West Seattle, Washington
22 Thursday
Thanks to the caller who wondered why people are picketing outside the Navos campus at 2600 SW Holden in West Seattle. We went over to find out. It’s not a strike – members of Service Employees International Union 1199NW told us they are there until about 5 pm for a round of “informational picketing” related to negotiations for a new contract. According to the union’s website, they represent about 140 workers at Navos’s inpatient mental-health hospital.
The company that handles our mail server – different from the one handling our website server – has been having trouble off and on for a few days. So far today, the service has been far more off than on, so if you are trying to send us something, particularly if it’s time-sensitive like a lost/found pet, please use our alternate address: westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you, and sorry!
Two months of musical mentoring reached a crescendo last night at the Chief Sealth International High School auditorium, as the second annual Girls’ Jazz Band – middle-schoolers from around the city – took the stage with the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, whose professional musicians have been working with them since January.
15 girls were in the program – here they are performing “Basie-cally The Blues”:
Their mentors performed too – here’s SWOJO with Gershwin’s “Lady Be Good”:
As explained on the orchestra’s website, “The program offers evening rehearsals and a culminating concert for Seattle girl jazz musicians ages 12 and up. SWOJO’s professional musicians and music educators will mentor, lead rehearsals and sectionals, give a master class, and perform a FREE joint concert … The goal is to provide a comfortable and supportive educational opportunity for girls to develop jazz interpretation and improvisation skills within a big band and combo setting.”
By Linda Ball
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Due to technical difficulties, the scheduled speaker for Tuesday night’s meeting of the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council wasn’t able to give his presentation on drug-abuse trends, but Captain Pierre Davis of the Southwest Precinct facilitated a lively conversation with 15 or so attendees.
Davis said police have been working closely with prosecutors to try to keep “prolific offenders” in jail and to get them the help they need if drug addiction is what drives their criminal activity.
He said SPD doesn’t always hear about things that have “gone down,” emphasizing that they do rely on community information. The role of social media and crime reporting brought more than a few laughs from the group.
(WSB file photo from past Recycle Roundup)
Exactly one month from today, Fauntleroy Church hosts the spring Recycle Roundup, a free drive-up/ride-up/walk-up dropoff event for a wide variety of recyclables. But this time around, the company that partners with the church, 1 Green Planet, has made some changes to what it’s accepting, so you’ll want to take a close look at the new list if you’ve been saving up items to drop off. In particular, notes Judy Pickens, “Books are now on the list, for instance, but freezers and refrigerators are not any longer.” The hours are the same – 9 am-3 pm, Sunday, April 22nd, in the lot at 9140 California SW.
(American Wigeons, photographed by Mark Wangerin)
Highlights for your Thursday, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
DIABETIC SUPPORT GROUP: Patients, family, friends, all welcome for this monthly discussion group at the Senior Center of West Seattle, 3:30 pm. (4217 SW Oregon)
WEST SEATTLE DEMOCRATIC WOMEN: 6 pm registration, 6:30 pm meeting at the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor) Rotary Room – agenda/guest details here. (3622 SW Snoqualmie)
WEST SEATTLE TRANSPORTATION COALITION: SDOT reps are tonight’s special guests at WSTC‘s meeting, 6:30 pm at Neighborhood House High Point:
Thursday’s scheduled guests include Joel Miller, Bike Share Program Manager at Seattle Department Of Transportation who will join us to discuss Seattle’s bike share pilot program and Bill LaBorde, Chief Policy Advisor at SDOT with project updates including Fauntleroy Way and the 27-point West Seattle Bridge corridor memo. As a bonus, we will also likely get an ST3 update from WSTC Board Member Deb Barker who serves on Sound Transit’s Stakeholder Advisory Group.
All welcome. (6400 Sylvan Way SW)
‘ARMOR OF LIGHT’: 6:30 pm at Admiral UCC Church, a documentary screening looking ahead to Saturday’s March for Our Lives. (4320 SW Hill)
INTERSECTIONS FESTIVAL: 7 pm, it’s opening night for this four-day event at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, described as:
Intersections: A Celebration of Seattle Performance is a comedy festival focused on equity, inclusion, and representation. The festival will showcase performers in improv, sketch, stand-up, burlesque, drag, storytelling, spoken word, music, theatre, and dance. We are focusing on inclusion in terms of race, gender, disability, and LGBTQIA+. We hope these performances will bring new voices to the forefront, and spark conversation and action for social justice and representation in our community.
