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Photos: West Seattle (and vicinity) block parties during record-setting Night Out

6:00 PM: Seattle Police say more Night Out block parties are registered for tonight than the city’s ever seen before – 1,427, a five percent increase from last year. We’re on our way to check out some of them.

We’d also love a photo from yours – editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks – updates to come!

6:21 PM: We’re starting in White Center, which is throwing a party in the downtown business district.

Several businesses have outdoor tables set up, Center Studio (WSB sponsor) has an outdoor workout going (photo above), and there’s a $2 food walk – here are Matt and Delia from Caffé Delia serving up Proletariat Pizza:

Speaking of pizza – West Seattle’s Pagliacci Pizza tells us they’re making surprise visits to block parties again this year too. Meantime, next – we head back north into Highland Park!

6:48 PM: That’s the group at Mary‘s block party on 17th SW in Highland Park. VERY bright sunshine tonight, as one young participant was all too aware of! From there, we headed into Westwood:

WWRHAH Community Council president Amanda Helmick invited us to stop by the party on 23rd SW – she’s at left in our photo with Joni Buckner (whose Head-to-Toe Day Spa in the Admiral District is a WSB sponsor). Amanda noted that they invited 22nd, 24th, and 25th SW neighbors too! Next WWRHAH meeting is a week from tonight, by the way. On to Arbor Heights:

7:06 PM: On 34th SW in AH, Block Watch captain JoDean Edelheit is proud of a great turnout tonight for their block party (above) – which is what we’re finding just about everywhere so far, good turnouts on a perfect night to be outside.

Also from 34th SW in Arbor Heights, where police stopped by (SPD and SFD were in circulation around the city), Christi shared this photo:

7:29 PM: Thanks to Marcia for sending that photo from Ocean View – which also had visitors from the Southwest Precinct. Our most recent stops, meantime, included two in Fauntleroy – neighbors of all ages are having a grand time by Fauntleroy Community Association board member Gary Dawson‘s house off upper Fauntleroy Way by the ferry dock:

A few blocks south of the ferry dock, Marty Westerman (left) and Gordon Wiehler, also from the FCA board, ponder the meatballs:

Thanks to everyone who is e-mailing us photos, too – we’re adding them from the mobile newsroom. Here’s one – from Genesee, at 40th and Andover, Jonathan French shared this photo:

He says the musical entertainment is being supplied by local home inspector Don Hartman and band.

7:59 PM: Only one hour to go! Thanks to Midge for the bouncy-house photo from 42nd SW in Fairmount Springs:

Midge says Pagliacci made one of their random surprise deliveries to their party! Meantime, from Rutan Place west of The Junction, John shares a group photo:

8:39 PM: Had to stop down to get the election links together, but we’ve continued to visit parties and we’re getting lots more photos in – we’ll keep adding past 9 pm. Another of our Highland Park stops was by invitation of Christie, who’s with husband Mike in our photo below:

Mike made “genuine Louisiana ribs” – that’s an exact quote – for the block party:

From 36th/Brandon/Findlay, Jenny shares this summer-evening scene:

Kathleen sends the next photo from SW Grayson, reporting, “We are rockin’ it in N. Admiral!”

8:57 PM: Minutes to go in the official window for Night Out, though some parties wrap up earlier, some last longer. One of the biggest ones we visited – in the Hansen View neighborhood, home to West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network leaders Karen Berge and Deb Greer:

In their neighborhood, we also found Buddy the dog …

Also at the party, Chris Dormaier from Sound Yoga (WSB sponsor), photographed with Tim Law:

Block Watches work, you’ll hear Deb and Karen and other leaders say, because of all the neighbors – and that’s really what Night Out is about:

If you don’t have a Block Watch but are interested in starting one, watch for the WSBWCN meetings – and check out this page on the SPD website. Still more party scenes to come – we’re back at HQ now.

