West Seattle, Washington
10 Monday
(Photo courtesy Roxhill Park Champions: The park’s longtime steward Scott Blackstock supervising Saturday’s work party)
Fall is an ideal time to plant, and that’s why it was so important for volunteers to step up and dig in at Roxhill Park this past Saturday. As noted here, at least 20 volunteers were needed; Roxhill Park Champions got 26! Supervised by longtime steward Scott Blackstock, they got 300 plants in the ground in Peat Cell 3 of the park’s bog, site of an underground fire two years ago. Read more about their success here – and see how to be part of ongoing efforts to care for this unique place.
For the first time, West Seattle Bike Connections organized local riders for what’s become a holiday tradition in many places over the past 20 years – a food-drive-on-wheels dubbed Cranksgiving. West Seattle Food Bank was the beneficiary, and development director Judi Yazzolino sent the photos and report:
All I can say is “WOW”! The first annual West Seattle Cranksgiving was a huge success in our book!
The pedal-powered food drive organized by West Seattle Bike Connections brought bikers to the West Seattle Food Bank last Saturday.
They met up with their teams, got their food list and instructions, and using their load hauling accessories took off, coming back a couple of hours later with a total of 1,195 pounds of food.
In the last 7 years that I have been here, this is definitely the largest food drive in the shortest amount of time. And such variety, culturally diverse food, food for the kids Backpack program, diapers & wipes for the Baby Corner and fresh produce.
Thank you to the organizers for wanting to have their own West Seattle Cranksgiving for the West Seattle Food Bank and most importantly to the enthusiastic riders.
You will make the 12,700 individuals that we serve extremely happy this holiday season.
Having a donation drive this holiday season? Let us know so we can include it in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide!
Days after other new parking-limit signs went up in the West Seattle Junction, signage is now arriving for Restricted Parking Zone 35. Thanks to Sarah for the tip via this comment, in which she also wondered about enforcement. So we asked SDOT. The reply:
SDOT is not in charge of parking enforcement, but we did request that SPD Parking Enforcement consider issuing courtesy notices rather than citations for the first week or two to educate people about the change. With that said, neighborhood residents who park on the street should be sure to display their permits now. Anyone who qualifies but does not yet have a permit should get a permit as soon as they can.
Here’s how to do that. And here again is the map of the new parking restrictions:
The changes were announced in June, two and a half years after a Junction resident initiated the request – which in turn was seven years after the city had rejected the previous community request for one. This is West Seattle’s second RPZ; the only other one is near the Fauntleroy ferry terminal.
The bowls at Delridge Skatepark are graffiti-free today – 5 months after nearby resident Nancy Folsom first started reporting the vandalism, which she said started small but then kept spreading. Today she contacted the city again and CC’d us, so we went over for a look – and found a crew in the process of cleaning it up.
Folsom says she’s reported graffiti vandalism at other public parks in the area and has seen it cleaned up much quicker. One response she got about the just-cleaned-up skatepark situation included an apology and, “We try hard to remove graffiti 72 hrs from the time it is reported. Unfortunately we only have 2 individuals doing graffiti removal for the 485 parks that we have in the city.” The city has a goal of cleaning up graffiti on public property within 10 days, as noted on the page you can use to file a report.
Didn’t get to publish a daily highlights list this morning but we want to be sure you saw this calendar listing: Alki Mail and Dispatch (4701 SW Admiral Way) is celebrating 30 years in business! As reported here in August, the business is under new ownership. Proprietor Bree Fitts – a longtime employee before taking over – invites you to stop by 4-7 pm tonight for the 30th-anniversary party, with snacks and drinks. The mail-and-coffee-and-more business has been in its current spot for 15 years, after 15 down the hill at Alki Beach.
Early Saturday, we reported on a police investigation following 911 calls about gunfire in the 1900 block of Harbor Avenue SW. Officers found shell casings and blood near an empty vehicle – but no victim – in a parking lot. Today we followed up with SPD. Spokesperson Det. Mark Jamieson tells WSB that “A short time later, a male victim arrived at Swedish Hospital stating that he was in a physical fight, got pistol whipped, and suffered a large laceration to the back of the head. According to the victim, during the fight an unknown subject fired several rounds into the air.”
10:12 AM: Seattle Fire says a person has been hit and killed by a rail car in the 5400 block of West Marginal Way SW. Police are investigating. We’re on the way to find out more.
10:44 AM: The SFD log address for the call is the Lafarge plant; its gates are closed and the remaining responders are all on the property beyond that, so we can’t find out anything on site.
10:53 AM: SPD describes the incident as an “industrial accident involving a worker and rail car.”
ADDED TUESDAY MORNING: Lafarge sent this statement:
Lafarge Canada has confirmed the death of an employee at our Seattle cement plant.
This is a very difficult and tragic incident, and we are extremely concerned about the impact to this individual’s family and friends. Our thoughts are with our colleague’s friends and family, and we are providing the support of our employee assistance program to help our co-workers cope with this loss.
Lafarge is cooperating fully in the investigation. We are unable to comment further at this time.
(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)
6:57 AM: Good morning. No incidents/alerts so far.
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