West Seattle restaurants: Dumplings of Fury sets a date
9:52 PM: West Seattle’s most-asked-about restaurant-in-progress has set an opening date. During an event at Shadowland tonight, as dumplings were circulated, we heard from a reliable source that its sibling establishment Dumplings of Fury – just across the California/Oregon intersection – expects to open on Wednesday, July 20th. Looking for confirmation, we see the date announcement was tucked away in this online corner.
ADDED THURSDAY MORNING: Phone photo of aforementioned dumplings:
Summer Fest tradition: West Seattle Quilters’ raffle
As we continue previewing West Seattle Summer Fest, we have word another tradition continues this year. The announcement and photo are from West Seattle Quilters:
For the 11th year in a row, the West Seattle Quilters have created their raffle quilt to benefit the West Seattle Senior Center. The 2016 queen-sized quilt, titled “Star Dusk,” features a star pattern in quiet grays and blues, with red accents.
Raffle tickets for the quilt are $1 each, and all the money goes directly to the West Seattle Senior Center. Ticket sales begin July 8 at the West Seattle Summer Fest (look for us outside the Stop and Shop). After the festival, tickets will be available at the Senior Center at the reception desk. The drawing will be held October 28, 2016, during Rainbow Bingo at the Senior Center.
Quilters work together on the raffle quilt beginning with pattern selection in February and working through June to complete it. Last year’s raffle quilt raised $2,000 for the West Seattle Senior Center.
West Seattle Quilters meet at the Senior Center on the first and third Mondays of the month at 7pm to share quilting ideas and projects. Quilters of all ages are welcome!
Stop and Shop is on the lower level of the Sisson Building, headquarters to the Senior Center, on the southeast corner of California/Oregon, near the north end of the festival zone.
FOLLOWUP: $50,000 bail for 4th of July rifle-firing suspect
As promised, we followed up today on the case of the man arrested in North Delridge for allegedly firing what police described as an “assault rifle” on the 4th of July. We just obtained probable-cause documents from this afternoon’s bail hearing for the 29-year-old suspect, whose bail was set at $50,000.
The documents say he is a resident of the apartment in the 4100 block of 25th SW where witnesses say they saw him “shooting a long gun into the air,” an officer wrote in the report. As mentioned in yesterday’s SPD Blotter report, the shots were first heard by officers who were behind the DSHS building in the 4000 block of Delridge at the time, around 11:20 pm on the 4th, describing what they heard as “6-8 rapid-fire gunshots.” They were advised via radio that 911 calls had come in, too. When they got to the building, one officer “took up a position” behind it, their partner did the same in front, and the officer in the rear saw the suspect leaving the building shortly thereafter, “holding a long gun in his right hand.” The officer ordered him to put it down, but the suspect “ignored (the) orders and instead turned and ran back inside the building while still carrying the 
long gun.” Several minutes and repeated “orders” later, the officer writes, the suspect and nine other people left the apartment; police got a relative of the building’s owner to give consent to a search, and inside, they say, the found “an AK-47” (SPD photo at left), subsequently finding “16 spent 7.62mm casings (which they) photographed and collected” from the front yard. The report adds that the suspect “admitted to firing the weapon … stating that he fired off some celebratory rounds into the air while some fireworks were set off.” They then discovered, checking his record, that he had multiple felony convictions.
The report does not say anything about the gun and its ownership beyond the “AK-47” and “long gun” description. That information might be part of charging documents, which prosecutors could file as soon as tomorrow, before the suspect is due back in court. Online court files indicate he also lived at the 25th SW address at the time of his most recent felony conviction, a drug case dating back to the fall of 2007.
It’s West Seattle Summer Fest Eve-Eve! More updates
(UPDATED 5:18 PM with Metro’s Summer Fest reroutes, just posted)
4:24 PM: It’s the day before the night before West Seattle Summer Fest – and we have more updates on what’s happening Thursday night (Summer Fest Eve) as well as Friday-Saturday-Sunday for the festival itself:
SUMMER FEST EVE AT WEST 5: One of the original presenters of Summer Fest Eve entertainment in the street is West 5 (4539 California SW), and we just got the lineup from proprietor Dave Montoure – musicians from the Jazz Night School will be back for a second year, their Big Band and a jazz quartet.
PET JUNCTION ADDED: One more Summer Fest feature has just been added to the lineup – look for Pet Junction on the sidewalk by Next to Nature (4543 California SW).
SIDEWALK SALES: When you’re going through the Summer Fest vendor list, take note of the year-round Junction merchants who are listed too – Summer Fest has its roots in what was an annual mega-sidewalk sale, and the tradition continues for many stores.
