Update: “Accidental electrical fire” at duplex on Delridge
Thanks to Adam and KB for e-mailing about a house fire at 4825 Delridge (map). Adam advises Delridge is blocked in the area (from Edmunds northward for about 2 blocks) because of the fire trucks. Thanks to KB for the pix (re: the first one, he says 4825 is “the house with the ladder” at left). King County property records show this is a four-plex owned by the Seattle Housing Authority. Additional info from Adam – he says the fire had “… flames reaching about 20 feet in the air. We watched from across the street. Firefighters had to use chainsaws to cut a hole in the roof to access the house while spraying water from the hydrants outside.” 2:30 AM UPDATE: Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen gives this update on the media hotline: Firefighters found lots of smoke when they got to the scene and managed to put out the fire quickly; the fire was confined to the second story. Vander Houwen says one adult and four children got out of the residence on their own; nobody was hurt, and they are now getting Red Cross assistance. Too soon to say what caused the fire and how much damage it did; firefighters are continuing to investigate. 5:04 AM NOTE: No update yet on the SFD media line; we’ll check again in a few hours. 9:23 AM UPDATE: Not yet. However, we’ve heard back from Adam, who says the number on the building was 4845, not 4825; the latter number is what was both on the 911 log and the media hotline. 4845 is a privately owned duplex. 10:15 AM UPDATE: An update from the Fire Department — the cause is listed as “accidental electrical fire,” and damage totals $90,000. It was also noted that the people in the duplex were alerted by a smoke alarm.
Alert for music fans: Celebs promised @ Youngstown fundraiser
Just got this in the Youngstown Arts Center e-mail newsletter:
As the weather finally starts to cooperate, we have many exciting events on the horizon for August. Please mark your calendars for Thursday, August 21st, at 6 PM, as we join forces with Rock School, Arts Corps, the Service Board, and Blank Canvass to host a fundraiser to support our afterschool classes here at Youngstown. We’ll have some special guests (members of Pearl Jam, Presidents of the United States, Guns and Roses, and the Dusty 45’s), as well as youth and teaching artist performances. There will also be an auction of collaborative artwork created that day, including work by Modest Mouse, and our very own staff and tenant organizations. All of the proceeds will cover the cost of space and teaching artists so that we can continue to offer our afterschool classes for free.
If you have somehow managed to not have visited Youngstown – it’s the renovated ex-school on Delridge across from the playfield/community center, and an AMAZING amount of activities happen there.
Cleaning out clutter? New West Seattle place to donate
For anyone who’s clutter-busting today, or sometime soon: Southwest Youth and Family Services (at 4555 Delridge; here’s a map) now has a Goodwill bin – and not only will your dropped-off donations help Goodwill, they’ll also help SWYFS, according to the announcement sent out this week:
Southwest Youth and Family Services is now hosting a donation bin to benefit our local Goodwill organization in exchange for vouchers to use as cash at Goodwill.
Donate your quality, reusable items to recycle at Goodwill. Your donations will be collected in the blue Goodwill donation bin located in the SWYFS’ parking lot.
Goodwill sells the donated items at their 16 regional stores. — SWYFS WILL RECEIVE VOUCHERS TO USE AT THE GOODWILL FOR EVERY NEW OR GENTLY USED ITEMS!
For more information on Goodwill and its programs, visit www.seattlegoodwill.org. Acceptable donations include clothing, linens, shoes, books, small toys and unbreakable house wares. Your donations are tax deductible.
SWYFS, by the way, also has its annual fundraising breakfast and silent auction coming up next month: Sept. 16, Salty’s on Alki, find out more here.
Delridge skatepark meeting #1: Collaboration, not controversy
If the opinions voiced tonight at the first community meeting about the Delridge skatepark-to-be hold sway, that’s the spot where you’ll see skateboarders in the next year or two – the northeast corner of the park, at Delridge and Genesee, immediately north of the parking lot and wading pool (which made news earlier today). Less than two months after the sudden Parks Department decision to place a skatepark in Delridge, rather than High Point (briefly under consideration) or Myrtle Reservoir (not so briefly, but highly controversially, under consideration), the process is moving along with high hopes and seemingly abundant goodwill. Ahead, what tonight’s meeting was for, how much the skatepark project is expected to cost, and what happens next:Read More
Bulletin: East-west pool “divide” update – Delridge to open Sundays
Three weeks ago, we told you about Delridge residents’ concern that none of eastern West Seattle’s city-run wading pools are open on Sundays, including the one in their neighborhood (shown above on a sunny Sunday earlier this month); read the original WSB article here. They had talked with the city, and we followed up with the Parks Department as well, but it seemed no reconsideration would be in order until the schedule for next year was drawn up, and the concerned wading-pool users were in the process of planning their next steps. Now – we have just received word of a breakthrough. Parks Board commissioner and Alki resident Jackie Ramels just told WSB moments ago that the city is about to announce that the Delridge wading pool WILL open on Sundays after all, for the rest of this season, five more Sundays starting this week. Delridge Neighborhood Services Coordinator Ron Angeles had also been working on this issue; a note to him from parks deputy superintendent Christopher Williams says in part, “Next year we will re-examine the wading pool operating schedule across the system in order to plan for the best overall distribution and access to wading pools in our system.” (Our original report included a map of which wading pools around the city were open on Sundays and which were not; in West Seattle, Lincoln Park and Hiawatha had been the only ones open on Sundays.)
