day : 03/12/2021 13 results

(Along Andover, 4 pm today)

The “RV remediation” along SW Andover was over by mid-afternoon today, according to the lead agency, Seattle Public Utilities. We reported on the plan last Monday, after “no parking” signs went up just before the Thanksgiving holiday in the streetside zone where RV residents have long camped along the south side of the Nucor Steel plant. We checked the area multiple times since Tuesday morning and received a few reader reports on activity seen, including the removal of at least one RV.

(Reader photo, Wednesday)

We saw city contractors’ junk trucks there Tuesday and Wednesday, but no other activity at the times we went by. We asked Register for an update, and received this today:

SPU has completed the remediation on Andover SW. We collected and disposed of 7,600 pounds of garbage and debris. As previously mentioned, RVs that are abandoned, derelict or pose a public health risk may be towed on a case-by-case basis. We will continue to engage with RV occupants prior to cleans to voluntarily move their vehicles so crews can best address any public health and safety impacts.

We didn’t get a baseline count of RVs and trailers before the remediation but noted 12 Wednesday and yesterday, on Andover and on 28th north of Yancy, and the same number there just before sunset today.

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VACCINATION: City drops West Seattle provider at two-day-a-week High Point clinic

December 3, 2021 9:44 pm

| 15 COMMENTS

| Coronavirus | West Seattle news

When the mayor announced in October that the city would sponsor a new two-day-a-week COVID vaccination clinic at Neighborhood House High Point, the West Seattle mobile-health providers Pliable were announced as the vaccinating partner. Less than a month and a half later, Pliable is out and the Seattle Fire Department is in. We got a hint of this last night when Pliable sent word of three upcoming Sunday clinics it’s offering independently and mentioned something in passing about being unable to reach agreement with the city. So first today we checked with the mayor’s office, which has handled communication about the city’s clinics. Spokesperson Anthony Derrick told us SFD had taken over and said, “The City appreciates Pliable’s work as they were a valued partner in launching our West Seattle vaccine clinic and ensuring an equitable vaccine distribution. While we were unable to come to an agreement on a service provision contract moving forward, we appreciate their contributions to our vaccination efforts.” We then sought further comment from Pliable’s co-founders Tara Biller and Nicole Warner, nurse practitioners who live in West Seattle, and received this response:

Pliable has been running community clinics since the beginning of the year with a focus on meeting the needs of our community in a timely and equitable way. As a small, women-owned, local business we have been proud of the care we’ve provided to more than 10,000 community members. We are grateful for the support of the Neighborhood House and their shared belief that health is a human right.

We began our partnership with the city in good faith, without a signed contract in hand, to rapidly meet community needs; we have vaccinated 6,280 community members over the past five weeks. The city has been unable to reach an agreement with Pliable to date and they opted to cease the partnership. We remain steadfast in our commitment to the West Seattle community, our home, and will continue to serve our neighbors with exceptional care and, of course, lollipops. We are thankful for the WS community’s ongoing support.

Bottom line for now, the Friday/Saturday clinics continue, but with SFD providers (who administered the shots at the city’s original West Seattle clinic, the one at Southwest Athletic Complex that closed in June); appointment info is here. Pliable, meantime, is holding other clinics, including the next three Sundays, as announced here last night.

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VIDEO: Our Lady of Guadalupe’s tree twinkles again after in-person ‘Light Up the Night’

December 3, 2021 8:52 pm

| 10 COMMENTS

| Holidays | West Seattle news

(WSB photos and video)

At ~520 feet, the big evergreen outside Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and School at 35th/Myrtle is the city’s highest-elevation Christmas tree this time of year. Last year, the annual lighting celebration was held online, after which the tree lights stayed on for months, not weeks, as a beacon of hope. Tonight, OLG returned to the in-person format, featuring emcee Brian Callanan, OLG pastor Father Kevin Duggan, singers The Starry Crowns and the OLG Children’s Chorus. Our video caught most of the singing and speaking before OLG student-body president Kingsley did the honors of flipping the switch:

Our Lady of Guadalupe tree is on! (35th SW/Myrtle, highest elevation in Seattle) pic.twitter.com/TQ0kABtxQB

— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) December 4, 2021

In a nod to pandemic precautions, this was an entirely outdoor event – rather than opening the nearby Walmesley Center, they served cocoa and cookies outside, and collected food donations for St. Vincent de Paul on a table rather than in a sleigh in the center lobby.

