West Seattle, Washington
19 Sunday
Now that power and cable are back for people in the south Morgan Junction/west Gatewood area that was without power till about 5:30 this morning, we seem to have learned about the culprit. Area resident Vlad Oustimovitch sent the photo above (thank you!), explaining it was “a large Big Leaf Maple tree that came down on the 4000 block of SW Orchard Street at 4:15 pm yesterday. It tore out the power and cable lines and blacked out the whole street, and I suspect other streets as well. Nobody was hurt, but there are skid marks 10 feet away from the downed tree where a car driving on the street was almost crushed. I came down soon after, and the driver was shaking as he looked at what just missed him. Crews were out early in the morning and had the street cleared and power on by 5:35 am. Impressive job, they did it all in the dark. Cable was restored a few hours after that.” 5:25 PM ADDITION: One more case of “When Trees Attack!” from yesterday’s storm. Hotwire Coffee proprietor Lora Vickrey e-mailed this photo of the tree that came down outside the Junction post office. Nobody hurt, Lora reports, but some folks passing by at the time were shaken up!
From the comments on our post below — Mike says the power returned around 5:30 am. Thanks for the update! Meanwhile, all Seattle Public Schools (in WS and elsewhere around the city) will be open as usual, according to the SPS site. 7:10 AM ADDITION: After more interruptions in Comcast cable internet/tv service in Upper Fauntleroy, more Comcast crews have just been spotted “working both sides of the street” near Caffe Ladro down the hill.
As of 3:30 am. North side of the intersection (Corner Inn, Washington Federal) has power – street lights are on along Morgan on the north side of the Thriftway — but the businesses (Thriftway, Tully’s, Starbucks) are clearly still out, as is the traffic light at that intersection and the next light south (Caffe Ladro/Stella Ruffington/Akina Designs block).
Took one more spin through Fauntleroy/California a short time ago – still out – no City Light crews in sight (but Comcast had a couple trucks a few blocks south). The City Light site says 10,000 people citywide were still in the dark as of 10:30. 11:22 PM UPDATE: One more outage that seems not to be on the city website:Read More
Just drove through Fauntleroy/California – intersection’s out, most businesses at that spot dark (Thriftway appears to still be on generator power), the businesses along California south of Fauntleroy are out too (Caffe Ladro, Subway, Starbucks, McDonald’s, etc.) though there’s spotty power on some parts of the left side of the street (like the Watermarke condo conversion). Full power picks up right after Seattle International Baptist Church. Going out in a bit to survey the waterfront areas. No wind left, at least. P.S. The City Light outage page doesn’t mention the entirety of this outage – it mentions Myrtle to Othello/38th to 40th (west slope of Gatewood) and Spokane to Charlestown/53rd to 55th.
This just in from Seattle Public Utilities: City admits it can’t keep up with drain-clearing and needs “Adopt-a-Drain” volunteers. They’ll send supplies.
Press release just out of the inbox. Please note the line about the trees — go check yours if applicable:
With a windstorm expected in the greater Seattle area Thursday evening, Seattle City Light is preparing crews and stocking its trucks to respond to any outages that occur and restore service.
The National Weather Service is forecasting sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph and gusts of 40 to 50 mph. The peak of the storm is expected between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Winds of that level are slightly stronger than a typical winter storm in this area. They have the potential to damage the electrical system, causing outages.
One particular concern is trees that were damaged in last December’s major storm but are still standing. Those trees have been weakened and are more susceptible to wind. Also, because many of the trees still hold a majority of their leaves, they act more like a sail in catching the wind, further increasing the risk.
On the good side, soils are not saturated, giving trees more of an anchor. City Light also has trimmed trees along more than 100 miles of power lines this year to provide clearance that helps reduce the likelihood of damage.
Residents are encouraged to take this opportunity to get prepared for winter storms and other emergencies. Three ways you can begin preparing today are to make an emergency plan for your family, build an emergency kit and get involved with your neighbors.
You can learn more at www.seattle.gov/emergency.
