West Seattle, Washington
11 Wednesday
Thanks to Robin Graham for the photos and report:
The West Seattle Little League Rookies Champions are the Chiefs, who played against the all-girl team the Peaches.
Both teams played great ball and it was a nail-biter till the end! Congratulations to both teams for playing so hard and for making it to the championships!
Final score was 7-5.
More student achievements to celebrate! The report is from Chief Sealth International High School principal Aida Fraser-Hammer:
The Global Navigator Scholarship program, which Seattle Public Schools helped pioneer, has culminated in $33,700 in scholarships awarded to 12 students to study abroad this coming summer. Of these 4 are Chief Sealth International High School students. These outstanding students are Alexander Thavongsa, who will study Japanese Language & Pop Culture in Tokyo; Clarissa Perez, who will study German Language & Culture in Berlin; Dominic Martin, who plans to study French Language Intensive in Rennes, France; and Rumi Conley, who will study Chinese Language & Culture in Nanjing and Shanghai.
In total, 7 students in the district accepted Global Navigator awards, culminating in $27,440 in accepted scholarships for Seattle Public Schools.
(WSB photo: JuNO’s land-use chair Rich Koehler and new director Amanda Sawyer)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
This week, we’re getting community councils’ first public take on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement published for the rezoning that’s at the heart of the city Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda‘s Mandatory Housing Affordability component.
Tonight, the Junction Neighborhood Organization talked about it during the first meeting led by new JuNO director Amanda Sawyer, who has taken over for longtime director René Commons, now serving as an advisor for the group. More than 20 people were in attendance.
LAND USE COMMITTEE ON HALA MHA DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT: Five days after the debut of the document (here’s our first report), Rich Koehler from the JuNO Land Use Committee presented a briefing, saying he had read all 400+ pages of the HALA MHA DEIS.
Koehler noted first that some of the MHA-related changes would conflict with the Junction’s longstanding Neighborhood Plan, so JuNO submitted a proposed comprehensive-plan amendment seeking to resolve the conflicts by taking the single-family-zoned areas out of the rezoning proposal. They had almost 250 signatures of support. The Morgan Community Association has done something similar. The amendment’s fate is up to the City Council.
Regarding the Draft EIS itself, he explained that this type of document is intended to assess the impact of the potential zoning changes on environmental factors – not just ecological – including transportation, utilities, etc. In the HALA MHA DEIS, “two new maps” accompany the DEIS, beyond the proposed rezoning map first unveiled last October. One map is “slightly less intensive and aggressive than what was proposed in the past,” and the other is “significantly more aggressive.” One lens through which the alternatives are presented is trying to minimize potential displacement. Another is mitigation, “telling city decisionmakers, we studied this, and these are things you could do to mitigate the impact.” Read More
(Colman Estate photo provided by ArtsWest)
It’s a one-of-a-kind volunteer opportunity, at a one-of-a-kind home in West Seattle – here’s the announcement from Michael Wallenfels at ArtsWest:
ArtsWest is looking for additional volunteers to help with our upcoming Gala on Saturday, June 17. We’ve got lots of different kinds of roles that can be filled (see a whole list here: iamiandiamhere.com/volunteers) so there’s something for everybody. It’s located at the historic Colman Estate, and volunteers would have a chance to see this incredible property and its gardens up close, and help out a local arts nonprofit all the while.
The monthly WordsWest Literary Series has something extra-special tomorrow (Wednesday) night – “A Kids’ Night of Invention and Adventure” with Sundee T. Frazier and Kazu Kibuishi, whose books should be instantly recognizable to many young readers and their families:
In case you hadn’t already seen it in our calendar, the official announcement:
“A Kids’ Night of Invention and Adventure” with Sundee T. Frazier and Kazu Kibuishi
Favorite Poem and Summer Reading Table by Jenny Cole, Co-Owner of Page 2 Books
Special time: 6 pm
At C & P Coffee Company, 5612 California SW
Yummy treats will be served!
Sundee T. Frazier is an ALA Coretta Scott King Award winner for Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It. Her heartfelt, entertaining stories address subjects close to her heart: ethnic identity, growing up in interracial families, and multi-generational dynamics. Her books have been nominated for twelve state children’s choice awards and been recognized by the Children’s Book Council, Oprah’s Book Club, and Kirkus Reviews (Best Children’s Books of the Year). Her latest is Cleo Edison Oliver in Persuasion Power about an irresistible 10-year-old entrepreneur. Cleo is one of ten books in Seattle Public Library’s 2017 Global Reading Challenge. Sundee lives in Renton.
