West Seattle, Washington
27 Saturday
As reported here one week ago, SDOT has started marking Admiral Way for forthcoming changes a year and a half in the making. That’s one of two major topics just announced by Admiral Neighborhood Association president Larry Wymer for next Tuesday’s meeting:
*Dawn Schellenberg and Sam Woods from SDOT will be returning for their 3rd visit to our group to provide their latest update – and Q&A session – on the SW Admiral Way Safety Project. They both conducted an on-site ‘Walk & Talk’ session on August 20 which some of you were at, and are now involved in “preparatory work” including marking the roadway for upcoming lane changes as part of the final design. Construction should begin within a matter of weeks, with the exact schedule announced prior to our meeting.
*Jesse Robbins is doing research across Seattle to learn if and how noise pollution from, among other things, cars and motorcycles with loud mufflers is a problem among residents. He has been visiting neighborhood organizations throughout Seattle as part of this research project, and is now focusing on neighborhoods throughout West Seattle to make sure our voices are heard. He welcomes any insight Admiral residents can provide towards his research in proving that vehicle noise pollution is still a problem, and working towards resolving with the right prioritization of focus and resources among city officers.
The ANA meets at The Sanctuary at Admiral, at 2656 42nd Ave SW. Our monthly meetings are held the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend.
I love you.
Chad
Those words are tattooed on the inside of Laura Crooks‘s left wrist:
Her son’s last written words.
Chad Crooks died by suicide last January, at 21. (You might have read his obituary here.)
Within weeks, Laura and husband Todd found themselves turning their grief into action.
“For his service, people wanted to have a way to donate to something. We couldn’t really find anything that that people could donate to for psychiatry” – so they found themselves setting up a foundation, Chad’s Legacy Project.
This Saturday night (September 10th) at Duos Lounge in West Seattle (2940 SW Avalon Way), you are invited to be part of the foundation’s first fundraiser “Unmask the Night,” which has a very specific goal – to fund a summit next year to bring together people who can make a difference on the issues the Crooks family has prioritized, from “ideas about what should change because of the care Chad received, or didn’t receive.”
You see – suicide isn’t what you might think it is. It is seldom simply a decision someone takes because of a life crisis. It is far more often a deadly symptom of mental illness. For Chad, that illness was schizophrenia, which is often first diagnosed just as a person is coming into young adulthood – already a vulnerable and challenging time. He was diagnosed less than a year before his death.
“There’s so much to be done,” Laura said. They want to support education to end the stigma of mental illness, better care for people living with it, research to find cures. Mental illness can be curable, not just treatable, she says – “we just haven’t studied it (enough) yet.” Read More
Another milestone in West Seattle Nursery‘s expansion project – as you might have noticed if you have gone by along California SW, the greenhouse is now going up. WSN’s Marie McKinsey sent the photo and tells WSB, “The office building is pretty much complete and now the greenhouse is being built. We hope to see the carbonite ‘glass’ panels added within the next couple of weeks.” Ventana Construction is building the expansion, and the architect LD Arch Design (both are WSB sponsors). As reported here last year, the expansion on the existing nursery’s north side is also expected to include a new classroom, gift/house-plant shop, and coffee bar.
(Empty Terminal 5, steps away from site of today’s lunch – WSB photo)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Tough questions for Port of Seattle/Northwest Seaport Alliance leadership at the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce lunch meeting that just wrapped up at port-owned Jack Block Park.
Top topics: The proposed Terminal 5 expansion – and whether it would go forward without a tenant being signed – and the Hanjin bankruptcy.
(WSB photo, L-R: Commissioner John Creighton, deputy CEO Kurt Beckett)
First to speak, Port Commissioner John Creighton, who made note of the recent one-year anniversary of the teaming of Seattle and Tacoma in the Northwest Seaport Alliance. He said that from a variety of standpoints, “it’s really worked wonderfully. … We had to change what we were doing, to remain relevant …”
As for the Port of Seattle itself, Creighton declared it to be “at a good place … we still have a lot of challenges, but they’re good challenges,” such as “growing like gangbusters at the airport.”
It’s West Seattle Art Walk night! That tops our quick look at calendar highlights. As always, the Art Walk runs 6 pm-9 pm, and this month’s venue list/map is above. Note that Art Walk night is always special at Viscon Cellars (5910 California SW; WSB sponsor), whose tasting room is usually only open on Fridays and Saturdays, but you can stop in on Art Walk night too and sit down for a glass of award-winning wine. That and other venues are highlighted on the official Art Walk website.
