READER REPORT: National Trails Day in West Seattle
Last Saturday, our highlight list included a guided hike for National Trails Day. Judy Bentley shares this report, with photos, on how it went, and what’s next:
Forest restoration expert Steve Richmond led 25 hikers on trails through the Puget Creek watershed Saturday, June 4, on National Trails Day. Richmond has lived on Puget Ridge for 60 years and worked to bring the creek and its health to the community’s attention. He has motivated countless work parties spanning several decades.
The walk highlighted the origins of the creek near Puget Ridge Edible Park at 18th Ave. SW and Brandon Street to its undergrounding near the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center on West Marginal Way. Sponsored by the West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails group, the event highlighted efforts to maintain the health of the creek and its watershed. Joanna Florer talked about water quality monitoring of the creek.
Hikers came from as far away as Snoqualmie (the West Seattle Blog reaches far) for the event. The West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails group has resumed Saturday guided hikes in the greenbelt this summer. The next is Saturday, July 2, an exploration of tribal uses of native plants found in the greenbelt. Check wdgtrails.wordpress.com for more information.
CONGRATULATIONS! Chief Sealth IHS’s six Metro Senior Scholar-Athlete Award winners
The report and photos are from Chief Sealth International High School athletic director Coach Ernest Policarpio:
Every Seattle Public School each year nominates 6 Seniors for their hard work in the classroom and on the athletic field! Congratulations to our 2022 Metro Senior Scholar Athlete Award Winners! It’s a Great day to be a SEAHAWK!!!
Award-winners from Left to right in Group Picture above [with CSIHS principal Ray Morales]:
Sophia Hyde, Volleyball, Basketball, and Track
Taien Jackson, Basketball
Jerome Schroeder, Soccer
Ethan Heathershaw, Football, Ultimate Frisbee, and Wrestling
Natalia Tabile, Slowpitch, Volleyball, and Fastpitch
In photo below:
Clarissa Morninggun, Slowpitch, Basketball, Fastpitch
SUMMER SWIMMING: How lifeguard shortage will affect Southwest, Colman Pools
(Texted photo peeking at Colman Pool seasonal preps, last month)
Seattle Parks and Recreation‘s latest announcement about summer swimming focused on how the ongoing lifeguard shortage will affect the city’s swimming beaches. West Seattle doesn’t have any of those beaches, but city-run aquatic facilities will be affected. We’ve already reported that our area’s only city-run outdoor pool, Colman Pool on the shore at Lincoln Park, will open this year – for the weekend of June 18-19, and then seven days a week from June 25th through Labor Day (except for July 7-9 and 15-16 swim-meet closures). Aquatic-center coordinator Matt Richardson explains that much of this area’s public summer programming will happen at Colman; there’ll be a limited schedule at Southwest Pool (2801 SW Thistle), focused on those who might be “limited in their ability to access Colman” – seniors, day camps, and lessons for infants/young children. At Colman Pool, which is much larger than Southwest, they’ll focus on “swim lessons for school-age youth, lap swimming, and open format public swimming. The lesson-schedule brochure for both pools is available online (and, we’re told, in print soon).
BIZNOTE: Pot Pie Factory closing; West Seattle Chamber of Commerce crowdfunding to buy one leftover ingredient
The Pot Pie Factory is closing after five years – here’s the announcement – and the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce is raising money to keep one particular ingredient from going to waste. Sent by WSCC executive director Whitney Moore:
The West Seattle Chamber is raising $2,300 to purchase Pot Pie Factory’s remaining frozen, pre-diced halal chicken breast in order to donate it to the West Seattle Food Bank and White Center Food Bank. Please donate what you can today to help a local business plus our two local food banks.
Pot Pie Factory will continue to service the Proctor Farmer’s Market in Tacoma for the remainder of June’s Saturdays (6/11, 6/18, 6/25). They’ll have stock control turned on and will update inventory on the site as we get closer to June 26th, our last day for sales. We may even have a goodbye event at our production facility in West Seattle on June 26th.
New Day Cooperative, Cafe Racer Seattle, Highland Park Corner Store, Old 5th Avenue Tavern, and The Rusty Goat Cafe in Tacoma all have pies available for sale. They recommend you call in advance to make sure they have what you want in stock before visiting.
P.S. If you can’t/don’t use QR codes, you can donate via the West Seattle Chamber’s PayPal account here or Venmo account here.
