(City photo of Fauntleroy ex-substation site)
Another City Council committee has a West Seattle issue on its agenda tomorrow: As first mentioned here last week, the council’s Energy Committee meets at 9:30 am tomorrow at City Hall with an agenda including a briefing on City Light‘s surplus West Seattle (and vicinity) substations. Mary Fleck from the West Seattle Green Spaces Coalition will be part of the briefing; she tells WSB it’s one of two presentations downtown tomorrow, and they’re inviting West Seattleites to come to either or both, to support the goal of “slowing down the ‘disposition’ process because the best future solution may be to ‘re-purpose’ the land for public use rather than to sell it to the highest bidder for development.” The second presentation is at 3 pm tomorrow before the Urban Forestry Commission in Seattle Municipal Tower room 2750 (700 Fifth Avenue). Meantime, at two of the sites, City Light has crews working this week on what it says is necessary cleanup work because of soil contaminants – the Andover site on Pigeon Point and the Fauntleroy site in Endolyne. Fleck says that while WSGSC is disappointed that SCL removed trees at two sites including Andover, they’re encouraged to hear that the cleanup work at Fauntleroy will use “vactoring” to try to save trees while removing other vegetation.

Two meetings in the next four days will deal with the six ex-substations City Light is getting rid of:

GREEN SPACE COALITION TOMORROW: Can’t make meetings on weeknights? The West Seattle Green Space Coalition, working on the future of six City Light-owned ex-substation sites in our area, invites you to its meeting tomorrow afternoon:

The West Seattle Green Space Coalition will meet Sunday, March 9 at 3:00 pm at the West Seattle (Delridge) Public Library. Topics will include follow-up on the WSGSC’s March 5th meeting with representatives from Seattle City Light and Tom Rasmussen regarding SCL’s project to decide within months what to do with former substations that have sat idle for decades, including ones in West Seattle. We made good progress on how to work with the City to come up with best ways to give the Neighborhoods more time to keep these open spaces for the community.

Here’s our report on the Wednesday tour mentioned above. Then on Wednesday:

CITY COUNCIL ENERGY COMMITTEE: A briefing on the ex-substations is on the agenda for the 9:30 am Wednesday (March 12th) meeting of the Energy Committee, chaired by Councilmember Kshama Sawant. Mary Fleck from the WSGSC is among those who will be participating. You can see the city’s slide deck here, including this slide outlining what happens next:

The Wednesday meeting is in council chambers at City Hall downtown; there will be a public comment period.

(Looks like the early-morning outage map, but this is the NEW one)
1:34 PM: It feels like déja vu to those who were up for the two-hour power outage in the middle of the night – because the footprint is just about the same. About 2,000 homes and businesses are without power right now, according to the City Light map.

(ADDED: Highland Park Way closure; photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
1:53 PM UPDATE: From City Light:

A large tree fell into wires near Highland Park Way SW and SW Othello Street. It broke several of the tie wires that keep the power lines attached to the insulators on the poles.

Crews are working to reroute power around the damage. This will bring about 75 percent of the affected customers back into service in the next 60-90 minutes.

Crews will then remove the tree and re-hang the wires in order to restore service to the remaining customers. We estimate being able to get that done about 5 p.m.

2:20 PM: One commenter reports power coming back. A few hundred customers have dropped off the City Light map.

2:39 PM UPDATE: We’ve added a photo from HP Way, which is indeed closed; Metro is sending messages about reroutes, including Route 131.

5:21 PM UPDATE: Back open, per Datamuse, in comments.

It’s been a blustery night so far, and now more than 2,000 homes and businesses are without power in eastern West Seattle – parts of Puget Ridge and Highland Park – as well as South Park and White Center. City Light‘s map shows the extent but does not mention a specific cause yet – simply, “investigating.” (The image above is a screen shot of what the map shows right now.)

5:13 AM UPDATE: SCL now says a tree was to blame for the outage. Commenter Jen says the power’s back on in Riverview – that’s not reflected on the SCL map yet.

6:06 AM UPDATE: The map now shows everyone’s back on (please let us know if you’re not!).

