day : 28/01/2013 10 results

The main west-east route in South Park, South Cloverdale, is closed right now at and around 10th Avenue South (map) because of a deadly crash. Seattle Police say one person was hit by two cars; Seattle Fire says the person has died. Details are on our partner site The South Park News.

West Seattle Crime Watch: Stolen-car-crash followup

January 28, 2013 8:16 pm

| 7 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news | White Center

Some followup information on a weekend incident we covered, thanks to help from WSBeat reporter Megan Sheppard (look for her next roundup soon):

(Saturday night photo by WSB editor Tracy Record)
On Saturday night, we showed you the scene outside White Center Taco Time, where what Seattle Police described as a stolen car first spotted in West Seattle had crashed into a pole. No injuries; we saw police making one arrest.

Thanks to Megan’s research, we now know there were four people in the car; one fled, one was released at the scene, and two men were arrested and booked into jail. One, an Auburn resident, is being held in connection with a $5,000 warrant for failing to appear at a court hearing related to a South King County burglary case from 2010 and also, according to the jail register, for investigation of vehicle theft, with bail set at $100,000. The other is an Everett resident who had just gotten out of jail two and a half weeks ago in connection with another case involving a stolen car from Bellevue and a hit-run crash in Kent. This time, his bail is set at $125,000 for investigation of auto theft, and he’s also facing drug charges, after police say they found him in possession of meth on Saturday night. (The prior case has added $45,000 to that suspect’s bail, for a total of $170,000.) The report says the car that crashed Saturday night was stolen from unincorporated King County, but police had caught sight of it near 24th and Roxbury. We will check with the County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office tomorrow to see if charges are filed against either or both of these suspects.

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Update: Big apartment fire just south of White Center

January 28, 2013 5:06 pm

| 4 COMMENTS

| Not WS but we're mentioning it anyway | West Seattle news

5:06 PM: Seattle Fire units are helping North Highline with a big apartment fire in the 12300 block of Ambaum, not far south of White Center. More to come.

5:24 PM: We are in the area. TV choppers overhead. Traffic is now getting through both ways on Ambaum but slowly so avoid if you are headed this way.

6:03 PM: No injuries reported, according to our friends at KING 5. We’ve left the area after the situation seemed to ease – we saw three Seattle fire vehicles leaving, and several from other departments, including Renton and Tukwila, were waiting two blocks south just in case they were needed.

6:21 PM: While the assisting firefighters were summoned to the 12300 block of Ambaum, regional-media reports note that the building’s actual address is 1224 124th, just west of Ambaum, a 24-unit four-story building that’s 47 years old.

11:02 PM: KIRO TV reports that a baseboard-heater problem is blamed for the fire.

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I-90 bridge tolls? 4 ways to speak out, this week and beyond

January 28, 2013 3:48 pm

| 70 COMMENTS

| Not WS but we're mentioning it anyway | West Seattle news

In case you haven’t heard – the state is thinking about charging tolls on the I-90 bridge across Lake Washington, to help pay for the new 520 bridge; the old one on 520 is already charging tolls. WSDOT is trying to get the word out about three open houses this week as part of the “environmental assessment” of the plan, and a way to have a say online, to. The meetings are tomorrow on Mercer Island, Wednesday in Bellevue, and – the closest one – Thursday at Yesler Community Center – all from 4-7 pm. They’re drop-in format; if you want to read up on the proposal, various documents and presentations are here.

If you can’t make it to a meeting, there’s an online form through which you can comment through February 22nd – find it here. (Note; WSDOT is advertising on WSB and other news publications to get the word out about this comment period.)

P.S. Opponents of I-90 tolls have set up a website – see their side of the story here.

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Good deed of the day: Classroom food-drive challenge!

January 28, 2013 2:12 pm

| 10 COMMENTS

| Arbor Heights | How to help | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Here’s a challenge for you – a good one – and we’d dare say that you don’t have to be part of an elementary classroom to help out with this:

The Students of Room 16 at Arbor Heights Elementary are celebrating the 100th day of school by collecting 100 food items for the West Seattle Food Bank. We challenge all elementary classrooms in West Seattle elementary schools to collect 100 cans as well.

While we have the food in our classroom we will learn to read the labels. We will count the food and track our progress using tally marks and links on a paper chain. We will also sort the cans by size, weight, and food group.

We will be learning important reading and math skills while helping our community.

Last year our class donated more than 200 items of food for the food bank.

Please help us reach or exceed our goal.

Marcia Ingerslev
Proud teacher in Room 16

The West Seattle Food Bank and White Center Food Bank (whose service area includes part of West Seattle) both appreciate your donations any time – food or cash – click on their names in this line to get to their info-laden websites.

