day : 26/06/2014 10 results

By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog

This edition of our periodic feature The WSBeat contains summaries written from reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers – generally cases that (usually) have not already appeared here in breaking-news coverage or West Seattle Crime Watch reports, but that might at least answer the question “what WERE all those police doing on my block?” Or on the bridge, or the beach, or …

*On the afternoon of the 20th, firefighters asked for a “fast backup” from officers as they dealt with a patient in the 7500 block of 32nd SW. Officers found the 38-year-old lying on his back, yelling and growling, with “about half a dozen medics and officers holding him down.” The man had fought with firefighters and injured one by grabbing and crushing his upper arm, breaking the skin in three places. The suspect, who has a history of drug-induced “excited delirium” incidents, was transported to Harborview. Officers are recommending that the suspect be charged with assault.

*On the 18th, in the 2800 block of 36th SW, a man took up residence inside a small cabinet discarded {“Free!”) on a corner. He provided incoherent answers to officers’ questions, and they felt it was best he be taken to Harborview for a mental evaluation–plus, they were concerned he might die (from “positional asphyxiation”) if he accidentally fell asleep inside the cramped quarters.

*On the 16th, Arbor Heights residents asked that officers check on the wellbeing of an elderly neighbor whom they had not seen for about a week. Officers noticed a full mailbox and papers on the porch. Getting no response to knocks, they decided to make a forced entry. They found the 77-year-old woman in the bathtub — alive — but gasping and unable to speak. It appeared she had been stuck for several days. She was transported to Harborview for care.

Ahead, eight more summaries, starting with two cases of predatory behavior:

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Another West Seattle business anniversary: Massage Envy

June 26, 2014 8:32 pm

| Comments Off on Another West Seattle business anniversary: Massage Envy

| How to help | West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

It’s been a year since Massage Envy of West Seattle (WSB sponsor) opened at Westwood Village, and the anniversary celebration included tonight’s WS Chamber of Commerce After Hours event (in a tent just outside ME, to enjoy the summer night without disrupting the massages inside). Every month, a different local business hosts Chamber members for mingling and refreshments. At right below is Massage Envy proprietor Jennifer McCollum with Chamber CEO Lynn Dennis:

As part of the festivities, ME has a food drive all week – just come in and drop off donations in the barrel for the West Seattle Food Bank, whose Judy Yazzolino was there during tonight’s event:

Massage Envy also will be at the cancer-fighting West Seattle Relay for Life during its first few hours tomorrow night at West Seattle Stadium, 7:30-9:30 pm.

P.S. One more big benefit drive mentioned tonight – Stuff the Bus, the summertime diaper drive for WestSide Baby, whose executive director Nancy Woodland is president of the West Seattle Chamber Board. July 20th is the big day, in the parking lot of the Junction branch of HomeStreet Bank (WSB sponsor) at 41st and Alaska, but as mentioned here previously, you can start bringing in diaper donations now!

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NW Communication Connections: Welcome, new WSB sponsors!

June 26, 2014 4:45 pm

| 12 COMMENTS

| West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

This afternoon, we welcome a new WSB sponsor – locally owned NW Communication Connections! Here’s their message to you:

We are speech-language pathologists and glad to be here in West Seattle! Our office is located in The Junction, in the Jefferson Square building, where we have a fun space for working with people individually or in groups. Our mission is to not only help individuals improve their communication skills, but also to facilitate supportive connections with the local community whenever possible.

Katy and Ann have each spent many years working in the public schools, and are very familiar with the special education process. They are both “professional development junkies”, whose idea of a vacation is often to travel someplace fun to attend a conference.

Katy lives in West Seattle and has worked in public schools, universities, hospitals, clinics, and private practice for over 40 years. Most recently she worked at Arbor Heights Elementary, and is known to the community for her quiet professionalism, wide knowledge base, and caring nature. She is experienced working with clients from ages 3 years on up to young adulthood. Her areas of expertise include motor speech and phonological speech disorders, executive-function challenges, and social language/cognition skills for individuals on the upper end of the Autism Spectrum. Her objective is to design treatment/therapy plans to accommodate the individual needs of her clients. You can reach her at 206-947-7886.

