West Seattle, Washington
21 Friday
With @SeattlePD motorcycles, the @wsparade is on! pic.twitter.com/XIHCv93htk
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 22, 2017
10:42 AM: The Seattle Police Motorcycle Drill Team is performing, and that marks the start of the 2017 West Seattle Grand Parade, From California/Lander in The Admiral District to California/Edmunds in The Junction. They and the Vancouver B.C. Police motorcycles perform before the rest of the parade, which is set to get going around 11, after hours of staging, practicing, and behind-the-scenes logistics by dozens of volunteers, from the parade co-coordinators, to the Seafair Parade Marshals assisting them, to the West Seattle Amateur Radio Club hams communicating along the route. This year’s parade is about the same size as last year – more than 70 entries, as of the lineup meeting we covered earlier this week – and that means it’ll likely conclude at this end around 12:30 pm, in The Junction after 1. If you’re watching on that end, also look for the Rotary Kiddie Parade leaving California/Genesee at 11. And watch our Twitter feed for parade photos and updates before our post-parade coverage!
12:13 PM: The parade has just concluded at the north end of the route, California/Lander. We have a crew at the south end, too, and will update when it wraps up there. The road will reopen block by block in most cases – the block between Admiral and Lander has just reopened, but police vehicles are keeping watch south of there while the parade proceeds. Meantime, from all the photos and videos we tweeted, a few sightings of note:
April Davis of West Seattle, former Hi-Yu queen, in Miss Seafair running this year. pic.twitter.com/0dRWDXFtBh
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 22, 2017
While this is the first year without Hi-Yu, a former Senior Court Queen was in the parade, one of the contenders in this year’s Seafair Scholarship Program for Women, April Davis. The next Miss Seafair will be crowned next week. And speaking of reigning …
The @wslittleleague AllStars who just won the state championship! pic.twitter.com/3fNphmN6LY
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 22, 2017
Lots more photos and video in our upcoming roundups – but first we’re off to some of today’s other big events.
1:11 PM: Our crew in The Junction reports the parade has ended.
The MyTeamTriumph group started the Float Dodger 5K moments ago. pic.twitter.com/F4XgMvzSAx
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 22, 2017
The runners in red shirts are from MyTeamTriumph of Puget Sound, and they started this morning’s pre-parade Float Dodger 5K – MTT is “an athletic ride-along created for children, teens, adults & veterans with disabilities who would normally not be able to experience events such as triathlons or road races,” and it’s this year’s Float Dodger 5K beneficiary. Here are the rest of the runners, leaving the start line:
This is the second year for the r5K, presented by West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor), to start and finish at Hiawatha. Pre-race, we photographed WSR’s Tim McConnell with Teresa The Goldfish:
Once off the field, the runners got to “dodge” a new float this year:
(Photo courtesy Dave Vague)
They ran around the West Seattle Rotary float – the Rotary presents the West Seattle Grand Parade, which starts with the motorcycle drill teams leaving California/Lander around 10:30 am. In past years, runners have “dodged” the Hi-Yu float, but since that organization has deactivated, a new local dodge-able float had to be found. Meantime, we’re told about 400 people were signed up for the 5K – and the first finishers already are crossing. Results later! And for continuing pre-parade coverage, watch the WSB Twitter feed.
That’s a “live” SDOT view of California/Alaska, part of the route for the two big events that start the day with road-closure and parking-restriction alerts, the West Seattle Grand Parade and, just before it, the Float Dodger 5K. California SW will be closed starting at ~7 am at SW Admiral Way, and the rest of the way south to SW Edmunds by ~9 am, with restrictions on streets to the west and east, especially toward the north end of the route, for staging. When you see those no-parking signs and barricades, take them seriously! (Find bus reroutes here.) As for what else you need to know about those events and what else is happening today:
FLOAT DODGER 5K: Before the West Seattle Grand Parade, run/walk the route, in the Float Dodger 5K, presented by West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor)! Last-minute registration starts at 8 am; kids’ dash on the track at 8:45 am; race starts at 9:30 am. Hiawatha Playfield and on to the parade route. More info here. (2700 California SW)
WEST SEATTLE GRAND PARADE: The Seattle and Vancouver Police Motorcycle Drill Teams start ~10:30 am from California/Lander, rest of the parade 11 am, heading south on California to Edmunds in The Junction. Our two most-recent previews of this year’s parade are here and here. This year’s Orville Rummel Trophy winner is Keith Hughes; grand marshal is City Councilmember Lisa Herbold; come cheer hundreds of your neighbors as they roll, walk, ride, dance, etc. down the parade route. (California SW between The Admiral District and The Junction)
ALKI ART FAIR: Celebrating its 20th year! First of two days with dozens of artists/vendors lining the Alki Beach boardwalk near, and west of, the Bathhouse. 10 am-6 pm today, with music continuing until 9 pm – see the lineup here. Free shuttle running continuously from the park-and-ride area under the West Seattle Bridge, near Harbor/Avalon/Spokane. Go inside the Bathhouse for silent auctions – closing at 1 and 4 pm – and festival history. Here’s our preview. (60th/Alki)
LOW-LOW TIDE, INCLUDING SIGN-LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION: 9:30 am-1 pm today, Seattle Aquarium beach naturalists are at Lincoln and Constellation parks, with a low-low tide of -3.0 at 10:35 am. Also at Lincoln Park, today only, sign-language interpretation available 10 am-1 pm.