Designer chosen for Delridge skatepark, 2 days before 1st meeting
Just out of the WSB inbox from Nancy Folsom:
Kelly Davidson, Project Manager for Seattle Parks and Recreation, just sent
me the news that Grindline (http://grindline.com/cgi-bin/view.pl) has been
selected as the DCC skate park designer.
It’s great news. I was fortunate to be on the interview board last Tuesday
along with Matt Johnston–SeattleSkateParks.Org, Susan Golub–Seattle Parks
Projects & Planning, and Kelly. All the candidates were strong, but I felt
Grindline was the strongest. The company is local to West Seattle and is
passionately committed both to the sport and to the Delridge neighborhood.
I hope the community brings their most positive ideas Wednesday night for
the first public design meeting. This development has the potential to be a
stellar community resource. As neighbor, I want this to be a fantastic
project, and it will take all of us working together.
The meeting is Wednesday from 7:30 – 9 p.m. at Delridge
Community Center, 4501 Delridge Way SW.
First update: Precinct pix from Police Appreciation Day
In the community room at the Southwest Precinct, that’s the big sign you can attach a card or note to (or just sign another one nearby) during Police Appreciation Day today — organized by the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council — continuing till 8 pm tonight. Free food, too:
A long list of West Seattle businesses and other community members donated food and beverages for the occasion, from Bakery Nouveau to Casa Feliz and beyond (we’ll publish the whole list a bit later) – it’s being rotated in and out throughout the day; we just had lunch before visiting an hour or so ago, or else we could have dined quite royally. Activities for the family, too:
That’s Kathleen Voss from Highland Park helping her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Gretchen with the kids’ art supplies that are set up on a table at the event – here’s one creation Gretchen produced already:
Kathleen says Gretchen described that as “a police car with the woo-woo lights.” It’s a relaxed atmosphere at Police Appreciation Day – you can go into the community room from either door facing the parking lot on the southwest side of the building (Delridge/Webster; here’s a map) — still not sure where you’re going? Here’s the precinct sign at that corner (look for that little handmade sign shown at the right side of the photo, with a balloon attached; there’s one at the parking lot entrance too):
Till 8 pm tonight – drop by. You never know who you’ll meet; the precinct’s Crime Prevention community liaison Benjamin Kinlow (who helps set up Block Watch groups and is currently working on Night Out – coming up 8/5; go here to register your block party!) was mingling when we were there, along with community members and the Crime Prevention Council’s staff liaison from Seattle Neighborhood Group, Jennifer Duong, plus her predecessor in that role, Lois Grammon-Simpson. We’ll be checking back later for another report.
Police Appreciation Day tomorrow; also a chance to help today
For us, one HUGE reason we appreciate the Southwest Precinct and its law-enforcement team is the fact that they have trailblazed a new path to community partnership through their working relationship and info-sharing with WSB (shown above, your editor and young assistant with a few of the officers on Summer Fest detail keeping watch after a weekend full of lost kid/parent reunions and other actions that helped keep the festival VERY safe and pleasant for all). 99% of their time, of course, it’s a vastly more dangerous task, like the bank robbery/shooting two weeks ago and this West Seattle standoff a few months back:
And the most dramatic evidence of what officers face: The case of what happened to Officer Jason McKissack. All these guys and gals are out there (and at the precinct behind-the-scenes) doing an often-thankless job, so tomorrow’s a chance to offer in-person thanks. We’ll be there for the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council-organized Police Appreciation Day tomorrow and hope you will stop by too – any time between 10 am and 8 pm (so come by after work if you don’t have time till then), at the Southwest Precinct, northwest corner of Delridge/Webster, east of Home Depot. And if you have a chance to help with preparations today, there’s a WSB Forum thread right now to rustle up more donations of snacks and drinks for the event; check that out here.
