day : 27/09/2020 9 results

Pandemic-related toplines for the end of September’s final weekend:

KING COUNTY’S NEWEST NUMBERS: First, the cumulative totals from the Public Health daily-summary dashboard:

*22,118 people have tested positive, up 118 from yesterday’s total

*758 people have died, unchanged since Friday

*2,355 people have been hospitalized, up 2 from yesterday’s total

*431,862 people have been tested, up 2,879 from yesterday’s total

One week ago, the totals were 21,459/748/2,313/417,239.

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.

WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 32.9 million cases and more than 996,000 deaths – see the nation-by-nation breakdown here.

STATEWIDE SITUATION REPORT: The newest one is out tonight, and the state declares we’re at a pandemic “crossroads.” From the announcement:

oday the Washington State Department of Health released the latest statewide situation report. The report shows COVID-19 case counts continue to decrease overall in both eastern and western Washington, though some counties are experiencing plateaus or increases in disease activity.

Report findings include:

*We can crush the curve heading into fall if we all make some small improvements to our current efforts to contain the virus. We’ve held the reproductive number (how many new people each COVID-19 patient will infect) close to one across the state since July. As of September 10, the best estimates of the reproductive number were 1.14 in western Washington and 0.92 in eastern Washington. The goal is a number well below one, which would mean COVID-19 transmission is declining.

*We continue to see significant differences in disease activity from county to county. Benton, Clark, Franklin, Pierce and Spokane counties are experiencing plateaus in their case counts. This is a concerning trend, since COVID-19 risk may increase going into the fall. In Spokane County, we’re seeing increases in case counts after September 10, which is particularly notable because data for that time period is not yet complete and we anticipate case counts will continue to rise as more test results are reported.

*We are at a crossroads statewide as people begin to spend more time indoors and some schools move to hybrid or other in-person models. Even slight increases in transmission due to these changes, may result in exponential growth. However, if we collectively make small improvements to our behavior and environments, we could decrease transmission enough to allow further K-12 school reopening. To illustrate, the report includes projections for Pierce County if transmission continues at current levels and if transmission decreases to mid-August levels.

Read the full report here.

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

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Scooter-share briefing, bridge update @ West Seattle Transportation Coalition

| Transportation | West Seattle news

(WSB photo, Tuesday)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Scooters have arrived.

Will they be a convenient transportation tool, a risk to riders and pedestrians, both, or neither? Hopes and concerns were at the heart of briefings during the West Seattle Transportation Coalition‘s September meeting, Thursday night online. The WSTC got a quick West Seattle Bridge update too.

Here’s what happened:

BRIDGE UPDATE: SDOT’s project lead Heather Marx presented this, with toplines similar to what the West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force heard the day before (WSB coverage here). Stabilization work continues; the contractor is starting the process of attaching brackets that will be necessary for post-tensioning steel work. Marx and a Northwest Seaport Alliance (Seattle and Tacoma ports) delegation toured the top of bridge in pouring rain.

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UPDATE: ‘Scenes of violence’ response in High Point

September 27, 2020 5:43 pm

| 3 COMMENTS

| High Point | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

5:43 PM: Another major emergency response, this time in High Point, near 32nd/Juneau. A 24-year-old man is reported to have suffered a gunshot wound inside a home. Police are trying to sort out the circumstances, while SFD tends to the victim. (The call classification “scenes of violence” applies generally to injuries or deaths involving a weapon.)

5:58 PM: The wounded man is being taken to Harborview Medical Center.

6:05 PM: We went over to check, as there was early radio communication that this might have been self-inflicted; officers on the scene are not commenting but they’re wrapping up, so thus far it’s not being treated as a crime scene.

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UPDATE: Short-lived water-rescue response in West Seattle

September 27, 2020 5:16 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| West Seattle news | WS breaking news

5:16 PM: Seattle Fire has a “water rescue response” headed for the 6700 block of Beach Drive [map] after a report of a possible overturned sailboat. Updates to come.

5:23 PM: The sailboat is reported to be unoccupied. The response has been canceled.

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GRATITUDE: Community members rush to help after a mom and son’s spill

September 27, 2020 4:41 pm

| 13 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle people

It wasn’t just those helmets that saved Connie Wolf and her son after a spill on Saturday. She sent this as an open letter to thank everyone who came to their rescue:

On Saturday afternoon I completely wiped out on my bicycle in front of the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal bus stop. It was a helmeted-head-hitting-the-concrete kind of fall.

