West Seattle, Washington
30 Tuesday
(Photo added 1:37 pm as railing work continues)
Shortly after we published our report on last night’s Roxhill Park Skatespot meeting, Jay, asked in the comment section why Delridge Skatepark‘s “egg bowl” is currently “fenced off.” Our followup question to Seattle Parks‘ Kelly Davidson brought this reply: “Parks is having a two-level rail put around 50% of the egg bowl since safety issues were raised about toddlers from the wading pool wandering over, or pedestrians cutting the corner at night. There was concern either would fall into the deep end.” (From covering project meetings, we recall that the wading-pool concern had surfaced previously, more than once.) Davidson says the fence will be up “until tomorrow so the posts can cure.”
(Photo courtesy Holli Margell)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Three and a half months after first word of a proposed apartment project meant to house 75 homeless people living with mental illness and possibly substance abuse, questions and concerns still abound in Delridge.
That was the bottom line of last night’s first Delridge Community Forum, launching a new volunteer-organized series of mediated conversations on major topics of local interest. The DCF organizing group spun off from the North Delridge Neighborhood Council, after a June community meeting about the Downtown Emergency Service Center‘s proposal left a lot of dissatisfaction, particularly the fact it was in a tiny venue that led to a lot of turnaway.
For last night’s forum, which brought an estimated 150 people to the theater at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, organizers went to extensive lengths to try to ensure the event would not lean too heavily toward either the pro or con direction, and that it would not dissolve into an angry brouhaha. The only real flash of the latter potential happened when the meeting was already running overtime – and resulted in a quick adjournment.
Ahead – the key points of information and concern, including video of the presentations that preceded the Q/A:Read More
From Monday night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting at Delridge Library:
(NDNC hearing from SDOT consultant Josh Stepherson; photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
Major discussion points included a look ahead to tonight’s first Delridge Community Forum, about the DESC homeless-housing proposal, was a major item, as were the potential North Delridge traffic effects of the Fauntleroy Expressway Seismic Retrofit Project bridge/road work.
THE FORUM: DCF is a spinoff from NDNC, putting together a series of mediated community forums with the help of a city grant. Patrick Baer briefed the meeting on plans for tonight’s discussion (6:30 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center), the first real chance for a big-group discussion about the 75-apartment projects that first came to light last June, including a meeting from which people had to be turned away. He has drawn a big-name guest list.
*Child care has been secured for the meeting. The room at Youngstown (4408 Delridge Way SW) has room for 300 (and there’s a room next door as backup for overflow); volunteers delivered 1,300 flyers around the area, in Spanish/English/Vietnamese, to get the word out. The format will be “world café,” including small-group discussions that report back to the full gathering. After conversations, there will be an opportunity for anyone interested in further action to convene and talk about it, but that will not be led by those who are leading the meeting. (More info at delridgeforum.blogspot.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/delridgeforum.) The next forum is already being planned; anyone interested in helping is invited to a get-together at 6:15 pm October 24 at Delridge Library.
Ahead, the city consultant who’s been briefing community groups on the bridge-retrofit project, and other traffic/transportation issues, plus prospective Delridge Community Center cuts, and an announcement with NDNC elections ahead:Read More
Delridge Library is usually open Saturdays, but not today. Librarian Cheresse Thoeny explains: “We had a broken water pipe that caused us some problems. Our maintenance team decided it wouldn’t be good to open the branch without any running water. They are confident that everything should be fixed by 1 pm Monday.”
New details today for the first major community forum to be organized to talk about Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC)’s proposed Delridge project to house 75 homeless people living with mental illness. We’ve reported previously that a group spun off from the North Delridge Neighborhood Council has planned the event for October 11th – one week from tomorrow – at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center; the time is now set (6:30 pm) as are other details of the format and invited participants. Read on for the official announcement:Read More
Thanks to Cluny and Debbie for e-mailing to report a power outage caused by a fallen tree. Seattle City Light‘s status map says it’s affecting at least 27 customers (homes/businesses), in stretches both west and east of the Delridge/Orchard intersection, where Debbie says the signal’s out as a result, and to the south. City Light lists the estimated time of power restoration as 11 am. (Though the wind’s relatively calm at the moment, we have multiple reports of blustery conditions in the 4 am hour, when the tree came down, so this may be the first effect of the storm systems that brought the alert noted here last night.)
