West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
As reported here last week, masks were recommended through this week at West Seattle High School because of “multiple” COVID cases. The original announcement to families didn’t say how many, however. But if you check the district dashboard, the stat is stark – between February 7th and 14th, for example, 82 cases were reported at WSHS – the only school in the entire district to even have a double-digit total; next-highest total in the district was 7 cases at three schools outside West Seattle, while the next-highest total in the greater West Seattle area was Madison Middle School with 5 cases. The WSHS masking recommendation runs through Friday, which is the last school day before the district’s weeklong mid-winter break.
More West Seattle Crime Watch reports:
ANOTHER AUTO SHOP BURGLARIZED: This time, Swedish Automotive (35th/Kenyon; WSB sponsor) was hit. Swedish’s Todd Ainsworth sent the photo and report:
We came in this morning to find a very large rock had been thrown through one of our windows – on the north side of the building, along Kenyon St. It appears they may have grabbed a couple of easy-to-reach flashlights from one of our tech’s toolboxes and the rock itself appears to have damaged a car that was inside the shop.
Hopefully, someone out there may have seen something? We’d love to hear from them if they did!
Contact the shop with tips. We don’t have the SPD incident # yet but will add when we do.
KEEPSAKES TAKEN IN GARAGE THEFT: We’re getting an increasing number of reader reports about apartment/condo garage break-ins. This one is from Rachel:
I live in the WS Junction area on California Ave and we’ve had our condo-complex garage broken into multiple nights in a row over the last weekend (2/10-2/13).
The intruders stole my high-school letterman’s jacket (as well as my childhood stuffed animals, music boxes from my grandmother, and my mom’s flag-corps uniform). The jacket is from Kentridge High School (2006-2010) and will have the last name “SOLEY” on the back.
If you find any items that might be Rachel’s, let us know and we’ll connect you.
SAME GARAGE, 3RD VISIT: Rachel’s garage is the same one where Corey reported repeat burglars/thieves two days ago. Now Corey sends word they returned for a third time – here are new photos:
Corey says, “Perhaps someone will recognize the couple and can report them to the SPD. Case # 23-40539.”
P.S. Another reminder – tomorrow (Thursday) night at 7 pm, the Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Council community meeting happens at the precinct (2300 SW Webster), with a guest from the city Unified Care Team to talk about the encampment by the 1st Ave. S. Bridge.
When the state 3A high-school diving championships are held tomorrow night in Federal Way, a local student will be there – for the second time! Here’s the announcement we received:
West Seattle High School junior Giovanni Slye will be competing at the state diving championship tomorrow (Thursday) at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way. His performance at the Districts meet last weekend guaranteed him a spot at the statewide competition. Diving Coach Stephanie Hunt is proud to take him all the way to state two years in a row.
Event info is here. You can see on page 5 here who he’s competing against.
The second set of results is in from the special election on Seattle Initiative 135 to create an entity to develop “social housing.” Last night, “yes” was almost six percentage points ahead of “no”; today, that’s widened:
SEATTLE INITIATIVE 135
Yes – 53.96% – 64,345
No – 46.04% – 54,900
The ballots counted so far represent almost 25 percent of Seattle voters; 33 percent of the ballots sent have been received as of this afternoon.
Those are the city-owned electric-vehicle chargers on 39th SW in The Junction, by Spruce and West Seattle Bowl. As reported here last month, vandals/thieves have left both inoperable, and they’re not fixed yet. We asked Seattle City Light spokesperson Jenn Strang about its status; she says, “We plan to repair all of the recently damaged chargers. Unfortunately, there are supply-chain disruptions in purchasing the replacement charging cables that have caused some delays, but we expect to begin repairs on the 39th Ave SW chargers this month.”
We also asked her about permit applications we’ve seen in the city’s online files for publicly owned chargers on the street in several West Seattle areas. According to Strang, “That is part of Seattle City Light’s new Curbside Level 2 EV Charging pilot project. We received 1,800 requests through public process and evaluated each based on pre-defined criteria designed to select locations that will serve the greatest number of customers and best achieve the City’s equity and environmental goals. The chargers will be owned and operated by City Light and will be available for use by the public. We expect to begin construction in late March and to have all locations operational by summer. The complete list of locations will be announced soon.” So far we’ve found permit applications for four West Seattle public-charger locations: 2100 California SW, 4830 Fauntleroy Way SW, 4850 California SW, and 7015 17th SW.
1:36 PM: For those who thought they heard gunfire last night near California/Hanford – police say they confirmed it. 911 calls came in around 11:40 pm; officers were dispatched, and the report summary says they found “evidence of a shooting at the intersection of California Ave SW and SW Hanford St in the roadway,” adding that “No victims or property damage were located.” The summary also says that a witness reported seeing “a 2000s-model Jeep Cherokee speed off northbound on California Ave SW” around that time.
ADDED WEDNESDAY EVENING: A reader sent this security video in which you can hear (but not see) the gunshots:
The Seattle Public Library is adding more hours/days at many of its branches, using funding from the 2019 “Libraries for All” levy, and that means – among other changes – that once the additions take effect, all SPL branches in this area will be open seven days a week. (Currently, Delridge and West Seattle/Admiral are closed Fridays, while Southwest is closed Saturdays.) SPL’s announcement notes, “With this expansion, Library locations will be open a total of 223 more hours per week than currently and 133 more hours per week than in 2019 when the Levy was overwhelmingly passed by voters.” These are the schedules that will take effect the week of April 3rd.
