day : 28/03/2022 9 results

WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Another catalytic converter stolen; house, car vandalism

Three reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:

ANOTHER CATALYTIC-CONVERTER THEFT: The three reports we received over the weekend all involved Hondas, but in this one, the thief/thieves hit a 2010 Lexus 350 SUV, near the Fauntleroy ferry dock. It happened just after 3 am Sunday. The reader reports, “Same black sedan. Driver remained in car. Two others removed the converter.”

BROKEN WINDOWS: The photo shows one of two houses where windows were broken:

Two homes on SW Yancy St. had their windows broken by stones (broken concrete) thrown at them last night and today. Are there any other reports in the neighborhood?

BROKEN WINDSHIELD: Noah reports that the hammer-wielding man in this video has been “terrorizing” the 5200 block of Delridge Way SW.

Neighbors saw the man slash Noah’s tire on Friday and break the windshield of his girlfriend’s car early Sunday.

COUNTDOWN: 1 week until registration opens for the return of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day

March 28, 2022 8:21 pm
|    Comments Off on COUNTDOWN: 1 week until registration opens for the return of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day
 |   Community Garage Sale Day | West Seattle news

If you’re planning to have a sale on this year’s first-since-2019 West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, here’s your reminder that we’ll open registration one week from today, on Monday, April 4th. WSCGSD itself is Saturday, May 14; registration is early so that we have enough time to make the map and guide and have it ready no later than one week before the big day. This is not one big sale, it’s one big day of many sales around the peninsula. But we have a request, too – if anyone is thinking of registering a group site and opening spots for sellers, let us know, as we’re continuing to get questions from people who’d like to be part of a multi-seller site but don’t have their own location. Whatever size sale you’re having, registration will be open for about three weeks, so you have time to think about it if you’re not quite ready to commit. We’ll announce the registration link here when it’s ready to go next Monday.

SPORTS: West Seattle Little League celebrates season-opening baseball, softball Jamboree

March 28, 2022 6:37 pm
|    Comments Off on SPORTS: West Seattle Little League celebrates season-opening baseball, softball Jamboree
 |   West Seattle news | WS & Sports

(Photos courtesy West Seattle Little League)

Between players, coaches, and family members, more than 1,000 people were involved in baseball and softball games at the two-location Jamboree that marked the start of the newly expanded West Seattle Little League this past weekend. WSLL sent this report and photos:

West Seattle Little League (WSLL) opened its 64th season Saturday with its traditional spring Jamboree, signaling time to “play ball!” for more than 750 Little Leaguers® playing baseball and softball. The Jamboree made a jubilant return to WSLL’s Bar-S Playfield and Chief Sealth Baseball Field [Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex] after the pandemic shuttered previous events, and also marked the inaugural year of the league’s softball program.

Players and families celebrated the return to Little League® alongside special guests including the Mariner Moose, who was spotted pumping up players before games, acting as base coach and pinch-hitting behind the counter at the Snack Shack. White Center’s Dub Sea Fish Sticks mascot got in on the action as well, giving away prizes, capturing moments with the players and fans and cheering on players in the dugouts. The excitement and joy of having the mascots at Bar-S created a memory all Little Leaguers, no matter how big or small, will always remember.

“More than 140 managers, head coaches and assistant coaches volunteer countless hours to teach the games of baseball and softball no matter the player skill set,” said WSLL’s communications director Kristin Widman, “while Umpire in Chief Greg Wren has been with the league since 1996 as a volunteer umpire, coach and board member. We cherish all our volunteers and their time and passion that they devote to the league.”

“It was great to see our community back at the baseball and softball fields!” said Nick Meyer, VP for WSLL and Jamboree organizer. “The kids had a blast playing with their friends and watching games of the older and younger divisions. The giant Fish Stick mascot, the Mariner Moose, and the bustling Snack Shack were a huge hit with all the kids, too.”

Registration is now closed for the 2022 WSLL season for baseball and softball divisions but WSLL is still accepting registrations for the Challenger Program. The Challenger Program is Little League’s adaptive baseball program for individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities and is provided at no cost to families. “At Challenger, we believe that baseball is for all who would like to play regardless of ability,” said Irina Anthony, WSLL director of equity and inclusion.

The Challenger team held its first practice over the weekend as well, running bases, throwing the ball and batting with coach Dave. Many WSLL residents may not be aware of this program in its inaugural year and we want to continue getting the word out to the community. Interested in the Challenger program? Contact Irina Anthony at equityandinclusion@westseattlelittleleague.com.

After salmon-spawning season, student volunteers survey Fauntleroy Creek for what followed the fish

(Stonefly exoskeleton, photographed in 2018 by Dennis Hinton)

By Judy Pickens
Special to West Seattle Blog

Did aquatic insects living in lower Fauntleroy Creek benefit from the 244 spawner carcasses that have been decaying since November? You bet, according to student researchers from Louisa Boren STEM K-8.

A dozen fourth graders, led by volunteer educator Shannon Ninburg, conducted the Fauntleroy Watershed Council‘s annual early-spring count of stonefly exoskeletons on Sunday, March 27, and found the third-highest number in the study’s 22-year history.