Ticket and lineup info here. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
SOMETHING FOR OUR CALENDAR? editor@westseattleblog.com – as far in advance as possible – thank you!
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
6:59 AM: Good morning. No incidents reported in/from West Seattle so far this rainy Thursday morning; no transit alerts.
VIADUCT CLOSURE REMINDER: On Saturday, the Alaskan Way Viaduct will be closed for its regular spring inspection, 6 am-6 pm, and again Sunday if the work isn’t completed on Saturday.
7:05 AM: Just reported by WSDOT, a crash on the northbound 1st Avenue S. Bridge, blocking the HOV lane and “partly blocking” the left general-purpose lane.
7:24 AM: WSDOT says that has cleared.
7:49 AM: I-5 northbound through downtown has a problem – stalled vehicle blocking center lane just south of Seneca.
Not far from the scene of a 6-hour standoff that followed gunfire two weeks ago, police are investigating a report of gunshots heard in High Point. Texters tell us it happened near Lanham and Graham; reportedly it followed an argument, with someone being “shot at while running to a car.” No reports of any injuries, nor have police found any evidence so far, according to radio transmissions. (The man arrested after the standoff earlier this month, Wario Abdullahi, remains in jail, charged with gun violatios, with the register listing his bail at $200,000.)
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
Above are Fauntleroy Community Association president Mike Dey and Irene Stewart, one of two people honored last night at FCA’s annual Fauntleroy Food Fest membership meeting. Until recently, Irene was volunteer website and social-media manager for FCA. Also honored: outgoing FCA board member and Ferry Advisory Committee liaison Gary Dawson:
We mentioned Gary’s departure announcement in our coverage of last week’s FCA board meeting. He’s been on the board for more than 20 years. The honors were a reminder that community groups run entirely on volunteer power – countless hours given by people including Judy Pickens:
Judy is editor of the FCA newsletter, which we’re fairly sure is the last printed-and-mailed community council news publication in West Seattle. She was at the FFF on behalf of the Fauntleroy Watershed Council and its new stewardship fund. Other volunteers there, talking with community members, included Cindi Barker and FCA’s Gordon Wiehler on behalf of the Emergency Communication Hubs:
As for who put the “food” into the Fauntleroy Food Fest – local purveyors included Lonjina from Wildwood Market:
And from Endolyne Joe’s (WSB sponsor), Annette and Kelsey:
The turnout:
And, the FCA board elected last night:
If you live/work in Fauntleroy but didn’t get to the FFF to renew (or start) your membership, you can do it online here.
Three notes in West Seattle Crime Watch tonight:
STOLEN CAR: Mark just e-mailed about his stolen car:
My car was stolen in front of South Seattle Collage main campus on the 5400 block of 16th Ave SW between noon – 2 pm 3/21/18. Inside the car was all my equipment for work- water jugs, cleaning equipment, hoses, etc.
It’s a white ’96 Subaru Outback with a “Alki” bumper sticker on the back, and a “Keep Tahoe Blue” sticker on the rear windshield. Licence # ANC9065. I have filed a police report. If anyone has seen this car, please call 911 immediately. I need this car to perform my job.
STOLEN CAR, FOUND: The white Nissan 200SX stolen from William yesterday has been found, he tells WSB.
$52,050 BAIL FOR NICHOLAS WATSON: We reported last night on the arrest of Nicholas Watson, wanted on warrants in burglary and stolen-car cases. Two weeks after his previous arrest in Upper Morgan, a judge allowed him to be released as long as he participated in the CCAP program – but, we learned last weekend, he stopped showing up after five days, according to documents, and a warrant was issued. Then, two more warrants. And yesterday, police arrested him. Tonight we know a little more about the circumstances – the topline-only police report says he was arrested in the 4800 block of Fauntleroy Way SW and accused of drug possession. And following a bail hearing today, he remains in jail in lieu of $52,050 bail – $25,000 for each failure-to-appear warrant in the stolen-car cases, the rest from the burglary warrant. We’ll continue following the case.
