day : 08/04/2015 11 results

11:04 PM: If you’re in the South Delridge area and thought you heard gunfire … police report finding at least one shell casing in the area of the 9000 block of Delridge Way SW. No reports of any injuries so far. (Thanks to the person who texted the tip.)

11:15 PM: Via the scanner, we’ve heard police report also finding casings near 17th/Barton, and now officers think they are hearing shots in the distance to the southwest, possibly closer to 13th/Roxbury, where people are calling in about it. They’ve also found a car window shot out – we’ve just received a photo we’re adding atop this story.

11:42 PM: Also, reports shots were heard near Delridge and Juneau.

12:01 AM: And now in the Olson vicinity, east end of Roxbury, near Arrowhead Gardens. Helicopter alert: You might also hear Guardian One joining the search.

12:14 AM: The car they’re looking for is described (again, via scanner) as a red older 4-door Honda, possibly loud exhaust, 3-5 male teens/young adults inside. If you have any tips, call 911.

11:48 AM: Police report the overnight arrest of a 16-year-old who’s under investigation in connection with all this – we’ve published a separate update.

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Election 2015: 34th Democrats’ City Council District 1 forum followed by straw vote won by Shannon Braddock

April 8, 2015 9:10 pm

| 9 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

Seattle Council Candidates #34dems forum: Braddock, Redmond, Herbold, Koch, Tavel, Thomas – HT @WestSeattleBlog pic.twitter.com/eRgQPgiKxj

— 34th Democrats (@34dems) April 9, 2015

The 34th District Democrats‘ meeting is wrapping up, with more than half the time devoted to a candidates’ forum in the City Council District 1 race. Six of the 10 current candidates participated. We recorded it all on video and will add it along with notes later. But first: It was followed by a secret-ballot straw poll, won by Shannon Braddock with 31 cards, followed by Lisa Herbold with 17, Chas Redmond with 10, Tom Koch with 9, Brianna Thomas with 8, Phillip Tavel with 3. That is just an unofficial temperature-taking, though – the 34th DDs’ official endorsement meeting is May 20th, after filing closes.

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From the ‘in case you wonder’ file: Ship at Terminal 5 tonight

April 8, 2015 7:19 pm

| Comments Off on From the ‘in case you wonder’ file: Ship at Terminal 5 tonight

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news

The Port of Seattle says you will see a container ship at closed-since-last-summer Terminal 5 in West Seattle starting tonight. But it has nothing to do with the Foss lease/Shell/etc. According to an FYI note we received from spokesperson Peter McGraw: “The Hanjin Copenhagen will be at T-5 starting this evening for the next few days to address a Coast Guard requirement before leaving port.” According to MarineTraffic.com, the ship is crossing the bay right now, so should be docking at T-5 soon.

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Neighborhood Conservation Districts? Many questions, few answers

April 8, 2015 3:54 pm

| 9 COMMENTS

| Neighborhoods | West Seattle history | West Seattle news

Will the city make Neighborhood Conservation Districts available as a tool for interested neighborhoods to use if they choose to preserve their “character”?

City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen has been exploring the idea for a while, presenting a briefing on a study last September, and convened a discussion at the High Point Community Center last night, the second of three around the city (the third and final one is on Phinney Ridge tonight).

One challenge: The legislation to be brought up for a council vote hasn’t been written yet. So while those in attendance had many questions, few answers were available. Here’s the slide deck that was shown:

The first round of meetings is being held primarily to gauge community interest. One point made clear: These districts couldn’t be created to stop development projects already on the drawing board. Questions focused on what would or would not be allowed in a district, and how that might affect property owners’ rights, given that in theory, one could be implemented without unanimous approval of affected owners. Would it come down to something simple like, what kind of fence you could put up? Answer: If there are guidelines for that, yes. Wouldn’t that make this something like a homeowners’ association? another attendee asked. And what about people moving into the district long after it was created?

