West Seattle, Washington
09 Tuesday
(Photo by David Hutchinson, from Alki Beach)
Thank you to everyone who sent photos from tonight’s sunset, reddened by wildfire smoke that kept thickening as the day proceeded. Up in British Columbia, the smoke is hindering the fight against the fires that are causing it.
(Photo by Jamie Kinney, looking over the Fauntleroy ferry dock)
Our state has fires burning too, but nothing like what’s going on in B.C.
(Photo by Jim Borrow, from Upper Alki)
You can check the air-quality status on the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency website.
(Photo by Gary Jones, from Alki Point)
And remember we’re still under an Excessive Heat Warning alert through Friday night.
(Photo by Jeff Kaufer, from Constellation Park)
The smoke is even mentioned in the forecast.
8:06 PM: As if the night’s not busy enough, the first election results are in.
Here’s where to see Seattle Mayor results. Top four in the first round of results are:
Jenny Durkan 32%
Cary Moon 16%
Nikkita Oliver 14%
Jessyn Farrell 12%
Seattle City Council Position 8, the top three:
Teresa Mosqueda 31%
Jon Grant 24%
Sara Nelson 23%
Seattle City Council Position 9, the top three:
Lorena González*, 61%
Pat Murakami, 20%
David Preston, 10%
King County Proposition 1, sales tax for cultural access
No 55%
Yes 45%
Seattle Port Commission, Position 1, top two
John Creighton* 35%
Ryan Calkins 28%
Seattle Port Commission, Position 3, top two
Stephanie Bowman*, 55%
Ahmed Abdi, 28%
Seattle Port Commission, Position 4, top two
Peter Steinbrueck, 25%
Preeti Shridhar, 21%
(Asterisks = incumbents. Percentages are rounded.) You can find all the results here – King County Elections’ next update is expected tomorrow afternoon.
(WSB photo – substituted for originally published phone pic)
7:23 PM: We’re on our way to the 3700 block of SW Thistle for a house-fire response. More to come.
7:25 PM: First firefighters to arrive say they’re seeing smoke from the basement, and that everyone is out OK.
7:31 PM: We’re just arriving. Thistle is blocked off by fire units west of 35th SW – and side streets are blocked by Night Out parties. Via radio exchanges, we’re hearing this is an “appliance fire” and it’s tapped. No injuries reported.
7:43 PM: Much of the initial big response is being dismissed, now that this is winding down. Neighbor Mike shared this video of the first SFD personnel on the scene:
MONDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: SFD says it was an accidental fire, caused by a malfunctioning battery charger, and that damage to contents and structure totaled $20,000.
It’s Night Out 2017 around West Seattle – and around the U.S.!
6:16 PM: Our first stop is in Seaview, where Ellis and friends “would like to tell the people of west Seattle that kids are holding a block party.” Ellis explained, “Me and my friends have been selling enough lemonade this summer raise $114,” and that’s how they funded it. Above, Ellis is at center, with Jaslynn and Zoe. Next stop, Jon‘s neighborhood southwest of The Junction (though Jon himself hadn’t arrived yet):
This one’s not a street-closing party, “just neighbors barbecuing and hanging out” – we are doing our best to get to the other parties that e-mailed to let us know it would be OK if we stopped by for a photo, and we also welcome a pic of your group – westseattleblog@gmail.com is the best address right now since we’re on the move, or via phone, to our 206-293-6302 round-the-clock hotline. Meantime, we’re seeing LOTS of blocks closed for parties – so, lots of neighborhood-strengthening going on tonight – 275 registered in West Seattle and South Park, SW Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Jennifer Burbridge told us!
6:45 PM: Our photos above and below are from our stop at Sara‘s block party, west of The Junction. So organized – they have a planning committee for the Night Out party, and she’s on it!
They have a bouncy house for the neighborhood’s youngest residents, too.
