West Seattle, Washington
15 Wednesday
We have a Seattle Public Utilities update on the repairs happening on 46th SW near Hudson, southwest of The Junction:
Part of this repair necessitates shutting off water for a small number of residents on 46th Ave. SW. The work will be finished tomorrow and those who are affected by the water outage have been notified. While we do not anticipate any impacts to other residents’ water, any time the water main is disturbed there is the chance of discolored water. If residents experience discolored water they should run their taps for two minutes before drinking. This water is perfectly safe to drink, however.
This is work related to repairs we first mentioned last month, but not related to The Big Flush (here’s our recent update on that, in case you missed it).
Just happened to be at Don Armeni Boat Ramp and saw this U.S. Coast Guard Cutter passing by, headed toward downtown, so we looked it up. It’s the 418-foot USCGC Bertholf, homeported at Alameda, California. It made news in March for busting two drug submarines in less than a year; another article online describes the Bertholf as “the Coast Guard’s most advanced counternarcotics ship.”
P.S. Looks like it’s headed for Vigor on Harbor Island rather than for the Coast Guard station.
P.P.S. … or maybe not. A Vigor spokesperson tells us the Bertholf isn’t due for two more weeks – September 1st – for the work mentioned in the link above.
Two reader reports today:
STOLEN SHRUBBERY: From C:
Heads up to our West Seattle neighbors: These are what is left of the 8 shrubs we planted in June.
Someone has made two trips to dig up 5 of them. Probably only a matter of time until they come back for the rest. We are out $600. We suspect someone doing a landscaping job cutting their expenses. If you hired someone who charged you for these, we have all been ripped off. People, this is why we can’t have nice things.
RIPPED-OFF RINGS: Watch for these rings in online listings, pawn shops, etc.:
They belong to a West Seattle couple who are getting married in a week and a half … and are now ringless. Their friend Wil sent the photo; Wil says the rings were stolen from the couple’s car in a parking garage on First Hill. If you see one or both, contact police.
(Rhinoceros auklet, photographed by Mark Wangerin)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar for today/tonight:
NETWORKING MEETUP: Noon at West Seattle Office Junction (WSB sponsor), drop in to meet local entrepreneurs and other nontraditional workers. (6040 California SW)
HIGH POINT MARKET GARDEN FARM STAND: 4-7 pm, shop the farm stand for produce grown and harvested by local residents on the mini-farm next to it. (32nd SW/SW Juneau)
GROUP RUN AND BOOK SIGNING: Tonight at West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor), “come for our weekly Wednesday group run and join for the book signing at 6:45 pm. Lance Carter, author of Six Word Lessons For Successful Triathletes: 100 Lessons for Training and Racing, will be at the shop.” (2743 California SW)
ALKI FRISBEE FEST: 7 pm at Alki Playfield, bring your disc(s), your friends and family, and come play. (58th SW/SW Stevens)
34TH DISTRICT REPUBLICANS: Meeting this month at the White Center Library, with election endorsements on the agenda, 7 pm. (1409 SW 107th)
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
(Click any view for a close-up; more cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
6:43 AM: Good morning! No current incidents in or from West Seattle (we watch the outbound routes including the bridges, SODO surface routes, NB Highway 99 and I-5 north of the bridge, just in case you’ve ever wondered what exactly we mean by that).
9:48 AM: Thanks to Anna for the alert – a streetlight is down across southbound Fauntleroy Way at Frontenac (south of Morgan Junction). SDOT is aware. Meantime, SDOT tweeted this alert regarding bridge onramps for the next several hours:
A tree crew will be flagging the ramps from Delridge Way SW and SW Spokane St to the EB West Seattle Bridge today from 9 AM to 3 PM.
