West Seattle wildlife: Keeping the ‘kids’ in line; takeoff time
(First 2 photos by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
Walking at Don Armeni this morning, we stopped to watch one of the local Canada goose families as they headed up the ramp and off to truly greener pastures park lawns. We can’t even approach the cuteness factor of David Hutchinson’s last parent-and-gosling photo, but we snapped away bravely just the same.
Then, just as we were about to publish those two photos, Cheryl Nellis shared low-tide sights via Facebook – including this view of a great blue heron taking wing as brant munch eelgrass in the foreground:
(Thanks to Cheryl and the other great local photographers who share images – wildlife and otherwise – via WSB!)
Spokane St. Viaduct switchover: 5 am Thursday, confirms SDOT
Pilot/photographer Long B. Nguyen shared that view from a few days ago, looking east over the Spokane St. Viaduct, toward Beacon Hill and I-5. This evening we have an update on the plan to move all SSV traffic onto its newly built north side, so that, as part of the SSV Widening Project, the original south side can be repaired and resurfaced before it’s all joined for good. You might have seen the postal-mail brochure that arrived in many mailboxes on Monday (if not, see it here); like the story we published last Friday, it said that the switchover MIGHT happen as soon as Thursday. We have just confirmed with SDOT that it **IS** on for 5 am Thursday (following an eastbound overnight closure). Once it kicks in, travel lanes will be 10 feet wide, so the speed limit will be reduced to 25 mph, both ways. Also, the 4th Avenue South ramp will be closed for two months or so (but 1st will be open).
SIDE NOTE: News just came in about another project you can see in the aerial photo – at lower right, the $52 million East Marginal Way Grade Separation, built by the Port of Seattle, is officially complete and there’s a dedication ceremony at 2 pm tomorrow.
High-school sports: Chief Sealth’s soccer streak continues, 12-0 over WSHS
5:10 PM: The final’s just in from Hiawatha: The undefeated, #9-in-the-state Chief Sealth International High School boys-varsity soccer team won its match with West Seattle High School, 12-0.
9:40 PM: Added two photos. Right above this paragraph, that’s Sealth head coach Ron Johnson with the player whose teammates call him “Coach Dillon” – Dillon Zang, sidelined for months with a torn ligament, but turning out for the games to be on the sidelines for his teammates as the Seahawks continue rolling onward (now 9-0-1 on the season). Here are the game stats, as published by our partners at the Seattle Times. Both Sealth and WSHS (0-7) play again on Thursday, with road games at 3:30 pm – Sealth at Franklin, WSHS vs. Cleveland at Van Asselt.
4 West Seattle restaurant notes: Food for Art; ATB #3; Pan Africa -1; Fiddlehead
TWO NIGHTS TILL ‘FOOD FOR ART’: Another reminder about Thursday night – more than half a dozen local restaurants are donating part of the night’s proceeds to Transitional Resources, a West Seattle-based organization that helps people living with mental illness. We featured the lineup in this preview; many are also hosting raffles in which you can participate, and some of the prizes are listed on the Facebook event page. This is timed to coincide with West Seattle Art Walk, so make plans to go out Thursday and enjoy great food AND great art.
TERRIBLE BEAUTY EXPANDING TO LOCATION #3: Some fans of A Terrible Beauty may already have heard this, as they’ve been quietly letting the news get out; we found it on the liquor-license-application list. Renton was their first, West Seattle their second, and now they’re expanding to location #3 on South Lake Union (1001 Fairview Avenue N). ATB co-proprietor Jenna Shannon Garvey O’Brien tells WSB, “We hope to open in July, but you know how that can go as well so we’ve just been saying Summer 2012. We will also have an outdoor walk up Chip shop at this location called Fish ‘n Tings.”
PAN AFRICA GRILL CLOSING PIKE MARKET LOCATION: Pan Africa Grill assures us that their West Seattle location (5905 California SW) is “alive and kicking” – but they have decided to close their original spot in the Pike Place Market area, and are promoting a “closing party” on Saturday.
FIDDLEHEAD FINE FOODS ADDED TO WSB WEST SEATTLE RESTAURANT GUIDE: Just added a page for one of West Seattle’s newest restaurants, Fiddlehead Fine Foods and Café. The guide index is here; Fiddlehead’s page is here.
The WSBeat: Wanted no more; gun apology; squatters…
By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog
As always, the WSBeat summaries are from reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers, incidents of note that (usually) have not already appeared here in breaking-news coverage or West Seattle Crime Watch reports, but that might at least answer the question “what WERE all those police doing on my block (whenever)?”:
*Around noon last Thursday, officers were dispatched to the 9200 block of Delridge Way SW to look for an “armed and dangerous” man wanted on a California warrant. After seeing a man fitting the general description enter a convenience store, they watched from outside and spotted unique identifying tattoos on his neck. As the man stepped up to the counter to pay for his drink, he was arrested without incident.
*Then on Thursday afternoon, members of the Pacific Northwest Fugitive Task Force arrested a man in the 4700 block of 44th SW. He was wanted in Orange County, California for felony stalking. The 45-year-old was booked into King County jail to await extradition.
