West Seattle, Washington
26 Friday
First virus-crisis roundup of the new month:
KING COUNTY’S NUMBERS: From the Public Health daily-summary dashboard:
*19,711 people have tested positive, up 46 from yesterday’s total
*724 people have died, up 4 from yesterday’s total
*2,234 people have been hospitalized, up 5 from yesterday’s total
*365,209 people have been tested, up 3,774 from yesterday’s total
One week ago, those totals were 18,877/712/2,198/344,954.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them here.
TWO MORE AREA DEATHS: 98116 has recorded its 4th death, and 98146 has its 13th. Here are the current counts in the three other zip codes that are entirely or partly within West Seattle:
98136 – 3
98106 – 4
98126 – 14
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: Find them here.
SHELTER MOVES: The Southwest Teen Life Center is no longer hosting a temporary “de-intensifying” shelter for youth/young adults.
BACK TO SCHOOL: We looked at the pandemic-era plans for two more independent schools tonight – Tilden School and Westside School (both WSB sponsors).
‘HAZARD PAY’ PROTEST: Grocery workers who want their employers to reinstate “hazard pay” demonstrated at Westwood Village today.
#REDALERT: As mentioned in our daily preview, many Seattle buildings were illuminated in red tonight to call attention to the still-shuttered live-events industry. See a sampling here.
BRIEFING TOMORROW: For the weekly update on the statewide situation, watch the media briefing with the state’s COVID-19 response leaders tomorrow (Wednesday) at 2 pm; it’ll be streamed here.
GOT SOMETHING TO REPORT? westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302, text/voice – thank you!
Two notes tonight:
STOLEN CAR: From David in Arbor Heights:
My car was stolen last night.
2019 Kia Optima, White, License # BRL4508
Stolen from in front of my house: (10000 block of) 40th Ave SW
If you see it, call 911.
POLICE CHANGES: Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz and Mayor Jenny Durkan plan a media briefing at 11 am Wednesday on Diaz’s announcement late today of a change in assignment for more than 100 SPD personnel – moving them out of specialty units and into patrol. That just happens to be the same number the City Council voted to cut, also mostly from specialty units, in the budget-rebalancing package the mayor vetoed. What will it mean for our precinct? You can watch the livestream here.
Continuing our look at how West Seattle’s independent/parochial schools are starting this pandemic-enmeshed year: Westside School (WSB sponsor) in Arbor Heights has a hybrid plan – some remote, some in-person, and the preK-8 school already has laid out how that will change if/when COVID-19 risk levels change. The step-by-step plan, tied to those risk levels, is here.
Since King County is currently still considered “high risk,” Westside plans to “maintain three in-person days for our PS/PK/K students and one weekly in-person day for our 2nd-4th grade students,” which the school says is “directly linked to the (state Department of Health) recommendation to include ‘limited in-person learning in small groups … for the highest-need students, (including) younger learners’.” 5th through 8th graders will start the year all-remote, and they’ll stay that way until King County moves to Phase 3, when they’ll attend in person on alternating days, while lower grades will then be on campus full time. The school’s plan also details transition time and building reconfiguration steps when the risk level drops – for example, they’ll wait five days before starting to move to the next stage of the plan, to be sure the reduction in the risk level isn’t short-lived.
School starts tomorrow for preschool, pre-K, K, and 4th graders, while 5th and 6th graders will have an off-campus “in-person experiential learning” day.
We’re continuing to check with West Seattle’s independent and parochial schools as the new school year starts with pandemic-related concerns and restrictions still in effect. Tilden School (WSB sponsor) is an independent K-5 school on the north edge of The Junction; their response to our inquiry was simple – “We are planning on doing 100% remote instruction until the COVID situation in Seattle gets safer.” The first day of classes is one week from tomorrow – Wednesday, September 9th.
(WSB photo from March, Southwest Teen Life Center)
The city announced today that three “temporary de-intensifying shelters,” including one at Southwest Teen Life Center in Westwood, have moved. The West Seattle shelter, operated by YouthCare, has moved to The Christ Spirit Church in Beacon Hill “through the end of the year while YouthCare’s new permanent facility in South Seattle is completed,” the city says. The shelter has been serving “up to 15 young adults.” With the move, the city is about to offer child care and teen-learning programming at SWTLC instead, as explained here, in another city announcement made today. The temporary shelter was intended to enable more distancing in existing shelter space; the SWTLC usage was announced in late March but didn’t start immediately – it wasn’t until May that YouthCare started operating the space, which at the time was announced as potentially housing 30 youth/young adults.
