West Seattle, Washington
19 Friday
With the light at the end of the bridge closure in view, one of West Seattle’s one-of-a-kind businesses is expanding its hours. Thunder Road Guitars (6400 California SW; WSB sponsor) will be open Sundays starting this weekend – as of September 4th. That means TRG is now open Tuesdays-Saturdays 10 am-6 pm and Sundays 11 am-5 pm, closed only on Mondays. They are of course always open online – you can browse any time at thunderroadguitars.com.
(SPD car at Alki, early evening, May 27th)
Just in case you lost track – Labor Day is one week away. And that’s the date announced as the end of a second year of “piloting” early closures at Alki Beach Park (as well as Golden Gardens in the north). So we checked with Seattle Parks today to ask if that’s still the plan. Short answer: Yes. Parks spokesperson Rachel Schulkin confirmed to WSB that the city is “on track” to go back to 11:30 pm closures after Labor Day. The 10 pm closing time has been in place since Memorial Day weekend. Last year, Parks made the change in July after two notable incidents, a deadly shooting and a chaotic social-media-organized gathering that drew thousands. This year has been devoid so far of anything comparable, though ongoing complaints of street racing and other disorder have continued.
P.S. At the start of the season, Parks promised to evaluate the pilot, including community feedback. The survey they opened at the time appears to still be open.
A tipster told us about some kind of problem with the West Seattle Water Taxi vessel in the past half-hour. We’ve been trying to reach Metro to verify that, and in the meantime they’ve just sent word that they’re making a sudden vessel swap, to the backup Spirit of Kingston, delaying the 5:25 pm departure from Downtown and 5:45 pm departure from West Seattle.
5:33 PM: Police are investigating a reported stabbing at Junction Plaza Park. They just got there after some location confusion and are telling dispatch that the victim is uncooperative and “walking away” (though the initial report was that they were stabbed “in the face”). Medics are just now being sent.
5:39 PM: Police say the victim is an “adult male.” No word of an arrest so far, nor have we heard a verified description.
5:50 PM: The SFD response closed quickly, indicating the victim was not seriously hurt (we’re following up to verify).
ADDED TUESDAY MORNING: Further details were not available last night, but today SPD has this brief summary:
(At 5:23 pm Monday), two subjects got in a disturbance that resulted in the victim getting stabbed in the face with a broken bottle. When police arrived, the victim was uncooperative. The victim declined any and all attempts to provide him with medical care and left the area under his own power. The suspect was gone. Unknown who the suspect is as well as the victim.
(Sunday night sunset, photographed by Mike Burns)
For the fifth time since late July, the National Weather Service has issued a “Heat Advisory” alert for our area. This time it’ll be in effect noon Tuesday through 9 pm Wednesday. Today we’re already into the mid-80s, and the next two days could be just a few degrees warmer, but nonetheless this is hotter than usual for this time of year – normal high is 76.
One more back-to-school note: The Roots of Empathy program is looking for new parents in West Seattle with babies born this summer. Here’s what it’s about:
Do you have a baby who was born in July or August? Would you like to volunteer with your baby to help nurture empathy in children? Arbor Heights Elementary is looking for parents with infants who are between 2-4 months old in October to volunteer about once per month during the school year.
What is Roots of Empathy?
Roots of Empathy is an evidence-based classroom program that has shown significant effect in reducing levels of aggression among school children while raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy. The program has been widely evaluated across three continents for two decades and is proven to result in improved empathy, increased emotional understanding, decreased aggression and bullying and improved pro-social behavior among participating students. Research also demonstrates that these improvements are sustained and even strengthened over time.Above is a brief introductory video that explains how Roots of Empathy works and why a baby is such a powerful teacher of empathy. Roots of Empathy was also recently featured on NBC’s Today – you can view that segment here.
If you would like to volunteer as a Roots of Empathy Family, please contact the Roots of Empathy Program Manager, Suz Fix, at sfix@rootsofempathy.org
(WSB file photo)
We’ve already mentioned the first local school to start the 2022-2023 year – Summit Atlas, the charter middle/high school, began classes on August 17th. For students at Kennedy Catholic High School in Burien, now the nearest parochial high school, last Thursday was Day 1. Then today, 1st through 12th graders in the Vashon Island School District – which has many students who ferry from West Seattle – started their school year. Here are the dates we found on other schools’/districts’ online calendars:
August 30 – Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School
August 31 – Vashon Island School District (kindergarteners)
August 31 – Hope Lutheran School
September 1 – Highline Public Schools (1st-12th grades)
September 6 – Holy Family Bilingual Catholic School
September 6 – Holy Rosary Catholic School
September 7 – Seattle Public Schools (1st-12th grades)
September 7 – Highline Public Schools (kindergarteners)
September 7 – Tilden School
September 7 – West Seattle Montessori
September 7 – Westside School
September 7 – Explorer West Middle School
September 12 – Seattle Public Schools (kindergarten/preschool)
September 26 – South Seattle College
(Anyone to add? Let us know – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!)
(Rendering of new sign planned for Louisa Boren STEM K-8)
The new illuminated sign for Louisa Boren STEM K-8 (5950 Delridge Way SW) won’t be installed in time for the start of the new school year a week from Wednesday, but the district is hoping to have it in place later this fall. The land-use decision approving the new sign has been published, and that triggers an appeal window – the deadline for filing one is a week from tomorrow (this notice explains how). We previously reported on the sign plan back in May; the district says the illuminated messaging will only be displayed on days when school is in session, and only between 7 am and 7 pm.
8:48 AM: Thanks for the tips. Morgan Junction Starbucks is closed this morning for cleanup after a man went on a rampage inside the store and broke windows. Recorded police audio indicates the call came in around 5:30 am, that a man who had been in the area “talking to himself and following cars” had gone inside the store and started throwing items, smashing glass, and threatening people.
Police made an arrest shortly thereafter outside the Thriftway store across the street. No word so far of injuries; we’ll add anything more we find out.
12:20 PM: Just talked with a Starbucks spokesperson. They said the store was expected to reopen sometime today (we’re not able to go check right now to see if that’s happened yet). They also confirmed that no one was hurt and noted that their employees are trained in “de-escalation.” We also asked if counseling is offered given how traumatic the incident must have been; short answer, yes.
5:21 PM: The person arrested this morning is a 48-year-old man who spent 3 1/2 months in jail earlier this year after a burglary-related arrest. He’s likely to have a bail hearing in this case tomorrow.
6:01 AM: Good morning! Welcome to Monday, August 29th.
WEATHER
Sunny, breezy forecast, high in the upper 70s.
FERRIES, BUSES, WATER TAXI
Ferries: WSF continues the 2-boat schedule for Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth. Check here for alerts/updates.
Metro buses are on their regular weekday schedules; watch @kcmetroalerts for trip cancellations/reroute alerts.
The West Seattle Water Taxi is on its regular schedule.
ROAD WORK
Bike-lane work is expected to continue along Andover/26th/28th/Yancy (Sunday photo above). Here’s the construction notice.
BRIDGES AND DETOUR ROUTES
890th morning without the West Seattle Bridge. 20 days until the day SDOT expects to reopen it – September 18th. Here’s our report on another visit to the work zone last Thursday.
Low Bridge: Automated enforcement cameras remain in use until the high bridge reopens; 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:
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, many with video options; 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.
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