West Seattle, Washington
27 Wednesday
The photo shows the turnout for the first ride-in of the new West Seattle Motorcycle Club, courtesy of Glenn Bell, who explains, “A couple of us here in the Admiral ride together and we thought it would be great to meet others that ride as well. We thought we would give it a go and start the West Seattle Motorcycle Club!” Last night was their first “ride-in”; they plan to do it every second Tuesday, hosted by Pizzeria 22 in Admiral. Glenn added, “As of now, we really are just about meeting folks in the area that share a similar interest in motorcycles.” Interested in joining? Check out their Facebook group.
Checked out the map yet for this Saturday’s West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, 320+ sales of all sizes, all around the peninsula? Find the clickable online version here; the printable/downloadable map/guide here (19-page PDF).
In the final days before sale day, we usually bring you some lists and highlights. Tonight, a list of the sales that identified themselves as benefits (full descriptions, with spotlighted items, are on the map):
Sale #27, 5637 42nd SW, raising money “to benefit Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp for adults and children with disabilities.”
Sale #43, 8436 Fauntleroy Way SW, raising money for DKG, to “benefit women educators in advancing their professional knowledge and skills.”
Sale #90, 6337 35th SW, at, and raising money for, Safe Futures Youth Center.
Sale #99, 4611 35th Ave SW: Brookdale West Seattle, to benefit “Walk to End Alzheimer’s fundraiser. All proceeds from garage sale, lemonade and hot dogs, and ticket sales will go to the Alzheimer’s Association.”
Sale #101, 2653 Belvidere Ave SW, donating half the proceeds “to Powerful Voices, a local non-profit that fosters the development of strong girls.”
Sale #107, 9337 32nd Ave SW, proceeds “will be given to West Seattle Relay For Life.”
Sale #126, 5257 36th Ave SW, is the West Seattle Rainbow Girls youth group’s “fundraiser for PICC and FAF.”
Sale #154, 4102 38th Ave SW, “proceeds to benefit Pathfinder’s Earth Project.”
Sale #162, 4116 California Ave SW, proceeds “to Tilted Thunder Railbirds, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization run by a volunteer force of skaters & league members committed to promoting and raising awareness of women’s roller derby.”
Sale #167, 4024 55th Ave SW; “proceeds will be donated to our good friend Rina Prasad for her upcoming medical bills.”
Sale #186, 4136 Beach Drive SW, a big benefit sale for the American Cancer Society, back this year after taking a year off.
Sale #222: 4726 50th Ave SW – “Help us fund a little house for LIHI (Low Income Housing Institute).”
Sale #230, 3222 64th Ave SW: “Portion goes to Breathe Deep Seattle.”
Sale #245, 4803 SW Niesz Court, “Teen Missions Fundraiser.”
Sale #257, 3855 48th Ave SW: “Come help our Girl Scout Troop raise money for charity!”
Sale #278, 3000 California Ave SW: “West Seattle High School … All proceeds support the 2016 Senior Class Graduation Night party, a safe, fun, and chaperoned all-night graduation party for Seniors.”
Sale #331, 1812 SW Myrtle St: “Sanislo Elementary School Community Sale! Bake Sale. Proceeds will fund our afterschool programs next year.”
Sale 333, 6335 40th Ave SW – “Large used-book sale, some books being donated to benefit Furry Faces Foundation.”
(Did we miss anyone who mentioned a benefit sale when registering? garagesale@westseattleblog.com so we can add to this list! Donation sites will be on westseattlegaragesale.com soon.)
P.P.S. Another big benefit happening the same day, not directly affiliated with WSCGSD but we always ask that you include it in your plan for the day, whether you’re selling or shopping, since it’s also on the second Saturday each year – the Stamp Out Hunger letter carriers’ food drive – put out a bag of nonperishable food by your mailbox, door, wherever your carrier can pick it up!
