West Seattle, Washington
22 Wednesday
(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)
6:52 AM: Good morning! No major incidents in/from West Seattle so far. Now that it’s Thursday, it’s time to look ahead to the weekend, including:
ROAD CLOSURE FOR JUBILEE DAYS STREET FAIR: Saturday and Sunday, 17th SW between Roxbury and 100th will be closed for the White Center Jubilee Days street fair.
METRO 120 REROUTE FOR SUNDAY PARADE: The Jubilee Days parade on Sunday (July 17th) will bring a reroute of the 120 between 10 am and 1 pm, on 16th SW from SW 100th south to SW 116th – details here.
BOEING CENTENNIAL: In comments earlier this week, “Trickycoolj” mentioned signage for the East Marginal Way closure south of the South Park Bridge this weekend because of the Boeing Centennial festivities. Still haven’t found anything official, likely because the celebration is not a public event, but better forewarned than not.
8:01 AM: Still quiet. Checked the West Seattle-vicinity live video feeds from the SDOT “travelers’ information map” to verify.
8:35 AM: Trouble on the eastbound high bridge. Just in from SDOT:
Collision on West Seattle Bridge at Delridge Way blocking EB center lane. Use caution and expect delays. pic.twitter.com/7iQ3SRFLnL
— seattledot (@seattledot) July 14, 2016
(Thanks also to Matt and Mike for telling us about this crash.)
8:55 AM: Also a crash on the northbound 1st Avenue South Bridge.
8:58 AM: Just checked in on the camera. West Seattle Bridge crash still blocking the center eastbound lane right after the curve. Police and incident response are there.
… the White Center Jubilee Days show has just started, right before 10 pm.
10:22 PM UPDATE: Just ended.
P.S. Jubilee Days is a five-day festival, with a carnival continuing at Steve Cox Park through Sunday, street fair in WC on Saturday and Sunday, and more.
Three reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch tonight:
BUSINESS BREAK-IN: Emily reports this happened just south of The Junction:
The Northwest Association of Independent Schools was broken into at 3:07 am on the morning of July 13, 2016.
At that time a rock was thrown through a glass window of the storefront at 5001 California Ave.
The prowlers left through the front door after 8 minutes in the commercial unit of the Adelaide Building. They stole 5 laptops.
NWAIS is a nonprofit organization that serves and advocates for private, independent schools in WA, OR, NV, UT, WY, MT, AK, and British Columbia.
If you saw anything suspicious or have any information about the break in, please contact Julie McGuire at jmcguire@nwais.org.
PROWLER ON VIDEO: D “wanted to share this video of a house prowler I caught on our camera who was snooping around our front yard. We live in the Highland Park area near 14th SW and Cloverdale.” We haven’t been able to download the video for embedding so far, but just click that link to see it on Ring.
WESTWOOD VILLAGE SCARE: From Kate:
At about 5:30 or 5:40 this evening, I was leaving the Westwood Village QFC with my toddler. A tall white man with long hair and a large knife in a black holster followed us to our car. When I noticed he was following closely behind us midway through the parking lot, I looped back toward the store. He stopped briefly to look into the window of a parked extended cab truck, then followed again back toward the store (thankfully at more of a distance at that point). A security guard was standing outside so I told him what was happening. He escorted me back inside and notified the police. He then kindly helped me get safely back to my car when all was clear. He told me not to stay and wait for the police, so I left with my toddler thankfully safe and sound. I don’t know what happened after that. Hopefully they were able to find him and do something about it. He was easily identifiable because of the gigantic holstered knife.
Beware of that hazard on the 1st Avenue S. Bridge! That’s the warning from Aaron Goss, proprietor of Aaron’s Bicycle Repair in White Center, who sent the photo along with a CC on this note:
Dear SDOT,
Please fix this IMMEDIATELY!!!!!! (see attached photo)
Someone is going to get killed. This cannot wait another day!
The metal strip that covers the gap has been bent and jammed down in the gap.
Aaron got a reply at day’s end from SDOT – pointing out only that the bridge belongs to WSDOT and saying they would forward the concern.
(Photo by Cory Bagley – aerial view of western Myers Way Parcels land, from earlier this week)
FIRST REPORT, 4:44 PM: Another big announcement from Mayor Ed Murray this afternoon: The city will keep the southeastern West Seattle land known as the Myers Way Parcels, instead of selling some or most of it. The news release just in:
Following months of community input, Mayor Ed Murray today announced the planned usage for the Myers Way property in Southwest Seattle.
“Thank you to those who shared their input on the future of the Myers Way property,” said Murray. “The City will retain the land, dedicating the four-acre northernmost portion for important fire training needs and expanding the Joint Training Facility. The remainder of the property will be retained and designated for open space and/or recreation purposes, consistent with the community response provided through our outreach. At a future date, Seattle Parks and Recreation will conduct further public outreach to determine how best to use the property.”