— seattledot (@seattledot) August 17, 2016
While most of the CenturyLink outage reports we covered here recently involved fiber internet access, some involved TV – and that caught the attention of a city division you might not have heard of: The Office of Cable Communications, part of the Information Technology department. We heard today from Jim Loter, a spokesperson for that division, which he explains “is responsible for regulating the cable television providers that offer services in Seattle.” He had seen the WSB reports and wanted to make sure you know about “customer rights during cable TV outages,” and pointed us to a new item on the city website Tech Talk which details those rights, including a pointer to the webpage for the Cable Customer Bill of Rights. Again, this is just for TV, not internet, but if you’ve had trouble with an unresponsive provider – it might help.
Three notes about outdoor music ahead this week:
DUKE EVERS @ HIAWATHA: Thursday night brings this year’s second-to-last Summer Concerts at Hiawatha show on the east lawn at Hiawatha Community Center (Walnut/Lander). This week’s performer is the Duke Evers Band (video above). Show’s at 6:30, free; bring your own chair/blanket, and you’re welcome to bring a picnic dinner or other refreshments if you feel like it (or walk over to nearby Metropolitan Market, PCC Natural Markets-West Seattle [WSB sponsors] or Safeway, all of which have delis with hot and cold food). The series is presented by the Admiral Neighborhood Association, with local business sponsors including WSB.
85TH STREET BIG BAND @ THE MOUNT: Friday night, swing to the classics with the 85th Street Big Band for the second-to-last summer concert of the year on the south side of the Providence Mount St. Vincent campus (4831 35th SW). The music starts at 6, and it’s free; dinner and drinks are available for purchase starting at 5:30 pm (see our calendar listing for this week’s menu).
MUSIC @ ARTS IN NATURE FESTIVAL: Saturday and Sunday, music is a big part of the Nature Consortium (WSB sponsor)-presented Arts in Nature Festival at Camp Long (5200 SW Dawson). See the full performance schedule here, including the 7 pm Saturday (August 20th) performance by headliner Big World Breaks:
Ticket info is here (you can buy yours online too, including a full-weekend pass); festival hours are 11 am-9 pm Saturday, 11 am-6 pm Sunday.
With a recent wave of restaurant openings in West Seattle, there’s a new WSB inbox leader for the question “when will it open?” – The Lodge Sports Grille in The Junction. More than 14 months have passed since we first reported in June 2015 that The Lodge would open a location in the east building of Junction 47; the space seemed idle for so long, some wondered if the plan had been scrapped. Our questions went unanswered for a while but recently, an unmistakable sign of life appeared: The liquor-license application. Then today we reached proprietor Shawn Roten by phone, and he told us yes, The Lodge is very much still on the way to West Seattle and probably “five to six weeks” away from opening. He also invited us to stop in and check out the interior work – so we did, for the photos you see above and below:
So what’s taken so long? The city permitting process, Roten said, ruefully – it’s added four and a half months to the buildout. But now things are at full speed ahead, with all the work being done on-site, to the point where, as he explained, “it looks like a wood shop”:
As the original announcement last year explained, Roten is “a former home-builder who custom designs and builds all his restaurants to complement the neighborhood, (and) builds bar tops that range from 50 feet to 70 feet in length.” The Lodge is described as serving American-style food and craft beers, in a family-friendly atmosphere with HD TVs showing sports events. Roten says he expects to be up and running in time for most of the Seahawks season.
Another stolen vehicle to watch for – this one, reported today by Ron:
Sorry to have to report my [blue] ’99 Honda CR-V (WA plate 009-YQY) was stolen late Sunday/early Monday morning from my condo’s parking lot. This is the Town Square Condominium complex right across from Westwood Village. Surveillance cameras show the car driving out of the lot at 2:38 AM with the lights off. If seen, please contact Seattle PD and refer to Incident #16-294962.
At least in our reader reports, CR-Vs seem to be “popular” with West Seattle-area car thieves lately.
(West Seattle sunset view from last Saturday night – photo by Cameron Oliva)
ORIGINAL TUESDAY REPORT: You’ve heard that hot weather’s on the way – now the National Weather Service has announced an “Excessive Heat Watch” alert for Thursday-Saturday. The NWS warns that the high temperatures those days are expected to be in the upper 80s to mid-90s, and that could be a health risk for some. Read the full text of the alert here. (The official highest temperature at Sea-Tac so far this year is 93 degrees back on June 5th.)
