West Seattle, Washington
12 Thursday
What if Rudolph had the night off? That’s the theme of this tree we admired while visiting the Fauntleroy UCC Festival of Trees on its first public-display night earlier this week.
Another tree that might make you smile … the one with a Costco theme:
And then there’s the tree decked with hopes for peace, in many languages:
The festival doubles as a food drive – bring nonperishable food to donate and leave it under your favorite tree to “vote” for it. During our visit, this tree was the front-runner:
We learned that’s because it’s the entry from Alki UCC and that apparently brought a concentrated voting effort! In addition to the food drive, you can also have fun with a scavenger hunt while you’re there – check the 13 trees in the church Fellowship Hall for certain words or items. It’s open to viewing Saturday night, 6-7 pm, at 9140 California SW – right before the church’s free Christmas concert.
9:07 AM: Washington State Ferries says “unscheduled necessary vessel maintenance” has the Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route down to one boat until further notice, following the #2 schedule. The real-time map shows the boat having trouble is M/V Kitsap, which had problems last week too. Updates to come.
11:59 AM: WSF is moving M/V Suquamish from the Bainbridge-Seattle run so that two-boat service can resume on the Triangle Route.
Among the many holiday events listed in the West Seattle Holiday Guide for this weekend is a one-of-a-kind event we’re previewing for families who might have have heard about it yet – the West Seattle Toy Exchange, 9 am-noon Saturday at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse. Here’s how organizers explain it:
What is this event? A sustainable, affordable opportunity to swap out (or donate) the gently-used, no-longer- exciting toys in your home. We will also have a bake sale, coffee and cocoa by donation to support the Louisa Boren STEM K8 PTA
What to exchange: toys! Puzzles, Legos and toys are encouraged, Please do not bring books, clothing or sporting equipment
What are the rules? This event is for anyone looking to trade toys, donate toys, or whowould like to take some toys to gift to kids. You do not need to donate any toys to participate. Please, no resellers.
What happens to unclaimed toys? Any unclaimed toys at the end of the event will be donated to charity
Fauntleroy Schoolhouse is at 9131 California SW. (If you haven’t been there, transportation/parking info is on the event website.)
While walking along 38th SW in Upper Fauntleroy between SW Trenton and SW Henderson, we noticed the house used a month ago for Seattle Fire Department training is in the late stages of demolition. As reported here when the training plan was announced, six homes are to be built on the two-lot, third-of-an-acre site – two single-family houses, each with two accessory dwelling units (ADUs) – one attached, one detached. The site had drawn the attention of tree advocates because of the big evergreen out front (whose fate has not yet been finalized, as the building permit has not been issued):
Meantime, the latest SFD Responder e-newsletter notes that the trainees who got “live fire training” at the site for three days last month – Recruit Class 119, with 22 members – have since begun work as probationary frefighters.
If you live/work in Fauntleroy, but haven’t responded yet to the Fauntleroy Community Association‘s survey, you have just a few more days! FCA is the only neighborhood council in West Seattle that surveys people in its service area, “to understand what is important to our community members and help the FCA board set priorities.” You can find the survey online by going to fauntleroy.net/survey. Once it’s closed, FCA will compile and publish the results. The board meets second Tuesdays most months, 7 pm at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse and online, and community members are always welcome.
(WSB photos)
At The Hall at Fauntleroy, West Seattle’s longest-running Thanksgiving tradition is happening right now – the folks from DSquared Hospitality/Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes Catering are serving up the annual free community meal. Here’s this year’s menu:
Your hosts are the Haggerty family – Andrew, Meg, Reed, and David:
Desserts were donated by community members – check out the turkey cupcakes!
Also donated for anyone in need – warm clothing:
Dinner is open to all – whether you are having trouble affording a holiday feast this year, or just want to celebrate the holiday with neighbors and friends old and new:
This continues until 3 pm at 9131 California SW. (And if you miss it, see our Holiday Guide – the Eagles’ free-to-all feast is 2-5 pm in The Junction and Chef Gino’s serving a free drive-up dinner 4:30-7 pm in Delridge.)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Until a few years ago, Washington State Ferries service was reliable, dependable, fully filling its role as part of the state highway system.
Now, WSF sails in turbulent waters daily – with shortages of boats and workers, cancelling sailings and/or falling behind schedule. On the other side of a 15-minute rain from West Seattle, ferry-dependent Vashon Island is suffering in a big way, since the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route has been hit especially hard. It’s long been down to two boats when it’s supposed to have three, and sometimes reduced to one by vessel breakdowns or crew unavailability. Delays happen daily. There’s a shorter route – Point Defiance-Tahlequah – between south Vashon and the Tacoma area, but its one-boat baseline service is not immune to trouble.