Seattle Parks and Recreation does not currently have resources needed to immediately repurpose the site, but the Department will retain the property as one of its “land banked” sites. Holding such properties ensures that valuable open space is not lost, even if resources for repurposing the property are not immediately available.
The Myers Way property is one of the largest pieces of undeveloped City-owned land and is adjacent to the Seattle-White Center border.
A sale of some of the land was supposed to fund part of the city’s homelessness programs – to the tune of $5 million – so we’ll be asking a followup on where that money will come from instead. (Added: Mayoral spokesperson William Lemke tells WSB that will be addressed in the mayor’s budget proposal this fall.)
ADDED 5 PM: Just in from Councilmember Lisa Herbold, who (as shown in the photo above) toured the site with community members and city reps two months ago today:
I’m pleased to learn that the Executive will not be moving forward with the plan to sell the Myers Way parcels. This issue is important to many residents residing in Top Hat, Highland Park, South Park, Arbor Heights, as well as citywide environmental groups such as Seattle Green Spaces Coalition and TreePAC. This is a significant and important victory for the community who has worked so hard to bring the value of these properties to the attention of City decision-makers.
I had been contacted by various community stakeholders regarding the proposed sale of approximately 12 of the 33 acres known as “Myers Parcels,” owned by the City of Seattle and declared “Excess to the Department’s needs.” In May, I organized a tour of the properties with community stakeholders and City Staff. Community members had sought assurances the decision about selling this property will occur only after the entire community, specifically low income renters, people of color and non-English speaking residents are meaningfully engaged and that FAS apply the Racial and Social Justice Toolkit and follow the Equity and Environment Action Agenda before deciding what to do with this land.
In 2014, the White Center/Greater Duwamish area was identified as the fifth most highly impacted community in the Puget Sound Region “characterized by degraded air quality, whose residents face economic or historic barriers to participation in clean air decisions and solutions.” Due to the severity of air quality and contamination already present in this area, I had expressed my concern to the Executive that active use of these parcels might result in further air quality degradation.
Many organizations, such as the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, have worked diligently for many years to clean up our waterways and have expressed concerns about the implications of development on Hamm Creek and the watershed within these properties. In response to these concerns as well as those related to air quality, I’d requested the following from the Executive:
Multilingual communication, so that members of immigrant communities could take part in the decision making process.
Additional information to catalogue the geological and hydrological elements of the property, their ecosystem services, and their beneficial uses to the community prior to making a disposition recommendation to the Council.
A health impact assessment that addresses the air quality contributions made by these land parcels, vs. air quality degradation from further development prior to making a disposition recommendation to the Council, rather than based upon a particular proposed development.
We’ve been reporting for years on what’s been going on to try to determine the future of this ~33-acre site (which was even considered in 2008 for the never-built city jail project). You can browse our archived coverage by clicking MYERS WAY PARCELS beneath this story’s headline, and scrolling through the stories (including our coverage of the big community meeting June 30th).
(Added 8 pm, WSB video of this afternoon’s announcement, including Q&A, where we’d embedded Seattle Channel live stream during event)
As-it-happened coverage:
2:30 PM: We’re at City Hall downtown, where Mayor Ed Murray is about “to announce the formation of the Community Involvement Commission, which will replace the District Council system,” per the media advisory sent about this time yesterday. The live Seattle Channel stream should appear above, once the event begins, if you hit “play.”
QUICK PRIMER: For the purpose of interaction between city government and neighborhoods, Seattle was split into 13 “districts” more than a quarter century ago.
West Seattle has two – western WS comprises most of the Southwest District, while most of eastern West Seattle is in the Delridge Neighborhoods District. They, and the other 11, each have a “district council” made up of representatives from community councils and other organizations in their respective areas. District councils usually meet monthly; each of their member groups/organizations decides who to send as a representative. They are informal advisory councils, without governmental powers, without stipends or salaries; the city has supported them with neighborhood district coordinators, whose numbers have been reduced in the past five years.
When the City Council switched last year to being elected mostly by district – seven districts whose boundaries had nothing to do with the 13 pre-existing neighborhood districts – they issued a “statement of legislative intent” asking the Department of Neighborhoods to evaluate the neighborhood-district system and whether the community involvement might be realigned with the council districts.
The draft report on that review came out in May; the final report was expected at the end of this week – and suddenly, the mayor announced he was going to make a move.
2:36 PM: The mayor has entered the room. He says, “We should constantly be looking for ways to bring down barriers and open up dialogue. Our city has changed dramatically … since the district councils were created. We communicated by picking up a phone or putting a letter in the mail.”
He says communities have been created in the years since then. Going to an evening meeting doesn’t work for many people, he says. “The executive order I’m about to sign directs city departments to begin developing robust community engagement plans, and take steps toward dissolving the city’s ties to each of the 13 district councils. The district councils may still exist, but Department of Neighborhoods resources that previously supported the district councils will be redirected to support all City departments in these efforts.”
