day : 04/01/2013 8 results

Road-work reminders: Ramp closures now till Monday morning; Delridge repaving starts Thursday

January 4, 2013 10:16 pm

| Comments Off on Road-work reminders: Ramp closures now till Monday morning; Delridge repaving starts Thursday

| Delridge | Transportation | West Seattle news

Road-work reminders tonight as 2 big projects get ready to begin:

2 RAMPS TO WESTBOUND WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE CLOSED ALL WEEKEND: From right about now till 5 Monday morning, WSDOT is closing the ramps to the West Seattle Bridge from southbound I-5 and from Columbian Way (Beacon Hill). It’s the start of the Spokane St. Interchange Vicinity Special Bridge Repair project, which will close different parts of the Spokane/I-5/Columbian Way interchange during 10-plus weekends over the next few months. (Next weekend’s closure will only affect the ramp from Beacon Hill.)

YEAR-LONG DELRIDGE REPAVING STARTS THURSDAY: In case you missed the first announcement of the start date two weeks ago (here’s our December 21 story), SDOT sent the announcement around again late today – to make extra-sure everyone knows that Thursday is Day 1 for the mile-and-a-half-long repaving project on Delridge from Orchard to Roxbury. The basics are here; even more background is here – most important thing you need to know is that northbound traffic will be maintained along the entire stretch, but there will be southbound detours. The work will be done in five phases lasting 2 to 3 months each; the first phase will be Henderson to Trenton, and the southbound detour is shown here:

The official construction notice has work-hours details for residents in the affected area, among other information.

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Lawyer for West Seattle man goes public with video of client biting police officer, then being hit by him

January 4, 2013 6:19 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle police

We’ve received a few calls asking what TV crews are doing at Westwood Village. Here’s what we’ve learned about the story, which you will likely see in various citywide media tonight: It involves the video above, made public by the lawyer representing a West Seattle man who was hit at Westwood Village two years ago by a police officer he had bitten. The video is from the dashboard camera of the officer’s patrol car.

It happened on December 29, 2010, outside the Marshall’s store, where police had stopped to check out an unoccupied car left at curbside with the engine running. Ahead, a statement and other documents that lawyer James Egan provided, plus a report with SPD’s comment:

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Followup: Stoplight problems traced to ‘transit signal priority’ equipment

January 4, 2013 4:14 pm

| 7 COMMENTS

| Transportation | West Seattle news

(12/21/12 photo at 42nd/Alaska, by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
After those recent stoplight problems along the RapidRide route – 35th/Alaska, 35th/Avalon, 42nd/Alaska, California/Fauntleroy are the ones we’ve covered – SDOT has been investigating, and has concluded it is related to the “transit signal priority” programming along the way. When we inquired about the recurring problems last week, SDOT spokesperson Marybeth Turner said we could expect an update after the holidays – and this afternoon, here it is:

SDOT partnered with King County Metro on the planning, design and construction of transit-related improvements that would reduce delay and improve the speed and reliability of Rapid Ride buses. Both agencies did extensive testing of the programs that support Transit Signal Priority (TSP) prior to implementation. During this testing period none of the issues we are currently experiencing occurred.

Once implemented, however, we began to experience issues at several locations. We were able to trace the problems back to the TSP equipment, but have been unable to determine why the equipment is causing these random malfunctions.

We are working closely with the software manufacturer to uncover the cause. Their latest version of the software does appear to have resolved most of the issues. However, we will be conducting thorough tests through January to ensure these problems do not occur again. Assuming we are satisfied that the issues have been resolved, we hope to implement the new software in early February.

In the meantime, to prevent these issues from recurring, we have temporarily disconnected the linkage to Metro’s equipment.

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More ‘king tides’ ahead, and the state hopes you’ll share photos

January 4, 2013 2:35 pm

| 3 COMMENTS

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news

(12/17/12 photo by Nick Adams for WSB)
As reported here last month, the December “king tides” included a day (December 17th) with the highest water level ever recorded in Seattle. Now, another round of “king tides” are on the way in mid-January (see the Seattle tide chart here – the highest high tide is expected January 14th), and the state is hoping you can help document them – read on for the announcement:Read More

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Followup: Capt. Joe Kessler now back in West Seattle as Southwest Precinct commander

January 4, 2013 12:20 pm

| 6 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle police

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

What Seattle Police Captain Joe Kessler has just done is almost unheard of, he says:
SPD commanders almost never return for an encore at a precinct they have led before.

Yet this week, two years and three months after he turned over command of West Seattle’s Southwest Precinct to Capt. Steve Paulsen, Capt. Kessler got it back, while his successor/predecessor moved on to lead the Beacon Hill-headquartered South Precinct.

“It’s like walking back into (your family’s) home after being away at college,” he observed.

