West Seattle, Washington
03 Tuesday
This one, we haven’t solved yet. Lots of texts – a few with photos, including the one above – wondering about this: A low-flying helicopter was off Alki for a while this evening, near a yacht at one point, near an Argosy Cruises boat at another point. Neither the boat nor the helicopter showed on trackers, so we haven’t figured out yet who/what/why – from some past stories, looked to us like a possible photo shoot. Any info, we’d love to hear it, in comments or via e-mail – editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!
7:58 PM: Getting some questions about the dark smoke to the south – thanks to Aaron for being the first person to point it out, visible from the Southwest Athletic Complex where we’re still covering Band Jam: It’s a residential fire in SeaTac, in the 20400 block of International Boulevard.
8:19 PM: Now a 2-alarm fire, per fire agencies in the area. Reported to be at a mobile-home park.
Junior All-City Band kicks off Band Jam at SW Athletic Complex. Free & fun! 7 bands schefuled. pic.twitter.com/aHaR6zRev5
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 30, 2016
6:46 PM: We’re at Southwest Athletic Complex (2801 SW Thistle, across from Chief Sealth International High School), where Band Jam 2016 is happening for at least the next hour and a half – more than half a dozen marching bands in a showcase originally organized in 2009 by All-City Band director (and new Denny International MS assistant principal) Marcus Pimpleton, meant as a tuneup for tomorrow night’s Seafair Torchlight Parade but having expanded into much more. As he said in opening remarks to the hundreds of spectators who are here for the free show, it’s also a chance for the participants to see other musicians, including adult bands like the Sounders’ Sound Wave, participating tonight. Above, the Junior All-City Band was the opening band; the 8- through 17-year-olds of Pacific Northwest Drumline are next:
Pacific NW Drumline up 2nd at Band Jam pic.twitter.com/yEZXDQE1L9
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 30, 2016
This drumline has become a regional parade favorite:
7:04 PM: Kennedy Catholic High School‘s Summer Marching Band, from just a few miles away in Burien, is on the field now:
Now on the field at Band Jam … @KennedyCathWA Summer Marching Band pic.twitter.com/xz5L2VaGSl
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 30, 2016
They won the band category at the West Seattle Grand Parade last Saturday.
Sumner High School‘s massive marching band is up next.
As announced, this band includes both middle- and high-school students.
8:07 PM: After Sumner, the All-Star Drumline from Poulsbo (Band Jam debut!):
And now Sounders FC‘s Sound Wave is rocking the stadium:
Now it's @SoundersFC Sound Wave at Band Jam! pic.twitter.com/zplz4URCc5
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 30, 2016
Show-stopper choreography as well as musicianship:
Up next: The hosts and stars of the show, All-City Band (who were the overall winners at the West Seattle Grand Parade last Saturday):
And of course … @AllCityBand as the Band Jam grand finale pic.twitter.com/9qvg0TDTAp
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 30, 2016
8:33 PM: ACB is still wowing the crowd.
ADDED EARLY SATURDAY: More photos and video added inline above – and bonus photos below: Read More
More road work you need to know about: Lower Spokane St., just east of the “low bridge,” is in for some major work starting soon. From the official project page.
Starting in early August, SDOT will repave and make other improvements along SW Spokane St from SW Klickitat St to East Marginal Way S. We expect the work will take approximately three months to complete.
Project Elements
Repave street surface
Add new pedestrian crossing (with pedestrian push button signal request) on the West Seattle Bridge Trail (west side of the intersection of SW Spokane St & Klickitat Ave SW/11th Ave SW)
Build new and upgraded curb bulbs and curb ramps
Replace 2 active railroad crossings
Remove an abandoned railroad crossing
Construct raised crosswalk on the north side of the 900 block of SW Spokane St, creating a speed bump to slow people driving as they cross the paths of people walking or biking on the West Seattle Bridge Trail
Repair sections of sidewalk and trail where tree roots have badly cracked the surface.
The project coordinator tells WSB that as of right now, this is scheduled to start on August 8th – one week from Monday.