WHITE CENTER JUBILEE DAYS: Street fair and more, 10 am-6 pm today, expanded this year to 16th SW as well as 17th SW between Roxbury and SW 100th; car show 11 am-5 pm. See the music lineup here; see the map here.
WADING POOLS AND SPRAYPARK: Lincoln Park wading pool and Highland Park spraypark are both open 11 am-8 pm today; Delridge and Hiawatha wading pools are open noon-6:30 pm. (Find addresses here)
ALKI POINT LIGHTHOUSE TOURS: The US Coast Guard Auxiliary presents free tours today, 1-4 pm – last tour group at 3:40 pm – but NOT tomorrow, so enjoy the historic lighthouse today! (3201 Alki SW)
SHAKESPEARE @ ROXHILL PARK: Young Shakespeare Workshop presents “As You Like It,” 2 pm at Roxhill Park. Free. (2850 SW Roxbury)
TREVOR RAS AT C & P: Performing at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) – 4-5 pm, kids’ singalong; 5-6 pm, “soulful Americana.” (5612 California SW)
WEST SEATTLE OUTDOOR MOVIES: First of this season’s six movies is “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” Remember that West Seattle Outdoor Movies are now in the “festival street” south of the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor) headquarters. Bring your own chair/blanket. Free admission; bring $ for nonprofit-benefiting raffles, concessions, and food truck (Macho Burgers this week). Open at 6:30; preshow “Star Wars” trivia, selfies with stormtroopers, School of Rock performances, movie at dusk – no earlier than 9 pm this week. (36th SW/SW Snoqualmie)
OF SEA AND STONE: Folk-pop/alt-country at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7-9 pm. (5612 California SW)
MARKET STREET DIXIELAND JAZZ BAND: 7:30 pm at Kenyon Hall, with “hot New Orleans style traditional jazz, Dixieland and 1920’s tunes.” Ticket info in our calendar listing. All ages. (7904 35th SW)
WEST END GIRLS: Cookie Couture hosts a drag extravaganza at The Skylark, doors at 8, show at 9, performers and other info in our calendar listing. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
THAT’S NOT ALL … see all the listings for today/tonight on our complete-calendar page! That’s also where you can find out how to get your event listed on WSB.
(Timothy Brock’s video invitation to Tuesday’s event, courtesy of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The last time composer/conductor Timothy Brock was onstage in West Seattle, he was a WSHS student, performing with one of the school’s musical groups.
During his years at the school, he was involved with them all – band, orchestra, stage band, chamber orchestra, choir – he recalled during a conversation this week outside the Admiral Theater, where he’s headlining the next fundraiser for restoration of the moviehouse’s historic circa-1942 murals:
At 6:45 pm next Tuesday night (July 25th), he will be onstage just a few blocks from his alma mater, in a multifaceted event explained by the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, which is leading the mural-restoration fundraising campaign:
This exciting evening – to last more than three hours, with an intermission – will start with Timothy Brock being interviewed by his childhood friend, West Seattle’s Dave Beck, a host at KING-FM and longtime former KUOW-FM host.
Brock will reminisce with Beck about their West Seattle upbringing and discuss the fascinating process of scoring silent classics. (Brock earned the label of “Silent-Film Music Guru” from Vogue magazine in May 2016.)
Interspersed will be stills and clips from silent films that Brock has scored. Following an intermission, Brock will introduce the screening of the Charlie Chaplin feature “Modern Times,” for which Brock has restored and re-recorded the original 1936 Chaplin score.
