West Seattle, Washington
17 Saturday
Another event we covered today: The first-ever West Seattle community meeting scheduled as part of the city’s new “Early Outreach” stage of Design Review. Certain projects will be required to go through Early Outreach to get community input before the project reaches the official Design Review stage, whether with or without board meetings. In this case – as we previewed here – the project involves 5 townhouses set to replace two houses at 1772 Alki SW.
Seth Hale from MAS Architecture was the lone project rep for the meeting this morning at Alki Community Center; five community members showed up, four nearby residents and one person from another neighborhood who is a longtime community advocate on land-use issues. Hale said they had sent 100 postcards to people living near the project site. One of the nearby residents identified herself as from the Action Alki Alliance, which had been active in issues related to the apartments-turned-condos development soon to start construction at 1250 Alki SW. She was concerned that the setback proposed for the 1772 Alki townhouses wouldn’t be enough. Other participants’ comments included a request to keep a big old monkey-puzzle tree on the site; the architect had design options with and without it. He said the design proposal hasn’t been finalized yet – they’re working with a neighbor to decide whether an existing driveway ca be shared. They’re also still working out how tall a retaining wall on the slope at the back of the site needs to be. The meeting was very informal, and is a prelude to the project going through Administrative Design Review – which does not include public meetings.
NEXT ‘EARLY DESIGN OUTREACH’ MEETING IN WEST SEATTLE: As first mentioned here a week ago, the 8-townhouse project planned for 5616 California SW is set for one of these meetings, 4 pm September 17th at High Point Library (3411 SW Raymond).
HOW TO FIND OUT IF ‘EARLY DESIGN OUTREACH’ IS PLANNED FOR SOMETHING NEAR YOU: The city is using this page to note when a project enters this process, but at least so far, it isn’t cross-referencing when meetings are set – you have to check this calendar page for those, unless you happen to be one of the very-nearby neighbors who gets notice. (Media notification is apparently not required, as we haven’t received notification of either of the meetings scheduled so far.)
(Added: WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
9:36 PM: Just over at Southwest Athletic Complex in Westwood: Visiting from Tumwater, Black Hills HS beat Chief Sealth International High School, 41-13. Details and photos later.
ADDED EARLY SUNDAY: Most of the first quarter was all about the defense, including key tackling by Sealth’s #22 Jesse Brown:
But Black Hills got on the board with a TD at 1:57 to go in the first quarter and went unanswered up to a 20-0 score shortly after the second half started. Midway into the third quarter, Sealth got on the board:
Sealth's first TD. Now Black Hills 20, Chief Sealth 6, 6:15 to go in 3rd Q. pic.twitter.com/NccQUxSyTt
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) September 9, 2018
The Seahawks’ other TD was also in the third quarter, by #8 Dontae McMillan, not long after he had to come out for a short time after being down on the field:
Not only is #8 McMillan back in for Sealth, he just ran in the Seahawks' 2nd TD. Black Hills 27, Chief Sealth 13 with 2:40 left in 3rd Q. pic.twitter.com/ZHRjAn6nRV
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) September 9, 2018
Black Hills, however, was not done scoring, and won 41-14. Next week is the annual Huling Bowl matchup between the Seahawks and the West Seattle High School Wildcats – whose head coach Jeff Scott previewed Sealth from the stands at tonight’s game – 7 pm Friday (September 14th) at SW Athletic Complex (2801 SW Thistle).
At halftime of the Chief Sealth International High School-Black Hills HS football game at Southwest Athletic Complex (second half under way – story later), we caught up with CSIHS Ultimate Frisbee Club members Ksusha, Isaac, Indy, and Kai. The club just received a $100 donation from Wyatt’s Jewelers (WSB sponsor) in nearby Westwood Village, which is donating to a different school club at every home game – after designing the official coin thats being used for the toss at each Sealth home game.
Just in from the Seattle Education Association, which represents Seattle Public Schools teachers and other : Today’s votes on the one-year contract has been tallied and it’s been ratified. Minutes later, SPS sent this statement:
Seattle Education Association (SEA) members approved the educator contract. SEA represents the district’s educators, substitutes, paraprofessionals, instructional assistants and office professionals.
