Election countdown: Nightly updates through November 2nd
Four weeks till Election Night on November 2, but you’ll be able to vote much sooner, as King County plans to mail ballots for the general election on October 13. Though the election may not be top-of-mind for most people right now, there is much at stake, so we’re planning nightly updates/reminders – sometimes short, sometimes long. We start tonight with a quick overview: Go to the right sidebar here and put in your name and birthdate to bring up your online voter guide – you will see you have more than three dozen votes to cast: The U.S. Senate race, U.S. House, three State Legislative District 34 races (including the no-incumbent State House Position 2), 2 King County races including the no-incumbent County Council District 8, seven Seattle Municipal Court judgeships (two of them contested), 10 statewide judicial races (including one contested spot on the State Supreme Court), six statewide initiatives, one statewide referendum, two state constitutional amendments, three county charter amendments, one county proposition, and one Seattle Public Schools levy. In the “online voter guide,” there are links to information about every candidate and every ballot measure.
Tomorrow: The newest developments in our area’s two biggest races.
New WSB feature: More from the police-report files
EDITOR’S NOTE: Tonight marks the debut of a new WSB feature – and a new contributor. Megan Sheppard won’t be new to you, though, if you read the Police Blotter column she wrote for the West Seattle Herald for a decade. Recently, after hearing she had decided to leave that role, we told Megan – semi-jokingly – that if she ever decided she missed going through the police reports, looking for the stories that had gone (mostly) unreported, we’d welcome her help … and she took us up on it. Megan has deep West Seattle roots, as the daughter of longtime prominent community advocate and entrepreneur Virgil Sheppard (featured last summer in our story about the West Seattle Grand Parade‘s Orville Rummel Trophy), and we look forward to having her contribute more than “just” these roundups. But for starters – here’s the first installment.)
By Megan Sheppard
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
From reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers:
*In the Youngstown area, a man walked into his kitchen and found that a crossbow bolt (the pointy, “business end” of the projectile) had been shot into his home and was stuck in the window blinds.
*Someone threw two large logs onto the roof and hood of a vintage car in the Admiral area last week.
Eight more reports ahead:Read More
Councilmember Rasmussen adds ‘hometown’ to conversation tour
Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, who lives in West Seattle, recently announced he’d be stopping in several other city neighborhoods for conversations for anybody who wants to drop in and chat. This afternoon, he’s added a “hometown” date to the tour – 11 am-1 pm this Saturday at Southwest Library. From the announcement:
These informal conversations will take many different directions, with all topics on the table. “I sincerely hope people will take advantage of this opportunity to have informal yet meaningful conversations about our City,” said Councilmember Tom Rasmussen. “I’d like to hear people’s thoughts regarding next year’s budget, transportation issues, as well as other topics relevant to Seattleites.”
Councilmember Rasmussen chairs the council’s Transportation Committee, so if you have thoughts about SDOT, roads, or any other issues (they collaborate with the non-city agencies that serve our area too) – this is a chance to bring them up in person.
Police response on Genesee Hill: Tukwila carjacking arrest
ORIGINAL 2:35 PM REPORT: Thanks to everybody who e-mailed (etc.) about a sizable police presence on Genesee Hill, around 50th/Genesee. We went over to check, and most of the officers were gone, but we noted a Tukwila Police car on scene along with Seattle Police (see photo). Sgt. Sean Whitcomb of the SPD Media Unit only has preliminary information, but he says notes in the system indicate police made some kind of “felony stop” – arresting someone for a potential felony, which usually means lots of backup and guns drawn – and also that it may indeed have something to do with a case in Tukwila. We’re still working to find out more.
6 PM UPDATE: Update from Sgt. Joe Maccarrone: “It was a van taken from Tukwila in a carjacking; our guys spotted it in West Seattle, and one suspect was taken into custody without incident. (Suspect) and van were both turned over to Tukwila PD.”
West Seattle Monday: Voter deadline, free dance class, more…
The morning preview is later than usual because the bridge-backup story needed to stay atop the page till we got the “all clear.” So now, here are the highlights: One more reminder that today’s the last day to register to vote in the November 2nd election – if you want to do it the convenient way, online (you can also change your address that way too), or by postal mail (must be postmarked by today), details here … 3 library events: Baby Story Time at 11:30 am, Southwest Library and Evening Book Group at the same branch, 6:45 pm, plus Family Story Time at 7 pm, High Point Library … It’s Bingo Night at Alki UCC! Doors open 5:30 pm, games start at 6:30 … A series of four weekly Theater Improvisation classes starts at 10:30 am today, Senior Center of West Seattle … And Balorico’s monthly free dance class at Kenyon Hall is tonight, 7 pm. More on the WSB West Seattle Events calendar (and please let us know if you’ve got something to add – today or beyond!).
West Seattle Bridge traffic alert: Stuck truck causes backup
Though a West Seattle Bridge crash is already “closed” on the 911 log – meaning fire/medic units have cleared – we’ve gotten several messages indicating it’s still causing a backup. According to two people on Twitter (thanks, @cdawg2610 and @nicholasseattle), it’s a westbound truck that got stuck atop the cement barricade, which then was pushed partway into the eastbound lanes, blocking one of them. This is reported to be near the 35th/Fauntleroy end of The Bridge – and the view from the Fauntleroy cam right now does look fairly jammed. 7:55 AM UPDATE: From the middle of the jam, @alexpietsch tweets that eastbound Fauntleroy is “backed up well past Oregon right now.” Adding the Fauntleroy cam “live” image here. 8:27 AM UPDATE: Alex sent a photo just before going by the stuck truck, which as you can see is definitely close to the Fauntleroy end (so if you get on The Bridge from Admiral or Delridge, it’s not an issue):
(He clarifies, that’s the tow truck you see in his photo, not the stuck truck itself.) 8:38 AM: Just got the e-mail rider alert from Metro that the 21, 22, 54 and 55 are “experiencing delays” because of this. 8:56 AM UPDATE: As the top image shows, it’s cleared up now – Jodi also confirmed that via Facebook. She also had this early view of the actual (then-)stuck truck:
ADDED 3:53 PM: Devin shared a better view of what caused the backup:
Two 
Update from the 
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