West Seattle, Washington
05 Saturday
The stay-home order is ending, but the pandemic isn’t over, and a long transition to reopening has just begun, so we’re continuing our nightly roundups – this one’s later than usual, though, because of a wave of unrelated breaking news:
GOVERNOR’S NEW PROCLAMATION: The extended Stay Home/Stay Healthy order expires at midnight, and Gov. Inslee has signed the proclamation that replaces it – Safe Start/Stay Healthy. Read it here. At the heart of it:
… until there is an effective vaccine, effective treatment or herd immunity, it is crucial to maintain some level of community interventions to suppress the spread of COVID-19 throughout all phases of recovery; and, therefore, throughout all phases, individuals should continue to engage in personal protective behaviors including: practice physical distancing, staying at least six feet away from other people; wear cloth face coverings in public places when not eating or drinking; stay home if sick; avoid others who are sick; wash hands frequently; cover coughs and sneezes; avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands; and disinfect surfaces and objects regularly …
WHAT’S NEXT: King County will apply for state permission to move into a “modified Phase 1” mode, which if approved would mean additional types of businesses would be able to operate at partial capacity (as detailed here). Back when all this was announced Friday, the plan was to apply tomorrow – we’ll be watching to see if any of that has been affected by the weekend’s other events.
NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Public Health daily-summary dashboard:
*8,159 people have tested positive, up 105 from yesterday
*557 people have died, up 1 from yesterday
One week ago, those totals were 7,819 and 540.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: See them – nation by nation – here.
FARMERS’ MARKET CHANGES LAYOUT: After four weeks with booths lining both sides of the block, the West Seattle Farmers’ Market took a step toward its old format today, with booths back in the middle of the street:
Other format changes remain, including one entrance, at California/Alaska.
SERENADING HIS STREET: Through these many weeks of the stay-home order, we’ve been pleased to share neighbors’ stories of how they’ve supported each other in ways big and small. This report and photo are from Erica:
In case you want to post another uplifting video of neighborhood cheer, here’s one of our neighbor Clem Zipp giving a piano concert as he has been doing from his front porch a few afternoons a week since March when restrictions began.
He’s near the corner of California Ave SW & SW 98th Street. Bikers, dog walkers, strolling families, and neighbors pause on the street to listen and voice their appreciation of the music and of his wife Monica’s garden. It really sweetens the hood.
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9:29 PM: Another emergency response – this time for a reported stabbing at 35th/Roxbury. Police are looking for a suspect. No word yet on the circumstances or the victim’s condition.
9:33 PM: The victim is being taken to Station 37 to be transferred to am ambulance, which indicates non-life-threatening injuries.
9:50 PM: Photo added above was sent by Lisa. It shows the victim was being treated by the commercial building on the east side of 35th just north of Roxbury. No update on the search for the suspect, but the police-radio exchange indicated they knew who they were looking for, so this may not have been random.
ADDED 1:23 PM MONDAY: We asked police for more info: “Last night around 10:30 PM officers responded to a house at 35th/Roxbury. Report of a physical fight between two men who knew each other. At one point the 18 year old suspect stabbed the 19 year old victim in the back. Suspect was arrested, victim transported to hospital for treatment. Suspect later booked into KCJ. Detectives will handle follow up.”
7:42 PM: The suspect remains in King County Jail, held for investigation of assault.
9:18 PM: Another emergency callout right now, this time in the 1200 block of Alki. The SFD engine on scene reported that it’s a slide behind a building. Police are there too (added: note in the photo, that includes backup from outside Seattle); they’re calling in Seattle Public Utilities. This follows a record-rainfall day – 1.14 inches of rain at Sea-Tac, wettest May 30th on record.
ADDED 4:09 PM MONDAY: We went to the scene late this morning and also followed up with SPU. Above and below are our photos from behind 1210 Alki SW, but SPU’s Sabrina Register tells us the problem was actually uphill:
Seattle Public Utilities responded after midnight to reports of a water leak on California Lane SW. Water was temporarily shut off to about a dozen customers while crews investigated the source of the leak. After it was determined that the leak was on private property, water was restored to 11 customers. Crews continue to investigate to verify there’s no damage to SPU infrastructure.
9:04 PM: Multiple SFD units are arriving at an incident reported as a garage fire in the 4100 block of Delridge Way SW [map]. It’s already reported to be under control.
10:26 PM: Call is closed. Incident log shows the last unit to leave was only there half an hour.
