With the future of the now-vacant ex-Genesee Hill Elementary School building one of their area’s hottest topics, the new Genesee-Schmitz Neighborhood Council had Seattle School Board rep Steve Sundquist on its first-ever general-meeting agenda. By the time he spoke, about 50 people were at the meeting, held at West Side Presbyterian Church. And before it ended, the group had elected its first official slate of officers. Toplines after the jump:Read More
Kitty Harbor, a nonprofit shelter and adoption facility on the south end of Harbor Avenue just before The Bridge, is open again for the summer, and getting ready to go into its second weekend. Jess Cliffee-mailed WSB to share photos and this report :
It was a really successful weekend – we adopted out nearly 30 cats and kittens, all to great homes. … On top of all of our adoptions, we had a number of people from West Seattle come in to drop off donations, and offer to volunteer or be foster homes. It’s great to see the community coming together to help out animals in our area.
In fact, just today, we received a Facebook message from Melissa, telling us about three kittens she’s been fostering at her West Seattle home (photos here) – with adoption available through Kitty Harbor, which incidentally has a new website this year, as mentioned in previews last weekend – see it here. They’re open Saturdays and Sundays, 1-6 pm.
Tonight’s West Seattle Art Walk is only half over – you’ve still got lots of time to go visit at least a few venues (here’s the printable map). At Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) in the Admiral District, for one, new paintings are in from featured artist Rachel Austin, like the one shown above – which, if you look very closely, actually incorporates an Alki Point map! It’s a cozy 5″ x 5″. There’s music, food and more, from Alki to Delridge to Fauntleroy and many points inbetween. Here’s our earlier preview; wsartwalk.com has even more highlights. We’ll have more photos to share later tonight.
Crews working on the Spokane Street Viaduct Project will close the intersection at First Avenue S and S Spokane Street for the weekend, beginning at 8:30 pm tomorrow (Friday, June 11). The intersection will be closed to all through traffic until early Monday (June 14) at 6 a.m. The closure is required to complete work on the water main under the roadway. The eastbound off-ramp from the Spokane Street Viaduct (from the West Seattle Bridge) to First Avenue South will remain open. Detours will be provided for north and southbound traffic on First Avenue.
That’s Mayor Mike McGinn at last night’s 34th District Democrats meeting, warning again that the city budget picture remains ugly. He also said the much-awaited (albeit nervously awaited, by many) midyear cuts are soon to be “rolled out” – and this afternoon, we’ve learned the “rollout” is set for Monday morning — city budget boss Beth Goldberg is scheduled to brief the City Council Budget Committee on the midyear cuts at 10:30 am Monday, according to the agenda just sent out. McGinn was at the 34th DDs’ meeting at The Hall at Fauntleroy along with Council President Richard Conlin and Councilmember Bruce Harrell – read on for notes on what else they said, including their answers to audience questions (besides the Admiral crosswalk Q/A we reported separately this morning):Read More
We went in to check in on his progress toward getting the store open; he tells us that if all goes well, he might be open as soon as the end of next week. That would be ahead of the schedule he was hoping for when we talked to him in March! As for the beer, he mentions he’s particularly proud of having been able to procure Pliny the Elder.
Out of the inbox, forwarded by a few folks (thank you!), SDOT’s Paul Elliott sent out this alert regarding the “low bridge” during the evening commute:
I just was told that we expect NOAA to bring two large vessels through the swing bridge this afternoon, probably about 5:30, but perhaps ten or fifteen minutes earlier. We expect the openings to last in the 25-30 minute range. Apparently we didn’t get notification until yesterday afternoon, hence this last-minute push to get the word out.
Also remember that SDOT sends word of imminent rush-hour low-bridge openings via Twitter, but this is an earlier heads-up in case you want to plot an alternate path/time to go home.
(NOTE: Updated repeatedly since first publication; thanks to Nancy for the added research)
More than a few people requested a list of West Seattle establishments that plan to have the World Cup on their bigscreens as play begins this week (here’s the schedule) – and it also came up in the WSB Forums. So WSB contributor Keri DeTore started investigating. The following venues say they’ll be showing World Cup games during their regular business hours, unless otherwise noted – such as Abbondanza, Angelina’s and Beveridge Place Pub, which will be open some special hours for viewing. (For hours/contact info, we have linked establishment names to their website – except for those that do not have readily locatable sites, in which case we’ve used other online listings). Click ahead for the list (and let us know if there’s someplace we’re missing!):Read More
(Photo courtesy Historic Seattle)
The date is now set – two weeks later than previously projected – for the Landmarks Preservation Board to vote on whether to make West Seattle’s “Bloss House” an official city landmark. Board members decided in April (WSB coverage here) to proceed with consideration, but that’s no guarantee of designation. It’s a 95-year-old Craftsman home at (4055 SW Holgate), most notable as a largely unaltered example of the working-class bungalow that dominated so much of the residential construction back then. The two-part nomination document presented to the board (text here, photos here) includes a peek into West Seattle history as well as the background of the house itself. The designation vote is set for the board’s 3:30 pm meeting next Wednesday, June 16, on the 40th floor of the Municipal Tower downtown.