My husband abandoned his own bike and came running to tend to me and our son, who was riding in the seat behind me.

Our only thoughts were for our 8-year-old and so we never got a chance to thank the beautiful people who supported us through what could have been a truly tragic accident. Thank you for stopping traffic for us, for staying with us until you knew we didn’t need an ambulance, and for just being there. We luckily escaped that scary experience with some aches and a few scabs.

Today I’m full of gratitude for all of the patient drivers and caring pedestrians at the scene who made sure we were okay. So many good people in the world, and West Seattle is especially blessed.

-Connie Wolf

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DELRIDGE PROJECT: 3rd try for Oregon closure, and what else is ahead

September 27, 2020 3:10 pm

| Comments Off on DELRIDGE PROJECT: 3rd try for Oregon closure, and what else is ahead

| Delridge | Transportation | West Seattle news

(WSB photo)

Before we get to the new week, it’s time for an update on the Delridge project paving the way for RapidRide H Line to launch next year. Key points of the week ahead, summarized by SDOT‘s project team, include another try at the twice-postponed work that will close SW Oregon east of Delridge:

We are now planning to start this work the weekend of October 2 – 5, with the closure beginning early Friday morning and lasting up until early Monday morning before morning traffic begins. The work is planned to continue the following weekend of October 9 – 12 with the same work schedule.

Beginning next week, crews will also be working on upgrading some curb ramps at 26th Ave SW and SW Brandon St. There won’t be any closures as a result of this work, but there will be flaggers directing traffic through the intersection. As with a lot of work happening in the corridor right now, this work is weather-dependent and subject to change.

The forecast for the week ahead looks almost summer-like. From the full weekly bulletin, other key points for this week:

… Beginning next week, we will begin demolishing the roadway between SW Hudson St and Puget Blvd SW on the west side

▪ We will pour concrete in early October once demolition has been completed. This work is weather-dependent and subject to change. …

… Through the end of next week, we will continue paving the sidewalks on the west side of the street between SW Thistle St and SW Trenton St

▪ Select driveways will need to be closed for up to 3 days as a part of this work. Properties will be notified in advance.

▪ This work is weather-dependent and the dates may change

▪ Later this fall, we will move to the east side of the street to complete similar work …

You can sign up for text alerts on the project – usually just one or two a week … by texting DELRIDGE to 33222.

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ELECTION 2020: Here’s when you’ll be able to start voting

September 27, 2020 12:37 pm

| 10 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

With a little over five weeks until Election Day, there’s been so much talk about early voting, some people have asked us why they don’t have a ballot yet. King County Elections mails ballots about three weeks in advance – this time around, they are scheduled to go out on Wednesday, October 14th.

After receiving a suggestion that voting could be done earlier online, we checked with KC Elections, whose spokesperson Halei Watkins explained that it was “available for service and overseas voters starting on 9/18. Ballots for those voters are mailed out on the same date – they get extra time per state and federal law because it can take longer for their ballot to arrive to them/get back to us via international mail. The law calls for 45 days in advance for those voters and we get them out the door a day or two before that deadline.” Otherwise, Watkins continued, “For all local voters, you can access your ballot online starting on 10/14, the day regular ballots are mailed. All voters should expect to see their ballot by the 10/19 mail delivery. We saw normal mail delivery times in the Primary, with 99.96% of ballots delivered within five days, and expect to see similar delivery times in the General. We’ve also added some mail tracking features to both outbound and inbound ballots so we can have a better sense of where each individual ballot is in the mail stream.”

As for returning your ballot, the county’s drop boxes open October 15th, the day after ballots are mailed. As we’ve reported, there are now three in West Seattle – South Seattle College (6000 16th SW; WSB sponsor) in front of the central administration building, along with The Junction (SW Alaska west of California) and High Point Library (3411 SW Raymond). For some West Seattleites, the drop boxes outside the South Park (8th Ave. S. and S. Cloverdale) and White Center (1409 SW 107th) libraries might be more convenient.

However you plan to vote, take note that there are major local ballot measures to decide as well as national and state races. You can start researching via the KC Elections website – ballot-measure info is here, candidate info is here.

(Not registered to vote? There’s still time – here’s how!)

