West Seattle, Washington
10 Tuesday
In case you’re tracking the charges filed against former gym owner Sam Adams, he was supposed to appear in court this week to answer them, but his arraignment has been postponed. New date, 8:30 am March 12th, King County Courthouse downtown. State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced two weeks ago today that his office had filed criminal wage theft and fraud charges against Adams in connection with half a million dollars in allegedly unpaid taxes and wages related to his former athletic-club operations. Those included the West Seattle Club, which he bought during the Allstar Fitness bankruptcy proceedings in early 2013 and operated for a year and a half until relinquishing it to the building owner last fall.
(Monday’s sunrise, by John Westrock, shared via the WSB Flickr group)
Lots to do tonight! This is just some of what’s on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORTS: Heading into Oscars weekend, get a look at the short films that are up for Academy Awards, 5 pm tonight (and the next two nights) onscreen at the Admiral Theater. (2343 California SW)
IF THERE’S A POST-SUNSET CLEARING … tonight brings a don’t-miss conjunction, according to the latest “Skies Over West Seattle.” Per the WSB Weather page, sunset’s around 5:40 pm.
MOVIE NIGHT AT HPIC: Doors at Highland Park Improvement Club open at 6, children’s short at 6:15 pm, main feature at 7. Hints here. Admission free; concessions available for purchase; BYO chair/blanket or sit in one of HPIC’s chairs. (12th/Holden)
MARDI GRAS AT SW TEEN LIFE CENTER: 13-19-year-olds are invited, 7-10 pm event at Southwest Teen Life Center to celebrate that “Mardi Gras is more than just beads.” Details in our calendar listing. (2801 SW Thistle)
WSUU BOOK SALE: The Westside Unitarian Universalists‘ three-day sale starts with a 7-9 pm event tonight, $5 to browse the books while enjoying music and light appetizers; also a no-host bar. (7141 California SW)
OPENING NIGHT FOR ‘GODSPELL’: 7:30 pm, Twelfth Night Productions presents the classic musical:
(Photo courtesy Twelfth Night Productions)
This is the first night of its run at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
BLUEGRASS AT KENYON HALL: 7:30 pm, North Carolina-based Nu-Blu takes the stage at Kenyon Hall. (7904 35th SW)
LIVE MUSIC: Salty’s, Skylark, Feedback, and Benbow listings are on the calendar for tonight.
(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning and happy foggy Friday! While we watch this morning’s traffic, a new alert for this weekend (and next):
1ST AVENUE SOUTH TRAFFIC ALERT FOR NEXT 2 WEEKENDS: Received overnight from SDOT:
First Avenue South alongside Safeco Field is getting some restorative work done on two upcoming weekends, weather permitting. Crews from the Seattle Department of Transportation are repairing the street following work on underground utilities.
The southbound, left hand lane at Atlantic Street will be closed from 7 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21 until Sunday, Feb. 22 at 5 p.m. The center turn lane on the south side of Atlantic will also be closed both days, but will be open at night. Police Officers will assist traffic. The following weekend, Feb. 28 and March 1, the paving crews plan to work at the same location and during the same hours.
And in case you missed it:
HIGHWAY 99 TUNNEL MACHINE’S BREAKTHROUGH: The machine made it through the repair-pit wall on Thursday – but this leg of its journey isn’t over yet. (ADDED 7:40 AM: View into the pit this morning:)
Also:
DELRIDGE/ANDOVER PROJECT’S NEW START DATE: As reported in our coverage of the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting, the work at Delridge/Andover/23rd is now set to start March 2nd.
7:33 AM: If you’re traveling northbound 99 north of downtown, two lanes are blocked at Howe St., so it’s slow going.
Also in district basketball postseason play tonight, the Seattle Lutheran High School boys lost to Lummi Nation, 62-48 in Mount Vernon. They play again there tomorrow, facing Tulalip Heritage at 6:30 pm.
(WSB photo: Foreground, WSHS & Juanita’s leading scorers, Emily Fiso and Tea Adams; background at right, Charli Elliott)
7:58 PM: So close – but not close enough. In a game that just ended at Bellevue College, the West Seattle High School girls fell just short against Juanita, which got the district semi-final win, 51-48. The Wildcats were down by as much as 13 but fought back in the second half, falling just three points short. They play next for district third place, 1:15 pm Saturday vs. Cleveland, also at Bellevue College.
