Another unique event is on the slate at West Seattle’s historic Admiral Theater. The Admiral will team with Women In Film/Seattleon April 19th for a tribute to film pioneer Nell Shipman. That night, The Admiral will show two of Shipman’s silent films – accompanied live by organist Dennis James, and with part of the proceeds benefiting animal charities, including a drive for donated items:
On April 19th, 2010, Women in Film/Seattle, and West Seattle’s Historic Admiral Theater partner to pay homage to two films by Northwest bred cinema pioneer, Nell Shipman. The “Kathryn Bigelow of her time,” Shipman is one of the first women who wrote, produced, and starred in many of her own productions. She became one of the first female directors in 1914, and by the ’20s, she had set up her own production company where she specialized in outdoor adventure films involving an assortment of wild animals including skunks, raccoons, wolves, and bears. Her films featured the outdoors; on-location shooting that would later become her trademark as a filmmaker. Shipman played a role that would occur throughout her film career: a strong, resourceful female who came through to save the day.
The announcement continues after the jump:Read More
Thanks to Rhonda from The Mortgage Porter(WSB sponsor) for the original tip on this – a three-car crash in the 3800 block of Beach Drive earlier this evening, but just one driver involved. According to police at the scene and witnesses, the driver hit two parked cars. (9:15 pm update: a witness in comments says the car that hit the pole is NOT the one that had the driver.)
The driver was taken to the hospital “for observation.” We drove by the scene again a little while ago, and the pole was still angled, but the wrecked cars were gone. (P.S. A few others have shared scene photos on our Facebook wall.)
To be clear, the vote a short time ago in the City Council’s Regional Development and Sustainability Committee is NOT a commitment to a White Center (etc.) annexation vote in November 2011. But as committee chair and City Council President Richard Conlin summarized the 3-0 approval of this resolution, it puts the city “on the path” toward a vote. The next chapter in the rollercoaster/seesaw saga of “Who will annex White Center (and vicinity)?”: The full council must vote on the resolution, likely Monday. More details at partner site White Center Now.
(Photos courtesy Tilden School)
It’s all about partnerships. Our previous story included a public-private partnership to fix up a stretch of local sidewalk, and here we have what you might call a public-private partnership with local students adopting a park. In this case, Tilden School‘s fifth-grade class has been taking care of their closest park, and sent along this story:
Tilden School has officially adopted the beautiful Dakota Place Park, and we, the fifth grade class, are enjoying being park stewards! We will visit the park weekly to clean up trash, pull weeds, and remove invasive species. Before the end of the school year, we will teach the fourth graders how to care for the park so they can be the park stewards next year.
We would like to thank MARK SINDELL of GGLO for designing such a beautiful green space for the West Seattle community and for all of the many small mammals, birds, and insects that are native to the area. Mark gave us a tour of the park to explain its history, design, and plant life.
We would also like to thank all of the kind donors for giving us the tools we needed to begin our stewardship project. Thanks to JUNCTION TRUE VALUE, MCLENDON HARDWARE WHITE CENTER, and WEST SEATTLE NURSERY. Your generosity is truly appreciated!
Come visit the extraordinary Dakota Place Park, and bring all your friends and Fido on a leash!
Dakota Place Park is at California/Dakota (map) and itself, like many local park projects, involves community partnership, with community volunteers playing a huge role in making it a reality. Tilden is less than a block south of the park.
During the last Seattle Parks Board meeting, we reported Superintendent Tim Gallagher‘s announcement that a construction contract has been awarded for Junction Plaza Park. We’re still checking on how soon work will start on the park itself – but we have word from SDOT that work to replace the sidewalk in front of the park (which is at the northwest corner of 42nd/Alaska) is imminent. SDOT’s Peg Nielsen says it’ll start within the next two or three weeks and will be sequenced with the park work. The sidewalk wasn’t part of the original park plan but Nielsen says it’s a “cost-sharing” project, funded with money from the Bridging the Gap Sidewalk Safety Repair Program and the Neighborhood Street Fund. One other example of “cost-sharing” resulting in new sidewalks has just been completed in Morgan Junction – the new sidewalk in front of Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) – the subject of this newly posted SDOT online feature.
