West Seattle, Washington
02 Friday
In case you haven’t already heard – the votes have been counted, the contract deal is ratified, and the almost-two-month-long strike’s over. A now ex-striker in WSB-land points us to the official announcement on the union website. Some workers go back to work tomorrow.
On partner site White Center Now, we have posted the first part of our story about tonight’s public-safety-budget “town hall” meeting at Steve Cox Memorial Park, and will continue to add to it. For starters, we have video of Sheriff Sue Rahr explaining why she has decided not to close her department’s White Center storefront. She was joined at the meeting by (left to right after the sheriff) Superior Court Presiding Judge Bruce Hilyer, West Seattle-residing District Court Chief Presiding Judge Barbara Linde, and Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, all of whom detailed potential cuts that would affect city residents as well as the unincorporated-area residents who made up most of tonight’s audience.
Not far away, so we’re mentioning it here: 10 am-3 pm. Read more here. (Meantime, if you do business in West Seattle and have a job opening for which you are recruiting candidates right now, remember you can post it free in the West Seattle Jobs Offered section of the WSB Forums.)
Seattle Police just put out a citywide call for public help in identifying the man shown in the sketch at left. The news release says: “On September 25th 2008, at approximately 11:00 p.m., the below-described suspect sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl in the yard of her home in the 2200 block of Northeast 143rd Street. The suspect is described as a white male, 55-60 years old, 5’07-5’10 very skinny build. Hair/beard possibly blondish/gray. Last seen wearing, a navy blue knit cap (recovered at scene). Gray hooded sweatshirt. Dark jeans. Alcohol on breath, dirty. Knife or sharp object in pocket of sweatshirt. ‘Holes’ on forehead/cheeks. (Possibly pock marks, large pores or bumps) Light scar below right eye. Anyone with information about this suspect is asked to call the Seattle Police Sexual Assault Unit at 206-684-5573.”
Not West Seattle-specific, but, especially on a slow news day, worth passing along. We found out about EcoMetro from Twitter,. They linked a tweet pointed to this post kicking off a “sustainability journal,” with tips for saving money and energy. (EcoMetro is apparently related to the Chinook Book; just so happens we mentioned in the Freebies, Deals, Sales forum last night that the West Seattle chapter of CoolMom.org is raising money through Chinook Book sales – find out more here.)
Thanks to tips from eagle-eyed WSB’ers, we were able to tell you yesterday morning about the movie “The Whole Truth,” starring Eric Roberts and “Law and Order”‘s Elisabeth Rohm, shooting in Lincoln Park. Today, we know where they’ve moved on to – our friends at MyBallard.com found them shooting in a more publicly accessible spot right on Ballard Avenue. P.S. The movie’s director, Colleen Patrick, briefly mentioned yesterday’s West Seattle shoot in the newest update on her blog.
We’ve received a few notes from live 911 log-watchers about the “fire in building” callout on Harbor Island, listed as 16th/Lander (map). We heard it was tapped sometime back and didn’t go; there’s no official Fire Department update so far but a P-I blog says it was a pier fire at the former Fisher mill site.
With so much development in West Seattle, many people have asked what can be done to keep historic buildings from being lost. One step: Get educated and find out what’s possible (what’s not). Historic Seattle offers a chance to do just that, just a few weeks from now, and preservation advocate Christine Palmer sent this announcement specifically for you, calling the event a “training opportunity for neighborhood residents to protect what’s left of West Seattle’s heritage” (and other neighborhoods whose residents may choose to participate):
HISTORIC SEATTLE PROVIDES A WORKSHOP FOR COMMUNITY RESIDENTS TO BECOME THEIR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD PRESERVATION EXPERTS
Struggling to understand Seattle’s historic preservation ordinance?
Disturbed by insensitive new construction in your neighborhood?
Seeking procedures for dealing with local historic properties?
Who is on the landmarks board anyway?PROTECTING HISTORIC SITES
Good Shepherd Center
4649 Sunnyside Avenue N., Room 202 (map)
Saturday, October 18, 2008, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Reservations required
$30 admission includes lunchHistoric Seattle will provide the answers to these questions and more at a full-day workshop featuring presentations by local historic preservation experts. Advance reservations are required! Workshop fees are $25 for Historic Seattle members and $30 for the general public. Please register online at:
www.historicseattle.org/events/eventdetail.aspx?id=303Workshop participants will enjoy a lunch delivered to the Good Shepherd Center and receive an extensive packet of useful information about local, state, and national preservation issues and opportunities. The agenda will cover the following topics:
WHAT ARE HISTORIC PROPERTIES? Presenters will provide an overview of Seattle’s diverse and unique historic resources including the distinctions between “eligible” and “designated” sites.
