West Seattle, Washington
06 Sunday
Three reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch tonight – first, from Beth, who wanted her neighbors to know about mail thieves at work:
This morning while I was out for a run, I noticed a bunch of mail in some bushes. It turns out it belonged to two of my neighbors. Most of it was fliers but there was one envelope that had been opened and discarded. We live on 37th between Andover and Dakota.
In the Admiral area, someone stole Ignacio‘s bike early Tuesday morning:
Element 42’s lower gated parking garage was cut open, thief pressed the interior button to open the garage door. He cut the bike lock cable with bolt cutters and stole my bike. It looks very similar to this bike. My apartment complex has the video. … It’s not the most expensive bike but it was a lot of money to me. (Police) reviewed the video and got a good look at the guy so I’m hopeful they’ll find a serial bike thief.
We told Ignacio we could add the video if it clearly shows the crime being committed – waiting to hear back.
Added 10:49 pm – here’s the video:
(The thief enters toward the start, then leaves at about 3:25.)
(Back to original report) And in Fauntleroy, Todd reports a car prowl in the 4500 block of SW Hemlock Way:
Sometime early Sunday 4/21 morning, someone went through my car, which I had stupidly left unlocked. They took a gym bag with a pair of shorts and gym shoes. They also took a black “laptop” style bag that is embroidered with “Kinect For Windows” in purple thread. I point this out because I work at Microsoft with the Kinect Team, so I would personally know anyone that had that particular bag. And my bowling shoes were in it, and I really liked them. The crook was apparently not the brightest, as he/she/it didn’t take the CD Box set of Frank Sinatra, which would have been easy cash, and way easier to pawn than size 11 Asic running shoes and bowling shoes. The other two cars in my driveway were locked, and untouched. So, make sure to lock up.
It wasn’t just a cross-town clash at Southwest Athletic Complex today, actually, but a contest between the #1 and #2 softball teams in the Metro Sound Division – Chief Sealth International High School and West Seattle High School, respectively. Sealth (in black) pulled off the win, 3-2.
The two local schools are scheduled to play again later this week, 4 pm Friday at Riverview Park – before that, Sealth hosts Rainier Beach tomorrow at 4 at SWAC, while WSHS has an off-day.
West Seattle High School culinary students will meet a TV chef next month, when Maneet Shauhan comes to campus to judge a cooking contest. Word comes from the Seattle Public Schools website. The event is set for 1:30 pm May 8th, and will feature three ProStart students who “will compete in the 40-minute cooking challenge to create an entree that represents contemporary American cuisine.” Shauhan’s achievements include serving as a judge on the Food Network show “Chopped” and having been the first Indian woman to appear on “Iron Chef.” The announcement says the winning student gets a chance at a trip to a competition in Washington, D.C.
(UPDATED WEDNESDAY NIGHT with full list of Saturday activities added to end of story)
Seattle Parks and Rec Superintendent Christopher Williams returned last night to West Seattle – where he grew up – for the second time in four days, to join in on the first of two Fauntleroy Community Association-presented “Celebrate Lincoln Park” events. In case you weren’t able to be there – it included an hour of presentations about the park’s history, wildlife, and more, and we recorded it all on video. Here’s who you will see/hear:
*FCA president David Haggerty begins with a welcome
*At 3 minutes in, a history presentation from Judy Pickens
*Just after 13 minutes in, volunteer forest steward Sharon Baker from Friends of Lincoln Park
*Just after 22 minutes in, Trileigh Tucker with stories and photos of park wildlife
*39 minutes in, Superintendent Williams
*Then at about the 56-minute mark, Q/A:
As Haggerty noted at the start of his speech, FCA board members now have uniforms of sorts – green aprons, so you’ll spot them during public events such as the popular Fauntleroy Fall Festival – here are Kim Petram and Kathleen Dellplain sporting theirs:
The second “Celebrate Lincoln Park” event happens this Saturday (April 27) at the park – 10:30 am-2:30 pm, with beach naturalists on hand to help you explore a -2.6 low tide, nature tours of other parts of the park, and more, all detailed on the FCA home page.
P.S. You can also help out with the next Fauntleroy Fall Festival by dining at Endolyne Joe’s (WSB sponsor) on Tuesday, May 7th – 5 pm till close, a portion of the proceeds will benefit the festival.
ADDED WEDNESDAY NIGHT: FCA is out with the full schedule for Saturday’s event – click ahead!
As the Barton Pump Station Upgrade Project proceeds next to the Fauntleroy ferry dock, a new phase is days away – here’s the explanation from King County:
Starting as early as Monday, April 29, crews will take wastewater flows from underground pipes and move those flows to an above ground bypass – pipes that will run the length of the site directly adjacent to the ferry terminal.
Once completed, the bypass will allow crews to shut down normal pump station operations in order to perform the pump station upgrades. The bypass will connect to a temporary pump station currently under construction. Once the temporary pump station is completed, it will be in use for the duration of the project.
The initial bypass work is expected to take up to two weeks, requiring four days of running two above-ground diesel pumps 24 hours per day.
We’ve mentioned all four of these before, but now that the weekend is in view, we thought a reminder might be in order:
SATURDAY – SHRED EVENT: 10 am-2 pm this Saturday at C & P Coffee Company (5612 California SW), free shredding of your unneeded paperwork, presented by IHeartWestSeattle.com (which like C & P is a WSB sponsor) – details here.
SATURDAY – DRUG TAKE-BACK DAY: Also 10 am-2 pm this Saturday, with the Southwest Precinct (Delridge/Webster) serving as the closest local dropoff spot for medications that are expired or otherwise unneeded – more info here.
