West Seattle, Washington
22 Sunday
4:33 PM: Seattle Fire has a “full response” headed for a house in Arbor Heights, in the 9900 block of 37th SW. More to come.
4:49 PM: The log shows most of the SFD units have been dismissed from the call, so it’s not major. We are en route in hopes of finding out.
5 PM: Last SFD crew (Engine 37) left just as we were arriving in the area and the call is officially closed. No one else around to ask but note that 99th is blocked off in the area – looks like downed wires/cables of some kind, on the other side of the yellow “caution” tape.
SUNDAY NOTE: Lynn explains here what happened.
Quick toplines from this past Tuesday night’s Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Coalition meeting at Southwest Library:
CRIME TRENDS: Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Ron Smith said a major problem in the area – shoplifting at Westwood Village – is down significantly, after months of emphasis patrols. (More on that in our upcoming Southwest District Council report.) SPD’s work at Westwood will soon be enhanced by an observation station.
SAFETY: WWRHAH member Earl Lee reported that the long-awaited lighting of the bus stop across Barton from WW Village is up and working:
(WSB photo, added Thursday night)
HALA UPZONING APPEAL: As reported previously, WWRHAH is participating in the citywide coalition that is appealing the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed upzoning in the city’s HALA Mandatory Housing Affordability plan. The coalition is now awaiting hearing dates, planning to go door to door to talk with neighbors, and raising money for legal help.
NO GENERAL MEETING IN JANUARY, BUT … Since the first Tuesday is the day after New Year’s, no general WWRHAH meeting until February. But watch wwrhah.org for TBA details of a January 9th meeting about Roxhill Park.
Thanks for the messages about the power outage in the south Arbor Heights/Arroyos area; Comcast is reported to be out, too. Seattle City Light‘s map shows the outage as an extension of the one that started yesterday, though now it’s listed as 127 customers, about 30 more than when last we checked Sunday night. If you’re out and not shown on the map, be sure to let City Light know (206-684-3000).
Two big events are coming to Arbor Heights because of this partnership that Westside School (WSB sponsor) has just announced:
Westside School is excited to announce our temporary partnership with Town Hall during their reconstruction project.
We are honored to host Beverly Tatum, who will present her research on Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting In The Cafeteria Together this Sunday, December 3 from 2 – 4 p.m. in Westside School’s theater. This event is open to the public and is sold out (320 tickets).
We have contacted SPD Lieutenant Smith to send a traffic officer or two, during arrival time on Sunday to ensure positive traffic flow. Westside will put out no-parking signs in front of the houses located directly across from our site to keep people from inappropriately parking. Additionally, Westside School staff will be present to assist in directing people to the site.
We are super excited about this Town Hall partnership and we expect this event to be positive for the West Seattle community.
The second Town Hall event set for Westside School will be at 7:30 pm January 22, “The German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children” with Sara Zaske. Ticket information and other details are on the Town Hall website.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Outside of 911 calls when there’s trouble – what resources can police offer you to address chronic crime/safety problems?
A primer of sorts was presented at Tuesday night’s Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Coalition meeting, led by co-chair Kim Barnes.
The discussion started with Joe Everett, who is the (relatively) new City Attorney’s Office liaison to the Southwest Precinct. He explained that the position is meant to “address chronic problems as they are emerging … before they turn into really big incidents.”
Live, work, study, shop in Westwood, Roxhill, and/or Arbor Heights? Be one of the neighbors making things happen via the Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Coalition, which gathers Tuesday night, 6:15 pm at Southwest Library. Neighborhood safety is a big topic for tomorrow night, with guest speakers Community Police Team Officer John O’Neil and Southwest Precinct city-attorney liaison Joe Everett, who will talk with you about “empowering the community and leveraging city resources to deal with chronic neighborhood issues” such as abandoned houses (with or without squatters) and problem houses. Also from SPD, Operations Lt. Ron Smith will have the area’s newest crime trends/stats. And lots of “quick discussion items” (see them all in our calendar listing – and bring your own!). Just go to the upstairs meeting room at the library, which is at 9010 35th SW.
