West Seattle, Washington
12 Monday
Thanks to West Seattle High School head track and field coach Will Harrison for the report, with photos by Erik Bell:
West Seattle HS Track and Field continued a great season at the Sea-King District II Meet, held May 19th and 20th at Southwest Athletic Complex. By placing in the top seven, the Wildcats qualified four athletes in seven events for the 3A State Championships. Photos by Erik Bell.
Sophomore Chloe Cunliffe qualified for 2 events. She placed 2nd at Districts in pole vault at 11 feet, though her season best of 12 foot, 9 inches is the best mark in 3A this year. She also placed 4th in a loaded long jump competition with a leap of 17 feet, 10 inches – the #5 mark in 3A this season.
Junior Cass Elliott will compete in 3 events at state for the second year in a row. At districts, he placed 4th in the 110m Hurdles (15.19 seconds), 6th in the 400m (though his prelim time of 49.37 seconds, a new school record, is #4 in state), and 1st in his marquee event, the 300 hurdles (38.19 seconds- further improving his #1 rank in 3A).
A pair of dedicated throwers qualified for their first state meet. Senior Caden Snodgrass (above) placed 5th in the discus throw at Districts (136 ft, 1 in), while junior Joe Kirk-Woodbury (below) took 6th (135-10).
The 2A/3A/4A State meet will be hosted by Mt Tahoma High School this Thursday through Saturday.
Family and friends are remembering Carl H. Kroll, noting that he was “one of the oldest and longest residents of West Seattle,” and sharing this recounting of his life:
Carl H. Kroll left us peacefully on April 19, a month short of his 107th birthday.
He was born in West Seattle to German immigrants in 1910, and started school at Gatewood Elementary. In 1920, the family went to visit relatives in Ahrensburg, Germany, and ended up staying for ten years when his father became involved helping Quakers feed the children after WWI.
In 1930, Carl moved back to the US, first to Philadelphia, where he got a job at a small valve manufacturing plant. After two years, he joined his father in the business of importing lily-of-the-valley flowers, which included numerous trips between the US and Germany.
In 1934, he married his childhood friend from Ahrensburg, Erna K. Dammann, and they moved back to West Seattle along with his parents, returning to the same block he had grown up on. Together they built their two houses side by side overlooking Puget Sound, where they happily spent the rest of their lives.
From 1938 until retiring in 1970, Carl worked for the Pomerelle Wine Company, which ultimately became part of Chateau Ste. Michelle. But, wishing for a more independent employment and to expose his two sons to a more rural life, he established the family raspberry farm in the late 1940s in Kitsap County. Until the early ‘70s, he and Erna, and often their sons, Carl G. and Detlev, spent most weekends in its operation.
Right up until the very end, Carl retained a sound and capable mind, and was fascinated to discuss such things as computers, cell phones, and driverless cars. He would often say, when we were stuck for an answer, “look it up on your phone.”
Carl was a dedicated and loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He was a wonderful role model and was a firm believer in staying active and engaged. After retirement, he kept busy with many projects, including teaching himself to weave, building playhouses for his grandchildren and numerous pieces of furniture, researching his family tree, and writing his history. Even as a centenarian, he remained active by continuing to make Christmas wreaths for sale in the West Seattle neighborhood and the raspberry-farm-now-turned-Christmas-tree-farm near Poulsbo.
He was loved by all family and friends who knew him and will be greatly missed. He was preceded in death by his loving wife Erna in 2007, and his four siblings, Irma, Meta, Edna, and Gilbert. He is survived by their two sons: Carl G. (Linda) and Detlev (Gale); four grandchildren: Carl B. (Vicky), William, Renate and Alden (Meghan); three great-grandchildren: Xabrina, Carl E. and Ronan, and numerous nieces and nephews. A private service is planned.
(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 first Southwest Design Review Board hearing has been set for the newest project proposed at 4722 Fauntleroy Way SW, where a single-story CVS drugstore was planned for three years until it was unceremoniously scrapped last year. And we know more about the project now, too.
