West Seattle, Washington
26 Saturday
(Roughed-out footprint for future project at Junction 7-11 site, as shown at “Early Outreach” meeting)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The city’s new-ish “Early Outreach for Design Review” process has launched extremely early in the case of one West Seattle project.
Architects for the future redevelopment of the West Seattle Junction 7-11 site confirmed at this week’s “Early Outreach” community chat that the mixed-use project is still 4 years away – the store has a lease until then.
And after the project’s built, the architects revealed, the 7-11 may have a new home in its ground-floor commercial space – they’re talking about it right now.
A trio from Cone Architecture was at the Senior Center of West Seattle for the “Early Outreach” meeting Monday evening. That made it a one-to-one ratio between presenters and attendees with ample time for Q&A and everyone sitting at the same table.
On our way back from Beach Drive pavement photography, we noticed the ex-Tully’s at 2676 Alki SW now has the signage for its new identity as Harry’s Beach House. As revealed in early February, this will be a new outpost for Julian Hagood, who runs the acclaimed Harry’s Fine Foods on Capitol Hill. We have an inquiry out regarding the estimated time frame for opening on Alki.
SDOT plans to finally finish repaving Beach Drive SW between Me-Kwa-Mooks and Weather Watch Parks. You might recall that the stretch between Carroll and Genesee was originally announced for last year, but crews left after stopping a short distance south of Carroll. They told us at the time that the repaving would resume but didn’t say when. That was the last we heard of it until this notice today:
As the notice says, the work is scheduled – weather permitting – to start next Wednesday. (Here’s a map of the area.) Meantime, if that leaves you wondering about the removed-but-planned-for-replacement speed bumps (aka humps) further south on Beach Drive, SDOT anticipated that question and adds, “Also note that we are working to schedule construction on the Beach Drive speed hump replacement and will notify the community in advance.”
Four days after SDOT‘s Avalon/35th/Alaska repaving-and-rechannelization project launched work – starting on Avalon between Yancy and Genesee – we’ve just received the toplines of what’s next, including a bus-stop closure starting Monday and advance word of intersection work next weekend:
Overview of upcoming work for next week
What you should expect:
Lots of construction activity including jackhammering, removing the east portion of the roadway, large trucks, machines, noise, dust, and vibrations. We will coordinate with residents for driveway closures.
Uniformed police officers will typically be onsite
Typical weekday work hours from 7 AM – 5 PM. There will be some weekend and nighttime work.
We have heard that Seattle Public Utilities will be working to make some water service renewals along SW Avalon Way. They will coordinate directly with neighbors as their work is scheduled.
Buses are making in-lane stops. Please follow the safe passageways set up for your safety.Starting Monday, April 22nd the northbound stop at Genesee will be temporarily closed.
Sign up for Metro’s Rider Alerts to stay up to date on stop relocations. If a stop is relocated or a bus is detoured, signs will also be posted along the corridor.Traffic impacts and detours:
30th Ave SW will be temporarily closed for construction staging. You will not be able to access SW Avalon Way from 30th Ave SW.
Right turns only on SW Avalon Way. For the safety of people driving and our crews, we
are allowing right turns only throughout work zone B. People turning into their driveway will
need to turn right into their driveways and will not be permitted to turn across traffic.
No Parking signs throughout zone B, and into zones A and C to facilitate the traffic shift.
We will maintain one lane of traffic in each direction on SW Avalon Way between SW Genesee St and SW Yancy StFor people walking and biking along SW Avalon Way:
Bikers should use extreme caution on SW Avalon Way and consider traveling on alternative routes
Sidewalk and crosswalk detours. Please follow posted pedestrian detours when you see them.Weekend work is scheduled for April 27 and 28 at the intersection of SW Avalon Way and the
east side of SW Genesee St.We need to work across multiple lanes of traffic in the intersection to do water utility repairs along SW Avalon Way. People driving west on SW Genesee St will not be able to access SW Avalon Way. One lane of traffic in each direction will be maintained on SW Avalon Way through the SW Genesee St intersection. We will maintain local access to driveways on SW Genesee St near the SW Avalon Way intersection.
SDOT is also requesting: “If you have a driveway on SW Avalon Way between SW Genesee St and SW Yancy St, please reach out to us with your address and best contact information.” … AvalonPaving@seattle.gov is the contact address (also for anyone with questions/concerns).
From Tricia:
Have you seen my car?? License plate ADZ3128. Stolen Silver Volvo XC90, taken from 45th/Lander yesterday.
If you see it, call 911.
