West Seattle, Washington
18 Monday
Sounds like a long time, but it’s not: We are now less than 3 weeks away from your first side-by-side look at the four (so far) people who want to be the first-ever Seattle District 1 City Councilmember, representing West Seattle and South Park. WSB is presenting the first announced candidates’ forum in this race:
Thursday, February 5, at Highland Park Improvement Club (1116 SW Holden)
Doors open 6:30 pm
Forum 7-8:30 pm
The candidates are (in first-name alphabetical order this time):
*Amanda Kay Helmick
*Chas Redmond
*George Capestany
*Tom Rasmussen
If you need to bookmark a reminder, here’s the official listing on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar (Facebook event page coming up soon too). HPIC has lots of room, and we’ll have refreshments, so have dinner and then come see and hear (and bring a question for!) the contenders for this area’s new seat on the City Council, which starting this year will be made up of seven people elected by district, two at large.
Two weeks after a Seattle Public Utilities contractor started night work cleaning sewer/storm lines at the Fauntleroy ferry dock, SPU has announced an extension: “The concrete slurry found in the pipes is a higher strength than we had expected. Therefore, the contractor will discontinue with the jet and hydro cleaning efforts and move to a milling process to grind the slurry from the pipes. The equipment and noise levels will remain the same as before.” Part of the north ferry-loading lane will continue being coned off while this work is done. It’s now expected to continue 9 pm-5 am through January 30th.
(September 2014 photo by John Westrock, recently added to WSB Flickr group)
Weekend’s almost here! While you await Sunday’s Big Game – and/or other weekend excitement – here’s what’s up for the rest of today, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
REMINDER – FOOD DRIVE! As noted here earlier this week, Straight Blast Gym (WSB sponsor) has a big month-long food drive under way – drop something off today/tonight/this weekend (or any time before January 31st) and help them get to their goal of a ton and a half! (5050 Delridge Way SW)
TEEN SPACE: DESIGN CHALLENGE! 3:30 pm at Southwest Branch Library – teens are invited to take the challenge and build a structure that won’t collapse under pressure. Or – just chill. Details here. (35th/Henderson)
HIGHLAND PARK MOVIE NIGHT: Doors open 6 pm at Highland Park Improvement Club, kids’ short 6:15 pm, main movie at 7 pm. Details on the HPIC website. Free – BYO chair or use one of theirs. (12th/Holden)
HIGH-SCHOOL BASKETBALL: Only West Seattle High School has home games tonight, with Bainbridge Island HS visiting: Full schedule here; girls’ varsity at 6:15 pm, boys’ varsity at 8 pm. (3000 California SW)
‘BUS STOP,’ NIGHT TWO: West Seattle High School Drama Club presents “Bus Stop,” student-directed by Kaya Hubbard, again tonight at 7:30 pm in the school theater. Details on the WSHS home page. (3000 California SW)
LOTS OF LIVE MUSIC! Listings for musicians performing tonight at Salty’s on Alki, C & P Coffee, Feedback Lounge (all WSB sponsors), Skylark, and Benbow tonight – find them all by going directly to our calendar.
Nine days ago, Beth‘s VW Passat was stolen from her driveway near Lincoln Park. The next day, a reader reported it turned up in front of their home in Beverly Park. Now – Beth says it’s been stolen again:
Turns out they ransacked and found an extra key in my husband’s car. I am
requesting help again since some lovely lady found it last time in the 115th
area. I was having it rekeyed on Saturday!!!2004 royal blue VW Passat with Sun Valley and state of WA stickers on back,
license #AKD2678 (in a Hans Automotive frame). I am so frustrated!
If you see it, call 911.
P.S. The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council‘s first meeting of 2015, with local SPD leadership on hand, is at 7 pm next Tuesday (January 20th). If you have neighborhood crime/safety concerns, be there.
(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
6:19 AM: This morning’s big question is whether the city/port plan to keep trucks from backing up again today (details toward the end of our Thursday coverage) will work; two texters before 6 am reported signs of a backup, but we’re also hearing police (via scanner) on the case, so we’ll see. And we’ll be watching outbound traffic as always.
6:58 AM: An emergency response in the 3000 block of SW Barton is blocking the westbound side of Barton, per scanner. No other details.