ADDED 1:12 AM: Here’s how Thursday night’s game played out:
Updates were the order of the night at last night’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center:
(WSB photo from January, when the barricades/cones went up in the future work zone)
DELRIDGE/ANDOVER PROJECT: Alicia Molina from SDOT said the start of this six-week project – originally planned for this week, as previously reported – has now been postponed until March 2nd. Once the work gets under way, the first three weeks will be focused on the Delridge/Andover intersection, including some pedestrian detours; then “the sidewalk section” will be the focus of the second three weeks, and the connection from Delridge/Andover/23rd will be closed for part of that time. 23rd will be closed to vehicle traffic at times, she says, but there won’t be much other effect on vehicle traffic. The sidewalk – to be shared by walking/running/bicycling traffic – will more than double in spots, six feet to 13 feet, she said.
(First 3 photos by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
Before his appearance tonight at the Central Library downtown, basketball legend turned award-winning author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made a side trip to West Seattle, delighting the students of Sanislo Elementary School, even autographing a basketball (held by Sanislo principal Bruce Rhodes, photographed with 5th grader Robert Chambers, student host for the event).
Right now, he’s promoting his newest book written for a youth audience, “Streetball Crew Book Two: Stealing the Game.” An earlier book, “What Color Is My World? The Lost History of African-American Inventors“, won the NAACP’s award for Best Children’s Book.
Sanislo third-graders are reading “What Color Is My World?” for Black History Month; Abdul-Jabbar asked if anyone could tell him who invented potato chips, and when a student gave him the answer (George Crum), he said he was pleased she’d paid attention to the book and would see her at her Ph.D. graduation someday. By the way – that was part of his message to the kids: It’s never too soon to start thinking about college. One student declared he wanted to play basketball in college and Abdul-Jabbar said, that’s great, but what are you going to *study*? P.S. If you’re trying to remember, we’ll save you the search – he left the NBA in 1989, at age 42, with a long list of achievements you can read about here.
P.S. Here’s a Sanislo library pic from Abdul-Jabbar’s feed, with a reminder about his SPL event:
7:00p PT—Reading / Talk / Q & A / I'm signing at the Seattle Public Library 2nite
1000 4th Ave
Seattle, WA 98104 pic.twitter.com/97RmHoLvgc
— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (@kaj33) February 19, 2015
And a pic our crew Instagrammed while there:
Seated, center, in the IG photo is Sanislo librarian Craig Seasholes, who’s brought many a memorable event/writer to the library over the years.
The list of contenders for the new District 1 (West Seattle/South Park) City Council seat has just grown again: The ninth person now in the running is Tom Koch, who describes himself as a “land-use expert(,) former preschool teacher, and current small-business owner.”
In his announcement, Koch says, “Having worked on land use issues for 29 years, I can tell you there is much more we can be doing in our city to protect our neighborhoods. … No one currently in this race has the same level of ‘hands-on’ experience I would bring to the council when dealing with issues of affordability and development. I am not afraid to say that developers aren’t paying their fair share and we can do a better job promoting smart and fair growth in our city. … Currently, we subsidize developers through a combination of higher taxes and degraded services. We can’t afford more massive projects which refuse to pay their own way. Let’s do the right thing, use our authority to mandate development impact fees and end this absurd practice.” Koch says he also has worked for “both a democratic congressman and county supervisor” and “is a seven-time game show contestant including Jeopardy, Sale of the Century, and Wheel of Fortune.” Like the other eight candidates, he is a West Seattle resident.
IN THE DISTRICT 1 RACE NOW: Tom Koch (declared 2/19/15), Dave Montoure (declared 2/17/15), Lisa Herbold (declared 2/11/15), Shannon Braddock (declared 2/11/15), Brianna Thomas (declared 2/11/15), Phillip Tavel (declared 2/4/15), George Capestany (declared 11/11/14), Amanda Kay Helmick (declared 10/20/14), Chas Redmond (declared 12/20/13). Filing deadline is May 15th; primary election is August 4th. Along with voting on the D-1 position, West Seattle/South Park also will vote on the two “at-large” spots, Positions 8 and 9.
In case you’re about to head outbound – from the scanner, there’s word of a gravel spill on the eastbound bridge, possibly tracing all the way back to The Junction, and police are saying they’ll likely be closing the middle lane on the bridge near the 1st Avenue South exit. On the 1st/Spokane SDOT live-video camera (find it from the lower right of the travelers’ map), you can definitely see traffic stopped on the inside eastbound lanes and flashing lights starting right before the 99 overpass.
1:24 PM: After a brief full closure, all eastbound lanes are open again, per SDOT.