Our second report today of sizable items taken in a car prowl. This report is from Paul in the 3500 block of SW 98th [map] in Arbor Heights, where the theft happened sometime this weekend:
The main thing that was stolen was a large gear bag (black PGA golf bag with wheels) that contained kite-surfing gear:
Kite board
10 and 12 meter kites
Harness
Bar and line
Wet suit
Long board skateboard
About $2500 worth of stuff to the right person but worthless to most peopleI also lost a black briefcase that had my entire financial life in it and an old MacBook Pro.
Hopefully the criminals just dumped it all somewhere and I can recover it soon.
If you have any information, the SPD incident # is 17-410552.
3:57 PM: If you’re noticing the police response in Arbor Heights right now – they’re searching for a suspected burglar. Seattle Police tell us the break-in was reported by someone who was home at the time in the 10500 block of 39th SW. A preliminary description distributed via radio communication was that of a man in his 30s, possibly “Hispanic or Samoan,” about 250 pounds, red short-sleeved T-shirt, black knit cap, dark jeans, boots, tattoo on his left forearm, possibly headed east to 35th and then north. Call 911 if you think you have any helpful information.
4:16 PM: They’re still searching – no additional information.
It’s an Arbor Heights Swim and Tennis Club tradition – after the pool is closed to people at season’s end, invite the community to bring their dogs to swim, as a fundraiser for AHSTC swim teams. Today was the fifth and final session, and Jamie Kinney shared photos:
Whether the dogs dove from the board, or jumped from the deck, Jamie reports a great time was had by all:
You can see many more of Jamie’s photos from today by going here.
Thanks to everyone who messaged us about a big police response in Arbor Heights that blocked off Marine View Drive for a while near SW 104th. We just got here a few minutes ago and the response is wrapping up; police tell us they were called to deal with what turned out to be a person in crisis, who was initially very combative, and that’s why they called in extra backup. The person has since been taken by ambulance for an evaluation, and the road has reopened, with most of the police departing.
P.S. Because Seattle Fire wasn’t called in for this, it never showed up on the SFD real-time 911 log, so e-mails were the first tips we got. The fastest way to reach us 24/7 is always text or voice at 206-293-6302 – consider adding us as a contact on your phone. Thank you!
It’s the news that dog people await every fall – the chance for their pups to go swimming at Arbor Heights Swim and Tennis Club! The photo and announcement are from Cori Roed:
Dog Days at the Arb!
It’s time to bring your dog for a swim …

11003 31st Ave SW
Thank you for driving slowly on 31st!

Tuesday, Sept 19th through Friday, Sept 22nd, 5-7 pm
Saturday, Sept 23rd 11 am-1 pmDogs in the pool
Owners must remain at the pool and maintain some semblance of control
Dogs must be healthy, up to date on shots, and well socialized to people and other dogsNO PEOPLE IN THE POOL! ~ NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY
Please come prepared to scoop your dog’s poop!
Running on the pool deck is encouraged : )$10 donation per dog for the day or $25 per dog for an all-access pass 
is very much appreciated!
Your donations allow our self-funded teams to purchase equipment while keeping team fees affordable.
Thank you for supporting Otter athletes!
*****NOTE that this event is AFTER the facilities are closed for the season*****
If you use SW 106th/107th between Arbor Heights and White Center, you might have seen the signboard for road work coming up next week. We did, so we asked King County Roads for details; here’s what we just received from spokesperson Brent Champaco:
We are taking the road from two lanes to a three-lane configuration that will feature:
· Left –turn lanes at 26th Avenue SW
· Two-way, left-turn lanes around 25th Avenue SW
· Striped median in the S-curves between 22nd and 25th Avenues SW
· Two-way, left-turn lane between 17th and 22nd Avenues SWThe restriping work is scheduled to last 3-5 days, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. All lanes of traffic will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. At other times, at least one lane will remain open with flaggers directing traffic. No parking will be allowed along this part of the road during the project.
If you live/work near that stretch, you’ve probably already seen this flyer (or a similar door-hanger card), part of the outreach Champaco says was done for people in the area.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The fall neighborhood-meeting season kicked off with the September session of what’s now the Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Coalition.
