West Seattle, Washington
10 Tuesday
(Festival music/activities schedule here)
ORIGINAL REPORT, 11:20 AM: As of the top of the hour, Delridge Day is on – with cool people ready to meet you, and to entertain you, on the north side of the park by Delridge Community Center (Genesee/Delridge). Not just people – check out Olive the goat:
And a Seattle Police robot, converted for the moment into a Tootsie Pop dispenser:
“Picnic at the Precinct” is instead happening here in the park concurrent with Delridge Day again this year. We’re told new SPD Chief Kathleen O’Toole is expected here around noon, so if you’d like to meet her, be here. But first, come meet all your neighbors, here with various organizations and activities. And tell them what you want to see in your community – there’s a big blackboard ready for your thoughts, as part of the North Delridge Action Plan kickoff.
Also here: Seattle Public Library:
Miss Bea says "Come see us at the @SPLBuzz booth #DelridgeDay!" pic.twitter.com/n6efMWJ3UJ
— Beck Be (@BeaucoupBeck) August 9, 2014
Commenters asked earlier if any food trucks are here. Yes, Outside the Box is here again this year, up near the Delridge CC entrance.
Where, we’re also told a Seattle Fire engine is expected around noon.
(Photo added: From left, Pete Spalding, Dorsol Plants, Michael Taylor-Judd)
12:19 PM: Shoutout to the festival organizers – a small group of local community advocates put it together this year, including Dorsol Plants, Pete Spalding, Michael Taylor-Judd, Ron Angeles, and music by Chas Redmond, who is tune guru for more than a few local events:
Ellis Bros in stage at Delridge Day Festival pic.twitter.com/pE6sDp6zDU
— chas redmond (@chasredmond) August 9, 2014
12:38 PM: In addition to community groups/nonprofits – North Delridge Neighborhood Council, which is screenprinting its (Heart) Delridge logo onto T-shirts you bring, or bags they have…
….Also: West Seattle Food Bank (whose board member Rev. Ron Marshall pointed out they have a fundraising raffle going on):
Also: Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council, West Seattle Transportation Coalition, 34th District Democrats, Seattle Neighborhood Group, Nature Consortium …
… and more – local businesses are here too, including Skylark Café and Club and Mode Music Studios, neighbors in the 3800 block of Delridge Way SW:
12:49 PM: SPD Chief Kathleen O’Toole is here, as promised. We photographed her with Karen Berge and Deb Greer from the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network:
SFD Engine 36 was here for a while but had to rush off on an aid call a few minutes ago. (added) SPD Mounted Patrol horses were the center of attention:
If you missed the horses today – the Mounted Patrol Unit’s next open house at its Westcrest Park-adjacent headquarters will be 11 am-5 pm on Saturday, September 20th.
2:30 PM: Half an hour left until Delridge Day wraps up – such a beautiful afternoon. Hard to think about rain in the midst of the sun, but RainWise is here, to help you envision a raingarden at your home:
In some areas of West Seattle, you can get a rebate to install raingarden and/or cistern-type “green stormwater infrastructure” to cut down on how much of your stormwater runoff goes into the sewer system – find out more here.
2:54 PM: Moments to go and booths are folding up. SPD Chief O’Toole was here for a couple hours but departed a short time ago. We’ll be adding a bit more to this coverage in the hours ahead, but also wanted to mention an event for which we just got a flyer – mark your calendar for the North Delridge Tree Walk, starting near the boulders at Greg Davis Park 10:30 am Saturday, September 13th, five weeks from today. As for the rest of today – there’s more going on around West Seattle, and here in the park, the wading pool is open for almost four more hours!
Hours to go until summer’s next West Seattle festival – Delridge Day is happening Saturday in the park adjacent to the community center at Delridge Way/SW Genesee, 11 am-3 pm. Here again is the activity schedule and music schedule:
Other reasons to come to Delridge Day:
*Again this year, the Seattle Police Foundation-presented “Picnic at the Precinct” also is happening concurrently, at the park instead of the precinct. We’re told new Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole is expected to visit, though we don’t have a time on that yet – that would be her first official public visit to West Seattle.