6:56 PM: We weren’t planning another stop so close by, but we saw SW Precinct Lt. Steve Strand arriving at 47th/Edmunds – police and fire personnel are visiting some of tonight’s parties as usual – and we had something to ask about:
While we were there, of course, we took a group photo.
(P.S. The unrelated incident we asked about was one that led to several texts earlier, a person taken into custody at 35th/Findlay – we got there just as police were leaving. Lt. Strand says the person was in crisis and was out in the street dodging cars. The person was taken to the hospital for evaluation.)
Meanwhile, Karen just sent this photo from her block party in High Point:
7:11 PM: Now we’re on Alki Point near Bar-S Playfields, where Sherie let us know that her neighborhood was having its first-ever Night Out block party:
7:27 PM: We were heading to North Delridge when a house fire broke out in Gatewood, so we have to interrupt our Night Out tour for now, but will continue adding your photos! Like this one from SW Orchard, on the other side of Gatewood:
The photo was taken while Night Out attendees listened to a talk on Cooper’s Hawks, by Ed Deal. Meantime – imagine Seattle’s most-famous marching band rocking your block party:
@Allcityband rocking our block party @44th & Dawson! Very cool! @westseattleblog pic.twitter.com/PqzXH9ixbs
— James (@SeattleDad) August 2, 2017
(Update) Here’s video Nick shared from ACB at 45th/Dawson:
Apparently the All-City Band split into two groups tonight in lieu of rehearsing, and visited several block parties!
8:02 PM: The house-fire coverage is wrapped up and we’re back on the road, trying to get to a few more block parties. First, we’re in Highland Park, where Christie invited us to stop by:
Also from Highland Park – Marcia tweeted a photo:
We ❤️our neighbors!! #NationalNightOut @westseattleblog pic.twitter.com/YgLl2VlxFF
— Marcia Ventura (@marciaventura) August 2, 2017
Looks like it’s going to be an incredible sunset, too, through the wildfire smoke…
8:39 PM: Our last stop, 37th and Graham – thanks to Aaron for the invite:
Neighbors brought a couch out into the street for their Night Out party – that’s what the kids lined up in front are sitting on. And just after we left Aaron’s neighborhood, Michael sent this photo from just about a block away – 38th and Raymond:
And when we pulled up to HQ in Upper Fauntleroy, our neighborhood block party was still going, so we grabbed a photo:
8:53 PM: The official time period for parties is ending (though we’ve noted in 10 years of as-it-happened coverage, you don’t find many going past 8:30). Here are more of the photos you shared – thanks! First, from Max in East Admiral:
Our neighbors in South Park have a mini-golf-themed party every year, “South Park Putts Out,” and shared this photo:
From 18th and Brandon, where SFD made a visit:
At Walnut/Stevens in Admiral:
Next photo was taken at 48th/Dawson by Don Brubeck, who explains: “West Seattle Bike Connections had a bike tour of street parties instead of a meeting indoors. Get to see kids playing in safe streets and neighbors getting together.”
One of more than a few places with live music – 4000 block of 40th SW:
From Cinda on 42nd SW in Gatewood, a few of her neighbors around a table, talking – the best part of Night Out, catching up with the people who live nearby:
And from Tamsen’s block party in Upper Morgan:
It’s 11:50 pm and that’s our last addition, for now. Don’t let neighborhood solidarity be a once-a-year thing … in addition to Block Watches (find out more about those here), get together for the sake of preparedness (everybody know where, and what, your nearest Emergency Communication Hub is?), community cleanups … the possibilities are endless.
(WSB photo from February 2016 – we blurred the tag; in ensuing months, others were added)
A year and a half ago, we published that photo, with disheartening news: One of West Seattle’s historic murals had been vandalized in a big way. Other defacement followed. No official cleanup plan was finalized. But now, suddenly, unofficially, that mural – on the north side of 4740 44th SW, along the south side of The Junction’s southernmost free parking lot – has been cleaned up:
We got first word last night from Guy and Joy Smith, best known for sharing interesting news from Alki Point. They wrote:
We go to dinner at Elliott Bay Brewery every Monday night. We always park in the lot to the west of Northwest Art and Frame. We’re happy when we get there, but everything is ruined when we see the graffiti on the big mural to the south.
