By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The hit-and-run crash that injured a child on Alki last Sunday afternoon was one of three major topics at Thursday night’s Alki Community Council gathering.

SEATTLE POLICE: Crime-prevention cordinator Matt Brown, filling in for Jennifer Satterwhite during her maternity leave, brought information about Sunday’s hit-run in the 2700 block of Alki Avenue SW. Though SPD had told us earlier this week that there was no arrest, Brown said police did find the driver and that the City Attorney’s Office would be pursuing charges. Brown said the driver’s vehicle was impounded and said it “sounds ike the driver panicked” and that’s why they left the scene. As the victim’s mother noted in comments following our original story, the child was treated at a hospital but able to leave the same day.

Brown said precinct commander Captain Krista Bair reahed out to SDOT shortly afterward about safety measures for that stretch of Alki Avenue; SDOT’s Bill LaBorde daid they’re “seriously tracking this injury” and pointed out that the city already has implemented a lot of safety improvements on Alki. But, the more people request safety measures, the more likely they are to be implemented. People are advocating for more improvements “because we don’t want this to happen again,” Brown said. Community advocate Steve Pumphrey said that’s great but unfortunately it always seems that nothing happens until there’s “been an event.” He mentioned previous instances in which the City Council passed measures such as technology initiatives for speed and noise enforcement among other things – but they were never implemented. ACC president Charlotte Starck noted that this particular stretch of Alki has a preschool, arcades, and other reasons for increased presence of children, and yet = decisions don’t seem to reflect the reality. Starck plans more conversations with SDOT as well as with Councilmember Rob Saka.

Also surfaced, 63rd SW has been left out of the most-recent traffic-calming plans (although the forthcoming “Healthy Street” updates have a pedestrian-activated light coming). But: “People have to care that there’s a crosswalk,” said one attendee. Another thought police should be there enforcing. Another attendee complained, “The speed bumps are launch pads for the racers.” “They’re too far apart,” added Pumphrey. Has SDOT walked all these areas? asked another person – particulary 59th, where a school will reopen in a year? One fact offered: The “Healthy Street” overhaul has shut down racing by Constellation Park.

ALKI HOLIDAY LIGHTS: Stacy Bass-Walden (above center), Zak Nyberg (above left), and Wyatt Carlock are organizing Alki Holiday Lights – which was put together on short notice last year, and this year has a $5,000 city grant to assist. Like last year, it’s the same night that the Argosy Cruises Christmas Ship comes to Alki (last year, before Thanksgiving, but this year, just a week before Christmas, December 18). They’re signing up businesses to participate, with plans so far including strolling carolers from West Seattle High School, Santa photos at the bathhouse, business offers including candy canes at Seaside Grill, free waffle with drink purchase at Happy Lemon, a TBA West Seattle Arcade “surprise,” free cocoa at some venues, cider and cookies too, plus free baklava at Christo’s, and free cider and kids crafts and bake sale at the Log House Museum. Also a bonfire, a DJ with holiday music for karaoke … This year the titular lights will include double the luminaria, 100 instead of 50, so they need a couple dozen volunteers to help with those (email the ACC if you’re interested).

2026 LEADERSHIP: President Starck started with words of appreciation for two trustees and longtime board members – past president Tony Fragada and trustee Will Winter, who were there, and outgoing treasurer Kathy Olson, who was not. Amy Anderson, who has been serving as acting VP and is incoming treasurer, said she “kind of stumbled into Alki Community Council” after people in her building were involved in the Harbor/Alki “safety group.” For the big picture, Starck explained, the group is marking 40 years (as the ACC logo notes, “est. 1985”), “and we want to keep the momentum going forward.” The board is adding a communications/marketing position. Lynn Drake, a retired engineer who’s been doing social media for ACC, is excited about some of the initiatives that the group has taken on. She talked about her support for urbanism and talking to ACC leadership to find out if she coud serve even if her philosophy was different. Starck made it clear that this isn’t an ideology-driven group – they all share big goals such as neighborhood safety. Starck also talked about the intensity of the wrk as president, advocating for Alki, often “on the phone” with government or other reps. She said she’s willing to take it on for another year as a “transition” year for another leader to emerge for future years.

