West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
9:54 PM: An overtime thriller tonight – the West Seattle High School boys-varsity basketball team beat Rainier Beach, 61-56, in their postseason game at Chief Sealth IHS. That brought the Wildcats a third-place finish in the Metro League tournament. Next stop for head coach Keffrey Fazio‘s team, the district tournament, and a 5:30 pm game Tuesday (February 14th), again in the gym at Sealth. Their opponent won’t be determined until this Saturday.
10:55 PM: Adding photos and details. The first half saw WSHS challenged in keeping control of the ball. But after halftime, the Wildcats started controlling rebounds during the low-scoring third quarter.
Top scorer for WSHS tonight was #1 Nate Pryor (21 points). In the fourth quarter, he and #22 Yusuf Mohamed (11 points) had back-to-back three-pointers.
The night’s second-leading scorer for WSHS was #5 Abdullahi Mohamed with 18:
Regulation play ended at 46-all; in OT, board control and foul shots helped WSHS get the win. According to the bracket, their Tuesday opponent will be whichever team takes Saturday’s game between Mercer Island and the winner of tomorrow’s Chief Sealth-Ballard game.
First of two high-school basketball updates tonight: Though the Chief Sealth International High School boys lost to Cleveland, 81-61, in tonight’s postseason game at Garfield HS, they have one more shot at a spot in the district tournament. Head coach Colin Slingsby‘s Seahawks will play Ballard at 5:45 pm tomorrow at Garfield; winner goes to districts, loser’s done for the year. Sealth won its last game against Ballard, 65-62 on January 31st.
If you weren’t able to get to last night’s annual PTSA-sponsored Chief Sealth International High School/Denny International Middle School safety meeting – we recorded it on video. The major headline: This year has been much less eventful than last year, which meant no major controversies or crime concerns to talk about last night, unlike the same meeting last March (WSB coverage here).
Most of last night’s presenting participants were the same as last year: Read More
While the weather brought some problems today, it also brought beauty. Three views of this afternoons rainbows – first, from Kathleen Dedon, over Westwood Village:
Kersti Muul on Alki:
Jim Borrow, from further east along Alki:
Thanks to everyone for sharing photos! editor@westseattleblog.com or text to 206-293-6302.
(Constellation Park, 2:30 this afternoon – photo by Jason Bell)
4:26 PM: Following up on our midday coverage of water and mud trouble – more weather news this afternoon. First, three National Weather Service alerts you should know about:
*The Special Weather Statement about slide risk, mentioned in our earlier coverage too.
(Off Alki Point this afternoon – photo by Bruce Easter)
*Another Coastal Flood Advisory for the early-morning high tide tomorrow – the water could be at least a foot higher than predicted because of weather factors.
*Wind Advisory for 8 am-3 pm tomorrow, with sustained wind from the southwest 20-35 mph and gusts to 50 mph.
But the mud is today’s trouble. If you’re using the main Vashon Island ferry dock, for example, here’s a problem:
(Photo courtesy King County Roads)
The King County Transportation Department sent word of “a significant landslide that occurred this afternoon on 103rd Avenue Southwest near the Vashon Ferry Terminal parking lot. Crews are working to channel ferry traffic onto Vashon Highway Southwest instead of 103rd. Crews estimate it will take about eight hours to clear debris from the road. Travelers in the area should expect delays.”
Meantime, Ted Ellis sent this photo of mud along Seola Beach Drive:
Ted says, “This is one of three different slides … and part of the road looks like a pretty big wall of mud might come down.” We’re off to check on a few other things … more to come.
4:54 PM: We went back to West Marginal Way SW, a short way north of Highland Park Way, and discovered SDOT crews are still there:
One to two SB lanes are blocked there as crews work on water and debris trouble, so southbound traffic is being diverted into the center lane for a short distance. We have also gone by a trouble spot on which reported this morning – Delridge at Myrtle; the northbound lane is still fairly well puddled.
5:50 PM: We also went to Seola Beach Drive for a look at the slide mentioned above. There are indeed multiple spots with signs along the southbound side of the road, in the section that’s greenbelt on both sides – here’s the most-sizable slide spot on the slope:
It’s not blocking a travel lane, so far.