Toplines from Tuesday night’s Fauntleroy Community Association board meeting:
HOUSE OR PARKLAND? FCA talked about the proposal presented last month by Seattle Parks’ Chip Nevins, a potential trade between the city and county, involving the house next to Cove Park north of the ferry dock – 8923 Fauntleroy Way SW – which the county had bought to use as a construction office and staging area during the Barton Pump Station Upgrade Project, but no longer needs. It’s on a 35-foot-wide strip of beach just beyond the sign in the photo below:
FCA had understood that it would revert to single-family-house use, for which it’s zoned, after the project, though they haven’t yet discovered if that commitment is in writing somewhere. Nevins presented a proposal in which the county would trade it to the city in exchange for a street vacation giving it street-end land that’s part of the pump-station site. If the home site became parkland, it could expand Cove Park, a community-maintained sliver of beachfront.
Many details are yet to be worked out, including gathering of community feedback, with a public meeting set for May 24, 6:30 pm, at The Hall at Fauntleroy.
The FCA board decided not to take a position. But they do want to get out some information to clarify issues, questions, and misperceptions, and plan to publish it on the FCA website soon. For one, they think there may be a lack of awareness of the park that’s already there, possibly related to its below-street-level location as well as the fact it was closed for three years during the pump-station upgrade. They’re also concerned about the economic ramifications of turning the site into parkland and taking it out of the tax base. The property had sold for almost a million dollars before the project.
ENDOLYNE TRIANGLE WORK: Quick update on this, two months after SDOT’s Jim Curtin had come to the FCA board meeting to talk about the changes to be made to this area on the east side of the Endolyne business district. Marty Westerman, who’s been point person on the project, said Curtin told him the work will be done by the end of June; as the result of an informal vote at the end of last month’s FCA board meeting, the painted curb bulbs on the street will be brick red.
The FCA board meets second Tuesdays, 7 pm, at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse. Watch fauntleroy.net for updates between meetings.
Charges also were filed today in another case we’ve been following – the “brazen burglary” case from last Friday, in which a resident came face to face with an intruder in her residence near the Luna Park business district.
The suspect, 41-year-old Thomas L. Nebel, is charged with residential burglary. He has been in jail since Friday, with bail set at $7,500. Charging documents say this is his first criminal charge in King County, but he has a record in Snohomish County and “extensive criminal history in Idaho, Oregon, and Alaska,” with convictions including burglary, assault, battery, and forgery. The mugshot at right is from 1999, the only time Nebel was in Washington Department of Corrections custody, and so the only mugshot that was available for us to request in our state (we’re checking to see if anything’s available from the other states).
Elaborating on the reader report we published from the burglary victim, the probable-cause document included with charging papers says she arrived at her home around 11:30 am Friday after getting word the fire alarm had gone off. SFD found no evidence of a fire and left; that’s when police say the victim found Nebel in a downstairs bedroom. They say he fled the house and ran into the greenbelt, where neighbors saw him; he knocked on one neighbor’s door and asked to use a phone, saying he was being chased, but he didn’t call anyone, and subsequently hid in that neighbor’s house. Police were alerted and found him hiding in bushes by a balcony, with a backpack and bag nearby that didn’t belong to the homeowner. Police say the victim’s house had been entered via a broken window.
Another followup on the North Delridge gunfire incident last weekend: The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged 29-year-old 
Dale G. Hiller with first-degree unlawful-firearm possession and two drug charges, one for meth possession and one for cocaine possession. Hiller, as reported here, was arrested at Delridge/Genesee late Saturday night; In a followup Monday, we reported that his bail was set at $150,000 on Monday and he was released after posting bond hours later. The charging documents say Hiller lost his gun-possession rights after being convicted of second-degree assault in early 2007, also noting: “He has a lengthy history of gun crimes, drug crimes, and violent crimes.” The documents recap what we reported after getting the probable-cause documents on Monday, that a backpack and shell casings were found near the arrest scene; the former contained a .22 caliber revolver as well as drugs and cash that totaled, with what was found in Hiller’s wallet, almost $3,000. His photo published here is from the Department of Corrections; as we reported in the discussion following Monday’s story, he was sentenced in 2013 to 3 1/2 years for an attempted home-invasion-style burglary in Burien. The charging documents say that his post-prison probation (“community custody”) ended on May 2nd, five days before his North Delridge arrest. He is due in court May 25th for arraignment.
