West Seattle, Washington
26 Saturday
(Photo by Joan Lopez)
One week from tonight, you have the chance to learn about the ECHO (Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation) Program with The Whale Trail, which explains that this is “a Vancouver Fraser Port Authority-led initiative aimed at better understanding and managing the impact of shipping activities on at-risk whales throughout the Salish Sea.” The presentation is at 7 pm next Thursday, June 22nd, at the Dakota Place Building (California/Dakota). From the announcement:
Krista Trounce, the ECHO Program Project Manager, will present how the ECHO Program is working with national and international collaborators to develop mitigation measures that will lead to a quantifiable reduction in potential threats to whales as a result of shipping activities.
Learn about the projects the ECHO Program has completed and is currently working on: Strait of Georgia Underwater Listening Station to measure vessel noise levels, regional monitoring of ambient noise in the Salish Sea, a Mariner’s Guide to Whales in the Pacific Northwest, large whale strike risk assessment, a trial slowdown of commercial vessels, and others. Hear how the ECHO Program and our collaborators are educating mariners, industry partners and the public about the impacts of underwater noise on marine mammals.
Krista will speak to the ECHO Program long term goals, and how the Salish Sea will benefit from their research and initiatives. Buy tickets now at bpt.me/2974083 to reserve your seat. And hurry! This will likely sell out.
This talk is the third of four Celebrate Springer events, commemorating the 15th anniversary of the successful rescue, rehabilitation and release of Springer (A73) the orphaned orca, and the transboundary partnerships that made it possible.
In case you missed the alert in our daily traffic coverage – here’s another reminder, just in from WSDOT, about this Sunday’s NB Highway 99/Alaskan Way Viaduct closure:
The 2017 Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon will close northbound SR 99 through downtown Seattle on Sunday, June 18. Northbound SR 99 will be closed from South Hudson Street to Halladay Street between approximately 7 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Although the marathon is scheduled to last until 3 p.m., the Seattle Department of Transportation is planning to reopen SR 99 and the Alaskan Way Viaduct as early as possible once the runners have passed this part of the course. Please refer to the event website for more specific information on other road closures and parking restrictions related to the event.
Here’s a map showing the closure zone, from south of West Seattle to north of downtown.
11:28 AM: Thanks for the tips – we heard from two people in Highland Park/Riverview before this big power outage even appeared on the Seattle City Light map. More than 2,000 customers (homes/businesses) are out.
11:37 AM: As the map shows, the outage also stretches into parts of White Center and South Park. The SCL map now has a restoration-time “guesstimate” of 2:31 pm – but keep in mind, could be sooner, could be later. We haven’t yet heard what caused it – if you’re seeing SCL trucks, please let us know, since that’s usually a clue. // And remember that dark traffic signals = all-way stops. Someone just messaged us to say there’s already been a crash at 8th/Roxbury.
12:07 PM: West Marginal/Highland Park Way is another major intersection with the lights out, and people “driving recklessly” as a dispatcher relayed a little while ago (monitored via scanner). SCL says a crash is what caused this and they’re still hopeful of having the power back on by 2:30ish.
12:38 PM: Added two photos from 8th/Roxbury – above, SPD is helping with traffic there (there’s a crash and a stalled vehicle); below, SDOT working with the signal box (and a generator).
12:43 PM: At least part of the area has the power back, per comment and texts, after about an hour and a half.
12:54 PM: The SCL map has updated and says the outage is about two-thirds of its original size – now 1,300+ customers, mostly south/east of West Seattle.
1:08 PM: Now down to 560+ customers out.
1:35 PM: And now just a handful.
The two newest West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports are from victims of car prowls while taking their kids to play at two local parks:
AT LINCOLN PARK: From Victoria:
Was hoping you could put something on the blog to alert people to being extra cautious with their belongings when they park their cars at Lincoln Park and similar places in West Seattle.