Today is the last day of classes at Chief Sealth International High School for seniors, whose graduation ceremony is coming up next week. And for one of them, Sabas Rousseau, this is a truly memorable day – as he got a big surprise: Cirque de Soleil performers and reps from Sun Life Financial showed up to give him a Rising Star $5,000 scholarship – which he didn’t know about in advance! Flanking Sabas in the photo are Sealth principal John Boyd and Sun Life’s Mark O’Connor. The surprise award was elaborately orchestrated – Sabas and a small group of his fellow seniors were invited to come see a special show in honor of their last day of classes – here’s a card-trick skit, in which Sealth senior Daniel Davis played the sidekick:
Sabas, by the way, is one of three area students receiving a Rising Star scholarship today – the only one from West Seattle. In addition to his academic achievement, Sabas is an active volunteer, and is involved with Treehouse‘s College and Career Planning program, which helps foster-care youth with college and career readiness; as part of this award, Treehouse receives a $50,000 grant for financial education.
New details from police this morning in the incident dispatched last night in Westwood as an “assault with weapons.” While shots apparently were fired, police tell us, no one was hit – but two people were beaten. Det. Mark Jamieson says the first call went out as a “fight disturbance in progress with shots fired” at 29th SW/SW Trenton. Several people said they saw teens fighting and heard four gunshots. When police got there, they found, according to Det. Jamieson, “a group of about 20 people huddled around a male victim who was sprawled out on the sidewalk, northeast corner of the intersection. At first, officer thought victim had been shot, because of the way he was lying and he was unresponsive. He was, in fact, not shot, but had been badly beaten up.” He was taken to the hospital; another male had injuries to the face and head, Det. Jamieson says, but didn’t need hospitalization. The two had been “‘jumped’ by at least 12 other males,” who allegedly shot at them as they tried to run away; police “were able to locate where the shots were fired from (29th SW/SW Cloverdale). After officers were able to interview everyone involved , three young men were arrested and booked into King County Jail for investigation of assault.”
As previewed here Wednesday morning, an Admiral Neighborhood Association delegation took the mike at last night’s 34th District Democrats meeting to make a pitch to Mayor Mike McGinn, City Council President Richard Conlin, and Councilmember Bruce Harrell: Make the 47th/Admiral intersection safer with a pedestrian-activated street light. Our clip shows ANA president Katy Walum making the pitch (applauded by the 34th DDs) and the mayor’s reply – which boiled down to, he needs to ask SDOT what they think. Just a few hours earlier, it turns out, Walum had received some new information from SDOT:
She forwarded us a Wednesday afternoon note from SDOT’s Luke Korpi, who wrote that the department “will be conducting another study for a pedestrian signal at Admiral Way at 47th Ave SW. This will probably be completed in about two to three months.”
As for the 34th DDs – we’ve got another story in the works, focusing on the rest of the group’s hour-plus discussion with the mayor and councilmembers – topics ranged from the Viaduct/Tunnel situation to whether the city will step up to fund the White Center Food Bank for the work it does on behalf of in-city residents.
(King County rendering of South Park Bridge, post-closure, leaves permanently up)
Story and photos by Jonathan Stumpf
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
If you can’t have a bridge – how about a gondola?
That was one of the ideas in circulation last night as more than 100 people gathered at the South Park Community Center to ask Mayor Mike McGinn what kind of assistance the City of Seattle will provide as they prepare for the June 30 closure of the South Park Bridge.
The two-hour meeting began with a short speech from Mayor McGinn, introducing his team assigned to assist with the neighborhood transition, and discussing key points in the finalized bridge-closure plan. The majority of the evening was an open forum for questions from residents and business owners about how to help the neighborhood cope with the closure.
“South Park is a great neighborhood and our neighborhood,” said McGinn to attendees. “We’re prepared to do our fair share.”
The questions posed to Mayor McGinn, and later councilmember Sally Clark — the lone representative from the City Council — were from a frustrated community disappointed with how their government had failed them, but seeming accepting of their fate, and willing to move forward to work toward a solution to save the neighborhood.
(City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen at the meeting Wednesday night; DPD’s Susan McLain is at right)
They’ve talked about parking, streetscapes, and more … and Wednesday night, the West Seattle Triangle Advisory Group, assembled and convened by the city this spring, was to take on land use, though the meeting ultimately sprawled across broader ground.Read More
More than a few people requested a list of West Seattle establishments that plan to have the World Cup on their bigscreens as play begins this week (
New details from police this morning in the 
| 2 COMMENTS