July 20th is the date that just appeared on the schedule for the two-building project we first told you about last December. At the time, details were few. Now, the meeting docket on the city website includes this:
Design Review Early Design Guidance application proposing … a 7-story building containing 233 residential units, 17 live-work units, and 10,000 sq. ft. of commercial space. Parking to be provided for 250 vehicles within the structure. Existing structure to be demolished. (And) a four-story building containing one live-work unit and 49 residential units.
Though the meeting listing doesn’t mention offstreet parking for the smaller building, a document mentions “30 parking stalls” under three residential floors.
This is all set for what’s becoming West Seattle’s most-redeveloped block – across from The Whittaker (WSB sponsor), and north of 4754 Fauntleroy Way SW, which just finished going through Design Review. With the 4722 Fauntleroy hearing almost two months away, no design renderings are in city files yet, but we’re contacting developers Legacy Partners – who you might know for Youngstown Flats (WSB sponsor) in North Delridge – to find out if they have anything to share. (Documents show LP is now working with Encore Architects on this project.)
The July 20th meeting is set to start at 6:30 pm at the SWDRB’s usual meeting spot, the Senior Center/Sisson Building (4217 SW Oregon).
(WSB photo, 2016 West Seattle Grand Parade)
The heart of summer really isn’t that far away! Exactly two months from today – on Saturday, July 22nd – hundreds of participants in the West Seattle Grand Parade will roll, stroll, march, dance, and ride down California Avenue SW from Admiral to The Junction. Once again this year, the West Seattle Rotary Service Foundation will present the Seafair-sanctioned parade, a summer tradition for more than 80 years. Ever been in it? Ever wanted to be in it? Ever wondered how to be in it? For starters – request an application. Parade producers say applicants “will be judged on crowd appeal and community” to determine who gets in, and that the parade is a “family-friendly venue.” Ready to fill out the application? Here’s how to get one!
What is known right now as the Veterans and Human Services Levy will become the Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy before voters around King County are asked to renew it this November. The announcement came today from County Executive Dow Constantine, noting that this is a one-of-a-kind program:
No other county in the United States has a voter-approved levy of the same scale or scope that is dedicated to serving veterans, active service members, and their families. For more than a decade, it has helped veterans succeed by connecting them with housing, employment and treatment.
So what exactly does/would the levy pay for? Here’s a three-page PDF fact sheet from the county. And here’s the summary of its cost:
The rate would be 12 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. For the owner of an average home in King County – currently about $450,000 – that would mean an increase of about $3 per month, going from $1.50 per month to $4.50 per month.
You can read the full announcement by going here.
New information just in from Seattle Police on the High Point gunfire mentioned here Sunday afternoon. Though no victim was found after police arrived at the scene at 35th/Morgan, SPD says that about half an hour after the gunfire was reported, “dispatch notified officers a 20-year-old male was dropped off at Harborview Medical Center with a non life-threatening gunshot wound to the leg. The victim reported he was putting gas in his car … when he heard multiple gunshots, one of which struck him.” Police found “multiple shell casings and other possible evidence” and say that witnesses described “two possible suspects, one a female in her 20’s with blonde hair and a male in his late 20’s with dreadlocks, possibly firing shots at a silver sedan that was last seen speeding away from the scene.”
Voter-approved Sound Transit 3 promises light rail to West Seattle by 2030, with three stations envisioned. Inside that framework, many details remain to be decided … including exactly how it will get here, and where the stations will be, among other things. ST has not yet started its official outreach process to ask what you think about that – but the West Seattle Transportation Coalition isn’t going to wait – WSTC is inviting you to a community-led design workshop one month from tonight. Here’s the official announcement:
Where do you want the light rail to go?
Where do you want the light rail to go in West Seattle?
