By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s gathering Tuesday night was the “final meeting before our summer events!” president Joanie Jacobs exclaimed exuberantly. “And we have a full night.’

That, it was. Here’s how it unfolded across almost two hours in the community room at Admiral Church (itself the night’s last major topic):

POLICE: Southwest Precinct Community Liaison Officer German Barreto was, as. usual, the SPD rep. “Everything has been going down” regarding crime stats overall, he said, as has been the declaration at other recent community meetings. Burglaries (down by half in Admiral, 19 year-to-date this year, 38 in 2024, auto thefts also halved – 22 compared to 40 – and even gunfire incidents have dropped – in all the precinct jurisdiction, 34 year-to-date, down from 39 at this point last year.

The David Williford case came up; we’d reported his arrest five hours earlier. Barreto had no additional info to offer. Then someone asked about the Admiral stabbing/robbery incident from the previous evening (WSB followup coverage here); had the 25-year-old suspect been on police’s radar previously? Barreto said no.

One other question: How’s staffing going? Barreto said he actually had a ridealong that night “of someone interested in the department.” But “it’s going to be a gradual thing” to get staffing back up to full strength, he warned.

HIAWATHA PROJECT UPDATE: Morteza Behrooz of Seattle Parks, the newest Hiawatha-project manager, stood up before the room. “We acknowledge … that the project has been delayed in delivery”; the “substantial completion date” currently is expected to be November. He said they found more when they tore it up than they expected, and the plan as a result is “very different from where we started originally,” including an all-new HVAC system that’ll make it the first fully electrified community center. They’ve moved the fence and the portapotties. “We’re making a lot of progress.” The security system will be upgraded as well as all the other upgrades. Asked about the play area status, Behrooz said that has a different project manager and so he doesn’t know.

Will Hiawatha get pickleball nets? “I don’t know, though we certainly recognize the need for, and interest in, pickleball,” he said. Another attendee clarified that while pickleball already can be played on the courts, what they want is the nets,

So with Behrooz accountable for the community center project, and Shannon Glass for the play area project, is someone responsible for Hiawatha as a whole? Not in the capital-project respect, Behrooz said. The attendee said they came from NYC, where every park had an owner.

Also asked: Has the Hiawatha project been affected by any recent grant changes? Reply: No. He explained that a lot of. projects of this size/scale come with a contingency fund.

Another attendee wondered about the layout of the building; Behrooz said he didn’t know, “being relatively new.” But he said the architects on the project “are very experienced in renovating community centers” so they had a lot of faith.

What services will be offered at the center when it reoopens? Behruz said that was not his department either, “that’s recreation.” A related comment/question: The community crenter was so well-used, and people have been waiting so long, that they appreciated it is on the way to getting done now. But who can recreation projects be suggested to? He didn’t know. Could a community hard-hat tour be organized? Maybe sometime this fall, Behrooz suggested..

(WSB file photo)

Could the building be landmarked? The discussion of that turned to the sign (above), which apparently will be replaced rather than returned. The same people dealing with the sign deal with landmarking, he said.

He had promised to look into some of the questions he was unable to answer, so Joanie Jacobs said that they’d post the resulting replies on the ANA website.

ANA CLEANUP: 9 am-noon this Saturday, volunteers are welcome to join the ANA’s first cleanup of the revived Adopt-A-Street program. This used to be a big deal for ANA and will be again – “we can easily take 30 or 40 people … we’ll break up into three groups, all meeting at Mission Cantina (2325 California SW), one group will head north on California, antother will go up and down Admiral Way to Belvidere Park; another will go down toward WEND and Little Donkey and hit Hiawatha on the way back.” They’ll have treats to start the day and then head out. You don’t have to commit to the whole three hours; even one hour would be great, AnA leaders stressed. “We’ll be really happy to have anybody … this is a great kid-friendly event,” added Joanie Jacobs.

(WSB file photo, past West Seattle 4th of July Kids’ Parade)

ANA’S SUMMER EVENTS: They’re welcoming donations to help pay for concerts, festival, parade, etc. “We are a volunteer-run organization,” reminded Joanie. First, she gave the West Seattle 4th of July Kids’ Parade overview – “I believe it’s the quintessential small town event,” Joanie declared, presenting info provided by the coordinators, who had family emergencies and couldn’t attend. The parade will start at the same place and time (10 am July 4, 44th/Donald, winds down Sunset and back over to Hamilton Viewpoint, new food trucks this year, booths of post-parade kid activities, the sack races will be back … They’d love more volunteers, and more funding. They’re having a 6:30 pm June 2 volunteer meeting at West Seattle Grounds (2141 California SW) for anybody interested in being involved. You can contact ANA with questions.

(WSB photo, 2024 Admiral Music in the Parks)

AMP (Admiral Music in the Parks) – Meagan Loftin presented an update. Three concerts at three parks again this year – July 17 at Belvidere, July 24 at California Place (200 fit there liast year), July 31 at Hamilton Viewpoint – they’re almost ready to announce the performers – there’ll be a knitting circle with Seattle Yarn at each concert. They are at 30% of their fundraising goal ($10,000, to pay bands, support staff, Parks). “This has been traditionally paid for mostly by local businesses but it’s been a tough time for them.” (Joanie later told her story of running coffee shop West Seattle Grounds and having to deal with cost increases like 15% for coffee.) She noted that one differentiating factor: The bands are LOCAL. One attendee started inviting people to donate and rustled up at least $500 on the spot. Joanie added that the novelty of exploring other parks was born from the necessity forced by Hiawatha’s inaccessibility, and it turned out that some people didn’t even know the parks were parks. “It’s been great, people have enjoyed moving around.” Somebody suggested asking Parks to waive the fee. Somebody else suggested passing a bucket around to collect donations at the concert.

(WSB photo from 2023 Admiral Funktion)

Admiral Block Party: They’ve applied for a city grant of $5,000; this is “by far our most expensive event.” They’re planning a fundraiser to help cover the cost of the bands for the block party – donors will be entered in a drawing. The Block Party will again be on California SW north of Admiral. No food trucks because the restaurants are where the food revenue should be going, said Joanie: “We want you to eat hyperlocally. … We want it to be our neighborhood businesses that benefit from the festival.” The date is August 23 this year, fourth Saturday in August every year. “It’s kind of the best, last summer thing.” The Block Party also requires volunteers.

PATRICK SAND AWARD: ANA’s communications leader Dan Jacobs said they’re taking nominations for one more week for the award ANA will present annually in honor of WSB co-founder Patrick Sand, who died suddenly last October. Dan explained he’d known Patrick (and me) since WSB was founded, and said they’re hoping to honor community members who show some of Patrick’s attributes; though as WSB’s chief photographer he was often out and about, many people didn’t know all the behind the scenes work he did, from technical assistance for the Movies on the Wall, to serving on the WS Art Walk committee. So ANA wanted to do an award in his memory, somebody who would emulate that “unseen” (but impact-felt) quality. Got someone to nominate? You can fill out a nomination form on the website – “someone who has the Admiral neighborhood at heart” – the nominee doesn’t have to live in Admiral (after all, Patrick didn’t). They will make the decision this summer and will present the first Patrick Sand Memorial Community Advocate Award at the Block Party this summer.

ADMIRAL CHURCH UPDATE: Last major update of the meeting – funding cycles have pushed back the start of construction for the church’s affordable-homeownership project with Homestead Community Land Trust – as you might recall, they’re going to build 13 townhomes and 8 “apartment-style condominiums” over a new space for Admiral Church. They hoped to break ground this summmer but Homeland doesn’t have all the funding yet, so they will be about nine months later, roughly second quarter of next year, to break ground. Still, the church had “made the decision to relocate a little early.” So they’re going to relocate worship and some offices to St. John the Baptist Episcopal this September, but between then and when construction starts, they willl keep using the community building, whose regular users/uses were listed as including five 12-step groups, Brownie Scouts, music programs, art sessions, ANA, Alki-Harbor group, memorial services, Common Table, concerts and picnics, a neurodivergent children’s group, Explorers, PFLAG, restrooms for bus drivers – they’re going to continue with all those things, said Anita Shaffer. “All the way up to when shovels go in the ground.” Meantime, ANA’s leaders offered heartfelt thanks to the church for its partnership, including hosting ANA meetings: “Working together with you (is) inspiring and rewarding.”

MISCELLANEOUS: Two more notes before the meeting ended: They’re also looking for volunteers to help with the Admiral venues during West Seattle Art Walk. … Four Admiral walking tours will be offered this summer by the Southwest Seattle Historical Society.