West Seattle, Washington
09 Sunday
Reminder if you drive on Delridge Way SW – the repaving project is scheduled to move into Phase 4 tomorrow (Monday), which means the work zone will shift north, to the section between SW Orchard and SW Holden. SDOT says no detour will be needed “as the roadway is wide enough to maintain one lane of traffic each way.”
ADDED MONDAY: However – the Phase 3 zone southbound detour continues a few more days for striping and other details.
SDOT has just sent an announcement confirming what we mentioned in Thursday’s daily traffic tracker – the Delridge repaving project is a week away from its next phase:
Work on Delridge Way SW Paving Phase 4, between SW Holden and SW Orchard streets, begins July 8. This segment of work will not require a detour as the roadway is wide enough to maintain one lane of traffic each way. Meanwhile, as weather permits, crews will stripe the roadway between SW Thistle and SW Holden streets the week of July 8. Southbound traffic will remain detoured as follows for up to 4 days.
West on SW Holden Street
South on 35th Avenue SW
East on SW Thistle Street
South on Delridge Way SWAs Phase 4 construction progresses and moves from one side of Delridge Way to the other, drivers will encounter traffic lane shifts. Local access to businesses and residences will be maintained.
This is a five-phase project. Upon completion of Phase 4 work, construction activity will move south between SW Roxbury and SW Henderson streets.
In North Delridge, Patrick reports police are searching for a would-be burglar after a break-in attempt at his neighbor’s house in the 4700 block of 26th SW (map). Description: White male, skinny, black wool cap, black jacket, black pants; an apparent accomplice vehicle is described as late ’70s or early ’80s dark blue Dodge Ram, diesel engine, lifted frame, big tires, last seen southbound on 26th SW. If you have any info, call 911.
(2012 WSB photo of Youngtown Cultural Arts Center)
There’s a new opportunity for more arts/cultural organizations to get involved with West Seattle’s Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, without having to commit to something longterm: Youngstown is starting a new push to get the word out about its Civic Partnerships Program, in which it’s an “incubating hub” for start-up arts programs. The push was announced earlier this week at an event celebrating the success of performance-art group Saint Genet, whose director Ryan Mitchell is at left in our photo below with Youngstown director David Bestock:
At a Monday night reception at Youngstown, they talked about the Civic Partnerships Program, which offers the use of Youngstown space and “some gear or equipment” for “dance, theater, visual art, music production, culinary arts, or any creative endeavor that offers a good fit,” on a quarterly agreement, instead of requiring tenancy. Saint Genet used Youngstown space for choreography in one of its recent works, “Paradisiacal Rites.” If you’re interested in applying for a Civic Partnership at Youngstown, you can contact Bestock at david@youngstownarts.org.
This afternoon’s other bail hearing of West Seattle note was for the 26-year-old Seatac woman who police say was driving the van that hit a car in South Delridge early Sunday, sending two people to the hospital with serious injuries. Until today, her name wasn’t on the jail register because, police said, she did not have ID and they had trouble verifying who she was; she is listed as having two aliases (we aren’t identifying her until and unless she is charged). The police narrative says she was one of two people seen running across Delridge by police arriving at the scene; nearby residents told them she was the driver. While one officer was trying to get identification from her, the documents say, she started screaming, “I killed him! I killed him! I’ve never killed anyone before.” Police later were told that, before the crash, she was seen and heard “at a gas station just across the county line … in White Center … physically fighting with two males,” and that when those two drove away, northbound into Seattle, the van driver “drove after them at a high rate of speed in an attempt to continue the fight.” Driving northbound on 17th SW, police say, she ran a stop sign and smashed into the smaller car. One of the officers who talked with her reported “a strong odor of alcoholic intoxicants” on her breath, and that she “was also slurring her speech.” Her bail was set today at $75,000, and she is due back in court tomorrow.
4:14 PM SUNDAY: We’ve learned today that one of the two people hospitalized with major injuries from the 17th/Cambridge crash early today (here’s our previous story) is 29-year-old Logan Wicker, a staffer at Skylark Café and Club in North Delridge who was on his way home from work when his car was hit (in our photo, it’s mostly hidden by the van). Skylark is closing early tonight, 7 pm, as a result. A family friend tells us that Logan is a 2002 West Seattle High School graduate. The driver of the van that hit Logan’s car was booked into jail for investigation of DUI/vehicular assault; we haven’t been able to check on her status or record yet because the jail-register information system is currently down, but most likely, she will have a bail hearing tomorrow, so we will be following up through the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
10:52 AM MONDAY UPDATE: Checked with Harborview, where a spokesperson tells us Logan is now in serious condition, still in intensive care. We don’t know how the other victim is doing – they couldn’t check for us without a name.