Thanks to Troop 284‘s Eric Linxweiler for the report and photos:
This weekend, we had a “virtual campout” which included some scouts actually outside in tents. Campfire complete with skits, jokes, and more on Saturday night, and cooking demonstrations Sunday morning:
Boil-in-a=bag omelette, and breakfast burrito. Nice demonstration, even without the smell of a campfire.
Then, after the morning ended, a few scouts emailed around, and decided to earn some service hours by helping clean up downtown.
Spent two hours helping, and feeling really good about seeing our city come together and clean up.
Lots of people thanked them, but one downtown business owner stopped his truck to thank the scouts, who really appreciated it.
4:36 PM: Live via Seattle Channel above, another briefing for the mayor, and this time she’s joined by Gov. Inslee and “community and faith leaders to discuss the escalated incidents this weekend and the continued importance of seeking justice for George Floyd.” Meantime, crowds are again gathered downtown, and the second night of a citywide curfew order is slated to take effect at 5 pm (as an AlertSeattle bulletin just reminded everyone subscribed to that service).
4:43 PM: So far no new information. The mayor turns over the mic to the governor, and says he will be followed by Seattle Central College president Dr. Sheila Edwards Lange. Inslee stresses that the “important message (of the protests)” must not “be obscured” by the destruction that followed. He adds, “We have so much more to do to root out the inequities in our society.”
Dr. Lange says she hesitated to accept the invitation because she is “tired … angry … grieving.” She speaks of the protests’ message earlier in the day – and then seeing “mostly white men … with huge backpacks” who were not there to hear “the message of hope.” What can allies do? “Join us” in fighting for justice, for equity, and more. She is followed by Dr. Rev. Carey Anderson, pastor of Seattle’s First African Methodist Episcopal Church. He too speaks of the hopes and dreams expressed yesterday, and of the “pandemic of racism … that we must come to grips with.”
He is followed by Andre Taylor, founder of Not This Time. He tells his “story of redemption” and implores others to take hope from it – “When I am here, you are here as well … we all have a lot of work to do.”
5:02 PM: On to Q&A. Asked what proof the city has so far that the destructive agitators were from elsewhere, the mayor cites none, instead saying, “wherever they were from,” they came with a different agenda. Then, a question about the protests under way downtown right now – what will the police do differently? SPD Chief Carmen Best says they’re working to “manage” the crowd of about 1,000 people and that they “fully intend to enforce” the curfew that just took effect, working on a strategy right now.
Dr. Rev. Anderson says they’re having a prayer vigil at noon Monday at his church – with social distancing – all welcome. (1522 14th Ave.)
No numbers on arrests or injuries; the mayor notes that there were “no significant injuries.”
Asked why a citywide curfew, the mayor says among other things it provides a lawful basis to ask people to disperse. She also notes that the stay-home order remains in effect (without noting that it expires at midnight, five hours before the curfew ends). Will the curfew be extended beyond tonight? The mayor said they’ll be evaluating it after tonight. … The event wraps at 5:30 pm. When archived video is available, we will add it above in place of the live SC window. (added 8:10 pm – added).
(Photos by Peter de Lory. Above, Piper the Corgi ‘inspecting’ beam, pre-installation)
Historic Highland Park Improvement Club has continued to be a community hub despite operational constraints during the pandemic. And it’s getting some TLC, too. The update is from HPIC trustee Kay Kirkpatrick:
While we are closed due to the Stay-Home Order, activity continues at the Highland Park Improvement Club.
As readers may know, we are helping distribute food to children and families in need Monday – Friday from the club parking lot. (11 am-1 pm)
In addition, we are taking advantage of the down time by doing some long-needed building repairs using a facilities grant from King County 4Culture.
On Saturday, our contractor team from Metis Construction, a worker-owned company here in Seattle, landed and staged a re-enforcing roof beam into the center of our 100-year-old building. Taking advantage of a brief break in the rain, they lifted and fed this 3500-pound steel beam from the parking in through the side of the historic hall.
Inside, they will be lifting it into place over the next couple of weeks to stabilize the roof support structure, and get the club building ready for whatever the next 100 years throws at us.
In “normal” times, HPIC (at 12th/Holden) is a nonprofit community hub for a wide variety of activities and events – classes, celebrations, meetings, more.
What a story something seemingly simple can tell – such as the moss that grows in so many places, so much of the year. The Duwamish Valley Cleanup Coalition shares this story of what’s being made possible by youth working on a community-science project:
Moss samples gathered by local youth can serve as reliable scientific samples to help guide air-quality improvements in the Duwamish Valley, a collaborative study has found. The study, led by Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition’s Clean Air Program, in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station and other partners, demonstrates the value of community-gathered moss data as living indicators of air pollution in Seattle’s Duwamish Valley. These data can help identify potential areas of high air pollution for follow-up monitoring and mitigation.