9:24 AM UPDATE: Just back from checking it out – adding photos. The entire 4-way intersection of Delridge/Orchard is marked with signs since the signal is out; Orchard/Dumar is closed east of Delridge, since that’s where the City Light crews are working.
The National Weather Service says more blusteriness is on the way.
11:18 AM UPDATE: The City Light map shows two more small outages – one that had been mentioned in comments on our earlier weather report, in the Admiral area, cause “unknown,” and the other further south on Delridge, at Kenyon, listed as “bird/animal”-related.
11:53 AM UPDATE: Just checked the Delridge/Orchard intersection – the traffic signal’s working again, but the road east of Delridge is still closed. Commenter from Admiral says that outage is over too.
EVENING NOTE: The road to the east is fully open again, too.
(Photo by Holli Margell)
At this past week’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting, there were rave reviews for, and a glowing recap of, last Saturday’s biggest event – the concurrent Delridge Day festival and Delridge Skatepark grand opening. While Seattle Parks oversaw skatepark specifics, Delridge Day was organized for the first time by the North Delridge Neighborhood Council. And they have some acknowledgments to share this morning too:
The Delridge Day Committee is grateful to share the success of last Saturday.
Despite the weather and a few guests not able to show up (fire truck, Mounted Police), an estimated 1500 – 2000 people attended the event (double previous years). The day would not have been possible without our team of over 25 volunteers! THANK YOU!
(Photo by Ellen Cedergreen for WSB)
We also wish to thank to Seattle Parks for working together with us for a seamless event.(Amanda Leonard and Nancy Folsom; this photo & next photo by Patrick Sand for WSB)
The total funds raised for the community: We were able to raise enough from vendors and sponsorships to donate $410 to the DNDA, $600 to ARC for program Scholarships at the Delridge Community Center.(Francesca Annis)
The Bake sale raised an additional $449.66 for ARC, providing a total of $1,049.66 toward scholarships! Thanks to all who donated sweets and those who bought them.We’re already looking forward to next year’s Delridge Day. Our ideas include: skateboard competition, more games, more food, better weather! Want to get involved? We’re looking for 2 folks to join the planning committee, and others interested in leading additional ideas like music and a skate competition. The timeline is for early September 2012. If you’d like to put your name down this far in advance, please email Amanda Leonard, this year’s Delridge Day Lead Coordinator, amanda.leonard.wa@gmail.com.
Second of four expected reports from last night’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting: The group heard from the acting executive director of Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, who declared that rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated.
It’s no secret that DNDA has had money struggles; the organization sent out a fundraising plea last December (here’s our story, including an explanation of what DNDA does). Since then, it’s cut staff and vacated its Brandon Court offices, consolidating into space at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. Acting executive director Patty Grossman came to DNDC to provide a general update, starting with, “DNDA is not dead, and Youngstown is not closing its doors,” in response to rumors apparently in circulation. However, that’s not to say everything is rosy.
First of at least three reports we’ll be publishing about tonight’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting:
The acronym CSO – combined-sewer overflow – has loomed large over some western West Seattle neighborhoods in the past couple years, and tonight we learned that the state mandate to reduce CSOs will affect eastern West Seattle too, since the existing storage systems for the overflows “just aren’t enough.”
It wasn’t just celebration at Saturday’s Delridge Day festival, presented by the North Delridge Neighborhood Council – it was also about information, including one of the hottest current topics in the neighborhood, 
Downtown Emergency Service Center‘s proposal for 75 apartments in the 5400 block of Delridge Way SW to house homeless people living with mental illness (and in some cases, sustance abuse). One week earlier, we reported on Delridge neighborhood advocates’ tour of two DESC facilities in Columbia City and Cascade, and mentioned their plan for a town-hall-style forum. The date has now been announced: Tuesday, October 11th (evening, time TBA), at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. NDNC distributed flyers on Saturday in multiple languages. They also have launched a website with info about the forum; see it here.
(Updated 8:10 pm with video clips from the skatepark dedication ceremony)
(Photos by Ellen Cedergreen for WSB)
At the Delridge Day/Delridge Skatepark grand-opening celebration dual festivities till 3 pm, fun is in the bag (sack) – or, in the bowl!
The official dedication is coming up at 1 pm, followed by pro skaters’ demonstrations, but skating’s been under way since this morning, including lessons provided by Skate Like A Girl. Delridge Day vendors include Delridge Produce Cooperative:
And of course there’s the big fundraising bake sale we’ve been mentioning, too. The festival was organized for the first time by the North Delridge Neighborhood Council.