Delridge Branch, 5423 Delridge Way SW
o 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday; noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday and ThursdayHigh Point Branch, 3411 SW Raymond St.
o 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.South Park Branch, 8604 8th Ave. S
o 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and ThursdaySouthwest Branch, 9010 35th Ave. SW
o 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday; noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday and WednesdayWest Seattle Branch, 2306 42nd Ave. SW
o 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday; noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday
To see the full announcement, including all the new schedules for branches citywide, go here.
(Tuesday sunrise glow, photographed by Marc Milrod)
Here’s what’s happening in the hours ahead, mostly from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
AMERICAN MAHJONG: 1-3 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon): “Stimulate your brain by playing this ancient Chinese tile game that is similar to the card game Rummy. Meet new people and have fun. All levels of players are welcome.”
FREE INDOOR PLAYSPACE: Toddler Gym weekday afternoons at the Salvation Army Center (9050 16th SW), ages 2-6, 3:30-5 pm.
LACROSSE PRACTICES BEGIN: Southwest Lacrosse Club Titans boys teams 3rd grade and up start practices tonight – info here.
HSA SELECT BOYS’ SOCCER TRYOUTS: Tonight and tomorrow at Delridge Playfield (4458 Delridge Way SW):
Players should plan to attend both days of tryouts.
U16 (Birth Year 2008) Day 1: Feb 15, Wed, 6-7:30pm
U17 (Birth Year 2007) Day 1: Feb 15, Wed, 7:30-9pm
U19 (Birth Year 2005/06) Day 1: Feb 15, Wed, 7:30-9pmRegister HERE. Please review Tryout Page to prepare for tryouts.
TRIVIA x 6: At 6 pm, Locust Cider (2820 Alki SW) now offers trivia … 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 Sporcle Pub Quiz 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.
LIVE AT OTTER ON THE ROCKS: It’s Jazz Night, starting at 6:30 pm. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
CHURCH CELEBRATION: The Rev. Canon Elise B. Johnstone becomes rector of St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church (3050 California SW) in a ceremony tonight; community members welcome.
LIVE AT EPHESUS: Kimball & The Fugitive Trio now plays Ephesus Greek Restaurant (5245 California SW), 6:30 pm Wednesdays.
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.
SKYLARK OPEN MIC: Time for you to shine! 7:30 pm signups @ West Seattle’s longest-running open mic – no cover to watch. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
Planning an event – meeting, performance, reading, tour, fundraiser, or … – that could be featured on West Seattle’s only comprehensive event calendar? Tell us about it! Please email info to westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
(Added 10:09 am: WSB photo)
9:09 AM: The King County Wastewater Treatment Division says Monday night’s thunderstorms led to a “power interruption” that resulted in a “brief overflow” from Barton Pump Station on the north side of the Fauntleroy ferry dock. They aren’t saying yet how long it lasted or how much wastewater overflowed, but they’ve closed the beaches at Lincoln and Cove Parks “until water quality testing confirms the water is safe.”
2:07 PM: KCWTD has answered our followup questions. First – the overflow volume is estimated at more than 101,000 gallons. KCWTD spokesperson Doug Williams says it was actually two overflows:
The station experienced a power bump (poor power quality that was not consistent) at 7:12 p.m. that triggered a fault in the pump. The standby operator was dispatched to the pump station to reset the pumps. There were two short overflow events, one for 12 minutes and the other for 11 minutes.
We also asked how and when the KCWTD crew was notified and when they arrived:
The pump sent an alarm, which was received by Main Control at West Point Treatment Plant, and a standby operator was immediately dispatched. The operator arrived at the pump station at 7:47 p.m. The pumps were reset by 7:48 p.m. The operator left, having fixed the problem, but returned at 8:30 p.m. after another power bump caused an alarm at 8:08 p.m.
This pump station was “upgraded” in 2015, so we asked why there wasn’t some sort of failsafe or backup to prevent this:
We are still evaluating the incident and pump performance. We suspect that inconsistent power quality shut the pump down, as it is designed to protect the equipment from fluctuating power (much like a surge protector, or tripped breaker in your home). Power monitoring equipment at the station showed that there was no loss of power, so the incident was initiated by poor power quality received at the station. Since there was no loss of power, the onsite generator was not engaged. The power seemed to surge and flicker, causing two different short overflows of 12 and 11 minutes (from 7:36 – 7:48 p.m., and again at 8:19 – 8:30 p.m.).
6:03 AM: Good morning! It’s Wednesday, February 15th.
WEATHER
After a cold night – down into the 20s – sunshine is expected today, high near 45.
TODAY’S TRANSIT STATUS
–Metro is on its regular schedule, but still canceling some trips, operating without some buses, so check notification channels such as @kcmetroalerts.
-Regular schedule for the West Seattle Water Taxi.
–Washington State Ferries‘ Triangle Route continues on a two-boat schedule; check here for alerts/updates and use Vessel Watch to see where boats are at.
SPOTLIGHT CAMERAS
Delridge cameras: Besides the one below (Delridge/Oregon), cameras are also up at Delridge/Genesee, Delridge/Juneau, Delridge/Orchard, and Delridge/Henderson.
High Bridge – the camera at the top:
High Bridge – the view from its southwest end (when SDOT points the 35th/Avalon/Fauntleroy camera that way):
Low Bridge – looking east to west:
1st Ave. S. Bridge – the south route across the river:
Highway 99: – the northbound side at Lander.
MORE TRAFFIC CAMS: See all working traffic cams citywide here, most with video options; West Seattle and vicinity-relevant cameras are on this WSB page … Are movable city bridges opening for vessels? Check the @SDOTBridges Twitter feed.
If you see a problem on the bridges/streets/paths/water, please text or call us (when you can do it safely, and after you’ve reported to authorities if needed) – 206-293-6302.
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