10:55 PM: King County’s Brent Champaco sent this update on the Vashon slide:
103rd Avenue SW on Vashon Island near the north ferry terminal will remain closed until 5 a.m. tomorrow morning (Friday, Feb. 10) … From 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. the roadway will be open to northbound traffic only in order to accommodate ferry rush hour traffic. At 9 a.m. the roadway will close so clean up crews can continue their work. Clean up is taking longer than expected due to the amount of debris including a large tree.
Last weekend, we noted that the Highway 99 tunneling machine was in the zone where it would pass beneath the Battery Street Tunnel and the Seattle Center Monorail. This afternoon, WSDOT reported that it’s gone beneath the former and on its way to the latter. The machine is now 115 feet beneath the surface and climbing upward, 100 feet higher than the tunnel’s deepest point. WSDOT also reports that roadbuilding continues and is already halfway down the 7,692-foot path that’s been dug – here’s a document with updates on that and other parts of the project. WSDOT adds, “Work has also begun on the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems within the tunnel. Crews began installing these systems near the stadiums last week …” Read today’s full tunneling update here.
Next Wednesday, February 15th, South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) plans an event in honor of the Day of Remembrance, with speakers including an internment-camp survivor. Here are the details from SSC:
This year’s Day of Remembrance marks the 75th anniversary of President Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066, which led to the evacuation and incarceration of 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans to internment camps throughout the west coast.
South Seattle College will have two speakers on February 15 and an exhibit running until March 3 to commemorate the injustices and hardships during this time, and discuss how it relates to our society today.
Speakers Wednesday, Feb. 15 in the Olympic Hall Theater (OLY)
10 am – 11 am: Atsushi Kiuchi
Atsushi Kiuchi is an internment camp survivor. He will discuss events before, during and after Feb. 19, 1942, when Executive Order 9066 was signed. Kiuchi will also discuss the military exploits of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, comprised of American soldiers of Japanese ancestry who fought in World War II, and connect current events with his past experiences.11 am – 12 pm: Professors Gail Nomura and Steve Sumida
Professor Gail Nomura and her husband Professor Steve Sumida are Japanese American. They recently retired as professors from the University of Washington in the American Ethnic Studies department with a focus on the Asian American experience. They will discuss the Japanese American experience during the time period surrounding Executive Order 9066.Exhibition
Through March 3: Fred T. Korematsu and the Pursuit of Justice Exhibit in the Campus Library (LIB):
President Bill Clinton awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, to Fred Korematsu in 1998, saying, “In the long history of our country’s constant search for justice, some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls.”
Through photographs, archival documents and quotes, the Fred T. Korematsu and the Pursuit of Justice Exhibit tells Mr. Korematsu’s story of challenging the WW II exclusion and confinement order.
Korematsu worked as a shipyard welder after graduating from high school until he lost his job after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was 22 when the U.S. plunged into war. On May 9, 1942, his parents and three brothers reported to the Tanforan Assembly Center, but Korematsu stayed behind with his Italian-American girlfriend. His refusal to comply with the evacuation order led to his arrest on May 30, 1942. His fight against the mass removal of Japanese Americans resulted in a landmark Supreme Court case concerning wartime civil liberties.
In 2011, California held its first Fred Korematsu Day, the first day in the U.S. to be named after an Asian American, commemorating his lifetime of service defending the constitutional rights of Americans.
The exhibit was created by the Seattle University Law Library for the launch of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at Seattle University School of Law.
SSC is at 6000 16th SW on Puget Ridge; here’s the campus map, if you need help finding the buildings mentioned above.
(ADDED FRIDAY NIGHT: Video of presentation, courtesy of “Diver Laura” James)
By Linda Ball
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Sea creatures are at risk from a variety of threats. Among them – the struggle for food, climate change, environmental hazards, and increased ocean acidification, which makes it harder for sea life to pull calcium from the water.
