West Seattle, Washington
28 Thursday
That’s most of the group that turned out Saturday afternoon to continue helping Super 24 (Delridge/Findlay) transform into a Delridge Fresh Food Spot. (3rd from left is the store’s owner, Bhim Singh.) That included placing placards with that phrase alongside various healthy items on sale around the store:
Outside, during the morning-afternoon event, volunteers offered samples of healthier food:
This doesn’t mean everything is produce and granola inside the Super 24 – right next to the fruit basket shown above, fried chicken waited under warming lights. But adding the healthier foods as options is another major step in the store’s evolution, the first of many if the King County Food and Fitness Initiative organizers’ hopes (including reps of Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, come through. They also worked today to remove old alcohol and cigarette advertising from the storefront, steps away from where volunteers painted the eye-catching mural in late summer. And they’ll be back, they said, to keep helping the Super 24 evolve.
Story and photos by Mary Sheely
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
It starts out the way you might imagine an event involving high school and middle school students: With a game.
“We want to get to know you,” announces a girl in a striped shirt, stepping into the middle of a circle of chairs set up today on a sunny afternoon at Delridge Community Center.
The girl is Vise Leiato (above right), a senior at Evergreen High School and a member of the Seattle Youth Commission, formerly the Mayor’s Youth Council (background here).
She lays out the rules of an icebreaker game, which eventually leads to a lot of students scrambling to change seats. But though the game is fun, the goals of the meeting are serious.
The Super 24 mini-market on Delridge has gotten extra attention lately for that three-month-old mural and for a citywide media spotlight – this story by our partners at the Seattle Times; both are for the same reason: The store is a trailblazer in the push to make more healthy food available in Delridge, despite the absence of a grocery store. Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association sent word of a work party/event today and is extending the participation invitation community-wide. Here’s some of what’ll be involved, 11 am-3 pm today:
* Healthy food sampling and “voting” for healthy snack offerings in the Super 24 corner store.
* Removal of excessive tobacco and alcohol ads at front entrance of store.
* Interior store transformation
* “Limited” TEAM Delridge T-shirts to volunteers who participate more than 5 hours.Anyone and everyone who cares about the Delridge community is invited to join us.
Super 24 is at Delridge and Findlay; here’s a map.
If you haven’t seen it on partner site White Center Now already – here’s the link to the story we published this morning from last night’s South Delridge/White Center Community Safety Coalition meeting, including the monthly crime stats from the area, and farewell to the group’s last paid staffer.
ORIGINAL 7:52 PM REPORT ON DELRIDGE ONRAMP BEING BLOCKED OFF: Thanks to those who’ve texted and e-mailed. According to the area’s Adopt-A-Drain steward Rose Feliciano, it’s a flooding situation involving a fire hydrant having been hit at 22nd SW/Andover [map], and 22nd has some flooding too. We’ll be heading out shortly to investigate – in the meantime, a good area to avoid, and we’ll be watching for morning effects given, as Rose points out, the road hazards related to below-freezing temperatures. Rose adds that a de-icing truck is expected – and also shared the photos we’ve added to this story.
9:22 PM UPDATE: Just back from the scene. A sanding truck went over it several times, and police have reopened the ramp. We have heard via e-mail that some Pigeon Point residents lost water service because of this; we didn’t see any Seattle Public Utilities crews while looking around the area, but will check to see if we can find out anything more.
