By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

As always, the Morgan Community Association‘s quarterly meeting was update-laden. Here’s what we heard at Wednesday’s online meeting, facilitated by MoCA president Deb Barker. Here’s how it unfolded, starting with the quick notes dubbed Morgan Minutes:

‘WE NEED HELP’: MoCA needs a recording secretary – “very easy position” since the organization meets only once every three months. This person takes minutes and posts them online – email mocacnc@gmail.com if you might be interested in helping.

EX-BANK BUILDING: The former Washington Federal building on the northeast corner of California/Fauntleroy remains for sale, two and a half years after closing; Barker talked to the broker recently and was told the bank “only wants to sell the building and is not interested in leasing it” – but with the stipulation that future owners can’t use or lease it as a bank. Price has been cut to $2 million.

MORGAN JUNCTION FESTIVAL PLANNING: MoCA will start talking in January about next June’s festival. First thing: Pick a festival date, then consider the scope of the event. All are welcome to help plan – if interested, mocacnc@gmail.com.

HYBRID MEETING? MoCA hopes to move from online-only to hybrid meetings next year.

MoCA’s Michael Brunner said board members have been discussing it, and two possible sites are under consideration: Westside Unitarian Uhiversalist Congregation and The Kenney (which is where MoCA used to meet).

POLICE: It’s been quieter in West Seattle this past week, said Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Nate Shopay (it had, at the time – this meeting was two days before Friday’s carjacking and two purse snatches.) Community Liaison Officer German Barreto and one of SPD’s crime-prevention coordinators, Sarah Lawson, came to the meeting too. Barker asked if the White Center bus murder suspect had been arrested yet; no. Brunner asked if catalytic-converter theft had gone away, since he hadn’t heard about incidents lately. (We haven’t either.) “They’re just taking the whole car now,” said Lt. Shopay, noting auto theft is still running high. But as for catalytic-converter theft, “It hasn’t been a thing lately.” A few large rings had been interrupted regionally/nationally, and that might have helped.

CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES: Each candidate for the District 1 seat got 20 minutes on the agenda, for making their pitches as well as answering their choice of questions provided by MoCA. A few notes: Rob Saka went first. After his opening pitch, he chose to address MoCA’s pedestrian-safety concerns – he was asked if he would support a walk-all-ways intersection at Fauntleroy/California and a crosswalk at Fauntleroy/Rose. He mentioned the need for sidewalks in many areas of District 1. “Pedestrian safety is important to me.” Regarding the walk-all-ways, he said he would work with SDOT on ways to make that happen. If elected, he said he would have one-on-one meetings with the mayor, fellow councilmembers, and some city department heads. He said he would raise “issues like this” in discussions with SDOT director Greg Spotts. He said he would talk with Spotts to find out why a Morgan Junction walk-all-wys doesn’t already exist.

A few other questions:

-Name a business you enjoy visiting in Morgan Junction. Saka’s reply: Ezell’s Famous Chicken. He said Ezell’s catered his wedding a decade-plus ago.

-What West Seattle or D-1 community groups have you been on? None, but he has been “deeply involved in the community personally.”

-So how have you kept up on D-1 issues? Knocking on doors and talking to people at community events, he said, calling it a “tremendous learning journey.”

-What committees would he want to be on, if elected? Public safety and economic development, as he’s said before. Saka said he’s worked to help “businesses of all sizes be successful.” He said he’s “most looking forward to advocating for small businesses.” He also said that “if I do my job right” as a councilmember, “crime will go down.”

Next, Maren Costa was offered similar questions. She said Saka did a “great job” talking about pedestrian safety so she’d handle a different question – about electric-vehicle charging, She said it’ll be vital to build out a new electrical grid to handle the load and “make it reasonable for people to opt into EVs.” (She said she’d started driving one recently.) Regarding ensuring that Morgan’s planned EV-charging lot is completed, she said she would work with City Light. She said it’s going to be important for whomever gets elected to jump in, learn fast, “get stuff done.” She expressed admiration for the mayor’s attempts to center a divided city and “hold it together.”

Besides EVs, what would she push for to reduce emissions in D-1? “Climate-resiliency centers” in every neighborhood – schools, libraries, community centers – get more people biking, walking, using public transit – implement Building Emissions Performance Standards, but, she said, those will be more of a factor downtown – plant trees, preserve greenspace.

Preparedness advocate Cindi Barker observed that one logistical challenge would need to be overcome with the climate-resiliency hubs – since the types of facilities she named close at night, there’d have to be a way for people be served around the clock, especially in case of other disasters like earthquakes.

Regarding her espousing of “progressive revenue,” Costa talked about taxes that she said would only affect “the very richest. … We know there’s money in our city.” In conclusion, she said “the most important part of City Council is community,” so she hopes to have “rolling office hours in different neighborhoods” to talk with constituents face to face.

PEDESTRIAN/TRAFFIC CONCERNS ON FAUNTLEROY WAY: To open this discussion, areas of concern were listed – Fauntleroy/Graham, since the 41st/Graham housing development (above) is on the way; the idea of a Fauntleroy/California all-ways crosswalk; safer access to Lincoln Park, as it increases in popularity with the troll – the bus stop at Fauntleroy/Rose has no dedicated crosswalk. For these and other oncerns, Ching Chan from SDOT was “(t)here to listen.” Re: Fauntleroy/Rose – there’s a meeting set later this month with the SDOT transit/mobility group to see if something could be done there – “we have to look into whether we have funding and crew available” as they work citywide to finish what the expiring Levy to Move Seattle promised. They might know more by mid-November. Asked if a commuity member could attend that meeting, Chan said no, it’s an “internal meeting,” but they could set up a followup meeting with community rep(s) – the Fauntleroy Community Association has long worked on this too. … Re: Fauntleroy/Graham, Chan said, “this location currently is not prioritized by our pedestrian master plan” and it’s “not a high-collision area.” But they’ll see if there’s any kind of crossing treatment that could be deployed.

LINCOLN PARK PROJECTS: Deb Barker said a Parks rep is expected to be at the next Fauntleroy Community Association meeting November 14th. Neither FCA nor MoCA supports the idea of an offleash area in Lincoln Park. Meantime, Barker said she had spoken with a Parks rep regarding the Lincoln Park pickleball court plan. She said they contend the environmental review done for the site’s previous use as a tennis court does not need to be redone as a other sport-court uses are grandfathered. She was also told that Lincoln Park was considered in the Parks pickleball study in the past two years. She was told that signage will be installed at the site Monday and work will be getting under way after that.

MORGAN JUNCTION PARK ADDITION: Barker said Kelly Goold from Parks told her the soil-remediation contractor has finally found a site for the contaminated dirt. But the work requires a shoring permit – since there’s trenching involved – so the soil walls won’t collapse. (This is explained in an update on the project website.) If it can’t be done by the end of this month. it’s off until April 1st. But additional public engagement about adding a skate feature is planne – a meeting date will be scheduled. The current target date for project completion, according to the project website, is 2025..

WHAT’S NEXT: MoCA meets every three months, so the next meeting is expected in January 2024 – watch morganjunction.org for updates.