My car was parked at Lincoln Park yesterday afternoon while I was at the playground with my daughter and walking our dog. I had hidden my purse underneath my daughter’s backpack, lunchbox, and my coat, but the criminal still found it, broke my window and snatched it. They spent $4000 in less than 45 minutes on my cards at two nearby Targets and a Walgreens.
If you could alert others to this incident and encourage them not to leave anything valuable behind I’d appreciate it. I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
The advice from police is to not leave anything in a vehicle, valuable or not. As our next reader report demonstrates, thieves will and do take just about anything, on spec.
AT WESTCREST PARK: From Vanessa:
Just wanted to let you know that my car was broken into (Wednesday) at Westcrest Park between 3:30 and 4:30 pm while my son and I were at the playground. My window was smashed and my diaper bag was stolen. There was nothing of any value in it and I’d tried to hide it but apparently hadn’t done a good job. Luckily the police were doing a routine drive through the lot just as I discovered the break – in and were able to take my report.
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar for today/tonight:
CHEF-IN-RESIDENCE: Best-selling cookbook author Kim O’Donnel is the new West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor) chef in residence and starting this week, on Growing Washington CSA produce pickup day at the Y, she’ll “be cooking from a farm box, Iron Chef style, around 4:30 pm … Public invited – not required to be signed up for farm box to stop by and have a taste of what I’ve cooked up.” (36th SW/SW Snoqualmie)
SEE, DISCUSS THE DESIGN FOR DELRIDGE WETLANDS: You’re invited to Youngstown Cultural Arts Center 6-9 pm tonight for an open house focused on the proposed design for the Delridge Wetlands project. See it and comment on it! In the South Classroom. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
WEST SEATTLE TIMEBANK: Members and guests are welcome at the Senior Center of West Seattle, 6-8 pm. Details in our calendar listing. (4217 SW Oregon)
(Photo by Steve White)
WEST SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOL CONCERT: The photo above is from the end of West Seattle High School Jazz Band‘s recent trip to New York City – the recording session that concluded the trip. The jazz musicians and other WSHS ensembles will perform for you tonight at 7 pm in their end-of-school-year concert. Free. (3000 California SW)
ALKI COMMUNITY COUNCIL: 7 pm at Alki UCC. Topics include an SPD update, a noise survey, and the ongoing Your Voice/Your Choice park/street project vote. (6115 SW Hinds)
BELLY DANCING: The monthly Alauda showcase at The Skylark is at 7:30 tonight. Free, all ages. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
SETH ALEXANDER QUINTET AND BAD LUCK: 8-11 pm at Parliament Tavern, “modern original jazz.” No cover. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
The Admiral Neighborhood Association should be ready to announce the lineup for this year’s Summer Concerts at Hiawatha within a week or so.
That’s one of the toplines from the June ANA meeting this past Tuesday night at The Sanctuary @ Admiral.
(WSB file photo)
SUMMER CONCERTS AT HIAWATHA: As announced earlier this year, the ANA-presented free concert series is set for six Thursday nights as usual, starting July 20th, 6:30 pm on the east lawn of Hiawatha Community Center – this year new volunteer organizers, Stephanie Jordan and Josephine Davis, are planning it and they told the meeting they’re close to finalizing the lineup.
4TH OF JULY KIDS’ PARADE: While ANA doesn’t coordinate the West Seattle 4th of July Kids’ Parade in North Admiral, it supports the event and participates in the Hamilton Viewpoint Park event that follows, with concession sales, and that was discussed too. FIT4MOM is presenting the parade this year and as noted here last week, a crowdfunding campaign is on to cover the increasing costs of permits – you can donate here. As it does every year, the parade starts at 10 am July 4th (a Tuesday this year) from 44th SW/Sunset (map); no preregistration necessary – kids and their families can just show up and be part of it.
PUBLIC SAFETY: Following up on concerns heightened since last month’s as-yet-unsolved deadly shooting at Alki, ANA and the Alki Community Council are looking at a joint public meeting about public-safety issues. Alex Clardy from Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s office was at the meeting and offered to help coordinate, as Herbold had suggested a community meeting even before that flashpoint incident.
