West Seattle, Washington
18 Wednesday
Four West Seattle Crime Watch notes tonight:
PAINTBALLS SHOT AT CARS: We’ve heard from two people so far tonight whose cars were hit by paintballs in West Seattle – one in the Triangle area, one in Westwood. Here’s one of the photos.
Anything fired/thrown/etc. at a moving vehicle (or person walking, riding a bike, etc.) has the potential not only to do damage, but also to startle the driver/rider/walker into swerving or falling, so it’s not a harmless prank, and if it happens/happened to you, report it to police. (Maybe just a coincidence, but as we wrote this, we heard a dispatch about something similar in Pioneer Square.)
7-11 ARREST FOLLOWUP: As promised, we followed up today on the Friday night arrest by Bellevue Police at the California/Charlestown 7-11.
BPD spokesperson Officer Seth Tyler tells WSB that they arrested a 28-year-old man wanted in connection with a robbery case. Their arrest team included SWAT officers because the robbery had involved a knife and the suspect, Tyler said, had a history of eluding. He remains in jail tonight in lieu of $225,000 bail.
SUSPICIOUS SIGHTINGS: Last April, we covered the case of a burglary suspect and stolen car that turned up in a dead-end alley in North Admiral between the 2100 block of California and 44th. Neighbors in that same alley say they have had four suspicious vehicle/people sightings in the past week in their alley and wanted to put the area on alert; they have contacted police. Different vehicles each time.
CRIME PREVENTION: Another reminder, 6:30 pm tomorrow at the Southwest Precinct, the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network will hear about Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design from the precincts Crime Prevention Coordinator Jennifer Danner – all welcome.
If you missed the first “project development” meeting tonight for this year’s Your Voice, Your Choice process to figure out which of hundreds of community-suggested park/street projects will get a share of $3 million … you have four more to choose from. Participants at each meeting are evaluating a specific group of projects – different at every meeting – as grouped and color-coded on this map. Next one is tomorrow night in South Park (6 pm at SP Community Center, 8319 8th Ave. S.), to review the suggestions for that area; then there are three more meetings in West Seattle, one daytime and two nighttime (all listed here). And if you can’t make it to the meeting for the project area you’d like to evaluate, the city says you can access the project lists for all areas of each district (ours is D-1) at any meeting in that district. After this round, the next step is voting, with online and in-person opportunities starting in June.
(King County Assessor’s Office photos)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
While there’s been plenty of development in The Junction in the past few years, nothing new has been proposed for California Avenue SW since the construction of the mixed-use buildings now known as Junction 47 (California/Alaska) and 4730 California.
But now, for the first time in almost six years, a major new proposal has emerged for the heart of The Junction.
City files show a new early-stage proposal for 4747 California SW, described as a “7-story mixed-use building.” While the address is for the Bikram Yoga building, the preliminary site plan shows the project would also include the land currently holding the Sleepers in Seattle building to its north (4741 California SW).
That building is co-owned by Husky Deli proprietor Jack Miller, with whom we talked this afternoon about the plan. He stresses that it is early-stage indeed – no specifics on how many apartments or parking spaces (but he says there WILL be parking). Miller also emphasized to WSB that it’s an all-local team; the development firm listed in city files, HB Management – also on record as owner of the yoga building – was founded by one of his neighbors, Ed Hewson, a friend since childhood.
Miller says, “We’re hoping to make something really nice.” He says redeveloping the furniture-store site, in particular, is unavoidable because the 79-year-old building is deteriorating, from the roof on down. He feels building in that spot also will be least disruptive to The Junction’s business mix – “We love The Junction.” A new building might even be a new home for his own business someday.
The four lots involved (this would NOT go all the way to Edmunds – the corner lot is under separate ownership) are all zoned for 85-foot development (and potentially higher if HALA upzoning goes through as proposed), so a 7-story building would not be maxing out the capacity. The preliminary site plan carries the name of the architecture firm Ankrom Moisan, which is Portland-based but has Seattle and San Francisco offices. As always with development proposals, we’ll continue to follow up on this one, which will require Design Review if it gets to that stage.