WEDNESDAY MORNING NOTE: We checked – the alert’s still in effect, same time/temp frame.
We’ve discovered that both of the former West Seattle City Light substations put up for sale on the open market five months ago, with “major price reductions” less than two months ago, now have sales pending and early-stage development proposals.
(WSB photo, March 2016)
2100 SW ANDOVER: This 8,000-square-foot corner site in Pigeon Point was appraised at $350,000 and originally listed at $400,000, then cut in late June to $200,000 asking price. It now has a proposal for 5 rowhouse units, and the Commercial MLS website shows a sale “pending.” The city page for the site lists the “owner” as Greenstream Investments in Bothell. So does the site plan in city files, which shows three units would face onto 21st, one would be on the corner of 21st and Andover, and one west of that would face onto Andover only. The plan shows three units with “garage parking,” two as “no parking.”
8822 9TH AVENUE SW: This 13,000-square-foot site also is shown on the Commercial MLS site as having a “pending” sale.
It was originally offered to King County for its appraised value, $355,000, as a stormwater-retention site, but as explained in our March report, the county decided against it. It then went on the market for $500,000, until a “major price reduction” to $200,000 in June, concurrent with the one for the Pigeon Point site. This site’s city webpage notes a new proposal for 11 townhouses, though it’s filed under a revised address of 8822 9th SW instead of 8820. There is nothing in the files yet showing how the 11 units would be configured; the city files show the “owner” as 9th Avenue Townhomes LLC, whose owners in turn have a Puyallup address.
BACKSTORY: These are two of six ex-substations for which the City Council authorized disposition last fall; three of the other four have potential community-group purchases/projects in various stages.
You can now get food from Mioposto Pizzeria in Admiral (WSB sponsor) delivered! Mioposto has just partnered with ChowNow, and that means you can order via the Mioposto website – choose ORDER ONLINE from the navigation bar. You can also download Mioposto’s app, through the Apple Store, Google Play, or by texting MIOPOSTO to 33733 (it’ll text you back with the download link). Note that ChowNow has a 2-mile delivery radius, $25 delivery minimum, and a flat-rate $5 delivery fee. Mioposto is at 2139 California SW, open 4 pm-10 pm Mondays-Thursdays, 4 pm-11 pm Fridays, 10 am-11 pm Saturdays, 10 am-10 pm Sundays.
Six days after it began, demolition of the former commercial building on the Morgan Junction Park expansion site is almost complete. Our photos from this morning shows the crew clearing the rubble, though the former Short Stop Market sign is still standing.
As discussed in our coverage last week, this was originally purchased by Seattle Parks for $1.9 million as a “landbanked” site – to hold until money was found to design and develop actual park features. That money, as we also reported, will come from the Park District levy that voters passed in 2014. So the remaining question is: When?
We tried reaching some of the directly involved Parks staffers last week, without success, so today we asked the communications team to help us find the answer. Spokesperson Dewey Potter replied, “The planning and design processes for landbanked sites will take place in the order in which they were acquired, and we’re starting the processes for them as Seattle Park District funding becomes available. All will have begun planning and design by 2018. The Morgan Junction site is scheduled to begin planning and design in 2018.” The original Morgan Junction Park to the south opened in 2009, so it’ll be a decade old before the expansion is fully developed.
P.S. While landbanked sites are NOT on the agenda, the Park District oversight committee is having a meeting tonight, 6:30 pm at Parks HQ downtown (100 Dexter Ave. N.), with a public hearing on “major projects challenge” proposals.