WSDOT says demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct is 30 percent complete, and on schedule. With that news, they published the video above, a new time-lapse of a section of the demolition. Coincidentally, just before that landed in the WSB inbox, we returned from an errand downtown that took us along waterfront Alaskan Way past the demolition zone for the first time, and we have to say, regardless of your feelings about the old double-decker highway, the teardown zone is quite a sight. WSDOT’s Laura Newborn adds this: “In case you are wondering, a portion of the viaduct across from the ferry dock will remain standing until summer to keep the Marion Street pedestrian bridge to-and-from Colman Dock operational. The contractor is currently building a temporary pedestrian bridge along Columbia Street to replace the Marion Street bridge. This summer, the new Columbia Street bridge will connect to a new portion of Colman Dock. After that happens, demolition crews will remove the remaining section of viaduct near Marion Street.”
(WSB photo from May 2018)
With so many big spring/summer events getting closer, it’s reminder season! So today, we’re reminding you that the West Seattle 5K is now exactly one month away – Sunday, May 19th. As our photo from last year shows, all ages are welcome in this morning run/walk along Alki, which benefits and is organized by the West Seattle High School PTSA (with community co-sponsors including WSB). Online registration is open – you can do it right here, right now.
(Remember the barred-owl cameo two days ago? Here’s Mark Wangerin’s full view of the owl)
First – today brings Good Friday and the start of Passover. For services and other events, see our Easter/Passover/Etc. page here.
Now – highlights from our year-round West Seattle Event Calendar:
VINTAGE HOME MARKET: You can shop more than 20 local vendors at Daystar until 3 pm today. (2615 SW Barton)
PARK PUNKS @ LINCOLN PARK: Free this afternoon to give some time to a local treasure? Join the Park Punks cleanup at Lincoln Park, 1 pm-4 pm. (8011 Fauntleroy Way SW)
BASEBALL: West Seattle HS hosts Chief Sealth IHS at Hiawatha, 4 pm. (2700 California SW)
SOUTH PARK COMMUNITY CENTER’S FUTURE: Open house 5-8 pm at the center, all welcome to learn and talk about its design, including the future spraypark. (8319 8th Ave. S.)
JOHN STEPHAN BAND: At Poggie Tavern in The Junction tonight, 9 pm. 21+. (4717 California SW)
JULIA FRANCIS, THE JELLYROLLERS: Your Friday night slate at Parliament Tavern starts at 9 pm. $8 cover. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
Back on Monday, we mentioned that a juvenile gray whale was found dead in Elliott Bay. We found out last night that local observers were part of what happened next. The photos and update were subsequently shared by David Hutchinson of Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network:
It was reported to Sno-King Marine Mammal Response, our partner network to the north. WDFW Enforcement towed the whale up to a site on Whidbey Island, where a necropsy was performed that afternoon. While the whale was not found in Seal Sitters’ West Seattle territory, we were present to observe the procedure.
The necropsy team included participants from Cascadia Research, WDFW Marine Mammal Investigations, SR3 and World Vets. Measurements were taken and samples of the blubber, baleen (photo below), and various organs were collected for later analysis.
No food remains or plastics were found in the whale’s stomach.
Please see Seal Sitters’ Blubberblog for additional details and a link to the preliminary report by Cascadia Research.
Archives note: It’s been exactly nine years since a young gray whale stranded and died in West Seattle.
(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)
6:59 AM: Good morning! One incident so far – a crash blocking one lane on the NB 1st Ave S Bridge.
WEEKEND TRAFFIC ALERTS: None in West Seattle, but the SDOT roundup of potential traffic-affecting events through the weekend might be of interest.
7:29 AM: 1st Ave S Bridge is clear.
The photo is from West Seattle High School teacher Joy Patman, who reports “a pretty cool visitor” to her Spanish 4 class this past Wednesday: Author Valeria Luiselli, who spoke hours later at Benaroya Hall downtown. She explains that the author “wrote a very timely book a year and a half ago called ‘Tell Me How It Ends,’ which documents in question form the immigration crisis as it relates to undocumented minors arriving at the Mexican-American border and being interviewed for asylum. We were able to purchase a set of these books last year. SP4 read it this quarter, worked together on projects over the last week and (Wednesday) had the experience of engaging the author in Spanish in a round table discussion.”
Thanks for the tip about a police search tonight north of The Junction. The tipster reported that “two men in their 20s were robbed at gunpoint at about 8:20 pm by two others, also in their 20s. A victim knocked on my door to call 911. … Apparently phones were stolen.” We went to the search area (41st/42nd/Dakota/Bradford) but police there wouldn’t comment on the circumstances, sowe went to the precinct where the desk officer confirmed the search was related to a street robbery and that the robbers were after phones. No injuries reported, and so far no word of arrests, but we’ll follow up tomorrow.
