day : 12/10/2020 13 results

That’s Sarah‘s e-bike, taken by whoever broke into her car at Genesee/Avalon: “They stole my Rad Power Bike and $200 worth of outdoor gear.” If anyone finds the bike, she has the serial number – we’ve reported on a couple stolen e-bikes lately that were dumped not far from where they were taken.

CORONAVIRUS: Monday 10/12 roundup

October 12, 2020 11:01 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| Coronavirus | West Seattle news

Here are tonight’s local pandemic-related toplines:

NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: Here’s today’s daily summary from Public Health – the cumulative countywide totals:

*24.205 people have tested positive, 152 more than yesterday’s total

*776 people have died, unchanged since Friday

*2,441 people have been hospitalized, 7 more than yesterday’s total

*483,132 people have been tested, 2,937 more than yesterday’s total

One week ago, the totals were 23,149/766/2,386/(not available).

STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here … but with this caveat.

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

NEED FOOD? Again this week, Food Lifeline will distribute free emergency boxes of food to anyone who shows up, 2-5 pm Friday (October 16th) at its South Park HQ, 815 S. 96th.

MEALS FOR STUDENTS & FAMILIES: It’s National School Lunch Week, a reason to remind you again that all students/parents/guardians – regardless of family income – are welcome to pick up meals at 7 Seattle Public Schools sites in West Seattle/South Park, 11:15 am-1:15 pm weekdays. (Also at that link: Info on the one bus route by which meals are delivered in north West Seattle.)

REOPENING: We’ve been checking the Admiral Theater marquee since the moviehouse’s announcement last Friday that it’s reopening this Friday (October 16th). This appeared today!

The Admiral’s website also shows what’ll be showing.

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

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WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE: Councilmember Herbold asks you – repair or replace? Plus, 3 other notes

October 12, 2020 7:57 pm

| 130 COMMENTS

| West Seattle Bridge Safety Project | West Seattle news

(WSB photo)

West Seattle Bridge notes tonight as the mayor’s repair-or-replace decision nears:

COUNCILMEMBER’S POLL: West Seattle/South Park City Councilmember Lisa Herbold sent email tonight launching a survey to ask you – repair or replace? You can answer here. Her email announcing the survey recaps what SDOT presented at last week’s Community Task Force meeting (WSB coverage here), from the forthcoming Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA).

ABOUT THAT ANALYSIS: The day after the meeting, we asked SDOT if the full CBA document is available yet, or at least the missing cost-in-dollars projections. They replied today:

The final Cost-Benefit Analysis is not yet complete.

As you know, we are at zero percent design. We do not have exact cost estimates at this point and, from a Cost-Benefit Analysis perspective, it is more important to have apples to apples comparisons of the scale of various alternatives. The most critical aspect is understanding which options would likely cost more than the other to carry out (repair or replace) and which would be more costly over the long-run in terms of operations and maintenance. As we finalize the Cost-Benefit Analysis, we will be able to provide more detail on the conceptual cost estimates we have developed through the CBA process.

ABOUT THE CAUSE: Another followup question we asked was for elaboration on Technical Advisory Panel co-chair Barbara Moffat‘s mention during last week’s meeting that they now understand what went wrong with the bridge. Here’s the reply we got, also today: “While our confidence in our understanding of the physics affecting the bridge has grown with time as we’ve been able to test our advanced engineering modeling by watching the bridge behave as predicted in response to seasonal temperature changes and our initial stabilization efforts, it may never be possible to determine with 100% certainty a single underlying cause of the bridge cracking, or even if there was a single isolated cause.” We’ll keep following up.

STABILIZATION UPDATE: SDOT is posting stabilization updates every Monday; today’s edition is here. Key points include that the release of the stuck Pier 18 bearing might happen as soon as next week, as well as a note that those two work platforms under the bridge will likely be there until late November.

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WEST SEATTLE WEATHER: Wind alert for Tuesday

October 12, 2020 6:49 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

6:49 PM: The National Weather Service has a “Wind Advisory” alert in effect for our area noon-6 pm Tuesday. What it’s currently forecasting:

* WHAT…Southwest winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts 45 to 50 mph expected. …

* IMPACTS…Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.

See the full text of the advisory here.

ADDED TUESDAY MORNING: The wind advisory moved ahead a few hours overnight – it’s now in effect 8 am-6 pm Tuesday.

