West Seattle Car Show’s 2013 poster out, with 3 weeks to go
Three weeks from Sunday, on September 15th, the sixth annual West Seattle Car Show rolls into The Junction. The poster’s now out and making its way onto windows, walls, and bulletin boards; signups are revving up too – WSCS producer Michael Hoffman of Liberty Bell Print and Design says more than 50 of the 100 goodie bags for the first 100 entries are already spoken for. The discount early-bird registration rate, $15, is good until September 1st – download and mail the form ASAP. For spectators, it’s free as always – the vehicles (pre-1980 cars, trucks, motorcycles) will be parked along closed California Avenue SW in the heart of The Junction, 8 am-4 pm on show day, and you can wander to your heart’s content. The West Seattle Farmers’ Market will be on as usual (10 am-2 pm) that day too. For more West Seattle Car Show details, check out the official website and our August 12th preview; we’re proud to be among the co-sponsors again this year.
West Seattle road work: SW Orchard closures next month
All week, SW Orchard/Dumar has been closed between Delridge and (almost) 16th SW for work related to the Delridge Way Repaving Project. Now SDOT has announced closures on Orchard from Delridge west to Sylvan Way next month – it’ll be closed to eastbound traffic September 3-13, then to westbound traffic Sept. 16-27, and the yearlong project’s final phase will follow. The full SDOT announcement – with a map – is ahead:
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$250,000 bail for robbery suspects arrested in Arbor Heights
(Wednesday night photo by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
4:35 PM: Here’s the latest in the case of the three robbery suspects arrested in Arbor Heights late Wednesday night: Bail for each suspect is now set at $250,000, according to the King County Jail Register. We’re waiting for probable-cause documents from this afternoon’s bail hearing to come in from the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and will add details when the info comes in. The three were arrested when police pulled over the car shown in our photo above, about half a mile north of 35th and 104th, where a woman had been held up on the street and robbed of her purse. Police then said yesterday they believe the three, ages 19, 21, and 22, were involved in two other crimes Wednesday night – an attack on a man by the Fauntleroy ferry dock, and one outside West Seattle – and that they may be responsible for some of the other recent street robberies around the city.
5:04 PM UPDATE: The documents are in. Here are some of the toplines as we read through:
-None of the suspects has a West Seattle address; the addresses listed for them are in Boulevard Park, the Central District, and First Hill
-What police found inside the car included a handgun, a purse (believed to belong to the Arbor Heights robbery victim), and “several cell phones”
-The three confessed to involvement in the three incidents Wednesday night
There is no additional information about possible criminal histories, but the jail register shows that the 21-year-old suspect from First Hill spent a day and a half in the county jail in June for a case described as shoplifting and harassment.
West Seattle businesses: Howden-Kennedy’s last day in The Junction
This is the last day for the longtime home of Howden-Kennedy Funeral Home at Fauntleroy and Alaska. As reported here previously, HK is moving to a new location on 35th SW; the owners sold the 93-year-old business’s longtime site to the developers of the 4755 Fauntleroy Way project, which also includes the old Huling Auto site to the south, the now-closed Shell station to the east, and the old used-car lot to the west. In our photo is Len Burton-Hardin from HK at left and Kraig Kennedy at right – who happened to be stopping by for some business involving another structure on the site. His father Dick Kennedy, who died in 2007, took over the funeral home in 1954. HK will open its new 35th/Ida headquarters at 9:30 Monday morning. We have a message out to the 4755 Fauntleroy developers to ask about a timetable for demolition at the project site; environmental work is ahead at the former service station next to the about-to-be-former funeral home.
‘Nickelsville’ closure countdown: Local faith group plans vigils
(UPDATED 3:34 pm with new information from Union Gospel Mission – scroll to end)
Nine days remain until the September 1st date by which city leaders committed to closing the encampment that calls itself “Nickelsville,” on mostly city-owned land at West Marginal Way and Highland Park Way. By multiple accounts – including the one you’ll see below – the number of people there has increased instead of decreased. What will happen when September 1st arrives, remains to be seen. First: We asked for comment from the mayor, whose spokesperson Aaron Pickus replies:
I’m not going to speculate on what will happen on September 1st. What I can say is that our focus is to find shelter for those currently living at the site.
In June, when 7 councilmembers called for the closure, the mayor replied that he would “follow the City Council’s direction to evict those who remain” if the site isn’t vacant on September 1st.