A few notes from last night’s lightly attended Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting:
FORUM OR NO FORUM? Rather than have a candidates-side-by-side forum for the District 1 City Council race, DNDC will invite candidates in for one-at-a-time conversations during the next few meetings – say, one candidate at the meeting’s start, one at the end, to discuss Delridge-specific issues.
AS FOR THOSE ISSUES: One of next month’s biggest events in eastern West Seattle, the Bee Festival, will likely be an opportunity to check in with current community concerns. DNDC chair Mat McBride will be there. It was suggested he might consider a tried-and-true tactic from other community events, for example, inviting festivalgoers to create/add to a list of what’s on their minds.
SPEAKING OF FESTIVALS: Pete Spalding provided an update on Delridge Day in August, which continues to grow, this year adding Sustainable West Seattle‘s GreenLife (previously featured at Summer Fest in The Junction) and including e-bike tours with SWS’s Stu Hennessey (of Alki Bike and Board, a WSB sponsor) and skating lessons/competition overseen by Skate Like A Girl. Live music, too, plus returning features like Seattle Police “Picnic at the Precinct” demos and visitors.
(WSB file photo)
DELRIDGE GROCERY: Doris Rahmig says the progress she reported at February’s DNDC meeting continues, with the co-op close to signing a contract with DESC for the space it’s long held for them at Cottage Grove Commons (5444 Delridge Way SW).
FUTURE TOPICS: Though DNDC has been focusing on neighborhood conversations rather than governmental guests, the Port of Seattle is interested in visiting a future DNDC meeting to talk about the Terminal 5 modernization work that’ll start soon.
The Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meets the third Wednesday most months, 7 pm, currently at Neighborhood House High Point.
(WSB file photo)
You might know Rick Cook best for his iconic “Psychic Barber” neon sign (read the backstory here), but he’s also known for getting displaced by development. It’s happening again, so he’s sent this announcement of his impending move:
I will be moving Rick’s Barber Shop once again for “progress” (38 micro apts.) from 6016 California Ave SW to 4845 California Ave SW. Former home to a hair place and a psychic place. I love irony. Phone # will remain the same, move will be last week of May. A bit more than of a block north of Rite Aid, (my old location) and two buildings south of 7-11. (Soon to be 60+ micro apts.with no parking). Hope this is my last move for “progress.”
Rick’s been in his current location a little over six years, and he’s been in business in West Seattle for 40+ years. We asked if the “Psychic Barber” sign will go along in the move; yes, he said, “But I’ll have to get a new one made to accommodate the window.”
Lafayette Elementary is celebrating its centennial, and, as we reported in January, its Leopard Leaders are celebrating with a donation drive to help others – with your partnership. Here’s how it’s going; the update is from 5th grader Thea Harnish:
Here is an update on how the Lafayette community is progressing on their goal to collect 100 pairs of socks and shoes per grade level to donate to youth in need through Westside Baby and YouthCare. We have surpassed our goal for socks with a current collection of 792 pairs of socks. But we need more help with the shoes. We have 175 collected toward the goal of 600.
We have been fundraising through popcorn sales and gift wrapping as well as requesting donations from businesses in person to buy new shoes. Please see attached a photo of part of the collection. We have raised over $1000 to buy shoes.
With Earth Day around the corner, we are hoping to get the word out to sort through your shoes and see what doesn’t fit anymore and what you can donate. Even adult sizes can work for Youthcare, which supports kids 12 to 21 who live on the streets of Seattle. The deadline is fast approaching and shoes can be dropped off at Lafayette Elementary during school hours, Attn: Leopard Leaders.
Lafayette’s entrance is just north of the northwest corner of California and Lander.
(2017 photo courtesy West Seattle Bee Festival)
It’s your chance to “bee” in a parade,among other things – the 7th annual West Seattle Bee Festival is now exactly one month away. 10 am-2 pm on Saturday, May 18th, you are invited to the West Seattle Bee Garden on the north end of High Point Commons Park and vicinity for fun including music, kids’ activities, an Urban Survival Skills Fair, and the aforementioned parade (11:30 am, costumes welcome, everybody follows the Big Bee around the park). See more here and set your calendar to “bee” there.
Didn’t hear about this one until it turned up this afternoon on SPD Blotter:
Police were called to a dispute at a West Seattle P-Patch on Wednesday after a gardener hosed down a man who tried to treat the patch as his personal compost bin.
