Burnout backlog: Thousands of street lights await repair
If a street light’s burned out on your block, go ahead and report it, but don’t expect it to get fixed fast. 
We’ve just learned there’s a big backlog of burned-out lights: 3,500 of Seattle City Light‘s street lights are awaiting repair. We got the tip from a White Center resident (City Light’s territory stretches south of the city limits) who said he’d called to report a burned-out light in his area and was told it could be six weeks. City Light’s Mike Eagan confirms that’s true: “There are many more trouble streetlights reported this time of year and the current estimated turn-around time for repair is 32 working days.” He says SCL replaces 21,000 street lights every year (that’s a fourth of the city’s 84,000 lights). The long wait time is a big change from what Eagan reported at local meetings we covered last year (including this one in July), when he said it was down to a matter of days. But he also tells WSB that one particularly dark stretch of West Seattle street that had been the source of many complaints — Delridge near Trenton — now has the lights back on. To report a burned-out light, use this online form or call 206-684-7056.
Fighting crime: King County prosecutor in West Seattle this week
Also from the “coming up” file – The man whose office is in charge of what happens to criminals after they’re arrested is scheduled to be in West Seattle this Thursday, 
at the South Delridge/White Center Community Safety Coalition meeting. Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg‘s last major public appearance in the West Seattle/White Center vicinity was four months ago, at the “Public Safety in Peril” town-hall meeting (WSB coverage here) that he, Sheriff Sue Rahr, and others held to discuss then-looming budget cuts. So what’s happened since then, and how is it affecting the task of keeping criminals off the street since they’re caught? You can find out firsthand on Thursday night at St. James Place, 9421 18th SW (map); the meeting starts at 6 pm with free dinner, as always, and continues till 8 pm – Seattle Police and King County Sheriff’s Office reps are always on hand to update crime trends in the south WS/WC area too.
West Seattle Crime Prevention Council: 911 explained, and more
From tonight’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting at the Southwest Precinct: As previewed earlier, the leader of SPD’s 911 center was the marquee guest, and the two-dozen-plus turnout was bigger than usual. What he had to say, coming up – but first, a few West Seattle crime notes: Overall, Lt. Steve Paulsen said, car prowls and burglaries jumped back up in January after a relatively quiet December, perhaps weather-related: 147 car prowls, more than 50 burglaries. But he also noted that police have no control over what happens after they’ve made an arrest, recapping the 14 burglary arrests made in the last couple months of the year – with 13 of those suspects back on the streets now. Meantime, the precinct is taking a new community-policing-focused tack with burglaries, having detectives call or visit all burglary victims who file reports, to follow up and to introduce themselves. One more crime note: Lt. Paulsen says last month’s stabbing incident near Riverview Playfield (covered here) was not random; some concerned neighbors were in attendance hoping to find out more about that. (And if you’re wondering, no new information about the unsolved shooting death of Steve Bushaw in The Junction on February 1st.) Now, on to the 911 explanation:Read More
Happening today/tonight: From 911 to WWII to taxes, and more
Highlights from the WSB West Seattle Events calendar:
911: When to call it, and when not to? Not as easy an answer as you might think. The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council has been pursuing concerns about citizen confusion and dispatcher response, and has the Seattle Police 911 boss as a special guest at tonight’s meeting. 7 pm, Southwest Precinct meeting room (map), and as always, you’ll also get the chance to learn about the latest West Seattle crime concerns and trends, as well as asking police any questions you have about what’s going on where you live.
WWII: The Rosie the Riveters of West Seattle are presenting a program about their lives during World War II at 2 pm today, cafe dining room at Providence Mount St. Vincent.
ANTIQUE SHOPPING: The folks at the Discovery Shop in The Junction (4535 California SW), which raises money for the American Cancer Society, are having their “yearly antique event,” open 10 am-4:30 pm daily except Sundays.
TAX HELP: Trained volunteers will be at the High Point Library branch, 5-7 pm tonight, to help you prepare a personal tax return. More info here.
YMCA West Seattle pool closed till Tuesday
Just in from Josh Sutton of the West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor):
We had a glass break over the corner of our pool deck (light fixture), and have closed the pool & Hot Area for a thorough cleaning. At this point, we plan to reopen on Tuesday morning (2/17), as we will take all of Monday to be sure we’ve gotten it safe again. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Look for further updates (here on WSB), our website (www.westseattleymca.org), or call us at 206-935-6000.
I am sorry to say that since it is President’s Day, the Southwest Community Center pool is also closed.
We’ll let you know tomorrow if they’re still on track to reopen Tuesday.
