West Seattle, Washington
03 Sunday
Last month, a spokesperson for the company that holds the note for “The Hole” – the stalled site that we now can describe as “across 39th SW from the future West Seattle Trader Joe’s” – met with local leaders and listened to their concerns (WSB story here); it was a response to the letter sent by the Southwest District Council, which then, two weeks later, received an official written reply (WSB story here). Today, crews were back at the site making good on some of the promises in that reply – as you can see in the “aerial” view shared by an area resident who wants to be anonymous, they’re putting a concrete barricade around the site. We got this view on the ground:
Our anonymous tipster adds, “We got a letter from Chinn yesterday stating that they would be doing this until next Tuesday and that the alley that skirts the west side of The Hole would be periodically closed until then.” Meantime, as for the status of the site itself, the consolidated lawsuits involving a variety of parties continue proceeding toward an October trial date if there’s no settlement before then; the number of actions in the case in the past 14 months, as recorded online, has almost hit 300.
With the USA team playing its second match at 7 tomorrow morning (vs. Slovenia), it’s time to bring back our “where to watch FIFA World Cup 2010 soccer in West Seattle” list. It’s had a few tweaks since its debut a week ago, and please note the comments as well. The newest addition – Freshy’s Coffee in Admiral says you’re welcome to come watch the game in “Freshy-Vision” on their bigscreen tomorrow morning (the one they use for Fine Films at Freshy’s on Wednesday nights) – proprietor Amber says there’ll be “mimosas and breakfast.” Here’s the list again, with recent amendments (please let us know if you’ve got word of any more!).
It’s been in our calendar a while, but local Seattle Parks and Recreation Community Centers staffers are working hard to get the word out too, because their centers are all co-sponsors – so in case you haven’t heard about it, June 23 – next Wednesday, the first day of summer vacation for all the local kids who aren’t out till next Tuesday – is Olympic Day at West Seattle Stadium:
Ages 3-12 – Fun, friendly competition for the whole family, where everyone is a winner! Join us for old-fashioned field games and Olympic-themed activities for all abilities. Try your skills at three-legged races, sack hop, egg on a spoon and much more. The Opening Ceremonies will feature Olympic athlete Emily DeRiel and Paralympic athlete Mike Peters. Then celebrate the evening with a performance by the Recess Monkeys! This event is sponsored by South Park, Hiawatha, Delridge, Alki, High Point and Southwest community centers!
It all happens 5-8 pm Wednesday 6/23 – which is the anniversary of the founding of the modern Olympic movement.
A week ago, we mentioned the start of the trial for 36-year-old DeVaughn Dorsey, charged with federal crimes including witness tampering for shooting a mother and her 10-year-old son in their Delridge residence two years ago. The verdict’s in – guilty. Here’s the story from our partners at the Seattle Times; here’s the official federal news release, which mentions Dorsey faces 23 years in prison, 10 years for this, and 13 years for charges to which he pleaded guilty before the trial. The Times story quotes a lead investigator as saying that Dorsey is a career criminal with almost 100 arrests on his record.
Westbound Roxbury is closed right now at 26th because of a crash involving a pedestrian and a vehicle. No other details yet, but we wanted to alert you to avoid the area. 4:24 PM UPDATE: It’s reopened. Police say the pedestrian was hit by a pickup truck; the injuries were not life-threatening, and the private ambulance you see in the photo took the victim to the hospital.
Our final report from last night’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting: The chance to hear more budget-crunch thoughts from a city councilmember, days after the announcement of how the city’s going to save $12 million the rest of this year – and going to have to cut about 5 times that for the next budget cycle. Councilmember Sally Clark was the guest – read on for what she had to say:Read More
If you hadn’t already seen this via Facebook, Twitter or e-mail, wanted to mention it before the commute home: The 1st Avenue South water-main repairs first mentioned yesterday are now scheduled to take until “late evening,” so the detour on Southbound 1st, between King and Railroad, is still in place – you’ll be detoured over to Alaskan Way. 4:18 PM: The city has sent another update:
Today crews have been able to keep one lane open for each direction of traffic on First Avenue South at South King Street. The estimated time to reopen the entire street is now approximately 11 a.m. tomorrow, June 18.
So you’ve just received your high-school diploma. College is likely a few months away. What are you doing up at 6 am, and back at your alma mater? Actually – the West Seattle High School Class of 2010 grads who streamed somewhat sleepily off buses in the dawn’s early light today were finishing up another successful Grad Night. All year long (here’s our story from the kickoff last July), there were car washes, bake sales, book sales, all manner of fundraisers, and tons of volunteer work put in to make it happen. Here’s organizer Carol Viger, who explains some of what the grads were up to – and the special significance of this year:
All that fun, by the way, happened at locations kept secret ahead of time – to add to the excitement. But Grad Night’s overarching goal is to provide a good time without grads getting into life-risking trouble while celebrating on their own – and so far, Carol says, it’s achieved that goal for about 1,000 teens!