2:09 PM: Metro Routes 21 and 50 were routed off the 1st Avenue South offramp for a while, too, and have just returned to normal. Regarding the gravel, MistiLynn tells us via Twitter, “It was heavy gravel, more like plum-sized rocks …”
11:39 AM: If you’ve been on the Alaskan Way Viaduct this morning and noticed a dust cloud – the Highway 99 tunneling machine is “preparing to break through” the wall of its repair pit, according to a Twitter update a few minutes ago. Earlier this morning, WSDOT published a web update saying the machine had moved 14 of the 20 feet it needs to go to break into its repair pit. It had warned that they expected the machine to overheat and have to stop down, but aside from a stopdown reported last night so other work could be done in the pit, there’s been no word of that happening. WSDOT says it’s switched the pit camera to more frequent updates – every five minutes – so you can check in here (left-center frame).
12:44 PM: And while we were away from the desk for a bit:
The top of my cutterhead has broken through the wall. I'll dig 2 more ft. before stopping to build a ring. pic.twitter.com/SVcThsimnv
— Bertha (@BerthaDigsSR99) February 19, 2015
Online, WSDOT adds:
This is just the beginning of the repair effort being led by Seattle Tunnel Partners and manufacturer Hitachi Zosen. The machine will continue to move forward in 6 ½ foot increments, stopping to build rings on its way into the pit. When the front end of the machine is fully exposed, crews will begin the disassembly process. STP has told us that taking the machine apart and lifting it to the surface will take significant time and effort.
ADDED 5:22 PM: WSDOT offers this video including the first glimpse of the machine’s cutterhead (most visible around 1:15 in):
Two reader reports start today’s West Seattle Crime Watch roundup:
STOLEN BIKE: Sonya hopes you’ll be on the lookout for her bicycle:
Sometime in the evening of 2/17/15 at 10 pm to the morning of 2/18/15, my Ivory Raleigh with a pink stripe and two different tires was stolen from Fauntleroy Way SW and Hudson SW.
It’s been reported to police, so if you see it, please call them (and you can mention it in comments here too, but PLEASE make the call to police first).
POSSIBLE PROWLERS THIS MORNING: From Chris:
Just wanted to give Morgan junction residents a heads up. Around 9 am today there were two white men in all black with hoods and backpacks walking up and down 42nd Ave and Holly St, back and forth peering into cars and yards. Once they ran into a few pedestrians and realized the street wasn’t deserted, they called their third buddy who picked them up in a light blue 1970s Plymouth or Lincoln with a white vinyl roof. They slowly cruised the block once more and then rolled through the Thriftway parking lot. SPD said they’d send an officer to the area, I haven’t seen anyone yet. All three were white, in their 20s. Black pants, black sweatshirts. Car had a dog in the passenger seat too. Wasn’t sure of breed.
From recent police reports:
SUPERMARKET ROBBERY: As precinct Capt. Steve Wilske explained at this week’s WS Crime Prevention Council meeting, many incidents classified as robberies start as shoplifting. What happened last Saturday night at the Jefferson Square Safeway is one of them. A cashier told police a man walked past her with a bottle of vodka. She asked, “Are you going to pay for that?” He replied, profanely, that he didn’t have to. Another man then walked by with a 20-ounce Coke and claimed he’d already paid; the cashier knew he didn’t since she was the only one open. Finally, a third man tried to buy a bottle of vodka with a credit card that wasn’t working, possibly as a distraction. The store manager went out into the parking lot and while writing down the suspects’ plate, he told police, one of the three men got out, asked him, “Is there a f—ing problem?” and then said, “You’re going to die tonight,” before telling one of the other men in the car, “Get the gun.” The manager went back into the store and called 911. The three men are described in the report as black, 18-21 years old, 5’3″, 5’5″, and 5’7″, slender, and their car was a 2007 silver Toyota Camry.
BURGLARY NEAR LINCOLN PARK: Sometime between 10 am and 8 pm last Sunday, a house in the 7500 block of Fauntleroy Way SW was burglarized. The report says items taken included a TV, computer, and drum set; police noted that “every room in the house” and “every closet, dresser and cabinet” had been looked into by the burglar(s).
LICENSE-PLATE THEFT: This can be so subtle, it’s not noticed, so check your plates every so often. Last Friday in the 2300 block of Alki SW, a parking-enforcement officer called a patrol officer after finding a maroon BMW with plates that checked to a VW van owned by someone nearby (on Bonair). The BMW’s owner lived in the same area and didn’t know his plates had been stolen and replaced with the stolen plates. The police report concluded, “It appears someone stole the other plates to put on the BMW so they could take the BMW plates without the (owner) noticing.”
CAR STOLEN, THEN FOUND: A 1996 Honda Accord was stolen from the 6500 block of California SW in Morgan Junction last Friday night. It turned up in Tukwila on Monday night.
