West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
ORIGINAL REPORT, 8 PM: Earlier today, we noticed a liquor-license application for Meander’s at 6400 1/2 California SW in Morgan Junction – home to Kokoras Greek Grill, which has been listed for sale for quite some time. You’ll recall Meander’s closed in White Center last year; since then, proprietor Miranda Krone had mentioned she was working on a new venture, and at one point said it wouldn’t be far from her original location. We asked her earlier today for comment; she said she was awaiting word that Kokoras’s owners had talked to their staff. And now she’s just announced:
At last, I can let the cat out of the bag!
Morgan Junction, we’re coming home to you…
I’m working with Kim Depew, a longtime West Seattle resident and school teacher, to open Meander’s back on California Ave in what has been Kokoras Greek Grill.
We love Kokoras, but Spiros has decided that it’s time for him to return to Greece. I’m really looking forward to working with him next week, learning his recipes, and a few bonus family recipes, besides.
We’ll definitely be bringing back the breakfast you know and love, but I’m personally really excited about the evening menu. After five years of breakfast, I’m pretty eager to play on the dinner line and in the pastry kitchen. Look for old family favorites, some things I’ve picked up in my travels, and some collaborations with dear friends and talented chefs.
Oh, and? You know how you’ve been hassling us for mimosas and bloody marys for the past five years? All that, and more.
And yes, we’ll bring the waffles back, too.
This will be the fourth location for Meander’s, which originally opened five years ago in the former Jade West Café at 6032 California SW (now home to Harry’s Chicken Joint). A little over a year and a half later, the café moved to a big White Center space (now home to Noble Barton), then downsized to a spot about a block south in late summer 2013. That’s where the café remained until some tumult last year, followed by closure in November.
8:41 PM: Speaking of closure, Trickycoolj asked in comments when Kokoras will be closing. We asked Krone just now. She says it’s dependent on the aforementioned liquor-license change; they’ll know more on Monday. Also: “We plan to retain the current staff, and will continue running as Kokoras until about a week before the changeover.”
(WSB photo)
7:17 PM: No, it’s not a fire that brought several SFD units to the 2600 block of 42nd SW, across from Safeway. We just talked with firefighters at the scene. A water-pipe break on the top floor of an apartment building sent water down through the building; firefighters are helping with cleanup. No fire, no injuries.
7:36 PM: In the few minutes since we left, the call has closed on the SFD 911 log, which means the units have all departed.
Thanks to teacher Noah Zeichner and colleagues at Chief Sealth International High School for sharing that scene from today, when a Google rep was on campus to help students and teachers explore the company’s simple approach to virtual reality – something he says other schools can take advantage of, too:
Students at Chief Sealth International High School got to travel to far off places using virtual reality technology as part of Google’s Expedition Pioneers Program. Students looked through Google Cardboard viewers while their teacher controlled and narrated the expeditions from a tablet. Students visited Mexico, Japan, Dubai, India, Brazil, and several other countries around the world.
If other West Seattle schools are interested in bringing this program to their school, teachers or administrators can send an email to google-expeditions@google.com. They will be in the Seattle area during the month of February.
The photo is by Sealth librarian Katie Hubert, showing teachers trying out the systems; she also reported “hoots of amazement and delight” as students checked out what, as she described it, are “really just a cardboard box holding a cell phone.”
ORIGINAL REPORT: Last Wednesday night’s Southwest District Council meeting included the only scheduled West Seattle discussion of the proposed $290 million, 7-year housing-levy renewal/expansion – though levy details had only been announced hours earlier. As reported here, city reps at the meeting were asked for a second West Seattle meeting, with more lead time – and it’s just been announced by Department of Neighborhoods district coordinator Kerry Wade:
The meeting will be hosted by the Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon Street) and will take place on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 (6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.). A flyer will be created next week announcing the meeting details.
