West Seattle, Washington
26 Monday
Two reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:
ALKI HIT-RUN: Roma says this happened last night (Friday) around 10 pm near Alki/59th:
A red truck (possibly a 2000s Dodge) hit my car, backed up, hit another car, then sped off.
Any info? Police incident number is 2017-236752.
ABANDONED BICYCLE: Jeff has been seeing this bicycle for a while now, east of The Triangle, and suspects it was stolen/abandoned:
Yours? Let us know.
Here’s something heroic you can do right here, right now: Help save the reading-tutor program at Highland Park Elementary. Here’s the latest from Dina Johnson, the volunteer leading the effort:
Update for Save Highland Park Reading Partners. We are at $8,462 of $30k goal!
Donations have been steadily accumulating, many $50 or $100. I update on the Facebook page daily. Someone named Wendy Rush just donated $500 today! I don’t know her, but MANY THANKS to Wendy!
I’m feeling very heartened. Was disappointed by last week’s Summer Book Swap – LOTS of book donations, but almost no one came by to browse. Was it the 95-degree heat that day? Many people missed a chance to get wonderful free books for their kids. Luckily, a 9-year-old girl did grab a complete boxed set of the Little House books. But the complete boxed set of Narnia books was unclaimed…
Thank you to the book donors, though – credit at the used bookstore means RP can add to the student library for all the schools.
If we make $10,000 or more I will be so gratified that people care, although it wouldn’t be enough to save Reading Partners this year. (A hard-working Volunteer Coordinator needs to be hired to make everything run smoothly for the volunteer program.)
In that case, the donations will be refunded. THANKS to 99 generous donors so far!! I’m sure someone will be eager to claim the 100th spot of honor!
You can do that – or maybe even be the 101st or 102nd or beyond, if you don’t see this until later tonight, or Sunday, or … – just go here.
(Added: WSB photos/video from the end of Melissa’s swim)
12:56 PM: If all goes well, distance swimmer Melissa Blaustein of San Francisco will arrive on shore at Alki Point in 4 hours or so. She left Bremerton as of about 12:30. She’s swimming in tribute to Amy Hiland, who did the same swim in 1958, one year after making history by swimming the Strait of Juan de Fuca. You can track Melissa’s swim here. Updates to come!
3:40 PM: The tracker shows Melissa out of Rich Passage and off South Bainbridge Island. She explains on her “Chasing Amy” website that this is the first of her tribute swims, as she hopes to “undertake the challenge of completing as many of Amy Hiland’s swims as possible.”
4:39 PM: She’s now out in the open Sound between Bainbridge and Alki Point. The Northwest Open Water Swimming Association has posted a few updates, including people on a ferry cheering Melissa on. (And yes, this is the same swim that Erika Norris completed last year.)
She made it! pic.twitter.com/XKOdI9RCY2
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 2, 2017
5:54 PM: She made it! As of a few minutes ago, yelling “That was fun!” Video’s on Twitter and we will add here when back at HQ added above – that’s her brother Billy getting out of the water just ahead of her to record her arrival.
7:02 PM: Local marathon swimmer Andrew Malinak, who tipped us to this swim, says two locals, Jerome and Lauren, are planning to do it in late August, so stay tuned for word on that later this summer. Meantime, according to the list on Melissa’s website, she plans to try the Strait of Juan de Fuca in September.
(Jeff McCord and Clay Eals, photographed by Bill Wright of William Wright Photo)
Just announced by the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, its next leader:
The Southwest Seattle Historical Society board has selected as its next executive director Jeff McCord, a 24-year resident of West Seattle who has helped save more than 100 historic homes in the Seattle area, served on several community boards and led the revival of a struggling nonprofit.
McCord will succeed the historical society’s first executive director, Clay Eals, who resigned in April and has worked four-and-a-half years in the position.
The selection comes after an extensive search and interviewing process by our board’s Personnel Committee, chaired by vice-president Peder Nelson, as well as by the full board.
“We are delighted to bring Jeff aboard,” says Karen Sisson, board president, “and we are excited about the varied skills, long experience and deep passion that he will bring us.”
The start date for McCord, 54, is today (July 1). The SWSHS board plans to retain Eals for the month of July to provide an overlap during which Eals can orient McCord and introduce him to the historical society’s key supporters and partners.
The public will have its first chance to welcome McCord to the executive director’s position at the historical society’s Annual Picnic, slated from noon to 3 p.m. Tuesday, July 4, in the courtyard of its “Birthplace of Seattle” Log House Museum.
(The picnic also will feature an opportunity for remembrances of the late Merrilee Hagen, former board president who sparked acquisition of our museum building in the mid-1990s, plus live music courtesy of the West Seattle Community Orchestras’ Brass Sextet. For the picnic, the public is invited. Our board provides basic foods, and others are invited to provide extras.)
McCord will begin work as executive director for our historical society while he transitions away from the executive director’s post at the TV cable-access nonprofit Puget Sound Access/Carco Theatre in Renton.
