West Seattle, Washington
14 Sunday
In West Seattle Crime Watch tonight:
GUNFIRE INVESTIGATION: From police radio – multiple calls came in reporting gunfire around the 5400 block of 23rd SW, and investigating officers reported finding shell casings. No word of any injuries. We’ll follow up on this when the final report’s in tomorrow.
(Added 11:13 am Wednesday) Summarized from the report, by SPD media relations Det. Mark Jamieson: “Officers responded to multiple reports of shots fired in the 5400 -5600 block of 23rd Ave SW around 10:20 pm (Tuesday) night. When they arrived, they located several shell casings in the street. As officers continued to look around the area, they saw that a vehicle parked in a driveway had been struck with two rounds and that the east side of a house had also been struck. Officers spoke to the occupants of the home, who reported no injuries and stated that they did not hear or see anything. The Gang Unit was notified, the scene was photographed, and the evidence was collected and placed into evidence.”
SHOOTING VICTIM SHOWS UP AT HOSPITAL: This one is from the police-report files. The just-made-public narrative on this report says a 24-year-old man showed up at Harborview Medical Center on Sunday afternoon with a gunshot wound to his leg and said it happened in the 4500 block of Delridge Way SW. He told police he was waiting for a friend to pick him up when someone he described as a 6’4″ black man dressed in all black walked up to him, said something like, “You jumped my homies,” and fired a single shot at the victim’s leg. That dropped the victim to the ground in pain, he said, adding that someone he “hardly knew” then drove up and offered to drive him to the hospital. That “someone,” the victim continued, dropped him off half a block from the hospital and he walked the rest of the way in. Meantime, police went to that area of Delridge but found no evidence or witnesses, while the police report concludes with a mention that the King County Sheriff’s Office responded to a gunfire report in the same time frame in Skyway, finding a single spent casing but no victim or other evidence.
CAR PROWL: This reader report received tonight is from Todd in the 3200 block of 41st SW:
Just want to alert others that we found our car’s driver-side door ajar this morning and evidence someone had rifled through car, but nothing taken. We don’t leave anything in our car and usually lock it, but forgot. We filed an online police report just to document incident. Car was parked in driveway.
Story & photos by Tracy Record and Patrick Sand
West Seattle Blog co-publishers
Last month, we brought you the story of a walking tour in South Park, organized by community advocate Jeff Hayes, who has been relentlessly working to get the city to help with SP trouble spots. Toward the start of the tour, he gathered those in attendance, including City Councilmember Lisa Herbold, outside a prime cluster of commercial buildings on the southwest corner of the busiest intersection in South Park – 14th Avenue South/South Cloverdale [map] – to point out that the storefronts were mostly empty and under ownership that wasn’t doing much to change things.
Turns out, that ownership was in the process of changing. And we have since heard from one of the new owners, a West Seattleite who already has bought and renovated property in two neighborhoods – Luna Park and Georgetown. John Bennett bought the South Park corner buildings in partnership with Scott Horrell, proprietor of nearby Loretta’s Northwesterner, and Hank Dufour, a construction-company proprietor.
Bennett invited us to come tour the buildings, which they have been cleaning out, and are seeking tenants for. Read More
These photos just arrived in the WSB inbox, with this explanation: “Happening now, letter-writing campaign at Admiral Bird! Come down, write letters, meet cool people until 10 pm.” They’re writing to not only the White House but also other elected officials in D.C.
Admiral Bird is on the southeast corner of California/Admiral Way.
Family and friends are mourning 22-year-old Shane McClellan. Here’s the remembrance that’s being shared with the community:
Beloved son and brother, Shane Andrew McClellan, passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, January 14, 2017.
Born on January 21, 1994 in Seattle, Shane grew up in West Seattle and passed at his home in Auburn.
He is survived by his mother, Judy Pierce, his father, Tim McClellan, and his three older brothers, Tim McClellan, Tom McClellan, and Sean McClellan.
He left us too soon and will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Private memorial service will be held in West Seattle on February 4, 2017.
(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries by request, free of charge. Please e-mail the text, and a photo if available, to editor@westseattleblog.com)
The heart of the season for student-benefiting dinner/auctions is approaching, and Arbor Heights Elementary PTA asked us to share their invitation for you to help by attending “Mission: Possible” – 5:30-10 pm Friday, March 10th, at The Hall at Fauntleroy. Tickets are available now – buy yours here; find out more about the event here. Their message: “Please accept this mission and support our community!”
(Have a benefit, PTA meeting, or other event coming up? We can include it in our calendar if you e-mail the info to editor@westseattleblog.com – thank you!)
(WSB photos, looking through the chain-link fencing on the south side of the park)
After questions came up in the comment section on Monday, we confirmed with Seattle Parks that the fences up at the Highland Park playfield/playground area (1100 SW Cloverdale) are for the start of the HP Playground Improvements project.
This is *not* related to the playground project at nearby Highland Park Elementary, but it has been long in the works. The city’s description:
The scope of this work for the project is to relocate and replace the existing ballfield to allow t-ball, coach pitch ball and U-9 and under soccer, as well as provide access and safe bleachers for all. The ballfield relocation project will install ADA access to the ballfield by providing hard paving around the new backstop, into the dugouts and to the field, as required by ADA. Relocating the field will provide enough room on the south side of the field for an ADA path to the east side of the park and for an extension of the Cloverdale walk.
Project manager Kelly Goold tells WSB that while the official projected end date of construction is late June, the contractor hopes to be done by mid-May – reaching that goal depends on how the weather goes, “given the amount of site-work and paving involved in this project.”