The Seattle Preschool Program, funded by a levy voters approved two years ago, has room in West Seattle – 50 spots, to be precise. Outreach manager Rachel Schulkin e-mailed WSB to let us know, explaining, “The program is open to 3- and 4-year olds. There is no income limits on 4-year olds, ANYONE can apply for a 4-year old (And we do accept 3 year olds if they are under 300% [of the federal poverty level]. This is different from any other publicly funded preschool program in Seattle.)” Tuition is on a sliding scale – $1,070 a year if the student is from a family of 3 with $70,000 annual income; $3,096 for a student from a family of 5 with $125,000 annual income; no charge for a student from a family of 2 with $45,000 annual income. Citywide, the program will have 600 students this year, more than double what it served last year (though less than a third of its 2018 goal); the area locations with spaces are Arbor Heights, Boren, Concord, and Highland Park Elementary Schools. Apply via seattle.gov/education – ASAP.
We start this West Seattle Crime Watch roundup with a report from SPD Blotter:
HIGHLAND PARK ARRESTS: Police arrested two men, ages 23 and 24, and got a stolen van back late last night. The SPD Blotter report says it started with “a report of a white van driving up and down the street in the area of 7th Avenue SW and SW Elmgrove Street. The call stated that the two males inside the van were yelling at people as they drove by. Officers found the van in an alley in the 700 block of SW Kenyon Street and discovered both the van and its license plates had been reported stolen. As officers were examining the vehicle, a man approached them and asked them if they were looking for a vehicle driving up and down the street. This is the point at which officers became aware that the purportedly helpful man was, in fact, the driver of the stolen van. After witnesses confirmed the man’s connection to the stolen van, officers began searching for his accomplice. They soon found a second suspect hiding in some bushes in a neighboring driveway. Police discovered the second man had several warrants for his arrest, and officers also found approximately 4 grams of methamphetamine and a collection of 18 unidentified pills in the van.
CAR THEFT AND VANDALISM: Via e-mail, “(4200 block of) Beach Dr SW, stolen car and second car vandalized.” We’ll add information on the car’s make/model/plate when we get it.
CAR PROWL, WITH CLOTHING LEFT BEHIND: From N:
Just wanted to report a car prowl on the 3800 block of 33rd Ave SW sometime between 10 pm on 7/27 and 8:30 am on 7/28. Some women’s shoes were taken and middle console rifled through. This is the 2nd time in 8 months this has happened to my car. Although this time, they left this sweater behind.
Another development today in the saga of the encampment Camp Second Chance.
First, the backstory: Eleven days ago, after three months of being hosted by a church in Tukwila, the camp set up on what turned out to be private land next to the east side of the City of Seattle-owned Myers Way Parcels (WSB report, July 18th). The land’s owner asked them to leave, and they said they would.
That move last weekend took Camp Second Chance across the street (WSB report, July 24th) and just inside the Myers Way Parcels’ main gate on the west side of the street. This past Monday night, when the mayor and city department heads were in West Seattle for the Roxhill/Westwood Find It, Fix It Walk, we asked the city’s real-estate-handling department (Finance and Administrative Services) director Fred Podesta about the camp; he told us (WSB report, July 25th) it was unauthorized and would at some point be told to leave.
That point has already arrived. Polly Trout from Patacara Community Services, the nonprofit that has been working with the camp, just sent the photo atop this story, showing the eviction notice she says the city gave them yesterday, warning the area will be swept next Tuesday (August 2nd). From her e-mail:
On July 28, the City of Seattle gave official notice to Camp Second Chance that they must vacate the unused city lot that they are occupying by this coming Tuesday, August 2, or be swept. Please call Mayor Murray and ask him to give the camp three months on the site while they continue to look for a new host site.
Camp Second Chance is a sober and well managed homeless encampment. The camp is self-governing and receiving supportive services from my 501c3 nonprofit, Patacara Community Services. They have a code of conduct, 24 hour security, Honey Buckets, and trash removal. The community is clean, safe, and ethical.
Until July 18, the camp had a legal site at Riverton Park United Methodist Church in Tukwila. They were there for three months, as per their agreement with the church, and have been invited to move back there in January. However, they were unable to find another host site in time, and they wanted to honor their three month agreement with the church, so they have moved to a Seattle city owned lot that has been unused and vacant for several years. They are continuing to search for a new permitted site sponsored by a religious organization and plan to move as soon as they have located one.
