West Seattle, Washington
12 Thursday
(WSB photos/video)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
One of the speakers at The Center for Active Living‘s fundraising breakfast served up one word that you can use to beat stress.
The entire event, in fact, could have been characterized as stress relief of a sort – the more money the center raises, the less it has to worry about how it’ll continue being able to pay for the many programs and services it offers as “The Center of It All,” the theme of this year’s event, held Tuesday morning at Alki Masonic Center in The Junction.
Last year’s breakfast event introduced the former Senior Center’s new name, better reflecting its status as a hub of community connection for people of all ages. Since then, executive director Amy Lee Derenthal told the 200 attendees Tuesday morning, the center’s serving more people now than ever in its 50-year history – 1,500+ members, three times what it had in 2021, ages from late 20s to 100. The center has added new programs – totaling more than 50 programs each week. The center feeds people via community dining and Margie’s Cafe, and delivers 400 meals “to home-bound folks” every month. With the help of volunteers, they offer tech navigation, make home visits via Westside Friends, and staff the Stop & Shop on the center’s lower level. Plus their staff includes two social workers; their work includes running support groups that regularly serve more than 100 people.
“As a small community-based nonprofit, we’re constantly stretching our budget to meet our needs,” Derenthal explained. It’s challenging, but it’s “my dream job,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion just a bit. Here’s everything she told the crowd:
She’s not the only one for which the Center for Active Living work fulfills dreams of making a difference in others’ livesi. “It’s nice to be involved with people helping other people,” said a center volunteer/member in this new video debuted at the breakfast.
Donors experienced fulfillment too, including board member Emily Austin, who spoke about her reasons for giving.
She talked about growing up in family circumstances that led her to gravitate toward older adults, even when she was a kid. She got involved with the center after moving here in 2011. Then in 2022,she joined its board, learning about the “bravery and courage” it takes to operate a nonprofit. “We need the center to thrive fir years to come,” she said, imploring attendees to help make that possible with their gifts.
The center’s work provides everything from classes to meals to social events and group gatherings. Attendees got to sample some of those offerings – like the ukulele group:
And pianist extraordinaire Larry Knapp, who leads the lineup on Jazz Nights at the center:
Not much for music? How about movement?
Denise Geroux was onstage to demonstrate some of what she teaches at the center, focusing on “body awareness … learning how to support yourself through your skeleton …” That’s what she says we should be focused on, not just our muscles.
And then came the “stress magic” we mentioned at the start of this story. Dat Tran, stress-mastery coach, showed how the word “extraordinary” can help you conquer stress:
“Instead of focusing on lowering your stress or taking on less stress, focus on feeling extraordinary,” he advised.
Many in the room had reasons to do exactly that, emcee Ryan Sheaffer suggested, opening the morning with a round of acknowledgments, particularly for the volunteers. And he energetically led a round of live-donating – you could even contribute via text! – getting the center close to its $75,000 goal.
“Your support supports the physical, mental, emotional wellbeing of this community,” said board president Stephanie Bruno in closing. “I got involved because I first thought this woud be a great place for my grandmother .. then I realized it was a great place for me.”
HOW YOU CAN HELP: We followed up with executive director Derenthal today. She says, “Thank you to everyone who donated. We are close to our $75,000 goal. Help us cross the finish line by making a donation! Gifts $500+ are matched thanks to a generous donation from Nucor.” The donation link is here.
At right is David C. Williford, and authorities are looking for him. They didn’t put out a bulletin; we learned of the search after two residents in North Admiral told us state Department of Corrections officers came to a house in their neighborhood with a warrant for his arrest. We contacted the DOC, which confirmed that when officers forcibly entered the house, they discovered a disabled tracking device that he was supposed to be wearing as part of “community custody” (basically our state’s term for parole). A DOC spokesperson could only tell us that Williford is currently wanted on charges of a sex crime involving a relative. Neighbors sent links about a past case outside King County in which he was involved; the DOC spokesperson confirmed his record includes assault and animal cruelty. Though the initial allegations reported in this story are extremely disturbing, it appears from this story that he plea-bargained to some and did not serve much time. We haven’t so far been able to obtain documents on any current or recent cases, though an online docket shows a case number for an unspecified Mason County case last year. Neighbors were given further description information for Williford: 38, 6’4″, bald. If you see or think you’ve seen him, call 911.