Reminder: Southwest Precinct Appreciation Day next week
Jennifer Duong, who provides staff support to the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council on behalf of Seattle Neighborhood Group, asked us to post this reminder – the event’s become even more timely since the original announcement, given the major incidents (robbery/shooting and attack, to name a few) our neighborhood law enforcers have been through lately:
Next Tuesday, July 15, Southwest Precinct neighbors are invited to drop by the precinct to show their appreciation for officers who endure long hours, bad weather and ever-present danger to patrol WS area communities. The open-house event is planned from 10 am to 8 pm, to accommodate all three shifts.
Community members are invited to drop-in at the precinct anytime from 10 am to 8 pm for food, fun, and small talk. Come by and meet the people who patrol your neighborhood and taste some great food from local cafés. Bring thank-you cards and letters of appreciation. Share your stories about a dedicated officer or anecdotes about how someone from SPD has helped you. Coloring books and stickers for kids and art supplies to make appreciation cards will also be available.
All are welcome to donate food and beverages from local restaurants, delis, grocery stores, cafés and bakeries. (Home-cooked or home-baked foods cannot be accepted). Donations will qualify as 501-(C)3 charitable contributions. If you would like to participate or volunteer, please contact Jennifer at 206-322-6134 or jennifer@sngi.org. (If you need us to pick up your food donations, contact us by Monday, July 15th). The event is sponsored by members of the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council and Seattle Neighborhood Group.
Contact:
Jennifer Duong
SNG SE/SW Program Coordinator
206-322-6134
jennifer@sngi.org
Seattle Neighborhood Group
If you’ve never been to the precinct, it’s directly east of the south side of Home Depot, at Delridge and Webster (map) – the main entrance is from a parking lot that you enter from Webster.
Another east-west West Seattle divide: Sunday wading pools
What’s missing in that picture? Kids enjoying a city wading pool on a sunny Sunday afternoon — according to people who live near that pool, which is in the park next to Delridge Community Center. It’s always closed on Sundays – as are the two other wading pools in eastern West Seattle (Hughes and Highland Park), as well as not-too-distant South Park wading pool, while the two wading pools in western West Seattle (Lincoln Park and Hiawatha) are open seven days a week. In correspondence with the concerned neighbors, as well as in a response to a WSB inquiry, the Parks Department says the wading-pool schedule is carefully considered by geography. More on that ahead – but first, we took a look at the online citywide schedule and made this map, with blue markers showing the 7-day-a-week pools/spray features and red markers showing the ones closed Sundays (most of those are closed both weekend days, with a few exceptions; Delridge is open Saturdays):
View Larger Map
The schedules aren’t new but the Sunday closures became particularly glaring for neighbors in the 90-degree heat a week ago, when the pool had a “rogue opening” as one neighbor described it, after somebody figured out how to turn on the water – and now they are trying to get the Parks Department to make a change – read on:Read More
Your chance for a closer look at the Orchard Ave. statue
Now that the 4th is past, we’ll talk more about other events coming up – the big one next weekend is West Seattle Summer Fest Friday-Sunday in The Junction, but next weekend has more to offer too, including an event at the site shown above: Along Orchard west of Delridge, across from Home Depot, by Tug Tavern, that small house with the big statue out back is inviting you to a Vietnamese Cultural Festival a week from today, including a closer look at the statue; we first found out about it after dispatching a student-journalism team to go find out more about the statue, something we’ve meant to do for a long time, as we often get questions from passersby – read on to learn about it, and about next Saturday’s event:Read More
Chief Sealth High School sign goes up at Boren
Spotted while driving Delridge, headed for the fireworks-barge photo-op (we’ll have video and info up about that before we leave for the parades) – it’s almost identical to the sign outside Chief Sealth‘s closed-for-two-years-of-renovations campus on Thistle, except it has the school’s website address in the blue stripe at the bottom.
Reader reports: Cat, birds shot with BBs/pellets
Two separate incidents – but both came to us first as reader reports (police reports have been filed too) from neighbors who want to alert you. First, Michael sent his report with this photo – we debated putting it behind a jump but it’s not particularly gory – just distressing, considering what his kitty is recovering from:
I live on 25th Ave SW one block off of Delridge between Hudson and Brandon. My cat was shot in the hindquarter with either a BB gun or pellet rifle. (see attached pictures) I just wanted to put the word out in case anyone else’s pet has suffered this class C felony and wanted to warn the neighborhood to watch out for their pets.
