West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Two SDOT spotlights filled most of the Southwest District Council‘s April meeting, including SDOT director Scott Kubly‘s third visit to West Seattle in five weeknights, reviewing toplines of and answering questions – many questions! – about the draft Transportation Levy to Move Seattle. The other SDOT presentation recapped this year’s Arbor Heights microsurfacing plan.
As noted earlier this weekend, both local public high schools are hosting basketball camps again this summer, and registration has opened for both. The second announcement is for the camp that has three 1-week sessions at Chief Sealth International High School – the weeks of June 22, July 13, and August 3, for boys and girls entering grades 2-9:
We are excited to host our 18th annual summer of Basketball/Life Skills Camp at Chief Sealth International High School this summer. Last year, we hosted more than 400 campers in our multiple sessions. The emphasis of our program is to teach the fundamentals of the game in part of a fun and competitive basketball experience, but also to emphasize the Life Skills necessary to be successful in school and life, both intellectually, and socially.
The camp is run by camp directors Colin Slingsby (Chief Sealth Boys’ Head Coach) and Diallo Jackson (Denny Middle School Boys’ Head Coach) with the help of many high school and college students/athletes who are put through a lengthy mentorship training in order to be prepared to work with our many campers. While we enjoy teaching the game of basketball and providing a positive week on the court, we pride ourselves on our Life Skills curriculum, which includes a classroom session daily, emphasizing the values of our program. Camp runs from 9 am-4 pm each day, Monday through Friday, and each camper will receive a camp t-shirt. Information and registration are available at www.hoops4life206.com. The camp has traditionally filled up quickly…so don’t delay. We look forward to having your child in camp!
Gathering at the 5 ways corner – where rally will happen. Just west of low bridge. pic.twitter.com/FPb3jo0HNn
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) April 5, 2015
3:23 PM: This rally was just the start, promised speakers at the rally that wrapped up today’s “Port Encouragement March” about an hour ago, with more than 50 people walking from Walk-All-Ways in The Junction to the 5-way intersection by Terminal 5, west of the low bridge, in hopes of “encouraging” the Port of Seattle to cancel the T-5 interim lease that will bring Shell Arctic-drilling equipment here.
The march was peaceful and relatively low-key – several speakers and a song at the end; walking along from The Triangle to the end of the route, we noted lots of sign waving along the way, some horn-honking from passing motorists, one bicyclist telling the marchers “thank you.”
Seattle Police officers on bicycles accompanied the march, which stayed on sidewalks/trails throughout.
ADDED 4:37 PM: Here’s how it unfolded: Participants gathered at Walk All Ways in The Junction, including the Raging Grannies:
Today’s march segued from a standing monthly rally to encourage people to take action against climate. Marchers headed east on Alaska – along the way, American Legion Post 160 in The Triangle offered a “hydration station”:
Staying on sidewalks and trails along the way, the group headed down 35th to Avalon:
On Avalon, the police bicycle escorts blocked traffic at the Genesee stoplight for an extra few moments so everyone could cross safely:
Port in view now. TV cams shooting marchers along Avalon. Spotted police lt. in unmarked car. pic.twitter.com/3qt3CISB4e
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) April 5, 2015
Turning onto the Alki Trail under/alongside the west end of the West Seattle Bridge, the marchers were urged to stay single-file so bicyclists could get past them. Those with signs held them high to catch the eyes of drivers heading westbound on Spokane:
Rather than going all the way to the gates of Terminal 5, the group stopped by the 5-way intersection west of the low bridge and listened to a few short speeches before the rally ended.
Organizer Stu Hennessey, a longtime West Seattle community advocate, said he felt “betrayed” by the Port’s decision:
Speaking second, Zarna Joshi of Rising Tide, who said there is more at stake than people realize:
She criticized Port Commissioner Tom Albro for telling her he wouldn’t take action to try to cancel the lease, even though he personally opposes Arctic drilling. (At the last Port Commission, as we reported in as-it-happened coverage, both Albro and Courtney Gregoire, the other anti-drilling commissioner, had said they won’t take action to try to cancel it.) Organizers of today’s march included the Green Party of Seattle and Greenpeace, which also provided a speaker:
She said another rally is being planned for April 26th, after the expected arrival of Shell equipment including the drilling platform Polar Pioneer, now in the North Pacific and being trailed by a Greenpeace boat. No counter-protesters showed up today, but supporters of the 2-year lease for Foss to use a third of T-5 say it will provide hundreds of jobs and that it’s better to have a company like Foss, which has a good environmental record, handling this work, than someone else.
(WSB photo)
1:01 PM: Big Seattle Fire response this past half-hour for two kayakers reported to possibly be in trouble. The SFD units went to Jack Block Park; an SFD fireboat crew picked the kayakers up and took them to Seacrest. Rescuers checked them out and told us at the scene that neither needed to go to the hospital.
6:04 PM: This comment has more on what happened.