BETWEEN MEETINGS: Watch for updates at alkicommunitycouncil.org.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Meet next year’s Admiral Neighborhood Association leadership:

Left to right, Becky Crompton is the new treasurer; staying on are secretary Meagan Loftin, president Joanie Jacobs and vice president Cheryl Lea. The vote came during Tuesday night’s every-other-month ANA gathering, this time
held at West Seattle Realty (WSB sponsor).

Seattle Police didn’t send a rep this time, so that meant no crime/safety discussion to open the meeting. But there were two other topics of note:

ANA’S WINTER WONDERLAND: The business-district holiday celebration will be back for a third year on Saturday, December 13; Loftin is overseeing it. The night’s meeting venue also will play a major role during Winter Wonderland – West Seattle Realty (2715 California SW) will be the scene of a disco-dance party with Santa! Other businesses – mostly along California, between Walker and Charlestown, will host holiday activities, plus the Admiral Church choir will carol, and West Seattle High School students will have an arts pop-up. Watch for details and a map here next week. The festivities are all intended to “encourage everybody to shop small” this holiday season. (And if your Admiral business isn’t already signed up to participate, you can still jump in – Friday’s the deadline!)

(Schmitz Park, in the center of pilot/photographer Long Bach Nguyen‘s 2012 image)

SCHMITZ PARK CREEK RESTORE: Tim DiMarco and Dan Nye came with an update on the vision for Schmitz Preserve Park, 53 acres of largely untouched forest with a lot of history. (Here’s our original report from when the organization went public a year and a half ago.) Nye is a forest steward and talked briefly about Parks’ light touch on clearing some trees that fell during recent storms, leaving much of the wood to rot. He also talked about investigating why the creek doesn’t flow beyond the park, which “is a very important place for the indigenous people … the ravine was saved as a sacred space.” The ravine is likely the result of glaciers and Seattle Fault earthquake activity: “We want to preserve (the ravine).” He talked about the site’s history, with even President Roosevelt visiting. He shared the history of how they got to this point, talking with the city, with tribes, with schools “about how the park had been used and how it might be uded in the future.”

One big problem: Invasive specied – ivy, holly, blackberries, laurel. Everyone is welcome to come volunteer digging up invasives “and we have a blast – you really make a difference.” They had a big planting party at 51st/Orleans last weekend planting native species. (Another one is planned 10 am this Saturday, November 22.) They think what they’re doing can inspire other neighborhoods.

They also talked about the UW students who did a presentation a year ago of what concept plans might look like (WSB coverage here) – they’re still interested in feedback – they’re hoping the students will revisit what they did – they’re hoping to replant part of the park into native species, which would nurture salmon.

“This all of course will cost money,” said Nye, so they’ve formed a 501(c)3 nonprofit – they continue working on the possibility of restoring and daylighting the stream and bringing back the salmon. Their first grant is from a foundation (updated) associated with the estate of Patsy Bullitt. They say Parks plans to establish an endowment fund.

They periodically lead what is actually a historic tour – you can see where this brook comes down into the forest – “it’s a gorgeous stream,” says DiMarco, and it pops out of the hillsides. As they troop up, they talk about the history and the people who would come over here from other parts of the city. “It’s a huge beautiful forest; it’s amazing,” said Nye, “and it’s right here at your doorstep.” They hope to be able to rename it Alki Creek someday.

What’s the timeline for their project? 10 years or so, Nye replied.

NEXT MEETING: January 13, at Admiral HUB (4320 SW Hill).

BONUS QUESTION: There was a round of Admiral trivia to determine winners of the door prizes. First one: Who was the admiral after who Admiral was named?

The Admiral Neighborhood Association usually holds its every-other-month gatherings on second Tuesdays, but this time it’s on the third Tuesday – two nights away. Different location this time, too – West Seattle Realty (2715 California SW; WSB sponsor), whose spacious headquarters double as a venue for performances, art receptions, and as in this case, community meetings. As previewed on the ANA website, the meeting is expected to include an update from SPD (bring crime/safety questions if you have them), the latest on plans for the Admiral Winter Wonderland holiday celebration, and a vote on next year’s officers. All are welcome, 7 pm Tuesday.