RACKS TAKEN: In the 4500 block of SW Hemlock, east of Lincoln Park, someone stole racks from a car in a driveway the night of February 9th/10th, a Yakima rack system including three bike mounts.
FOLLOWUP ON STOLEN-ITEMS REPORT IN LAST ROUNDUP: We’re getting more police reports with full narrative info these days via public-disclosure reports, with the help of an automated program written by Tim Clemans, who has been working with SPD on ways to get more information out to more people, faster. Here’s an example of how more information can make a difference: If you read this recent roundup, you might recall we mentioned a box of stolen items found in Gatewood, including a bowling trophy with a name on it. WSB commenter HelperMonkey was at the bowling alley a few hours after reading that item, happened to look up at the screen for the alley next to her group, and saw what looked to be the same name. She went over, found the man, showed him the story on her phone, and asked if it was him. It was. (Keep in mind, we published only the first and last letters of his six-letter surname.) We hope he has his items (which had been taken by SPD to put into evidence) back now, or will soon. What made the difference here was the name we got from the official report – looking back in our archives, we think this reader report involved the same items.
The same method of obtaining more reports which otherwise have NOT been routinely available also led to the much-discussed recent story about tax-time scam calls. Not a new scam, but there was a reason to warn people about it again, once we obtained a police report about someone who actually had been victimized.
We’re still only able to access a fraction of local police reports, so reader reports matter *massively* in terms of continuing to get the word out. And while we know some reports are shared on neighborhood-specific, non-public lists, it also helps to get that kind of information out more widely because criminals seldom restrict themselves to one particular neighborhood – what happens in Admiral might be important for Arbor Heights to know, etc. Send info to editor@westseattleblog.com any time. Thanks!
(Downtown, from West Seattle Elementary; photo by Joe Wolf, shared via WSB Flickr group)
Good morning! Some of what’s up today/tonight, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar (where you can browse ahead days/weeks any time):
NEW LAFAYETTE FAMILIES’ TOUR: 10 am at Lafayette Elementary, next year’s incoming families are invited to come take a tour. (California/Lander)
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: Not in West Seattle, but with West Seattleite involvement – Irene Stewart developed the script; Edgar Riebe of Captive Eye Media produced it: “Our Elders, Our Selves: Visiting the Past, Planning for Our Future,” described as “a 45-minute documentary about the evolution of aging programs and services in Seattle-King County.” Free premiere showing 10 am-noon today at City Hall downtown – details here. (5th/Cherry)
(added) ALKI ELEMENTARY BENEFIT AT MARINATION MA KAI: 4-8 pm, a portion of food proceeds at Marination ma kai will be donated to the Alki Elementary PTA. (1660 Harbor SW)
KINDERGARTEN ENROLLMENT EVENT: Incoming kindergartener for Seattle Public Schools? 5:30-7 pm at West Seattle Elementary, you can get help in signing her/him up now (the sooner, the better, for schools’ planning purposes among other reasons). Details here. (6760 34th SW)
WSHS GIRLS’ BASKETBALL PLAYOFF GAME: 6:30 pm, the West Seattle High School girls play Juanita at Bellevue College. (3000 Landerholm Circle SE, Bellevue)
WEST SEATTLE TIMEBANK: 6:30 pm potluck, 7 pm meeting – even if you’re not involved with the Timebank already, come find out how it works – details here. (Oregon/California)
ALKI COMMUNITY COUNCIL: 7 pm at Alki UCC, the ACC talks about topics including the early arrival of visitor-noise season “on recent warm weekends.” (62nd/Hinds)
BELLYDANCE SHOWCASE: 7:30 pm, free and all-ages at Skylark, the monthly Alauda bellydance showcase shakes things up. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
SLHS BOYS’ BASKETBALL PLAYOFF GAME: 8:15 pm, the Seattle Lutheran High School boys play Lummi Nation at Mount Vernon Christian – as you’ll see on the SLHS website, you can call to ask about being on the fan bus leaving at 5:30. (820 W. Blackburn Road, Mount Vernon)
NIGHTLIFE … the music starts at 5 and continues into the night. Venues and listings are on the calendar.
(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning! We start with transit and transportation news, while keeping an eye out for trouble spots.
FERRY SWITCH: Washington State Ferries says that starting today on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth run, “the 87-vehicle Evergreen State will replace the 124-vehicle Cathlamet for approximately two weeks while the Cathlamet moves to Seattle/Bremerton to replace another vessel undergoing emergent repairs. Passengers should note that the Evergreen State has been moved back into service to maintain the three-boat schedule on the route. The Evergreen State is an older, slower vessel and passengers are advised that the vessel may not be able to maintain the schedule during periods of heavy commuter traffic. During the weekday, the Evergreen State will remain in the #2 sailing position. The vessel will not have Wi-Fi, galley service or vending machines on board.”