Sunday marks 10 months since the raucous rainstorm that preceded the wild windstorm. One of the first effects of the pounding rain on December 14th of last year was the Upper Fauntleroy sinkhole at Thistle/Northrop (above photo shows the site today). Save for a little cleanup, and a temporary bridge built in January so walkers could still use the Thistle hillside stairs, plus improvements to city storm drains nearby, the sinkhole has remained, gaping, barely cordoned off, ever since. But not for much longer; flyers have just appeared in the Seattle Public Utilities sign by the sinkhole, saying that “we have resolved the outstanding property issues and are ready to commence with the repair project. We are currently waiting for authorization from the State/FEMA … We are anticipating on receiving authorization within the next week.” The flyer says the sinkhole, which the city calls a “gully,” will be filled in with “structural fill.” It’s accumulated some unofficial fill over these long months:
As for how this work might affect you if you use this area — the city says it may start “quickly and on very short notice,” will take 4-5 days, will involve some traffic restrictions at that sharp corner, and most significantly (the city flyer puts it in bold, so we will too): The stairs will be temporarily closed during the duration of the repair work. Very popular for people walking to and from Lincoln Park, so plan alternate routes.
The city’s Neighborhood District Coordinator for West Seattle, Stan Lock, forwarded an alert about an unusual test in Arbor Heights (& White Center) next week:Read More
-Our city utility bills are all going up. (Side note, did you know you can report a missed trash/recycling pickup online?) TUESDAY AFTERNOON CORRECTION: The city has just posted a note that the original newspaper report was wrong; City Light is not proposing an increase.
–Capitol Hill Seattle suggests we could cut those bills a bit and make an energy-saving statement by joining L.A. and S.F. in shutting off everything “nonessential” for an hour at 8 pm October 20. We’re in, how ’bout you? (And how about West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician; anybody asked him about this yet?)
–The West Seattle Little League website now has a photo up of proud WSLL reps at the Safe last Friday night, accepting the big $100K Boeing/Mariners Care check for Bar-S Playfield improvements.
–Endolyne Joe’s fans can take this as a hint of which food theme is likely to follow the currently featured “prairie” menu.
-Besides Trader Joe’s (someday, someday), this is the grocery chain we would most like to see expand into West Seattle.
If you have gas service from Puget Sound Energy, don’t faint, it’s cutting rates. 
However, this is reminiscent of the price of the “other” gas going up, then down a bit, then up; exactly one year ago today, in fact, PSE announced a gas rate increase of almost 9%, which means this new cut only takes us down to 4% over where prices were a year ago. We are quite dependent on PSE here at WSB HQ; when we bought our gas-heated house last decade, natural gas was relatively cheap, so we had the line extended to our kitchen. As the chart accompanying today’s Times story shows, prices have more than doubled since then.
Found in the document billed as “highlights” of the budget Hizzoner presented to the City Council yesterday: $1 million “challenge grant” to help the community buy the Fauntleroy School building (page 8); $4 million for a new “outage-management system” (last page) so City Light can do a better job of telling us what’s going on when we’re powerless like those dark days last December.
Huge thanks to several WSB readers who e-mailed us at this late hour to tell us about 35th being blocked off near the High Point Library. According to LyndaB, the problem apparently has something to do with a dangerously leaning power pole she had noticed earlier in the day; City Light’s on scene as well as police.
South WS drivers beware: Seattle city crews have stepped up the drainage work at the south end of the Cali straightaway (Cali/Thistle) and, a block downhill, next to the Thistle/Northrop sinkhole that opened in the deluge before last December’s windstorm. Heavy equipment tore up more pavement today at Cali/Thistle (photo below) and the Thistle/Northrop bend is squeezed to one lane.