Alki Point sidewalk project tour: Work may start next month
In an icy wind, with seagulls and crows chasing an eagle overhead, we toured the Alki Point sidewalk project zone this morning with SDOT’s Sandra “Sam” Woods (foreground with documents) and Eric Sill, Alki Community Council leaders, and neighbors. Its goal: To finish the pedestrian connection on the north/west side of Alki, from the park’s western end at 65th SW to where open waterfront begins again at the Beach Drive turn. Much of the money for this work is coming from the Neighborhood Street Fund. It’s been a controversial project – some upset neighbors even threatened a lawsuit at one point. The plan detailed during today’s tour goes to great lengths – and widths – to avoid taking away the long-used perpendicular parking spaces outside waterfront homes (the major source of controversy) as seen here:
Along most of the currently sidewalkless area, the new sidewalk will be built out in what currently is part of the street, which as a result will be dramatically narrowed (it’s not an arterial anyway), while the parking spaces will remain on the other side of the new sidewalk. Technically, some of those spaces will be “public parking, but it will feel private,” Woods explains. Read on for more details from today’s tour:Read More
City goes public with Seattle’s “bicycle plan progress report”
Just back from Alki Point, where we toured the upcoming sidewalk-completion project zone with SDOT workers, neighbors, and Alki Community Council leaders. Working on that story right now – many more details since the update we published last weekend — but wanted to share something that landed in the inbox while we were out, the city’s announcement of its Bicycle Master Plan Progress Report – read on for the summary (which takes note of “sharrows” like the one above, which have appeared on many stretches of West Seattle roadway in the past year or so) and link:Read More
West Seattle Crime Watch: Heroic neighbor; car-prowl spree …
Just finished reviewing several days worth of Seattle Police reports from Southwest Precinct cases, as provided for media review (with certain details excised before the copies are made public, such as exact addresses). One of the cases that stood out, a heroic neighbor who helped catch burglars: At 7 pm last Tuesday, in the 5000 block of California, a man heard a loud noise, and saw two people entering his neighbor’s house. He called the neighbor, who was in a workshop on the alley; the neighbor went into the house and confronted three people, holding them at bay with a crowbar till police arrived. Officers arrested two women and a man. It appeared they had gotten in by kicking in a door. Read on for summaries of other police reports, including one night last week in which “car prowlers” were VERY busy in West Seattle, two bizarre burglaries involving water, a reader report of a break-in this week, and moreRead More
Pigeon Point Council: Greenbelt cleanup; snowstorm ratings …
(from left, Chief Sealth students DJ, Holly, Sara)
Tonight’s Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council meeting included an appearance by student reps of a project we’ve heard about at several meetings in the past few weeks: Chief Sealth High School students working with Cooper Elementary students to document and clean up the nearby section of the West Duwamish Greenbelt. This meeting, of course, had special significance, since Cooper is where the PP group meets. The students are looking for people who can help them compile neighborhood history, too. Another agenda item: Debbie Goetz from the city’s neighborhood-preparedness team led some post-mortem discussion of the December snow (even as some February flakes are falling). She asked attendees to rate the snowstorm on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being “extreme inconvenience” – most gave it a 7 or 8, and many voiced concerns about the bus troubles that happened throughout the storm; Debbie reiterated what’s been said at recent city meetings — Metro’s being brought into planning for future weather problems. She also passed out flyers for the next SNAP (Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepare) session in West Seattle, 6:30 pm March 12 at the Admiral Library branch.
Two more items discussed: Pete Spalding voiced concern about maintenance and vandalism (including tagging) on Pigeon Point-area staircases. Neighbors agreed to assess the staircases and contact the city for repair materials; maintenance trouble spots include railings that are in bad shape. Plus, the future Delridge Produce Co-Op came up (as reported here last week), with lots of enthusiastic discussion, and questions about whether parking strips can be used for edible gardens and fruit trees. (The next meeting for everybody interested in the Co-Op, by the way, is this Thursday, 6:30 pm, Delridge Library.)
