – converted it to PDF and you can see it here.
We’ve mentioned it a couple times in the past week-plus – and now, the main event is under way. Thanks to Gregor for sharing that photo of the 118-foot construction crane going up at Harbor Properties‘ Link site along 38th between SW Alaska and Fauntleroy Way in The Triangle. We’ll check back on it later today. Meantime, over in The Junction business district, construction continues at TrueValue, which remains open during remodeling (“a face lift for a few weeks,” as its website describes the work):
Thanks to Karen for the photo. More morning sights: Not long after sunrise, an impressive fog bank drifted over the Sound:
Dave Gould shared that photo taken south of The Junction. One more eagle-eyed view – Alison spotted this bald eagle on a utility-pole perch near Denny International Middle School‘s playfield in Westwood:
Thanks so much to everyone who shares photos, news tips, and other updates – here are all the ways you can reach WSB 24/7.
After reading the WSB followup Sunday on Neal Chism, who patrols for trash/debris part of the Duwamish shore near the West Seattle Bridge, Jen shared the photo above, explaining:
This photo shows the garbage (including a syringe/needle) picked up (Sunday) afternoon along a short stretch of West Seattle beach, a couple miles south of the Fauntleroy dock. All of this was picked up in the space of about 350 feet of shoreline. The recent super high tides seem to be bringing lots of trash. Imagine how much trash would be collected off local beaches, if all of us who walk the shoreline picked up the garbage as we walked…
I’ll be taking a bigger trash bag with me (today).
If you have the chance to get out on the beach today – the lowest daytime tide is at 12:34 pm (here’s the monthly chart).
WHITE CENTER ANNEXATION VOTE BRIEFING: Seattle City Councilmembers are scheduled to be briefed this morning on Mayor Mike McGinn‘s proposal to have White Center vote on annexation this November (first reported here last Wednesday). The agenda says the briefing should happen around 10:30; you can watch live via the Seattle Channel, cable 21 or online here.
WEST SEATTLE HI-YU FESTIVAL: Summer gets ever closer! Hi-Yu members are scheduled to choose this year’s button design — celebrating this year’s theme, “Dreams Do Come True” — at tonight’s meeting: 6:30 pm in the fellowship hall at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church (3050 California SW; the hall is on the east side of the church).
FREE DANCE LESSONS: First Monday of the month means free ballroom/Latin dance lessons with Balorico at Kenyon Hall (35th/Kenyon), 6-7 pm (see the sidebar here).
SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE: 6:30-8:30 tonight at The Center School, a Seattle Public Schools “all-city draw (option)” high school in Seattle Center‘s Center House. More details in this WSB Forum post.
YMCA ADULT BASKETBALL REGISTRATION: From Matt Schlede, sports director at West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor):
The West Seattle & Fauntleroy YMCA is now registering for Adult 4v4 Basketball League, season starts February 21. Two leagues: ages 18+ and 40+ (18+ games on Sunday nights at Fauntleroy YMCA, 40+ on Wednesday nights at Fauntleroy YMCA). Register as a team or as individual. For more info and to register visit westseattleymca.org.
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