Bring your questions and comments. As explained Wednesday night, the city hasn’t finalized the levy details yet, nor has it decided whether to put the levy before voters in August or November.
ADDED: Here’s the official flyer for the meeting.
2:30 PM: Just got this report via text, and the Orca Network has a report too – orcas in Elliott Bay, likely closer to downtown than West Seattle. Let us know if you see them!
4:08 PM: We had no luck but Amy Shuster sent the photo we’ve just added, taken from the Bainbridge ferry – thank you!
(WSB photo)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
While action on the homelessness emergency might seem to be mostly on the shoulders of adults – dealing with everything from encampments to taxes – homelessness has caught the attention of young people too.
We heard this week from Amy Ijeoma, a West Seattle High School junior who along with classmate Lexus Greenway made it the focus of a project they’re presenting in a regional competition tomorrow. We sat down with Amy after school on Thursday at WSHS to talk about it.
It’s the STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) Events competition as part of FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America). Their job: To come up with an action plan and present it to event officials, which they’ll do along with one other WSHS team and others from around the area, Saturday at Ingraham. They’re competing in the “advocacy” category, one of 15 categories.
As part of it, they are urging community members to do their part. They’re focused on Hope Place, which is a program for families experiencing homelessness. Amy says that volunteering is even more valuable than donating – “better to be there and see it yourself rather than throw some money and say that you’ve helped” – though Union Gospel Mission, which operates Hope Place, would be happy with contributions in either. You can tutor homeless elementary students, for example (volunteering info here; donating info here).
While working on the project, Amy says, she and Lexus have been going to Hope Place themselves “once or twice a month … to interact with the kids there.” It’s not just a shelter but also has a children’s activity center and continuing education for women, in areas from parenting to relationships and more, to help them successfully transition out of homelessness.
With us as we talked were two of the teacher/advisers of the program, Raya Klein and Brooke Huddleston, who explained that the students learned about Hope Place from WSHS’s new career specialist Helen Maynard, whose background includes nonprofit work. Visitors from Home Place presented at a WSHS assembly earlier in the year.
So tomorrow, Amy and Lexus have a 40-slide deck to present, about their goal, their plan, what kind of impact they’ve had, both through volunteering and through raising awareness on campus, including the poster with which Amy is posing in our photo above. “We want to get you thinking,” she says. They’re planning more posters, including some with statistics, and the causes of homelessness.
Teacher Klein adds that it’s an issue the school’s student-leadership ASB has embraced as well. And if more in the community are interested in helping – especially volunteering – that’s a win, regardless of how Amy and Lexus, and WSHS’s other team (also focused on homelessness, we’re told), do tomorrow.
(Seattle Police Department photo)
Just in via SPD Blotter – a drug bust in Highland Park last night:
Police found a big bag of crack stashed away inside a Ford Bronco after arresting a dealer Thursday evening in West Seattle.
Members of the West Precinct Anti-Crime Team were able to call in an order to the 42-year-old dealer, who offered to meet at a convenience store in the 1600 block of SW Holden Street around 10 PM.
Police saw the suspect circle the block in his Ford Bronco before pulling him over and taking him into custody.
Officers got a warrant for the car and found a bag of crack rocks inside the vehicle’s console.
In total, police found 44 grams of crack, a not-insignificant amount, and another 3 grams of powder cocaine during the search. Police booked the man into the King County Jail for a narcotics violation.
We just verified with SPD Public Affairs and yes, as written, this was initiated by West Precinct investigators (downtown and vicinity), not Southwest Precinct (in whose jurisdiction it happened). The officers go wherever the dealer offers to meet them. You can see more photos on SPD Blotter.
Four weeks ago, SDOT told us that Fauntleroy Way was likely less than a month away from the speed-limit cut first announced a year ago. And today, it’s official: SDOT crews will be out tomorrow placing signage to change the speed limit to 30 mph “for a 1.25 mile stretch of Fauntleroy Way SW between SW Alaska Street and California Avenue SW. The speed limit currently increases to 35 mph in this segment despite the presence of parks and schools adjacent to the corridor. This change will create a consistent 30 mph speed limit for the entire Fauntleroy corridor.”
