West Seattle, Washington
23 Tuesday
11:03 PM: On partner site White Center Now, we’re covering a shooting that happened in WC about half an hour ago. A man has serious but not life-threatening injuries. The shooter is said to have fled north toward Roxbury so Seattle Police are helping with a wide-ranging search in case he’s in West Seattle. Updates as we get them.
12:04 AM: No further information from KCSO, but we expect to get more details later this morning and will update here and on WCN.
Earlier this month, SDOT opened the floodgates and poured out updates and feedback-requests for 4 West Seattle projects. Tomorrow is the deadline for most of the associated surveys, so we’re providing the links one more time:
DELRIDGE RAPIDRIDE H LINE: The main question for you in an “online open house” (which we explored in this story) is, Option 1 or Option 2, when Metro Route 120 changes into the H Line in 2020? The survey is open through tomorrow – find it here.
FAUNTLEROY BOULEVARD: After briefings and walking tours, your last chance for feedback on the design, landscaping, and construction detours/duration for this project is at the bottom of the SDOT project page, and tomorrow is the deadline for this too.
Here’s our most-recent report, after going along on both walking tours; here’s our report on last month’s briefing at the West Seattle Transportation Coalition.
Two more projects, both the result of community proposals, don’t have input deadlines, but sooner is better than later:
HARBOR/SPOKANE/AVALON IMPROVEMENTS: This one has changed the official map since we first reported on the feedback phase – look at that link for the old one, which singled out possible parking removal and protected bike lane on the west side of the project, and now mentions (new map below, found on project page tonight) that Avalon is set for paving in two years and that community input might change the design:
The questions SDOT has for you, and the address to use to answer them, are on the project page.
CHIEF SEALTH WALKWAY IMPROVEMENTS: The questions about this project are also on its SDOT page. In this case, the map is the same one made public two weeks ago:
Here’s what we wrote about it then.
You can browse WSB archives of transportation-related stories, including the projects mentioned above, by going here.
The photo is from a trip to the State Capitol today by staffers and board members of West Seattle Helpline, as the State Senate unanimously passed a resolution, SR 8615, in honor of its work supporting local families by providing emergency services and preventing homelessness. At center of the photo is 34th District State Senator Sharon Nelson, who praised WS Helpline in a speech on the Senate floor, acknowledging its staff and several board members staff of the West Seattle Helpline (Chris Langeler, Theresa Sundin, Layla Al-Jamal Judkins, Joan O’Brien) and several members of the board (Nick Naubert, Tracey Byrne, Rev. Ron Marshall, Mike Entzminger). Senator Nelson’s office organized a clothing drive among legislators and staff members and had a carload of donated clothing for WS Helpline’s newly expanded Clothesline. Here’s our coverage of last weekend’s Clothesline open house – here’s one of the rooms that’s ready to go, a dignified and easy-to-use space for the people in need of the donated clothing:
You can still donate here to help the Helpline get every room in the new space in shape.
Tonight, salmon are in the spotlight at The Whale Trail‘s Orca Talk. Right now, we have two updates involving local salmon and the people who track them:
Spring is when coho smolts leave Fauntleroy Creek for their two years in saltwater and creek volunteers have documented the first to head for Puget Sound.
Soft trapping of smolts at upper- and lower-creek locations began in mid March and Dennis Hinton found a healthy 4-5 incher on March 20. He and Pete Draughon check both traps daily to count the fish before sending them on their way.
“The number of smolts to survive their year in Fauntleroy Creek tells us a lot about habitat conditions here – the health of the creek,” Dennis said. “Like the number of spawners in the fall, smolt numbers have varied widely over the 14 years we’ve been monitoring, from a high of 157 in 2012 to 19 last year.”
Most of the smolts are likely coho released as fry by students in the Salmon in the Schools program. Creek volunteers will be supporting 19 releases involving about 750 students starting in late April.
–Judy Pickens
Among the schools in that program is West Seattle Elementary, which got a visit earlier this month from biologist Steev Ward – who gave students a close-up look at what’s inside a fish:
Ward’s presentation took about an hour, explaining the fish’s internal systems, how they worked, what’s different from ours. The students asked about topics including the salmon’s digestive and nervous systems, and they learned that a salmon has a small bone in its head that helps it hear.
They asked Ward how many fish he had dissected; he said he’d lost count, maybe in the thousands. What would happen to what’s left of this one, they also asked. It was to be buried at his house, since the possibility of contamination meant the carcass couldn’t just be placed back in a stream.
