West Seattle, Washington
27 Wednesday
(WSB photo by Patrick Sand)
The West Seattle High School Wildcats finish the Metro League baseball tournament at #2, after tonight’s loss to O’Dea at Steve Cox Memorial Park in White Center. The summary, and the next two photos, are courtesy of Greg Slader:
Pitcher Larry Jensen (above) dazzled the Irish hitters with a combination of sliders and knuckleballs to keep them off balance.
Cameron Slader‘s two-run home run (above) gave the Wildcats a brief 2-1 lead through three innings. But O’Dea’s strong bats and speedy runners kept pressing, as they would eventually top West Seattle 7-3 for the Metro League title.
It’s not over for West Seattle, as they head to
Centraliafor the South Regional in the state tournament on May 24th. Game time will be announced next Monday.
Here’s the state-tournament bracket (no team names yet); the finals are in Pasco.
UPDATE: WSHS will play Shelton HS this Saturday (May 24th) at 10 am in Mount Vernon.
Thanks to Joe Puckett for the summary of this afternoon’s Seattle Lutheran High School baseball victory:
Seattle Lutheran High School won their first baseball playoff game today at Delridge Playfield against the Concrete Lions by a score of 4 to 1. Four different Sealu players had RBI’s in a well-played game. Cody Jones pitched a complete game for Sealu, giving up only 4 hits while striking out 15 Concrete batters. Seattle Lutheran will play again on Saturday at Stanwood against an opponent still to be determined.
A memorial service and celebration are planned tomorrow (Friday, May 16th) for Robert Edmund Chaney, whose family shares this remembrance:
Mr. Robert Edmund Chaney met his Pilot face to face on May 8th at 88.
Mr. Chaney was best known as a true West Seattle guy! He was the father to Liz Chaney (Trindade) and Carolyn Camille Chaney, both of whom graduated from West Seattle High! Mr. Chaney was a true neighbor and lived in the North Admiral district since 1966.
He worked at Husky Delicatessen for more than 20 years and has been a RE Broker for Century 21 for most of his career. As a Christian minister, award-winning poet & writer, he left a powerful legacy to his other two children, Christopher Chaney of Southern California and & Kimberly Condrin of Renton WA. He has five grandchildren, Cory & Taylor Condrin, Tatiana, Lorenzo & Romeu Trindade. Mr. Chaney was one of 11 children and for the very reason he loved to have a lot of people, friends and family around. Mr. Chaney was a loving husband to Beverly Chaney (former Talent Manager to Jim Caviezel and Brendan Frasier). Mr. Chaney, Bob, was also a host father to hundreds of exchange students for over 15 years. He attended University of Oregon and Stanford with degrees in Business & Political Science.
Memorial service at Tahoma National Cemetery on May 16th, 2:00 pm, 18600 SE 240th St., Kent. Memorial celebration at his home in West Seattle. If you would like to attend, contact his daughter, Liz Chaney Trindade by cell, 917 435 6455; text is OK.
(WSB publishes obituaries by request, free of charge. Please e-mail the text, and a photo if available, to editor@westseattleblog.com)
If you feel strongly about microhousing – the new wave of mini-apartments that cluster around shared kitchens, usually one per floor – Monday’s your chance to speak to the City Council’s Planning/Land Use/Sustainability Committee about the proposed new city rules/definitions. The meeting agenda circulated today reminds us of the date, which, as reported here, was first announced last month. Here again is the council memo about the proposal; here’s the agenda. The public hearing is at 5:30 pm Monday (May 19th) in council chambers at City Hall downtown. (WSB photo: First West Seattle microhousing project to open, Footprint Delridge)
Summer festival season is weeks away, and planning is well underway for the biggest event of the year, West Seattle Summer Fest (co-sponsored by WSB). If you’re with a community group/nonprofit organization interested in a free chance to meet more neighbors (and prospective members/supporters), the WS Junction Association has a deal for you:
The West Seattle Junction Association is again offering the FREE Community Tent at West Seattle Summer Fest – July 11, 12, and 13. The purpose of this area at Summer Fest is to allow our small neighborhood non-profits and community groups easy access to the event and their community – free of charge!
Furry Faces Foundation has volunteered to coordinate the community tent and is now accepting requests for space from West Seattle non-profits and community groups. Furry Faces Foundation will select groups who strive to benefit, strengthen, and educate our community.
Here are the Community Tent details:
The Community Tent will be located on Alaska St . Tent, tables, and chairs will be provided. Participants are encouraged to set up their area with displays which reflect their mission and contributions to the West Seattle Community. Please feel free to bring props, brochures and such, which will entice folks to stop and chat with you about your organization. No sales please.