WHERE TO FIND THE FARMERS’ MARKET ON SUNDAY: This is the second Summer Fest since the Farmers’ Market moved into the street, so maybe fewer people will be confused this year – the market DOES happen on Summer Fest Sunday, 10 am-2 pm as always (although the festival itself doesn’t start up until 11 am on Sunday), but just for that day, you’ll find it in its “old” location, the lot behind KeyBank, 44th/Alaska.
West Seattle Summer Fest’s official hours are 10 am-6 pm Friday and Saturday, 11 am-5 pm Sunday; music runs longer on Friday-Saturday (see the California Stage schedule here). Find festival info here; we’ll continue with previews through tomorrow – scroll through this WSB archive for our earlier previews – and with coverage from The Junction starting tomorrow night, throughout the weekend!
ADDED 5:18 PM: Metro has finally posted reroute information for Summer Fest, Thursday night through Sunday night. Find it here.
UPDATE: Why the Guardian One helicopter was over South Delridge
2:56 PM: Police are checking out a report of an “agitated” man near Delridge and Barton, carrying something that looks like a pole or a machete, and since the Guardian One helicopter wasn’t far away, its crew volunteered to come take a look too. This might not turn out to be much of anything but since the helicopter will immediately attract a lot of attention, we’re mentioning it and will be monitoring.
3:00 PM: Police are reported to have made contact with the man.
3:07 PM: Our ground crew verified police were talking with that man (photo above), though we don’t know what the item he was reportedly carrying turned out to be. Meantime, the helicopter has since moved a short distance to check out the 9000 block of 17th SW, where police tell us there was a report of a possible prowler in back yards.
Why the average electric bill is about to go up ~$1
(UPDATED 3:49 PM to clarify that the average bill will go up $1 – your bill may vary)
(Seattle City Light image: Gorge Dam)
The average electricity bill is going up about a dollar starting next month. Seattle City Light‘s announcement explains the surcharge it’s about to add, and might be keeping for a few years. In short – blame it on the weather:
Low revenue from the surplus energy Seattle City Light sells to other utilities has triggered a 1.5 percent surcharge on electricity rates, starting in August.
City Light generates power at its hydroelectric projects. When the utility has more electricity than its customers need, it sells that power to other utilities and uses the money to keep prices low for its retail customers. For 2016, City Light anticipated $60 million in revenue from such wholesale energy sales, but the utility is on track to earn only about $43.5 million as a result of warm spring weather at a time of low prices on the wholesale energy market. The warm weather melted mountain snow earlier than is typical, which meant City Light’s hydroelectric projects were producing surplus energy at a time of lower demand and lower prices than the utility might have seen in June or July.
To make up the difference between what was expected in the budget and actual revenue, City Light draws from a rate stabilization account created in 2010 to offset the volatility that comes with generating and selling hydropower. If the amount in the account dips to $90 million or below, a 1.5 percent surcharge is automatically applied to every customer’s bill until the account is refilled to $100 million.
The rate stabilization account had $89.1 million in it June 30, which triggers a surcharge that will be applied to customer bills, starting in August. The surcharge will add $1 to the typical residential customer bill every month. This is the first time an automatic surcharge has been triggered since the rate stabilization account was created.
Based on current financial forecasts, City Light projects that the surcharge could stay in place into 2019. Should the rate stabilization account’s balance fall to $80 million or below, the surcharge would automatically increase to 3 percent.
Once the account balance is refilled to $100 million, the surcharge is automatically removed. If strong surplus energy sales ever push the rate stabilization account’s balance to more than $125 million, the City Council can choose to reduce rates, have City Light pay down existing debt or direct the utility to pay for capital expenses with cash instead of borrowing money.
Time’s running out: Terminal 5 comment deadline Friday afternoon
(WSB file photo of Terminal 5)
If you have something to say about the proposed “modernization” project at West Seattle’s Terminal 5 – especially something you hope the project will include, in response to environmental factors including traffic, noise, water quality, air quality – you’re running out of time to say it during this round of planning. You might recall that the comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement was extended, by community request, after last month’s public hearings; the new deadline is just two days away – 4 pm Friday, July 8th. Information that might help:
Official Port links:
The “online public meeting”
Volume 1 of the Draft EIS document (13 MB PDF)
Volume 2 of the Draft EIS document (65 MB PDF)
Other links of potential interest:
WSB coverage of the first community meeting on June 5th
WSB coverage of the second community meeting on June 9th
WSB coverage of T-5 discussion at West Seattle Transportation Coalition in May
WSB coverage of official DEIS release announcement in May
Neighbors’ concerns/petition
So, you know what you want to say, but want to know how to say it? Here’s how to comment, from the Port website:
The comment period will end at 4 p.m., July 8. Comments can be submitted online at t5eis.publicmeeting.info and via email at SEPA.p@portseattle.org.
