day : 17/09/2012 10 results

West Seattle weather: Nothing but sunshine in sight

September 17, 2012 10:09 pm

| Comments Off on West Seattle weather: Nothing but sunshine in sight

| West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

Thanks to JayDee for sharing tonight’s sunset view from Upper Alki. (For beach-level views, check out WSB’ers Debra and April, who have launched the Facebook page Alki Beach Daily Sunsets.) There still isn’t even a hint of rain in the forecast, according to what the National Weather Service is projecting for the next week. Wildlife-care tip: Be sure to keep water in the bird baths, or even set up makeshift ones (past years’ Christmas-tree stands on our back patio have been popular with the birds).

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Traffic stop turns into police search

September 17, 2012 7:37 pm

| 17 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle police

7:37 PM: The police search that is under way in Sunrise Heights right now started with a “routine traffic stop,” we’ve learned at the scene. Police say they were trying to pull over a driver for something “routine” when the driver took off and headed east, then got out of the car at some point and ran. They don’t know why but they’re trying to find him; the search includes a greenbelt area stretching down the hillside off SW Othello. A K-9 team is involved in the search.

7:51 PM: The search is also covering greenbelt area southeast of High Point, stretching down toward Home Depot, as a commenter notes.

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Highway 99 followup: Third southbound lane to open soon

September 17, 2012 7:27 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| Alaskan Way Viaduct | Transportation | West Seattle news

If you drive 99 between West Seattle and downtown, you probably noticed (as did commenter Robert) that while the new northbound stretch through SODO is open, the southbound side is still two lanes. Not for long, says WSDOT spokesperson Travis Phelps. He says, “We will start pulling back the barrier tonight when the southbound viaduct is closed. We hope to be done by Wednesday.”

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Park expansion for Morgan Junction? City Council briefing Thursday

September 17, 2012 4:32 pm

| 21 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

(Thursday photo courtesy Benjamin Blain)
The proposed Seattle Parks purchase of the commercial site north of Morgan Junction Park (reported here last week) is on this Thursday’s City Council Parks and Neighborhoods Committee agenda. Last Thursday night, the Morgan Community Association invited community members to come see and discuss the site (above) with Parks reps; this Thursday, Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams will brief committee members on where the deal stands. The agenda includes a proposed ordinance that would authorize the city to acquire the site via condemnation – “eminent domain” – which seemed a little drastic, so we checked today with Parks’ Chip Nevins to get an explanation. He says the ordinance “was written several months ago when negotiations were not going as well as they are now. We always expect that we can negotiate a successful acquisition, but condemnation authority shows the landowner that we are serious, provides us with some more negotiating tools and also provides some tax advantages to the seller.” He says that while there have been past cases of the council authorizing this process for Parks’ use, they’ve never had to deploy it. The Morgan Junction site (6311 California SW) is still on the open market for $2 million, as it was when we first mentioned it back in June.

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Three-peat for South Seattle Community College as military-friendly

September 17, 2012 4:02 pm

| 3 COMMENTS

| Puget Ridge | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Next Monday, the new school year starts at South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) on Puget Ridge. Today, they’re celebrating receiving the “military-friendly school” designation again:

South Seattle Community College has been designated by G.I. Jobs magazine as a “Military Friendly School” for 2012 – 2013, the third year in a row.

G.I. Jobs polled more than 7,000 schools across the country to compile its “2013 Guide to Military Friendly Schools.” Criteria for making the list included efforts to recruit and retain military and veteran students, results in recruiting military and veteran students, and academic accreditations. The recognition honors the country’s colleges and universities for their work in welcoming military veterans and enhancing their student experience.

The honor ranks South in the top 15 percent of all colleges, universities and trade schools nationwide that are doing the most to embrace those who have served their country.

South was noted a good choice because of the college’s experienced staff and personal commitment to ensure that each and every veteran that comes to South has all the means necessary to complete his or her academic goals.

Here’s more info about SSCC’s Veterans Affairs department.

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4755 Fauntleroy development: 1st look at street-level ‘concepts’

September 17, 2012 1:17 pm

| 47 COMMENTS

| 4755 Fauntleroy | Development | West Seattle news

(Click image for PDF with larger view)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

On September 27th – one week from Thursday – the Southwest Design Review Board gets its first look at the mixed-use megaproject (we haven’t used that term in a while, but this one seems to merit it) proposed for 4755 Fauntleroy Way SW.

As noted in our September 7th report on the project – which first came to light in July – it would span not only the ex-Huling Chevrolet site at that address but also, fronting Alaska, the block from Fauntleroy to 40th, now holding a gas station, funeral home, and ex-used car lot.

By the end of this week, the “packet” with visuals for the meeting should be available online. Over the weekend, the project team went public with three sketches that envision the streetscape in the spots where they are looking at mid-block connectors, aka passthroughs Above, a possible Fauntleroy view looking into the “connector” – next, a possible view from 40th SW on the other side.

(Click image for PDF with larger view)
The project team say they are envisioning the 40th SW side overall as more of a “green street.” Here’s their concept of a potential street-level view:

(Click image for PDF with larger view)
The project site does NOT include the Alki Masonic Lodge, though its Fauntleroy side would be immediately east of that. Right now, the project – which does not have a working title as of last check – is envisioned at six floors, more than 350 apartments, and around 55,000 square feet of retail, over more than 530 parking spaces. While no retailers have been named yet, the project team confirms they’re in “advanced” talks with an unnamed grocer for about two-thirds of the space.