By Torin Record-Sand
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Projects, crime stats, and City Council candidates were on the agenda when the Morgan Community Association had its quarterly meeting this past Wednesday at West Seattle Church of the Nazarene. About a dozen people attended, both in person and online.

The big news to come out of the meeting was the cancellation of next year’s Morgan Junction Community Festival. The festival was usually one of the first of the summer, held in June, featuring local musicians, vendors, and a place for other local community groups to advocate to attendees. The reason given for its cancellation given was a combination of a lack of funding, issues with overall attendance, and a lack of variety in new groups to bring to the event. “We need new blood to bring the festival to life … In additional conversations, we determined those things had not occurred.” said Christopher Miller, MoCA secretary. (President Deb Barker could not attend, so board members led the meeting.) He also said, however, they were considering other opportunities for MoCA to present events: “We are looking at new ways to activate public space in one-off ways, looking at projects like that, and other directions we can try to go when the [Morgan Junction] park (addition) is open.”

The other big news was that the park addition site will be open to the public as soon as November as it transitions between phases of development. The site has been hydroseeded , meaning that a new blanket of grass will grow soon over the filled and leveled site, expedited by the rainy season.

Olivia Reed, a planner from Seattle Parks and Recreation, came to deliver a presentation on the status of the site, north of the existing park. “The [additional site] project will go into construction winter 2026 [as in, December of next year], so the fencing around the site will be removed in the next couple of months, and it’ll be open until construction begins.” she said. She also said that the addition site project progress is on pace, with the primary design consultants are under contract. They are working now on finalizing the design requirements for the project. She said there will be additional chances for the community to input feedback on the proposed design before construction begins. (The issue of how and whether it will include a skatable area has not yet been settled – here’s our recent update after a site meeting with Parks reps and community members including the group MJAWA that has long been working for the feature to be in the project.)

Read More

If you’re interested in finding out more about what’s happening in your neighborhood, you’re in luck if you live, work, shop, study, play in one of the three West Seattle neighborhoods whose community coalitions meet this week.

FAUNTLEROY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, TUESDAY: This is a hybrid monthly FCA board meeting, with community members welcome to attend too, 6 pm Tuesday (October 14) at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse (9131 California SW) or online. Agenda highlights are here; you can register for online attendance at fauntleroy.net/meetings.

MORGAN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, WEDNESDAY: This is a hybrid quarterly meeting of MoCA, 7 pm Wednesday (October 15) at West Seattle Church of the Nazarene (42nd SW and SW Juneau) or online. Agenda highlights and the online-attendance link are here.

ALKI COMMUNITY COUNCIL, THURSDAY: This is an in-person-only monthly meeting of the ACC, 7 pm Thursday (October 16) at Alki UCC (6115 SW Hinds). Agenda highlights are in the newsletter the ACC sent tonight.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

West Seattle’s first community-council meeting of fall was on the second night of fall, as the Admiral Neighborhood Association held its every-other-month gathering at the Admiral HUB (formerly church) this past Tuesday. We’ve already featured two news items from the meeting; here’s the full story:

SOUTHWEST PRECINCT POLICE: This briefing was presented by Lt. Wes Collier, the second-watch (dayside) commander, relatively new to the Southwest Precinct, after a variety of roles in the department – “I’ve been around for a while.”

He brought an update on the 27th SW shooting, as noted here, and also talked about Admiral-specific crime trends. Robberies are up 44 percent – a category of crime covering more than you think – could be a shoplifter making a threat or using violence. There’ve been four more in Admiral this year to date compared to last year. “That is a cause for concern.” He also said Southwest Precinct response times are slower than the – minute goal – currently 10 minutes, even for highest-priority calls (“if you tell me someone is here right now”). He said he’d be addressing that at a gathering Monday, the next day most of his officers are on duty because of an overlap. He declared he’s “no stranger to holding people accountable.” An attendee asked, “What’s the vibe about the end of the consent decree?” Reply: “A weight off our shoulders.” Another question: What about staffing? (As noted in our story on the mayor’s proposed budget – more hires, fewer departures than expected.) What about planning for next year’s World Cup matches? Planning began last year, Lt. Collier said. “We treat all the (big sporting events) as practice runs” for that, plus they’ve had a lot of drills – they’ve also sent police and POET (protest-focused team) members to London “to see how they handle it.”