(Hummingbird on dogwood, photographed by Tom Slattery)
The sun’s due to emerge from the fog before day’s end. In the meantime, a clear view of highlights from our calendar:
BABY STORY TIME: 10:30 am at Southwest Library, geared toward wee ones up to 12 months old. (35th SW/SW Henderson)
LUNCH AT THE LIBRARY: The free summer-meal program continues with lunch available for kids/tweens/teens at Delridge Library, Tuesdays-Thursdays, 12:30-1:30 pm. (5423 Delridge Way SW)
JUSTIN KAUSAL-HAYES: Performing live at Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor), 5-8 pm. (1936 Harbor SW)
FREE TAI CHI: Second week for the added session of free Tai Chi on Alki with Lao-Shi Caylen Storm, 6 pm. (60th SW/Alki SW)
SOUTH SOUND TUG AND BARGE: The band “wraps up its summer residency” at Parliament Tavern, 9 pm tonight, no cover. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
BABY KETTEN KARAOKE: Not your everyday (or every-night) karaoke, 9 pm at The Skylark. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
LOOK FURTHER INTO THE FUTURE … with West Seattle’s only comprehensive event calendar, here.
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
(Click any view for a close-up; more cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
7:02 AM: It’s a foggy Tuesday morning. No incidents of note on major outbound routes. Reminders:
BUS STOP CLOSURES: Through mid-November, the northbound South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) bus stop is closed because of construction; here’s the official notice. … And if you catch the bus downtown to get back to West Seattle, remember that the C-Line, 21E, 55, 56, 57, 120, 125 stop on westbound Columbia at 2nd is closed until mid-October. Here’s that official notice.
(Photo from 2015 PSBA Kids’ Day at West Seattle Bee Garden)
Remember the West Seattle Bee Festival back in May, a fun but damp day? If you’ve been looking for a reason to make a return trip to the West Seattle Bee Garden in High Point – this Saturday (with sunny, very warm weather expected) brings it! The Puget Sound Beekeepers Association is presenting Kids’ Day at the Bee Garden 10 am-1 pm on Saturday (August 20th), with hive demonstrations, honey tasting, scavenger hunt, pollination simulation, crafts, even the “waggle dance.” And the kids will learn along the way how important bees are to our everyday lives. It’s all free, courtesy of “your friendly local beekeepers,” who work hard to protect and nurture these amazing (and sometimes misunderstood) insects. The Bee Garden is on the north side of Commons Park, 31st SW and SW Graham.
A tumultuous City Council meeting this afternoon (Seattle Channel video added above) included a passionate packed house at City Hall opposing the proposed Seattle Police North Precinct project, currently proposed at $149 million, $61 million over a previous estimate (page 10, here), nicknamed “The Bunker” by those who want it scrapped. The council didn’t kill it, but didn’t give it final approval, either. Earlier in the day, this and other recent overbudget and/or behind-schedule projects led our area’s Councilmember Lisa Herbold and one a colleague to propose a new oversight committee. Here’s their announcement:
Councilmembers Rob Johnson and Lisa Herbold called for creation of a special Council committee to oversee City-funded capital projects following recent capital expenditures that exceeded initial budgets, including the North Precinct Police Station, the downtown waterfront Seawall, and the New Customer Information System which handles billing issues at the City’s utility departments.
Councilmember Lisa Herbold (District 1, West Seattle & South Park) said, “It’s been frustrating when large projects go millions over budget, or are years behind schedule – such as Fire Station #32 in the West Seattle Junction. In creating this committee, Councilmembers can more closely monitor large projects, so we’re not faced with no-win options when presented with updates late in the process.”
The Council Capital Projects Oversight Committee would share characteristics with capital oversight best practices, such as the Sound Transit Capital Committee oversight process, which creates a series of systematic check-ins as projects progress, both through planning and construction. The Council committee’s oversight work would establish a baseline level of transparency to help ensure City capital projects remain on budget and the public remains informed along the way.
Councilmember Rob Johnson (District 4, Northeast Seattle) said, “‘Transparency’ should be the name of the game as we develop our capital facilities. As Sound Transit develops their projects, staff seeks Board authorization at eight points throughout the process, including for preliminary engineering, final design, and baseline budget, which includes total project costs and construction. As a Seattle City Councilmember, I expect the public to hold me accountable for delivering our capital projects on time and within budget, but we need the tools necessary for proper oversight. If City facilities are projected to run over-budget, the Council should have plenty of lead time to develop alternatives or contingencies.”