*Want to talk/ask about the SW Roxbury Safety Project, including a potential “road diet” for Roxbury from 17th SW westward? SDOT will be at Delridge Day, ready to chat.
*Want to find out about the North Delridge Action Plan? City reps are ready to talk about that too.
*Live and/or work (etc.) in North Delridge? Meet your community council – the North Delridge Neighborhood Council – which is offering freebies including a chance to screenprint the (Heart) Delridge emblem on a shirt (you bring it) or tote bag (free blank bags available). Two screenprinting stations! And, adds NDNC’s Amanda Leonard, “We will even have a drying rack so you can enjoy the rest of the festival without dealing with wet paint.”
*Check out the close-to-finished Youngstown Cultural Arts Center mural right across the street from the festival zone, along the east side of the 4400 block of Delridge Way.
*Safety and preparedness: The West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network and West Seattle Be Prepared will be there.
… and so will we. 11 am-3 pm, Delridge CC Park, come have fun!
Just stopped by the mural project outside Youngstown Cultural Arts Center for a quick update. We reported last week on the start of work on what was a blank 200-foot wall along Delridge Way SW beneath the center’s parking lot, with participants in a summer arts-jobs program, same one that led to the signal-box mini-murals last year. This mural is still scheduled for completion and “unveiling” one week from tomorrow; its features so far include not just Northwest beauty like water and mountains but also a hint of the nearby maritime industry (the iconic red cranes).
One week from today (on August 9th), it’s West Seattle’s next big summer festival – Delridge Day, in the park next to Delridge Community Center (Delridge/Genesee). Here’s the schedule for the day, just made public by organizers:
And remember the free outdoor screening of “The Lego Movie” in the park the night before (9 pm Friday, August 8th) – here’s our preview of that.
West Seattle’s next roadside-raingarden project, officially dubbed the Delridge Natural Drainage System, is in the “early design” process. Next chance for neighbors to get updates and ask questions has just been announced – a “project-design walk-and-talk” event on Tuesday, August 12th, starting at the corner of 17th and Elmgrove (map) at 6 pm. The updates, according to this postcard that’s on its way to nearby mailboxes, will include a chance to “review proposed design concepts and plantings.” Like the county-initiated “green stormwater infrastructure” raingardens under construction in Westwood and Sunrise Heights, the goal is to reduce the stormwater going into the combined-sewer system, which in turn should reduce overflows at the end of the line. Construction is scheduled for next year.
Stopped by Youngstown Cultural Arts Center at midday to check on the progress of this year’s mural project – and we discovered the young artists are officially starting work on the mural today! They actually have been working on the 210-foot retaining wall along Delridge for a while now, but first job was to get it primed, and now that that’s done, it’s mural-painting time. That’ll take about two weeks – the grand unveiling is planned for August 14th. As noted here last month, this is part of the same city-funded summertime program that resulted in more than a dozen mini-murals on signal boxes along Delridge last year. The youth are working with professional artists, and according to this online update, they welcome community volunteers, too.
Program names go by … say, the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative … but we don’t often see/hear the results of activities related to those programs. Here, for a change, is a result. In the photo is Terry, one of the participants in a SYVPI project that led to the teardown and rebuild of that custom vintage motorcycle over the course of a 10-week after-school (etc.) project. He did it with MISSIONmoto, a nonprofit “motorcycle ministry” with garage space near Morgan Junction, which invited youth from the SYVPI program at North Delridge-based Southwest Youth and Family Services to “do a complete teardown and rebuild of a custom vintage motorcycle” – a 1973 Honda CB750K, to be precise. It was a pilot partnership, MISSIONmoto explains; we photographed Terry and the motorcycle at a celebratory barbecue held Thursday afternoon at SWYFS.
