West Seattle, Washington
09 Tuesday
More championship basketball in West Seattle! This weekend, Seattle Adaptive Sports is hosting the West Coast Conference Championships of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association at the WSHS gym, with players in the junior/preps classification, high-school age and younger. Organizers are inviting spectators – no admission fee – and also seeking volunteers to help with scorekeeping, time-clock, possession-arrow duties, and preparing/serving lunch. You can sign up via this link on VolunteerSpot (which, we’re told, does not require you to set up an account). The games run 9 am-4 pm Saturday and 9 am-2 pm Sunday, as noted on the official flyer, which you can see here if the embedded version above isn’t showing up for you.
Two West Seattle biznotes:
RUDY’S BARBERSHOP: 2 1/2 years after first word that Rudy’s Barbershop planned a West Seattle location, it’s opening this Friday. Rudy’s confirmed last summer that it would move into the ex-Diva/Maestro/Ace 1 space at 4480 Fauntleroy and has now announced the opening date. No word on the co-housed Caffé Vita, though.
WEST SEATTLE ART NEST: It’s been just a few weeks since word that this new kids-art studio was moving into 4138 California SW north of The Junction, and now its grand-opening party is days away: Saturday (March 7th), 3-6 pm.
(WSB file photo)
For more than a few months, two Southwest Precinct officers have been riding bicycles whenever possible, to patrol areas including Roxhill Park, Lincoln Park, and The Junction, as well as the Westwood area after the wave of robberies targeting students. It’s an experiment by precinct commander Capt. Steve Wilske, who has said repeatedly – as noted in our community-group coverage dating back to last spring – that it’s worked out so well, he was trying to get more officers on bicycles throughout the area. And he’s finally received official approval to do just that, he told community activists who posted to the South Park community mailing list, and we subsequently confirmed it with him.
Capt. Wilske says he expects to have the bicycle patrol set up within a month or so, as a few details remain to be worked out. He says, “We will have a total of 6 officers, with a maximum staffing of 4 per day (2 in Frank sector, 2 in William sector and 2 off duty). I have to admit I am pretty excited about this, I think it is going to be good for the officers and great for the neighborhoods.” He told the South Park advocates something we’ve heard him tell local groups: “My experience from being a bicycle officer myself is that this style of patrolling is one of the most effective ways to deal with street-level crime, and makes the officer approachable to those folks who may not want to call 9-1-1 but will walk up to an officer and talk to them.
P.S. If you aren’t familiar with the West Seattle/South Park sectors, here’s the newest map.
That’s Victor Gonzalez-Arredondo, child-safety expert at Swedish Automotive (WSB sponsor). This Thursday and Friday, 11 am-2 pm, he’ll be front and center offering free safety checks of baby/child car seats – all you have to do is drop by Swedish, 35th/Kenyon. (All makes of vehicles welcome for the safety checks, by the way!)
(WSB photo from November 17, 2008)
At 4532 42nd SW in The Junction, that house with history – a long-ago hospital, WSB’ers told us – came down in fall of 2008. At the time, a 35-residential-unit, 54-parking-space development was in the works. As happened to some other projects right around that time, it got shelved. Now a brand-new proposal has emerged, a mixed-use building with 84 apartments and 70 underground parking spaces. The project would also include the site of the small brick house-turned-office at 4536 42nd SW, placing the building immediately north of Capco Plaza (QFC/Altamira).
(WSB photo, taken this morning)
According to the early-stage site plan that just turned up in city files, the building’s parking garage would have an entry on the same alley used for the Capco Plaza garage, and the residential entry on 42nd would be just north of the alley. This will require Design Review – no date yet. It’s an NK Architects project, as are the two noted below:
SIDE NOTE: This proposal’s emergence means three projects are now in the works for the two-block stretch of 42nd between Genesee and Alaska in the heart of The Junction. Construction equipment has been parked for a while outside two of the three houses scheduled to come down for 80-apartment Junction Flats on the west side of 42nd just north of Oregon; just south of Oregon, 4505 42nd SW, with 41 apartments and 9 “lodging” units, won Design Review approval earlier this year.
(WSB photo)
1:39 PM: Thanks for the tip about the police search in Westwood. Officers were out with a K-9, looking for suspects in an attack that left someone hurt. Very few details so far, according to our check with SPD public affairs – they’re not sure if it was also a robbery, and it’s not clear exactly where the man was assaulted; the Seattle Fire medical response was to 30th/Cloverdale (map). The only description available so far is “five or six males, Hispanic and black, last seen headed southbound on 30th SW.” We’re checking with SFD to see if we can find out whether the victim had to be hospitalized.
4:40 PM UPDATE: SFD tells us that the victim was a 16-year-old boy, treated for “multiple scratches and abrasions over his body, after (saying) he was assaulted and forced to jump into blackberry bushes,” and taken to Highline Hospital in stable condition.
(Photos courtesy Around-N-Over: Above, Erden’s arrival in Louisiana during circumnavigation)
Did you know that Erden Eruç is one of your neighbors here in West Seattle?
He’s in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first person to complete a solo human-powered circumnavigation of the planet. He did it without much fanfare, but fanfare wasn’t the point – read about it here.
That would be the achievement of a lifetime, to say the least, for just about anyone. But it’s one of many for Erden: Among other things, he’s also the first person to have rowed the three major oceans (including 5,465 nautical miles across the Atlantic).
If you haven’t met him yet – or even if you have! – you’ll want to be at Emerald Water Anglers (WSB sponsor) in The Junction this Thursday night, 7-9, to see and hear from him and find out what he’s planning next. He’s not just resting on his achievements; he leads the nonprofit Around-N-Over, which supports his goal of educating and inspiring people, especially students, who he often tells: “When we dream big and choose to embark on a larger-than-life journey, success depends on taking a few big steps which are noteworthy in their own right or many small steps at a rapid pace.”