Shift changes will be a little cozy, so we’ll all have a chance to get friendly and help each other out, if needed.
Hours
Friday: 10 am – 6 pm
Saturday: 10 am – 6 pm
Sunday: 11 am – 5 pmCommunity Tent Shifts
Friday/Saturday: 4-hour slots
10 am – 2 pm
2 pm – 6 pmSunday: 3-hour slots
11 am – 2 pm
2 pm – 5 pmIf your neighborhood non-profit or community group is interested in being a part of the Summer Fest Community Tent, please e-mail by June 27th, furryfaces@hotmail.com
We are looking forward to hearing from you.
Congratulations to West Seattle author Emily Krieger, whose “Kids’ Myths Busted” has won Book of the Year for fifth/sixth graders in the Children’s Choice Book Awards, announced last night. We mentioned here a week and a half ago that her book was a finalist; WSB reader Ketty e-mailed us today to share this link with news of Emily’s win. (The second book in the series, by the way, has just been published.)
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
11:38 AM: The achievement gap among Seattle students is “unacceptable,” Mayor Ed Murray has just told a gathering at High Point Commons Park’s outdoor amphitheater, starting the official announcement of the Seattle Preschool Program. Materials provided to us and other media reps say they’ll go to voters with a four-year property-tax levy to raise $14.5 million a year, costing “the average homeowner” $3.63 a month. It will be “voluntary for providers and participants and will build toward serving 2,000 children in 100 classrooms by 2018.” Otherwise, “the moral cost is too high,” declared the mayor. 
More to come.
11:48 AM: “Every child in our city deserves a fair start … in life,” says Councilmember Tim Burgess, after being called by the mayor “the godfather” of the proposal. He says this would pay for full-day preschool. The announcement notes, “The program will have the ultimate goal of serving all eligible and interested 4-year-olds and all 3-year-olds from families making less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level in Seattle.” 
The classrooms in which they would be served would “be provided through a mixed-delivery system, with classrooms offered by Seattle Public Schools and community providers.” SPS Superintendent José Banda speaks shortly thereafter, saying the district looks forward to being “a partner” in this, and that he expects this will make Seattle “a model” for the rest of the country.
Asked about asking for yet another tax, the mayor acknowledges that “there’s a risk” but also says that if this helps bring a brighter future for more Seattle youth, “it’s going to save us money.”
A few more points:
*Free tuition for families earning less than 200% of federal poverty level
*Sliding scale for families earning more than that, “with at least some level of subsidy for all families”
*”Ongoing, independent evaluation” promised for a “feedback loop” to shape the program as it continues
12:02 PM: Event wrapping up; we have it on video and will add when uploaded. If you watch TV news, you’ll see something about it tonight, as it was a full-scale regional-media turnout. Next step? The council will have to vote by early August to get this on the November ballot. Details here.
ADDED: Our video of the entire event:
When Judy asked via Twitter why Seattle Police SWAT officers are in The Junction, near 42nd and Oregon, we suspected they’d come for training (the to-be-demolished homes in that block have been used for it before); as our crew discovered, that suspicion was correct. The team has a request, though: If you parked along 42nd in the area (4400 block, north of Oregon), please go move your vehicle(s) ASAP …
… they need the space!
The poll mentioned in our coverage of Tuesday’s West Seattle Transportation Coalition meeting has just launched: WSTC is looking for your opinion on funding sources you think the city should consider before a final decision on how to avoid Metro cuts. The poll will be open until Tuesday morning; find it here. Ahead, the WSTC’s announcement and explanation:
#34dems #wadems Congressman Jim McDermott addressing 34th District Dems #mcdermott4rep pic.twitter.com/hX21DxkEqP
— Marcee Stone (@bluecella) May 15, 2014
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
A visit from U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott was top-billed for Wednesday night’s meeting of our area’s largest political organization, the 34th (Legislative) District Democrats, but endorsements stole the show.
Atop that list, the 34th DDs gave their blessing to the August ballot measure that will seek to set up a Seattle Park District, though one pre-vote speaker warned that elected officials should “explain it better” before ballot-casting time arrives.