HALA REZONING: An early draft of an official ANA comment letter was circulated and discussed, but final action won’t be taken until next month’s meeting, which is still within the comment timeline for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement that the city published a week ago. Also under consideration, an ANA-led walking tour of Admiral to point out key issues.
ADOPT-A-STREET CLEANUP: The rescheduled quarterly community cleanup is this Saturday (June 17th) – be at Metropolitan Market (41st/42nd/Admiral; WSB sponsor) at 9 am; snacks and equipment are provided.
The Admiral Neighborhood Association meets second Tuesdays most months, 7 pm at The Sanctuary; next meeting will be July 11th, then no meeting in August.
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
6:52 AM: Good morning. The rain has returned. But so far, none of the morning’s incidents are in West Seattle or on the outbound routes from here.
CAMERA NOTE: SDOT traffic cams are having some outages, so we just have the high-bridge cams to start with today.
8:38 AM: Commenter MrsL says the signal is in flashing-red mode at Avalon/Harbor/Spokane.
As first shown during a community meeting two weeks ago (WSB coverage here), those are the three alternatives the city is considering for the north shore of Lowman Beach Park, where the seawall is failing. This Saturday, you have another chance to find out more about the problem and the city’s proposed solutions, during the Morgan Junction Community Festival this Saturday at Morgan Junction Park (west side of California SW, half-block north of Fauntleroy Way). Organizers tell us that Seattle Parks‘ point person on the project, David Graves, will be at the festival around 12:30 pm-1:30 pm to talk with festivalgoers and hear their thoughts on the Lowman Beach possibilities. More background is on the park’s website.
P.S. As for the rest of the festival, which runs 10 am-5 pm Saturday, here’s the program – and we’ll have another preview with new info later today (Thursday).
One more championship report from West Seattle Little League – the Majors’ winners:
The Red Sox played a great game against the White Sox and came out on top 15-5. The Red Sox are managed by Art Holloway and Matt Schlede. Players are: Milo Stover, Aiden Hsu, Isaac Wortzel, Jayden Holloway, Mason Holmes, Eli Palmer, Harrison Gaikowski, Sean Quinn, Felix Schlede, Bo Gionet, and Jordan Holloway.
(Seattle Channel video from this afternoon’s committee meeting)
Starting 56 minutes into the video above, the City Council’s Human Services and Public Health Committee got a briefing this afternoon on the state of the city’s emergency response to homelessness. We took notes on the West Seattle-specific information, mostly related to the city-sanctioned Camp Second Chance on Myers Way. The briefing was led by the city’s director of homelessness George Scarola, who said they’re now ramping down the daily homelessness-related meetings in the city’s Emergency Operations Center after four months. Key staffers will now meet three times a week and have conference calls the other two.
City briefers said that Camp Second Chance is now “at capacity” with 58 residents – three more than when we last visited for the Community Advisory Committee meeting on June 4th. Though a capacity around 70 was expected, all 50 of its tents (some being replaced by “tiny houses” as donor-funded structures become available) are now occupied. The city’s three newest sanctioned encampments, including CSC, have 160 residents total. In a citywide stat, overall, the committee was told, the city’s SPD-led Navigation Team has made almost 2,000 contacts with a total of 630 people who are “living homeless.” (The slide deck used in the briefing was not included in the meeting agenda, as most such presentations are, so we’ll be asking for it tomorrow, to add here.)
(King County Assessor’s Office photo)
A century-plus-old house at 6721 California SW is proposed for replacement with seven rowhouse townhouses, according to a proposal that just showed up in city files. The early-stage site plan in city files shows the units fronting onto SW Willow on the south side of the site, with five offstreet parking spaces alongside the units on the north side. This represents continued densification to match what the area is already zoned for; this site is zoned Lowrise 2, as is the rest of the block, part of which has already been redeveloped, as has the entire block to the south.
