West Seattle, Washington
24 Wednesday
Traffic and crime/safety issues are in our toplines from last night’s Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council meeting:
TRAFFIC: SDOT‘s Jim Curtin was the guest, to talk about and listen to a variety of neighborhood issues. Among them: Overgrowth on 21st and 22nd SW that makes it difficult for drivers to see when making a left turn. The blackberries are close enough to scratch your car sometimes. One attendee said part of the overgrowth is on private property, in which case, they were told, the Department of Construction and Inspections would have to be involved. Curtin talked about some work ahead on Delridge that should be done soon if the weather cooperates, the painting of a “fog line”/”edge line” to define the travel lanes north of Orchard, as first described in this WSB report from last January.
(WSB photo from January, looking north on Delridge near Myrtle – existing ‘fog line’ is toward the left)
Lanes that in some places are up to 20 feet wide will be restriped to 11 feet.
Bus and dropoff traffic at Pathfinder K-8 was a topic too. Principal David Dockendorf said his school is starting new safety patrols to help with crossing and traffic, especially where the buses load and unload. One attendee said buses were using a route that they supposedly weren’t allowed to; they were directed to contact Seattle Public Schools‘ transportation department.
Any way to have Pigeon Point solid-waste pickup scheduled to happen outside school-dropoff hours, to reduce traffic conflicts? asked one person. Curtin said he would look into that.
CRIME/SAFETY: From the Seattle Police Southwest Precinct, commander Capt. Pierre Davis, Operations Lt. Ron Smith, and researcher Jennifer Burbridge were all in attendance. She circulated the newest micro-policing plan for Pigeon Point and announced the upcoming citywide Public Safety Survey (which will be available online starting Saturday). Responses will be crucial, said Capt. Davis, to augment planning for neighborhoods’ safety needs, besides what 911-call data reveals. He also urged people to call 911 when something’s happening, and said they still believe crime is under-reported. And he announced that five new officers have just been assigned to the precinct.
Attendees brought up concerns about camping in the West Duwamish Greenbelt. Lt. Smith said Community Police Team Officer Todd Wiebke continues to be the point person for homelessness-related issues (he’s reachable at todd.wiebke@seattle.gov).
One more note: The SW Precinct (2300 SW Webster) will again be a dropoff spot for Drug Takeback Day, 10 am-2 pm on Saturday, October 22nd.
8:18 PM: Three notes in West Seattle Crime Watch:
HIT AND RUN: This unfolded in Gatewood late in the day, according to neighbors; we have not yet been able to confirm with police whether anyone was arrested. Neighbors say a red pickup truck hit a moving car on 35th near Holden [map], and sped away through other parts of the neighborhood, to the southwest. The three people in the car were unhurt, but, our tipster tells us, they were visiting Seattle from Kansas, in a rental car on the last day of their vacation, due to fly home tomorrow. Our tipster says the hit-and-run pickup went by their house so fast, “it sounded like a plane was going to crash.” Some pieces were left behind, including a bumper. Neighbors called 911 and reached out to help the shaken visitors. ADDED 9:35 PM: A Gatewood resident reports almost getting hit by the same truck at 41st and Rose, seeing two people ditching it a few blocks away, and tracking them to Lincoln Park. Police weren’t available immediately – the person took photos (here’s one) and provided them to SPD – but they did show up at the ditched truck, our tipster says, describing it as “badly damaged and filled with a lot of tools and oddly enough, 2 pumpkins.”
(back to original report) CAR PROWL: Robin reports:
Someone prowled our Prius in North Admiral (Sunday) night. This is probably our 5th prowl in the past three years. We seem to get hit every 6 months. They get into a locked car without breaking the windows and rifle through our console. Nothing of value stolen except change.
…AND A DOUBLE CAR PROWL: From Danielle at 46th and Findlay [map] in Seaview:
Early Friday morning, my car and my fiance’s car that are parked out in front of our home were broken in too. The thieves spent a decent amount of time going through everything. They went through every piece of paperwork in both glove boxes, and went through compartments in the vehicles we did not even know we had. They left the doors of the cars all open, and our neighbor let us know at about 7am on Friday. They stole ipods, phone chargers and a passport (which was found by a neighbor). The passport was found in a puddle behind the Cal Rey apartments at Raymond and California. The neighbor contacted us to let us know she had it. … No other cars on the street were broken in to that night. Just ours.
West Seattle would be one of the areas getting a little more late-night/early-morning bus service, if Metro goes through with a proposed service expansion, and they’re looking for your feedback. From the announcement:
… Metro has about 40 routes with some level of late-night service throughout King County. Of these, 20 provide trips after 2 a.m., including three Night Owl routes that loop through some Seattle neighborhoods only between 2:15 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. The City of Seattle contributes funding to late-night transit operation and is a partner in this effort. Metro’s draft proposal would replace the three Night Owl routes with late-night service on regular, all-day routes that serve the same areas. The draft proposal also includes new after-hours bus service to Sea-Tac Airport for travelers and workers, for whom there currently are limited options after 1 a.m. It also includes hourly all-night service on the RapidRide C, D, and E Lines, which currently operate all night but with less than hourly frequencies. …
If you check “proposal by route” here, you’ll also see that “later” service is proposed for Route 120, which runs on Delridge. Want to tell Metro what you think of its proposal? Answer this survey by October 30th.
