West Seattle, Washington
27 Saturday
From tonight’s Fauntleroy Community Association board meeting at the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse:
‘OUTDOOR SENIOR WELLNESS FACILITY’: Did you know that, among the city’s neighborhoods, West Seattle has the second-highest percentage of over-60 residents? (25 percent, topped only by downtown/First Hill.) 
So said Irene Stewart, briefing the FCA board on a concept she is circulating for an “outdoor senior-wellness facility,” or, put another way, a playground for older adults. She brought a four-page document outlining the proposal – FCA is the first group with which she has discussed it, but many more are on her list. Stewart said the idea is already in action in parts of Canada, Asia, and Europe, with areas set aside for elders to exercise outdoors – a benefit for health, longevity, and fitness. Because of its older population and large number of retirement centers, Stewart said, West Seattle might be just the place to try this. Potential sites are plentiful, both public and private (FCA board members suggested the north end of Lincoln Park, and Stewart said that has potential, also considering The Kenney is nearby). But she can’t serve as the project coordinator, since she works on senior issues for the city – she’s just trying to launch the idea. We’ll be following up on this, to find out more about how you can get involved, if you’re interested.
BREAK-IN UPTICK: The FCA board heard from Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Mark Solomon, who says there’s been more burglaries than usual in the Fauntleroy area lately. Most had something in common, Solomon noted – the burglar(s) got in by using a tool to pry open a back door or sliding-glass door. Then, during our rare bouts of warm weather, there were the crimes of opportunism – getting in through an open window, door, or garage. How to fight back? Besides preventing those opportunities, Solomon said, make sure you know your neighbors, and that you are watching out for each other. He also reminded the FCA board that Night Out is coming up August 2nd (you can register your block party here).
The Fauntleroy Community Association board meets the second Tuesday of the month, 7 pm, at the schoolhouse, 9131 California SW.
A bit of rain, but the packaged plastic ponchos didn’t have to come out during tonight’s West Seattle High School Class of 2011 commencement ceremony at Memorial Stadium downtown. It happened to be the first WSHS graduation for first-year principal Ruth Medsker, beaming with School Board president Steve Sundquist and assistant principals Jennifer Kniseley and Michael Kelly.
As listed in the program, the graduating class numbered almost 200 this year, including 70 Honor Roll (3.2 GPA or better) students and six valedictorians – Collrane Frivold, Hannah Matalone, Haley Peterson, Andreas Pope, Danielle Tran, and Daisy Zhen.
Collrane also was among the student speakers, in the next photo with Rojine De Las Alas, addressing “Goodbyes Are Not Forever” (photo right, seated, were the students who gave the welcome, Lauren Jeglum and Marielle Reeves).
In the stands, hundreds of cheering parents, relatives, and friends –
(The banner, which you can’t quite read in our photo, said CONGRATULATIONS SANTINO – there’s only one Santino in the list of graduates, so we’re guessing that was Santino Tauiliili). While spectators were mostly under the overhang, the grads were out on the open field, and there was a bit of rain – not enough, though, for the ponchos to have been deployed:
Congratulations, Class of 2011! (The rest of this week’s ceremonies are listed here; first local class to graduate was Seattle Lutheran High School last Friday – WSB coverage here.)
Her name became widely known in 2004, because of a tragedy that led to tougher laws; now, she is in the spotlight again, for a new role at a West Seattle bar. Our friends at KING 5 report that Maria Federici, the woman who lost her sight when an unsecured board flew off a truck and through her windshield, is bartending once a week at The Bridge. If you didn’t see it on TV at 11 pm last night (or shared earlier on Facebook pages including ours), you can watch reporter Joe Fryer‘s story above, or on the KING 5 webpage with full details. Not only did Maria survive against all odds, she and her mother campaigned for a tougher law addressing unsecured loads and victim compensation; it took effect in 2005. The story also is told in a book called “Out of Nowhere,” published last year.
ORIGINAL 8:56 PM REPORT: Out of the WSB inbox, from Jennifer:
Just a quick note to report a stolen package from my home on 31st and Holden [map]. Supposedly delivered and left at the front door on 6/13; it hasn’t yet turned up. Filed a claim and fingers crossed but just wanted to give a heads up, also curious if this has happened to anyone else lately.
