West Seattle Crime Watch: Child’s bicycle stolen; hit-and-run; 2 more reader reports
Four reader reports tonight in West Seattle Crime Watch:
CHILD HEARTBROKEN BY BICYCLE THEFT: From Paul on Puget Ridge:
My son’s bike was stolen off our porch last night. It was locked with a heavy cable lock. The cable was cut. He had gotten it for his birthday from Alki Bike and Board just over a month ago. He is heartbroken. It is a 24″ Haro Flightline, red with black accents. There are probably others in WS, so its not reasonable to suspect any bike that fits is stolen. If you suspect that one like this might be stolen, we would love to know about it.
HIT AND RUN: From Kristin:
This evening at about 7:35 a red, Mustang Mach 1 (or similar car) with a white racing stripe struck our orange Honda Fit parked in the 6000 block of 38th Ave. SW. Somewhere out there is a distinctive car with damage to the front passenger side, just waiting for someone to recognize the damage and call it in. If you see the Mustang, please get the plate number and notify the police. The incident was witnessed by two super-helpful and friendly CenturyLink salesmen who were out in our neighborhood. They knocked on our door to let us know and gave their information as witnesses. I mention this because I know some people have been concerned about CenturyLink knocking on doors at night. These 2 were legit. We’ve filed a report with the police. Thanks for your eyes and ears, West Seattle!!
LICENSE PLATE FOUND: GW reports, “I found a rear auto plate close to 20th and Cloverdale. The number is C86002F with April 2017 expiration. Don’t know if it is from a stolen car or what. Reported to police. On an annoying side note a package was stolen from my mailbox (Wednesday) too but I expect you hear lots of those.”
CAR BREAK-IN: Derek in the 4500 block of 45th SW reports, “Last night my car got broken into and a set of Titleist golf clubs and bag were stolen.”
West Seattle development: Next Design Review date set for 9030 35th SW
The next Southwest Design Review Board meeting has just been set for the mixed-use project at 9030 35th SW, recently revived after eight years on hold. It’s currently proposed for five stories “containing 40 apartment units and 3,200 square feet of commercial,” with 32 off-street parking spaces. You can see the report on its previous review last May by going here. The next meeting is set for 6:30 pm Thursday, November 3rd, at the Sisson Building/Senior Center in The Junction (SW Oregon/California SW) and will include a public-comment period; the revised design proposal isn’t yet available, but you can watch for it here.
BIZNOTES: Uncorked Canvas to Westwood Village; West Side Music Academy adds rentals/sales; Origins delay
Three West Seattle biznotes this evening:
UNCORKED CANVAS: This “paint and sip” studio is expanding to Westwood Village, adding to its original Tacoma location. It’s taking over long-vacant space A8 on the breezeway across from 24 Hour Fitness. They expect to be offering sessions here by mid-month.
INSTRUMENT RENTALS/SALES ADDED: Just announced:
West Side Music Academy, on the corner of California and Dakota, now has band and orchestra instruments for rent or purchase, as well as all books and accessories your kids will need for their school programs. Office hours are M-F 3-7 but they will happily meet you there for an appointment if those hours don’t work with your schedule. Call 206-937-2343 or email info@westsidemusicacademy.com
ORIGINS, NEXT WEEK: We reported back in August that the first recreational-marijuana shop to open in West Seattle, Origins, was moving from 14th/Roxbury to 4800 40th SW on the east side of The Junction. It was supposed to open this week but the multi-day grand-opening party, with food trucks and music, now is tentatively rescheduled to start October 13th. A spokesperson says the 14th/Roxbury store will remain open with “merchandise,” no pot.
UPDATE: Helicopter over White Center/Highland Park
4:23 PM: Thanks for the tips about Guardian One over White Center/Highland Park. According to the King County Sheriff’s Office, they were looking for someone in connection with an armed robbery at a business in the 9800 block of 15th 16th SW in WC.
4:29 PM: The helicopter has since headed south; KCSO’s Sgt. Cindi West says it was heading next to a stolen-car-possibly-found call in Burien.
9:02 PM: Covering the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting for our partner site White Center Now, we’ve just heard more information from KCSO’s White Center storefront deputy Bill Kennamer. He says “four dudes with four guns” held up Lawless Clothing in downtown White Center, but the business does not want to press charges and will not give investigators access to what its cameras captured.