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TRAFFIC/UTILITY ALERT: Water work in 3400 block California SW

October 12, 2020 6:10 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| Utilities | West Seattle news

Thanks to Ashley for the tip: A Seattle Public Utilities crew is working on what appears to be a water problem outside the Swedish clinic in the 3400 block of California SW, and a lane is closed as a result. The water-outage map shows no one without service – let us know if you know otherwise.

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SCHOOLS: Virtual open house Saturday for families interested in Explorer West MS

October 12, 2020 5:08 pm

| 3 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

(September photo from EWMS)

Though no one knows yet what’s ahead for the rest of this school year, planning for next year goes on – and that means open houses for some schools. Explorer West Middle School (WSB sponsor) is holding its first virtual open house on Saturday – here’s the invitation:

Our re-imagined virtual events have been created to offer you an in-depth look at our school. Our first event is at 10 AM on October 17. We invite you to meet our faculty, administration, students, families, and alumni. Topics covered include:

*Our programs, including core, co-curricular, and afterschool offerings
*Our current hybrid schedule
*Outdoor classrooms
*Life in our community

We will be on hand to answer questions and discuss admissions. The event is free for families to attend, and tickets are available through Eventbrite. Please contact Dawn with any questions at 206-935-0495 or dawnf@explorer-west.org.

If this one doesn’t work for you, EWMS plans an evening event in early December.

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ELECTION 2020: 2 days until ballots go out. What if you’ve moved?

October 12, 2020 3:33 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

(WSB photo – seen today in Gatewood)

King County Elections sends out ballots on Wednesday, so yours could arrive as soon as Thursday. But what if you’ve moved? A WSB Community Forums member posted that they’d heard ballots wouldn’t be forwarded, so we contacted KC Elections to ask. Not true, responded KCE spokesperson Hannah Kurowski – here’s what people who have moved need to know:

-If USPS has a forwarding address for someone, they will automatically forward their ballot on to them, even if the voter has not updated their address on their voter registration.

-King County Elections receives data from USPS regularly with updated addresses and, after doing voter outreach, makes those changes in our system.

-If USPS does not have a forwarding address for the voter, their ballot would be returned to us as undeliverable. When a ballot is returned as undeliverable, if the voter does not vote in the election another way (i.e. In-person at a Vote Center or by printing out their ballot online and mailing it that way), then their registration record would become ‘inactive’. If this happens. we send a notice to the voter asking them to update their address with us and they will not automatically receive a ballot in the next election – unless we hear back from them first. It’s incredibly easy to move from ‘inactive’ to ‘active’ and prompt that automatic ballot once again, we just have to hear from the voter to confirm their address.

-This is one of the reasons we try to be clear with voters about contacting us if they do not receive a ballot and they believe they should have. If a voter gives us a call before October 26, we can get a new ballot out to their new address. After October 26, they would need to come in person to update their address. Or they can go online and print their ballot from home if they would prefer to do that instead.

If voters want to contact us, they can email us at elections@kingcounty.gov or call 206-296-VOTE (8683).

Once you get your ballot, you can take it to a drop box -(they open Thursday) West Seattle has three, plus there are others nearby including White Center and South Park – or send it via USPS mail, no stamp needed. Not registered yet? Go here.

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FOLLOWUP: City’s new electric-vehicle fast-charging station now open in West Seattle Junction

October 12, 2020 1:52 pm

| 11 COMMENTS

| Environment | Transportation | West Seattle news

West Seattle’s newest electric-vehicle fast-charging station is open – on 39th SW just south of West Seattle Bowl. Construction started six months ago but, like so many things, was slowed by the pandemic response. We’ve been following up with Seattle City Light to check on the progress, and got word today that the two-charger station is now open:

Details on the cost and how to use them are in this FAQ. Some fast facts are also part of its listing on the PlugShare map. This location was chosen a year and a half ago, after initial consideration of a site at Don Armeni Boat Ramp.

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CRIME WATCH FOLLOWUPS: Weekend gunfire, robbery

October 12, 2020 12:19 pm

| 8 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Early Saturday, we reported briefly on two incidents. Today, we obtained the report narratives:

SOUTH DELRIDGE GUNFIRE: This was reported at 16th/Trenton after 1 am, in connection with a reported gathering of about 20 people. A caller said someone wearing white pants had a gun tucked in his waistband. The officer who wrote the report arrived to find several people wearing white pants “standing on the sidewalk,” then walking away, while “yelling at SPD stating that the person that had fired the shot had already left the area.” None of them wanted to provide details or go on record as being a victim. “The group entered several parked cars and began to leave the area. A 45-cal shell casing was found in the roadway of 16 Av SW.” The report also notes that officers heard a car in the distance “driving at high speed,” then the sound of a collision, and evidence of a hit-run crash taking down a sign at 12th/Trenton, but no indication whether that was related.