(WSB photo: Linnea Westerlind at Lowman Beach Park)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Eight years ago, West Seattle writer Linnea Westerlind “decided all of a sudden to try to visit all the parks in the city in a year.”
The quest to visit those 400+ parks led to a four-year adventure, the website yearofseattleparks.com, and now, 
a book, “Discovering Seattle Parks: A Local’s Guide.”
Not that she wasn’t already having enough of an adventure, as the parent of a son who was six months old at the time she started her exploration – and then, “in the middle of that, I had twins.”
So with three little park-going companions, she continued the park visits. “I loved parks and was just in love with the park system and decided to turn it into something more tangible.
“Discovering Seattle Parks,” just published by Harbor Island-headquartered Mountaineers Books, is the result. It’s also, Westerlind says, the first guidebook to Seattle parks in more than 40 years, spotlighting more than 100 of them.
After hearing about it, we requested an interview, and sat down at one of her favorite West Seattle parks – Lowman Beach – this past Monday.
Three West Seattle Crime Watch notes so far today:
PACKAGE THIEVES ON CAMERA: So you’re out of town getting married … wedding gifts arrive back at home, and somebody steals them. That’s what you’re seeing on the video above, shared by Patrick:
This last weekend (June 12th, 2017 @ 2:02 AM) two package thieves approached our front porch and stole multiple wedding gifts (+$300 that we are aware of) that were shipped to us while we were out of town getting married on the Oregon Coast. Luckily we have not one, but two nest cameras installed that captured the two thieves red handed. This cut our trip a bit short, we were planning on staying till June 14th, 2017. After we got back home on the 12th, we promptly gathered all the evidence and reported it to the proper authorities.
This happened near 35th SW and SW Juneau. If you have any clues, contact police and refer to incident number 17-211339.
CAR PROWLERS ON CAMERA: Reported to us via text, two car prowlers “trying to break into vehicles on 25th Avenue SW last night about midnight and they dumped a bunch of stolen mail from 24th Avenue SW.” Here are images of both:
This incident number is 2017-213282.
FOLLOWUP – AUTO THEFT SUSPECT CHARGED: The 19-year-old found hiding in a Dumpster during a police search near 35th SW/SW Morgan on Saturday is now charged. Anzor E. Lomanov is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, a felony. As noted in our followup, the Corolla from which two men – including, police say, Lomanov – bolted at the corner gas station was stolen from Tukwila earlier in the day. Lomanov remains jailed in lieu of $25,000 bail; the charging documents say police believe they know the identity of the other man, who got away.
The next big event at West Seattle’s Admiral Theater has two big reasons to be on your calendar – the film that you’ll see, “Legends of the Road,” and the cause that you’ll be supporting. From the Southwest Seattle Historical Society:
Restoration of the art-deco underwater murals of West Seattle’s Historic Admiral Theater will get a boost this summer with a one-night screening of a documentary that showcases a project by local students to salute the black baseball barnstorming phenomenon of the early 20th century.
(“Legends of the Road” trailer)
“Legends of the Road,” a feature-length, student-produced film, will be screened at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, June 27, at the Historic Admiral Theater, 2343 California Ave. S.W., sponsored by the Southwest Seattle Historical Society.
The film, which won the highest audience rating at the 2017 Kansas City Film Festival, will be introduced by Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, and former teacher Gary Thomsen of West Seattle, who led the “Legends” project at Chief Sealth High School. After the film, Kendrick, Thomsen, and several of Thomsen’s former students will be available to answer questions.
Admission will be by $20 donation, which will go to the Historic Admiral Theater mural restoration led by SWSHS. A VIP opportunity, to see the film and visit one-on-one with the featured speakers beforehand, will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the theater. This opportunity is available by reservation at a $100 donation.
Both levels of tickets can be purchased online via Far Away Entertainment and at the door.
The Admiral’s murals were revealed during its recently completed renovation process. SWSHS says the mural-restoration campaign will include more special events, as well as details on how proposals for restoration will be sought.
(Playground at EC Hughes, photographed this morning)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
When Roxhill Elementary is moved from its current crumbling campus to 90+-year-old EC Hughes in fall 2018, its parents, teachers, and other supporters hope to have something special for the students that’s not part of the district’s modernization project: An improved playground.
School supporters, who have just relaunched their organization (formerly the PTSA) as Friends of Roxhill Elementary, met this week to talk about the playground aspirations and to get inspiration and advice from local parents/advocates who have already helmed playground projects.
Right now, the EC Hughes playground (as shown in our top photo) is mostly asphalt – all too common at older schools, and not an optimal use of the space. Read More
(Bald eagle, photographed by Mark Wangerin)
Highlights of what’s ahead today/tonight:
CAKE LINGERIE MATERNITY PARTY: 11 am-4 pm at the new Junction storefront of Nurturing Expressions (WSB sponsor), come see the new collections Cake Maternity has created for pregnant and breastfeeding women. Discounts and freebies, too. (4727 44th SW)
CITY COUNCIL INCOME-TAX HEARING: Downtown at City Hall, with 4:30 pm signups to speak, 5 pm hearing continuing until everyone’s been heard from:
City Council’s Finance Committee will host a public hearing this evening on the proposal for an income tax on high-income residents, co-sponsored by Councilmembers Lisa Herbold (District 1, West Seattle and South Park) and Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle). There will be a brief overview presentation of the legislation at the top of the meeting.
The proposal would pursue a more progressive form of taxation, placing a 2 percent tax on joint filers’ income over $500,000 and individual tax filers’ income over $250,000. The estimated $125 million in new annual revenue would allow the City to lower the burden associated with property taxes and other regressive taxes, replace federal funding potentially lost through President Trump’s budget cuts, enhance public services such as housing, education, transit, and create green jobs while meeting the City’s carbon reduction goals.
The council could vote as soon as next month. (601 5th Avenue)
WORDSWEST KIDS’ NIGHT: 6 pm at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), as previewed here, with authors Sundee T. Frazier and Kazu Kibuishi. (5612 California SW)
JOB-SEARCH WORKSHOP: Free workshop, offered monthly at Delridge Community Center, for ages 16 and up, 6:30-7:45 pm. Please pre-register – our calendar listing explains how. (4501 Delridge Way SW)
MAYORAL FORUM @ 34TH DEMS: 7 pm tonight at The Hall at Fauntleroy, the 34th District Democrats expect at least half a dozen of the mayoral candidates to participate in their forum, which they say might be followed by an endorsement decision. (9131 California SW)
MADISON JAZZ CONCERT: 7 pm, Madison Middle School‘s jazz musicians present their spring concert. (45th SW/SW Spokane)
THE BILLY JOE SHOW: 9 pm at Parliament Tavern, “honky tonk for the soul with Billy Joe Huels of The Dusty 45s, featuring Robin Cady, Kohen Burrill, and guitar legend Rod Cook.” No cover. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
6:59 AM: Good morning! No incidents so far in or from West Seattle.
LOOKING AHEAD: Here’s the SDOT roundup of traffic-affecting events around the city through the weekend. Note that Sunday brings the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon/Half Marathon, and NB Highway 99 will be closed through mid-afternoon.
(WSB photo: Jessica, Nancy, Hannah, and Beth @ WestSide Baby HQ)
It’s “Stuff the Bus” season at WestSide Baby – time for diaper drives big and small, to help families in need. On Tuesday, the WS Baby team welcomed a big diaper donation from Les Schwab Tires stores around King County – $2,500 worth of dryness and comfort for your littlest neighbors. This is their third year of in-store drives, and it’s one of more than 100 business and individual drives that will help WestSide Baby meet a goal of more than 300,000 donated diapers through June and July. Though diapers are a necessity, they’re not covered by government-aid programs, and so organizations like WS Baby step up to help the thousands of kids under three years old living in poverty in King County. You can help too, by hosting a drive – here’s how.
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.
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