We just checked with King County Wastewater Treatment regarding today’s work at the 53rd Avenue Pump Station, and spokesperson Annie Kolb-Nelson tells us the crew is expecting to wrap up early. So the work that’s been affecting the sidewalk/trail zone by the pump station will likely be done closer to 1 pm than the originally announced 3 pm.

If you run, walk, rollerblade, skateboard, ride, etc., along Alki Beach during the day, you might have to change your plans next Tuesday, according to this alert just out of the WSB inbox:

On Tuesday, March 4, a King County crew will perform maintenance to the 53rd Avenue Pump Station, a below-ground facility near the corner of Alki Avenue Southwest and 53rd Avenue Southwest, on the west side of the street next to the sidewalk and waterside walking path.

Work will take place between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., and will involve opening a hatch to replace the pump station’s carbon filter. The crew will need up to three vehicles for this work, and while the replacement work is under way, there could be some increase in noise and odors.

We have the city’s approval to close off the work area, including closing the sidewalk and walking path, but we’ll try to maintain access for walkers, joggers and bicyclist as much as possible. It’s possible that the work will require us to detour foot and bicycle traffic to the other side of the street.

This is the pump station that was expanded over a 2+-year period between 2008 and 2010.

ORIGINAL REPORT, 10:54 AM: Though at one point the “every other week pickup” idea appeared to be on a fast track to approval, the presentation that Seattle Public Utilities will make to a City Council committee next Tuesday paints a fairly negative picture. See the full presentation here. We’ve pulled out a few slides – above, the “downside,” which includes “significant resistance.” Next, the effects – basically, some residents would actually pay more for less-frequent pickups, while others would save no more than a few dollars:

To help increase recycling, SPU recommends some other possibilities:

Just before finishing this story, we learned about this note in The Seattle Times (WSB partner) – saying the mayor has made the call not to proceed (we’re checking with his office now). We first reported back in November that the City Council would decide early this year whether to go citywide with the idea, which had gone through a test run in four neighborhoods in 2012, including part of Highland Park.

11:07 AM UPDATE: And the official announcement has arrived from the mayor’s office, saying he read the same report excerpted above, and that’s what led him to turn thumbs-down on the idea – read on:

Read More

Turns out last night’s Admiral Neighborhood Association briefing on the every-other-week garbage-pickup proposal was the only one on Seattle Public Utilities‘ schedule – because they’re the only group who asked for a briefing. So if you weren’t there, you missed your chance to ask questions – though SPU does have a wider-scope meeting next month in West Seattle; more on that shortly. Last night, ANA heard from SPU’s Brett Stav:

He recapped the pilot project in 2012 in four parts of the city, including a section of Highland Park. The full report on that can be read online via a link here; toplines were also part of his slide deck presented last night – see it in its entirety:

Seattle Public Utilities' every-other-week trash-pickup briefing at Admiral Neighborhood Association

Most of the questions Stav was asked centered on whether the project truly saves money – the city contends it could save up to $6 million a year. A concern brought up multiple times in WSB comments was voiced by ANA past president Katy Walum – the effect on people with small children who have diapers to dispose of. (That, as noted in the slide deck, aligns with some of the results from the pilot project – “higher satisfaction” with the every-other-week pickup was reported by homes with no diaper usage.) Current president David Whiting wondered what’s in it for people who are already working to reduce their trash.

The final decision is up to the City Council, which already took one action potentially paving the way, including a commitment to making a decision by this March, on whether to go citywide with every-other-week pickups starting a year after that. Two advisory committees already have reviewed the proposal; SPU says the Solid Waste Advisory Committee recommended doing it; its Customer Panel did not. Before going to the full council, it would likely go to the council’s Seattle Public Utilities and Neighborhoods Committee, chaired by Councilmember Sally Bagshaw. (Opinions? E-mail council@seattle.gov)

Now, that February meeting. 6 pm February 13th, SPU will be at High Point Community Center (6920 34th SW). It’s about SPU’s “Strategic Business Plan,” regarding the future of the services the department provides – garbage, recycling, water, sewer, drainage. You don’t even have to wait for the meeting to have a say – here’s an online survey you can take right now.