That’s one of the photos the FBI has just released of the woman who robbed the Junction KeyBank yesterday afternoon (here’s our original report). They’ve sent the “WANTED” flyer too – it contains two of the other (small) photos they’ve sent; here’s another one from the FBI e-mail to media:
And one that’s on the “poster”:
We’re asking to see if they have larger versions – we’ve blown these up a bit but that doesn’t help much. Meantime, the FBI adds:
This individual should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information about this individual is asked to contact the FBI by telephone at (206) 622-0460, or e-mail at seattle.fbi@ic.fbi.gov
(Double-crested cormorant male with breeding plumage, photographed at Don Armeni by David Hutchinson)
Not much on the calendar this Tuesday aside from the regular recurring events, though those are certainly worth noting – 8 pm rock ‘n’ roll trivia at Feedback Lounge (which celebrates its 1st anniversary later this month!) and 6 pm open turntables atSkylark Café and Club (both WSB sponsors), and in The Junction, Shadowland hosts its regular songwriters’ showcase. One item of note on the City Council calendar this afternoon: the Regional Development and Sustainability Committee will take up a resolution formalizing the city’s “potential” interest in a White Center (and vicinity) annexation vote in November 2011 – pushed back from Mayor McGinn‘s original pursuit of a vote this year, after a financial review last month suggested annexation could be too costly to pursue in the current budget crunch. The meeting’s at 2 pm and will be live on cable and online via Seattle Channel.
With spring break over, high-school baseball season gets into full swing. Chief Sealth High School plays at Cleveland today, hosts Ingraham tomorrow, and visits them Friday; West Seattle High School‘s schedule is featured in this update from assistant coach Scott Meaker, including an update on yesterday’s win:
The West Seattle Varsity faced cross -valley rival Cleveland HS at Hiawatha Sports Complex on Monday afternoon. West Seattle prevailed 16 – 2 in 5 innings. Senior Ryan Wernli earned the win, pitching 3 innings, allowing 1 hit and 2 runs on 4 strikeouts. He walked none. Sophomore Jeff Freeman went 2 -for-3 with 3 RBI, a double and a HR. Junior Issac Luton went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI, a double, and scored 2 runs. Junior Tim Tinkler went 3 -for-4 with 3 RBI and scored 3 runs. Senior Ryan Wiggins hit a 3-run HR. West Seattle plays Bainbridge Is. HS at Hiawatha on Tuesday at 3:30 and hosts Nathan Hale HS on Wednesday.
Each night in April, we’re marking Disaster Preparedness Month with info on one more step you can take to increase your chances of getting yourself and your family through the unthinkable – just in case. Tonight, it’s actually 3 steps, but we’ve mentioned two of them already: It’s the City of Seattle’s “3 to Get Ready” Preparedness Challenge, during which the city Office of Emergency Management is sponsoring WSB and other media outlets to promote a campaign to take those 3 steps and get 3 people you know to do the same thing. Step 1 – Store emergency water. Step 2 (we highlighted this Saturday night) – Set up an out-of-area phone contact. Step 3 (mentioned here Sunday night) – “Drop, cover, hold” in case of earthquake. Got all those? Follow the link on this city page to sign up for a special prize package between now and May 7. We’ll mention it again as the month rolls on – and you can find it again by looking for the “3 to Get Ready” ad in the WSB sidebar. ALSO: For WSB, we’d love to share preparedness pix, to inspire others – For starters, once you have your water stored, send us a pic of yourself/your family/any or all of the above with the big container(s)! (Here’s how to get us that pic.) Final note – our nightly reminders: Know your Hub; and join The Group!
