day : 07/06/2010 13 results

Door-to-door alert: Sticker patrol?

Darren in Arbor Heights e-mailed to share this:

We had a solicitor come to our house tonight about 7:45p to tell us that he was working with SPD to let people know about some burglaries off of 35th.  He said he wasn’t trying to sell us anything but wanted us to put an ADT sign in our window.  We have a no soliciting sign on our gate, but he still cam in.  He didn’t have an ADT shirt on.  It was some other logo.  I asked him for a card and he said he wasn’t selling anything and that he didn’t have one.

Become a ‘Walking Ambassador’: West Seattle training Saturday

It’s a simple way to get healthier, and to get around … just walk. But sometimes people need a little encouragement. Think you’re the person to cheer them on? Feet First invites you to free “Neighborhood Walking Ambassador” training at the Alki Bathhouse this Saturday (June 12), 10 am-noon. Here’s more about the program (on Feet First’s recently upgraded website!). If you’re interested, RSVP to yoyo@feetfirst.info or 206-652-2310.

Video: ‘Guide puppies’ & police horse, nose-to-nose in West Seattle

If you haven’t had your daily dose of cuteness … there you go … though what you see in that clip is also very serious business! Ruth Oldham of West Seattle See Dogs invited us to drop by the Seattle Police Mounted Patrol‘s headquarters at Westcrest Park on Sunday afternoon as her group and two others from around the region had a special visit. They brought guide-dogs-in-training to get a good look at, and sniff of, Tiger the SPD horse. As we learned while listening to the discussion, future guide dogs need to be exposed to all sorts of circumstances and characters, because you never know what they will have to help their people deal with.

Ruth explains, “Once a month or more, in addition to our regular meetings, puppy-raising clubs have an “outing” to provide their puppies with new experiences. Working guide dogs may encounter mounted police and horse-drawn carriages in the course of their day and so the Seattle Police Department has been generous in providing the opportunity over the years for our puppies to go ‘nose to nose; and greet their horses and to answer questions.”

The puppy-raising clubs that joined WS See Dogs on Sunday are Guide Puppies of Seattle and Bellevue-based For Your Eyes Only. Interested in volunteering to raise a guide puppy for a year? West Seattle See Dogs’ next meeting is one week from tonight, Monday, June 14, at Merrill Gardens-Admiral Heights (WSB sponsor), 6:30 pm, just show up!

South Park Bridge: Countdown to closure; business brainstorming

Jeff Gilbert of the Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) is a longtime humorist as well as rock ‘n’ roller, entrepreneur, etc., and mashed that scenario up in honor of the all-day wake he’s holding for the South Park Bridge starting at 6 pm June 30, an hour before it closes forever, with no concrete commitments yet for full funding of a new bridge. (At the Feedback that night, they’ll supply the materials, you help build the symbolic replacement!) The people of South Park are still hashing out their plans for C-Day – the South Park Yahoo! group has been abuzz with ideas. And for the businesses of South Park, who suddenly will no longer have people walking, riding and driving across the bridge to dine and shop, they’ve got a big brainstorming session ahead this Wednesday – city reps from departments including the Office of Economic Development will be at the SP Community Center on 8th South at 6:30 pm (here’s a flyer in English/Spanish/Vietnamese). MONDAY NIGHT UPDATE: SDOT has announced sharrow-painting ahead in South Park – read on:Read More

Special guest for health-reform Town Hall screening in West Seattle

June 7, 2010 2:48 pm
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 |   Health | West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

Tomorrow morning’s presidential Town Hall addressing health reform and seniors will be viewed at senior-serving facilities across the country, including Providence Mount St. Vincent here in West Seattle. The Mount’s Arlene Carter sends word that Susan Johnson, the Health and Human Services regional director for Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Idaho, will be at the Mount for the event, starting at 8 tomorrow morning. The National Council on Aging is sponsoring “satellite town halls” like the one in WS to try to get questions answered about health-reform changes. (If you can’t get to The Mount, the event itself, led by President Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius from a Maryland senior center, will be streamed on whitehouse.gov and healthreform.gov, 8:15 am-9:45 am our time tomorrow.)

West Seattle Crime Watch: 2 incidents in Lincoln Park area

This afternoon, we have two reports from the Lincoln Park area – one from a man who e-mailed to report he was chased through nearby Solstice Park last night; the other was a robbery/attack reported in LP last week, published on the new SPD online-report website. Read on for both:Read More

Video: Pathfinder K-8’s Lou Cutler runs 60 laps for Make-A-Wish

With dozens of students running alongside, that’s Pathfinder K-8 P-E teacher Lou Cutler scoring a strong finish to his annual birthday run this mornin – one lap around the school playfield for each year of his life, raising money for Make-A-Wish Foundation. This is the seventh time Lou’s done this, but a few things were different this year – for one, it’s the first time around the field at Pathfinder’s new Pigeon Point campus; for two, he tacked on an extra lap – 59th birthday, 60 laps. We’ll check later on the fundraising total; you can donate online here.

Admiral Safeway rezoning goes to City Council committee Wed.