Good turnout on a chilly but dry night:

P.S. The Starry Crowns have a Christmas concert later this month at OLG – 7 pm December 16th, in-person and streamed (that’ll be here).

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WEST SEATTLE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS: Menashe Family display back to full brightness

December 3, 2021 6:37 pm

| 6 COMMENTS

| Holidays | West Seattle Christmas lights | West Seattle news

(Photo by Jeremy Barton)

We intended to spotlight West Seattle’s renowned Menashe Family Lights last night, the first full-strength night of the year (as announced last month) – but then the power outage hit, so we postponed the plan until tonight. This year, the house, yard, and trees at 5605 Beach Drive are back up to full brightness after a downsized display last year so as not to draw the usual huge crowds.

(WSB photo)

Among the new features – this animatronic singing Santa:

The “real” Santa, by the way, will be there for photos (bring food to donate to the West Seattle Food Bank!) next Saturday (December 11th), 6-10 pm. In the meantime, you can go by any night to see the lights and inflatables:

(WSB photo)

Even if it’s not quite dark when you visit, still a festive sight:

(Photo by Theresa Arbow-O’Connor)

The Menashes’ display isn’t just locally famous – it’s been on national TV multiple times over the years.

P.S. We’re showcasing holiday displays all over the peninsula as the season continues – if you have a suggestion, please email us at westseattleblog#gmail.com (with our without photos) – thank you! (Our list is in the West Seattle Holiday Guide.)

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UPDATE: Water rescue callout off Beach Drive

December 3, 2021 4:29 pm

| 10 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | WS breaking news

4:29 PM: 7000 block. More shortly.

4:44 PM: We were in transit from the (unrelated) High Point incident so we missed most of the emergency-radio traffic on this but are en route to the scene in hopes of talking to someone there. In the meantime, though, some of the units on the call have been dismissed.

4:49 PM: The rest of the units are being dismissed, and SFD tells us at the scene that this was a “false alarm.”

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UPDATE: Helicopter over High Point

December 3, 2021 4:12 pm

| 22 COMMENTS

| Helicopter | High Point | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

4:12 PM: Thanks for the texts. So far all we know is that Guardian One is helping search for a missing person.

4:23 PM: Search over. The missing person, a child, was found safe at home.

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FOLLOWUP: Here’s what cut power to 10,000 West Seattle homes and businesses

December 3, 2021 3:32 pm

| 7 COMMENTS

| Utilities | West Seattle news

One day after the power outage that initially affected just under 10,000 West Seattle homes and business, we asked Seattle City Light for more details on what went wrong and why a problem on one pole affected so many. The reply from SCL spokesperson Julie Moore:

Similar to the comment Maria left on the blog this morning, the cause was due to a “sleeve” failure. The sleeve holds together the two ends of spliced cable. In this case, the cable that failed was connected to one feeder, which served about half of the total customers impacted. The other half were impacted because that cable fell onto wires associated with a different feeder. Once making the scene safe, we were able to reduce the impact to 14 customers on one feeder and 455 on the other through switching. The rest of the customers were restored after we made necessary repairs.

As noted in our coverage last night, that last group of customers was out for about seven hours, while the rest got theirs back within about an hour and a half.

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WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Another window broken at Floors Plus NW; inflatable decorations stolen

December 3, 2021 1:30 pm

| 9 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:

ANOTHER BROKEN WINDOW: For the second time in a week and a half, Floors Plus Northwest in south Morgan Junction has been hit by a window-breaking vandal. From proprietors Luis and Liliana Morales:

We had another window broken in less than two weeks. Our cameras couldn’t get the face of the person doing this.

We received a call from the Seattle Police department at 3:59 am. … The place where we ordered the 1st window dropped the ball and hasn’t even placed the order for the 1st one. We are now looking to replace two as soon as possible.

