Next weekend on Alki: Think global, run/walk local
In the final half-hour of this weekend, we look ahead to the next one … which will bring two events to Alki involving both exercise and fundraising/awareness-raising. Next Saturday, the first-ever One Race/One Village 5K run benefits the Agathos Foundation, a faith-rooted organization working to build farming communities to sustain children and elders left adrift by the AIDS epidemic in Southern Africa. (Registration, route, and time info here.) Next Sunday, churches from around the city are participating in the Seattle CROP Walk to help fight hunger globally and locally (according to this site, which includes contact info if you want to participate, part of the proceeds will benefit the West Seattle and White Center Food Banks). The CROP Walk will start at Alki Congregational UCC, which also is inviting everyone to its annual “Blessing of the Animals” service the same day. (Post-closing pitch: All of the aforementioned is linked from our new Events page, which we will continuously update with major events happening in the weeks and months to come; if you have something to add, e-mail us!)
Side note to the Gee announcement
We won’t call it the “Gee closure” until and unless it actually happens – somehow we keep thinking about Idaho Sen. Larry Craig and his “I *intend* to resign September 30th …” (so much for that one) announcement. That aside, the Gee situation has led to some inconvenience for the wonderful folks at West Seattle Helpline — their winetasting fundraiser on October 18th was to be hosted at Gee. Don’t worry, the big bash is still on; Helpline tells WSB that a new location should be confirmed shortly. (Tickets by the way are $5 cheaper in advance; buy them online at the Helpline website.)
Your neighborhood needs you
We’ve talked about West Seattle’s neighborhoods; their largely unsung heroes are the WS neighborhood associations. With a new month starting next week, October monthly meeting time is rolling around, and two groups have e-mailed us to let you know they’re getting together soon and to invite everyone in their areas to come check them out: Wednesday (October 3) @ 6:30, the North Delridge Neighborhood Council meets @ Delridge Library; Tuesday, October 9, 6:30 pm @ WS Senior Center, it’s the second-ever meeting of the Junction Neighborhood Organization (JuNO). Click here to see JuNO’s flyer with full meeting details. We’re listing these and other neighborhood meeting dates, as we receive/find them (e-mail us yours!), on our brand-new Events page – check it often from the handy tab above!
Seal Sitters mourn another pup
Received late last night from Brenda Peterson of the Seal Sitters:
    After heroic efforts by Robin, Joanie, Jane, Marci and many others, the seal pup on the boat ramp these past two days was rescued by NOAA and taken off the beach by Animal Control who promptly delivered him to PAWS rehab workers to stabilize her. The plan was to take her to Wolf Hollow rehab in Friday Harbor by a plane donated by someone. But upon examination at PAWS they realized this pup had terrible systemic infections and abscesses throughout her body and would never recover. Mercifully, she was euthanized. But PAWS said we did the right thing to campaign so hard to get her removed from the beach and medical attention because her infections would have meant a long, slow death. This is the second pup in a week we’ve sat over and lost and it is very difficult for us all.
There is consolation in knowing that out of the 30-odd pups we’ve watched over on Alki, we’ve only lost about 4 that we know of and so we’ve helped launch a whole new generation of pups this season. There was also a seal sitter this morning who wondrously witnessed the birth of a pup; and the pup we’ve been watching for the past week is still robust and healthy.
As the rains begin, there will be fewer risks to these resting pups on the beach from people, though dogs off leash are still a big concern. Thanks so much for all of you who have given your energy, time, and compassion to these fellow creatures who share our shores. Somehow I do think the seals realize that Alki Beach is full of good neighbors.
Brenda also attached a Seal Sitters flyer. We’ve uploaded it so you can take a look. Worth your time even just for the photo; click here.
New way to find out what’s coming up
Just launched: Version 1.0 of our brand-new Events page, stocked with a variety of events coming up in West Seattle (and a select few elsewhere, but of WS relevance) over the next three months. If you are involved with an event of public interest and you don’t see it there yet, please send e-mail to tell us about it. One of the events on the page already is the October fundraising dinner/auction for West Seattle’s only private high school, Seattle Lutheran HS; WSB readers sent us full details too, including a call for more auction donations:Read More
Good riddance
Relief for Delridge residents — the burned-out car that had been sitting in front of a house across from Delridge’s northernmost Shell station is gone.
We took that photo over the weekend after a reader e-mailed us about the car; Mike Dady from the North Delridge Neighborhood Council told us action was under way to get it out of there, and that the person whose home it happened in front of, a longtime resident, was chagrined to have had this sort of thing happen outside his home. Mike reported it to SPD on Saturday after their Adopt-A-Street neighborhood cleanup (just too big to have picked this up and stuffed it in one of those yellow bags, unfortunately) and reminds us all that there’s an online form for reporting abandoned vehicles, especially helpful now that city codes allow for faster removal of junk vehicles (more here). Mike says Community Police Team Officer Brian Ballew (honored by the Seattle Neighborhood Group last week with a Community Builder Award — congrats) had this on his to-do list; looks like things moved fast. By the way, this gives us an excuse to mention one loose end from last week’s West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting — what to do about neighborhood nuisances. SNGi has tons of resources, including this “Take Action” brochure. (Here are other ways they can help you learn what you’re empowered to do to make your neighborhood better.)
