West Seattle outage updates: Monday’s electricity, today’s cable
FIRST UPDATE: We promised to check on the cause of the outage that left an estimated 4,000-plus south West Seattle homes and businesses without power for more than an hour, right about this time yesterday. Just heard back from Scott Thomsen at Seattle City Light; he says it’s listed as an underground cable failure – those happen from time to time for a variety of reasons, anything from age to damage caused by weather conditions in earlier months and years. SECOND UPDATE: We checked on the Arbor Heights/Fauntleroy Comcast outage reported by Hopey this morning in comments on this post; Comcast’s Shauna Causey tells WSB that two technicians are in the area right now and if it’s not fixed yet, it should be shortly.
Updates: Power outage in south West Seattle
Working on details – more shortly.
City Light says about 4000 customers are without power as of 1:15 this afternoon. The boundaries are listed as Webster SW on the north down to 113th Place SW, 30th SW on the east to Puget Sound on the west. Crews have been dispatched and as of 1:45 no time was given for when power would be restored.
Update 2 pm: According to Mike it’s affecting some traffic signals near Lincoln Park.
Update 2 pm: The Webster and Cloverdale signals are out (Webster shown in photo above, taken just before 2 pm), as are the ferry dock toll booths.
Update 2 pm: Fauntleroy power just came back on. Still waiting to hear back from City Light about the cause. Thanks to everyone who sent e-mail/text tips about the outage!
Alert for Alki walkers/bikers: Pump-station project closes path
This update just in from King County Wastewater Treatment, which is overseeing the 53rd Avenue Pump Station project at 53rd/Alki:
In order to excavate to the full depth necessary for pump station construction, King County’s contractor has brought in large machinery which must be set in the pedestrian and bike path adjacent to the construction site. During the week of September 22, pedestrians and cyclists will be shifted to the sidewalk on Alki Ave. SW. The temporary shift is necessary to provide a safe pathway for the public. Flaggers will be on site during work hours to assist pedestrians and cyclists.
West Seattle Weather Watch: Check those drains!
It may sound like one of those “don’t run with scissors” reminders – but in case you just aren’t accustomed to thinking about your drains this early in the year, a couple West Seattleites suggested a reminder here. And not just because of the storm — in fact, it was hours before yesterday’s deluge when we got a note from Paul suggesting some seasonal reminders including clearing your storm drain. Then, shortly after the cloudburst, Nancy from North Delridge sent the photo you see above, with the note:
Noticed the drain in the attached photo during the adopt-a-street (cleanup) Saturday.
I got home from unclogging it just a few minutes before the current deluge.
It’s not too early to start keeping on eye on neighborhood drains.
Seattle Public Utilities offers a few tips here; chief among them, planning a weekly check of drains and downspouts. Last year, SPU even offered supplies for an “adopt-a-drain” program, to encourage people to help with the drains on neighborhood streets; we’ll be checking to see if that’s in the works again this year. And if yesterday wasn’t enough of a reminder about what the weather can do, revisit the December 2007 flooding coverage!
Reader report: Alki Ave power problems
(photo added 2:59 pm, through-the-windshield shot showing part of the big SCL presence at scene)
We don’t have any official Seattle City Light info on this but CL reports power trouble in his building and possibly others in the 1100 block of Alki Ave (map) – unofficial word on the scene is water trouble with a transformer, though this was before the rain arrived, so it may not be THAT kind of water trouble.
Alki pump-station project: Pile driving may start tomorrow
Just got word from the county that the next phase of noisier-than-usual work in the Alki pump-station project, pile driving — which literally will shake things up in the area, too — may start as soon as tomorrow. (First warning of the impending pile driving was reported here four weeks ago.) As it’s described in the county’s online project update:
Approximately 120 shoring sheets will be installed which are 20 inches wide by 35 feet long. A crane will be used to pick up the sheets and a vibratory driver will be used to vibrate them into the ground. After installation, the sheet piling will be left in place and additional excavation will occur.
Residents in the area can expect to see large construction equipment on site, such as a 200-ton crane and a large power unit, and should expect to hear additional noise. Residents may feel some vibrations during this work and may want to pack up breakable valuables as a precaution. King County’s contractor will closely monitor vibration levels to minimize disruption and protect against property damage.