They believe the person shown in their security images might have been in their store earlier in the day. That information and more images have been provided to police. (added Friday evening) They have boarded up both windows but want everyone to know their shop IS open, regular hours.

STOLEN DECORATIONS: From Tyler southwest of The Junction:

The two front lawn decorations in the picture were stolen last night. About-3-foot tall Darth Vader and Stormtooper. Happened after 11 pm @ 48th and Hudson. They unplugged each, pulled up stakes and took off. Who does this? So disappointing.

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FERRIES: Here’s what Fauntleroy terminal project’s Community Advisory Group talked about this week

December 3, 2021 12:12 pm

| 11 COMMENTS

| Fauntleroy | Transportation | West Seattle news

(WSB file photo)

West Seattle’s next big transportation project, post-bridge, is still early in the planning process, but that’s a great time to start paying attention, as its Community Advisory Group was brought together again this week for another step forward. It’s the project to replace the Fauntleroy ferry terminal/dock, and it’s tentatively expected to start construction no sooner than 2025. But long before the ferry system gets to a design, they have to review alternatives, and before a list of those can be developed, the advisory group is being asked to help shape the criteria for screening them. So that’s where they are now (after reviewing the Preliminary Purpose and Need Statement for the project – here’s the latest version). At Wednesday night’s online meeting, which only lasted an hour, members were separated into breakout groups for each of the three communities on the route served by the dock – Fauntleroy, Vashon, and Southworth; other meeting attendees got to talk with ferry staffers about other concerns. Here are the toplines of what was shared when everyone regrouped:

SOUTHWORTH
-Improving efficiency
-Finding ways to reach community members who aren’t already knowledgeable about the project
-Acknowledging that many ferry riders from Kitsap County head to points south instead of to Seattle

VASHON
-Similar concerns, especially operational efficiency

FAUNTLEROY
-Ensuring the new terminal/dock is multimodally oriented
-Figuring out how to reduce the high percentage of single-occupancy vehicle use
-Accurate assessment of the relatively recent schedule change, since that happened just before COVID
-Recognize that traffic to/from the terminal affects neighborhoods far beyond Fauntleroy (Duwamish Valley, for example)
-Still concerned the Purpose/Need statement may suggest this project is more than it’s meant to be

WSF plans larger community meetings in the first quarter of next year – to be held online. Before then, they’re asking members of this advisory group to help them determine “what your fellow community members will need to understand and engage with this process.” Before the group’s next meeting, they’ll get a draft of the “screening criteria” based on discussions at and before this meeting, You can comment at any time via the email address for feedback and questions, FauntleroyTermProj@wsdot.wa.gov. And keep watch on this webpage for future meeting dates, plus a recording of this meeting when it’s available.

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Light Up the Night, Winter Wander, ‘Orca Rescue!’ book talk, nighttime beach walk, more for your West Seattle Friday

December 3, 2021 10:59 am

| Comments Off on Light Up the Night, Winter Wander, ‘Orca Rescue!’ book talk, nighttime beach walk, more for your West Seattle Friday

| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(Friday morning photo by James Bratsanos)

The next big weekend of the holiday season is in view – here are highlights for the rest of today/tonight, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar and Holiday Guide:

KIWANIS ONLINE AUCTION: Two more days to help the service club continue its work with local kids by bidding on items including local gift cards. Browse and bid by going here – the auction ends Saturday.

HANUKKAH: This is the sixth of eight nights, with West Seattle community celebrations planned Sunday.

WINTER WANDER SCAVENGER HUNT: Tonight brings the start of Alice Kuder‘s “free, live, 10-day” holiday adventure around West Seattle. Go to her website to see how to play!

‘ORCA RESCUE’ BOOK TALK: 6 pm online, Elliott Bay Book Company presents West Seattle author Donna Sandstrom talking about her book “Orca Rescue!“, telling the story of how wayward orca Springer was saved. Attendance info is in our calendar listing.