HIGHWAY 99 TUNNEL: 3rd maintenance stop of the year
While the Alaskan Way Viaduct is closed this weekend for its twice-yearly inspection, the machine digging its replacement will be taking a break for inspection too. WSDOT announced this afternoon that the Highway 99 tunneling machine has made its third maintenance stop of the year and will likely be stopped for about a month.
It’s currently stopped about 190 feet under First Avenue, north of Pike Street, and has now gone 4,721 feet, more than half the 9,270-foot tunnel route. You can read WSDOT’s update in full here; in short, crews will be inspecting and changing some of the machine’s 700+ cutting tools. This year’s two previous maintenance stops were March 12-April 29, just before the machine went under the Viaduct, and June 23-July 18. The newest schedule revision says the tunnel will open in early 2019.
P.S. Above ground, the Viaduct inspection closure is scheduled for 6 am-6 pm Saturday and Sunday. These often end early, and we’ll let you know if/when this one does.
FOLLOWUP: Big thanks, and big gift, from West Seattle Car Show co-presenters
(L-R, Dave Winters from Swedish Automotive; Todd Ainsworth from WS Autoworks; Howard Andersen, Automotive Technology Instructor; Duncan Burgess, SSC Technical Dean; Doug Clapper and Todd Jones, Automotive Technology Instructors)
Not only is South Seattle College the home of the West Seattle Car Show, it’s also the beneficiary! We just got final word of how this year’s show is helping SSC’s Automotive Tech program:
Swedish Automotive and West Seattle Autoworks would like to extend their thanks and appreciation to their fellow West Seattle businesses, community members, volunteers, car show registrants, and other generous corporate sponsors for supporting the 2016 West Seattle Car Show. Because of that support, we were able to donate $3221.29 to the Automotive Technology Program at South Seattle College! That is $1304.85 more than last year’s donation of $1916.44.
West Seattle is fortunate to have a place such as South Seattle College and we look forward to working with them next year.
Didn’t make it to this year’s show? Here’s our coverage.
P.S. Swedish Automotive, West Seattle Autoworks, and South Seattle College are all WSB sponsors, and we have been a WS Car Show co-sponsor since its start.
UPDATE: West Seattle will be tower-crane-less after this one comes down
(Photo by Eddie, substituted at 3:58 pm)
11:02 AM: West Seattle’s last tower crane – for now, anyway – is coming down.
The Whittaker – almost 400 apartments @ 4755 Fauntleroy Way SW – at one point had two. The first one was removed some months back. Today and tomorrow, the portable crane in our top photo is bringing down the second one after 15 months, the last one at any West Seattle project.
(This photo and next by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
There’s still plenty of construction activity in West Seattle, but no others, currently, of the size that requires a crane. The Whittaker is seven stories; WS zoning maxes out at 8, for now. It’ll be a while before the next project of that height gets going – there’s one planned right across the street, at the former Capitol Loans pawn-shop site, and a 6-story project at 4532 42nd SW, just north of Capco Plaza.
Our archives of recent tower-crane presence in West Seattle go back to at least 2007, when we chronicled the arrival of the crane for Capco Plaza at 41st/42nd/Alaska, just a block west of The Whittaker; there was a year-long gap when the Capco crane came down in February 2009, until the crane for Link in The Triangle arrived in January 2010.
History aside, while The Whittaker’s crane-removal operation is under way today and tomorrow, 40th SW is closed to traffic between SW Alaska and SW Edmunds. That includes the Seattle Fire units from temporary Station 32 – we saw them staged along Alaska by Bank of America earlier this morning.
The Whittaker has two buildings – the south, at Fauntleroy/Edmunds, will open first. The north is the one that will include a Whole Foods Market; we just checked in with WF a few days ago, and a spokesperson reiterated that they’re on track to open in fall of next year.
