West Seattle, Washington
14 Sunday
Here’s our weekly roundup of local pandemic updates, starting with the newest local numbers.
KING COUNTY CUMULATIVE NUMBERS AS OF FRIDAY:
137,785 people have tested positive – 4,138 more than a week ago (4,946 in West Seattle, up 189)
7,463 people have been hospitalized – 174 more than a week ago (230 from West Seattle, up 8)
1,776 people have died – 23 more than a week ago (69 in West Seattle, unchanged)
VACCINATION RATE:
77.9% of King County residents 12+ have completed their vaccine series (up .6% in the past week)
By West Seattle zip code:
98106 – 80.4%
98116 – 86%
98126 – 75.5%
98136 – 87%
98146 – 74.7%
(More COVID-related King County stats here)
PANDEMIC NEWS
Mask order expanding – On Tuesday (September 7th), masks will be mandatory at outdoor events in King County if 500+ people are expected, as announced this past Thursday.
State employees’ tentative agreement – There were rumblings of labor unrest as a result of the governor’s vaccine mandate for state employees, but that’s apparently been headed off by this tentative agreement.
Tracking COVID at school – Seattle Public Schools has a dashboard that it promises will display case numbers by region – but the year’s first weekly update isn’t up yet.
NEED TO GET TESTED IN WEST SEATTLE?
The UW Medicine testing service at the Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex parking lot (2801 SW Thistle) continues to operate; you can make an appointment here, though readers report walk-ups have been accepted. Meantime, the Curative testing kiosk at Don Armeni Boat Ramp (1222 Harbor SW) is also still operating. In addition, both West Seattle Walgreens stores are offering drive-up testing (35th/Morgan and 16th/Roxbury) – more info here.
NOT VACCINATED YET?
Go here to see where you can change that.
Medians, curbs, sidewalks, and signals are the focus as Delridge road/utility work continues, preparing for next year’s RapidRide H Line launch. The weekly update starts with SDOT‘s list of the main points:
*Landscaping continues throughout the corridor. We will also be doing some more lane striping and channelization work this week.
*We are continuing to work in Zone A to upgrade sidewalks, curb ramps and electrical utilities
*Median and curb installation along Delridge Way SW between SW Juneau St and SW Graham St continues
*Traffic signal upgrades in Zone C have begun this week and signal upgrades will continue through this fall
*Sidewalk upgrades near SW Barton St continue. This work will continue into next week.
Here’s the full preview for the week ahead; SDOT says crews are off until Tuesday.
One reader report tonight in West Seattle Crime Watch:
The photo is from a texter who says that happened to their pickup truck near 41st/Austin in Gatewood on Friday night. “Appears someone smashed the window and didn’t even go into the truck or take anything. Terrible and probably the 6th time this truck has been vandalized in the past year.”
Happening tomorrow! Just received the announcement from Samuel:
He says they’re planning to “have four grills going”! Here’s a map.
MONDAY UPDATE: Setup photos just in from Samuel – here’s the raffle table:
And those grills:
(WSB file photo, Delridge wading pool)
The pandemic-shortened season for city-run outdoor aquatics ends tomorrow. Labor Day – that’ll be the last day for the Lincoln Park wading pool (8011 Fauntleroy Way SW, noon-7 pm), the Delridge wading pool (4501 Delridge Way SW, noon-5:30 pm), the Highland Park spraypark (1100 SW Cloverdale, 11 am-8 pm), and Colman Pool (at Lincoln Park, noon-7 pm). One week later – on Monday, September 13th – indoor Southwest Pool (2801 SW Thistle) is scheduled to reopen (no schedule posted yet, though). The city kept some wading pools closed this season – including E.C. Hughes and Hiawatha in West Seattle – and cut the schedule for others, citing a chlorine shortage.
Six years after Click! Design That Fits co-founders John and Frances Smersh announced that Frances had been diagnosed with young-onset Alzheimer’s, Frances has died. Here is the remembrance her family is sharing:
Frances Suzanne (Cousins) Smersh passed away on September 4th, 2021 at the age of 54, in Seattle. She died from complications of Younger Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, which she was diagnosed with six and a half years prior. She is survived by her husband, John Francis Smersh of Seattle, and sister Natalie Cousins-Robledo (husband Ted Robledo, son Enzo) of Pasadena, CA.
Frances was born in the Greater Los Angeles area, where she lived with her mother, father, grandmother, and sister. After graduating from St. Joseph High School, she studied at Loyola Marymount University, earning her degree in Sociology in 1989. It was there at LMU that Frances met her partner for life, John. After college they lived in Venice Beach, CA for two years. They married in 1990 and moved to Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood in 1991, where she started her first business, Smersh Design Jewelry. The couple moved to West Seattle in 1994 and bought a home in the North Admiral neighborhood.
Living in West Seattle, Frances continued to explore the art of jewelry making, first designing and creating and then selling her pieces at art fairs before expanding to wholesale markets, eventually selling her work in hundreds of stores across the US and internationally. Her passion for art and design flourished over the years, leading her to expand and innovate her jewelry using unconventional materials like Concrete and Pearls, Cork, and Powder Coated Steel to make exquisite, wearable art.
