day : 31/07/2020 11 results

22 weeks ago tonight, King County’s first confirmed case of COVID-19 was announced. We start tonight’s roundup with the numbers:

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Public Health daily summary:

*15,197 people have tested positive, 158 more than yesterday

*647 people have died, unchanged from yesterday

*1,948 people have been hospitalized, 2 more than yesterday

*294,823 people have been tested, 3,747 more than yesterday

One week ago, those totals were 14,047/638/1,866/265,108.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.

STATE DATA FYI: From the Department of Health:

DOH experienced an outage with its reporting system today which caused interruptions in several functions. The data reported today is preliminary and only include cases through 7:00 pm on 7/30 (not 11:59 pm as is usual). DOH anticipates negative tests will be behind for a few days which will impact DOH’s ability to report out tests and percent positivity. Data dashboard visualizations will be impacted for a short time. DOH hopes to be back to normal by early next week.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 17.5 million cases, 679,000+ deaths – see the nation-by-nation numbers here.

NEW TESTING SITE ON THE WAY: While announcing today that the city is opening a new testing site in Southeast Seattle, the mayor also said a new “Southwest Seattle” is in the works too. No location disclosed yet, but the mayor’s office tells WSB it should be made public within a few weeks.

COVID CLOSURE: Chelan Café announced it’s closed because a cocktail-lounge staff member tested positive.

UPDATED RESTAURANT (ETC.) GUIDANCE: From the governor’s office:

The governor’s office today released updates to the July 24 guidance for restaurants, taverns, breweries, wineries, and distilleries as part of Washington’s Safe Start phased reopening plan. Changes include clarification about which establishments can offer indoor seating, temporary outdoor seating guidance and counter-style seating clarifications. Read the full restaurants, taverns, breweries, wineries and distilleries guidance document here and attached memo here.

NEED FOOD? Free lunches will be offered noon-1 pm tomorrow at West Side Presbyterian Church (3601 California SW).

GOT INFO OR PHOTOS? westseattleblog@gmail.com or text/voice 206-293-6302 – thank you!

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WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Prowlers; scam call

July 31, 2020 9:30 pm

| 18 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports tonight:

PROWLERS: From Steven in North Delridge:

A little bit before 1:30 am this morning (31 July) prowlers entered my property from the neighbor’s backyard. My decking contractor’s air compressor was stolen. They also surveyed the side and back yards, obviously looking for other items to steal. They also checked windows to see if they could easily gain entry into the house. This occurred on the west side of the 4800 block of 25th Ave SW. My CCTV system caught it all. The cameras are obvious, it is equally obvious they didn’t care about getting recorded.

Two males, one Black, the other unknown. The one with the blue hoodie, the word “EAGLE” is emblazoned across the top of the hood. Both were wearing work gloves. Non-hoodie one is wearing a baseball cap. Hoodie one is wearing a USA flag (red/white/blue) cloth face mask.

This is the second such event on this block within the past three weeks (that I know about). The first time the intruders also forced entry into the neighboring house. Fortunately the offenders decided to crash there for a while, the police were summoned and they were arrested. That house was (and still is) unoccupied, it just got sold and the new owners have not moved in yet.

A police report has been filed.

SCAM CALL: From WSCurmudgeon:

Today a bit after 2 PM, the following voice mail message was left on my mobile phone:

“… department is to inform you that there is a legal enforcement actions [sic] filed on your social security number for fraudulent activity. So when you get this message kindly call back at the earliest possible on [sic] our number before we begin with the legal proceedings. That is 833 972 ****. I repeat 833 972 ****. Thank you. ”

Versions of this scam have been around for years. You’ve mentioned these types of scams periodically, so thought you might want to do so again. The Social Security Administration (SSA) never initiates contact with recipients via phone regarding their benefits or problems with their accounts. A mailed notice always precedes any telephone contact.

I definitely did NOT call this number back. I reported this call to the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General. It’s easy to do online.