Last Monday when we pulled in the lot, there was a woman taking photos of the graffiti and we could tell that she was not a happy camper. We asked her what she was up to and she said she reached the boiling point with the ever-increasing graffiti. She was on a mission to do something about it. It turns out she is a muralist and she knew she could fix it. She also said she was afraid she might get in trouble for doing it. …
When we drove into the parking lot (last night), we were dumbfounded to see that there was no more graffiti on the mural and it didn’t show any signs that any had ever been there.
We had to see it firsthand to believe it – and indeed, there it was, or should we say, there it wasn’t. Our “after” photo was taken just before sunset last night.
Before publishing this, we checked with two people we thought might know something about it. Clay Eals, former executive director of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, and Lora Swift, executive director of the West Seattle Junction Association. Guy and Joy said they had told the woman about taking a mural tour with Eals (who led several last year), and suggested she talk with him; she said she knew him. Contacted by us, he said he had seen the cleanup early Monday and wondered about it, but didn’t know for sure who was responsible. Swift, meantime, was completely surprised by the news. (Guy and Joy, meantime, said the artist had given them a name; we’re not publishing it unless we can confirm it, and so far, no response to our inquiry.)
Meantime, as Eals points out, while this is “a positive step,” the future of West Seattle’s murals – 20+ years old and showing wear, aside from the restored mural on the Junction Post Office wall – remains clouded. He wrote about it in summer of last year, after the aforementioned tours. The questions he asked at the end remain unanswered, and waiting for someone to step forward (aside from the Morgan Junction mural that has a restoration project in the planning stage).
P.S. If the rogue mural-cleaner is reading this, Eals and Swift both said they’re glad about it – so you’re not in trouble.
Thanks to Gary Jones for the photo – while we were covering the plane recovery off Beach Drive, he was photographing the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) passing Alki Point, arriving for Seafair Fleet Week. Tomorrow (Wednesday, August 2nd), the Pearl Harbor-homeported ship is scheduled to (again) sail past West Seattle’s north-facing shore, headed to downtown, during the Seafair Parade of Ships – 1 pm is the official start time, but in past years they’ve appeared off Alki closer to 12:30. The full Parade of Ships lineup – scheduled to include another Navy ship, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, and two Royal Canadian Navy vessels – is on this Seafair webpage, along with information on touring them Thursday-Sunday.
ABOUT THE HAZE: You might notice the photo looks a little murky. The air’s grown increasingly hazy in the past few hours, and @WestSeaWx says it’s wildfire smoke, mostly blowing down this way from British Columbia, which is being hit very hard this season.
1:34 PM: Thanks to Erin for the photo. Crews from West Seattle-headquartered Global Diving and Salvage have arrived off the 6000 block of Beach Drive SW, where a pilot made an emergency landing in shallow water a little over 24 hours ago (WSB coverage here). The landing was made after the Cessna’s engine quit (according to Boeing Field radio exchanges, as pointed out by WSB readers), and both men in the plane got out OK. The plane was almost fully revealed at low tide after 7 this morning:
(Photo by James Bratsanos)
Here’s a from-the-water look, courtesy of Kona Greg:
1:46 PM: Just in from our crew, more vessels clustered at the salvage scene:
2:16 PM: The plane’s being brought out of the water:
2:34 PM: Shortly after that last update, our crew reports, the plane was placed on the barge, and taken away. (Photo by James Bratsanos, added:)
We haven’t found contact information for its registered owners, a Las Vegas-based LLC.
2:44 PM: We’ll be adding video. (Update – here it is:)
Meantime, we checked with Global about what happens next. They’ll be taking the plane to a holding dock on the Duwamish River, and from there, they say, it’s up to the owners to arrange to reclaim it.
