West Seattle, Washington
03 Thursday
Before month’s end, you’ll have a chance to get the latest on two projects in Highland Park. The first one is ready for you to dig into:
WESTCREST PARK P-PATCH: From Brian Greer:
West Seattle residents have an exciting opportunity right now to be a part of the creation of a P-Patch community garden at Westcrest Park. Recently, funds from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy have been awarded for this project, and the timeline to get it in the ground is relatively short. We need you to come out and voice your values for the garden.
Anybody who has ever experienced the joys of a community garden or has a desire to be apart of this great community feature should come to the orientation and design criteria meeting that will take place this Tuesday the 21st. You don’t need any experience gardening or community organizing, just an interest in being involved.
When: Tuesday, Feb 21st, 6:30 pm-8:30 pm
Where: Highland Park Improvement Club, 1116 SW Holden St.
If you have questions about this meeting or want to help with the organization of this event please e-mail briancgreer@gmail.com.
SPRAY PARK: The third and final meeting about the project to convert Highland Park’s wading pool into a spray park (also including levy $) is once again combined with the monthly Highland Park Action Committee meeting – 7 pm Wednesday, February 29th. This time, Parks will present the final design, and discuss the construction timeline (at last report, the spray park is scheduled to be open for summer 2013). This meeting is also at HPIC (12th and Holden).
(From the WSB Flickr group pool, by “old desolate,” photographed near North Delridge’s Dragonfly Pavilion)
Holiday weekends tend to be quieter, so today’s list isn’t long. From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar (and inbox):
PARTIAL WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE CLOSURE TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT, INCLUDING ALL DAY SUNDAY: The Fauntleroy Expressway Seismic Retrofit Project, involving the west end of the West Seattle Bridge, requires a closure from 9 pm tonight through 11:59 pm Sunday. This mostly affects how you get onto and off the bridge in West Seattle. Unless there is some last-minute change, if you are headed out – eastbound – you will definitely be able to get onto the bridge from Admiral/Harbor (SDOT’s Marybeth Turner confirmed this in WSB comments last night) and from Delridge. (Though the advisory does not mention Avalon, we were able to access that way most nights this week – though there was a flagger right under the bridge – so we’ll see how the detour is marked when tonight’s closure begins.)
LOCAL HIGH-SCHOOL SWIMMERS IN STATE FINALS: Followup on some of the athletes we mentioned in our morning preview yesterday: Trisha Montemayor sends word that “Luke Asatainti will be swimming in finals this morning for his 100 breaststroke for West Seattle and (for Chief Sealth) Michael Stewart will swim in finals for the 200 freestyle and Morgan Montemayor will swim in finals in the 100 butterfly. This is an awesome accomplishment as only the top 16 swimmers advance to finals.” Good luck! (We’ll be checking on the gymnastics and wrestling results too, but anyone with word on those is welcome to e-mail us at editor@westseattleblog.com)
MARIMBA AT HIGH POINT CC: Zambuko Marimba Ensemble at 10:30 am at High Point Community Center. Enjoy the sounds of traditional and contemporary marimba of Zimbabwe. $5/person, $15 max per family.
CAT ADOPT-A-THON! As previewed here last night, Kitty Harbor has more than 70 cats – including famous rescuees – up for adoption this weekend, noon-6 pm both days. (Harbor Avenue just north of the West Seattle Bridge)
OCCUPY WEST SEATTLE: Occupy West Seattle‘s next General Assembly is today at 2 pm at the Seattle Public Library‘s High Point Branch (35th/Raymond). From their announcement: “We hope to see you there as we continue the discussion and continue the planning for our first direct action.”
DAMIEN JURADO, LIVE AT EASY STREET: Damien Jurado performs live in store at Easy Street Records in The Junction, 5 pm.
TRAVIS HARTNETT TRIO: Live at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 6-8 pm. (Calendar here.)