When last we updated the Admiral Safeway project – with this report that the smaller retail building on the northwest side of the current parking lot would not be built first, after all, and the interim pharmacy will instead be in a trailer – Safeway’s Sara Corn said the next milestone was City Council consideration of the “contract rezone” they’ve requested. As she had projected at the time, the rezoning proposal is indeed on a Council agenda this week – the Committee on the Built Environment will consider it Wednesday at 9:30 am at City Hall downtown. Here’s the agenda; here’s the actual Council Bill they’re voting on. According to the agenda, public comment will not be taken at the meeting (though certainly you can e-mail committee chair Sally Clark, vice chair Tim Burgess and/or member Sally Bagshaw before then – contact info is here). The rezone doesn’t change the height limit for any part of the site – it’s listed as 40 feet now, and will remain that – but would change the allowable business size on the section of the site where the store itself will be built, and will change one currently residential section of the site’s south side to commercial zoning. Approval by the full council is required after the committee vote, and the project still needs approval for the north-side “alley vacation.” Once that vote is scheduled, Corn told us last month, Safeway will finalize a construction schedule for the project.

Federal trial starts today for Delridge shooting, chop-shop suspect

gavel.jpgAt the federal courthouse downtown, trial is scheduled to begin today for DeVaughn Dorsey, charged with a long list of federal crimes including the May 2008 shooting of a mother and her 10-year-old son at their Delridge home. We reported the indictments in January 2009, including the allegation that the 2008 shooting was a case of attempted witness intimidation (both victims survived) in a car theft/”chop shop” case involving multiple locations (one in West Seattle). Starting today, Chief Judge Robert Lasnik presides over Dorsey’s trial; last September, investigators made one last neighborhood sweep – as we noted here – for evidence and witnesses, before going to trial.

West Seattle Monday: Lou’s run, Admiral crime, Triangle parks

June 7, 2010 6:30 am
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 |   West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(Weekend photo taken at Jack Block Park in West Seattle by David Hutchinson)
Today’s buzz: At Pathfinder K-8 (1901 SW Genesee on Pigeon Point), P-E teacher Lou Cutler raises money for Make-A-Wish with his annual birthday run – starting at 8:45 am – go cheer him on (you can pledge online too) … At 9 am, all around the state, it’s the official start of online/in-person candidate-filing week for the August primary; if you’re thinking of running for something, info’s here … Tonight at 6 at West Seattle Golf Course, as part of the current city-spearheaded Triangle planning process, everyone who’s interested is invited to take a look at, and get an overview of, Triangle park facilities, including WSGC … Tonight at 6:30 at Hiawatha Community Center, it’s the second crime-prevention forum presented by the Admiral Neighborhood Association … At 6:45, the evening book group at Southwest Library discusses Thomas Friedman‘s “From Beirut to Jerusalem.”

To see more of what’s up, check the WSB West Seattle Events calendar any time!

“Pawty with a Purpose”- for West Seattle author Val Mallinson

By Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

“Imagine the worst flu you’ve ever had — aches, fever, stomach illness, and feeling like you want to die. Now imagine that lasting for a year.”

This is how Val Mallinson, author of The Dog Lover’s Companion…” books for the Pacific Northwest, describes the effects of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), which she has been struggling with since 1987. Val’s particular type of CFS comes in waves of relapse and remission, and it was during times of remission that she and the “Wonder Wieners” (Cooper and Isis, her rescued miniature Dachshunds) did the research for her travel books.

Her most recent relapse began in March of 2009; as of July, she says, her part-time employer, PCC in West Seattle (WSB sponsor), found her an easier job to do while she dealt with the effects of CFS. However, the physical impact of this particular relapse has continued so long and so severely, that she hasn’t been able to work since December.

Unable to continue in her job at PCC — Val and her husband Steve are quick to note that PCC was very supportive of Val and provided her with medical benefits for as long as they could — Val applied for disability benefits through her insurance company. Her application was denied, she says, because many insurance companies don’t recognize CFS as a legitimate disability.

Her disability claim is being appealed with the help of a lawyer through the organization Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness, but in the meantime, the medical bills are accumulating. Friends suggested a fundraising party, which Val initially balked at – but now, it’s on.

Read More

Parks Levy Opportunity Fund proposals: 1 week till the pitches!

Who will get shares of the first $7 million? Thanks to Pete Spalding from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee, we have details on the meeting a week from tonight during which West Seattleites who proposed Opportunity Fund projects will get to make their pitches. It’s Monday, June 14th, at Magnuson Park‘s Workshop & View Ridge Room (7400 Sand Point Way; here’s a map). It starts at 4:45, when applicants will set up displays and sign up for presentations; 5:15-6:15 is their open-house opportunity to show them off; then 6:30-8:45, applicants get 2 minutes each to pitch their projects. (In addition to the West Seattle projects, this meeting also is for those from the Northwest and Northeast parts of the city; other parts of the city get a pitch session 6/28.) Pete stresses one thing: Even if your project didn’t rank highly in the recently revealed Parks staff ratings, you’ve still got a chance, if you’re ready to fight for it – those ratings are only part of what committee members will decide in their recommendations, and even the lowest-staff-rated proposal has a chance, if a good enough case is made! Here’s the official agenda; here’s the citywide list of projects and staff ratings.

Dolphins take on Pirates – and look who won!

June 7, 2010 12:31 am
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 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

(Photos by Cori Roed)
When you’re talking Seafair Pirates (who invade Alki on July 10th) and parades, you know it’s summer, rain or shine. These photos are from last weekend but just came in, courtesy of Cori Roed, who explains:

At a parade in New Westminster, BC, Canada, on Saturday, May 29th, the Denny International MS Marching Band, under the command of Band Director Dr. Marcus Pimpleton, stormed and took over the ship of Seattle’s own Seafair Pirates. (To be fair, it was early and the pirates didn’t put up that much of a fight.)

The Denny music program has its own website here, and of course the Pirates sail the online seas here.