“I want to thank our educators, the joint bargaining team, and SEA leadership for their hard work throughout the bargaining process. I am proud of the interest-based bargaining process we engaged in with SEA,” said Superintendent Denise Juneau. “We coalesced around common values, including racial equity, and crafted a contract that honors our educators and helps us advance our collective commitment to every student in the district. Seattle remains competitive with our neighboring districts while maintaining critical services for students and families.”
“Great things happen when we keep students at the center of our work,” she added.
Since May, a joint team of approximately 45 Seattle Public Schools (SPS) and Seattle Education Association (SEA) representatives have been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement
This year the team was engaged in interest-based bargaining. This approach to bargaining builds on our shared commitment to students and to common goals. The district is excited to offer enhanced supports to our educators in the 1-year contract:
• A competitive pay schedule that honors the work of our current educators and helps us attract and retain new professionals to Seattle Public Schools. Each bargaining unit will receive an average 10.5% increase. • Increased nurses and preparation time
• Increased secondary counselors
• Expansion of school-based race and equity teams, confirming our commitment to eliminating opportunity gaps
• Enhanced parental leave including for the adoption of a child
• Enhanced educator professional development and dedicated collaboration time focused on addressing racial and educational inequities
• An innovative SEA and SPS developed Peer Assistance Review and professional growth program to support educator growth and teaching quality
• Increased professional development for staff and substitute educators
• Enhanced substitute health care benefits“These new investments will help ensure many students in Seattle receive the educational supports they deserve, ” said Board President Leslie Harris. “I am so proud of our educators and staff for building a contract that is student centered. We look forward to joining with our staff, families and students to work with the Legislature for full funding of public education.”
From Kristin:
We were reviewing our Nest cam from (Wednesday) night and noted that the car parked in our driveway (which abuts the alleyway) behind 12th Ave SW near Holden was broken into and rifled through. We had 0 things of value in there. We believe the thief probably just came across trash, basically, but … here’s a link to the video clip.
The prowler comes into view at the upper left just before the one minute mark, and goes back off-camera about a minute and a half later.
Check out the 50th-anniversary jerseys on the West Seattle Soccer Club players who were on the field during WSSC’s celebration at Southwest Athletic Complex this afternoon! Big fun in more ways than one:
Among those there to celebrate – the club’s founder, Joe Smith, at right below with the president of WSSC’s board, Stefan Persson:
WSSC is a recreational soccer club for all youth 5-18 in our area, and it has become a huge success over the decades, with four-digit participation. P.S. This weekend also marks the start of fall play for many – older players had games today, while younger players had a Jamboree.
Not only are cool and/or nostalgic and/or funky finds, priced to sell, available outdoors AND indoors at the Highland Park Improvement Club Giant Yard Sale, the bar is open too. We got one enthusiastic recommendation for the Bloody Marys.
Prefer something non-alcoholic? Outside, there’s a lemonade stand. And more records. And even a bit of golf gear.
We could go on, but really, one person’s treasure is another person’s … you know how it goes. So go see for yourself before 3 pm. HPIC is at 12th and Holden, and you can park down the block at Riverview if you’re not close enough to walk or ride.
Thanks for the calls/tips. Some wondered if that group of people seen walking with a flag in the Admiral/Alki area are protesting/demonstrating. No – we found out it’s the same thing that led to similar questions last December, as covered here – linked to goruck.com. As we wrote then, along with selling rucksacks and other gear, the company organizes/facilitates teambuilding-type long-distance walks; its founders include a former Green Beret, and some of its events raise money for the Green Beret Foundation.
9:13 AM: Not here at the Seattle Lutheran High School gym (4100 SW Genesee) yet? More than 50 people are, as the Sound Transit “neighborhood forum” for West Seattle light rail routing/station locations begins. This is in “open house” – circulate and look at boards, maps, etc. – mode until at least 9:30, followed by a presentation, followed by small-group conversation starting just before 10, so you have time to get here. (The format is detailed here.) Here’s our most-recent coverage, with the new ST-released “visualizations” of what some of the route/station options might look like. Updates to come!
9:32 AM: The presentation’s starting, projected on the north wall. The microphone is given first to Joe McDermott, County Councilmember and Sound Transit board member, who jokes about the ease of the commute (on a Saturday morning) and thanks everyone for turning out. He’s followed by project director Cathal Ridge providing some project backstory and timeline, starting with the planning phase (now) and moving to construction starting in 2025 to open the Stadium-SODO-West Seattle extension in 2030. (Rough count update, 100+ people here now.)