The mayor says the city will be “more in touch with itself” once a number of steps are completed – civic engagement focus groups in August, and Department of Neighborhoods drafting “legislation for a new citywide community engagement framework and strategic plan” by September 26th. A “digital engagement plan” will have to be submitted by March 1st, with the city’s IT department working on that along with Department of Neighborhoods.
We asked the mayor how much of a budget cut would result – he said there will be no budget cut resulting, “the money will stay in the neighborhoods.” He says the spending had to change, though, to evolve to being offered to a “more diverse group of people” per the city’s race and social justice policies.
Kathy Nyland (at left in photo above) of the Department of Neighborhoods says the current eight district coordinators will keep their jobs – the descriptions will be updated, and hasn’t been updated in 15 years.
The mayor also says the timing of this – as we mentioned in the “primer” above, sooner than expected – does not have anything to do with an upcoming possible “backlash against HALA,” as one reporter asked.
We asked who the people in the front of the room are, besides the University District renter and Ingraham High School student who have spoken. Evan Clifthorne from Belltown came up and spoke. DoN director Nyland then explains more, saying she has a “file of complaints” about existing community councils, and the people who were invited are those who” were in that file.
2:55 PM: In the FAQs, one question is “Will the District Councils and City Neighborhood Council be disbanded?” The answer is no – but “the level of staff support that is provided” is what this is about. They “can continue to participate/advocate/inform as they do now even if not formally supported by City. They don’t need to be formally recognized by statute to exist or to be valued.”
We ask about Neighborhood Matching Funds and how this will affect those. The mayor says basically, what will change is who decides who gets that money. (District councils have had some review responsibilities.)
Nyland says that the Statement of Legislative Intent final report IS still coming out on Friday – the mayor says he hasn’t seen it, but “doesn’t think these things will be in conflict with each other.”
And with that, the event is over. We never did hear who the rest of the people behind the mayor were. The news release isn’t online yet so far as we can tell, but another line of interest – #3 of the 5 action steps:
The Department of Neighborhoods, in partnership with the Seattle Office of Civil Rights and the City Budget Office will draft a resolution for City Council consideration detailing the community outreach and engagement principles and ending the City’s official ties to District Councils and the City Neighborhood Council.
So the city council does have a role in this, regarding whether the city formally breaks its ties with the DCs and CNC.
3:27 PM: We’re heading back to West Seattle now, and will add either the city’s archived video of the event or ours, whichever is ready first. Meantime, the “Community Involvement Commission” touted in the announcement of today’s event did not get much discussion; the printed materials say it will be created by January 2017, but that “details regarding the commission have not been worked out.”
Two West Seattle neighborhood advocates were here to observe, Cindi Barker from the Morgan Community Association – a veteran of many city-appointed committees and commissions – and David Whiting from the Admiral Neighborhood Association, current co-chair of the Southwest District Council. We talked with them briefly afterward; Barker said she was puzzled about why this wasn’t presented by the mayor and council with a unified front, since the latter was already engaged in a process of reviewing the district-council system. Whiting said the statement that the district councils could continue to exist really wouldn’t mean much without any city support.
3:44 PM: The FAQs about the mayor’s action are now on the city website, here. And the news release is here.
P.S. If you have a question for the mayor about this or something else – reminder, he’s due at the 34th District Democrats‘ meeting tonight at The Hall at Fauntleroy (9131 California SW), around 8 pm (the meeting starts at 7).
12:30 PM: Thanks to Alice for the tip: Another West Seattle power outage, this time in an area that wasn’t affected by the big one overnight. The Seattle City Light map shows 110 customers in the Jefferson Square area of The Junction lost power around noon, and “equipment failure” is listed as the cause.
12:50 PM: We went to Jefferson Square to check on ground-level correlation with the outage map. The original tip (and also a note from Jonathan – thank you) were about the office building being out; our crew reports that the businesses on the north and east sides of inner JSq are out but Safeway tells us they never lost power. There’s an estimated restoration time just before 4 pm, but as we always warn, those are just guesstimates – this morning’s outage, for example, had an estimated restoration time of 10 am, but SCL got the power back on at 4:35 am.
3:23 PM: We just checked for the first time in a while … the outage is over.
One year ago, award-winning educator Marcus Pimpleton left his longtime music-leadership roles at Denny International Middle School and Chief Sealth International High School for a new career direction, school administration, saying he wanted “to learn what it takes to be the type of leader that can help to ensure that all students have access to the high level instruction and experiences that put them on the path for successes in school, college, and life.”
Now that new direction is bringing him back to West Seattle: Pimpleton is returning to Denny IMS as assistant principal, the same position he held at Bellevue’s Interlake High School this past year. Here’s part of how he explained his decision to his now-former colleagues there:
Denny has always been a special place near and dear to my heart. When my grandmother passed away during my 5th grade year, it was a teacher from my elementary school who followed me to Denny and rallied together a community of teachers, counselors, and school administrators to support and nurture me along the path of middle school, high school, college, and beyond. Their deposit into my life is the inspiration for my life’s work which I sincerely believe is to provide leadership that expands educational opportunities for our most impacted students in our most challenged communities. The opportunity to go deeper into this calling in my own neighborhood, in the very school where I was the recipient of this type of leadership and nurturing, is too special of an opportunity to pass up.