10:03 PM: The first person to send us an invitation to her neighborhood’s Block Party this year was Nicole, from 52nd and Charlestown:

Nicole’s chicken played a big part in the Night Out event’s centerpiece, which you might call “chicken poop bingo”:

Half the proceeds were going to the West Seattle Food Bank. Meantime, the neighborhood you might describe as Upper Luna Park had a playful Night Out too, with water balloons:

Thanks to Erik for the photo. Meantime, from 16th and Trenton, Steve reports, “We had an awesome night with neighbors including those from up the street at Station 11 who came by with their truck for all the kids to explore. Perfect evening for it.” Here’s the photographic proof:

41st and Graham got a Seattle Fire Department visit too – thanks to Jenny for the photo:

From Gatewood, Tony‘s block party at California and Portland:

Frequent WSB contributor Long Bach Nguyen just sent a photo from that same party:

Music at 46th and Dakota – Cheryl says The Spyrographs were playing (and will be at Summer Concerts at The Mount [WSB sponsor]) two weeks from Friday, on August 23rd:

From North Admiral, Karyn tweeted her block-party scene:

Getting back to Gatewood, Mark Ahlness reports, “A great gathering at 39th SW and SW Elmgrove. Wonderful food and conversations with neighborhood regulars and many newcomers! In the picture, Grace welcomes everybody and gets things organized!”

From the 7100 block of 44th, Dan reports, “25 people out for the block party. Met a ton of great neighbors that we didn’t really know before.”

Meantime, our final stop of the night was at another Gatewood gathering – Paula had invited us to visit her neighbors’ gathering on SW Rose between 35th and 37th:

ADDED EARLY WEDNESDAY: More party photos received overnight – one from 12th SW between Barton and Henderson, where the party included breakdancing and live music: “Hosted by Danny and Marie Figgins in Highland Park! We love Night Out and hanging making new friends!”

Diane says her Night Out party in the Belvedere neighborhood brought together five blocks!

Edward photographed the neighbors in the 6700 block of 41st SW, where it’s a tradition to display “flags from countries, states neighbors are from”:

AND ANOTHER: Carrie Ann reports from the 42nd/Dakota-Andover block party: “This is a photo of our neighbor, Brad, a wonderful fiddle player and singer. One of the best parts of our annual block party is that, every year, we’re treated to a musical serenading by many of our extremely talented neighbors”:

Carrie Ann continues: “We even managed to lure in passersby who saw how much fun we were having, and invited them to join us in singing, dancing, and marshmallow roasting. I highly encourage everyone to reach out to their neighbors on this night, because you’ll learn so much and create priceless memories!”

P.S. Next year will be the thirtieth anniversary of Night Out!

Followup: Developers in Benchview lot-split fight propose a new plan

(3650 55th SW is the original address of the site in question; map is from King County Parcel Viewer)
A new development, so to speak, in the Benchview neighborhood clash between developers who bought an old house and want to add two new ones to its site, and the neighbors who say one additional home – already under construction northeast of the existing house – is plenty. You’ll recall that they went to court to challenge the city’s approval of three reshaped parcels for the site. They argued their case on Friday, July 19th (WSB coverage here), and King County Superior Court Judge Mariane Spearman issued her ruling the following Wednesday, reported here Thursday – upholding the city’s decision/process on two technical points, but rejecting the boundaries of the “lot boundary adjustment.”

While the City Attorney’s Office told us last week they hadn’t decided whether to appeal the ruling, we just got word from Department of Planning and Development spokesperson Bryan Stevens that the site’s owners have filed a new plan:

I just wanted to let you and your readers know that the applicant of the Benchview lot boundary adjustment (LBA) has submitted a formal revision to their original permit. Since the Judge ruled that the parcel encompassing the existing house was too small, the applicant is now revising their LBA to increase the size of that parcel and maintain a total of three parcels. The proposed revision slightly reduces the parcel size of the house under construction, which enlarges the adjacent parcel with the existing house on the corner.

The parcel sizes are listed on this new city page for the project; we’re still seeking further documents showing the proposed boundaries and will add to this story as we find out more.

Demolition, bike lane, park concerns @ quarterly Morgan meeting

(2012 photo of Lowman Beach Park and CSO project site to its east, by Long Bach Nguyen)
Almost a year after King County fenced off the vacant homes/apartments on the Lowman Beach site of the future Murray Combined Sewer Overflow Control Project storage tank, demolition will begin soon. That’s what the Morgan Community Association heard at its July meeting, in an e-mail from county project rep Doug Marsano, read by MoCA president Deb Barker. Since the meeting, we have asked Marsano for more timetable specifics; his reply:

King County’s contractor Tiger Construction & Excavation is finalizing its safety and traffic control plans, so initial work will begin in early August. The contractor will start with hazardous-material abatement inside the buildings, which will last about two and a half weeks. After that, salvageable materials will be removed from the buildings and then demolition will occur. After the buildings are down, the contractor will fill in the foundations with soil to ensure the site remains stable and safe until facility construction begins later this year. The deconstruction work will be complete by the end of September.

