West Seattle, Washington
26 Friday
It’s time! The city has opened voting on proposed Neighborhood Street Fund projects. Through May 5th, you can use this ballot to vote for five projects you’d like to get funded. Assuming you want to vote in West Seattle/South Park District 1 (you can choose a different district on the ballot if you prefer), here are your choices – we’ve linked them to the full-proposal PDFs as also linked on the ballot:
*Trenton Street Improvements
*West Seattle Bridge Trail Connections
*Admiral Junction Pedestrian Crossing Improvements
*Sylvan Way Low-Cost Sidewalks
*Pedestrian Crossings in The Junction
*SW Holden Street Improvements
*Sylvan Way SW Improvements
*Highland Park Way Improvements
*Marine View Drive SW Guard Rail
*Delridge Pedestrian Crossings
*Westwood Transit Center Improvements
*Longfellow Creek Safety Improvements
*Crosswalk at 26th and Cambridge
*SW Brandon Street Sidewalks
Eligibility rules:
Voting is open to anyone age 11 and up who lives, works, goes to school, worships, receives services, volunteers, or is part of a program in the City of Seattle.
The ballot’s also available in Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Somali, all linked here. If you’d rather not vote online, you can also do it at Seattle Public Library branches, or at a pop-up voting event – nearest one will be April 24, 3-6 pm, at Roxbury Safeway (which is, oddly, outside city limits, but not by much – 9620 28th SW). Results of this vote will go to the Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee for final decisionmaking.
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One of the ways in which the Rotary Club of West Seattle serves the community is by offering college-scholarship money. It’s application time for one of their programs – here’s the announcement:
Scholarship opportunity – The Rotary Club of West Seattle Service Foundation offers the Vern Gambriell Scholarship, an annual award totaling about $6,000, to one or more students in order to make it possible for students to pursue a post-secondary educational program at an accredited institution.
The specific desire of this West Seattle donor (Vern Gambriell) is that assistance is provided to students who would not otherwise be able to attend college and that preference will be given to residents of West Seattle. Therefore, this scholarship is awarded based on financial need and academic merit. Funds may be used for tuition and fees and is sent directly from the Scholarship Fund to the school once the information from the student is provided.
Application Deadline – May 17. Click here for more information.
(WSB photo from High Point dedication day, March 23)
With the recent completion of the renovated play area at High Point, you might have wondered what’s up with the three other West Seattle parks where play-area renovations are planned. We asked Seattle Parks‘ Karen O’Connor today.
*Puget Ridge and EC Hughes: “Puget Ridge Play Area Renovation project and E.C. Hughes were bundled and put out to bid together to make the projects more enticing to bidders. Bid opening was in February and we are waiting on final contracting review prior to awarding the construction contract. It has not been determined if the contractor will start EC Hughes or Puget Ridge first. We are going to be working with the contractor and SPU to set the timeline for these projects.” (Seattle Public Utilities is involved because the Puget Ridge site – where we covered a design meeting last summer – needs some drainage improvement.)
*Lincoln Park South: “We anticipate putting this out to bid in early summer and start construction in the summer.” (This project dates back to the summer of 2017, when the previous play structure had to be taken out of service due to safety concerns.)
3:58 PM: If you’ve noticed the police response in The Junction – they’re investigating what was initially described in radio communication as a robbery or attempted robbery at HomeStreet Bank (4022 SW Alaska; WSB sponsor). They’re looking for a suspect described as having headed north up the alley north of the bank, a white man in his 30s, buzzcut hair, about 6’2″, thin build, gray hooded sweatshirt with green/white lettering or emblem, blue or black bandanna, jeans. A K9 is helping police search.
4:03 PM: Radio communication indicates money was taken, so this was a robbery. First bank robbery/attempted robbery in our area in almost two years, according to our archives.
The next mile-marker in the planning of West Seattle to Ballard light rail is this Wednesday, when the Stakeholder Advisory Group meets to make its recommendations for routing/station locations to send into the environmental-study phase. Their recommendations are to be considered by the Elected Leadership Group nine days later (April 26th), and then the Sound Transit Board has final say in May. To prepare for this week’s meetings, both groups were sent the “scoping comments” last week, earlier than originally planned, as had been requested by ELG members including City Councilmember Lisa Herbold.
Meantime, the Seattle Planning Commission has just sent another comment letter to the ELG, urging among other things that the “representative project” be “removed from consideration” – here’s the letter the commissioners approved at their meeting last Thursday:
The SPC is a city-appointed advisory group. It also sent comments during the scoping period, it was noted during last Thursday’s meeting downtown.
Two whale-related notes:
DEAD GRAY WHALE: Thanks to Kersti Muul for the tip on this – a dead juvenile gray whale was found near the Coast Guard station on the downtown waterfront and towed away. Cascadia Research Collective will do the necropsy to determine the cause of death.
ORCA TALK THURSDAY: The Whale Trail‘s next Orca Talk is 7 pm Thursday at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor). The announcement, if you haven’t already seen it in our calendar:
(Spyhopping Southern Resident, 12/18, Mark Sears, Permit 21348)
Recovering the Southern Residents: lessons learned from other populations
Presentation by Dr. Timothy RagenWith just 75 individuals in the population, the southern resident orcas are in danger of going extinct. Is it too late? What will it take to recover the southern residents, and what can we learn from similar efforts with other populations?
