West Seattle, Washington
02 Wednesday
(UPDATED 11:11 AM TUESDAY with new information)
(Added: WSB photos)
11 PM: Lots of sirens in south West Seattle, as one texter noted, and here’s why: A call for major backup went out after someone assaulted a police officer in the 9400 block of 27th SW. We don’t know how the call started but when the call went out for backup, one officer told her colleagues over the radio that there was probable cause to arrest a suspect – who is still being sought – for assault on an officer. No serious injury reported as there’s been no call for medics. The suspect was last reported headed southbound.
11:09 PM: Now there’s an SFD dispatch.
11:29 PM: We’re at the scene to see what more we can find out.
11:40 PM: Police at the scene say this began as a domestic-violence call. A responding officer was assaulted. No info yet on their condition.
12:13 PM: Still searching. As discussed in comments, the siren bursts are a search-related tactic.
3:39 AM: No further info; we’ll be following up with SPD when their media office opens later this morning.
11:11 AM: We’ve talked with police and obtained the narrative from last night’s incident:
According to the report, it started with a 911 call from someone saying their 21-year-old brother was banging on their apartment door and drunk, and was not a welcome visitor. Officers arrived and saw the suspect kicking the door. He tried to leave the scene. A struggle with officers ensued. That’s when, the report says, one officer “was kneed in the head.” A crowd had begun to form and another officer who was trying to provide crowd control was shoved in the chest by someone else. The person who did that ran into and then out of a nearby apartment. That’s when the search began but that suspect was not found. The report describes him only as male, black, dark complexion, 5’9″, 170, wearing a red Cardinals T-shirt and black jeans.
Ultimately the officer who was kneed was taken to the hospital and has since been released; two other officers were checked out by SFD medics at the Southwest Precinct, and one is described as having suffered minor injuries. The original suspect – the man whose brother had called 911 – is in jail for investigation of assault, resisting arrest, and domestic-violence property damage; jail records show he was booked two other times in just the past week, both on suspicion of trespassing.
Love baking? Two holiday-season community dinners can benefit from your baking!
That’s a photo from a past-season Hall at Fauntleroy community Thanksgiving dinner. This Thursday, for the 20th year, The Hall will again open its doors for a free catered feast that will also feature community-donated desserts. If you can spare cookies, cake, a pie, or something else to sweeten things up for the diners, organizers would welcome your contribution. You can drop your donation off at Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes Catering‘s SODO office (4101 Airport Way S.) 9 am-3 pm tomorrow or Wednesday, or at The Hall (9131 California SW) 10 am-1 pm Thursday – details here.
Looking ahead to Christmastime, this is a call specifically for cookies – lots and lots of them! The Christmas People plan to again serve a community dinner at the Alki Masonic Hall in The Junction on Christmas Day, as well as distributing food to people who can’t get there, and they are again calling for thousands of home-baked cookies to be donated in the days before Christmas! Contact The Christmas People if you’re interested in contributing.
The City Council passed next year’s budget today, finalizing its changes to the plan Mayor Jenny Durkan proposed in September, and including some changes championed by West Seattle/South Park (District 1) Councilmember Lisa Herbold. We’ve reported on most of them previously in the process. They include, as listed in her budget-wrapup announcement:
DISTRICT 1 CAPITAL PROJECTS:
*Adding the Highland Park Way SW/SW Holden Street Roundabout project to the SDOT Capital Improvement Program
*Adding 35th Avenue SW road paving to the SDOT Capital Improvement Program (CIP)
*Seattle Parks Department planning to enhance Trail Access on SW Brandon Street
*Adding the South Park Playfield to the CIP, noting $1.8 million in funding
The roundabout and 35th SW items don’t guarantee funding for those projects, but they’re a key step toward moving them toward the SDOT front burner. Meantime, Herbold also notes in her announcement:
… “funding to maintain a public safety coordinator for South Park, funding for RV Remediation, and enhancing and adding three inspectors to the Vacant Building Monitoring Program, so more vacant properties are monitored and don’t become public safety nuisances for the neighborhood. … $60,000 in funding for Concord Elementary’s Community Learning Center, Citizenship Program funding for Neighborhood House at High Point, funding to allow Colman Pool stay open for an additional 4 weekends a year.”
Herbold’s announcement also mentions nine other “citywide wins” among her proposals that made it into the final budget.
