West Seattle, Washington
23 Saturday
We are so looking forward to Saturday, and hope you are too – the 9th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day! 
This is the sixth year that WSB has coordinated and presented it, and the maps and list are available for your perusal here – 280 sales of all sizes, all over West Seattle. Some people map out a route and drive all over; others check to see who’s having a sale within walking distance, and wander around. West Seattle also draws visitors from afar on that day (if you really love garage-saling, who can resist so many, so close together?), and that’s why we promote/advertise it in a variety of ways that also reach outside West Seattle. We heard today from someone coming from Keyport, and we’ve heard in the past from people who travel from Eastern Washington! We encourage everybody to invite their friends, co-workers, relatives to come on over – from Everett or Enumclaw, Bellevue or Ballard, Tacoma or Tangletown, come for the sales, stay for the scenery, the food and drink … (Sellers, if you meet people who say they came from someplace far-flung, let us know, even a quick text on sale day, 206-293-6302!) A few more points:
*Sellers and buyers interested in pre-sale chat are doing it on the WSCGSD Facebook page
*If Facebook’s not your thing, there’s also the WSB Forums
*Benefit sales are listed here
*Three local nonprofits are excited about accept any unsold “leftovers” this year – that info’s here
*Three group sites again this year, with multiple sellers – Hotwire Coffee (sale #57), C & P Coffee (sale #218), VFW Hall (sale #150)
*We’ll roll out a few more lists in the next two days (multifamily sales & plant sales among them)
If you know someone who needs a printed copy but has absolutely no way to print one, we’ve photocopied a few and dropped them off at four spots: Hotwire and C & P, Bird on a Wire, and the West Seattle (Admiral) Library. But you can even go almost-paperless this year – browse the sales online, make a note of the numbers for the ones you want to check out, then use this link to directly access the map in mobile format (including the list of sales, each listing even offering a chance to get directions).
Questions? garagesale@westseattleblog.com
At Arbor Heights Elementary, they’re already “bubbling” with excitement about a new curriculum (our photo is courtesy of a parent volunteer, from a bubble-experimenting event on the playground last Friday afternoon). It was just last week that the school formally announced it will start moving to an eSTEM curriculum; that came late in the game for new enrollment – but it’s not too late for families to consider switching, and that’s why the school is offering a tour tomorrow (Thursday) morning! Elise Olson from the Arbor Heights PTA board says you’re invited to come learn about the new program and the school, which will in a few years have a brand-new building. All are welcome to join the school tour with principal Christy Collins – meet in the lobby at 9:15 am, 3701 SW 104th. You can also find out about “all the great things happening at Arbor Heights,” as Elise says, via their website or Facebook page.
Outside West Seattle High School today, that big, wrapped bus announced the event that’s had the school abuzz since news started circulating a few weeks back – a visit by “The Cutting Edge Tour: The Search for America’s Top Teen Chef,” with three of WSHS’s ProStart culinary students participating – Sarah Rosenthal, Garrison Smith, and Chance Stubblefield – judged by TV celebrity chef Maneet Shauhan. The challenge: An entrée in 40 minutes. We were allowed inside for a quick look at the student chefs as they worked – note the cheering fellow students (with the WSHS band in the background) peering in:
When all was said, done, and cooked, Sarah was the winner. She’s at right in the collage (below) by Emily Austin, with Garrison and Chance at left and center, each chef’s dish shown below her/him:
Outside, the judging – that’s Maneet Shauhan, star of the tour, at center:
It’s part of the tour introducing her latest book; she is signing it at the “Chef Shop” downtown tomorrow. Meantime, we still have a few more photos to add before the night’s out – congratulations to WSHS and to all the young ches, and good luck to Sarah!
ADDED: Four photos by WSB’s Patrick Sand, ahead:Read More
6:25 PM: If you’re wondering about a helicopter, it’s just TV again, checking out a crash at 36th and Juneau that was reported to involve a flipped vehicle. No major (if any) injuries reported – Seattle Fire closed out its presence quickly. We’re on the way over for a look; avoid the area in the meantime.