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West Seattle development: North of The Junction …

January 28, 2013 1:37 pm

| 14 COMMENTS

| Development | West Seattle news

Just north of The Junction, two development notes this afternoon:

SIX-TOWNHOUSE PROJECT: Across from the north edge of Dakota Place Park, the city has announced upcoming “administrative design review” – no meeting required – for a six-townhouse project scheduled on a 5,750-square-foot lot currently holding one almost-century-old home at 4044 California SW (map). Here’s the city’s project page. The owner is listed as Charlie Guyot, a member of the busy builder-finance group Blueprint Capital. Though it’s not on Blueprint’s map of West Seattle projects; two nearby ones are, including this:

NEW HOUSE AT 4010 SW GENESEE: Just east of Seattle Lutheran High School, the 1920s-era house on the northwest corner of 40th and Genesee has been demolished in the past few days (thanks to a WSB reader for sending the photo). City records say it’s slated for a new single-family home on the 6,440-square-foot lot; the Blueprint site says it’ll have three bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, and just under 3,000 square feet of living area.

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City Light will ‘rush’ repairs to knocked-out Delridge-detour streetlight

January 28, 2013 11:52 am

| Comments Off on City Light will ‘rush’ repairs to knocked-out Delridge-detour streetlight

| West Seattle news

One of many followups we’re working on today – a streetlight at 25th and Trenton on the north side of Westwood Village was hit by a car over the weekend, as pointed out by Paul (who shared the photo) and by Charlie, who also observed that the light is on the detour used around the clock for southbound traffic during the Delridge repaving project‘s first phase. Seattle City Light‘s Suzanne Hartman notes that crews went to the scene on Saturday afternoon just to secure everything for safety, adding, “We will put a rush on getting the streetlight repaired because it is essential lighting.”

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716 guns netted at Seattle ‘buyback,’ report city, county leaders

January 28, 2013 10:15 am

| 53 COMMENTS

| Safety | West Seattle news

(SPD deputy chief Nick Metz with the mayor; photo by Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times, republished with permission)
Just in – results announced from last Saturday’s first-in-20-years Seattle gun “buyback” event:

Saturday’s gun buyback event collected 716 guns in less than four hours, and handed out $68,000 in gift cards. Mayor Mike McGinn, King County Executive Dow Constantine, Seattle-King County Public Health Director Dr. David Fleming, and Deputy Chief Nick Metz of the Seattle Police Department briefed members of the media this morning on the results of the gun buyback operation.

The news release continues after the jump, including the sponsor/partner shoutouts (West Seattle’s Nucor Steel and Skylark Café/Club owner Jessie SK among them), and what’s next:

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West Seattle Monday: A question before the highlights

January 28, 2013 9:04 am

| 3 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

Thanks to David Hutchinson for the Friday evening photo from Duwamish Head. Before we get into today’s preview – David sent it along with this question:

Maybe someone can tell me where all the gulls go at twilight? My wife & I frequently see dozens of them heading past Duwamish Head traveling west toward Bainbridge Island. Reminds us a little of the bat flights out of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

Got the answer? Please post it in the comment zone – thanks! (Or you can e-mail editor@westseattleblog.com and we’ll share it.) Now, what’s up for today, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:

MONTHLY LA LECHE LEAGUE MEETING: Support for breastfeeding moms, wherever they are on the journey from expectant to weaning, 10:30 am on fourth Mondays at the WSUU church, 7141 California SW.

WSHS BASKETBALL: West Seattle High School‘s teams host Seattle Prep tonight, and boys’ head coach Keffrey Fazio posted this on the WSB Facebook page:

The West Seattle HS Basketball program is doing a “BLACKOUT” the gym night (tonight) at 6 pm. The boys and girls varsity teams host Seattle Prep. There will be prizes and give-aways all night! Boys at 615 pm, and girls at 8 pm. Adults $6, kids $4. Wear your BLACK and come support your Wildcats!

HEALTHY GROCERIES FOR DELRIDGE: A co-op grocery store is getting closer to reality, but the Delridge Produce Cooperative (whose project is no longer just about “produce”) still needs time and talent from anyone interested in helping. The monthly meeting is at 6:30 pm tonight, Delridge Library – details here.

‘ON STAGE’ CONVERSATION AT ARTSWEST: The artistic process behind the new ArtsWest production “Shirley Valentine” is explored in this free conversation at the theater tonight, 7:30 pm – details here.

NIGHTLIFE – TRIVIA/QUIZ NIGHT! Three West Seattle venues have trivia/quiz nights on the calendar – OutWest Bar at 7:30 pm, Christo’s on Alki also at 7:30 pm, and Shadowland has pub-quiz night at 8 pm.

INTERESTED IN BEING A SOFTBALL UMPIRE? One more mention of this story we published a few weeks back – because it’s training time. The West Seattleite who is now umpire-in-chief for the region put out the recruiting call, with softball season approaching.

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TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Monday on the move

January 28, 2013 5:58 am

| 30 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; see other cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
5:58 AM: As we start a new week, there’s just one traffic alert for scheduled work: One more week with southbound 99 closed from Battery St. Tunnel to West Seattle Bridge, 10 pm-5 am tonight and each of the next three nights, for SODO overpass work.

7:25 AM: Multiple reports of a crash or stall on northbound 99 in the stadium zone – JayDee says it’s by Royal Brougham. Commenters say it’s a major backup – avoid 99.

7:43 AM: WSDOT just tweeted that the problem’s been cleared. Backup may take a while longer, though.

7:51 AM: Metro has just sent a text advisory: