West Seattle, Washington
11 Monday
(2022 photo of eggs awaiting Fauntleroy Community Association hunt – photo from volunteer Al)
Almost time for a spring tradition. From Fauntleroy to North Delridge, this year families have at least six West Seattle egg hunts to choose from. One even has a chaser of legendary burgers. Here’s what we have so far:
SUNDAY, MARCH 24 – FAUNTLEROY: The Fauntleroy Community Association starts the season on the playground at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse (9131 California SW), 1-2 pm Sunday, March 24. This one will happen in two waves – first the little ones 4 and under, then the older kids. Eggs will contain non-candy “treasures,” promises FCA. And if you can help – “join coordinator Candace Blue and Scott Wiesemann at an egg-stuffing party or help hide the eggs. Email her at blueyvette47@gmail.com for specifics and to volunteer.”
SATURDAY, MARCH 30 – LINCOLN PARK: Eastridge Church is again promising thousands of eggs and inflatables for bouncing when it takes over the park’s south meadow, 10 am. (Fauntleroy Way SW/SW Cloverdale)
SATURDAY, MARCH 30 – CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS (4001 44th SW): 10 am, “come enjoy an Easter egg hunt, spring-themed activities, and an Easter Message!”
SATURDAY, MARCH 30 – SEATTLE PARKS & REC: The city is offering three West Seattle egg hunts this year:
–Delridge Community Center (4501 Delridge Way SW), March 30, 10 am
–High Point Community Center (6920 34th SW), March 30, 10 am
–Roxhill Park field (29th SW/SW Barton), March 30, noon
SATURDAY, MARCH 30 – OUNCES + DICK’S TRUCK (3809 Delridge Way SW): The annual Beer Garden Easter Egg Hunt is back at Ounces at 3 pm, followed by the Dick’s Drive In burgers-and-shakes truck 4-7 pm. (Update: Ounces says truck canceled – a hot-dog food truck will be there instead)
SUNDAY, MARCH 31 – CHURCHES WITH EGG HUNTS: See our services list for church-by-church specifics and locations:
-Admiral Church
-Alki UCC
-Bethany Community Church
-Fauntleroy UCC
-St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church
-West Side Presbyterian Church
Anyone else? Let us know – westseattleblog@gmail.com – so we can add you to the list!
(WSB photo from last Tuesday’s City Council Transportation Committee meeting)
The Transportation Plan, the Comprehensive Plan, the Parks and Open Space Plan … the city is in a season of looking to the future. If you have a question about any of those for District 1 City Councilmember Rob Saka – or about something happening right now – you’ll want to be at the Admiral Neighborhood Association gathering this Tuesday (March 12) – it’ll be his second West Seattle neighborhood-group appearance in less than a week (after this one). ANA meets at 7 pm, in-person only, at Admiral Church (4320 SW Hill), and other guests will include Southwest Precinct police. All welcome (even if you don’t live or work in Admiral).
(Birds, including a Bald Eagle, on cleared Alki Elementary site – photo by Don Brubeck)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The Alki Elementary rebuild is being appealed again.
To recap: This all traces back to Seattle Public Schools proposing a new, larger school that, as announced in 2022, would require nine zoning exceptions, officially known as departures. City reviewers approved the departures last May. Nearby residents filed appeals shortly thereafter. All but one of the challenges were either dismissed or settled. The one that was not involved parking – under zoning rules, 48 offstreet spaces would be required, but the district wanted to build the school with none. A city hearing examiner told the district in August to go back to the drawing board on that. Instead of coming up with a counterproposal immediately, the district went to court. Its challenge was dismissed in October, not on its merits, but on the premise that the court only had jurisdiction on a final decision, and that’s not what the district was challenging. In December, the district came up with a new plan that would include 15 parking spaces. Last month, the city said OK. And now, that’s what’s being appealed.
The appellant is different this time – it’s a group calling itself Friends for a Safe Alki Community, led by local “semi-retired lawyer” Steve Cuddy, who says the group has more than 50 members. The appeal contends in part:
The Revised Decision has not ensured that the proposed facility is compatible with the character and use of its surrounding area and the Decision fails to consider and balance the impacts on traffic, noise, circulation, and parking in the area. For example, the Revised Decision erroneously concludes that the proposed departure request will result in no significant loss of vehicular parking on site and will establish an increase in parking for the record. That is simply false. The school of approximately 300 students and 30-40 staff had approximately 29 parking spaces and the adjacent Community Center had approximately 27 spaces and still experienced persistent parking, traffic, and safety issues. The Revised Decision grants the departure to almost double the number of students and staff while reducing the number of parking spaces down to 15. The Revised Decision also fails to consider impacts to emergency/first responder access in the area.
Among other contentions, the appeal says the information used for the city’s approval of the revised plan was still faulty – with another parking study done after the old Alki Elementary was demolished last year, with its student and staff now housed at the former Schmitz Park Elementary.