ORGAN MUSIC: Tonight at Kenyon Hall: 7:30 – Legendary theater organist Dennis James, with hall favorites Connie Corrick and Hugh Hastings. From Kenyon Hall: “The hall has enjoyed a long association with Dennis, including his locating the organ that became our much loved Mighty Wurlitzer. It’s been all too long since he graced our stage, and we’re honored to welcome him back. Dennis spends the majority of his time traveling the world performing in solo organ, glass armonica, and piano concerts; for silent movies; and with major symphony orchestras.” Reserved table seats are $14. Row seating is $12 general and $10 seniors. With a reservation, row seating is only $10 general and $8 seniors. Elementary, middle, and high school students are $5. Pre-school children are free. To make a reservation, please e-mail kenyonhall@earthlink.net.
BYRD ENSEMBLE AT YOUNGSTOWN: Tonight at 7:30 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center – full details here.
FIASCO AT FEEDBACK: 9:30 pm, live music at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), details on their home page.
Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports – another case of hit-and-run damaging parked vehicles, and trespassing that appeared to be on the brink of theft. First, this photo from Darlene, with word of what happened early Friday:
The photo shows what [one of] our cars look like after a drunk couple slammed into them at 3:30 a.m. (Friday). The police have impounded the car that hit ours and we have photos of the offenders’ vehicle also. We have also submitted the offenders’ license plate to our insurance company. Our neighbors saw the couple walking away up 56th. Prior to them walking away one of our neighbors spoke to the female, who said “we’re fixing a flat tire”. I want to thank all our neighbors who called the police and described this couple. They had a baby seat in their car; no one saw them with a child. The car is registered to an address in Kirkland.
And received late last night from DG:
My son just found someone on our property (near 32nd SW and SW Cloverdale) about an hour ago. He went outside and heard a sneeze, then found a man hiding in shrubbery just off our carport. The man was next to the lawnmower which had the board used to weigh down the tarp removed, bungee cords loosened and the tarp pulled nearly off the mower. The man was about 30, 5’10”, about 170 lbs, probably Caucasian, and wore a red or orange jacket with a reflective stripe and dark pants. He ran off of our property and headed east as my son gave chase. The place where the man was hiding is about 25 feet from the street and surrounded by fencing and clearly private. The carport where the lawnmower is kept is brightly lit and the mower is chained to a post.
By the way, the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets this coming Tuesday, 7 pm, Southwest Precinct (Holden/Delridge), with guests including new precinct liaison Melissa Chin of the City Attorney’s Office and Jill Otake of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
When last we checked in with “The West,” it was a concept galloping around a mixer upstairs at Mission three months ago.
Tomorrow night, The West rides out of the stable and into the spotlight. Or might we say, instead of the classic “riding into the sunset” Western metaphor, rides into the sunrise.
If you hang out on Facebook or Twitter, you might have seen the mysterious hints…
What’s been said publicly so far is that tomorrow night’s invitation-only event is at the West Seattle Eagles Aerie in The Junction, and will feature live music. But what’s The West about? We managed to cajole an advance interview out of two people from the core group – Lora Swift from Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) and Swift Media Solutions, and Oliver Little from The Workshop. Lora’s had a high profile not just for her businesses but for organizing popular events such as West Seattle Outdoor Movies and leading the West Seattle Art Walk behind-the-scenes group for quite some time (recently handed over to Twilight Artist Collective). As for Oliver – some of West Seattle’s biggest events wouldn’t have happened without him behind the scenes. Summer Fest, for example.
So if these are representatives of The West, you start to get the idea the group is ready to make things happen. Indeed, that’s where this is going.Read More
Late today – keep in mind that we’re going into an official three-day weekend – SDOT published its update on NEXT WEEK’S bridge closures. With closures tonight, and the all-day Fauntleroy Expressway closure on Sunday, still to come, it might be a little tough to digest this too .. but buried in the update, we discovered a ray of hope: SDOT says the Fauntleroy Expressway project is AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, and nighttime bridge closures will probably NOT be needed beyond next week. Read for yourself (including next week’s bridge plan) here.
