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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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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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.

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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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).

(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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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.

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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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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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

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.

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).

Next Tuesday’s planned meeting for Seattle’s south communities to talk with the FAA about aircraft noise and flight-pattern changes has been postponed, with no new date yet. So reports The Seattle Times (WSB news partner); we’ll check with the FAA tomorrow and let you know when there’s a new date. The meeting was announced a month ago following Mayor McGinn‘s request last month for a south-side meeting, after the FAA closed the comment period on the Greener Skies plan despite having meetings only in Ballard (WSB coverage here) and Federal Way.

How do you get early word of development/construction projects planned for your neighborhood – and if one goes to Design Review, what’s that like? Those were among the questions answered at this week’s monthly meeting of the Admiral Neighborhood Association – which also included other topics such as pursuing a grant to get a long-sought traffic signal:

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