In addition to the parking issue, the new appeal includes safety concerns, as did the previous ones. The appeal documentation uploaded to the city Hearing Examiner‘s website includes Cuddy’s personal 22-page letter of opposition written one year ago, including background that he worked more than 15 years ago to get the traffic-calming speed humps installed on 59th Avenue SW alongside the school and adjacent playfield, and a decade ago to get stop signs at 59th/Stevens, near the campus’s north edge. It also includes a letter to the city from his wife Linda Cuddy, written this past January, and noting she worked years ago to get a sidewalk installed along the north side of Alki Playfield. She wrote, in part, summarizing some of the safety concerns that also were aired in the first round of appeals:
The Alki School, SPS’s smallest parcel of 1.4 acres, is located in an incredibly busy environment, in the midst of regional parks and Alki Beach attractions, all within a “Parking Overlay.” As the Hearing Examiner said, “The school site has limited street access, with just one right-of-way, on the east side of 59th Avenue SW, from SW Admiral Way looking south. 59th Ave SW is signed for on-street bus loading and unloading on the east parallel to the school and for parent drop-off north of SW Stevens Street also on the east side. Due to its limited and cramped street access, difficult vehicle circulation patterns and the narrow width of 59th Ave SW, during peak drop off and pick up times, passage on 59th Ave SW effectively becomes a one lane street creating unsafe and unmanageable traffic and parking issues.” Parents are forced to park in an unsafe and illegal manner in the parent drop off zone. Otherwise, traffic issues would be much worse and restrictive on 59th.
So what happens now? The city Hearing Examiner’s Office will schedule a hearing on the new appeal, which will be followed by a ruling, which may be appealable in court. The school construction remains on hold pending a building permit, which can’t be granted until all this is decided. The new school originally was projected to open in fall 2025 but even prior to this new appeal, the district had moved that to fall 2026. (Planning for the rebuild dates back to 2018, when the district was deciding what to send to voters in its 2019 BEX V levy, and it was described even then as a potential expansion of capacity to 500. Our archives show parking questions arose before the 2019 vote, too.)
4:08 PM: That’s smoke, not fog, drifting over the West Seattle Bridge in our framegrab from an SDOT traffic camera near the 4th Avenue South exit. That exit is blocked off right now because of what’s logged as an “encampment fire” toward the end of the ramp. So if you’re headed for 4th any time soon, you’ll want to use 1st and surface Spokane Street instead.
4:41 PM: SFD has cleared the scene and the ramp is reopening.
(City-provided aerial view of stadium and proposed dog-park area)
If you have something to say about the city’s proposal for a second West Seattle dog park – aka off-leash area – south of West Seattle Stadium, this Thursday (March 14) brings a formal public hearing during the next meeting of the Seattle Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners. They’re a city-convened advisory board that meets twice monthly, and you can speak either in person or remotely. Seattle Parks released its recommendation for the site – and other future off-leash areas around the city – last month (WSB coverage here; citywide info here). To sign up to speak during the hearing at Thursday’s 6:30 pm meeting (attendance info is here), email benjamin.burtzos@seattle.gov.
We don’t know if these two burglaries late last night and early this morning less than a mile apart are related; the second one resulted in an arrest. Here’s what we know so far:
BURGLARY THIS MORNING: This happened before 7 am near 48th/Charlestown, and we heard about it via a texted tip when a sizable police and medical response resulted.
At the scene, police told us it was an attempted burglary, and that the medical response was intensified when the suspect, believed to be under the influence of drugs, became combative. Listening to recorded dispatch/officer exchanges, 911 got a call for help, and police arrived to find a resident had “pinned down” the suspected burglar, who was quickly taken into custody. The initial medical dispatch was described as being for minor injuries in the scuffle; then it was beefed up with more units about 15 minutes later when the suspect, described as a man about 30 years old, exhibited “acute behavior disturbance.” We were told at the scene that he would be taken to the hospital.
BURGLARY LAST NIGHT: Dennis sent this report early today:
I’m sad to report that our home was broken into (Saturday night) between the hours of 9-11 pm. We were out but our two dogs were home. Whoever did this did not hurt our dogs, but they did enough to frighten them. We live in the neighborhood between Frater and 56th, to the west of Schmitz Park. They entered our home on the side of the house without cameras, so they must have known or seen the location of our cameras and bypassed them. Unfortunately, they stole personal belongings, rifled through our drawers and belongings, stole work laptops, and just created chaos in our home. Police were called and a report was filed.
ADDED SUNDAY NIGHT: Report # is 24-66348. We also asked Dennis about items to watch for:
We’ll be following up tomorrow to see if the two might be related, given the time frame and relative proximity.
Family and friends will gather this afternoon to celebrate the life of Margaret Culbertson, and are sharing this remembrance:
In Loving Memory of Margaret L. Culbertson
June 19, 1927 – February 27, 2024Margaret L. Culbertson, born on June 19, 1927, peacefully passed away on February 27, 2024. She was a beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother, auntie, sister, and dear friend. Margaret’s life is a testimony to love, resilience, and the bonds of family. She touched the hearts of everyone who knew her.