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PHOTOS: West Seattle sunrise & sunset

July 31, 2020 7:20 pm

| 5 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

Some beautiful photos have arrived in the past ~22 hours. First – an unidentified texter sent this early today:

The rest are views of Thursday’s sunset, which happened while we were out covering a protest. From Jan Pendergrass:

From Jim Borrow:

From Curry Gibson:

And from Kanit Cottrell:

Some wildfire smoke contributed to the color – weather analyst Cliff Mass explains.

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GRATITUDE: Generous donations during ‘huge success’ shredding event

July 31, 2020 5:26 pm

| 5 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | Westwood

(WSB photo, July 11th)

The totals are in – here’s how the shredding event and food drive co=sponsored by John L. Scott Real Estate-Westwood (WSB sponsor) went:

John L Scott Westwood & Evergreen Home Loans’ Shred Event was a huge success for the 2nd year in a row!

In a matter of 2 hours (on July 11), over 4.25 tons of shredding had been done!

With cars starting to line up an hour prior to the event kickoff, Confidential Data Disposal had to order a second truck to satisfy the demand! A big thank you to Confidential Data Disposal for providing tremendous service and acting quickly to provide an additional truck. Armed with gloves, sanitizer, and masks, our volunteers from John L Scott Westwood & Evergreen Home Loans were able to make shredding as easy and safe as possible! Thank you to our many volunteers!

Our White Center Food Bank Neighbors benefit BIG!

The White Center Food Bank tripled the amount of donations they received from last year’s event by receiving $4300 in cash donations and 1025 pounds of food. A huge shoutout to everyone who was able to give back to our local community!

Thank you to those who were able to participate in our event – we appreciate your effort in helping give back to the local community and environment.

THANK YOU

John L Scott Westwood

You of course can help the WCFB – which also serves southernmost West Seattle – any time; here’s how.

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TRAFFIC ALERT: Sylvan Way work Sunday

July 31, 2020 3:38 pm

| 5 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

SDOT crews will be back on Sylvan Way this Sunday, cutting more trees and other vegetation to improve visibility. The work is planned for 9 am to 4 pm and will include lane reductions; uniformed officers wiil be there to direct traffic. Meantime, SDOT has reiterated that radar-equipped speed-limit signs are on order – as first reported here last week – with four planned, to try to slow down speeders on the increasingly popular route for bridge-detour traffic.

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Chelan Café closed after staff member tests positive for COVID-19

July 31, 2020 2:14 pm

| 8 COMMENTS

| Coronavirus | West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news | West Seattle restaurants

Received from the Chelan Café:

The Chelan Cafe will be closed until further notice.

On Friday, July 31st, a staff member from the cocktail lounge tested positive for COVID-19. As a result of this positive test and out of an abundance of caution, we are closing both the restaurant and the Ebb Tide Room temporarily.

During this closure, our employees will be tested and a company will be hired to conduct a deep cleaning. We will not be re-opening until all employees test negative. The well-being of our community, customers, and employees will always be our first priority, and we thank you for your support during this difficult time.

Thank you,
Mary Manning-Smith
Owner- Chelan Cafe

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WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE CLOSURE: Search starts for tolling-and-more study consultant; ‘Reconnect’ survey deadline

July 31, 2020 12:42 pm

| 55 COMMENTS

| West Seattle Bridge Safety Project | West Seattle news

(WSB photo, earlier this week)

As stabilization work continues on the four-months-closed West Seattle Bridge, two notes today:

TOLLING-AND-MORE CONSULTANT SOUGHT: The city has launched another consultant search in relation to the bridge closure and repair-or-replace process. It’s for an up to $2 million contract to carry out a “traffic and revenue” analysis that would look at, among other things, how much money tolling could raise toward the funding that’ll be needed. Accompanying the announcement is an SDOT Blog post that explains in part:

We have not decided to enact tolling. Instead, this study provides a starting point for discussions about whether tolling makes sense as one of the ways to pay for the West Seattle Bridge Program. Most important, it could serve as a critical precursor to securing federal funding.