(South Seattle College photo)
From South Seattle College (WSB sponsor): A gathering today at SSC looked ahead to the expansion of the 13th Year Promise Scholarship, which within a year will be available to both of our area’s public high schools:
Seattle Public Schools (SPS) senior leadership and administrators visited South Seattle College (SSC) on Thursday morning, March 30, to learn more about the 13th Year Promise Scholarship that currently provides one year of tuition-free college to graduating seniors from Chief Sealth International, Rainier Beach and Cleveland high schools. The program will expand to include West Seattle High School graduates starting with their 2018 class.
SSC President Gary Oertli and our SPS guests discussed the creation a college-going culture in southeast and southwest public schools, where elementary students have an understanding and expectation that college is a reality in their future, regardless of economic circumstances, because of the 13th Year program.
SPS attendees included Superintendent Larry Nyland, Associate Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Michael Tolley, School Board Director Leslie Harris, Executive Director for Southwest Region Helen Joung and Executive Director for Southeast Region Kelly Aramaki. Also in attendance were administrators from elementary, middle and high schools from the southeast and southwest regions.
The 13th Year Promise program is being expanded with the help of money allocated in the new city budget.
One week from tonight, the Southwest Design Review Board will get its first look at the newest proposed project at 3257 Harbor Avenue SW, now proposed for 30+ townhouse units – depending on which design alternative moves forward – a short distance north of the bridge. The “design packet” that the board will review, and take public comments about, is available for public preview – see it embedded above, or on the city website, here (57 MB PDF). This will be an Early Design Guidance review, so that means it’s focused primarily on the size, shape, and site placement of the project. The packet by Lemons Architecture PLLC shows three options for how the units would be arranged on the site (starting on page 21). The meeting is at 6:30 pm Thursday, April 6, at the Sisson Building/Senior Center (4217 SW Oregon).
BACKSTORY: A different proposal, centered on apartments, went through one Design Review meeting in 2014, but then was shelved, and we reported first word of the new townhouse plan last fall.
(SW Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Jennifer Burbridge, photographed by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
For the first time in six years, the Southwest Precinct has its own Crime Prevention Coordinator.
As first reported in our coverage of this week’s West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meeting, Jennifer Burbridge is the new CPC. Mark Solomon has done double CPC duty for the Southwest and South Precincts since the retirement of Benjamin Kinlow in 2011; this year’s city budget included funding for each precinct to have a dedicated CPC (a civilian position with SPD).
You might know Burbridge already, as she explained in this message about what she’ll be doing:
As some of you may know, for the last two years I have worked out of the SW Precinct as the Seattle University Graduate Research Analyst, specifically tasked with the Micro-Community Policing Plan (MCPP) project.
In my new capacity, I will be working closely with the SW Precinct community, as well as the officers of the SW Precinct, in order to decrease crime by developing, implementing and coordinating a variety of police programs in the area of crime prevention.
I will organize special Seattle Police Department functions such as Night Out, Community Cleanups and help organize and participate in the annual Precinct Picnic. I will also be regularly attending Block Watch and community crime-prevention meetings. Over the next few months, I will be receiving a variety of helpful trainings and certifications.
Having a dedicated CPC for this community, Burbridge believes, will mean “more time, more involvement, and more outreach,” and “consistent, specialized crime prevention attention” for each community within the precinct’s jurisdiction: “Hopefully the work I will do for this community will be beneficial and well-received, but will also have a direct impact on reducing the crimes our community deals with.” She adds that she hopes to “make a difference when it comes to crime in this area. I hope that the work I do will have a lasting effect on the community, the precinct, and the community members here. I honestly believe crime prevention is not only extremely important, but I also think it can be immensely effective – and I am so looking forward to being part of the solution.”
We also asked Burbridge why she decided to go into public-safety work:
As cheesy as this may sound, I truly want to make a difference.
When I began my Master’s Degree program in Criminal Justice at Seattle University, I thought the way I was going to make a difference was through the corrections system, specifically in probation or parole.
However, through my Master’s program, I was selected for the amazing opportunity to be an intern for the Seattle Police Department at the SW Precinct. I can honestly say that this internship changed my life. I found a passion that I didn’t know that I had. I truly discovered how much I enjoy working with law enforcement and working towards a productive solution. In our society today, there are a great deal of negative views pushed toward the police, and I find it extremely beneficial to have working partnerships between the community and the police. I am very excited and feel very fortunate to play a small part in making these partnerships successful in the SW Precinct area.
And her last message for you as she gets started as CPC: “If you have questions about crime prevention or would like to speak with me about your crime concerns, please feel free to email me at: Jennifer.Burbridge@seattle.gov. I will get back to you just as soon as possible.”