This isn’t Brock’s first trip back home – far from it. His mom and sister live in this area. His oldest son lives in Olympia. That’s where Brock moved at age 18, leaving West Seattle, and eventually spending more than a decade conducting the Olympia Chamber Orchestra. Olympia is where he says most of his “silent-film experiments” were initiated, but he now lives in Europe, where there is more of an appreciation for what he specializes in – composing scores for silent films. And it’s not just an appreciation from the spectator standpoint; Brock explains that silent-film history is taught, and in France, there’s even a program to teach silent-film composition.
His path toward his unique career started with a visit to the now-gone Granada Theater (south of The Junction) at an early age. “I actually came back and said to my mom, ‘this is something I would really like to do – play piano and make music for really old films’. She didn’t know I meant silent films. (I explained), ‘no, these don’t have any words at all, just words (onscreen) and music’. She’s been worried about my career ever since.”
He was age 10 when that interest was kindled. At 23, he was commissioned to write his first silent-film score, for “Pandora’s Box,” a film by G.W. Pabst. Since then, he says, he’s written on average one silent-film score a year. He just completed one for Fritz Lang‘s 1929 “Frau im Mond (Woman in the Moon),” a three-hour science-fiction film that he says was the first of its kind. The premiere was last April. He’s now writing a violin concerto for the BBC Symphony, to premiere next season, in 2018-2019.
So what’s it going to be like, to be onstage at The Admiral next Tuesday? we asked.
“It’s the most bizarre feeling to see your name on the marquee of a theater you grew up with,” Brock acknowledged. But also – “It’s great. It’s a little like coming back home and playing for your friends … talking with family and friends about what it is that you do.”
We asked how he views the importance of what it is that he does – Southwest Seattle Historical Society executive director Clay Eals recorded Brock’s answer on video:
As you can hear in the video, he listed several reasons – “It’s part of our heritage, specifically for Americans, too … an art form that has obviously died out,” as have most of the people who performed as silent-film musicians. So many of them, Brock explained, performed in symphony orchestras as well as the theater orchestras that played the silent-film accompaniment. And now – “It’s a matter of keeping that art up, learning the craft, teaching it to future generations. One of the reasons I live in Europe is that orchestras of middle- and high-caliber program silent films as part of their seasons.”
The music itself, he added, is of great historical value, with work by composers such as Shostakovich “who liked the idea of writing for this [then-]new art form. … It needs to be kept alive.” Brock’s work includes the silent-film programs for the New York Philharmonic: “It’s important just like any period performances of baroque or Middle Ages [etc.] music.”
And his early music education at West Seattle High School helped lay the groundwork for his one-of-a-kind career. In our conversation, he listed “some fabulous teachers,” including Donn Weaver, who recently retired as director of the West Seattle Big Band.
So come to The Admiral on Tuesday night to see and hear how one of your former West Seattle neighbors is preserving and enhancing film and music history, while contributing to the preservation and restoration of the theater’s historic murals. Tickets are $20 and you’ll want to buy yours online ASAP – go here and choose “Modern Times” at the bottom of the page. (There’s also a $100 VIP opportunity, to meet and talk with Brock and Beck at 5:30 pm.)
8:35 PM: They happen more often late at night or early in the morning, but several readers have reported hearing a big boom in the Charlestown/Genesee area within the past half-hour. All we know is that there are no fire or medical calls anywhere in the area – no power outages, either (one person thought it might have been a transformer) – if you know exactly where it happened and/or what it was, hopefully you already have called 911.
11:11 PM: In a comment below, Stephanie says the blast was from fireworks.
One more preview before the West Seattle Grand Parade arrives tomorrow (Saturday, July 22nd)!
(WSB photo, Vancouver B.C. Motorcycle Drill Team in 2015 West Seattle Grand Parade)
WHERE TO WATCH: Really, anywhere along the route. If you watch in The Junction, you’ll see the Kiddie Parade (11 am, southbound from California/Genesee) and you might hear the announcements (California/Alaska) too. If you watch near the start of the route, there’s a shady slope area along the west side of Hiawatha, and if you arrive early, you can walk around and see “behind the scenes” as parade participants line up and practice, and parade coordinators do their work to be sure everyone’s where they should be. With motorcycles taking off around 10:30, here’s what to expect, where, at 11 am, if all is going according to plan, says parade co-coordinator Jim Edwards:
Genesee St: Kids Parade
Andover St: Seattle Police Motorcycle Drill Team
Hinds St: Vancouver Police Motorcycle Drill Team
Lander St: Honor Guard
There are still some construction sites between the Admiral and Alaska Junctions, and some sites where construction has wrapped up since last year. So scout your spot early.