The million-gallon tank is to be built on what were six residential lots in the 7000 block of Beach Drive, bought by the county – which had said it would acquire them via the “eminent domain” law if it had to – for a total of more than $4.3 million, according to public records. It is part of a project meant to reduce sewage/stormwater overflows into Puget Sound from the nearby Murray Pump Station. According to Marsano’s letter to MoCA, the facility contractor is Shimmick Construction of Oakland, California.

Ahead, other notes from MoCA’s meeting – including the city Bicycle Master Plan Update and safety/beautification concerns for Morgan Junction Park:

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Junction Neighborhood Organization re-launches in a time of change

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

“Good turnout!” exclaimed René Commons as she walked into the lower-level meeting room at the Senior Center of West Seattle tonight, seeing 10 people who had come to help her re-launch the Junction Neighborhood Organization, more than a year after it went dormant.

Some of the meeting was about the business of organizing. Ed Pottharst (center in our top photo) from the city Department of Neighborhoods described how the Southwest District Council, made up of reps from community councils and organizations on the west side of West Seattle, works, and the issues it tackles, including reviewing community applications for certain city grants. The first question for him was, “What about eastern West Seattle?” As he explained, in Seattle’s 13-district system, the city has West Seattle split into two districts, Southwest and the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council. Pottharst and colleagues Yun Pitre and Steve Louie, working out of the Neighborhood Service Center at the Southwest Teen Life Center and Pool, serve as liaisons to the city for not just the district councils but also the individual community groups.

Second topic, raised by Commons: “Do we need more park spaces in the area, with our density?”

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2 weeks till Night Out – organized/registered your block party yet?

Two weeks till Night Out – the annual event bringing neighbors out of their homes and into the streets coast to coast, for block parties to strengthen ties and take a stand for neighborhood safety and solidarity – and to have fun. They’re always the first Tuesday night in August, so that’s August 6th, two weeks from tonight, 6-9 pm. The photo above is one of many we took on Night Out last year, featuring neighbors at 13th and Cambridge in Highland Park. To get permission to close your (non-arterial) street for the night, you need to register your party via the Seattle Police Night Out site – start here. And then, we invite you to let us know about your party, since we’re planning as-it-happens WSB coverage as usual and hoping to drop in on as many parties as we can get to in three hours. Just e-mail the location (cross-streets or block number) to editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!

West Seattle Junction Neighborhood Organization to re-launch


(Click image for full-size PDF view)
The neighborhood council for the areas at the epicenter of West Seattle’s major changes is getting ready to re-launch. The Junction Neighborhood Organization – JuNO – has been dormant a while for a variety of reasons, but is getting ready to re-launch – and making this call for involvement:

Do you live in the West Seattle Urban Hub? Do you love West Seattle and envision a beautiful Junction and Triangle community?

If yes, then you can join your West Seattle Junction Neighborhood Organization: JuNO!

JuNO is a community group from the Alaska Junction and Triangle neighborhoods who volunteer to make this neighborhood the best to live, work, and play in!

In 5 years, will we still have parades, street fairs, and Halloween at the Junction? Will we have enough parks and green space with the new developments? How can parking and beautification be addressed with the City? Can we preserve our community feel and manage density and development? JuNO is a neighborhood advocacy group that provides a voice for sensible growth. Join JuNO and be a part of shaping our growing community!

7/16 – Pre-Launch Meeting
Seeking interested individuals to be actively involved on the board and on committees … we will be forming a new leadership team for 2013!

7/23 – First Juno Meeting of 2013
Hot topics you want to discuss? Attend and let us know what matters most to you.

Both meetings will be held at the West Seattle Senior Center, 4217 SW Oregon, from 6:30-7:30 pm in the Alhadeff room.

We look forward to seeing you!