After we reported Friday night on SDOT‘s plan to use goats to clear weeds/brush from the SW Holden stairway between 20th and Delridge, our area’s best-known stairway users/advocates pointed out two things: For one, this isn’t the only stairway that needs TLC, note Jake and Cathy Jaramillo, the West Seattleites who wrote “Seattle Stairway Walks.” For two, a stairway plan is missing in the draft Transportation Levy to Move Seattle. With a city survey about the levy open right now, they say it’s an opportunity to fix that:
An Open Letter To Our Stairway Friends:
The mayor’s proposed Transportation Levy has a lot of things going for it, but it completely misses one of Seattle’s most important everyday modes of transportation: our stairway network.
West Seattle is particularly blessed with numerous stairways that play an important role in the everyday life of our community. Some of them are sadly deteriorating, and all of them need ongoing TLC!
Seattle possesses a historic built legacy of more than 650 publicly accessible stairways. Many of them are more than one hundred years old, yet even today they still connect our citizens to transit, parks and everyday neighborhood businesses.
Stairways provide scenic byways in the city for exploration and outdoor exercise. They’re a “third place” for neighbors to meet casually. In short, our stairway network remains incredibly relevant to our city’s function and quality of life.
Back in 2011 the city’s budget for stairway maintenance was only about $1.1 million. This inadequate level of funding shows, despite the hard work done by SDOT rehab and replacement crews (see picture below).
Roughly forty percent of this amount will be lost when the current Bridging the Gap levy expires, leaving a yawning gap in the funds needed to keep up our stairway network.
We’re appealing for concerned residents to do two simple things, right away:
1) Please take a moment to give your feedback to Mayor Murray and the city, using the brief SDOT online survey, at moveseattlesurvey.com.
There’s a key juncture where the survey asks: “Are there other transportation investments you feel should be a top priority for funding through this levy?” Adding a quick note here, such as “To make walking easier and safer, the levy must add specific funding for our deteriorating public stairways” can go a long way to putting stairways on the city’s radar – provided enough of us speak up.
2) Please forward this message to your own networks, to get others to amplify your voice!
See you on the stairs,
Jake and Cathy Jaramillo
Seattle Stairway Walks: An Up-and-Down Guide to City Neighborhoods
While stairways were mentioned when Mayor Murray announced his overall transportation vision in early March, they did not get a specific shoutout when the draft levy to fund part of that plan was made public a few weeks later.
(Mallards at Longfellow Creek, by Laura Goodrich, shared via the WSB Flickr group)
Good morning! It’s Easter Sunday and the second day of Passover.
EASTER SUNRISE SERVICES: 6:30 am at Forest Lawn (6730 30th SW; WSB sponsor) with the West Seattle Ministerial Association, and 6:30 am on Alki Beach (60th/Alki) with the local UCC churches. The forecast looks good.
MORE EASTER SERVICES/EVENTS: More than 20 churches’ schedules are linked from the WSB Easter & More page. Some are having brunches and/or Easter egg hunts too.
Also today:
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm as always. Special feature, facepainting by Blue Geisha Tattoo, an Easter Sunday tradition. (44th/Alaska)
AVALON GLASSWORKS: Blowing glass again this year on Easter Sunday 11 am-5 pm – info here. (2914 SW Avalon Way)
EASTER EGG PAINTING: 11 am-4 pm at Mind Unwind in The Admiral District, $7/group, which includes all painting supplies and a half dozen hard-boiled eggs. (2206 California SW)
ENCOURAGEMENT RALLY AND MARCH: As previewed here earlier in the week, a rally and march starting from Walk All Ways around 1 pm will head to Terminal 5. *Added* American Legion Post 160 on the north side of SW Alaska at 37th is offering a hydration station – fill your bottle, or, they’ll have recyclable cups. (California/Alaska)
NEW MUSIC BY ROBIN HOLCOMB & PEGGY LEE: 3 pm at the West Seattle (Admiral) Library – the city’s libraries ARE open today as usual. (2306 42nd SW)
2:20 AM: We haven’t confirmed it yet but are checking into whether it was Guardian Two, the King County Sheriff’s Office‘s military-surplus second helicopter. That’s what the similarly loud, military-style helicopter passing by two weeks ago turned out to be, returning from a rescue in the South Sound, and a few hours ago, the KCSO Air Support Unit tweeted that G-2 was headed out to hoist an injured climber in Jefferson County. When on approach to Boeing Field, they fly low to stay out of Sea-Tac’s path, we were told. If we get confirmation, we’ll update.
11:04 AM: As noted in comments below, a followup tweet has added a little more information.
9:29 PM: And here’s what the rescue was all about.
One night after the eclipse, two photographers caught the full moon on the rise with a vantage point toward Harbor Island – above, David Hutchinson; below, Chris Frankovich.
We appreciate photo contributions – editor@westseattleblog.com or share via the WSB Flickr group!
| 26 COMMENTS