That’s what a West Seattle audience heard last night from Lesanna Lahner, DVM, MPH, the executive director and veterinarian for the new organization SR3 (Sealife Response, Rehab and Research).
Lahner spoke to a full room at the Admiral Library last night about SR3, its goals and accomplishments so far, including its mission, “to promote the health and welfare of marine wildlife in the Pacific Northwest such that it can flourish.” Representatives from Seal Sitters, Whale Scout and Sustainable West Seattle were present as well.
Among the species Lahner talked about: Read More
10:34 AM: The clouds are lifting and the rain is much lighter, but water woes persist around West Seattle. We’re checking on trouble spots reported by readers (thanks!):
That’s Delridge Way SW at Myrtle, where the water’s deepest on the northbound side. Just off Delridge, and to the south, Longfellow Creek’s running high, Josh tweeted:
@westseattleblog the Longfellow Creek crossing at Kenyon has achieved “lake” status again this morning. pic.twitter.com/jHGyS7pRaT
— Josh (@skwash) February 9, 2017
We’re out checking on a couple other reports right now.
10:46 AM: West Marginal Way had been reported to be in bad shape in the usual swampy spots north of Highland Park Way, but city crews are there now and the trouble is mostly just the outside lanes:
Another heavy shower moved through between our updates, too.
11:11 AM: Thanks for the tip about a small slide that’s taken down a few trees behind the Harbor Park condos in the 1700 block of Harbor SW – here’s what you can see through the east fence:
The National Weather Service has a Special Weather Statement in effect, warning of slide risk. More than 8 percent of Seattle’s surface area is slide-prone, the city reminds us.
1:57 PM: And as we head into mid-afternoon, a big sunbreak:
Looks ominous to the south/southwest, though.
2:34 PM: As another band of showers heads this way, five weather alerts have now been announced for our area. Separate story to come soon, but in the meantime, you can see them all linked here.
(2nd day in a row with a hummingbird pic, but it’s some brightness on a gray day. Male Anna’s Hummingbird that was in a “face-off” with a Bewick’s Wren, per photographer Mark Wangerin)
We start with one more reminder of one lingering effect of the Sunday/Monday snow:
TRASH/RECYCLING REMINDER: If you missed the stories we’ve published about this already, one more reminder that Seattle Public Utilities is continuing to run one day behind all week (except for the customers missed Monday who will have double pickup next Monday) – here’s the latest information.
Now, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
TODDLER HEART HOP: For kids “0-5,” 10 am-noon at High Point Community Center. $5. (6920 34th SW)
‘THE AGE OF LOVE’: 2 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle, free screening of “a documentary that follows the adventures of 30 seniors who sign up for a first-of-its-kind Speed Dating event exclusively for 70- to 90-year-olds. (4217 SW Oregon)
FEBRUARY ART WALK: 6-9 pm at venues around West Seattle. Here’s the venue list/map for this quarter:
During WSAW, stop by Viscon Cellars (WSB sponsor) for wine and chocolate pairings plus painter Lindsay Peyton. (5910 California SW) … (added) Raven’s Nest West (4557 Glenn Way) “features Alaskan Native Haida Artist Janine Gibbons and her exquisite enamel jewelry collection”:
(added) Other venue spotlights are on the WSAW website, here.
LOUISA BOREN STEM K-8 OPEN HOUSE: Two sessions tonight at Louisa Boren STEM K-8 – elementary families 6-7 pm, middle-school families 7:30-8:30 pm. (5950 Delridge Way SW)
DENNY IMS OPEN HOUSE: 6:30 tonight, prospective families are invited to visit Denny International Middle School. (2601 SW Kenyon)
BOOK-IT STUDENT PERFORMANCES AT SEALTH: 7 pm in the Chief Sealth International High School auditorium:
All families and community members are invited to attend the 16th annual Book-It Page to Stage Residency … Freshmen in Mr. Azinger’s 9th grade classes will have spent 4 and a half weeks working with a teaching artist to stage and adapt student-written poems. After a week of on-your-feet, skills-based instruction, students work in groups to stage and adapt poems written by 9th graders from Ms. Griffin’s classes. Our students have truly grown as collaborators and thinkers as the initial reticence to work in groups was quickly replaced by a thoughtful exchange of ideas. The empathy and compassion that students show is delightful, even more so in that they are so focused on successfully presenting their adaptation of the poem. Please come enjoy the result of their hard work and growth.