René Commons
Interim Director
wsjuno@yahoo.com

From posters to property taxes: Admiral Neighborhood Association’s big night

July 11, 2013 1:44 pm
|    Comments Off on From posters to property taxes: Admiral Neighborhood Association’s big night
 |   Neighborhoods | West Seattle news

The Admiral Neighborhood Association, the only community council in West Seattle to present an annual concert series, has unveiled this year’s poster for this year’s 5th annual Summer Concerts at Hiawatha (co-sponsored by WSB). Concert-series updates were part of the agenda at this week’s ANA meeting; ANA’s Katy Walum says the poster is once again a pro-bono creation by Kiran Robertson of Lovejoy Design. Special features this year include the Hiawatha fundraising barbecue during the Dusty 45s show on August 1st. That night also will feature face-painting, as will the August 22nd Fly Moon Royalty performance.

Ahead in our coverage of what else was discussed at the meeting: 2 special guests, including what you need to know about your property taxes, plus other information you might find of interest even if you don’t live in the Admiral area, including six parcels of city land that might wind up for sale:

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Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights council chooses leaders, agrees on ‘areas of concern’

West Seattle’s newest neighborhood council – launched in February – has chosen leaders and set priorities, meeting tonight for the 4th time. Thanks to Joe Szilagyi – the Westwood/Roxhill/Arbor Heights Community Council‘s newly chosen secretary – for sharing notes from the meeting. You can read them in their entirety here. Toplines:

Leadership chosen for the group’s first year – in addition to Szilagyi as secretary, chair Amanda Helmick and a to-be-filled treasurer’s position.

The neighborhoods’ principal areas of concern were outlined as: Metro Transit; SDOT, safety, and infrastructure improvements; community outreach; crime; business outreach. They’ll be looking for members for committees focused on the community, city infrastructure, Metro issues, and group leadership.

There’s a more-detailed list of topics in the full meeting notes – which, again, are here. The council also plans to work on setting up a website at wwrhah.org, which currently redirects to the Facebook group that’s been the hub of WWRHAH online discussion in the early going. And Metro will be the central topic for its next meeting; WWRHAH meets on the first Tuesday of the month, so that will be June 4th, more details to come.

From curb bulbs to construction: Updates @ Morgan Community Association

Not much chance SDOT will move the much-criticized California/Fauntleroy bus bulbs. So said the SDOT rep who came to the Morgan Community Association‘s quarterly meeting last week. Ahead, our roundup from the meeting, also including an update on preparations for demolition work on the now-vacant block across from Lowman Beach Park, where a sewer-overflow tank will be built, and other topics:

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Westwood-Roxhill-AH council to talk transportation Tuesday

The always-hot topic of transportation is at centerstage for the third meeting of the new Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights community council, next Tuesday (April 2nd) night. (Our coverage of meeting #1 is here; meeting #2, here.) The full agenda is here; the transportation item is described by facilitator Mat McBride as:

Seattle Dept of Transportation – Safety, Collaboration, and Q&A

This community has a couple items in particular to discuss with SDOT – 35th in Arbor Heights, the Roxhill Speedway, sidewalks, and the new fleet of Metro busses. Jim Curtin, great guy, W Seattle resident, and SDOT employee will take these questions, answer any others you have, and talk about how to work directly with SDOT in the future. Presented by Jim Curtin, SDOT.

(Thanks to Joe Szilagyi for sharing the news the agenda’s up.) Leadership decisions are also on the agenda – the group has no officers yet. Come help shape this new group and help your neighborhood – 6:30 pm Tuesday in the upstairs meeting room at Southwest Library (35th/Henderson).

Video: Mayor’s whirlwind Admiral walking tour – six stops, 1+ hour, many hot topics

(With the mayor at 47th/Admiral, Alki Mail’s Don Wahl at left, Karl de Jong at center)
From transportation to development to education, Mayor McGinn‘s one-hour-plus visit to Admiral today, organized by the Admiral Neighborhood Association, touched on most of the hottest topics in town. No big promises, but during the finale of the visit, a sitdown conversation with attendees who had followed him to Alki Mail and Dispatch, he promised to take another look at the status of the longstanding request for a signal light right outside, at the 47th/Admiral intersection where Tatsuo Nakata was killed more than six years ago. Jerry Whiting from Jet City Orange video’d the group crossing the road:

The tour started on the California SW side of Admiral Safeway, with initial remarks by both the mayor and ANA president David Whiting as well as development discussions – including concerns about the proposed 400-foot-long apartment building at 3210 California SW, which goes to Design Review next month:

Next stop, the Lafayette Elementary playground, where Sean Reynolds explained the proposal for Phase 3 of playground (and vicinity) improvements that have been years in the making:

As you can hear Reynolds explaining to the mayor, the project has not made the draft cut for the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund; the mayor suggested the next Parks Levy (being readied for 2014, according to what City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw told the Delridge District Council this week) might be worth aiming for.