West Seattle Thursday: ‘Screenagers,’ taco benefit, Moondoggies, more…
(Cloud formations over the Olympics on Wednesday – photo by Lynn Hall)
Half a dozen highlights for tonight, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
‘SCREENAGERS’: This week’s social-media “creepy clown” scares/threats might be a good peg for discussion related to this film focused on the challenges faced by plugged-in tweens/teens and their families. All welcome at free showing in the Seattle Lutheran High School gym, 6:30 pm. (4100 SW Genesee)
TACOS FOR FOOTBALL: 5-9 pm at Pecado Bueno, the West Seattle Booster Club presents an all-you-can-eat taco bar, with food proceeds benefiting the WSHS football program. $15 for adults, $10 for 12 and under. (4540 California SW)
WSHS VS. SEALTH VOLLEYBALL: As previewed here last night, Chief Sealth International High School visits West Seattle High School for volleyball tonight – 7 pm at the WSHS Gym. (3000 California SW)
THE MOONDOGGIES: Celebrating their 10th anniversary with a live, free in-store show at Easy Street Records, 7 pm. (California SW/SW Alaska)
READ THE KORAN IN 4 WEEKS: First Lutheran Church of West Seattle Pastor Ron Marshall‘s long-running course starts its next four-week series tonight, 7 pm. Registration info is in our calendar listing. (4105 California SW)
‘HIDDEN GEMS OF MODERN MUSIC’: That’s what chamber ensemble Cursive promises to play tonight at Kenyon Hall, 7:30 pm. Details in our calendar listing. (7904 35th SW)
MORE! See all the listings on our complete calendar.
FOLLOWUP: City grants ‘special exception’ land-use permit to build house where huge Admiral tree stands
(June WSB photo)
Four months ago, we reported on an Admiral neighborhood’s hopes of saving a huge Ponderosa Pine tree that is on a site where its new owner wants to build a house.
Getting a land-use permit for the proposal at 3036 39th SW [map] was dependent on getting a “special exception” from the city, allowing a house on a lot smaller than 3,200 square feet..
Today’s Land Use Information Bulletin includes this notice of the city’s decision to grant the exception.
You can read the full decision here; it doesn’t address the tree, except to say “The site includes an Exceptional Tree as defined in SMC 25.11. Removal of the tree has been identified in building permit application 6513178. Removal of the tree will be reviewed under the building permit application.” The decision does refer back to a letter the city issued to the owner early this year, with a preliminary version of the decision finalized here, saying “The City has determined that the property qualifies as a
separate legal building site under exceptions to the minimum lot area requirement set forth in SMC 23.44.010.B.1 (opinion letter dated January 5, 2016).”
At the time of our June report, the parcel’s owner Cliff Low told WSB, “We are building an undersized 2-story home. The tree will need to be removed in that a home could not be built there without removing it.” An arborist’s report puts the tree’s trunk diameter at three and a half feet, well past what the city defines as “exceptional.”
Today’s decision is appealable, with a deadline of October 20th. Neighbors anticipating the decision have been crowdfunding to challenge it, saying city rules will require them to spend at least $3,000. They had obtained this opinion from a law firm contending that the city’s interpretation erred and was based on something a prior site owner had done 86 years ago.
Again, this is not the final word on the tree’s fate, pending a potential appeal, and the building-permit decision. Online files (see the “documents” tab) show the case already has drawn almost 100 public comments; it first came to our attention via this post in the WSB Forums.
TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Thursday updates; weekend Viaduct closure
(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)
6:52 AM: We’re checking on a police/fire response at 34th/Myrtle, logged as a medic call. Meanwhile, today’s alerts/reminders:
WEEKEND VIADUCT CLOSURE: 6 am-6 pm Saturday and Sunday is the schedule for Highway 99’s twice-yearly inspection. WSDOT’s alert says the Highway 520 bridge will also be closed.
ROAD-WORK ALERTS:
–Paving scheduled today and tomorrow on 39th SW between SW Oregon and Fauntleroy Way in The Junction
—Admiral Way Safety Project work is scheduled
7:06 AM: Police had cleared the 34th/Myrtle call but we caught the last SFD crew there. They told us the call involved a person in crisis, taken to Harborview. The area’s now clear.
7:40 AM: Out checking on the road work. Confirmed that Beach Drive SW repaving is done, 61st to Charlestown. On Admiral, line removal has been done between 47th and the left-turn “pocket” that will remain. Crews are working right now on the lines at the west end of the project, 62nd-63rd.
8:08 AM No crews at 39th SW yet.
8:27 AM: Couple other things sighted: Hudson is blocked just west of Fauntleroy, while a crew digs up the road. And 40th SW is blocked between Alaska and Edmunds – looks like a portable crane has arrived to take down The Whittaker’s remaining tower crane (we’ll update when we have verified that).
9:18 AM: As Justin pointed out in comments, and as we have since verified at the scene, this is indeed crane removal, which could continue into tomorrow.
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