day : 25/07/2022 8 results

WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Broken windows; abandoned blue Schwinn bike

Two more reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch tonight:

BROKEN CAR WINDOWS: From Corey:

Just wanted to give a heads up to those living in the Highland Park neighborhood, side car windows are being smashed in the area. Myself and a neighbor were hit a few weeks back around 18th and Trenton, but didn’t report because nothing was stolen. This most likely happened late night/early morning.

Learned today a friend who lives around 10th and Portland had their passenger window smashed last night along with 4 or 5 other cars and they have found a ball bearing next to their car. I also saw another unknown car with the same vandalism.

In all cases, as far as I’ve heard and experience nothing was stolen. Unfortunately for all of us we now have a $300 window repair bill.

Please keep vigilant and if anyone has a lead it would be great to share in the comments. Thanks!

Side note, you can report car prowls online even if nothing was stolen (we’ve done it a couple times) – go here..

ABANDONED BIKE: From the dumped-likely-stolen file – James sent the photo:

James says it’s been in an Upper Morgan alley for at least two days. If it’s yours, contact us and we’ll connect you.

WEST SEATTLE WEATHER: Alert level for impending heat wave changes again; plus, where to cool off

(Sunday sunset, photographed by Lynn Hall)

As hot weather approaches, the National Weather Service has changed the alert level again. Now it’s an Excessive Heat Warning, in effect from noon Tuesday to 4 pm Friday, and temperatures in the upper 90s are possible. (“Warning” is the highest alert level, compared to “watch” or “advisory,” both of which were issued earlier.) The city has sent out a list of where you can go to cool off if you need to. For West Seattle, the Senior Center (California/Oregon) is air-conditioned and will be open weekdays 8:30 am-4:30 pm; the Delridge and High Point branches of the Seattle Public Library both are fully air-conditioned – both are open 1 pm-8 pm Tuesday, 11 am-6 pm Wednesday and Thursday, while Delridge is closed Friday but High Point is open 11 am-6 pm. Got a restaurant, bar, coffee shop, or other facility that will be air conditioned and open for public use? Let us know and we’ll add it to the list – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

P.S. Today’s official high = 87.

CORONAVIRUS: Seattle Public Schools offers another local vaccination clinic

Seattle Public Schools has announced another round of COVID vaccine clinics for students, staff, and family members, ages 3 and above. The full citywide list is here; the West Seattle clinic is at Denny International Middle School (2601 SW Kenyon) 2:30-5:30 pm Saturday, August 6th. You’re encouraged to preregister here but we’re told they do welcome walk-ins. At the school clinic, Safeway Pharmacy will provide doses 1, 2 for students ages 3-4, dose 1 and 2 for ages 5-adult, boosters for ages 5-adult.

WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE: ‘Major milestone’ just reached in repairs

(Added: SDOT photo)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

2:05 PM: The West Seattle Bridge is still on track to reopen in mid-September, and toward that, SDOT has just announced a “major milestone” in bridge repairs – the “post-tensioning” steel cables to strengthen the bridge have been tightened to 100 percent, and the bridge has reacted the way engineers’ calculations have predicted it should. We first learned this in a conversation just concluded with bridge project director Heather Marx, after requesting an interview for an update on the repair work. She says the milestone was reached over the weekend. It’s not the last significant part of the repair work – epoxy injection and carbon-fiber wrapping continues – but it’s a big one. The project remains on schedule for the bridge to reopen “the week of September 12th,” and Marx reiterates that when they have 30 days to go, they’ll announce a more specific date. More info – including other updates from our conversation – coming up.

ADDED 2:29 PM: A bit more technical explanation on the milestone – monitoring installed on the bridge include “instruments that tell us the shape of the bridge,” Marx explains, and engineers calculated what that shape should be when the post-tension is at 100 percent – so it was a big sigh of relief when they got to 100 percent and that shape is exactly what resulted. The tensioning is done with jacks that “pull (the steel cables) from both sides,” Marx explains. Email updates at the end of last week mentioned that they had reached 20 percent, and Marx says that was an important point along the way, to be sure it was going to work – “a quality-control moment.”

So what remains to be done to reopen the 28-months-closed bridge? After the aforementioned final epoxy injections and carbon-fiber wrapping – Phase 4, if you’re keeping track – the CFR has to cure, the work platforms will be removed, and load testing will happen – “running a truck at specific weight, specific speed, back and forth” on the bridge, along with other inspections. After all that, deck restoration – all those notches in the concrete for the work platforms, for example – and demobilization, getting the work crews and equipment off the bridge, will follow. (They’re already doing some concrete repairs now – 60 panels in the bridge deck are planned for replacement, and as of a week ago, Marx says, about 25 are completed.)

The fact they’ve passed the major milestone of full post-tensioning doesn’t mean it’s all coasting from here, Marx cautions – “at the end of the project, the (possibility) of something to go wrong unexpectedly stays at the same rate, so it’s an anxious time.” But aside from the concrete delay, they haven’t experienced any other major holdups lately, she said – there is a cement shortage right now but they’ve been able to work around it with suppliers.

