West Seattle, Washington
03 Sunday
Todd e-mailed to alert everyone that his car was broken into — “again” — tonight @ 21st/Roxbury. He asks, “When will these little brats learn that I keep NOTHING in that car?”
That’s Mo, a Chow mix who lives with Cammie Owen — after being rescued from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, plagued by mange but ready to thrive in a new home. You would think the hurricane would have been enough of an ordeal that this dog should have had smooth sailing ever since, but then came a sudden, life-threatening sickness:
That’s Mo just days ago, his belly shaved after an ultrasound, as vets tried frantically to figure out what was wrong with him. Cammie says they believe he ingested rat poison — and she suspects that happened at Westcrest Park, where she has put up warning flyers. And she says he’s not the only dog that runs there that’s gotten sick:Read More
We have been working today on a story about a dog that got very sick after running in Westcrest Off-Leash Area, and its vet and owner suspect rat poison may have been to blame. While we are continuing to work on those details for a longer article you will see here in a little while, we have just received what looks like a followup on the Fauntleroy Park poison concern we posted here two weeks ago. This was forwarded from the Partners for Animal Welfare newsletter, quoting another organization’s bulletin:
This notice just came in via Pasado Safe Haven’s e-mail newsletter the week of January 28th . In looking into this a little more on the web, unfortunately people may be trying to poison the many coyotes that have been spotted in the area, but your dog might very easily pick up the food or treats being left out. Please watch your dogs while at any park in West Seattle!
NEWS ALERT JUST PHONED IN:
Reported Poison in Fauntleroy Park, West SeattleIf you walk your dog in Fauntleroy Park, in West Seattle, please be warned; multiple dogs have ingested poison in the park! Apparently the poison is in dog food, bones, and other dog treats. These enticing treats have been found under bushes and throughout the park. Please be careful and let anyone you know who goes to Fauntleroy, know also. Thank you!
Just as we were reading that e-mail, we got a call back from the Parks Department employee we’d called about Westcrest, Carol Baker. She tells WSB the department is NOT aware of any NEW incident of suspected poison having been found in Fauntleroy Park since this report on Jan. 14. More later on that and also the Westcrest report (we have spoken with the owner of the dog in that incident, which is recovering, but in the short run, if you take your dog to that park, sounds like it would be a good idea to keep very close watch to keep it from ingesting anything).
Just a couple hours after the announcement (see below) of SDOT work at California/Othello tomorrow, we just got another alert from the city — regarding work on the Admiral medians (December photo above) tomorrow, and beyond, including a request for input on the median trees when work crews return a week later:Read More
Just out of the WSB inbox, from the city Transportation Department:
SDOT crews will replace concrete panels in California Avenue Southwest, between SW Othello Street and SW Orchard Street, tomorrow (Saturday, February 2), if weather permits. Work will start at 8 a.m.
Northbound and southbound traffic will be allowed through this block of California Avenue, alternating between the two directions of traffic with the assistance of a traffic flagger. The sidewalk on the western side of the street will remain open for pedestrians; crews will repair the sidewalk on the eastern side. SDOT will reopen all of the lanes of traffic once the concrete has cured, depending on weather conditions, no later than Sunday night.
The work is needed in order to restore the pavement following work on underground utilities.
This is in Gatewood, acrosss from Seattle International Church, about a block south of Caffe Ladro (map)
Quick update ahead of our police-report check at the Southwest Precinct later today — Lt. Steve Paulsen confirms the arrest of one juvenile in the Admiral rock-throwing incidents, as Meredith reported last night; he confirms they are still looking for the two other suspects but know who they are looking for.
Less than a week after West Seattle Christian Church (WSB sponsor) broke ground for its multipurpose building, the latest Land Use Information Bulletin from the city (subscribe here) includes the permit application for Our Lady of Guadalupe‘s new Parish Administrative Center. This will be built at the site of the existing offices, north of the parking lot (which is at the northeast corner of 35th/Myrtle; the green rectangle at the top right of the art shown above from the church’s online brochure). According to the OLG website, it’s part of a two-phase project, first building the administrative center, then a parish Family Life Center. (We reported the capital-campaign kickoff last March.)
Another local kids’ sports league starts registration today: the West Seattle Soccer Club‘s spring season. It’s open to players ages 5-12, and it’s a fairly low-impact commitment – games on Sunday afternoons, no practices, various fields around West Seattle; the season starts April 6 and runs for six weeks (no games on Mother’s Day) — $40 per player. You can register any time from now till March 1 by going to the West Seattle Soccer Club website (click here), where you will also find lots of news about the league — which has a fall season too (with almost 1,300 players last year!).
