West Seattle, Washington
10 Saturday
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
Every spring, salmon fry like these are released into Fauntleroy Creek with the hopes of students, educators, and volunteers swimming right along next to them. Today, these were the first school-raised fry of the year to be set free. And the occasion brought another first:
Fifth-graders from Louisa Boren STEM K-8 are the first at their school to participate in the Salmon in the Schools program. They arrived by bus at Fauntleroy Park in the midmorning sun and headed to the creek:
Watershed steward Judy Pickens tells us that lead teacher Christina Massimino and students at Boren have “jumped in” wholeheartedly with a lot of environmental learning tied to coho-raising in the four months since eggs were delivered.
Another 19 releases are planned in the next month. Judy adds, “Volunteers Dennis Hinton, Pete Draughon, and Shannon Ninburg will be in the woods again this year, dipping fish, looking out for safety, and coordinating habitat exploration.”
After the fry are freed, it’s off to Judy’s end of the creek, closer to the overlook across from the Fauntleroy ferry dock, for Q&A and lunch. The annual cycle at Fauntleroy Creek also includes the fall watch for spawners; last year, volunteers counted 18, the most in four years.
P.S. In case you haven’t already seen it, Fauntleroy Creek – and Dennis and Judy – got a TV showcase this week.
As noted in our daily highlights, both Chief Sealth International High School and West Seattle HS had postseason games today at Southwest Athletic Complex. Scores are in – WSHS beat Roosevelt 5-1 tonight, Sealth lost to Garfield 10-0 this afternoon. The Wildcats play Ballard next, 7 pm Thursday at SWAC (2801 SW Thistle); the Seahawks play Bainbridge next, 4 pm Friday at Steve Cox Memorial Park (1321 SW 102nd)
Bids are being reviewed now and work is set to start soon on what ultimately will be a half-billion-dollar project – counting private as well as public investment – at Terminal 5. If you have questions, consider coming to the Southwest District Council‘s May meeting on Wednesday (May 1st), 6:30 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon). Also at Terminal 5, its second container-ship call since the Matson move will be a brand-new ship that the cargo line has just put into service; at today’s West Seattle Chamber of Commerce Westside Awards breakfast, Northwest Seaport Alliance deputy CEO Kurt Beckett said Matson’s new Kaimana Hila is due in Friday (its first Seattle call was week before last at T-30).
(Port of Seattle photo)
The 850-foot-long ship and its sibling Daniel K. Inouye are the largest container ships ever built in the U.S., Matson says.
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand. Above, a lot of love for Westsider of the Year Adah Cruzen)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Inspiration, joy, and sorrow all marked moments woven through the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce‘s annual Westside Awards breakfast this morning at Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor).
The inspiration: The honorees, as well as keynote speaker Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, who mused on the awareness that we all have so little time on this earth to make a difference.
The sorrow underscored that, as a moment of silence was held for a local leader who died a few days ago, way too soon.
And the joy was found in the celebratory gathering itself, with morning sunshine and the blue water of Elliott Bay just outside the windows of the Salty’s banquet room filled with West Seattle civic and business leaders.
It was the first Westside Awards breakfast for the Chamber’s new CEO, Julia Jordan. She said this year’s award recipients were chosen from among 53 nominees.
The last stolen vehicle reported here on WSB was found by a reader. So let’s try another one:
The photo is from Angie:
My truck was stolen yesterday morning. Police report filed. Dark gray ‘98 Toyota Tacoma license B79399P. Taken from 12th Ave SW and Elmgrove early in the morning of 4/29.
Call 911 if you see it.
Though SW Avalon Way is the largest section of the big SDOT repaving (etc.) project that’s now under way, it also involves three blocks of 35th SW where work is about to start, and the project update we’ve just received is related to that:
As early as Friday, May 3, we will be closing SW Snoqualmie St at the 35th Ave SW intersection.
We will be using this closure to stage equipment on SW Snoqualmie St, just to the west of the intersection, to prepare for several months of utility work and roadway construction on 35th Ave SW which is expected to begin as early as Monday, May 6. The road to be local access only at 36th Ave SW.
You can expect to see no-park signs on SW Snoqualmie St as early as this afternoon. Parking restrictions may begin as early as Friday, May 3.
As announced Monday, this Friday is also when tree-trimming crews will be working in multiple zones of the project area.
3:16 PM: SFD and SPD have been dispatched to what’s described as a two-vehicle collision at 35th/Trenton. A texter says traffic is backing up in the area, so steer clear for a while. They tell us it’s on the northbound side.
3:40 PM: Our crew sent the photo we’ve added of the damaged cars. They’ve been moved out of the intersection, so no further traffic effects, and we’re told no one was seriously hurt.
