West Seattle, Washington
29 Friday
Thanks to the WSB’ers whose texts and calls brought news of this picketing at the Admiral Safeway construction site. You’ve seen similar protests at other project sites (we recall at least three in West Seattle in the past few years) – this time, it’s the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters claiming site subcontractor Marquise Drywall is not paying “area standard” wages, according to their signs and according to what one of the protesters told WSB.
Then we found there was more to the story than the picketing itself: The drums, whistles, and bullhorns the protesters were using had drawn a different kind of protest: Lafayette Elementary, across the street, had called the police. Principal Virginia Turner explained they are not opposed to the protest – but the protesters had been using drums and other noisemakers, and that was disrupting classwork. Much louder than the ongoing construction work, she and office manager Connie Wicklund explained. While we were talking with them in the Lafayette office, SPD Officer Barnes came in to explain that the protesters had agreed to stop using the drums, but, he said, there wasn’t much more police could do than talk to them, which they had done. Turner said she had gone over to talk with the protesters too. If the drums started up again, the officer advised the school administrators, give them a call. (In our video, shot from the Lafayette side of the street, you will see and hear the protesters, minus the drums, and you also see the police who responded to the California/Lander corner.)
Gray day but we’ve seen some colorful sights in the past hour. First, Marguerite Lynch shared the news that her twin sons Sean and Andrew Lynch turned 13 today – and got a flamingo flock courtesy of friends, with the help of the youth group at Admiral Congregational Church (which happens to be right across the street from her house; we recently covered their flocking at Alki Mail and Dispatch). The flamingos are currently gracing Marguerite’s famous planting-strip edible-garden spots, as well as part of the rest of her yard. Meantime, in The Junction:
Jaesee the West Seattle “yarn-bomber” has struck again. We told her story here earlier this week, after her guerrilla knitting project at an Admiral District bike rack; this morning, she announced a new creation, and we photographed it while driving through The Junction (it’s at the southeast corner of Walk All Ways). First word came from WSB contributor Keri DeTore, who reported on the first “yarn-bomb” and got a statement from her – after the jump:Read More
From the team at Neighborhood House in High Point:
Prom, as many of you know is a rite of passage for high school youth in America, and one that many youth/families can not afford. So – help us help our girls.
High Point Family Center and YELS are going to host a prom dress ‘clothing fair’ in late April and would love donations of – Prom Dresses (gently used and clean) and Accessories (purses, shawls, hair clips etc). You can drop off your donation at 6400 Sylvan Way SW. … Just remember – your nightmare-inducing mermaid dress just might be a youth’s dream dress!
Optimal times for dropoff times are Monday-Friday 10 am- 4 pm and Saturday 10:30 am-12:30 pm (ask for Aparna or Dena). If you have a question – 206-588-4900, extension 626. (And here’s a map to 6400 Sylvan Way SW.)
Long a luminous name in music coverage, Billboard says it’s “scout(ed) the U.S. to find the most promising unsigned bands,” and in the Northwest, one of their picks includes two West Seattle musicians – Hotels. Now they’re in an online “Battle of the Bands” at the Billboard website, and looking for your vote – the ultimate prize in the competition is a chance to perform live at the Billboard Music Awards. We got a note from Tilly asking us to share news of the contest; watch the Hotels video above, and cast your vote on the right side of this page (no registration required!).
(Photo credit: Jeb the West Seattle pony, by Danny McMillin)
From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar: The Genesee-Schmitz Neighborhood Event is tonight, starting with a town-hall forum at 6:30, on to a hoedown with live music at 7, details here, West Seattle Christian Church, 4400 42nd SW … Also in The Junction, four shops’ Fashion Spring Fling is tonight, 7-10 pm – shop late! – and Seattle Fish Company (4435 California SW) has a tasting event (fresh halibut and wine!) 5-7 pm … Speaking of fish, meet stars of “The Deadliest Catch” at Alki Tavern tonight, 7:30 pm … And as previewed here, the Community School of West Seattle (9450 22nd Ave SW) is holding a Bake Sale To Benefit Japan, 2:45 – 3:30 pm (and again tomorrow) … The new Bright Horizons child-care center at Link (WSB sponsor; 38th and Alaska) has a hard-hat tour 4-7 pm, drop by any time for a look and to meet the staff … French-Canadian folk trio De Temps Antan, with the Acadian kitchen party music of La Famille Léger, plays Kenyon Hall at 7:30 pm … The final week of “Distracted” at ArtsWest (WSB sponsor) in The Junction continues with a 7:30 pm performance tonight – full details here.