Pimpleton has kept a hand in the world of music education as director of the All-City Band (whose busy summer includes three West Seattle events later this month).
“We are very pleased to welcome Mr. Pimpleton back as our new Assistant Principal!” Denny principal Jeff Clark told WSB, when we asked him to confirm the news after hearing about it from several parents (thanks again to them for the tip). First day of classes this year is September 7th, but of course school staffers are back at work long before that.
West Seattle pilot/photographer Long Bach Nguyen stopped by our table in the Info Tent at Summer Fest over the weekend and mentioned that view, subsequently sending the photo so we could share it with you. It’s from the 4th of July, during the lowest tide of the month (-2.9 feet); the full moon next Tuesday (July 19) will bring a few more days of low tides, but not THAT low.
Now, on with what’s up for the rest of today/tonight:
BABY STORY TIME: 11:30 am-noon at High Point Library – bring your 4-month- to 12-month-old baby for stories, songs, and rhymes. (35th SW/SW Raymond)
OFFICE JUNCTION MEETUP: Local entrepreneur? Past/present/future coworker? Come to the meetup at West Seattle Office Junction (WSB sponsor) noon-1 pm today – here’s how last week’s meetup went. (6040 California SW)
LUNCH AT THE LIBRARY: 12:30 pm Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, everyone under 18 is invited to lunch at Delridge Library – as explained here. (5423 Delridge Way SW)
MAYOR TO ANNOUNCE NEW COMMUNITY-INVOLVEMENT PLAN: As first noted here on Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Ed Murray plans an announcement at City Hall this afternoon that will mean major changes for some aspects of how community members interact with the city. It’s scheduled for 2:30 pm, and we plan to cover it live. (11:07 am update – Seattle Channel has it listed for a live online stream, too.)
HIGH POINT MARKET GARDEN FARM STAND: Week 3 for your chance to buy fresh produce, steps from where it was grown and harvested by local residents. 4-7 pm. (32nd SW/SW Juneau)
COED ULTIMATE FRISBEE: 6 pm game for all interested, Fairmount Park Playfield. (Fauntleroy Way SW/SW Brandon)
CRIME/SAFETY FOCUS GROUP FOR HIGH POINT: If you live and/or work in High Point, you’re invited to researcher Jennifer Burbridge’s focus group tonight about crime, safety, and police. 7 pm at Neighborhood House’s High Point Center. (6400 Sylvan Way SW)
MAYOR AT 34TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS: Got a question for Mayor Murray – about what he’s announcing today (see above) or something else? He’s scheduled for a speech and Q&A at tonight’s 34th District Democrats meeting at The Hall at Fauntleroy. Meeting starts at 7; most-recent update says the mayor’s part of the agenda is expected around 8. (9131 California SW)
JUBILEE DAYS FIREWORKS: We mentioned it separately earlier just so you know. At dusk, the first night of White Center Jubilee Days will be celebrated with a big fireworks display from Steve Cox Memorial Park, usually audible in south West Seattle. (1321 SW 102th)
NIGHTLIFE: Five opportunities tonight – see our complete calendar for the listings!
One more reminder in case you want to go to this, or in case you hear it and wonder what’s happening: Tonight’s the night that White Center Jubilee Days‘ carnival begins at Steve Cox Memorial Park, with rides starting at 3 pm and a fireworks show over the stadium at dusk. The park is at 1321 SW 102nd (map).
(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)
6:16 AM: Good morning! If you’re just waking up – you probably missed the hourlong middle-of-night power outage that affected 3,770+ customers in several neighborhoods (here’s our coverage). Everything should be back to normal. (If not, let the authorities know, and then us!)
One alert to share:
FERRY ALERT LATE TONIGHT … technically, early Thursday. Some sailings to and from Southworth will be canceled for dock work during a three-hour period – details here.
FIRST REPORT, 3:33 AM: Just a few minutes ago, the power suddenly went out here on the Fauntleroy/Gatewood line. Anyone else? Not on the City Light outage map yet.
3:38 AM: Now it is. More than 3,770 customers (customer = home or business). Looks like roughly Brandon on the north, Henderson on the south.
3:51 AM: No word yet from City Light re: the cause, and we’re not hearing anything related on the scanner. SCL map now suggests a 10 am restoration time, but please keep in mind, that’s only a guesstimate – could be sooner, could be later.
4:05 AM: Though City Light’s Twitter feed is insisting on saying the outage is in Delridge, it’s not. No part of Delridge involved. High Point, Sunrise Heights, Upper Morgan, Gatewood, Fauntleroy, a bit of Westwood.
4:32 AM: Our power just came back on, in Upper Fauntleroy. (added) From comments, sounds like most other affected areas are back too, but the City Light map hasn’t caught up just yet.
4:40 AM: And now it has – outage over after a little more than an hour. Via Twitter, SCL says the outage was the result of “a bad cable.”