Air monitoring studies have shown the lower Duwamish Valley has some of the worst air quality in the region, but little is known about the local concentrations and specific causes of the pollution. A persistent barrier to cleaning up air pollution in major cities is that it is very difficult to identify localized pockets of pollution at the block or neighborhood scale. Sampling tree moss can help with this problem. “Our cumulative health impacts analysis has shown that people living in the Duwamish Valley have higher rates of diseases linked to air pollution than other areas of Seattle,” said Paulina López, Executive Director of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition. “We envision a healthy place to live and work where the air we breathe does not harm our health or livelihoods, and this study will help us achieve this vision.”
Using community-based participatory methods, 26 teens from the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps were trained how to collect moss samples to use as an indicator of air pollution, by Forest Service scientists and DIRT Corps members. In all, they collected 80 moss samples from street trees in a 5,300-acre grid covering South Park and Georgetown. Scientists then re-sampled moss at 20 locations sampled by the youth corps for comparison. All 100 samples were analyzed in the Forest Service’s Grand Rapids Laboratory for a suite of 25 metals and other elements — including heavy metals like arsenic, lead, and chromium — all of which occur naturally in the environment but which tend to concentrate in cities and industrial areas from sources like traffic and industry.
The study applies techniques developed as part of the Portland Moss and Air Quality Study, which, ultimately, helped to identify several previously undetected hotspots of air pollution in Oregon’s most populous city in 2016. The Portland study also demonstrated the ability of a species of moss commonly growing on trees in the Pacific Northwest, the same as the one gathered in Seattle, to serve as a bioindicator — or living barometer — of air pollution.
The Duwamish moss study’s overarching goal was to determine if community partners, with guidance from scientists, could successfully collect and prepare moss samples for heavy-metal analysis. If so, the study’s results could be used as a screening tool, to empower the community to take action in their own neighborhood by guiding placement of air-monitoring instruments in the Duwamish Valley as well as informing mitigation strategies.
Analysis showed that the samples collected by the youth were consistent with those collected by the scientists, demonstrating that trained youth could, in fact, collect reliable moss samples. Moreover, analysis of the samples yielded maps of concentrations of 25 metals in moss across the Duwamish Valley. “I did not know how much information you can get from moss, now I even look at the trees differently,” said Paola Silva [photo at right], a 15-year-old Duwamish Valley Youth Corps member who gathered moss in the study.
Moss data collected in the study are only an indicator of air pollution, not a direct measurement of metals in the air. Therefore, the relationship between metal concentrations found in the moss to what people might be breathing can only be known by taking air samples using air quality monitors. However, research — like that conducted by Sarah Jovan, a U.S. Forest Service research lichenologist who helped train the youth, coordinated laboratory analysis of the samples, and interpreted the data — shows that higher levels of metals in moss generally reflect higher levels of metals in the atmosphere, making moss invaluable for optimizing the placement of expensive—and, therefore, limited—air monitoring equipment. In addition to demonstrating the promise of community-gathered moss data, the study found that levels of arsenic, chromium, cobalt, and lead in the Duwamish Valley moss samples were higher than those found in similar studies of moss in Seattle-area parks and in residential areas of Portland, Oregon, that were part of the 2016 study. Arsenic and chromium levels in moss in the Duwamish Valley were generally twice as high as those in Portland.
In addition, metal concentrations found in the moss samples were highest in the industrial areas of South Park and Georgetown, especially along the Duwamish River, and lower in the residential areas. There are many potential causes of high metal concentrations in moss, and Forest Service scientists and partners at the University of Washington and Western Washington University are currently working to identify patterns of metal concentrations and possible causes and to study the potential value of different pollution mitigation approaches. The analysis can help the community, regulatory agencies, and the government to collaborate on next steps to address air quality issues in the Duwamish Valley and, in this way, empower the community to address local air pollution. In the meantime, the Duwamish Cleanup Coalition is sharing the study’s initial findings with local, regional, and federal regulatory agencies to begin conversations about potential mitigation efforts. “Even though the findings are still technically ‘preliminary’ and there is already widespread community concern about harmful agents in the air, given the potential public health significance of these findings, clean air is even more important now in protecting communities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Lopez.