The photo and report are from Paula Rothkopf of 100 Women Who Care:
Our first donation event of this year was in February where we chose Ladybug House to receive our donation. With West Seattle neighbors participation, we presented them with a check for $4,050.
Ladybug House is building Seattle’s first palliative care home for children, adolescents, and young adults with life-limiting illnesses. Their mission, “if we cannot add days to the life of a child, we will add life to their days.” They are working to fill a gap in children’s palliative care.
Our giving circle, 100 Women Who Care, is growing, and to date we have donated $30,000 to support non-profits in our community. We invite the charities to speak with us and then we vote on who we want to direct our funds to, with 100 percent going to the charity. Our goal: 100 women x $100 = $10,000 impact to a charity and we meet only 3 times/year.
If you are looking for a simple, yet impactful way to give back in to our community, then 100 Women Who Care may be the right group for you. Come join us at our next event on May 9th at Pyramid Ale House (1201 1st Ave. S.), 6-8. Check out our website or visit us on Facebook. As a member, you get to nominate your favorite charities!
Any questions, please contact us at 100womenseattle@gmail.com. Collectively we can make a difference!
Thanks, West Seattle, for your support!
The Seattle Animal Shelter has just reissued its seasonal warning – dogs aren’t allowed on public beaches.
It’s spring in Seattle, which means blossoming and hatching all around us. This is a particularly important time to ensure that immature wildlife have their best opportunity to flourish in the Northwest. To help protect the young wildlife, the Seattle Animal Shelter will be conducting emphasis patrols on all saltwater beaches in the city.
Dogs are not allowed on any of Seattle’s public saltwater beaches, even if they are leashed. This law helps us protect the fragile ecosystem along our shorelines. Marine mammals, such as seal pups that are typically born in April, use the city’s beaches to rest and warm themselves. Shore birds also frequent our beaches. Wildlife that interact with dogs are less likely to reach adulthood.
Uniformed animal service officers will be patrolling city parks with a focus on saltwater beaches and may issue citations to violators.
If you would like to report Seattle beaches where dogs are frequently seen, submit a service request at http://bit.ly/sas-service-request. You can also contact the Seattle Animal Shelter by calling 206-386-PETS (7387).
That’s the same alert SAS sent last spring – though so far this year, we haven’t seen the civilian-installed sign that went up about that same time.
Thanks for the tip! Someone just asked why the Seattle Police SWAT team is in Admiral. So we went to check it out and … it’s a training exercise.
They’re at the site in the 2700 block of California SW (across from Hiawatha) that’s set for demolition (permits pending) for the Admiral Station mixed-use project.
(Looking south on 35th SW, south of SW Dawson)
More than four years ago, the city announced a “multi-year” safety project for 35th SW. One year after that, the first major phase was announced, including rechannelization between Roxbury and Willow. Another year passed before Phase 2 possibilities were unveiled – but no final plan has followed. After recent reader questions, we checked in today with SDOT point person Jim Curtin, five months after he told us Phase 2 was definitely still in the works. He tells WSB that Phase 2 “outreach” is now scheduled to start in early April, with “a mailer with the Phase 2 project elements, construction schedule, and potential project impacts,” as well as “a couple of drop-in sessions to gather input” and a website update that will include “the latest stats for Phase 1.”
Two weeks ago during a “town hall” event at Chief Sealth International High School, Mayor Jenny Durkan said the city was looking at laws to help prevent violence involving guns. Today, she and two other citywide elected officials announced what they’re working on – here’s the news release:
Seattle Mayor Jenny A. Durkan, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, and Councilmember M. Lorena González announced that they will be developing legislation within the next month to address gun violence in Seattle. Following outreach and engagement with stakeholders including gun owners, safety advocates, community members, public health experts and others, this legislation will require safe storage of firearms and increase civil penalties and legal responsibility for not reporting lost or stolen firearms, which is required within 24 hours.
