West Seattle, Washington
02 Sunday
ORIGINAL THURSDAY REPORT: Seattle-King County Public Health announced this afternoon that it has closed Pho Aroma (5605 Delridge Way SW) temporarily because of an illness outbreak. On Tuesday, the department said, it “learned of 3 ill persons from one meal party that became ill after consuming food and beverage from the restaurant on January 13.” While visiting the restaurant on January 17th, the report continues, “investigators identified 2 employees who experienced similar symptoms after the ill customers’ meal date of January 13.” The department’s report continues:
We do not have laboratory confirmation of the pathogen responsible for the illness, but symptoms are suggestive of norovirus. Often in norovirus outbreaks, no laboratory testing is done. The exact food or drink item that caused the illness has not been identified, though this is not uncommon for norovirus outbreaks where multiple food items may be contaminated.
The Health Department adds, “The restaurant is working cooperatively with Public Health; they closed on January 17 to allow time to complete a thorough cleaning and sanitizing of the restaurant.” Department staff will revisit the restaurant before clearing it to re-open. Full details on its investigation are here.
UPDATE: As noted in comment discussion below, the Public Health website notes that the restaurant reopened on January 19th.
em>(WSB photo by Patrick Sand)
9:09 AM: As mentioned a short time ago in our daily morning-traffic coverage, there’s a crash at Delridge and Trenton. Turns out (thanks for the tips!) a car is on its side, so this might not clear quickly, and we’re breaking it out into a separate report. No major injuries reported – the SFD dispatch does not include a medic unit.
(Photo courtesy Melanie)
9:16 AM: Our crew has talked to police at the scene and reports two vehicles are involved; no one is hurt. Delridge is completely blocked at the scene just north of SW Trenton, and tow trucks have been called.
10:21 AM: Just went back to look – scene is now clear, road fully open again.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
After the first two RapidRide H Line options for Delridge Way SW failed to generate “a lot of enthusiasm,” as SDOT spokesperson Dawn Schellenberg puts it, there’s now a third one on the table. And even if you don’t ride the bus, it will change the road – so you’ll want to take a close look.
“Option 3” (embedded above, and in PDF here) will be in the spotlight at the next RapidRide H Line drop-in info/input event – 5-6:30 pm this Wednesday at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, to be followed by a 7 pm Delridge Neighborhoods District Council discussion of the H Line. You might even have previewed it at one of the H Line open houses in Burien and White Center last week.
We obtained more information via a briefing with SDOT and Metro reps downtown. SDOT is much more closely involved in planning the RapidRide conversion of Route 120 than it was in planning the 2012 conversion of Routes 54/55 into the C Line, for reasons including the money that city taxpayers now pay for more bus service.
Along with Schellenberg, the meeting included SDOT project manager Thérèse Casper, Metro outreach specialist Jenna Franklin, and SDOT communicator Karen Westing.
Before we go through the details, note that this is not necessarily anything resembling a final design. So they want to know what you think. But it is about more than where the bus will stop – it’s about “redesigning” much of Delridge, and it incorporates some other projects that have been discussed in past years. Even before the H Line was announced and named, in fact, some changes were discussed a few years ago under the Delridge Multi-Modal Corridor project umbrella.
“It’s an opportunity to put those pieces together,” Schellenberg said.
The “pieces” potentially include:
Management at the Nucor steel mill in northeast West Seattle says they’re “working … to mitigate the problem” that’s caused startling booms in recent days. The one reported here on Saturday evening, after hearing from readers, was such a jolt, some said, they didn’t think it was from the plant because they’d never felt anything like it. We talked this afternoon with Nucor’s environmental manager Patrick Jablonski. He explained that this can happen “when we add wet scrap metal into our furnace … I think we are particularly vulnerable to it because of our climate; it happens more often in the wintertime.” He said Nucor is “certainly not happy” about this, and is trying to find out why it’s happened repeatedly in recent days, so they can work “to mitigate the problem.” Jablonski also told WSB, “We’ve worked over the years to minimize it … As far as I know, we are the only mill that built a large canopy to keep the rain off the scrap in our scrapyard … We’ve developed additional procedures over the years.” But that doesn’t get all the rain – or snow, if the scrap was brought over the mountain passes – off the steel, and when the wet scrap metal goes into the furnace (which is on the north side of the main building), the evaporation happens quickly and loudly. No one was hurt, he added. Some commenters asked about contacting the plant in case of an incident; you can call the general number, 206-933-2222, around the clock – if it’s after-hours, security can get in touch with someone to check into it, Jablonski said.