As SDOT told us last month, today’s announcement reiterates that most drivers already travel “slower than existing 35 mph speed limit on this section of Fauntleroy so this should not be a significant change for people that drive this roadway often. However, the speed limit change will help reduce the likelihood and severity of collisions. This is especially true for vulnerable users like pedestrians since lower speeds significantly reduce the survivability of crashes.” In addition to new 30-mph signage, SDOT says it will deploy its Speed Watch Trailer along this stretch of Fauntleroy, which was repaved and rechannelized back in 2009.
Other West Seattle arterials, as announced last year, are in line for the 30-mph limit; SDOT told us last month that Delridge also would get a “fog line” when its turn comes up.
(Duwamish River photo by Jim Edwards, looking S/SE, with the 14th Ave S bridge in the distance – click for full view)
WORDS, WRITERS, WEST SEATTLE: Presented by the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, 5-7 pm at Barnes and Noble in Westwood Village, meet local author Sonja Anderson and hear about her children’s book “Sophie’s Quest.” (2800 SW Barton)
WINE TASTING: You’re welcome at the tasting room for Viscon Cellars (WSB sponsor), open 5-9 pm. (5910 California SW)
CORNER BAR: First Friday of the month means pop-up-bar night at Highland Park Improvement Club. Tonight, after DJ Dr. Lehl kicks things off at 6, it’s Marco de Carvalho at 7. More info in our calendar listing. (12th SW/SW Holden)
FREE FAMILY-NIGHT FUN: At the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor), 6 pm – see the schedule here. All welcome; bring a donation for the West Seattle Food Bank. (4515 36th SW)
’80s MOVIE TRIVIA: 6:30-7:30 pm at Admiral Bird. (California SW/SW Admiral)
DUETS AND TRIOS … played by West Side Music Academy students at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7-9 pm. (5612 California SW)
WEST SEATTLE MEANINGFUL MOVIES: Special 7 pm showing (after 6:30 pm mingling/snacks) this month, at Neighborhood House‘s High Point Center – co-presented by West Seattle Meaningful Movies and West Seattle Neighbors for Peace and Justice, the movie is “Ferguson: A Report from Occupied Territory,” a 2015 film co-produced by Katina Parker and Orlando de Guzman. Plus: “After the movie, Bobby Alexander, a local community activist and the co-chair of the Seattle Martin Luther King Day Celebration, will share his perspectives and talk about the struggle for racial justice here in Seattle.” (6400 Sylvan Way)
PUPPETS PLEASE MARIONETTES: 7 pm at Fauntleroy UCC Church, hosted by Little Pilgrim School. All welcome; $5 donation per family. More info in our calendar listing. (9140 California SW)
ALBUM RELEASE SHOW: Geist and the Sacred Ensemble “with Arrington de Dionyso, Magic Mirror (Corum) and God and Vanilla! We also have a special installation planned!” says host Society of Wonder. 9 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
AND THERE’S MORE! Go see all the listings on our complete calendar – for today, tonight, and beyond.
(WSDOT image)
After three weeks of tunnel-machine stopdown, still no restart plan, but WSDOT is just out with another project update, saying that work is about to start to fix pier damage done in the process of barging what was being dug out. Also: No new sinking – instead, some “upward movement”:
Seattle Tunnel Partners is set to repair damage that occurred at Terminal 46 during the Jan. 12 barging incident. STP will remove 22 damaged timber piles from the pier at the northern edge of Terminal 46 and replace them with temporary piles. Work is expected to begin in the coming days and could take up to 10 days to complete, according to STP.
WSDOT and STP continue to work together to address the “suspension for cause” that halted tunneling and barging operations on Jan. 14. STP crews are prepared to remove excavated soil by truck if tunneling resumes before the pier at Terminal 46 is repaired.