7:03 AM: We should also remind you that Monday (January 19th) is a federal holiday, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, and that means transit changes – Metro will be on the “reduced weekday” schedule; the Water Taxi will not be running; schools will be closed.
7:29 AM: Our crew went to 30th/Barton to find out about the emergency response. A motorcycle rider has been taken to the hospital after his motorcycle collided with a car at 31st/Barton. Police don’t have information on his condition but apparently his injuries are not major, as TCIS is not being called out and the westbound lanes will be reopened soon (a tow truck is there now).
(WSB photo: Police officer, tow-truck driver at motorcycle/car collision scene)
Eastbound traffic is not affected.
8:02 AM: Police/fire en route to a reported two-vehicle crash in the 5600 block of 16th SW, north of South Seattle College (WSB sponsor). At least one person is reported hurt.
8:35 AM: Last sign of that crash is an SPD vehicle by the north entrance to SSC. We’re now headed to check on the port-truck situation.
8:49 AM: Nothing visible on the bridge itself. Checking the surface streets and port vicinity next.
9:09 AM: Here’s what we saw a few minutes ago:
Lineup for T 18 but not affecting through traffic pic.twitter.com/fzivy26qaH
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) January 16, 2015
From an overlook in east Admiral, we saw a few trucks queued at Terminal 5. Will check back around midday.
3:50 PM NOTE: We were going to write a separate story reassuring folks that there’s no truck trouble this afternoon – not even the routine queue shown in our photo above – but unrelated breaking news is getting in the way of that, so we’re just mentioning it here. If you see anything different at any point, please text or call (when you can do so safely/legally, of course) – 206-293-6302.
One month ago, we published a request for your help with a student research project – Holy Rosary School students were testing a hypothesis about how people learn about new technology. With almost 700 responses to their online survey, as noted the following week, they proceeded to modify their hypothesis, and win an award. Now, the next step – explained by their coaches:
The Holy Rosary Gator-bots will continue their journey this Sunday by participating in the First Lego League semi-finals at Shoreline Community College. Thanks to the West Seattle Blog and their wonderful readers, the Gator-bots received a lot of great ideas on the project portion of the competition asking the question, How can we improve the way people learn about Technology?
The Gator-bots considered different ways they could help people with technology from the readers responses and finally chose to made a website with step-by-step videos. Their first wave of videos are out on the site for your viewing pleasure at yourtekhelp.com. Please take a look, and we encourage you to sign into the guestbook with your comments! The boys have worked long and hard learning about website technology, video creation technology and video production. Words of encouragement are always appreciated!
And if you come out to Shoreline Community College on Sunday to watch the competition, the first 50 people to mention that they saw the Gator-bots on the blog will receive a Gator-bots button!
Thank you WSB and West Seattle. We feel blessed to be part of such a wonderful community.
Gator-Bot coaches
Brian Christenson
Rise Pyscher
David Redenbaugh
Good luck, Gator-bots!
Even as the number of Puget Sound’s Southern Resident Killer Whale population hovers at a dangerously low level, one of the group’s members remains thousands of miles away, 
captive in a tank. Tokitae is the last surviving SRKW from those captured decades ago; she has been at the Miami Seaquarium for 44 years, performing as “Lolita.” This Saturday from coast to coast, wildlife advocates will demonstrate in support of setting her free and returning her home to Puget Sound. Here in Seattle, the big gathering is a march for about a mile along Alki, starting at 1:15 pm Saturday (January 17th); meet at Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza (61st/Alki) at 1 – more info in our calendar listing. (Photo via Wikimedia)
P.S. Thanks to Steve for the tip on this – you also can paddle along the route in support – that group will leave Don Armeni Boat Ramp (1222 Harbor SW) at noon.
From SDOT:
The medians on Southwest Admiral Way between Southwest Olga Street and 39th Avenue Southwest are scheduled for cleaning on Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 20-21.
Gardeners from the Seattle Department of Transportation, Urban Forestry, will groom the medians from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. The inside lane in both directions will be closed for worker safety.
Just found out about this via a routine check of the police-report map: A middle-school student walking to catch a school bus this morning told police that two men knocked him down and robbed him.