3:30 PM: Three more photos by WSB’s Patrick Sand:
Thanks again to all the Beach Drive and vicinity residents who have shared photos, info, (and a photography location!) since this happened Monday afternoon.
ADDED TUESDAY NIGHT: A postscript, resulting from a discussion in comments: Jeff Poschwatta of AvTech Services, LLC, which he describes as an aircraft-recovery business based in South King County, says his company put together the salvage operation. He was contacted by an insurance adjuster for Galvin Flying at Boeing Field, which a reader tells us was accountable for the plane (though records showed it registered in Las Vegas). He says he “in turn contracted Global Diving & Salvage, who obtained Manson Construction for a barge, tug and crane.” More than a dozen people from the three firms were out there: “We worked together to make this a successful recovery in quick time. I know the USCG, SPD, Dept/Ecology, Fish & Wildlife were happy with our efforts.”
One more reminder – if you’re not already well aware – 6-9 pm tonight is officially Night Out (originally National Night Out Against Crime) coast to coast, with people gathering to celebrate and renew neighborhood solidarity, collaboration, preparedness, resiliency, and more. We just checked with Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Jennifer Burbridge, who’s been coordinating the plans precinct-wide, and she tells WSB that the final total of registered block parties in West Seattle and South Park is 275:
The SW Precinct looks forward to visiting as many Night Out Against Crime block parties tonight as possible! Expect to see the Community Policing Team, the Crime Prevention Coordinator, the MCPP Research Analyst, precinct leadership, as well as patrol officers, out and about tonight!
Even if you are not participating, please be aware that many non-arterial streets will be closed for those block parties, with neighbors of all ages talking, dining, and playing in the street, so be extra careful wherever you go.
And tonight will be our 10th year of WSB as-it-happens Night Out coverage (since 2008), stopping at some parties and adding photos sent by others (easiest way is sending from your phone to ours, 206-293-6302, same way you can reach us with breaking news and questions/tips 24/7). So check in here starting just after 6 pm!
That’s the first of nine piles, each up to 100 feet tall and 3 feet wide, that’ll be driven for the new temporary King County Water Taxi and Kitsap Transit foot-ferry dock on the north side of Washington State Ferries‘ main downtown terminal Colman Dock. The work is starting right now, and we’re at Colman Dock for a media briefing.
As reported here previously, the Water Taxi will suspend service for up to a week, starting next Monday (August 7th), so it can move operations to the temporary dock by the following Monday (August 14th). (Added: Here’s video of Water Taxi spokesperson Brent Champaco:)
The temporary dock is expected to be in use for up to a year and a half while the new passenger-only-ferry terminal is built on the south side of Colman Dock, in the same spot where the current one is. Colman Dock itself also will be renovated/rebuilt over the next five years.
In comments after previous reports, some have wondered why work is starting now, during the peak of summer; at today’s media briefing, it was reiterated that this is because today is the first day of the six-and-a-half month annual period to which in-water construction is limited, to protect salmon and other wildlife. If the full construction period isn’t utilized each year, the completion of the full Colman Dock project could be delayed. And here’s one reason why they need to get going – a section of an old piling with holes from gribbles:
So to recap: No Water Taxi for up to a week starting next Monday; once service resumes, the downtown dock will be in its new temporary location north of Colman Dock, by the waterfront fire station. (Side note: Kitsap Transit’s foot ferry is continuing service during the switch by using Pier 54, further north; Water Taxi reps explain their vessels are too big for that.) More photos/info to come.
Today we welcome Peralta Orthodontics as a new West Seattle Blog sponsor. Here’s what they would like you to know about what they do:
Dr. Jorge Peralta is a West Seattle resident and has practiced orthodontics in Burien since 2008. In 2015, he began seeing patients in a temporary location in West Seattle while the permanent location was being built. We are excited to announce the opening of our permanent location at 3916 California SW.
