West Seattle, Washington
13 Saturday
If you hear someone say “Seafair” and “Alki” in the same sentence, you might think “Pirates.” This afternoon, however, those words went along with “royalty” – and “admiralty.” The Alki Point Lighthouse was the setting as this year’s candidates in the Seafair Scholarship Program for Women – along with the woman one of them will succeed, reigning Miss Seafair Veronica Quintero – enjoyed their first official group outing, the annual Admiral’s Tea reception. Above, that’s Veronica with U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Keith A. Taylor, the USCG’s 13th District commander, and U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Douglass T. Biesel, Navy Region Northwest commander. We also photographed her with West Seattle’s representative in this year’s Miss Seafair competition, last year’s Hi-Yu Senior Court Queen Kelsey Bills:
Other West Seattle ties: At the lighthouse, we talked with Ruthie Waid, a WS resident who’s a new member of the Scholarship Program committee (and mother of 2006 Miss Seafair Erin Waid), and met JoAnne Ludwig, the former West Seattleite who is longtime chair of the program. The next Miss Seafair will be crowned July 28th, right before the Seafair Torchlight Parade. One week before that, the candidates will be back in West Seattle, for the American Legion Post 160 Grand Parade down California SW on July 21st. (As for the Pirates – they land at Alki Beach on July 7th.)
P.S. One other big event today at the lighthouse – the first day in 2012 that it was open for the public to visit! June through August, it’s open Saturdays and Sundays, 1-4 pm.
Besides the upcoming celestial events mentioned in the preceding WSB story, the Summer Solstice is approaching, too. It’s on Wednesday, June 20th, this year – but hold your celebrating a few days till Saturday, June 23rd, because THAT is the night of the White Center Food Bank-benefiting Summer Solstice Cocktail Party. Ann Kendall from WCFB says you can still get your ticket(s) if you haven’t already. It’s in West Seattle, at the Puget Sound view home of two longtime WC Food Bank supporters, Lynne Ingalls and Mike Wald; guests will include County Councilmember Joe McDermott as well as the West Seattle/White Center area’s entire legislative delegation, Sen. Sharon Nelson and Reps. Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon. Suggested donation $50 – which will help the WC Food Bank in what can be a slow time for donations, amid warm-weather distractions. Save your ticket by calling Ann at 206-762-2848 or 206-713-0031; via e=mail, ann@whitecenterfoodbank.org.
LOW-LOW TIDES: Thanks to Lura for the tip: Another round of extra-low low tides has arrived. Each of the next four days will bring a low tide of more than -3 feet, which means many tidepools and other things to explore (carefully!). Here’s our favorite tide calendar with the specific times – or, you can use the WSB Events Calendar, where each of those days has an entry not only featuring the low-tide times, but also the hours that you’ll find Seattle Aquarium volunteer beach naturalists at 2 sites in West Seattle. Happy exploring!
IN THE SKY: Also in the next few days, you have the chance to see two phenomena, both, of course weather permitting. Early Monday, there’s a partial eclipse of the moon – and we do mean EARLY, as in 4 am our time. NASA explains it here. Then on Tuesday, it’s the Transit of Venus – with NASA Solar System Ambassador Alice Enevoldsen as your guide at West Seattle’s Solstice Park. This is NOT something you can just go outside and check out. See Alice’s website for lots of information, including an event on Tuesday.
The presence of Greenpeace Esperanza off West Seattle shores earlier this week sparked some discussion following our report on the reason for its visit, the impending departure of two Shell rigs bound for Arctic oil drilling, so here’s a followup: The Esperanza moved to a Lake Union dock yesterday, and remains there, according to MarineTraffic.com tracking information. Today brought the arrival of another Shell-owned vessel that is expected to accompany the drilling rigs/ships Kulluk and Noble Discoverer (both at Vigor Shipyards) – it’s the blue-hulled boat you see in our photo above, the Aiviq. According to this Popular Mechanics report, it’s a new, Louisiana-built $200 million icebreaker. That’s twice the cost of the work that’s been done to the Kulluk at Vigor, according to this report from Petroleum News, which says Shell plans on “demonstrating its new well capping and containment system in Puget Sound within the next two to three weeks.”
