West Seattle, Washington

27 Friday

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day : 31/07/2018 10 results

FOLLOWUP: Puget Ridge Playground ‘preferred design’ unveiled
July 31, 2018 9:36 pm
|    Comments Off on FOLLOWUP: Puget Ridge Playground ‘preferred design’ unveiled
 |   Puget Ridge | West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

Back in June, we covered Seattle Parks visiting Puget Ridge to show the draft plan for overhauling the neighborhood playground. Now, with the feedback gathered during that meeting and a gathering in April, there’s a “preferred design” – you can see it above (or here). The announcement explains that it is “based on the public input, accessible standards, other park design standards, and budget limitations. The intent of the preferred design is to maintain the bones of the existing park, include new play structures that are accessible to all abilities – focused on young kids, and improve seating and gathering.” Got feedback? Parks will take comments until August 13th – email project planner Libby Hubson at libby.hudson@seattle.gov. The project team told us in June they hope to start work this fall on the overhaul, budgeted at $300,000.

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UPDATE: About that smoky smell in West Seattle
July 31, 2018 8:24 pm
|      10 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle fires | West Seattle news

8:24 PM: Many are asking, so we’ve been sleuthing. Nothing working in our area, and it definitely wasn’t from the small fire we covered on Dumar Way earlier this evening. We HAVE found there’s a new wildfire in Mason County, on Harstine Island [map], and the smoke has been blowing in this direction – Gig Harbor, northeast of the fire area, is complaining – so that could be contributing. We’ll add anything more we find out.

WEDNESDAY MORNING NOTE: “Air resources” get thanks for slowing the spread of that fire, at 19 acres this morning.

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UPDATE: Fire call on Dumar Way SW
July 31, 2018 6:33 pm
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle fires | West Seattle news

6:33 PM: Seattle Fire sent a “full response” to the 7200 block of Dumar Way, near Delridge/Orchard [map]. We just got there (thanks to the person who called! we had missed it while out on something else) and some crews are packing up. Here’s what they tell us: The fire was confined to the house’s hot tub – how it caught fire is still being figured out. No injuries; Dumar is blocked in the area (between 16th and Orchard).

7:29 PM: The road is open again.

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City Council committee to consider Orchard Street Ravine expansion purchase Wednesday
July 31, 2018 5:23 pm
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle parks | West Seattle politics

The Gatewood park known as Orchard Street Ravine might soon be a little bigger. Tomorrow, a City Council committee will consider the proposed purchase of a parcel adjacent to OSR, 7137 38th SW, a 5,600-square-foot parcel north of park boundaries (as shown on this map), currently holding the dilapidated century-plus-old house shown in the King County Assessor’s Office photo above. The purchase price would be $235,000, and it would come from Park District levy funds. Documents for tomorrow’s meeting of the Civic Development, Public Assets, and Native Communities Committee show the city expects to spend an additional $25,000 on “staff time, title insurance, and closing cost,” plus “up to $100,000 for demolition of the house.” We’re told that local residents plan to speak in favor of the purchase at tomorrow’s committee meeting, which includes a public-comment period. They will include members of the Friends of Orchard Street Ravine and Morgan Community Association, says MoCA president Deb Barker, who shared a letter that park steward Carol Schultz sent to the committee, saying in part:

We’re excited to hear that the proposal is coming before the committee for review tomorrow. I wanted to contact you and let you know that there are many supporters and users of Orchard Street Ravine. After many years of volunteer work it is now a beautiful green space with a stairway and trails connecting neighborhoods and nature.

With the increasing density of West Seattle the proposed park expansion will be a real benefit to the community and natural habitat. Orchard Street Ravine is an important green spaces connector as well as a beautiful natural area. A stairway built as part of the 2006 bond connects upper and lower parts of the neighborhood. It is a link in the Green Crescent or Morgan Junction Loop trail. The trail connects Morgan Junction, Orchard Street Ravine, Solstice Park, Lincoln Park, and Lowman Beach Park helping to create a total of a 2.5 mile walk. It is listed in the King County West Seattle Trails map.