When to call 911, and when not to? Find out firsthand
It’s been discussed here before: Southwest Precinct police leadership advises “call 911 if you see something/someone suspicious,” and we’ve reported that here, multiple times; then on occasion someone who does call, reports back that they were told that wasn’t an emergency and they shouldn’t have called 911. The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council has been pursuing such concerns with 911 system managers, and Lt. Greg Schmidt, who runs the SPD 911 center, will be the guest at the next WSCPC meeting a week from Tuesday, to explain how it works, to answer questions, to listen to concerns. The reason we’re telling you now is not just so you can mark your calendar, but also because, if you have a specific question they can get to him in advance, particularly about a specific case in which you called 911 and didn’t get the response you expected, they’d like to hear from you by next Thursday – e-mail the WSCPC’s staff liaison from Seattle Neighborhood Group (which by the way is NOT a city agency), Jennifer Duong, at jennifer@sngi.org. The council’s meeting also, as always, will include crime reports and neighborhood “hot spot” concerns; it’ll be at 7 pm February 17 at the SW Precinct meeting room.
Update: Post-earthquake bridge inspections – no problems
From SDOT:
Responding to this morning’s earthquake, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is inspecting the city’s elevated roadway structures for any possible damage. The department has already examined the Ballard, Fremont, University and Spokane Street bridges and has found no indications of damage from the earthquake. The inspections will continue with assessments of the Magnolia, Emerson Street and Jose Rizal bridges, the 15th Avenue NW Interchange and the Spokane Street Viaduct.
Given the small size of the earthquake, the department is carefully examining a key number of its bridges, viaducts and overpasses. If any earthquake damage is discovered, SDOT will then escalate its inspection to all citywide elevated roadway structures.
The Washington State Department of Transportation is responsible for inspecting the Alaskan Way Viaduct and is already at work on that important elevated structure.
ADDED 12:16 PM: SDOT has sent an update:
Inspections of elevated roadway structures across the city
by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) revealed no damage
from this morning’s earthquake. … In addition to visual inspections, SDOT performed test openings on the four movable bridges and found all systems operating correctly. This testing covered the Ballard, Fremont, University and Spokane Street bridges.
West Seattle pet alert: Watch where your dog’s drinking
That’s Metro in happier times; he’s sick right now, according to his human companion Abby, who wanted to share this info with other local dogs and their people:
Our dog Metro has just been diagnosed with Giardia. While
we cannot be certain where he picked it up, we were recently at the Westcrest dog park (Sun. 1/11, Sat. 1/17 and Sun. 1/18) – his most favorite place in the world.
It is possible that my backyard or a puddle we encountered on a walk is the source of the offending parasite, but we wanted to remind the great folks at the dog park to be alert, especially to your puppy’s drinking sources. We’ll keep our puppy away from your dogs for a few weeks (much to his dismay). Just another important reason to clean up after the beasts we love and help prevent the spread of a yucky parasite to some unwitting and likely adorable dog. Happy walks–See you in a few weeks!
Abby also has posted this alert to the Westcrest Off-Leash Area mailing list, where one respondent has noted that the park’s water is off for the winter so “many dogs have been drinking from the drainage pipe next to the big tree.” Again, there’s no proof that Westcrest is where Metro got this parasite, but Abby wanted to suggest that dog owners be extra watchful. We’ll be checking with local health authorities to look for more information on how common this is and how best to take precautions.
Happening tonight: Schools, safety, development, more
From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar: 6 pm tonight, it’s the first South Delridge/White Center Community Safety Coalition meeting of the year, St. James Place, 9421 18th SW (map). 6:30 pm, it’s the Southwest Design Review Board meeting for 2743 California SW (medical/dental-office building going in just north of PCC), West Seattle (Admiral) Library branch. Also at 6:30, at Seattle Public Schools HQ in Sodo, the final public hearing for the citywide closure proposal that involves three West Seattle schools/buildings (archived WSB coverage here). At 7 pm, at the new Duwamish Longhouse, the world premiere of “Angeline,” a documentary film on the life of Princess Angeline, daughter of Chief Seattle. Also at 7 pm, the Seattle Parks Board gets an updated briefing on beach fires, park HQ downtown (as reported here yesterday – looks like status quo for this year).
ADDED 12:58 PM: Also just got word that the West Seattle High School music department’s winter concert is tonight, 7:30 pm, WSHS Theater, all welcome – and it’s free!
West Seattle traffic alert: More re-striping today
Just got a phone tip – SDOT re-striping crews are working in the westbound lanes toward the Fauntleroy end of The Bridge right now, heading toward 35th – which the city also has said is a “priority” – so be on the lookout there too, in case they are continuing on.
Traffic alert: West Seattle Bridge striping happening today
SDOT told us Monday they hoped to do this before the week was out, and indeed, here’s the alert:
SDOT crews are replacing missing lane striping on the West Seattle Bridge today while the favorable weather lasts. Dry pavement is required for this work. The crews will work between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. The crews are replacing only lane lines that were severely distressed following the recent spell of snow, and are giving priority to streets and bridges with the highest volume of traffic.