If you have a construction-related complaint or question, the county has a 24-hour hotline: 206-205-5656.
Seattle Public Utilities asks for water/trash/recycling rate hike
Just in from the city, a request to raise rates for water and trash/recycling service. Much fine print in the proposal, but basically, Seattle Public Utilities says, the average household solid-waste bill would go up more than $6, the average household water bill would go up more than $5. City Council approval is required. Here’s the city news release with full details:Read More
Reader report: Alki-area cell-calling woes
“D” wanted to pass along an alert to fellow T-Mobile cell users – she says her phone’s not working in the Alki area, except for text messages (they live near 62nd/Alki). She says the customer-service department reported “network problems in (the) area” are being worked on.
Postmortem on the 45th/Trenton tree: It was there first
We went back a little while ago to check on the 45th/Trenton (map) tree, finally taken down today (WSB coverage from this morning, including links to previous reports, here) after years of conflict with power lines and trimming work related to those lines. Looking at the circumference of its remains, we realized the tree obviously was there long before the power lines – how long, you ask?
Nearby resident Elise, who provided photos for this morning’s story, sent that one, and the one below, with the report that a neighbor had decided to estimate the tree’s age. On its rings, he marked a timeline:
Final estimate: About 140 years, dating back to about 1868, only 17 years after the Denny Party got here. One notable West Seattle event in 1868, according to HistoryLink: Doc Maynard sold his 320-acre farm on Alki Point for $450. The first electric service in Seattle was still 18 years away, according to Seattle City Light‘s history webpage.
Another “demolition”: 45th/Trenton “sad tree” coming down
The Schuck’s/Hancock building (Fauntleroy Place) isn’t all that’s coming down today. Elise sent the shown-above photo of the tree on the southwest corner of 45th/Trenton — known at her house, she says, as “the sad tree” — posted last month for removal (June WSB coverage here) after utility-related tree trimming in the area (May WSB coverage here) left it in somewhat unsustainable shape:
City Light had told WSB that its owner agreed to have it removed (at city expense), with two “power-line-appropriate” trees to be planted in the spot. From one of our previous stories, Jenny had sent this photo of how what she called the “candelabra tree” once looked:
Though City Light said the work on this tree was done appropriately, and its demise can instead be blamed on the unfortunate fact it grew under power lines, the utility also told us in May that the trimming on another tree nearby was botched badly enough that the crew that did it was removed from the contract.
Alki pump-station bypass update: They’ll be done “this evening”
That photo is courtesy of Martha Tuttle with the King County Wastewater Treatment Division, who just sent this update on the short-term 53rd Ave. Pump Station “bypass” that the county acknowledges made last night an extra-noisy one for Alki-area folks – she says its duration will be closer to 24 hours than the possible 36:
King County expects that the work will be completed this evening . The pipe installation is completed. This afternoon the County will use TV/video cameras to inspect the force main before restarting the pump station. We understand that this part of the construction was extremely noisy and disruptive and we appreciate how patient the nearby residents have been.
Till that’s done, all those orange trucks have been taking wastewater out of the system at 53rd and trucking it over to the pump station in the 3500 block of Harbor – more than a dozen 3,500-gallon trucks – and the pedestrian walkway on the water side of the work zone is closed, with flaggers helping people cross at both ends of it. The entire project at 53rd, which started in February, isn’t scheduled to be done till fall of next year.
Alert: Major wastewater-truck traffic on Alki starting tonight
Almost lost amid all the other news, till the county just called with an update: Tonight’s the night that they’ve started to use pump trucks to move sewage flow from the 53rd Ave construction site (first warning posted here last week), so that it can briefly bypass the regular pipes. County spokesperson Martha Tuttle says, “It’s a bit more chaotic than we expected.” 15 trucks are operating right now – probably fewer later as the flow slows. Here’s the route the trucks are taking.
Trucks traveling to the West Seattle Pump Station will follow Alki Avenue Southwest to Harbor Avenue Southwest. Trucks traveling to the Alki Stormwater Treatment Plant will follow this route: Alki Avenue Southwest to 63rd Avenue Southwest to Beach Drive Southwest to 64th Avenue Southwest to Southwest Wilton Court.