This is affecting lives and livelihoods, say island residents – with health, business, educational, and other impacts – and a group has convened to do more than complain and despair. They’ve come up with a list of more than 50 actions that they say could help, and group reps sailed over to West Seattle on Monday to announce their recommendations in the form of a “community report.”
This isn’t just a to-do list for the ferry system. The group, Islanders for Ferry Action, says, “We stand ready to partner with any agency that will help implement the solutions we have documented in this report.” (Read it here.) Some of the recommendations are actions that could be taken by community members. Others would have to be taken on by other agencies or organizations. The islanders know it’ll be years before WSF’s fleet and workforce are back to past numbers, so they’ve worked to suggest actions they believe would make an immediate difference.
(Photos by Tom Trulin. Above, one of the last of this year’s 34 spawners)
By Judy Pickens
Special to West Seattle Blog
After two years of amazingly high numbers of coho spawners in Fauntleroy Creek (244 in 2021, 254 in 2022), this season’s 34 isn’t all that impressive unless, like veteran counter Dennis Hinton, you take the long view.
“Since the first spawners in modern history arrived in 1994, we’ve had 13 years with 10 or fewer, including some years with none,” he said. “A glut of fish draws a lot of attention, but when that happens in this small creek, late arrivals dig the redds of earlier fish and we lose hatch potential.”
(Veteran salmon-watch volunteers Pete Draughon, Dennis Hinton, and Mark Sears)
On October 22, 20 volunteers began watching the spawning reach in the lower creek during the five hours after high tide. Mark Sears led a special cadre of volunteers to relocate drift logs on the beach to ensure spawners could reach the mouth of the creek.
Watchers recorded the first robust spawner on November 4 and the last a week later. They also recorded two cutthroat trout in to snag what salmon eggs they could.
Harbor seals and other predators in Fauntleroy Cove were especially active eaters this year. Most carcasses above the spawning reach soon disappeared, likely in the jaws of raccoons.
By November 18 when the watch ended, watchers had invited at least 88 visitors down to creek level from the fish-ladder viewpoint across from the ferry terminal. Another 136 came during an “open creek” on November 12 to talk salmon and habitat.
If creek conditions continue to be favorable, eggs will hatch late January/early February, and fry will emerge from the gravel a few weeks later. Area schools will get eyed hatchery eggs in early January to rear and release as fry in May through the Salmon in the Schools program.
Just four days until Thanksgiving, and the free community dinner at The Hall at Fauntleroy. For those interested in helping either instead of, or in addition to, enjoying the dinner, here’s an update:
We are full on volunteers (yay!), but if people would still like to be involved, they can deliver desserts day-of [Thursday] starting at 9 am, or warm clothes/socks/blankets to the schoolhouse hallway anytime leading up to Thanksgiving.
As noted here, the dinner – a quarter-century tradition – is set for noon-3 pm on Thanksgiving Day, and everyone is welcome. The Hall is at 9130 California SW, on the south end of historic Fauntleroy Schoolhouse.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Two weeks after Seattle Parks announced a two-week “pause” in the Lincoln Park pickleball-court project, opponents took their case to the Fauntleroy Community Association board.
That was one of the topics at the board’s monthly meeting last night. President Mike Dey facilitated the meeting in the conference room at historic Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, and it also was streamed. First, other, somewhat briefer topics:
SEATTLE POLICE: The Southwest Precinct sergeant who attended mentioned the recent crime trends on which we’ve reported here, such as armed robberies committed using stolen cars: “We’ve been getting hit pretty hard. … They wear masks, they have firearms, late teens-early 20s, normally hitting between 3 and 4 in the morning” – possibly the same robbers but they’re using different vehicles. He also noted the crash-and-grab burglary trend, including the multiple hits at Global Smoke and Vape (35th/Roxbury). One attendee says stolen cars are being dumped at Barton P-Patch and urges people to report cars that look like they’ve been broken into. Asked if Kias and Hyundais were still the predominant makes of cars being stolen, he said yes, but “we’re seeing others now.” Another trend he mentioned, many reports of suspected gunfire, but many not verified as it’s “really hard to pinpoint.” Did he think it’s a good idea for the city to buy the ShotSpotter gunfire-detection system that’s under consideration? He said yes.