More than a year in the making, Spring Hill Restaurant and Bar in The Junction — west side of California, north of Oregon, next to Seattle Fish Company — is getting closer to opening. We got a bit of new info earlier :this month when Spring Hill advertised for a maitre d’; since then, its proprietor, Chef Mark Fuller, agreed to answer some quick questions by e-mail, such as whether his establishment will follow the recent adults-only trend in West Seattle and what kind of food it’ll serve:Read More
Just out of the inbox from Meredith:
Just seen at Grayson & Belvidere (just north of Admiral): Three police cars with one teen in custody (Caucasian, about 14-years-old). Chased down after caught throwing rocks at cars. Officer says this kid, plus two others have been reported in 20-30 incidents along the Admiral Way corridor (37th – 41st). Two kids still at large, reportedly around 14- to 15-years-old, one Hispanic, one with longish red hair. PLEASE alert drivers for their own safety, and ask residents to keep an eye out for these kids. Their actions could case an accident, perhaps a death for one of those b*****ds speeding up the hill. Kids are also suspect in the knifing of a neighbor’s tires, theft from vehicles in the area, and rocks thrown thru home windows.
The area and description are similar to the 1/11/08 reader report we published on the Crime Watch page, involving a brick thrown through a front door, after three teenage boys were seen “cruising” the area.
23-year-old Rey Davis-Bell (photo left) has just been booked into the King County Jail within the last 40 minutes, according to the KCJ register, for investigation of homicide, assault, and drive-by shooting. Almost every citywide source that has posted about this has a different nugget – the Times has the most thorough information on his criminal background, for example. It’s been widely reported that the Longfellow Creek Apartments unit on Delridge where he allegedly fired shots through a window 
yesterday morning (photo from WSB contributor Sage K) is where his girlfriend lives; exactly what ties he had to the Central District restaurant where he is accused of opening fire half an hour later, killing the restaurant’s owner and wounding another man, is still not clear, though the owner’s niece is quoted as saying her uncle did “know” Davis-Bell somehow. The suspect was captured after a manhunt that is said to have involved more than 100 officers, many of them out on the streets all night.
As you may recall, the community-building organization Megawatt decided last month to disband, but its leaders were hopeful that its legacy, and its best-known events, would carry on, with new organizers. As just officially announced in Megawatt’s last e-mail bulletin, that’s going to happen:
Megawatt’s Legacy Lives On
Megawatt is thrilled to announce that the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day and the Gathering of Neighbors will continue in 2008 and beyond under new leadership.
The West Seattle Blog is the new organizer of the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day. Tracy Record and Patrick Sand have a lot of creative ideas for this beloved West Seattle event. Check out the West Seattle Blog at www.westseattleblog.com for ongoing updates.
The Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association will take on leadership for the Gathering of Neighbors. DNDA is a trusted West Seattle steward and under their guidance GON will continue as an inspired community event. Contact Derek Birnie at www.dnda.org for more information.
Megawatt is officially signing off. Thank you for making all of this important work possible.
Here’s to community. Here’s to West Seattle.
Congratulations to Megawatt founder Mary Ellen Cunningham, her board, and their colleagues for everything they’ve accomplished. And to DNDA for taking on Gathering of Neighbors, which is an awesome way to find out more about community resources and opportunities. And now, about those garage sales — We are thrilled that Mary Ellen and the Megawatt board decided to trust WSB with Community Garage Sale Day. It’s something that truly and literally all of West Seattle can be part of – as sellers and/or shoppers (and we’re hoping for some community partners in other roles too) – and something that also can draw people from other areas to come visit our fabulous peninsula. Plus, we can all talk a lot about it online before, during, and after. Megawatt created an instant tradition by launching this event in 2005, and we hope you will help make the 4th Annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day ’08 a ton of fun. If you were a seller or buyer last year, and you have a thought on what you hope won’t change and what you think would make it an optimal experience, please leave a comment here or e-mail us any time at a special mailbox we’ve set up: garagesale@westseattleblog.com. Oh, and mark your calendar – we want to continue the Megawatt tradition of scheduling this for the second Saturday in May – that’ll be May 10th, 2008! We’ll talk more about this soon, and we’ll set up a forum topic when it gets a little closer.
Sanislo Elementary has just made it onto the city Department of Transportation “Safe Routes to School” project list, two months after students appeared with council members discussing the Pedestrian Safety Initiative along Delridge (WSB video coverage here). Here’s the full announcement, just out of the WSB inbox, which also mentions the sidewalk work under way for the Arbor Heights Elementary area:Read More
Two things, actually. First is that we actually got a coyote PICTURE for the first time after all these coyote reports. Thanks to JF for sending the photo taken this week of his neighborhood’s “resident coyote.” Second thing, the Discovery Park coyote just got a reprieve. According to this article, instead of trapping/killing the coyote, authorities will work on educating the public to co-exist with wildlife.
So says KOMO (location shown on this map). However, as of now, the suspect is still on the loose (see his photo in our earlier coverage). 6:40 AM UPDATE: No arrest reported yet.
