The intersection of Bronson and Harbor doesn’t show up on online maps – or else we’d have one above this sentence. But it’s a real place – on the water side, a city-owned “street end” – and the Seattle Department of Transportation is finally ready to turn it into a park. SDOT “shoreline street ends” program manager Patti Quirk, who’s a West Seattleite, came to last night’s Alki Community Council meeting to talk about the plan – something community leaders have long pushed for, but couldn’t quite get approved, till now. Read on to find out more, plus other toplines from the ACC meeting:

First, an explanation of exactly where the Bronson “street end” is. Think Salty’s. Then, think about that spot immediately east, where a block wall was going up – and then came down. Inbetween the two is a spot currently being used for some Salty’s parking. That’s the Bronson “street end,” one of more than 140 “shoreline street ends” in the city.

Last time a community proposal to make it a park came up for review, Quirk says, she turned it down – she says there was still a chance at that time that it was under consideration for relatively imminent development as a Water Taxi dock site. Now, she says, while that use for the site is not necessarily out of the realm of possibilities, SDOT is not going to wait any longer, and will proceed with park development (though Quirk says some parking will remain).

So what kind of park? That’s where you come in. Her first move will be to put a sign up at the site along the lines of “park coming soon,” and to do something in the space previewing its future uses (ironically, she says, the “ecology block” that was put in, then removed, at the industrial site next door could be the right kind of material for this). Then – a community process to talk about what you’d want to see at the site. One thing she’s ruling out, “a big grassy space” that would require sprinklers, fertilizer, etc. And also keep in mind, you’re not going to be able to “touch the shore” at this spot – there will be habitat restoration work right at the waterline – but you’ll certainly be able to take advantage of the amazing view.

Alki Council members passed a motion supporting the development of this park. Stay tuned for lots more information on how this process will unfold.

Also at last night’s meeting:

POLICE UPDATE: Community Police Team Officer Adonis Topacio recapped the 4th of July as the “quietest” he remembers in his 9 years policing in this area – meeting attendees generally agreed. He also noted – without additional details – that a local burglary suspect he thought some might know as “one of the local problem kids” had just been charged the other day in connection with a recent break-in to which he reportedly had confessed.

MORE KIOSK DETAILS: We told you about the West Seattle Wayfinding project getting word of a $100K grant to create the first 10 kiosks along popular walking routes – the city officially announced it this week, and last night Seth Schromen-Wawrin of Feet First was at last night’s ACC meeting to explain more about the plan. This too will involve community input, to plan exact locations for the wayfinding kiosks among other thing, but he mentioned most of the general locations for the 10 that will be in what the city considers the Southwest District (roughly, West Seattle west of 35th) — including Alki around the Statue of Liberty, Water Taxi dock, Lincoln Park, Me-Kwa-Mooks, Fauntleroy ferry terminal, Fauntleroy Creek, Morgan Junction, The (Alaska) Junction, Belvidere Park. Schromen-Wawrin also got in a pitch for “Parking Day” on September 19 – here’s the national website; it’s a day when communities are invited to celebrate the possibilities of greenspace by turning parking spaces into mini-parks for the day. He suggested West Seattle organizations might want to band together to plan on doing this someplace high-profile – The Junction, perhaps.

ALKI STATUE OF LIBERTY PLAZA CELEBRATION-PLANNING PICNIC: ACC secretary Paul Carr, who also co-chairs the Statue of Liberty Plaza Committee, announced a July 31st picnic for anyone interested in helping plan the plaza celebration scheduled for 9/6 (construction started last week; WSB coverage here). Meet the group by the plaza work zone at 6:30 pm.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: ACC trustee Tony Fragada updated attendees on some of his organizing and planning work – but later ACC president Jule Sugarman pointedly noted, while proposing some council priorities for new subcommittees to address, that more people need to step forward. Fragada said a preparedness-related radio test will be part of a Night Out event on August 5th.

NO ALKI COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING IN AUGUST: Keep up to date with related issues at the ACC website here.