This year, unlike last year, we haven’t seen anyone promise live music for shoppers on West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (Saturday, May 10, 9 am-3 pm). But if you’re planning to look for something musical, options abound. Topping the list is the annual Garage Sale Day Sale at Thunder Road Guitars (6400 California SW; WSB sponsor) – the shop’s biggest sale of the year, promising “guitars, guitars, cheap stuff, free stuff!” TRG is Sale #73 on the map. Also mentioning guitars are Sales 102, 153, and 176. Maybe you fancy something more exotic? A didgeridoo is among the offerings at Sale 250 (they have a viola, too, as does Sale 279). Sale 401 has accordions. Five sales mention pianos – 16, 85, 314, 461, and 508. Sales 161 and 405 have DJ equipment. Sale 132 is looking for a new home for an alto saxophone. If you’d rather listen to music than play it, records will be sold at Sales 10, 19, 31, 126, 156, 201, 205, 232, 250, 270, 298, 360, 369, 374, 390, 436, 454, and 537. And in addition to all those, music is mentioned by 11 more sales – 2, 15, 30, 96, 235, 315, 384, 464, 495, 512, and 518. Whatever you’re looking for on WSCGSD – musical or not – you can search the online map by choosing the search icon and searching the description field for your chosen keyword, and you can search the printable list/guide with browser find. More previews to come!
Tomorrow night is the second Thursday, which brings the West Seattle Art Walk. Four reasons to plan on spending at least part of your night Art Walk’ing:
MUSE FEST – THE POWER OF WOMEN’S VOICES: At 11 venues around West Seattle, female musicians will be performing between 6 pm and 7:45 pm.
That’s Sheryl Wiser, one of the featured musicians; here’s another, Havilah Rand:
Find the full list of Muse Fest performers and locations, plus more previews, by going here. (Muse Fest is co-presented by The Art of Music, which is curated by John Redenbaugh, and local music legend Sue Quigley.)
WESTSIDE SCHOOL X ALKI ARTS: Art Walk nights often spotlight students – this time around, the Lower School from Westside School (WSB sponsor) is presenting an art show at Alki Arts in Morgan Junction. The school sent photos and the announcement:
This joyful exhibition will showcase artwork by our lower school students (Pre-K through 4th grade), all centered on this year’s theme: Grow. From vibrant drawings to imaginative sculptures, each piece reflects our students’ growth, creativity, and self-expression.
The event is free and open to the public — friends, families, and art lovers of all ages are welcome!
DESMOND HANSEN AT CANNA WEST SEATTLE: You might know him best for signal-box portraits, but West Seattle artist Desmond Hansen‘s work goes far beyond that. Visit Canna (5435 California SW; WSB sponsor) to meet him and see some of his other work.
WEST SEATTLE GARDEN TOUR ARTISTS AT CAPERS: The WS Garden Tour is still more than a month away, but you can get into the spirit sooner with the Art Walk night guests at CAPERS Home (4525 California SW; WSB sponsor):
CAPERS is pleased to host The West Seattle Garden Tour 2025 artists for the month of May; featuring winning artist Gay Waldman and her winning piece Pool Party (26”w x 18”h) . Pool Party will be featured on the tour’s 2025 poster and ticket book. We are also pleased to be showing work by competing artists Silvia Bajardi, Marnie Lynn, Stacy Almgren, and Memo Luna. Additionally, we are thrilled to have Thoa Nguyen also with us for May.
You’ll find art all around the peninsula – many more previews, plus the list of venues offering food/drink specials, can be found here.
(Photos courtesy Nucor)
As reported here Tuesday, West Seattle’s Nucor Steel mill by the west end of the bridge is dismantling three smokestacks that were decommissioned 40 years ago but have remained in place … until now. The company has shared some images of the early work, including drone views (above and below):
And a ground view too:
Nucor says the disassembly will take about five weeks – no explosives involved, just piece by piece – and the steel will be recycled on site.
As we first reported on Monday, City Councilmember Rob Saka announced plans for a community-safety meeting May 14, but said details were still being worked out. Last night at the community-organized North Delridge public-safety gathering (WSB coverage here), his chief of staff Elaine Ikoma Ko said it would start at 6:30 pm and the location would be announced today. Now that’s just in – he’s describing it as “a Community Safety Meeting focusing specifically on the concerns facing the North Delridge, Snake Hill, and High Point neighborhoods”:
Wednesday, May 14
6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
(doors open 6:15 pm, event ends promptly at 8:00 pm)Neighborhood House – High Point
6400 Sylvan Way SWI’ve invited key city leaders to join us including Police Chief Shon Barnes, Chief of Public Safety Officer Natalie Walton-Anderson, Parks Superintendent AP Diaz, and Seattle City Light CEO Dawn Lindell. Council President Sara Nelson and additional city representatives will also be in attendance.
This community gathering is about listening — and acting. Our goal is to give city leadership a clear understanding of how this violence is affecting daily life and to explore real, cross-departmental and community-rooted solutions. Because no one agency — and no one person — can solve this alone.
I have always said that public safety must be a shared responsibility – one that involves government, law enforcement, community organizations, and neighbors. So let’s come together to find shared solutions!
If you live in North Delridge, Snake Hill, or High Point, I encourage you to share your voice ahead of the meeting by submitting a question for the panel
The question-submission form appears to require a login, so we’re checking on that.
5:18 PM: City staff tells us they’ve fixed the “technical glitch” with the question-submission form, so we’ve added it above (and it’s here too).
At the midpoint in King County Elections‘ filing week, five people have filed to run for King County Executive. The person currently holding the job, West Seattleite Shannon Braddock, is not among them, as she had already said she didn’t plan to run for the permanent job. On Tuesday – more than a month after she was sworn in – the County Council finalized her appointment to serve the rest of the year in the term to which Dow Constantine was re-elected. You’ll recall that he left to become CEO of Sound Transit. That left a vacancy on the ST Board, which has permanent seats for all three county executives in the ST service area. So on Tuesday, King County Councilmembers also formally appointed Braddock to the ST Board, meaning that even with Constantine’s move, there’s West Seattle representation on the board, at least through year’s end. Meantime, she announced a “200-day plan” to shape her County Executive work; see its toplines here.
A one-shot incident of gunfire reported last night on Alki was confirmed, according to an SPD summary. 911 got a call at 8:12 pm from a resident near 55th/Alki saying they heard one shot, then looed outside and, the summary says, “saw a back passenger of a SUV holding a firearm outside the window.” Police reported finding one shell casing; no report of injuries. Though it wasn’t mentioned in the summary, we checked archived incident audio, and heard the initial vehicle description, a tan Ford Expedition; there were no descriptions of the vehicle’s occupants, but the firearm was described as “a rifle.” If you have any information, this is SPD incident # 25-122087.
(April 26 WSB photo by Jason Grotelueschen)
As we get ready for Saturday’s “person-to-person recycling” during West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, we have a followup on our area’s most-recent dropoff recycling event, Fauntleroy Church‘s spring Recycle Roundup. Judy Pickens just sent the numbers, and the fall date:
On April 26, nearly 400 “donors” brought just shy of 10 tons of electronics, appliances, and other products to the spring Recycle Roundup at Fauntleroy Church. The congregation’s zero-waste partner, 1 Green Planet, is now repairing what can readily be reused and reclaiming the rest for new products.
Since 2010, these free community events have kept 374 tons of valuable resources out of landfills. Volunteers and crew will be back for the fall roundup on Saturday, Sept. 20. Watch for details here, starting in mid-August.
(SDOT camera in the heart of The Junction)
Here’s our list of your possibilities for the rest of your Wednesday, mostly from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
WALKING FOR WELL-BEING: Meet at 47th/Fauntleroy at 10 am for this free guided walk in Lincoln Park.
TODDLER READING TIME AT PAPER BOAT: 10:30 am at the bookstore’s new location. (4522 California SW)
CHAIR YOGA: 10:30 am at Dragonfly (3270 California SW):
Gentle Chair Yoga
Wednesdays 10:30AM
Class begins Wednesday, May 7 and is recurring weekly.
45 minutes, $20 drop-in
Please register in advance.
Use this LinkREJUVENATE YOGA: Weekly class at Viva Arts, 1:30 pm. Drop-in. $20. (4421 Fauntleroy Way SW)
AMERICAN MAH JONGG: All levels welcome, 2-4:30 pm at The Missing Piece (35th/Roxbury).
SPORTS: Softball playoff game at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex (2801 SW Thistle) at 7:30 pm – West Seattle HS vs. Ballard.
HOMEWORK HELP: 4-7:30 pm drop-in help at High Point Library (3411 SW Raymond), free.
FIX-IT WORKSHOP: Got something broken? Fix it instead of discarding it! Weekly event, free (donations appreciated), 5:30-7:30 pm at West Seattle Tool Library (4408 Delridge Way SW, northeast side of Youngstown Cultural Arts Center).
RHYTHM AND ROOTS NIGHT: Live music at C & P Coffee (5612 California; WSB sponsor): “For fans of roots, blues and heritage music and acoustic music with a variety of instrumentation beyond guitar.” 6-8 pm.
SOUND TRANSIT’S ARTIST LISTENING SESSIONS: Artists interested in working with Sound Transit are invited to a listening/information session at Delridge Library (5423 Delridge Way SW), 6-7 pm, as explained in our calendar listing.
WEST SEATTLE URBANISM: All are welcome at the group’s weekly meetup, 6-8 pm at Great American Diner & Bar. (4752 California SW).
FREE GROUP RUN: All runners, all levels, are invited to join the weekly West Seattle Runner (2743 California SW; WSB sponsor) group run – meet at the shop by 6:15 pm.
LIVE MUSIC AT THE LOCOL: 6:30 pm. 21+. Rotating performer lineup. (7902 35th SW)
KUNDALINI YOGA & GONG BATH: 7 pm at Inner Alchemy Studio/Sanctuary (3618 SW Alaska), $35.