Ann is known as an innovative professional, always looking for creative ways to infuse fun with solid interventions. She has spent many years focused on helping support people with social communication challenges and is excited to offer a range of social groups for the West Seattle community, including a social yoga group run in collaboration with Nicole Koleshis, an OT and sensory integration specialist, of Next Generation Yoga! She is also a member of the International Association of Orofacial Myology, a collaborative field of professionals that includes dentists, ENTs, sleep specialists, dental hygienists, and speech-language pathologists. You can reach her at 206-387-0947.

Please visit our website for more information, or call us for a free phone screening, so we can help you figure out what’s best for you. We look forward to connecting with you.

We thank NW Communication Connections for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.

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West Seattle (and vicinity) food notes: Room 22; Full Tilt; Top Pot Doughnuts followup

June 26, 2014 2:30 pm

| 6 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle restaurants | White Center

ROOM 22: Last August, Pizzeria 22 proprietor Cary Kemp announced an expansion next door, to add dining-room and event space. The expansion, dubbed Room 22, opens Saturday, he tells WSB:

Room 22 will provide an additional 50 seats to our restaurant, as well as one of West Seattle’s largest private dining rooms for up to 50 guests. We will now be able to offer reservations for parties of 6 or more any time and will no longer have the space and wait issues that we have experienced in the past.

Saturday is also Pizzeria 22’s third anniversary.

SPEAKING OF ANNIVERSARIES: In case you missed the Full Tilt Ice Cream update on our partner site White Center Now last weekend, the company founded in White Center by Justin Cline and Ann Magyar celebrated its sixth anniversary last Friday. We stopped in that night for a quick check-in, and found Justin, Ann, and son Moss on hand:

Two major updates as Full Tilt continues to grow – they’ll soon launch an ice-cream truck (as compared to the cart/s they’ve had in recent years, including the one at last weekend’s Morgan Junction Community Festival) that’s expected to spend lots of time on Alki, and the number of grocery stores selling Full Tilt pints is about to double. They’re in 60+ stores now and about to add ~60 more, going into Western Washington QFCs.

SPEAKING OF ICE CREAM: It’ll be part of Top Pot Doughnuts‘ first West Seattle location. Back on Tuesday, we broke the news that Top Pot is moving into the vacant-since-built east side of 2758 Alki Avenue SW. Since then, we’ve had a chance to talk with Top Pot co-founder Mark Klebeck, and he had a few more details to share. First, the “fall” opening is vague because as always, it’s a matter of how the city permit process goes, and they don’t expect it’ll be any sooner than the first day of fall (September 21st). Second, the hours will likely be along the lines of 6 am-9 pm, with adjustment based on how business goes. Third, one special feature – Snoqualmie Ice Cream makes a special “doughnut-inspired” ice cream for a few Top Pot locations, and this one will feature it. Why West Seattle? we asked. Klebeck said every time they’ve opened a new spot somewhere, they’d hear from upset West Seattleites saying “why not here?” They were looking for the right location and finally decided this was it.

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One more mention: City vote for Metro money? Public hearing tonight

June 26, 2014 1:24 pm

| 17 COMMENTS

| Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

No time today for a calendar preview – you can browse our full calendar any time – but one event tonight does need one more mention: A public hearing about bus funding, and whether the city should be going to the ballot with a proposal to raise money for it. That hearing is tonight, 5:30 pm, at City Hall, with the City Council wearing its collective Seattle Transportation Benefit District hat. Chairing the STBD, Councilmember Tom Rasmussen has proposed sending the mayor’s proposal to voters, but the question now is, what do you think? From the city’s reminder:

The STBD is interested in hearing public feedback on the following:

1) How would planned Metro Transit service cuts impact you if no action is taken to prevent these cuts?

2) What is your perspective on an additional vehicle license fee of up to $60 and a 0.1% sales and use tax to prevent planned Metro Transit service cuts in Seattle, and if funds allow, to enhance transit service?

3) What other information should the Board take into consideration as it develops a potential ballot measure for the November election?

The deadline to get something on that ballot is August 5th.

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Car, motorcycle collide in Arbor Heights

June 26, 2014 12:42 pm

| 6 COMMENTS

| Arbor Heights | West Seattle news | WS breaking news

One person was taken to the hospital by private ambulance after their motorcycle collided with a car in Arbor Heights. It happened at California/104th; the rider’s injuries are not life-threatening, but there was a major medical response, and that plus an unrelated medic response not far away led to many a siren in AH this past hour. Our crew was told at the scene that the woman and child who were in the car are not hurt.