(Fire investigation aboard MOL Prestige docked in Seattle, 2/12/18 US Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Ali Flockerzi)
You might have noticed two sizable ships in at West Seattle’s Terminal 5. Turns out both are there after trouble at sea. The 961-foot container ship MOL Prestige arrived about two weeks ago after an engine-room fire off the British Columbia coast. And over the weekend, the 653-foot bulk carrier Federal Iris arrived after losing power off the Oregon coast. Port of Seattle spokesperson Peter McGraw confirmed to WSB that both are being handled by Foss Maritime, “under a license agreement with the NW Seaport Alliance.” The Prestige, he says, “is still undergoing inspections, and is expected to depart around March 15th,” while the Iris is also being inspected and likely to leave by the end of this week – both departure dates, McGraw cautions, are estimates.
(#20 Grace Sarver in defense mode, WSB photo from November 2017)
Thanks for the tip! As the district-champion West Seattle High School girls get ready for 3A state play starting Thursday night, the Wildcats’ Grace Sarver has just earned an honor: First-team recognition in The Seattle Times‘ winter Star Times picks. The Times describes the junior guard as “One of the fiercest defenders in the Metro League.” See the full Star Times list here. And see Sarver and her teammates’ first state-championships game at the Tacoma Dome at 7:15 pm Thursday (March 1st), vs. the winner of Wednesday’s Seattle Prep–Shorecrest game. (Missed our coverage of the WSHS girls’ Saturday night win over Garfield? It’s here.)
(Image from Design Review packet by Cleave Architecture)
From today’s Land Use Information Bulletin: The apartment project just uphill from the southeast edge of Westwood Village has received key land-use approval. 2222 SW Barton [map] – a project first reported here almost two years ago – is planned as a 4-story building with 39 apartments and 27 “small efficiency dwelling units” (microstudios), no offstreet-parking spaces. Southwest Design Review Board members gave their final approval at a meeting last September (here’s the city report). The decision (PDF) published today opens an appeal period – the official notice explains how to file one; March 12th is the deadline.
(Surf scoter, photographed by Mark Wangerin)
Highlights for February’s final Monday:
SOUTHWEST POOL CLOSURE: Reminder that Southwest Pool – our area’s only city-run indoor pool – is scheduled to be closed for work today through March 16th. The co-housed SW Teen Life Center and Customer Service Center remain open (except for March 11-16), Parks says.
AFTERNOON BOOK GROUP: “My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante is this month’s title for the Southwest Library afternoon book group, 2 pm. (9010 35th SW)
DROP-IN TAX HELP: That April deadline gets ever closer. Drop in for free help today, 2-7 pm at Delridge Library. (5423 Delridge Way SW)
MEATLESS MONDAY: Roasted Cauliflower with Salsa Verde is today’s recipe for Chef Kim O’Donnel‘s Meatless Monday cooking demo at West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor), 4:30 pm. (3622 SW Snoqualmie)
HELP DECIDE HOW TO SPEND $3 MILLION: 5:30-7:30 pm, first “project development” meeting for this year’s Your Voice, Your Choice park/street grant proposals in District 1 (West Seattle and South Park), as explained here. North side of South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) – at Chan Education Center. (6000 16th SW)
SUSTAINABLE WEST SEATTLE MEETUP: Don’t just despair about problems – be part of the solution! Sustainable West Seattle will make it easy for you – be at tonight’s meetup, where, among other things, you’ll meet neighbors who already are making a difference, as previewed here – see the comments, too! 7 pm at Senior Center of West Seattle. (4217 SW Oregon)
LOOK INTO THE FUTURE … via our complete calendar.
Case of theft, or delivery to the wrong address? Amy posted in the WSB Forums that she is hoping the manila envelope USPS says was delivered to her residence really turned up somewhere else instead, so if you by some chance haven’t looked at your Saturday postal mail … take a look when you can, and if you got her envelope, the post includes her contact info (or – in this case or any other time you get someone else’s mail – you can drop it back in a mailbox with a note attached “wrong address”).
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
6:59 AM: Good morning! Seattle Public Schools‘ mid-winter break is over. The cold weather isn’t over yet, though – 32 degrees out there right now. No incidents reported in/from West Seattle.
7:30 AM: Crash reported at Spokane/Klickitat.
Also, the state ferry Issaquah will be taken off the Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth run after the morning commute for emergency maintenance; some sailings will be canceled.
10:26 AM: WSF has changed the plan – Issaquah will continue running, but at half-power, while the work is done.
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