(WSB file photo)
Back in August, when we last updated the Avalon/35th/Alaska repaving and rechannelization plan, SDOT said it was re-crunching the numbers on current and proposed parking. The assessment – with numbers – is finally ready, and SDOT says:
Our parking update findings show:
*Net loss of 67 parking spaces on SW Avalon Way between 35th Ave SW and SW Spokane St
*Net loss of 9 parking spaces on 35th Ave SW between SW Avalon Way and SW Alaska St
*39 remaining on-street parking spaces in the Luna Park business district between SW Spokane St and SW Yancy St. Today, there are 53 on-street spaces (24 on the west side and 29 on the east side). Our project design removes 14 spaces total (the sum of removing 16 on the west side and adding 2 on the east side). The east side spaces are “no parking” 6-10AM, Monday-Friday, as they mostly are today.
*13 remaining spaces in the off-street public parking area between Luna Park Cafe and The Shack. Today, there are 14 spaces here distinguished by privately-painted line markings. We remove one that’s been marked across the sidewalk/pedestrian area.
*3 remaining spaces in the off-street public parking area next to Luna Park Cafe and Avalon Glassworks. Today, there are 3 spaces here.
*31 parking spaces will be restricted Monday through Friday, 6-10 AM, to create a bus lane on the east side of SW Avalon Way between SW Spokane St and SW Yancy St. Today, there are 18 spaces restricted weekday mornings.
*We’ve kept load zones and a disabled zone to meet high-priority needs like business deliveries, and pick-ups and drop-offs at busy apartment buildings
*We’re planning to implement 2-hour parking time limits on SW Avalon Way in the business district north of SW Yancy St to improve customer and visitor access
Why the new design includes fewer parking spaces than today:
*We’re redesigning SW Avalon Way with a focus on safety. This will result in narrower travel lanes to lower overall speeds, reduce high-end speeding, and reduce crossing distances for people walking and biking to get around the neighborhood and catch the bus.
*We’re separating people biking from moving traffic with protected bike lanes, mostly between the curb and a “floating” parking lane. The floating parking lanes will have buffer areas, so car doors don’t hit people biking and there’s space for people parking to walk to and from their car. This design pulls parking farther back from intersections and driveways than today. Twenty-foot parking setbacks allow people driving to see people walking and biking better – their vision isn’t blocked by a parked car – to make collisions less likely at driveways and cross streets.
*We didn’t count spaces 5 feet from driveways, 15 feet from fire hydrants, 20 feet from crosswalks, and 30 feet from intersections, which are not legal parking areas under state and local laws, but may be considered legal parking today.
*Most street space for the protected bike lanes came from removing the center turn lane, but in narrower areas at the north end of the corridor we had to restrict morning parking on the east side to allow for the bus lane that moves thousands of people a day on RapidRide and other routes
*On 35th Ave SW, we removed parking spaces where we’re adding pedestrian crossing islands to help people get across the street at SW Alaska St to the West Seattle Stadium and transit
Next steps:
*We’ll post the 100% street channelization plans online with parking areas noted. We’ve already done that at 30% Design and 60% Design. Specifically, the community will see the number of spaces in each parking area and notes where we think load zones and a disabled zone will be located.
*We’ll post this information and this parking changes graphic on the website
*We’re scheduling a meeting with the Luna Park Merchants Association to discuss the latest update. Please let us know if you need a phone call or meeting with our project team to discuss this information.
*We want to continue to hear from the people who live, work, travel, and visit the neighborhood with requests for information, questions, and if there are any errors in our maps or analysis that need to be fixed
*We’ll then follow-up with the community this winter to share the final design, and pre-construction information since we’re expecting construction to start in spring 2019 and last 2 years
According to previous conversations with SDOT, that’s not two continuous years, but rather two construction seasons – roughly April through October each year. The project includes repaving of Avalon in its entirety, from the bridge to Fauntleroy Way, as well as about three blocks of 35th SW between Avalon and Alaska, and a block of Alaska west of 35th. The 60 percent design documents are all on the project website; the parking update we received today isn’t there yet.
