day : 20/01/2014 10 results

10:45 PM: If you expect to be driving to/from the West Seattle Bridge via 1st Avenue South any time in the next few hours – you’ll likely want to choose an alternate route. There’s heavy police activity at 1st and Hanford, near the on/offramp to/from the westbound bridge, right now after a shooting involving police. No official information about the circumstances yet, but our partners at The Seattle Times report a man in his 30s undergoing CPR after this happened shortly before 10 pm.

11:46 PM: Still no official updates but you can see from KING 5’s report that this was indeed close to the 1st Avenue South ramp on the north side of the bridge.

1:52 AM: Police have just posted a summary on SPD Blotter. They say they were called about a man “waving” a gun at a bus stop in the 2700 block of 1st South (which would be closer to Lander than the address described earlier), and that an officer shot the man while he was still holding the gun. He is described as having life-threatening injuries when transported, but no current condition is given.

2:09 AM: Per radio communications, police are reopening 1st Avenue South.

2:50 PM: SPD has just updated the Blotter summary with news that the 36-year-old man who was shot has died.

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Neighbor-petitioned meeting set next week for 3210 California SW

January 20, 2014 8:25 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| Development | West Seattle news

(Scroll down for Tuesday update with official notice)

8:25 PM SUNDAY: This is a “save the date” note because the details aren’t all in yet. But if the date holds, it’s only nine days away, so we’re mentioning it right after finding out about it.

(Image from November 2013 design proposal for 3210 California SW; revised design for Feb. 6th meeting isn’t out yet)
As neighbors of several other West Seattle projects have done, residents near the block-long 3210 California SW building petitioned the city Department of Planning and Development for a meeting to lodge concerns that aren’t addressed in the Design Review process – the ones covered by the State Environmental Policy Act, including noise, air quality, and traffic/transportation, as well as ecological impacts. (See a longer list on this state webpage.) They launched the petition drive right after the previous Design Review meeting in late November, in 166 signatures before Thanksgiving. Seven weeks later, on January 9th, they still hadn’t heard anything, though the project’s next Design Review meeting had already been set for February 6th. So they e-mailed the city, and got a note eight days later – at close of business Friday – that it was set for January 29th at the Senior Center of West Seattle – no time mentioned.

No formal notice has been sent, so after hearing about this from the neighbors’ group, we checked all the places on the city website where such notices are usually posted/filed, and found just one brief notation inside a tab on a docket listing it – the date and location – no time. The city usually sends a Land Use Information Bulletin on Mondays, but not this week, since today was a holiday. So the neighbors will be checking further on this tomorrow, and in the meantime, if you’re interested in this project – five stories, ~150 units, ~160 parking spaces, 4,200+ square feet of commercial space – save January 29th as a chance to comment. (Similar meetings have had start times of 6:30 pm; we’ll update tomorrow when we get final word on the time.)

10:18 AM TUESDAY: The formal notice came in the one-day-delayed Land Use Information Bulletin this morning – see it here; the meeting is indeed set for 6:30 pm January 29th.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Car stolen twice in one month

January 20, 2014 6:26 pm

| 15 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Have you seen Krystal‘s car? It has been stolen for the second time in about a month:

My 1996 2-door silver Honda Civic, license plate # 682 YGW, was stolen from the Admiral Junction at some point last night, 1/19/14. It has a dent on the driver’s-side rear wheel.

It was stolen mid-December from 52nd/Andover. Only one person was arrested and I am afraid the accomplice to the initial crime is responsible for the second theft as I had mail in the vehicle and they were aware of my home address.

In any case, if you see this car, please contact the police. I would greatly appreciate all of the help from my community in tracking down my car. Keep an eye out, West Seattle, and invest in a steering wheel lock! Thank You!

If you see it, call 911.

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Update: Crash at 42nd/Alaska, pedestrian hurt

January 20, 2014 4:25 pm

| 23 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | WS breaking news

(Photo from @UmangJDesai via Twitter)
4:25 PM: Thanks for the tips – there’s been a crash at 42nd/Alaska, reportedly involving a pedestrian. At least 1 tv chopper checked it out. Avoid the area for a while.

