day : 04/01/2017 12 results

9:20 PM: Police and fire have responded. More to come.

9:30 PM: We have just talked to police. A woman showed up in the coffee shop claiming she was stabbed, but turned out not to be injured at all. She is “in crisis,” however, and is being taken to the hospital by private ambulance for an evaluation.

UPDATE: Driver hurt in Roxbury/9th crash

January 4, 2017 8:38 pm

| 6 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | WS breaking news

8:38 PM: SW Roxbury is blocked right now at 9th SW because of a one-car crash. The driver is reported to have hit a pole; the car was in the middle of the westbound lanes by the time we arrived. The driver walked away, possibly dazed from a head injury, but turned up a block away, and medics were called. The scene should be clear before too long – a sergeant at the scene told us a tow truck was on the way.

10:20 PM: We finally were able to go back to verify that the road’s clear – it is.

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Landmark status for Hamm Building? Board OKs first step – nomination

January 4, 2017 7:55 pm

| 14 COMMENTS

| West Seattle history | West Seattle news

Quick update from the city Landmark Preservation Board meeting downtown: Minutes ago, the board gave its approval to the first stage of the process that could result in city-landmark designation for the Hamm Building on the northwest corner of California/Alaska in The Junction.

Their unanimous approval tonight means they support the nomination of the 1926 building – next step, they will consider whether to designate it a landmark. Full report on the meeting tomorrow, including not only the show of community support but also a member of the family that has long owned the building telling the board that the nomination “blindsided” them. No date yet for the next hearing.

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West Seattle development: See the packets for tomorrow’s Arbor Heights and Avalon Way design reviews; comments open for 2222 SW Barton apartments

January 4, 2017 7:40 pm

| 9 COMMENTS

| Development | West Seattle news

Two development notes tonight:

DESIGN REVIEW DOUBLEHEADER TOMORROW: If you’re interested in either of the projects that go before the Southwest Design Review Board tomorrow (Thursday) night, you’ll want to review the “packets” first.

Here’s the one for the 6:30 pm review, nine 3-story live-work units at the former Church of Christ site in Arbor Heights, 4220 SW 100th. Though the packet by Lemons Architecture contains the shown-above concept for the Claremont Partners LLC-owned site, this is the first phase of review, Early Design Guidance, and so the discussion will largely center on massing – size and shape.

Here’s the packet for the 8 pm review, the seven-story residential project at 3039 Avalon Way SW, currently described as including 71 units and 19 offstreet parking spaces.

Nicholson Kovalchick is the architecture firm; Union Street Investments is the owner/developer. We covered the first review back in February; this is now in the Recommendation phase, which means this could be the final meeting about the project.

COMMENT TIME FOR 2222 SW BARTON: The application is in for the 4-story apartment building proposed at 2222 SW Barton, southeast of Westwood Village, currently described as “containing 27 small efficiency dwelling units and 39 apartment units,” replacing a small apartment building. This notice opens an official comment period. Here’s the notice from the latest edition of the city-circulated Land Use Information Bulletin. You can comment until January 16th – here’s how.

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TRAFFIC ALERTS: Northbound Highway 99 closures coming up Friday-Sunday; West Seattle Bridge closures Sunday, Monday nights for streetlight repair

January 4, 2017 5:00 pm

| 5 COMMENTS

| Alaskan Way Viaduct | West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

5 PM: We spotted the signage for these closures while heading over the bridge a little while ago to cover an event downtown – they have not yet been announced otherwise, but we’ve just obtained the details from WSDOT:

Drivers headed into downtown Seattle on Friday and Saturday nights should prepare for a full closure of northbound State Route 99 near the stadiums. Contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will use the closure to repair damaged pavement.

Friday, Jan. 6 to the morning of Saturday, Jan. 7
From 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. the following morning crews will close all lanes of northbound SR 99 between South Spokane Street and South Royal Brougham Way.

Saturday, Jan. 7 to the morning of Sunday, Jan. 8
From 10:30 p.m. until 8 a.m. the following morning crews will close all lanes of northbound SR 99 between South Spokane Street and South Royal Brougham Way.

Detour
During the closures all northbound SR 99 traffic must exit at East Marginal Way.
Eastbound West Seattle Freeway ramp to northbound SR 99 will be closed.

This weekend’s work is weather-dependent and could be rescheduled in the event of heavy rain or snow.