ADDED 10:56 PM: One more short Crime Watch report has just come in, so rather than hold it till later, we’re adding it to this one:
I am writing to report a theft and to alert my neighbors so they can protect their property. A lawnmower was stolen from my residence sometime between Sunday evening and Tuesday midday. I live in the vicinity of 17th and Trenton [map] and the lawn mower was in a fenced back yard and was taken from the back patio when we were home.
The nonprofit Delridge Produce Cooperative has been working for the past few years to find ways to get more fresh food to the supermarket-less stretches of eastern West Seattle – affordably! – and they’re inviting you to come on board for their next move: Forming a Buyers’ Club to buy local, organic food, “in bulk from local farms.” Anyone and everyone interested is invited to come to the club’s first meeting, 7 pm next Tuesday (June 21) at Delridge Community Center. Questions before you leap in? delridgeproducecoop@gmail.com or 206.660.8958.
11:15 AM WEDNESDAY: Galena White from the co-op writes to say they have a new website – so we’ve changed the link above: www.delridgeproducecoop.com
Got fans (young or not-quite-that-young) of The Not-Its and/or Recess Monkey in the house? 2 events ahead:
We recorded The Not-Its last year in The Junction – and this weekend, they’ll be back in West Seattle, in The Triangle. You can see them at the grand opening for Bright Horizons-West Seattle, the new child-care center at Link (which along with Bright Horizons is a WSB sponsor), along 38th between Fauntleroy and Alaska. The open-house event is 10 am-1 pm, with The Not-Its scheduled to perform at noon.
Then one week later – WestSide Baby kicks off this year’s Stuff-the-Bus diaper drive – which has expanded to “50 Drives in 50 Days for 50,000 Diapers” – with a benefit concert by Recess Monkey at the WS Baby donation facility, 10027 14th SW in White Center, 1 pm Saturday, June 25th. Bring diapers or money to donate, and you’re in.
They’re also recruiting people/groups to run diaper drives RIGHT NOW – not just for this year’s Stuff the Bus event (which will be on July 24th at Viking Bank in The Junction), but ASAP, because if they gather 50,000 diapers, they get a 2-for-1 match from Huggies, which means 100,000 more. E-mail shana@westsidebaby.org to talk about being a Diaper Driver. And bring what you can to the Recess Monkey concert on June 25th!
Someone tried to lure a child into a car last night, according to this report just in from Sandy, who wanted to “warn parents and schools in the neighborhood about this”:
I just wanted to let you know about something that happened yesterday in the Admiral District.
At approx. 6 pm, my eleven year old nephew and his 9 year old brother were skateboarding and biking around our block (the 1500 block of California ave SW) [map]. They were just going around it in a circle, as they are not allowed to cross the street. For just a brief few minutes, the older boy was out of our sight. He went to the top of the block and was coming down the sidewalk near our home when a man in a black car pulled up and opened his rear passenger door and said, “Get in, I’ve got some licorice for you.”
Thank God this kid was old enough and smart enough to run as fast as he could to get help. The man drove off quickly.
The police did come and take a report and were wonderful with this scared young boy. They assured him that he had done nothing wrong and had in fact done everything right.
We checked the time-lag police-report map, and there is indeed a “suspicious circumstances” call logged for that area for that time last night. We are checking with the Southwest Precinct to see if there have been any other similar reports lately, or if this seems to have been an isolated report.
2:34 PM UPDATE: From the police report, a more detailed description: White man, 30-50, black hair, mustache, medium build, gray shirt, blue jeans, heart-shaped earring, smaller black car.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
An organization that runs eight housing complexes for mentally ill homeless people around the Seattle area, and is soon to break ground on a ninth, wants West Seattle to be home to its tenth.
After first word of the nonprofit Downtown Emergency Service Center‘s proposal for a 75-unit apartment complex near the Delridge Library emerged at last night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting (WSB coverage here), we contacted DESC to seek details, ahead of its planned June 27th community meeting to outline the project.
Here’s what emerged in our conversation with DESC executive director Bill Hobson:
Still have the Broadway bug after Sunday’s Tony Awards? You can check out the Broadway Bound production of “13, the Musical” this weekend at ACT Theatre downtown.