From Wednesday night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting: The group took the first steps toward forming committees with members focused on specific needs/concerns. As co-secretary Holli Margell (at left with Patrick Bergner) noted, the four board members can only do so much – they need help. The matter of who’s on which committee hasn’t been settled yet, but they did decide on the committees: Public safety, including attendance at monthly meetings at the Southwest Precinct; outreach, to get the word out about the council’s existence, and to interact with other groups, as well as planning events and maintaining a website; beautification, which includes the quarterly Adopt-a-Street cleanups and traffic-circle maintenance; streets and pedestrians, focusing on street improvements and how to make the area more walkable; and two other areas were being combined into one committee — transportation (bike lanes, bus routes, etc.) and planning/development. Meantime, NDNC revisited the road-project proposals they’re supporting for potential city funding; after getting an indication from the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council that only smaller projects are likely to succeed in getting funding, they dropped the $6 million Delridge traffic-calming idea for now. They’re instead asking the district council to consider championing the Brandon and Hudson sidewalk projects, as well as drainage/sidewalks for 25th SW between Brandon and Juneau. (See our NDNC report from last month for more on the first two projects.) Two more notes – The group is sending a card to the precinct, expressing their thanks and support, during what’s been a difficult time for law enforcers around the region – Margell is holding the card in the photo above left. Also, co-chair Mirro pointed out at the meeting that since the Delridge Library will be changing its hours because of city budget cuts early next year, the council will have to change its meeting time/day. No decision yet; we’ll let you know when they announce the plan.
You may recall the mysterious bicycle accident on Delridge in August that left a woman seriously hurt – with no conclusion by law enforcement regarding whether she had fallen or been hit. The rider, 27-year-old Angela Sweet, has been publicly chronicling her recovery online, with family help, and it’s now been announced that a benefit concert is planned for December 22. According to her website, she has been back home for less than a month.
(Thanks to Gary Jones for sharing his photo of this morning’s full-moon moonset over the Olympics)
ORNAMENTS FOR EDUCATION: From the WSB West Seattle Holidays page (keep checking it, we’re adding new events daily!) – Join Scholastic Journey at a drop-in workshop, noon-5 pm downstairs at West Seattle (Admiral) Library (map), to help make ornaments for an upcoming fundraiser to help get school supplies and uniforms for kids in developing countries. “Drop in for a few minutes or a few hours!” says Krista Livingston (krista@scholasticjourney.org), who adds that it’s free to participate.
NORTH DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL MEETING/POTLUCK: NDNC is forming new committees on public safety, outreach, beautification, streets/pedestrian, transportation, land use/economic development, and hopes to see a good turnout of North Delridge neighbors tonight for a potluck meeting to talk about those issues and how to make a difference, 6:30 at Delridge Library (map) – bring something to share if you can. “We need YOU to help us make a difference!” says board member Holli Margell.
HIGHLAND PARK ACTION COMMITTEE HOLIDAY POTLUCK: You’re invited to come help HPAC trim the tree at the historic Highland Park Improvement Club building (where the group always meets) and enjoy a holiday potluck – 7 pm, 1116 SW Holden (map).
FAIRMOUNT PLAYGROUND IMPROVEMENTS MEETING: Reminder that tonight’s your chance to have a say in how this Parks and Green Spaces Levy-funded project will improve the playground at Fairmount Playfield. 6:30 pm, High Point Library (map) – here’s our previous preview.
Also tonight — “Plaid Tidings” opens at ArtsWest – more on that coming up! Check our Events calendar and Holidays page (which also has ongoing lists, like tree lots and giving opportunities) for lots more of what’s happening around West Seattle.
Authorities responded to a wild call in the 7900 block of Delridge (map) this morning: A goat on the loose. Nothing like that Sunset Avenue roundup last month, though, nor did it require transport to a holding cell: A couple of official city items were turned into makeshift barricades to keep the goat from going on the lam before animal control arrived.
Probably the shortest community meeting we’ve covered in a long time – barely half an hour (followed by about 20 minutes of folks milling around asking questions and looking at drawings): Monday night at Delridge Community Center, the Parks Department unveiled the tweaked design for the $3 million-plus Delridge Playfield improvements project, funded by last year’s Parks and Green Spaces Levy.