Additional study partners include the U.S. Forest Service, State and Private Forestry, Pacific Northwest Region; Just Health Action; Street Sounds Ecology; The City of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment; Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment; and the University of Washington’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. The partners were identified and convened as an Urban Waters Federal Partnership project.
Thanks to the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps for the photos.
11:36 AM: One other look-ahead note: Reminder that the mayor’s citywide-curfew order (read it here) is in effect again tonight, with a 5 pm-5 am curfew. If you have questions about it, the city website has an FAQ.
While the city says businesses are allowed to be open during curfew hours, they’re not supposed to serve customers, so some businesses are closing early. So far we’ve heqrd about two changes, both grocery stores: Trader Joe’s is closing at 3 pm, PCC at 5 pm. If we hear of anything else, we’ll add to this post – westseattleblog@gmail.com or text 206-293-6302. (ADDED) Both Rite-Aids are closing at 5 pm …. (added) Freshy’s is closing at 5 pm … Target, Thriftway also closed early …
12:48 PM: Mayor Durkan, Police Chief Best, and Fire Chief Scoggins are presenting a briefing – you can wqtch it live via Seattle Channel. (The mayor opens by saying another media briefing is set for 4:30 pm.)
1:01 PM: No new information but the mayor spoke emotionally on several points including seeing community members who have gone to ravaged areas today to join in cleanup. … The police chief says “dozens” of people arrested yesterday (the mayor said no one was arrested simply for curfew violation, however). … The briefing ended at 1:30 pm. We’ll add the archived video when it’s available.
3:01 PM: Video of earlier briefing now added above. Meantime, the mayor will be joined by the governor and faith and community leaders at 4:30 – we’ll cover that separately.
(Western Tiger Swallowtail, photographed by Eddie)
Welcome to Sunday. As usual, our list of what’s happening begins with this week’s updated links for West Seattle churches’ online services:
ADMIRAL UCC: The video service is here. Also – follow that link for 11:15 am sermon talkback and 11:45 am coffee hour.
ALKI UCC: 10 am online service, via Zoom – info and link on church’s home page.
ALL SOULS SEATTLE (WSB sponsor): Online worship will be linked here at 10 am.
ARBOR HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CHURCH: Livestreaming here at 10 am.
BETHANY COMMUNITY CHURCH: Livestreaming here, 8 am, 9:30 am, 11 am, 7 pm.
CALVARY CHAPEL: Service will be viewable here, plus 11 am fellowship via Zoom, 6 pm all-church prayer and 7 pm evening worship (info on home page).
EASTRIDGE CHURCH: Livestreaming here at 9 am and 11 am.
FAUNTLEROY UCC: Livestreaming on the church’s YouTube channel at 10 am.
FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF WEST SEATTLE: Today’s online liturgy is here.
GRACE CHURCH: Livestreaming here, 10:30 am.
HALLOWS CHURCH: Streaming at 10 am via the church’s YouTube channel.
HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC CHURCH: Livestreaming in English at 8:30 am, en Español at 10 am, all here.
HOLY ROSARY CATHOLIC CHURCH: Livestreaming at 9:30 am here.
HOPE LUTHERAN: Today’s worship service and children’s story are viewable here.
OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE CATHOLIC CHURCH: Livestreaming at 10 am, both here.
PEACE LUTHERAN: Livestreaming at 10:30 am on YouTube.
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH: Viewable on YouTube: All Ages Sunday School at 10 am, Morning Prayer at 10:15 am (here’s today’s bulletin), Kids’ Club at 11:30 am.
TIBBETTS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH (WSB sponsor): The video service for today will be viewable here.
TRINITY CHURCH: Livestreaming here, 10 am.
WEST SEATTLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: The video service is viewable here.
WEST SEATTLE CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE: Livestreaming here, 11 am.
WEST SIDE PRESBYTERIAN Livestreaming at 10 am on the church’s YouTube channel.
WESTSIDE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CONGREGATION: Livestreaming via Zoom, 10:30 am.
WESTWOOD CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY: Online worship at 11 am; info here.
Any other churches to add? Please email us – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
Also today:
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm, with a change this week – booths will be in the middle of the street rather than lining its sides. But you’ll still enter at California/Alaska; the line goes east on Alaska, then north on 42nd. Here’s the vendor/product list for this week.
WEST SEATTLE TOOL LIBRARY: Open 11 am-4 pm – need a tool to fix or improve something? (4408 Delridge Way SW)
FREE TO-GO DINNER: High Point Community Dinner Church will serve to-go meals at 5 pm, outside, near High Point Community Center. (6920 34th SW)
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