Until 3 pm, you are invited to visit Fauntleroy Creek for a close-up chance to see salmon. As of Saturday, 34 coho spawners had made it into the creek in the span of a week, and more are expected.
So volunteers are standing by during today’s “open creek” to show you where to look along a stretch of the creek that otherwise isn’t usually open to the public. Go to the overlook where SW Director turns onto upper Fauntleroy Way SW (across the street, and up the embankment, from the ferry dock) and wait to be called down to creekside!
Fauntleroy Creek is a rarity, one of just a handful of Seattle creeks where salmon come to dpawn.
Tom Trulin‘s photo shows the first spawner of the season in Fauntleroy Creek. At least 22 more have followed, so with that, and a adequate supply of volunteers, the first “open creek” of the season will happen Sunday (November 12). Here’s the invitation, sent by Judy Pickens of the Fauntleroy Watershed Council:
Spawners in Fauntleroy Creek – and the public is invited
As of late Tuesday, salmon watchers on Fauntleroy Creek had tallied 23 vigorous coho spawners. The first arrived on Saturday and more have followed daily. With rain and 11-foot tides in the offing, the Fauntleroy Watershed Council has scheduled an all-ages open creek on Sunday, 1:00-3:00 pm. Dress for the weather and make your way to the fish ladder viewpoint at SW Director and upper Fauntleroy Way SW. A volunteer will invite you down to creek level to check out the habitat, ask questions, and maybe see spawners. Children should bring a parent and dogs should be on leash.
That’s across the street (and up the embankment) from the entrance to the Fauntleroy ferry dock.
8:17 PM: SFD is sending units by land and sea to look into a report of a 30′ sailboat that’s possibly adrift 200 feet offshore, south of Lincoln Park.
8:23 PM: Responders say it’s an anchored vessel, not in distress, so they’re canceling the response.
The Fauntleroy Community Association is the only neighborhood council in West Seattle that regularly surveys people in its service area, and they’ve just launched the newest survey, explaining, “This information allows us to understand what is important to our community members and helps the FCA board set priorities.” If you live in Fauntleroy, you likely received a postcard in USPS mail inviting you to answer the survey; if not, you can find it online at fauntleroy.net/survey. If you don’t have time to take it now, it’s open until December 4; FCA promises to publish the overall results online.
The rain that assisted salmon in Longfellow Creek also has brought the first spawners of the season into Fauntleroy Creek. As of mid-afternoon, creek steward Judy Pickens tells us, volunteers had counted five salmon in the creek. You can go have a look from the public fish-ladder viewpoint across the street (and up an embankment) from the ferry dock; plans for a future “open creek” with a closer look will depend on weather and volunteer availability.
Ryan Milles‘ air plants and holders are the first things you’ll see when you walk into the Fauntleroy Fine Art and Holiday Gift Show, starting tonight and continuing through the weekend at the Fauntleroy Church Fellowship Hall. This year, among the arts and crafts, you’ll also find books:
Author Susan Whiting Kemp is there with her novel “The Climate Machine” and short-story collection “We Grew Tales.” Of course there’s visual art too – here’s some of what veteran show participant Tom Costantini is selling:
Handmade creations too – lots of quilted options:
Set up on the stage is Qui Moede with Lock + Keep – “calligraphy and keepsakes”:
You’ll also find jewelry, metal art, collage, woodblock, wearables, body-care creations, and more; the artist list is in our calendar listing. The show/sale – with holiday music and decor to help you ease into the spirit – is on until 8 tonight, then again 10 am-4 pm tomorrow, and 11 am-2 pm Sunday. Fauntleroy Church is at 9140 California SW.
As previewed earlier this week, Seattle Fire Department crews are at 8822 38th Avenue SW in Upper Fauntleroy [map] for “live fire” training at a house awaiting demolition and redevelopment. They hadn’t started actually burning anything when we stopped by – they’re still finalizing the plan.
As noted when this was announced, spectators are welcome, but don’t go past that line of cones in the (closed) street. This will not be one big fire gutting the house, but rather a series of “fire evolutions” that will enable both veteran and new firefighters to train in specific situations. Also, for those concerned about the big tree on the site, it will not be involved in the training, which is scheduled to continue tomorrow and Friday, 9 am-3 pm each day.
(King County Assessor photo)
An Upper Fauntleroy house slated for demolition will be the site of “live fire training” first. Here’s the Seattle Fire Department announcement:
The Seattle Fire Department is conducting live-fire training exercises at a vacant home in the Fauntleroy neighborhood Wednesday, Nov. 1 through Friday, Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 8822 38th Ave. SW. Live-fire training is an opportunity for new and veteran firefighters to work with our officers and face real fire scenarios in a controlled setting. In the past week, firefighters went door-to-door to notify neighboring homes and businesses of potential impact.