The project’s basics consists mostly of artificial turf, new lights and 25,000 more square feet of field space added to the current 175,500, with additional sports being accommodated: Following up on requests from last month’s meeting, lines will be added for lacrosse, so the field will be striped for baseball, softball, Little League, soccer, women’s lacrosse, men’s lacrosse and Ultimate Frisbee (which now will get two courses on one field rather than spreading them across two, at the request of advocates at the first meeting). Baseball and softball will trade corners between the SW and NE sections of the field; project manager Ted Holden said the field will have four colors of lines (dyed versions of the same Field Turf that’s being used for the entirely of the four-acre site) – besides white, men’s lacrosse will be in yellow, women’s in red, Frisbee in blue, as shown above. (Holden had the meeting’s 10 or so attendees choose between two shades of blue turf; they chose the lighter one.) He also said there would be two 50-foot stretches of fence along the northwest side of the field to keep soccer balls from going down a steep slope – it’ll arch from 10′ to 15′ at the middle of each section:
Holden also said he was glad to report something he said at the last meeting was wrong – the Field Turf is partly recyclable – its crumb rubber goes into “quiet asphalt,” its plastic is melted to make products including windbreaker jackets, etc.
He said the $3.2 million budgeted for the project should cover what needs to be done, but extras such as bleachers would have to be paid for “as money is available.” He expects to send the project out to bid by the end of January, with construction to be done next summer, June through August.
A few final tweaks were suggested at the Monday night meeting – some changes to the Ultimate Frisbee area on the north side of the field, including cone markers, and adding a little more turf to the west side of the site. Holden said those requests will be incorporated into the design, and the final version will be posted online soon; watch the official project page.
(December 2008 photo)
SNOW BRIEFING: Not sure you completely have a handle on what the city will do differently if snow falls again this winter? This morning at 10, the City Council gets a briefing on SDOT‘s newest snow-removal plan – you can watch live via Seattle Channel, online or cable 21.
FOOD BANKS: They’re running out of time to get your donations for pre-Thanksgiving distribution. West Seattle Food Bank is open to take donations 9 am-7 pm today (here’s their full holiday-week schedule); White Center Food Bank, 8:30 am-5 pm. Both need turkeys, too!
DELRIDGE PLAYFIELD IMPROVEMENTS: Second of two meetings tonight, 7:30 at Delridge Community Center, and the focus will be on reviewing the design and getting more input before the project approaches the work stage. Go here to see the design and review notes from the previous meeting last month.
REMINDER: No school for elementaries and K-8 schools in Seattle Public Schools all week; they have parent/teacher conferences Monday-Wednesday – then Thursday-Friday are offdays districtwide.
Betsy reports a burglary on 26th SW in North Delridge – and says she came face-to-face with one of the burglars when she arrived at her neighboring home around 1 pm — “a slender, dark-skinned African American man between the ages of 17-24 walking out of my neighbor’s house carrying a large bag.” She continues:
I confronted the perp who said he was “visiting a friend.” Another young man came out of the neighbor’s yard carrying a bag, saw me, and turned around and ran out the back. The young man I saw looked like he was of east or north African descent – high cheekbones, very slender build, dark complexion. I was on the phone with police instantly. The neighbor got home while I was still calling in the crime and he saw his house had been ransacked, trashed, and all his valuables stolen. Including his rent money as he has been working overtime to pay the rent. They were broken into a week ago but someone was home; they noticed someone casing the house a few days ago, and we saw someone prowling the house YESTERDAY but the police said they could do nothing because no crime was committed. The cars of interest are a RED SUV and a RED/MAROON midsized sedan.
ADDED 8:41 PM: Betsy has included more description information in comments. Meantime, we have had another break-in report – sent by two of the victim’s neighbors, and mentioned in comments – on 47th near Andover (map).