Erden has been a West Seattleite for a year and a half, but has resided in Seattle “since 1999 except for a 1 year stint in Sydney, Australia,” he tells us. He’s getting ready for a new adventure you can read about here, but at EWA this Thursday night, he’ll focus on the human-powered circumnavigation tale, plus “footage of fish that I caught given the focus of Emerald Water Anglers’ store.” If you haven’t been to EWA yet (where the merchandise includes outdoor apparel, too, for more than fishing), it’s on the ground floor of Oregon 42, southeast corner of 42nd and Oregon.
(UPDATED 4:09 PM with information from suspect’s bail hearing)
10:31 AM: Just published to SPD Blotter by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee:
A 26-year-old felon tried to stash a stolen gun in the diaper aisle of a drug store Monday evening after opening fire on a West Seattle street.
Police received reports of gunfire just before 5pm near 12th Avenue SW and SW Roxbury Street, where witnesses said a man — accompanied by two young women, one of whom was pushing an infant in a stroller — had fired a shot into the air and fled into a Walgreens several blocks away.
A team of officers entered the store and followed the suspect down the aisles until they cornered him and took him into custody.
When police searched the man, they found he wasn’t carrying a gun. Officers began scouring aisles of the store, and found a handgun stashed behind a shelf full of diapers.
Officers seized the weapon—which was reported stolen—and booked the man into the King County Jail for a weapons violation, possession of stolen property, and a warrant for auto theft.
Police interviewed the man’s companions — his girlfriend, their child, and his girlfriend’s sister — and released them from the scene.
P.S. We were asked about the 15th/Roxbury search hours later via Facebook but didn’t get the details until this appeared. Best way to reach us instantly 24/7 is 206-293-6302, text or voice, if you have a breaking-news tip or question (consider adding WSB to your phone list – thanks!).
4:09 PM: The suspect’s bail was set this afternoon at $30,000, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. We’ve looked up his record; the auto-theft-related warrant dates back to a case last October, in which he is accused of breaking into a house in the 9400 block of 9th SW, finding car keys in the house, and stealing the car. He was spotted a few hours later in South Seattle, where he allegedly fled from police, crashed the car, and took off running. Police found him hiding in the bushes near I-5. Police reports from that case and the new one list him as living in the North SeaTac area. His next court appearance is set for Thursday.
From our calendar, where you’ll find lots more beyond these five quick notes:
COFFEE GATHERING FOR VETERANS: First Tuesdays at 11 am at the Senior Center of West Seattle. (Oregon/California)
ENCAMPMENT PROPOSAL: Not just about West Seattle, but of interest in our ongoing coverage: The City Council’s Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability Committee might vote at its 2 pm meeting today at City Hall downtown. Agenda here; live on Seattle Channel. (5th/Cherry)
WESTWOOD-ROXHILL-ARBOR HEIGHTS COMMUNITY COUNCIL: 6:15 pm at Southwest Branch Library, with the Westwood/Roxhill Park transit center at the heart of the agenda, as previewed here Monday. Come hear from and talk with Metro and Westwood Village reps, and find out what else is going on in the communities WWRHAH represents. (35th/Henderson)
HIGHLAND PARK PLAY AREA: Third and final design meeting for the community-powered improvements at the 11th/Cloverdale park in Highland Park – last chance to speak up before the design moves on to become reality! 6:30 pm at Highland Park Elementary. (1012 SW Trenton)
WEST SEATTLE BIKE CONNECTIONS: Lots to talk about! See the agenda highlights here. 6:30 pm at HomeStreet Bank (WSB sponsor) in The Junction. (41st/Alaska)
If you can stop down for just a moment and hit the “play” button on that clip – even to listen in the background! – you’ll hear why student musicians from Chief Sealth International High School and Denny International Middle School left such an impression at a big festival they’re just back from. Their leader Marcus Pimpleton shares the news:
The Denny and Sealth Jazz Bands have returned home from a very successful week at the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho. The group went over on Tuesday and returned Sunday evening. The week of jazz featured student performances as well as clinics and concert performances by a host of nationally acclaimed jazz artists including Grammy Award winners Diane Reeves and John Clayton. The Chief Sealth Jazz Band was selected as an “outstanding young performer” and had the honor of closing out the Saturday Night Young Artists Concert (see the video above).
Three students were awarded Noteworthy Performance commendations for their individual musicianship:
Alex Guthery, alto saxophone, Denny International
Chris Laranang, trumpet, Chief Sealth International
Emmett Medaris, alto saxophone, Chief Sealth InternationalWe also want to invite the public out to hear these groups live and to support the Denny and Sealth Music Program by joining us for our Music Night Out Event, which will be a March 27th fundraiser at The Hall at Fauntleroy. For more information on that, please visit: chiefsealthptsa.schoolauction.net/musicnightout
(Four WS-relevant views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning. No reports of trouble in this area so far. One more reminder of the road projects now ongoing:
*Delridge/Andover/23rd – safety improvements
*Delridge/Orchard – ongoing utility work
*15th/Roxbury – underground fiber
*Fauntleroy ferry terminal – north lane closed for work at adjacent pump station
7:42 AM: Via Twitter, Sue reports what seems to be a sunshine slowdown on the high bridge; still quiet otherwise. If you know someone who lost their keys, by the way, there’s a “found” notice in the WSB Forums – keys found near 35th/Thistle.
9:15 AM: Jana reports a crash on the shoulder on the eastbound incline of the high bridge, and also that ramp traffic in general is still backed up.
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