West Seattle, Washington
23 Tuesday
(Photo added midnight; no power at 35th/Avalon 7-11)
If you drive along Avalon Way tonight and notice it’s darker than usual – it’s a planned outage, as labeled on the Seattle City Light outage map. Robin just e-mailed to say she had noticed; two Avalon Way residents had e-mailed earlier. One said she had received notice that it was a scheduled outage related to the just-under-way 3261 Avalon Way apartment project, set for overnight tonight “to meet the needs of the local commercial businesses.” The other resident said she had not received notice. The SCL map says about 28 customers are affected – we don’t know whether an apartment building is counted as one or many customers but the power’s not set to be back on till 6 am.
When the campaign to stop the Tox-Ick Monster burst onto the local scene last year, the unsung hero behind it was Cate White, leading Sustainable West Seattle‘s education and outreach efforts to get people to take action, little by little, to make a big difference in Puget Sound’s water quality. Cate is unsung no longer – tonight, during SWS’s annual summertime picnic at Lincoln Park, president Christina Hahs announced her as the group’s 2012 Sustainable Hero:
In case you couldn’t watch the video – Cate is leaving West Seattle soon, headed for the Bay Area, but the fight against Tox-Ick will live on – Cate has helped secure several major grants, and was there to celebrate the $10,000 the campaign is getting for Laura James‘ recent win as a Cox Conserves Hero.
Another celebration at tonight’s picnic: SWS is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. We went back into the WSB archives and found our first mention, a quick announcement of its first meeting in spring of 2007. Christina brought homemade green-iced cake tonight to mark the milestone:
And if you did see/hear the video – the dogs who were “cheering” for Cate were Christina’s Corgis, Sedona and Piper:
The picnic took the place of this month’s regular membership meeting, so there were announcements, too, including Saturday’s Duwamish River Festival in South Park and tomorrow’s weekly Health and Harvest event at the Community Orchard of West Seattle, 5-7 pm on the northeast side of the South Seattle Community College campus. SSCC is also where SWS plans its September meeting, which will focus on winter gardening – watch for details and lots more on its frequently and thoroughly updated website, sustainablewestseattle.org.
The owner of a West Seattle marijuana dispensary, who also briefly operated one in White Center, has pleaded guilty to a federal charge. That announcement came late today from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which says Brionne Corbray, owner of the GAME Collective dispensary, faces up to 40 years in prison. Here is the full text of the news release we just obtained, detailing the pleas entered today both by Corbray and by dispensary operators in two other neighborhoods:
The owners of two different marijuana distribution enterprises pleaded guilty today in federal court to drug trafficking, admitting they were selling large quantities of marijuana for profit, in violation of federal and state law, announced U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. BRIONNE KEITH CORBRAY, 47, owner and operator of three G.A.M.E Collectives in White Center, Northeast Seattle and West Seattle pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana.
4:47 PM UPDATE: Bail was set today at $150,000 for the 27-year-old Kent man arrested after the fight outside Alki’s Bamboo Bar and Grill that left two people hurt early Sunday morning – one, it was later discovered, with a gunshot wound. (Here’s our original coverage.) Court documents say the suspect was involved in a fight with several Bamboo patrons around 1:15 am Sunday, then pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and fired it. One shell casing was found. While that fight is described as happening on the sidewalk out front, the documents say “multiple witnesses” saw the suspect point his gun at others inside. The report says he ran eastbound after the fight and gunfire, but was seen trying to hide his gun “and a Seahawks jersey … on top of the right rear tire of a parked SUV.” Police arrested him near that vehicle. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has until Wednesday to file charges.
ADDED 5:23 PM: A comment left by a Bamboo representative offers an apology and a plan for a community meeting this Wednesday:
The staff and management regrets being involved with this violent event and apologizes for any fear the community has suffered. We would like to host a community meeting this Wednesday between 5:30 and 7:30 to share the steps that we have been taking to promote a safer environment and to hear any suggestions West Seattle locals may have to offer. We truly care about keeping Alki safe, and want to make Bamboo Bar and Grill and place patrons can feel good about visiting. We look forward to improving and would like to accept any help the community has to offer.
We have also just received a phone call about this, and verified the meeting on Wednesday is AT Bamboo – 2806 Alki SW.
One week from today, the Seattle Public Library‘s systemwide money-saving closure begins, and since it precedes the Labor Day holiday, that means branches will be shuttered for eight days. The library has just sent its official announcement detailing exactly what’s closed and which services will be inaccessible during that time – along with which ones will be accessible, including more online services than during previous closures:Read More
What will be Delridge’s biggest apartment building when it’s finished is halfway to completion. Youngstown Flats is a block away from the park where we took the top photo at its booth during Saturday’s Delridge Day festival; Maria Barrientos (left) and Nicholas Ames (with community member Nancy Folsom) were there to get opinions about the street-end pocket park that’s become part of the project even though it’s not on the site.
Days earlier, we viewed that site from Youngstown Flats itself – its improvements are yet to come, so it still resembles a simple grassy space along the street:
We were at the construction site for a hard-hat tour.
Our photo tour, ahead:
A milestone today for the Highland Park Spraypark project – it has officially gone out to bid. At one point, Seattle Parks had hoped it might be built and open this summer, but when we followed up last month with project manager Kelly Goold, he said it wouldn’t be ready to open before next season after all. The spraypark will be built at the site of the old wading pool, closed almost four years. It started as a simple conversion plan but Highland Park’s Carolyn Stauffer led a successful push to get Parks and Green Spaces Levy money to enhance the project. The request for bids has just been published, and it gives would-be bidders till September 12th, when bids will be opened.
(Top/middle/bottom photos by Bob Bussman, who says this is the Lincoln Park eaglet, out for a snack – UPDATE: Commenters ID it as an osprey)
Welcome to the final full week of August! A few things you should know about for today/tonight:
OFFRAMP CLOSES: First of two alerts from our weekly day-by-day/night-by-night list of closures – SDOT says that as of this morning, the 1st Avenue South offramp from the eastbound Spokane Street Viaduct is closing for more than a month. The 4th Avenue offramp remains open.
BRIDGE CLOSURE TONIGHT: Second alert from our list – 10 pm tonight till 5 am tomorrow, the westbound Spokane Street Viaduct will be closed.
FREE YOUTH TENNIS CLINIC: At Lincoln Park Annex/Solstice Park tennis courts, 9:30 am. Details here.
(Quick break for our 2nd eagletosprey-dives-for-dinner photo:)
WEST SEATTLE WOMEN IN CHARGE: This new group meets again (here’s our report on the July meeting) at 9 am today, West Seattle Fabric Company (2210 California SW).
MONDAY ARTISTS: 9:30 am-noon, watercolorists are invited to join this group meeting at the Island View Apartments across from West Seattle High School – details here.
BOOK GROUP: At Southwest Library, 2-3 pm, the monthly afternoon book group will discuss “The Cheating Culture” by David Callahan.
CELEBRATE WITH SUSTAINABLE WEST SEATTLE: SWS turns 5 this year and that adds an extra layer of celebration to the group’s annual summer potluck – 5 pm to sunset tonight on the beach at Lincoln Park, picnic shelter 3; this year’s SWS Hero also will be announced. More details on the SWS website.
(Speaking of Lincoln Park … the final of our three photos:)
| Comments Off on West Seattle power outage on Avalon Way: Planned, says SCL