In 2004, it was Frances’s creative spark that inspired Click! Design That Fits, a contemporary gift and accessory boutique co-created and curated by herself and husband, John. In 2010 they moved the store to the West Seattle Junction, where it continues to thrive today.
Following her successes in jewelry, Frances transitioned to creating visual art through painting and sketching, regularly showing as the featured artist at Click!. Her catalog of work is vast and diverse, and has garnered a great deal of attention within the Seattle art-loving community.
Above all else, Frances had an inspiring, uplifting, and giving soul and she always went out of her way to bring joy to the people around her. All who knew her were touched by her kindness and she will be greatly missed.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Washington State chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Services will be held in late September. Updates will be made to the Caring Bridge journal as details are finalized.
The Smershes shared Frances’s journey with her community; five years after moving their shop (WSB’s longest-running sponsor) to The Junction, they shared the news of her diagnosis at just 48. They shared this update in 2018, and Frances was able to attend an exhibit of her work at Providence Mount St. Vincent in early 2020, just before the pandemic.
If you use the Seattle Public Library, there’s a quick way you can help with the search for the system’s new leader. The announcement:
The Seattle Public Library’s Board of Trustees is conducting a local and national search for a new Executive Director and Chief Librarian to lead the organization.
Koya Partners, the consultant firm hired to lead the search, has developed a short survey to help inform the position profile of the job. The position profile is a recruiting document which helps potential candidates learn more about the position, institution and community. The position profile will be used to help recruit a pool of local and national candidates for the Library Board to consider.
The survey will run through Wednesday, Sept. 17. More information and a link to the survey can be found at spl.org/ChiefLibrarianSearch. For people who may lack access to computers or the internet or who may need staff assistance or language translation, paper surveys are available at all open Library locations and Library staff are ready to assist. Find a list of open Library locations at hours at spl.org/Hours.
The Library’s previous Chief Librarian, Marcellus Turner, took a new position with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library in Charlotte, N.C. at the end of March 2021. Tom Fay, the Library’s Director of Programs and Services, has since served in the role of Interim Chief Librarian.
Thanks to Ashwin Moodithaya for sending that photo of the Saturday sky with the sentiment, “Let’s also celebrate the clouds! I know the sunny sunsets are spectacular, but I also find a lot of cozy comfort in the cloudy days of Seattle!” Whatever weather today brings, here’s what’s on the schedule:
HIGHLAND PARK CORNER STORE: As previewed here, HPCS is now operating as a real corner store (7789 Highland Park Way SW), 7 am-8 pm, and celebrating with festivities all weekend, including free hot dogs 11 am-2 pm today (while they last).
CHURCHES: Many continue streaming, in addition to in-person services. Here are the newest links for 20+ West Seattle churches’ services.
CREATED COMMONS, MORNING SESSION: 10 am at Westcrest Park (9000 8th SW), north of the P-Patch, get moving on the festival’s final day with a free session of K-Pop Zumba.
DELRIDGE GROCERY COOPERATIVE: The store at 5444 Delridge Way SW is open 11 am-3 pm today.
DUWAMISH LONGHOUSE NATIVE ART MARKET: Second of three days, 10 am-5 pm at the Duwamish Tribe Longhouse and Cultural Center (4705 W. Marginal Way SW), not only can you support Indigenous artists and crafters, you can also learn about the Duwamish’s fight for federal recognition. (Here’s our Saturday coverage.)
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm on California between Oregon and Alaska. Scroll down the page at this link to find the vendor list and map for this week. (The market is a WSB sponsor.)
SUNDAY RUN CLUB: Noon at Ounces (3809 Delridge Way SW) – info in our calendar listing
VOLUNTEER: You can help out at Schmitz Park (Admiral/Stevens) 1-3:30 pm – find out how here.
CREATED COMMONS, FINAL AFTERNOON/EVENING: Jack Straw Cultural Center artists will be featured as this week-plus festival of art and science concludes under Lelavision‘s Interspecies Connection kinetic sculpture (which you can operate!) at Westcrest Park:
3 pm: Seattle Kokon Taiko
4 pm: Jourdan Imani Keith and Women & Whales Collective poets Ebony Wellborn, Rasheena Fountain, Savannah Smith, and Jae Un Kim
5 pm: Trio Guadalevin, with Denny Middle School Poet Elizabeth Palma Alvarado
6 pm: E.J. Koh and 2016 Jack Straw Writers Robert Lashley and Shin Yu Pai
7 pm: Nic Masangkay
LIVE MUSIC AT C & P: Singer-songwriter Jim Page performs, 3-5 pm at C & P Coffee (5612 California SW; WSB sponsor).
SUNDAY NIGHT KARAOKE: 8 pm to 1 am at Admiral Pub (2306 California SW; WSB sponsor).
SUNDAY NIGHT JAZZ: Triangular Jazztet at The Alley (4509 California SW), 8 pm and 9 pm sets.
Event listings welcome – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
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