The automotive-business site on the southwest corner of Delridge and Barton has a new redevelopment proposal – described as a four-story building containing “mini-storage with office space at ground level,” a caretaker unit, and parking for 12 vehicles. The project has to go before the Southwest Design Review Board because of its size, and a tentative date has been set for the first (Early Design Guidance) meeting – 6:30 pm February 15th (Sisson Building/Senior Center, 4217 SW Oregon).
We stopped by the first RapidRide H Line drop-in meeting in Burien tonight to preview what you’ll see if you go to the White Center meeting tomorrow. It’s classic open-house format – informational boards around the room, staffers there so you can ask questions, maps on tables, comment forms to fill out if you choose to. They include explanations of how RapidRide works, as well as focusing in on specifics of this project, which is scheduled to convert Route 120 into the H Line in 2020.
While there’s a separate meeting coming up in Delridge one week from tonight to talk about the new options for that stretch of the route, those boards are available too – ask if you don’t see them.
It’s not a different route, we were told, but rather some possibilities for where the stops will be – which has been a major concern in previous community discussions. The new Delridge option – they started with two and now this is #3 – would include stations at Genesee, Andover, Hudson, Findlay in the north, for example. (Andover would eventually be a connection at/near the future Sound Transit Light Rail stop.) For those who have been advocating to have RapidRide H use the Delridge/Barton triangle stop, that’s still not considered an option; Metro’s Jenna Franklin told us their projections suggest the Westwood area will have many more jobs by 2025 and the connection needs to be closer. The proposals include more than just bus-stop locations, but also multi-modal right-of-way improvements, so take a good look and be ready to discuss, especially at the Delridge meeting on January 17th (Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way SW), which starts as a drop-in event and then is followed by a discussion with the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council starting at 7 pm. (We also are scheduled for a more in-depth briefing on the proposal, so watch for a followup.)
Also note that tonight’s Burien meeting had materials in multiple languages and you’ll find those in White Center Thursday night, too (5-8 pm, Mount View Elementary, 10811 12th SW). And whether you do or don’t get to an in-person meeting, the “online open house” is open now too, linked from this info-laden page about the RapidRide H Line project – if you need it translated, look for the SET LANGUAGE button at lower left, which brings up a list of dozens of languages.
First time in a while that we have received a reader report of a car-stereo theft. The photo and report are from Alex:
Someone broke into my truck last night and took my car stereo as well as some speakers. Truck was parked IN my apartment’s parking lot at Willow Court Apts. on Delridge [map].
SPD incident #: 18-011457.
Very early Saturday morning, as reported here, a 19-year-old man turned up in the 9200 block of 17th SW with a gunshot wound to the leg. Police searched for blocks around, with vague information about the location and circumstances – maybe during a robbery in an alley, they were told at one point. We requested the followup report yesterday, didn’t get it, then renewed the request today after noticing that what little information is online showed the incident wasn’t classified as an assault, but rather as “weapon discharge” and “injury.” Accidentally self-inflicted, Det. Patrick Michaud in media relations just told us, and the wounded man was too embarrassed to admit it initially. Case closed.
5:42 PM: Thanks for all the tips on this. A police and SFD response at Delridge/Holden is wrapping up, but so far we’re told that it involved some kind of fight, no major injuries. A private ambulance was called to check out one person who was hurt.
5:54 PM: We went to the (nearby) precinct to seek more details. Police there confirm this was a “fistfight,” involving two men, spotted by a witness at Delridge/Holden who went to the precinct – a block north – to report it.
We’ve heard from residents of Highland Park and South Delridge about possible gunfire heard around 12:30 am. 911 calls were made. This time, so far, no word of any shooting victims, and we haven’t heard whether any casings or damage turned up either.
(WSB photos/video)
Historic day at Louisa Boren STEM K-8 in Delridge – the school hosted its first robotics competition today!