TRANSPORTATION NEWS, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: The tunnel machine is moving again! … Metro-funding followups, including RapidRide split
DELRIDGE/ORCHARD: The work that led to the flashing traffic signals earlier this week is indeed Seattle Public Utilities work related to the CSO project nearby, we confirmed.
7:01 AM: Crash reported at 17th and Roxbury.
Questions followed our short Tuesday update on how the new Seattle-voter-approved funding for Metro will be spread out – and thanks to Anthony Auriemma from City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen‘s office, we have some answers.
(WSB photo: RapidRide C Line bus photographed today on California SW)
WHEN WILL RAPIDRIDE LINES C AND D SPLIT? That’s scheduled for next year, with 20,000-40,000 more service hours to be funded to cover what it’ll take to “extend and split the 2 lines,” Auriemma says, adding, “Councilmember Rasmussen is interested in finding ways to speed up the implementation of the planned split.”
WHAT ABOUT THE 21? Along with the 100 hours to improve Saturday reliability, the 21EX “will also see another 250 hours of service to improve weekday reliability (essentially, to ensure that the 21EX will arrive when it is actually scheduled to arrive, instead of being chronically late),” according to Auriemma. And that’ll be it for the 21 this year.
GENERAL QUESTIONS/INFO: The website for the Seattle Transportation Benefit District has been updated with more information on the upcoming service changes, including an FAQ – go here. Granular details such as schedule specifics aren’t available yet, but “will be rolled out as we move closer to the June service changes.” As noted in our Tuesday update, June is when the new car-tab fees will be added, while the tenth-of-a-percent sales-tax increase starts in April.
(WSB photo, taken this afternoon)
The new location of West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) at 2743 California SW, about a mile north of its original location, is almost ready to go, and the grand opening is set for this weekend, 10 am-6 pm Saturday and 11 am-5 pm Sunday. WSR’s Lori McConnell says vendors will be on site – Asics, Adidas, Saucony, Mizuno, Superfeet, GU/Probar/Protec on Saturday, Hoka and Pearl Izumi and Goretex on Sunday. They’re also planning raffle prizes including shoes and activity trackers as well as gifts available with purchases, plus an 8 am group run set for Sunday (“complete with coffee and donuts afterward, and raffle prizes!” says Lori). The new ground-floor space – for which WSR is the first tenant – is being shared with Elite Sports and Spine, which will be opening early next month, with an open house of its own, but will also have reps on hand during WSR’s grand opening. We first reported the WSR move back in November; the new location has about a third more space than the Charlestown Center space in which WSR launched almost five years ago.
Last night at the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting – as reported here afterward – SPD Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Wilske noted that burglary and auto theft are down in this area. Above, one of the slides shown at today’s every-other-week SeaStat crime-stats briefing at SPD HQ shows the exact numbers.
Also from today’s slide deck (which you can see in full here), a closer look at the recent robberies that victimized local students:
Slightly closer look at the two maps – the blue boxes represent incidents, the pink/red ones just show geographical reference points:
As Capt. Wilske said last night, no new incidents have been reported since last week – of course, keep in mind that school was out the first two days of this week – and extra police patrols are continuing TFN.
A celebration of life for Frederick W. Burns is planned for March 1st. His family shares this remembrance:
Frederick Wycliffe Burns passed away suddenly February 8, 2015 at Swedish Hospital surrounded by family. Born February 27, 1947, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Fred was a lifelong Seattle resident and Husky fan. He graduated from the University of Washington School of International Business and worked in the municipal bond business for more than three decades.
Fred was passionate, charismatic, and had a huge heart. He was dearly loved by many, including Shari, the love of his life; his daughter and son-in-law Catherine and Olivier Humbert, grandchildren Camille and Theo, his parents Donald and Elaine Burns, and his predeceased brothers Billy and Don Burns.
In lieu of flowers, please contribute in his memory to West Seattle Helpline or West Seattle Food Bank.
A celebration of life will be held on Sunday March 1, 2015, 4-6 pm, at Salty’s on Alki.
(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries by request, free of charge. Please e-mail the text, and a photo if available, to editor@westseattleblog.com)
(WSB photo)
When we last reported January 12th on the plan for West Seattle’s first charter school, its prospective operator, California-based Summit Public Schools, was planning to organize an informational community meeting; today, it announced two local dates.