Now that the school district has set its Sealth-Denny community meeting for Monday 2/4 (flyer), the Westwood Neighborhood Council has moved its previously planned forum from 2/5 to 2/12 (the night before the School Board considers whatever becomes the district’s recommended option). Here’s the official news release just sent out by WNC president Steve Fischer:Read More
Heavy smoke reported from the first units arriving at 9724 32nd SW, which is described as a single-family house. Everybody is said to have gotten out OK.
UPDATE: Here’s two pictures from WSB contributor Christopher Boffoli who also writes,
“Fire was out by the time I got there. Firefighters on the scene told me there were no injuries and they have not yet determined the cause of the fire. Every window in the house was totally blacked out from smoke damage.”
Kind of expected this one, once this waterfront building at 3633 Beach Drive went up for sale last April, and now it’s official: City records confirm it’s converting to condos. Upgrade work is about to start, judging by one permit that’s just been issued (which lists the owners as Alki Eight Partners, LLC, possibly hinting at what the future condos might be called; property records show they bought the building last month for $3,350,000).
Not the kind of potluck you’re probably thinking of – though there will be cookies! It’s a writers’ reading and music event tonight at Cafe Rozella (on the southern edge of West Seattle, 9434 Delridge), 7-9 pm. Here are more details, forwarded from Cafe Rozella’s Ricardo Guarnero:
This Spanglish Potluck features readings in Spanish & English by Hedgebrook alumnae Wendy Call & Maria Victoria. Also featured will be traditional Cuban music from Irene Mitri & her Charanga Danzón. This will be a reading like none other. There will be live words & music along with freshly-made Hedgebrook cookies and an opportunity to sing Las Mananitas (the traditional Mexican Birthday Song) to Wendy’s godchild. So come, bring a friend, bring your family and be a part of the fun!
If “Hedgebrook” doesn’t ring a bell – it’s a writers’ retreat on Whidbey Island (read more here).
If you have a child who’s going to start kindergarten next fall — or maybe is still a year out, but you’re already thinking way ahead — there’s an event tonight you won’t want to miss. The 10th annual West Seattle Kindergarten Fair, 6-9 pm in the Brockey Center at South Seattle Community College (which, yes, if you haven’t been there, IS in West Seattle). Organizers gather principals, teachers, and parents from public and private schools around West Seattle, so you can talk with them to find out more. Kay Yano, a WSB’er who’s been in kindergarten-choosing shoes, confirms it’s a don’t-miss:
With the confusion and abundance of information that School Choice often brings, it is worth going to the Kindergarten Fair just in order to have all the options in one place at one time and to clarify which schools you have to go visit in person. I know that you made mention of it in the calendar of events, but it is really such an important event for those parents of 4 and 5 years olds that I thought that I would bring it to your attention. It is also early enough in the year that not everyone who is facing Kindergarten in the fall is quite focused on that decision yet to have even looked for something like the fair. It is put on by the Co-op Preschool Program that is based out of the SCCC Campus, but it is free and open to the public. It is also at a different time than it has been in the past, it has always been on Saturdays, and people may not be looking for it to happen on a weeknight, so it might sneak by them accidentally and a reminder would probably be helpful.
I went when my daughter was a year out from Kindergarten, and it was TOTALLY OVERWHELMING, and I left informed and exhausted, but it gave me info to chew on for a year before I really had to make my decisions, and then went again when it was getting to be choice time when she was 4. I love the school that she attends and that was really where I clarified much of my thinking about what we as a family needed out of a school.
If you haven’t been to SSCC before, here’s a map to its location in east West Seattle. WSB school resources: List of all public and private West Seattle schools, with web links and maps, here; school discussion opportunities in the forums here.
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.
At least one community-group mailing list that we are on has just received a letter from the principal of Chief Sealth High School, John Boyd, in which he writes, “I feel like I cannot remain silent regarding my feelings about this issue any longer,” adding that he is “weighing the merits of options two and three” — two is the current project plus at least $5 million additional improvements to CSHS, three is a Denny rebuild on its existing site, with Sealth still getting some improvements. Here’s the letter as it was distributed; or if you have trouble with PDFs, here’s the text:Read More
Lora Lewis from Hotwire Coffee, WSB’s inaugural sponsor, just e-mailed to say: “We’ve just finalized a purchase of a coffee shop at the Pike Place Market; opening of the new Hotwire Pike Place Market will be the first week of March. My manager, Rena Poppell, has decided to jump into the world of small business ownership and will be opening this shop under the Hotwire name. This new location actually eclipses other Internet Cafes in the area and will make Hotwire the largest line of Internet coffee shops in the region. Also, by the middle of 2008 we’ll be set to offer Hotwire as a micro-franchise to people who are interested in opening their own Hotwire Online Coffeehouse.” Lora says you can find out more about franchising by checking the links on the lower-right side of the Hotwire home page (higher up the page, by the way, is the latest on the Hotwire Valentine matchmaking event).
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