“We should not pretend for one second that the level of carnage in our country from guns is inevitable. We cannot allow it to become the new normal,” said Mayor Durkan. “Unsecured, unsafely stored firearms are more likely to be stolen, used in a suicide, accessed by children and teens and unintentionally fired.”
Across the country, nearly 1,300 children die and 5,790 are treated for gunshot wounds each year. In 2015, an estimated 150,000 adults in King County reported keeping a firearm unlocked. In Seattle, 250 stolen guns were reported from burglaries and car prowls in 2017 according to Seattle Police Department.
“We’re taking seriously the call to action from youth and their families to address gun violence in our schools, our communities, and within our own homes,” said Councilmember M. Lorena González (Citywide, Position 9). “More than 40 percent of King County adults with guns in or around their home said they left them unlocked. This legislation is about public safety. Our proposal to require gunowners to safely store their firearms will prevent children from accessing guns, and will reduce firearm injuries, accidental deaths and suicides among our youth. Simply put: this strategy will help us create a safer community.”
“Gun violence and mass shootings are a plague on our society, and for too long our federal and state governments have failed to enact common sense measures to promote gun safety. I support, and am prepared to defend, Seattle taking steps to move forward at the local level,” said Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes.
In 2015, the Seattle City Council passed legislation to establish a tax on gun and ammunition sales to fund gun violence prevention research. Although the City Council continued funding gun violence prevention work at Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center, the revenue was initially blocked due to ongoing litigation. With the tax upheld by the State Supreme Court, this proposal will invest 2018 revenue and future gun and ammo tax revenues in Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center’s work to help individuals with firearm injuries.
In 2013, Seattle became the first city in the nation to conduct basic research on gun safety. The City Council-funded research led to a report from The Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center that established that “gun violence begets gun violence.” The research found that individuals hospitalized for a firearm injury were 30 times more likely to be re-hospitalized for another firearm injury than people admitted to the hospital for non-firearm related injuries.
In addition, the City of Seattle and Seattle Police Department launched a new site, seattle.gov/ERPO, to ensure all Seattle residents can easily complete an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO). An ERPO was designed to give family, household members, and law enforcement a way to petition the court to restrict the access and ability for a person with health crisis issues to purchase or possess firearms. In Seattle, 18 ERPOs have been petitioned by law enforcement with 37 weapons recovered.
“From Columbine to Newtown to Parkland, we are constantly reminded that Extreme Risk Protection Orders are more important than ever. These protection orders won’t prevent every act of gun violence, but we know they are already making a difference,” said Seattle Interim Police Chief Carmen Best.
Councilmember González, a West Seattle resident re-elected last year to a citywide council seat, chairs the committee that would consider new laws, the Gender Equity, Safe Communities, New Americans, and Education Committee.
(WSB photo: Some of the ~60 people we counted at last night’s meeting)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
What didn’t happen at last night’s city-convened meeting about Camp Second Chance‘s permit renewal was nearly as notable as what did.
At the start of the meeting at the Joint Training Facility, a few blocks north of the encampment, Lisa Gustaveson from the city Human Services Department tried to tell those who had gathered that they should spend the first half-hour or so talking one-on-one with city reps, instead of speaking at a microphone for all to hear.
This is often an unpopular tactic with meeting attendees, as many would like to hear what everyone has to say, and would like everyone to hear what they themselves have to say. So Gustaveson quickly got – and quickly acknowledged – a visible “sorry, but no” reaction, and changed the plan. Our video begins where the testimony started a few minutes after that announcement:
Also of note: You might recognize the man in a blue shirt who served as the microphone minder, someone with a very different role last time the JTF saw a city meeting about Camp Second Chance, George Scarola, hired by former Mayor Ed Murray as “director of homelessness,” still with the city but not with that title. The only city officials at the table at the head of the room – making it clear they were just there to listen – were Gustaveson and, also from HSD, Sola Plumacher.