(SCROLL DOWN for updates – as of our firsthand check at 4:20 pm, the backup’s cleared; 4:50 pm, added list of city/port traffic-reduction measures; 10:19 pm, adding new SDOT news release with yet more details)
(Thursday morning photo by Don Brubeck)
For a second day, a major backup of port-bound semi-trucks is backing up the westbound Spokane Street Viaduct to I-5, as well as surface streets – photos like these continue to come in:
This of course isn’t the first time a queue of port-bound trucks has affected traffic. But it’s the first time in a long time that we’ve heard of this magnitude of backup, persisting on into the day. So we contacted the Port of Seattle and SDOT to ask about the cause and what if any management steps have been taken. Port spokesperson Peter McGraw’s response:
The terminal operator is working very hard to get cargo moving on and off their docks while handling three large vessels. What we’ve been seeing here the past couple days is a surge of export commodities– goods from eastern Washington. So between the extra loads and the ongoing work disruption, we’re seeing an unusually high amount of back-ups. We’ll be keeping a close eye on things today, working with our transportation partners and the terminal operator to move cargo as quickly and safely as possible.
DOT’s Marybeth Turner says the city is concerned:
SDOT has expressed its concerns to the Port of Seattle about the truck queuing occurring on city roadways. We will meet with both the port and the terminal operator today about these impacts and potential solutions those parties can employ.
McGraw’s mention of “ongoing work disruption” refers to the situation we first mentioned two months ago – West Coast terminal operators and longshore workers are in mediated contract talks, eight months after their contract expired. An ILWU news release circulated earlier this week says the terminal operators’ organization reports they’re running out of room for containers on the West Coast docks; that organization, the Pacific Maritime Association, continues to accuse the union of slowdowns. Since last November, large ships at anchor, waiting to get into either Seattle or Tacoma, have been visible from West Seattle; right now MarineTraffic.com shows eight in all – three in Elliott Bay, and five outside Manchester (some shown in this photograph from early today):
(Photo by James Bratsanos)
ADDED 1:21 PM: Yet another vantage point of the truck backup:
Bit of traffic on the bridge @westseattleblog pic.twitter.com/O8E7Qv1DAK
— Scott Sweeney (@ssweens) January 15, 2015
3:39 PM UPDATE: Commenters (and people we’re hearing from on Twitter, too) say it hasn’t gotten any better. We’re going out for a firsthand look. Check the comments for some travel advice. SDOT advises avoiding the westbound Spokane St. Viaduct.
4:13 PM: We’ve just traveled the eastbound bridge – no more truck backup visible on Spokane St. Viaduct. Got off at 1st and noted that a motorcycle officer appeared to have lower Spokane blocked, westbound, just west of 1st. We’re circling back around to check.
4:20 PM: The officer is out of the road, in the median, and westbound Spokane is open again, no backup or slowdown. We have also crossed the low bridge and it’s open and clear.
4:50 PM: From Anthony Auriemma in Councilmember Tom Rasmussen‘s office, an update on what’s being strategized:
SPD will have an officer working traffic from 7 am-3 pm during the slowdowns. Their primary job will be to assist with cross traffic and assist with preventing the intersections from getting blocked.
· SDOT is working on updated signage and traffic alerts. You may have noticed that SDOT this afternoon began advising drivers to avoid the Spokane Street Viaduct and to use alternate routes such as 1st Avenue South.
· SPD is joining SDOT at the Traffic Management Center (TMC) to help with traffic conditions. As you may recall from the Transportation Committee briefing, this is part of the improved incident management protocols that SPD and SDOT agreed to after the June 99 meltdown. Councilmember Rasmussen visited the TMC this afternoon to check out conditions and make sure SDOT was working to find solutions.
· SDOT is attempting to secure Terminal 5 for remote parking as an interim solution.
· Other engineering and enforcement solutions are still being worked out between SDOT, SPD, and the Port.
And just after we published this, Auriemma e-mailed again to say that T-5 has been secured for parking starting tomorrow.
8:01 PM NOTE: Joe Szilagyi of the West Seattle Transportation Coalition points out that the mayor tweeted about this earlier this evening too.