Stoneflies live in freshwater up to three years, then crawl out to shed their exoskeletons, fly, and mate to start the cycle of life over again. Stonefly nymphs are a significant food source for juvenile salmon, plus they are an indicator of water quality as they cannot tolerate high pollution.

(Sunday video by Tom Trulin)
Teams of students counted all the exoskeletons they could find in the study area, looking on trees, bushes, fences, and bridges near the water. One team focused on measuring torsos.

They found 62 exoskeletons – the most in three years. Average size of 10 specimens was 4 cm; one measuring 6 cm was among the largest ever recorded over the years.

After reviewing their data, the students reached conclusions about why the number of exoskeletons was so high this year and why most stoneflies exited the creek where they did. After students approve the final report, the watershed council will share it with regional salmon-habitat specialists and post it at fauntleroywatershed.org.

RETURNING: West Seattle Grand Parade back for 2022

(WSB photo, 2019 West Seattle Grand Parade prize winners Seattle Schools All-City Marching Band)

Among the many big public events shelved these past two years, the West Seattle Grand Parade. But this year, it’ll be back. We confirmed that with Rotary Club of West Seattle leaders when we covered their Spring for Kids event last weekend. This year’s date: Saturday, July 23rd. If you’re new – or if you’ve forgotten! – the parade proceeds from The Admiral District down California SW to The Junction. Still early for other details, but not too early to save the date.

Beachfront street-end parklet to be expanded as part of pump-station project in south West Seattle

That’s what the beachfront SW 98th street end south of Brace Point [map] is supposed to look like after Seattle Public Utilities finishes a pump-station upgrade that’s expected to go into construction next year. SPU is circulating word to the neighborhood that the project is now at 90 percent design; it’s a popular spot for sea-life watchers, so it’s of wider interest. The SPU facility there is officially Pump Station 71, and it’s part of the system that pumps sewage and stormwater to treatment plants further north. Along with upgrades to the pump station’s functionality, SPU says:

As part of this effort, we’ll be making some improvements to the shoreline street end as well. Some of the improvements include:

• Removing the guardrail and extending the useable street end 20+ feet to the east.
• Replacing the current bench as well as creating a pad for wheelchair access.
• Installing beach logs and adding native plants and new trees to enhance the natural area in the street end.

Construction will last at least six months and “could start as early as spring 2023,” SPU says.

Here’s what’s happening for the rest of your West Seattle Monday

March 28, 2022 10:30 am
|    Comments Off on Here’s what’s happening for the rest of your West Seattle Monday
 |   West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(Seola Pond, photographed by Jim Clark)

From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar and inbox:

SCHOOL FUNDRAISER: From the Alki Elementary PTA – note the last line about a match for donations made today:

Alki Elementary PTA’s Direct Give Campaign is coming to an end and we are looking to our WS Community to help us reach our goal of $15K by 3/31! For every thousand mark we hit, Principal Skeffington will get pie’d and if we hit our $15K goal, he will dye his hair Seagull Blue!

Alki Elementary PTA depends on fundraising to support our Alki students and families, our educators, and school programming. While Alki Elementary PTA has historically funded school support staff, Covid-relief funds have relieved us from that financial hurdle and enabled us to direct our fundraising efforts toward more enriching endeavors. Our mission is simple: Alki PTA’s mission is to support an engaged community that partners with our school to advocate for every child.

Our plan to achieve our mission includes:
-Alki Club: We’d love to offer an extracurricular club with rotating themes to provide an opportunity for student socialization while learning new things.
-Academic Support & Programming: We plan to continue our partnership with school staff to enrich learning for all Alki students.
-Advocacy: Alki PTA wants to provide intentional support to our Alki families.

We have a $500 match for all donations made on Monday, 3/28. Thank you for supporting Alki Elementary and the PTA’s mission!

You can donate here.

CITY COUNCIL BRIEFING MEETING: 2 pm online, councilmembers look at the week ahead and recap the past week. No public-comment period, but the agenda explains how to watch/listen.

SPORTS: High-school baseball home games today: At Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex (2801 SW Thistle), Chief Sealth IHS hosts Rainier Beach at 4 pm, and West Seattle HS hosts Franklin at 7 pm.

LINE DANCING: 6:15 pm class at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse (9131 California SW) – drop-ins welcome. Details are in our calendar listing.

OPEN D&D: Drop in to play 6:30 pm-10 pm Mondays at Meeples Games (3727 California SW).

TRIVIA X 3: Three scheduled options tonight for trivia players – 7 pm at Best of Hands (35th/Webster), 7 pm at The Good Society (California/Lander), 7:30 pm at The Skylark (3803 Delridge Way SW)

Something coming up that should be listed on our calendar and in our daily previews? Please send info to westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

Remembering Roger Steiner, 1969-2022

Family and friends are remembering Roger Steiner, and sharing this with his community:

Born February 7, 1969, Pocatello, Idaho
Died March 16, 2022, Seattle, age 53
Parents: Gene and Sharon Steiner of Ketchum, Idaho
Husband: Joel Williams of Seattle
Cause of death: Unexpected sudden death in epilepsy

Roger and Joel were together 21 years. The officialdom of their relationship followed the path of same-sex marriage in this state/country. They became Washington State domestic partners in 2007, and when the referendum passed for marriage in this state, the law stipulated that their partnership would roll over into marriage in 2014, which it did. Of course, the US Supreme Court also added their imprimatur somewhere in there as well.