Other questions: What disclosure will there be for property owners regarding the costs of these districts? What’s the final cost to the city, considering that if an area can be as small as a block, hundreds could spring up. (Rasmussen’s legislative assistant Evan Clifthorne said he expected this to start slowly.) Which city department would run the program? Probably the Department of Neighborhoods – but nothing’s finalized yet.

Again, lots of questions – the answers will depend on what’s in the official proposal. We asked Councilmember Rasmussen afterward about the likelihood of this making it to the finish line before, or after, he leaves office; his view is that if the council sees enough interest from citizens, they’ll carry it through, and public meetings like this one are one way to do that. (Our informal count last night was around 20.)

If you’re interested in the topic and can get to north Seattle, tonight’s meeting is at 6 pm at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Avenue N.

SIDE NOTE: Speaking of centers, we noted that several people were confused about last night’s location (including our crew!). So many meetings are held at Neighborhood House‘s High Point Center (6400 Sylvan Way, not a city-run facility) that any mention of a “center” in High Point seems to send people there. The site of last night’s meeting is officially called High Point Community Center, a Seattle Parks-operated facility at 6920 34th SW.

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No ‘Summer Streets’/car-free festival on Alki this year, city says, unless you want to organize one

April 8, 2015 1:57 pm

| 18 COMMENTS

| West Seattle festivals | West Seattle news

(WSB photo from 2011 ‘Summer Streets’ on Alki)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

After seven years, it’s the end of the road – at least for now – for the city-presented “SDOT Summer Streets” event on Alki.

We have just confirmed that with SDOT, after noticing that no announcements or sponsorship solicitations had been circulating, though it’s just a little more than a month until the West Seattle 5K Walk/Run, which “Summer Streets” has followed since 2009.

The street festival (part of a series around the city) debuted in 2008 as “Car-Free Day” – a program announced by then-Mayor Greg Nickels and then-SDOT director Grace Crunican as part of the city’s climate-change-awareness campaign. The two West Seattleites even came to the WS waterfront to make the announcement.

(WSB photo of ‘Car-Free Day’ announcement, July 30, 2008)

That year, the city closed almost the entirety of Alki and Harbor Avenues for the first “Car-Free Day,” noon-6 on September 7th, a warm, sunny day, as is so often the case in late summer. It drew reactions from controversy to giddiness:

(WSB photo, September 7, 2008)
The next year, 2009, the city renamed the program “Summer Streets” and moved it to May 31st to follow the WS High School PTSA-presented West Seattle 5K, which already was closing much of the beachfront route for the first few hours of the morning. May, however, is seldom truly summery, as evidenced in our photo of street art during the 2012 Summer Streets event:

That’s been typical of Summer Streets weather – no all-out-sunny days since the September 2008 “Car-Free Day.” Nonetheless, community organizations have soldiered on with activities and festivities each year, and bundled-up community members have come to the beach to join in.

In 2011, the city shortened the no-motorized-vehicles zone to between 56th and 63rd, recognizing that few activities had been happening east of the Alki business district anyway.

Flash forward to this year. Two months ago, the Summer Streets Facebook page featured the cryptic status: “Sorry for the radio silence. Summer Streets is undergoing some changes this year – please stay tuned for our event schedule and a big announcement.”

No announcement has ensued over those two months, so we pinged SDOT spokesperson Marybeth Turner, who replied today, “SDOT is redesigning the Summer Streets program. While SDOT will still continue to support and sponsor the West Seattle 5k, we will no longer be organizing the street festival that has traditionally followed the race. If a West Seattle community group would like to sponsor a Summer Streets event this summer, we are willing to assist. SDOT’s new Summer Streets program is being developed, not quite ready for a public announcement.”

Again, the WS 5K is still on (we’re a co-sponsor again this year), and that will still close the beachfront road until about 11 am on race day, Sunday, May 17th. But after that – for the first time in 7 years – you’re on your own.