The Council receives annual reports on all City capital investments, but they can be of limited utility because of the volume of information provided. A Council Capital Projects Oversight Committee would likely identify characteristics of projects they wanted to review, including large projects or projects that are at least 10% over initial budgets.
Councilmembers will work with their colleagues to develop oversight committee legislation for introduction at a later date.
Herbold’s comment refers to the new West Seattle fire station that, as we first reported last fall, is running more than 9 years behind the original schedule. Construction of the new Fire Station 32 in The Junction finally began with demolition four months ago; the original estimate, with the 2003 fire levy that funded it, was for a 2007 completion – now, it’ll be 2017.
4:49 PM: If you’re heading toward the southbound Alaskan Way Viaduct downtown – you’ll want to avoid the Columbia entrance. Seattle Police report that they’re talking with “an armed man in crisis, currently barricaded in the 800 block of Post Ave” and @jhewiz points out via this Instagram image that this is happening right alongside the Columbia onramp [map].
5:11 PM: Police confirmed via Twitter the man was taken into custody “peacefully.”
P.S. Here’s a recap via SPD Blotter.
West Seattle HS Band members raising $ for a new tuba at Summer Fest. pic.twitter.com/I04OAvX5wI
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 8, 2016
We published that video on the first day of this year’s West Seattle Summer Fest, as band members from West Seattle High School played another streetcorner gig to raise money for a new tuba. Today, Maxwell Lemke – at right in the clip – e-mailed WSB to share the good news: They reached their $1,100 goal and got the tuba!
Maxwell sent that photo of himself (with the tuba) along with his fellow fundraising musicians – Ellie Monroe on trombone, Maximillian Czerwinski on alto sax, Ben Schuh on trumpet, and WSHS music director Ethan Thomas. He also mentioned they had purchased the tuba from Steve Twitchell, who Maxwell met last spring via the West Seattle Community Orchestras:
I sat next to him at rehearsals and one time he mentioned that he had a tuba that he’d been trying to get off his hands; when I asked about it he said that he’d be willing to lend it out to the school for use until we’d have enough money to properly buy it from him. In the back of my head I knew I wanted to get the tuba and I also knew that the way to get it should be through busking (playing music out on the street for money). So in total we went out 19 times; for the first couple times it was just me playing the school’s sousaphone on my own down on Alki, but one day one of my friends that played french horn, Connor Deidrich, passed me and said, “We oughta play together and make a whole band out of this”(paraphrasing).
So I recruited my trumpet and alto sax players and we ran over some of the marching band music we already know and decided that that music would be the key to our success, but a big issue for use was having a reliable trombone player. There were always a couple people here and there that were willing to pitch in for a day or two; we had a tenor sax player, Kevin Corona, that played with us for a long bit before his instrument broke, leaving him unable to play with us for a good chunk of the summer. Overall the first couple weeks were the sketchiest, and it wasn’t until after the first baseball game we busked at that I really felt comfortable and sure that we could make this happen; that was also around the end of the school year, about the same time our first permanent trombone player Ellie Monroe joined us.
Since then we’ve also bought a few marching band songs for the school, arrangements of “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes and “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder. I’m going to be a senior this next year and I was thinking that I’d use this as part of my senior project but I’m not entirely sure how I’d present it yet. The goal of the tuba was to accommodate for an expanding low brass section that didn’t have the proper funds to get a tuba in the first place (did you know that the school only gives $300 a year to the music department to spread across 4 different classes? I want to say that MOST of the money at the school’s music department is made through fundraising). The only real “donations” [outside the busking fundraisers] were from two of my family members, my mom and my sister, both giving $50 each even though they live out of state and might never be able to hear us play.