Another reunion announcement! Milestone reunion for the WSHS Class of ’96, a week and a half away, so they’re sending out one last call:
West Seattle High School class of 1996 celebrates our 20-year High School Reunion!
We’re hosting an adult-only event on Saturday evening, followed by a family-friendly picnic Sunday.
Please find more details on our website – here are the basics:
7/23: Dakota Park Place, 6:00 – 11:00 pm
7/24: Hiawatha Park (adjacent to WSHS), 12:00 noon
Follow the reunion-website link above to RSVP, ASAP.
Thanks to Karen Derby for the photo from another event in The Admiral District tonight – the West Seattle Motorcycle Club‘s monthly ride-in at Pizzeria 22. She reports “a good turnout,” adding, “Hopefully next month will bring even more folks and more variety of bikes.” If you’re an interested rider, next month’s ride-in is Tuesday, August 9th. (It’s a standing listing in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, as are meetings of other clubs that are open to new participants/members – e-mail us at editor@westseattleblog.com if you’re interested in adding yours.)
7:17 PM: We don’t often report live on neighborhood-council meetings, but tonight’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting has at least two hypertimely guests – Councilmember Lisa Herbold (as previously announced) and Tom Lee from Madison Development Group (which is redeveloping the PCC site at 2749 California SW) – so we’ll be updating as it happens.
First, we’re in a variety of quick updates – including the eighth summer of the ANA-presented Summer Concerts at Hiawatha series. The first concert (six Thursday nights, 6:30 pm, east lawn at Hiawatha Community Center) is July 21st, with Smokey Brights performing – here’s the full lineup. (WSB is a co-sponsor again this year.)
7:29 PM: Tom Lee from Madison is talking about the 2749 California SW project now, a last-minute agenda addition. As we noted in our coverage this morning when PCC (WSB sponsor) announced it would be part of the project, he’s noting the company’s other projects in the area, including Spruce and Element 42. He’s accompanied by reps from Hewitt, the architect for the project, whose Julia Nagele said: “What we’re here to do tonight is to just give you a taste of what we’re going to be bringing to the Design Review Board for our Early Design Guidance” – that meeting is July 21st. “We’re looking for neighborhood input on what you guys like, what you don’t like, and what’s important.”
The architects are putting up a few boards – too dark in this room to photograph but they say they’re the ones already available online, as linked in our earlier coverage. (Here’s the “design packet” on the city website – remember that at this stage in Design Review, it’s all about size and shape of the buildings.) They say they’re working on incorporating the California SW bus stop between the building’s two entries. They are also working on options for how to get the truck traffic into and off the site. “Code compliant” would have the trucks exiting the alley onto Lander, but they are pursuing the possibility of an exit onto California instead.
Their goals include the building being “a good neighbor … good place to live … good place to shop,” recognizing that the grocery store will be more than a place you just run into and out of, but also “a community hub.” They’re also working on how the building will respond to Hiawatha Playfield across the street. The site is 300′ long and 113′ deep. Hewitt is showing a “preferred option” that breaks up the building “into five pieces” over the grocery store.
One comment post-presentation – Mark Wainwright (a past ANA president) suggests that, since the neighborhood already has been through supermarket redevelopment – most recently, Admiral Safeway – the project team come out and walk some of those projects. Asked how long the new lease with PCC is, Lee replied “20 or 30 years – it’s a long-term lease.”
7:44 PM: Now it’s Councilmember Herbold’s turn. She mentions that the topic she was to address, the future of Seattle’s neighborhood districts, is suddenly “politically charged” (the sudden announcement of an impending mayoral action would be why). First, she’s giving background info, before getting to the latebreaking developments – that the mayor is “announcing a new system that we haven’t had a chance to review.” As she notes, the original directive to review the district situation came from the City Council. The fact a new system is about to be announced without final council input is unusual, to say the least.
The draft report, she mentions, talked about how to ensure district councils could be more inclusive. She notes that the district councils whose demographic information was included in the draft report was incomplete and at least three years old. “From our perspective, this was just their first cut at this work … my response at the time was yes, district councils could be more representative of our city … but I didn’t believe there was anything inherently undemocratic about the district council system, but that we should figure out ways of supporting (them) and (setting up metrics). … People who have been doing this work have been spending their time and their energy … and it’s a little bit disrespectful to throw out the system and set up a new one.”
Nonetheless, as she pointed out, the one-line preview emerged today, “and we’ll find out more tomorrow … how that is going to be implemented (we don’t know).” She said she will seek to ensure the City Council has a role. “There will be some changes that have to be made to different kinds of legislation that (set up) roles for the District Councils,” which, she recalls, were set up by an ordinance – “an intent document” – almost 30 years ago. “I think the challenge right now is to figure out where we have some input. If there are funding decisions to be made, that will likely be made in the context of the city budget process, which begins in September.”