The September 27th Design Review Board meeting is set for 6:30 pm at what’s become the board’s usual venue in West Seattle, the Senior Center (California/Oregon). Public comment is welcome; if you’ve never been to a DRB meeting before, here’s the city’s guide outlining the process.

P.S. For one more layer of public process, an alley vacation – which triggers a different review process that includes the city Design Commission and City Council – would be involved in the plan, too.

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Not just crime & punishment: Judge Mary Yu @ WS Rotary

September 17, 2012 11:49 am

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| Rotary Club of West Seattle | West Seattle news

We usually only report on judges when they preside over high-profile trials or sentencings – but their work includes much more. If you’d like to hear from a judge firsthand outside court, the Rotary Club of West Seattle invites you to lunch tomorrow, with featured speaker King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu. She has been on the bench for a dozen years, serving in the court’s civil-, criminal-, and family-law departments, and shared the Washington State Bar Association’s Judge of the Year award in 2011. (Our most recent coverage of Judge Yu’s work was at a murder sentencing in April.) The Rotary meets at noon Tuesdays at Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor).

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West Seattle Monday: Sustainable WS; Delridge Produce Co-op; more

September 17, 2012 9:09 am

| 6 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(Photo by Guy Smith, taken last week near Alki Point)
Happy Monday! From the WSB West Seattle Events Calendar – what you need to know about the day/night ahead:

TRAFFIC ALERTS TODAY/TONIGHT: Those who use Highway 99 to head downtown and beyond are driving on the new northbound stretch this morning (it opened Saturday night, earlier than projected). Then tonight, there is another southbound 99 closure – WSDOT is still working on reinforcing a section of remaining Alaskan Way Viaduct that’s over the future tunnel-boring zone – 9 pm tonight to 5 am Tuesday.

AFTERNOON BOOK GROUP: The Southwest Library welcomes you to the group discussing “The Deptford Trilogy” this month, meeting at 2 pm today at the branch (35th/Henderson).

IRISH DANCE: New class sessions (including Mondays) are under way this month at the VFW Hall in The Triangle – find out more here.

WINTER GARDENING, WITH SUSTAINABLE WEST SEATTLE: 6-8 pm at the South Seattle Community College Arboretum, you can get ready for fall/winter food growing by attending SWS’s monthly Community Forum – full details on the SWS website.

DELRIDGE PRODUCE COOPERATIVE: Everyone’s invited to DPC’s general meeting at 6:30 pm tonight, Delridge Library (Brandon/Delridge). The agenda includes a variety of topics from involvement with the upcoming West Seattle Junction Harvest Festival, to a future fundraising dinner/auction, to a market-research survey.

NIGHTLIFE: Pub quiz night at Shadowland, 8 pm … Flat Earth Society at West 5 features Matt Lukin spinning tonight (Melvins/Mudhoney alum), 9 pm … that’s also when Karaoke Kelli presides at the Benbow Room …

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Name a state ferry after Ivar Haglund? Bartell Drugs prescribes petition signatures

September 17, 2012 8:19 am

| 31 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle people

(One of WSF’s new 144-car ferries, under construction at Vigor, via WSDOT on Flickr)
The soon-to-be-headquartered-in-West-Seattle Bartell Drugs is throwing its weight behind the proposal to name a new Washington State Ferry after a well-known West Seattle native – entrepreneur Ivar Haglund. The idea emerged last month; when Seattle Times (WSB partner) columnist Ron Judd wrote about it, we noted it on the WSB Facebook page, but hadn’t heard anything since. This morning, a news release from Bartell says the company will have petitions in all of its stores through September 23rd (along with an ongoing prize drawing, including gift cards for Ivar’s). The news release quotes company leader George D. Bartell as saying, “The ‘M/V Ivar Haglund’ plying the waters of Puget Sound would be a fitting tribute to his legacy. Ivar brought the color and pioneering spirit of Puget Sound to our doorsteps through his music, restaurants, and colorful personality.” Ivar died in 1985. His namesake company supports the naming effort too – and it should be noted the new ferries are being built on West Seattle’s Harbor Island.

P.S. After receiving the Bartell news release about this, we asked for the latest timetable on the corporate HQ’s West Seattle move. Spokesperson Barry Bartlett says it’s currently on track for mid-to-late October. They’re moving – administrative operations, not a store – from Georgetown into the West Seattle Corporate Center, known as “the building with the big flag,” at Delridge and Andover, as first reported here August 7th.

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K-5 STEM parents’ reminder: Delridge has a school zone again

September 17, 2012 12:48 am

| 22 COMMENTS

| Delridge | Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

(Friday photo, courtesy John Hopkins)
If you drive along the 5900 block of Delridge Way SW in the morning or afternoon, remember, it’s a school zone again! Parents from K-5 STEM at Boren have been out with signs the past few school days, trying to make sure everyone knows. The challenge is that while 20 mph “school zone” signs have been up along that stretch for years, first, this is the first time in two years that the school’s been occupied, and second, because of the way the Boren building is laid out, you won’t necessarily see much activity along the street. Parents are hoping to convince SDOT to add flashing lights to the signage for extra reminders, but those requests usually take a while to work through the system.

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