Orthodontic treatment is about more than just crafting a beautiful smile. Dr. Peralta strives to create the most ideal occlusion, or bite, and the beautiful smile follows. He works hard to educate his patients from the beginning on what to expect from treatment and communicates his plan and vision along the way. He absolutely loves what he does, and loves working with the wonderful families in our community. Many of our patients comment that going through orthodontic treatment made them appreciate and care for their teeth more. Often, orthodontic treatment is a dream come true, and we truly cherish being a part of our patients’ lives in this meaningful way.
We design our schedule in order for Dr. Peralta to be able to spend time with every patient at every visit. This personal attention gives our patients peace of mind and confidence that their braces will be removed on time and their results will be flawless.
Dr. Peralta is a member of American Association of Orthodontists and regularly attends meetings and presents at South Sound Study Club, West Seattle Study Club, Premier Study Club, and Burien Study Club, groups through which the latest care techniques are taught and learned.
Peralta Orthodontics gives back to the community. For each new patient who begins treatment through the end of August, we have chosen to donate $50 to Northwest Hope and Healing. Through the years, we have been personally moved by the fight that several of our families have had to endure with breast or gynecological cancer. This is a tribute to those amazing women who have touched our lives more than they will ever know.
You can make an appointment via Peralta Orthodontics‘ website or calling 206-938-3100.
We thank Peralta Orthodontics for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.
Thanks to Shawna for the photo from Highland Park Way and West Marginal Way SW this morning. Nikkita Oliver is one of two West Seattleites (with Mary Martin) in the field of 21 mayoral candidates on your primary-election ballot, which is due by tonight. (We went out to look for other signwaving this morning – didn’t find anyone else. Anyone planning to sign-wave in West Seattle later today, please let us know!) You’re also choosing from among eight candidates for citywide City Council Position 8 (no incumbent) and seven for citywide Council Position 9 (including West Seattle-residing incumbent Lorena González) – and you have three Port Commission races to vote in, King County Executive (with West Seattle-residing incumbent Dow Constantine going for a third term). In each of those races, the top two vote-getters advance to November. You’re also deciding the fate of one ballot measure, King County Prop 1, a one-tenth-of-one-percent sales-tax increase for more access to “expand access to arts, science, and heritage programming.”
Here’s how to return your ballot – dropboxes until 8 pm (don’t be late!); postal mail, be certain it’ll be postmarked today. First returns are due shortly after 8 pm.
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
7:06 AM: Good morning! Welcome to the first day of August. No incidents reported in/from West Seattle so far.
Reminders:
‘NIGHT OUT’ TONIGHT: Many residential streets will be closed for the annual neighborhood block parties tonight between 6 and 9.
WEST SEATTLE PAVING: SDOT plans to repave a section of north Beach Drive today and tomorrow, and 63rd SW between Admiral Way and Alki Avenue on Thursday. Details here.
BOREN PORTABLES ON THE MOVE: As announced last week, Seattle Public Schools is moving portable classrooms from Louisa Boren STEM K-8 on Delridge very early for each of the next two mornings (one was scheduled to be moved early today) – here’s the advisory.
BLUE ANGELS CLOSURES: Thursday through Sunday, I-90 will close east of I-5 for Seafair (Blue Angels) practices and airshows. From the WSDOT website:
Thursday, Aug. 3: 9:45 am – 12:15 pm; 1- 2:40 pm (practices)
Friday, Aug. 4: 12:55 – 2:40 pm
Saturday, Aug. 5: 12:55 – 2:40 pm
Sunday, Aug. 6: 12:55 – 2:40 pm
9 AM: We should also remind you that next Monday (August 7th) is the start of the Water Taxi service interruption, up to a week while the dock is moved to a temporary location on the north side of the main ferry terminal, which is about to be remodeled. The various transportation agencies involved are planning a media briefing later this morning and we’ll have that information here later today.
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