ORIGINAL REPORT, 4:01 PM TUESDAY: The National Weather Service now has an official “special weather statement” for our area, warning of multiple storm systems headed this way – first, lots of rain starting Wednesday night; then, potentially, lots of wind this weekend. Read the alert here. Forecasts can and do change, but at least take this as a reminder to get your fall/winter preparations in place – batteries, flashlights, and other things you might need if the power goes out. Updates as the week goes on!
10:19 PM: The newest “forecast discussion” from the NWS is out and the storms are still on the way. Higher-level alerts, such as a wind watch, could be issued as soon as tomorrow.
7:17 AM WEDNESDAY: And indeed, a High Wind Watch was issued early this morning. See it here. The NWS says the wind could get up to 35 mph sustained, 55 mph gusts, in our area Thursday night-Friday morning.
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON: We have a new update up here – the alert has been raised to a high-wind warning.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Four and a half years ago, in the Roxhill Elementary School cafeteria, we covered a meeting called to talk about a proposal to merge Roxhill into Arbor Heights Elementary, after AH’s rebuild. The plan was soon scrapped, and AH is sole occupant of the new school that replaced the crumbling original one.
Roxhill, however, is still in its deteriorating building. Seattle Public Schools has another plan for moving the program, and this one has traveled far down the path to reality without formal community conversations.
Last night in the cafeteria, the “reborn” Roxhill PTSA took steps toward making sure there’s some conversation before the fall 2018 move to a renovated and reopened EC Hughes Elementary, 1.2 miles north, simply happens.
While it hasn’t been finalized by the School Board, assistant superintendent Flip Herndon told last night’s PTSA meeting that it is indeed virtually a done deal. We first reported on the possible move one year ago, but details at the time were few.
PTSA president Amanda Kay Helmick, leading the meeting with vice president Al Fisher, had announced the School Board rep for West Seattle and South Park, Leslie Harris, as the main guest. Harris, however, was at a School Board committee meeting and arrived just after the PTSA meeting ended. Attendees heard instead from Herndon and from senior project manager Mike Skutack, with whom we had toured Hughes for a story we published Sunday about the renovation plans. Read More
It’s the third month of work on the lower Spokane Street Paving Project, and this weekend will bring closures and detours that SDOT and project managers want to warn you about early:
Westbound SW Spokane St at E Marginal Way and the off- ramps to Harbor Island from westbound West Seattle Freeway and from southbound SR99 will be closed this coming weekend beginning Friday evening, October 14, at 7 p.m. The roadway and off- ramps will be reopened Monday morning, October 17, by 5 a.m. The closures are needed in order to remove an abandoned RR track crossing and to perform full-depth pavement repairs on SW Spokane St.
• Motorists who are not in large trucks/commercial vehicles can detour by taking the high level West Seattle Bridge, using the Delridge Way exit, then taking the right onto Chelan Ave SW, another right onto SW Spokane St, and eastbound across the Duwamish (River) and back onto Harbor Island.
• Large trucks and commercial vehicles can take the “official signed” detour route because it is primarily intended for large trucks that are unable to use the detour described above. The signed detour will direct motorists to go south on East Marginal Way S, across the First Ave S Bridge. They will be directed to take the first exit after the bridge, looping them back onto northbound 2nd Ave S, and onto W Marginal Way SW. After passing underneath the West Seattle Bridge, they will be directed to take a left turn onto SW Spokane St, which will take them eastbound back across the Duwamish West Waterway and onto Harbor Island.
• Eastbound through traffic on SW Spokane St is advised to use alternate routes into Seattle. Eastbound SW Spokane St will be closed at 11th Ave, where motorists will be detoured up onto Harbor Island in order to turn around and continue eastbound via SW Klickitat Way and SW Manning St.
The pavement repairs are part of the SDOT project currently repaving SW Spokane St from SW Klickitat Way to East Marginal Way S.
Two vessel-traffic notes:
USNS WALLY SCHIRRA: Thanks to Greg for sending that photo, right after we spotted the USNS Wally Schirra passing West Seattle, as shown on MarineTraffic.com. It appeared to be headed for the Manchester Fuel Depot. The ship, named for the astronaut, is a cargo ship that’s part of the Military Sealift Command. The seven-year-old, 689-foot ship is homeported in San Diego.