6:51 PM UPDATE: Not flipped, but certainly tipped, as you can see in our photo – a landscaping/hauler-type truck, with a trailer of tools behind it, most of the way up onto the sidewalk on the semi-steep slope of Juneau between 36th and 37th. That block remained closed off when we left a few minutes ago, as a tow truck worked to pull the truck off the sidewalk and away from the fence of an adjacent house.
More scenes from this year’s Bike to School Day – Astrid shares two photos from Westside School (WSB sponsor), pointing out:
Westside School, with a student body population of only 237 in the Lower and Early Grades, had 39 students and 4 teachers participate. Would love to acknowledge all the dedicated students, teachers and parents for participating in the event, and a big thank you to the Cascade Bicycle Club for their encouragement.
And quite the bike collection resulted!
Also on Bike to School Day, this family photo came in from Sean:
BTS Day is part of Bike Month – here’s the Cascade calendar of upcoming events.
West Seattleite-founded/led Northwest Hope and Healing has a unique mission for breast-cancer patients – It helps them handle everyday life even as they cope with the daunting challenge of diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. The video above produced by West Seattle-based Captive Eye Media introduces you to some of the people NWHH has helped – in other words, people like those you’ll be helping if you go to its Style ’13 benefit fashion show at 7 pm tomorrow. West Seattle businesses are involved as sponsors and supporters, including Carmilia’s, West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor), and Coastal. Online ticket sales are over but you can get yours at the door at Showbox SODO – details here.
Fourteen months ago, we introduced you to a West Seattle centenarian named Ina Mann, with whom we spoke along with three generations of her family, visiting her one day at Arbor Heights Adult Family Home (now a WSB sponsor). We just learned from Ms. Mann’s family that she has passed away. They are sharing this remembrance, along with photos (above, Ms. Mann on her 100th birthday with five of her seven granddaughters):
Alexandrina ‘Ina’ Mann * December 21, 1907 – April 19, 2013
Longtime West Seattle resident Ina Mann went to her eternal home, with Jesus, on Friday, April 19, 2013, after a long life of 105 years. Ina was born outside London, England, to Albert and Louise Whitehead. She crossed the Atlantic on a ship at age 4 with her parents and 2 younger brothers, Walter and Albert. The family settled in West Seattle where her father built the family home on 46th and Findlay. She attended Jefferson Elementary, Madison Junior High, and West Seattle High School. After graduation, she worked for several years at Hostess Baking Company.
Her early memories of West Seattle included California Avenue as a dirt road with horses and visiting Luna Park on Alki as a young child. She met her husband, Huntley David Shaw Mann, Sr., while visiting the Swedish Club.
Ina never drove a car, loved gardening and working in her yard. She spent the last seven years under the loving care of Katie Gilliantte and Penny Nemoede and staff at Arbor Heights Adult Family Home.
Ina is survived by her son, Huntley Shaw Mann, Jr., his wife Marlene Hill Mann, 7 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, and 4 great-great-grandchildren.
The family also shared this photo of Ms. Mann and her son, featured in our story last year:
That was taken in 1951.
(Recent aerial of the Barton Pump Station work zone, by Long Bach Nguyen)
If you use the Fauntleroy ferry dock or travel through the area, here’s a big announcement from King County as its Barton Pump Station Upgrade Project north of the dock continues:
Starting Thursday [tomorrow], the north ferry entrance lane and toll booth will reopen. The lane and toll booth have been closed since January due to construction activities at the Barton Pump Station. With the opening of the north lane and toll booth, a uniformed police officer will no longer be on site.
During the closure, crews have conducted activities essential to the pump station upgrade, including jet grouting, which is a soil stabilization technique that will allow a safe underground work zone.
As work on the pump station progresses, there may be a need for occasional daytime lane closures. King County will notify commuters and the community of any short-term or day-long lane closures.