The plan to seek a consultant for this study was previewed during a meeting of the bridge project Community Task Force earlier this month.

‘RECONNECT WEST SEATTLE’ DEADLINE: Final reminder – the Reconnect West Seattle mobility survey closes today, as do the “prioritization” lists of potential projects in four areas affected by detour traffic. The main survey is here; the neighborhood-prioritization surveys are here (Highland Park/Riverview/South Delridge/Roxhill), here (South Park), here (Georgetown), and here (SODO).

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UPDATE: Seattle City Council considers police-budget cuts

July 31, 2020 10:40 am

| 154 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle police | West Seattle politics

10:40 AM: Under way online, the Seattle City Council is meeting as the Select Budget Committee in two sessions today – one under way now, and a second session scheduled to start at 2 pm. After weeks of discussion, this afternoon is when councilmembers are considering specific Seattle Police-related amendments to this year’s budget. Those amendments finally started appearing in the system last night/this morning – here are the more than three dozen proposed SPD-related amendments:

After today’s discussions – which include other budget cuts too (here’s the full agenda packet), as the city deals with a nine-digit revenue loss because of the pandemic-sparked economic crunch – a final vote is expected next Monday morning. Contact info for the council is here.

P.S. To clarify, what the council is doing right now relates only to the 2020 (current) budget – an entirely separate process later this year will focus on next year’s budget, police and otherwise.

2:04 PM: The council has just convened the second session. Apparently the final vote, at least on these, will not be Monday – “discussion” next Monday and Wednesday has been mentioned. Also mentioned – by Councilmember Debora Juarez – the fact that the amendments came out late last night/early this morning, so no one’s had a ton of time to review then,

2:16 PM: Council staff says the amendments will be voted on next Wednesday (August 5).

5:53 PM; The council just adjourned. They have mire amendments left to discuss Monday, 10 am-ish.

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WEST SEATTLE SCENE: Busy morning on Elliott Bay

July 31, 2020 9:54 am

| 5 COMMENTS

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news

Thanks to Stewart L. for the photo – he noticed the Water Taxi navigating through “at least 100 boats” around 6 am. This site indicates salmon fishing is allowed today in East Elliott Bay, so that’s the big draw.

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

July 31, 2020 6:21 am

| 4 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

6:21 AM: It’s Friday, the 130th 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; here’s our overall update.

*No 1st Ave. S. Bridge northbound closure scheduled tonight, but the closures will resume Sunday, 10 pm-5 am. The West Seattle low bridge is open to all traffic during those hours.

CHECK THE TRAFFIC BEFORE YOU GO

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

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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CORONAVIRUS: Thursday 7/30 roundup, delayed

July 31, 2020 1:46 am

| Comments Off on CORONAVIRUS: Thursday 7/30 roundup, delayed

| Coronavirus | West Seattle news

For the second night this week, a late-night protest took us away from the desk for a few hours, so the roundup is delayed, but here we go:

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

*15,039 people have tested positive, up 160 from yesterday

*647 people have died, up 3 from yesterday

*1,946 people have been hospitalized, up 11 from yesterday

*291,076 people have been tested, up 5,771 from yesterday

One week ago, those totals were 13,834/636/1,838/256,588.

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

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 17.3 million cases worldwide, and the U.S. is at almost 4.5 million. See the nation-by-nation breakout here.

WEST SEATTLE TESTING: Our weekly reminder – Friday is the weekly drive-up testing day in the north lot at South Seattle College (6000 16th SW; WSB sponsor), Despite the original announcement, it actually starts at 9:30 am and continues until 3 pm, and you’re advised to get there early if you can.

SPEAKING OF TESTING: The mayor plans a media briefing Friday morning to announce “the expansion of free citywide testing.”

ALSO TALKING ABOUT TESTING ... was the governor, issuing a proclamation that he says will safeguard personal information in the contact-tracing process.

WISH YOU HAD BEEN BETTER PREPARED … pre-pandemic? The city has a few questions for you.

GOT PHOTOS/TIPS? 206-293-6302, text or voice, or westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

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