Just in from Seattle Parks:
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Landscape Structures Inc., announced a voluntary recall of the Slalom Glider slide. This slide is located in two Seattle parks. Landscape Structures Inc. will be working at Ross Playground and Myrtle Reservoir Park on Monday, February 20, 2012 to remove the recalled slide.
Landscape Structures is requesting consumers to immediately stop children from using the recalled gliders.
The slide is a playground slide that lacks a transition platform on the top and sides of the chute. The Slalom Glider is a distinctive 6-foot high slide that is curved in shape and made from molded plastic. It includes an arched, tubular steel access ladder. The recalled product comes as a stand-alone slide or as an attachment to other playground equipment.
Ross Playground is located at 4320 4th Ave. NW in the Fremont neighborhood and Myrtle Reservoir Park is located at 6900 35th Ave SW in West Seattle. Seattle Parks and Recreation is working with Landscape Structure Inc. to select and install an appropriate replace play element as soon as possible.
ADDED 7:26 PM: The recall was announced nationally yesterday, with at least 16 injuries blamed on the slide, according to this Associated Press story published by our partners at the Seattle Times.
A fireplace in a fire station! Somehow, you might think it would be the last thing firefighters would want to look at when they’re not out at a burning home – but on the other hand, everybody has to stay warm. The fireplace is inside ex-Fire Station 37, which as reported here last week, is now officially up for sale. We joined broker Arvin Vander Veen from Colliers International there (35th/Othello) this afternoon for a quick peek inside- and the latest information on how you can get a closer look, too.
(That’s the kitchen.) The open-house dates are now set, Vander Veer told us: March 10th and April 7th, 10 am-2 pm. The deadline for offers will be April 20th (as noted before, $250,000 minimum, cash, no contingencies). Since the former fire station is an official city landmark, you can’t change the outside without city permission, but there’s a lot you can do with the inside:
Vander Veer says he’s fielded about 100 inquiries so far, and many have been from people who think this would be the ultimate “man-cave” – and whatever the gender, imagine having a cavernous garage like this for your vehicles, or maybe some creative project you’re working on, or both!
Sizable basement, as well:
In case you’re just coming in on this story – the city built a new fire station a few blocks south, and is selling this because it’s considered surplus property not needed for any other city purposes.
P.S. Two years ago, a student journalist on assignment for WSB toured the now-ex-station before it closed; this report includes a video tour.
(Jared the cat with firefighter Jeff Blevins; 1/9/2012 photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
Remember Jared, the foster cat rescued from animal advocate Teri Ensley‘s house during a fire last month? He is one of the cats and kittens who will be looking for “forever homes” during a special adopt-a-thon this weekend at West Seattle’s Kitty Harbor (3422 Harbor SW). As posted in the WSB Forums, Kitty Harbor will be open noon-6 pm Saturday and Sunday with more than 70 other cats/kittens, including some Siamese cats rescued from a recent hoarding situation – among those nicknamed the “camper cats.” More info (and photos!) on Kitty Harbor’s Facebook page.
The man charged with second-degree murder in last August’s White Center murder of 23-year-old Sweetheart Failautusi has struck a plea bargain. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office tells WSB that Anthony Haroldlee Smith pleaded guilty this morning to that same charge, acknowledging he is to blame for the deadly shooting at 15th and Roxbury in the early-morning hours of August 16th. Sentencing range is 134-234 months; KCPAO spokesperson Ian Goodhew says the “agreed recommendation” for sentencing will be 15 years. He adds, “Sweetheart’s family felt the agreement was the right thing to do to assure a conviction and have the certainty of the mid-range recommendation as opposed to him possibly receiving a lower sentence.” Smith is to be sentenced March 23rd at 1:45 pm by King County Superior Court Mary Yu.
