West Seattle Volunteer Recognition Awards: Winter winners!
This Sunday afternoon at 1 pm in The Junction, we hope you can take a few minutes to stop at Hometown Holidays Headquarters (by KeyBank) and applaud the latest winners of the twice-yearly West Seattle Volunteer Recognition Awards. You nominated them; reps from the Southwest and Delridge District Councils picked the winners; and along with the councils, WSB co-sponsors the awards. We customarily announce the winners a few days ahead, but in case you want to be surprised, we’re putting the list after the jump – Read More
The WSBeat: Wrong holiday; officer bitten; smashing spree…
By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog
From reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers:
*After several trips to the area of 30th and Andover, officers were finally able to speak with three men –- very intoxicated men — who were partying and disturbing the neighbors with fireworks. The yard smelled of recently exploded materiel and the nearby area was covered in spent bottle rockets, mortars and a roman candle. The house was littered with beer cans, 400 bottle rockets, and 12-gauge shotgun shells. (The group hadn’t been shooting the shotgun but had been racking and unloading it.) One of the men was very apologetic at having disturbed the neighbors (he had no idea it was 3 AM) and all received a stern warning about handling a firearm while intoxicated. The three were told to go to bed, clean up the neighborhood in the morning, and stop by the precinct when they were sober to pick up the shotgun, which was temporarily confiscated.
*Early Thursday, officers were called to Morgan Junction to investigate why a woman was sitting in her parked car, screaming. She refused to exit or unlock the vehicle, and according to the officer’s report, “her mood swings were near hysterical … calm, then crying, then laughing, then angry in a matter of seconds.” She finally rolled the the window down a crack, and as the smell of intoxicants wafted out, she rooted through an assortment of bags in the vehicle. When she still refused to come out, an officer managed to reach through the cracked window and unlock the door. But he wasn’t quick enough: The “completely irrational” woman bit the sergeant’s gloved hand, clear through to (and breaking) the skin. She was finally handcuffed and transported to Harborview for an evaluation.
Another human-bite case, same area, along with 12 other summaries, after the jump:Read More
West Seattle holidays: ‘Tuna Christmas,’ ‘Wonderful Life’ to open
(Photo courtesy ArtsWest)
Your double dose of West Seattle onstage live-theater holiday goodness is about to arrive, courtesy of ArtsWest and Twelfth Night Productions (both WSB sponsors). First – award-winning “A Tuna Christmas” opens tomorrow night at ArtsWest – running through December 24th as it tells the tales of the townspeople of tiny Tuna, Texas, “where the Lions Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies,” on the day before Christmas, with catastrophes looming like a holiday theater production gone awry and a sabotaged decorating contest. Tickets are available online (showtimes are posted there too).
Then on Friday, it’s opening night for Twelfth Night Productions’ “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play” – and the venue this time is Kenyon Hall:
(Photo courtesy Twelfth Night Productions)
You know the “Wonderful Life” story. But that’s not all that’s in store for showgoers. Twelfth Night says you’ll find pre-show caroling this weekend with the Chief Sealth International High School Honors Choir raising money for its Carnegie Hall trip, and the second weekend in a singalong with Kenyon Hall ‘s Lou Magor, plus the first two Fridays will include a “7-minute Nutcracker Suite adaptation by local dance troupe Van Glam.” The shows are at 7:30 pm December 3-4 and 10-11, and 3 pm December 11-12; tickets are available online here.
Well-kept semi-secret? Delridge CC computer lab open!
Circulated on a couple of city mailing lists today: A reminder that the Delridge Community Center has a computer lab available for anyone to use, teens through seniors. Lab coordinator Leslie Howle says there’s usually room for more to come use it, explaining:
We provide a free computer lab for teens through seniors to use our 12 computers and access the internet. We offer homework help for teens only from 2:30 – 4 every day and the rest of the time we are open to everyone to drop in and use the lab. We offer very inexpensive classes, some geared for seniors in particular and some for all adults, on computer basics and fun things like Photoshop and building a blog or website. … Beginning in January, we will be expanding our hours and offering the time between 1 and 2:30 for seniors to come use “open lab” time or take a class. We will also be available to help adults with resume writing and job search during that time and in the evenings.
