West Seattle, Washington
01 Sunday
(Unedited video – you can hear the eagle around 1 minute in)
Twice this evening, Rob – who sent the video – reports, that drone’s been bothering a bald eagle in Schmitz Park by his home. The video is from the second sighting, and arrived before we’d gotten a chance to post Rob’s first note:
I live next to Schmitz Park and around 6:30 pm tonight a drone appeared and started flying around one of the eagle nests at the western edge of the preserve. The drone made a few close passes to the nest. The adult eagle was audibly signaling as the drone approached (there may be eaglets in this nest). Twice the adult eagle took wing due to the drone, once flying at the drone, the second time it retreated away from the nest entirely until the drone left. I don’t know where the drone came from, but it departed in the direction of Alki Beach. If it is possible for you to mention something on the blog, perhaps with a reminder that this is both not cool and a Federal offense, that would be much appreciated.
While bald eagles are no longer considered endangered, they are protected by federal law, and the illegal behavior includes “disturb(ing)” them. Also, though rules regarding drones seem to change frequently, the Seattle Municipal Code says they are prohibited in Seattle city parks.
For the next four Monday nights, you’re invited to the park outside Delridge Community Center for the second year of Music Under the Stars, free “outdoor musical evenings” presented by the Seattle Chamber Music Society. It’s a doubleheader of sorts – at 7:30 pm, live music by “an outstanding student or professional ensemble,” and then at 8 pm, live audio from the night’s concert at Benaroya Hall, piped to the park by KING-FM. We haven’t yet found the lineup of who’s playing in the park, but here’s info on what you’ll hear from Benaroya at 8. Bring a picnic, bring family/friends/neighbors, bring your own chairs/blanket to sit on, and enjoy the summer night (the forecast looks good).
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
While blues musicians performed a benefit concert today (continuing until 6 pm) at Camp Second Chance, the city-sanctioned encampment in southeast West Seattle, its Community Advisory Committee met for the third time, at nearby Arrowhead Gardens.
The concert is raising money for expenses that the city’s $208K/year contract with CSC via Patacara Community Services doesn’t cover – in particular, “tiny houses” that can replace tents on the 50 platforms at the camp’s site just inside the main gates of the city-owned Myers Way Parcels.
Six residential units in all are in various states of completion/construction at CSC, Patacara’s Polly Trout told the advisory committee, including two that could be complete by day’s end today. She told the meeting that they’ve found a (contractor) partner to work with who will be able to get “structures of the same quality that are much cheaper” via wholesale/nonprofit rates. Read More
Two reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch this afternoon:
BURGLARS TAKE BIKE AND MORE: Rebecca reports her home in the 8800 block of Delridge Way SW [map] was burglarized late last night, with the burglar(s) stealing a bicycle, video-game consoles, and laptops. Since abandoned/likely stolen bicycles turn up often, we asked her to describe the one the burglar(s) took: A black women’s Sportster Comfort 10, serial number starting with 513. If you have any information or might have found any of the stolen items, the police report number is 2017-238353.
ILLEGAL DUMPING: A commercial dumpster temporarily in place for a roofing job on SW Thistle proved attractive to someone looking for a place to unload a couch, JW reports. His cameras caught it around 12:30 am today:
That clip shows the truck pulling up with the couch – this one shows what followed. He’s reported it. (SMC 21.36.440, in case you were wondering.)
(WSB video showing 2016 Float Dodgers leaving the start line)
Continuing our summer-event countdowns … we’re less than three weeks from the sixth annual Float Dodger 5K, a fun costumed-if-you-want run/walk that precedes the West Seattle Grand Parade on Saturday, July 22nd. West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) presents it:
8:45 am – Free Kids Dash around the track
9:00 am – California Ave SW closes to traffic
9:30 am – Race starts
10:00 am – Awards ceremony and costume contest
10:15 am – Afterparty at West Seattle Runner
10:30 am – Parade floats are unleashed
“The track” is at Hiawatha Community Center (right across the street from WS Runner!), where the Float Dodger 5K starts and finishes again this year. Here’s the course map. The Float Dodger 5K benefits My Team Triumph; you can register online here (or in person at WS Runner, 2743 California SW).
Another baseball team with congratulations due! Sue sent the photo and reports that “the Cardinals won the championship of the Pony level of West Seattle Baseball last Saturday. They beat the Cubs but it took them 10 innings.”
(WSB photo: Mount Rainier, from Marine View Drive, Saturday evening)
Day 2 of what is for many a four-day weekend – here are some of the ways you can enjoy it:
GREAT AMERICAN DINER SOFT OPEN: The proprietors of Great American Diner and Bar tell us this will be the second day of their “soft open” in The Junction, starting with breakfast/brunch at 7 am. Their official “grand opening” announcement is expected soon. (4752 California SW)
BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Today on the beach, it’s the Alki Volleyball Association‘s Firecracker Classic juniors’ tournament, 9 am-6 pm. (2400 Alki SW)
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: If this isn’t the peak of summer produce, it’s close to it. And of course the market has more than produce – there’s also meat, cheese, eggs, baked goods, beverages … 10 am-2 pm in the street in The Junction. (California SW between SW Oregon and SW Alaska)
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, and Delridge wading pool is open noon-6:30 pm. (Find addresses here)
CAMP SECOND CHANCE BENEFIT CONCERT: Noon-6 pm, you’re invited to the sanctioned encampment Camp Second Chance for a benefit blues concert and potluck. Admission is free but they’re collecting donations to raise money so they can cover what the city funding doesn’t cover – particularly, tiny houses to replace tents. (9701 Myers Way S.)
ALKI POINT LIGHTHOUSE TOURS: Free tours of the historic lighthouse at Alki Point with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, 1-4 pm – get there by 3:40 pm. (3201 Alki SW)
CAMP SECOND CHANCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE: The community advisory committee monitoring CSC is scheduled to meet today at Arrowhead Gardens, 2 pm. (9200 2nd SW)
BOSCOE’S BROOD: Acoustic singer/songwriter at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 3-5 pm. (5612 California SW)
Looking ahead to the 4th of July? Our West Seattle guide is here!
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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