Written comments can be mailed to:
Paul Meyer (Email: meyer.p@portseattle.org)
Environmental Services
Port of Seattle
P.O. Box 1209
Seattle, WA 98111
West Seattle Wednesday: From low-low tide to local ballot measures…
(It’s ‘Woodpecker Wednesday,’ per Mark Wangerin, who photographed this female downy woodpecker)
LAST OF THE SUMMER’S LOW-LOW TIDES: 12:50 pm today brings the last lower-than-minus-two-feet low-low tide of the summer, -2.2 feet. And it’s the Seattle Aquarium beach naturalists’ last day until mid-July; they’re scheduled to be out at Constellation and Lincoln Parks, 11 am-3 pm.
LUNCH AT THE LIBRARY: No proof of income or other documentation required – kids and teens can get free lunch 12:30-1:30 pm today (and Tuesdays-Wednesdays-Thursdays through Sept. 1) at Delridge Library. (5423 Delridge Way SW)
PLAY GAMES FROM AROUND THE WORLD: 3-4 pm at Southwest Library, geared toward K-5-aged kids. (35th SW/SW Henderson)
2ND HIGH POINT MARKET GARDEN FARM STAND: 4-7 pm, buy fresh West Seattle-grown vegetables and flowers, steps from where they were picked! For an idea of what’s sold and for how much, see our report from last Wednesday’s season-opener. (32nd SW/SW Juneau)
SOMALI STORYTIME: 5-5:30 pm at the High Point Library, it’s story time in Somali. All welcome. (35th SW/SW Raymond)
BALLOT MEASURES @ SWDC: 6:30 pm at the Sisson Building/Senior Center, the Southwest District Council meets, with the agenda including the August 2nd election’s two Seattle ballot measures – Prop 1, the Housing Levy, and I-123, the elevated waterfront park. Here’s our preview from last night. All welcome. (California SW/SW Oregon)
LOTS OF NIGHTLIFE: Music, trivia, more – see the listings on our complete calendar!
SUNDAY: West Seattle Bike Connections invites you to 4th annual ‘mini-STP’ ride
(Photo from 1st ‘STP’ ride in 2013, courtesy West Seattle Bike Connections)
Going to West Seattle Summer Fest on Sunday? Here’s a memorable way to get there: For the fourth year, West Seattle Bike Connections invites you to join its “Mini-STP” ride, which travels (mostly on) California Avenue SW from Seattle (Street, in North Admiral) to Portland (Street, in Gatewood) and then backtracks to the festival. In case you haven’t seen it yet in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, here’s the invite:
Have you ever wanted to do the Seattle to Portland bike ride? And never trained for it, or forgot to sign up? Here is your chance to do it in 2 hours and end up at a huge finish line party, without leaving West Seattle!
Sunday, July 10
9:15 am start
Hamilton Viewpoint Park
West Seattle Bike Connections will be riding again from SW Seattle Street to SW Portland St … and back north to Summer Fest at the West Seattle Junction, for a fabulous finish-line party. After an hour or two there, participants can ride home independently, or ride with a leader back to Hamilton Viewpoint.
Easy pace. Family friendly! For children riding their own bikes: parent or guardian please read and conform to Cascade‘s policy and call ride leader at least a day in advance.
Find even more info, including a route map, on WSBC’s website.
TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Post-holiday Wednesday
(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)
6:34 AM: Good morning! No incidents in/from West Seattle so far, but with more people getting back to work today after an extended holiday weekend, traffic volumes are increasing.
SUMMER FEST ROAD CLOSURES START TOMORROW NIGHT: Another reminder – Friday, Saturday, and Sunday bring West Seattle Summer Fest to the heart of The Junction. 6 pm Thursday is when the road closures begin, for setup – California SW between Edmunds and Genesee, SW Alaska between 44th and 42nd. Metro’s festival-related reroutes still aren’t up; if that changes later today, we’ll update here.
ALSO THIS WEEKEND: If you are headed off-peninsula, take note of big projects on southbound I-5 in south King County and eastbound I-90 just east of I-5 – WSDOT has details of both here.
FAUNTLEROY EXPRESSWAY PROJECT: We verified yesterday with SDOT that the remainder of the earthquake-safety project, which had been closing the west end of the West Seattle Bridge five nights a week, is on hold until further notice, following last Friday’s deadly incident.
7:06 AM: Still quiet so far this morning. So we have another reminder:
WHAT’S NEXT FOR 35TH AVENUE SW? We’ve been waiting for months to find out when SDOT would start the next round of conversation about the rechannelization results so far and Phase 2 plans (for 35th SW, at Morgan and points north). Finally, as we reported on Tuesday, the project website has been updated with word of an August 4th meeting.
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