That flyer is just in, courtesy of Pete Spalding, one of the organizers of next month’s Delridge Day festival. It’s a new addition to the celebration – an outdoor movie in the Delridge Community Center park the night before Delridge Day. That means at 9 pm Friday night, August 8th, you’re invited to the free screening of “The Lego Movie.” Then on Saturday, August 8th, 11 am-3 pm, the Delridge Day festival takes over the park; the music lineup is already out:
11:00 Bill Wolford – world music, alt folk
12:00 Ellis Brothers – jazz
1:00 The Slags – rock and reggae
2:00 Roo and the Few – Americana
The park is at Delridge/Genesee, south and west of Delridge Skatepark. More festival details to come.
Sarah, Susan, Constance, and Ariana posed with leafy greens at the first Delridge Grocery Friday Farmstand because that’s all they had left by the time we got there at 7 pm. Ariana reports the stand had a line for the first two hours as buyers scooped up all the fruit. We mentioned the produce offerings in this morning’s daily preview; next Friday, they’re likely to have more raspberries and blueberries, cherries, peaches, greens, tomatoes, summer squash, and green onions, among other offerings. The farmstand is a sort of appetizer for the future Delridge Grocery, the cooperative store that volunteers are working to open in the commercial space of DESC’s Cottage Grove Commons. To add to the festive flavor of today’s stand, live music was provided by Thaddeus Spae.
Look for the farmstand’s second edition just south of Delridge Branch Library (5423 Delridge Way SW) next Friday (July 25th), 4:30-7:30 pm.
What does your community need to thrive, to be a great place to live, work, visit? Right now, the city is getting ready to draw up a North Delridge Action Plan for that section of eastern West Seattle – as explained here – and looking for people to be part of an advisory committee. Your participation would include not only making suggestions and offering opinions, but also reviewing what other community members are saying as part of the process. Creating the plan is expected to take a year or so, during which there will be monthly meetings and three community events. You have two weeks to apply – August 1st is the deadline – contact Jake Hellenkamp (jake.hellenkamp@seattle.gov) for an application, and if you have questions about the plan itself, you can contact David Goldberg at DavidW.Goldberg@seattle.gov. The city’s also planning to have a booth at the Delridge Day festival on Saturday, August 9th, to share info about the planning process. Don’t find yourself five or ten years down the line wondering “whose idea was THIS?” – jump in now.
Starting next Friday, another farmstand plans weekly sales of fresh produce in West Seattle – this one, announced today by the future Delridge Grocery:
Exciting news! Our Friday Farmstand launches this week! Finally – fresh, local, sustainable fruits and vegetables in Delridge!
Come by every Friday all summer:
4:30-7:30
5435 Delridge Way SW
Two doors south of the library, across the street from our future full-service grocery locationCelebrate our launch this Friday, July 18th, with free lemonade at the farmstand, and a fun comedy event afterward from 8-12 at the Skylark!
Want to be more involved?
Volunteer and take home free produce! Help run the produce stand and take home some leftovers! It’s easy and fun, and we’ll provide training. Sign up for volunteer shifts online.
Join the Canning Club!
Do you like canning pickles and jams to save for the winter? Join Friday Farmstand Canning Club and get first crack and discount prices on bulk quantities of leftover produce! To sign up, e-mail Farmstand Manager Ariana at taylorstanley@gmail.com with your name and phone number. You must be available to pickup produce after the farmstand, at 7:30 on Fridays.
Delridge Grocery, which has its roots in the Delridge Produce Cooperative effort launched five years ago, is working toward opening a co-op grocery store in the commercial space of the Cottage Grove Commons building at 5444 Delridge Way SW.
At midday today, West Seattle’s Fire Station 36 in North Delridge welcomed visitors to an open house with tours of its upgrades and renovations:
The station recently reopened after about nine months of work – read more about it here – during which time Station 36’s crews were temporarily stationed at a spot off Harbor Avenue SW. Among those on hand today, Fire Chief Gregory Dean:
And history, courtesy of the Last Resort Fire Department:
The next West Seattle fire station to relocate for an upgrade is Station 32 in The Junction, which will be demolished and rebuilt on its current site; during the project, that station will be temporarily relocated to city-owned property on 40th SW across from the Masonic Center.