As an all-star group of community activists and businesspeople gathered for the first in a new series of meetings to map a vision for The Triangle – the mostly industrial/commercial area east of The Junction, bounded by 35th/Fauntleroy/Alaska – what wasn’t discussed loomed almost as large as what was.
The two-hour-long meeting was about three-fourths through when Harbor Properties‘ Denny Onslow angled into the issue: “The parking issue is the 500-pound gorilla in the room. We can’t ignore it, or say we’ll address it later.”
Harbor has one of the biggest stakes in The Triangle right now, with what is currently the biggest in-progress construction project in West Seattle, Link, which will supply about 200 of the potential 2,000 new residential units the area might eventually hold, and will not solve “the parking issue,” as it is designed with fewer than 1 space for each of those units.
But the Triangle already has its parking-challenged moments, even before new residents start moving in.
The West Seattle Hi-Yu Summer Festival is moving toward its busy season – and Hi-Yu’s Deena Mahn has some news to share tonight: First, it’s our first look at the recently chosen 2010 button design – which Deena and daughter Zoe Mahn designed. The buttons will be sold for $1 as usual, all summer long, and Deena adds, “Many thanks to Steve Fischer for digitalizing our drawing!” The “Dreams Do Come True” theme for 2010 was chosen four months ago (WSB coverage here); the float with that theme is now being turned from dream to reality, Deena reports: “The float building is under way, and many volunteers led by Tim Spencer are feverishly trying to finish for our first parade appearance in Sequim on May 8th.” Meantime, she also has a long list of thank-yous for the recent Hi-Yu Spring Tea and Auction – read on to see the list:Read More
ORIGINAL 3:28 PM REPORT: From the scanner, and we’re on our way to find out more in person: There’s a report of a bank robbery in The Junction – the address checks to KeyBank at California/Alaska. 3:35 PM UPDATE: The description police are giving out so far: 35-year-old woman, white, about 5-4, slim, shoulder-length black hair, black glasses, black knit cap, black wool jacket, black scarf with red flowers and green leaves, put the money in a “B of A bag,” headed west on Alaska. At the scene, we’re seeing a “temporarily closed” sign on the bank door, with investigators inside.
(Photo by Christopher Boffoli, added 4:47 pm) 3:50 PM UPDATE: We’ve talked to police on the scene; no new description info but we did find out that the robber claimed to have a weapon, though none was actually seen. We’ll also be checking with the FBI to see if they’ll distribute a surveillance photo, as they often do after holdups. (Our archives show at least two holdups at this bank last year – April and August.) 5:03 PM NOTE: Got a question about a damaged police car “near the entrance to (The Bridge)” – according to the scanner watch at CentralDistrictNews.com, an officer crashed while rushing to help with the robbery response here. 8:38 PM: Casey sent a photo snapped while driving by that car:
Meantime, no new info in the search for the bank robber.
Thanks to Jim Sander from the Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council and Mike Dady from the North Delridge Neighborhood Council for the word that 23rd SW reopened today, as promised, after six weeks of work adding utility connections to new homes up the hill from Delridge. (We took the photo at left a short time ago.) Jim reported in e-mail to PPNC members that the much-discussed no-parking signs along 21st SW were being picked up, too. Mike, on behalf of the NDNC Transportation Committee, wants to remind drivers that this means the end of other temporary traffic changes: In particular, it means the return of the temporarily covered “No Left Turn” and “No Right Turn” signs at the corner of 22nd and 23rd Avenues SW, which he says were hard-won after a years-long campaign – those turns are again illegal. And Metro Route 125 is supposed to be back on its regular route this afternoon, according to spokesperson Linda Thielke.