Just before 4:30 PM, officers responded to the 5000 block of 25th Avenue SW and met with the gardener. The woman told police she was working in the P-Patch when she saw a man dumping a tarp full of leaves, collected from his yard two houses away, onto P-Patch property.
She confronted the man and accused the man of illegally dumping the leaves. The man shrugged, walked off, and returned a short time later with another pile of leaves.
The woman told police she squirted the man with a garden hose as he was dumping the leaves, and that the man then started coming toward her. She alleged the man tripped her, knocking her to the ground.
Police contacted the man, who was sitting on a bench in the P-Patch, and he disputed the woman’s account, saying he had pursued her because he was trying to get the hose away from her. Officers noted the man’s shorts appeared wet.
The man said there was no sign regarding dumping, and agreed not to enter the P-patch again.
And now a PSA regarding dumping compostable items at P-Patches: “I would say it’s frowned upon,” says Department of Neighborhoods spokeswoman Lois Maag. “While we can’t condone spraying your neighbor, you should just use your own compost bin.”
Another West Seattle project has appeared on the city list for the “Early Outreach” design-review process, which calls for informal community feedback before the project design is too far down the road. This time it’s 2347 44th SW [map], described as four single-family houses with four offstreet-parking spaces, replacing a 110-year-old house. The Early Outreach program calendar shows a community site walk scheduled one week from tonight, 5:30 pm Thursday, April 25th.
P.S. We were at the “Early Outreach” meeting earlier this week for the Junction 7-11 site mixed-use project and expect to publish that report later today.
Friendly reminder if you are still deciding whether to have a sale on Saturday, May 11th, which will be the 15th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – registration is open for one more week, until next Thursday, April 25th, when we get busy mapmaking! So far we have more than 150 sales registered – from individual sales to block sales to business sales, moving sales to “kids outgrew their stuff” sales, “vintage” sales, furnishings, collectibles, sports gear … if you’re looking for something and don’t mind that it’s used, WSCGSD will be the day to find it. We publish the map in clickable and downloadable versions a week in advance so shoppers can plan, and that’s why we cut off registration. So if you’re ready to sign up a sale, don’t procrastinate – just go here now!
(Wednesday sunset, photographed by Lynn Hall)
First, from the WSB Easter/Passover/Etc. Guide:
MAUNDY THURSDAY SERVICES: More than half a dozen local churches that sent their schedules to us have special services tonight. Our guide has times, places, descriptions.
Now, from our year-round WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
‘COME AS YOU ARE’ HAPPY-HOUR BENEFIT: 6-8 pm at The Sanctuary at Admiral, happy-hour benefit for the West Seattle High School PTSA – details here. (2656 42nd SW)
ENVIRONMENTAL SLAM: Student competition at Youngstown Cultural Arts Station, 6:30 pm:
The Environmental Slam is a regional, student-focused, community event that features short presentations by middle and high school youth on a local and actionable environmental issue of their choosing. Student teams or individuals present their environmental issue in front of a live audience in the spirit of a “slam” style performance which is characterized by a short (5 minutes) informative and entertaining presentation. The Slam is intended to educate both the community audience and the students themselves as they research and develop their presentation.
(4408 Delridge Way SW)
FIND OUT ABOUT THE TIMEBANK: All welcome at the West Seattle Timebank‘s meeting at the Senior Center of West Seattle – find out about timebanking! Details here. (4217 SW Oregon)
ORCA TALK: Worried about our local orcas? 7 pm at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), ind out the latest about them and efforts to help them at The Whale Trail‘s Orca Talk. Featured speaker: “Recovering the Southern Residents: lessons learned from other populations,” by Dr. Timothy Ragen. More info in our calendar listing. (5612 California SW)
SUPER KREWE: Brassy live music, 9 pm at Parliament Tavern. $8. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
MORE! See it on our calendar and in our seasonal guide.
(UPDATED 10:19 AM THURSDAY with finalized Sound Transit graphics summarizing the SAG recommendations)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
When Sound Transit managers insisted it would be OK to mix and match elements of a potential West Seattle to Ballard light-rail plan, they might not have envisioned the level of mixing and matching that went on tonight at the first of four milestone meetings.
Members of the all-volunteer Stakeholder Advisory Group concluded their 14-meeting role in the planning process with a jumble of recommendations – and, for a few segments, non-recommendations. So if you were hoping to hear and see something simple like “they voted to recommend the (x) line,” sorry, it didn’t go that way.