We visited the precinct at Delridge and Webster Thursday to talk with Capt. Kessler about his return, what he’s been doing since leaving West Seattle, and what’s in store now that he’s back:

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Car theft & catalytic-converter theft

January 4, 2013 10:47 am

| 12 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two theft reports to share this morning, from West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports. First, a car theft reported by Kristen near 13th and Cloverdale:

I was hoping to get the word out there that my boyfriend had his car stolen between 12:30 am – 4 am this morning from right in front of our house. It is a 1997 Green Honda Civic license plate AGX 4662. I literally looked out the window and saw it right before bed and it was gone just a short time later when he was leaving for work. I know there have been quite a few car thefts in the area lately and am just trying to be as proactive as we can at getting the word out there, with the hopes of getting it back.

If you see it, please call 911, as advised by SPD’s @getyourcarback tweet about this theft.
**ADDED 11:18 AM** In comments, DJ Allyn suggested a map of area thefts. This data is not always reliably available but the city’s police-report map looks fairly up to date now (yesterday, for example, it wasn’t) – here is a screengrab showing the 11 thefts it lists for December 28th through today:

(back to original 10:47 am report) Also out of the WSB inbox – the second catalytic-converter-theft report this week:

Just want to report that the catalytic converter was stolen from my Toyota Tacoma, sometime between Wednesday, January 2nd, mid-morning and 6:00 pm (Thursday, January 3rd). The pipe was cut and a couple of rubber rings were cut and a piece of metal bent to remove the converter. The truck was parked on 36th Ave SW, between Hanford and Hinds. The alarm was on, but it wasn’t activated by the theft.

SIDE NOTE: In our ongoing New Year’s resolution to share more reminders about WSB site features you might have missed – here’s a note about our Crime Watch page, which is another way to catch up on links to recent crime-related reports AND also a place to see the latest SPD West Seattle/South Park incident tweets. You also can access the archive of front-page crime reports here.

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West Seattle Friday: Ramp-closures reminder; high-school basketball; music; more…

January 4, 2013 8:41 am

| 8 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

Thanks to Craig Howard for the barred-owl photo from the Bonair hill (between North Admiral and Alki) taken Wednesday night – he explained that “we’ve looked for owls there ever since you reported on owls buzzing people. We found a barred owl in the dark we tried to follow around from tree to tree – it stayed close. I think it might have been eyeing our dog. Got a wonderful shot of it, and thought your readers might enjoy it.” Meantime, highlights for today/tonight:

INTERCHANGE PROJECT CLOSURES: Yet another reminder that the Spokane St. Interchange Vicinity Special Bridge Repair project starts this weekend. We first reported on this in November; 11 weekends have closures planned in the next few months, but NOT the same ramps, and NOT every weekend. This weekend, from 10 pm tonight through 5 am Monday, two ramps will be closed: Southbound I-5 to the West Seattle Bridge, and Columbian Way (Beacon Hill) to the bridge. Here’s the latest update, with a map.

BLOODMOBILE AT PCC NATURAL MARKETS-WEST SEATTLE (WSB sponsor): As the holiday season wraps up, Puget Sound Blood Center is on the road to replenish supplies. Walk-ups welcome – California and Stevens, 9 am to 3 pm (closed for break 11 am-noon).

HIGH-SCHOOL BASKETBALL: Big day/night with home games at our area’s two biggest high schools. First, the West Seattle High School schedule for today/tonight vs. visiting Franklin HS, from the Metro League website:

3:15 pm Girls JV Game
4:45 pm Boys JV Game/C Game
6:15 pm Girls Varsity Game
8:00 pm Boys Varsity Game

And the Chief Sealth International High School schedule for today/tonight vs. visiting Nathan Hale HS, also from the league website:

3:15 pm Girls JV Game
4:45 pm Boys JV Game
6:15 pm Girls Varsity Game
8:00 pm Boys Varsity Game

Seattle Lutheran High School teams are back in action tonight too, on the road at Tacoma Baptist.

LIVE MUSIC: See the WSB Event Calendar‘s section for today, where we have listings for C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) and Skylark Café and Club. (If your venue has live music, keep us updated so we can include it in our calendar! editor@westseattleblog.com)

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TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: First Friday of 2013

January 4, 2013 7:41 am

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; see other cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
It’s the last day before everyone is back at school – Seattle Public Schools classes resume Monday. Also of note:

WEEKEND RAMP CLOSURE REMINDER: 10 pm tonight through 5 am Monday, the ramps to the West Seattle Bridge from southbound I-5 and from Beacon Hill (Columbian Way) will be closed as the Spokane St. Interchange Bridge Repair project begins. Latest update here.

ROUTE 50 ON REROUTE TILL MID-FEBRUARY: We checked on this with Metro yesterday since the Avalon/Genesee stoplight is almost ready to go – here’s the story.

Any traffic/transit updates today, let us know – we’ll also be updating as needed.

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