As first reported here in early January, the school is proposed for the 2 1/2-acre Freedom Church site (above) on the southwest corner of 35th/Roxbury. Summit already has approval for two other charter schools in Seattle and Tacoma, and plans to apply to the state Charter School Commission for permission to open a high school here. Charter schools are publicly funded and were approved by voters in our state in 2012. The two meeting dates just announced by Summit, if you’re interested in finding out more about their plan, are 6:30-7:30 pm Thursday, February 26th, Southwest Branch Library (35th/Henderson) and 6:15-7:15 pm Tuesday, March 17th, White Center Library (11220 16th SW). Meantime, the project continues proceeding through the permit process, according to city Department of Planning and Development files.
(Photo from a harvest day last year; courtesy Jennifer Babuca)
This next season of gardening at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church will be even more fruitful than the last one. In addition to being part of the coalition growing food to donate via Lettuce Pray, the garden is expanding its mission, and kids are invited to help make that happen, starting this weekend:
St John Episcopal Church and the Seattle Farm School are partnering to transform St John’s Just Gardens into a children’s learning garden on the St John’s grounds. We are inviting children and their adults to learn how to plan, start and grow their own organic garden, with workshops, tasting events and other fun events to be held throughout the spring, summer and fall months. We will also have dedicated beds for kids to pick and sample some of their produce as they visit or pass by the gardens. Our hope is to physically expand the gardens over time so that this can become a resource for the community for many years to come.
We are inviting all to a Garden Kickoff Party on Sunday, February 22, 12 pm at St John the Baptist Episcopal Church. Come hear all about the garden plans, sign up to volunteer at the garden, organize, do artwork, and so much more! Bring your kids!
Then, on Sunday, March 22, 12 pm: Garden planning and seed starting! Learn all about square foot gardening, help plan the garden boxes and do some hands-on seed starting for the garden!! Bring your kids!
Both events will be in the youth room at the church, 3050 California SW, adjacent to the south side of West Seattle High School. A light lunch will be provided to participants. More backstory’s on the Seattle Farm School website.
Mayor Murray presented his “State of the City” address on Tuesday afternoon. If you missed it, here are three links:
Mayor’s news release
Full text of the speech
Seattle Times (WSB partner)
The only scripted mention of West Seattle was this: “Sound Transit 3 is our path forward to build new light rail connections within the city, including to Ballard and West Seattle. These vital connections would link our growing light rail system to Puget Sound’s largest job centers.”
Of course, the speech overall was about the entire city, so most if not all of what was mentioned will potentially affect us all. Since West Seattle/South Park will have its first District 1 City Councilmember by the time the mayor gives his NEXT “State of the City” speech, we asked each of the eight current D-1 candidates for a one-paragraph review of the mayor’s speech. We didn’t make the request until early evening, a few hours after the speech, and gave them until this morning to respond. All 8 did. Read their mini-reviews ahead, in the order in which we received them (P.S. after the final one, we have two quick updates on the council race in general):
I like the Mayor’s presentation. I like and agree with the growth approach, particularly growing without displacing. I like and agree with the transportation integration and sustainability aproach. I like the emphasis on and agree with the improvements to infrastructure and particularly the focus on light rail to West Seattle and Ballard. I like and agree with the utility reduction approach and the gender equity approach. I like and agree with the housing affordability approach, especially the commitment of funds for a kick-start. I like and agree with the early learning and the youth employment. And, I like and agree with the business help and growth and the approach for the city to reach out and visit businesses and those normally not participating. I like and support the community policing and SPD reform and I am impressed and agree with the performance metrics tool page and the budget analysis tool page. Overall, I’d say Mayor Murray was moving the Executive branch in a direction I completely support and would help with as a Councilmember. The Mayor also knows how to thank and was very gracious in his words to Tom Rasmussen, Nick Licata and others. He’s very optimistic, and so am I, and I think he’s right on in most areas he covered.