Drivers are asked to leave plenty of space between them and the work vehicles, and to obey the signs: don’t drive over wet paint.
And the striping on 35th SW will be handled soon too, according to SDOT’s Marybeth Turner, who says that was atop the city’s list along with Aurora (restriped yesterday) and the WS Bridge.
West Seattle Bridge burnout: Light replacement Wednesday
(Monday night video view of the western half of the high rise, with the most burned-out bulbs)
Update on the dangerous problem so many have been asking about, numerous burned-out streetlights on The Bridge: Word of the Wednesday work comes from Seattle City Light via City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen‘s office: They’ll “replace bulbs” on the high bridge this Wednesday, using three crews to minimize how much time they’ll have to spend on The Bridge. They’re still working on a timetable for replacing burned-out lights on the Spokane Street Viaduct section.
West Seattle Crime Watch: Maps of what’s happening where
That is one of four Seattle Police-created maps, each tracking a certain category of crime in the area covered by the Southwest Precinct — West Seattle and South Park — over the Dec. 8-Jan. 4 period, just received and circulated by Pete Spalding via the Pigeon Point Council e-mail list. (The letter/number designations are the official names of the patrol sectors in the precinct’s coverage area.) As far as we know, these aren’t available online, but Pete confirmed he was encouraged to share them with neighbors, and certainly you’re a neighbor. Read on to see the other three:Read More
Door-to-door alert, followed by a “gang drop box” sighting
This came into the inbox Friday night from a longtime WSB’er who prefers to be unidentified:
After dark tonight a young woman knocked on our door near 45th & Edmunds [map] to offer new windows and energy efficiency survey. She was polite and left when we declined. Within an hour we found a gang ‘drop box’ on our corner. While assuming the two activities are unrelated it makes me
uneasy and we will be more than usually vigilant tonight.
We hadn’t heard about “gang drop boxes,” so asked a followup:
Seems gangs ‘drop’ a cardboard box where they want to mark territory or schedule some event. Because it’s just a cardboard box most of us would ignore it. Our corner box was heavy cardboard 8x8x3ft. A gang name was painted on it. We don’t know if there is an event code on it because we don’t know about this stuff. The box would have been dropped between 6:00 and 8:00 tonight. The original shipping label was to an individual on Queen Anne.
A family member with law-enforcement ties is the one who spotted it, our e-mail correspondent explained, adding that the family member subsequently spoke with a police officer who offered this additional information: “… that the boxes (or spray paint on garages, etc.) act like a GPS system for the gangs. He said for us not to worry because the paint color on this box would say ‘keep going’ as an arrow would.” We can’t find any evidence of this phenomenon on Google, but maybe it’s known by another name – we’ll make a note to follow up with police next week to find out if this is something new and if there’s something you should do if you spot one. (Or maybe YOU have expertise to share?)
West Seattle Weather Watch: Wind advisory and flood warning
Keep the flashlight at bedside, just in case – this is the wind advisory renewed by the National Weather Service a little more than an hour ago:
…WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST WEDNESDAY…
A STRONG STORM WHICH IS BRINGING HEAVY RAIN TO THE MOUNTAINS IS ALSO CAUSING STRONG WINDS ACROSS THE URBAN CORRIDOR FROM TACOMA NORTHWARD TO EVERETT INCLUDING THE SEATTLE AREA. EXPECT SUSTAINED SOUTH WINDS OF 20 TO 30 WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH. THESE WINDS WILL CONTINUE OFF AND ON THROUGH THE NIGHT AND DIMINISH WEDNESDAY MORNING.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A WIND ADVISORY IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS OF 30 TO 39 MPH OR GUSTS OF 45 TO 57 MPH ARE LIKELY. WINDS THIS STRONG CAN SNAP SMALL TREE BRANCHES…TOPPLE SMALL OR SHALLOW-ROOTED TREES…AND CAUSE LOCAL POWER OUTAGES.
A flood warning also is in effect through Thursday morning for possible “small stream” and urban flooding. We’ve just been out for a drive around some of the usual areas where this hits first – no trouble yet but if heavy rainfall continues as expected for hours to come, could be a different situation by morning.
12:28 AM UPDATE: We’re working on some other stories so we’re keeping watch on weather too; midnight readings from the NWS included 30 mph sustained/40 mph gusts at Alki Point (K91S on our favorite hourly list). Nothing on the City Light online list of outages.
1:14 AM NOTE: 34 mph speed, 44 mph gusts at Alki Point at 1 am.
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