What to expect
· There will no longer be a uniformed police officer to direct traffic
· Flagger to continue moving traffic through site and in and out of the ferry terminal entrance, when necessary
· Work to continue on site, beginning with excavation of the pump station
· Heavy equipment on site
· Work hours typically 8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday
12:43 PM: Two people told police they were robbed at gunpoint on Fauntleroy Way last night, north of Lincoln Park. We’ve just obtained the police report. They told police they were walking northbound on Fauntleroy just before 10 pm after walking in Lincoln Park when “they were accosted by several males, one of whom brandished a black handgun, who demanded their money and belongings.” (The report mentions that police were dispatched to the 6600 block of Fauntleroy, but that is some distance from the park, so it’s not clear whether it happened there or whether they kept walking afterward.)
After taking a wallet, phone, iPod, and keys, the report says, the robbers jumped into a white minivan that had pulled up to get them and then sped off northbound on Fauntleroy. The van is described in the report as older, possibly 1980s, Chevy Astro type of van with stripes on the side and damage on the driver’s side appearing as if the vehicle had scraped against something, with scratches and dents resulting all along that side of the van. The robbers were described as about 17 years old, all males around 5’7″ to 5’8″. They didn’t get good descriptions of all of them but did describe the one with the gun as “black, slender, with a shaved head, red sweatshirt, and baggy blue jeans” and another one as “Hispanic or Latino, stockier build, wearing a dark tank top and light-colored pants.” The victims told police they believe they had seen the robbers in the park earlier and believe they might have been followed. If you have any information that could help find the robbers, please call police.
4:47 PM UPDATE: One of the victims has posted a comment, confirming it was indeed near Fauntleroy/Holly, and mentioning some of the items to be on the lookout for.
Meet Julia Tran, Michael Chow, and Lisa Hernandez, three of the people you’ll find at the new West Seattle Vision eye clinic that’s about to open at 6505 California SW in Morgan Junction. We stopped by Tuesday to meet them as they finish preparing the new space for a “soft open” later this week. Tran and Chow are optometrists; Hernandez is an optician. Another doctor is on the team but couldn’t join us for the Tuesday chat – Donna Matney, who, Chow points out, is also a published author with her own website.
West Seattle Vision is part of a locally owned mini-chain of clinics owned by Chow – this is the fourth one, and a fifth will open soon at South Lake Union. Each has its own name and identity, but they share doctors; Tran has been working at the company’s Auburn clinic and probably will still keep some hours there for a while.
Chow says she was the inspiration for the West Seattle clinic – they’ve been talking for more than a year about her having her own practice, ideally in this area, which Chow, who lives in Issaquah, has observed is a “cool little community, so tight-knit.”
With reader reports about bikes found as well as bikes taken, West Seattle Crime Watch has featured more bicycle-theft reports than usual lately (with one even caught on camera). 
And Southwest Precinct‘s Sgt. Joe Bauer confirms to WSB that it’s a heightened concern. How to thwart these thieves? For one, he warns that bicycle owners need “to secure their bicycles in the underground parking garages. We are getting a lot of stolen bike reports that seem to be mainly on Avalon and in the North Admiral and Alki areas. We have had some on Fauntleroy too. I’d like to remind folks that the bikes are not secure just because they are in the garage. Lock them up or, better yet, keep them in another location in the building if possible. If the bike won’t fit in the condo or apartment, folks can always take the seat and front wheel off to make the bike a little less appealing to the thief.”
Checking overnight reports, we see another report from overnight – 1700 block of Alki SW. But not everyone files police reports (checking the report map, we see fewer bike-theft icons than we’d expect, given what we hear about); Sgt. Bauer reiterates the importance of filing a report, and has one more reminder: “Please put identifying information on the bike that can make it easier for us to return it and make it harder for the bad guys to sell the bike.”
Another big day around West Seattle! First item explains the photo:
BIKE TO SCHOOL DAY: Thanks to Anna Coghill for e-mailing to report that Alki Elementary students marked National Bike to School Day by gathering in two spots to ride to school – Anna says, “Students, parents and school staff were all smiles this morning after the Ride Your Bike to School Train organized by Mr. Kegel. He led our Me-Kwa-Mooks train and Principal Oatis led the Anchor Park train.”