The camp is home to 25 adults, one toddler, and two dogs. Most of the camp residents are working. I firmly believe that ALL people deserve a safe place to sleep, but believe me when I say: I know this community well and you will never meet a more decent and hardworking group of citizens and neighbors. Seattle has declared a state of emergency around homelessness; right now, there are probably 100 homeless encampments in Seattle. All of them are necessary, under the circumstances, because people have no place else to go.
The camp residents do more than just care for themselves and each other. They also give back to the neighborhood by doing voluntary outreach and resource referral to other homeless people in the area, and deter crime and illegal dumping on their block.
I urge you to contact Mayor Murray and ask him: With so much suffering in the city, why is the city spending tax dollars to sweep an encampment that is sober and well managed, on public land that would not otherwise be in use? Please urge him to stop ALL sweeps until everyone has a safe and legal place to be, but especially not to prioritize sweeping a camp that is doing such a stellar job of providing safety, compassion, dignity, and hope to its members. …
Trout asks anyone with a site to offer to contact her at polly@patacara.org and asks supporters to contact FAS director Podesta, and/or Mayor Murray and/or City Councilmembers. Just last night, by the way, City Councilmember Lisa Herbold – whose district includes the Myers Way Parcels – included information on the encampment situation in her latest update to constituents. You can read it in full here; this excerpt seems to run contrary to what is happening now:
… Over the months that I have been on the City Council there has been much discussion of how the City should work with people living in encampments. We are a City with very long lines for shelter and years’ long waiting lists for affordable housing and rent assistance. Whether caused by a lack of access to housing or a reluctance to accept help when available, sometime it takes time for outreach workers to help campers. As part of these discussions I have urged the Executive not only to have its work guided by established public health and safety prioritization criteria, but I’ve asked whether outreach workers have the ability to ask for more time if – in their estimation – more time would help get campers access to services. I have been assured that the Executive’s administrative protocols do allow for a “go slow” approach in these instances. As it relates specifically to the Myers Way properties, I have told the Executive that:
I understand that complaints have been made about the encampment and that this obligates the City to accept those complaints;
As it relates to acting on these complaints, I believe health and safety prioritization criteria should be used in determining when to schedule action on this encampment;
I want a report on the outreach and services being provided to the campers with assurances that should outreach workers find that more time will result in better outcomes for the campers that more time will be given;
and I’d like the City, in the interim, to provide garbage services for the campers, consistent with the encampment garbage removal project I proposed in March.
We’ll be checking with her this afternoon during her local office hours as to what she knows about the planned sweep at the site. (Added 3:25 pm: We talked with Councilmember Herbold at SWNSC a short time ago. She said she is aware of the sweep plan but has yet to hear back on the requests she made prior to writing her update, which in turn was before word that the camp had received notice to clear out.)
(back to original report) Meantime, Polly Trout’s e-mail ended with this:
This crisis does not go away when we turn our heads. If we work together and act now, we can fix this. Please join me in doing everything we can to make sure every person has a safe place to sleep tonight. I don’t want to live in a county where this kind of suffering is normalized. I don’t want my kids to grow up thinking that when women are beaten to death under bridges because nobody cares enough to give them a safe place to sleep we just ignore it, because there is nothing we can do about it. This is NOT inevitable and we CAN end this. But not by chasing homeless people around and destroying their survival gear while public land goes unused behind locked gates. That is not working. If the camp needs to move, let’s all work together to find them a better and legal place to be and then move them there.
Thanks to Melissa for the beautiful photo from Alki this morning. She says she was out swimming this morning when she spotted porpoises shortly after 6:30 am. Too far to be seen from the photo – but she wanted to share this view of our area’s glorious beauty anyway. (Photos always welcome – editor@westseattleblog.com is the best way to send, but texting to 206-293-6302 also works, especially if it’s breaking news.)
