6:45 PM: Announced by City Councilmember Lisa Herbold in her weekly update, posted tonight:

Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) will have their first meeting with the Junction Neighborhood Origination to discuss community planning around ST3 and updating the neighborhood plan to reflect the final route and location of the light rail station. As I wrote about in a previous MHA update, the community has expressed a desire for additional zoning capacity, but informed by community planning efforts and with understanding of the likely location of a future light rail station. OPCD committed to beginning to scope out this process in 2019, with planning starting in earnest in 2020. This is the first meeting.

When: May June 6, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Where: Senior Center of West Seattle, 4217 SW Oregon

10:09 PM: JuNO director Amanda Sawyer tells WSB the councilmember’s announcement is one month off – the meeting is actually set for *JUNE* 6th. We have updated above.

Zack Thomas from Board & Vellum presents new concepts for the Morgan park expansion.

Story and photos by Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Morgan Junction leaders and neighbors gathered Wednesday night at The Kenney (WSB sponsor).to discuss a wide variety of topics at the quarterly meeting of the Morgan Community Association.

Highlights included presentations about Morgan Junction Park expansion and the proposed development at 5917 California Ave, as well as updates about upcoming Morgan events, affordable housing, and light rail.

Vice president Phillip Tavel ran the first half of the meeting, then president Deb Barker (rushing from the Sound Transit Stakeholder Advisory Group meeting downtown) took over for the second half.

Read More

About two hours into Saturday morning’s 27th annual Fairmount Ravine cleanup, we stopped by the main site beneath the bridge to see how things were going. Down by the roadside, a pile of filled bags; up under the bridge, neighbors and friends still hard at work.

Joining the volunteers this year, our photographer discovered with that zoom view (we’re admittedly not much for climbing), City Councilmember Lisa Herbold. The SPD Community Police Team was represented too. But the heart of the cleanup crew is comprised of the nearby residents who have over the past quarter-century-plus pulled tons of debris and trash out of the area along the road used by drivers, runners, and riders to get between Admiral and east Alki.

P.S. If you’re thinking about a neighborhood cleanup, the city’s Spring Clean program offers support – info’s here.

ANA president David Hancock and membership co-chair Susan Staples, Lynell Ray of Counterforce West, and ANA secretary Delores Kannas.

Story and photos by Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Admiral neighbors and community leaders came together Tuesday night for a meeting of the Admiral Neighborhood Association, to discuss music, regional transit, neighborhood improvement, business community support and a variety of topics.

The ANA meeting, held at The Sanctuary at Admiral, was the second meeting as president for David Hancock, the group’s new leader.

Toplines from the meeting are below:

SUMMER CONCERTS: Stephanie Jordan, ANA’s coordinator for the popular Summer Concerts at Hiawatha series (happening Thursday nights from July 18 through August 22 on the east lawn of Hiawatha Community Center), shared the names of the 4 musical acts currently scheduled to appear, with a couple of dates to be announced soon:

• 7/18: TBA
• 7/25: TBA
• 8/1: Alec Shaw (YouTube) (folk rock)
• 8/8: Ranger and the Rearrangers (YouTube) (gypsy jazz)
• 8/15: The Highsteppers (YouTube) (soul and R&B)
• 8/22: Caspar Babypants (YouTube) (songs for the kids — and grownups, too — back by popular demand)

Jordan also gave an update on the positive collaboration with the community center (which provides the stage for the event, and a portion of the publicity) and reiterated the need for volunteers — she said that she would finalize the list of needed volunteer roles in time for ANA’s May meeting.

Read More

Toplines from this past week’s Alki Community Council meeting:

SR3 UPDATE: SR3‘s Casey Mclean brought the ACC up to speed on her plans for a fulltime space off Harbor Avenue SW, not just for marine-wildlife rehab, but also for research. She said the space is on the Merlino industrial property east/south of Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor), with permits in progress but no firm timeline so far. Nothing will go in until the permits are in hand, but she has two tanks on order and plans to add a modular building.

P.S. For a view of Mclean in action, Mark Jaroslaw shares this video from a harbor-seal-pup rescue at Don Armeni:

NEIGHBORHOOD STREET FUND: Ideas vying for a share of this city fund are about to go into what SDOT is now calling the Community Prioritization phase, starting on January 28th. That includes meetings in West Seattle and South Park in early February, as listed here. At the ACC meeting, safety advocate Don Brubeck asked the ACC to support the proposal for safety improvements on West Marginal Way SW between the parks on the east side of the street and the Duwamish Tribe Longhouse on the west side. (Here’s the clickable map showing what’s proposed around the city.)

HALA MANDATORY HOUSING AFFORDABILITY: As noted here earlier this week, the upzoning proposal is now up for council consideration of amendments. HALA MHA would upzone multifamily and commercial property around the city, so Alki would be affected though it’s not an “urban village.” One amendment is specifically within the ACC’s area of interest, asking that the commercial node near Beach Drive/Carroll not be upzoned.