(Photo from April tour of problem spots in the Delridge neighborhood)
We reported here yesterday on two measures going to Seattle City Council committees this week, both providing potential tools for problems like the ones viewed on the North Delridge tour joined by those committee’s chairs last April. The proposals have both been approved by those committees – today’s action on the “derelict housing” bill was reported by Councilmember Sally Clark herself, in comments on yesterday’s story:
PLUNC just approved the derelict housing legislation. It will go to the Full Council (Dec. 7). The North Delridge tour was a great motivator. It gave us great examples of where the policy change could make a difference. Thanks!
During the April tour, many participants were surprised to hear that city rules kept many rundown structures from being demolished before there was a plan to replace them; it was suggested that an empty lot might be safer. City leaders explained there had been a fear at one point that the city’s “affordable housing” stock might be depleted too rapidly if that sort of demolition had been allowed to run rampant. Meantime, here’s a news release sent by council staff about both votes – read on:Read More
That photo’s from last April, when City Councilmembers Sally Clark and Tim Burgess joined North Delridge neighbors in a tour organized by then-ND Neighborhood Council chair Mike Dady, looking at some of the problem properties around the area – some abandoned, some with criminal/suspicious activity and landlords who seemed to be turning a blind eye, some just plain falling apart (WSB coverage here). Afterward, Clark, Burgess and city department heads who joined the tour talked about possible legislation and rule changes to ease neighbors, law enforcers and others’ powerlessness in getting something done – and now, some of those proposals are closer to reality. This afternoon at 1:30 pm, the Public Safety, Human Services and Education Committee chaired by Burgess plans a hearing on the “chronic nuisance properties” bill beefing up penalties for landlords (see it here); then tomorrow at 9 am, the Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee chaired by Clark will take up the “Derelict Housing” bill (see it here), which would allow demolition of some properties even before a new plan is on the table for their sites. Both meetings are at City Hall downtown, open to the public, and will be televised on Seattle Channel (online at seattlechannel.org, or cable 21). 1:51 PM UPDATE: The Public Safety Committee hearing is under way now, with public comment from people including a West Seattle woman who says her neighborhood is a “war zone” because of problems a nearby landlord refuses to address.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Nineteen days ago, police cars and fire/medical units filled southbound Delridge Way, for a short time, outside Southwest Youth and Family Services.
SWYFS is this area’s lead agency for the city’s new Youth Violence Prevention Initiative, so there was uncomfortable irony in the fact those emergency units were there because one of its classrooms had become the scene of an act of youth violence: One boy stabbed another, both 17, after an argument.
The victim was rushed off to Harborview Medical Center; the alleged attacker was led off by police. The incident drew citywide media attention – but since it was quickly determined that victim and attacker knew each other, and that the victim would survive, the attention ebbed after a day.
Since then, though, what happened has been a daily reality for the students in the blended-grade high-school classes at Southwest Education Center – getting updates on their wounded classmate.
Until Thursday, when he returned to school, and told his story as part of an unusual group interview offered to WSB, unsolicited, by SWYFS.
Last weekend, we told you about Delridge and Pigeon Point volunteers spending a soggy, breezy Saturday morning making their neighborhood nicer (here’s our story). Tonight, two notes: First, Rose Feliciano (left) will be out raking up leaves again tomorrow morning around 9 am along the bike trail by the bridge. She mentioned this on the Pigeon Point e-mail list; we asked if we could mention it here in case anyone wanted to help out, and she said OK, adding “the way to access the bike path is the north end of 22nd Avenue SW.” (Here’s a map.) Meantime, the folks at Seattle Public Utilities asked if we would publish this public thank you to Rose and everyone else out working last weekend – PLUS all the other cleanup program volunteers peninsula-wide:
I’d like to thank Nancy Folsom, Rose Feliciano, the Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council, the North Delridge Neighborhood Council-and all the other West Seattle volunteers who are making a difference in their neighborhoods by participating in Seattle’s Adopt-a-Drain and Adopt-a-Street programs. These volunteer programs continue to grow, showing that we all value the quality of life that Seattle offers. Adopting a street or a drain is a great way to get to know your neighbors. Please give me a call if you would like help getting involved: 684-7647.