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GOAT UPDATE! Just because we know you’re wondering…

April 8, 2015 12:13 pm

| 11 COMMENTS

| Delridge | Safety | West Seattle news

(WSB photo)
We promised updates on the Rent-A-Ruminant goats’ work for SDOT along the SW Holden stairway, following our first report after their arrival Tuesday afternoon and our original report last Friday on the plan. So we stopped by a little while ago. They still have much left to munch. Right now, they’re working further up the slope, closer to the 20th SW top of the stairway than to the Delridge Way end of the stairway, where they were in view yesterday, so no cute closeups (yet, but we’ll be checking back later). R-a-R proprietor Tammy estimated after arriving that they’d probably need about three days to get the job done.

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FOLLOWUP: West Seattle filmmakers get ready for world premiere of ‘Drawing the Tiger,’ 7 years in the making

April 8, 2015 11:19 am

| 2 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | WS culture/arts

After seven years of work, West Seattle filmmakers Amy Benson and Scott Squire (left & center in photo) are now just three weeks away from the world premiere of their completed film “Drawing the Tiger.” When we first featured it here almost two and a half years ago, its working title was “The Girl Who Knew Too Much,” but what began as the heartbreaking story of a Nepalese girl whose one-in-a-million chance at an education ended in her suicide, evolved into a story with many more layers. We found out about the project’s evolution when we covered the Washington Global Issues Network youth-led conference at Chief Sealth International High School last month; Benson was a keynoter, and we featured her speech and project in our report. She also told its story in a TEDx talk captured on video last year:

The change in their story also meant a change in funding, as suddenly they were no longer telling “a globalization success story.” Instead, as Benson explains in the TEDx talk above, Squire says, “This film is, in the modest world of documentary films, kind of a unique thing – it’s subtle and observational and not at all an advocacy film. However, it was made with the goal of opening up the conversation of how we ‘in the west’ DO global aid. How, and how well do we account for the new vulnerabilities that arise when radical opportunities are proffered? It’s so important that we help, we believe, but stories like Shanta’s tell us we must consider how we can conduct our interventions more holistically.”

So the couple pressed on, scrapping together backing any place they could find it. Earlier this week, Squire e-mailed us with an update on their timeline and on their push for completion via crowdfunding. By the time we could write this story, they had already passed their goal – but if you’ve ever tried to raise money for something, you know that more always helps. Their Kickstarter campaign is open until Friday. The premiere is April 29th at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto, which Squire says is “one of the two most important doc fests in the world.” They are hopeful the U.S. premiere will be here in Seattle – nothing finalized yet but they promise an update once it is.

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West Seattle Wednesday: Home-office meetup; health carnival; City Council candidates forum; Senior Center board; WSHS musical

April 8, 2015 9:49 am

| 10 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(Photographed by Ryan O’Keven in Admiral on Tuesday – thanks to everyone who ID’d this as a Spotted Towhee!)

Noontime until nighttime, check out the West Seattle Wednesday highlights:

GET OUT OF THE HOME OFFICE … and network with other nontraditional workers/entrepreneurs during the weekly West Seattle Office Junction (WSB sponsor) meetup – details here. Starts at noon. (6040 California SW)

HIGH-SCHOOL SPORTS: West Seattle High School plays varsity softball vs. Nathan Hale at Southwest Athletic Complex (2801 SW Thistle) and varsity baseball vs. Garfield at Hiawatha (2700 California SW), both at 3:30 pm.

HEALTH CARNIVAL AT HIGHLAND PARK ELEMENTARY: Community welcome! Here’s the announcement:

Join us at Highland Park Elementary from 5:30-7:30 to celebrate the many ways students stay healthy. There is something for everyone! We will have food, insurance assistance, Zumba, family games, raffles, face paint, and much much more. This event is cosponsored by Communities in Schools of Seattle and Neighborcare.