Kim Barnes and Jenny Rose Ryan are interim co-chairs of WWRHAH; Barnes led Tuesday night’s meeting at Southwest Library.
At the heart of this meeting was a “focus group”-style conversation about crime/safety issues in the area, to be sure its micro-community policing plan is up to date:
No daily highlight list today because of the stabbing coverage, but crime and safety are at the center of one major event tonight we want to be sure you know about: The Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Coalition meets at 6:15 pm at Southwest Library (9010 35th SW). Major agenda item: If you live/work in any of the WWRHAH neighborhoods, your feedback is needed in a fact-finding session about the local micropolicing plan – Southwest Precinct research assistant Puao Savusa will be there to hear from you (see the questions here). Also expected, SW Precinct Operations Lt. Ron Smith with an update on area crime stats. WWRHAH also is scheduled to hear from City Council candidate (at-large position 9) Pat Murakami. And open-discussion items include the future RapidRide H Line as well as the recently announced cut to the Chief Sealth Walkway Improvements Project (our original report is here, and followup here), plus other area pedestrian safety/accessibility issues. See the full WWRHAH agenda here. (And see other listings for today/tonight on the frequently updated WSB West Seattle Event Calendar.)
First Lorraine in Arbor Heights sent that photo, reporting, “Kia car hood on lawn, just west of California SW and SW 98th, after loud scraping and crash noises early this morning.” We asked for a larger version before publishing, and that came in this afternoon with an update: “The rest of the completely stripped Kia car, sans engine, was dumped a couple blocks down the hill on 44th Ave SW, and the police have already taken action.”
Just as we were headed over to Arbor Heights to find out why police were searching for someone, we got word they had found the suspect they were seeking. Police at the scene tell us the call started as a report of possible domestic violence, and as they arrived, the suspect took off running. They found him, with the help of a police K-9, near 37th SW and SW 97th. We’re told the suspect has an arrest warrant in an unrelated case, so he’s being taken into custody in connection with that, for starters. No injuries in the original call, so far are we know.
Big crowd tonight for the ribboncutting celebration at Summit Atlas, West Seattle’s first charter school, about to start classes inside a renovated – and soon to be expanded – ex-church/ex-supermarket at 9601 35th SW. The school is starting with sixth and ninth graders, adding a middle- and high-school grade each year until it’s a full 6th-through-12th campus; its soon-to-be-students were invited to help cut the ribbon tonight (our video above pans along the line).
By the time we toured the school last month, almost 200 students were enrolled. As with other charter schools in our state, this one receives public funding and does not charge tuition; it’s leasing the building and site from Washington Charter Schools Development, a donation-funded nonprofit that bought it for $4.75 million from its former owner, Freedom Church/Jesus Center, which subsequently bought and moved to a new campus in Skyway. We first reported on the charter-school plan in early 2015, after discovering it in city permit files. When the state approved Summit’s plan in August 2015, the plan was for it to open in fall 2016, but the court/legislative fight over funding charter schools led to a one-year delay.
Classes at Summit Atlas start 8:15 am Monday for ninth-graders, same time Tuesday for sixth-graders. This is the third school in Arbor Heights, joining Arbor Heights Elementary – which will start its second year in its new building next month – and Westside School (WSB sponsor), which is heading into its third year at its AH campus.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Classes start August 21st at the former supermarket and church that is becoming West Seattle’s first charter school, Summit Atlas.
Today – six months after a ceremonial groundbreaking kicked off extensive remodeling, and days before work begins on an addition – we got our first look inside, with a tour that included future students and their families.
It’s been two and a half years since we broke the news of the charter-middle-and-high-school plan for the property at 9601 35th SW (southwest corner of 35th/Roxbury), discovering an early-stage proposal in city permit-application files.
Former owners Freedom Church/Jesus Center sold the site in 2015 to Washington Charter School Development for $4.75 million. WCSD is the regional branch of a California-based company that specializes in building schools for charter firms like Summit (also California-based) – this is their fourth in Washington, all repurposing existing buildings, WCSD’s James Heugas (a West Seattle resident) noted after today’s tour. (We got a look inside one of the others, Summit Sierra in the International District, a year ago.)
