day : 07/08/2011 9 results

(WSB photo from Day 2 of West Seattle Summer Fest, 7/9/11)
A month ago at West Seattle Summer Fest, we took that photo of Sustainable West Seattle‘s Cate White talking about ways to reduce toxic runoff – a top pollution problem in Puget Sound. Tonight, SWS has announced a grant that will help them educate even more community members about how to reduce the problem. Here’s the full text of their announcement:

Sustainable West Seattle has been awarded a $20,000 grant from The Russell Family Foundation to help community members restore Puget Sound.

The group will be building an in-depth community outreach program aimed at helping educate local citizens about the sources of toxic runoff in the West Seattle area. Toxic runoff from sealed surfaces such as paved streets, sidewalks and rooftops is the number one source of toxins entering Puget Sound each year. Pollutants include motor oil, pesticides, fertilizers, grease, paint, heavy metals and dog poop. This toxic mix threatens human health, the economic vitality of the region, and the survivability of the Sound’s most emblematic species: salmon and orcas.

The grant from The Russell Family Foundation will enable Sustainable West Seattle’s volunteers to teach hundreds of our neighbors about simple actions they can take to reverse the damage to Puget Sound and restore it to health.

“We think once the public becomes more aware of how much toxic runoff enters our local waters each year, they will be motivated to take very simple steps to help reverse this damage,” said Cate White, Sustainable West Seattle Board Member and leader of the toxic runoff grassroots team.

Sustainable West Seattle will be scheduling presentations at several West Seattle Community Centers. At each presentation $1,000 in prizes will be raffled to audience members who pledge to personal actions to reduce polluted runoff. Prizes will include water cisterns, organic compost, native plants, car wash certificates, bus passes, and more!

If you are interested in having Sustainable West Seattle visit your church, synagogue, or other community center, please contact cate@sustainablewestseattle.org. Events will be scheduled for late summer through the autumn.

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North Delridge updates: Skatepark progress, NDNC tomorrow

August 7, 2011 6:41 pm

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| Delridge | West Seattle news

While in North Delridge for the Attorney General’s foreclosure-lawsuit announcement on Friday, we noticed the Delridge Skatepark is continuing to take shape in a big way. Above and below are photos we took Friday morning. Subsequently checked with project manager Kelly Davidson, and she says all is progressing well. The skatepark’s dedication is scheduled to happen in conjunction with the Delridge Day festival on September 17th.

Speaking of Delridge Day, the North Delridge Neighborhood Council is organizing the festival this year, as previously mentioned here (including the call for vendors, published yesterday). And they’re one of the few neighborhood councils keeping up their regular meeting schedule this month, while most others are taking the month off, so you’re invited to the NDNC meeting at 6:30 pm tomorrow (Monday), scheduled (weather permitting) to happen right next to the skatepark site in the Delridge Community Center park area (Delridge/Genesee). Agenda items will include a vote on entries received for the NDNC logo contest!

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Seattle Chinese Garden’s Friendship Wall: How to be part of it

August 7, 2011 4:53 pm

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| Gardening | How to help | West Seattle news

(Photo courtesy Seattle Chinese Garden)
Hundreds of polished green granite bricks will soon adorn that wall at the Seattle Chinese Garden on the north side of the South Seattle Community College campus atop Puget Ridge. Yours can be one of them, if you order it by August 25 (provided the remaining allotment doesn’t run out sooner). The bricks will decorate the Friendship Wall, with its first side to be dedicated on October 15th. Even the garden’s own neighbors have secured a spot; the garden says Puget Ridge resident Judy Cashman got 40 families to join in on a specially inscribed brick. A news release from the Chinese Garden quotes her as saying that “… my neighbors describe it as a refuge and a jewel they enjoy visiting, so of course they wanted to support it.” You can find the order form (and see a sample brick) by going here, or call the garden office at 206-934-5219.

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Advance traffic alert: Partial Viaduct closure in two weeks

August 7, 2011 3:33 pm

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| Alaskan Way Viaduct | West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

For your planning-ahead purposes, note that the most recent round of SDOT traffic advisories mention a closure of the *southbound* Alaskan Way Viaduct coming up Friday night 8/19 through Monday morning 8/22.

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Seafair Sunday: Blue Angels fly, but without ‘Fat Albert’

August 7, 2011 2:30 pm

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| Blue Angels | West Seattle news

After that Museum of Flight flyby, the Blue Angels landed at Boeing Field about 15 minutes ago, concluding their Seafair 2011 performances. No “Fat Albert” today, though – the C-130 always goes up before the six F/A-18’s, but that didn’t happen today because of what official Seafair station KIRO reported via Twitter was a “maintenance issue.” (Good thing WSB’s Christopher Boffoli chose Saturday for his flight – see his story here with video and photos, if you haven’t already.) We watched today’s pre-takeoff events from the fence facing the six jets’ parking area – a closer view than the media zone:

For our fellow aviation fans, we’ll be in touch with Seafair to find out when they’re flying out; next weekend, they’re scheduled to perform in Fargo, North Dakota.

ADDED: Seafair says they’re expected to leave Tuesday morning, but will doublecheck the time on Monday. Meantime, one more great photo, from David Hutchinson:

As he captioned it … “show’s over.”