NEIGHBORHOOD SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION. Want to know more about rallying local residents for preservation issues? What should you do if the owner opposes the landmark designation? What are the alternatives to designated historic buildings and neighborhoods? Would a conservation district provide enough protection?
SUCCESS STORIES FROM NEIGHBORS WHO LANDMARKED PROPERTIES IN SOUTH PARK, FREMONT, AND CAPITOL HILL
COUNTY, NATIONAL AND STATE PRESERVATION PROGRAMS. Seattle and King County preservation legislation is different, but how? What are the advantages of listing on the Washington Heritage Register or the National Register of Historic Places?
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES. Help is out there, but you need to find out if your historic building qualifies.
Presenters will include:
Staff for the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board in the Seattle
Department of Neighborhoods
Local Consulting Historians and Architects
Former members of the City Landmarks Preservation Board
Staff from the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation
Staff for the King County Landmarks Commission
Staff from 4Culture
And more!Deadline for registration at the workshop: Wednesday, October 15, 5:00 pm (online registration link)
By the way, if you’re wondering what West Seattle has on the list of official city landmarks – all 14 are shown here.
Just in case you hadn’t heard, it’s the first debate in this fall’s Chris Gregoire vs. Dino Rossi rematch. 9 pm, channel 4, or live online. If you want to discuss it afterward, there’s a governor’s-race topic in the WSB Forums’ 2008 Election section (or start a new topic!).
As mentioned in our report on the last Highland Park Action Committee meeting, the West Seattle fight against two proposed WS city-jail sites is in a bit of a lull now, awaiting the next official stage of the city’s process. However, those closely watching what’s happening in the areas around all of the “final four” sites might be interested to know, there’s a public meeting tomorrow night in Magnolia, focused on the proposed Interbay site, with at least one city councilmember expected to attend.
Since some WSB commenters have pointed out that the mayor has been focusing on bags and trees lately but hasn’t made any major announcements about crime/violence, we feel duty-bound to pass along word of the media advisory we just received – he’s planning an announcement at Garfield HS tomorrow morning about a “new initiative geared to decrease youth violence.” We’ve got WSB commitments closer to home so we won’t be there, but we’ll link city-provided details and citywide coverage when it’s announced.
Quick highlights from the West Seattle Weekend Lineup:
ALL DAY TODAY, AND INTO THE NIGHT: 11 am is the start time for the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza dedication celebration, which continues on into the evening, with the actual dedication ceremony at 1:30 pm; schedule here.
MIDDAY TODAY: The first Grad Night fundraiser car wash of the year for West Seattle High School‘s Class of ’09 is 10 am-2 pm in the school’s parking lot. Bonus for all patrons and volunteers: Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) donated coffee gift certificates!
ALSO MIDDAY TODAY: You’re invited to tour Chief Sealth High School‘s temporary digs at Boren (5950 Delridge; map) and enjoy a barbecue, 11 am-2 pm.
One of the many Boeing workers in WSB-land just forwarded us this word from the union – Machinists are going on strike at a minute past midnight tonight. As has been pointed out, that means a lot of families and potentially businesses affected in our area (and around the Boeing facilities not that far to our east, among others), so we wanted to post it here. This is the page on the union website with details.
If you’re looking out at Puget Sound, toward Bainbridge or northward, early this morning, you might see the USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63; US Navy photo at left) on the last leg of what’s expected to be its final journey: The 47-year-old carrier is expected to tie up around 9 o’clock this morning in Bremerton, where it will be decommissioned (a public ceremony is expected sometime next year). The Kitty Hawk has been sailing up the coast from San Diego, where it stopped last month after a 10-year deployment to Yokosuka, Japan. ADDED 8:59 AM: Gary J got this photo before the Kitty Hawk turned into Rich Passage:
Trouble at the Vashon ferry terminal, described rather simply in this update from Washington State Ferries, but more vividly by Luckie, who writes:
… spent the afternoon at a friend’s house, about a half-mile up the hill from the Vashon ferry dock. Around 3:00 we heard lots of sirens. Then, the KING5 helicopter circling overhead. It turns out a guy in a pickup with a huge trailerload of rusty scrap had come down the hill, lost his brakes, and crashed into a couple of dumpsters right next to one of the ferry slips, pushing a dumpster into the water. He then jumped into the water himself and tried to swim away. We caught the 4:30 ferry, and the pickup and trailer were still there, roped off with yellow tape. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera! This may affect traffic going to Vashon ….
We saw the chopper too; went down to Fauntleroy thinking something might be up, saw only a Vashon aid car rushing away in the downtown direction, now we know why. At Vashon, WSDOT says Slip 2 is temporarily closed; we’ll let you know when it reopens. 6:36 PM UPDATE: WSF says Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth boats are running about half an hour behind because of this.