(West Seattle Grand Parade 2016 – photo by Don Brubeck)
DANCING DOWN THE ROUTE: Joyas Mestizas (file photo above) will be back.
BE TRUE TO YOUR SCHOOLS: They’ll be represented abundantly, including:
Pathfinder K-8 Unicycles (file photo above)
West Seattle High School Cheer Squad
Seattle Lutheran High School Cheer Squad
Westside School
Holy Rosary
Hope Lutheran
Kennedy High School Marching Band
AND … Scouts, skaters, Spud (2007 photo above – what will s/he wear THIS year?) … Pirates (remember they’re LOUD), politicians (we may have more county reps than city reps this year), and Potter Construction (parade and WSB sponsor – added, here are Karl and Gary, decorating the truck Friday night:)
… and many others we’re out of time for mentioning – you’ll just have to see for yourself! And remember that the Float Dodger 5K precedes the parade – not too late to be part of it (9:30 pm start from Hiawatha track, 2700 California SW).
PREVIOUS PARADE PREVIEWS (and coverage from the past decade) … scroll through this archive section.
P.S. Even if you’re not going to watch, or be in, the parade and/or 5K … heed the no-parking signs you’re seeing along and near the route … road closures and bus reroutes start early Saturday and should be over by 2.
P.P.S. The parade is presented by the West Seattle Rotary Club‘s Service Foundation. See our previous preview here.
Artists/designers Jason and Briana are touring cross-country with the Airstream Basecamp trailer they’re standing in front of in our photo, parked right now in front of Click! Design That Fits (4540 California SW; WSB sponsor) in The Junction. Their company is Brainstorm, based in New Hampshire, with prints “inspired by science, nature, and the outdoors”; they won a cross-country trip in the trailer as the prize in a contest to design a wrap for it. They’re chronicling the journey here. Meet them at Click! and check out their pop-up shop until 7 tonight.
(Map from agenda for January 18th City Council committee meeting)
When last the City Council was briefed on the status of the city’s two potential annexation areas, back in January, there was talk that the smaller one – the Duwamish Annexation Area in the South Park vicinity – might go to the area’s 87 voters this summer.
That didn’t happen. And now we’re learning that the proposed Duwamish Annexation is on hold because of a costly issue the city wants the county to address first. That’s according to new information procured by, and provided to WSB by, City Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s staff.
According to a memo to City Councilmembers from city staff, here’s what the mayor’s office wants to see happen before going any further:
With potential sewer-related costs in the range of $14–$50 million, the Executive has taken a position that the County must address and fund the installation of a sewer system prior to the City pursuing annexation.
According to another memo, this time from the longtime mayoral point person on annexation issues, Kenny Pittman, those issues are primarily in the “Sliver” section of the potential annexation area, where some have septic systems instead of sewer access. Pittman also wrote that King County was told of this two months ago and has not responded. (We’re following up with King County to ask about that.) But Pittman told the council that, independent of the sewer issue, the city was prepared to address public-safety needs in the “Sliver” with SFD responses and SPD patrols, as part of the departments’ work “in the overall South Park neighborhood.”
All this led Councilmember Herbold also to ask about the status of the much-larger proposed annexation of White Center and vicinity (the North Highline area on the map at the top of this story). Her staff was told that whether it moves forward at all will depend on “the position of the new administration” – whoever is elected mayor to succeed Ed Murray. We asked the 14 candidates who were at last Saturday’s Sustainable West Seattle forum at Summer Fest whether they supported annexation; the prevailing answer was, if the residents want to be annexed. That still would require sending a proposal to the area’s 8,600+ voters; the city memo lays out a possible timeline in which City Councilmembers could decide in August 2018 whether to take annexation to North Highline voters in November 2018.
(Looking northwest over the proposed buildings, marked with beige shading)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The next major project in the pipeline for the intensively densifying east edge of The Junction has moved on to the second phase of Design Review – two buildings with a total of nearly 300 apartments, plus retail and live-work spaces, at 4722 Fauntleroy Way SW [map] and across the alley at 4721 38th SW.