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BIZNOTE: Vashon Fresh continuing in West Seattle into the fall

September 27, 2020 10:57 am

| 4 COMMENTS

| Fauntleroy | West Seattle news

(WSB photo, Fauntleroy, August)

If you are a fan of farm-fresh produce but can’t get to the West Seattle Farmers’ Market, you have options, and one of them will continue for another month into the fall: Vashon Fresh (WSB sponsor), with twice-weekly pickups in West Seattle. This is what Vashon Island growers/makers are doing this pandemic year instead of having their regular farmers’ market on the island. You can order online for one or both of two weekly pickup times, Wednesday and Saturday afternoons in the Fauntleroy UCC parking lot (9140 California SW), where you can drive/ride/walk right up to the booth. Vashon Fresh tells us they plan to continue the schedule through Saturday, October 31st. The available items, which you can preview here, change from week to week, but right now, for example, along with vegetables, fruit, and herbs, offerings include both food and non-food items – dairy, honey, seeds, body care, even handcrafted ceramics.

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WEST SEATTLE SUNDAY: Here’s what’s happening!

September 27, 2020 6:34 am

| 10 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle religion

(Soggy Steller’s Jay, photographed earlier this week by Jerry Simmons)

Here’s our list for fall’s first Sunday, starting as usual with West Seattle church services (mostly online, with a few in-person options), before we list other events:

ADMIRAL UCC: The worship service for today is here.

ALKI UCC: 10 am online service via Zoom – info and link on church’s home page.

ALL SOULS SEATTLE: Updated worship info is here, including the plan for today’s drive-thru communion.

BETHANY COMMUNITY CHURCH: Livestreaming for West Seattle here at 9:30 am.

CALVARY CHAPEL: Today’s service audio will be here, along with info on 10 am in-person service, 6 pm online all-church prayer and 7 pm online evening worship.

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS: West Seattle Ward has Sunday services via Zoom at 10 am, one hour long, all welcome. They last an hour. Here’s the link.

EASTRIDGE CHURCH: Livestreaming here at 9 am and 11 am.

FAUNTLEROY UCC: Service will be streamed at 10 am on the church’s YouTube channel.

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 ROSARY CATHOLIC CHURCH: Livestreaming at 8:30 am and 10:30 am here. Also, “in-person” attendance by pre-registration for ~~both those~~ Sunday Masses (as well as 5 pm Saturdays) – sign up here.

HOPE LUTHERAN: Today’s worship service and children’s story are viewable here.

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE CATHOLIC CHURCH: Livestreaming at 10 am, here. (To attend in-person Saturday Mass, register here.)

PEACE LUTHERAN: Livestreaming at 10:30 am on YouTube.

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH: 9 am, parking-lot service in church/school lot – bulletin is here, with info including the radio frequency. ONLINE: 10 am class “The Path,” and Kidz Club; 11:15 am livestreamed service, via YouTube (that bulletin is here). Little Free Pantry needs donations – if it’s full, drop off at the church office 10 am-3 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays.

TIBBETTS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH (WSB sponsor): The video service for today will be here, as will Sunday School.

TRINITY CHURCH: Livestreaming here, 10 am. (In-person services too; registration required.)

WEST SEATTLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: The video service for today 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. (In-person prayer services during the week – info here.)

WESTSIDE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CONGREGATION: Livestreaming at 10:30 am – information on today’s service is here.

WESTWOOD CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY: Online (and in-person) worship at 11 am; info here.

Any other churches to add? Please email us – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

Also today:

WEST SEATTLE GROUNDS ANNIVERSARY: The North Admiral coffee shop celebrates its second anniversary 7 am-3 pm today with free drinks! (2141 California SW)

WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm in The Junction. Scroll down the page at this link to find the vendor list and map for this week. (Enter at California/Alaska; pickups for online orders are at California/Oregon)

DONATION DRIVE: Food, diapers, men’s clothing, school supplies … all needed. Drop donations off outside Alki UCC, 10 am-3 pm – full details here. (6115 SW Hinds)

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: White Center Community Dinner Church will serve to-go meals at 5 pm, outside, near the Bartell Drugs parking lot in White Center, SW Roxbury St. & 15th Ave. SW (9600 15th Ave SW)

Anything else happening? Let us know – text 206-293-6302 – thank you!

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