A few quick updates tonight – WEST SEATTLE FOR JAPAN: Up to $6,300 from Sunday’s all-day/all-night fundraise-a-thon, per our quick check with organizer Dave Montoure of West 5 late today; more merchant reports to come … LA RUSTICA DINNER FUNDRAISER: The Beach Drive restaurant‘s special Monday night dinner service raised $2,900, according to La Rustica’s Beth McDaniel … BAKE SALE TOMORROW AND FRIDAY: Community School of West Seattle has done the baking; now, you do the buying – details in our story from yesterday.
It was way back in November when we first mentioned the Chief Sealth International High School Honor Choir‘s quest to raise money for a trip to sing at Carnegie Hall – here’s our photo of choir members selling cupcakes at the Southwest Community Center Holiday Bazaar – then, four months later, they were still at it, as shown above in our photo from last Sunday, with their second “rain or shine” car wash on Alki. Tonight they’ve shared an update on those car washes, and their upcoming Eastertime trip of a lifetime:
Dear WSB and West Seattle Community
We wanted to give you an update as to how our fundraising carwashes went. With the community’s support, we raised approximately $2,200. This would not have been possible if John Frank at Alki Auto Repair had not graciously allowed our group to use his location for our events, and if generous people had not shown up and supported us. The excellent coverage from the West Seattle Blog was “game-changing” and certainly had much to do with our success.
The saying “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice” is certainly true. When we sent in our application, we had high hopes of getting selected to perform. Once invited, choir groups must coordinate everything through the official travel agency for Carnegie Hall and there is no negotiating travel costs. At $1,800 per performer and chaperone, the total seemed insurmountable. So in some ways the route to Carnegie Hall became “fundraise, fundraise, fundraise” for us. Our students determined that they did not want anyone prevented from participating due to cost. Each family would commit what they could pay and then the group would fundraise together to pay the remaining balance. No members knew how much any of the other members were paying, we just knew the total we needed to raise.
Thinking back to our first meeting for this trip, there was a real sense of dread at the sum we were committing to raise. Fundraising is difficult, and with a fragile economy it is even more so. Thankfully, this is a very motivated group, and their enthusiasm has been infectious especially at times where it would have been easier to give up.
We wanted you to know how much your support has meant to us. Every dollar and kind word given to us has been very much appreciated. Over six months of work, we have had hundreds of people behind us, telling us we could do it and wishing success for us. This kind of experience is life-altering and greatly empowering. Certainly the full weight of this will hit each of us when we are on stage at Carnegie Hall. Thank you for your role in this.
With Gratitude,
The Chief Sealth Honor Choir
SPD calls out a West Seattle speeding ticket yet again – this time, more than double the school-zone speed near Holy Family on SW Roxbury.
(WSHS’s three FCCLA medalists)
From Sarah Orton at West Seattle High School:
As you may or may not know, we have some FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) state winners among us in the West Seattle area!
Our West Seattle High School FCCLA chapter went to Wenatchee last Wednesday-Friday and were amazing.
Ms. Henry and I could not have asked for a better group of students; they were Irvette Taruc, Phi Huong, and Chris Nguyen who helped facilitate STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) Events and our chapter had three STAR Event competitors as well:
Silbee Sanchez and Phuc Nguyen competed in National Programs in Action and received a GOLD medal!!
Steven Nguyen competed in Job Interview and received the highest GOLD and will be representing Washington State at the NATIONAL FCCLA CONFERENCE in ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA this summer!!!
Steven is our first student to make it to Nationals for FCCLA and we are super proud and excited for this experience.
Please congratulate these students for a job well done, they represented West Seattle well.
Sarah Orton & Danielle Henry
Family and Consumer Science Department
West Seattle High School
(Photo by Katie Meyer for WSB, swapped at 6:46 pm for previous camphone photo by Celeste)
4:05 PM: We’re on our way to 35th and Avalon, where a heavy-rescue response – many fire and police units – is reportedly answering a call about a car hitting a building. More in a moment.
4:15 PM: WSB contributor Katie Meyer arrived on scene first and says it’s The Bridge, the new bar/restaurant, which has some damage to repair but this has been downgraded from a major response.