1:21 PM UPDATE: Also on the subject of names, we have learned that the driver who was arrested did not have ID and wouldn’t give officers her name, so she is jailed as “Jane Doe” – which is why we haven’t been able to find out more about her yet. Police expect to be able to identify her through fingerprints.
Last fall, city reps came to eastern West Seattle for three meetings on plans for reducing sewage overflows in Longfellow Creek, including potential raingardens and other types of “natural drainage.” The plans have evolved since then, Seattle Public Utilities is announcing this week, and they want your input on the next decisions that have to be made. For starters, SPU’s Susan Stoltzfus tells WSB, “further modeling and analysis” has shown the city that “the sewage overflows can be mostly controlled by making improvements to the existing storage tanks along Delridge Way and diverting some of the flow to King County’s system.”
That said, they are still pursuing “natural drainage” to help protect the creek “from polluted stormwater runoff which, even without sewage in it, can be more harmful to the health of the creek and the creatures that live in it.” And the new plan is for this to be installed along the route of a future greenway – a road improved for pedestrian/bicycle safety – that has yet to be chosen. If you live in the area – the city wants to hear from you.
(Click image for larger version you can zoom in on)
The map above shows the alternatives. SPU says everyone along the potential routes will get a survey in the mail asking what they think about the idea of a greenway and raingardens in their neighborhood – and a public meeting is planned, July 9th at Highland Park Improvement Club. (HP Action Committee has already announced that this meeting will be a substitute for what otherwise would have been its regular monthly meeting in late June.)
Information about the new proposals will be up on the city website within a few days, we’re told. In the meantime, if you live on one of the greenway routes, watch your mailbox – and if you have any interest in the project, plan to be at the July 9th meeting.
P.S. One greenway already is in the works, in North Delridge – SDOT published an update this week – and the city says it might be a candidate for after-the-fact natural-drainage projects.
West Seattle’s newest soccer team is playing its first game of the season right now at Delridge Playfield. AC Seattle is part of the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL), with many of its players visiting from Italy (we put out the call last spring for home-stay families to host them). They’re playing the Spokane Shine tonight, and “shine” was the word for the early-evening sunshine as spectators took their “seats” on the slope over the field:
AC Seattle got off to a lead fast.
They’re doing play-by-play on Twitter, and as we get ready to hit “publish” on this story, AC-Seattle is leading Spokane 4-0. We’ll update when the game’s over; your next chance to see the team play is 7 pm Thursday (June 13) at Southwest Athletic Complex (2801 SW Thistle), vs. Emerald City FC.
10:08 PM UPDATE: And that was the final score – AC Seattle 4, Spokane Shine 0.
P.S. The goalWA.net website has been covering AC Seattle as they got ready for the season, and published this sweet story Friday about some help from a young West Seattleite.
Back in March, we wrote about AC Seattle, a new women’s soccer team including athletes visiting for the summer from Italy. Somehow time got away from us – and their first game is almost here, we are reminded by e-mail that arrived a short time ago. 7:45 tonight, AC Seattle makes its WPSL debut against the Spokane Shine. (Read more about AC Seattle here.) Coached by Antonio Cincotta, AC Seattle invites fans to the game at Delridge Playfield (Delridge/Alaska); the team also plays Thursday night, vs. Emerald City FC at Southwest Athletic Complex (2801 SW Thistle). P.S. We’re checking on ticket info – prices, etc. – and will add it when we get a reply.
An update from SDOT as Phase 3 of the Delridge Way repaving project proceeds – the next intersection closure is tentatively scheduled to start at the end of next week:
May 31 – June 3: Delridge Way SW & SW Holden Street Intersection Closure
All work is weather-dependent
Most of the intersection of Delridge Way SW and SW Holden Street will be closed from 7 p.m. Friday, May 31, until 6 a.m. Monday, June 3, for roadway restoration and storm drain installation. This work is part of the Seattle Department of Transportation’s Delridge Way SW Paving Project that is rebuilding much of Delridge Way SW between SW Orchard and SW Roxbury streets.
For the closure of the Delridge/Holden intersection, the detour will be as follows (see attached map):
· Northbound traffic on Delridge Way SW – Take SW Thistle Street to 35th Avenue SW to SW Morgan Street/ Sylvan Way SW/ SW Orchard Street to Delridge Way SW
· Southbound traffic on Delridge Way SW – Take SW Holden Street to 35th Avenue SW to SW Thistle Street to Delridge Way SW
During the week of June 3, the roadway will be striped between SW Henderson and SW Thistle streets, the areas of Phases 1 and 2. Street parking will be eliminated and lanes will be temporarily shifted for up to four days while striping is completed
This year’s Delridge Day festival is three months away – but planning is in full swing, and we’ve been asked to share this call for musicians:
2012 was the first year Delridge Day had a music stage and helped to showcase some the best local talent! This year, the plans are no different and the community planners for Delridge Day are hard at work in search for some great musical talent to help fill out time slots and show the community what they have to offer.