Ridge reiterates that they’re not asking people to pick their final preferred alternative today, but to help “narrow” the list down. One more level of review is ahead before that preferred alternative is finalized next April, to move into full environmental study.
Ridge notes that this is the first time “cost assessment” has entered the process (as we reported last Wednesday) – focused on “limited conceptual design” (5%, compared to 60% when they get to an actual project budget) based on “consistent methodology” including 2017 dollars. In the final level of review, Level 3, they will provide costs for “end-to-end alternatives,” compared to the current comparative segment-by-segment analysis, and those, Ridge explains, “will facilitate comparison to ST3 budget” (as approved by voters).
9:47 AM: He’s followed by Stephen Mak, ST’s West Seattle-specific planner, recapping the five West Seattle segment alternatives currently under discussion, including the “representative project” originally proposed. After going briefly over the route/station maps for the alternatives, Mak hits the info-dense tables of evaluation points that were originally presented at the Stakeholder Advisory Group meeting Wednesday (and included in our coverage – you can also see that slide deck here – but be aware that latter link includes the evaluation of all West Seattle to Ballard segments; WS is last). The highlights include the same takeaway points that ST chose to highlight, such as “visual effects” – where “low” and “high” guideways are mentioned, by the way, we asked for clarification on Wednesday, and “low” means up to 60′, while “high” means up to 160′. If you want to cut to the bare-bones summary, this is the page:
(That’s on page 106 of the presentation from Wednesday; we will ask on Monday for the WS-only deck that’s being used today.)
10:09 AM: Mak is followed by ST station planner Sloan Dawson, who talks about the by-invitation-only daylong station “charrettes” that were held in July, one for Delridge, one for Junction and Avalon. (We covered a walking tour that was part of the latter.) Someone in the crowd quickly spots the acronym TOD and asks for an explanation (answer: Transit Oriented Development). Here are the slides he showed:
10:20 AM: Presentation’s ending. That means table-by-table conversations will begin. ST has a note-taker assigned to each table.
It’s announced that City Councilmember Lisa Herbold is here. Someone asks if the slides can be made available online – the facilitator says yes. (Again, as noted above, the same slides were in the Wednesday presentations, but we’ll request today’s deck on Monday and add it here.) We’re within earshot of one table, whose note-taker/coordinator KaDeena Yerkan is asking people to introduce themselves and to say which station/route segment most interests them. One person in her self-intro says she’s interested in whatever would speed up the process. ST, meantime, tells us that the signup forms at last check showed 130 people are (or have been) here. The boards with post-it note options are still up for commenting on the other side of the room, too.
10:50 AM: Conversation continues and is scheduled to go until about 11:30 – soon shifting to “part 2, (to) share input for each sub-segment.” One participant at the table within our earshot asks what happens if the Port is not happy about a favored route – does it have a veto?The coordinator’s not sure. Meantime, all this feedback is to be summarized and provided to the decisionmakers further up the line – the Stakeholder Advisory Group will meet September 26th to make its recommendations for what to advance to the third and final review level; the Elected Leadership Group then considers those recommendations (but is not bound by them) on October 5th. (The public is welcome at all of those meetings but if you go, take note that there’s no public-comment period at the SAG meetings; there IS, at the ELG meetings. SAG meetings are not recorded on video; Seattle Channel does record the SAG meetings, which are also technically City Council meetings because the ELG has a quorum of city councilmembers.)
11:24 AM: Still talking, as the prescheduled adjournment time of 11:30 am nears, though a couple of the table groups are breaking up. We’re going to go look around at easels etc. and will add a few images later. (Update: Added below)
If you couldn’t be here, you still have a way to get involved in this round – as we reported Friday, ST has an “online open house” now under way until September 23rd, with info and comment opportunities. Find it here.