JUNCTION ROBBERY: Just before midnight Friday night, officers responded to a report of a robbery at the Junction 7-11 (California/Erskine). The report clarifies that the store itself wasn’t robbed. The victim had been standing outside the store and told police he decided to clean the area, though he is not a store employee. He left his backpack by the store entrance while taking trash to a receptacle behind the store, and saw someone pick it up. He told that person to give it back. The thief refused, and then he and two people with him all took out pocket knives, the victim told police. They then got into a red, older-model, 4-door Cadillac with body damage and started to leave; the victim tried to open one of the car’s doors and was knocked down, but, he told police, unhurt. He described the three as “all black males in their teens … 16-19 years old, approximately 5’8”, and medium builds … the driver was wearing a white tank top (and the others) were wearing black pants and tops.” Police didn’t find the car or suspects. The backpack, in case you find one discarded, was black, JanSport brand, containing clothing and medication.

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Duwamish Tribe now offering ‘ecotours’

October 12, 2020 11:34 am

| 4 COMMENTS

| Duwamish Tribe | Environment | West Seattle news

(Duwamish Tribe Longhouse, WSB file photo)

On this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, you might wonder about ways to support the Duwamish Tribe. They’ve recently announced a new offering through the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center in West Seattle: Ecotours:

The Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center is continuing our education programs, and keeping safe protocols in place to protect our communities from COVID-19. Masks are required, and we stay outdoors physically distanced at all times during the tour. Group size is limited to four people to keep with CDC guidelines suggesting groups be no larger than five people.

Visit us to learn about and walk through Hah-ah-poos Duwamish Village right on the river across the street from the Longhouse. We can talk about the history of the village site, the history of colonization in the general area of King County, some traditional food sources, and traditional ecological/land stewardship practices.

Email: tours@duwamishtribe.org to schedule a tour, or fill out the form at www.duwamishtribe.org/ecotours.

Let us know in your email, or in the website form, if you have accessibility needs. We will do our best to accommodate, but there are some limitations to the trails and paths at Hah-ah-poos (T-107 park).

It is the mission that of all the programs at the Duwamish Longhouse be self-sustaining. We recommend that our tour participants donate $10-25 per person, but know that we will not turn anyone away for financial reasons so long as we have availability.

P.S. Wondering whether the Port of Seattle will change the name of the park to honor its history as the Hah-ah-poos village site, as supported by the tribe? The port says its park-naming announcements will happen October 27th.

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FYI: No USPS mail today; bank holiday too

October 12, 2020 11:13 am

| 5 COMMENTS

| Holidays | West Seattle news

Thanks to Forest for the reminder to remind you that there’s no USPS mail today, and post offices are closed, because of the federal holiday for Columbus Day; it’s a bank holiday, too (though not a mandatory observance). At the local/state level, though, this is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, without closures (aside from the ongoing pandemic-related changes).

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HALLOWEEN: Alki Elementary PTA fundraising with party packs

October 12, 2020 10:16 am

| 4 COMMENTS

| How to help | West Seattle news

Less than three weeks until Halloween. Here’s a school fundraiser to help with at-home celebrations:

Alki Elementary PTA is hosting a SPOOKtacular fundraiser this week!

Shop their Pop-Up (Boo!) Pumpkin Patch Presale! Your cute little monsters will love it so much, it’ll be scary. ;) Items are limited and will sell out. We’re just creepin’ it real. Trick or Treat yo self today! Sale ends Thursday, so order today: https://Alkipta.square.site/halloween

Double, double, toil & (keep your kids happily occupied and out of) trouble.

Family Party Packs available and include Carving Pumpkins, Carving Kit, Root Boo Buckets for 4 (include recipe cards, themed popcorn ball making kit, napkins, cups and fun festive treat toppings), and a Witch Spell Slime Bucket makes 2 spooky slime concoction (includes a Proper Witch’s Hat, plus spiders, eyeballs and bones to mix in, and a worry toad). Limited quantities. Get them before they disappear!

Free Party Pack Pickup at Ampersand Café on Alki (2536 Alki Ave SW) this Friday, October 16th from 4-6 PM. (Caution: Monsters! Keep 6 feet distance!)

$10 Local Delivery is available in West Seattle. Contactless and easy- party packs delivered to your front door!

Preorder at alkipta.square.site/Halloween

Eat, drink, and be scary as you create some hocus pocus together! Have questions? Send them to us at info@alkipta.com