Thanks again, folks!
Carlton Stinson
Seattle Public Utilities
Adopt-A-Drain/Adopt-A-Street Coordinator
Both programs have more info online, too – Adopt-A-Street here, Adopt-A-Drain here.
The citywide Skatepark Advisory Committee got a closer look last night at those new Delridge Skatepark design renderings mentioned here yesterday. (The one above is oriented with the south side at the top of the art – the rectangle is part of the wading pool.) They incorporate comments from previous public meetings as well as a technical fix; the biggest change is the split into two bowls – the “egg-shaped” one you see various from 6 feet deep to 10 feet deep to allow for a drainage pipe that runs beneath. The revisions also fix a problem with the “drip line” around the park’s existing trees. Committee members offered their thoughts about the bowls’ vertical incline and also some concerns about stairs in the park and how they’ll affect skater traffic. Parks Department project manager Kelly Davidson is taking comments through November 20 (kelly.davidson@seattle.gov) and is hopeful the project will go to bid in March. She also says the $75,000 King County grant requested as part of the project funding has won a committee vote and has one more hurdle to clear.
West Seattle skating advocate/writer Matthew Lee Johnston at SeattleSkateparks.org has a big scoop – a look at the latest versions of Delridge Skatepark design. See all seven images here; he also notes that it’ll be reviewed at the citywide Skatepark Advisory Committee meeting tonight, 7 pm at Parks HQ downtown. (Hat tip to North Delridge’s Nancy Folsom for writing about this at Delridge Grassroots Leadership.) EDITOR’S NOTE: The original version of this item a few hours ago mentioned a Nov. 23 Parks meeting – that’s about the nearby Delridge Playfield improvements, NOT the skatepark – sorry about that, and thanks to Nancy for the catch!
Story and photos by Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Next rainy morning you commute – by car OR bike – those huge puddles may be a little less prevalent, thanks to the efforts of some of your West Seattle neighbors this morning: Before the wind and rain took a break, intrepid community members turned out in force in northeast West Seattle this morning to rake leaves from sidewalks and gutters, clear drains, and collect trash.
Rose Feliciano, who lives near the Pigeon Point portion of the bike trail, has been trying to keep it clear of leaves since her bicycling friends mentioned “the path is getting smaller!” Additionally, through the city’s Adopt-a-Drain program, Rose has been working to maintain a clear drain at Delridge and 23rd –the site of the West Seattle Bridge onramp. Unfortunately, she didn’t get out there quite soon enough yesterday morning to beat the BMW that drove through the deep puddle, stalling their engine. She notes: “It doesn’t take much for those drains to get clogged.”
After posting a request for help on the Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council e-mail group asking for leaf-raking assistance on the bike path today, she was joined by three more volunteers including Andy and Andre (photo above). Rose will be continuing her efforts until the trees have finished dropping their leaves. And her group wasn’t the only one out in northeast West Seattle this morning:
The North Delridge Neighborhood Council not only meets monthly but also gathers four times a year for Adopt-a-Street street cleaning. In their efforts today, they’ve also joined the Adopt-a-Drain program and before the group set off with their bright yellow bags, leader of the Adopt-a-Street program Nancy Folsom asked volunteers to “Check for drains as you go.”
They are also focusing on clearing street gutters for bicyclists. As part of the Adopt-a-Drain and Adopt-a-Street programs, the city provides plastic bags to the volunteers, then sends out a truck to pick up the full bags. (For more info on Adopt-a-Drain, go here; for more on Adopt-a-Street, go here.)
