West Seattle, Washington
11 Monday
Just in from the state Ecology Department:
Clumps of what may appear to be jellyfish may be visible on Elliott Bay Saturday morning resulting from a spill of a petroleum distillate product earlier today at Terminal 18 in the Port of Seattle.
The Washington Department of Ecology, Port of Seattle and U.S. Coast Guard responded to the spill earlier today which occurred after a container was punctured during loading onto a ship at the terminal operated by Stevedoring Services of America (SSA).
An unknown quantity of the distillate spilled into the hold of the ship and then into the Duwamish River.
The distillate emulsifies in water and may appear to be jellyfish in the water. The distillate is not recoverable and clumps of it may make their way into Elliott Bay.
Ecology is monitoring the cleanup work by a contractor hired by SSA at the pier where the spill occurred.
Ecology is still assessing the environmental damage caused by the spill.
This webpage for Terminal 18 includes an aerial photo showing its location on Harbor Island.
VENTANA CONSTRUCTION: RapidRide stop construction continues just outside longtime WSB sponsor Ventana Construction‘s California/Findlay HQ – and now, Ventana proprietor Anne Higuera says, a banner explaining the work is finally up – but the path is still clear from the east to get there for tomorrow’s FREE remodeling/custom homebuilding workshop. Still some room left – it’s at 1:30 pm Saturday: “The basics about remodeling and custom homebuilding: Where to start, how to hire, what to expect. An informative hour and a half with a general contractor and an architect.” RSVP ASAP to 206-932-3009.
Also this weekend:
MOUNTAIN TO SOUND OUTFITTERS EXTENDS SALE: Mountain to Sound Outfitters (also a WSB sponsor) is in clearance mode, says proprietor Greg Whittaker, who says they’re extending their clearance sale through Sunday “for all the procrastinators. We still have a good selection of the best ski and snowboard gear in the region, so stop by if you need the right gear to enjoy the late season snow in the Cascades.” M2SO is in The Triangle, at 3602 SW Alaska.
Also in The Triangle:
ANOTHER WEST SEATTLE TRADER JOE’S SIGN: In case you missed our photo yesterday:
A second sign went up today (top left).
NEW BUSINESS: Carol from Pediatric Speech & Language Therapy says her business, which already had offices in Wallingford and Bellevue, recently opened a West Seattle location in The Junction, 4520 44th SW. She explains that her business “provides a full spectrum of speech therapy services for children ages 0-18, including evaluation and ongoing treatment. Free screenings, and speaking engagements regarding communication development or related topics can also be arranged. In the near future we hope to offer social groups, language enrichment groups, and parent education services.”
The Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project will require two overnight closures next week – westbound this time – according to
(Scroll down for newest info on big outage – mostly OUTSIDE WS – and its effects)
(Photo added 2:24 pm – Spokane/Chelan light, apparently the west edge of the outage)
FIRST REPORT, 1:37 PM: WSB’ers are telling us of a power outage stretching from Georgetown to SODO – but the City Light system-status map isn’t showing anything yet. We’re going to see what we can find out via other methods. Just got a note mentioning Harbor Island’s out, too.
1:43 PM UPDATE: Just talked to Scott Thomsen at Seattle City Light. Their “outage management system” is not letting people in for updates and that’s why the map hasn’t updated – but they apparently have TWO separate feeders out, totalling more than 6,300 customers (homes/businesses). No idea yet what caused it, but crews are being dispatched, Scott says.
1:51 PM UPDATE: WSB’ers are mentioning other areas in comments too, such as Beacon Hill. SDOT points out via Twitter that the signals in SODO are out along major streets such as 1st and 4th.
1:54 PM UPDATE: City Light just tweeted that 28,000 homes/businesses are affected:
City Light has suffered a significant outage affecting 28,000 customers.Problem has been ID’d and estimate restore by 5p.m.
— Seattle City Light (@SEACityLight) March 9, 2012
2:03 PM UPDATE: The City Light map is working now. Screengrab in a minute. It verifies Harbor Island is affected (we have a crew headed that way, too).
2:10 PM UPDATE: Our crew checking out Harbor Island says the intersection by Chelan Café is out, just west of the low bridge. Chelan Cafe itself has closed their restaurant, but the bar is still open. Meantime, if you have kids in schools in the outage zone – which does NOT include any of West Seattle, to our knowledge, beyond the Chelan Cafe area and Harbor Island – Seattle Public Schools has tweeted this:
after-school events cancelled at Mercer, Muir, Beacon H, Cleveland, Maple, Aki Kurose, Kimball, MLK, Dearborn, Franklin, Graham H, Hawthorne
— Seattle Schools (@seapubschools) March 9, 2012
Seattle City Light now says the problem is at the “South Substation” (3839 4th Ave. South, the big SCL facility right off the ramp from the eastbound West Seattle Bridge) and that some might not get their power back till 6 pm.
2:34 PM UPDATE: As many commenters are pointing out, the power’s come back on for most. Scott from City Light tells us about 600 homes/businesses are left to be restored. He says the problem happened when a power line that was being worked on at the South Station touched another piece of equipment and caused a short that led to the outage. Nobody was hurt.
3:01 PM UPDATE: And one last update from City Light via Twitter:
Power has been restored to all but 10 customers.Problem caused by awire tripping a relay at the south substation.