Latest from the Seal Sitters
First, sad news: Seal Sitters organizer Brenda Peterson tells WSB they buried their second pup yesterday, “a newborn, who was very thin, probably only about 4 weeks old.” 
Overall, Brenda says, this has been a “very intense pup season” (photo @ left is from earlier in the season) and they appreciate all the new volunteers who are helping out, including some who came forward after our recent video-enhanced update; if you are interested in volunteering, e-mail WSB your name and phone number, and we will forward it to Brenda (it’s easier for them to make phone calls while keeping watch on the beach). She says there are a few other things the Seal Sitters need:
“We are looking for sponsorship or some Alki Beach businesses to help us out with T-shirts, public education, and training. We would also like to see some very large signs along the beach as there are in Oregon and CA beaches telling the public to stay 100 yards away from the pups as recommended by federal law and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.”
Anybody ready to step up on that count? These little guys and their human protectors need all the help they can get.
Dig in
Even as we prepare to step into fall, one of the most beautiful events of every WS summer needs you – and asked us to share this one more time:Read More
Making the connection: Alki Point sidewalk proposal
Not far past the spot shown above (west end of the public Alki waterfront), the sidewalk on the north side of Alki Avenue mostly stops, and to keep walking west to Alki Point, you have to cross the street and stay on that side till you get south of Alki Point. But for the first time in years, there’s hope that might change, according to what we heard at last night’s Alki Community Council meeting. After years of trying, Alki community leaders have gotten the sidewalk proposal onto the list of potential Neighborhood Street Fund projects, and the more “votes” it gets, the better its chances of happening. The sidewalk project is one of the Bridging the Gap projects shown at the WS meeting this past Wednesday night, but if you didn’t attend the meeting to “vote” in person, you can do it online: Go to this site, choose South Sector, then rank projects on the list (which includes other WS proposals). This project is sixth from the bottom of the list. Deadline to “vote” in this survey: Next Thursday (September 27).
Call it a trade-off … they’ll keep helping, if you help too
Often, readers tell us WSB has helped them learn something they didn’t know about our community, what’s happening around WS, or the services available. We have to say, it’s been educational for us too. Only after 15 years in WS are we beginning to learn about the full scope of what’s out there. The West Seattle Community Safety Partnership is one of many groups that just weren’t on our radar, for whatever reason. But it should have been on ours, and allow us to be so bold as to say it should be on yours. Long ago, the WSCSP was known as the “anti-crime council” — but its scope goes beyond crime. 
As demonstrated at Tuesday night’s meeting, the group is there to gather and share information about how to pro-actively protect yourself and your family and improve your neighborhood. Its officers are volunteers, but the group is assisted by a regular allotment of time provided by the Seattle Neighborhood Group for one of its staffers, Lois Grammon-Simpson (SNGi photo of Lois at right), who lives in WS. The room all but gasped Tuesday night when Lois revealed that SNG might stop providing the group with her services, as has already happened for a similar group in Southeast Seattle. But it’s not too late to change the course …Read More
News from the streets
From our first visit to a West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting last night: First thing on the agenda, an update from WS-based Seattle Police officers, with inside info about what’s happening on our streets. Overall, crime-wise, they say things are relatively “quiet” right now — certainly doesn’t mean no crime at all (as evident here), but no huge problems. One new trouble spot mentioned by Southwest Precinct Community Police Team Officer Adonis Topacio: Reports of transients camping in Lincoln Park; if you encounter this, he said, send him e-mail with the specific location (his contact info is on this page). Also mentioned last night: Despite scattered problems, the police verdict on the just-ended summer season on Alki is “it was a great year”; recent speeding crackdowns deploying the Chargers in areas such as Highland Park Way and the 1st Avenue South Bridge have netted dozens of violators, including drivers going past 60 mph in 30 mph zones. Still lots more to tell you from last night’s meeting, including how to fight blight (such as drug houses and trashy properties) in your neighborhood, and how to keep the WSCSP group from losing a vital resource — check back this afternoon.
Community crimefighters
Checked out the monthly West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting tonight and came away with some eye-opening info which we will process for you by morning. Headlines include: Lincoln Park visitors should watch out for transients camping in the greenery; neighborhoods with nuisance properties have an amazing amount of guidance available for dealing with the problem; and the WSCSP needs an infusion of new community involvement or else the Seattle Neighborhood Group may have to stop providing the services of staffer Lois Grammon-Simpson to help oversee and facilitate its vital business of helping us all stay safe. This would be a big loss. More on that in a few hours.
