West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Thanks to Leslie Allen for that photo of the Seattle fireboat Leschi off Alki during tonight’s sunset. Leschi is scheduled to be out again during the Seafair Parade of Ships tomorrow afternoon, which kicks off Fleet Week, including ship tours on the downtown waterfront. Details are in the official guide (see the PDF here, or embedded below via Scribd):
Still not sure what you’ll be seeing Wednesday afternoon? Check some of our previous years’ coverage – last Parade of Ships, in 2012, we were on board the USS Bunker Hill, so our perspective was from the middle of it all (thanks to community-contributed photos, though, we had views from the shore, too). Year before that, 2011, we covered it from Duwamish Head.
Again this year, the official time is 1:45 pm, but that’s calculated for downtown-waterfront viewing, so, based on those previous two years, we’d expect to see something from Alki around 1 pm. We’ll be out watching much sooner, of course, and will give heads-up, especially on WSB Twitter, WSB Facebook, and WSB Instagram, once ships are in view. And thanks in advance for any photo(s) you care to share!
ADDED: Navy sighting on Alki tonight, courtesy of Elain:
If you watch the Parade of Ships with binoculars, look for the sailors out on deck as they approach downtown. Meantime, you will also see one of the Blue Angels jets on Wednesday, flying with three “influencers” and one media rep, one at a time, between 11 am and 5 pm. They are Dennis Fraser, Civil Air Patrol squad commander (and a Marine Corps veteran); former Seahawk Marcus Trufant, Seafair’s current King Neptune; Sounders FC goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann; and Channel 7 anchor Michelle Millman.
Midway through her summer between leaving Denny International Middle School and entering Chief Sealth International High School, 14-year-old Jasmine Smith has achieved something big – winning the “Spell It Like It Is” competition at a national summit for youth mentors.
The news comes from Denny principal Jeff Clark and from mentoring leaders Hazel Cameron and Donald Cameron from the 4C Coalition. They took a group of six youth, two mentors, and two parents to Orlando, Florida July 18th-21st for the National Alliance of Faith and Justice‘s 6th annual “Take a Stand to Keep a Seat” National Youth Mentoring Training Summit, held in collaboration with the 41st Annual Conference and Training Institute of the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice.
The official announcement explains that, “This summit/conference and training institute officially launched a multi-year national collaborative focus on the cooperation of law enforcement, incarcerated parents, mentors, and youthful stakeholders in reducing the ‘school to prison’ pipeline from America’s classrooms, particularly for African American males.” A key focus is preventing summertime “learning losses” when school is out, and that has led to the Pen Or Pencil Movement (POP). Jasmine studied for the “Spell It Like It Is” spelling competition as part of POP. Last year’s national winner was also from Seattle and also a 4C mentee, Rainier Beach High School student Savannah Bell. Congratulations to 4C, its mentees, and mentors!
One more nudge: One week from tonight, thousands of people all around the city will be out having block parties, as part of Night Out 2014 – the official time slot is 6-9 pm Tuesday, August 5th. Provided you’re not on a major arterial, if you’d like to close your street for the occasion, you need to sign up – here’s the place to start. As we do every year, we’ll be out covering West Seattle’s Night Out, and we’re always happy to hear where you’re having your party, so we can stop by for a photo and add your neighborhood to our coverage – editor@westseattleblog.com.
(UPDATE EARLY THURSDAY: Advocacy group suggests city continue the hearing; its statement is added to end of story)
(July 18 WSB photo)
A new development late today in the fight over a Morgan Junction house that’s been the subject of a showdown over foreclosure and eviction. Eight days ago, Mayor Ed Murray announced he was telling police to stand by until the circumstances Byron and Jean Barton‘s legal fight over the house was clearer; this afternoon, we received the following announcement from a law firm representing the company that bought the house at foreclosure auction in April:
Triangle Property Development has taken legal action to force Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and the Seattle Police Department to uphold the law by removing the illegal trespassers from a West Seattle house.
The company filed the document, formally called a writ of mandamus, in King County Superior Court more than a week after Murray ordered police officers to stand down rather than remove Byron and Jean Barton from the house, which they had broken into after being legally evicted by King County Sheriff’s deputies. Triangle Property Development bought the house at a foreclosure auction in April, more than two years after the Bartons stopped making mortgage payments.