(UPDATED THURSDAY MORNING with some clarification on the lane closures under the bridge, in case you wondered too)
(WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli, from 2012 cushion-replacing work that’s about to be redone)
4:02 PM: Quick update on the upcoming Fauntleroy Expressway earthquake-safety cushion re-replacement project: While SDOT’s most-recent announcement said the first overnight closure of the west end of the bridge would be this Sunday night, we noticed a signboard that said Monday night (May 16th), so we checked with project spokesperson Paul Elliott. He tells WSB that indeed, next Monday night will be the first closure. Meantime, he says they are still awaiting detailed information on the lane-closure plans for surface Spokane Street under the bridge.
6:08 PM: A full announcement is now out:
The first overnight closure of the Fauntleroy Expressway will occur this coming Monday, May 16, at 9 p.m., a delay of one day from the previously announced schedule.
The Monday night bridge closure will be the first of an expected 40-50 weeknight closures necessary to complete the Fauntleroy Expressway Bearing Pad Replacement Project. On these nights, the Expressway will be closed from just west of the Delridge Way SW on/off ramp westward to where the road turns south (where the road is no longer a bridge).
Once the weeknight closures begin, they will regularly run from Sunday evenings until Friday morning. Each night the bridge will close at 9 p.m. and will reopen the following morning at 5 a.m. The bridge will NOT be closed on Friday or Saturday evenings, and the closure start time will be delayed until 11 p.m. on those nights when the Mariners or Sounders are playing and expecting attendance of 20,000 or more.
During the closure, westbound motorists will be detoured off the Expressway at the Delridge Way SW exit, and directed to proceed westbound on surface Spokane St to SW Avalon Way. At that point, motorists can turn north or south, depending on their ultimate destination. Eastbound motorists will be detoured from the Expressway at 35th Ave SW, where they will be directed eastbound onto SW Avalon Way. That street quickly turns to head north. At Spokane St, motorists will be directed eastbound on surface Spokane St below the bridge, and will use the Delridge Way on-ramp to access the high level bridge and the Expressway headed east.
Construction crews will be replacing the 674 bearing pads on the Fauntleroy Expressway, a complicated job requiring the bridge to be jacked from underneath to access and replace the bearing pads. Construction crews will set the jacks from underneath the bridge during the day, with the actual jacking and bearing pad replacement occurring at night when the bridge is closed.
The daytime work will require periodic closures of one of the surface lanes of Spokane St below the bridge. To minimize the impact to rush hour traffic, two lanes of eastbound traffic will remain open until 9 a.m. each day, while two westbound lanes will remain open after 3:30 p.m. each day.
ADDED THURSDAY MORNING: We asked SDOT for some clarification on the lane closures, and just received the replies. First – will the lanes be closed in their entirety beneath that section of the bridge? Reply: “No. They will only be closing a lane adjacent to their work. So we don’t expect the lane closure to be more than a block or two in length.” And: “There are no plans to close more than one lane in either direction on Spokane Street.”
Reminder for everyone who travels the busy multipoint Avalon/Yancy/30th/Andover intersection between The Triangle and Luna Park – the last major component of the safety project is in place now, the striped intersection you see in our photo, and the pedestrian-activated flashing-light signs on both sides of it, so please be extra watchful. SDOT pointed out – when announcing exactly two months ago that the project was about to begin – that this was a Neighborhood Street Fund project proposed via the Delridge District Council.
That’s just one of the eye-catching cars shown off at last year’s West Seattle Car Show, first one in the big north lot at South Seattle College, sponsored by Swedish Automotive and West Seattle Autoworks, which want you to know that registration for this year is OPEN! Here’s what you need to know:
*The show will be on Saturday, August 27th from 10:00 – 4:00
*Car entry starts at 8:00 and judging is at 3:00, show wraps up at 4:00.
*It is a community event that supports the auto technology program at South Seattle College.
*Entry is free for spectators; costs for car entry are on the website
*More (20) trophy categories
*Dash plaques for first 200 entries
*T-shirts
See you at SSC! (a WSB sponsor, as are Swedish & WS Autoworks)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Three weeks down, “several more months” to go.
Most late nights and early morning, somewhere in West Seattle, Seattle Public Utilities workers are flushing another section of our area’s aged water mains, to tackle the “brown water” problems that have vexed customers around the area.
To get the root cause – rust and sediment – out of the system, however, stirs it up in some spots – so, as was the case for a reader who e-mailed us early today, it gets temporarily worse in order to get better.
