West Seattle, Washington
08 Sunday
Here’s what you need to know about the pandemic tonight:
NEWEST NUMBERS: First, the update from the Public Health daily-summary dashboard:
*104,256 people have tested positive, 372 more than yesterday’s total
*1,533 people have died, 1 more than yesterday’s total
*5,924 people have been hospitalized, 10 more than yesterday’s total
*1,051,030 people have been tested, 1,666 more than yesterday’s total
One week ago, the four totals we track were 97,620/1,514/5,784/1,036,081.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them, county by county, on the state Department of Health page.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 156 million cases worldwide, 32.6 million of them in the U.S. See the nation-by-nation breakout here.
VACCINATION VISITS: Tomorrow’s the first of the city’s new pop-up clinics in neighborhood business districts. This will be in the U-District, but a West Seattle Junction visit is planned Saturday, May 15th – stand by for details.
NEED A RIDE TO GET A SHOT? Free and discounted transportation is available.
NEED FOOD? The Greater Seattle Filipino-American SDA Church is offering free food boxes again this Saturday, 2-4 pm. Just show up at 2620 SW Kenyon.
GOT INFO/PHOTOS/TIPS? 206-293-6302, text or voice, or westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
Two more West Seattle Crime Watch notes tonight:
STOLEN BICYCLE: The photo and report are from Jake:
My wife’s bike was stolen from a shared garage in the 4700 block of 41st Ave SW around noon on May 4th. The thief slipped under the garage door behind a car that was exiting the building. The bike isn’t worth much money so it may have been dumped somewhere before leaving West Seattle. Please be on the lookout. Bike is posted to the Index and a Police report has been filed (#2021-110446)
FIRE-SETTING ARREST: A 51-year-old man is in jail tonight, bail set at $1,000, arrested for investigation of reckless burning. Police say that they responded to an area across from Westwood Village just after 8 pm last night, after a complaint that someone was “using lit newspaper to try to catch a wooden residential fence on fire.” The report adds, “The resident of the house pulled the lit newspaper out of the fence before the wood caught on fire.”
(WSB photo from March, when CSIHS defeated WSHS in the annual Huling Bowl)
Under first-year head coach Daron Camacho, the just-concluded football season was a big success for Chief Sealth International High School, finishing 5-2, and now there’s word of postseason honors for some members of the team. Check out the Metro Sound Division all-league team list:
The Seahawks’ honorees are:
2021 METRO SOUND ALL-LEAGUE TEAM
LEAGUE MVP: Zack Cunningham – #3, Chief Sealth senior
LINEMAN OF THE YEAR: Uiligi Vasega – #60, Chief Sealth senior1ST TEAM
QB, Teagan Gaither, #5, senior
WR & SAFETY, Quinn Killham, #4, senior
DL, Ja’Hiem Scott, #12, senior2ND TEAM
OL, Emmanuel Magdeleno Deluna, #59, senior
OL, Jameil Quilantang, #70, senior
MLB, Mason Vaughn-Thomas, #7, junior
OLB, Grayson Leui-Steele, #33, sophomore
DL, Ethan Heathershaw, #41, junior (also Honorable Mention as TE)HONORABLE MENTION
WR, Demiko Bousley, #8, sophomore
DL, Randy Johnson, #79, senior
DL, Tre’Shawn Vinson, #55, senior
As reported here Tuesday, the city’s trying new tactics to get more people vaccinated, including pop-up vaccination clinics in various neighborhood business districts. We noted that the West Seattle Junction Association had heard from the city about hosting one. Now the date is set – WSJA executive director Lora Radford says the clinic is planned for 10 am-noon on Saturday, May 15th. So if you’re not vaccinated yet but might find that more convenient for you than what’s available now, stand by for more details!
Looking through city permit-system files, we happened onto a new tenant on the way to Westwood Village. The former Sprint (and before that, Radio Shack) space in the middle of the shopping center is slated to become an Xfinity store. We contacted Comcast‘s regional spokesperson Nick McDonald for confirmation. The reply: “This is going to be one of our standard Xfinity Retail Store locations that Comcast operates. It will offer a welcoming and modern retail environment that highlights the complete line of Xfinity Home and Comcast Business technology offerings,” including, he added, “Xfinity Mobile, Xfinity X1, Xfinity Home, the Xfinity Flex 4K streaming device, and Xfinity Internet.” No opening date yet. The site-plan layout suggests it’ll be something like this one in Ballard; the company’s nearest retail outlets are downtown and in Tukwila.
Another long-awaited reopening is on the way. The Southwest Seattle Historical Society has just announced the reopening date for its home base, the Log House Museum on Alki:
Opening Day is on its way! The Southwest Seattle Historical Society is thrilled to announce that our beloved Log House Museum will be reopening to the public on Friday, May 21st 2021 from 12:00 to 4:00 PM.
Want to see our new exhibits before anyone else? Become a member today HERE since the Log House Museum will be open for a members only opening weekend May 14th, 15th, and 16th from 12:00 to 4:00 PM.
From White Center to Delridge, South Park to Alki, we love being stewards of your local history. Visit the museum to explore The Alki Suffrage Club to discover how Alki women were key players in gaining women’s suffrage in 1910, and what the impacts of WWII were on local high schoolers through War on the Homefront.
Our community is full of historic changemakers – so come tell us your stories!