4:20 PM: Just talked with The Bridge’s co-owner Trevor Garand, who says nobody inside was hurt and they ARE open. “Karaoke night is ON!” he told WSB’s Patrick Sand. They’re already making plans for repairs. I
The 24/7 line (206-293-6302) rang this morning with a common question this time of year: When does registration start for West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day? Here’s the answer: Next Monday! This will be our fourth year organizing/presenting the peninsula-wide event – not one big garage sale (though big ones have and undoubtedly will be part of it), but many sales all over West Seattle. Every year there are more – last year’s total passed 200! You can scroll through some of the highlights at westseattlegaragesale.com; next Monday morning, we’ll publish a link here for signing up your sale – individual, business, block/group, etc. We also have a West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day page on Facebook (“like” it here – and if you haven’t already, check out the new main WSB page on FB). Oh, the important part – Saturday, May 14th is Community Garage Sale Day, 9 am-3 pm. You sign up, we make the map and promote it regionally, then come May 14th, it’s a fun opportunity not only to “recycle” items via the tried-and-true yard-sale method, but also to get out and meet friends and neighbors old and new, whether they go to your sale or you go to theirs.
The only non-incumbent West Seattleite in this year’s City Council races so far has gone public today with his platform and his full campaign website. Michael Taylor-Judd is running for Position 1, along with four other people so far (all listed here), including incumbent Councilmember Jean Godden. From this page on his site, he breaks down his positions into four issue areas: education, housing, transportation, public safety. He says he’s in favor of passing the Families and Education Levy this fall; opposes the Highway 99 tunnel but acknowledges it’s the designated alternative and says “Now is the time to assess whether or not the Tunnel will be the safe and successful option our city can afford”; for public safety, he says, “I believe we need to redouble the Seattle Police Department’s commitment to community policing.” You can read his full news release here; his campaign also is on Facebook, here. Taylor-Judd is not the only West Seattleite who’s aiming to be on the ballot this year for City Council; in a separate race, incumbent Councilmember Tom Rasmussen is so far running unopposed (besides Godden with 4 opponents and Rasmussen with none, each of the other 3 incumbents on the fall ballot has one challenger so far). This year’s election dates are August 16 (primary) and November 8 (general).
From Lafayette Elementary‘s ‘Play It Forward’ playground-project team – a big decision for the playground upgrades at West Seattle’s most populous elementary school:
Here is the result of the Lafayette playground equipment vote. A Playground Equipment Selection Committee comprised of staff, faculty, parents and community members met to develop criteria for the “big toy.” They then sent out RFPs to all of the vendors approved by the Seattle School District.
Of the eight RFPs the committee received, three fit the criteria. After a vote at the community meeting, the students, parents, siblings, faculty and staff. Here is the winner!
Thank you to everyone who voted in our Big Toy Vote for the Lafayette Playground. By an overwhelming margin, Proposal “A” was selected with 365 votes, 48% of the total votes. Proposal B came in second with 290 votes, and C with 103. We’ll be breaking ground at the end of the school year and building the new playground over the summer break.
There’s still a lot of work to do before the kids can enjoy our new playground – money to raise, bricks to sell, volunteers to help prep and build the toy over the summer. We need you! Look for upcoming announcements about our community update meetings and volunteer opportunities. We also will be closing out our brick sales on May 13th – be sure to get your orders in before you miss out! Questions/Ideas/Wanna Help? Contact Holly at rhgrambihler@msn.com or Deborah at deborah@civicgroup.net
We are at Seattle City Hall, where hundreds of people are gathered for the Seattle Police Department‘s latest promotion ceremony, with today’s promotees including Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen, officially marking his achievement of that rank a few months ago. (video added)
Everyone who has spoken so far, including Mayor McGinn (top photo), has acknowledged that this is a difficult time for SPD, and that it is important to celebrate achievements as well as focusing attention on problems.
Police Chief John Diaz is speaking as well, thanking the promotion recipients for taking on leadership roles in a challenging time – though moments later, he also remarked on last year’s crime rate, the lowest in Seattle in more than 40 years, while acknowledging, “We have a lot of work to do” to help people be safer, and to make up for recent high-profile mistakes (while not, so far, alluding to any particular incident). He went on to mention this morning’s SWAT incident in West Seattle, which ended without injury (WSB coverage here), speculating it “won’t get any media attention tonight” because it ended peacefully. More to come, including video; here’s the SPD Blotter overview of the event.
(WSB video of SWAT team going into the room to take the man into custody)
7:41 AM: We’ve received calls asking about SWAT team action at the 36th/Alaska motel. Police describe it as a “barricaded person.” They are working to communicate with that person. The situation is affecting traffic in the area, so if you usually go through that area, we’d advise finding an alternate route. More to come.
(Photo of van at SWAT-situation scene, shared by Stephen)
7:52 AM: WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand just spoke with SPD Det. Mark Jamieson at the scene. This started in the 5 am hour, when police encountered a man outside the motel who appeared to have a knife. They told him to drop it; he ran into a room at the motel, and has been there ever since. Just before 7 am, they decided to tape off the area. Right now they are trying to establish contact with the man in a variety of ways but have not been able to reach him. No injuries to anyone have been reported so far.
