day : 15/07/2020 12 results

Here’s tonight’s roundup:

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Public Health daily-summary dashboard, the cumulative totals:

*12,353 people have tested positive, 109 more than yesterday

*620 people have died, 14 more than yesterday

*1,731 people have been hospitalized, 25 more than yesterday

*221,754 people have been tested, 4,121 more than yesterday

One week ago, the four totals were 11,319/598/1,643/194,992.

TWO MORE LOCAL DEATHS: Today’s update includes one new death reported by each of two of the five zip codes that are either entirely or partly wtthin West Seattle – 98106 and 98126.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them, county by county, on the state Department of Health page,.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: See them, nation by nation, here.

OPENING SCHOOLS SAFELY: New modeling shows it can be done in King County this fall – but it depends on more than what happens on campuses. From today’s news release:

Grouping students by age, physical distancing, wearing masks and safe hygiene may be able to reduce the impact of school reopenings on transmission, but how much of an impact these measures have will depend on the level of COVID-19 transmission outside of schools. Even with countermeasures, students and staff would need to be screened for symptoms daily and both work and community mobility would need to stay below a certain threshold. “Every part of our society is connected when it comes to COVID-19,” said Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County. “How well we control transmission in workplaces, businesses, recreation, families, and social networks are related and all impact whether we can safely reopen schools.”

COVID-RELATED CLOSURE: After an employee at the U-District location of Supreme tested positive, the restaurant closed its West Seattle branch too.

STAY HEALTHY STREETS SURVEY EXTENDED: Love those no-through-traffic, social-distancing-friendly streets? Hate ’em? Or? Whatever you think, tell the city – the survey that was supposed to close today has been extended a week.

GOT INFO? Email us at westseattleblog@gmail.com or phone us, text or voice, at 206-293-6302 – thank you!

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WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Wheels stolen – silver Lexus, blue scooter

July 15, 2020 8:54 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two reader reports (neither specified location aside from West Seattle):

STOLEN CAR: From Sean:

Silver 2000 Lexus RX 300
Liscense plate BPP 6873
Stolen between 11 pm Tuesday 7/14 and 8 am today.

Call 911 if you see it.

STOLEN SCOOTER: Taken out of a reader’s garage in broad daylight: “Blue Razor Scooter A5 Kick Scooter.”

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ORCAS: Evening whale-watching from West Seattle

July 15, 2020 6:12 pm

| 6 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | Whales | Wildlife

(Added 8:57 pm, photo by Jamie Kinney)

6:12 PM: Thanks to Jay for the tip! He says orcas just passed Dilworth on Vashon Island’s eastern shore, northbound, so they could be visible soon from west-facing West Seattle.

7:02 PM: Eastbound – toward West Seattle! – in the Fauntleroy ferry lanes, says Kersti Muul.

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COMET NEOWISE: Where to look from West Seattle tonight and/or early tomorrow

July 15, 2020 5:57 pm

| 17 COMMENTS

| Skies Over West Seattle | West Seattle news

(Photo by Kasia Bozek)

Looks like another clear night tonight, so that means another chance to see Comet NEOWISE. Following up on her earlier post, West Seattle sky-watching expert and educator Alice Enevoldsen has put together maps (with the help of Stellarium) – here’s one for tonight:

Alice says that map shows what should be visible around 10:15 pm on “the North-northwestern horizon. Comet NEOWISE is a speck almost directly below the Big Dipper, and to the upper left of the bright star Capella.” If you’d rather do your comet-watching early in the morning, here’s 2 am Thursday:

That one is “showing the North-northwestern horizon. (The comet) is a speck to the lower right of the Big Dipper, and nearly due North.” Or click here for the 4 am Thursday image. Weather permitting, the comet might be visible through late July.

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Leadership change ahead for Metro

July 15, 2020 4:58 pm

| 3 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news

(Terry White, 2019 WSB photo)

Just announced by King County: A leadership change at Metro. After four years as General Manager, Rob Gannon is leaving, heading to Missoula, Montana, to be that city’s chief financial officer. Starting August 1st, deputy GM Terry White will become interim GM; he’s been with Metro for 33 years. Metro oversees the Water Taxi as well as buses and vanpools, and operates the Seattle Streetcar too. White will take over at a precarious time, as pandemic-reduced revenue and capacity has drastically affected the service it provides.

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Supreme closes both locations after U-District employee tests positive for COVID-19

July 15, 2020 3:43 pm

| Comments Off on Supreme closes both locations after U-District employee tests positive for COVID-19

| Coronavirus | West Seattle news | West Seattle restaurants

Thanks for the tip! Another local restaurant has announced a COVID-19-related closure – but with unique circumstances. Supreme in The Junction announced on social media that it has closed both locations because an employee at its U-District location tested positive: “Due to the circumstance, we have decided to close both Supreme locations for now to allow our team two rounds of COVID-19 testing to be 100% sure we will reopen safely. We will also be tracking this testing experience so that we will be prepared for if and when it happens again in any of our places.”

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ELECTION 2020: Your primary ballot’s in the mail

July 15, 2020 3:09 pm

| 5 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

If you’re registered to vote, you’ll get a ballot within the next few days – King County Elections has just mailed the ballots for the August 4th primary election. No local ballot measures; among candidates, our area’s State House representatives, Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon, are both running for re-election unopposed. Our area’s U.S. House Rep. Pramila Jayapal has four primary opponents. The ballot also includes statewide offices – at the top of the ballot, Gov. Jay Inslee has 35 primary opponents. As usual, you’ll be able to either mail in your ballot or use an official drop box (the nearest ones are in The Junction, High Point, White Center, and South Park). And if you’re not yet registered to vote – go here!