The West Seattle Transportation Coalition (WSTC) invites you to a community-led design workshop on Thursday, June 22, 2017, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., at The Hall at Fauntleroy, 9131 California Ave SW. Sound Transit (ST) plans to build the West Seattle light rail line by 2030. You can help decide where to put light rail stations, where the route will go, and what you think is best for West Seattle neighborhoods and commuters.
In a facilitated setting, we’ll look over Sound Transit’s ST3 proposed routing option and options proposed by WSTC and others. Our aims for this workshop include:
*Explore the costs and impacts of each option – underground, surface and elevated – on our overall community
*Determine where the community and neighborhoods want light rail routed to best serve West Seattle and improve ingress-egress for the Peninsula
*Discuss ways to get light rail delivered sooner than 2030.
Afterward, the WSTC will assemble the results into a formal document and present it to Sound Transit, the King County and Seattle City Councils, the Seattle Department of Transportation, and local stakeholders. Since Sound Transit has already conducted seven design reviews with Ballard, and this is West Seattle’s first, the WSTC will urge ST to combine West Seattle’s preferred options with ST3 overall plans.
Two reader reports:
THE THIEVES WHO DIDN’T WANT THE CLUBS: From Randy at 39th SW/SW Andover:
Husband found both our unlocked cars rummaged through this morning around 5:30 am. Small amount of cash taken, Bushnell golf scope, men’s dress shirt, reusable shopping bags, CDs, car maintenance book, insurance cards, ball/hitch unit. Luckily he recovered his golf clubs near the water tower at 39th and 40th.
VISITORS VICTIMIZED: From Sara in the 4400 block of 52nd SW:
We had family visiting from Oregon and their car was prowled outside our home (Saturday) night. iPad and gift cards were stolen from inside the vehicle.
P.S. Another reminder that the next crime/safety-related discussion in our area is 7 pm tomorrow (Tuesday, May 23rd), when the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meets at the Southwest Precinct (2300 SW Webster); agenda details are here.
One more highlight from the big, bright weekend just past – 5 scenes from one of its biggest events, the fifth annual West Seattle Bee Festival! Co-organizer Karen Berge shared the photos. Above, that’s the hive demonstration with Lauren Englund, founder of the West Seattle Bee Garden, who first shared her dream here on WSB five years ago. The biggest bee at the festival was human-made:
The Big Bee led the kids-and-pets parade, a collaboration with High Point’s Vietnamese community, with coordination by Seattle Housing Authority‘s Thu Thai Duong.
The festival’s main organizer Deborah Vandermar, meantime, was instrumental in organizing a new activity – Pop-Up Sewing, inside Neighborhood House High Point:
Back outdoors, the Plant Swap “was amazing this year,” Karen reports. There are leftovers – if you are interested in free plants, they were left next to the bee enclosure in the Bee Garden and are yours for the taking, she says. And from the vendor and community-resource fair, West Seattle Be Prepared made preparedness education fun:
That’s Cindi Barker and the “Wheel of Misfortune.” So many more participants – you just had to be there! If you missed it, maybe next year … the sixth annual West Seattle Bee Festival is already taking shape. And you can visit the Bee Garden any time, on the north side of High Point Commons Park (here’s a map).
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
6:43 AM: Good morning and welcome to the week before Memorial Day. Summery weather will greet you as you head out. No incidents reported so far on routes in/from West Seattle.
2-BOAT FERRY SCHEDULE: The Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry run has been down to two boats since yesterday and that continues this morning. The boats are Issaquah and Cathlamet. Here’s the schedule.
7:30 AM: SDOT reports a crash on the eastbound low bridge (see the camera at lower left, above).
7:38 AM: There’s also an SFD medical response on the eastern half of the high bridge, but two of the three units already have been canceled and there’s no info on whether it’s affecting traffic.
7:47 AM: That call is now closed. But a new problem – crash at Roxbury and 8th, according to SDOT. No SFD dispatch for it, so far.
8:08 AM: The low-bridge crash has cleared, per SDOT.
8:19 AM: From the scanner, a dispatch for a stalled vehicle on the eastbound bridge. Waiting to hear exactly where.
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