2:33 PM: For the second time today, there’s a major Seattle Fire call on Delridge – though the first crews report the fire tapped. We’re en route.
2:47 PM: Only one unit left at the scene in the 4800 block of Delridge; the temporary traffic snarl at the scene is clearing since the other units have gone. Working to find out what the short-lived fire was attributed to. The fire’s blamed on some trash in the backyard, which is currently being hosed down. (The house isn’t visible in the photo – it’s tucked between townhomes.)
The sun arrived in West Seattle at mid-morning, just in time for Northwest gardening celebrity Ciscoe Morris‘s scheduled visit to West Seattle Nursery – the setting today for his live weekly two-hour KIRO-FM radio show. His first interviewees were from the WSN team. Before sitting down at the microphone, he mingled with shoppers:
If you missed today’s West Seattle-based Ciscoe-cast, keep an eye on this page, which should eventually have the archived audio files. This was Ciscoe’s second visit to this area this spring; on April 15th, he was at Village Green Perennial Nursery (WSB sponsor).
10:16 AM: Big initial response to a crash that just happened at Delridge and Willow, but most of the units have been turned back, since it wasn’t what was originally reported – a car hitting a building, which meant an initial “heavy rescue” call, since downgraded. Our crew’s on the way and we’ll update.
10:25 AM: An ambulance is being called for the driver, no major injuries reported. Our crew at the scene says this is at the Willow Court Apartments, where a chain-link fence stopped the car from crashing into a play structure. Traffic is still moving both ways on Delridge, but slowly. Photo to come added.
10:44 AM: Adding a second photo – this is looking north on Delridge, and at left, you can see part of the wooden fence the car went through before going down the slope shown in the top photo; also note a tree was taken out, too. The driver was sitting up, conscious, even before the ambulance arrived, according to our crew.
Though it was born of an unsolved murder, Friday night’s safety walk along Beach Drive was a relatively low-key event for West Seattle police, given what they – and the rest of the city – went through earlier this week.
Just 48 hours earlier, they were dealing with the aftermath of a multiple murderer’s suicide, ending a four-hour search (WSB coverage and 340+ community comments here) that found them swarming several areas of eastern West Seattle, guns drawn, responding to reports of possible sightings, until killer Ian Stawicki finally turned up in a hillside neighborhood two blocks west of the High Point Library. “We got our bad guy, and that tragedy ended,” operations Lt. Pierre Davis (top photo, left) noted before the safety walk.
Friday night, he and Community Police Team Officers Jon Kiehn, Ken Mazzuca, and Kevin McDaniel were back in the roles of coaching the community and listening to concerns, particularly surrounding issues at waterfront Emma Schmitz Overlook, where police believe 51-year-old Greggette Guy was murdered in March, and forested Me-Kwa-Mooks Park across the way.
(CPT officers, from left, Mazzuca, McDaniel, Kiehn)
Along with Crime Prevention Coordinator Mark Solomon and Seattle Parks manager Carol Baker, they answered questions, wrote down suggestions, and led a group of about 20 people – including Alki Community Council president Tony Fragada and vice president Randie Stone – along a fairly short distance – half a block to the north end of the viewpoint park, across Beach Drive, half a block to the sidewalk in front of the Me-Kwa-Mooks sign. Here’s the first half, including a few words along the way from Lt. Davis regarding what happened on Wednesday, plus comments from other SPD personnel plus Parks’ Baker (shown in the YouTube framegrab):
Solomon was particularly interested in the lighting issue, and told WSB later he’ll be pushing that point.
The issues changed, as the group crossed Beach Drive to the inland side, with Lt. Davis – a veteran of the Traffic Unit, in years before his Southwest Precinct stint – stopping traffic so everyone could cross safely:
On the Me-Kwa-Mooks side, Parks’ Baker pointed out that, as with the water side, some changes already had been made. Some of the shrubbery has been cleared (as it has on the water side); also, she pointed out, the porta-potty no longer has fencing around it, as you can see in the background of this photo:
One nearby resident mentioned a secluded area upslope in the park where people come to party, usually leaving beer cans behind, and often setting fires in an unauthorized “pit.” After the official end of the safety walk, we climbed the trail with him and two other participants to see it.