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Ferry update: Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth back to 3-boat schedule

June 26, 2014 11:39 am

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| Transportation | West Seattle news

ORIGINAL 11:39 AM REPORT: M/V Issaquah is out of service for repairs, and Washington State Ferries has the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth run on a 2-boat schedule as a result. See the schedule here; we will update when there’s word that it’s back to 3 boats.

2:14 PM: As of just before 2 pm, the route is back to three boats with the return of the Issaquah, says WSF.

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‘Green Light District’ turns 22nd/Roxbury crosswalk into keyboard

June 26, 2014 9:45 am

| 23 COMMENTS

| Transportation | West Seattle news

9:45 AM: Received early this morning and attributed to the “Green Light District” – a new feature at 22nd/Roxbury. We’re going over for a daylight look.

ADDED 11:21 AM: A view from the northeast side, on the berm by the Community School of West Seattle:

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TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Thursday notes; weekend preview

June 26, 2014 7:33 am

| 5 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Another no-news-is-relatively-good-news commute so far. The weekend reminders:

CALIFORNIA/FAUNTLEROY WORK: 7 am-7 pm Saturday, paving at this major intersection.

NORTHBOUND I-5 LANE CLOSURES + 520 CLOSURE ALL WEEKEND: Here’s the warning from SDOT.

SEAFAIR PIRATES’ LANDING: This happens on Alki at midday Saturday. No road closures but some parking will be taken by related vehicles in the Bathhouse vicinity, and the beach will overall be very busy.

NEW SOUTH PARK BRIDGE: Street party on Sunday, starting at noon, going into the evening, on 14th north of Cloverdale. The bridge itself opens to traffic next Monday morning at 6 am, and that will change Metro routing too, as explained here.

11:58 AM NOTE: Route 773, the Water Taxi shuttle, is having issues right now. In an unrelated case, so is the state ferry M/V Issaquah, which means the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth WSF route is on the two-boat schedule right now.

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Update: Play-area fire at Schmitz Park Elementary School, $50,000 damage

June 26, 2014 1:24 am

| 44 COMMENTS

| West Seattle fires | West Seattle news | WS breaking news

(SCROLL DOWN FOR ONGOING UPDATES: Damage estimate, daylight photos, district and PTA comments)

1:24 AM: Seattle Fire is on the way to a possible fire at 5000 SW Spokane, which is the address for Schmitz Park Elementary School. More as we get it.

1:30 AM: Response is being downsized; the fire is apparently on/in play equipment outside, no building/interior involvement. Mostly a bark fire, but “some melted play equipment,” SFD reports. Our crew is still en route.

1:54 AM: Our crew reports it’s some climbing-type equipment at the play area on the west side of the school but it’s significantly damaged. We’ll go back for a daylight look later. No official cause of the fire – the marshal’s on the way.

8:12 AM UPDATE: From Kyle Moore at SFD:

Seattle Fire Investigators have classified an overnight fire at a West Seattle playground as undetermined because there was no obvious source of ignition.

At 1:19 a.m. a call came into dispatchers at the Fire Alarm Center reporting a fire coming from the back of a school located in the 5000 block of SW Spokane Street. The first arriving engine company found flames coming from a playground area. Firefighters quickly knocked down the fire which was confined to the wood chips. The heat and flames also melted and damaged the metal and plastic playground equipment. The damage estimate is $50,000.

We will add daylight photos shortly.

9:13 AM: Just back from the school. Photos of the damage, above and below.

We are following up with Seattle Public Schools for starters. Schmitz Park is West Seattle’s most-populous elementary, with more than 600 students expected this fall. It’s scheduled to move into the new school to be built on the Genesee Hill Elementary site, likely in early 2016.

12:05 PM: District spokesperson Tom Redman tells WSB, “The play equipment was new and installed last summer and funded by the District. Our risk and loss prevention manager will inspect the equipment, after which we’ll determine our next steps.”

2:09 PM: We’ve also heard from the SPES PTA – starting with this detailed comment from outgoing president Jeff Rayner.

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