The tour proceeded westbound through residential neighborhoods and made two stops – first, to talk about bikeability in the area, with ANA president Whiting yielding the floor to Don Brubeck of West Seattle Bike Connections formed after, as ANA’s Whiting prefaced, it was noted that West Seattleites hadn’t been providing much input for the revision of the city’s Bicycle Master Plan:

Not too far west of there, the group paused for another development topic – the changing face of neighborhoods, with old houses coming down, and big ones, sometimes more than one per lot, going up:

And then it was on to the 47th/Admiral intersection, where ANA has been trying to get a stoplight, but has been told both that it’s very low on the SDOT priority list – and that it should try for an SDOT grant. Toward the end of the subsequent roundtable discussion inside Alki Mail’s coffee-shop area, ANA past president Katy Walum (who helped lead a demonstration/tribute at the site in November 2011) eloquently made the case. You can hear her at 11:41 into this next clip, after other issues – starting with the recent cuts in bus service, and continuing with a question about West Seattle and light rail:

The conversation continued past the scheduled 2 pm cutoff, and as the mayor acknowledged, it could easily have run much longer, but he was past due at his second West Seattle stop of the afternoon, Southwest Pool (WSB coverage here).

Meantime, as the mayor (a former neighborhood-council leader) said more than once during the tour, getting involved with your neighborhood council is the best way to have a say in what’s happening and what’s being planned; if you live or work in the Admiral area, ANA meets the second Tuesday of each month, usually at 7 pm in the lower-level meeting room of Admiral Congregational Church (California/Hill).

Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights’ new council talks crime prevention @ meeting #2

(West Seattle Block Watch Captains’ Network founders speak to the new WRAH council)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The second meeting of the new Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council drew more than 20 people, from a retired police officer voicing concerns about city politics, to educators from local schools, to representatives of community groups including the West Seattle Block Watch Captains’ Network and West Seattle Crime Prevention Council.

Crime prevention was the spotlight topic during the Wednesday night meeting at Southwest Library, with the Seattle Police crime-prevention coordinator for the Southwest and South Precincts, Mark Solomon, first up, after around-the-room introductions and words of greeting from facilitator Mat McBride, chair of the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council.

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Live/work in Westwood, Roxhill, or Arbor Heights? New community council’s 2nd meeting tomorrow

March 5, 2013 7:57 pm
|    Comments Off on Live/work in Westwood, Roxhill, or Arbor Heights? New community council’s 2nd meeting tomorrow
 |   Arbor Heights | Neighborhoods | West Seattle news | Westwood

Though the usual meeting night will be first Tuesdays, this month only, the new Westwood/Roxhill/Arbor Heights community council is meeting on the first Wednesday – and that’s tomorrow night. 6:30 pm, upstairs meeting room at the Southwest Library (35th/Henderson). Guest speaker is our area’s Seattle Police Crime Prevention Coordinator, Mark Solomon, to talk about community crime-prevention tactics including Block Watches, and to answer your questions. Also tomorrow night, council facilitator Mat McBride will help shepherd attendees through some organizational/leadership decisions. If you’re there, as he said last time (here’s our report on the first meeting), you’re a founding member! P.S. The council has a Facebook group here, and there’s a FB event page for the meeting here.

Admiral Neighborhood Association talks money and more

Sometimes, neighborhood councils really have to get down to business – as in, finances. They are not funded by the city, or by anyone else for that matter; some don’t even collect dues. But invariably, they have to handle money, and that requires some decisions.

The Admiral Neighborhood Association, for example, spent a chunk of time at Tuesday night’s monthly meeting talking about the process of becoming a 501(c)3 nonprofit. One major decision: Hire a professional to deal with the paperwork, rather than trying to deal with it themselves. Advantages, as noted by president David Whiting, would include having the pro empowered to deal directly with the IRS as needed. Also discussed at Tuesday night’s meeting: Updates including ANA involvement with the upcoming Hiawatha Community Center egg hunt on March 30th, and collaboration with Admiral merchants to provide prize baskets.

The Admiral Neighborhood Association meets second Tuesdays, 7 pm, at Admiral Congregational Church.

