West Seattle, Washington
01 Tuesday
Got stuff to recycle and/or shred? Another big opportunity is just days away – the West Seattle Junction Association sends the reminder of Saturday’s event in the parking lot off 42nd south of SW Oregon. From WSJA executive director Lora Radford:
Reuse and Recycle in the Junction this Saturday from 9 AM to 1 PM. We’ll have two shredding trucks this year, supported by Windermere. Plus we’ll have the usual array of recyclers ready to take items from Styrofoam to the usual array of electronics.
We’ll offer drive up and walk-up areas on the 42nd Ave parking lot. We are giving a reminder, the items for the Goodwill should be in good working order and be ready for resale.
In other words – if something’s in really bad shape and not recyclable, this isn’t the place to dump it. This is all FREE to thanks to the sponsors and partners, listed on the webpage where you’ll find more about what they will and won’t take.
Story and photos by Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Ongoing efforts to clean up contamination in and along the Duwamish River took center stage Tuesday night at a community open house featuring several groups and agencies involved with the various multi-year projects.
The event, which we previewed here, was held at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) on the Georgetown campus, and featured representatives from the Washington Department of Ecology (including Tamara Cardona-Marek, pictured above welcoming attendees), the Environmental Protection Agency and the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition.
The open house focused on six Lower Duwamish cleanup sites (pictured on the map below), three of which are now in the “open comment” period for public input (one of those periods ends Friday noon):
Wondering how the current cleanups in/near the Duwamish River are going? Your next opportunity to talk wih groups and agencies is at a Community Open House event on Tuesday at the Georgetown campus of South Seattle College (6737 Corson Ave. S.), 5:30-7:30 pm. Here’s the announcement:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology, together with the Community Advisory Group, the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition (DRCC/TAG), will hold a Community Open House for the public to learn about the current work that Ecology and EPA are doing to clean up contamination in and adjacent to the Lower Duwamish Waterway. You will learn also about the upcoming public comment periods and how to participate.
The open house will feature information on the following sites:
Boeing Developmental Center
Boeing Plant 2
Snopac Property
8801 E Marginal WayIt will also feature information on the overall sediment cleanup (led by EPA) and Source Control (led by Ecology).
The meeting will be open-house format in which you can talk with members from Ecology and EPA working on individual sites.
Families are welcome; Spanish, Vietnamese, and Khmer interpretation will be available.
We’re at the “big bridge” on Fauntleroy Creek – walk in through Fauntleroy Park, off Barton (here’s a map) – where Fauntleroy Watershed Council volunteers welcome you until 3 pm. It’s the coda to another busy Salmon in the Schools release season, and a chance for a hands-on moment – and/or close-up look at – one of the city’s few salmon-supporting creeks. Volunteer Dennis Hinton tells us they brought 102 fry, so plenty for all – beautiful day in the park!
Shredding events are always popular, so we do our best to share the announcements as soon as we get them. Just got word that John L. Scott Westwood (WSB sponsor) is presenting free shredding one week from tomorrow – Saturday, June 15th, 10 am-noon in the northwest parking lot at Westwood Village (2600 SW Barton). Bring a nonperishable food donation for the White Center Food Bank. See the event flyer here.
As first reported four weeks ago, the city has proposed a West Seattle site for a public fast-charging station for electric vehicles, on 39th SW south of SW Oregon, alongside West Seattle Bowl. The survey linked in our original story is open through tomorrow and Seattle City Light‘s Julie Moore suggested we remind you in case you hadn’t responded yet. Our May 3rd report has all the backstory, including this SCL one-sheet. Ready to answer the survey? Find it here.
P.S. We never got around to an earlier planned followup with Moore’s answers to questions that came up in the comment discussion following the original story – so here they are:
Head-in or back-in parking: Seattle City Light would be seeking head-in parking for these stalls as many EVs have charge ports in the front of the vehicle.
Charging costs and installation costs: The rate for charging an EV at City Light chargers, $0.43 per kilowatt hour (kWh), is designed to recover the investment.
ADA accessibility: These comments are valuable feedback for consideration of this proposal. At the same time, as one commenter noted, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is looking to install ADA parking spots along this block of 39th Avenue Southwest. More information about those efforts can be found here.