Whatever the new system turns out to be, she said she hopes it will involve more people, not fewer, than what is in place now. She also notes that there have been past efforts to dismantle what was considered a world-class neighborhood-involvement system – neighborhood planning, the matching funds – set up under past Department of Neighborhoods director Jim Diers.
Herbold concluded, “I will pledge to keep you as informed as I can be, and share with you whatever information and opportunities that might arise for advocacy from you to the city … but where I am right now, I don’t know how these recommendations coming from the mayor are going to (engage) the council (or not).”
First question – does the mayor’s action dissolve neighborhood-level groups like this one? No, said Herbold, as these are freestanding groups. The main effect would be the staffing that district councils have had from the Department of Neighborhoods. “If you continue to meet as a district council” – for example, Admiral NA is a member of the Southwest District Council, along with other western West Seattle groups and organizations – there wouldn’t necessarily be any access to help from city-employed neighborhood-district coordinators. Budgetary changes would require City Council approval, Herbold says.
Also, points out David Whiting, ANA past president, who is co-chair of the SW District Council, the district councils currently meet in venues that require some nominal rent payment, so concerns would include where that funding would come from, if not the city. He subsequently asks Herbold if she had seen any sort of preview copy of the second report on the neighborhood-district evaluation, and she says she had not, though sometimes council central staffers get previews, and she will check if they did.
The Q&A is open to other topics, it’s mentioned, and another attendee asks about the Seattle Police Officers Guild contract vote and overall oversight. “One of the objectives of this contract is to implement recommendations of the Police Commission,” she notes. “We’ve been engaged in bargaining for almost two years now … We really hope they will vote for it because I think the contract goes a long way toward supporting the recommendations of the (commission).” She mentions that there was “a leak” of not only the contract proposal but also the city analysis “that basically (suggested the city) ‘won'” and that, she says, has led to current talk of a “no” vote.
An ANA member goes back to tomorrow’s district-council-dismantling announcement, saying it seems “disrespectful” to all the work neighborhood council volunteers have done. Councilmember Herbold says that one of the offshoots of the new City Council district system is that they’re hearing from more constituents, and she hopes that will mean more collaboration between residents and their representatives.
Another ANA member says he’s concerned about city spending “and it feels like property taxes are going out of sight.” He also says that the “process” seems to be taking forever on some projects, such as the SW Admiral Way Safety Project, and asks where that stands. Herbold says she thinks more community engagement is ahead (which is what we’ve been told, but without a date – the webpage still says “mid-2016”). Flyers are forthcoming, and possibly some “walk-and-talks.” It was also pointed out that SDOT reps were due twice at the Alki Community Council and canceled both times, and that they haven’t accepted invitations to come to this council – “they seem to feel they no longer need to come to the community councils,” suggests one attendee who’s been involved.
8:22 PM: Since Herbold had suggested getting involved in the budgeting process to possibly have some effect on what’s happening from here, an attendee asks what’s the most effective way to do that. “A variety of approaches” is what she suggests – “mix it up, some phone calls, some group e-mails, some individual e-mails, mix up your interaction with the decisionmakers … it sort of conveys the sense that you’re in advocacy mode from all different sides.” To influence the mayor’s budget proposal, Herbold says, get your comments in by the end of this month. And she’ll know more tomorrow what the council’s process will be “for considering these changes … and I might have different advice. It’s quite possible there’ll be another presentation before the Affordable Housing and Neighborhoods Committee before” any budget changes related to this are made.
In response to the next question, the councilmember says some of the language in the first draft of the report on this suggests “a fundamental misunderstanding” about what city councilmembers’ staffers do (in relation to the suggestion they will do all the work that neighborhood-district coordinators – like Kerry Wade, who is here – do). “Council staff is focused on policy work and budget – to the extent that council staffers get involved in implementation of work that departments do, is because something’s fallen through the cracks in the department; we’re a safety valve.”
The meeting ended shortly thereafter; ANA is taking August off and will be back in action the second Tuesday in September, 7 pm, The Sanctuary At Admiral.
The 26-year-old suspected prowler arrested in Highland Park/South Delridge six days ago has not yet been charged, 
but she’s still in jail because of two previous cases. Since she is charged in those cases and documents show she has pleaded guilty and been sentenced, we’re identifying her: Taylor A. Church. Neighbors caught images including the one at right before she was arrested last Wednesday in Highland Park/South Delridge; as we reported after her bail hearing last Thursday, documents say neighbors reported her trying to break into homes in the 8600 and 8800 blocks of 17th SW and the 8800 block of 18th SW. Police found her at 18th SW and SW Thistle. While the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office told us a case hadn’t been referred to them yet for what happened last week, police did find Church had two warrants, for trespassing and theft. According to Seattle Municipal Court online records, she appeared in connection with those cases yesterday, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, with credit for time served. City court documents are less comprehensive than the ones available through the county, so we’re not sure how much time Church is credited with – the jail register indicates she’s spent a cumulative total of 100 days in jail in connection with 7 bookings over the past 11 months, but they’re not all necessarily related to those cases, both of which involve businesses at Westwood Village.