The sites are being developed together by Legacy Partners, and so were presented together last night to the Southwest Design Review Board. Three of the four current board members – chair Matt Zinski, Don Caffrey, and Crystal Loya – were there, as was fill-in (and former) board member Robin Murphy, and assigned city planner Carly Guillory.
This was the Early Design Guidance phase, which meant the focus was on “massing” – size, shape, placement on site – rather than specific aspects of the design itself. The site has history – it went through two SWDRB meetings when CVS planned a standalone drugstore, under different (potential) ownership and architects; then that plan was scrapped last year. We first reported on the emergence of the new plan last December.
The meeting unfolded with one format change – double the time (40 minutes instead of 20) for the architects’ presentation, since they were covering two sites:
Seagoing sights this morning:
SS PACIFIC TRACKER HEADS OUT: Thanks to Huck for that photo – after almost a week docked in West Seattle, the missile-defense-radar ship SS Pacific Tracker headed out this morning. Here’s our report on its arrival last weekend. The info on MarineTraffic.com doesn’t list a destination.
USNS BENAVIDEZ TO BREMERTON: Thanks to Greg for that photo – visible from West Seattle on its way to Bremerton this morning was the USNS Benavidez, a Military Sealift Command ship that serves as a “dry cargo surge sealift carrier.”
(Belted kingfisher, photographed by Mark Wangerin)
Now through late night, highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
LOW TIDE, WITH BEACH NATURALISTS: Until noon, Seattle Aquarium volunteer beach naturalists are out on Constellation and Lincoln Park shores, to answer your questions as you explore at low-low tide, which is out to -2.4 at 9:47 am.
DRAGONS AT THE LIBRARY: 11 am at West Seattle (Admiral) Library, 4- to 8-year-olds are invited to get up close and personal with reptiles – details here. Free! (2306 42nd SW)
WADING POOLS AND SPRAYPARK: Open today are Lincoln Park wading pool, 11 am-8 pm; Highland Park spraypark, 11 am-8 pm; Hiawatha wading pool, noon-6:30 pm; EC Hughes wading pool, noon-7 pm. (Find addresses here)
TALK WITH YOUR CITY COUNCILMEMBER: Lisa Herbold has in-district “office hours” 2-7 pm today at the Southwest Neighborhood Service Center (same building as SW Pool and Teen Life Center) – “walk-in friendly” but if you want to schedule in advance, e-mail alex.clardy@seattle.gov ASAP. (2801 SW Thistle)
THRIFTWAY TENT SALE: First of three days of tent sales at West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor) – 2-7 pm. Photo added above (11:54 am) as preparations were under way this morning! (4201 SW Morgan)
JUBILEE DAYS CARNIVAL: The carnival for White Center Jubilee Days is open 3 pm-11 pm at Steve Cox Memorial Park. (1321 SW 102nd)
MEET THE MAKERS AT CLICK! 3-7 pm, Jason and Briana of New Hampshire-based Brainstorm are bringing an Airstream Basecamp trailer (they entered a design contest to create a wrap for it and won a cross-country trip in it!) and their prints, “inspired by science, nature, and the outdoors”, to Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) for a one-day pop-up. (4540 California SW)
LIVE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ: With the Dave Holo Trio at Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor), 5-8 pm. (1936 Harbor SW)
FRIDAY NIGHT SKATE: 5:45-7:45 pm at Alki Community Center – details in our calendar listing. (5817 SW Stevens)
MAURICE AND HIS THING: Blues, pop, rock, and “spoken weird,” 9 pm-midnight at Parliament Tavern. $5 cover. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
If you’ve been wondering why the little brick restroom building in the heart of Alki’s sandy beach area has been closed for more than two weeks – here’s an update. It’s from David Takami at Seattle Parks and was forwarded by Alex Clardy from the office of Councilmember Lisa Herbold, who had asked about it because of constituent questions:
The restrooms at Alki Beach Park at Alki Ave. SW and 57th Ave. SW are closed due to the collapse of a sewer line beneath the surface that occurred just before July 4. The restroom building is circled in red on map below. There are signs up at the restroom explaining the closure.
There are two restroom facilities nearby in the park further to the west, one at the Alki Bathhouse and one at 63rd Ave. SW. There is also a restroom in Alki Playground, across Alki Ave. along 59th Ave. SW. Farther away to the east, there are two restrooms, one at the Don Armeni boat ramp and one at Seacrest Park.
