day : 29/07/2020 11 results

Voted in the West Seattle Bridge T-shirt contest yet? Friday is the deadline. Last week, the West Seattle Junction Association shared which 10 designs were leading among the 60+ submissions. Tonight, the current top 5. WSJA says 6,176 votes are in already. No change in the top 5 from last week’s update (but note the gaps are close enough they could move):

Noah Bell-Cruz – Greetings from Accidental Island – 1,968 votes
Mike Shaughnessy / Bradi Jones – Mind the Gap – 1,813 votes
Rebecca Dahlin – So Close Yet So Far – 1,709 votes
Jen Sonnichsen Parker – When the chips are down – 1,559 votes
Charlie Able – Stranded in Paradise – 1,480 votes

You can vote for up to 5 of the 60+ entries; the top 3 will be produced and sold. Vote here!

Link to vote:

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CORONAVIRUS: Wednesday 7/29 roundup

July 29, 2020 9:09 pm

| 4 COMMENTS

| Coronavirus | West Seattle news

Here’s the virus-crisis news for a midsummer Wednesday:

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

*14,879 people have tested positive, 150 more than yesterday

*644 people have died, unchanged from yesterday

*1,935 people have been hospitalized, 35 more than yesterday

*285,305 people have been tested, 5.155 more than yesterday

One week ago, the four totals were 13,659/635/1,826/255,956.

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

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

STATE HEALTH BRIEFING: Topics today included trends – the case count has flattened in recent weeks despite a steady increase in testing – plus a scam alert: Be watchful of people claiming to be health authorities ssking for money or card/bank info; the real public-health reps would never do that. Overall, though, “disease activity is still quite high in the state,” health officer Kathy Lofy said. Watch the entire briefing here.

BEACH-FIRE BATTLE: The fire rings were removed from Alki, in hopes of discouraging gatherings, but now people are setting fires in the sand, and a special beach-cleaning vehicle was dispatched today.

CURBSIDE LIBRARY SERVICE: The King County Library System announced today that it’s adding the White Center Library to its curbside-service program starting next Wednesday.

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

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BIZNOTE: Local Bank of America closures

July 29, 2020 7:32 pm

| 5 COMMENTS

| Health | West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

Thanks for the tips. After being closed for at least two days, the Bank of America branch at Westwood Village will reopen tomorrow, but the B of A in The Junction will be closed. That’s according to B of A spokesperson Britney Sheehan, who says it’s the same type of situation that closed the Junction branch for multiple days a month ago – ” We continue to take several steps to support our clients and employees during the health crisis, including some temporary financial center closures. Our temporary financial center closures have occurred in areas where foot traffic is low, or when our staffing is not sufficient for all to remain open. When a center closes we work to reopen it as soon as possible.” She says they’re not sure yet how long the Junction branch will be closed this time.

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BIZNOTE: The Tug has indeed sailed away

July 29, 2020 5:00 pm

| 16 COMMENTS

| West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

Lots of questions recently about the fence up at the long-closed Tug Inn (2216 SW Orchard), known as Tug Tavern until 2008. Its owners confirm they’ve closed permanently. The site was sold back in February – its new owner is Bee’s Plumbing and Heating, whose co-proprietor Melissa tells us they’ve grown so much in three years, they had to get out of their home-based digs in Gatewood. For now they’ll use the ex-tavern building for storage, and they have an office trailer on the site, but eventually they plan to build their own office/warehouse. As for the Tug’s operators, we reached out via email and got this response:

Regrettably we will be closing the Tug at this time. We lost our lease at its current location and will be taking a pause as our family decides next steps. We have appreciated the support and community love over the years. We don’t know what the future holds but hope the best for the West Seattle community in these difficult times.

Cheers!
Hal and Gloria

By the way – one Tug fixture, we learned, has found a new home in The Junction:

View this post on Instagram

We are honored to display this 100+ year old anchor in our bar. It came from the legendary Tug Tavern. We are beyond sad to see our comrade bar shut it’s doors. The Tug will never be forgotten. ✨

A post shared by Poggie Tavern (@poggietavern) on Jul 25, 2020 at 6:33pm PDT

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WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Stolen white Honda Pilot

July 29, 2020 3:41 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Kelly is hoping for help looking for her stolen car. It’s a white 2020 Honda Pilot LX, Washington plates BTN0935, stolen in Admiral last Friday morning. If you see it, call 911.

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UPDATE: Truck crash followed by fuel leak on Harbor Island; low bridge affected

July 29, 2020 2:26 pm

| 11 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(Added: SDOT camera image)

2:26 PM: A big Seattle Fire response was just dispatched to handle a fuel leak on Harbor Island, and radio communication indicates low-bridge access will be closed, at the 5-way intersection on the west side, East Marginal/Spokane on the east side. Updates to come.

2:32 PM: SFD reports the leak “is contained.” Whatever leaked, it was onto the roadway; responders are checking to see if any got into the river.

3 PM: Still closed. We’re heering from some bus riders who are stuck waiting to get across.

3:08 PM: Per radio communication, they’re getting ready to let some westbound traffic through.