Last night, we reported on another holdup at Tervo’s Mini-Mart in The Triangle. Today, thanks to a Twitter tip, we learned there was a second convenience-store robbery in West Seattle last night – Delridge Deli Mart (map) also was held up. Official police information may be difficult to come by immediately, with so many resources dedicated to the officer-murder investigation, but we went to the store to seek confirmation, and a store staffer confirmed they were robbed. No word yet on time or description, but there’s been an ongoing series of store holdups in this area – Southwest Precinct Lt. Ron Smith told us last night that the Tervo’s suspects matched the description “from October 22nd” — that’s the night (our report here) that John’s Corner Deli in Sunrise Heights and the Country Deli in Highland Park were both robbed.
From Wednesday night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting: NDNC has prioritized the traffic projects it hopes the city will fund, and settled on a list to send to the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council for review – here are the top three:
1. Delridge Way SW between Andover and Myrtle: Traffic calming by adding a median with trees and plants – cost between $6.8 and $8.3 million
2. Brandon between 23rd & 30th: Sidewalk to continue across creek and up the hill – cost between $2 and $2.5 million
3. Hudson between 26th and Puget Blvd: Add a sidewalk, as there is a school bus stop that serves 2 school buses — cost between $1.3 & $1.6 million
Before the group voted, discussion centered on a need for sidewalks, especially near bus stops – Metro as well as school buses – and in the areas where new townhouses have brought new density, and more people on foot. Also last night: Though the Delridge Produce Cooperative‘s “mobile market” experiment is over, the group is alive, well and looking for help in drawing up a business plan to create a storefront. DPC chief Galena White talked about the 525 surveys filled out during their four-week experiment, indicating high interest in locally grown organic produce being regularly available. The group meets 6 pm every Tuesday at Pearls on Delridge; online, you can find them here. And there was another reminder about Saturday’s Adopt-A-Street cleanup – show up outside Delridge Community Center (map) at 9:45 to get tools, supplies (and coffee!) – Nancy Folsom told the group they’ll have a drawing for a (Heart) Delridge T-shirt (as seen at right) from among those who show up.
NORTH DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: 6:30 tonight, Delridge Library (map). Holli Margell sends word of what’s in store:
Want to cast another vote? Join us (tonight). We’ll be reviewing the “Bridging the Gap” Projects for the neighborhood to prioritize and narrow down the list for submission. Also on the agenda are our guest speakers, Amy Pennington of Urbangardenshare.org and Galena White of the Delridge Produce Coop, both sharing about their programs and answering our questions.
SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL: 7 tonight, South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) board room (map). As previewed here, highlights will include deputy Parks superintendent Christopher Williams with an update on plans for West Seattle Golf Course‘s future, and a rep for Councilmember Sally Clark talking about neighborhood planning. (The next step on that is tomorrow night, at a meeting that’s not in West Seattle but needs as many WS attendees as it can get – the followup to July’s neighborhood-plan “status check” meeting and all those online questionnaires – Thursday, 6 pm, Mercer Middle School on Beacon Hill [map].)
That dropbox outside the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center at 5405 Delridge (map) is the one place in West Seattle you can take your ballot all the way up till 8 tonight. If you get there before 7, go inside for the Voters’ Open House and meet folks like Delridge District Coordinator Ron Angeles (left in the photo below) – cookies, coffee, and tote bags while they last.
Just before sunset, we went out to look for afternoon sign-waving (here’s who we found this morning) – nobody in Admiral when we went through; on the Fauntleroy walkover, we found county assessor candidate Bob Rosenberger with supporters:
And at 35th/Fauntleroy, kitty-corner from where West Seattle-residing King County Council Chair/County Executive candidate Dow Constantine campaigned this morning, a supporter of his opponent Susan Hutchison stood with signs this afternoon:
Here’s the schedule for results tonight: King County plans just ONE release of results, around 8:15 pm. We will have all the major results here on the WSB main page, along with coverage from some of the biggest Election Night events, including the Constantine party at the Edgewater downtown, and the Approve Referendum 71 party on Capitol Hill. (They’ve also announced they’ll have a live video stream online – here’s a link.)
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