Lt. Collier also noted the Traffic Unit has two motorcycle officers day shift who can do, and are doing, traffic enforcement. One attendee had words of praise for officers who were on Alki on the Fourth of July; another attendee said the Don Armeni Boat Ramp nighttime closures have been helpful: “It kept things nice and calm.” Lt. Collier said he’s going to dedicate two officers to an “09” car – emphasis patrol (which has been done on Alki and Westwood), taking orders directly from the watch commander rather than dispatchers (unless of course there’s a major emergency). He hopes to dedicate them to vehicle thefts, among other things. He also gave a short introduction to Matt Brown, who’ll be filling in for Jennifer Satterwhite as Crime Prevention Coordinator during her upcoming maternity leave. (Brown is South Precinct CPC right now.)

SCHOOL BOARD: Board president and West Seattle (and vicinity) director Gina Topp (who’s also a local small-biz owner, as a partner in Admiral’s Mission Cantina) was the next guest.

Enrollment is steady, finances are not – they’re facing an $80 million deficit, she noted, out of a $1.3 billion budget for a 49,000-student district. She said they’re trying hard to “protect what students need most.” Then there’s the superintendent search. They’ve heard from families, students, other community members, and they have a “leadership profile.” As noted in our Tuesday story, they have 41 qualified applicants for the job. “That is great – we are super excited about that number.” First review as a board is this Friday, she said. And as we recently reported, Alki Elementary remains on (revised) schedule to open in September of next year. One man noted that 43 percent of his property taxes go to education; Topp agreed it’s regressive taxation. Another attendee noted that West Seattle HS’s student body count – more than 1500 – is larger than last year, so how’s the district count now? Holding steady (100 more than last year, per figures presented to the board this week), although the graduating class is larger than incoming kindergarten, Topp said. “Looks like we may be plateau’ing a bit.”

An attendee who identified herself as a late-career SPS nurse said she’s one for 1,600 at her (non-WS) school, and before that 1,100. “We saved this community during COVID.” She talked about the effects of the lunch split – today she had two suicide threats, a dozen diabetics, and the idea of one nurse handling 1200 students is almost impossible. She seldom gets lunch and says it’s an impossible job for one person to handle. “You need to look at Health Services” and related areas, she implored. Another attendee mentioned that 2026 graduation dates are right up against the local FIFA World Cup matches and that’s going to make things difficult. “I hope there’s been some thought about moving the ceremonies early.” The attendee also talked about his child’s school using PTA fundraising for a school nurse and counselor, and he hoped that would be allowed where it’s possible so that district resources could be freed up to cover such services at schools that don’t have a fundraising capacity. He also suggested the district could be making more money off some of its facilities, like Nino Cantu Douthwest Athletic Complex. Overall, he said, “I’d like to see a new focus on fundraising.”

In wrapping, Topp noted that the next night’s board meeting – which also tackled the high-school lunch issue (WSB coverage here) – was planned in work session format, so no in-person public comment

EVENTS: President Joanie Jacobs sang the praises of volunteers. First, the two new coordinators of the Fourth of July Kids’ Parade … the organizers of the AMP concert series … and everybody who helped with the Admiral Block Party. Now it’s fall and it’s time for more fun, including Trick or Treating. Volunteers will be needed for the October 24 trick-or-treat event, as well as December 13 business event Winter Wonderland. Trick or Treating will go from Avamere in North Admiral to Charlestown/California in South Admiral. It’ll go back to 3 pm to 6 pm this year. Also ahead, 7 pm October 7 at West Seattle Realty (2715 California SW; WSB sponsor) is a gathering for prospective volunteers, for both the trick-or-treating event and Winter Wonderland.

ADMIRAL EMERGENCY HUB: Hiawatha is a gathering spot in case of catastrophe, with a big box full of emergency supplies. There’s a new hub captain, and the outgoing one spoke to the group, explaining what would happen there in case of trouble – the communication that would happen because regular channels would be down. Lt. Collier was asked about police readiness; he said they’d of course do what it took to help keep people safe, but also advised that people sign up for Alert Seattle, and mentioned that many more officers are trained as EMTs now.