LIGHT UP THE NIGHT: 7 pm tonight, Our Lady of Guadalupe welcomes you to join in on caroling, cocoa, and the lighting of the city’s highest-elevation Christmas tree (35th/Myrtle). If you can, bring a nonperishable-food donation to fill the sleigh in the Walmesley Center across SW Myrtle from the tree.

‘WE’VE BATTLED MONSTERS BEFORE’: Second week for the ArtsWest (WSB sponsor) musical, 7:30 pm. Tickets are available online. (4711 California SW)

NIGHTTIME BEACH WALK: As previewed here, you can join Seattle Aquarium beach naturalists at Constellation Park for a nighttime exploration of the beach at low-low tide. Free, no registration required. Look for the canopy at 63rd/Beach Drive.

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YOU CAN HELP: Here’s what The Christmas People need this year, from drivers to cookies

December 3, 2021 10:03 am

| 3 COMMENTS

| Holidays | How to help | West Seattle news

Every holiday season, The Christmas People do their best to help people in need have a happy holiday – with your help. So far we’ve heard from them about two requests this season – first, for drivers:

The Christmas People need volunteer drivers to deliver meals to homeless shelters from Wed.,Dec.22 thru Sunday, Dec. 26 – 10:30 am, 3 pm, 4:30 pm, and 8:30 pm. Areas include West Seattle, Downtown Seattle, 116th Bellevue and CCS Kent. Must have dependable enclosed vehicle to hold insulated bags and/or food transfer boxes. Clean driving record, insurance and proof of vaccination. Need warm-hearted people able to bring joy and hope to marginalized and underserved populations. Contact Fred Hutchinson, 206-719-4979 or pialley@jps.net for time slot.

They also need thousands of homemade cookies again this year – just make plans to drop yours off 9 am-3 pm December 22-24 at West Seattle Coworking (6040 California SW). They’ll be going to area shelters along with 2,300 holiday meals. The Christmas People also need cookie sorters and receivers – same contact info as volunteer drivers, if you can help with that.

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ORCAS: Another chance to see them

December 3, 2021 9:14 am

| 7 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news

Orcas are southbound off Lincoln Park right now, Kersti Muul tells us.

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TRAFFIC, WEATHER, TRANSIT, ROAD WORK: Friday watch & weekend alert

December 3, 2021 6:01 am

| Comments Off on TRAFFIC, WEATHER, TRANSIT, ROAD WORK: Friday watch & weekend alert

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

6:01 AM Good morning!

WEATHER

The cooldown continues – after 30s overnight, we’re only expecting 40s today.

ROAD WORK – TODAY AND THIS WEEKEND

This morning – Crosswalk-painting on West Marginal at the new Longhouse signal – here’s the alert we published yesterday.

This weekend – If you travel through Georgetown, SDOT wants you to know; “On Saturday and Sunday, construction crews will be rebuilding curb ramps in Georgetown on Ellis Ave South and South Albro Place. The work is anticipated to begin as early as 7:00 AM and will conclude as soon as 5:00 PM on both days. There will be limited impacts to traffic but still practice caution when traveling through the area.”

BUSES, WATER TAXI, FERRIES

Metro is on its regular weekday schedule. Watch @kcmetrobus for word of trip cancellations.

Ferries and Water Taxi: WSF is still running a two-boat schedule on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth run. Check here for alerts/updates. The Water Taxi is on its regular schedule.

BRIDGES AND DETOUR ROUTES

620th morning without the West Seattle Bridge. Here are views of other bridges and routes:

Low Bridge: Automated enforcement cameras remain in use; restrictions are in effect 5 am-9 pm daily – except weekends; the bridge is open to all until 8 am Saturday and Sunday mornings. (Access applications are available here for some categories of drivers.)

The 1st Avenue South Bridge (map):

South Park Bridge:

West Marginal Way at Highland Park Way:

Highland Park Way/Holden:

The 5-way intersection (Spokane/West Marginal/Delridge/Chelan):

Are movable bridges opening for vessels? The @SDOTBridges Twitter feed can tell you; 1st Ave. South Bridge openings are also tweeted on @wsdot_traffic.

See all local traffic cams here; locally relevant cameras are also 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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