They also made endorsement decisions in judicial races, with some of the candidates on hand, even an appearance by newly appointed State Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu, who arrived at the meeting after her endorsement vote, and thanked the group:
Justice Mary Yu thanks the @34dems for their endorsement for her election to the State Supreme Court – pic.twitter.com/ZbiRlKeenH
— 34th Democrats (@34dems) May 15, 2014
Other endorsees included Congressmember McDermott, who spoke for a few minutes shortly after the meeting began. Introducing him, 34th DDs chair Marcee Stone-Vekich suggested everybody go look up the video clip of McDermott “swinging a fish in the halls of Congress” with Stephen Colbert. We found it:
Land-use approvals are in for two sizable West Seattle projects, as announced in today’s Land Use Information Bulletin from the city. Both decisions include DNS rulings (determination of non-significance, meaning the city does not believe a full environmental review is needed):
(Rendering courtesy Nicholson-Kovalchick Architects)
3210 CALIFORNIA: This mixed-use project won Southwest Design Review Board approval last month, in its fifth meeting; it’s now partly four stories, partly five stories, with 134 apartments, 5,913 square feet of commercial space, two live/work units, and 152 offstreet parking spaces. Here’s the notice; here’s the decision. The announcement starts the clock on an appeal process open until May 29th; here’s how.
3078 AVALON WAY: This is an all-residential project, seven stories, 102 apartments and 59 offstreet parking spaces, with approval recommended by the SWDRB in January; here’s the notice; here’s the decision. This approval also triggers an appeal period until May 29th; here’s how.
Thanks to Rahel for sharing that low-tide scene via the WSB Facebook page – that’s the view from Wednesday afternoon, and today will bring an even lower tide, -2.3 at noon, then -2.6 at 12:44 pm Friday and the same at 1:29 pm Saturday. Find the tide chart any time on the WSB West Seattle Weather page. And now, from our calendar:
PLANTS! The South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) Garden Center is open today – 11 am-3 pm on the north end of campus. (6000 16th SW)
NATURE THURSDAY AT CAMP LONG: After school, join West Seattle naturalist Stewart Wechsler for exploration at 3:30 pm – details here. (5200 35th SW)
CHALLAH BREAD-BAKING WORKSHOP: 5:30 pm at Delridge Community Center – details (call to see if there’s still room) in our calendar listing. (4501 Delridge Way SW)
TASTE OF WEST SEATTLE: Last tickets up for grabs as we write this – check here; details including the restaurant/bar list can be found in our update from Wednesday. 6 pm VIP ticketholders, 6:30 pm general, The Hall at Fauntleroy. (9131 California SW)
6917 CALIFORNIA PROJECT, COMMUNITY UPDATE: As previewed here last weekend, you’re invited tonight to hear from the neighbors who have been talking with the city and the developer of the controversial 30-apartment, no-offstreet-parking 6917 California project, as they look ahead to an appeal hearing next week, and solicit other community opinions on possible mitigation related to the project. Come hear and be heard, downstairs meeting room at The Kenney (WSB sponsor), 7 pm. (7125 Fauntleroy Way SW)
HIGH-SCHOOL BASEBALL PLAYOFFS: Seattle Lutheran plays at Delridge Playfield at 3:15 pm today; West Seattle HS is in the Metro League tournament final game at Steve Cox Memorial Park in White Center at 7 pm tonight.
GUITARISTS INVITED … to the Seattle Classic Guitar Society‘s open-microphone event at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7 pm. (5612 California SW)
‘HAIR’ AT ARTSWEST: Flower power with the classic musical at ArtsWest (WSB sponsor) curtain time 7:30 pm. (4711 California SW)
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
Roxhill Elementary‘s Jump Rope for Heart event got a bonus boost from guest participants on Wednesday – University of Washington Huskies football players! Above, defensive end Jarett Finau goes airborne. Next, linebacker Sean Constantine and offensive lineman Mike Criste with the assist for Roxhill scholars working on heart health:
But the half-dozen visiting student-athletes weren’t just on campus to jump …
… they also spoke at an assembly, as part of their “Blitz the Sound” program.
Other participants included defensive back Brandon Beaver, outside linebacker Hau’oli Kikaha, and wide receiver Marvin Hall. Blitz the Sound is a program the UW football program launched a decade ago to help inspire local students – even if athletics aren’t in their future – to work hard and do their best. (Thanks to Roxhill’s PE teacher Chellie LaFayette for inviting us to stop by!)
(WS Bridge and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
6:47 AM: Quiet on the routes through/from West Seattle, so far.
Looking ahead to tomorrow – it’ll be Bike To Work Day on Friday, with the usual “commute station” for bicyclists beneath the West Seattle Bridge, plus two in White Center; here’s the regional map.
Looking ahead to the weekend – remember that Sunday brings the West Seattle 5K (co-sponsored by WSB), closing Alki SW along the full route until about 11 am, and then between 56th and 63rd until 5 pm for the “car-free” Seattle Summer Streets event.
8:33 AM: If you haven’t headed out yet and usually take Fauntleroy from Morgan Junction or southward, we’ve received a report of a potential hazard – somebody standing out in the street in the Fauntleroy/Graham vicinity. En route to check it out.
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