Roger attended schools in Ketchum and Hailey, Idaho, and then switched to The Community School in Sun Valley, Idaho, where he graduated in 1987. He attended Whitman College, graduating in 1991 with a major in history.

Roger’s hometown Ketchum is a unique place, beloved to so many. Roger went to Ernest Hemingway Elementary School. Roger’s brother Eric’s grave is a very few steps away from the Hemingway grave. Growing up in Ketchum is the kind of experience parents dream of giving their children – a closeness to nature that fostered a great love of the outdoors. Roger could hike around the mountains just above the house he grew up in and name the flora and fauna, but he was no match in that sport to his mother Sharon. Ketchum is a tight-knit small town where he knew other people well and where other people knew him, and where bonds of friendship cross generations. Anyone who walked down a Ketchum sidewalk with Roger, even long after he had moved away, would know that there were slim chances of getting more than half a block without running into a longtime friend or acquaintance and stopping for a chat.

Gene owned Chateau Drug in Ketchum, and was the pharmacist there. Roger got a long-lasting “family internship” in running a business, growing up partially in the store. The lessons, the practices he learned there infused his whole life. You have never known such a beloved drugstore, and it modeled the practice of Roger’s future real-estate business – authentic kindness and consideration for other people, meticulous note-keeping, the immediate comfort and safekeeping for the needs of others that he conveyed.

Roger grew up on skis in the winter, wandering around trails and rivers in the summer. His father is a gifted fly fisherman, and Roger learned from the best. He loved to join his father on the streams and lakes and loved to share fishing with others.

In his time spent indoors, Roger grew up loving and playing music and was a good violinist, playing on the instrument his grandfather brought with him when he emigrated from Switzerland. He wrote songs and brightened many gatherings with his playing and singing.

Like his school’s namesake, Hemingway, Roger also loved books and was a lifelong writer, keeping journals, writing restaurant reviews for a Seattle local paper, taking writing classes, and always thinking of ways to share his experiences through literary expression. His writing was sharp, compassionate, and funny, and it left an impression.

After college, he spent time in Ketchum teaching drama at the Community School. He moved to Boise after a short while, worked in restaurants, and, most important of all, continued to grow up with the loving all-but-blood family he found there, friends who are dear and close to this day.

Roger moved to Seattle in 2000. He and Joel met before he even moved here, and were friendly acquaintances until love blossomed in 2001. They lived through experiences like 9/11 and the pandemic together, but also supported one another strongly through career ups and downs and changes, through difficulties with Roger’s epilepsy, and also many long years of being seizure-free. The idea that this condition could lead to this outcome was not a concept for them.

In 2004, they moved to their home in West Seattle, and right around that time, Roger transitioned into the life of a real estate agent and built his business almost entirely from word-of-mouth. His friends referred clients and many of his clients became friends. Their lives together became a kind of Ketchum-on-Puget Sound.

Roger was always physically active, appreciating Seattle on a bike, often walking in Lincoln Park, always up for a group exercise class where he inevitably found friendship and fellowship. Two weeks before his death, Roger skied the entire vertical drop of Bald Mountain at Sun Valley a few times, drew new friends into the loving atmosphere of his childhood home and hometown, and returned to Seattle to help his clients get into and out of the real-estate market with grace and expertise. He will be forever in our hearts, but his physical absence is a void that is very difficult to face.

Celebrations of life will occur in Seattle and Ketchum this summer, dates to be determined.

Roger cared about many people and places. If you are looking for a place to make a memorial donation, consider the Idaho Conservation League, the Seattle YMCA Social Impact Center, and the OutRight Action International LGBTIQ Fund.

(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries and memorial announcements by request, free of charge. Please email the text, and a photo if available, to editor@westseattleblog.com)

TRAFFIC, TRANSIT, WEATHER: Welcome to Monday

6:03 AM: Good morning. It’s Monday, March 28th.

WEATHER

Cloudy with a chance of showers, high around 60.

BUSES, WATER TAXI, FERRIES TODAY

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

Water Taxi‘s on its regular schedule. Shuttle service is increasing starting today – here’s the announcement.

Ferries: WSF is still using the two-boat schedule for Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth. Check here for alerts/updates.

BRIDGES AND DETOUR ROUTES

734th morning without the West Seattle Bridge.

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.)

NOTE: SDOT IS HAVING CAMERA TROUBLE

1st Avenue South Bridge:

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? Check the @SDOTBridges Twitter feed; 1st Ave. S. Bridge openings are also tweeted by @wsdot_traffic.

All city traffic cams can be seen here; West Seattle and vicinity-relevant cameras are also on this WSB page

Trouble on the roads/paths/water? Text or call us (when you can do so safely) – 206-293-6302.