ADDED 10:19 PM: Rare late-night news release, just in from SDOT, with a few more specifics of what’s happening:
To ensure that traffic flows safely and efficiently near Port of Seattle facilities, the City of Seattle will take measures Friday to address trucks backing up onto city and state roadways due to Terminal 18 delays.
Based on discussions with the port, starting Friday morning trucks will be detoured off city streets into a holding area at nearby Terminal 5, where they will stage for entry into Terminal 18. Truck drivers will be directed to this holding area using fixed and variable messages signs.
Also on Friday SDOT will install “No Stopping, Standing or Parking from 3:00 AM to 6:45 AM” signs on Harbor Island to ensure vehicles stage at Terminal 5 prior to the opening of Terminal 18’s gates. The Seattle Police Department is providing officers to support traffic flow and prevent the West Seattle Bridge, Spokane Street Viaduct and intersections near Harbor Island from being blocked by commercial vehicles.
“The City of Seattle and the Port of Seattle are working jointly to address traffic issues created by delays at Terminal 18,” said SDOT Director Scott Kubly. “These measures will allow the port to process its trucks without creating congestion for drivers and transit riders.”
“I have been working with SDOT, SPD and the Port of Seattle to address the congestion created by port facilities, and will continue to work on this problem as long as the delays continue,” said Councilmember Tom Rasmussen. “I appreciate these quick measures being taken by the Port and the City, which will ensure drivers and transit riders can make their trips without unnecessary delay.”
(WSB file screengrab of SDOT camera looking toward bridge’s offramp to 99)
While today’s big bridge-traffic concern is the Port-bound truck backup (working on a separate story), the ongoing point of contention is usually the eastbound weekday-morning jam. Physical improvements to the bridge are unlikely anytime soon, says the city, so simpler, quicker improvements can and must be pursued, suggests City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, saying that if the right people/agencies get together and talk about operational changes and coordination, that could make a difference.
Toward that end, the West Seattle Bridge Corridor Management Task Force will be launched, he has announced, adding that Mayor Ed Murray has promised his support. (This is what Rasmussen staffer Evan Clifthorne was hinting at during the December West Seattle Transportation Coalition meeting.)
Before we get to details of the task force, here’s why nothing is likely to change physically on the bridge any time soon, explained in documents provided by Rasmussen’s office in response to questions from the WSTC, in their declaration of priorities last September. One big question involves whether one of the bottlenecks off the eastbound bridge could be expanded. The SDOT response says basically, no:
(Yellow-rumped Warbler, photographed at Fauntleroy Park by Mark Wangerin)
Halfway through the first month of the new year, and the calendar‘s starting to fill up again. Tonight, your options include:
PLAY POKER AT THE FEEDBACK: Starting tonight, Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) is the home of private events for Seattle Poker Open members, 6 pm Thursdays – membership and event info here. (6451 California SW)
ART OPENING: 6:30 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, it’s the opening reception for the exhibit MELT, curated by Hami Bahadori. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
ALKI COMMUNITY COUNCIL: 7 pm at Alki UCC Church‘s parlor, with the agenda including a briefing on the application process for park events. (62nd/Hinds)
WEST SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOL PTSA: 7 pm in the school library, with scheduled updates including fundraising and athletics. (3000 California SW)
MONEY MANAGEMENT: 7 pm at Hope Lutheran Church, free informational session about Financial Peace University, which starts next week. (42nd/Oregon)
OPEN MICROPHONE AT C & P: 7 pm, you’re invited to the “Unplugged!” open-microphone event at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) – info here. (5612 California SW)
WOMEN’S BUSINESS MEETUP: 7 pm at West Seattle Office Junction (WSB sponsor), bring cards! Details here. (6040 California SW)
‘BUS STOP’: West Seattle High School Drama Club presents “Bus Stop,” student-directed by Kaya Hubbard, at 7:30 pm tonight and tomorrow in the school theater. Details on the WSHS home page. (3000 California SW)
MORE! on our calendar.
9:41 AM: If you’ve been having trouble getting through to the Swedish clinic in West Seattle, Dr. Tom Erdmann sent this note explaining what’s going on:
Swedish West Seattle has been experiencing phone connectivity issues since late 1/14/2015. We have no outgoing message. The busy signal is due to the phone outage. Repairs are underway but no estimate is available as to when phones will be restored. The clinic is open. If needed, please walk in for an urgent appointment.