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Drive-by BBs; luggage theft; more

August 7, 2011 11:41 am

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| Crime | West Seattle news

~~Two~~ Three West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports to share (with a suspicion-evoking sighting added 12:18 pm) – read on:Read More

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West Seattle Sunday: Seafair finale, Tracy Dart benefit, more

August 7, 2011 9:59 am

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| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(Kent Harris just shared that photo of his son Gavin, 5, “who has been a HUGE Blue Angels fan since he could barely walk. This year he unexpectedly had the fortune of meeting 2 of them! Boy, was he in shock.”)
Will the sun come out full-strength in time for the Seafair crescendo and conclusion this afternoon – not to mention other summer fun? Forecast promises eventual clearing. Here are a few of today’s highlights:

BLUE ANGELS, FLEET TOURS, HYDROS, ONE MORE TIME: It’s the last official Blue Angels show; the sun came out just in time yesterday, so a few elements of the “high” show were added to the “low” show. If you are not going to Lake Washington to watch the air show (which features other acts throughout the day) and hydroplane races, earlier WSB coverage has details on watching from close-to-West-Seattle Boeing Field/Museum of Flight (where you’ll see them takeoff and land, as well as flybys during their performance). It’s also the last day for fleet tours on the downtown waterfront (including Terminal 25, just north of the West Seattle Bridge) – details here.

WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm at 44th/Alaska. Here are the highlights shared by market management:

Come on down and weigh in on our Shopper Survey from 11-1 pm! We’ll ask some basic questions about what part of Seattle folks are coming from to shop at the market and in The Junction during the same visit and ask about their winter shopping habits. We have a small but useful gift for those first 200 shoppers who take the survey! Also, Hot Cakes returns with her delicious molten chocolate and s’mores cookies! Music: Canote Brothers; Kids Tent: Yarrow Spa (edible facial recipes!)

2ND WEEK FOR NEW FOOD TRUCK: New food truck Damiana’s Blue Truck Special will be back in West Seattle from 11 am until 2 pm at 3623 SW Alaska St. (outside Dr. Terrill Harrington’s medical practice) in The Triangle.

GATEWOOD FAMILIES PLAYDATE: The Gatewood Elementary PTA is hosting its second playdate for incoming students, 1-3 pm on the Gatewood playground. Everyone is welcome. Organizers say, “This is a great way to meet new friends before school starts.” For questions, please contact Jennifer Dempsey: (206) 935-0909 or jlcather@hotmail.com

‘OLIVER!’ MATINEE: Twelfth Night Productions (WSB sponsor) presents a matinee performance of “Oliver!” at West Seattle High School Theater (3000 California SW), 3 pm today. $18 for adults/$15 for students & seniors. Can’t make this showing? Remaining dates are August 12, 13, 19 and 20 at 7:30 PM and August 14, and 21 at 3:00 PM. Full WSB announcement here

‘WE HEART TRACY DART’: Tonight is the night for the “We Heart Tracy Dart” benefit at The Bridge (4439 35th SW), 7-10 pm – details here. Donations at the door to help Tracy, who’s worked to raise money for breast-cancer research even while fighting the disease herself. Live music, drawings for great donated prizes, more. Official website here.

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Video/photos: Go sky-high with the Blue Angels’ ‘Fat Albert’

August 7, 2011 2:26 am

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| Blue Angels | West Seattle news

(Watch for the view of West Seattle – and the SBX – through the open cargo door!)
Story, photos, and video by Christopher Boffoli
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

At the age of 10, I was delighted to be just tall enough to ride the infamous Rebel Yell roller coaster at Kings Dominion in Virginia. A big part of the victory was that my super-competitive but shorter younger brother wasn’t. He had to cool his jets with the parents while I happily went through the turnstile to ride with my pretty teenage cousin.

However, the victory of my foray into big-kid territory was short-lived once we were strapped in and began to ascend the coaster’s towering first hill. With the ominous sound of clicking, we lurched ever closer to the top – and the inevitable drop on the other side. It was one of the first times I remember experiencing what it was like to suffer the consequences of a choice (not to mention to know how it felt to set a land-speed record for regret).

Of course I immediately jumped at the chance to fly aboard the Blue Angels’ C-130 support aircraft that they call “Fat Albert.”

But it wasn’t until after I enthusiastically said “yes” that I did a bit of research on what the flight would entail. Compared with the Blue Angels’ famous sleek F/A-18 Hornets, the 150,000-pound Fat Albert looked like a chunky, lumbering cargo plane.

I hadn’t seen it fly before but figured it might do a few low passes, wave its wings around, and we’d be back on terra firma for a photo op. I figured wrong. With an exhilarating, stomach-churning flight, I was reminded again of just how deceiving looks can be.

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West Seattle weekend scene: Closer look at the half-moon

August 7, 2011 12:20 am

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

Thanks to Greg for sharing that view of tonight’s half-moon – which just slipped out of view a short time ago in a spectacular red moonset behind Vashon Island. Forecast says we’ll likely wake up to clouds again today, but that they won’t stay.

ADDED: From Jamie – what the moon looked like just before vanishing from view: