West Seattle, Washington
19 Monday
A lively all-ages way to start your New Year’s Eve is back this year – the Highland Park Improvement Club‘s Not-So-Silent-Night Parade Since HPIC’s building remains closed, awaiting rebuilding after last year’s fire, the parade will start at Highland Park Corner Store (7789 Highland Park Way SW) and proceed to Riverview Playfield. Bring a light, noisemaker(s) – drums, tambourines, whatever you have – costumes if you want. There’ll be free cider as everyone gathers at HPCS between 5:30 and 6, and hot chocolate and cookies at the end of the parade. It’s on no matter what the weather does (so far, the NYE forecast looks fairly calm, mostly cloudy, 40s, slight chance of rain. The parade is a tradition dating back to 2009!
This is one of the NYE/NYD options in our West Seattle Holiday Guide, and we’re still adding to the list – let us know if you have something to add!
ORIGINAL WEDNESDAY REPORT: Thanks to everyone who sent photos of this vessel seen from Alki today, removing floating logs/trees from Elliott Bay, after the king tide – and rain-swollen rivers – swept so many out to sea. It’s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers‘ M/V Puget, explained here as the USACE’s “debris recovery vessel,” with authority to “remove trees, brush and other debris that may be determined to be obstructions to navigation or that may promote flooding.”
M/V Puget is 78 years old and 104 feet long, based in Ballard. We tried contacting the Corps today to ask for specifics on this operation but haven’t heard back yet.
ADDED THURSDAY AFTERNOON: USACE Seattle spokesperson Scott Lawrence confirms that’s what the Puget was doing and that its crew members “are continuing work in the greater central Puget Sound, clearing logs from the recent king tides and high winds the area experienced.” As for what happens to the logs pulled from the water: “The logs and debris are taken to our debris barges at the Hiram M. Chittenden locks in Ballard, Washington, where a contractor comes in and recycles the material.”
(Reader photo, South Park on Tuesday)
Our neighbors in South Park are cleaning up flooded homes and businesses along the Duwamish River after Tuesday’s weather-enhanced king tide. Commenters have been discussing how to help and we’re surfacing it here so you can help too. While the city is providing some help, community-based assistance is being coordinated by the Duwamish River Community Coalition, and they have two requests: Money to directly support flood-affected families (you can donate here). DRCC says that so far it’s placed 10 families in hotels and is working with others on specific needs. They’re also asking for volunteer help, too – watch for a link on the DRCC website.
We’ve received several questions about a death investigation at the long-vacant house on the northeast end of Delridge Way, officially 3804 23rd SW (Assessor’s Office photo at right). Police and the Medical Examiner’s Office were there yesterday; when we checked then, SPD’s report wasn’t in, but they were able to tell us that the incident had not been referred to homicide detectives. After more questions today, we checked again, and this time a few details were available – “The report type is listed as death/accidental. A worker found the deceased person on the property. Signs point to a non-criminal manner of death.” Final determination of the cause of death, and identification of the person, is up to the ME. The house has long been considered a nuisance property; city records show that the most recent redevelopment proposal, a townhouse project, went idle in 2019. More recently, city files show complaints about the failing retaining wall dating back to July, and a recent permit application from the Renton-based property owner – who bought the site in 2018 – to fix it.
(The Olympics, photographed today by James Bratsanos)
Finally time to get back to daily event lists, now that the weather drama has passed. We usually publish the list in the morning – running late today, but here are five things to know about for tonight:
CHAMPAGNE TASTING: 5-7 pm at Molly’s Bottle Shop (3278 California SW), “The tasting of four different, delicious Champagnes is free for all.”
LIVE AT LOCOL: Locöl (7902 35th SW) spotlights live music 6:30-8:30 pm Wednesdays, no cover, 21+, rotating artists.
MUSIC BINGO: Play weekly at The Good Society (California/Lander), 7 pm.
TRIVIA x 5: At 7 pm, you can play trivia at the West Seattle Brewing Mothership (4415 Fauntleroy Way SW); Larry’s Tavern (3405 California SW) hosts Wednesday-night trivia starting at 7:30 pm; there’s 7:30 and 8:30 pm trivia at The Lodge (4209 SW Alaska); trivia starts at 8 pm at Beveridge Place Pub (6413 California SW); at 8:30 pm, trivia at Talarico’s (4718 California SW) with Phil T.
SKYLARK OPEN MIC: 7:30 pm signups @ West Seattle’s longest-running open mic – no cover to watch. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
Have an event – one-time or recurring – to add to West Seattle’s only comprehensive event calendar? Please email westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
Saturday, for New Year’s Eve, many transit services around the region will be fare-free, including the West Seattle Water Taxi. The annual announcement just arrived – here are the Seattle/King County highlights:
*King County Metro: Buses will operate on their regular Saturday schedule and be fare-free from 3 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 31, through 3 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 1. Other Metro services operating fare-free include DART, Via to Transit, Ride Pingo to Transit, Community Van, and Access service. Please note Via to Transit will only operate until 2 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 1.
*King County Water Taxi: The water taxi will operate fare-free on Dec. 31 but will be out of service on Jan. 1. and Jan. 2.
*Sound Transit: Link light rail and Sound Transit Express buses are fare-free from 4 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 31, to 2 a.m. Sunday., Jan. 1. Sound Transit will operate extended Link light rail service on New Year’s Eve, with 15-minute, late-night service. The last southbound trip will leave Northgate Station at 1:58 a.m. The last northbound train will leave Angle Lake Station at 1:41 a.m. For more information go to the Sound Transit website.
*Seattle Streetcar: Both streetcar lines will operate Saturday service hours. The South Lake Union Streetcar will operate on New Year’s Eve until 12:30 a.m. to accommodate fireworks viewing downtown.
Note that the Water Taxi will run its regular Saturday schedule – no late-night sailings in fall/winter. And note that exceptions to the fare-free plan include the Seattle Monorail, which the announcement says “will collect regular fares and is scheduled to operate from Westlake to the Seattle Center until 11 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. After the evening’s events at Seattle Center, service to Westlake will run from 12:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.”
We’re adding this info to the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide, where we’re also building a list of local NYE/NYD events – not too late to add one – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
Josette is hoping someone might spot this stolen statue:
(Early Tuesday) around 1.00 AM, my front-yard statue was stolen. It is a bronze statue with 2 children holding a flower basket. It was located on 47th Ave SW and Findlay SW. The thieves were able to carry the statue, which is more than 300 lbs. I was able to see 2 men carrying my statue into a dark-colored car. If you do see it, please let me know. This statue is dear to me.
Any leads, let us know and we’ll connect you. UPDATE: Police reprt # 22-344596.
6:03 AM: Good morning! It’s Wednesday, December 28th.
LOW-BRIDGE CLOSURE
SDOT announced Tuesday that the low bridge won’t reopen for at least another two weeks – and they haven’t finalized a repair plan yet.
It’s been out of service since Friday. It’s being kept open to vessel traffic, but unusable for surface traffic.
WEATHER & WATER
The wind alert expired at 1 am as planned, though the wind hadn’t entirely died down by then. Today is expected to be quieter – mostly cloudy, breezy, high in the 40s. … After Tuesday’s weather-enhanced “king tide,” there’s a Coastal Flood Advisory for this morning, but it’s not expected to be a repeat – high tide should be closer to the predicted 12.8 feet at 9:24 am. (UPDATE: This was upgraded to a Coastal Flood Warning.) … One more note: South Park’s flooding-related closures were still in effect as of early today.
TODAY’S TRANSIT STATUS
–Metro is back to a regular schedule today but still down buses for repairs – 12 of the 126 had been fixed by the end of last week – keep watching notification channels such as @kcmetroalerts for trip cancellations and route suspensions.
-The West Seattle Water Taxi is on its regular schedule.
-WSF’s Triangle Route remains on its two-boat schedule- check here for alerts/updates.
SPOTLIGHT CAMERAS
Delridge cameras: Updating this recent report, five are now live. Besides the one below (Delridge/Genesee), cameras are also up at Delridge/Oregon, Delridge/Juneau, Delridge/Orchard, and Delridge/Henderson.
High Bridge – here’s the camera at the top.
High Bridge – the view from its southwest end (when SDOT points the 35th/Avalon/Fauntleroy camera that way).
1st Ave. S. Bridge: The south route.
Highway 99: Here’s the northbound side at Lander.
All functional city traffic cams can be seen here, most with video options; West Seattle and vicinity-relevant cameras are also on this WSB page … Are movable city bridges opening for vessels? Check the @SDOTBridges Twitter feed.
If you see a problem on the roads/paths/water, please text or call us (when you can do so safely) – 206-293-6302.
| Comments Off on NEW YEAR’S EVE: Not-So-Silent Night Parade returns