MUSIC BINGO: Play at The Good Society (California/Lander), 7 pm.
TRIVIA x 3: Three West Seattle trivia locations on our Wednesday list: Larry’s Tavern (3405 California SW) hosts Wednesday-night trivia starting at 8 pm … Quiz Night also begins at 8 pm at Beveridge Place Pub (6413 California SW) … and at 8:30 pm, trivia with Phil T at Talarico’s (4718 California SW), all ages until 10 pm.
SKYLARK OPEN MIC: Ready for the stage? 7:30 pm signups for West Seattle’s longest-running open mic. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
Got something coming up that’s open to the community? Please send us info so we can add it to West Seattle’s only comprehensive event calendar! westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
Yet another visit to Elliott Bay this morning by killer whales. They’ve been in the bay for at least two hours, according to reports from Kersti Muul, who says they were most recently headed southwest out of the bay, but have stopped off Anchor/Luna Park for “predation.”
West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – this year with 570+ sales registered – is roaring up fast, this Saturday, May 10, 9 am-3 pm. The map/list of sales has been available since Saturday – here’s the link for the interactive online version, and here’s the link for the printable list/guide. Now for the next few days we continue previews – right now, first of two planned today – the more than two dozen sales that listed themselves as benefits when registering. In some cases, the beneficiary is the host; in others, it’s just who they plan to donate all or part of the proceeds to!
Sale #5 – Girl Scout Troop 46138
Sale #27 – Lung cancer-fighting plant sale
Sale #37 – United Friends Group Homes
Sale #38 – Chief Sealth IHS Gymnastics
Sale #50 – West Seattle Rotary Foundation
Sale #65 – World Relief Washington
Sale #82 – Delta Kappa Gamma
Sale #86 – Hazelwood Preschool
Sale #91 – WashMasks Mutual Aid
Sale #96 – Fauntleroy Children’s Center
Sale #115 – Friends of Maarten Park
Sale #170 – Our Lady of Guadalupe
Sale #180 – Pack 799
Sale #213 – White Center Food Bank
Sale #216 – West Seattle Timebank
Sale #253 – Brownie Troop 41268
Sale #413 – Breast Cancer Bake Sale
Sale #425 – Save Our Wild Salmon
Sale #500 – Mary’s Place
Sale #503 – Seattle Animal Shelter + Ronald McDonald House
Sale #517 – Troop 284
Sale #530 – Community School of West Seattle
Sale #539 – Zoe Sarah Kaplan Memorial Fund
Sale #545 – Combat Arts Academy
Sale #550 – Southside Revolution Junior Roller Derby
One benefit sale will NOT be happening this year – the Solstice Park P-Patch is in the midst of a rebuilding year of sorts, so they wanted us to let fans know they are NOT having their Garage Sale Day plant sale this year. More preview mini-lists to come! Sale hours Saturday are 9 am to 3 pm, but some start earlier, some end later, and some have added extra days – check the sale descriptions for that info.
6:01 AM: Good morning! Welcome to Wednesday, May 7, 2025.
WEATHER + SUNRISE/SUNSET TIMES
Mostly cloudy, possible pm showers, high near 65. Today’s sunrise was at 5:42 am; sunset will be at 8:30 pm.
ROAD WORK
-Street work for the Alki Standby Generator Project has begun, we confirmed by visiting the area on Tuesday (photo above) – details and map here, along with what’s next after this first phase.
-The Admiral Way Bridge’s outside lane on the eastbound/southbound side is still closed; here’s a project update.
TRANSIT TODAY
Water Taxi – Regular West Seattle service; spring/summer schedule, with later-evening sailings Fridays and Saturdays.
Metro buses – Regular schedule.
Washington State Ferries – Regular service on the Triangle Route, with M/V Kittitas and M/V Cathlamet, plus M/V Salish is serving as the “bonus boat”. P.S. Next round of community meetings – online, systemwide – have been announced for later this month.
SPOTLIGHT TRAFFIC CAMERAS
High Bridge – Here’s the main camera, followed by the Fauntleroy-end camera:
Spokane Street Viaduct:
Low Bridge – Looking west:
1st Avenue South Bridge:
Delridge cameras: In addition to the one below (Delridge/Genesee), cameras are also at Delridge/Juneau, Delridge/Henderson, Delridge/Oregon, and video-only (so you have to go to the map), Delridge/Holden and Delridge/Thistle.
MORE TRAFFIC CAMS: All functioning traffic cams citywide are here (including links to live video for most); for a quick scan of West Seattle and vicinity-relevant cameras, see this WSB page.
See a problem on the bridges/streets/paths/water? Please text or call our hotline (when you can do it safely, and after you’ve reported to authorities if they’re not already on scene) – 206-293-6302. Thank you!
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