We noticed that ship while researching part of this:
HANJIN UPDATE: A month and a half after the Hanjin bankruptcy filing, one Hanjin ship is anchored off Manchester, while another one is en route to pick up empty containers. The Hanjin Marine is visible from West Seattle if you look west of here, north of Blake Island. Meantime, this Thursday (October 13th), the Hanjin Seattle is scheduled to dock at Terminal 46 downtown, and, according to the Northwest Seaport Alliance, tentatively scheduled to load 1,000 empty containers. The Wall Street Journal reported today that T-46 is one of two West Coast docks – along with a pier in Long Beach, California – that is accepting empty Hanjin containers.
The traffic-island landscaping at 63rd and Alki is going to need some repairs after a driver got his car stuck atop it. A street sign got knocked down, too. Michael tipped us to the crash by sending the top photo; we went over just in time to see the car towed off the island:
A Seattle Public Utilities “spill response” worker was there, as the car had lost some fluids that needed to be cleaned up. He didn’t know if police had investigated; the driver apparently was not hurt, as we learned belatedly that he had been there observing the tow. The landscaping was done in 2012 with Alki Community Council involvement.
Four places where your presence could make a big difference tonight:
SCHOOL BOUNDARIES MEETING: 6:30 pm at Denny International Middle School, the final in a series of citywide meetings about Seattle Public Schools boundary changes. As explained in our recent preview, the only one proposed for our area is moving Sanislo Elementary back into the Denny/Sealth feeder zone, just a few years after it was moved into the Madison/WSHS zone. See the maps on page 18 of the meeting slide deck. (2601 SW Kenyon)
HOW TO GET FUNDED WITH SEATTLE PARK DISTRICT $: The voter-approved Seattle Park District levy has money for community-initiated projects/programs – tonight at 6:30 pm at Southwest Teen Life Center, learn how to apply for it. Details are in our calendar listing. (2801 SW Thistle)
FAUNTLEROY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: 7 pm at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, the FCA’s board meeting is open to the public. Note that this week’s hottest citywide topic is part of the heart of the agenda:
Fall Festival
Community Issues and Concerns – Officer Jon Flores
Fauntleroy Community Parking Subcommittee
City Council Proposal on Homeless Encampments
New Neighbor Bags
West Seattle Police Precinct Update – Lt Ron Smith
Ferry Update
(9131 California SW)
ADMIRAL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: 7 pm at The Sanctuary at Admiral, ANA’s agenda highlights – detailed in our calendar listing – include Southwest Seattle Historical Society updates and the Westside Neighbors Network. (42nd SW/SW Lander)
ALSO ON THE WSB WEST SEATTLE EVENT CALENDAR: Three live-music venues, two karaoke venues, and a free family movie! Just browse the calendar here – open any listing by clicking the plus sign to see the preview, and then click “read more” to get the full listing, including a map.
While this is happening just outside West Seattle, it’s about a matter of life or death – mental health and suicide prevention – so we’re sharing the invitation. It’s from Zach Filer, a former West Seattle entrepreneur now with Northwest Strength and Performance in SODO. The next two weekends, you’re invited to get educated, via a free “Mental Health First Aid” course taught by Donna Dykstra:
This will be taking place October 15th and 23rd from 10 am-2 pm. The course is already up on Eventbrite and is capped at 25 participants. [Register here.] Donna is donating her time and the manuals for this course and the goal is to just get this information out to people who need it or may want be able to offer better peer support to others.
Here’s what Mental Health First Aid is all about:
Like CPR, Mental Health First Aid prepares participants to interact with a person in crisis and connect the person with help. First Aiders do not diagnose or provide any counseling or therapy. Instead, the program offers concrete tools and answers key questions like, “What do I do?” and, “Where can someone find help?” Certified Mental Health First Aid instructors provide a list of community health-care providers and national resources, support groups and online tools for mental health and addictions treatment and support. All trainees receive a program manual to complement the course material.
Attendance is required on both days; bring your own lunch. It’s a step toward a monthly “LiveForward” support group they’re organizing, but it’s potentially life-saving information you can use in many situations. Questions? oldcountrystrong@gmail.com – NWSP is at 2920 1st Ave. S.
(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)
6:59 AM: No incidents in/from West Seattle so far.
7:39 AM: Still relatively quiet. Took a spin around the live video cameras – the eastbound low bridge looks a little more sluggish than usual.
8:17 AM: First problem of the morning. Thanks to Steve for the tip – a collision between a Microsoft Connector bus and a car. An SDOT camera shows them pulled over just past the 99 exit on the eastbound bridge. No SFD callout for this, so apparently no injuries.
8:55 AM: Not resolved yet – now the camera shows a second Connector bus pulled up alongside the one on the shoulder, and an SPD car at the scene:
As mentioned, 2nd bus on scene. Bus lane blocked pic.twitter.com/RVzaAk5CG2
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) October 11, 2016
8:58 AM: And both buses have left, leaving the car and an SPD motorcycle on the shoulder, for now.
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