Delridge Day is planned for Saturday, August 17th from 11 AM-4 PM at Delridge Community Center and Park. If you’ve got a voice, guitar, drum set or even a drumbot, then we want to hear what you have to offer! We have time slots ranging from 11 AM-3 PM and are looking to fill them immediately. Interested musicians can e-mail Chas Redmond at credmond@mac.com and provide links to their music. We’re looking for solo artists and groups that are ready to entertain the local community!
This year’s Delridge Day co-sponsors include WSB – and they’re still seeking more; here’s the info packet for prospective sponsors.
As announced last week, SDOT plans to shift the Delridge Way repaving work to Phase 3, Thistle to Trenton, this Wednesday. The section of Delridge that will have a southbound detour during that time will be between Thistle and Holden. Above, the map; below, the update:
Beginning May 15, southbound traffic on Delridge Way Southwest in West Seattle will be detoured at Southwest Holden Street and the currently detoured stretch from Southwest Thistle to Southwest Trenton streets will be reopened. The closure will allow the contractor working for the Seattle Department of Transportation to reconstruct the roadway and install storm drains. The new detour, from Holden to Thistle streets, is expected to remain in place through mid July. This work is Phase 3 of the project that is rebuilding much of Delridge Way Southwest.
Traffic will be redirected (see attached map):
· West on SW Holden Street
· South on 35th Avenue S
· East on SW Thistle Street
· South on Delridge Way SWDelridge will remain open to northbound traffic except for intersection work. Local access to businesses and residents will be maintained.
This is a five-phase project. At the end of Phase 3, construction activity will move north to Phase 4, between SW Orchard and SW Holden streets.
Another “spot repair” project just announced for a stretch of West Seattle roadway:
Seattle Department of Transportation’s paving crews will replace concrete roadway panels on Delridge Way Southwest at 23rd Avenue Southwest (near SW Graham Street) on Wednesday, May 15th. Two-way traffic will be maintained. Drivers may encounter some congestion in this area during the work.
This project is being funded by SDOT’s annual paving program and the Bridging the Gap transportation initiative approved by Seattle voters.
Tonight during the monthly West Seattle Art Walk, the new North Delridge apartment building Youngstown Flats not only will be open to visitors, it’ll host a reception for the 14 artists whose work can be seen around the complex. Youngstown Flats, now open to leasing and already home to its first tenants, is a new WSB sponsor; we toured recently to give you a peek inside. The art is not only outdoors, , but also in the public hallways of each floor, including the work shown above, and in the main lobby:
More ahead:
Thanks to the people who tipped us about some kind of police operation under way in the vicinity of the Super 24 store along Delridge. WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand arrived and found SWAT officers, guns drawn, and someone apparently in custody. No one is commenting at the scene so we are trying to find out more. Traffic was stopped on Delridge for a while but Patrick says it’s just been allowed to resume.
Shortly after we took that photo, a tow-truck crew righted the car, which had flipped onto the south side of the 20th/Henderson intersection, just east of Delridge Way. No official information on circumstances at this point but police told us one person had been taken to a hospital.
5:15 PM UPDATE: This was a two-car crash, according to Seattle Fire spokesperson Kyle Moore, whose department does not investigate the cause but does treat the victims, so he was able to tell us that the person taken to the hospital as a precaution was the 28-year-old woman driving the flipped PT cruiser. She got herself and a 3-week-old baby girl out of the vehicle before Engine 11 arrived; the 25-year-old woman and 4-year-old in the other vehicle were not hurt.
8:02 PM UPDATE: A commenter who lives nearby says the 4-year-old was actually in the flipped PT cruiser and the baby in the other car.
(February photo of Delridge Way work, from SDOT via Flickr)
The second phase of the Delridge Way SW repaving project is almost over, with the third phase expected to start next week. So says SDOT in this advisory just out of the WSB inbox:
The Seattle Department of Transportation expects paving work on Delridge Way Southwest to progress to the next phase on Wednesday, May 15. The contractor will detour southbound traffic on Delridge from Southwest Holden to Southwest Thistle streets, and reopen the stretch from Southwest Thistle to Southwest Trenton streets. The new detour, from Holden to Thistle, is expected to remain in place through mid July. This work is Phase 3 of the project that is rebuilding much of Delridge Way Southwest.