But before we show you what’s been done inside and what’s about to happen outside, some updates:
That’s the photo an Arbor Heights resident sent earlier today, wondering why their tap water was discolored. First thing to do if this happens to you: Call the Seattle Public Utilities hotline at 206-386-1800. We suspected it might have been related to hydrant testing, since Seattle Fire had tweeted this back on Friday:
Station 37 firefighters are out testing fire hydrants along 35th Avenue SW today. Join in by checking your home smoke alarms today. pic.twitter.com/ZBvMvYUJSJ
— Seattle Fire Dept (@SeattleFire) June 23, 2017
And that indeed is what the resident was told. But there could be other causes, so they want to hear from you any time there’s something unusual with your water supply.
Toplines from tonight’s Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council meeting:
HALA REZONING: The draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Mandatory Housing Affordability component of the city’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda is expected to be published Thursday. That’s what WWRHAH heard tonight from Morgan Community Association‘s Cindi Barker, who was on the original city-appointed HALA focus group and has been helping educate other community advocates about land-use issues including this one. With the draft EIS coming out this week, the comment period will continue into late June. She was asked if there’s talk of a District 1-wide response to HALA MHA, but so far individual groups are pursuing individual responses related to how it might affect their neighborhoods – MoCA for example is pursuing a comprehensive-plan amendment and is asking the city to engage in a full neighborhood-planning process, given the conflicts between MHA and the MJ neighborhood plan.
ROXHILL BOG: WWRHAH continues trying to get the city to address hydrology issues that have compromised the bog. Rory Denovan wrote to Seattle Parks but said the response so far wasn’t helpful. Meantime, a celebration of Roxhill Bog is planned 11 am-3 pm June 17th, with information and activities.
ROXBURY RECHANNELIZATION: As reported here earlier in the day, SDOT is floating further rechannelization options for SW Roxbury in connection with the 2019-or-so repaving between 16th SW and 35th SW. WWRHAH is concerned about the possibility that most of the center turn lane will be removed. They’re considering asking SDOT for data on the lane’s usage.
CRIME TRENDS: Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Ron Smith said car prowls in the WWRHAH-covered area are down by about 50 percent from this time last year. Residential burglaries are down too. Shoplifting is up, and that figures heavily into stats for the area, because of Westwood Village.
WHAT’S NEXT: While WWRHAH won’t have its regular first-Tuesday meeting in July, since that’s Independence Day this year, they’ll likely have a special meeting just before or after that to talk about a response to the forthcoming HALA draft EIS.
One more reminder before the weekend begins:
If you have questions or comments about the proposed rezoning for the Mandatory Housing Affordability component of the city’s HALA (Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda) plan, you’ll want to start your Saturday at Westside School (10404 34th SW; WSB sponsor) in Arbor Heights, where various city departments are teaming up for an open house, 10 am-noon. HALA MHA and how it would affect West Seattle and South Park (see the interactive map here) is at centerstage – with something new, as we reported earlier this week – but other city departments will be there too, with information about a variety of projects. It’s an informal meeting, like the one back in December – but much more room this time! – so you can just drop in during that 2-hour window.
P.S. The city has had workshops about the HALA MHA proposals in all five of the West Seattle/South Park Urban Village areas. It’s posted most of the presentations and summaries on this page if you want to review them before the open house; while the Morgan Junction feedback summaries still aren’t there, two months after the final workshop, they were just sent to the Morgan Community Association, whose president Deb Barker forwarded it to us – see the documents here, here, and here.
The big news from last night’s Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council meeting goes with the notebook pictured above: It’s full of contacts, cards, agendas, and other documents gathered by Amanda Kay Helmick, who has stepped down after four years of leadership with the group. Mat McBride is with her in our next photo – the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council chair who helped shepherd WWRHAH into existence:
(Here’s our report on WWRHAH’s first meeting in February 2013.) Eric Iwamoto has co-chaired WWRHAH with Helmick recently, and Kim Barnes has taken on a major role, especially regarding the Westwood-Highland Park Urban Village’s destiny with HALA Mandatory Housing Affordability upzoning, and other land-use issues, but the group hasn’t yet decided its leadership path forward. They’ll talk about it next month – when the major topic is expected to be the HALA MHA draft Environmental Impact Statement, due out soon – and they’re also planning a door-to-door campaign to reach people who might not have heard about WWRHAH.