Mayor Murray’s State of the City address spoke well of his goals to address income and opportunity inequality, fair distribution of public resources, affordability, job growth, mobility, and police accountability. The challenge with a speech like this, I think, is to be inclusive of the many the issues a diverse populace cares about while also proposing the means to move forward. 1) The Mayor acknowledged that infrastructure investments aren’t keeping pace with the needs caused by growth in our neighborhoods. Will he propose impact fees to insure development helps to pay for those sorely-needed investments? 2) Applying principals of equity and race and social justice to our 2035 Comprehensive Plan is a great objective. I would argue that those principals are included in some of our CompPlan policies already, but we haven’t had a commitment to self-correct when we don’t meet them. For instance the CompPlan policies that strive for preservation of existing housing and 25% affordable housing development as part of our overall new housing growth goals. We are succeeding at neither. What will be different under the 2035 Comp Plan? 3) Similarly, the Mayor’s commitment specifically to enhanced citizen oversight as part of police accountability; of the Community Police Commission’s recommendations for citizen oversight, what will he propose to the Council? 4) The area of housing affordability was an area that I most wished that the Mayor would have charted some clear direction. He referenced already existing housing development funds he’ll use implementing the HALA committee recommendations, but not all of the HALA’s work is devoted to building housing. A crucial portion of their work relates to the need for new laws to help renters and those to also require developers to pay their fair share. It would have been helpful for the Mayor to signal his explicit expectation that HALA recommendations also address these issues of social justice and equity.
As I watched the mayor give his state of the city speech today I was struck as much by what wasn’t said as what was. The mayor mentioned several neighborhoods, including West Seattle, but South Park was left out. The Mayor lauded transit improvements and increased service across the city, but unfortunately West Seattle is still underserved by our transit system. The mayor didn’t mention the biggest mega-project in Seattle, or address the public’s concerns about the tunnel’s cost, management and problems. The maritime and manufacturing industries were stressed as big parts of our planned economic growth, but the tech industry wasn’t. I agree that Seattle is a vibrant and innovative city, but I know that more can be done to harness our potential without leaving people behind.
I agree with Mayor Murray that Seattle is a great city and one of the fastest growing urban cities in the country. I understand this brings both opportunities and challenges. I however believe that it takes a whole united community to address many of the challenges the Mayor noted. I think that many of our community partners (non-profits; churches; organizations; schools) are better suited to deliver services underneath a community goal. I strongly believe the City of Seattle’s responsibility instead of growing government is to focus on the core issues upon with we were originally founded and that is to provide life; safety and infrastructure services for the people and businesses that live in our city. We have a lot of aging infrastructure that needs to be the focus of our attention. Accommodation of the growth the Mayor spoke of particularly here, in District 1 needs to be targeted and specific. It is plainly evident that something that works on Capitol Hill doesn’t necessarily work here, in West Seattle.
I appreciated several parts of the speech, especially the plan to do more for our public schools. However, I didn’t hear enough about affordability. West Seattle has long been a great middle-class community with affordable rents and housing prices. That’s starting to change and we need more aggressive timelines for action. HALA is moving in the right direction, but it still took four months to write a problem statement and we won’t have recommendations for another four months. That’s too long, we have the fastest rising rents of any city in the country. It’s getting too hard for many people who work here, to live here.
I am glad to hear the Mayor is supportive of a Sound Transit 3 plan that includes West Seattle. West Seattle and South Park may not be an island, but the lack of innovative transportation solutions have made us feel like one. With the rapid increase of new housing, the West Seattle Transportation Coalition has been working with the city on a proposed West Seattle Transportation Corridor. This is a perfect place to start the implementation of the Move Seattle initiative. As a parent, I have always thought of West Seattle as an affordable and safe place to move when starting a family – I will do everything I can as a Councilmember to maintain that. I support the Mayor’s renewed emphasis on more equitable development. Innovative ideas like incentives to developers who add affordable family housing units, re-writing the failing Multi-Family Tax Exemption, and supporting more housing on city owned property is the direction Seattle needs to head. The need for more peace officers building community, and fewer officers following the protocols of a war zone are also critical. With the Seattle Police Department undergoing contract negotiations, the Mayor should look to make concrete changes in how officers are hired, disciplined, and held accountable for their actions. As your representative for District 1, I look forward to working with the Mayor on addressing Seattle’s needs.
I liked the Mayor’s recognition of our areas of great progress –priority hire, minimum wage rollout and universal pre-k for examples. I was also pleased to hear him acknowledge some our shortcomings – racial and income inequalities, lack of affordability for many in our communities and a need to find better ways to engage with everyone who lives here. I am raising my three kids in this community and they are attending our public schools. I want them to experience a community and a city that is economically vibrant, culturally diverse and supports working families. I will continue fighting for more access and connections to transit, public safety resources and education, affordable housing, technology access, and finding the balance to accommodate our growth and unique neighborhoods. District 1 is a community that makes change through our partnerships with non-profits and community groups. I believe that although we have many common issues throughout Seattle, we need strong neighborhood representation accessible to all people, and representation with the experience to work across boundaries and get things done for District 1. The districts system for council elections was not supported to further isolate and separate neighborhoods, but to strengthen the collective ideas and energy of our city and neighborhoods. I look forward to working with our community, other city councilmembers, and our mayor to fulfill the potential of West Seattle and South Park.