The 2006 bond also set up a Vegetation Management Plan for reforestation with native plantings that we’ve been following since then. We’ve gradually reforesting what used to be a jungle of blackberries, ivy and clematis vine. We plant hundreds of new native plants every year and it’s now filled with NW native plants and wildlife and birds have returned. … Approving the proposed expansion would be a real benefit to the community and environment.

You can see the slide deck prepared for tomorrow’s meeting (2 pm Wednesday) here. If the committee approves the purchase, it would move on to a final vote by the full City Council.

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UPDATE: Widespread – brief for most – West Seattle power outage
July 31, 2018 2:32 pm
|      95 COMMENTS
 |   Utilities | West Seattle news

2:32 PM: Thanks for the tips – it’s not fully showing on the City Light map yet but we have reports of a far-flung West Seattle power outage. We have reports from Alki to Westwood. More to come.

2:40 PM: Back on already for many including us in Upper Fauntleroy. Will update as soon as we find out from SCL what this was about.

2:50 PM: According to comments, some are still out, and SCL is unreachable. (We have a message out to their media reps.)

The map now shows 444 customers out but continues to show it as many individual outages, which is not the way an outage usually would display.

3:02 PM: SCL spokesperson Hernann Ambion tells us a “relay malfunction” related to “routine maintenance” caused the short-lived outage. He says everybody’s back on but the map still shows some outages because the system read the problem as the Delridge Substation being offline when it wasn’t. He says everyone should be back on now.

3:17 PM: Couple of side notes: Your cable/wi-fi router might need a reset – we’ve seen that happen in some power outages, even short ones. Also, if you heard sirens/alarms, this triggered a lot of fire alarms and stopped elevators; you can see the evidence on the SFD real-time log (all the calls with SW addresses).

5:40 PM Scattered traffic-signal trouble, still. Such as Fauntleroy Way at Fairmount Park, flashing and with SDOT on scene.

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PHOTOS: 2018 Seafair Parade of Ships off West Seattle
July 31, 2018 12:34 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news

12:34 PM: With the USS Somerset (LPD-25) in the lead, the Seafair Parade of Ships is now in view off Alki. More to come.

1 PM: Now passing Luna/Anchor Park – the USS Momsen (DDG-92) is second in the parade.

1:30 PM: And, it’s on to downtown. Thanks meantime to everyone who’s sending great photos – starting with this view of West Seattle from Christie Brown on board USS Somerset:

Another from Christie:

The view from Gary Jones as the Somerset and Momsen turned east at Alki Point:

Our Twitter video when fireboat Leschi greeted the ships near Luna/Anchor Park (this also includes USCGC Mellon):

ADDED 4:33 PM: Still adding. Thanks to Monica Zaborac for the next two photos:

That’s the Mellon; below, visiting from Canada, HMCS Whitehorse:

And, tweeted by @macjustice, the aerial view:

(Tour info for the US and Canadian Navy ships for the next five days is here.)

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DEVELOPMENT: Townhouses planned for 5616 California SW, next to C & P Coffee
July 31, 2018 12:08 pm
|      8 COMMENTS
 |   Development | West Seattle news

That’s the King County Assessor photo of the 93-year-old house at 5616 California SW, next to C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor). Five months after the coffeehouse’s proprietors bought their property at 5612 California SW to spare it from redevelopment, their southern neighbor appears demolition-bound: City files show an early-stage proposal for eight townhouses with five offstreet-parking spaces (though none are required, because it’s in a frequent-transit zone). As with the C&P site, this is a 7,500-square-foot parcel zoned Lowrise 3. The site plan in the city’s online file shows three townhouses would face California and three would be on the alley, with north-facing entries for the two between them. The coffeehouse site is bordered on the north by an apartment building with ground-floor commercial.

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West Seattle Tuesday: Seafair Parade of Ships, book release with music, Harbor Island cleanup info event, more…
July 31, 2018 10:41 am
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(Rufous Hummingbird, photographed by Mark Ahlness, shared via the WSB Flickr group)

Your West Seattle highlights for this last day of July:

WADING POOLS: Though it’s cloudy and cooler this morning, Seattle Parks says they’ll be open. Your Tuesday pools are Lincoln Park (8011 Fauntleroy Way SW), 11 am-8 pm, and Delridge (Genesee/Delridge), noon-6:30 pm.