Not long after Michael’s report came in, we got this forwarded by Sheila in High Point, who also wanted to put it out as an alert to neighbors:
On Monday June 23 some kids were chasing a injured pigeon that was shot with a BB gun. A neighbor caught that pigeon and I called the Seattle animal shelter and it was picked up the next day. [An officer] said if we see anything, call the shelter at 206-386-7387. Nothing was done to the kids since we didn’t see who shot the pigeon.
Saturday night (28th) another neighbor was walking [in the 30th & Graham area] and found another pigeon. This one was dead and there was a small hole with blood, it had appeared to be shot. I called the animal shelter Sunday morning and told them what happened. They said since I didn’t see it happen they cannot do anything about it. Please keep a look out for kids with a BB gun and please report it to the police (911).
From two of tonight’s other events …
The jail forum (much more to come) was tonight’s biggest event but not tonight’s only event. At Youngstown Arts Center, area Democrats gathered to help West Seattle’s three state legislators kick off their re-election campaigns: left to right, it’s State Sen. Joe McDermott, State. Reps. Sharon Nelson and Eileen Cody.
And on the other end of Delridge, at Cafe Rozella, that’s Branden Born and Alon Bassok from the University of Washington, who will be there for the next few Thursday nights to chat with anyone and everyone about how the Delridge and White Center areas could be even more livable, framed in the issues central to the King County Food and Fitness Initiative. (6:30 pm next Thursday, join ’em there!)
2 playground proposals: Admiral dream; Delridge architect search
The popularity of new Ercolini Park is a reminder of just what a playground, and park, can mean to a neighborhood. Neighbors in two areas of West Seattle are working now to make similar dreams come true, and we have updates on both: The first one’s a dream for this Admiral park that you might not even recognize as a park:
Just beyond the tree in the foreground, that triangle of land at California/Hill (map), immediately southeast of Admiral Congregational UCC Church, is indeed a park, called California Place (official city page here). Manuela Slye, who also happens to be opening the new Spanish-language preschool Cometa (as mentioned here), spoke to the Admiral Neighborhood Association at its last meeting about her dream of creating a playground there. She is in the very early stages of trying to figure out what that would involve, but already has a touching presentation (as read to the ANA) with children’s art and words about what it would mean to have “a place to play” there.
Second, in North Delridge, the “tot lot” project (previous WSB coverage here) for Cottage Grove Park is now seeking an architect. They are hoping to find a landscape architect that can donate her/his services for this small playground project, but there’s a possibility their grant-seeking could include some money for fees, so they want to hear from anyone interested. Read on for a full description of the work and who to contact:Read More
West Seattle scenes, Saturday night edition
On Alki tonight, the first clear night since the big beach-fire briefing at the Parks Board meeting (WSB coverage here), things weren’t too crazy at dusk – that fire ringed by tiki torches was the biggest one on the beach; Seattle Police kept watch nearby:
Right across the street, hours earlier, a cloudy morning didn’t keep West Seattle Moms of Tots from carrying on with a bake sale to fight childhood hunger — with this sweet (in more ways than one) cake among the offerings:
Selling the treats, Amy Evans and Cynthia Tamlyn, on the north side of Aimonetto:
As reported earlier in the WSB Forums, they are more than halfway to their $750 fundraising goal after this morning’s bake sale, part of a nationwide effort; even if you missed the bake sale, you can donate online here (look for the “make a gift” link on the right side of the page). Meantime, they weren’t the only ones giving their time to a good cause this Saturday morning:
If you drove along Delridge at midday today, chances are you saw at least one yellow-bag-equipped volunteer taking part in the North Delridge Adopt-a-Street cleanup. North Delridge is one of several neighborhood/community groups that make Adopt-a-Street commitments to tidy up a certain area at least once a quarter. And finally – WSB Forum Community members, who have rallied around many a good cause, got together for a fun time late today at Beveridge Place Pub – here’s one tableful:
And of course the conversation continues, online anytime, in the Forums.
Traffic alert: Another round of Delridge work this weekend
Just in from the city Transportation Department:
SDOT paving crews will repair failed concrete panels on the west side of Delridge Way Southwest at Southwest Elmgrove Street on Saturday, June 7. (Last Saturday crews repaired pavement on the east side of the street.)
The crews plan to work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., starting with breaking out and removing the damaged concrete. One lane will remain open to traffic. Flaggers will assist drivers through the area. On-street parking will be restricted. When the new pavement has sufficiently cured, expected Saturday evening, the full street will be reopened to traffic.
Elmgrove doesn’t fully intersect with Delridge – this is the 8100 block of Delridge – here’s a map.
| Comments Off on Indoor fun this am, if needed: Grownup gaming @ Delridge Library