West Seattle, Washington
26 Monday
Every few months, WSDOT convenes the “stakeholders” known as the South Portal Working Group to get a briefing on what’s up with the south end of the Highway 99/Viaduct/Tunnel project and everything that ties into it. They got together again late today at the usual meeting spot, Sound Transit‘s board room at King Street Station. Ahead, toplines of potential West Seattle interest:
SPOKANE STREET VIADUCT WIDENING PROJECT:
*Approaching 90 percent completion, says SDOT project manager Stuart Goldsmith. The project is now expected to be done in “early September.” The new westbound 1st Avenue South ramp won’t fully open till then.
*May 22nd is the date expected for reopening the 4th Avenue eastbound exit, and then closing the 1st Avenue South eastbound ramp for another 6 to 8 weeks.
*Exit confusion where the bridge meets 99 (and truckers going rogue): They’re still working on signage – covering the ones that point them to the Spokane St. Viaduct for I-5.
NEW HIGHWAY 99 BRIDGE (ELEVATED STRUCTURE) WHERE THE VIADUCT USED TO BE:
*WSDOT’s Matt Preedy says the first set of girders for the northbound bridge was set last night – right now both directions are running on the semi-recently-completed bridge that will eventually carry southbound traffic. They have met the milestone of “100 percent up out of the ground,” said Preedy, and are on track to complete the bridge and shift traffic onto it by fall of this year – earlier than what they thought last year.
SOUTH ATLANTIC STREET OVERCROSSING FOR 99
*Bids will be opened later this month; this overpass bridge is to be complete by end of next year. How will bicycles get along? Preedy was asked. The path back to West Seattle will be “detoured a little further to the west” during construction.
EAST MARGINAL WAY SOUTH REBUILD
*On track for completion by June.
AIRPORT WAY SOUTH BRIDGE
*Still expected to reopen by the end of the year.
HOW WOULD SODO BASKETBALL/HOCKEY ARENA AFFECT TRAFFIC?
*One group member pointed out that the possibility completely tousles what’s been under discussion here for a very long time – 4 extra “events” a week – and wondered if it had been adequately discussed among transportation managers.
*The arena came up, by the way, in a new “what’s on your mind?” section of the meeting. Some members including West Seattle’s Pete Spalding had suggested the group’s meetings needed more time to listen to actual concerns regarding the south end traffic situation, and less on presentations that might or might not directly affect them.
ALASKAN WAY – NOW, FUTURE
*Wednesday or Thursday of next week, the detour announced last week – with the demonsration video repeated above – will take effect, and will be in effect until at least early 2014, “possibly longer, depending on the city’s seawall-replacement schedule,” Preedy says. Traffic will be under the Viaduct all the way to Madison. If continuing north, you veer over, and by Spring Street, you’re back in the current Alaskan Way lans. Through traffic will be southbound one lane; northbound, part two, part one. They will implement “bumper to bumper” ferry queueing on the dock, which means 100 more cars, with the help of an on-dock supervisor. There’s 100 extra potential spaces using some street/curb space.
*East/west, they will feed people directly off the dock with more options including going straight through and accessing 2nd Avenue Extension. The bike path will be on the east side of the viaduct path from Jackson to Yesler, but north of that, the bike path will cross the detoured Yesler then cross again at Madison. West Seattle group member Vlad Oustimovitch worried that would be creating a lot of “bicycle/vehicle conflicts” in the short run. He called the detour-and-detour again plan “convoluted.” WSDOT says they’re most concerned about safety. The sidewalk on the west side of Alaskan Way will remain open, but it’s not wide enough to be the primary route.
ALASKAN WAY WIDENED FOR STREET PARKING
*About 66 on-street metered parking spots are being created between Spring and Pike along Alaskan Way. That’s about a third of the 200 lost under The Viaduct.
Chief Sealth International High School‘s spring-sports program now has two division champions!
SOCCER DIVISION CHAMPS: Tonight, the boys-varsity team clinched the Metro Sound Division title:
They shut out Nathan Hale 1-0 – with Kristian Nilssen on goal – at Southwest Athletic Complex tonight. (Stats here, from our partners at the Seattle Times.)
It was also seniors’ night; the graduating players were scheduled to be honored at game’s end – before the game, we caught up with students and parents who were putting together the postgame celebration (food, balloons, etc.):
From left, Noele, Tasha, Ryan, Claire, and “Coach Mom” Rosario.
SOFTBALL DIVISION CHAMPS: Even before tonight’s soccer victory, Sealth already had a division winner. Athletic director Sam Reed reports that the girls-varsity softball team concluded its regular season Monday by defeating Roosevelt, ending with a 15-5 record, the Sound Division title, and a look ahead to the playoffs starting next week.
GiveBIG TILL MIDNIGHT: If you’ve donated already, you’re part of a big philanthropic outpouring. Here’s the tally as of around 5 pm:
We’re thrilled to report that #GiveBIG has now seen more than $5 million raised for 1150 organizations! Nearly 23,000 donations in all!