In addition, we’ve set up two portable toilets at the site of the closed restroom and one portable outside the Alki Bathhouse. These were set up right after the restroom was closed. Because it’s a busy time of year at a popular park, we’ve increased the frequency of cleaning the portable toilets to once a day, seven days a week. Staff also monitor the portable and other restrooms daily to see if they need more toilet paper and paper towels. (A group that runs beach volleyball tournaments on weekends has set up its own portable toilet – paid by the group – which is open only on tournament days on Saturdays and Sundays.)
We plan to begin the project to repair the broken sewer line as soon as possible. Work will include excavating and repairing the sewer line in the street right of way, replacement of an ADA ramp, and renovation of the restroom.
(HERE’S THE REVAMPED SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
7:09 AM: Good morning! Again today, it’s been an incident-free morning in/from West Seattle.
REMINDERS FOR SATURDAY: As early as 7 am tomorrow, road closures and parking restrictions start for preparations for the West Seattle Grand Parade and the Float Dodger 5K preceding it. The main closure and parking restrictions are on California between Admiral and Edmunds, but also some side streets to the west and east for staging. Bus reroutes are listed on the Metro alerts page. … In White Center, the Jubilee Days festival will close 16th SW as well as 17th SW between SW 100th and Roxbury, from early Saturday until late Sunday – map and details here.
7:54 AM: A medical response is headed to NB I-5 at 90.
9:50 AM: Jackknifed truck is blocking the road to the SB 509 onramp (and beyond) from Olson/1st hill, per reader text.
11:12 AM: Went through the area a little while ago:
Tow truck on scene of Olson/1st truck jackknife. Downhill traffic slow going. Uphill toward WS/WC not affected. pic.twitter.com/1sKyRmLZFG
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 21, 2017
When the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce‘s mayoral-candidates forum got going on Thursday night, only two of the original six RSVP’d candidates were on the stage at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center – Cary Moon and Mike McGinn. Three had canceled earlier – Jenny Durkan and Jessyn Farrell had doublebooked and were at campaign events, Nikkita Oliver told the Chamber a personal situation had come up. But a third joined in: Bob Hasegawa, a state senator who had been kept late with legislative duty, bounded onto the stage about 17 minutes into the forum.
Pete Spalding, who chairs the Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee, moderated. You can see the entire hour-and-a-half forum in our unedited video above; what we have written below are key points of the questions and answers, but by no means complete transcriptions.
The forum began with opening statements:
CARY MOON – She started by saying she would snark about the candidates who didn’t show up except that she had bailed on the Sustainable West Seattle forum @ Summer Fest last Saturday (as had Durkan). She said that she is running to do something about the city becoming a place of haves and have-nots. It’s time to make a plan, “discuss it, own it,” she said, to solve problems “with bold solutions,” such as housing affordability.
MIKE McGINN – He started by complimenting the organizers on making the countdown timer more visible than in any forum he’d been to previously. He said that when he took office as mayor in 2009, the economy was in bad shape, but now, while it’s in good shape, he wants to “hold the line on regressive taxes” that he says the current city government seems to see as the solution to everything.
1st question: With all the taxes, and an increasing city budget, how do people know the money is going for what they intended it to go? Moon promised transparency and metrics. “Without that, how can we have public trust?” McGinn talked about “line-item’ing (levies) out to the greatest extent possible” – what are the timelines, what’s been spent, “what’s been produced to date.”
2nd question: What will you do to help small businesses grow and prosper?
(WSB file photo)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
This weekend’s Alki Art Fair is more than a once-a-year event: It’s the festival’s 20th anniversary.
“Come to the beach and help us celebrate!” is your invitation from Giovannina Souers, during our conversation today about the AAF’s milestone. She’s the president of the Alki Art Fair board, and has been involved from the start.
In 1997, she had a pottery studio elsewhere in West Seattle, when a painter from the Alki Bathhouse “came in and said, ‘we’re thinking about having an arts event on the beach, and looking for artists – we want it to be interactive.’ … So I grabbed a couple wheels, and some students, and went down, did a few demonstrations and sold our things.” She says it was “informal,” maybe about 15 different artists/booths, demonstration-based, “the artists were there, doing and selling their art on the beach.”
The next year, she was hired to create a pottery studio at the Bathhouse, and helped put on the art fair the next few years. “We kind of grew it and turned it into more of a fair to sell work, and fun kids’ activities … it just kind of grew from there.”
One major growth point was when music was added after a few years, in the early 2000s.