(WSF photo, via Twitter)
We got a couple questions about a state ferry under tow off West Seattle right now. It’s the former M/V Evergreen State, built in 1954, sold earlier this year. Its new owners bought it for $300,000 and plan to use it in the Caribbean, according to this Washington State Ferries news release. But it’s not headed there yet – it’s headed to temporary moorage and is expected to be towed to Grenada later this year.
West Seattle/South Park residents proposed more than 200 ways to spend almost $300,000 in city grant money for park/street projects … and tonight is your last chance to help decide which ones will move on to a vote. From Jenny Frankl at the Department of Neighborhoods:
This will be the final meeting to decide what projects will move forward. Meeting kicks off @ 5:30 p.m. @ the Southwest Branch of the Seattle Public Library (9010 35th Ave SW).
*If you are just now plugging into this process, first and foremost, welcome! Secondly, just wanted to quickly catch you up – In the previous three meetings for District 1, each D1 project that has been submitted has been reviewed and scored twice (with the exception of those listed below). This meeting tomorrow will be to select from the projects that received the highest scores from those two reviews.
*For those of you who have attended one of these prior meetings, this meeting will be slightly different than the others so far, so I also wanted to give you a better idea of what to expect.
We will be reviewing three sets of projects, that you can find on the updated District 1 Project Map:
*The projects that were scored the highest in the previous District 1 project development meetings and indicated by green pinpoints
*The projects that were scored twice, but the two scores varied greatly are indicated by yellow pinpoints
*The projects that still need to receive their second review are indicated by red pinpoints
In tonight’s meeting, you all will review the orange & red projects first. Once we receive their additional scores, we will tally up their collective scores, and add the highest scored projects to the other list of projects that have scored highly in this process. You will all then review and prioritize the overall list of highly-scored projects.
The goal for the meeting is to select 10 of these projects that will first advance to SDOT/Parks for a thorough feasibility and cost assessment, and then on to the ballot in June!
Anyone is welcome to participate tonight, whether you’ve been to one of the previous review meetings or not.
As first reported here back in January, this is the city’s new process replacing what had long been vetting of proposals and projects through neighborhood-district councils, until the mayor’s decision last year to cut the city’s ties with, and nominal funding for, those groups. (The two in West Seattle, Southwest and Delridge, are continuing on as independent organizations meeting monthly.)
(Towboat Bering Titan with a barge on Elliott Bay, photographed from Upper Alki by Jim Borrow)
Morning through night, some options for your Thursday;
DEMENTIA-FRIENDLY STORY SHARE AND SKETCH: New weekly program at High Point Community Center, 10 am-noon: “A free storytelling and art-making experience for people living with memory loss, led by skilled facilitators. No experience necessary, all materials provided. Care partners welcome.” More info here. (6920 34th SW)
TINKERLAB DROP-IN CRAFTS: All ages welcome at this weekly drop-in STEM-based crafts event at High Point Library, 4-5:30 pm. More info here. (35th SW/SW Raymond)
SOUTH LANDER STREET BRIDGE PROJECT: 4-6:30 pm, new information promised at the open house for this SDOT project. At Metropolist in SODO. (2931 1st Ave. S.)
GETTING READY FOR HIGH SCHOOL: For Madison Middle School families, students included, 7 pm @ the school library – details in our calendar listing. (45th SW/SW Spokane)
TAP STATION TRIVIA NIGHT: Monthly trivia event, all ages, free to enter, 7 pm. (7900 35th SW)
LIVE MUSIC @ WHISKY WEST: Jim Marcotte at 7 pm, no cover, 21+. (6451 California SW)
ORCA TALK: Tonight’s edition of The Whale Trail‘s speaker series focuses on saving salmon, without which our Southern Resident Killer Whales will starve. 7 pm at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor). Ticket info and more details are in our calendar listing. (5612 California SW)
‘BONNIE & CLYDE’ AT WSHS: Opening night for the new West Seattle High School production, “a thrilling musical with a non-traditional score” – 7:30 pm, WSHS Theater. More info in our calendar listing. (3000 California SW)
THERE’S MORE! – on our complete calendar.
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
6:58 AM: Good morning. Just got a text about a crash at 8th and Roxbury, so beware if you are headed that way. Looks from the accompanying photo as if it’s on the eastbound side of the street, right lane. Seattle Fire is just now being dispatched for minor injuries reported to 1 person.
Reminder that the cleanup along surface Spokane Street east of the low bridge is scheduled to continue today and that could mean detours, including the bike path in the area. Seattle City Light says the lighting there should be working by week’s end.
7:14 AM: SFD has already closed its part of the 8th/Roxbury call. One regional incident to mention – on the east side of Boeing Field, Airport Way is closed between Norfolk and Portland as SCL replaces a pole damaged in an early-morning crash.
| 7 COMMENTS