— Seattle Foundation (@TheSeattleFdn) May 2, 2012
If you haven’t given yet, you still have time. This one-day donate-a-thon with participating organizations having a potential chance at some matching funds through the Seattle Foundation goes till midnight. You have to donate through a link on their site, but the money all goes to the nonprofit – we made a list early this morning of the West Seattle, White Center, and South Park participants, with their special donation links – see (and use) the list here. Speaking of WC:
‘DINE OUT FOR HUNGER’: In connection with this big day/night of giving, Proletariat Pizza and Zippy’s Giant Burgers are giving a share of tonight’s dinner proceeds to the White Center Food Bank. We found WCFB executive director Rick Jump at Zippy’s:
His organization went all-out today; Jump and others were at WC coffee shops 7 am-10 am to facilitate donations via laptops. By the way, Proletariat Pizza and Zippy’s are members of the new WSB sponsor we just welcomed this afternoon – the Rat City Business Association (meet the RCBA businesses here).
Thanks to those who have flagged us to this today via e-mail and phone, and it’s also under discussion at Seattle Schools Community Forum, with the exhortation, “Now is the time to pay attention”: Tonight’s Seattle School Board meeting includes the first look at a “Revision to Transportation Standards.” That means changing the scheduling of school buses, which in turn means changing the scheduling for schools’ start and end times.
You might recall, this all came up just last year – when another round of transportation changes and ensuing bell-time changes meant that some schools were starting as late as the 9:30 am vicinity; Sanislo Elementary, in particular, tried to fight it (here’s one of our stories from May 2011).
Last year’s changes were supposed to save money. However, it didn’t work out that way, according to district documents in tonight’s meeting packet – so now they’re looking at a new three-tier system, with bus arrivals at schools as early as 7:10 am, 15 minutes earlier than the earliest ones now, and longer bus rides. Here’s a screen grab:
No specific “which school would be in which tier” list already that we can find (and we’re asking the district just to be sure). The report on tonight’s agenda says this could save $1 million next year. For the current year, “transportation expenditures” may be almost $3 million over budget, the School Board has been told. Tonight’s board meeting (agenda here) is at 6 pm at district headquarters in SODO.
Two quick West Seattle Crime Watch notes this afternoon: First, a business burglary – a concerned customer texted us this morning to say they had heard Tony’s Market, the produce stand at 35th/Barton, had been hit by crime; we stopped in to check and the staff confirmed they had been burglarized overnight, but, they told us, the burglar(s) didn’t get away with much.
Second, police had to be called to the Youngstown Flats construction site at 26th/Dakota on Sunday night, according to the development team, when young trespassers were caught trying to climb the crane. The developers’ update says they broke through a “perimeter chain-link fence” to get to the crane, and so site security is being beefed up including “an additional barrier around the crane.”
(Photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
Chief Sealth International High School‘s Cinco de Mayo assembly this morning included a high-profile guest: At right, that’s Washington Supreme Court Justice Steven GonzĂ¡lez (with Seattle Police Officer Adrian Z. Diaz). Marta Sanchez in the Sealth office has known Justice GonzĂ¡lez for years and arranged for him to speak at today’s assembly. He joined the state Supreme Court earlier this year, previously serving in King County Superior Court, where, just weeks before his move, we covered then-Judge GonzĂ¡lez presiding over sentencing in a high-profile West Seattle case, that of “prolific burglar” John Novotny.
(Student journalist Nicholas Trost, on assignment for WSB, shot this video tour before ex-FS 37 was vacated)
Seven months after the City Council gave final authorization for the sale of city-landmark former Fire Station 37 at 35th/Othello – vacant for a year and a half – it’s on the brink of being bought. We’ve tracked the sale process through the listing and the March/April open houses; April 20th was the deadline for offers – but senior vice president Arvin Vander Veen from Colliers International, handling the sale of ex-FS 37 and another one elsewhere in the city, tells WSB they asked a small number of prospective buyers for a second round of offers, and those are due today. Why a second round? we asked. His reply: “Because several offers were high and very close to each other, so we went back to a few for a best and final offer.” (They had said they wouldn’t accept offers less than $250,000.) The circa-1925 building is expected to become a private residence, in no small part because – as pointed out in a city report we excerpted last year – the site is zoned for single-family housing. Proceeds from the sale are to go back into the city’s Fire Levy program.
(Thanks to Doug B for sharing his osprey photo with the WSB Flickr group pool – it’s linked to his original, on Flickr)
A few things of note as the day goes on, and then into the night, from the WSB West Seattle Events Calendar:
TRAFFIC ALERT: Admiral Way paving continues north of the West Seattle Bridge; the bridge itself has inspection work happening today – details on both are here.