Dr. Tim Ragen will review the status of the southern resident killer whale population and then review conservation efforts for other marine mammals to highlight lessons learned and relevant to killer whale conservation.
Whale Trail Director Donna Sandstrom will also give an update on orca legislation, and Governor Inslee’s Task Force on SRKW Recovery.
Buy tickets now to reserve your seat.
$5 suggested donation; kids free.
Donna also sent word today that TWT has just been spotlighted in this KNKX Radio feature.
When the West Seattle Junction Business Block Watch meets this Wednesday afternoon, a short free class in “Mindful Self-Defense for Employees” will be featured – and there’s still room to RSVP. Lora Radford from the West Seattle Junction Association says it’s “geared toward employees and staff of small businesses.” If that includes you and you can be at Windermere West Seattle (4526 California SW) 2-3 pm Wednesday (April 17th), go here to RSVP ASAP (and to read more about the class).
The photo is from SDOT‘s Avalon project team, with this urgent alert:
Last week we placed “no parking signs” up along SW Avalon Way but this morning we noticed many cars were still parked along the west side of SW and a few still parked along the east side of SW Avalon Way. Unfortunately, we will need to tow cars that are parked within the work zone if they are not moved before noon today so we can begin our work.
As we reported again Friday with this in-depth preview, work on the year-long repaving/rechannelization is starting today.
(Seen from West Seattle, photographed by R: Celebrity Eclipse, first cruise ship to call in 2019)
First, this reminder:
HOLY WEEK: Church listings for the week leading up to Easter continue, part of this special WSB page. (If your church hasn’t sent its schedule yet, it’s not too late – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!)
Next, highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
LIBRARYLAB – IT’S ELECTRIC! 4-7 pm drop-in event at Delridge Library. “Learn about electronic components and basic principles of electronics with Snap Circuits” in today’s all-ages LibraryLab activity. (5423 Delridge Way SW)
JUNCTION 7-11 SITE PROJECT FEEDBACK: 5-6 pm drop-in “early community outreach” event for the 4800 Erskine Way project, 60+ apartments with no offstreet parking, planned for the Junction 7-11 site. Meeting is at the Senior Center of West Seattle. (4217 SW Oregon)
MACRAME MONDAY: 6-8 pm at Bird on a Wire. Ticket required – buy yours online here – for instruction and materials. (35th/Henderson)
PIGEON POINT NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: 7 pm in the library at Pathfinder K-8 School. (1901 SW Genesee)
MONDAY OPEN MIC: Signups start at 7:30 pm at Parliament Tavern. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
SEE WHAT ELSE IS UP … via our year-round event calendar here, and our Easter/Passover/Etc. seasonal guide here.
(Bee and lupin blooms photographed at West Seattle Bee Garden during 2018 Bee Festival)
The West Seattle Bee Garden – where you’re invited to enjoy the annual Bee Festival on May 18th – has just been announced as one of this year’s West Seattle Garden Tour beneficiaries. Here’s the WSGT announcement:
The group of grant applicants this year was impressive and the deliberation was tough, but we are very pleased to announce proceeds from the 25th annual tour will support improvements to three public gardens, a playground renovation, habitat restoration and a live community theater program.
With the sale of garden tour tickets and sponsorship revenue, the committee intends to raise and distribute over $25,000 to these six amazing local non-profits: ArtsWest, City Fruit, Community Orchard of West Seattle, Gatewood Elementary School, The Fauntleroy Watershed Council, and West Seattle Bee Garden. Read more about their community-centric projects.
The Garden Tour is on Sunday, June 23rd. Read more about this year’s nine showcase gardens here, and order your ticket book (which shows you the locations and gets you in to see them) here.
Family and friends will gather Saturday (April 20) to celebrate the life of Richard M. Tada. Here’s the remembrance that’s being shared with the community:
Richard Makoto Tada passed away peacefully on January 26, 2019, surrounded by friends and family after a valiant thirteen-month fight against pancreatic cancer.
He was born in Seattle to Koji and Yohko Tada on November 18, 1961 and attended public schools at Schmitz Park, Madison Junior High, and West Seattle High School. He earned a Ph.D. in Greek and Byzantine History from the University of Washington in 2008.
He loved to travel and explored many countries from this historical period and was fluent in ancient and modern Greek. As a talented writer, his many scholarly historical articles and book reviews were published in such magazines as the National Review and Military History Quarterly. He enjoyed his work colleagues and assignments as a technical writer at Quorum Review in downtown Seattle and was a dedicated member of Seattle Chinese Baptist Church.
Richard is survived by his parents, younger brother Steve, his aunts, and cousins.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, April 20th, 2019 at Seattle Chinese Baptist Church, 5801 Beacon Avenue South.
(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries by request, free of charge. Please e-mail the text, and a photo if available, to editor@westseattleblog.com)
(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)
6:49 AM: Good morning! A lot to start with:
AVALON PROJECT BEGINS: SDOT‘s big project is scheduled to get going this week. Our final preview, published Friday, has details on the sequencing and what to watch for.
SCHOOLS REOPEN: Districts that were on spring break last week (in our area, Seattle, Highline, and Vashon Island) are back in session today.
STADIUM ZONE: Mariners are home again tonight, 7:10 pm vs. Cleveland, which means extended West Seattle Water Taxi service.
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