10:57 AM: Per Dr. Erdmann’s comment, this has been solved. Also note, in a separate situation/location, Sound PT‘s problem, lingering from Tuesday’s Andover crash.
(WSB photo, August 8, 2014, from Seattle/Sunset viewpoint in North Admiral)
In this week that’s already had two aircraft-carrier sightings off West Seattle – USS John C. Stennis heading out for training, USS Nimitz moving from Everett to Bremerton for maintenance – we have one more carrier note. Remember the coverage last August as the USS Constellation was towed out, headed down the Pacific Coast, around Cape Horn, up through the Caribbean and to Brownsville, Texas, to be scrapped? Oceangoing tug Corbin Foss, with the “Connie” in tow, is now arriving after five months – the timeline projected back last summer – and expected to finish the journey by tomorrow. The Foss website has kept up its “tow blog” with periodic data entries.
(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
6:12 AM: Good morning! No alerts today – just watching to see how things go. Speaking of watching – we just noticed the city has added more live video to its Travelers Information Map (where you can get the same travel times that are shown on the signs over the major outbound roads), and you can now watch for up to 5 minutes at a time (previously, :30). Explore here, on the lower right.
8:52 AM: See comments for advice to take more time if you’re heading out through Highland Park.
9:36 AM: We’re getting more reports that the truck-backup problem is back and affecting westbound traffic on the bridge. Trying again to find out why this has suddenly flared up over the past few days (for a current visual, see the lower-right image above, from the camera just east of the low bridge, and you can see the truck lineup headed for the port).
3:42 PM: We’ve been tracking the ongoing truck-backup problem in a separate story – see it here.
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
Tough defense helped win the night for the West Seattle High School girls-varsity team on their home court last night – 42 to 36 over defending state 3A champion Cleveland. 16 points by the Wildcats’ #4, junior Lydia Giomi, topped the score sheet:
#30, junior Lexi Ioane, followed with 12:
Another home game Friday night for head coach Sonya Elliott‘s Wildcat girls – 6:30 pm against Bainbridge, whose boys team plays their WSHS counterparts that night too, at 8.
(WSB photos: Sealth’s #22, sophomore Sydney Thomas)
The Chief Sealth International High School Seahawks girls-varsity team owned the floor and the air Wednesday night in their home-court win over visiting Franklin, 75-23. Top scorer with 18 points, Sealth’s #23, senior Oshae Walker:
Second-highest Sealth scorer for the night, #4, sophomore Labrea Denson:
(That’s #24, junior Elliott Snodgrass, in the background.) Seahawks head coach Katie Jo Maris‘s team will be on the road at Nathan Hale for their next game, Friday night at 6:30 pm.
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
8:36 PM: No one is said to be hurt, but somebody is reported to have shot at and into a house near Delridge Way/SW Findlay a short time ago, with police confirming bullet holes (as heard over the radio). We haven’t heard a suspect description yet. More as we get it.
8:55 PM UPDATE: Our crew at the scene has confirmed with police that multiple shots hit the house (which is on 23rd) and that no one is hurt. We’ve also just heard a potential vehicle description, blue or black SUV, unknown make/model, was “full” of people but no description of them, last seen southbound on Croft Place.
2:19 PM THURSDAY: We had requested the report on this – it’s since shown up summarized on SPD Blotter:
A teenage boy narrowly escaped injury during a drive-by shooting … Wednesday night.
The 17-year-old victim told police he was standing in front of a convenience store around 8 PM with an acquaintance, near Delridge Way Southwest and Southwest Findlay, when a black or dark blue SUV drove by and its occupants stared at them. When the car made a U-turn, both of them started running.
The victim ran into his nearby home and his acquaintance kept running. After dashing into his house, the victim heard several gunshots. Police found several bullet holes in the teen’s home, which was occupied by five other people including an 11-month old baby and a 12-year-old. Bullet fragments were found inside the home. No one was injured.
Gang Unit detectives are investigating.