More photos later!
ADDED 8:10 PM: First, the video! The Delridge Skatepark ribboncutting (followed by skaters launching themselves immediately afterward):
And the speakers:
And pro skater Sky Siljeg:
We also wanted to say thanks to Karen Berge and Deb Greer from the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains Network and West Seattle Be Prepared, who posed with Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen:
They loaned us tent space at Delridge Day when things got a bit soggy.
Tomorrow’s Delridge Day and Delridge Skatepark Grand Opening festivities are free – but if you can, be ready to spend some $ on what promises to be one heck of a pro/am bake sale as part of the festival. Among the rookie bakers – the children of Great Start Preschool, whom we photographed this morning as they helped make cookies to contribute to the sale. (Above, that’s Spencer watching Matthew as they do prep work; below, parent volunteer Susan supervises.)
Organizer Francesca Ennis says they’ll take cash, checks made out to the City of Seattle, and credit cards. Here’s a partial list of the specific treats they expect to have available:
• Bakery Nouveau: classic chocolate cake
• Sugar Rush Baking Co: cupcakes
• Eats Market Cafe: cornbread
• Zatz a Better Bagel: assorted bagels
• C&P Coffee Co: coffeeThe youth programs:
• Great Start Preschool: snickerdoodles
• School Age Care Program: Rice Krispie Treats (includes Froot Loops & Cocoa Krispies)
• Teen Program: Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
Other donors include The Original Bakery, Great Harvest, Manderin Cookie Company, Starbucks, Safeway, Metropolitan Market, QFC and PCC. Francesca adds, “If someone is interested in a specific item (such as the chocolate cake) they can contact me to make arrangements ahead of the bake sale.” She can be reached at at keekai@comcast.net. Proceeds of the bake sale are going to youth-scholarship funds.
Again, Delridge Day – organized by the North Delridge Neighborhood Council this year! – is 11 am-3 pm, at and around Delridge Community Center (on Delridge Way SW just south of SW Genesee), and there’s entertainment, vendors, games, all sorts of fun on tap.
It’s been years in the making … and is now just a day away from opening. A drive by Delridge Skatepark very early this morning revealed that the fences are down (except for a section on the south side). We got a quick tour the other day, as crews continued to put finishing touches on areas including the viewing zone to the east (above, with art by youth from the Service Board) and rolled out the sod, getting ready for the 11 am-3 pm grand-opening celebration on Saturday (concurrent with the Delridge Day festival). Click ahead for not just a closer look before the skaters permanently move in, but also, if you don’t skate, a bit of a primer as to what you’re looking at:Read More
As this week’s big announcement reminded us all – use your city-run community centers, or risk losing ’em. You’ve already heard about this weekend’s biggest community-center events in West Seattle (Delridge Day and Hiawatha’s Centennial) – but there’s more:
DELRIDGE DANCING: Every month, there’s a ballroom-dancing event at Delridge Community Center, and we just got the announcement that it’s coming up again this Friday afternoon, 1:30-3:30 pm. Billy writes, “As always, you will enjoy and dance to the beautiful music of Lauren Petrie. And get a chance to win a surprise prize.”
(March 2011 photo from PhinneyWood.com, used with permission)
REPTILE MAN AT HIGH POINT: Saturday morning at 10:30 am, High Point Community Center plays host to the famed Reptile Man. If you buy tickets at HPCC ahead of time, it’s $3/person; on Saturday, $5/person ($15 max per family) at the door.
Developers of the revived/resold 26th/Dakota project came to last night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting at Dragonfly Pavilion with a few big updates.
(From left, NDNC’s Kirsten Smith, Michael Taylor-Judd, Diane Vincent, developer Maria Barrientos, NDNC’s Amanda Leonard)
Maria Barrientos from Barrientos LLC said construction would start on the project (whose revival was first reported here a month ago) in a matter of days. (Also present was a rep from primary developer Legacy Partners, but Barrientos led the discussion.) And she revealed the 190-apartment building (designed years ago as condos, but then the market changed) now has a name: Cooper at Youngstown. (It’s close to the historic Cooper School, which in turn is now home to Youngstown Cultural Arts Center.) This morning, as we were writing this story, a news release announcing the impending construction arrived. Read on for more of what Barrientos had to say last night, plus that news release:Read More
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Downtown Emergency Service Center‘s proposal for a 75-unit Delridge building to house mentally ill homeless people is still in an early stage, though three months have elapsed since it first came to light.