8:13 AM: Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen says the man is believed to be “elderly … with mental issues.” Police are asking media, as is standard in active SWAT team situations, to be careful not to show live images that would clue the suspect to what is happening outside his location. Our crew says traffic now appears to be moving OK in both directions along SW Alaska.
8:39 AM: No change in the situation but police continue trying to coax the man to come out peacefully. Their messages via bullhorn can be clearly heard around the area: “We want to help.”
9:18 AM: Still ongoing; man still in room, police still on scene actively working to resolve the situation. We had sent a message to Josh Sutton at the nearby West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor) to ask how this was affecting their facility, if at all, and he has replied in the comment section: “… Just to be clear, Y employees have been kept informed of the situation since the beginning and the safety of our kids and members has not been a concern. We appreciate the police’s direct communication in this effort.”
10:23 AM: The man is in custody. Police forcibly entered the room and got him, no injuries reported. He’s believed to be in his early 40s. Det. Jamieson says he’s going to be taken to Harborview Medical Center for an evaluation.
11:07 AM: Video of the incident’s end, added atop this story; here’s video of Det. Jamieson with a quick briefing for the media once the man was in custody:
We are also adding photos from earlier, which we could not use during the incident because, as mentioned earlier, police request that their positions at a standoff scene not be shown, lest it jeopardize the operation:
ADDED 1:13 PM: The SPD Blotter account of the incident:
On March 30th, shortly after 5:00 AM, officers from the Southwest Precinct were dispatched to a motel in the 3500 Block of SW Alaska Street. The 911 call was for a man outside the building, screaming. Officers arrived and contacted the male standing outside one of the rooms. He was clearly agitated and not wearing a shirt. It appeared to the officers that he may have had a homemade knife of some sort in his hand. The officers attempted to contact the man, but he ran inside the room and barricaded himself inside. Officers made numerous attempts to contact the man through the door and by calling the room, but to no avail. Negotiators and SWAT were called to the scene about an hour later and attempted to establish a dialogue with the individual. Negotiators tried for hours to establish some sort of communication with the man.
SWAT officers eventually were able to put chemical irritants inside the room that eventually forced the man to come to the window. Officers were then able to safely secure the man’s hands while they entered the room and took him into custody. He was taken into custody at approximately 10:15 AM without any further incident. Seattle Fire Department arrived to assist with the decontamination of the individual, and then the 40 year old male was transported to Harborview Medical Center where he will undergo a mental health evaluation.
That’s not an audience for a concert, or a sports event, or a play – hundreds of people filled the seats at the Central Library downtown last night to watch students answer questions about books! With Roxhill Elementary, Sanislo Elementary, and Concord International teams among the 10 finalists in the citywide Global Reading Challenge, we had to go downtown last night to see what happened. Though none of the three – the Concord Orange Dragons, Roxhill Bulldogs and Sanislo Ice Dodos – scored high enough to be one of the two teams advancing to a championship match against Canadian teams (Bryant and Thurgood Marshall teams will do that, via video conference) with north-of-the-border teams, they all performed well. Concord’s team is at left in the next photo, with the Roxhill team at right (Sanislo was in the middle of the floor, out of our range):
Competing teams sat at tables on the auditorium floor and wrote down answers to multiple-choice questions about the books they had read for this year’s challenge (here’s the list of books), which in the beginning involved dozens of schools around the city; then finally after almost two hours, the scores were tallied, winners announced, cookies were enjoyed. (And hopefully, even without a “challenge” to live up to, more books!)
Seattle Police are updating their campaign against “aggressive driving” almost every day on SPD Blotter. The latest update includes several West Seattle spots – highlighted by five tickets for 70 mph or higher on the bridge. They also mention Admiral Way and SW Henderson. Here’s their roundup.
(Photos courtesy Stu Hennessey)
By Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Thanks to a group of Puget Ridge neighbors, the historically agricultural parcel of land at 5265 18th Ave SW [map] will retain its agricultural status and become urban farmland in West Seattle.
Stu Hennessey, owner of Alki Bike and Board, is part of a community group that has been working toward the preservation of this site to turn it into a publicly owned permaculture farm, to be known as Puget Ridge Edible Park (PREP). They applied for, and were recommended to be granted, a $520,000 share of the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund (here’s our coverage, with video, of project supporters making their case last October).
He says, “We thought it would be cool to have a P-Patch or garden” for fresh produce in their neighborhood.