North Delridge Neighborhood Council members show their neighborhood love

(NDNC co-chair Parie Hines speaks while a heart collage is assembled; foreground, Amanda Leonard holds infant son Harpo)
Eleven adults and a baby comprised the turnout for last night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting. Having the next generation on hand seemed especially appropriate, since the agenda looked to the future, as well as dealing with the present and past.

Icebreaker question: “What makes Delridge different from other neighborhoods?”

The first reply: “More greenspace per capita.”

One of the other answers: “Longfellow Creek.”

Yet another: “A very low number of snobby people.”

And yet another: “The number of engaged neighbors.”

Likely an offshoot of that: “The sheer diversity of community-driven events and initiatives.”

Closeness to downtown was mentioned too, as were two huge institutions in North Delridge – the Nucor Steel plant, and Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, and last but not least, “The Delridge Move” – explained as, using Delridge’s continuous center turn lane to pass other cars.

They wrote their favorite things about Delridge on Valentine-style pieces of red paper – mentions for Dragonfly Park, Pearl’s Coffee and Tea, flowers in traffic circles, the Camp Long ropes course drew a mention, among others. (A collage resulted – in progress, in our photo above; see the full result on the NDNC website.)

What kind of projects and activities from the past would members like to do again? Building projects – like the playground – with a tangible result; small, social events like cider-press gatherings and ice-cream socials; street improvements (like the recent ones on 25th SW); community cleanups – which led to a side discussion about teaming up with nearby Puget Ridge if possible.

How to improve the neighborhood and strengthen love for it? Block parties, reaching out to neighbors, celebrate Neighbor Appreciation Day, Night Out block parties, organize walks … those were among the ideas offered. Also, periodically singling out a local volunteer for honors.

The community cleanup idea came back around, with beautification chair Lisa Taylor-Whitley suggesting monthly projects, not just the quarterly Adopt-A-Street. Perhaps they could focus on some of the area’s myriad stairways, it was suggested. (Watch the North Delridge Facebook group for event signup and pages.)

RESEARCH: A researcher who is studying this area as part of a UW project titled “Encountering Poverty: Everyday Life in Mixed-Income Neighborhoods” – told the group that she and her colleagues have been talking to people such as social-service professionals, and hope soon to start talking to neighborhood-council reps such as the NDNC members who were gathered for the meeting.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: The DESC project’s Advisory Committee will meet at 6:30 pm Wednesday at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, with a focus on crime prevention/safety elements in the project’s design … Transportation Committee chair Jake Vanderplas said two new bus stops are supposed to be set up before the Metro service change on February 16 kicks in the intended path for Route 50.

NDNC meets the second Monday of the month, 6:30 pm, usually at Delridge Library, but sometimes elsewhere, so keep an eye on their website at ndnc.org!

North Delridge Neighborhood Council would love to see you tomorrow

February 10, 2013 3:20 pm
|    Comments Off on North Delridge Neighborhood Council would love to see you tomorrow
 |   Delridge | Neighborhoods | West Seattle news

For Valentine’s Day week, you can show your love for your local neighborhood council – starting, for North Delridge residents, with the ND Neighborhood Council at 6:30 pm Monday, at Delridge Library (Delridge/Brandon) – here’s the agenda summary from Parie Hines:

In honor of the upcoming Valentine’s Day this week, we will be discussing what we love about Delridge, what we love about previous and ongoing projects of the NDNC, as well as the changes and improvements to the neighborhood that would strengthen our love. This will be a continuation and expansion of the very brief visioning exercise from the December meeting. Also on the docket is a discussion of the NPSF applications and numerous updates about the many things going on in our very lovable ‘hood.

‘Founding members’ gather to launch Westwood/Roxhill/Arbor Heights community council

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Two weeks ago, Mat McBride offered in this WSB comment to help the Westwood/Roxhill neighborhood re-establish a community council – a vital step, he suggested, to banding together on issues including safety and crime prevention, top of mind following word of the Roxhill Park robberies.

Last night, McBride, who chairs the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council, shepherded more than 30 interested neighbors onto the path toward making a new council reality.

By the time the meeting convened at the Southwest Branch Library, Arbor Heights neighbors – also without a community council – had been invited too.