Just received from Kay:
Stolen – 2003 Subaru Legacy wagon, AAE6890 – thieves may’ve changed plates.
Silver, sun & moon roof, tinted windows, dirty, as been camping. Black leather interior. Stolen after 10 PM, Monday night to early Tuesday AM from 9400 block 21st Ave SW, West Seattle, between Roxbury & Cambridge. Contact police or 310.904.3191. REWARD OFFERED.
First call to make if you see it is 911.
Just outside Westwood Village this afternoon, QFC workers who are members of UFCW Local 21 demonstrated in support of “hazard pay” for themselves and other “essential workers.” It’s a national week of action on that topic, according to the union, which says QFC’s parent corporation Kroger “cut hazard pay” by mid-May. They are also advocating for the right to wear Black Lives Matter buttons on the job:
The union says stores have an inconsistent policy on the buttons and that some workers have been told not to wear them. Community members who heard about this came to this afternoon’s protest to show support:
We’re checking with the company on both issues.
Though Seattle Public Schools will start the year with remote learning, some of its campuses will offer in-person student health services. The announcement is from King County Public Health:
Health centers will open on 34 school campuses in King County this September, to provide health services for students – including flu shots and other vaccines – even when the instruction is online.
Even though most schools are starting with online learning this fall, more than 30 campuses will be open for in-person health-care services.
They have School-Based Health Centers that offer routine primary care, including vaccinations, as well as mental health counseling. Several even have dental services. Seasonal flu vaccine will also be available.
The health centers serve any student enrolled in the participating school districts. They operate at 27 Seattle Public Schools, including all high schools and middle schools, along with a number of elementary schools. … The centers are independent clinics based inside schools or on school campuses, staffed by health professionals.
Public Health coordinates the network of 34 clinics, and directly operates three locations. All the others staffed and operated by community health-care providers, which compete through a Request for Application process to provide health services.
The full list of clinics around the county is here, including seven West Seattle schools – Chief Sealth International High School, Denny International Middle School, Highland Park Elementary, Madison Middle School, Roxhill Elementary, West Seattle Elementary, and West Seattle High School, all operated by Neighborcare Health.
Today we welcome a new WSB sponsor, We Sweat – an infrared-sauna salon and dealer. New sponsors get to tell you about their business; here’s what We Sweat would like you to know:
We Sweat is West Seattle’s first Infrared Sauna Salon. We Sweat opened its doors January 12, 2020, with an overwhelming response from the community. The business was only open for two months before the COVID-19 shutdown, but in that time hosted more than 500 sauna sessions.
Athena Frederick, the owner, is a United States Army Veteran, trained in Biomedical Engineering; her career before becoming a mom was in the medical-device field. She moved to West Seattle in 2009 and immediately started a business formerly known as Stroller Strides, sold in 2012 as it was being rebranded to Fit4Mom. Athena had 9 locations throughout Seattle and won the national Franchisee of the Year sward. This business was supportive of motherhood in the early years and built a community of families that are still friends and now raising teenagers together. From this business, a running club was formed, and after 11 years they are still meeting weekly on Alki and running the annual Ragnar Relay event. She is mom to two teenage boys and for over 7 years has been active in various PTAs and served on the PTA Board at Genesee Hill Elementary for 4 years as the volunteer coordinator and Move-A-Thon co-chair. Health and wellness, community service, and fully funding public schools are just some of her greatest passions.
In 2019. when Athena decided to return to the workforce, her entrepreneurial spirit took over and the idea for an infrared sauna salon was born. Balancing work/ family life has always been a top priority. Due to injuries sustained in the military, Athena has worked hard to maintain active and healthy and has found some holistic ways to manage pain and anxiety. Infrared heat is something she discovered on vacation and she frequently visited a spa in Lynnwood to help ease some of her chronic pain. It was her dream to open a spa similar to the Olympus Spa, but coed. Additionally, she wanted to get into the nonprofit world and create a group based on volunteerism, Women Serving West Seattle. During the COVID-19 shutdown, she used the salon as a staging area to collect food and supplies for families in need.