(Added: Photo by WSB’s Christopher Boffoli)
2:05 PM: Big police response converging on Westwood Village and Roxhill Park after a robbery report. According to police-radio communication, the robbery happened at Target and the robber “pulled a knife on security.” The robber was reported to have been seen heading “toward the bus stop” so police are checking Roxhill Park. Description: “Black male, light-skinned, 6’1″, black hooded puffy jacket with gray fur around the hood, light jeans, black Nike shoes, bright orange backpack.” The stolen items are described as video games.
2:11 PM: Per radio communication, police are detaining a suspect on Roxbury. They also report “knife recovered.”
2:20 PM: Per radio, the man in custody has been taken back to the scene, where the guard has confirmed that’s the suspect, who is now being taken to the precinct.
(Photo by Steev Ward)
By Dennis Hinton and Judy Pickens
Special to West Seattle Blog
The annual salmon watch on Fauntleroy Creek began on October 29, the morning after the drumming to call in the coho, and that very day, salmon watchers documented the first six to do so.
(Photo by Gordon Thomas)
By Sunday (November 18), when the watch ended, 18 had taken advantage of favorable tides, ample rainfall, and ideal habitat conditions to made their way into the lower creek – the most in four years.
The spawners were all vigorous and three pairs are thought to have left fertilized eggs to germinate in the creek. Four were “jack” salmon – small males that returned to fresh water after one year instead of the usual two in salt water. Full-sized spawners ranged up to 6 pounds. Most were released as smolts by hatcheries (as identified by missing adipose fins) but at least two could have originated in the creek as Salmon in the Schools release fish.
Nearly 100 students from two area schools came in hopes of seeing fish living or dead. Two “open creeks” drew 120 people and another 120 stopped by to chat with one of the 16 volunteers who took turns watching. Ferry foot passengers even got in on the action, cheering fish navigating through drift logs to enter the creek from Fauntleroy Cove.
Next up for local volunteers will be distributing eyed eggs in early January to 14 West Seattle schools for students to rear and release as fry in May. They will be among 70 schools citywide to rear coho, chum, or Chinook through the Salmon in the Schools program.
(White-throated Sparrow, photographed by Mark Ahlness, shared via the WSB Flickr group)
From the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide and year-round Event Calendar:
THANKSGIVING ORDERING DEADLINES: From the Holiday Guide, today’s the deadline for ordering holiday meals at Metropolitan Market-Admiral (WSB sponsor), details here, and at West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor), details here. It’s also the deadline if you want a Thanksgiving pie that’s NOT on the holiday-spcific menu at A La Mode Pies in The Junction.
‘WHEN IS HOME NO LONGER A SAFE OPTION?’ Rescheduled talk at Aegis Living of West Seattle (WSB sponsor) is today, 11:30 am-1 pm. (4700 SW Admiral Way)
POETRY READING: At South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) Olympic Hall, noon-1:30 pm, students read and you’re invited! (6000 16th SW)
VIADUCT, LIGHT RAIL, RPZ AT JuNO: 6:30 pm at the Senior Center/Sisson Building, as previewed here, the Junction Neighborhood Organization meets, with these hot transportation topics and more on the agenda. All welcome. (4217 SW Oregon)
MACRAME MONDAY: At Bird on a Wire, 6:30 pm, get crafty! Food and beverages too. (3509 SW Henderson)
DROP-IN PRESCHOOL ART: 6:30 pm at High Point Library. “Join our guest teacher, Miss Lisa, to complete art projects using nature, recycled materials, and more! For ages 2-5.” (3411 SW Raymond)
Got events? Send info to westseattleblog@gmail.com – the earlier the better – thank you!
ORIGINAL REPORT, 9:52 AM: From Missy:
Our garage was broken into sometime late last night or early this morning. Luckily only one of our bikes was taken. I was hoping to get the word out so that I could possibly get my bike back. The bike was taken from our garage on the 3200 block of 48th Ave SW. It is a 2012 Marin Bridgeway bike in “vintage blue.”
Here’s a photo of a similar bike. (Update) The police report # is 2018-433351.
ADDED 10:37 AM: Just got this from Andre, so we’re adding:
Last night after midnight my bicycle was stolen from a parked and locked car at my home. Stolen was my 2016 Crux cyclocross bike and a Bright Yellow waterproof bike bag. If anyone sees this in the neighborhood please let me know. It’s very distinctive. Blue and Pink and Yellow bike. Contact me at andre.tiffany@gmail.com
(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)
7:11 AM: Good morning! No incidents reported in/from West Seattle so far.
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