Thanks to everyone who sent views of tonight’s sunset! The one above is from Alki, courtesy of Donna Benaroya. Looks like we’re in for a warm weekend, some clouds, mostly sun. Alki is among the neighborhoods hosting big events this weekend – the 20th-anniversary Alki Art Fair this Saturday and Sunday – and we have a preview coming up later tonight.
(WSB photo from February)
From Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s newest e-mail update, word that the City Council is considering “supplemental budget” funding for landslide mitigation including three problem sites in West Seattle. One (above) is at the site of last February’s Highland Park Way-closing slide: $60,000 “to install a rock buttress between West Marginal Way SW and SW Holden Street.” Herbold’s update says this will “minimize longterm erosion and sloughing.” This was also discussed during the Highland Park Find It Fix It Walk back in May, which followed Herbold “rais(ing) questions about the Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT’s) practices for managing landslide risks and whether SDOT should be doing more proactive work to minimize the risk of slides rather than responding with repair work after slides occur.” She continues:
What I found is that 17 years ago, in 2000, SDOT performed a risk assessment for slope hazards for landslides on arterial streets in the City. This evaluation was based on a set scoring matrix, and SDOT uses that ranking to prioritize our proactive landslide mitigation program.
The assessment used eight design factors to determine the priority of 73 known potential landslide locations along arterial streets. The criteria were:
Hazard condition of slope
Traffic volume
Street, pavement, and adjacent retaining facility condition
Street or sidewalk access impacts, including Metro, primary emergency routes, and ability to implement detours
Adjacent to community centers, schools, city utilities
Slope modification history that may decrease slope stability
Partnership opportunities with other planned projects to decrease costs
Adjacent to private facilities
Of the 73 locations, 24 were rated a high priority. Since 2000, SDOT has budgeted approximately $500K per year for landslide mitigation. With those funds we have been slowly moving through mitigation efforts for those locations. In 17 years, only seven of twenty-four high priority location have had proactive mitigation work done, because the majority of the allocated funds each year end up being needed for responding to slides after they have occurred in other lower priority locations.The City Budget Office agreed with me that this a significant problem. I worked with SDOT and the City Budget Office to identify 2017 funds as well as a spending plan over the six-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to complete the work. Longer-term funding will be addressed during the 2018 budget process beginning in September.
In the short term, the 2nd quarter supplemental budget proposed by the City Budget Office, and discussed by the Affordable Housing, Neighborhoods, and Finance Committee this week, increases funding for addressing landslides by $1.37 million.
The aforementioned Highland Park site is one of three West Seattle sites; another is at Cambridge and California, $540,000 for a retaining wall at the site of a slide we covered back in January.
(WSB photo from January)
Herbold quotes SDOT:
This slide impacts access for thirteen homes along California Ave SW, north of SW Cambridge St. The slide also damaged two homes below. There is no alternative access point for the properties. SPU completed the initial stabilization and cleanup efforts, since there was also a water main break. We are currently monitoring the slide, and have limited the access to one lane only. If there is additional movement, we may need to eliminate vehicle access to the homes, and limit access to pedestrian only. The responsibility of the initial response and restoration is likely split between SPU and SDOT, since there was both a slide and water main break, and it is impossible to tell which caused which.
The current proposal for repair is to install a wall and pedestrian connection between Cambridge and California. There was an informal trail / path that existing prior to the slide.
And the third site is the 10200 block of 47th SW, where $350,000 would be spent to stabilize a slope hit by a slide. Herbold’s update quotes SDOT:
There continues to be soil movement undermining the roadway at this location. The current solution would be a 50′ long 8′ high permanent soldier pile wall consistent with the adjacent wall. If not completed we will likely need to close the roadway for safety and prevent access to approximately 20 residences. There is no alternative access point for the properties. The closure would affect 20 homes including those on Maplewood Place SW, with potential impact to the apartments block at 10203 47th Ave SW.
Outside West Seattle, the supplemental-budget item also proposes $400,000 for a slope along Rainier Avenue S. and $20,000 for a “rock buttress” along Perkins Lane W.
Thanks to Andrew for the tip – orcas were just north of Alki Point, southbound, as of about 15 minutes ago. Let us know if you see them!