One Saturday night in July of last year, a pickup truck sped through a red light on southbound Delridge Way at Kenyon, hit an SUV (its wreckage is at right), and rolled. 43-year-old Michael Fisher was thrown from the truck and died at the scene; another passenger was hurt, as was the SUV’s driver. The pickup’s under-the-influence driver, 44-year-old William Edmon, was arrested that night and has since pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and reckless endangerment. We just discovered it in a periodic check of ongoing case files; the plea was entered in late May. Edmon has a long record, as reported here when he was charged last year, including 13 instances of driving with a suspended license, three DUI cases, and cases including inattentive driving, ignition-interlock violation, reckless driving, property destruction, harassment, hit-and-run, malicious mischief, plus several “failure to appear” charges along the way. Because of his record, prosecutors are recommending a prison sentence that would total 160 months – just over 13 years – with 72 of those months as a “DUI enhancement.” The sentencing is scheduled for July 25th, postponed from a date last month so the victim’s relatives can be present.
(Station 36 rendering courtesy SFD)
You’re invited to Seattle Fire Station 36 11 am-1 pm this Saturday, for its dedication/open house. Station 36 has been going through upgrades and renovations for nine months, with the station’s crews temporarily relocated to a site off Harbor Avenue, but now the work’s done and it’s time to celebrate. First 100 visitors get free hot dogs courtesy of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 27; special kids’ activities too (as if touring the station and checking out the firefighting equipment wasn’t enough to impress most kids!). Station 36 is at 3600 23rd SW (map)
Design is under way for the third area of West Seattle to get roadside raingardens to help reduce runoff that contributes to combined-sewer overflows (CSO), and project team members are now going door-to-door to make sure residents are aware. As outlined at a meeting last November, the raingardens will be built in an area of South Delridge primarily involving several blocks of 17th SW – between SW Kenyon and SW Henderson – that’s also part of a future greenway. Seattle Public Utilities is the lead agency, and says:
Project design is happening through 2014 and into 2015. Throughout the upcoming months, SPU will continue to work with project area residents to finalize the design. During design and leading up to construction, pre-construction activities may include geotechnical and survey crews in the neighborhood, and utility relocation work prior to construction. Construction of the natural drainage system is scheduled to begin in summer of 2015.
The city’s project website is here; the project reps going door-to-door are distributing two infosheets, here and here. And if you have questions, be at the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting next Wednesday (June 18th, 7 pm) at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center – an SPU rep will be there with an update on the project that’s officially known as “Delridge Natural Drainage Systems.”
Last year, the signal boxes – this year, the retaining wall. The newest newsletter from Youngstown Cultural Arts Center notes that the arrival of summer means a new public-art project involving local youth in the Work Readiness Arts Program, which last year resulted in colorful sea-life designs on otherwise drab and vandal-targeted signal boxes (see video above):
This year, volunteers and students will work with artists Louis Chinn and Tess Gamez to design and paint the 210-foot retaining wall across from the Delridge Skatepark, adding depth, color and art along the busy thoroughfare. The goal is to create a mural that honors the rich history of the Delridge area, and celebrates the bright future being created as a community.
Youngstown has launched an online survey asking for suggested themes and elements for the mural – you can share your ideas here.
A few years ago, the North Delridge Neighborhood Council started holding its summertime meetings outdoors in various locations. The announcement of this coming Monday’s meeting has just arrived, and they’re doing it again:
Join the NDNC for our monthly meeting on Monday, June 9, at 6:30 pm. We’re starting our summer meetings in the park series with Cottage Grove Park – 26th and Brandon, the one with the kids’ play area at one end. Bring outside chairs, blankets, or anything else you need – depending on the weather, it gets cool towards the end.
We don’t have much in the way of a set agenda, so we’re holding an open meeting for you to bring any and all issues, concerns or other items.