It stars a West Seattle teenager – Adam Westerman, who’s previously appeared at Book-It, Stone Soup Theater, Drama Dock on Vashon, and Broadway Bound. Proud mom Eddie Westerman tells WSB that Adam is the only West Seattleite in the cast of the show, which she explains “is the only show that was on Broadway starring a cast of teenagers only. … (It’s) a story about a boy who moves from New York City to a town in rural Indiana right before he turns 13. He has to start over negotiating middle school and friends, and he learns some very valuable lessons along the way.” Broadway Bound is presenting “13, the Musical” five times this weekend, 7 pm Friday, 2 pm and 7 pm Saturday, noon and 5 pm Sunday. Tickets are online here – and Eddie says you can e-mail her for a code to get a $2 discount (ewesterman@washingtonea.org).
It’s been more than 2 years since Rancho Bravo Tacos proprietor Freddy Rivas announced he had leased a spot in The Triangle and planned to bring one of his stands there. The plan then went on hold for so long, we stopped checking with him. Then this morning, driving along Fauntleroy Way, we spotted a Rancho Bravo trailer parked way in back of the old West Seattle Motors site (4518 Fauntleroy Way). So we detoured to investigate.
On the site, we found not only the trailer, but Rivas himself. He says he really has been leasing the site all this time – and is now considering opening a sit-down restaurant there. He didn’t want to elaborate on what kind of restaurant – he says it’s a “new concept” he hopes to open first in Wallingford, and then bring to West Seattle. Timetable? Most likely next spring. And if all works well, he might have a Rancho Bravo trailer on the site as well as his “new concept” TBA sit-down restaurant.
While we talked, he brought up another issue: You might be surprised to hear that Rivas has been active in lobbying the City Council regarding proposed rule changes to allow more street-food trucks. He’s not FOR the proposal, but AGAINST it. He says (as he had argued in this PubliCola pro-con) it would enable trucks to take street space at a ridiculously low rate, putting nearby sit-down restaurants at a disadvantage – and also potentially jeopardizing non-restaurant businesses whom, he says, could have line-of-sight blocked by trucks. He’s not against opening the streets to more trucks, he says, but he suggests spaces be made available to the highest bidder. (Read more about the city’s proposed rule changes here.)
The premiere party for “West Seattle’s own beer,” Löwman Bräu, is 7 pm tomorrow night at venues around West Seattle and White Center – and since ringleader Jeff Gilbert of Feedback Lounge had noted that a percentage of LB sales will benefit local organizations, he’s just sent word of which nonprofits will benefit from sales at which venues:
THE BRIDGE: Dogs For Dogs
MISSION: Summer Concerts at Hiawatha
SHADOWLAND and COMPANY: WestSide Baby
WEST 5: Southwest Seattle Historical Society/Log House Museum
LOCOL: Roxhill Elementary
FEEDBACK LOUNGE: West Seattle Helpline
EASY STREET: West Seattle Food Bank
BIG AL BREWING: White Center Food Bank
Miss the original story about Löwman Bräu? Check it out here – and read more on the official LB page on The Feedback’s website.
In honor of Flag Day, we start off with a photo from the American Legion Post 160 Memorial Day commemoration at Forest Lawn (WSB sponsor) two weeks ago (might substitute a new flag photo later). Here’s what else is happening, from the WSB West Seattle Events calendar:
LOW TIDE AND EXPERT EXPLANATION: 10:25 this morning, the tide will recede to -2.9, the first of three days with the lowest tides of the summer. From 10 am-1 pm, Seattle Aquarium volunteer beach naturalists will be at Lincoln Park and south of Alki Point to assist with low-tide explorers (here’s the full schedule)
WSHS GRADUATION TONIGHT: West Seattle High School‘s grads get their diplomas tonight, 5 pm, at Memorial Stadium (5th and Harrison downtown).
SANISLO POTLUCK: At Sanislo Elementary School, 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm: Around the World Potluck and Game Night: Bring a dish from your family’s culture to share. There will be games, raffles, and a free book given to every child. If the weather is nice, we will be outdoors!
DENNY SCHOOL SITE PROJECT MEETING: The community meeting regarding Denny demolition and sports-facilities (etc.) construction is tonight at 6 pm, Southwest Community Center (details here).
COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MEETINGS TONIGHT: Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting, Admiral Church lower-level meeting room, 7 pm (as previewed here) … Fauntleroy Community Association board meets 7 pm at the schoolhouse.
TRIVIA TONIGHT: Rock music trivia every Tuesday night at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), 8 pm (and are you ready for tomorrow night’s Lowman Brau debut?)
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