West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Saturday’s open house at Seattle Fire Station 32 in The Triangle was intended mostly to display the final design of the $15 million FS 32 rebuild, but there was other news – the station’s temporary during-construction home has been chosen. David Kunselman, administrator of the city’s Fire Facilities & Emergency Response Levy program, says it will be set up on the 40th SW site the city has purchased for a future park.
Construction of the new FS 32, he said, could start by the end of this year – so the station might be moved by then. The temporary site is flanked by the sites of development plans – 4745 40th SW to the south, 4755 Fauntleroy Way SW across 40th to the east/northeast – where construction might be under way by then.
Back to the new Station 32 itself (read project details here) – images of the design by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson were displayed around the bays of the station during the open house:
That’s the side facing 38th SW, same side that currently looks like this:
Looking southeastward toward the SW Alaska side:
And southwestward:
The rebuilt Station 32 will be headquarters to the area’s Battalion Chief (B7), currently based at Fire Station 29 in Admiral, which also had a design open house Saturday. FS 29 has a $3.5 million project on the way, mostly seismic upgrades (details here). When that begins in about a year, its temporary home will be the one where Station 36 is now – at Harbor SW/SW Florida. A similar upgrade is also on the way for Highland Park’s Station 11, but it will not have to leave its 16th/Holden site during the $2.7 million project, which Kunselman says is currently out to bid.
ADDED: Here’s the PDF with a clearer look at the renderings shown above.
A group of West Seattle High School parents, alumni, and faculty is “working to upgrade the West Seattle Booster Club to a membership-based organization for the first time” – and they are ready now to ask you to be part of the upgrade.
A commenter wondered about the Booster Club in the discussion following this WSB story a week ago about a crowdfunding drive by the WSHS tennis coach, who said she had virtually no budget. The club uncloaked and announced they had pitched in.
On behalf of the WS Booster Club, Donna Veenhuizen shared this open message to the community, including word of a brand-new website:
The Club’s goal is to assist all of athletic programs at the high school with uniforms, equipment, and needs the school budget cannot cover, and we would love to have you join us. We are very new (just started getting organized last spring), and have already been able to help the girls’ soccer team, swim team, and tennis team.
Check us out at westseattleboosterclub.org and please share with everyone you know! Membership and participation are keys to our success, so the more people that know about us and get involved, the more we can help. You can donate to the Booster Club on our website, and 50% of your annual membership dues goes toward the sport of your choice.
We also have “West Seattle Athletic Department” t-shirts and sweatshirts for sale (photo at right; please e-mail us for more info) and a fan gear website. All proceeds benefit the students at West Seattle High School!
There’s another way you can get involved: In person. The West Seattle Booster Club’s next meeting is this Tuesday (March 4), 7 pm in the school library. Veenhuizen says they’re also welcoming questions and ideas at westseattleboosterclub@gmail.com.
A new city report reiterates that access to healthy food in Delridge is abysmal, especially for low-income families. The report follows surveys and focus groups of women in the Delridge area, and was presented to the City Council in a briefing this past week; thanks to Councilmember Tom Rasmussen for pointing it out. The report was inspired, it says, by the Seattle Women’s Commission and Councilmember Mike O’Brien looking into a Delridge community member’s concerns of how difficult it was to find healthy food in the area, even if she took transit to the store, complicated by the logistics of bringing along young children. The report’s executive summary is here, with recommendations from creating a Food Hub – maybe even with a Farmers’ Market-type produce stand – to transportation improvements, to supporting the Delridge Grocery co-op startup that’s aiming to open its market later this year. Here’s the slide deck shown at the briefing.
(Photo courtesy Dave Nichols)
Four months later, you aren’t hearing much (if anything) about it, but temporary shelter and permanent homes are still needed for typhoon victims in the Philippines, according to an update this past week from the United Nations. Those helping with the former include West Seattleite Dave Nichols, at left in the photo above. He works with a disaster-relief nonprofit called ShelterBox, as noted here in this November report. Since then, Dave has gone to the Philippines to help, and after he returned home, he resumed making presentations everywhere he can get someone to listen. He tells this story, to make sure you and others are still aware that help is needed:
I am an American who volunteers for a British disaster relief agency called ShelterBox. Our goal is to deploy aid in the form of a box containing a fairly large tent, blankets and ground cover, cooking utensils, Mosquito nets and a family water purification. We do this fairly quickly thanks to the generosity of our donors. Our two person teams of volunteers are typically on the ground doing assessments 48-72 hours following a disaster.