You can watch the pier repairs unfold on our construction camera. The labels on the image (above) call out some of the key elements you’ll see in the regularly updated time-lapse images.
Ground monitoring update
It’s been approximately two weeks since Seattle Tunnel Partners turned off the deep dewatering wells that were used to control groundwater near the access pit. There was some upward ground movement in the days following the shut-off, but the movement quickly stabilized. The degree of movement tapers off over several city blocks and is uniform in nature, which poses little to no risk of damage to the Alaskan Way Viaduct or buildings.
Some ground survey points in the vicinity of the pit show as much as 3/5 inch of upward movement since Jan. 22 when STP began turning off the wells. Some of the Alaskan Way Viaduct columns and buildings show similar movement.
STP had additional, shallower dewatering wells in operation during the tunneling machine repair effort. They turned off the final two shallow wells on Thursday evening. STP and WSDOT continue to monitor the ground, buildings, utilities and the viaduct.
When the digging stopped last month, WSDOT says, 1,280 feet of tunneling was complete, of the expected 9,270 feet.
(Westside School photo from 72-70 victory over Holy Rosary)
Congratulations and good luck to the 8th-grade boys-varsity basketball team at Westside School (WSB sponsor), which is playing for the CYO championship tomorrow – a historic milestone for the school, says Westside’s Ted Holmes:
This was the first time a Westside School basketball team has played a varsity schedule, the first time a Westside School sports team has won a playoff game, and now the first time a Westside School team has advanced to the championship game.
Westside School defeated St Francis in the quarterfinals last Saturday 44-32, and then beat arch rival Holy Rosary for the second time this season last Sunday, 55-46. Westside School trailed to Holy Rosary at half 27-18, but scored 19 points in the third quarter and 17 more in the fourth, to come back and secure the win. Westside School will face St Edward in the championship.
The game is at 4:30 pm Saturday at Bishop Blanchet (8200 Wallingford Ave. N.).
(Click any view for a close-up)
6:55 AM: Happy Friday! No incidents in or from West Seattle so far. One alert, for tomorrow:
CRANE REMOVAL AT 35TH/AVALON: Here’s the alert we published Thursday. The contractor says four lanes adjacent to the Aura mixed-use project on 35th south of Avalon will be closed for most of Saturday as they remove the tower crane. Avoid the area. No bus rerouting announced.
7:24 AM: SDOT reports a crash blocking the left lane of the eastbound bridge at 4th Avenue South.
7:56 AM: SDOT says that’s cleared.
8:16 AM: Crash reported at 14th/Henderson is not affecting traffic. SPD tells us a drowsy driver hit a parked car; 2 people hurt.
8:59 AM: Added a photo from 14th/Henderson scene. SPD says the truck at left was headed west on Henderson when the driver veered out of his lane and into the parked pickup.
1:10 PM: Added – another weekend traffic advisory, this one for the south side of downtown, but you might be interested:
The Seattle Department of Transportation advises travelers of weekend closure of 4th Avenue South (northbound one-way) between South Jackson and South Main streets. 4th Avenue South will be closed from Saturday February 6th at 1 a.m. to Sunday, February 7th at 11:59 p.m. for removal of a tower crane by a private construction company. Metro transit will be able to pass thru on the west side of the bus island, not general traffic.
(WSB photos)
2:18 AM: If you heard the sirens: A Seattle Fire “heavy rescue” response went out a few minutes ago for a crash at 36th and Morgan. It’s already been scaled back to some degree; we’re on our way to find out more.
2:40 AM: One woman has been taken to the hospital, police tell us. A car is on its side in the planting strip on the east side of 36th south of Morgan; what appears to have been a parked pickup (now pointed uphill, southbound) has major rear-end damage.
2:52 AM: Morgan is open again after more SFD units left. Tow truck is arriving.
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