Seattle Fire conducts this training exercise in the city and makes every effort to minimize the impact on the neighborhood. Portions of the roads within one block of 8822 38th Ave. SW. will be closed to ensure the safety of the community as well as the firefighters in training. Water in the immediate area may turn brown due to sediment in the pipes. The water is likely to clear on its own within 2-8 hours.
SFD recognizes that this training exercise may present inconveniences to your daily schedules and thanks those in the immediate vicinity for their patience and understanding. Seattle firefighters are among the best in the nation because of the training provided and support received from the community.
The department will have 4-6 fire evolutions spread throughout the day, each lasting 15-20 minutes. Residents will see smoke as controlled burns are set inside the vacant structure. All carpet, plastics and toxic synthetic materials have been removed along with required asbestos abatement. The training officers will set wood fires in a controlled method with safety officers on-hand during the exercises. This training is conducted under the strict regulations and rules of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. The smoke coming from the buildings during the live-fire is equivalent to smoke from a fireplace. After the fires are out, most of what you see coming from the structure is steam.
Neighbors are welcome to come and watch the live-fire training. Typical training days begin around 7 a.m. with the live-fire evolutions starting at 9 a.m. and lasting until around 3 p.m. with a break from 12-12:30 p.m. Any questions can be directed to SFD’s public information officer at sfdpio@seattle.gov.
As for the future of this house post-training: Online records show the house, which is on a one-third-acre double lot, was sold to a developer earlier this year, and the site has a plan for six residences – two single-family homes, each with two accessory dwelling units, one attached, one detached, with offstreet parking for 10 vehicles. Local tree advocates, meantime, have been monitoring the plan because of at least one tall evergreen on the site.
Received this morning from Washington State Ferries:
(Photo courtesy WSF)
As part of our ongoing efforts to preserve the Fauntleroy terminal until it can be replaced, there will be night-time construction work at the terminal today, Monday, October 30, and tomorrow, Tuesday, October 31, to replace timber decking in the exit lanes. Last spring, we put a steel plate where timber decking and asphalt had failed and now crews will repair the deck and repave the area. Construction work will occur from 7:00 p.m. – 4:00 a.m. both nights, with loud work only occurring between 7-10 p.m. The location of the work will require that we single lane offload the vessel and reduce the holding lanes a bit. This could cause some service delays on the route due to the construction.
As for the dock-replacement project, that’s not expected to start construction before 2027. Here’s our most-recent report.
10:56 AM: Washington State Ferries‘ Triangle Route is running with only one boat right now because M/V Kittitas is out of service with a “radar issue.” Getting a replacement is likely complicated by the fact the Seattle-Bremerton run’s lone boat is also out of service with mechanical trouble. More info on the WSF bulletins page.
1:42 PM: As commenter Erik points out, Kittitas has been repaired and is back in service.
(The seven size/shape options that represent the nine alternatives)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Nine possible sizes and shapes for Fauntleroy’s new ferry dock were shown by Washington State Ferries when it convened the project’s Community Advisory Group last night for the first time since Septtember 2022.
Since then, WSF has extended the timeline for the project by two years. And ferry-system leaders said they expect to have to ask the State Legislature for more money, no matter which option is chosen.
In addition to reviewing the nine possibilities, group members also picked up on some new factors in the discussion. For example, they noted that WSF managers brought Captain’s Park into it for the first time – that’s the tall-tree-dotted lookout spot atop the embankment immediately across lower Fauntleroy Way from the dock entrance. After a followup question from advisory-group member Judy Pickens of Fauntleroy, WSF’s David Sowers said that if it were determined that Fauntleroy Way needed an extra lane for smoother traffic flow, they’d have to cut into the bluff. “Not something we want to do but something our consultant brought up.” Pickens warned it would surface a multitude of issues, including archaelogical considerations.