Here are other highlights including some of what’s on today’s section of the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar (where you’ll find lots more);
ANOTHER DAY FOR SHRIMP FISHING: We’re already getting questions about “what are all those boats fishing for?” The answer: As mentioned here last weekend, today is a second opportunity for spot-shrimp fishing on Elliott Bay.
COOKING COMPETITION AT WSHS – OPEN TO THE PUBLIC: Today’s the day a celebrity chef is expected at West Seattle High School to judge a cooking competition (first reported here last month) involving ProStart culinary students who are part of a national competition. WSHS confirms that for the outdoor events in the competition, the public is welcome – it all starts at 1:30 pm. (3000 California SW)
FREE WORKSHOP: Learn how to preserve family collections of photos and artwork in a free 3-5 pm workshop at the Senior Center of West Seattle. (California/Oregon)
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION FOR GENESEE HILL SCHOOL PROJECT: Today’s the date to which a “community conversation” about the new elementary school at Genesee Hill was moved – 6:30 pm at Schmitz Park Elementary. (5000 SW Spokane)
CANDIDATE FORUM AT 34TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS’ MEETING: Not the candidates for mayor- the 34th DDs were co-sponsors of the big forum a week and a half ago (WSB coverage, with video, here) – but candidates from many other races have RSVPd. Chair Marcee Stone-Vekich shared an update on the meeting’s agenda and who’ll be there – ahead, what happens after 6:30 pm “meet and greet”:
(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; other cameras are on the WSB Traffic page)
6:03 AM: As the day begins, we have a question for you, transit-related: Later this morning, we’re scheduled to sit down for an interview with Metro Transit general manager Kevin Desmond, as the county steps up its campaign contending that Metro is in the fight of its life, facing more cuts if the Legislature doesn’t take some steps to help alleviate its funding crisis. Is there a question you would ask him if you had the chance? If so, post it in the comment section – we’re going to do our best to get to as many reader questions as we can. P.S. Whether you have a question or not, you’re invited to speak to a County Council committee next Tuesday – details here along with a way to comment online if you can’t be there in person.
7:48 AM: As noted in comments, there’s a crash on the eastbound bridge. If you haven’t left yet – alternative routes, or waiting, would be a good idea.
7:56 AM: Because of the crash, SDOT has switched the views on the bridge cameras – the one atop this story usually looks eastward – here’s the one that usually looks west:
8:20 AM: Eugene says in comments that the scene is clear; hard to tell from the cameras, and there’s been no official announcement. Also in comments, Trickycoolj warns that Holden is backed up in Highland Park – a popular alternate access to get to northbound 99.
8:59 AM: Shortly after that last update, SDOT did tweet that the crash scene had been cleared. The backup always takes longer to clear but we’re hopeful it’s getting back to the “normal” slowness now.
Proud dad Don Freitas e-mailed to share the announcement from Chief Sealth International High School that his son Christian Freitas is about to represent Sealth and the entire citywide district in international athletic competition: He’s a Special Olympics soccer athlete who will be playing at the Special Olympics Central American and Caribbean Unified Football Tournament in Costa Rica tomorrow through May 17th. He and his teammates, fellow Special Olympians as well as Sounders FC development players, will be competing in regional pro-soccer stadiums in San José, Costa Rica, with 12 other teams. The tournament is a regional qualifying event along the path to the Special Olympics Unified Cup in Rio next year. Christian is a member of the Sealth Unified Soccer team, for which his dad Don is a coach. Updates from Costa Rica are expected via this website.
A house fire on 28th SW a few blocks south of Roxbury, next to Explorer West Middle School (WSB sponsor). is under investigation this morning. The house is just north of the campus, separated by a driveway and embankment, so there was no damage at the school. The fire started after 11 pm; the incident commander from North Highline Fire District told us nobody was home at the time, and nobody was hurt. A county fire investigator arrived on the scene while we were there and started working to find out how the fire started.
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