The City Council, which called for the closure, is on its summer break right now, so no official discussions are scheduled on their part. But the latest acknowledgment that the closure date is approaching comes from the Westside Interfaith Network, a coalition of local churches and faith-based groups that has long coalesced around the issue of homelessness. We covered its forum on the issue in mid-June. WIN’s Mary Anne deVry says the group plans nightly vigils at Nickelsville starting this Sunday – NOT to demand that it stay open, but to show their concern about the unsolved problem of homelessness. She writes:
Westside Inferfaith Network (WIN) met this week and decided to hold a vigil at Nickelsville’s parking lot each evening next week (Sun. 8/25 thru Sat. 8/31). This idea arose as we were discussing the growing crisis of homeless people. Our idea is based on these facts:
-Nickelsville is closing (September 1st) & there are still ~150 residents with no confirmed place to move,
-There’s a steady increase of homeless people (recently 9 families asked shelter at N’ville in a 13 day period–& many couples/singles keep coming–none of them were looking for “freebies!)
-2-1-1 reports shelters are full (most people coming to N’ville are told to do so by 2-1-1),
-it’s not safe to live in the greenbelt or city streets.
-We also know literally tens of thousands of people in our area struggle on the brink of homelessness. There will be future homeless people.
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West Seattle Friday: Pet adoptions and music, music, music
(Sunflowers in Delridge, photographed by Flickr member alextutu1821 and shared via the WSB Flickr group)
Highlights for the rest of your Friday, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
PET ADOPTIONS: Noon-3 pm, the MaxMobile will be at West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor) with adoptable pets! (California/Fauntleroy/Morgan)
THIS YEAR’S FINAL CONCERT AT THE MOUNT: Enjoy ’60s tunes at 6 pm tonight with The Spyrographs performing at this year’s fourth and final outdoor concert on the south side of the Providence Mount St. Vincent (4831 35th SW; WSB sponsor) campus. The concert’s free; if you want to buy dinner at 5:30 pm – tonight’s featured entree is salmon or chicken Caesar salad.
IN-STORE AT EASY STREET: King County Queens perform at Easy Street Records, free/all-ages, 7 pm. (California/Alaska)
AT KENYON HALL: 7:30 tonight – from the description in the calendar listing:
Internationally renowned queen of old-time blues guitar Del Rey, award winning blues and boogie woogie pianist Arthur Migliazza, master of the blues harmonica Grant Dermody, and poet of the dobro Orville Johnson join forces to raise the roof, and then some! Piano, guitar, dobro, and harmonica playing, and down-home singing by the area’s finest.
Historic Kenyon Hall is at 7904 35th SW.
THE BEARD BROTHERS: The Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) home page asks the question: “Ever hear ‘Kashmir’ done with just an acoustic guitar, percussion and electric violin?” If not – or even if you have – the Beard Brothers are a “don’t miss,” at the Feedback, 9:30 tonight. (6451 California SW)
LOTS more on the calendar – and don’t forget the freeway ramp closure that starts at 7 tonight.
West Seattle schools: Kindergarten will start ‘late’ for some
Thanks to Pam Rago, family-support worker at Highland Park Elementary, for sharing this information that will affect not only some families at her school, but at three others in our area:
Washington State has approved what is called “slow start” for Title 1, full-day kindergarten schools including Highland Park, Roxhill, Sanislo, and West Seattle. This means that kindergarten will not start on September 4th. Kindergarten will start three days later, on Monday, September 9th.
During the first three days of school (September 4th – 6th) the kindergarten teachers will be meeting with families for a beginning-of-the-year parent-teacher conference. This will give our teachers the opportunity to learn more about the incoming kindergarteners before school begins which will then help teachers tailor their program to best meet each child’s needs.
If you have an incoming kindergartener at one of the schools involved, she says, the school will contact you (if it hasn’t already) about setting up the meeting time.
TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Friday tracking; weekend closures
(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; other cameras are on the WSB Traffic page)
The weekend’s almost here! As we get going with today’s commute watch, those reminders again:
*At 7 pm tonight, the northbound I-5 exit to the West Seattle Bridge closes for the weekend, to reopen by 5 am Monday. State crews will be replacing two half-century-old expansion joints and replace “a 550-foot section of rutted-out roadway … with new concrete.” Here’s the detour map; here’s the schedule of other closures ahead for the same area.
*Sunday morning, the Alki Beach 5K – benefiting breast-cancer patients – closes part of Alki Avenue until about 11 am.
ADDED 2:04 PM: Two weekend closures you will want to know about if you’re using Highway 99 north of downtown:
Saturday, Aug. 24
Crews will close two lanes of southbound SR 99 across the Aurora Bridge from 6 a.m. to noon.
Sunday, Aug. 25
Crews will close two lanes of northbound SR 99 across the Aurora Bridge from 6 a.m. to noon.
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