Along with HALA, another major issue is how – whether – the future Delridge RapidRide H (Route 120 is converting in 2020) will relate to/engage with the area. Helmick said she had been trying to reach Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s office and SDOT to get some key questions answered and so far had nothing but what she called “radio silence.” Here’s what she had sent:
At the WWRHAH meeting on Tuesday, our group made it very clear to SDOT that they needed to clarify their role in upgrading the 120. Specifically, SDOT needs to clarify whether it is planning the route, ie; removing / consolidating stops, or working on the pavement, roadway and pedestrian improvements.
Therese Casper from SDOT acknowledged the need for collaboration between SDOT and Metro on the routing issue. Metro has a known process for surveying their riders to find out where they are going, how far they have to walk, etc. Doug Johnson of Metro, who was at the meeting, acknowledged that is has been several years since a 120 survey was taken. We would like see SDOT start the collaboration by requesting Metro have the survey done before the design phase begins.
We also cannot stress enough the need for SDOT to consider the HALA/MHA upzone proposals in the Westwood Highland Park Urban Village. Currently, the 120 does not run through the heart of the Westwood Highland Park Urban Village. The folks in the Highland Park are cut off from bus service because of this, and the upgrade does nothing to rectify that. Comparably, the C Line, runs along California Ave SW specifically because of the Urban Village instead of taking the faster route along Fauntleroy Way.
Lastly, without significant attention paid to improving the ingress/egress to the peninsula, it doesn’t matter how fast you can get from Roxbury to the bridge. The City must find a way to improve this situation.
WWRHAH has been working on issues surrounding Metro and the impacts of bus service to the community for 4 years. We have seen very little in the way of solutions for our area, but we see the Move Seattle Levy as an opportunity to do something amazing that will improve mobility, connectivity and livability for an area that is under served.
Also at last night’s WWRHAH meeting:
CRIME UPDATE: Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Ron Smith said Westwood Village is still having shoplifting issues, and the precinct continues to work with management to get some structure in place that will allow police and businesses to work more efficiently in tackling the project.
COUNCIL CANDIDATE: City Council Position 8 candidate Dr. Hisam Goueli came to the WWRHAH meeting, mostly to listen to and learn about the area’s issues.
Transportation was front and center. Among other topics – Dr. Goueli mentioned he’s a doctor, and promptly was informed that West Seattle is without a hospital. He’s one of 10 candidates currently in the running for the citywide position that Councilmember Tim Burgess currently holds but is not seeking to keep.
WWRHAH needs you more than ever – and you’ll find them at 6:15 pm first Tuesdays in the upstairs meeting room at Southwest Library, 35th SW/SW Henderson.
Just announced by Westside School (WSB sponsor) in Arbor Heights:
Westside School will once again open its doors to three- and four-year-olds for a half- and full-day preschool program for the fall of 2017. Expanding upon our current pre-kindergarten program, we will offer emergent curriculum focused on experiential learning and inspired by a variety of teaching practices. Preschool students will have access to many of our specialists, such as visual art, performing arts, physical education, and world languages.
Great early-childhood education has been a hallmark of Westside School since its founding in 1981 and we are thrilled to announce the return of our preschool after a several-year hiatus. We encourage families to join us for our Preschool Preview or a tour.
Westside School is now accepting applications for preschool and other grades (depending on availability) for the fall 2017. For more information, please contact Ted Holmes in our Office of Admission, tedh@westsideschool.org or 206.932.2511.
Important Dates:
Tuesday, May 9: Preschool Preview, 10:00 to 11:00 am. Meet the preschool teachers and learn about the program in detail. Parents and guardians only, please.
Tuesday, May 23, Student Observation, 10:00 to 11:00 am. We will meet prospective students in a short observation session.
Tours for all grades: Available upon request: 206.932.2511
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