(WSB photo from June 2018 recycle/reuse/shred event)
If you missed one or both of the recent West Seattle shredding and recycling events – good news – the West Seattle Junction Association is presenting a recycle/reuse event, with shredding, on June 29th! Like the one last year, it’ll be in the Junction parking lot off 42nd SW south of SW Oregon. Just show up between 9 am and 1 pm – after consulting the list of what will and won’t be accepted.
(Photo by Kersti Muul)
Two reports of reddish-orange water in Puget Sound along West Seattle shores mean it’s time for the annual reminder of what this is: An algae bloom, usually Noctiluca. Though it’s nontoxic, and it’s not a new phenomenon, it’s not benign, as the state Department of Ecology noted in this post last year – “An increase in the abundance of Noctiluca is an indication of an unbalanced system, and while the plankton is not toxic itself, their presence creates a cascade of effects in the marine food web.” Excess nutrients are a big part of the imbalance; here’s more on that.
(WSB photo, 4/28/2019)
Another spring tradition for unburdening yourself of unwanted-but-reusable items: Fauntleroy Church‘s Recycle Roundup. The most recent one happened two weeks ago; Judy Pickens reports today that participants were part of a record:
The spring recycle roundup at Fauntleroy Church is always a busy one as people clean house or prepare to move. The April 28 roundup at Fauntleroy Church proved to be especially so as a record 540 vehicles came through to leave the crew from 1 Green Planet the biggest haul of recyclables yet with – 16.54 tons. Total weight going back to the resource stream since the roundups began in 2010 is 248.7 tons. The fall roundup is set for Sunday, Sept. 22.
The photo is from Mark, who asked us Thursday about the “contaminated water” signage that he spotted along Longfellow Creek at the SW Yancy footbridge near the West Seattle Athletic Club. Researching it today, we first checked with Seattle-King County Public Health, whose logo was on the signage. They said it was related to “a small sewage spill (about 100 gallons) at the West Seattle Golf Course. Our understanding is that the spill had gone into a catch basin and some likely spilled into Longfellow Creek,” and that Seattle Public Utilities had put up the signage. SPU told us, “Approximately 100 gallons were released on Wednesday evening, but it was determined that most of the spill was absorbed into the soil,” so the signage on the creek was removed.
As we showed you earlier this week, it’s salmon-release season at Fauntleroy Creek – part of the annual lifecycle since community advocacy led to work that brought the creek back to life. Part of it remains underground, carried in culverts, and some sections need to be replaced, so Seattle Public Utilities is in the early stages of figuring out how. Back in March, SPU offered opportunities to offer early-stage comments. If you missed those, it’s not too late to comment – SPU reopened its online survey seeking your opinion. As the (short) survey explains:
Design options present tradeoffs. This includes the opportunity to enhance creek habitat with open channel sections. However, these features require retaining walls and potential realignment that can have greater short-term construction impacts, as well as require long-term changes to existing site conditions.
So they’re asking about your priorities – when you can spare a moment or two to comment, go here. (Background info from the March open house is here.)
From the “early alert” file – King County sent this alert. Not even at the meeting stage yet, but in case you like to be in the loop as early as possible:
King County Wastewater Treatment Division is in the planning stages of a project that could result in some construction along Beach Drive in about two years – 2021.
The goal of the project is to improve standby power for the Alki CSO Treatment Plant located at 3380 Beach Dr SW and the 63rd Ave Pump Station, located at 3535 Beach Drive SW. The Alki CSO Treatment Plant operates during heavy rainfall and the 63rd Ave Pump Station is designed to send wastewater flows to Alki. Having a reliable source of standby power will reduce the number of overflows of stormwater combined with wastewater from the pump station. We are still developing alternatives for the power source.
If you would like to stay informed as the project develops, please send your email address to caryn.sengupta@kingcounty.gov.
If you can’t quite place it – the CSO plant is the big facility right across from Constellation Park, south of Alki Point. The county operates four facilities of this type.
ADDED 2:30 PM: We also note that there are some early-stage filings about this in the city system – you can follow the project here. We have substituted the early-stage site plan atop this story, replacing the county file photo with which this was originally published.
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
Every spring, salmon fry like these are released into Fauntleroy Creek with the hopes of students, educators, and volunteers swimming right along next to them. Today, these were the first school-raised fry of the year to be set free. And the occasion brought another first:
Fifth-graders from Louisa Boren STEM K-8 are the first at their school to participate in the Salmon in the Schools program. They arrived by bus at Fauntleroy Park in the midmorning sun and headed to the creek:
Watershed steward Judy Pickens tells us that lead teacher Christina Massimino and students at Boren have “jumped in” wholeheartedly with a lot of environmental learning tied to coho-raising in the four months since eggs were delivered.