*A savvy citizen called 911 after midnight last Tuesday to report that a suspicious person was looking in car windows in the 7500 block of Dumar Way SW. The suspect tried to evade officers who arrived at the scene, but was caught in a nearby greenbelt. His front pockets were full of bank and credit cards with a woman’s name. His backpack contained two digital cameras, two cell phones, two cell chargers, a video game, two controllers, an MP3 player and a folding knife. The suspect—a downtown resident—was booked into King County Jail for investigation of felony possession of stolen property.
8 more summaries, including the case of the hidden gun that led to an apology, ahead:Read More
West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day: 2 group sites
If you want to be part of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day on May 12th but don’t have enough room – and/or stuff – to register your own freestanding sale, once again this year our two WSB coffeehouse sponsors are going to offer space to small-scale sellers: Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (4410 California SW) and C & P Coffee Company (5612 California SW). Contact the proprietors of either coffeehouse directly if you’re interested in space – info@hotwirecoffee.com or candp@comcast.net (or inquire in person).
Meanwhile, after one week of signups, we have 60 sales registered, all sizes! While we promote WSCGSD regionally as well as locally, the aspect many people have told us they appreciate each year is getting out to meet and greet neighbors, whether they’re selling or buying – with more than 200 sales each of the past two years, almost every neighborhood has something going on. It’s the one day of the year that West Seattle becomes Garage Sale Paradise. (If you’re new to the area or pondering a sale for the first time, you can browse the archives on our official WSCGSD site to see photos from years past.) The map is available in printable and clickable forms one week before WSCGSD, but you have to be registered to be on it (and you get a classified-ad-style listing for your sale too) – here’s where to go to get in on it, and then, get ready for 9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 12th, one day, one peninsula, lots of sales! More updates to come, including via Facebook (the WSCGSD page is here; the WSB page is here).
West Seattle Tuesday: Schools; soccer; service center….
(Trillium photographed by Machel Spence)
From the new-format WSB West Seattle Events calendar:
CLOSURE REMINDERS: Tonight, TWO overnight closures of note – both 10 pm-5 am – the southbound Alaskan Way Viaduct/99, and the eastbound Spokane Street Viaduct, more details here.
LAST DAY FOR DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE CENTER: In the final phase of a somewhat complicated plan first announced seven months ago at a mayoral news conference in West Seattle (WSB coverage here), the Delridge NSC – where you pay city/utility bills and get info on city services, among other things – closes today for good, at 6 pm. One week from today, at 10 am Tuesday, April 17th, the new NSC opens at the former Southwest Community Center, adjacent to SW Pool (2801 SW Thistle).
FASHION SHOW/LUNCH: At Senior Center of West Seattle, 11:45 am – but call to see if they have room. (California/Oregon)
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS ISSUES/CONCERNS/IDEAS? West Seattle’s school-board rep Marty McLaren welcomes you to a community conversation at Delridge Library, 1:15-3:15 pm. (Delridge/Brandon)
LOW TIDE! 2:23 pm, -2.1 feet, second-lowest tide (yesterday was the lowest) this month (chart here).
CROSSTOWN SOCCER MATCHUP: West Seattle High School hosts Chief Sealth International High School in a boys-varsity soccer match at Hiawatha, 3:30 pm.
ADMIRAL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: 7 pm, Admiral Congregational Church lower-level meeting room (California/Hill), full agenda’s on our calendar-listing page.
FAUNTLEROY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: 7 pm, Fauntleroy Schoolhouse (9131 California SW).
DENNY INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE SCHOOL PTSA: Meets tonight, 7 pm, school library (2601 SW Kenyon).
BABY KETTEN KARAOKE: No, that’s not a typo. It’s not your average karaoke, either. 9 pm, Skylark Café and Club (3803 Delridge Way SW).
West Seattle traffic reminder: Southbound Viaduct/99 closures
If you don’t drive in the late-night/early-morning hours, you won’t notice, but the state just issued another reminder of these partial Viaduct/99 closures the next two nights (mentioned in THIS WEEK’S CLOSURES atop the TOP STORIES list on the WSB sidebar):
Crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will close the southbound State Route 99 Alaskan Way Viaduct for the next two nights to continue work to reinforce both decks of a two-block section of the viaduct between South Washington and Columbia streets in Pioneer Square.
Protecting this section of the viaduct is important because crews will drive the tunnel boring machine beneath it in late 2013.
Closure details:
· Tuesday, April 10 – the morning of Thursday, April 12 – Southbound SR 99 between the West Seattle Bridge and the Battery Street Tunnel will close nightly from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The Elliott Avenue and Columbia Street on-ramps to southbound SR 99 will also close.
Both nights, there’s ALSO a city-project closure, as also forewarned earlier – the eastbound Spokane Street Viaduct, same hours. If you are expecting to drive at that time, do read the entire city alert, because some surface/ramp changes might affect you even if the major bridge shutdown doesn’t.
popular spring food/drink celebration/benefit – the 
If you missed the mentions before – yes, Democrats are caucusing in our state, even though, as the
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