Another note from last night’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting – Youngstown Cultural Arts Center‘s Randy Engstrom extended a West Seattle-wide 
invitation (and beyond!) to the All-Access Showcase event tomorrow night – and we have additional information today from Youngstown program director Alberto Mejia. From 6-8:30 pm, you can go check out everything from music to breakdancing to spoken-word art to visual art to “do-it-yourself organic gardening” in the historic building at 4408 Delridge Way SW (map). All-Access is the free after-school program that engages hundreds of young people in a wide range of activities, and this showcase is the result of the work they’ve been doing since the first of the year. It’s free, and you’re encouraged to drop by and sample the students’ amazing achievements. (Wander the Youngstown halls, too, if you haven’t been there before – they’re laden with history, art, and information.)
Though (as reported Tuesday) the county didn’t publicly announce the first meeting of the Citizens Advisory Group it has assembled for the review of how/where to control Combined Sewer Overflows from the Murray Pump Station at Lowman Beach Park – they promised to get out more advance info in the future, and we just received the first installment from King County Wastewater Treatment Division’s Annie Kolb-Nelson, regarding the next CAG meeting, a reminder of this Saturday’s all-day “technical information session” (with optional tours), and more:Read More
New information this morning on West Seattle’s now-confirmed future Trader Joe’s (here’s our Wednesday story): We’ve just spoken with Associates West Real Estate‘s John Wunder, to whom property owner Steve Huling referred us for additional information following our conversation yesterday. One big question we asked him: While the preliminary city filing first noted here in April mentioned only “minor exterior improvements,” some seeing the project rendering above thought it looked like much more than that. No, he says, it really is “minor exterior (work)” – once you see what part of the building is involved:
We just went over to take that photo after Wunder explained that the rendering depicts what’s planned for the east/northeast corner of the building, where there’s currently a service entry to the garage, next to the showroom. “If you look closely at the rendering, you’ll see the same lines, so the entry is going to go right at the point of the building,” Wunder explained. (A wider shot would show Fauntleroy off the left side. Note that this also is kitty-corner to the under-construction Link.) He also said that while, as DPD‘s Bryan Stevens confirmed to WSB yesterday morning, the formal permit application for the 14,000+-square-foot store has not been filed yet, that should happen shortly. Wunder said, “We don’t anticipate problems; the preliminary meeting went well.”
(Photo taken by Eric along the Beach Drive shore)
Tonight, find out more about the biggest whales in Northwest waters during the Whale Trail-presented talk with Cascadia Research and People for Puget Sound, 7 pm at the Duwamish Longhouse (here’s our recent preview) … Last night, city councilmember Sally Clark visited the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council (story in the works) – tonight, councilmembers Bruce Harrell, Mike O’Brien and Richard Conlin are here – for a three-part event at Chief Sealth/Boren: At 5 pm, an information fair with city staffers sharing details about programs to help people with utility, housing, food and child care; at 6 pm, the Public Utilities/Neighborhoods and Energy/Technology/Civil Rights committees discuss trends in those areas; at 7 pm, public comment. … Also tonight at 7, the Alki Community Council meets at Alki UCC Church, with the agenda including a King County Water Taxi rep (here’s our report on last week’s Water Taxi Town Hall) … The South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) commencement is at 7:30 tonight at Brockey Center … Italian winemakers, and South African wines, are in the plan for a Thursday night tasting at Bin 41 (WSB sponsor) in The Junction, 5:30-8 pm … There’s even more on the WSB West Seattle Events calendar!
Father’s Day is coming up this weekend – and the night before, a new event will raise money for local families! Nancy Woodland of WestSide Baby explains:
Two great guys are holding a fantastic fundraiser for WestSide Baby this weekend and you should be there! Early this year two of our favorite supporters approached us with the idea to hold a Guys Night fundraiser. WestSide Baby provides essential items to local children in need and we think men care about this need too! Because our biggest event of the year is an afternoon Tea, we jumped on the idea to share WestSide Baby’s mission and impact with men in our community who care about kids. Providing adequate diapers and safe carseats and portable cribs should matter to everyone.
Guys’ Night Out will be at the White Center Eagles‘ HQ, 10452 15th SW (map), Saturday 5 pm-10 pm. Click ahead for full details:Read More
The new Seattle Police some-reports-available-online system currently has reports that are as new as just two nights ago. So in this roundup, we have seven burglaries, one attempted robbery, and we also have the report from last week’s incident in which shots were fired in Westwood just before officers found a beaten-up victim – read on for all of the above:Read More
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