(Harbor Properties’ year-old Link, 38th between Alaska and Fauntleroy)
One of the highest-profile development companies to build in West Seattle in recent years is merging with another company. Harbor Properties‘ merger with Los Angeles-headquartered Urban Partners was first reported this morning by the Puget Sound Business Journal, and we just spoke with Harbor executive Denny Onslow to find out what this means for the company’s West Seattle properties, mixed-use (apartment/retail) Link in The Triangle and Mural in The Junction (both WSB sponsors), plus all-apartment under-construction Nova (4600 37th SW).
Just announced: Mayor McGinn will be back in West Seattle during his next round of “Town Hall” meetings. March 13th is the date, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center at 4408 Delridge Way SW is the place – where he held one in December 2010 (photo above) – and the schedule, according to the city’s e-mailed announcement, is as follows:
5:30 to 6:30 pm: Community information fair
6:30 to 6:40 pm: Performance by local artists
6:40 to 8:00 pm: Open Q&A with Mayor McGinn and City staff
Here’s the official flyer for the event.
Besides the roads/bridge update (below), something that certainly could be on this list daily is the ongoing work at Colman Pool on the shore in Lincoln Park. As reported here last month, the outdoor saltwater pool will open later than usual this year (June 30), because of renovation work. Last weekend, Gatewood pilot/photographer Long B. Nguyen flew over the park, and shares the view. (Click the photo for a larger image; and for a bonus image – a wider shot of the pool, the beach, and the forest behind it – go here.) Now, today’s highlights:
BRIDGE CLOSURES AND OTHER ROAD WORK, YET AGAIN TODAY/TONIGHT: Same reminders as all week: In the Morgan Junction/Lincoln Park area on Fauntleroy Way SW and part of California SW north of M-Junction, Day 5 of work on the “transit corridor” project to facilitate this fall’s launch of RapidRide bus service. Details in our on-scene report from Monday. … Restrictions/detours are planned for Avalon Way again today, 9 am-4 pm, explained here … Two overnight West Seattle Bridge closures: Eastbound Spokane Street Viaduct, east of the 1st Avenue South offramp, 9 pm-5 am (details here), which is the same time period for which the Fauntleroy Expressway (southwest end of the bridge) has an overnight closure, detailed here. DON’T FORGET – THIS SUNDAY is the all-day Fauntleroy Expressway closure, 9 pm Saturday through as late as midnight Sunday night).
CHIEF SEALTH INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES IN STATE COMPETITION: From an announcement by Sealth athletic director Sam Reed: Sophomores Michael Stewart and Carlos Morgan Montemayor will be representing the Seahawks at the 3A State Swim and Dive championships taking place at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way,” starting this morning, and “wrestlers Jordan Armstrong and Christopher Rios will be competing in Mat Classic XXIV, held at the Tacoma Dome.”
WEST SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES ALSO IN STATE COMPETITION: From the WSHS Daily Bulletin, Katie Fleming and Della Norton are competing in the state gymnastics tournament, while Nick Marek is competing in the state wrestling tournament, also in Tacoma. Luke Asatainti is in the state swimming championships.
HOPE LUTHERAN AT LEST IN PORTLAND: West Seattle’s Hope Lutheran School has a sizable contingent at the annual Lutheran Elementary Schools Tournament in Portland right now, with more games/performances/etc. scheduled today, and is sharing the highlights via Twitter and via Facebook.
ATHENA’S IN HIGHLAND PARK: Athena’s truck debuts @ 16th/Holden, 1-8 pm (here’s our report from yesterday).
BIN 41 TASTING: 6-7:30 pm, they’re presenting a winery from Woodinville, Januik | Novelty Hill, whose tasting-room manager Diane LaCroix-Ball will be on hand with some Bin 41 favorites (including a red, a Chardonnay, and a Grenache).