Highland Park Elementary students will NOT lose their volunteer reading tutors after all, thanks to community contributors plus one generous ongoing supporter of the Reading Partners program. Here’s the update from Dina Johnson, the volunteer tutor and community advocate who has been working for more than a month to get the word out:
Just received this from Linda Givler, admin of the “Save Highland Park Reading partners” GoFundMe Page:
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The GoFundMe campaign to save the Reading Partners program at Highland Park Elementary School has ended. The page will be left up for a few days to allow everyone to see the latest update.Together we were able to raise $12,787 in 30 days. I think that is amazing, even though it is short of the $30,000 necessary to continue the program.
ALL IS NOT LOST. An ongoing supporter of the RP program in Seattle, who has chosen to stay anonymous, has designated their annual contribution to make up the difference and allow the Highland Park Reading Partners program to continue this coming school year.
We are very, very fortunate that a Reading Partners supporter has stepped up to help save our Reading Partners program at Highland Park. I know you will all be as excited as I am to continue helping our wonderful little readers next school year.
This was truly a group effort. Thanks to everyone…
Now it is time to celebrate.
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(Dina’s P.S.) I’m giddy with delight (and amazement!) We proved that people CARE about schoolchildren in our little corner of Seattle!
The King County Council voted today to send the Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services property-tax levy to the November 7th ballot, after reducing the rate from 12 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to 10 cents, which is double the rate of the levy this one will replace. Here’s what the official county announcement says the money would go for:
Veterans: To plan, provide, administer and evaluate a wide range of regional health and human services and capital facilities for veterans and military servicemembers and their respective families.
Seniors and caregivers: To plan, provide, administer and evaluate a wide range of regional health and human services and capital facilities for seniors and their caregivers or to promote healthy aging in King County.
Vulnerable Populations: To plan, provide, administer and evaluate a wide range of regional health and human services and capital facilities for vulnerable populations.
You can read the documents related to the legislation – co-sponsored by our area’s County Councilmember Joe McDermott, who is also the council’s chair – by going here; the actual bill finalized today is here.
That may look like an ordinary street – but Saturday evening, SW Snoqualmie just south of 36th SW [map], next to the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor), will transform into its secret identity as a “Festival Street” for the first West Seattle Outdoor Movies event of the season – the first full season in this new location.
The movie: “Rogue One,” which made history as the first standalone “Star Wars Story” movie outside the trilogies.
The time: You can arrive as early as 6:30 pm. From the official WSOM website:
•First 50 kids (or all those young at heart) will get light sabers.
•7-8 pm, bust out your cameras for those stormtrooper selfies (Garrison Titan will be here)
•Food truck for the night: Macho Burgers (vegetarian, gluten-free options available)Live performances by School of Rock West Seattle.
Star Wars quiz by our own West Seattle ‘Mean Old Man’ with a Jedi Jeopardy lighting round.
Concessions and raffles too; all proceeds go to charity. This week’s raffle proceeds will benefit WestSide Baby, West Seattle Food Bank, White Center Food Bank, and West Seattle Helpline.
Sponsored by ActivSpace In West Seattle, Elliott Bay Brewing Company, LaVida Massage of West Seattle, School of Rock WS, West Seattle Christian Church, West Seattle Farmers Market, and West Seattle Blog
Brought to you by the West Seattle Junction Association and West Seattle & Fauntleroy YMCA.
The movie starts at dusk – we can safely say that’ll be after 9 pm. But with all the aforementioned excitement, you won’t want to arrive at the last minute anyway. This is the first of the season’s six movies, every Saturday night through August 26th; see the lineup on the WSOM website.
12:12 PM: If you’re headed to/from the Fauntleroy ferry dock from the south, or to/from the Endolyne business district in Fauntleroy, heads-up – SFD and SPD are responding to a two-car crash at 45th and Wildwood [map]. We’re on the way to check it out.
12:21 PM: Our crew reports there are no serious injuries and the vehicles already have been moved off to the side, so once police and fire clear out, things will be back to normal.
(Edmunds side of The Foundry – rendering by Mithun)
On the same day that 4722 Fauntleroy Way SW goes to the Southwest Design Review Board, its future neighbor “The Foundry,” at 4754 Fauntleroy, has received key city approvals. The notice is the only major one for West Seattle in today’s Land Use Information Bulletin. The project on the ex-pawn-shop site at Fauntleroy/Edmunds will include 108 apartments, 10 live-work units, and 103 underground parking spaces. The notice (see it here) explains the decisions – determination of environmental non-significant, and finalization of its design review (here’s our coverage of the final meeting last April). It also sets August 3rd as the deadline for appeals.
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