“Mayor Murray’s refusal to uphold the law is undermining the legal process by preventing a property owner from lawfully using and possessing its property,’’ said Synthia Melton, legal counsel for Triangle Property Development. “The legal issues the mayor refers to in this case have already been determined by the courts. The Mayor’s inaction is supporting criminal trespass, and can set dangerous precedent for how court-ordered evictions will be executed, making it more difficult for law enforcement to perform its job.”
Last stolen car reported in Crime Watch here was found by a reader – so maybe it’ll happen this time too. Keep watch for the car stolen from Michael, who sent this note today:
Yesterday I found that my car was stolen from the front of my house on the 5000 block of Beach Drive SW [map] between 11:30 am-8 pm. A report has been filed already. The car was a white 1998 Acura CL 3.0, license 609-MMM. If anyone notices anything, could they please contact me at satwick@mindspring.com, or police.
1:19 PM: Water-watchers know the regular Bainbridge and Bremerton Washington State Ferries routes by heart, so it’s not hard to see when something digresses from the usual pattern. Right now, M/V Sealth has diverted from the Bremerton route to go check out trouble reported with M/V Tacoma, which is reported to be stalled by Bainbridge Island. You can track both via WSF’s VesselWatch.
1:26 PM: Update via Kitsap Sun reporter Josh Farley on Twitter:
The Bremerton ferry is going to tow the Bainbridge ferry, which is adrift in the water: pic.twitter.com/DpqFd6xaxp photo by @Van_Bad
— joshfarley (@joshfarley) July 29, 2014
The person whose photos he has re-tweeted is Van Badzik, who also tweeted this:
Starting the tow. pic.twitter.com/wn0Xlv1yxW
— Van Badzik (@Van_Bad) July 29, 2014
That’s West Seattle in the backdrop, east of where the ferry-towing is happening alongside Bainbridge.
1:39 PM: As noted in comments, and also now reported by the Kitsap Sun, the tug Thea Foss is headed over to help.
2:46 PM: The Tacoma is en route to Bainbridge to offload. WSF says the Bainbridge/Seattle run is one boat only TFN.
Stopped by Youngstown Cultural Arts Center at midday to check on the progress of this year’s mural project – and we discovered the young artists are officially starting work on the mural today! They actually have been working on the 210-foot retaining wall along Delridge for a while now, but first job was to get it primed, and now that that’s done, it’s mural-painting time. That’ll take about two weeks – the grand unveiling is planned for August 14th. As noted here last month, this is part of the same city-funded summertime program that resulted in more than a dozen mini-murals on signal boxes along Delridge last year. The youth are working with professional artists, and according to this online update, they welcome community volunteers, too.
(Photo by Laura Goodrich, shared via Flickr)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
SPOKE AND FOOD: Bicycle to dinner tonight! More than a dozen venues around the city are donating part of tonight’s proceeds to the Outdoors For All Foundation as part of the annual Spoke and Food fundraiser – dinner, 5-10 pm. West Seattle’s participating venue is Marination ma kai (WSB sponsor) at Seacrest; White Center has Proletariat Pizza.
JUNCTION NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATION: Unlike many neighborhood councils, JuNO *is* meeting this month, and you’re invited, 6:30 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle. JuNO director René Commons says, “We will be discussing plans for the Neighborhood Night Out August 5th at Junction Plaza Park & our agenda for the fall. Hope to see you there!” (Oregon/California)
PUNK ROCK AEROBICS: New session starts tonight at Alki Community Center, 6:45 pm – all sizes, fitness levels encouraged. Details in our calendar listing. (5817 SW Stevens)
LOTS OF NIGHTLIFE: Music, trivia, karaoke, bingo … see the individual listings on the calendar!
TWO MONTHS FROM TODAY … is the September 29th deadline to apply to be part of this November’s Fauntleroy Fine Art and Holiday Gift Show. Interested? Info’s in our listing.
ORIGINAL REPORT, 10:33 AM: That photo from Alki Bathhouse shows a shower you can’t use any more because of pollution concerns. Paul shared it, with the note: “I, the lady with the two kids covered in sand at Alki Beach today and every scuba diver in Seattle would be interested in knowing how our tap water is harmful to Puget Sound (especially when we still have combined sewer overflow running untreated into Puget Sound every time it rains)?” The shower at Seacrest Boathouse has the same status and signage. So we checked with Seattle Parks, whose spokesperson David Takami replied:
In early July, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) staff checked for possible prohibited discharges at two locations in West Seattle:
* The outside shower at Alki Bathhouse, where pottery equipment had been washed; and
* The fish-cleaning sink and divers’ showers at Seacrest Park.