For about a year, West Seattle’s bridgeside Fire Station 36 has been in temporary quarters off Harbor Avenue while seismic/safety upgrade work has been under way. SFD says the job’s almost done and they’re planning a community open house to celebrate, 11 am-1 pm on Saturday, July 12th – mark the calendar! Other fire-station upgrade projects are on the way in our area, the biggest being a brand-new Station 32 on the site of the existing one.
(Screengrab from @raincitycannabis Instagram feed)
While we await more information from Seattle Police on why they raided a North Delridge warehouse – as reported here Tuesday afternoon – we’ve spoken with the man who says the operation was his: Matthew Segal of Rain City, which has dispensaries in Rainier and Magnolia, says he is mystified as to why his operation at 28th/Yancy was raided. He has posted photos on Instagram showing the aftermath; we found him after a tip about the photos. [Editor’s note: They are now showing as “unavailable” from the embed mode; we’re substituting an earlier screengrab above.] He says more than 2,500 plants were growing, and that police told him he could keep 45 – the amount allowed in one “collective garden.” Segal says the raid happened without warning, and that there have been no arrests, and no explanation. He says he was working with the state Liquor Control Board on licensing this location as a legal growing site for the recreational-marijuana business, and that he is registered with the state Labor and Industries Department as a cannabis grower.
He says Rain City serves 4,500 patients/clients. But he acknowledged that the amount of allowed plants at a facility like this is a “gray area,” as much of the medical-marijuana industry has been for the past decade-plus. All he knows for now, he told us, is that he got a call yesterday “saying that police were at my warehouse … and then I came down,” and found the plants being removed. He says he had been growing there for three years and was buying the building (county records show him listed as its owner since a $1,050,000 purchase in March) . He hasn’t decided on his next steps, but hasn’t ruled out legal action, while saying he’ll “figure something out” about how to get a supply to stay in business. “I just don’t understand, it really … it’s going to haunt me.”
Meantime, we checked again with police this morning, seeking more information beyond what Narcotics Unit Captain James Dermody had told us at the scene yesterday; SPD spokesperson Det. Renée Witt said they were still gathering information to share with media. We’ll update this story whenever that information is available.
4:47 PM UPDATE: We stepped away from the desk for a few minutes, and that’s when the SPD Blotter post went up. New information includes police saying they searched two homes, one of them in West Seattle, as well as the 28th/Yancy warehouse:
After receiving complaints from neighbors about an overwhelming smell emanating from a large marijuana grow operation, the Seattle Police Narcotics Unit and Anti-Crime Team officers served a warrant — signed by a King County District Court judge — at a home and a warehouse in West Seattle and another house on Beacon Hill Tuesday evening, and recovered what detectives say is an unprecedented number of illegally-grown marijuana plants.
After police began an investigation into the two homes and warehouse — in the 2400 block of S. Morgan St, 6500 block of 44th Ave SW and 2600 block of SW Yancy St respectively — detectives learned the three illegal marijuana grows were operating under the guise of a medical marijuana collective and were growing far more plants than allowed under state law.
The West Seattle warehouse had more than 2200 plants alone, well over the 45 plant limit allowed for medical marijuana grows in Washington. Police seized 206 and 227 plants at the two homes.
All told 2663 plants and 86 pounds of processed marijuana were seized during the operation.
Detectives say this is the largest illegal marijuana grow operation they can recall investigating.
Police also believe the owner of the grow operation was harvesting marijuana from the grow operation and selling it through a dispensary — which he also owns — violating the state’s regulations on collective gardens.
Detectives left 45 marijuana plants at each location, along with 72 ounces of processed marijuana and growing equipment, and let the growers at each site select which plants they wanted to keep. Detectives were interested only in bringing the operation back under the limits of state law, and in addition to leaving plants and equipment at the scenes, also opted not to book anyone involved in the operation into jail.