NEXT ANA MEETING: November, which will include board elections. Possibly November 18, since the second Tuesday is Veterans’ Day and they don’t think that’s the proper night for a community council meeting. Watch the website for updates.

Often on Sundays, we look ahead to notable events in the coming week. This Tuesday (September 23), the Admiral Neighborhood Association invites community members to its every-other-month general gathering. Here’s the ANA preview:

Our special guest will be Seattle Public School Board President Gina Topp, who will be with us to talk about the state of the District as we begin a new school year. The meeting will now be held at 7 pm at the “Admiral Hub” (formerly Admiral Church) building on SW Hill Street and 44th Ave SW. Also present will be one of our friends from the SW Precinct. We will have some highlights from our Summer events as well as a look ahead to Fall/Winter.

P.S. The Admiral Hub itself – and what’s happening with the building now that the church and preschool have moved out – will be the topic of a WSB story we hope to publish tonight.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

“It’s been a busy month so far,” observed Alki Community Council president Charlotte Starck at the start of last night’s meeting. That was no exaggeration, given the major topics the meeting spanned in the course of just an hour and a half. They included:

REZONING VOTE: Starck mentioned the results of the Comprehensive Plan amendment votes hours earlier, including the rejection of citywide Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck‘s Amendment 34 proposal to add an area of Alki to be designated as a Neighborhood Center. She had circulated word of the proposal, made in an amendment just a month ago, and said she and the ACC weren’t advocating for or against it, just saying that there wasn’t enough notification about it compared to the many months of lead time for other proposed Neighborhood Centers. One attendee was concerned about how they’ll get word if the Alki Neighborhood Center idea is revived again in the future. (And in fact, Starck tells WSB today that an expected proposal at the council’s 2 pm meeting today would call for spending a year studying Alki and the other seven potential Neighborhood Centers that were in Amendment 34 – see page 6 here.)

PARKS UPDATE INCLUDING BOAT RAMP CHANGE: Jon Jainga from Seattle Parks, who’s in charge of Park Rangers among other things, presented department updates from what was dubbed the “Summer of Safety” plan. He said one big lesson learned involved city-operated boat ramps including West Seattle’s Don Armeni Boat Ramp – they were going to go back to 24-hour operation but now the gates will be closed at Don Armeni and Golden Gardens at 11:30 pm until further notice. Private security will close the gates and a ranger will be on until 12:30 am to check on them, until Park Rangers’ shifts will move up to a 10:30 pm end. Jainga noted, though, that he still has 19 rangers for the entire city.

Stats included that rangers have visited Alki 168 times, performed 142 customer-service acts, educated people aboard littering and drinking, and that off-leash dogs have been an ongoing problem. “We’re not police officers, we’re more of a park ambassador,” aimed at getting voluntary compliance. But if they have to escalate, they can cite – and/or call police for no-trespassing orders.

At Alki, he said, rangers gave 2,075 liquor violence warnings, 515+ offleash animal warnings, 600+ for urinating in public, 220 for smoking, 110 for unpermitted vendors on park property (they’re working to get right to enforce on sidewalk), 104 for litter, 2 for vehicles parked in unauthorized times, 666 for fires in unpermitted areas, 45 911 calls for police assistance, 18 calls to SFD for help, 6 people referred to the Unified Care Team. Jainga said they’re still analyzing everything, because it was a first summer for many things – but he said the ongoing concerns are the same at other major city parks.

SEATTLE POLICE: Precinct commander Capt. Krista Bair (photo above) and Officer German Barreto were there, as were Community Service Officers Jamie and Helene, as was Crime Prevention Coordinator Matt Brown, who will add the Southwest Precinct to his South Precinct duties when SW CPC Jennifer Satterwhite goes on maternity leave next month.

Read More

Sweta sent the report and photos, so neighbors’ good deeds in South Alki would get wider exposure:

There’s a man and neighbors who have been hard at work improving the Spokane Street staircase.

They’ve cleared most of the bramble and added new plantings as well as adding the bench and the fish artwork (the man is a woodworker too).

I thought it might be worth noting these folks and their efforts on the blog.