It’s not a case of “out of sight, out of mind.” Far from it. Delridge neighborhood advocates are planning a town-hall-style meeting for next month, with more discussion of and information about the 5444 Delridge Way project, and this past weekend, a small group toured DESC’s two newest buildings to try to get more of a feeling for what might be headed their way.
They have Department of Neighborhoods assistance in trying to bring the community more information about the proposed project, as part of a small matching-funds grant, and so district coordinators Yun Pitre and Steve Louie were along for the tour, in a city van that set out for a three-hour tour that turned into four on Saturday.
One week till the Delridge Day festival and skatepark opening (11 am-3 pm Sept. 17th) – two notes today:
ADOPT-A-STREET CLEANUP: We caught up with the North Delridge Neighborhood Council Adopt-A-Street volunteers as they were getting ready for one last pre-Delridge Day cleanup this morning; if you noticed any yellow bags in the area, that’ s their handiwork!
BAKE SALE NEEDS GOODIES: Delridge Community Center Advisory Board member Francesca Annis sends word that the community bake sale that’ll be part of next Saturday’s festival needs community donations! Can you donate something – homemade or store-bought? It’ll help raise money for a youth-scholarship fund. Francesca says that whatever you can donate, you’ll be in good company:
Great Start Preschool, School Age Care and the Teen Program housed within the center are all making items to contribute. NDNC, Bakery Nouveau, Zatz a Better Bagel, C&P Coffee Co., The Original Bakery, Great Harvest Baking Co., Sugar Rush Baking Co./Coffee to a Tea, Manderin Cookie Co., Starbucks, Safeway, Metropolitan Market, QFC and PCC have also committed to our efforts and we hope to receive word from other West Seattle bakeries and grocery stores.
Please join us by donating your favorite home-made or store-bought goods. We will also accept non traditional bake sale items such as individual size fruit snacks, chips/crackers or candy. If possible, please wrap your home-made items individually. You may drop off your contribution at Delridge Community Center, located at 4501 Delridge Way SW. We will also accept monetary donations in lieu of baked items. For more information please contact Francesca Annis via e-mail at keekai@comcast.net. You may also call the center at 206-684-7423 and ask for Ryan Spencer or Alice Greer.
(Photo from Delridge Day 2010, courtesy North Delridge Neighborhood Council)
One week from tomorrow, the biggest party on the peninsula will be at Delridge Day, 11 am-3 pm on Saturday, September 17th – not just the North Delridge Neighborhood Council-presented festival, but also the grand opening of Delridge Skatepark. Several updates:
FESTIVAL VENDOR DEADLINE TODAY: There’s still room for vendors at Delridge Day, but the sign-up deadline is TODAY. Please e-mail NDNC’s Amanda Leonard at amanda.leonard.wa@gmail.com so they can save a spot, and turn in paperwork with payment when you arrive for Delridge Day (or mail it sooner). To get the form, scroll down the Delridge Day page at the NDNC website till you see “Would You Like To Join Us?” on the lower right.
HELP CLEAN UP DELRIDGE TOMORROW: Saturday’s Adopt-A-Street cleanup is the last major spruce-up opportunity before the festival a week later. NDNC would love to have your help, according to NDNC outreach chair Holli Margell, who says, “This is the fall Adopt-a-Street and final push to pretty things up for Delridge Day the following weekend. Come on out for a couple hours of picking up trash along Delridge Way, the Park, and Playfields. We will provide bags, pickers and gloves. Meet up at the Delridge Community Center parking lot, 10 am, plan on working as long as you like (or about 2 hours).”
UPDATE AT NDNC MONDAY MEETING: A final pre-festival update is part of the agenda just announced for Monday night’s NDNC meeting, 6:30 pm, Dragonfly Pavilion at 28th/Dakota (if the weather somehow turns bad, Delridge Library at Delridge/Brandon instead).
SKATEPARK CELEBRATION SCHEDULE: The Parks Department is out with more details about that part of the party. The ribboncutting is at 1 pm, but the festivities start with the Skate Like A Girl YES Program offering skateboarding lessons at 11 am. Professional skaters will be there with demos, and live music’s on the schedule too. Here’s the official flyer; here’s the official news release.