The Alki Community Council meets third Thursdays, 7 pm at Alki UCC (6115 SW Hinds).

MoCA President Deb Barker, SW District Council Representative Tamsen Spengler, volunteer Jim Guenther

Story and photo by Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Neighbors gathered Wednesday night at The Kenney (WSB sponsor) for the quarterly meeting of the Morgan Community Association (MoCA), to discuss a variety of issues as part of a jam-packed agenda.

Board members present included President Deb Barker, Treasurer Michael Brunner, Secretary Natalie Williams, SW District Council Representative Tamsen Spengler, and Public Information officer Marianne Holsman. (Vice President Phil Tavel submitted notes before the meeting, according to Barker.)

First on the agenda, quick “Morgan Minute” updates:

Read More

By Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Neighbors gathered Tuesday night for a meeting of the Admiral Neighborhood Association, to discuss topics ranging from affordable housing to “Viadoom.”

The meeting, held at The Sanctuary at Admiral, was the first ANA meeting with David Hancock at the helm as the group’s president. The current slate of ANA officers includes:

• President: David Hancock
• Vice President: Larry Wymer
• Secretary: Delores Kannas
• Treasurer: Carrie MacCann
• Membership: Susan Staples and Sofia Velling
• Neighborhood Plan Stewardship: Matt Hutchins
• Summer Concert Series: Stephanie Jordan

Board members provided some brief updates, including the news that the likely dates for this summer’s Thursday night Summer Concerts at Hiawatha series would be July 18 through August 22.

Read More

(King County Assessor’s Office photo)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

With more than a century of history, Admiral Congregational UCC Church is looking to the future with talk of redevelopment.

Exactly how the church will redevelop, its congregation has yet to decide, but its pastor briefed the Admiral Neighborhood Association last night in hopes of getting community dialogue going early.

The ANA also heard from Department of Neighborhoods director Andrés Mantilla in his ongoing mission to visit every neighborhood group in the city.

First – the church. Admiral UCC happened to be the ANA’s meeting site last night – as it was years ago, though the group has met for a while at a former church instead, The Sanctuary at Admiral. Pastor Rev. Andrew Conley-Holcom said the ANA’s presence is just one more example of how Admiral UCC’s facilities are used as a community hub; he ticked off a long list of groups that meet there regularly, as well as describing its philanthropy and “community education/enrichment programming,” not to mention its longtime status as home to A Child Becomes Preschool (WSB sponsor). Plus, he said, the church provides space for “values-based” organizations, from community theater to political advocacy. It even serves as a comfort station for bus drivers taking breaks, “a safe, warm place to use a bathroom that’s clean.”

With all that in mind, he said, the church also realized that “we’re sitting on about $4 million worth of property” on a 27,000-square-foot site that is seriously underutilized. Some of the ideas they’re considering so far:

Read More

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

One year into her term, Mayor Jenny Durkan hasn’t clarified what kind of relationship she wants to have with neighborhood groups – particularly what remains of the neighborhood-district-council system the previous elected mayor tried to dismantle.

So some have decided to not waste any more time waiting to see what Durkan might decide to do.

Members of West Seattle’s two neighborhood-district councils, Southwest and Delridge – which have remained active despite the loss of city support – are joining forces with community leaders from South Park to form the District 1 Community Network.

That working title emerged at a recent gathering that explored that idea of “getting together on issues that affect the whole peninsula,” not just specific-neighborhood-based, as described by Amanda Sawyer of the Junction Neighborhood Organization, co-chair of the SW District Council.

Read More

Many – but not all – community councils take a break from meetings in December. The Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s every-other-month meeting, however, is ON for next Tuesday (December 11th), 6:30 pm at a different location – Admiral Congregational Church. From ANA president Larry Wymer, here are the agenda highlights:

1) Seattle Department of Neighborhoods
Director Andrés Mantilla will provide an update and overview of Seattle’s ‘Department of Neighborhoods’, including recent changes under our new mayor, with an opportunity for Q&A with the neighborhood to discuss how best to work with their department.

2) Admiral Congregational U.C.C. Property
Rev. Andrew Conley-Holcom will present information on the various services the church provides for our neighborhood beyond inclusive worship, as well as informing us of some near-term changes the church is planning to make. Admiral UCC is considering re-purposing some of its property, and wants to keep the neighborhood connected to and informed about the possibilities.

3) ANA Officer Elections (& 2019 Priorities)
We will be holding elections for all ANA officer positions including:
● President
● Vice President
● Secretary
● Treasurer
We will also be discussing YOUR priorities for ANA for 2019, and offering opportunities for you to volunteer in whatever capacity suits your time and interests.

Admiral UCC is at 4320 SW Hill.