‘GiveBIG’ ONE-DAY DONATION DRIVE: Early this morning, we published a list of the special links for West Seattle, White Center, and South Park nonprofits that are participating in this one-day donate-a-palooza – with The Seattle Foundation offering a “stretch pool” that will make your donations go further. The list is here. Also note that your favorite nonprofit(s) may have extra matches going on – we know of at least two, West Seattle Helpline with a dollar-for-dollar match up to $2,500, and ArtsWest has its own matching fund too. And tonight if you dine at Proletariat Pizza or Zippy’s Giant Burgers, as part of “Dine Out for Hunger,” they are donating part of their dinner proceeds to the White Center Food Bank, which serves part of West Seattle too.
VIADUCT UPDATES: The every-few-months meeting of the Alaskan Way Viaduct South Portal Working Group is at 4 pm today, Sound Transit Board Room at 401 South Jackson downtown, with working-group members to be briefed on a variety of projects, including the waterfront-traffic reroutes reported here on Monday, transit routing during 99 construction, and how the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project is going.
ALSO TALKING 99/VIADUCT … and transit routing, will be the Southwest District Council, reps from community groups and other organizations around western West Seattle, meeting at 7 pm tonight, board room at South Seattle Community College (6000 16th SW).
DINNER/HAPPY HOUR EXPANDS AT LA ROMANZA: The newly renamed La Romanza Bistro Italiano (WSB sponsor) in The Junction is now serving dinner on Wednesdays, too, starting tonight. Happy Hour too, says proprietor Aimee Pellegrini!
PRIDE SKATE TONIGHT: At Southgate Roller Rink, 9-11 pm – here’s the Facebook event page.
Get a jump on the days and weeks (and months!) ahead – browse the full calendar here.
Dozens of local nonprofits are participating in today’s Seattle Foundation‘s one-day-only GiveBIG donate-a-thon. The foundation is offering a “stretch pool” of partial matching funds, to be distributed proportionately depending on how much each participating nonprofit raises on this single day, by 11:59 pm tonight. One BIG catch: You **must** donate through the nonprofit’s special page on the foundation’s website, NOT via the nonprofit’s own website. So we have gone through the foundation’s directory to find all those special pages for participating West Seattle, White Center, and South Park-based or -founded nonprofits (and a couple parent organizations). You can also use the special “go here” links below to find out more about any of these organizations – the links take you to pages on the Seattle Foundation website with background information and links to the organizations’ own sites, as well as the donation links to use for this one-day event. (P.S. Please let us know if we missed a WS, WC, or SP-based organization – post a comment or e-mail us!)
ANUNNAKI PROJECT – go here
ART FOR ANIMALS’ SAKE – go here
ARTS CORPS – go here
ARTSWEST – go here
CHIEF SEALTH PERFORMING ARTS – go here
COOLMOM – go here
DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOODS DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION – go here
DUWAMISH RIVER CLEANUP COALITION – go here
DUWAMISH TRIBAL SERVICES – go here
ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION OF SOUTH SEATTLE – go here
FAUNTLEROY COMMUNITY SERVICE AGENCY – go here
FRIENDS OF SEALTH – go here
FULL LIFE CARE – go here
KNIT FOR LIFE – go here
KOL HANESHAMAH – go here
LOG HOUSE MUSEUM/SOUTHWEST SEATTLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY – go here
LUNGEVITY FOUNDATION – go here
MARRA FARM COALITION – go here
MULTI-COMMUNITIES – go here.
NATURE CONSORTIUM – go here
NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE – go here
NEIGHBORHOOD FARMERS MARKET ALLIANCE – go here
NEW FUTURES – go here
NORTHWEST CENTER – go here
NORTHWEST HOPE AND HEALING – go here
OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE SCHOOL – go here
PONGO PUBLISHING – go here
PROVIDENCE MOUNT ST. VINCENT FOUNDATION – go here
SAFEFUTURES YOUTH CENTER – go here
SANISLO PTA – go here
SEATTLE CHINESE GARDEN – go here
SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION – go here
SENIOR SERVICES – go here
SOUND CHILD CARE SOLUTIONS – go here
SOUTH PARK AREA REDEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE – go here
SOUTH PARK INFORMATION AND RESOURCE CENTER – go here
SOUTH SEATTLE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION – go here
SOUTHWEST YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES – go here
TECHNOLOGY ACCESS FOUNDATION – go here
THE SERVICE BOARD – go here
TRANSITIONAL RESOURCES – go here
THE VILLAGE OF HOPE – go here
WEST SEATTLE FOOD BANK – go here
WEST SEATTLE HELPLINE – go here
WESTSIDE BABY – go here
WHITE CENTER COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION – go here
WHITE CENTER FOOD BANK – go here – and note, WCFB has added events today, as reported on our partner site White Center Now, including a portion of proceeds donated tonight if you dine at Proletariat Pizza or Zippy’s Giant Burgers in WC
YES FOUNDATION OF WHITE CENTER – go here
YMCA OF GREATER SEATTLE – go here
YOUTH MEDIA INSTITUTE – go here
YWCA OF SEATTLE – go here
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