(2600 SW Thistle)
HIGH-SCHOOL BASKETBALL: … At 7:30 pm at Chief Sealth International High School (2600 SW Thistle), the West Seattle High School boys play Rainier Beach … Meantime, also at 7:30 pm, the Chief Sealth boys play Cleveland HS at Garfield HS (400 23rd).
SHOREWOOD CHRISTIAN SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE: 7 pm open house tonight is for prospective middle schoolers and their families. (10300 28th SW)
THERE’S MUCH MORE on our complete-calendar page, for today, tonight, and beyond!
We’ve been talking a lot about basketball this week but other winter sports are in playoff/championship mode too. This morning we’re sharing a report and photo from Brent Lindblom on the Kennedy Catholic High School swim team’s achievement – though the school’s in Burien, it has many students from West Seattle. After placing 2nd in districts, KCHS swimmers are headed to state:
Congratulations to Kennedy Catholic High School Swim Team who placed an overall Second Place in the West Central District III 4A Swim Championship out a of a field of 22 other teams last weekend at the Western Central District III 4A Boys Swim and Dive Championship at Curtis High School.
From left to right: Coach Eric Kress, Riley Duvall, Ian Olufson, New Poshyananda, Luke Dorsett, Jack Fenster, Ty Lindblom (from West Seattle), and Ben Kinerk (from West Seattle).
The boys will compete in the 200-medley relay, 200 free relay and the 400-free relay, with Riley Duvall, as Alternate. Go Lancers !!!!!!WIAA 4A Swim and Dive Championships:
Qualified Athletes
Ian O. (200 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle), Jack F. (50 Freestyle), Ty L. (100 Backstroke)
Medley Relay – 200 Freestyle Relay – 400 Freestyle Relay
Relay Athletes: (Ty Lindblom, Ben Kinerk, Jack Fenster, Ian Olufson, Luke Dorsett, New Poshyananda, and Riley Duvall)
The championships are at King County Aquatics Center (650 SW Campus Dr, Federal Way). Prelims are on Friday, February 17th, 8:45 am warmup, 9:45 am meet start; finals are on Saturday, February 18th, 8:30 am warmups, 9:30 am meet start. Admission for one day is $10 adults/$8 students/$8 seniors. Weekend passes, $16 adults/$11 students and seniors. Kids under 5 are free.
Thanks for the report! Any other local athletes headed to state? editor@westseattleblog.com – thank you!
(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)
7:35 AM: Good morning. The rain is the big challenge so far; no incidents or transit changes reported in/from West Seattle.
8:04 AM: Just got a call (thank you) reporting a crash toward the right side of the crest of the eastbound West Seattle Bridge, involving a truck and car, doesn’t appear to involve injuries. And now we’re hearing it mentioned on the scanner too.
8:10 AM: From SDOT via Twitter:
Collision on West Seattle Br mid span blocking an EB right lane. Use caution. pic.twitter.com/GwVXs19oeC
— seattledot (@seattledot) February 9, 2017
8:27 AM: SDOT says that crash has cleared on the bridge. Getting to the bridge might be a problem, though – Sue sends word that the Spokane/Avalon traffic signal is in flashing mode. Don’t know whether it’s related but we also have e-mail asking how to get enforcement for cars in the Avalon bus lane “for blocks.”
8:59 AM: If you’re heading for southbound I-5, here’s an alert from WSDOT:
Hey #Seattle – A crash is partially blocking the SB I-5 on-ramp from the West Seattle Bridge. @seattledot pic.twitter.com/IavZOkNR78
— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) February 9, 2017
9:50 AM: Avoid West Marginal Way in the Highland Park vicinity (and points north) … lots of water over the road, per multiple reports (thanks!). SDOT is reported to be on scene now.
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