(Left, map of 13 Seattle “neighborhood districts”; right, map of 7 Seattle City Council districts. Both from seattle.gov)
2:36 PM: Just out of the inbox – a media advisory for tomorrow, about something related to what’s been a hot topic in neighborhood groups for months. This is the media advisory in its entirety:
Murray to announce the formation of Community Involvement Commission
Tomorrow Mayor Ed Murray will join neighborhood leaders and stakeholders to announce the formation of the Community Involvement Commission, which will replace the District Council system.
WHO: Mayor Ed Murray
WHAT: Executive Order signing, press conference
WHEN: Wednesday, July 13, 2:30 PM
Tomorrow’s announcement isn’t a public event but is happening at City Hall. Working to find out more …
3:27 PM: Of all the people we have messages out to, the first to reply: Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s office. Legislative assistant Newell Aldrich says they didn’t get an advance alert on this either and are also trying to find out more. As he says, the deadline for the City Council to get the Department of Neighborhoods’ report on potentially aligning the 13 neighborhood districts with the 7 City Council districts wasn’t due until this Friday; a draft report had been in circulation for two months. Our most extensive report on local discussion of this is here.
P.S. Councilmember Herbold was already expected to talk about this topic, among others, at tonight’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting, 7 pm at The Sanctuary at Admiral (42nd/Lander), all welcome.
1:39 PM: Thanks to Brad at West Seattle Cyclery for being the first business to mention to us that there’s a multi-state Comcast Business phone outage right now. We’ve verified through Twitter:
Business customers may be experiencing issues w/ phone svc. We are aware & working to resolve. For updates visit: https://t.co/XNCSSB4luL
— Comcast Business (@comcastbusiness) July 12, 2016
Brad says Comcast told him it might take until at least 3 pm for this to be fixed. He’s encouraging his store’s customers to e-mail instead – service@westseattlecyclery.com. Let us know if this is affecting you and if you have an alternate way for customers to get through.
3:45 PM: Some local businesses have commented below on how to reach them (if you’re seeing this from the WSB home page, get to the comments by either clicking the word “comments” under the headline, or clicking the headline to open the full story page). Meantime, Comcast’s most recent update, from a little more than an hour ago, says they’re still working on it.
4:45 PM: Junction True Value texted a few minutes ago to say their service is back.
(From last year’s second Early Design Guidance packet for the CVS project)
Three years after we first reported the plan to bring a CVS drugstore to 4722 Fauntleroy Way SW – we’ve learned that plan has apparently quietly died.
We found this out as a spinoff of research for Monday afternoon’s update on two developments, including 4754 Fauntleroy. The CVS plan had already gone through Early Design Guidance, first stage of the Design Review process, twice, but the second meeting was more than a year ago, and no third meeting on the schedule. So we looked deeper into the files and found a document dated in May, a note to the city from CVS’s developer representative Velmeir, saying “Our client has decided not to move forward with this project…”
We’ve tried to reach Velmeir and CVS to find out more; no replies yet. We also stopped by West Seattle Produce, which was going to have to move because of the CVS project, and staffers told us they haven’t heard anything new for a while and are still on month-to-month tenancy. And we asked the city to verify that the CVS project file is closed, and DCI spokesperson Wendy Shark said yes, it is, by request of the applicant. The project had generated some controversy because it was far less than could be built on the site, which is zoned for up to eight stories.
So will CVS surface somewhere else in West Seattle? At one point, The Whittaker across Fauntleroy was supposed to have a drugstore space; we contacted its leasing executive and were reminded that since one potential pharmacy tenant didn’t pan out, they decided to split up the south retail space into several smaller spaces – no tenants to announce yet. We’ll update with anything more we find out, meantime, about the 4722 Fauntleroy site’s future.
We’ve received several reports/questions about overnight explosion-type noise west of The Junction that seems to be a mystery in need of solving – maybe you can help. One report today is from Lisa, who says it’s been going on for a few weeks, in the very early morning hours, and seems too loud to be any kind of fireworks. Other reports are from north of The Junction, including “huge booms” heard around 2:30 am near California/Andover. Lisa, meantime, summarizes: “I would like to figure out how to get this out and report it effectively to make it stop; if illegal, to have more done.” We know from scanner traffic that 911 did get some calls, but nothing conclusive appears to have resulted, so far.
(Preferred ‘massing’ rendering by Hewitt, from Early Design Guidance packet for 2749 California SW)
8:01 AM: For more than a year, we’ve been reporting on changes at the longtime West Seattle site of PCC Natural Markets (2749 California SW; WSB sponsor) – first an ownership change, then indications a redevelopment project was ahead. PCC promised all along that once it knew whether it would be part of the redevelopment, it would let us know as soon as its staff knew. Last night, PCC closed its West Seattle store early for a staff meeting, at which time employees were told what the co-op is sharing with us and you this morning: PCC **WILL** be part of the redevelopment project, which means a closure during construction, but then a brand-new store:
PCC Natural Markets is finally able to announce that we have secured our long-term future in West Seattle, a community we have served for over 25 years. While the co-op’s current location on California Avenue SW will be redeveloped, PCC reached an agreement with the new landlord and will return as the retail tenant in the building once the project is complete.