17 schools were there for the VEX IQ Challenge. Working in pairs, students had to get their robots to haul more plastic rings than their opponents’ robots. Here’s a bit of video:
If you drove, rode, or walked past the school during the competition, you might have noticed the Seattle Police bomb squad’s vehicle – a texter asked us about it. They were there for a demonstration toward the start of the event:
According to the awards list (scroll down this page and you’ll find the tab to click), the STEM K-8 Bots won the Design Award, which qualifies them to move on in state/regional competition – congratulations! This is the third year of robotics at STEM K-8; last year, you might recall, a team went to worlds.
Thanks to Lisa, Kristin, and Mark for letting us know about this! If something cool is coming up at your school (or business, or community center, or …), we would love to hear about it – editor@westseattleblog.com – thank you!
3:30 AM: An “assault with weapons” response is arriving at an address in the 9200 block of 17th SW [map], where a man is reported to have a gunshot wound to the leg. Police are searching for the suspect, last seen “running southbound in an alley,” though there’s no description yet.
3:34 AM: Now the report is that “two or three black males in hoodies” might have been involved, and this might have happened during “a robbery in an alley.”
3:51 AM: Medics describe the victim over the air as 19 years old with a thigh wound from a 9mm bullet, not believed to be life-threatening. They’re taking him to Harborview Medical Center.
3:59 AM: We’ve talked to police at the scene but so far they’re still trying to lock in some facts such as where the robbery/shooting actually happened. A K-9 is involved in the search.
(Front of postcard that SDOT is about to send)
4:10 PM: We’ve already reported on upcoming White Center and Burien meetings coming up to talk about the conversion of Metro Route 120 to the RapidRide H Line. Today there’s word a Delridge meeting has been added, and that an “online open house” will start this Friday. Along with the Delridge meeting comes word of a “third option” proposed for the route’s West Seattle segment. From the announcement:
Community feedback will help decide the preferred alignment options in Burien and White Center, all proposed H Line station locations, and “access to transit” improvements along the entire route that would make getting to the bus by foot or by bicycle easier. Riders can share their views and priorities with Metro and learn how SDOT is incorporating feedback on redesigning Delridge Way SW at upcoming open house meetings and via an online open house.
· Wednesday, Jan. 10: 5-8 p.m. at the Burien Community Center, Shorewood Room, 14700 Sixth Ave. SW
· Thursday, Jan. 11: 5-8 p.m. in White Center at Mount View Elementary School, Cafeteria/Multi-purpose Room, 10811 12th Ave. SW.
· Wednesday, Jan. 17: 5-6:30 p.m. at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way SW. Give input on a NEW option for improving Delridge Way SW and share stories with the artists hired to create project art.
· Online Open house: From Jan. 5-15, to be available at Metro’s RapidRide page or online at www.kingcounty.gov/metro/hlinefeedback
· Community interviews: Metro will be working in the community in coming weeks to interview people in person, and will have translated survey materials available in Vietnamese, Somali, Spanish and Khmer.
According to SDOT – which is a partner in RapidRide with the county – the “new option” is still being refined, so the link in the postcard graphic atop this story won’t show it to you yet; we’ll have a followup when it’s available. Also note that the January 17th Delridge meeting is described as “drop-in.” And if you haven’t answered the current survey – it’s still open.
ADDED 7:24 PM: Delridge Neighborhoods District Council co-chair Mat McBride has more to add about the newly added meeting in that area. He explains it’s “a co-production with the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council. Immediately-ish following the drop-in session, the DNDC will do a more in-depth vision and design meeting with Metro and SDOT concerning the H line. This will consume the DNDC meeting for the month of January. As always, the public is welcome and encouraged to attend and participate in any DNDC meeting. This one happens to be particularly important for transit consumers in the Delridge corridor.” So it’s a RapidRide doubleheader that night (January 17th) at Youngstown.
The photo is from Jacob, who found those car seats while out walking his dog this morning.
Found these 2 car seats in the ditch on Brandon street behind the 7th hole of West Seattle golf course. They are both in excellent shape. Do not know why someone would throw them in the ditch but guess is a car was stolen and these were thrown out.
Please post if you see worthy as I am a parent and have paid a lot of money for car seats for my children and would want them back.