4:32 PM UPDATE: The woman who was hit is not believed to have life-threatening injuries.

5:18 PM UPDATE: Just checked; scene is clear.

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Seattle Public Schools transportation changes set for vote this week

January 20, 2014 3:30 pm

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| Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Potentially major changes in school transportation are proceeding somewhat quietly down the road to a vote at this week’s Seattle School Board meeting. A local mom suggested we write about this to increase the chances people know before it’s too late to even try to comment. The proposed changes came out at the last board meeting before Christmas, and are up for a vote this Wednesday (January 22nd). They are summarized on the district website here, including these toplines:

The District is proposing to:

• End yellow bus transportation to option school students who live outside that school’s middle school attendance area
• Eliminate transportation to elementary school students who live outside that school’s attendance area
• Sunset any previous “grandfathering” of transportation that was allowed when the New Student Assignment Plan took effect in 2010 11.
• Standardize all yellow bus arrival times: 7:35 a.m., 8:25 a.m. and 9:15 a.m. Please note these are not start times for schools, but the arrival times for buses. Next fall’s school bell times will be set later this winter.

The district says these changes would save more than $3 million. For full details on the proposed changes, see this district document which color-codes exactly what’s been written into the policy and what’s been taken out. The school-by-school list of next year’s proposed bus arrival and departure times can be seen here; again, as noted above, those are not the same as the bell times; you can compare to the current list of arrival/departure times. In our area, Pathfinder K-8 stands to see the largest schedule change, since it’s one of five K-8s that would be moved to notably earlier arrival times – Pathfinder’s arrival time is proposed as 7:35 am, 25 minutes earlier than it is now.

SOMETHING TO SAY? E-mail schoolboard@seattleschools.org – contact info for West Seattle’s board rep Marty McLaren is on her page. The agenda for Wednesday’s meeting at board HQ in SODO is here.

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See how ‘Ask This Old House’ helped West Seattle homeowners

January 20, 2014 2:51 pm

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| Gatewood | West Seattle news

Gatewood residents Patrick and Chelsea King got some high-profile help last June when Tom Silva and “Ask This Old House” pitched in on their crown-molding project. We mentioned it here; they promised to let us know when the episode went online – and they just sent word it’s now available for viewing – the first 11 minutes of this clip. If you’d rather see it on TV, the online schedule says this episode will run again this Friday and Saturday on KBTC Channel 12 and Monday and Wednesday of next week on KCTS Channel 9.

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Puget Creek Watershed gets King Day TLC from CityYear

January 20, 2014 12:44 pm

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| Environment | How to help | West Seattle news

Peek through the trees and greenery of the forest/wetland alongside Sanislo Elementary today, and you’ll see flashes of red – the signature T-shirts worn by members of CityYear Seattle/King County. These 18-to-24-year-olds are best known for their classroom work supporting local students, but today, for the MLK Day of Service, they are out helping the Puget Creek Watershed Alliance with restoration work. That means, among other things, moving a lot of mulch:

Like so many other greenspaces in our area, the trees here are under siege by invasives like ivy and blackberries, so weed-pulling is part of today’s work too:

As noted by organizer Steven Richmond, who leads frequent volunteer work parties at the wetland, work here supports salmon habitat downstream in the Duwamish River; that’s where Puget Creek drains after an undergrounded section that the Duwamish Tribe is hoping to daylight near its longhouse on West Marginal Way – and it’s cleaner if stormwater is filtered by healthy woodlands and wetlands upstream.

P.S. If you’d like to help – the next regular work party is Saturday (January 25th); details here, including Richmond’s contact info if you have questions.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Car break-ins; fence, park vandalism; stolen sign; WSCPC tomorrow…

January 20, 2014 11:00 am

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| Crime | West Seattle news

Four West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports:

CAR BREAK-INS: Zale reports neighborhood cars were broken into last night:

They stole our car stereo and our Garmin, which SPD found in another car. Sadly, we had our arms full of stuff when we last got out of the car and forgot to lock the doors and set the alarm. You can bet we won’t do that again any time soon. We live in Sunset Heights on 31st between Othello and Myrtle.