(Chestnut-backed Chickadee, photographed by Mark Ahlness, shared via the WSB Flickr group)
So much happening! Here are highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
LIGHT RAIL NEIGHBORHOOD FORUM: Sound Transit‘s second West Seattle neighborhood forum is your next chance to find out firsthand where light-rail planning stands, and to offer your opinion o route and station locations. 9-11:30 am in the gym at Seattle Lutheran High School. Our most recent coverage is here (including new ST visualizations) and here (including other points of evaluation). (4100 SW Genesee)
HPIC’S GIANT YARD SALE: Rain or shine – indoor if it’s rainy, outdoor if it’s not – 9 am to 3 pm, it’s the annual BIG sale at Highland Park Improvement Club.
(Added 9:59 am: Photo sent from HPIC sale)
Music, beverages, food, shopping! (1116 SW Holden)
EARLY DESIGN OUTREACH FOR ALKI REDEVELOPMENT: 10 am at Alki Community Center, it’s the first West Seattle community meeting as part of the new Early Outreach component of the city’s Design Review process. You’re invited to come get information and/or ask questions about a five-townhouse project proposed for 1772-1774 Alki SW, as previewed here. (5817 SW Stevens)
HISTORIC RIVERSIDE WALKING TOUR: The Southwest Seattle Historical Society invites you to the “annual ‘Historic Riverside Walking Tour’ with the legendary Frank Zuvela returning again as our guide!” 10 am-noon. Meet at the Riverside Memorial to learn about the largely Croatian community that thrived on fishing and related industry, nestled between the Duwamish River and Pigeon Point.” $5 donation/person to benefit SWSHS. (Meet at W. Marginal Way SW/SW Marginal Place)
SAN GENNARO FESTIVAL, DAY 2: The West Seattleite-founded Italian-American street fair continues today/tonight in Georgetown, 10 am-10 pm. (S. Angelo/Ellis Ave. S.)
BARTON P-PATCH PIZZA PARTY: Between 11 am and 3 pm, visit the P-Patch to enjoy fresh-baked bagels or pizza from the garden’s outdoor oven. Music too! (34th SW/SW Barton)
CAMP LONG MOUNTAIN FEST: Rise above it all and celebrate climbing during this all-day festival at Camp Long, 11 am-5 pm – details are in our preview. (5200 35th SW)
SUNDODGER MEET AT LINCOLN PARK: The annual collegiate cross-country meet at Lincoln Park brings runners from 5 schools including UW and Seattle U. It’s set to start at 11 am; here’s a preview. (8011 Fauntleroy Way SW)
COLMAN POOL SECOND-TO-LAST DAY: The outdoor pool on the shore at Lincoln Park is open for one post-season weekend this year, noon-7 pm. See the schedule of swim sessions here. (8603 Fauntleroy Way SW)
FOREST & FISH: Noon, optional traditional salmon-bake lunch ($15) and then a free 1-3 pm “informative workshop on forest and fish surrounding the local area,” at the Duwamish Tribe Longhouse. (4705 W. Marginal Way SW)
WEST SEATTLE SOCCER CLUB’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY: 12:30-3:30 pm at Southwest Athletic Complex, celebrate half a century of youth-soccer history with WSSC! Details in our preview. Everyone’s welcome. (2801 SW Thistle)
MARTIN ELLIS AT THE MIGHTY WURLITZER: Organ concert at Kenyon Hall, 1:30 pm, “under the auspices of the Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society, for a special matinée concert. Martin has a wide and varied history as a master of the organ keyboard. He’s a featured artist at conventions of The American Theatre Organ Society, and is revered for his stylish performances. Tickets are $15. Children 16 or under, when accompanied by an adult, will be admitted free of charge.” (7904 35th SW)
ANTIQUE APPRAISALS: 1-3 pm, get yours appraised during a special event at Daystar. (2615 SW Barton)
PAELLA FOR THE HELPLINE: 6-9 pm at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), a chef-prepared paella feast benefiting the West Seattle Helpline – details in our calendar listing; check to see if tickets remain! *1:50 PM UPDATE – C&P tells us it’s sold out.* (5612 California SW)
HIGH-SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Chief Sealth International High School plays Black Hills (from Tumwater) tonight at Southwest Athletic Complex, 7 pm. (2801 SW Thistle)
JACK WILLIAMS AT KENYON HALL: 7:30 pm, the singer/songwriter and master guitarist performs at historic Kenyon Hall. Find ticket info and more background in our calendar listing. (7904 35th SW)
THERE’S EVEN MORE … see the full list on our complete-calendar page.
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