We’d heard recently that SDOT was not giving permission for a run/walk/ride on the bridge, one of the ideas that a community coalition had been pursuing, so we asked about that. Marx said they just didn’t want to run the risk that an event would be planned and the bridge would be ready to open sooner but they’d have to hold the closure for an event – SDOT had long said that once it’s ready to open, they would not let anything delay it for a moment. So, we asked, is there a chance that you might announce at the 30-day point “the bridge will open September X’ and then discover as September X approaches that it’s ready to go a day (or more) earlier? Marx said that’s a possibility, but they expect the 30-days-notice date to be as precise as possible. But “the general vibe is (to open) as soon as the bridge is available.”

All this is not to say there won’t be some kind of event related to the reopening; Marx says SDOT is planning one to thank the community for what it’s endured. Free food that the city will buy from local restaurants, and she’ll be there helping serve it. It’s not a celebration of SDOT, she stresses, as they realize “the bridge is ours and it’s broken.”

We talked with Marx about the low-bridge work; more on that separately later.

WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Gunfire; burglary by tractor; car prowl

Three reports in West Seattle Crime Watch, starting with two from the weekend:

GUNFIRE: This is the only “confirmed gunfire” report in the weekend SPD summaries. Police went to 24th/Kenyon just after 1:30 am Sunday after a report of possible gunfire. The report says, “Officers located evidence of a shooting, broken glass, a makeshift memorial and two unoccupied vehicles struck by gunfire.” Someone told police they heard people arguing, then the gunfire, then two vehicles left the area. The report doesn’t elaborate on the “makeshift memorial” but that corner has this history.

BURGLARY BY TRACTOR: This happened just after 7:30 am Friday. Police say someone drove “a large tractor” – which turned out to have been stolen – through the garage door at Stan’s Mt. View Towing yard in the 9000 block of Delridge Way SW. There, they broke into a vehicle that had been the subject of a King County Sheriff’s Office “warrant … involving firearms.” The tractor driver left with a bg of unknown items, but probably not including guns, as police note that KCSO had already executed the warrant “and possibly recovered firearms from inside the truck.”

And a reader report:

CAR BREAK-IN: From Liz:

Our car was rummaged through last night. I must have left the car unlocked on accident in our driveway. They went through our glovebox and center console. I think they took an old hoodie and maybe a flashlight. Nothing else that we can see. We’re located on 9th Ave SW near Barton SW.

An online report has been filed.

From crafting to meditating, options for your West Seattle Monday

July 25, 2022 10:08 am
|    Comments Off on From crafting to meditating, options for your West Seattle Monday
 |   West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(New public-art installation at Westcrest Park, ‘ChromaCyclium’ by Ken Roepe)

Here’s the list for the rest of your Monday:

WADING POOLS: Three local city-run wading pools will open today, EC Hughes at 2805 SW Holden noon-7 pm; same hours for South Park at 8319 8th Ave. S. And Lincoln Park at 8011 Fauntleroy Way SW, noon-7 too. (The Highland Park spraypark continues its daily schedule, 11 am-8 pm, 1100 SW Cloverdale.)

COLMAN POOL: Colman Pool on the Lincoln Park shore is also open noon-7 pm.

POSTCARDING POP-UP: From local Postcards to Voters organizers, a pop-up gathering 5:30-7 pm at C & P Coffee (5612 California SW; WSB sponsor).

CRAFTING AND CREATIVITY NIGHT: 6-10 pm at The Missing Piece (9456 35th SW), explained in our calendar listing.

MEDITATION: Free weekly Zen sitting/meditation event at the chapel at Fauntleroy UCC (9140 California SW), 7 pm.

PLAY PINBALL, FREE! The Admiral Pub‘s 16 pinball machines are open for free play 7-10 pm Mondays. (2306 California SW)

PLAY TRIVIA! 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)

Have something that should be listed on our calendar and in our daily preview lists? Please send info to westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

WHALES: Humpback off south West Seattle

9:22 AM: If you have time to start your week with some whale-watching, Kersti Muul reports that orcas are off Colman Pool at Lincoln Park, southbound. Let us know if you see them!

10:01 AM: See comments – Kersti confirms it turned out to be a humpback.

TRAFFIC, TRANSIT, ROAD WORK, WEATHER: Welcome to Monday

July 25, 2022 6:03 am
|    Comments Off on TRAFFIC, TRANSIT, ROAD WORK, WEATHER: Welcome to Monday
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

6:03 AM: Good morning! It’s Monday, July 25th.

WEATHER

Sunny and warm, but the real heat isn’t expected to arrive until tomorrow-

ROAD WORK

The Alki Avenue pump-station project has been mobilizing (1400 block).

BUSES, WATER TAXI, FERRIES

Metro buses are on their regular weekday schedules; 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 – and WSF says that probably won’t change before next spring. Check here for alerts/updates.

BRIDGES AND DETOUR ROUTES

855th 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 recently installed 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? Please text or call us (when you can do so safely) – 206-293-6302.