Born to John and Jenny Bugenhagen in Wardner, ID. They then moved to Yakima, where Margaret spent her childhood and began working in orchards and canneries. She had 2 sisters; Remona and Dorothy preceded her in death. In 1945, Margaret moved to Seattle, where she met her soon-to-be husband, Louis “Tex” Culbertson. They were married for an impressive 64 years, having exchanged vows on July 31, 1946, at Fort Lawton in Seattle.
Margaret and Louis were blessed with three sons: Dale, Jim, and Sam. Her family continued to grow with the arrival of two grandchildren: Cherie’ and Sean. Seven great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren brought joy and laughter to her home.
Margaret enjoyed bowling and was an active participant in leagues at Roxbury Lanes and West Seattle Bowl with friends and family. She also enjoyed knitting, crocheting, sewing, playing many card games, Mexican train, and board games with family and friends.
Margaret had a green thumb and found solace in her garden, where she especially loved her roses, dahlias, and violets. Her flowers’ blooming was a testament to her nurturing spirit. She also had an amazing vegetable garden where she worked with Louis, and then she would do a lot of canning to provide delicious food for the year. The best canned peaches, pears, green beans, tomatoes, corn, and salsa would come from Margaret. But what she is most famous for is the best strawberry jam in the world! She couldn’t make enough to keep up with the demand.
She was always known for her warm hospitality and open arms. Thanksgiving dinners at her house were a cherished tradition. The warmth of the family gathered around the table, sharing stories and laughter, made those moments truly special.
Margaret’s life was woven with love, laughter, and the bonds that span generations. While we celebrate her life, let’s remember the impact she made and the memories she leaves behind.
Margaret’s Celebration of Life will be held from 2 to 4:30 pm, March 10, 2024, White Center Eagles, 10452 15th Ave SW. Please feel free to come by and share a story or two and enjoy hearing other stories.
There will be a private family-only graveside service.
In lieu of flowers, please feel free to make a donation in Margaret’s name to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital – Support Health and Healing – MultiCare Foundations in Tacoma. This charity was near and dear to her heart, and she still made donations to them.
(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries and memorial announcements by request, free of charge. Please email the text, and a photo if available, to westseattleblog@gmail.com)
(Photo by Lynn Hall, as seen on Elliott Bay Friday afternoon)
Check to be sure you’re on Daylight Saving Time – then browse our list to see what’s up today/tonight, mostly from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES: Second weekend for cookie booths at various locations – starting as early as 8 am. Search here for your nearest locations.
MINI-POLAR PLUNGE: 9 am every Sunday, you’re welcome to join a group plunge into Puget Sound off Alki – meet at Statue of Liberty Plaza (61st/Alki).
WESTIES RUN CLUB: Meet at 9 am at rotating locations – today it’s Natalie’s on Alki (2532 Alki Avenue SW).
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm, the market is open as usual on California SW between SW Alaska and SW Oregon, offering late-winter vegetables and fruit, plus cheese, fish, meat, baked goods, condiments, fresh-cooked food, beverages (from cider to kombucha to beer/wine), nuts, candy, more! Here’s today’s vendor list.
WEST SEATTLE TOOL LIBRARY: Need to borrow something for a home project? Visit the WSTL 11 am-4 pm. (4408 Delridge Way SW, northeast side of Youngstown Cultural Arts Center)
ART EXHIBITION: Second weekend for Lucha Libre-themed show at South Delridge’s Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery (9414 Delridge Way SW). Open today noon-6 pm.
GRAND REOPENING + POP-UP MARKET: 12:30-4:30 pm at Good Sister‘s new location (6959 California SW), it’s a grand reopening celebration with a multi-vendor pop-up market – participating businesses are listed here.
INTERNATIONAL ORDER OF THE RAINBOW FOR GIRLS: Girls and young women 11-20 are invited to this group’s St. Patrick’s Paint Party, 1-3 pm at Alki Masonic Center (40th/Edmunds) – details in our calendar listing.
(added) BARBECUE POP-UP: From Andrew at Ounces (3809 Delridge Way SW): “We’ll have a special pop-up today from Outsider BBQ at Ounces. Outsider will be serving their Texas-style BBQ from 1 pm – 6 pm (or sellout).”
‘KING X’ FINAL PERFORMANCE: 3 pm at Acts on Stage Theater in White Center (10806 12th SW) – ticket link is in our calendar listing.
LADIES’ MUSICAL CLUB: Free classical-music concert at West Seattle (Admiral) Library (2306 42nd SW), 3 pm – see the program in our calendar listing.
SOUND BATH: 7 pm, presented by Inner Alchemy at Move2Center Studio (3618 SW Alaska), $35.
LIVE MUSIC AT THE ALLEY: See and hear the Triangular Jazztet at The Alley (4509 California SW), 8-10 pm.
Are you planning something that should be on our community event calendar – one-time or recurring? Please email us the basics – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
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