(Photo courtesy ANA president David Whiting)
If the city moves to every-other-week garbage pickup for single-family homes, will curbs routinely look like that – or will people throw away less, to adjust? As first reported here back in November, the City Council is expected to decide by March whether to move ahead with every-other-week service, so community briefings and meetings are starting now, with a Seattle Public Utilities rep coming to talk with the Admiral Neighborhood Association on Tuesday night (7 pm, lower-level meeting room at Admiral Congregational Church, California/Hill). The city did a test run of every-other-week service in 2012, including part of Highland Park. If the council goes ahead with the change, it would take effect no sooner than April of next year.

(Screengrab from Wednesday night – note the unlit section on the left)
Several people have asked us in the past few days about a string of streetlights that have gone dark on the westbound high-rise West Seattle Bridge. It’s particularly noticeable because the bridge lights were changed to LEDs just a few weeks back, and if anything, those bulbs are supposed to last a lot longer than old-fashioned ones. We checked with Seattle City Light today, and spokesperson Peter Clarke says they’re working on it: “We have a crew assigned to check the lights out tonight when it’s dark so they can ID exactly which lights are out.” We’ll follow up again next week to see what they found out and what will be done about it.

P.S. We drove this stretch mid-evening Friday and noted that the lights are out on the north side, starting at the exit from SB 99 to the westbound bridge, until the peak of the high-rise.

If you’re interested in the community coalition that’s asking the city to slow down with its project to decide within months what to do with former substations that have sat idle for decades, this Sunday is your next chance. The West Seattle Green Space Coalition will meet at 3 pm Sunday (January 12th) at Delridge Branch Library (5423 Delridge Way SW). Last weekend, the coalition raised concerns about tree-cutting and other work under way at some of the sites even before Seattle City Light has taken its suggestions to the City Council. The sites are listed here. A few days after this Sunday’s meeting, WSGSC will be talking with the utility, so if you have any comments to share and can’t make it Sunday, e-mail co-chair Mary Fleck at maryfleckws@gmail.com.

Until the fate of Seattle City Light‘s surplus ex-substations is decided, tree-cutting in the name of “cleanups” must stop, says the West Seattle Green Space Coalition.

Two weeks ago, a reader tip led us to report on tree-cutting at one of those sites, the former Andover substation at 21st/Andover. Reader comments also revealed something similar at the Dumar ex-substation, 16th/Holden. The WSGSC has put together before/after views of both sites. First, Pigeon Point:

Then, Dumar:

City Light told us the tree-cutting had to do with cleaning up contamination and that at least three other sites were slated for cleanup work. The Pigeon Point specifics are in our December story; regarding Dumar, SCL’s Lynn Best told us, “This is similar to the other site, Andover. The pesticides dieldrin and DDT were found at levels above (Model Toxics Control Act) cleanup levels. PCB levels below MTCA cleanup levels were found around the concrete pad. The vegetation removal was done in preparation for the cleanup.”

Here’s the news release from the WSGSC:

Ignoring neighborhood and West Seattle Green Space Coalition requests, and apparently without a directive from the Seattle City Council, in mid-December, Seattle City Light chopped down all the trees at the Pigeon Point former substation site and the Dumar former substation site.

West Seattle Green Space Coalition is demanding that Seattle City Light halt removal of plants and trees at its former substations in West Seattle. These sites contain mature vegetation, including significant trees, which are important to healthy neighborhoods. Established, green spaces are being destroyed with no plan to balance out the loss of these green spaces. Although these are only a few small parcels in West Seattle, they have been open, green habitat. The destruction of these longstanding spaces is detrimental to West Seattle. These sites are providing a small but significant balance to major high density development which is taking place in West Seattle.

Read More

12:42 PM: Third one in five days in West Seattle, by our count – thanks to Nancy for the photo from 112th/Marine View Drive (map), where a Seattle Public Utilities crew has just arrived to fix a reported pipe problem. This follows Delridge and Gatewood trouble (reported here Monday). We are seeking more information from SPU, and will update with whatever we hear back.

ADDED 2:55 PM: We asked SPU’s Ingrid Goodwin about both this situation and the 41st/Frontenac one, which was still under investigation when we talked with her yesterday:

Crews just finished (about 1 pm) the leak repair on 41st and Frontenac. The leak was on a service line, not the water main.