TAGGING VANDALISM: An Arbor Heights resident who asked for name/location anonymity says vandals tagged her fence – “about 15 feet of fence, with letters approximately 4 feet high” – and that police are analyzing it as potential gang graffiti. That’s one reason why it’s important to report this vandalism, however common. Painting it over – a challenge for her, though, since it wasn’t a painted fence in the first place – is important, too, so take a picture as evidence as soon as you can. You can report graffiti/tagging online – here’s the form.

PARK VANDALISM: If you spot vandalism on someone else’s property, or public facilities like parks, you need to get word to them so they can report it. That’s what a neighbor of Hamilton Viewpoint in North Admiral planned to do about this:

She says it’s the second time in two weeks she’s spotted these types of tire marks tearing up the turf – the photo shows the older marks too, and she noticed “dirt clumps in the road in the same area where it appears the vehicle drove off the curb. This is really annoying. The park is for everyone’s enjoyment. This has turned the park into a mud pit and likely destroyed much of the grass.” If you see or hear something like that while it’s happening, call 911, but otherwise, report it to Parks – contact info’s here.

STOLEN SIGN: For this month’s West Seattle Art Walk, eight small local businesses teamed up for an event at West Seattle Office Junction (WSB sponsor), which put up an A-board sign in The Junction to promote it. Sometime between 10 am and noon that morning, it was stolen; Christine from Office Junction says the KeyBank security guard told them a man picked it up, put it into an orange vehicle, and drove away. She says they’ve had other A-boards stolen, too. If you’ve seen any, please let them (or police) know.

WEST SEATTLE CRIME PREVENTION COUNCIL: Tomorrow’s the first WSCPC meeting in two months. Bring your neighborhood concerns, on any crime/safety topic, including the one that’ll be discussed by the featured guest, Ann Graves from Seattle Animal Shelter, as explained on the WSCPC website. Be at the Southwest Precinct, Delridge/Webster, 7 pm Tuesday.

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Fauntleroy chili cookoff Saturday: Room for 1 more competitor

January 20, 2014 9:42 am

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| Fauntleroy | Fun stuff to do | West Seattle news

Just in from Judy Pickens in Fauntleroy:

The third annual Fauntleroy Chili Cook-Off needs one more chef to fill out the list of competitors – meat or vegetarian, your choice. The cook-off will be Saturday, January 25, 6 pm, hosted by Fauntleroy Church (9140 California Ave. SW). Call 206-932-5600 for details about putting your favorite recipe up against prior winners and other hopefuls hot to win the crown.

Lots of room for attendees, of course; those details are in our calendar listing.

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2014: West Seattle notes

January 20, 2014 5:58 am

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| Holidays | West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

Good morning! First, for those who aren’t off this holiday, the transportation info:

(Latest bridge and Viaduct views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
METRO BUSES: “Reduced weekday/no UW” schedule
WATER TAXIS: Not running
WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES: Regular schedule
SOUND TRANSIT: Regular schedule
PARKING ON CITY STREETS: No charge today in other neighborhoods’ pay station/meter spots

Other King Day notes: No school; government facilities closed, including city-run community centers/pools; libraries closed; Senior Center closed

From the calendar:

MLK DAY OF SERVICE – VOLUNTEER IN THE WEST DUWAMISH GREENBELT: While most MLK Day of Service projects required pre-registration, if you’re looking for something to help with today, the Nature Consortium has a volunteer work party in the West Duwamish Greenbelt, continuing to help restore the forest. Everything you need to help is provided; just show up. They’re working today in the Soundway section, gathering at Riverview Playfield, 10 am-2 pm. (7098 12th SW)

VETERANS’ FORUM: As previewed here Sunday night, the West Seattle Veteran Center will host a town-hall forum tonight, 7-9 pm, for veterans, family members, and caregivers, focused on VA claims issues. (3618 SW Alaska)

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