Got chickens, or thinking about them? One of our newest WSB sponsors can help you feed them. We welcome Scratch and Peck, a regional chicken-feed company (delivery or pickup), which like all new sponsors gets the chance to tell you about their business: “Many of us are trying to eat healthy foods grown close to home – that’s a big part of the reason we keep chickens in our yards. We are a local, chicken-owning family business dedicated to providing the cleanest, most wholesome animal feeds possible without the use of soy. We use only organic or non-gmo grains, most of which are grown in the Pacific NW. We currently specialize in chicken feed and are also working on creating feeds for other urban farm animals (goats, rabbits). We are in the process of building a feed mill to produce a line of organic feeds made with Washington-grown grains. Our customers seek us out because they want organic chicken feeds so the eggs and meat the chickens give are the cleanest, healthiest possible for human consumption. Most comments center around the idea that the chickens absolutely love the feed and their people love the look and feel of it. The grains are ground or whole and look similar to granola. Many folks say that it looks good enough for them to eat it themselves! My customers return again and again because their chickens thrive on the feed and they feel confident that they are providing the best feed available. My customers are very appreciative of our delivery services. We enjoy it as well because it enables us to visit with our customers and to meet their special chickens up close and personal. Their lives are enhanced because we are helping them in their goal to live as local and organically as possible.” Scratch and Peck is affiliated with the Seattle Urban Farm Co-op, Puget Sound Food Network, American Pastured Poultry Producers Association, and Sustainable Connections. You’ll find them online at scratchandpeck.com – phone and e-mail information is here.
We thank Scratch and Peck for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news on WSB; find our sponsor team, and info on joining, all here.
The race for State House Position 2 is now down to four candidates – Sabra Schneider just announced she’s dropping out because of an injury that will keep her from campaigning strenuously. Read on for her statement:Read More
WEST SEATTLE RUNNER SETS START DATE: When we last updated you on the much-awaited specialty-running store coming to Charlestown Center (NW corner of California/Charlestown), Lori and Tim McConnell were hoping for an April 10th opening date – and looks like they’ll make it happen, per their official announcement last night via Facebook. 10 am-7 pm Saturday, with chair massages plus a running coach and physical therapist on-site all day.
SHADOWLAND “SIDEWALK CAFE”: The latest West Seattle establishment to apply for a sidewalk-cafe permit is Shadowland; the notice (see it here) was part of the twice-weekly Land Use Information Bulletin just e-mailed by the city. According to the notice, you can comment on the application until April 19th.
One more note:
“REFRESHING”: Washington Federal Savings is “refreshing our brand,” explained Gypsie Gitane in sharing that photo recently, not long after we spotted the Morgan Junction branch’s new signage being hoisted into place one late-March morning. She adds, “Still one of the best capitalized banks in the nation.”
7:23 AM: Just back from Seacrest, where the King County Water Taxi‘s first West Seattle-to-downtown run of 2010 left right on time about half an hour ago. We’ll add video of the sailaway shortly; above, our iPhone photo of the first two passengers at the portable-farebox stop (or, if you’re using ORCA, the portable reader). Lots of info in our preview from last night.ADDED 7:52 AM: Here’s the sailaway, which took 2 minutes as the Rachel Marie backed away and pivoted to point toward downtown.
Fairly quiet, you might notice – when we were at a Ballard shipyard for our sneak peek at the RM as it underwent renovations, we were told that would be one noticeable difference. Right before boarding began, by the way, we caught inaugural captain Neil and crew member Ben on camera:
As for whether the Water Taxi really will run year-round from here on out – we checked last week with King County Executive (and longtime Water Taxi advocate) Dow Constantine‘s transportation specialist Chris Arkills, who says the funding question has yet to be worked out, but that Constantine “remains committed to it.” P.S. Remember that the season-opening party for the Water Taxi (which returns as a WSB sponsor as of later today) is this Sunday, noon-2 pm at Seacrest, with free rides all day.