MOVIE NIGHT IN HIGHLAND PARK: It’s movie night at Highland Park Improvement Club (12th and Holden). From their newsletter: “Doors open at 6:30 pm, movie at 7 pm. Free admission. We will be selling popcorn, candy and other movie fare. Bring blankets and pillows or sit in our chairs. Movie hint: The first movie of J.K. Rowling’s classic tale of the Hogwarts kids.”
MUSIC TONIGHT: The ever-busier lineup of West Seattle live music includes The Slags w/ Red the Dead, 9:30 pm at The Shipwreck Tavern (with Slags EPs on site, the band tells WSB) … Chad Knight, Hi-Fi Reset, Urban Seeds at Skylark Café and Club, 9 pm …
We stopped by Madison Middle School on Thursday afternoon for orchestra members’ quick command performance of the Beatles classic “Eleanor Rigby,” after hearing from Madison music director Clark Bathum, who had big news about two of his musicians:
Congratulations to Lauren Estep (viola) and Caroline May (violin), who will perform with the Washington Junior All-State Orchestra at the Washington Music Educators Conference in Yakima this weekend. After a highly competitive audition in the fall, both were selected to join other top musicians from around the state. This is Caroline’s first selection to the group. Lauren was selected to the All-Northwest orchestra last year. Both girls are looking forward to the performance this weekend and are really excited about getting to travel and play together. The staff and students at Madison are really proud of Lauren and Caroline and wish them the best of luck.
In our video, Caroline is at left, Lauren at center, with Samantha Bushman , violin (2nd from left), Annabel Foucault, bass (2nd from right), and Madelyn Hollister, cello (right).
Tickets are now on sale for the second annual gala benefiting the West Seattle Community Orchestras. This year, it’ll be at Highland Park Improvement Club, 6:30-9 pm on March 10th. Musicians from all three of WSCO’s orchestras (“all ages and abilities”) will perform, and a silent auction is planned, along with a “smorgasbord dinner.” You can buy tickets online now; they’re $20 till March 1st, when the price goes up to $25. Go here to buy yours (that link is also where you’ll find the form to donate an item to the silent auction).
Grow Plant Starts for The Community Orchard of West Seattle (COWS)!
We will happily provide the seeds!
If you have a sunny window sill, cold frame or green house, and would like to consider growing plants for us we would love to hear from you!
Starts needed:
Broccoli, kales, cabbages, lettuces, squash varieties, tomatoes, Asian eggplant, onions, flowers, mustards and herbs.The Community Orchard of West Seattle (COWS) provides a home-scale model that demonstrates how much food can be grown on a city-sized lot. Our produce goes to our volunteers, neighbors and local food security programs while we provide a venue for public agricultural education and community gathering.
Contact: info@fruitinwestseattle.org
The Orchard is located at South Seattle Community College North Entrance, 6000 16th Ave SW
(WSB photo of Sherri Chun speaking to participants before last year’s 4th of July parade)
The longtime coordinator of the 4th of July Kids’ Parade, which has grown far beyond its origins as a fun little North Admiral event, is asking the Admiral Neighborhood Association to consider taking it over. At Wednesday night’s ANA meeting (a day later than usual, to avoid a Valentine-night conflict), Sherri Chun came to talk about the parade’s past, present and future. That, and other toplines from the meeting, ahead:Read More
The classic Steve Miller song came to mind as we looked at these photos shared tonight by Gary Jones, from Alki.
Finally, a close encounter with the lighthouse:
Bald-eagle factoid: They can live up to 40 years.
Story and photos by Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Leapin’ Lizards — it’s the winning team from Sanislo!
This morning at Sanislo Elementary, 4th and 5th graders filed into the library and took their small chairs, grouped into teams of six. The instructions were given: A question about a book they read will be asked aloud; they’ll have 30 seconds to put their heads together and quietly discuss the answer. When they have an answer, they are to write it down and bring it to the front of the room for judging.
Of the seven teams, one emerged victorious.
This is the “Global Reading Challenge” — a partnership between Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Public Library to encourage reading among Seattle students.