They weren’t the only city reps among the ~60 or so people in the room, though. Others included City Councilmember Lisa Herbold, who took the microphone before the meeting was over, and staffers by easels at the back of the room. But the most memorable speakers were C2C residents and neighbors. Both supporters and opponents of the permit renewal spoke thoughtfully – as contentious as the issue of homelessness and what to do about it can be, this was not a contentious meeting.
After the jump, short highlights of what each of the 27 speakers said (note that these are not transcriptions – please watch/listen to the video to hear the entirety of what each person said), and what happens next:
(Trillium, photographed at Schmitz Preserve Park by Mark Ahlness, shared via WSB Flickr group)
Looking ahead to the rest of your Wednesday:
PARKING-RULES CHANGES: The City Council’s Planning, Land Use, and Zoning Committee meets at 9:30 am, with its agenda including the latest changes suggested for the city’s “parking reform” proposals. See them here. Meeting is at City Hall, and live via Seattle Channel (cable 21 or seattlechannel.org).
WOMEN’S JAZZ ORCHESTRA & GIRLS’ JAZZ BAND: 7 pm concert at Chief Sealth International High School, featuring adult musicians and the girls they’ve been mentoring in an eight-week program – details here. Admission and parking free. Donations accepted. (2600 SW Thistle)
WORDSWEST LITERARY SERIES: 7 pm at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), this month’s theme is “Who Tells Her Story?” with featured readers Melinda Mueller and Dianne Aprile. Admission free, as always. See the full preview here. (5612 California SW)
DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOODS DISTRICT COUNCIL: 7 pm at Highland Park Improvement Club, reps from community groups and other organizations around eastern West Seattle, with agenda including a guest from the King County Dispute Resolution Center. All welcome! (1116 SW Holden)
MADISON MIDDLE SCHOOL PTSA: 7 pm at the school, with scheduled speakers including principal Dr. Robert Gary – see the agenda highlights here. (3429 45th SW)
TRIANGULAR JAZZTET: 7 pm at Whisky West in Morgan Junction, no cover, 21+. (6451 California SW)
THAT’S JUST THE START … see even more on our complete calendar! And look ahead to spring events and services via our WSB West Seattle Easter, Passover, and More page.
(Added: WSB photo and video by Christopher Boffoli)
7:07 AM: We first mentioned this in morning traffic but are now publishing this separate story. One person has just been cut out of a car that crashed and went onto its side in the 2600 block of Walnut SW by West Seattle High School and Hiawatha.
(Longer clip substituted for short one originally published)
More to come.
7:10 AM: SFD describes the injured person as an “adult female.” Her injuries are not major – she’ll be taken to the hospital by private ambulance. Also, though the logged address is Walnut, the crash scene is more at the corner of Lander and Walnut. Traffic is now getting through but we’d advise avoiding the area for a while anyway.
7:56 AM: Also, we doublechecked and responders at the scene told us no other vehicles were involved/damaged. WSB’s Christopher Boffoli says the vehicle hit a tree, which had some damage. He adds, “There was a stop sign on the ground behind the car but no one could figure out where it came from.”
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
6:58 AM: We start with word of a “heavy rescue” response to a car-on-its-side crash in the 2600 block of Walnut in Admiral. One person is reported to be hurt. More to come.
7:04 AM: We’re breaking this out to its own story but will cover any other traffic incidents here.
7:53 AM: Reminder that the Alaskan Way Viaduct is scheduled to close for its regular semiannual inspection on Saturday, 6 am-6 pm, and Sunday too IF needed.
Meantime, there’s a crash at 4th S./S. Spokane that’s reported to be blocking all westbound lanes of Spokane.
Photos by Leda Costa for WSB
For the first time since 2014, the sun was out for Alice Enevoldsen‘s spring-equinox sunset watch at Solstice Park. That meant everyone could gather along the park’s designated path to view the seasonal sunset alignment:
A special feature for tonight’s viewing: Alice’s daughter and friends set up a stick so that its shadow would align with the sunset:
A regular feature of Alice’s gatherings: Learning about the relationship between the sun and earth as the seasons change:
Another way to learn: Alice brought books so early-ish arrivals could read while awaiting the sunset:
Not to rush through spring, but … if you feel like setting your calendar for Alice’s next sunset-watch event, it’ll mark the first sunset after the summer solstice, on Thursday, June 21st, 8:45 pm-9:45 pm. Alice has been leading sunset watches for nine years now!