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Agenda announced for Westwood/Roxhill/Arbor Heights community-council (re)launch

Tomorrow night – as reported here last week – it’s the regrouping/launch meeting for a Westwood/Roxhill/Arbor Heights community council, 6:30 pm at the Southwest Branch Library (35th and Henderson), in hopes that will help neighbors join together to tackle community concerns including crime prevention. Mat McBride, Delridge Neighborhoods District Council chair, has just sent the agenda – see it here (PDF) or click ahead:

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Date set for Westwood/Roxhill neighborhood council re-organization meeting (Arbor Heights invited too)

After the recent Roxhill Park robberies, it was suggested that it’s time for the Westwood/Roxhill neighborhood to re-organize a neighborhood council – and, if interested, perhaps even reach southward to Arbor Heights, which doesn’t have an active neighborhood council either. If you’re from any of those areas and interested in potentially being part of this, the date is set for a meeting to come find out more: Next Tuesday, February 5th, 6:30-8 pm at the Southwest Branch of the Seattle Public Library (35th and Henderson), according to Mat McBride, who chairs the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council (which includes reps from area community councils and other major organizations). Mat says the agenda’s still a work in progress,

Morgan Community Association: Lowman project, bike lane, festival updates

January 17, 2013 6:02 pm
|    Comments Off on Morgan Community Association: Lowman project, bike lane, festival updates
 |   Neighborhoods | Utilities | West Seattle news

Live and/or work in the Morgan Junction area? Here’s what your community council – the Morgan Community Association – is up to, as discussed at MoCA’s quarterly meeting last night at The Kenney (WSB sponsor):

SEWER-OVERFLOW-CONTROL FACILITY AT LOWMAN BEACH: Doug Marsano from the King County Wastewater Treatment Division brought an update on the Murray (Lowman Beach) combined-sewer-overflow-control storage-tank facility planned across the street from Lowman Beach Park. As shown in our photo above, he brought renderings from the final design – which made the deadline to be submitted to the state by the end of 2012 – which includes some additional view spots for the public related to the wall (as shown in the materials from the December 11th community advisory group meeting). Regarding the timetable – by the time MoCA meets again in April, Marsano said, the buildings on the site will be gone. In the meantime, the county will go to bid soon for the major work on the project, which is expected to be completed by mid-to-late 2016.

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Next chance to tour West Seattle fire stations: 1 month away

Tours of local Seattle Fire Department stations are always a hot ticket – and tonight we know that the city’s Neighbor Appreciation Day, exactly one month away, is your next chance, so here’s an early alert. SFD says three of West Seattle’s five fire stations will be open that day, 11 am-1 pm February 9th – Station 11 at 16th/Holden in Highland Park, Station 32 at 38th/Alaska in The Triangle, and Station 37 at 35th/Holden in Sunrise Heights. (The Department of Neighborhoods will announce other Neighbor Appreciation Day events soon.) WSB photo from Station 37 on 2012’s Neighbor Appreciation Day

Admiral Neighborhood Association kicks off 2013 Tuesday night

January 7, 2013 9:46 pm
|    Comments Off on Admiral Neighborhood Association kicks off 2013 Tuesday night
 |   Neighborhoods | West Seattle news

Live and/or work in the Admiral area? Start the new year by checking out your community council. David Whiting, newly elected president of the Admiral Neighborhood Association, sent word of the agenda for tomorrow night’s 2013 kickoff meeting . The agenda includes discussions of 2013 events – including ANA’s signature Summer Concerts at Hiawatha series – and an upcoming mayoral walking tour in The Admiral District. The group also will discuss recommendations for serving/supporting a local charity. All are welcome – even if you just want to observe; the meeting is at 7 pm Tuesday, lower-level meeting room at Admiral Congregational Church, California/Hill.

Aircraft concerns? FAA, port announce new meeting date/place

October 29, 2012 10:45 pm
|    Comments Off on Aircraft concerns? FAA, port announce new meeting date/place
 |   Neighborhoods | West Seattle news

The Port of Seattle has announced the new date for what was originally an October 23rd meeting to talk with South and West Seattle residents about concerns related to “existing flight procedures” – such as noise and flight patterns. The rescheduled meeting to include representatives of the FAA, port (which runs Sea-Tac Airport), and county (which runs Boeing Field) is now scheduled for 6:30-8:30 pm Tuesday, November 13, at the auditorium of Cleveland High School (5511 15th Avenue South; map).