The Southwest Seattle Historical Society is committed to fostering a healthy environment for our entire community. As such, face masks are required for all museum visitors over the age of 2. Visitors can also expect increased ventilation through the museum, frequent cleaning, and capacity limits.
Please check our website often for important updates about how to plan your visit and what you can expect upon your arrival to the museum. For more information you can also call us at 206-350-0999 or email us at museum@loghousemuseum.org. We look forward to welcoming you back.
If you haven’t been to the museum, it’s a cozy, historic building at 61st/Stevens. The SWSHS has been busy with many virtual offerings during the closure – tomorrow night you are invited to view the awards ceremony for its recent youth writing contest!
Three notes in Crime Watch this morning:
RYAN COX UPDATE: Since his post-prison-release arrest last week, we’ve been watching the case. This morning, the VINE system sent notification that he is out of custody. The SCORE jail roster shows him still there with “scheduled release” tonight, so we are working to clarify. Regarding last week’s arrest, Department of Corrections spokesperson Jacque Coe told WSB that he “was arrested on a DOC warrant for two alleged violations; a) failure to comply with approved prison release address, and b) absconding by failure to report. As a condition of his supervision, he was to report to a field office within one business day of his release where geographical conditions, if any, would be discussed with him at that time, in addition to other resources of support specific to his needs.”
BUILDING-BURGLARY ARREST: A 36-year-old man is in jail, accused of breaking into a Morgan Junction apartment building in the 6500 block of California SW late Tuesday night. Police were called when the break-in was seen on live security video, with the burglar using a hammer to damage mailboxes, according to the SPD report. Police were told the suspect was first caught in the building three hours earlier, told to leave, then came back. Not only were the mailboxes damaged, the report says, two building doors also had handle damage, and door locks on two tenants’ vehicles were damaged. Police reviewed recorded security video and noted a “garden hoe” being used to damage the mailboxes as well as a hammer; both were found and taken into evidence. The police report says the suspect told police he had just ingested drugs, including heroin, so he was taken to Harborview for evaluation before being booked into jail. Online records show the suspect is awaiting trial for charges in three building break-ins on SW Avalon Way last November. We’ll update after his expected bail hearing in this case later today.
WHITE CENTER VANDALISM: Local community advocates are circulating this link to a crowdfunding campaign to help more than half a dozen White Center businesses deal with the damage done by vandals in recent months, and asked us to share it with you. The cases are being investigated by the King County Sheriff’s Office; we hope to get an update during tonight’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting (7 pm, online).
9:03 AM: Big emergency response for a crash at 30th/Thistle.- details to come.
9:14 AM: Witnesses report this followed a pursuit involving King County Sheriff’s Deputies, which we had just started hearing about before this call. Photo added. We’re still working to find out what led to the pursuit. Two people were in the car and both are out.
9:20 AM: Thistle will be blocked in that area for a while because of the KCSO investigation. SPD is assisting with traffic control until KCSO can send more units.
9:39 AM: KCSO tells us at the scene that this started with deputies trying to pull the car over for potentially stolen license plates. At some point, they say, the driver rammed one or more KCSO vehicles. No serious injuries reported; the driver and a passenger were being questioned.
9:56 AM: Just talked to KCAO spokesperson Sgt. Tim Meyer. He confirms a PIT maneuver was done to stop the car and that its driver had “rammed two patrol cars.” One deputy has been taken to the hospital “as a precautionary measure.” The driver is in custody and has “multiple warrants.” This all started outside the Roxbury Safeway.
One more note – Thistle is blocked about a block west of the city’s vaccination hub, so to get there, you’ll have to approach from the east – get to westbound Thistle from Delridge, for example. We’ll check back on the street’s status later.
12:45 PM: Thistle is still closed.
3:03 PM: Finally got back over to check again; the street has reopened.
6:03 AM: Good morning! Cloudy, breezy forecast for today.
ROAD WORK UPDATES
Delridge project – Delridge/Orchard work continues, plus repaving of Delridge Way’s north end.
35th/Graham – Work continues, with Graham closed on both sides of 35th.
SW Yancy east of Avalon – Still closed.
Home Zones – Speed-hump installation continues around the Highland Park, South Delridge, and Riverview areas.
West Marginal sidewalk – More work this weekend, on the west side of the road, north of the Duwamish Tribe Longhouse.
TRANSIT
The West Seattle Water Taxi is on its spring/summer schedule – all day, 7 days a week, plus Friday and Saturday evenings, which means the free 773 and 775 shuttles are running daily too.
Metro is on a regular schedule. Even if you seldom ride, you’re invited to respond to this new survey.
BRIDGES AND DETOUR ROUTES
409th morning without the West Seattle Bridge. Here’s how it’s looking on other bridges and routes:
Low Bridge: 17th week for automated enforcement cameras; restrictions are in effect 5 am-9 pm daily – except weekends, when the bridge is now open to all until 8 am Saturday and Sunday mornings. (Access applications are now available for some categories of drivers.)
Here’s a low-bridge view:
West Marginal Way at Highland Park Way:
Highland Park Way/Holden:
The 5-way intersection (Spokane/West Marginal/Delridge/Chelan):
And the 1st Avenue South Bridge (map):
For the South Park Bridge (map), here’s the nearest camera:
Are bridges opening for boats or barges? Check the @SDOTBridges Twitter feed.
See all local traffic cams here; locally relevant cameras are also shown on this WSB page.
Trouble on the streets/paths/bridges/water? Please let us know – text (but not if you’re driving!) 206-293-6302.
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