First, here are the toplines as visually summarized at meeting’s end, one set if third-party funding was available to cover costs (tunneling) beyond what the ST3 taxes/fees collect, one set if not:
We’ll get clearer versions of those tomorrow (10:19 am, finalized graphics substtuted above – from this PDF), but at the meeting we could only grab quick pics as they went by. In case you found them hard to read, here are the basics of SAG feedback for the three West Seattle segments, east to west:
-Crossing the Duwamish River – support was for doing it south of the existing bridge, no matter what
-Getting to the Delridge station – study either what was originally called the purple (Pigeon Point tunnel) or blue alignment if third-party funding is available, the blue alignment if not, and in both cases, modifying blue with the southernmost Delridge station location
-In The Junction, the with-third-party funding option would be a tunneled station at 41st or 42nd; the without-extra-funding option would be a modified version of the elevated “representative alignment” (red) that could either end at Fauntleroy or at Jefferson Square, or saving money by tunneling but consolidating the Junction and Avalon stations.
In general, the orange (some called it yellow) line was completely cast aside. So was the notion of taking the Junction end any further west than 42nd. To elaborate on the above, here’s our video of the recap at meeting’s end, when those slides were shown:
Two hours of discussion led up to all that, and we have that on a separate clip, which we’ll add in the hours ahead, along with more on how the SAG got there. So check back for more of the story But first, what’s next:
-The Elected Leadership Group meets 9:30 am Friday, April 26, to make its recommendations, taking into account what the SAG said tonight as well as the 2,700 “scoping” comments received (here’s the PDF summary/”themes” report on those).
-The Sound Transit Board has the final say in May on what goes into environmental studies. The next major public-comment period won’t be until “late 2020.”
ADDED 3:33 AM THURSDAY: If you need a refresher on the aforementioned red vs. orange vs. blue routes, see pages 22-26 of the meeting deck (PDF).
Now, here’s our video of the discussion that led to the aforementioned recommendations (as well as those on other segments of the West Seattle to Ballard line):
(WSB photo, November 2016: TEALS founder Kevin Wang and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray at left, visiting CSIHS)
The TEALS program is still going strong at Chief Sealth International High School, whose principal Aida Fraser-Hammer sent this announcement:
Chief Sealth International High School is extremely excited to announce that we are entering our 4th year of partnership with the Technology Education And Literacy in Schools (TEALS) Program, which provides support to students who want to explore computer science in the classroom.
We are now planning for the 2019 – 2020 school year and as in years past, we are reaching out to the West Seattle community in search of software programmers or engineers willing to share their programming skills with our students. Volunteers are needed in the classroom as team-teachers 2 days per week for the next school year. No teaching experience is necessary; all training and additional supports will be provided by the TEALS program.
TEALS volunteers have enjoyed a successful partnership with Sealth by exposing students to challenging coursework which has been extremely successful in getting students hooked into computer programming and interested in pursuing higher education in the field of computer science. Volunteer training is provided during the summer and involvement in the classroom varies. Volunteers can team-teach or simply help out in the Computer Science classroom. They commit to two days per week during the 1st period of the day which allows them to maintain their regular work schedule.
Past volunteers have provided classroom support to students and have enjoyed helping teach CS in the classroom. Others have actually used the opportunity as a testing ground to explore a career in teaching. In fact, two-year Sealth volunteer Jon Fincher saw TEALS “as a chance to explore my interest in a more formal teaching role. It wasn’t long before I was fully stuck in. Within a few months, I knew teaching was going to be my post-tech career. I went back to school to get my CTE (Career Technical Education) credentials to follow my passion.” Although only a few TEALS volunteers explore teaching as a second career, all report, as Fincher does, “When I see a student ‘get it’, and see them take what they learned and do something I never thought of, I get as much satisfaction as they do.”
Interested CS professionals are encouraged to explore more at the volunteer section of the TEALS website (https://www.tealsk12.org/volunteers) or contact Chief Sealth teacher Luke Azinger (ljazinger@seattleschools.org or 206-252-8550) for more information.
Thanks to @Fanta_Box for the tip via Twitter that the sign went up today for another new West Seattle Junction business. The former WS Cyclery space at 4508 California SW – vacant for 16 months – will become Naked Crepe. It’s a new venture for Jacques Nawar, proprietor of Pizzeria Credo a few doors down, according to online records. He’s not in tonight for comment but the staff there tells us Naked Crepe will be open in about a month. (The space is part of a building scheduled for redevelopment but that’s a slow-moving process.) West Seattle’s previous creperie was also in The Junction, Firefly, open for about two years where Itto’s Tapas is now.
| 17 COMMENTS