Three West Seattle Crime Watch reports tonight:
NICHOLAS WATSON BACK IN JAIL: Back on Sunday night, we told you about a warrant out for the arrest of 36-year-old Nicholas Watson, after he stopped showing up for classes he was supposed to be taking in an alternative-custody program as a condition of being released from jail March 1st, two weeks after he was arrested for allegedly breaking into an Upper Morgan house where he was found in possession of items stolen from people’s cars. Tonight, we learned that he’s just been booked back into jail. We also note from the new entry on the jail register that since being charged in the Upper Morgan case, he has been charged in two earlier cases – both involving stolen cars – one taken in January in East Admiral, found in the Admiral Safeway parking lot, and one taken last November, found in Highland Park – and he already had failure-to-appear warrants in both of those cases.
Also tonight, two reader reports about burglaries:
First, from Paige:
My parents’ house was broken into today in the neighborhood west of The Junction. The thieves broke in through the back of the house and took leftovers from the fridge to feed and distract my parents’ dog. They stole laptops, iPads, all of my mom’s jewelry, which included antique jewelry from my late grandparents. On top of all of this, they stole spare keys to their vehicles and a lockbox that held ALL of their important documents such as Social Security cards, birth certificates, wedding certificates, power of attorney paperwork, my grandmother’s will, and the titles to their vehicles. They also stole blank checks. While I know we likely will not see the majority of these items again, our hope is possibly something will get dumped somewhere. Especially especially the lockbox.
We’ve asked Paige for the police incident # so it can be referred to by anyone who finds any of the above, and will add it here when we get it. (UPDATE: 2018-099933)
Second, from Andrew, near 41st and Edmunds:
We have had two break-ins in the last few days by the same guy. Can you please let other neighbors know? The first break-in was on 3/14 at 3:23 am with a male and female. Both are African American.
The second time was last night (3/20) at the same time but this time it was the male only. The only key thing that stands out is his large Seahawk “12” bag on his back.
We’re also awaiting the police incident # in this case so we can add it.
If you have a question or concern about what’s happening in Washington, D.C., one week from tonight, you can talk with our area’s U.S. House representative here in West Seattle – Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who’s planning a town-hall meeting at 6 pm Tuesday, March 27th, at The Hall at Fauntleroy (9131 California SW). She lives in West Seattle but represents (corrected) much of the city as well as the rest of the 7th District [added: here’s the map].
We just happened to be close enough to Seacrest to get that photo of the West Seattle Water Taxi arriving, shortly after King County sent out this reminder about the seasonal schedule change kicking in a week from Thursday (March 29th), as we first mentioned last month:
The new schedule includes sailings seven days a week between West Seattle and Pier 52 in downtown Seattle. The Water Taxi will also offer evening sailings on Fridays, Saturdays, and during Seattle Mariners, Sounders, and Seahawks night home games.
Sports fans can enjoy traffic-free travel to both the March 29 Mariners home opener at Safeco Field and the Sounders March 31 match at CenturyLink Field.
For an adult one-way fare of $5.75 ($5 with an ORCA card), passengers can enjoy a 15-minute ride across Elliott Bay with views (weather permitting) of the Seattle skyline, Mount Rainier, and Olympic Mountains—and avoid paying for parking in Seattle.
Added sailings on weekdays will mean boats leave every 30 minutes during peak commute hours and every hour in off-peak times.
The Water Taxi is accessible by transit. In West Seattle, riders can take free Metro shuttles to and from the Water Taxi landing at Seacrest Park. Route 773 serves the West Seattle Junction. Route 775 serves the Admiral District and Alki. Both also serve destinations offering dining, shopping, and other entertainment.
The Vashon Island Water Taxi schedule stays the same throughout the year (visit kingcounty.gov/watertaxi to learn more).
If you haven’t been on the WT in a while – remember that the downtown dock continues to be in its temporary location north of Colman Dock. (We’re checking on progress of the new dock.)
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