For the future, near and far
Just four months into its hopefully long lifespan, Sustainable West Seattle continues to grow. Tomorrow night, you’re invited to its next meeting — 7 pm, Camp Long, family-friendly, so kids are welcome — where county and city reps will talk about transportation and climate-change issues, respectively. The latter is of special note, with a Seattle CAN (Climate Action Now) kickoff event in WS next Saturday. (Here’s a new reason to care about climate change.) If you can’t make tomorrow’s meeting, see the Sustainable WS website, which includes contact info for the people running its action groups (Energy, Transportation, Food & Health, Water & Waste Reduction, Green Building & Planning).
3-Day walkers in West Seattle: Seen and heard
The goal is the same — momentum toward a breast-cancer cure — but the Race for the Cure and the 3-Day Walk are very different, even to watch. The former is an intense, relatively brief crowd event; the latter, we learned along Lincoln Park and Beach Drive and Alki Ave this morning, is no giant throng with the hundreds of walkers passing at once, but instead a steady stream, sometimes one by one:
Emotions run high — watching the 3-Dayers while shadowing them for a few miles from the other side of the street brought us to tears at times, perhaps intensified by the fact we both lost our moms to cancer — but that includes joyful emotions; the 3-Day clearly is boisterous and celebratory, as were the people who could be found all along the route this morning, cheering the walkers from the sidewalk (or honking from the street):
Along Alki Ave’s Condo Row, signs and pink ribbons cropped up on balconies:
And all along the shore, the walkers streamed on by:
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By 10 am, while the fastest/earliest walkers were out of West Seattle and headed for this afternoon’s ceremonies at Seattle Center, the last group members were still walking along Beach Drive, just past the whimsically decorated rest stop set up at Me-Kwa-Mooks:
Before a few final pictures … a reminder why this matters.
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Driver alert: 3-Day walkers in WS in the am
The entire route is not publicly released, but from some sightings around WS tonight, you can put together the path the 3-Day walkers will be taking starting early tomorrow morning. Once they are bused from where they’re camping tonight, it looks like they’ll start at Lincoln Park, where we found this line of temporary relief stations in the south parking lot:
The route from there appears to go along Fauntleroy, then down to Beach Drive and around to Alki, where, as we’ve mentioned previously, an “official cheering station” will be set up in the 1700 block of Alki Ave from 7:40 till 10:15 am. The walkers then proceed toward downtown, where the 3Day ends with ceremonies at Seattle Center. We thought the route from Alki was probably the obvious path along the low bridge, but one e-mail tonight reports another line of Honey Buckets at the park at 26th/Genesee so sounds like there’s a detour along the way — drivers in the morning, please be extra cautious and watch out for this big event on our WS roads.
Fighting with their feet
The fight against breast cancer will hit WS streets these next two Sundays. This Sunday morning, 7:40-10:15 am, an official cheering station is planned in the 1700 block of Alki Ave for the Breast Cancer 3Day Walk participants who started their journey this morning. (Among them is Courtney, whose site is featured on our Other Blogs in WS page.) The following Sunday (9/16), the Northwest Hope & Healing Half Marathon, plus new 5K run/walk, will take place in WS, starting at Lincoln Park and continuing along Alki (and other points for the half-marathoners). NW Hope & Healing helps newly diagnosed breast-cancer patients who need assistance with non-medical aspects of their life, such as child care and transportation. Find out more about the Half-Marathon & 5K, and get signup forms, here.
While things are quiet: Looking ahead
Many big things coming up this month in WS. Here are a few we haven’t mentioned yet …
WEDNESDAY — First day of school for Seattle Public Schools (and many private schools too). Note that Cleveland HS is no longer in the Boren building on Delridge; its own new building is done. However, South Lake HS continues its temporary stay in the old Hughes building; and Fairmount Park Elementary will be empty after closing in June.
THURSDAY — Shoppers go wild! It’s the Fall Fashion Affair in The Junction, 7-10 pm at Sweetie, Edie’s, Clementine, and Carmilia’s.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16TH — The Northwest Hope & Healing Breast Cancer Half Marathon, with an added 5K Walk/Run if the half-m is a bit much. Sign up now at Capers in The Junction or get the registration form online and send it in.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH — First-ever fundraising breakfast for Southwest Youth & Family Services, 7:30 am @ Salty’s on Alki. Read more at the SWYFS website about all the people their programs help.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND — Annual dinner & auction to raise $ for the Log House Museum, 5 pm @ Alki Masonic Hall in The Junction. Call the LHM for tickets (938-5293).
Flocks of fun
September is almost here, and with it arrives your annual chance to pull a fun stunt for a good cause: 
The Furry Faces Foundation is offering you the chance to send somebody a flock of plastic pink flamingos — 10 bucks for every five birds you would like them to land in your target’s yard. To quote the FFF press release, “All flamingo flocks are modestly accessorized with Hawaiian leis, boas or Mardi Gras jewelry and after a 24-48 hour stay over, they will mysteriously disappear.” The concept has a few more fun enhancements, including the ability to purchase “insurance” against somebody sending a flock your way. You can order a flamingo flock by e-mall (furryfaces@hotmail.com), phone (932-1652), or by picking up/dropping off an application at Hotwire Coffee or Pet Elements.
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