Another 19 releases are planned in the next month. Judy adds, “Volunteers Dennis Hinton, Pete Draughon, and Shannon Ninburg will be in the woods again this year, dipping fish, looking out for safety, and coordinating habitat exploration.”
After the fry are freed, it’s off to Judy’s end of the creek, closer to the overlook across from the Fauntleroy ferry dock, for Q&A and lunch. The annual cycle at Fauntleroy Creek also includes the fall watch for spawners; last year, volunteers counted 18, the most in four years.
P.S. In case you haven’t already seen it, Fauntleroy Creek – and Dennis and Judy – got a TV showcase this week.
Thanks to Scott at Seattle Dive Tours for the report and photos:
On Saturday, April 27th, Seattle Dive Tours coordinated an underwater clean up at Seacrest Park. 10 divers committed their time to clean up debris found underwater and were able to remove around 100 pounds of debris from our ocean.
West Seattle-based and West Seattle-owned Seattle Dive Tours coordinated the event to help clean up their primary dive site. They used Project Aware’s Dive Against Debris program to provide education and a PADI dive specialty certification that included a short presentation from an environmental scientist. After collection, all the debris was weighed, sorted and cataloged by a volunteer from the University of Washington’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs.
Project Aware’s Dive Against Debris program collects data from divers and dive businesses around the world to assist in aggregating data of marine debris to better understand this issue confronting our world.
The most interesting item found was a tennis racket while the heaviest item was a car tire. As always, there is always a plethora of plastic spoons found. Previously, Seattle Dive Tours owner Scott Flaherty recovered a McDonald’s coffee stir spoon that hasn’t been produced since the early 1990s. This is just another reminder that plastics do not break down. Sadly, the vast majority of the debris is always found closer to water taxi at the buoy line.
Looks like West Seattle will again be tons lighter after the twice-annual Recycle Roundup, with 1 Green Planet crews on site right now at Fauntleroy Church. The second hour is wrapping up; we stopped by in the first hour and found a steady stream of recyclers:
No charge for dropoffs – check check this list before you go. And be aware the crew has the discretion to refuse items; we haven’t heard of that happening much over the years but one commenter this morning says their plastic-and-fabric office chair was not accepted.
Another caveat – while this continues until 3, please don’t wait until the last minute! The volunteer organizers/coordinators will appreciate that. Fauntleroy Church is at 9140 California SW; here’s a map.
The photos and report are from Toni Wells:
16 neighbors of all ages came out this morning to participate in our Pigeon Point neighborhood spring clean. We picked up a mountain of garbage and cleared a lot of invasive plants. Please visit the bicycle park at the north end of 22nd to enjoy our labors.
P.S. If you’re thinking about a neighborhood spring clean – here’s how to get some city support.
Two quick reminders about opportunities this weekend to get rid of what you don’t need:
DRUG TAKE-BACK DAY: 10 am-2 pm Saturday, take unneeded/unwanted/expired medication to the Southwest Precinct (2300 SW Webster) and drop it off. No questions asked. We asked SPD if there were any restrictions on what type they’re accepting – the reply is, no.
RECYCLE ROUNDUP: This also is a twice-yearly event. 9 am-3 pm Sunday at Fauntleroy Church (9140 California SW), bring your recyclables – as long as they’re on this list – and drop them off, free. Organizers request that you come as early in that window as you can to avoid an end-of-day backup.
(WSB photos)
What was a dingy concrete wall at Lafayette Elementary School is now alive with color.
Muralist Lina Cholewinski, (added) for Urban ArtWorks, led what she refers to as a team of 400 artists in its creation. We stopped by on Wednesday as finishing touches were applied.
She sketched out designs on the wall, and the kids then painted them in on Earth Day. Principal Cindy Chaput said the school had been looking for an Earth Day project and it all came together with the help of the Lafayette PTA.
Parents were part of the team – some were there during our visit, doing touchup and finishing work with the artist herself.