ADDED 6:12 PM: SDOT has announced some closures too, to fix the street lights toward the west end of the bridge:

The Seattle Department of Transportation and Seattle City Light will be working on the Fauntleroy Expressway over two nights next week to make repairs to the street lights.

Sunday night, January 8, the curb lane for eastbound traffic will be closed from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m. Monday morning, January 9. The lane closure will extend eastbound from approximately where the roadway turns in and out of West Seattle to the Delridge Way onramp. The other eastbound travel lane will remain open; motorists are not likely to experience any delay.

On Monday night, January 9, the westbound exit at Admiral Way will be closed from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m. Tuesday morning, January 10. Motorists who would use this exit are asked to instead consider taking the Harbor Avenue SW/Avalon Way SW exit.

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LSG Sky Chefs found in violation of Seattle’s minimum-wage law

January 4, 2017 3:50 pm

| 25 COMMENTS

| West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

After an almost-two-year investigation, LSG Sky Chefs, which has run an airline-catering facility in the West Seattle Triangle, has been found by the city to have violated the minimum-wage law. Here’s the announcement just sent out:

The Seattle Office of Labor Standards (OLS) found that LSG Sky Chefs violated Seattle’s Minimum Wage Ordinance, and has ordered the company to pay $210,213 in lost wages plus interest to 156 employees and $109,320 in liquidated damages. OLS also levied $15,500 in penalties for first time violations and failure to cooperate with its investigation. The total amount assessed was $335,033.

“This is a significant financial order,” said Dylan Orr, Director of OLS. “Many Sky Chefs workers can expect to receive the equivalent of two weeks’ pay as part of the final settlement, which will make a real difference in their lives. The City of Seattle is committed to holding large employers accountable to our labor standards laws, and ensuring that workers receive all of the money they have earned.”

Under terms of the final order, employees who were denied their full wages will receive shares of the $319,533 ordered based on their hours worked. Some employees will receive as much as $6,976; the mean amount will be approximately $1,936.

OLS also ordered Sky Chefs to pay 1.75 times the unpaid wages to employees for hours worked after January 16, 2016, when the City of Seattle increased the remedies and protections available to workers, including liquidated damages for up to twice the unpaid wages. OLS also assessed an additional $5,000 penalty against the company for impeding the investigation and approximately $100 per employee whose rights were violated on or after January 16, 2016.

The original complaint alleged that Sky Chefs failed to increase wages for its Seattle-based employees once the City’s new Minimum Wage Ordinance went into effect on April 1, 2015. OLS ordered the company to respond on April 23, 2015, but Sky Chefs chose to challenge the wage claim by arguing that it was exempt from Seattle’s Minimum Wage Ordinance under a provision of the federal Railway Labor Act. A delay in the investigation resulted when the assigned case investigator went on maternity leave and OLS transferred the case to another investigator; a delay of 2-3 months occurred when Sky Chefs changed its legal counsel. The investigation was further delayed when Sky Chefs released weekly payroll records for 165 employees to OLS investigators in a non-alphabetized stack of 14,000 individual pieces of paper, resulting in investigators’ spending 201 hours to calculate individual employees’ wages, shift differentials and overtime payments over a period of 4 months.

“Employees of Sky Chefs have waited a long time to receive what they’re owed, and I thank them for their patience as we pursued this long, complex investigation,” said Orr.

The Stranger reported on the investigation last year and said Sky Chefs had about 55 West Seattle employees. The company’s website currently shows its “Seattle” location as a site in SeaTac, but has a business license in Seattle city files for the Triangle site (4600 37th SW).

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FOLLOWUP: ‘Democracy Vouchers’ start arriving in the mail

January 4, 2017 3:04 pm

| 66 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

We mentioned them a month ago – and now the “Democracy Vouchers” created by voter-approved Seattle Initiative 122 are arriving in the postal mail, if you’re a registered voter, or if you requested them. They’re a type of public campaign financing, property-tax-funded, that you’ll be able to use in three races that will be on this year’s city ballots – the two at-large City Council positions 8 and 9, and City Attorney. So far, two candidates have qualified for them, but others have until early June to qualify too. So how do you use them? The city website explains it all here. Answer to a particularly popular question: No, you can’t give yours to someone else.

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SALMON IN THE SCHOOLS: Local volunteers making deliveries today

January 4, 2017 12:29 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

For the first time since official word that the Salmon in the Schools program would continue this year, as reported here in October, volunteers are delivering eggs to participating local schools today.