Kazu Kibuishi is the writer and artist of the New York Times-bestselling AMULET graphic novel series, published by Scholastic. He is also the editor/art director/cover artist of the EXPLORER and FLIGHT Comic Anthologies, and is the cover illustrator of the Harry Potter 15th Anniversary Edition paperbacks from Scholastic. His debut graphic novel, Daisy Kutter: The Last Train, won a YALSA Best Books for Young Adults Award. Born in Tokyo, Kazu moved to the U.S. with his mother and brother when he was a child. He graduated from Film Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2000, and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. He currently works as a full-time graphic novelist. Kazu lives near Seattle with his wife and two children.
Every third Wednesday at C & P Coffee Company, WordsWest hosts literary events that range from readings by published local and national authors, to guided writing explorations. Each month we also host a community member to share his or her favorite poem as part of the Favorite Poem Project. WordsWest is curated by West Seattle writers Katy E. Ellis, Susan Rich, and Harold Taw.
Thanks to the Morgan Community Association for the photo – its banners are up with days to go until the MoCA-presented Morgan Junction Community Festival this Saturday! It’s happening in and around Morgan Junction Park (west side of California SW half a block north of Fauntleroy Way), 10 am-5 pm on June 17th. We previewed the food and music earlier – today, the kids’ activities, as announced by MoCA:
Jennifer Young, owner of My Three Little Birds in the Morgan Junction, is coordinating the children’s activities.
Chief entertainment for the kids is The Bubbleman, of course. He begins his always-pleasing wild and colorful show at 10:30 am in Morgan Junction Park. Craft activities start at 10:00 at the north side of the park. Face painters and a balloon twister artist will be on hand between 10:00 and 2:30. (Sponsors for kid activities include Counseling West Seattle, O’Neill Plumbing, West Seattle Vision Clinic, Pillar Product Design Group, Peel & Press, and Daystar Retirement Village.) LuLu Cakes mini-cupcakes will be offered free from 12:30 to 1:30 in the kids activity area.
My Three Little Birds, O’Neill Plumbing, and Peel & Press are also WSB sponsors. And we’re among the festival co-sponsors, too. Find even more info in our calendar listing, and we’re expecting more before festival day, including vendor highlights. See you at the park!
That flyer is just in from Aimee Pellegrini, announcing that Pellegrini Italian Market at 4521 California SW in The Junction has closed, after selling the business to an unidentified “new tenant.” It’s been just under two years since the Pellegrinis – best known for La Rustica on Beach Drive – opened the Junction venue at the site of Aimee’s previous venture, La Romanza Bistro. More to come!
That’s one of the scenes we showed you on Duwamish Alive! day in spring of last year, when the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association and its affiliate Nature Consortium held an event at the site that’s home to the Delridge Wetlands Project. It’s another one of Seattle City Light‘s no-longer-needed former substations, and this one, instead of going up for sale as real estate, has a different future, in a public/private partnership.
(WSB photo of site’s unfenced north side, June 2017)
You can be part of it by dropping by Youngstown Cultural Arts Center between 6 and 9 pm Thursday (June 15th). It’s a chance to see the design planned for the site, in its future as:
…a project spearheaded by DNDA to protect, restore, preserve and expand the existing wetland to improve water quality in Longfellow Creek, meanwhile developing the space as a public park for all to enjoy. Beside wetland restoration, other plans for the park include the creation of an urban garden, community orchard, as well as developing the space as an outdoor classroom for local students and the community to learn hands-on environmental science and wetland stewardship.
Youngstown CAC is at 4408 Delridge Way SW; the Delridge Wetlands Project site is at 23rd SW/SW Findlay.
Just received more information on the police search we covered earlier this morning.
