West Seattle, Washington
03 Sunday
(Photo by Jim Spraker)
Thanks for the Sunday sunset photos!
(Photo by Chris Frankovich)
The week will start with sunshine, the forecast says, before the clouds take over.
(Photo by Carol Ann Joyce)
If the forecast holds true, this might have been our last colorful sunset for a while.
(Photos courtesy Friends of Dragonfly Park)
Some of your neighbors spent part of the weekend giving TLC to some of the peninsula’s special spots – among them, Dragonfly Park in North Delridge, just upslope from Longfellow Creek. Above, the volunteers from Friends of Dragonfly Park who weeded and mulched on Saturday morning.
Laura Bruco from Friends of Dragonfly Park says they’ll “likely have another event within the next few weeks” since they didn’t have quite enough mulch and burlap to accomplish everything they had hoped to. They’re also expecting Seattle Parks to bring in equipment to do some work on the open areas soon too. After that, Laura says, “we’ll be focusing on fundraising and planning for new plantings next year.” You can find the group online here, and you can reach Laura at lauramaybruco@gmail.com. (And there’s more backstory in the garden-work-party announcement we published earlier this week.)
16 dogs and their people showed up for this afternoon’s Blessing of the Animals, presented in the West Seattle High School parking lot every fall by neighboring St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church. It’s always held on a Sunday near the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals, and the faith leaders offering blessings usually include a Brother from the Order of Saint Francis – this year, Br. Paul Dahlke:
Also blessing the animals in attendance, Rev. Kate Wesch, on her first Sunday as St. John’s new Rector:
Her daughter Avery was there too, with Riley, who she’s been dog-sitting:
This was the 10th year for the blessings at St. John’s, dating back to 2008.
Looks like NB 99 has reopened. Did we miss the announcement @wsdot_traffic @seattledot ? pic.twitter.com/0RBkS6hrtH
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) October 8, 2017
Crossing the eastbound West Seattle Bridge about 10 minutes ago, we noticed the ramp to NB 99 was open again, unannounced. And now WSDOT has confirmed the closure is over – Highway 99 is open again both ways.
4:27 PM: Thanks to the texter who just mentioned that some residents along Harbor and Alki Avenues in the Duwamish Head area have been without power since midday. The Seattle City Light map says 91 customers – no businesses in that area, so the number would all be residences – are out, and currently estimates restoration by early evening. “Equipment failure” is blamed.
6:19 PM: City Light map says everyone’s back on. (If you’re NOT – be sure to call SCL at 206-684-3000 to be sure they know!)
ADDED MONDAY MIDDAY: While at an unrelated City Light media event today, we asked spokesperson Scott Thomsen for further info about this outage’s cause. He tells us, “It was caused by a failed lightning arrester.” (Don’t know what that is? Here’s an explanation.)
Very early Friday morning, a motorcyclist was seriously hurt on the southeast edge of West Seattle. His family is looking for information on what happened. From Tonya:
My husband was involved in a probable hit-and-run accident on his motorcycle, sometime between 2-3 AM, Friday, October 6th, right where SW Roxbury turns into Olson Place [map]. He was found unconscious and injured after being thrown off his bike, and doesn’t remember the incident at all. If anyone was in the area or has heard anyone talking about seeing this, please contact the police!
Tonya says her husband was headed south/east, toward 509, and rides a copper Harley. His injuries include a fractured vertebra. If you have information for police, the incident number is 17-371222, according to Tweets by Beat.
(WSB photos)
8:58 AM: Don’t bother trying to go to the Chase drive-up ATM at Edmunds/44th in The Junction – our photo shows what you’ll find. A texter said the ATM was taken before 6 am and that a forklift was still at the scene then (we checked with TrueValue across the street and they told us it wasn’t theirs). We are working right now to find out more from police.
9:16 AM: We couldn’t find officers in the area, though two SPD vehicles were nearby, so we went to the Southwest Precinct to ask. The desk officer told us the theft happened around 3:30 am and confirmed a forklift was left at the scene and has since been impounded; no other details yet because everyone working the case is still out. This is the second such theft in The Junction in less than a year, after the US Bank ATM heist a block away last January, also early on a Sunday morning. (added) And it’s the third in West Seattle in a year and a half, after an ATM was stolen from South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) in May 2016 and turned up in an Arbor Heights yard.
ADDED MONDAY AFTERNOON: No new information available from police yet. But we asked a regional spokesperson for Chase whether/when the ATM would be replaced; she said plans are already in the works and that it would be “later this month.”
(Least sandpiper, photographed at Constellation Park last weekend by Mark Wangerin)
A semi-quiet Sunday, with these highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
NEW RECTOR: Saint John the Baptist Episcopal Church‘s new spiritual leader has arrived and the community is invited to meet her:
The Reverend Kate E. Wesch joined the parish as Rector this week and will preside over Eucharist and deliver her first sermon in that capacity during services at 8 and 10:15 a.m.
All are welcome to the following events:
8:00 a.m. – Holy Eucharist
9:00 a.m. – Reception with pancake breakfast
10:00 a.m. – Sunday School for Elementary and Middle School
10:15 a.m. – Holy Eucharist with full choir
11:15 a.m. – Coffee and fellowship hourAdditionally, Rev. Wesch and Br. Paul Dahlke, OSF will preside over the annual Blessing of the Animals at 1:00 p.m. in honor of Saint Francis.
More on that later in this list. (3050 California SW)
FITNESS FOR VITALITY RUN SERIES: You can still sign up at the last minute for today’s runs along Alki – 2K, 5K, 10K all start at 9:30 am – full details here. (60th SW/Alki SW)
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm in the street in The Junction. (California between Oregon and Alaska)
LOG HOUSE MUSEUM: Could be a good day to check out the home of West Seattle’s history. Open noon-4 pm. (61st SW/SW Stevens)
BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS: 1 pm in the West Seattle High School parking lot, neighboring Saint John the Baptist Episcopal Church welcomes everyone to bring their animal companions to be blessed. (3000 California SW)
CLARA BAKER: Nationally touring singer-songwriter stops at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) to perform, 3-5 pm. (5612 California SW)
LADIES’ MUSICAL CLUB: “LMC Opera presents the Italians: from Verdi to Verisimo” at West Seattle (Admiral) Library, 3 pm. Free. See the program in our calendar listing. (2306 42nd SW)
PREVIEW THE WEEK AHEAD … via our complete calendar!
7:43 AM: While half of the scheduled Highway 99 closure continues this morning – northbound, between the West Seattle Bridge and Battery Street Tunnel – there’s a problem south of the bridge you might need to know about: A crash that “knocked over a light post” is blocking 99 (East Marginal Way) both ways at Hudson [map], per WSDOT, which warns that repairs “will take a few hours.”
12:51 AM: Still blocked:
Reminder: E Marginal Way S at S Hudson St is closed to all traffic due to earlier collision. A pole is being replaced. Use alt routes. pic.twitter.com/xPrS2OYB1E
— seattledot (@seattledot) October 8, 2017
3:01 PM: Now open – repair work’s done, says SDOT. (But northbound 99 remains closed for the weekend-long tunnel-related work, so if you are headed northbound from there, you won’t get much further. Whenever that is over, we’ll have another separate update.)
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