Demolition will begin next year and, as a result, we anticipate the West Seattle PCC will temporarily close in early 2017. While we are sad to close for a while, we are pleased to confirm that we will be able to serve our West Seattle members and shoppers for decades to come.
We will reopen on California Avenue S.W. in the second half of 2018 with a 25,000-square foot store that will feature all the best that PCC has to offer. During the closure, we will continue to offer delivery to West Seattle through both Instacart and Prime Now.
PCC’s dedicated, knowledgeable, and friendly staff is a true key to our success, so during the closure, we will place our current West Seattle employees in our other PCC locations. Our hope is that many will stay with the co-op and return to West Seattle when the new store opens.
We look forward to continuing to welcome you into our West Seattle store over the coming months, and we hope to see you at our other stores, including the not-too-far away Columbia City PCC.
PCC has been a tenant at this site for more than a quarter of a century; as we first reported last May, Madison Development Group – bought the site for $5,750,000, but its plan for a new mixed-use building did not emerge until last month. As we reported along with news of a July 21st Design Review meeting, Madison’s early-stage plan is for 112 apartments over 25,000 square feet of retail space, with below-ground parking as well as the existing surface lot on the southwest side of the site.
This will be the second grocery-store redevelopment in the area; barely a block away, Admiral Safeway was rebuilt in 2010-2011. Madison Development Group also was part of that project – not the store itself, but the apartment building on the site’s east side, which another developer had initiated but couldn’t finish; Madison also was the final developer of the Spruce West Seattle site on the east edge of The Junction.
2:52 PM: We talked this afternoon by phone with PCC CEO Cate Hardy, to ask a few of the questions that have come up in comments, plus a few that we had.
First – the new store is not yet designed, so what it will and won’t include is yet to be determined. But it will be almost twice the size of the current West Seattle store, 25,000 square feet (current one is 13,000). The current store has 86 offstreet parking spaces; the current plan (subject to change) is for about 40 underground spaces in the new building, plus the 31 existing ones in the surface lot at 44th/Stevens.
Hardy was careful not to promise that anything you’re seeing in the newest PCC stores – Bothell, which opened today, plus Columbia City and Green Lake – would be replicated in the new West Seattle store, but she mentioned some possibilities: Full-service meat/seafood counter, for example; an “extensive” selection of made-in-store meals; rotisserie meats. And, “More of what’s already great,” including more room for more produce, bulk foods, etc.
The store’s 125 staff members are being offered not only employment in other PCC stores, but also incentives to stay at West Seattle until it closes next year, something Hardy says might be “unprecedented” for a situation like this.
Again, the PCC-plus-112-apartments project, which is being developed by the site’s new owner Madison, goes before the Design Review Board on July 21st.
(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)
7:06 AM: Good morning. Nothing reported on the main routes but we’re heading over to check out a crash at 20th SW/SW Cloverdale.
7:24 AM: In the meantime, regional road-work alerts to share:
OVERNIGHT TONIGHT, NORTHBOUND I-5: The northbound lanes of I-5 downtown will be closed at Seneca Street 11:30 pm tonight until no later than 4:30 am Wednesday, WSDOT says, for repair work.
7:33 AM: The crash at 20th/Cloverdale was a one-car rollover – only logged as a basic “motor-vehicle incident” with one engine originally dispatched to the call around quarter till 7, so didn’t catch our attention until a reader texted us (206-293-6302 any time – thank you!).
Police at the scene say the driver was taken to the hospital by private ambulance to be checked out, but not seriously hurt. The tow truck is arriving and this should be clear shortly.
The place to be on Monday night was Delridge Community Center – for three events, inside and out:
Inside, a celebration of Eid al-Fitr – the end of Ramadan – a party that was part of the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association’s Cultural Events Series. Above, DJ Sam and friend; below, facepainting for kids:
DNDA’s next Cultural Event will be part of the Delridge Day festival on August 13th – also at DCC, but outside this time – on August 13th.
Outside the center, the North Delridge Neighborhood Council barbecued as part of their July meeting:
At center are NDNC’s Nancy Folsom and Michael Taylor-Judd. NDNC meets second Monday, most months, with locations varying in the warm season – watch for updates at ndnc.org.
Across the park from the meeting, Trio Camellia performed in Seattle Chamber Music Society‘s second “Music Under the Stars” concert:
Concertgoers from toddlers to seniors sprawled out across the grassy lawn and slope to listen until the trio made way for a live stream from Benaroya Hall.
Here’s our video of the first section of the trio’s performance in the park, as introduced by Noel Evans from SCMS:
Bach, Haydn, Schubert, and Mozart were part of the program. Two more chances to enjoy live chamber music outside Delridge Community Center in this free series – 7:15 pm the next two Mondays (July 18th and 25th).
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