Haven’t been to Delridge Community Center? Here’s a map. And you can check Delridge CC hours on its website.
Another key City Hall vote: ‘Multifamily Code,’ townhouses & more
Even after the vote on the California SW rezoning proposal, we stayed at the City Council’s Committee on the Built Environment meeting because one more item of local note was coming up: A vote on another years-in-the-making proposal, changes to the Multifamily Code – as in, zoning for multiple-unit projects such as townhouses.
When the process began back several years ago, the development climate was very different – even here on WSB, it seemed we were publishing a “teardown-to-townhomes” story every day. Now, development proposals are few and far between, as already-built units sit vacant, and developers struggle with financing. But it’s invariably cyclical, so the process marched on, and the committee just gave its approval to the package of changes (including the one about which local architect Brandon Nicholson had voiced concern a few weeks ago on behalf of a regional architects’ group). A breakdown of what it’ll mean to future projects will have to wait till later; you can read copious details in this section of the city’s website. Next step: Final council consideration on December 13th (which likely also will be the date the full council considers the California SW rezone).
West Seattle Weather Watch: Driving danger = drain reminder
Thanks to Shelley for sharing that photo of a megapuddle on the west side of the 35th/Cloverdale intersection in Westwood. The most recent blast of wintry weather brought down most of local trees’ remaining leaves, and that means drains need attention – the city has repeatedly urged residents to “adopt a drain” and go tend to the ones nearest their homes. If you have removed the leaves and it’s still clogged – here’s the city hotline to call: (206) 386-1800 – more info here. (Any other puddles worth warning drivers about?)
California SW rezoning proposal passes council committee
(Video of this morning’s entire committee meeting, from Seattle Channel; West Seattle item starts at 21:10)
We’re at Seattle City Hall, where the Council’s Committee for the Built Environment has just – with what chair Councilmember Sally Clark described as some frustration – voted 3-0 to deny the appeal of the California SW rezoning proposal, and send it to the full council for a final vote. That comes 3 years after the emergence of the proposal to rezone a block of California SW between Hinds and Hanford for taller buildings and bigger commercial spaces. The vote followed almost half an hour total of oral arguments from opponents – mostly neighbors who had filed formal appeals – and supporters, including area business/property owner Roger Cayce. Click ahead for details on what preceded the vote (we are progressively adding more details to the story before moving on from City Hall, where we’re also now monitoring the same committee’s forthcoming vote on the Multi-Family Code (which addresses townhouse design – and much more – and has been years in the making):
Read More
Concerts coming up: Sealth Jazz Night; Bells of the Sound
“They take music seriously, but also have serious fun!” says Monica, explaining the photo of Chief Sealth International High School‘s Jazz I group at the recent Mill Creek Jazz Festival. She sent it to accompany this invitation:
Please come join the Chief Sealth community for an evening of Jazz performed by our two Jazz ensembles.
Jazz Night at Chief Sealth
Thursday, December 2nd, 7 pm
Free, but donations always gratefully accepted
The school’s at 2600 SW Thistle. Another concert just announced :
Bells of the Sound performs at 7:30 pm Friday, December 10th, at Tibbetts United Methodist Church (WSB sponsor):
Choirs singing on the Christmas Ship, ballerinas dancing to The Nutcracker, and rain pattering on an umbrella-these are just some of the sounds of Christmas in the Puget Sound. And bells-what would Christmas be without the sound of bells? Bells of the Sound, the premier handbell group in the Puget Sound, will present The Sound of Christmas, a delightful program that offers a new take on several holiday favorites, including O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Pat-a-Pan and Feliz Navidad. Join us as we ring in the season!
Tibbetts is at 3940 41st Avenue SW; admission is a suggested donation, $10 adults, $8 children/seniors. Adding this one to the WSB West Seattle Holidays page, where several other concert listings await (make sure we have yours!).
Twenty people 
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