Tales from The Junction
There are two, in fact, in today’s P-I:
–The traffic columnist disappoints an impatient West Seattle driver by getting the city to go on the record, again, promising the “walk all ways with walk” status of Cali/Alaska is safe. (Personally, we don’t mind it, whether in the car or on foot.)
–Elliott Bay Brewery plays a big role in an odd little article promising to be part of a series themed something like “wow, parents actually still drink in front of their kids.” EBB is one of many swell places in The Junction (yummy burgers), and it’s great to see the area get publicity, but since you can get a drink in a zillion restaurants where you also can bring the whole family (gasp, we’ve had the West 5 mai tai in front of a grade-schooler), we’re a little befuddled as to what makes this a trend. We would have liked to see them poll the patrons on whether they’re walking, busing, or designated-drivering. (Around here, they also could have focused on the creeping tendency to NOT let under-21s in, with both Talarico’s and Matador right there on the same side of Cali.)
Deadly West Seattle fire
Not a very cheery week on this side of the bay, is it? Tonight’s news, a fire at an Arbor Heights house has killed a woman. The P-I says her son was badly burned trying to save her.
Gee, and all it took was 1 life lost
The city now says it’s putting up a “mobile radar station” and warning signs near the 47th/Admiral crosswalk where Tatsuo Nakata was hit and killed. (Nothing there yet when I drove by a little while ago.) Is that enough? In a comment on our original post below, site visitor Kate invites us all to join her in a push for more. Here’s part of what she wrote:
If you would like to join me, I will be at the Alki Mail and Dispatch tomorrow, 11/16, at 7AM to once again march with signs up and down Admiral Way. I was out there today with a concerned citizen from 7:30AM-11AM raising awareness about driving behavior and pedestrian safety. I would also like to organize a vigil for Mr. Nakata. I did not know him, but as far as I am concerned, we are all Mr. Nakata, every time we walk down the street and cross at the marked crosswalks.
Junction vandals nabbed?
Not sure if the graffiti rampage mentioned here is the one we ranted about three months ago, or something more recent, but glad to see somebody finally behind bars for this particularly odorous form of crime.
Thursday this-n-that
-The Seattle Weekly has two tales of West Seattle nightlife in its latest edition. One is a straightforward “Club Pick” piece about Skylark; the other is a fantastical journey into an alleged Beach Drive scene that you might actually start to believe, until the later paragraphs. (Kudos to the writer for quite an imagination. Best civically minded satire since Exit133.com took on Carl’s Jr.)
-Wonder if the rain will keep the Initiative 937 campaigners off the Fauntleroy walkover today. They’ve been up there sign-waving for two recent commutes … immediately causing me to feel excruciating guilt for being alone in my car (at least it’s a gas-thrifty little-bitty car, honest). But at least we’re not driving a big yellow truck like the McG crew (it was back in Yasuko’s north lot yesterday morning, with the addition of a guy having his own tailgating party outside it).
-Have you seen the bear under The Bridge yet?
Learn a bit of history
Today’s Pacific NW magazine in the Sunday Times tells the story of the original Cooper School, now restored as the Youngstown Arts Center. Whether you read it online or in dead-tree format, don’t miss the pix. (And if you are interested in the history of other West Seattle schools, you can find it all here — including recollections of the days when they couldn’t build public schools fast enough to serve the booming WS population; what a 180 we’ve done since.)
Violent start to Hallo-weekend
According to media reports, two relatives got into it along Alki Ave Friday night (in the Bamboo vicinity), and one stabbed the other. One left the beach in a squad car, the other in an aid car.
Pathfinder/Cooper merger iced after all
Didn’t stay up to watch the rest of the turbulent School Board meeting (see below) – woke up early to find out it ended with an unexpected vote that iced the Pathfinder/Cooper merger and everything else left in the superintendent’s “Phase 2” plan. According to this morning’s P-I story, West Seattle school board rep Irene Stewart explained, in proposing the sudden vote, “I don’t think anybody needs to go through this for two more weeks.” (As the Times also notes, the board originally wasn’t supposed to vote on the plan till Nov. 1.) So our prediction turned out to come true after all, albeit in an unexpected way.
Tunnel schmunnel
West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician may well be cursing into his coffee this morning. Since no voter verdict is pending, a paper & pollster decided to take The Pulse of the People another way regarding Viaduct Vs. Tunnel Vs. Neither. The best stuff is in the middle of the story — the Guv says she’s glad to have SOME kind of public feedback; Hizzoner says, in effect, never mind the people, he’s got the back of future generations; West Seattle respondents say (60%-40%) JUST REPLACE THE DAMN THING AND BE DONE WITH IT, ‘KAY? One thing about the story bugs me, though. It mentions that the first round of questioning to poll respondents included asking them about The Third Option. However, the story never gets around to mentioning exactly how many preferred it. (Maybe there’s a breakdown in the “dead tree” version of the paper? Speaking of dead trees, that’s one of our next topics.)
One story of sadness, another of hope
Sadness: Drove home just after 7 pm, headed up 35th (not our usual route) in hopes of seeing the gathering for Susanne Scaringi at 35th & Graham. Even more striking than the growing group we saw in that bleak lot (decorated earlier by mourners, as shown in this photo e-mailed to us tonight) was the line of bicyclists making their way after dusk, up the first big post-golf course hill on 35th, to get to the memorial. Learned even more about Susanne in this article today; a recent arrival in West Seattle, gone much too soon. Godspeed.
Hope: Another media account (video link here) brings us up to date on Cheryl Stumbo, the West Seattle woman who was among the survivors of the Jewish Federation shooting attack downtown two months ago. Good to hear about her recovery.
From the papers
–Cool article from the latest Seattle Weekly (if the link doesn’t work for you, try it later; the SW site seems a little quirky this am) about an artist whose striking work we saw during breakfasts at Easy Street earlier this year. Seems West Seattle’s Most Famous Musician saw them too, and … the rest is history.
-WS gets a brief mention in a Times piece today by the guy we consider the funniest writer in the local newspaper world, Ron Judd. It’s an imagined Q&A explaining the NW to a non-local, including:
Q: What should I know about West Seattle?
A: It’s lovely, and sort of an island unto itself in a social sort of way. Unfortunately, after the next big earthquake, it very likely will be an island unto itself in a physical sort of way.
Well, at least we already have ferry service.
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