That’s the arrest that ended the search around 7:45 am in the 5200 block of 17th SW on Puget Ridge. That’s not far from where the search began, after this 6:30 am car crash nearby, at 16th SW and SW Dawson:
As we reported, this was primarily a King County Sheriff’s Office case, with Seattle Police from the Southwest Precinct assisting in the search. The incident originated in White Center. KCSO spokesperson Det. Jessica Santos says it started when a “deputy sitting in his patrol car with his windows rolled down heard a gunshot near SW 107th and 15th Ave SW. The deputy then observed a suspicious vehicle in the area and drove behind it. The vehicle took off and the deputy activated his emergency vehicle equipment. The driver failed to stop for the deputy,” and a pursuit ensued. The crash scene is 3.5 miles from where the gunshot was heard (here’s a map). Det. Santos says “bullets were found on the suspect” and confirms that “a bomb dog is currently searching for evidence.” The suspect is reported to have suffered minor injuries and was treated before being booked into jail; no one else was hurt. We’ll be checking later on his status. Det. Santos’s report also mentions that nearby South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) was “in lockdown for safety” – as WSB commenters noted in discussion following our first story – and “has since been reopened.”
Thanks to Claudio for the photo of the Breitling DC-3, which you might see flying over West Seattle again today – it’s stopping at Boeing Field today during its quest to become the oldest airplane to fly around the globe. Meantime, highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
MEDI-LEG DAY AT NURTURING EXPRESSIONS: 11 am-4 pm, stop by Nurturing Expressions (WSB sponsor) in The Junction for free leg-health screenings and to find out more about compression stockings, socks, sleeves, and garments. Giveaways and treats. At Nurturing Expressions’ new location, featured here on Monday. (4727 44th SW)
JUNCTION NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATION: 6:30 pm at the Senior Center/Sisson Building, JuNO meets, with the agenda including:
Jennifer Burbridge from the Seattle Police Department will be speaking about current crime prevention issues in our neighborhood. We will also receive an update from the JuNO Land Use Committee on the status of MHA/HALA. Additional discussion items on the agenda include:
Fauntleroy Boulevard Improvement – discussion with updates
Green Spaces in WS Junction – discussion and ideas for incorporating more public green spaces into the community
JuNO Community Engagement and Membership Drive Event – organizers and volunteers needed
JuNO Booth at WS Street Fair – ideas and volunteers needed
Junction Plaza Park cleanup – date proposals
All welcome. (4217 SW Oregon)
FAUNTLEROY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: 7 pm board meeting at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, all welcome. (9141 California SW)
ADMIRAL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: 7 pm meeting at The Sanctuary at Admiral, all welcome. (Added) Agenda info:
Help us kick off the summer and join us for our June meeting to discuss some of ANA’s biggest events of the year.
HALA Rezoning: ANA letter to the city
Summer Concert Series update & discussion
4th of July Parade sale staffing and coordination
Your issues!
(42nd SW/SW Lander)
BOOZERS! “Psychedelic jam” live at Parliament Tavern, starting at 8 pm. No cover. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
6:46 AM: Good morning. We start with word of a crash on Puget Ridge – thanks to the person who called to tell us about it. The SFD log says it’s at 16th and Dawson (map). Per scanner, 16th is blocked at that spot and being diverted at Morgan to the south. We’re headed over to find out more.
7:01 AM: Another problem: Stalled truck on the eastbound low bridge, per SDOT.
7:10 AM: Puget Ridge crash: On northbound 16th, traffic is being turned around at South Seattle College since there are no outlets beyond that.
7:16 AM: Metro has finally texted/tweeted that Route 125 is rerouted off 16th because of the 16th/Dawson situation: “Use stops on Delridge at Genesee or 16th SW south of SW Austin.” Meantime, definitely a search related to this, as we’re seeing a K-9 team. SPD and KCSO are involved but no further details yet.
7:21 AM: Stalled truck on the low bridge has cleared.
7:47 AM: Per scanner, police have taken a suspect into custody. SPD confirmed this is a KCSO investigation and we hope to have more information soon from that agency on what it involved before the crash/search. We’re headed back out that way, meantime, to check on the roads’ status now that the search has ended.
8:03 AM: Metro says Route 125 is back to its regular route.
8:17 AM: KCSO says at the scene that this started in White Center with a pursuit following the car’s driver having fired shots in that area. (No word of injuries so far.)
8:20 AM: Police and fire headed to crash at Fauntleroy/Othello, southwest of Morgan Junction.
8:54 AM: The SFD response to that has closed. Meantime, you might want to avoid the 16th/Dawson area a while longer; they’re still searching for evidence including, according to radio discussion, a gun. We’ll have a separate followup on the incident a bit later, but first we’re moving on to the daily highlights.
| 2 COMMENTS