As you know if you are a regular WSB reader, the same dilemma is faced by other extracurricular programs including some sports, and we often bring you word of fundraising events and donation requests. None quite like this one, though.
P.S. Maxwell says you can donate to the WSHS Music program by going here (scroll down the page).
Thanks to Paula for the tip and the photos – Seattle Public Schools confirms they’re moving portables out of Schmitz Park Elementary, including the one taken away just before 4 am today. None are going to other schools in West Seattle. We asked SPS spokesperson Tom Redman for details on what’s happening, and here’s his response:
· Tuesday, Aug 16th, 4-6 a.m.: one portable will be moved from Schmitz Park to North Beach Elementary
· Aug 18th thru Aug 23rd, 4-6 a.m.: four portables will move from Schmitz Park to Hamilton Middle School. There will be a total of four separate morning moves during this time period.
Previously,
· One portable from Schmitz Park to Maple Elementary
· One portable from Schmitz Park to Mercer Middle School
· One portable from Schmitz Park to Viewlands Elementary
We also noticed a portable last week at Sanislo Elementary on Puget Ridge – Redman says Sanislo has “received two portables, one from the portable manufacturer and one from Loyal Heights Elementary.” Sanislo is expecting 275 students this fall, five more than last fall; according to this recent letter to families from new Sanislo principal Erika Ayer, the campus now has three portables, “which will house our two second grade classrooms and a third grade classroom.”
10:37 AM: Thanks for the tip – 42nd SW is blocked in The Junction just south of SW Oregon because of a crash. We just checked out the scene; police say a driver hit a pedestrian and a parked car – the pedestrian was taken to a hospital by private ambulance. Police and fire are still on scene so the road likely will be blocked a while.
11:05 AM: SPD just tweeted that Traffic Collision Investigation detectives have been called out – the woman who was hit has serious, but not life-threatening, injuries – so that likely means the closure will be longer than first thought. We’ll check back around noon.
11:40 AM: SDOT has the 42nd/Alaska traffic camera (see it here) focused on the scene, still blocked as of right now.
1:13 PM: The investigation scene has cleared and 42nd SW is open again.
(Caspian Tern – photo by Mark Wangerin)
Here are some possibilities for your mid-August Monday, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
ORCHARD MEETUP: The Community Orchard of West Seattle on the northeast side of the South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) campus welcomes your visit 5-7 pm – learn about the orchard, lend a helping hand or two; details in our calendar listing. (6000 16th SW)
FAMILY STORY TIME: 6:30 pm at High Point Library – stories, songs, and rhymes. (35th SW/SW Raymond)
WEST SEATTLE QUILTERS: All quilters welcome, 7 pm at Senior Center of West Seattle. (California SW/SW Oregon)
BUDDHIST MEDITATION: 7 pm class at Sound Yoga (WSB sponsor) – no meditation experience required; details in our calendar listing. (5639 California SW)
CABARET AT ARTSWEST: Jimmie Herrod is tonight’s featured performer in the “After Hours: Origins” series, 7:30 pm at ArtsWest Playhouse in The Junction – details in our calendar listing. (4711 California SW)
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
(Click any view for a close-up; more cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
6:57 AM: Good morning and welcome to Monday. No incidents in West Seattle or on the major outbound routes so far. We do have long-term Metro reroutes to mention:
ROUTES 125 AND 128: Today through mid-November, these routes will not include the northbound South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) bus stop. Here’s the official notice.
C-LINE, 21E, 55, 56, 57, 120, 125: The downtown bus stop on westbound Columbia at 2nd is closed until mid-October. Here’s the official notice.
SPOKANE ST. WORK, EAST OF THE LOW BRIDGE: This project continues today. Here’s our most-recent update on where crews are working.
9:04 AM: No SFD dispatch, but SDOT is reporting a crash at Delridge/Trenton. And if you’re heading out on the Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth ferry route any time soon – fog has moved onto the water, east to west.
9:31 AM: Just went over to Delridge/Trenton – whatever happened there has completely cleared.
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