SUNDAY – RECYCLE ROUNDUP: 9 am-3 pm, the Fauntleroy Church Green Committee invites you to come to the church parking lot (9140 California SW) to give 1 Green Planet anything unwanted that you see on the official list. (Free, though the Green Committee accepts and appreciates $ donations if you’re so moved.)
AND TODAY … is the last day to register for the 9th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day. We call it “person-to-person recycling” – more than 230 sales of all sizes already ready for their spot on the map for Saturday, May 11th, 9 am-3 pm, one wild day of shopping, browsing, and mingling, presented/coordinated again this year by WSB. If you’re planning to be part of it, 11:59 pm tonight is the registration deadline – sign up here!
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
This fall – probably around October – one big question should be settled for West Seattle’s trailblazing STEM elementary school: Its permanent home.
That’s what the Seattle School Board’s West Seattle rep, Marty McLaren, told us last night at the school’s current home, the former Louisa May Boren Junior High School that sprawls along the 5900 block of Delridge Way SW.
But the school’s staff and families aren’t waiting for that big decision to map out their future. That’s why McLaren was at the school last night, in fact – watching and listening as its community went public with the first draft of a five-year strategic plan, and invited the first round of feedback.
That feedback came in the form of sticky notes added to the huge yellow scroll of paper representing the envisioned timeline, posted along the biggest wall of Boren’s cavernous cafeteria. In our top photo, teacher Craig Parsley stands alongside the timeline during the presentation he led, laying out what were described as “the building blocks of a project-based-learning school.”
All the individual touchpoints along the timeline – and everything from the slide deck that started last night’s presentation – is published on the K-5 STEM PTA website; see it here.
But that doesn’t cover everything seen and heard by the more than 50 people in attendance last night – including hints of future hopes even bigger than a timeline might contain:
(WSB photos added 11:16 am: Sign posted on P-Patch shed)
Seattle Police are investigating a shed fire at Longfellow Creek P-Patch in Westwood this morning after it was determined to be arson. From Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Kyle Moore:
Fire Investigators have determined a shed fire located at a West Seattle P-Patch is an incendiary fire.
At 6:50 a.m., a delivery driver called 911 to report a shed fire located in the park in the 2400 block of SW Thistle Street. Engine 11 arrived to find a smoldering pile of combustibles in a wheelbarrow bucket.
The fire was quickly extinguished. There was also minor scorching to the shed.
The damage estimate is $500. The Seattle Police Department’s Arson Bomb Squad was notified of the fire and will investigate.
Anyone with information that can help solve this case is asked to call the Arson Hotline at 800-55-ARSON.
The garden area where this fire happened is alongside Longfellow Creek, just east of Chief Sealth International High School. According to the P-Patch’s city website, it has more than two dozen garden plots.
(Tuesday morning photo by Myrtle Griffiths)
Another beautiful day! From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
MOMMY & ME PAINTING: Mind Unwind in The Admiral District is starting a new once-monthly class – more often if there’s interest! – and the first one is today, 1 pm, painting with your 3-to-5-year-old. Details here. (2206 California SW)
TALK LIVE WITH PROFESSIONAL PADDLERS: Candice Appleby and Danny Ching will answer “questions on racing, training, and all things SUP” during a live closed-circuit broadcast event 6-7 pm tonight at Mountain to Sound Outfitters in The Triangle – and proprietor Greg Whittaker says any question they answer will bring a prize for the person who asked it! More info on the Facebook event page. (3602 SW Alaska)
FEEDBACK TURNS FOUR: Tonight’s the first of multiple 4th-anniversary parties Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) has in store, starting at 6 pm. (6451 California SW)
BELLY-DANCING CLASSES: A six-week session at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center starts tonight at 6 pm – more info here. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
HIGHLAND PARK ACTION COMMITTEE: Urban wildlife and the proposed Duwamish River cleanup plan are part of tonight’s agenda – 7 pm at Highland Park Improvement Club. (12th/Holden)
POEMS AND STORYTELLING: The monthly event at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) is tonight, 7 pm – including readings and open-mike time. Details here. (5612 California SW)
(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; other cameras are on the WSB Traffic page)
Could be the warmest, sunniest day of the week, suggests the forecast – don’t forget your sunglasses!
Road-work reminders are the same as yesterday:
*SW 106th repaving in Arbor Heights is planned – details here
*Highway 99 north of downtown continues overnight closures through Thursday night – details here
And a reminder about the weekend ahead – the Delridge repaving project is scheduled for Delridge/Thistle intersection closure, Friday night until Monday morning – details and detours here.
Not much chance SDOT will move the much-criticized California/Fauntleroy bus bulbs. So said the SDOT rep who came to the Morgan Community Association‘s quarterly meeting last week. Ahead, our roundup from the meeting, also including an update on preparations for demolition work on the now-vacant block across from Lowman Beach Park, where a sewer-overflow tank will be built, and other topics:
West Seattle High School‘s varsity baseball team played Franklin on Tuesday afternoon to make up for the game rained out last Friday. Greg Slader shares the photos and recap:
11-2 was the score of the game and is also West Seattle’s record in Metro League play. Three games left in the Season and they have the inside track to Metro Sound Division first place. In today’s makeup game with the Quakers, TK Snow #18 (top photo) pitched 4 & 2/3 innings holding Franklin to two runs on five hits. Spencer Elder made a rare appearance on the mound to close it out. The team hit well, with RBI doubles by Tim Adams, Spencer Elder, Sam Hellinger and Cameron Slader. Next game is Wednesday @ Chief Sealth, 3:30 pm.
That’s Tim Adams #24 catching a fly ball with the WS softball team plays on the other field in the background. (Unfortunately, we don’t have the score on that game, nor do our partners at The Times. But the schedule shows they play Sealth today, too!)
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