Went to Belvedere Viewpoint to see how the Admiral paving turned out, among other things. The whole stretch that was closed for nighttime work toward the end of last week (Admiral between Olga and 41st) looks good; here’s a small section shining during a sunbreak:
Looking out toward downtown from the same viewpoint, we enjoyed a great view of everybody out fishing on Elliott Bay:
The latest on the major road projects that are rolling our way like a semi-truck with burned-out brakes:
FREEWAY FRIGHT ’07, aka the I-5 northbound lane closures: We know it’s going to be crunchy but gosh, the handwringing we’ve heard on tv lately … you would think our peninsula is going to be scooped up and flung into the middle of the Pacific, with all this hue and cry over People In West Seattle Won’t Be Able To Go Anywhere. Oh well, maybe it means a few more square feet of sand on Alki for the locals if the weather ever gets nice again. Back to the traffic: WSDOT has launched this very handy new page with specifics about What Exactly Is Happening Right This Minute, schedule changes if any, relevant cameras, and current traffic troubles. We’ll have it linked prominently here on our site every morning along with specifics on what us WSers need to know before heading out (more on that tomorrow).
ADMIRAL AGONY ’07, as in, the paving that will close Admiral Way for two nights between Olga and 41st starting tomorrow night, 7 pm-6 am. This city press release has the bare-bones basics about detours and so forth; the city e-mail update we posted back on Monday has even more information, including the warning for neighbors about possible vibrations from construction equipment.
Ten days ago, we were all talking about the city plan intended to lead us all further into the world of recycling, while, by the way, reaching further into our wallets, to pay for upgrading city refuse/recycling facilities. Tonight we know how MUCH more West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician wants us to pay for trash service, for starters: A buck a month for the “average” house (?), $15 more per month for the average commercial Dumpster, among other things. City press release here; Times story here. Not final till the City Council says yes.
Hot out of the inbox, a city update on the Admiral Way paving project, including a total shutdown between 41st & Olga, week after next — here’s hoping it’s finished on time, before colliding with Freeway Fright ’07 — click ahead for the full text of the city update:Read More
We’ve confessed before that food-waste recycling is the one type of recycling we just haven’t quite gotten on board with yet. Looks like we’re going to have to; reports this morning (Times here, Weekly here) say we’re all going to be paying for pickup in less than 2 years. We hate paying for something we’re not using. Like the basic cable channels we don’t watch. Wish tv channels could be purchased a la carte. But we digress. So, we’ll get with the program. Maybe Sustainable West Seattle has advice! (More on the city’s “zero waste strategy” here.)
For anyone still wondering about the power problems in south West Seattle last weekend — Scott Thomsen from City Light told us what caused the biggest outage Saturday morning: an underground cable failed and had to be replaced. Apparently this happens from time to time; cables’ insulation can go brittle because of “heat and other environmental conditions.”
Seattle City Light still hasn’t posted a peep about the power outages on this side of WS Friday night & Saturday morning, but King County has posted a press release noting the bigger outage caused an overflow at the Murray Street pump station @ Lowman Beach. NOON UPDATE: Warning signs (photo below) are still up at Lowman.
Some pockets of power trouble here on the south end of West Seattle in the past 18 hours or so, including here at WSB HQ (so says the early-rising team member, who noted it was out at least as far as 35th and Trenton, for at least an hour until about 6 am). Another outage happened in neighborhoods near Morgan Junction last night; one reader tells us it was out at her house for at least 5 hours. No word yet on what’s going on here (the City Light Outage Hotline only makes mention of something going on right now in Sodo) but it might have something to do with the Morgan substation just north of Thriftway, where several City Light crews blocked off that last stub of Morgan for a while last night (photo below), though our ERTM says they weren’t there this am.
First, the light stuff: Semi-rare midweek in-store live @ Easy Street; Marissa Nadler, 6 pm.
Now, serious business: King County hosts a community meeting for south West Seattle folks (others welcome too, of course) to find out more about the improvements in the works for the Barton (near the Fauntleroy ferry dock) and Murray (at Lowman Beach) pump stations, all in the interest of avoiding future CSOs (combined sewer overflows) which now total 14 million gallons a year just at those two stations. Learn more @ 6 pm, The Hall at Fauntleroy.
Last but by no means least, the Westwood Neighborhood Council summons all who are interested in the huge upcoming (right after next school year) Sealth HS/Denny MS project — 6:30 pm, SW Community Center.
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