If yours, please e-mail us – editor@westseattleblog.com – and we can forward your contact info.
Two West Seattle development notes:
SOUTH DELRIDGE LOT PROPOSAL: That vacant lot at 9419 17th SW, long-ago home to a fire-damaged house that was demolished several years back, has an early-stage development proposal: “2 new mixed use buildings, consisting of 8 individual commercial/residential units.” The site is zoned for mixed-use development up to 40 feet; that would increase to 55 feet under the HALA MHA “preferred alternative.”
FIRST DESIGN REVIEW MEETING OF THE NEW YEAR: The Southwest Design Review Board‘s calendar has been empty for a while but the first meeting of 2018 has just been penciled in: 6:30 pm January 18th, the board will take its second and possibly final look at 4417 42nd SW, a 4-story, 62-unit (58 apartments plus 4 live-works), 26-underground-parking-space project. It got Early Design Guidance approval in May. (This too is zoned for 40 feet but proposed for 55′ under HALA MHA.)
11:42 AM: Seattle City Light is investigating a power outage that started about 15 minutes ago in Delridge – the map shows two spots, one on SW Holden just west of Delridge, with most of the 140+ affected customers in what appears to be the West Ridge Park complex at Delridge/Kenyon. No word yet how it started; the current restoration estimate is mid-afternoon.
12:07 PM: Ken points out in a comment that a crash appears to be to blame – the SFD 911 log does show a “wires down” call a short time earlier in the 2200 block of SW Holden – and also says the Westhaven Apartments are affected.
2:42 PM: Just checked; outage continues, and restoration is now projected for after 7 pm.
10:27 PM: Debbie reports in comments that power was restored about half an hour ago. The SCL map still shows a few customers out.
There’s a new mission for the space on the north side of the North Delridge building that’s home to Mode Music Studios (WSB sponsor) and The Skylark:
Mode Music and Performing Arts is a new nonprofit arts organization that introduced itself to the community with an open house this past Sunday – co-founded by Erin Rubin and Kristina Rowell.
Rubin is proprietor of Mode Music Studios, which is two doors south and will continue its core business of music instruction; Rowell is a veteran performing-arts instructor. MMPA will offer theater/performing-arts instruction for youth through classes, camps, and local schools. The first offerings are described in this brochure (PDF). The space also will be available for kids’ birthday parties centered on personalized drama workshops (info’s in the brochure) and event rentals – the space is 900 square feet.
9:25 PM: Thanks for the tips/questions about a police response in South Delridge. Police are investigating a report of an armed street robbery. We don’t know yet exactly where it happened – possibly near 9000 Delridge Way SW – but they’re seeking two suspects, described so far only as two Hispanic men 18-20 years old. Via scanner, we’ve heard police report finding a gun. There’s no medical dispatch, so – so far – it appears no one’s been hurt.
9:40 PM: A K-9 team is assisting with the search.
10:32 PM: Still searching. No new details – we will be seeking the report tomorrow.
3:36 PM: Per the scanner and a texter, a two-car crash at Delridge/Dakota is blocking northbound Delridge. If you have to head that way, wait a while, or find an alternative.
4:58 PM: Metro has sent an alert that buses are back to normal operation on that stretch, which indicates the scene’s been cleared. We tried to get close about half an hour ago, but NB traffic was backed up past Alaska. No medic unit was dispatched, which indicates no major injuries.
The Delridge development boom is apparently about to claim what might be our area’s most-infamous vacant house, the one at the far northeastern edge of Delridge Way itself, next to the bridge onramp, though its official address is 3804 23rd SW. After a tipster sent a photo of heavy equipment at the site, we went over for a look, and took the photo you see above. No one in view to ask, but county assessor records show it was sold again last spring (we had previously reported a tax-auction sale in 2015), and city records show that a site plan was filed in late summer for eight townhouse/rowhouses on the sloping site, 7,700 square feet, zoned Lowrise 1. The house has been the site of numerous complaints over the years, both formal and informal; it was spotlighted almost eight years ago in a “problem properties” tour organized by community leaders and attended by city councilmembers and department heads, described as a magnet for squatters. It’s also been mentioned over the years as councilmembers attempted to tweak the rules governing when owners can tear down derelict housing without having a redevelopment plan.