Delridge will remain open to northbound traffic except for intersection work. Local access to businesses and residents will be maintained. SDOT will release a map and details of the new detour as the date approaches.
After the contractor completes work between Thistle and Trenton, Delridge will be striped between Thistle and Henderson streets. Also, crews expect to return by late May to the stretch between Trenton and Henderson for weather-dependent crack seal work.
This is a five-phase project. At the end of Phase 3, construction activity will move north to Phase 4, between SW Orchard and SW Holden streets.
Lisa Taylor-Whitley heads up the North Delridge Neighborhood Council Beautification Committee, and every month, whether 3 people show up or 30, she and helpers are out cleaning up another corner of the neighborhood. This morning, it was the walking/biking path that leads from the Skylark Café and Club parking lot down to the bus stop at SW Spokane St. (where buses and other vehicles are detoured today and tomorrow because of repaving, remember). Before we caught up with Lisa on the path, we found other members of today’s cleanup crew wrapping up outside Skylark – Tom, Oliver, Nancy, and Jackson the dog:
They all explained that the path was in pretty good shape this time, so they only needed to work for a little more than an hour, half of the time allotted. Keep an eye on the NDNC’s website for info on upcoming cleanups – and/or send Lisa a note if you have a site to suggest (lisataylorwhitley@gmail.com).
After Seattle Parks announced last week that thieves had stolen almost a quarter-mile of copper wiring from the Delridge Playfield lighting system, they thought it might take two weeks to repair. Instead, the lights are already back on, after a fix that took just days. After a couple reader tips, we followed up with Parks, and spokesperson Joelle Hammerstad told WSB today that “After discovering an electrical contractor could not do the work (there), our Electric Shop team put together a plan and worked straight through the weekend to restore lights by Monday night, just one week after the problem was reported. On Tuesday night, normal activities resumed.” No arrests reported yet.
This time last year, the first families to seek enrollment at K-5 STEM at Boren were getting word of their assignments. Now, as the trailblazing public school goes into the final months of its first year, the K-5 STEM school community is ready to look ahead at its strategic plan, to be presented by staff members, with time for feedback to follow. If yours is a K-5 STEM family now – or planning to be next fall – you’re invited; 6:45-8:15 pm at the school (5950 Delridge Way SW); more info here.
A two-part announcement from Delridge Grocery – first, it’s their regular monthly meeting on Monday (April 22nd), 6:30 pm at Delridge Library (5423 Delridge Way SW), with a call for volunteers – people to help at a community event, talk with their neighbors, and otherwise help as the DG team works toward its future storefront. They’re also putting out a call for donated items to sell at their benefit sale on West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, which is three weeks from tomorrow. You can arrange for pickup or dropoff by contacting them at delridgegrocery@gmail.com (and/or, go to Monday’s meeting and connect with DG leadership there).
This is NOT affecting traffic now, but might later when it’s time for repairs – a car hit a streetlight pole (above left) on southbound Delridge Way SW across from the Boren/K-5 STEM parking lot, and veered off the road, onto the slope leading down toward Longfellow Creek:
City Light‘s been notified – one of its employees actually called in the crash – we’ll check on the repair timetable later; here’s the pole’s damaged base:
Police hadn’t yet sorted out why the driver – who was not seriously hurt – hit the pole and went off the road.
(Photos courtesy Seattle Parks and Recreation)
Followup today on the huge copper-wire theft that has put Delridge Playfield out of commission for many events until further notice, as reported here last night. Today, Parks says its electricians estimate the repairs will cost up to $20,000 and take up to two weeks. They were at the parks today, as were police, trying to find out more about the theft of 1,200 feet of wire. An update from Parks today explains how it happened:
The copper wiring was accessed from the junction boxes under light poles around the perimeter of the field. After cutting the wires between each junction box, thieves brought in a vehicle (likely a truck), hooked up the wire to the vehicle and pulled out the wiring. Parks staff believe the theft was conceived and executed over several nights, as it appears other junction boxes with wire still inside were prepared for theft.
Parks’ update quotes acting superintendent Christopher Williams as saying, “This is a significant theft … and we want to catch the person or people who did it because this creates a needless expense for taxpayers and an unnecessary loss of playing time for park users. … We are asking anyone who is a neighbor to a Seattle Parks and Recreation ballfield to help us keep eyes on our parks. We need neighbors’ help to deter criminal activity.” Call Seattle Police if you have any information about the theft – or any time you spot suspicious activity. Parks also says you can report suspicious behavior to the Park Rangers’ office at 206-255-8325.
(One more reminder about crime concerns/trends in general – the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets at 7 tonight, Southwest Precinct meeting room, SW Webster just west of Delridge Way SW.)
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