The water main break on 112th and Marine View Drive is on a 4″ pipe. Crews are onsite making the repair now.

It’s not unusual for there to be leaks and small breaks on a daily basis throughout the City. Seattle does have aging infrastructure and some of the pipes are nearly 100 years old. Our crews stay busy with maintenance, repair and upgrades to the system.

Before, and unrelated to, today’s big electricity outage, two water problems affected West Seattle neighborhoods over the weekend; we asked Seattle Public Utilities about them today:

FRIDAY NIGHT, DELRIDGE/JUNEAU: (map) We heard from area residents awakened (or kept awake) by an SPU crew working on a pipe break 9 pm Friday-3 am Saturday. SPU spokesperson Ingrid Goodwin says an 8-inch pipe broke, but service was lost only temporarily to 17 customers and three hydrants. SPU tries to “limit noise and other disturbances, especially when working at night,” she said, adding, “We thank customers for their patience and understanding when we are required to work in a neighborhood on an emergency repair.” They don’t know yet why the pipe broke.

GATEWOOD HILL: We heard about this one very early this morning, when residents near 41st/Frontenac (map) noticed discolored water from their taps, and one told us she saw water running in the street. Goodwin says SPU got calls early today “about water coming up from cracks in the roadway. … A leak investigation is currently under way to find the source of the leak. It could be on the 8” water main or on one of the 1” plastic services, but we don’t know at this time. All customers in the area continue to have water services (no water shutdown has occurred). As soon as SPU determines the source of the leak, a repair will be made.”

(TOPLINE as of 10:15 pm – The last outage pocket in Seaview/north Morgan appears to be back on at last, per comments and tweets. The map below shows outage zone at its peak around 11 am:)

9:43 AM: We’re checking on the extent of the power outage that has just hit areas of West Seattle. Let us know if it’s out where you are. So far we’re hearing from Admiral and The Junction; here in Upper Fauntleroy, our power flickered but did NOT go out. More to come.

9:49 AM UPDATE: First word is that the outage affects more than 4,300 homes and businesses. City Light is estimating 1 pm restoration but PLEASE keep in mind that at this early stage, that is just their guesstimate – not a guarantee, could be earlier, could be later. We’re hearing from people in many more areas, including High Point, North Delridge, and Fairmount Springs – thanks for commenting with your location report; the City Light map wasn’t updated as of a few minutes ago.

9:56 AM UPDATE: City Light now says more than 11,000 homes and businesses are affected. There is no word yet on the cause. We’re now switching our request – let us know if you still HAVE power. (We still do, in Upper Fauntleroy.)

10:11 AM UPDATE: City Light still hasn’t announced what it believes to be the cause. If you see a truck in your area, let us know – 206-293-6302 text or voice. Meantime, please remember that if you have to drive and the light’s out, treat an intersection as a four-way stop!

10:18 AM UPDATE: Just added a screengrab of the outage map that City Light now has up. Also got a text from Katrina, who says SCL told her a transformer blew; the restoration guesstimate is now 1:30 pm, but again – could be earlier, could be later. We’re checking out some areas including The Junction, where one side of California is out, co-publisher Patrick says, and one is not. (California/Alaska photo added:)

10:29 AM UPDATE: Scanner indicates police are assigning traffic-control officers to some key intersections (among them, 35th and Avalon). Keep in mind that by our very rough count, 11,000 homes/businesses would be at least a fourth of every place on the peninsula! If your area is NOT shown in red on the City Light map we added atop this story, let us know – boundaries are often approximate.

10:38 AM UPDATE: Kent from Atomic Boys notes that the Admiral business district DOES have power. Note that these outages can be spotty – Patrick says the light at California/Lander is out.

11:03 AM UPDATE: Still don’t have official word on the cause; we’re still out chasing reports of City Light sightings. Meantime, more businesses are sending word of their status. For example, WSB sponsors Hotwire Coffee in The Junction and Zeek’s Pizza in Morgan say they have power. On Twitter, we’re retweeting updates from other businesses (see our stream at twitter.com/westseattleblog). Melissa at Barnes & Noble says Westwood Village appears to be “untouched by the outage.” We’ve also heard from Tammy at Alki Juice and Java near Seacrest, who says that area is OK. (Other businesses open – especially restaurants/coffee? – let us know. Update: Chaco Canyon Café, WSB sponsor, in The Triangle, has power. And there’s a coupon here too.)