Our photos were taken at Sanislo Elementary School on Puget Ridge, one of 10 schools where Judy Pickens and Phil Sweetland were stopping after picking up the eggs first thing in the morning at Soos Creek Hatchery. Three local preschools also were receiving eggs, with volunteer Jack Lawless making those rounds.

Last year, the state had warned that the eggs might not be available, for the first time in 25 years, because so few coho spawners had returned to the Sound the previous year. But this past fall’s returns were enough to convince the state to go ahead and provide eggs. The schools will rear them until they’re ready for release in Fauntleroy Creek this spring.

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West Seattle Wednesday: Hamm Building landmark hearing; livability discussion; Southwest District Council; more…

January 4, 2017 10:35 am

| 5 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

Thanks to Randy Stratton for the photo of “curly icicles” seen along the Genesee Hill Elementary parking-lot stairway on Tuesday – since it’s still in the 20s as we write, we’d bet they’re still there. Meanwhile, here are calendar highlights for our clear-and-cold West Seattle Wednesday:

MAKING SEATTLE LIVABLE FOR SENIORS: What would it take? Join the discussion at Southwest Library, noon; details in our calendar listing. (35th SW/SW Henderson)

NETWORKING MEETUP: West Seattle’s only coworking center, Office Junction (WSB sponsor), invites you to bring your lunch and network, noon-1:15 pm. (6040 California SW)

LANDMARK OR NOT? As previewed here again last week, the West Seattle Junction’s Hamm Building – home to businesses including Easy Street Records – is nominated for city-landmark designation, and the Landmarks Preservation Board will consider the nomination – first of at least two required hearings – when it meets this afternoon in the Boards and Commissions Room at City Hall. The meeting starts at 3:30 pm but other items on the agenda are expected to take at least the first hour. There will be a public-comment period. (600 4th Ave.)

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD: 4:15 pm meeting at district HQ, with some items of local interest, as previewed here. (3rd Ave. S./S. Lander)

SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL: It’s a brand-new year and a new world for local neighborhood-district councils, no longer officially tied to the city but charging forward just the same, including the Southwest District Council, which meets at the Senior Center/Sisson Building, 6:30-7:30 pm, with this agenda:

6:30 P.M. Welcome and Introductions
• Review and approval of previous meetings minutes and summary
• Brief Announcements
• Amendments and overview of the Meeting Agenda

6:45 P.M. Neighborhood Parks & Street Fund 2017 Timeline

6:50 P.M. Discussion on changes to SWDC By-laws
• By-law Review Committee work to date
• By-laws of other district councils
• Consideration for incorporating, and at-large membership

7:20 P.M. Southwest District Council Business
• CNC Update
• Announcements
• Other business

(4217 SW Oregon)

JIM PAGE, LIVE: See and hear the singer-songwriter at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7-9 pm. (5612 California SW)

MORE FOR TONIGHT, TOMORROW, BEYOND … on our full calendar!

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Seen from West Seattle: Submarine stops off Manchester

January 4, 2017 9:57 am

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| Seen at sea | West Seattle news

Visible from West Seattle this morning, in what’s known as the Yukon Harbor anchorage area, just off Manchester, north of Blake Island, a submarine joined the anchored cargo ships for more than an hour. Thanks to Tom Stoner for the photo (and to John for an earlier tip). An unusual sight – usually they’re just glimpsed while on the move – so we have a few calls out, but now it looks to be headed, with its tug escorts, into Rich Passage and toward Bremerton.

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West Seattle Preschool Fair: Families and schools invited to Monday’s event

January 4, 2017 8:59 am

| Comments Off on West Seattle Preschool Fair: Families and schools invited to Monday’s event

| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Looking for a preschool? The 8th annual West Seattle Preschool Fair is set for next Monday (January 9th), 5:30-7:30 pm at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church (3050 California SW). It’s presented by the West Seattle Preschool Association. The latest list of participating schools is here, and WSPA’s Renee Metty says there’s room for more (sign up here), adding: “The majority of programs are for 2.5-5 year olds, but some offer programs for under 2.5, as well as before- and after-school care.” The fair is free for families, and you’re welcome to bring your child(ren). WSPA requests an RSVP registration if you’re coming.

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TRAFFIC, TRANSIT, WEATHER: Wednesday watch

January 4, 2017 7:02 am

| Comments Off on TRAFFIC, TRANSIT, WEATHER: Wednesday watch

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(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 – another sunny, cold day ahead, according to the forecast. Nothing unusual currently reported on the roads/paths in/from West Seattle.

8:12 AM: Still nothing out of the ordinary reported.

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