What all those City Light crews are doing
When we saw half a dozen Seattle City Light trucks lined up along the west side of Fauntleroy yesterday, just west/southwest of Morgan Junction, we wondered what they were up to — especially remembering that the area where they were working, north of Holly, was one of the troublespots during the December 2006 windstorm outage (12/21/06 coverage here). Scott Thomsen from SCL checked it out for us and explains it’s “part of an upgrade in the service lines for that area. The crews are changing out a 4 Kilovolt line with a 26 Kilovolt line, which is our current standard. There are a couple dozen poles involved … and crews will be in the West Seattle area through the spring, then off and on through the summer continuing this work.” Today, they’re further east on Fauntleroy (this picture is from just past the Corner Inn):
Update: Power outage (and lengthy repairs) explained
We have new information on last night’s power outage – which, as discussed in comments on the original report, continued well into the night for some. City Light spokesperson Scott Thomsen explains repairs were particularly difficult: “The outage started Monday about 6:50 p.m. when a car crash near the corner of 4th Avenue and 96th Street took out two utility poles. In addition to the downed lines, the damage involved four or five transformers. Repair crews had to replace both poles, the transformers and rework the overhead lines for the street. Power was routed around the damage to restore service to as many customers as possible. We still have 51 customers without power while the crews are hanging the last of the new overhead lines. We expect full restoration about noon.” 4th/96th is in unincorporated King County (here’s a map) but still within City Light territory.
Power outage in parts of east West Seattle
Thanks to those who e-mailed and texted us about an outage in parts of east West Seattle – the City Light recording says the boundaries are Brandon to 97th, 8th to 26th, with more than 800 homes/businesses affected, no word on the cause. Heading out to find out more. 7:55 PM UPDATE: One e-mail and one comment says at least some of the power’s back on – we still have a team member driving the area to see if anyone’s still out. 8:40 PM UPDATE: Found a City Light crew (photo left) patroling Delridge but no signs of lingering outage.
Alki pump station update: Major work set to start next week
You’ve probably seen the NO PARKING signs now up along Alki Ave (thanks to Angela for sending the photo) for the major project that’s about to start to expand the 53rd SW (underground) Pump Station. So how soon will the major work start in earnest? We just got another update this afternoon (after the first version of this post was published) from Erika Peterson from the county Wastewater Treatment Division; she says excavation work is likely to start next week, and work crews are in and out for “limited activity” between now and then, including some work in the street today. This project is going to last more than a year and a half, so it will be a fixture on Alki for not just this summer, but summer ’09 as well, with traffic effects along the way; you can find lots of details online, including this “what to expect during construction” page with a 24-hour hotline to call. (By the way, the pump-station project at Lowman Beach north of Lincoln Park is scheduled to start work next year.)
City Light tree-trimming: Extra area added after feedback
Spotting this Seattle City Light crew at work in Fairmount Springs a little while ago reminded us we want to share an update from Scott Thomsen at SCL, who says feedback at the open house a few weeks ago (WSB coverage here) has led to an addition to the plan:
Several of our customers who attended that meeting were served by a 4 kilovolt conversation bank on feeder 2744 out of the Delridge Substation. Their biggest concern was the two block stretch that was in the unimproved alley between 37th Avenue SW and Fairmount Park. Before the meeting that area was not on the schedule for trimming.
We’ve taken a look at our work plan for the year and have decided to add that entire feeder to the mix. It’s a short feeder coming up the hill from the Delridge Substation and going directly over to the Fairmount Park neighborhood. We’ll begin work there after we do the Alki feeder (2746) and the North Admiral feeder (2740) that you saw on our maps at the meeting.
We’d like to thank everyone who came to the meeting for their comments, ideas and interest. As you can see, we were listening and appreciate what our customers tell us.
By the way, if anyone still wants to see a digital copy of the map shown at that meeting – the one in the photograph shown with our meeting report – we’re having a little bit of trouble uploading it but can e-mail it to you; send us a note.
Three weather-related notes
First, the wind advisory is now over. Second, if you work or travel through South Seattle/Sodo, there’s a power outage in the area right because of downed lines (possibly including nonworking traffic signals; lots of scanner chatter about this; here’s the official City Light description). Third, thanks to Dan E for this photo of everything washed up on the Alki boardwalk after a stormy night:
Meeting report: City Light’s West Seattle tree-trimming plan
See the orange and blue on that map? It marks all the West Seattle streets where Seattle City Light crews will work over the next few months to clear tree branches from power lines. This was one of several maps shown at City Light’s open house at Hiawatha Community Center tonight. Only a trickle of turnout, but if you’re in the targeted area, City Light spokesperson Scott Thomsen says you will get direct notification — City Light workers have already started going door-to-door to tell residents what’s going on and what they can expect to happen; if you’re not home when they stop by, they’ll leave an info-card hanging on your door. The “blue” area will be tackled first, starting within the next couple weeks (loosely described, this includes parts of Seaview, Morgan Junction, Genesee Hill, and most of Beach Drive); City Light managers say the work will last about two months before they move on to the areas on the map in orange. The only significant section stretching east of California Ave is south of Fairmount Park; one spur that travels almost all the way to the eastern edge of West Seattle is along Brandon. If you have a tree that’s within 10 feet of a power line, you will be offered the option of pruning (which in most cases will entail fairly dramatic branch removal) or taking out the tree entirely (and replacing it with something unlikely to grow into the line). And it’s all in the interest of preventing further power-outage catastrophes like what happened around West Seattle in the December 2006 windstorm; trees too close to power lines, City Light says, are the number one cause.