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YOU CAN HELP! West Seattle student ready to wrap multi-installment marathon to fight inequality

July 15, 2020 1:25 pm

| 20 COMMENTS

| How to help | West Seattle news

The photo and invitation are from proud mom Genya Scharks:

Tomorrow, July 16th, at 4 PM at Hiawatha Park track, our son Ian Scharks will complete the last 1.2 miles of his one-mile-a-day marathon walk to raise money for Black Lives Matter. We are inviting friends, wearing masks and physically spaced, to come cheer him on for the finish of his marathon.

He has raised $9,581 toward his $10,400 goal. He will be a 6th grader at Pathfinder K-8. He has cerebral palsy and autism and started walking with crutches last school year. Previously he used a walker or wheelchair. In March he was able to walk one lap with his crutches, but now is completing one mile, or 4 laps, each day.

In addition to showing up tomorrow to cheer for Ian, you can also donate to his fundraiser – go here. On that page, Ian explains, “I am inspired by Capt. Tom Moore and Tobias Weller in England, both who raised money by walking with assistive devices. I want to make a difference about the inequality Black people face in our nation.”

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WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Another smash-and-grab, and a followup

July 15, 2020 11:59 am

| 38 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports:

WYATT”S JEWELERS SMASH-AND-GRAB: Another jewelry smash-and-grab – this time at Wyatt’s Jewelers (a longtme WSB sponsor) in Westwood Village. Here are some of the security-camera images:

It happened on Tuesday afternoon around 2:30 pm. The thieves smashed a case that held men’s jewelry, grabbed some items and bolted. Lauren at Wyatt’s was still doing inventory as of late last night but assessed the stolen items as mostly: “Men’s bands. Some trays were real and some were just fake Alloy for custom ordering purposes.” Here are two of the stolen rings:

We will add the police-report number when we get it. (UPDATE: 20-213041.)

FOLLOWUP: Another followup on last week’s similar smash-and-grab at Bellevue Rare Coins in The Junction. Going through video footage from earlier in the day, they found this:

Same shirt, jeans, shoes, and wristwatch as the masked/jacketed thief (as seen in other images they showed us) seen in the first followup. SPD incident number is 20-208198.

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UPDATED – EXTENDED: Got something to say about Stay Healthy Streets?

July 15, 2020 10:56 am

| 40 COMMENTS

| Coronavirus | Transportation | West Seattle news

10:56 AM: Three weeks ago, the city launched a long-promised online survey about the no-through-traffic Stay Healthy Streets set up citywide this past spring. Today is the final day – so if you have something to say about these streets, whether they should be temporary or permanent, go here to tell the city what you think. So far, they’re in three areas of West Seattle – two that are along mostly pre-existing greenways in High Point and Puget Ridge/Highland Park, and a stretch of Alki Avenue and Beach Drive around Alki Point. The city says it will also seek “public engagement” in other ways but the survey is the first step.

12:58 PM: As noted in comments, SDOT has just announced it’s extending the survey deadline a week, to July 22nd.

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SPORTS: West Seattle Reign youth volleyball clinics

July 15, 2020 9:40 am

| Comments Off on SPORTS: West Seattle Reign youth volleyball clinics

| West Seattle news | WS & Sports

Volleyball player in the household? This announcement is from the West Seattle Reign Volleyball Club:

We have a very limited number of socially distanced clinics and open practices available for summer 2020, 7/20 thru 8/29.

Clinics, practices and 1 on 1 personal coaching available for all youth players at westseattlereign.com/clinics-%26-coaching.

We are limiting all events to 4 players. We will maintain 6+ feet of distance at all times as well as have masks and sanitizer available for all participants. We are commited to keeping the curve low by offering youth athletics within all state and Federal safety guidelines.There are 3 options (open practices, any player of any skill; clinics, by skill level; & personal coaching). Those options then have dates with the availability to register.

The clinics are organized by skill level rather than age level or gender.

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ROAD WORK, TRAFFIC, TRANSIT: Wednesday notes, 17th week of West Seattle Bridge closure

July 15, 2020 6:07 am

| 1 COMMENT

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

6:07 AM: It’s Wednesday, the 119th morning without the high-rise West Seattle Bridge.

ROAD WORK

Major work continues on Delridge Way, with lane reductions, as road-rebuilding and utility work lead off the RapidRide H Line conversion project – here’s what crews are working on this week;.

This Sunday night is the first of 14 nights over three weeks during which WSDOT will close the NB 1st Ave. S. Bridge for deck-panel replacement.

TRAFFIC

Here’s the 5-way intersection camera (Spokane/West Marginal/Delridge/Sppkane/Chelan):

Here’s the restricted-daytime-access (open to all 9 pm-5 am) low bridge:

The main detour route across the Duwamish River is the 1st Avenue South Bridge (map) . Here’s that camera:

The other major bridge across the river is the South Park Bridge (map). The camera was still down as of early today. P.S. Going through South Park? Don’t speed.

Check the @SDOTBridges Twitter feed for info about any of those bridges opening for marine traffic.

You can see all local traffic cams here; locally relevant cameras are also shown on this WSB page.

TRANSIT

Metro – Still reduced service and distancing – details here.

Water Taxi – Back to its “winter” schedule, with the 773 and 775 shuttles – see the schedule here.

Trouble on the roads/paths/water? Let us know – text (but not if you’re driving!) 206-293-6302.

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