Even before SDOT closes community voting on Neighborhood Street Fund projects, it’s launched a separate participatory process on a different group of smaller-scale projects: The “Your Voice, Your Choice” park and street proposals. These projects aren’t to the voting stage yet – you’re invited to prioritize them. For District 1 (West Seattle/South Park) alone, more than 50 proposals are on the list (mapped here). The process is explained here; you can express your prioritization preferences online by going here, and/or by going to a meeting – the D-1 meetings are at 5:30 pm May 13th at Delridge Community Center and 5:30 pm May 28th at South Park Community Center. Voting is tentatively planned for September.
(WSB photos)
Tim and Lori McConnell at West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) report, a bit wryly, that their store was broken into overnight:
Well, 5 1/2 years after our first burglary, seems we were due for another, and last night we got it.
Luckily this time the burglar(s) must have panicked due to our incredibly loud alarm, as they chose to steal a bunch of hoodies with our logo on the front, as well as a bunch of men’s short sleeve and long sleeve shirts, which also had our logo on the front.
Now I appreciate people shopping local and all, and if stealing our logo’ed merchandise was a way to help us advertise to offset our losses, well, I guess I appreciate that too. But they also took a bunch of men’s running shorts. And yes, men never have as many shorts as they should have, and they hang on to them way too long, but when they get new ones, the almost always pay for them, so this was disappointing.
Also disappointing, our GPS watch display was picked over. And by disappointing, I mean for the burglars. I now have to order a new Garmin dummy display watch to replace the one they took, and the Polar watch still in our display case is really lonely since they stole the box that it came in.
They also took 2 pairs of 8.5 Saucony women’s shoes, one regular width, one wide, I guess they weren’t sure of their size.
So be on the lookout for someone wearing a bunch of men’s apparel with our logo on it and a pair of women’s shoes, struggling to get their watch to work, they may know where our stuff went.
The door lock (top photo) is being replaced today.
David Hutchinson sent the photo – photographing Harbor Avenue Canada Goose goslings as he has for so many years – saying this is one of six goslings that are the first he’s seen this spring, adding, “Hope they keep out of the street where they usually end up looking for water to drink.” Be careful if you’re traveling in the area! Meantime, notes for the day/night ahead:
PROPERTY TAXES DUE! Forest reminds us to remind you that today is the deadline for the first of this year’s two payments for King County property owners.
HIGH-SCHOOL BASEBALL: 4 pm postseason game for Chief Sealth IHS vs. Garfield, 7 pm postseason game for West Seattle HS vs. Roosevelt. Both games at Southwest Athletic Complex. (2801 SW Thistle)
RECYCLED PAPER WORKSHOP: Still a spot or two left for tonight’s workshop with Linda McClamrock at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 6 pm – register here ASAP! (5612 California SW)
48TH/CHARLESTOWN PARK MEETING: Interested in this future park site? Be at Dakota Place Park tonight, 6:30-8 pm, to see and talk about design concepts for the long-landbanked corner lot. (4304 SW Dakota)
SUFFERING F-HEADS: Punk/jazz duo at Parliament Tavern, 9 pm. No cover. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
SEE WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING … by checking our complete calendar here.
Hundreds of sellers and thousands of shoppers are looking ahead to the 15th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, now just 11 days away – Saturday, May 11th! We have read each and every one of the 300 listings as part of the map-making process and can promise it’ll be a fun day wherever you are, wherever you go. You might not be surprised to hear we have several sellers citing Marie Kondo and hoping their stuff will “spark joy” for you. We have a seller promising “the secrets to a long and meaningful life” will be at their sale. We have some simple themes from “everything free” to “everything $2” to the classic “everything must go.” Some sellers will open earlier than the 9 am-3 pm “official” WSCGSD hours, and some will stay open late – we even have some with extra days (Friday and/or Sunday). The map and listings will be available for your review and/or downloading this Saturday (May 4th). More previews to come …
P.S. If you’re a nonprofit inviting sellers to donate leftovers on/after WSCGSD, let us know ASAP when/where/how, so we can include it in WSCGSD-related info – email westseattleblog@gmail.com – thanks!
(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)
7:03 AM: Good morning. No incidents or alerts in our area so far.
AVALON PROJECT REMINDER: The Metro Route 50 reroute is scheduled to continue all week.
If you missed the colorful Monday night sunset – here are two views: Above, the sun shone brightly until the very last, as it disappeared next to the Olympics’ Mount Constance – that photo is by Dan Ciske; a bit later, the pink glow was captured by Lynn Hall:
Promising weather Tuesday night, too.
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