Lt. Davis promised to look into the issues of unauthorized park use, and, in wrapping up the on-the-move portion of the evening, reminded participants not only to look out for each other, including with the formation and use of Block Watches – but also to call 911 about suspicious people/activity – one person mentioned having seen it in Me-Kwa-Mooks, but not necessarily reporting it. (We’ll add that you also can bring concerns to police during the monthly West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting at the precinct; the next one is scheduled for June 19th, 7 pm.)
Even with summer still a few weeks away, it’s fall-registration season for West Seattle Soccer Club, and they’re asking everyone to register early – not just players, but also coaches and volunteers. Players who sign up by June 30th get “priority placement on their former teams,” per the WSSC announcement. Sign up online at westseattlesoccer.org. (And when you do, you get to buy the new WSSC scarf for $10 – more pics on the club’s Facebook page.)
(Walkway at Jack Block Park, photographed by Doug B, who you can also find on Flickr)
Welcome to the weekend! From the WSB West Seattle Events Calendar, some of the highlights for today/tonight:
LAST SUPr ENDURANCE EVENT: Under way right now at Alki Kayak Tours, “a daylong celebration promoting the up and coming sport of stand up paddleboarding (SUP). This event will feature an endurance event which will determine who can stand on the SUP the longest. There will be challenging aspects along the route which will test SUP participants’ skills. The rules are simple, you must only use your feet in this contest. Any other part of your body touching the board will disqualify you.” More info here. (Update – We checked in at AKT around 11 – this has been rescheduled in hopes of a day with better weather!)
GARAGE SALES GALORE: Three weeks after West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day 2012, our neighbors to the south are having their annual multiple-sale day – Shorewood on the Sound Streets of Sales, 9 am-4 pm today. Find the sales on this Google map.
WEST SEATTLE GARAGE SALES, TOO: Several for this weekend are listed in the WSB Forums‘ Freebies/Deals/Sales section, where you can list yours for free any time.
FURRY FACES FOUNDATION PLANT SALE: More than 1,500 plants to choose from, all types, 3809 46th SW (map), from 10 am-4 pm – it’s the second and final weekend of this popular plant sale to raise money for F3’s animal advocacy.
CISCOE AT WEST SEATTLE NURSERY: 10 am this morning, the gardener/broadcaster will do his radio show live from West Seattle Nursery (California/Brandon).
RECOVERY GARDEN CLEANUP: Volunteers will be at 26th and Brandon from 10 am to 1 pm to continue the work that last year’s volunteers (some of whom will be there to mentor them) started. All welcome to come help.
STUDENT’S SALE TO HELP A SOLDIER: We reported earlier this week on 7th-grader Kyle Joyce‘s announcement of a sale to help put together a care package for his former coach, who’s been deployed overseas. The sale is 11 am-4 pm today at 6001 SW Admiral Way.
KITTY HARBOR’S OPENING WEEKEND: You’re likely to see a line along Harbor Avenue SW just north of the bridge right before noon, which is when shelter/adoption center Kitty Harbor begins its first adoption weekend of the summer season.
LIVE MUSIC AT VILLAGE GREEN: As announced by Village Green Perennial Nursery proprietor Vera Johnson, “Shade Byron banjo player from ‘Bottom of the barrel’ and Jasmine Byron, fiddler and traveling musician, will be gathering up a crew of fun musicians to play some music … Visiting from Santa Cruz for a short time – we are happy to welcome them here!” 1 pm, 10224 26th SW.
PROTECT YOURSELF FROM IDENTITY THEFT: Free workshop 1-3 pm today at Peace Lutheran Church (39th/Thistle), details here.
CARNIVAL IN ARBOR HEIGHTS: Big fun at Arbor Heights Elementary – as described in our calendar listing, 3-6 pm.
AARON DANIEL’S BENEFIT SHOW FOR AARF: A one-man band you have to see/hear to believe, Aaron Daniel, performs tonight at the Feedback Lounge (6451 California SW; WSB sponsor) as part of a benefit for Animal Aid and Rescue Foundation; silent auction too; 8 pm.
‘ROCKY HORROR’: First Saturday of the month ends with a toast, among other things, as the Admiral Theater opens its doors to “Rocky Horror Picture Show” fans for the monthly midnight showing.
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