Two of the hottest recent topics here, so we wanted to share what our fellow neighborhood-news sites have unearthed: SDOT told the Rainier Valley Post (whose neighborhood is home to Car-Free Day #2 next weekend, while we have #3 at Alki on 9/7) that some Capitol Hill residents who got towed because of CFD #1 are being reimbursed; Blogging Georgetown digs up more of who’s involved in the anti-bag-fee campaign.
The only West Seattle connection here is County Councilmember Dow Constantine, but “Voice of the Mariners” Dave Niehaus (at the center of the photo, next to DC) is beloved here as well as elsewhere in M’s-land, so we wanted to show you this county-provided photo. Constantine and fellow councilmembers paid tribute to Niehaus at their meeting today; from the news release:
“Dave Niehaus loves the players and he loves the game, but he has never forgotten that his first duty is to the fan sitting at home,” said Constantine. “To the radio listener, this excitement and wonder for our national pastime is what makes Dave Niehaus special.”
Also per the news release, Niehaus had this to say: “Those magic moments of 1995 will return to Safeco Field. I promise you, they will return.” Sure hope so. (Semi-pertinent side note: When we got here in ’91, and went to our first M’s game in the Kingdome, its interior signage carried the name “King County Stadium.”)
We’ve had this on the WSB Events calendar ever since we spotted it on the USCG Local Notice for Mariners (a wonderful weekly bulletin to watch) — a fireworks show tonight for the conclusion of the Downtown Sailing Series races. We finally succeeded in getting details about the show, with a call to Olympia-based Entertainment Fireworks — they say the show will be from a barge offshore at Elliott Bay Marina in Magnolia, just west of the Port of Seattle’s piers. Time — probably 8:45-9 pm-ish. Rain or shine, says the fireworks company — their main pyrotechnics wizard, Ken Julian (with whom we worked while managing TV fireworks shows a few years back), is out assembling the show right now. So you’re likely to be able to see something from north-facing West Seattle spots.
This just popped up on the LA Times Twitter feed we monitor (remember, you can follow us on Twitter, at westseattleblog; we also have set up a Twitter account for our partner site at whitecenternow): The “Save the Plastic Bag Coalition” has sued the Southern California city of Manhattan Beach over its plastic-bag ban, claiming the city failed to analyze environmental effects of the ban.
Just saw this, regarding the power problem. We’ll start watching traffic early just in case. Seattle City Light is having a media briefing at 1:30 pm. Here’s the news release SCL sent literally a minute after we originally published this:Read More
These events aren’t happening IN West Seattle, but they involve West Seattleites who have lent WSB a major helping hand at times when we needed it – plus, they’re interesting events in their own right – so we’re helping spread the word:
PHOTOGRAPHERS’ CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: West Seattle lawyer Venkat Balasubramani is on a panel tackling this topic; WSB has been blessed with so many great photography contributions, we thought a few of you might be interested. Here’s more info including how to RSVP for the event.
GNOMEDEX 8.0: West Seattleite Stuart Maxwell, who provided us with technical consulting last year (including installation of software for the WSB Forums, the busiest neighborhood-news-site forums in the city), is helping coordinate Gnomedex, a tech conference next week at Bell Harbor on the downtown waterfront (a short distance away). Among the online-world luminaries who’ll be speaking, the guy behind the insanely popular ICanHasCheezburger.com. Check out the conference slate and registration information here.
One of those side things we wouldn’t usually bother you with ’cause it’s off-topic, but several people just sent e-mail and other messages so what the heck: The New York Times website has posted tomorrow’s Page 1 story about the massive delay in tonight’s Olympics-opener broadcast. Your editor here, identified as “a blogger in Seattle,” is quoted. Just because it’s an anecdote about the new world of new media, we thought we’d note how that happened, jumped off the home page so you can scroll by if you don’t care:Read More
JayDee caught five of the six Blue Angels during a flyby at Costco on 4th Ave. S., a Blue Angels-viewing spot that’s been discussed here before. And shortly after we originally published this post, David Hutchinson sent photos from the north side of Boeing Field – here’s #5 coming in:
As for us, yes, the Museum of Flight one more time – for the up-close-and-semi-personal look before and after the airshow:
Fat Albert, the Blue Angels’ support plane, is a U.S. Marine Corps C-130, and it flies just before the Angels; as it taxis before and after that flight (which ends with a thrilling nosedive landing at Boeing Field), a crew member always spyhops from the top hatch to wave a flag and just plain wave. From the fence by the FA-18s’ parking spot, you can wave to the BA pilots themselves, too:
More scenes from today, and what’s next for the Blue Angels, ahead:Read More
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