3:20 PM: The party is on! You are invited to Youngstown Cultural Arts Center to celebrate its centennial – performances and treats, plus a chance to tour the building, including the artist studios on the top floors:
Youngstown’s hallways feature lockers reminiscent of the building’s past as Frank B. Cooper School:
As noted in our story earlier this week previewing today’s celebration, the school building was mothballed years before the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association formed in the mid-1990s, and then DNDA bought it from Seattle Public Schools and turned it into Youngstown Cultural Arts Center.
The party is about looking ahead as well as looking back. In our photo above are DNDA’s current executive director David Bestock, left, with Nature Consortium – now part of DNDA – founder Nancy Whitlock and current leader Yeggy Michael. Go visit Youngstown this afternoon (until 5 pm) and see who you meet! More photos to come.
ADDED 4 PM: Thanks to Clay Eals for the photo of Cooper School graduates gathered at the party:
The building closed as a school in 1989. What is now the Thelma Dewitty Theater, named for the Cooper School teacher who made history as the first African-American to teach in Seattle Public Schools, was its cafeteria, and is full of cool people for today’s event:
Back upstairs, artist Iole Alessandrini of the Civita Institute welcomed visitors to her studio home:
DNDA’s director of housing and environmental programs, Willard Brown, is at Youngstown for the party:
If you don’t make it to Youngstown today – just take one look at its calendar to see how much is going on just about any day of the week!
(Frank B. Cooper School, 1930s – Seattle Public Schools photo)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Your next chance to celebrate West Seattle’s history – with an eye toward the future – is Sunday, at Youngstown 100, the party in honor of the centennial of Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, the historic former school building at 4408 Delridge Way SW.
What was Youngstown School in 1917 and became Cooper School in 1939 is by no means a relic from the past. Today, it pulses with creativity and promise, from the artist live/work studios up top, to the classrooms, performance areas, and offices below.
But its future was in doubt, not so long ago.
Youngstown is owned and managed by the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association. So for a look back at this part of the historic schoolhouse’s history, as the 100th-birthday party approaches, we sat down for a conversation with DNDA co-founder Paul Fischburg.
(WSB video of Youngstown event, replacing what was Seattle Channel live-stream window from earlier)
4:15 PM: We’re at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in North Delridge, where newly inaugurated Mayor Jenny Durkan will be appearing soon. Though this was the initially announced time, it’s slid a bit, and is likely to be closer to 4:45. When she appears here, the Seattle Channel live feed will be accessible via the window embedded above, or by going here. She took the oath of office at the Ethiopian Community Center in Rainier Beach about half an hour ago, and declared it was time to “get to work.” We’ll update when she arrives.
The event here, by the way, is to be emceed by West Seattle-residing County Council Chair Joe McDermott, who has already arrived.
4:50 PM: The mayor is at the podium. We count 70+ people on the side of the room, including Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole and Fire Chief Harold Scoggins. County Executive Dow Constantine just administered a ceremonial 2nd oath:
The mayor said she realizes West Seattle used to be a city all its own but she’s glad it’s part of Seattle now.
5:03 PM: Mayor Durkan wrapped up her speech and signed an executive order about rent assistance (read it here), and shortly she will be off to her next stop, in the International District. Seattle Channel also planned to stream that, so we’ll leave the video window up for a while. We recorded our own video of this stop and will add it when it’s ready to upload. The mayor, by the way, promised she would be back in West Seattle often – so often we’ll “get sick of” her. In fact she is already planning a second visit tomorrow, at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor), to talk about her plan to expand college access. More later.
7:50 PM: Our video of the Youngstown event is now atop this story. We’ve added a few more photos, too. Among the people we talked to there was the police chief:
We asked her the question she said “everybody” has been asking her – is she staying on in the Durkan administration? She said she’ll be talking with the new mayor next week about the department’s future, but for today, she was planning to go to all five events, but staying on the sidelines because “it’s (Durkan’s) day.” Other top police brass were there, and County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, too:
Not only is the new mayor coming back tomorrow as mentioned above, she also has a transition-team member coming to West Seattle tomorrow night to listen to community members’ concerns.
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