On this 4th night of Disaster Preparedness Month, yet another big quake reminds us that we’re in Quake Country too: The 7.2 quake that rocked northern Mexico and Southern California (Twitpic at left). You’ve heard a lot about what you should do to prepare for quakes – and we’ll take a closer look at some of those specifics later in the month – but you don’t always hear a lot about “what to do WHEN one hits.” OK, maybe you’ve heard “go stand in a doorway” – what if there’s not one nearby? And what if you’re outside, or in a car? FEMA has a short four-part list of tips – take two minutes and read it right now. (You can even scroll down and take a pop quiz afterward.) Next step, the one we’re going to mention every one of this month’s 30 nights: Know your nearest Emergency Communication Hub. If a major quake (or other type of disaster) takes out communication/utility infrastructure, that’s where you’d go to find out what’s going on and how to get help. (The Hubs map is part of the West Seattle Be Prepared website, the subject of our DPM Night 1 advice; on Night 2, the important docs to store safely; on Night 3, picking an out-of-state relative/friend whose number is carried by everyone in your family, for check-in purposes.) Any particular preparedness topic you feel confused/under-informed about? Just mention it so we can be sure to hit it as the month goes on – local volunteers are plugged into an amazing wealth of information and resources. Oh, and join the West Seattle Be Prepared Facebook group too – you’ll find an interesting quake-info link there, just a few updates down the page!)
The Cask is described by co-owner Shon MacDughlas as an “Old World ale and wine house” which will offer local, independent-label wines and 150 imported beers. MacDughlas notes that the venue, which he co-owns with his wife Dedria Pope, a West Seattle-based Windermere real-estate agent, has applied for a “multi-faceted license” allowing them to offer beverages for retail sale as well as serving them.
The Cask will provide a “cozy” atmosphere with wood features (including the bar top, made from a fallen old-growth fir), lamplight, and music, including a lounge with space to accommodate solo musicians.
Thanks to Trileigh, wildlife photographer extraordinaire (remember Wollet the owlet?), for providing the first photo we’ve seen of one of the orcas that have been in the area today. She took the photo from the south side of Lincoln Park. (Here’s our earlier story, with updates and comments tracking the sightings.) ADDED 8:52 PM: Trileigh sent this one later, after going through hundreds more she took:
(BACK TO ORIGINAL 5:35 PM REPORT) And we’re happy to be able to share another great photo, an “Easter seal” courtesy of Seal Sitters‘ Robin Lindsey, photographed this morning before the sun went away:
30 sales — from North Admiral to White Center – are on the list so far for the 6th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, coming up Saturday, May 8, 9 am-3 pm, all over the peninsula – not one big sale, but a multitude (close to 200 last year) of sales big and small, transforming West Seattle into a garage-saler’s parade for the day. Registration opened Thursday and continues till April 22, when we start building The Big Map. If you want to sell a few things but don’t have space at your own place for a sale, both Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) and C & P Coffee are stepping up to offer space again this year – check in with Hotwire or C&P if you’re interested in reserving space there. If you plan to do that, but still want your own “ad” – up to 10 words about your sale – on the map, please register as an individual, noting the group site as your sale address (otherwise, each of those locations will simply be on the map as “site with multiple sellers”). Ready to sign up? Here’s the form; any questions, e-mail garagesale@westseattleblog.com.
Another unique event is on the slate at West Seattle’s historic 
Every quarter, there’s a new lineup for the 
for Junction Plaza Park. We’re still checking on how soon work will start on the park itself – but we have word from 
As an all-star group of community activists and businesspeople gathered for the first in a new series of meetings to map a vision for The Triangle – the mostly industrial/commercial area east of The Junction, bounded by 35th/Fauntleroy/Alaska – what wasn’t discussed loomed almost as large as what was.
The 
Thanks to Jim Sander from the 
“Many of us are trying to eat healthy foods grown close to home – that’s a big part of the reason we keep chickens in our yards. We are a local, chicken-owning family business dedicated to providing the cleanest, most wholesome animal feeds possible without the use of soy. We use only organic or non-gmo grains, most of which are grown in the Pacific NW. 
WEST SEATTLE RUNNER SETS START DATE: When we 
If you’ve noticed activity in the storefront where Dante’s 
Quick reminder – the 
30 sales — from North Admiral to White Center – are on the list so far for the 6th annual
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