MORE DELRIDGE DAY DETAILS: NDNC sends “a huge Thank You to Nucor, All Star Fitness, Highline Urgent Care, and Alki Bike and Board for being event sponsors. Thanks to Legacy Partners, BE&T and Grindline, the event will have games with prizes starting at 1 2pm. Alki Bike and Board will be providing awesome giveaways too! All vendors who participate are also supporting the event and a portion of all fees are going to a scholarship fund for classes at the Delridge Community Center (look for more ways to give back at a Bake Sale booth with your sweet tooth).”
To get first word on the last-minute details, “like” the Delridge Day Facebook page.
Inside that portable structure – more commonly used as a temporary office – is what you might call a mini-mini-market. Maybe a micro-market. It’s in a parking lot at Westhaven Apartments 24th/Holden). Tomorrow afternoon, it’s expected to open as the first of what the startup Stockbox Grocers hopes will be many such small stores (as they explained at last month’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting). Inside, the Stockbox team is busy getting it stocked – we dropped in late yesterday:
Yes, that’s packaged food behind Stockbox co-founder Jacqueline Gjurgevich, but they plan to carry produce too. They’re targeting so-called “food deserts” – places where groceries (beyond convenience-store fare) are hard to come by – and the Delridge area was a natural for their first test. Future stores, they say, are more likely to be in slightly larger quarters – recycled cargo-shipping containers.
Jacqueline tells WSB that for the Westhaven pilot project, they’re still planning on the hours they mentioned to NDNC – 3-8 pm weekdays, 8 am-8 pm weekends. (They’re chronicling their launch on Facebook, by the way, and they’re continuing to raise money via Kickstarter – you can watch an explanatory video on the Stockbox page there.)
Thanks to Mike for sharing that photo of the work that’s under way by the bus stop on the northbound side of Delridge at Croft (map). It’s a multi-component project from the city’s Neighborhood Projects Fund, according to SDOT spokesperson Marybeth Turner:
SDOT paving crews are working on a neighborhood improvement project at Delridge Way and Croft Place SW. They installed a curb ramp and paved an area within a driveway. They also paved a bus pad. They will install a new traffic island (median) on one side of the intersection to assist pedestrians crossing Delridge. The crew chief expects the work to be completed sometime next week.
Routine check of the court files on several cases we’re following brings news of a plea bargain in the assault case related to a SWAT standoff that closed Delridge for several hours the morning of July 15th: 20-year-old Jory Preston was originally charged with 2 counts of domestic-violence assault, 2nd-degree and 4th-degree, for 2 July incidents involving his ex-girlfriend, including the one that led to the police search that resulted in the standoff. Online court records show that last week, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of third-degree domestic-violence assault, involving only a July 11th incident in which he admitted to “shoving and biting” the victim. The charge carries a standard sentencing range of 1 to 3 months, and documents in the case indicate that prosecutors will recommend a sentence of “credit for time served.” He has been in jail since turning himself in at the Southwest Precinct, ending the police standoff outside his home on Delridge, which turned out to instead have two other people inside who said they didn’t come out because they were scared. Programs for substance abuse and domestic-violence prevention also will be recommended. Court documents say Preston has no prior felony convictions. He is scheduled to be sentenced this Friday afternoon by King County Superior Court Judge Patrick Oishi.
An update tonight from Tasha Mosher about tomorrow’s work party at the Recovery Garden in North Delridge: She says that staff from the Downtown Emergency Service Center, including its executive director Bill Hobson, are expected to join in; Tasha says she invited DESC to participate after hearing that they wanted to get more involved with the community, since they are proposing building a 75-unit apartment building here for chronically homeless people dealing with issues including substance abuse and/or mental illness, and she says it’s a chance for community members to come chat with them one on one – while of course working in the garden: “We will be spreading mulch over the areas we didn’t cover at the last cleanup. We might also spread burlap and wood chips. And of course, we will be doing some light weeding where little tenacious plants have popped back up.” 10 am-2 pm. The garden is at 26th/Brandon (here’s a map). Tasha says gloves and tools will be provided, but if you have a last-minute question, e-mail her: t.m.mosher@hotmail.com.
Went over to Delridge Skatepark – set for dedication during Delridge Day on September 17th – after getting a tip that somebody was skating the almost-finished park. “Somebody” turned out to be crew members from Grindline, the West Seattle-based company that designed and is building the park, just trying it out. (Important to note – they’re working on the project; this remains a CONSTRUCTION SITE, **not** open to the public.) Major construction work’s been under way for a little more than four months. P.S. To keep up with what else is planned for the Delridge Day festival, in addition to the skatepark opening, you can “like” its official Facebook page.
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