Also today/tonight:
DELRIDGE GROCERY FARMSTAND: 4-7 pm next to the Delridge P-Patch, visit volunteers with the Delridge Grocery Coop and see what fresh-picked fruit and vegetables they’re selling this week. (Delridge Way SW/Puget Boulevard)
SECOND THURSDAY OUT! 6-8:30 pm – “Inviting the LGBTQ community and their friends and neighbors for social hour, light meal and in-house movie, ‘4th Man Out,’ and popcorn! Everyone is welcome to attend – no membership or sign up is required.” At Senior Center of West Seattle. (SW Oregon/California SW)
FISHING SEMINAR: 7 pm at Emerald Water Anglers (WSB sponsor), find out about “Getting Into Spey Casting.” Free, but RSVP is requested – our calendar listing has the info. (42nd SW/SW Oregon)
LOTS MORE … see many more listings on our complete calendar, for today, tonight, tomorrow, this weekend, and beyond.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
If Mayor Murray expects that cutting city support – $500/year and some staff time – to Neighborhood District Councils will cause them to fold, West Seattle’s district councils will be proving him wrong.
The Delridge Neighborhoods District Council has already displayed defiance by hosting the first citywide gathering of DC reps to follow the mayor’s announcement that he wanted to cut off the councils and find different means of “engaging” citizens. And last night, the Southwest District Council formalized its intention to continue on, with or without city support. Here’s how things unfolded at the SWDC’s September meeting at the Sisson Building/Senior Center:
DISTRICT COUNCILS’ FUTURE: SWDC co-chair David Whiting from the Admiral Neighborhood Association led this discussion, on behalf of the SWDC executive committee (in which he is joined by co-chair Eric Iwamoto from the Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council and Vicki Schmitz-Block from the Fauntleroy Community Association). He says the SW District Council executive committee wants to continue on, regardless of whether the mayor’s plan to cut off official city support goes forward. A vote was subsequently taken – and everyone present agreed with that plan. (Besides the aforementioned executive-committee members, other reps at the SWDC meeting were from Alki, Genesee-Schmitz, Morgan, and the West Seattle Emergency Communication Hubs.)
First point of discussion, how to make up the $500/year that the city has provided as financial support, all of which had been covering the cost of renting a room at the Senior Center for 11 meetings a year. Participating groups will be asked to chip in. Deb Barker from Morgan Community Association suggested lower-cost meeting space could be found, too. Whiting also had attended a recent City Neighborhood Council meeting and said other groups’ reps were in varying degrees of frustration and anger, but also most of them “want … to continue forward in some capacity.”
Also mentioned: The Seattle Neighborhood Coalition‘s “mini-summit” on the same topic coming up this Saturday, with participation from around the city invited – details here.
As for the city’s efforts to figure out where to go with future community engagement, the ongoing city survey was mentioned too – if you haven’t taken it yet, go here.
Also at last night’s meeting: Read More
(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! For Seattle Public Schools, it’s the second day of classes, so we will remind you one more time that schedules have changed, with most elementaries starting at 7:55 am – the full list of local start times is here.
EARLY-MORNING FERRY TROUBLE: Some cancellations on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth early this morning because of “necessary repairs.” WSF says the Cathlamet will be back in service with the 6:40 am sailing from Vashon, but keep an eye on their site.
WEEKEND REMINDER: Ramps to Harbor Island will be closed this weekend because of railroad-crossing work, as announced earlier this week.
7:31 AM: Tweeted/texted 20+ minutes after the fact:
Transit Alert – Route 57 to downtown Seattle due to leave the Alaska Junction Bay 5 at 7:06 AM did not operate this morning.
— King County Metro (@kcmetrobus) September 8, 2016
8:26 AM: Some trouble out there. Texter says Admiral is backed up. We’re not seeing any obvious reasons – no crashes on 911 log or in Seattle DOT Twitter feed (which often includes crashes that don’t make the 911 log because SFD isn’t called out) – but maybe it’s related to the Avalon clog shown in this tweet:
I'm confused @SeattlePD and @kcmetrobus Thought "Bus Only" on Avalon is bus only. @westseattleblog pic.twitter.com/p2WuZOttXe
— Maverick (@smyliegrl) September 8, 2016
8:37 AM: Texter says police have been out by the new Genesee Hill Elementary this morning with what appears to be a speed-emphasis patrol. Two cruisers and a “radar gun,” the text noted.
9 AM: SFD log reports a crash response at 35th and Avalon. The SDOT camera doesn’t show anything blocking.
9:14 AM: That response is now “closed.” And via comments and e-mail, there’s word of a problem on eastbound Alaska at Fauntleroy. The e-mail says it appears something from The Whittaker construction site has fallen onto a car. We’ll be going over to look soon as we can.
9:38 AM: Everything is clear at Alaska/Fauntleroy, our photographer reports. Thanks again to everyone for reports/comments about incidents this morning – we and our usual information channels seem to have been at least a step behind, and firsthand reports (again, as long as you’re not the driver!) make a major difference.
3:52 PM: One other Metro cancellation texted/tweeted today after the fact:
Transit Alert – Route 21 Express to Westwood Village due to leave 3rd Av and Virginia St at 3:34 PM did not operate this afternoon.
— King County Metro (@kcmetrobus) September 8, 2016
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