SEAFAIR PARADE OF SHIPS: While the official “parade” is set to pass the downtown waterfront at 1 pm, the ships sail past West Seattle shores before that – we’ll be watching and will publish a report when they are. As announced early today, the participants in today’s parade:

-U.S. Navy: Guided-missile destroyer USS Momsen (DDG-92) and amphibious transport dock USS Somerset (LPD-25), which was in the parade in 2016

-U.S. Coast Guard: USCGC Mellon

-Royal Canadian Navy: HMCS Yellowknife & HMCS Whitehorse

(Tour info for the next five days is here.)

MOBILE BIKE REPAIRS: Third BikeWorks session of the summer – get free or reduced-price bicycle repairs on the driveway behind Neighborhood House High Point, 2-4:30 pm. (6400 Sylvan Way SW)

DELRIDGE GROCERY FARMSTAND: The Delridge Grocery Coop continues its weekly farmstand, 3-7 pm at the Shell across from DGC’s future store. (5441 Delridge Way SW)

HARBOR ISLAND CLEANUP INFO DROP-IN: Questions about the Superfund cleanup starting soon at Harbor Island? The EPA will be at Seacrest today, 4-6 pm, to answer them, as previewed here Monday. (1660 Harbor SW)

MIKE HIPPLE BOOK RELEASE, PLUS THE CASTAWAYS: 7-9 pm at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), join Mike Hipple for his “80s Redux” book-release party, featuring local ukulele band The Castaways. (5612 California SW)

TRIVIA AT WHISKY WEST: The weekly Geeks Who Drink trivia at Whisky West (WSB sponsor) starts at 8 pm. 21+. (6451 California SW)

WHAT ELSE? You can check our full calendar now – or any time – by going here.

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West Seattle Water Taxi plans for August’s major music events: Pearl Jam, SPF30
July 31, 2018 9:36 am
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news

(WSB photo, March 2018)

A question from Kirsten led us to ask the King County Water Taxi team about plans for the upcoming Pearl Jam concerts at Safeco Field, and while we were asking, we inquired about the reported plans to add service for SPF30, the Sub Pop Records 30th anniversary extravaganza at Alki. Here’s what we found out from Water Taxi spokesperson Brent Champaco:

PEARL JAM AT SAFECO FIELD, AUGUST 8 & 10: “We are not planning to operate extended evening service for the Pearl Jam concert Wednesday, Aug. 8; however, on Aug. 10 we will be operating on our regular Friday schedule for West Seattle, which already has extended sailings. We typically do not run extended service for special events other than evening home Mariners, Seahawks and Sounders FC games.”

SPF30 AT ALKI, AUGUST 11: “We have been working directly with Sub Pop Records … On Saturday, Aug. 11, in addition to the MV Doc Maynard running its regular Saturday service, we plan on running an extra boat (the MV Sally Fox) on the West Seattle route from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and again from 7:30 p.m. 11:30 p.m. These times are when we expect most people to be traveling to, and returning from, the event.” (Sub Pop has promised full transportation details soon.)

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TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Tuesday watch
July 31, 2018 7:25 am
|    Comments Off on TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Tuesday watch
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)

7:25 AM: Good morning! No incidents reported in/from West Seattle so far.

Reminders:

ADMIRAL WAY BRIDGE TESTING: Continuing today – closures on the Admiral Way Bridge for SDOT testing.

I-90 BRIDGE: The Blue Angels are here; closures of the I-90 floating bridge – are set for Thursday-Sunday:

Thursday, Aug. 2: 9:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and 1 to 2:45 p.m. (practice)

Friday, Aug. 3: 12:55 to 2:45 p.m. (Seafair Air Show)

Saturday, Aug. 4: 12:55 to 2:45 p.m. (Seafair Air Show)

Sunday, Aug. 5: 12:55 to 2:45 p.m. (Seafair Air Show)

Also:

STADIUM ZONE: The Mariners have another 7:10 pm game vs. the Astros.

11:32 AM: Multiple-vehicle crash on SB 99 at the exit to the WB West Seattle Bridge. No injuries.

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