Meantime, we’ve checked with SPU for an update on how the project – first previewed here March 31st – is going, including one change in the plan, plus we have a firsthand look at what happens at a flushing scene:
(Fauntleroy Creek – photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
Here’s your highlight slate for what’s ahead today/tonight, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
TODDLER STORY TIME: 10:30-11 am at Southwest Library. (35th SW/SW Henderson)
PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: 10:30-11 am at West Seattle (Admiral) Library. (2306 42nd SW)
BABY STORY TIME: 11:30-noon at High Point Library. (35th SW/SW Raymond)
LOCAL BUSINESS MEETUP: Take a break at noon and go meet your fellow local entrepreneurs at West Seattle Office Junction (WSB sponsor)! Bring your own lunch and see who else shows up. (6040 California SW)
SOMALI STORY TIME: 5-5:30 pm at High Point Library. (35th SW/SW Raymond)
WSHS DIVERSITY DINNER: West Seattle High School‘s Diversity Club invites everyone in the community to tonight’s Diversity Dinner, 6-8 pm. It’s a potluck, so bring something if you can. Most important, though, to bring yourself – and family, friends, neighbors … (3000 California SW)
34TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS’ ENDORSEMENT MEETING: 7 pm at The Hall at Fauntleroywww, our area’s largest political organization considers endorsements for more of this year’s races – see the agenda here. (9131 California SW)
SEE WHAT ELSE IS UP … on our complete calendar.
8:50 AM: The founder and namesake of West Seattle to White Center to West Seattle restaurant Meander’s says she’s out. Here’s what Miranda Krone posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page this morning, three months after its newest incarnation opened in the ex-Kokoras Greek Grill space in Morgan Junction:
Well, golly folks. I guess I spoke too soon; stick a fork in it, Meander’s is done.
Kim has decided to dissolve our partnership, effective immediately.
I understand that she has chosen to forge on with her own restaurant and her own menu in the space, but it is no longer Meander’s.
To all of the friends and neighbors who have supported us through the years, thank you. You have no idea how much you’ve meant to me, and how much I’ll miss you.
We had been in contact with Krone recently while seeking more information on the liquor-license posting at the former Ripple Café space at 35th SW/SW Henderson, which had suggested another Meander’s enterprise would open there. She tells WSB now, “That lease has since been voided.”
BACKSTORY: The California SW location was the fourth location for Meander’s, which originally opened in early 2011 in the former Jade West Café at 6032 California SW (now home to Harry’s Chicken Joint). In fall 2012, the café moved to a big White Center space (now home to Noble Barton), downsizing to another WC spot about a block south in late summer 2013 until closing there last November. While her business road has been bumpy – and she acknowledges that – Krone’s fans are passionate about her food. On FB, she’s telling commenters she might try “some pop-ups” in the future.
11:30 PM: In comments, we’ve now heard from Kim Depew, who’s continuing to run the restaurant at 6400 California SW.
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
(Click any view for a close-up; more cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
6:25 AM: Good morning and welcome to Wednesday. Notes for today include:
-Day game for the first-place Mariners (12:40 pm, vs. Tampa), so expect more SODO traffic than usual in late morning/early afternoon – including school buses bringing thousands of kids for a special event explained here by SDOT.
And looking ahead:
-First Fauntleroy Expressway seismic-cushion-re-replacement-project bridge closure is expected this Sunday night.
7:51 AM: Still quiet, at least in our area.
(WSB photos by Christopher Boffoli)
Those who took the Water Taxi for the first time during our Viaductless week-plus might have glimpsed the work going on at Vigor Industrial‘s shipyards on Harbor Island, where two new Olympic-class ferries are now under construction for Washington State Ferries, the third and fourth in the series, following Tokitae and Samish.
On Tuesday, news-media crews were invited to Vigor to tour the Chimacum, which is three-fourths complete, after its superstructure arrived by barge from a North Sound shipyard a month ago and was quickly joined to the Vigor-built hull, and to see the keel-laying ceremony marking the start of construction on the Suquamish. Photojournalist Christopher Boffoli was there for WSB. He reports:
Tuesday’s hardhat tour took us down inside the dry dock where the Chimacum is being built and up a set of stairs into the interior of the ferry:
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