I appreciate that Mayor Murray addressed the need for a better coordinated approach to economic development in the City. I did not hear any specifics on how the Mayor plans to coordinate that effort but I would encourage the Mayor to include a seat at the table for our small and independent businesses that are the backbone of our local economy. I am thrilled that the Mayor acknowledged the critical need for light rail between West Seattle and Ballard. I look forward to hearing from the Mayor’s Housing Affordability Advisory Committee when their recommendations are presented in May.
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Thanks to the candidates for responding! Two related notes:
CLARK NOT RUNNING: City Councilmember Sally Clark announced this morning that she is not going to run after all. That makes her the third current councilmember to announce that decision, after Tom Rasmussen and Nick Licata. Clark had declared for one of the two at-large seats, so she would have been on ballots in this area.
NEXT CHANCE TO SEE/HEAR THE CANDIDATES: Thanks again to everyone who attended and participated in our “First Look” candidates’ forum, featuring the 4 who were in the race as of the time (February 5th – Capestany, Helmick, Redmond, and Tavel). The next one, presented by VIEWS (Visualizing Increased Engagement in West Seattle), is now official – Saturday morning, March 14th, at the Senior Center of West Seattle. It will start with an optional breakfast to raise $ to cover costs (VIEWS is an all-volunteer group) at 9 am, followed by an introductory/mingle half-hour at 10, and the forum itself at 10:30. No webpage so far but here’s the Facebook event page.
(UPDATED LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON with progress report)
9:47 AM: Last week, WSDOT said the Highway 99 tunnel contractor would likely start the process this week of trying to get the tunneling machine to move 20 feet ahead so its damaged cutterhead can be pulled from the 120-foot-deep pit dug next to the Viaduct. This morning, there’s word the process has begun. As of 7 this morning, according to WSDOT’s announcement, the machine had made it about three feet forward:
The machine must mine through 20 feet of unreinforced concrete to reach the pit. The duration of this effort will depend on the machine’s ability to mine through the concrete while operating with a damaged seal system. STP anticipates the machine may overheat, as it has during their most recent attempts at mining. If the machine becomes too hot, they will take a break for it to cool down before resuming.
The image above is from the WSDOT page displaying several “live” construction cameras. (P.S. The south side of the pit, where it’s expected to break through, is on the left side of the photo.)
4:32 PM: WSDOT has just posted another update – saying the machine has now gone six feet.
(Longfellow Creek, photographed by Laura Goodrich, shared via the WSB Flickr group)
What’s up, you ask?
HOME WITH ONE OR MORE LITTLE ONES? See the calendar for multiple events today – from storytimes, to play-and-learn, to support groups.
GET OUT OF THE (HOME) OFFICE … bring your lunch to the weekly co-working/home-office meetup at West Seattle Office Junction (WSB sponsor) – explained here.
WEST SEATTLE KIWANIS: Thinking about getting involved with local service clubs? The Kiwanis Club of West Seattle meets at 6:30 pm Wednesdays at the Senior Center of West Seattle and you’re welcome to drop in. (Oregon/California)
DELRIDGE DISTRICT COUNCIL: 7 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. This month’s agenda includes an SDOT briefing on the Delridge/Andover/northward safety project as well as Port of Seattle reps on the free April boat tour for West Seattleites (see our coverage of the SW District Council earlier this month) and an update on the Seattle City Light “surplus” properties. All welcome. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
WORDSWEST LITERARY SERIES: 7 pm at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), Sarah Steinke and Jennifer D. Munro are featured this month, on “Humor & the Body” – details in our calendar listing. (5612 California SW)
SPEAKING OF HUMOR … COMEDY NIGHT! 8 pm at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), this month’s comedy showcase takes the stage, hosted by West Seattle’s own Mona Concepcion, with featured performers including Cris Rodriguez – details here. (6451 California SW)
NIGHTLIFE APLENTY: Karaoke, trivia, open microphone, live music … see where and when, by browsing our full calendar.
(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning! Texter reported lower-bridge traffic stopped; SDOT says the bridge was open for marine traffic, and (update as of 6:54 am) now open to surface traffic.
WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES NOTE: The ferry Kitsap is out of service, which could increase Southworth-to-Fauntleroy traffic until the situation is remedied.
DELRIDGE/ANDOVER PROJECT BRIEFING TONIGHT: If you have questions about the project getting under way from Delridge/Andover northward – last previewed here two weeks ago – an SDOT briefing is on the agenda for tonight’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting, 7 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW).
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