After the Saturday debacle a few weeks ago, SDOT promised to improve its communication about closures (and other things affecting traffic). Toward that end, they have just sent an advisory summarizing everything happening this weekend in “the West Seattle Bridge corridor,” including the all-day-Sunday closure of the Fauntleroy Expressway. We’ve mentioned them all already, but one more read-through probably can’t hurt:Read More
Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Kyle Moore tells WSB a crane operator from Vigor Shipyard on Harbor Island is in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center after the crane collapsed into the water. You can see an aerial view in this story on KING5.com. This comes 13 days after a Kitsap County man working at Vigor was killed in a fall. We’re checking with the shipyard to see if they have additional information; thanks to PT for tipping us to this by asking why there were two helicopters over Harbor Island.
3:51 PM UPDATE: The Department of Ecology now says this has led to a spill, too:
The Washington Department of Ecology, the U.S. Coast Guard and Vigor Industrial are responding to an oil spill from a crane accident at the company’s facility on Harbor Island in Seattle today. The company has placed oil spill cleanup and containment materials on the water around the accident scene.
4:27 PM: SFD has published more information about the rescue, and says the crane operator’s injuries are not life-threatening. Here’s their report.
5:08 PM: From Steve Hirsh at Vigor, responding to our inquiry about comment from the company:
We are working with the proper authorities to try to determine what happened. We understand and are thankful that the worker operating the crane is said to be alert and in good spirits. He wants people to know he’s OK.
We have been are working with the Washington Department of Ecology and the U.S. Coast Guard to contain any spill; our initial estimate is that approximately 10 gallons of lubricating oil may have leaked into the water off Harbor Island.
And an update from Ecology:
Oil from a crane accident today at the Vigor Industrial shipyard in Seattle left a coating on the water that was too thin for successful cleanup. Spill response crews deployed floating containment boom to prevent oil from drifting out of the immediate area.
The Washington Department of Ecology and U.S. Coast Guard are overseeing the spill cleanup and response. The containment boom will remain in place during upcoming operations to remove the crane from the water. Crews will be prepared to begin cleanup work if more oil is released.
Following up on her report from Tuesday (see it here) that Nick Parisi will open Athena’s in the former Zippy’s space at 16th/Holden, WSB contributor Deanie Schwarz photographed him and the newly painted truck today (the rolling mural is by Glenn Case). As Deanie’s story noted, Parisi plans to serve up Greek-themed food from the truck while the space is being readied – and she confirmed today that he’s planning to start tomorrow, serving 1-8 pm. She also reports that while the Athena’s truck usually will be closed Mondays, it will be OPEN on President’s Day.
(October 2011 photo of Amanda Knox and mom Edda Mellas, by STEVE RINGMAN/Seattle Times, used with permission)
Four months after her West Seattle family and friends welcomed her back from four years in prison in Italy, the number four seems to have resurfaced in the saga of Amanda Knox. The long-expected announcement of her book deal is out; here’s the Associated Press story published by our partners at the Seattle Times. It quotes an unidentified source as saying the book deal is worth $4 million. The book is expected to be published by HarperCollins early next year. While local media has kept their promise to keep their distance since her return after the Italian courts overturned her murder conviction, national/international tabloids have been publishing sightings and gossip, and (in case you wondered) most would seem to indicate she is not living in West Seattle.
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
Last night was a big night for West Seattle Cub Scout Pack 793, families, and friends – the annual Blue and Gold Dinner at Holy Rosary. Enhancing the night, a high-profile guest: Former Cub Scout Dow Constantine, better known these days as King County Executive.
Not only did he talk about his Scouting past while at Schmitz Park Elementary, he also mentioned that his family goes way back with Scouting – his grandpa was a Scout leader and his uncle was an Eagle Scout. He talked about leadership and civic participation, something the Scouts are learning early:
(Thanks to Pack 793’s Jon Gerhardt for letting us drop by on the big night!)
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