That organization hired McCord two and a half years ago in an effort to restore internal infrastructure and stability.
On the Duwamish peninsula, McCord is perhaps best known as “home rescuer” for Nickel Bros, a company that preserves homes from razing through creative redevelopment or by finding new owners and moving the homes to new locations.
One house that he preserved in place was the home overlooking Lincoln Park in which the REI firm was founded. More recently, he facilitated preservation of the 1908 log home at California Avenue and Findlay Street that is to be moved to the Admiral area this summer.
A resident of Gatewood Hill, McCord also has served as chair of the Southwest Design Review Board and has been involved with the West Seattle Anti-Crime Council and what is now called the Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council. In addition, he has worked as a graphic design teacher, as a consultant in Kickstarter fundraising and graphic design and as a producer of video games.
A graduate of the Evergreen State College, with a bachelor of arts degree in media arts, McCord is a current student of the University of Washington Evans School of Governance & Public Policy, from which he expects to receive a master’s degree in public administration in 2018.
McCord says it is his “dream opportunity” to become executive director of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society.
“Historic preservation has been a very important part of my adult life, having grown up among tall trees and beautiful old buildings in Lexington, Kentucky, only two blocks from Ashland, home of the great American statesman Henry Clay,” he says. “This job perfectly blends my love of historic architecture, cultural histories and locally focused volunteer causes. I’ve watched as the historical society has continued to grow in its offerings, becoming a strong and vibrant voice within — and on behalf of — the Duwamish Peninsula. I am both proud and humbled to be given the chance to build on the organization’s many successes.”
One of his direct connections to our historical society is that his wife, Rosemary Woods, designed the logo for our organization’s museum 20 years ago. Her drawing of the building is still used in our organization’s logo today.
McCord looks forward to orienting himself to our historical society’s wide slate of events and activities and to building relationships with our donors, sponsors and volunteers and the public.
Primary responsibilities of the position are fundraising, outreach, volunteer recruitment, staff supervision and overall management. In addition to the position of executive director, our historical society has two paid part-time staff positions of curator and museum operations coordinator.
McCord’s hours at the Log House Museum will be variable. He can be reached by phone at 206-234-4357 (cell), and his e-mail address will be director@loghousemuseum.info.
(Alki Point Lighthouse, photographed by David Hutchinson. You can tour the lighthouse today – see below!)
A bit quieter than most summer Saturdays, with the holiday approaching, but still no shortage of things to do:
BEACH VOLLEYBALL: The Alki Volleyball Association‘s Firecracker Classic adult tournament is what’s happening at the courts on the beach today, 9 am-6 pm. (2400 Alki SW)
GET YOUR CAR WASHED: The West Seattle High School Cheer Squad is having another benefit car wash today, 10 am-2 pm at Rite Aid south of The Junction. By donation. (5217 California SW)
FOREST RESTORATION WORK PARTY: 10 am at Westcrest Park – full details here. Meet at “southeast side of the south parking lot, next to the horse barn.” (9000 8th SW)
TODAY’S WADING POOLS AND SPRAYPARK: Lincoln Park wading pool is open 11 am-8 pm, Highland Park spraypark is open 11 am-8 pm, Delridge wading pool is open noon-6:30 pm, Hiawatha wading pool is open noon-6:30 pm. (Find addresses here)
MINI-DONKEYS AT OUNCES: Noon-3 pm, “come pet some mini-donkeys at Ounces and help raise funds for the Lords Hill Farm Donkey Rescue program.” (3809 Delridge Way SW)
CROSS-SOUND SWIM TO ALKI: Swimmer Melissa Blaustein of San Francisco is scheduled to swim from Bremerton at 12:30 pm to Alki Point, where she would arrive in the vicinity of 5 pm, according to local distance swimmer Andrew Malinak. Watch for updates this afternoon.
TOUR ALKI POINT LIGHTHOUSE: 1-4 pm, but get there by 3:40 pm. Tour the historic lighthouse with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. (3201 Alki SW)
SALSA ON ALKI: 5 pm lesson, 6 pm dancing. Live music by Cambalache. Pricing and other details in our calendar listing. (2719 Alki SW)
TASTE OF SUMMER: 5 pm-11 pm at Ounces, “live music from local folk musician Jim Hoehn, specialty summer beer samplers, prizes, local WS food truck Byte Teriyaki.” (3809 Delridge Way SW)
PICKWICK: Live in-store at Easy Street Records at 7 pm, performing songs from their upcoming release. Free. All ages. (California SW/SW Alaska)
ANNIE O’NEILL AND AMY DENIO: 9 pm at Whisky West. No cover. 21+. (6451 California SW)
TRIBUTE BANDS: 9 pm at The Skylark, Idiots Rule (Jane’s Addiction tribute) and Urban Achievers (Led Zeppelin tribute). $8 cover. 21+. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
THREE BANDS: 9 pm at Parliament Tavern – see the bill here. $5 cover. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
WHAT ELSE IS UP? See for yourself on our complete-calendar page.
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