But let’s get back to those alternatives. First, here’s what they ruled out in the first two levels of screening possibilities:
And here are the basics for the two concepts they settled on:
Note that slide says “same size.” Reviewing the nine options, advisory-group member Frank Immel of Fauntleroy observed that the first three are described instead as “similar size,” and would be at least 18 feet wider than the current dock. Design-team manager Edd Thomas attributed that to “design standards” including lane width on the dock, plus the addition of bike lanes and a motorcycle staging lane. So, starting with the “similar size” Alternative A and its two ticketing variations, here are the options – note that 124 cars is something of a magic number because that’s the capacity of the Issaquah-class ferries serving the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route:
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(See color renderings in the full slide deck.) Here are characteristics that all those options have in common:
This meeting wasn’t to settle on one of them – in fact, the Community Advisory Group members were also asked for feedback on the proposed criteria that WSF staff will udr to screen them. But they did have questions. One that came up multiple times was whether the dock can remain somehow partly in service during construction, or whether all boats will have to be diverted. Sowers said that hadn’t been decided yet. Was overhead passenger loading under consideration? They still need to “study” it. What about a second slip? Sowers said that can’t be “completely ruled out” but it would cost at least $40 million more than they have in the budget – a budget that they expect will ultimately be inadequate anyway, requiring a request to the Legislature for more money just to build the basics.
Another question – why are two “A” options the only ones that might incorporate either Good To Go or “advanced” ticketing, which had been discussed extensively at previous meetings as possible ways to speed up loading and avoid backups on Fauntleroy Way? The reply was that they only considered using them to get more “bang for the buck” if the smallest size was chosen.
And in addition to the question mentioned earlier about Captain’s Park, concerns also surfaced about Cove Park. WSF had previously scrapped the idea of over-land dock widening, particularly because of possible effects on that beloved, community-stewarded beach immediately north of the dock. Yes, there’s likely to be “some effects,” WSF’s environmental lead Marsha Tolon acknowledged. She also spoke to another environmental factor – how the project could affect eelgrass in the cove.
The online meeting (Friday morning update: see the video here) wrapped up after two hours; WSF promised to bring the group together again after a much-shorter time, “early next year.” After that, they’d likely have community meetings. A preferred alternative is to be chosen by 2025, with construction starting by 2027.
FEEDBACK: If you have something to tell the WSF project team, FauntleroyTermProj@wsdot.wa.gov is the email address to use.
(Photos by Tom Trulin. Above, students locate, identify, and measure lichen on a tree in upper Fauntleroy Creek)
By Judy Pickens
Special to West Seattle Blog
Students have been conducting water-quality research in Fauntleroy Creek since 2002 and this year was no exception. Fourth graders sampled two sites Tuesday to check abundance and diversity of aquatic insects as indicators of water quality. At the same time, a second group of fourth graders, also from Louise Boren STEM K-8, piloted another “real science” study by examining lichen as indicators of air quality.
(Shannon Ninburg demonstrates the importance of recording data as students examine gravel samples from upper Fauntleroy Creek)
Volunteer educator Shannon Ninburg engaged about 30 students in following established protocol to collect and examine substrate samples from the upper and lower creek. They then identified all the macroinvertebrates they found, including the stonefly, mayfly, and other larva that are a major food source for juvenile coho salmon during their year in the creek.
Lindsey Conrad reviews lichen growth forms before students head out to find examples)
Simultaneously, volunteer botanist Lindsey Conrad led another 20 students in examining lichen they found at upper and lower sites near the creek. “Our priority this first year was to refine methodology,” she said. “We want the protocol we use going forward to provide worthwhile data while exposing young students to the excitement of doing hands-on research.”
As has happened every year, students found macroinvertebrates at both sites, though abundance and diversity differed. “Despite the fact that pollution is common in urban waterways, the students found that Fauntleroy Creek supports species that must have clean water to survive,” said Shannon.
Lichen teams found several growth forms at both sites and traced samples to establish baseline sizes. “We’re now assessing how to improve the methodology,” Lindsey said. “Our goal is that the findings of student scientists year after year will reveal what lichen have to tell us about air pollution.”
The Fauntleroy Watershed Council will share study findings and conclusion with specialists who track water and air quality in this region.
Both of West Seattle’s major transportation projects have their first community meetings in months – and both are happening tomorrow night. Earlier today, we published a reminder of the Sound Transit light-rail meeting; we’ve since been reminded (thank you!) that the Community Advisory Group for Washington State Ferries‘ Fauntleroy dock-replacement project meets Wednesday night too, This meeting is online, 6-8 pm. We first mentioned this meeting two months ago; it’s the first time WSF has convened this group since September of last year. Since then, as we also reported in August, WSF has pushed the construction timeline back two years, to 2027-2029. There’s no agenda posted yet for tomorrow’s meeting, but advance materials sent to group members indicate they’ll get a briefing on possible alternatives for how the dock could be rebuilt at its current location. You can go here to register for the meeting link.
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