11:11 AM UPDATE: If you are seeing TV helicopters, no, there are no additional incidents – they are just looking for any signs of outage-related trouble that they can see from the air. At least one has already been going around, and we hear via the scanner that another is headed this way.

11:27 AM UPDATE: Cause finally found – tree branch into wire:

Crews found the cause of the W. Seattle outage. A tree branch fell into power lines near SW Hanford and 46th Ave SW.

— Seattle City Light (@SEACityLight) December 30, 2013

We noticed a sudden wind gust shortly before the power flickered here and went out elsewhere. (By the way, if you can’t place 46th/Hanford, here’s a map.)

11:56 AM UPDATE: On Twitter, we’re hearing about some who have lost their cable/Internet services – not 100 percent sure it’s related but anecdotally, seems to happen with major outages. Meantime, co-publisher Patrick is back from the outage epicenter at 46th/47th/Hanford; adding photos above and below this line.

Let us know when your power is BACK! However, we’d still caution that the 1 pm estimate is JUST an estimate – identifying the cause doesn’t mean the fix is simple.

12:36 PM UPDATE: Some power is back in some areas – see comments. Restoring it can be complicated too, with multiple “feeders” involved, so that doesn’t mean everyone will be back immediately – let us know when you are, though! So far, we’ve heard from parts of Junction, Admiral, North Delridge, (added) Alki areas, and (added) Junction businesses, Camp Long area (35th/Dawson) …

12:45 PM UPDATE: Some are reporting Comcast-service restoration too. Thanks, meantime, to EVERYONE who has been sharing information – in the early moments, for reasons as simple as that it meant we knew this was a very big outage, long before City Light information revealed the numbers. Also thanks for photos and info from what turned out to be the origin of the outage in 46th/47th/Hanford area – Kate Kaemerle just sent several photos including this one of the crew installing new poles:

Kate also sent this photo of neighbor Richard Rohde, who she says is holding the apparent culprit branch here:

More reports have come in of areas with restoration, including High Point and Fairmount Park.

1:17 PM UPDATE: Yet more areas continue to get power back. Mark suggested we remind people about food-safety issues caused by the refrigerator being without power for hours – here’s the official government advice.

2:07 PM UPDATE: According to City Light’s map, about 750 homes and businesses are still out – though the map does NOT show some people north of Morgan Junction who say they are too.

2:49 PM UPDATE: City Light just told someone in that general area via Twitter that the estimate remains 3:30 pm for those still out.

3 PM UPDATE: Subsequently, Colleen says in comments that she got an estimate of 9 pm for the California/Juneau pocket. Meanwhile, we asked SCL spokesperson Scott Thomsen to answer the question that many have asked – how can one tree branch leave 11,000 homes/businesses/etc. without power? His reply:

The branch that fell hit a pole carrying two feeder lines (large power lines that carry electricity for about 3,500 customers each).

When it crossed the lines and created a short circuit, the power surge not only tripped the breakers for those two lines, but also tripped the breakers back at the Delridge Substation for the entire feeder bus — a series of connections for five feeder lines. (Imagine a giant power strip where the main plug is the substation, the strip is the bus and each outlet connects to a feeder.)

When all five feeders dropped off, we had about 11,000 customers without power.

4:57 PM UPDATE: Some people just north of Morgan Junction are still out. City Light tells us that if you are, keep calling to be sure they know (and to get the latest on restoration prospects).

7:41 PM UPDATE: Ten hours into the outage, commenters in a few areas – north side of Morgan Junction, west side of High Point, among them – say they’re still out and it’s going to be a while. City Light’s map is not precise, since the utility does not have direct connectivity with all its customers (that “smart meter” system is still in the pipeline).

10:04 PM UPDATE: While City Light declared more than an hour ago that the outage was over, the Morgan Junction-area pocket remained out – until just now.