3:30 PM: SDOT says eastbound traffic is also now being allowed through.

7:06 PM: We followed up with SFD on the incident’s cause.Spokesperson David Cuerpo tells WSB, “Crews initially responded to the scene to treat the driver of a semi-truck from an earlier single-vehicle collision near the 1000 and 1100 block of SW Spokane St. The driver was treated for minor injuries and did not require transportation to a hospital. As the semi was moving away from the area, firefighters on scene noticed a fuel leak from the semi and upgraded the response to request the Seattle Fire HAZMAT team. Crews secured the diesel leak and requested SDOT to the scene for clean-up of fuel.”

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FOLLOWUP: Six days after ring removal, illegal beach fires persist at Alki

July 29, 2020 1:40 pm

| 100 COMMENTS

| Coronavirus | West Seattle beaches | West Seattle fires | West Seattle news

(Photo by David Hutchinson)

That beach-cleaning machine had to be dispatched to Alki this morning, with people continuing to ignore the beach-fire ban, less than a week after Seattle Parks removed the long-locked fire rings people had been damaging. Seattle Fire has been dispatched to Alki five of the six nights since then – three times on Thursday, once on Friday, once on Saturday, three times on Sunday, once last night. We asked Parks spokesperson Rachel Schulkin if anything else is planned. She replied, “I think the next move would be to close the beaches. We are grateful to SFD for their support and grateful that you are covering this and reminding folks that beach fires are not permitted this summer. In case folks wonder why, it’s because beach fires are more often than not used as a place for larger groups to gather. As we are still in Phase 2 and gatherings must be 5 people or less, beach fires are not permitted.”

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FOLLOWUP: What SDOT and PSE learned about those two gas leaks in Delridge road-work zone

July 29, 2020 11:56 am

| Comments Off on FOLLOWUP: What SDOT and PSE learned about those two gas leaks in Delridge road-work zone

| Delridge | Utilities | West Seattle news

(Reader photo by Erica, July 10th)

Talking to the SDOT team on the Delridge repaving-and-more project for an upcoming update, we got followup information about those two gas leaks/breaks in four days in the northern work zone. Both, SDOT says, were unmapped lines. The first one, at Delridge/Andover on July 10th, was an abandoned/capped half-inch line that was for private property but protruded into the public right of way and incurred a “saddle break” because of the weight of machinery over it. The second, on July 13th at Delridge/Oregon, was an unmarked line broken during excavation. SDOT sat down with PSE to figure out how to prevent any additional problems, so they’ve been “potholing” to check for other shallow surprise utilities, and relocating anything they find. They also changed the design for one project section to increase the distance from one line. Bottom line, SDOT says PSE will be paying for the repairs since the unmapped lines were their responsibility.

SIDE NOTE: If you suspect a gas leak – since natural gas is odorized to prevent it going undetected – call 888-225-5773, or 911.

P.S. The general project update from the rest of our conversation is coming up later.

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BIZNOTE: Fleurt’s fun fundraiser

July 29, 2020 10:41 am

| 2 COMMENTS

| How to help | West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

Love plants? Imagine this one in your home:

That’s a rare Begonia Maculata, and Fleurt in The Junction is auctioning it as a fundraiser for the West Seattle Food Bank, which will get 50 percent of the proceeds. The auction is happening on Fleurt’s Instagram page – you have to bid as a comment on this post. Opening bid $45; highest bid at 5 pm Friday gets the plant – pickup or delivery available.

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WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH; Stolen boat recovered; dumped bag of tools (and more)

July 29, 2020 9:36 am

| 2 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two West Seattle Crime Watch notes today:

STOLEN BOAT RECOVERED: Alyssa emailed us this morning to report her 13-foot aluminum boat and trailer “stolen in the middle of the night from in front of our house in Highland Park.” But just as we were preparing to post about it, she sent word that police have found it – missing its motor. (Added: She says it was dumped blocks away, left in the middle of the road by Riverview Playfield.)

DUMPED-LIKELY-STOLEN BAG OF STUFF: From Marc:

Someone dumped a bag of tools with a i-phone in it and a small space heater still in it’s box. I plugged the i-phone in and looks like the owner has tracking on it??? Anyway, I am hoping to return this stuff to the rightful owner. Found off of Delridge, Willow st. and 24th.

If that might be yours, let us know and we’ll connect you.

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ROAD WORK, TRAFFIC, TRANSIT: Wednesday watch, 19th week of West Seattle Bridge closure

July 29, 2020 6:21 am

| 2 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

6:21 AM: It’s Wednesday, the 128th morning without the West Seattle Bridge.

ROAD WORK/CLOSURES

*The Delridge RapidRide H Line project continues major work along Delridge Way – here’s what is happening this week. (Any questions about this project? We will be talking with SDOT today.)

*Another 1st Ave. S. Bridge northbound closure is scheduled tonight, 10 pm-5 am.

CHECK THE TRAFFIC BEFORE YOU GO

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