Even though marijuana is legal in our state, that doesn’t mean every use is legal, or that every plant is legal. This afternoon, a tip about a police raid in North Delridge led us to this scene near Yancy/28th, where police say they have found an allegedly illegal marijuana-growing operation. It generated so many complaints, they told us at the scene, they obtained a search warrant. Seattle City Light also arrived to cut off power. We’re expecting more details later.
(UPDATED MONDAY NIGHT with fire cause)
(Photo courtesy Jonathan French)
2:02 PM: Firefighters are on the scene of a house-fire call in the 9200 block of Delridge Way SW (map). More to come.
2:07 PM: SFD has reported that heavy smoke is coming out of the house, and also that everyone has gotten out OK. Our crew will be there shortly.
(This photo & those below are by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
2:12 PM: SFD says the fire is “knocked down”; we’ve just arrived in the area and can still see smoke. Avoid Delridge in this area – police have the street blocked at Barton.
2:25 PM: Photos added.
Yes, this is why there’s a TV helicopter over South Delridge/Westwood (directly over us at the moment). A dog was rescued and we’re told it will be OK.
2:39 PM: There are now conflicting reports about whether everyone did indeed get out OK. SFD’s public-information officer is en route and we expect an update shortly.
Police also have arrived to investigate – not just to direct traffic.
2:55 PM: It’s just been confirmed that one of the residents of the home, so far described only as male, has been found dead inside the back bedroom. Authorities had originally reported everyone was out safely but that obviously turned out to be wrong. And while they rescued two dogs and a puppy, four other puppies did not survive.
3:54 PM: Added the briefing video, above – that’s SFD spokesperson Kyle Moore, explaining that police involvement at this point is routine for any fire involving a death. No information yet on the person’s identity or cause of death, nor the fire’s cause – we will add new information here whenever it becomes available.
4:49 PM: SFD has tweeted photos of the rescued dogs/puppy:
Picture of puppy firefighters rescued and revived at fatal house fire on Delridge AV SW pic.twitter.com/zl5CyOFDcM
— Seattle Fire Dept (@SeattleFire) June 2, 2014
Picture of two dogs firefighters rescued and resuscitated at fatal Delridge house fire pic.twitter.com/x9ePLo25TR
— Seattle Fire Dept (@SeattleFire) June 2, 2014
9:42 PM: Seattle Fire investigators say it started with a cooking fire:
Cause of Delridge fatal house fire is unattended food on stove. Damage estimate $120k. 3 people displaced pic.twitter.com/0uPbb8n4uA
— Seattle Fire Dept (@SeattleFire) June 3, 2014
11:20 PM: No word yet on the victim’s identity – that will come from the Medical Examiner’s Office, no sooner than tomorrow afternoon. But SFD has one more tweet about the rescued dogs:
Here is picture of firefighter using pet oxygen mask to revive puppy who suffered smoke inhalation in Delridge fire pic.twitter.com/YVtHLZkzOS
— Seattle Fire Dept (@SeattleFire) June 3, 2014
Also from today’s city Land Use Information Bulletin – another big proposal that is now ready for review and comments: The city’s draft Environmental Impact Statement for the plan to reduce combined-sewer overflows (aka “The Plan to Protect Seattle’s Waterways”). Here’s the formal notice. This is similar to, but NOT part of, the county CSO-reduction plan that has led to two major projects in our area (storage tank at Lowman Beach and roadside raingardens in Sunrise Heights and Westwood). The city is accountable for different areas, including, in West Seattle, Longfellow Creek and the Duwamish River, and is exploring alternatives including the possibility of more underground storage in the Delridge area. Lots of documents related to this – for the shortest version, the executive summary, go here. You’ll find an overview, and how to comment, by going here – June 30th is the commenting deadline, and there’s one public hearing planned (June 24th in North Seattle, details at that same link).
2:49 AM: Big Seattle Fire response on the way to a call in the 9000 block of 20th SW. Updates to come.
2:53 AM: First units on scene aren’t finding any sign of smoke or fire, so most of the units are being canceled.
3:12 AM: Our crew has verified at the scene, no fire. Residents say they smelled smoke and thought they saw some, but nothing turned up.
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