From Wendy Weeks – a reason to go through your closet before Saturday. That’s the day she’s hosting a “Style Swap Benefit,” 11:30 am-2 pm Saturday (April 2nd), at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse (9131 California SW):
Empowering women in developing countries is one way that we can directly make a change on a global level. On April 2nd, you have the opportunity to contribute toward change. How does this work? Attend our Style Swap and bring your favorite out-of-size clothes. Contribute 20 dollars to participate and you will help fund the scholarship of a high-school girl at a school in Malawi.
By participating in this charitable act, you and 49 other women will sponsor a student for her entire high-school experience. All monies collected will go directly to the scholarship fund of a girl to be selected by the school. But wait, there is more!
There is a side benefit for you as well! You can purge your closet of those clothes that you love but will never get in again and in return you may find some gems to bring home!
Just bring your clean and well-cared-for items (tops, bottoms, shoes, purses, scarves, jackets, etc…) to the swap between 11:30 am and 12:00 pm and at 12:00 you can start looking for your new best outfit! We can even arrange to pick-up your items ahead of time either from a north or south end Seattle location. Call before March 30th for information concerning an advanced clothing pick-up or drop-off.
So contribute 20 bucks, clean out your closet and find some new treasures! All clothing not swapped that day will go to charity. Light refreshments will be served. A complete description of the school and how this non- profit works will be available on the day of the event.
You can call Wendy at 206-769-1049.
Two updates tonight on West Seattle help for Japan. First, we checked in again with West 5‘s Dave Montoure on the second day of tallying up the donations/proceeds percentages from the nearly 30 businesses that joined in West Seattle For Japan on Sunday:
As of 2:00 p.m. we had passed the $6,000 mark, with 15 businesses left to collect from. Getting e-mails that several of those businesses made deposits after I checked at 2:00 p.m. Tremendous!
West 5 also is hosting a “tweet-up” (Twitter users’ gathering) on Thursday night that will include a Japan-fundraising raffle, starting at 5:30 pm.
Meantime, Community School of West Seattle is getting ready for a fundraising bake sale – teacher Jen Foster shares the update, and this photo:
Jen writes:
In a whole school effort, students, teachers and parent volunteers have been busy all day baking for our bake sale.
We will have some gluten-free, some nut-free, and of course typical bake-sale favorites like brownies and Rice Krispie treats for purchase.
Last year we were lucky to have a Japanese pre-school teacher, Mayuko, who returned to Japan in September. While she was with us, she taught the kids some Japanese words and origami. When the students heard about the earthquake and tsunami they thought of Mayuko. We have been in contact with her through e-mail and Facebook, and she said the best way to help was to send $ to the Red Cross.
*All of the bake sale proceeds will benefit the Red Cross.
Our k-2 class has been busy making origami cranes. These cranes have been strung onto mobiles and will be for sale also. The class decided that they would like to donate their proceeds to Mercy Corps.
Bake sale at CSWS, 9450 22nd Ave SW
Thursday 2:45 PM-3:30 PM
Friday 11:45-12:30 PM
As first reported here yesterday, the King County Water Taxi‘s West Seattle-to-downtown run will start its new spring/summer 7-day-a-week schedule on April 8th. And now we have details of how that’ll work this year, including shuttle and game-day plans. The schedule is online here, and you can read on for the overview!Read More
Among the many ongoing changes related to Alaskan Way Viaduct and Spokane Street Viaduct construction, here’s one that starts tomorrow, affecting bicyclists:
Starting Wednesday, March 30 through Friday, April 8, crews will route bicycles off of both directions of Alaskan Way S. between S. Atlantic Street and S. Royal Brougham Way while they rebuild the entrance into the Port of Seattle’s Terminal 46. Cyclists will need to follow a signed detour route via East Frontage Road S.
Find more information about the detour – including a map – by going here.
We’re at the King County Courthouse, where the hearing we came for lasted barely a minute. The defendant: 46-year-old Duane Starkenburg, the West Seattle man arrested in late January and charged with indecent liberties for allegedly attacking three women in Lincoln Park over the past seven months. This was to be a “case-setting” hearing; Starkenburg’s lawyer asked for a continuance (postponement), as they continue to receive and review various records in the case, he told the judge; the prosecutor did not object. So Judge Ronald Kessler agreed to the defense’s request to set Starkenburg’s next appearance for May 3rd. Starkenburg did not speak; we won’t have a new photograph from today, but he looked about the same as he did at his last hearing (see photo in this February story), close-shaven head, wearing a dark suit. He remains free on $175,000 bond, and remains under orders to stay out of all parks in King County.
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