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
At one point during last night’s inaugural meeting of the new Washington State Ferries Triangle Improvement Task Force, its nine volunteer members were reminded why they were there:
One of the WSF staffers painted a verbal picture of the longrunning frustration with trouble on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth (aka Triangle) route peaked on hot summer days, in idling cars, backed-up traffic, with people furious over delays in getting home to their families, even as part-empty boats departed in an effort to catch up to the schedule.
In contrast, the new citizens advisory committee convened in the quiet, comfortable confines of the Fauntleroy Church Fellowship Hall, with four WSF employees and a handful of onlookers.
The pressure was palpable, though – they have two months to come up with “quick wins” along the road to fixing the route. Read More
(WSB photo)
While out this morning, we spotted that demolition in progress at 5040 Fauntleroy Way SW, an 73-year-old home on a site zoned Lowrise 1, being demolished for replacement by three single-family houses.
This year, the backhoe/excavator is more of the West Seattle development icon than the tower crane – the peninsula does not have a single project with one of the latter right now. This month alone, demolition permits have been sought at these addresses (each one links to the DPD docket for the site, unless it’s a site we’ve already published a story about, in which case it’s asterisked):
3010 Fauntleroy Avenue SW
4103 SW Southern
4810 Delridge Way SW*
5015 Fauntleroy Way SW
2622 SW Nevada
2749 California SW* (apartments/PCC project, due back to Design Review on March 2nd)
6727 39th SW
3046 61st SW*
3050 61st SW*
6016 SW Admiral Way*
8854 Delridge Way SW* (fire-damaged auto-shop site, proposed for apartments)
6530 Delridge Way SW
4532 42nd SW* (mixed-use project)
7337 44th SW
4311 SW Brandon*
3044 38th SW
4748 23rd SW
4744 23rd SW
7531 13th SW (new proposal, 8-unit rowhouse)
1516 SW Henderson (new proposal, 8-unit rowhouse)
3028 63rd SW
We don’t have stats to compare if that’s more or less than usual … just a snapshot of one month in time. (Just to get those addresses, we had to search city data for any one of four terms – demolition, demo, remove, removal.) This also doesn’t necessarily mean the aforementioned demolitions are imminent … permit filings/updates vary widely in terms of timelines, from days to months. (For just one example – 2749 California SW, the apartments/PCC project, still has at least one more Design Review meeting to go, and that’s not until March 2nd, so that demolition is a ways off. And in some cases, permits are granted but the teardown doesn’t happen for quite some time; pending demolitions, with permits granted before this month, aren’t included in the list, just new applications/reviews dated this month.)
(WSB photo: North wind pushed waves against the Alki promenade while we were there photographing the USS Nimitz)
Four of the options for the rest of your West Seattle Tuesday:
EARLY DAYS: The Early Days drop-in support groups have two days/locations. Today – and every Tuesday – 1-3 pm, you’ll find Early Days at Nurturing Expressions (WSB sponsor) in The Junction – details in our calendar listing. (4746 44th SW)
‘MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED’: As previewed here last week, tonight’s the night you’re invited to a free screening of “Most Likely to Succeed” at West Seattle High School and discussion afterward about re-visioning how high school works. 6:30 pm coffee and dessert, 7 pm film, 8:30 discussion. (3000 California SW)
PATHFINDER OPEN HOUSE: 6:30 pm, open house for families interested in kindergarten/elementary at Pathfinder K-8 School on Pigeon Point. P.S. Here’s our list of local school open houses/tours in the next week. Please let us know if we’re missing anything! (1901 SW Genesee)
PARLOUR SNAKES: Live music at Parliament Tavern in The Admiral District, 8 pm. No cover. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
MORE ON OUR CALENDAR … browse it here!
After last year’s uproar over proposed encampment-removal rules that some interpreted as allowing camping in parks and on sidewalks, a new set of rules was promised. Today, the proposal has gone public, and a comment period is open. It’s in four documents, all here as PDFs. The main ones you’ll want to review are these two – first, the proposed removal rules:
Second, these are the proposed Multi-Departmental Administrative Rules:
Click the plus sign to expand the “for public comment: encampment rules” section of this page for commenting info.
It’s been three and a half months since the set of rules that the City Council was working on was basically shelved. The cover page for what’s now on the city website includes this summary:
Compared to the existing rules, the new rules:
*Identify specific criteria for prioritizing the removal of encampments.
*Require the offer of a shelter alternative in order to remove many encampments.
*Require the City to deliver materials it stores from encampments to their owners.
*Streamline the process for removing encampments that obstruct the intended use of public facilities like sidewalks and parks.
We’ll be taking a closer look later but are publishing the documents now so you can read for yourself if interested.
SIDE NOTE: While these rules apply to unauthorized camping, we’re taking this opportunity to remind you about tomorrow night’s West Seattle meeting related to the plan to authorize an existing camp on Myers Way. The meeting is at 7 pm Wednesday (February 1st) at the Joint Training Facility (9401 Myers Way S.)
(Added: First photo, tweeted by @vanessafox)
8:41 AM: Passing West Seattle, northbound in Puget Sound right now, that’s the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68).
(Added: WSB photo)
8:47 AM: The carrier is moving fast – visible from Alki but it won’t be for long. It’s been preparing for deployment (from Bremerton) for a while, and just had a change of command a few weeks ago.
(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: Good morning and welcome to the last day of January. No trouble spots reported in/from our area so far.
Another reminder: No classes in Seattle Public Schools tomorrow (Wednesday); it’s the “day between semesters.”
8:26 AM: Multiple reports of a backup on Highland Park Way. Possibly traffic-signal repair near 2nd SW, according to one.
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