Happening tonight: City Light explains where and how it’ll cut
No snow, but there’s a strong breeze buffeting trees around, at least where we are — and that, according to Seattle City Light, 
is the number one cause of power outages: trees vs. power lines. As first reported here last month, City Light crews are coming to West Seattle soon for what the utility says is the first extensive round of tree-trimming here in almost a decade – and if you have a tree that’s in the way, NOT cutting is NOT an option — so SCL really wants to make sure everyone understands what’s going on here, before the trucks show up, and why the cuts tend to be big and dramatic, not just a snip here and a snip there. Best place to find out exactly what will happen and when – and to see if your specific neighborhood is included in what City Light’s announcement two weeks ago described as “Alki and North Admiral west of California Avenue in the north end of West Seattle and Genesee, Gatewood and Fairmount Park neighborhoods in the south end of West Seattle” – is to go to tonight’s meeting, 6:30 pm, Hiawatha Community Center.
Ferry SW closure
Thanks to Will for the tip that Ferry SW was abruptly closed today. We parked by the closure sign near Ferry/California Ave (map) and walked to see what was up … and kept walking … and kept walking (awesome views, great workout going back uphill). The work is under way close to where Ferry meets California Way (map):
A contractor is drilling for some repair work above this erosion area we mentioned 2 weeks ago:
We have left messages for SDOT to ask how long the closure will continue (if it’s not over already; will check again later this afternoon). 5 PM UPDATE: SDOT says it was a one-day closure, ended around 3 pm, and the contractor does not expect to need to close the street again.
Tree-cycling time: West Seattle Christmas tree recycling
We personally would like to encourage everyone to savor the season. However, in all practicality, we know some thoughts are turning to the yearly task of Tossing The Tree. Here is the official “how to put it out with your yard waste” press release, which includes this all-important info:
Seattle residents who subscribe to curbside yard and food waste collection can put their trees and greens out on their regular collection day at no extra charge from December 26, 2007 to January 13, 2008. Trees should be cut into sections of six feet long or shorter, with branches trimmed to less than four feet to fit into the collection trucks. Sections should be bundled with string or twine.
Trees that are flocked and/or have tinsel or ornaments will be collected as extra garbage. Customers will need to cut the tree into three-foot pieces and each piece will be charged as extra garbage. Each unit of extra garbage costs $5.60. Plastic trees are also not recyclable.
Seattle residents can also drop off their holiday trees and greens for free at Seattle Public Utilities’ North and South Recycling and Disposal stations between December 26, 2007 and January 13, 2008.
The tree sections must be cut to eight feet or less in length and the trunk must be four inches or smaller in diameter. The limit is three trees per vehicle. Only trees without flocking or decoration may be disposed of free of charge.
If you want to do less tree-cutting and so would prefer to drop off your tree, the South Recycling Station in South Park is the closest one to West Seattle; the city has a map here but it doesn’t address getting there from WS, so here’s a map you can use for starters (choose the “driving directions” option). Now, if you still don’t want to go to all that trouble, CL is awash in listings from people you can pay to take your tree away; if you know of any local volunteer or nonprofit groups doing that in West Seattle this year, please e-mail us so we can feature them on WSB.
Power-line problem in Morgan Junction
And not weather-related that we know of: Our WSB Sales Guy just passed through and reports that there’s some kind of problem with a power line between Morgan Junction Thriftway and the Shell station/strip mall-let area along the east side of California Ave to the south, so it appears some of the businesses (we don’t know how many) may be experiencing power trouble. 3:12 PM UPDATE: The line is busted on the pole right over the BECU ATM between Thriftway and the Shell station; as the photo below shows, City Light crews are on it. The folks at Thriftway say they’ve been without power for more than an hour but with generator help you can still make purchases, and they’ve been told the power should be back on soon. 4:52 PM UPDATE: Power’s back on, all’s well.
Upper Fauntleroy sinkhole progress report
The work to fill the Upper Fauntleroy sinkhole/gully (atop the Thistle hillside stairs, at Thistle/Northrop) is going well, according to an update we just got from Seattle Public Utilities senior engineer Jim Lee; photo above is from less than an hour ago. Jim e-mailed WSB with this update for everyone in the area:
The gully has been mostly filled in, except for the north head of the gully. We are planning on filling it in with Control Density Fill (CDF) and then starting sidewalk repairs. This should occur either today (if we are lucky and the crews can get CDF today) or by Monday (more than likely). Until then, the sidewalk and stairs will be closed. The temporary bridge was removed on Thursday so that crews could clean up all of the sidewalk concrete that had fallen into the gully.
Sinkhole, made whole
From Amanda, who provided the original WSB report on the water-pipe “sinkhole” that slowed things down on Avalon overnight and into the morning, as well as a morning update — here’s her final photo from above, showing the finishing touches:
Amanda says the water finally came back on too, after about 16 hours. (Utilities crews had to turn it off to stop the gusher that created the hole in the first place.)
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