The trucks involved are similar to the rigs involved in this afternoon’s Avalon rescue – “Vactors.” We just talked to another worker at the scene – she says traffic is down to one lane for the duration of this (24 to 36 hours, so possibly all the way till Friday morning); the pedestrian walkway on the water side is closed for a few blocks, so flaggers are helping people get to the other side of the street to use the sidewalk there. The county also stresses that if you have a major problem, please call their 24-hour construction hotline – it’s linked to a pager so you need to leave name/number – 206-205-5656.
Work’s about to start at West Seattle (Westcrest) Reservoir
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Seattle Public Utilities‘ reservoir-construction open house tonight at Highland Park Elementary is one of the four events we’re just back from (other reports to come: Police Appreciation Day wrap-up, Hi-Yu Concert in the Park, and the latest info on how the project to replace the south end of The Viaduct will start changing your life next year). The work to put West Seattle Reservoir (north of Westcrest Park) underground really is imminent — SPU reservoir-program manager Stephanie Murphy told us the “notice to proceed” is expected Thursday; then site-preparation work will begin. The existing 68-million-gallon open reservoir will be demolished over the next few months, and an underground 30-million-gallon reservoir will be built in what SPU calls “the northern portion of the existing basin.” It’ll take about 2 years (completion is scheduled for June 2010), with construction crews planning to work between 6 am and 7 pm, Mondays-Fridays. Once they’re almost done – before the water’s piped in – it’ll look something like the Beacon Hill Reservoir where we shot this video a few weeks ago:
Beacon is 50 million gallons, West Seattle Reservoir is 30 million, but Murphy says “the footprint is almost the same” — it’s just going to be shallower. (It’s still a lot bigger than just-covered Myrtle Reservoir, “only” 5 million gallons.) As with the Myrtle work, undergrounding this reservoir will create new park space; a whole different process will be initiated, involving the city Parks Department, to determine what that will include. P.S. You can read the history of the soon-to-BE-history reservoir on this city webpage.
You bought ’em – now you can buy ’em again
Another not-just-West-Seattle item, but as with the previous one, your tax dollars are involved here, so you ought to know. Just announced by Seattle Public Utilities:
The city of Seattle’s five automatic public toilets, the subject of intense controversy even before their installation in 2004, will be auctioned on eBay, beginning tomorrow (July 16).
Minimum bid on the Hering-Bau automatic public toilets is $89,000 each. A public meeting on the surplus sales process for the toilets is set for Wednesday, July 23, 2008, at 3 p.m., in the Bertha Knight Landes Room on the first floor of Seattle City Hall, 600 4th Ave.
The toilets will be removed from service — locked and fenced in — on Aug. 1. The units are expected to be physically removed by their new owner sometime later in August.
P.S. Also from eBay, the West Seattle Pizza Time auction has ended with no bidders. (Thanks to Marge for spotting the item.)
Saving Fauntleroy Schoolhouse: New possibility for “back lot”
With next month’s deadline approaching for the Fauntleroy Community Services Agency to make a deal with Seattle Public Schools to buy the historic schoolhouse – now that the district’s selling it as “surplus” — here’s the latest update from FCSA, including word of a new possible use for the “back lot,” which previously has been mentioned as a possible development site:Read More
Alki pump-station project update: More trucks, noise ahead
For the first time in months, Metro sent out a major update on the year-and-a-half-long 53rd Ave. Pump Station expansion project that’s been under way along Alki since March. Major points: Next week, for a period lasting up to 36 hours (likely Tuesday/Wednesday), a particular phase of the project will require wastewater to be trucked away from the spot instead of channeled through pipes. Crews will work around the clock, but Metro warns people to expect “increased noise, more truck traffic on the road and potentially odor.” Here’s how the “Vactor” trucks will get to and from the site:
Trucks traveling to the West Seattle Pump Station will follow Alki Avenue Southwest to Harbor Avenue Southwest. Trucks traveling to the Alki Stormwater Treatment Plant will follow this route: Alki Avenue Southwest to 63rd Avenue Southwest to Beach Drive Southwest to 64th Avenue Southwest to Southwest Wilton Court.
Then in late July, four to five weeks of “sheet pile driving” will commence, to stabilize the site for excavation, and residents are warned this is likely to bring vibrations as well as more noise. You can read the entire Metro project update here; the project’s main infopage is here.
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