— Seattle City Light (@SEACityLight) March 9, 2012
When Metro went public last month with its revised proposal for West Seattle (and vicinity) route changes to take effect in September, in conjunction with the launch of RapidRide Line C, some of the loudest voices of concern came from South Seattle Community College and its Puget Ridge neighbors. They were concerned about service levels on the weekends. Today, Metro has published an online update that says they might at least reconfigure for Saturdays:
We are currently considering the possibility of providing some level of service on Saturday when SSCC is in session. However, continuing to provide Saturday Route 125 service would come as a trade-off for other service improvements. We are analyzing these trade-offs as we look to provide the highest quality transit service to the most people.
The Metro updates also reiterates that the next revised proposal – which goes to county leadership for consideration – will be out in mid-April.
Garage/rummage-sale fans converged on West Seattle’s two mega-sales as soon as the doors opened at nine this morning. Above, the wide view of just one of the rooms full of stuff on sale at Tibbetts United Methodist Church (WSB sponsor), 3940 41st SW – you’ll also find items like sports gear and furniture outside, including this eye-catching chair:
Tibbetts’ sale continues till 4 pm today, and will run again 9 am-3 pm tomorrow. (If you like to plan ahead, check out the Christmas-decorations table by the stage!)
Just a few blocks away, at 3601 California SW, West Side Presbyterian Church is in full sale swing too:
Theirs also spans multiple rooms – you will be offered a map as you step inside. And as is always the case with rummage/garage sales, you can find “they don’t make ’em like that” type finds – reel-to-reel, anyone?
WSPC’s sale continues till 5 today, and runs 9 am-2 pm tomorrow (it even has its own Facebook page). Be sure to look for the extensive bake-sale area inside the north side of the church.
Side note: Registration for this year’s West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, presented and coordinated again this year by WSB, will start Monday, April 2nd … more to come. WS Garage Sale Day itself is Saturday, May 12th, 9 am-3 pm.
(Photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
More than 100 people joined in the “Bite of West Seattle” event – potluck dinner and cultural performances – presented by West Seattle High School‘s Diversity Club last night. So reports WSHS student Nathaniel Solis, who shared photos from the event – we stopped by in the early going and caught the locally based Au Lac Vovinam Lion Dance Team warming up; Nathaniel caught them in action:
(This and subsequent photos by Nathaniel Solis)
Three more of Nathaniel’s photos, ahead:Read More
(Salamander eggs at Camp Long, by Flickr member mriggen, from the WSB Flickr group pool)
LAST DAY OF OPEN ENROLLMENT FOR SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: If you’ve been meaning to register but haven’t yet, last call – info here.
REGISTRATION DEADLINE NEARING FOR WEST SEATTLE GIRLS’ SOFTBALL: Sunday is the last day to register for WS Girls Softball (practices start the week of 3/26; the season opens 4/23). Sign up at westseattlegirlssoftball.com. The WSGS Board is looking for new volunteers, too – please contact president Shawn Herrera at wssshawnp@yahoo.com.
TIBBETTS RUMMAGE SALE, DAY 1: Big rummage sale at Tibbetts United Methodist Church (WSB sponsor), 9 am-4 pm today and 9 am-3 pm Saturday (preview here).
WEST SIDE RUMMAGE SALE: And it’s also time for the big rummage sale at West Side Presbyterian Church, 9 am-5 pm today and 9 am-2 pm tomorrow.
WINE TASTING AT METROPOLITAN MARKET: Washington wines at Metropolitan Market/Admiral (WSB sponsor), 5-7 pm
GATEWOOD ELEMENTARY AUCTION: Tonight is Gatewood Elementary‘s “Bid for Kids” at The Hall at Fauntleroy, 5:30-9 pm (here’s our preview).
LIVE MUSIC AT C & P COFFEE: Steve and Kristi Nebel perform tonight at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 6-8 pm.
LIVE MUSIC AT SALTY’S: Elizabeth Dawson and Victor Janusz perform at Salty’s on Alki, 7-10 pm (Facebook event here)
CONTINUING AT ARTSWEST: At ArtsWest in The Junction, “The Rise and Fall of Little Voice” by Jim Cartwright, directed by Christopher Zinovitch, 7:30 pm.
They showed up at Lee’s Martial Arts in West Seattle last night, not just to lend a hand to the soon-to-debut online comedy series “The Collectibles,” but to lend a leg too:
The occasion was “Girls’ Fight Night Out,” centered on martial-arts work with Lee’s co-owner Lisa Skvarla, who is a professional actor as well as a nationally renowned martial-arts expert – and a cast member (as superhero “Ultrafemme”) for “The Collectibles,” which premieres at Emerald City Comicon next month. Also involved with the production, our tipsters for this event, Raechelle Downing and Todd Downing – Todd is co-writer/co-director/producer, while Raechelle is a line producer:
If you want to help “The Collectibles” finish raising $ to complete its first round of 10 webisodes, you can donate through the button on the right sidebar of the show’s website.
Meantime, a side note: You might remember reading about Todd here when he asked two nights ago for WSB’ers to join in the push to save the Washington film industry’s incentive program. Citizen campaigning is credited with helping the bill get passed by the State House 92-6 last night (with “yes” votes including local Reps. Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon), not long before the Legislature’s regular session ended, and it now awaits Gov. Gregoire‘s signature.
Our photos are courtesy of diver/photographer Laura James, who was there as Sustainable West Seattle‘s toxic-runoff-fighting Tox-Ick Monster presentation brought in a big crowd at Sanislo Elementary on Thursday night – beating, Laura says, the 50-person goal, which means that an environmental project at Sanislo gets a $1,000 donation. Everybody who came was a winner – free pizza, free native plants:
And you can join the fight too – next chance, 7 pm March 22nd at West Seattle High School, which also gets a $1,000 grant if at least 50 adult community members turn out for the presentation!
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