Now, highlights for the rest of today/tonight:
COUNCILMEMBER HERBOLD’S OFFICE HOURS: Noon-7 pm, you’ll find this area’s City Councilmember Lisa Herbold keeping office hours at Southwest Neighborhood Service Center. You’re welcome to drop in, she says, as long as you arrive by 6:30. (2801 SW Thistle)
BAND JAM: Gates open 5:30 pm, music starting around 6:30 pm at Southwest Athletic Complex for this marching-band extravaganza, held annually on the night before the Seafair Torchlight Parade, hosted by the All-City Band, which is among the performers (updated list is in our preview from earlier this week). Free but bring $ for fundraising concessions. (2801 SW Thistle)
DINNER WITH ELVIS: 5:30 pm happy hour, 6:30 pm show (Bret Wiggins as The King) at the Senior Center of West Seattle – check to see if there’s room left; info’s in our calendar listing! (California SW/SW Oregon)
34TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS’ CASINO NIGHT: 6 pm at Duos Lounge – this area’s largest political organization is having a Casino Night instead of a Garden Party this year. Details in our calendar listing, including how to check if tickets are still available. (2940 SW Avalon Way)
SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK: 7 pm at Camp Long, it’s the next free Shakespeare in the Park production by GreenStage – “Merry Wives of Windsor.” Full details in our calendar listing. (5400 35th SW)
/MUSIC AT THE COFFEEHOUSE: Jan Mandryk plays original music and classic rock at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7-9 pm. (5612 California SW)
MOVIE IN THE PARK: Another movie night in the “park” next to West Seattle Church of the Nazarene, showing “Iron Giant” tonight around 9 pm. Free hot dogs, soda, popcorn. (42nd SW/SW Juneau)
LOTS MORE on our calendar – see it all here!
(Photos courtesy Dr. Bryan Wiebe)
Starting next week, you’ll find longtime WSB sponsor Dr. Bryan Wiebe and his Fauntleroy Chiropractic team in a brand-new location. Here’s the announcement:
After 18 years on Fauntleroy Way, Fauntleroy Chiropractic (Dr. Bryan Wiebe and team) is moving to 4154 California Ave SW as of August 1st!
Fauntleroy Chiropractic was established in the early ’80s by Dr. Greg Tindal (now passed) and taken over by Dr. Wiebe in 1998. In that time, thousands of patients have seen Dr. Wiebe and his team of massage therapists.
This move will continue to allow us to serve the West Seattle community, in a space that is contemporary and congruent. The space was originally a dental office, and recently remodeled by the last tenant, an online advertising company.
The interior has been entirely updated with a remodel that nods to its mid-century history. The original atrium/light bays allow natural light in while maintaining privacy.
“It’s a special place,” says Dr. Wiebe, “with a good degree of WOW factor. Besides stable and classy, it really feels like a healthy space.”
As of August 1st, Dr. Wiebe will be seeing patients at the new location on the regular Monday to Friday schedule. Massage is available daily, including weekends.
Phone number’s the same – 206.932.6605. The new location is on the north edge of The Junction – here’s a map.
(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)
7:02 AM: Good morning and happy Friday! No major incidents in or from West Seattle.
WEEKEND ALERTS: Here’s the SDOT roundup of what’s happening around the city this weekend, most notably the Seafair Torchlight Parade downtown on Saturday night, which brings road closures and bus reroutes. … If you’re headed for South King County or points southward via I-5, another weekend of lane closures for road work is ahead.
7:27 AM: Just texted and tweeted by Metro:
Transit Alert – Route 56 to downtown Seattle due to leave Alki at 7:53 AM has been canceled this morning.
— King County Metro (@kcmetrobus) July 29, 2016
8:10 AM: We’re expecting highs in the 80s again today and tomorrow and a concerned West Seattleite asked us to remind you PLEASE don’t leave your pet in your vehicle, even with a window cracked open. The temperatures can rise dramatically and dangerously. Yesterday there was apparently a bit of a scene in The Junction when a dog was locked in a car, windows up; concerned passersby tried to find its person, who eventually showed up and was quoted as saying something like, it hasn’t even been half an hour. That would have been more than enough time for the animal’s life to be in danger. Even if you “think” it will be OK – don’t run the risk.
8:28 AM: WSDOT is clearing a stall on northbound I-5 at a spot that appears to be just north of the West Seattle Bridge.
8:30 AM: And now there’s word of a crash at 8th/Roxbury. Heading off for a look.
8:52 AM: No photo because we were driving, but it’s a 2-vehicle crash in westbound lanes, affecting the entire intersection. Eastbound was at a near-standstill for a while. Private ambulance called for someone
9:35 AM: Just checked back – 8th/Roxbury crash scene is now completely clear.
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