Person found dead in Schmitz Park
Lots of questions after Seattle Police and a King County Medical Examiner’s Office crew were seen on SW Admiral Way outside Schmitz Park on Tuesday afternoon. As we told several people who have inquired, the call classification indicated no foul play suspected, but we verified that today to be sure before writing about it. Police say the person was found dead “on the stairs” into the park, and that there’s “nothing suspicious at this time,” but it will be up to the ME to determine how/why the person died. So far, we don’t have any information about the person – but will add anything we do find out.
FOLLOWUP: About those ‘missing’ West Seattle Bridge markings
We followed up on a discussion that erupted after we published this image from the SDOT camera atop the 27-months-closed West Seattle Bridge:
(SDOT bridge-cam image from Monday morning)
Commenters noted the missing bus-lane markings. Though we’ve reported previously that SDOT has said the lane configurations on the bridge will not change – the eastbound bus lane stays – we thought we’d re-verify. So we asked SDOT’s Mariam Ali about both the bus-lane markings and overall resurfacing plans. Her response:
The reason why the cam image showed that the high bridge eastbound pavement was missing the red bus lane was because they were removed to create a blank slate for contractor construction markings. We need to remove the old markings to install the new markings.
Markings and the bus lane do stay the same [for reopening] and will be returned as it was before the bridge closure.
For the new resurfacing before reopening of the bridge, we will be replacing 60 concrete panels from Fauntleroy Expressway to 35th. We will also be placing a concrete overlay on parts of the Fauntleroy Expressway (see attached document – the red marking).
There will be no deck rehab on the high bridge itself since Piers 15-18 decks are in good shape. We will also fix the holes on the high bridge that were made during construction.
As we’ve been noting, tomorrow’s the day the West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force is scheduled to get an update on the timeline for reopening the bridge. The meeting starts at 4 pm Thursday and will be viewable live (and on replay) here. We’ll add the full agenda when we get it. (Update: Here it is.)
From jobs to politics to music, here’s the list for the rest of your West Seattle Wednesday
(Shield Bug, photographed in West Seattle by Steve Bender)
Here’s what’s ahead for today/tonight:
JOB FAIR: King County Parks is sponsoring its annual multi-employer job fair at Steve Cox Memorial Park, 3-5 pm. (1321 SW 102nd, White Center)
ENDORSEMENTS: Now that the fields are set for the August primaries, members of our area’s largest political group, the 34th District Democrats, are set to decide tonight which candidates they’re supporting. The online meeting starts at 6:30 pm; the registration link is in our calendar listing.
LIVE MUSIC: Locöl Barley & Vine (7902 35th SW) spotlights live music 6:30-8:30 pm Wednesdays, no cover, 21+, rotating artists.
JAZZ NIGHT AT OTTER ON THE ROCKS: 6:30 pm, Adam Kessler and Friends at Otter on the Rocks (4210 SW Admiral Way), no cover.
SKYLARK OPEN MIC: 7:30 pm signups @ West Seattle’s longest-running open mic – no cover to watch. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
LIVE MUSIC AT THE ALLEY: 8-10 pm on Wednesdays, Kimball and The Fugitive Trio play live at The Alley (behind 4509 California SW).
TRIVIA x 2: Larry’s Tavern (3405 California SW) hosts Wednesday-night trivia starting at 8 pm; at 8:30 pm, trivia is back at Talarico’s (4718 California SW) with Phil T.
Have something to add to our calendar? Email info to westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
TRAFFIC, TRANSIT, WEATHER, ROAD WORK: Wednesday watch
6:03 AM: Good morning; welcome to Wednesday, June 8th.
WEATHER
Clouds expected today, with a high that could get into the 70s again.
ROAD WORK
*Seattle Public Utilities‘ pavement-restoration work continues at California/Myrtle.
BUSES, WATER TAXI, FERRIES
Metro is on its regular weekday schedule; watch @kcmetroalerts for word of reroutes/trip cancellations.
The West Seattle Water Taxi is on its regular schedule.
Ferries: WSF continues on the two-boat schedule for Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth. Check here for alerts/updates.
BRIDGES AND DETOUR ROUTES
808th 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.)
1st Avenue South Bridge:
South Park Bridge:
West Marginal Way at Highland Park Way (one of four new cameras!):
Highland Park Way/Holden:
The 5-way intersection (Spokane/West Marginal/Delridge/Chelan):
Are movable city bridges opening for vessels? Check the @SDOTBridges Twitter feed; 1st Ave. S. Bridge openings are 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.
| 1 COMMENT