SPU administers the City of Seattle’s compliance with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater permit. NPDES is a program of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
SPU determined that prohibited substances were present and draining directly into Puget Sound. Used water from showers and sinks may contain dirt, chemicals, chlorine and other substances that are not allowed to be directly discharged into the Sound. Upon notification, Seattle Parks and Recreation staff turned off the water at these two sites. Staff are looking into short- and long-term solutions.
We posted signs at both locations that read “The outside shower has been turned off or removed because it drains directly into Puget Sound in violation of the Federal Clean Water Act.”
We’re checking with SPU to find out more, including whether this is a citywide crackdown.
5:40 PM UPDATE: Spoke with an SPU rep, Louise Kulzer, a short time ago and got some answers, though it was recommended that we contact someone tomorrow who would likely have even more specifics. This, she said, originated with a complaint – the city has long acknowledged that many of its actions are complaint-based rather than proactive, and this seems to be one such case. Kulzer said, however, that the specific action of shutting down the showers would have been Parks’ choice to remedy the problem of discharging prohibited substances directly into Puget Sound. Even if not for a complaint, SPU does routinely inspect businesses and city facilities and might eventually have discovered this anyway, we’re told. We asked if parks in any other areas had been ordered to remedy similar problems, and Kulzer didn’t have that information handy – that’s something we should be able to ask about tomorrow.
(SCROLL DOWN for updates on truck trouble that’s blocking W. Marginal in 4500 block)
(WS bridge and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
6:16 AM: Good morning! No road work or closures announced for today. So, we start by looking ahead to later this week:
BLUE ANGELS I-90 BRIDGE CLOSURES: Our daily reminder this week for midday/afternoon drivers – I-90 bridge closures are Thursday-Sunday – here’s the schedule.
ROXBURY SAFETY PROJECT: 6 pm Thursday at Southwest Library, it’s your first look at what’s being proposed to make SW Roxbury safer.
And in transportation news:
TUNNEL TIMETABLE: Some snags in the process of digging down to the Highway 99 tunnel-boring machine, as Mike Lindblom reports at SeattleTimes.com (WSB partner). Here’s how WSDOT explains it.
7:27 AM: Thanks to the texter who just alerted us – the fire callout in the 4500 block of West Marginal Way is related to a semitruck crash blocking most lanes:
Here’s a map. Getting that upright is likely to take quite some time.
7:47 AM: Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferries are on a two-boat schedule because the re-activated Evergreen State is having trouble.
7:59 AM: Per scanner, the West Marginal Way truck contains “dry concrete.”
8:05 AM: SPD tweet says only minor injuries in the crash but W. Marginal remains closed. We’re waiting to hear from the crew we sent to check it out.
8:23 AM: Our crew’s just back. Police think it’s going to be at least a couple hours until this is cleared. They confirm the trailer is full of dry cement. Photos to come.
8:44 AM: Until ours is ready – here’s a photo SPD just tweeted from the other side of the truck:
Semi-trailer rollover causes closure on W Marginal Way. Delays of 2-3 hours expected. http://t.co/pMz6C2H2ig pic.twitter.com/iVzLUqf52p
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) July 29, 2014
9 AM: Closer look, by WSB’s Patrick Sand:
Again, police say only minor injuries. We’ll continue updating here, even as we move on with other news/info. Meantime, a multi-car collision at 1st Avenue South/Spokane was just mentioned on the scanner.
9:19 AM: SPD Blotter has a short summary, most notably mentioning that the container might have been “loose” and destabilized the truck.
9:29 AM: As per comments – and scanner – the light at Delridge/Andover is out. We’re en route to check it out. Remember, a broken stoplight means, treat the intersection like a four-way stop! (Added: Confirmed, it’s out. No crew in sight – but, whether coincidental or not, City Light is working nearby.)
9:58 AM: Hearing it’ll be at least another half-hour before West Marginal is cleared.
10:57 AM: SDOT tweets that final cleanup and towing are under way so it shouldn’t be long. (Added – A moment later, SPD units said via radio that it would be about half an hour.)
11:15 AM: And via scanner, police say they’re reopening W. Marginal.
All lanes of West Marginal way are now open! @seattledot @kcmetrobus
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) July 29, 2014
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