I returned from the Philippines, where a devastating typhoon wiped whole villages off the islands. It also killed north of 6,000 people. When did this happen? November 8th. There are 7010 islands in the Philippines many quite large, and the typhoon went right through the middle of these islands. My deployment started on January 10th, and I first went with a teammate to an island named Bohol, which was struck by a 7.4 earthquake in October flattening whole towns.
Three reports in West Seattle Crime Watch today, starting with this just in from SPD Blotter – heard snippets on the scanner overnight but now the police have a full report:
On March 2nd at approximately 12:57 a.m. officers responded to the report of an armed robbery of a citizen near California Avenue SW and SW Dakota Street. Preliminary investigation indicates that a man and a woman were walking on California Avenue SW when two black male suspects in their 20′s approached them. One of the suspects brandished a handgun and robbed the victims of their cell phone, money, purse, wallet and ipad.
The suspects then fled the scene running northbound in the alley on the west side of California Avenue SW. A witness saw a black male get into the front passenger seat of a white Lexus sedan. The Lexus was last seen driving eastbound from SW Bradford Street and California Avenue SW. The suspect vehicle is further described as a white Lexus 4-door sedan with gold trim and Washington plates. There are no further suspect descriptions available at this time. The suspects and suspect vehicle remain at large.
Anyone with information about this incident or who may know the identities or whereabouts of the suspects or suspect vehicle is asked to call 911 or Seattle Police and refer to this incident. Anonymous tips are welcome.
Speaking of cars – for the second time in two weeks, someone has taken Trevor‘s car:
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Two more charges have been filed against 32-year-old Nicholas Broughton (right), the repeat offender arrested one month ago after stealing an SUV in Tacoma, getting detected by LoJack here in West Seattle – drawing the Guardian One helicopter (whose crew published video of the incident) – crashing the SUV through a fence, and breaking into a relative’s home.
By the time the new charges were filed, Broughton had been out of jail a week and a half, and while prosecutors asked the court to reinstate a higher bail, a judge told them no.
We discovered all this while making a routine check of the case’s status, via online court files; here’s what we found:
Thanks to John Hinkey for the photo of beautiful mountains, sea, and boat taken in last Friday’s sunshine. How will today unfold? Here’s some of what’s on the calendar!
REMINDER – NO VIADUCT CLOSURE TODAY AFTER ALL … as reported here last night, the inspection is done and so there’s NO second all-day closure between the West Seattle Bridge and Battery Street Tunnel. But 99 is still closed from the BST north to Woodland Park Zoo through late morning for the Hot Chocolate 15/5K.
WEST SEATTLE SUNDAY SOCCER: 7:30 am at Delridge Playfield, join the weekly pickup games – explained on the WSSS Facebook page. (Delridge/Alaska)
TWEED RIDE TO BIKE EXPO: 10 am, join West Seattle Bike Connections on a ride to the Seattle Bike Expo. (Don’t miss the artistic-cycling champs while you’re there!) Details on the WSBC site. (Meet under the WS Bridge)
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm, with vendors including the recently debuted, West Seattle-based Sod House Bakery. (44th/Alaska)
GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SALES CONTINUE: Another local troop shares their cookie-selling photo today (send us yours!), the third day of this year’s cookie sale:
We are Daisy Girl Scout Troop #45172 out of Gatewood Elementary. We will be selling cookies at Westwood QFC 12-2 and WS Thriftway 4-6 Sunday. This is our first year selling cookies. We are taking donated cookies to some of the local nursing homes and also collecting cookie donations for Operation Cookie Drop to send to the troops. Come by, say hi, and buy some cookies to help support the Girl Scouts.
The online lookup to find all of West Seattle’s cookie-selling troops, and their times/locations, is here.
OSCARS VIEWING PARTY: The silver-screen awards are on the big screen at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), 4 pm red carpet, 5 pm awards. (6451 California SW)
SEATTLE PRIDE ‘LAST CHANCE’ TRYOUTS: 15-17-year-old girls and boys have one last chance this evening to try out for the Seattle Pride basketball league. See our previous story for times and other info. Tryouts are at Seattle Lutheran High School. (40th/Genesee)
‘ROOTS MUSIC VARIETY SHOW’: That’s how tonight’s lineup at Kenyon Hall, “From West Seattle to the Bering Sea,” is described. 7:30 pm. (7904 35th SW)
SEE MORE for today, tonight, next week, and beyond, browsable here.
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