The original goal of creating a space where you could come in for self-care and a sauna and then hang out in the “chill” area had to be rethought because of the COVID-19 crisis. We closed our indoor chill area and made the salon less of a place to “hang out.” Today folks come in for their hour in an individual sauna suite and then leave or hang out in our outdoor chill area reading a book. We are located at 2705 California Ave SW, the former location of the family-owned West Coast Cruises. We are their first renters after they operated a West Seattle business for over 20 years. The building has 6 individual rooms with doors and was the perfect location for a salon, with social distancing already in place, no build-out required. Each sauna suite is provided with fresh towels and the room is sanitized between uses with an Ultraviolet Wand, nontoxic disinfectants, and an ultraviolet air-purifying system. These infrared saunas are the most hygienic out there because they do not retain moisture, and our cedar saunas are naturally antimicrobial.
We chose the nationally known Jacuzzi (R) branded saunas because they are designed by doctors and have the lowest EMF of any sauna out there. Infrared Saunas are being recognized by doctors everywhere as helpful with chronic inflammation, anxiety/depression, skin conditions, Lyme disease, cancer recovery, and detox for flight attendants and firefighters.
In response to the COVID-19 shutdown, our sauna salon purchased more saunas so we have 7 to choose
from; we also have a showcase of saunas as we have recently become an infrared sauna dealer for Jacuzzi. People can schedule a time to visit our salon to see the different models and also try out a session before purchasing a sauna for their in-home use. These are low-cost and many don’t have additional electrical requirements. We are also selling Jacuzzi’s doctor-designed Ultraviolet Wand.
We welcome anyone to join us in the salon. Our mission statement is to be an inclusive place to create a health-conscious community. For those interested in purchasing a sauna for in-home use, one of our biggest sales of the year is happening now for Labor Day. We have new-client specials on the website and we have single sauna suites or saunas that can be shared. We have strict COVID-19 policies in place. You can find additional information on our website.
We thank We Sweat for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.
11:08 AM: Right around sunset last night, transient orcas were headed this way again. This morning, Kersti Muul tells us they’re back in the area, seen southbound, north of Blake Island, within the past half hour. Let us know if you see them!
11:58 AM: Thanks for the updates in comments! We also got a text from Jay reporting that they’re off Dilworth (Vashon), still southbound.
Last November, we reported that the redevelopment plan for the small mixed-use building and house at 6016 California SW had been downsized – from 38 units (almost all microapartments) to seven townhouses. Now the city has published a key approval for the plan, which has no offstreet vehicle parking. The approval opens a 2-week period for appeals; this notice explains how to file one.
(Olympic Mountains, this morning. Photo by Chris Frankovich)
Quick Tuesday notes as September starts:
DEMONSTRATION: The first of two weekly streetcorner demonstrations:
Black Lives Matter sign waving
Tuesday Sept 1, 4 to 6 pm, corner of 16th SW and SW Holden
Thursday, Sept 3, 4 to 6 pm , 16th and Holden
Come show support for BLM and ending systemic racism. Hold signs, meet neighbors and stand for racial justice. Scott at PR Cohousing, endorsed by Hate-Free Delridge. Signs available.
BRIDGE UPDATE: 5 pm, the Levy to Move Seattle Oversight Committee meets online, and a short West Seattle Bridge update is part of the agenda, which includes info on how to connect.
(Last night’s moonrise over West Seattle, photographed from Blakely Harbor by Harley Broe)
SKYLINE IN RED: If you look across Elliott Bay tonight, you might see signs of this:
With theatres, music venues, sporting arenas, and other live events venues shut indefinitely, local workers are taking part in a national day of action to bring attention to an industry on the brink.
On September 1, venues across Seattle will be lit up in red as part of the #WeMakeEvents #RedAlert Day of Action. Displaced entertainment workers and live event companies are calling for additional economic relief, including an extension of the expired $600/week unemployment benefits and passage of the RESTART Act with added labor protections.
Without action, workers fear not only for their own future but for the survival of the Live Events Industry as a whole. Action is needed to preserve this invaluable public good and to ensure once the pandemic is over that the show will go on.
6:07 AM: It’s Tuesday, the 162nd morning without the West Seattle Bridge.
ROAD WORK
*The Delridge project paving the way for RapidRide H Line continues. Here’s the newest bulletin about where work is focused this week.
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 – No recent changes – still reduced service and distancing – details here.
Water Taxi – Still on its “winter” schedule, with the 773 and 775 shuttles running – 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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