Something cool happening at YOUR school? Let us know – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
(Photo from kingcounty.gov)
A belated Earth Day note from King County today: Its annual Green Globe Awards were presented on Monday, and the winners included Young’s Restaurant in South Delridge, “the first restaurant to participate in the RainWise program, which offers rebates to property owners who install green stormwater infrastructure.” The county announcement continues:
Supported by ECOSS and its language and multicultural environmental outreach expertise, Young’s installed three stormwater cisterns that will keep more than 11,000 gallons of runoff out of the combined sewer system each year. The King County – Seattle Public Utilities RainWise partnership recently established a “big roof” initiative expanding its work beyond residential structures to capture and divert stormwater from larger buildings.
You can see the Young’s cisterns here. Meantime, King County’s full list of winners – also including South Park’s Paulina Lopez, of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition – is here.
(November 2018 photo by Trileigh Tucker – resident orcas being observed by licensed researchers)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Many point out that Earth Day isn’t really about saving the planet – it’s about saving those who live on it, ourselves included.
Some are in more imminent danger than others. In particular, the Southern Resident Killer Whales, whose plight was the focus of this month’s Orca Talk, presented by The Whale Trail.
Their population remains at 75, only four above their historic low of 71. “If they go below 71, no one can say whether they’ll come back.”
That was the somber reminder from both TWT founder/executive director Donna Sandstrom and the Thursday night event’s featured guest, retired marine-mammal expert Dr. Tim Ragen. He opened with toplines on his background, including working on the Marine Mammal Commission in D.C. 2000-2013. More recently – in “retirement” – he’s spent time focusing on other species in danger,from Hawaiian monk seals to Florida manatees.
Addressing the status of the SRKWs, Dr. Ragen explained that the number 75 doesn’t tell the whole story.
Thanks to Noirin Lynch of Brownie Girl Scout Troop 41169 for sharing the report and photos of their Earth Day project:
Our Brownie GS troop has been learning all about our watershed and the issues we face in terms of stormwater pollution over the past several months.
Their interest began in the fall with a field trip to see Chum salmon spawn, where they learned about salmon’s need for clean, cool water and the link between declining salmon and declining orca populations from the Mountaineers.
They were then lucky to have local West Seattle fish biologist and stormwater expert Jen McIntyre come teach them about green infrastructure and bio retention methods to help keep toxic stormwater out of our streams and sound. They conducted their own experiments to see what materials work best to naturally filter stormwater.
After all this learning they decided to help the area around their meeting place, Alki Elementary. We met yesterday to help clean the streets and label storm drains in an effort to raise public awareness.
We had a lot of people stop to ask what we were doing and even had a resident come out of their house to thank us and ask how he could join the effort.
By the way, you can get a drain-stenciling kit from the city – here’s how.
Don’t toss it – recycle it!
Twice a year, Fauntleroy Church invites you to bring no-longer-wanted/neeed items to its parking lot (9140 California SW) 9 am-3 pm, and next Sunday (April 28th) sis the day you can drive/ride/walk up to drop recyclables off for free. 1 Green Planet will be there, and the newest list of what they’re accepting this time is here.
Environmental Slam, held last night at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in North Delridge. Above is the Madison Middle School team that won the People’s Choice Award for their presentation “Save the Buzz”; below, Avery Berg from Explorer West Middle School (WSB sponsor), whose presentation was titled “More Bees, Please.”
Other local students who participated included, also from Explorer West, Cece Pyfer and Faye Turcotte on “Wolves on the West Coast”:
MC was former County Executive (among other distinguished roles) Ron Sims, below with Isabel Moorhead from Westside School (WSB sponsor), who presented “Stay Wild, Stay Free”:
Sims urged the young advocates to nurture their passion as well as their faith in science, telling them that the use of the scientific method, of scientific inquiry, is a key factor in what has made our nation so great. He congratulated them all and noted that even though he’s the owner of a few bee hives, he learned more about bees at the Environmental Slam than in the entire time he’s had those hives. Award recipients included the “Save the Buzz” team (Tim Deppe, Ethan Murray, Lila Kellison-Miller, Lauren Anderson) for the People’s Choice Award and two judges’ awards, the “Wolves” team plus Juniper Copland from The Northwest School, for her presentation “With Love, Water”:
With Juniper above is Explorer West teacher Tim Owens, who coordinates the Environmental Slam, which is presented by the Washington Foundation for the Environment. Prizes go to the causes for which participants advocate.
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