Toplines from tonight’s Southwest District Council meeting:
BUSES, POST-VIADUCT: Have you seen this map yet?
It was brought to the SWDC meeting by Chris Arkills from King County, who has been visiting local groups to explain what’s happening during and after the January closure. The yellow pathway is what buses from the south end will use during the closure; after that, the interim period “9 months to 1 year,” it’ll be the blue pathway; then the green signifies the “permanent south end pathway.”
The blue route will involve traveling on 99 to the “new exit” and then on to 1st; in the reverse, same thing, heading down Columbia to 1st, then onto 99 at Dearborn, and on to the bridge. There’s a commitment to build “the south part of Columbia first” in hopes of accelerating that. (Note that there’s a caveat that this could be subject to change once things happen and they see how it’s working, or not working.)
The bus-only lane on the bridge will be extended to 4th, in the meantime, Arkills noted, and there will be a bus-only exit lane on the 4th Ave. exit from the eastbound bridge, too. Some other details are still being hashed out.
As previously reported here, the West Seattle Water Taxi will have extra vessel and shuttle service during the 99 closure, as well as 200 parking spaces (during commute hours) at Pier 2, as well as vanpool parking at Don Armeni Boat Ramp, and extended street-parking hours near Seacrest. Bike parking will be added in the Seacrest area too.
UPDATES FROM THE SOUTHWEST PRECINCT: The precinct’s third watch commander, Lt. Tammy Floyd, said auto thefts and burglaries are on the way down, after being up earlier in the year. A “property emphasis” is planned, with two or three officers each shift specifically focused on property crime including “proactive work.” The precinct now has two Automated License Plate Reader cars and is working to make sure both are deployed at all times to help detect stolen cars.
Regarding the reports of “roving juveniles” causing trouble in the Westwood area, including between Chief Sealth International High School and the shopping area, Lt. Floyd said bicycle officers, CPT and ACT will also do some “focus projects” stepping things up there. The Community Police Team now has a new officer, Officer Nic Plemel, replacing John O’Neil, who’s moved to the South Precinct and awaiting promotion to sergeant. Another appointment to the team is pending. Police remind you to take care about deliveries (package/mail theft)with the shopping season revving up for the holidays.
Asked specifically about a pre-announced meeting topic, reporting missing people, Lt. Floyd explained Silver Alerts. They can be issued if the missing person is identified as a “vulnerable adult” who is:
-60 or older
-Unable to find their way back
-Has dementia
There also has to be ‘enough descriptive information’ to assist in safe recovery, such as photos, so people know more about who they’re looking for. SPD gets info via WSP because it goes into a national system.
DEPARTMENT OF NEIGHBORHOODS’ INVOLVEMENT ON LIGHT RAIL: We’ve covered Erin House‘s presentation before (at September’s Delridge District Council meeting). City elected officials asked the DoN to check in with neighborhood reps about what they’re hearing from Sound Transit regarding West Seattle to Ballard light rail. An ST consultant was present too in case any project- specific questions came up, and she recapped where the process stands – the three “end-to-end” Level 3 possibilities we reported on Tuesday, as unveiled Monday night. Meantime, SWDC member Cindi Barker from West Seattle Emergency Communication Hubs suggested that the DoN go back and find lessons learned during the monorail-planning process, with regard to potential station areas. House said they’re reviewing light-rail station areas such as Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill.
SWDC member Ellen West from the Junction Neighborhood Organization said questions are already coming up about eminent domain. Deb Barker, SWDC member (who also happens to be on the light-rail project’s volunteer Stakeholder Advisory Group), said she has been researching that too. Sound Transit can’t officially negotiate until much later in the process but is working on an “interim communication” plan for addressing those questions sooner.
At the start of the meeting:
ANNOUNCEMENTS: JuNO has Sound Transit coming in for their November 19th meeting, along with SDOT and King County Metro discussing more about the Highway 99 transition. JuNO director Amanda Kirk, co-chair of SWDC, is meeting with Department of Neighborhoods director Andres Mantilla next week to see what DoN’s current philosophy is regarding district councils. … Cindi Barker suggested that West Seattle organizations/businesses/facilities take pains to be sure their publicly available meeting space is listed on the new city website Spacefinder. … She also recapped some of the results from last weekends
NEXT MEETING: SWDC meets first Wednesdays, so the next meeting will be at 6:30 pm Wednesday, December 5, upstairs at the Senior Center/Sisson Building.
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