(1012 SW Trenton)

BOARD MEETING @ SENIOR CENTER OF WEST SEATTLE: 5:30-7 pm at the Senior Center, all are welcome at the monthly board meeting. (Oregon/California)

AMERICAN LEGION POST 160: All those who have served or are serving are welcome at Post 160, which is also home to the West Seattle Veteran Center. The post’s monthly meetings are at 6 pm on the second Wednesday. (37th/Alaska)

CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 1 CANDIDATES’ FORUM: The next major forum in the first-ever City Council District 1 (West Seattle/South Park) race is at tonight’s 34th District Democrats meeting, 7 pm at The Hall at Fauntleroy. (9131 California SW)

‘PAJAMA GAME’ AT WSHS: The West Seattle High School Drama Club‘s current production starts its second and final week, 7 pm curtain time at the school theater. (3000 California SW)

OPEN MICROPHONE @ THE FEEDBACK: 8 pm, hosted by Sheila Kay and The Wolftones, with Mikel Rollins on sax and bass. Go get on stage at Feedback Lounge! (6451 California SW)

THOSE ARE ONLY THE HIGHLIGHTS … our calendar is where you’ll find even more for today/tonight.

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TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Wednesday on the move

April 8, 2015 7:28 am

| Comments Off on TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Wednesday on the move

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(Four WS-relevant views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Trouble-free morning through and from West Seattle so far. So, the transportation headlines:

SW ROXBURY PLAN: Officially announced last night and set for implementation starting in August, SDOT’s Roxbury plan will “rechannelize” the road from 17th to 35th – one lane each way plus a center turn lane – and involve some simpler changes on the eastern stretch, including a speed-limit reduction. Sidewalks will be installed on the last sidewalkless stretch, which is on the south side of Roxbury east of 30th..

NEW VASHON WATER TAXI STARTS RUNNING THIS AFTERNOON: King County says M/V Sally Fox – twin to the future new West Seattle Water Taxi, M/V Doc Maynard – will take over the Seattle-Vashon run starting at 4:30 this afternoon.

VIADUCT STILL SETTLING: Results of the recent inspection closure are now public.

HOLDEN STAIRWAY GOATS: While the stairway from 20th to Delridge on Holden remains open, its north side is fenced off with the Rent-A-Ruminant goats at work, as covered here (and spotlighted by TV too).

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‘Arts Day’ @ Sanislo Elementary, thanks to visiting Kellogg Fellows

April 8, 2015 2:26 am

| Comments Off on ‘Arts Day’ @ Sanislo Elementary, thanks to visiting Kellogg Fellows

| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | WS culture/arts

(WSB photos: District visual/performing-arts manager Gail Sehlhorst leading students in an exercise)
A break from routine on Tuesday at West Seattle’s Sanislo Elementary … and it all traced back to the founder of the world’s most famous breakfast-cereal company. In honor of the birthday of Will Keith Kellogg, people who had gained leadership training via the Kellogg Foundation fanned out for a Day of Service – and Sanislo was among the stops. Among the Kellogg Fellows visiting Sanislo to provide a day of arts education was Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland, reading “Stone Soup” to students via his iPad:

Another Kellogg Fellow who worked with the Sanislo students, Dr. Lora-Ellen McKinney, who is working with the district to facilitate enrichment experiences:

The day’s theme was “Compassionate Leadership,” and the visiting fellows were joined by Seattle Art Museum teaching artists in using the arts to help students work on those skills. Among them, Regan Pro, SAM’s manager of school and educator programs, who showed kindergarteners Malcah Zeldis‘s triptych of the life of President Abraham Lincoln:

The day’s theme was also meant to underscore the district’s Creative Advantage program to bring more arts into the schools; a new South-Southwest Pathway for arts is expected to include Sanislo. The school’s visual-arts teacher Andrew Wakefield was part of today’s programming, as was librarian/teacher Craig Seasholes.

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High-school soccer: Chief Sealth-West Seattle rematch

April 8, 2015 12:30 am

| Comments Off on High-school soccer: Chief Sealth-West Seattle rematch

| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | WS & Sports

Three weeks ago, Chief Sealth International High School and West Seattle High School opened the boys-soccer season with a 1-1 tie. Tuesday, they met again, and this time the final was a 1-0 victory for Sealth. #3 in the top photo is the Seahawks’ Abel Kidane (featured in our earlier story about 3 Sealth & WSHS players who helped make history last weekend), who had the assist for Yael Pina‘s goal.