(Some of last year’s Straight Blast Gym food-drive donations)
North Delridge’s Straight Blast Gym of Seattle (WSB sponsor) isn’t just aiming to strengthen bodies. It’s aiming to strengthen community. And the latest way it’s working to do that, with your help, is via monthlong food drive. From SBG’s Sonia Sillan:
We are currently running a food drive throughout the month of January for the West Seattle Food Bank. Every ten items (ramen not included) earns one raffle ticket; at the end of the month we’ll hold a drawing for different prizes like an Xbox One, gift cards, etc. When discussing how to help others and the purpose of the food drive, one of my five-year-old students said “Well, when you help others it shows that you love them, even if they’re strangers. They don’t have the things that we have. That’s why we should always help everyone and love everyone” (clearly awesome parents!).
My focus with the drive this year is to really pull the community together. Everyone at SBG is excited to see what we can raise within our gym community, and outside of it as well. I really challenge people who don’t know us to stop by and drop some nonperishables off. Take a step. Make a difference. Help us help others. Last year, we raised 1700 pounds of food. This year, our goal is to raise at least 3000.
This quotation by Ralph Waldo Emerson really resonates with me: “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
You can help Straight Blast Gym meet and pass that ton-and-a-half goal by dropping off food at the gym, 5050 Delridge Way SW.
5:03 PM: After two tips that West Seattle High School had a short-lived “shelter in place” situation for a while after school today – remember, this was an early-release day – we checked with Seattle PD. They say it started with a report that someone with a knife was threatening people in the park, north of WSHS. Police did make an arrest, according to SPD spokesperson Det. Patrick Michaud. No information yet on the suspect or where the arrest was made.
5:40 PM: Thanks to MD for sharing the note sent home to parents, signed by assistant principal Garth Reeves:
Today, January 14th, after school at approximately 2:20 pm, West Seattle High School was briefly placed in Shelter In Place as a result of reports of a suspect with a knife in the community. All perimeter doors were locked and a sweep of the school was conducted by West Seattle staff and the Seattle Police Department. After school activities continued and the Shelter In Place was lifted at 2:45 after the suspect was apprehended. All scheduled evening activities will take place as planned and our staff and students are to be commended for behaving in a safe and appropriate manner.
3:54 PM: You might recall last week’s uproar over a county budget change that was scheduled to kick in February 1st, changing how suspects in certain kinds of crimes are handled – booking and releasing them, rather than booking them into jail while they await a bail hearing (often the next day). Here’s our coverage from last Friday. Today, a change: County Executive Dow Constantine has sent a letter (read it here) to county officials including criminal-justice-system leaders, saying that they’ve found “resources” to hold off on “book and release” until at least June 1st, and maybe longer if certain changes can be implemented in the courts. There’s a news-media conference call about this in a few minutes and we’ll be on it – more info to come.
4:23 PM UPDATE: The conference call was relatively short. Constantine spokesperson Chad Lewis said part of the reason why the postponement is possible is that: “The jail population tends to naturally decline in the winter,” so this is not urgent.
We couldn’t help but note that the season hasn’t changed since last Friday, when we were all on the phone talking about this being implemented next month, so, what’s changed? Lewis acknowledged that “stakeholder” reaction played a role.
Meantime, looking ahead as to whether this ever will have to be implemented, the possible changes in court processes outlined in Constantine’s letter, to reduce jail population over the longer term, include “shortening the time between plea or verdict and sentencing.” Lewis says they’re also hopeful the Legislature will address the budgeting problems that have left King and other counties with a shortfall. We asked if there’s a new reason for that hope; he said, “The public safety issue gets more attention” but that’s not the only part of the budget affected by chronic revenue trouble. In response to another question, Lewis insists, “The executive never wanted to put (the book-and-release policy) forward” but didn’t feel he had a choice.
They don’t know yet what kind of a review or assessment will be done between now and June 1st to determine if the book-and-release policy will kick in then, or ever, said Lewis.
(WSB photo taken this morning)
One week after neighbors of the 44th/Ferry/Hill triangle in North Admiral learned it was about to become the suddenly switched site of Interim Fire Station 29, work on the parcel is already under way: A Seattle Public Utilities crew is working on the water-quality-testing installation that has to be moved.
Also: A community meeting is officially set for this Saturday morning. Councilmember Tom Rasmussen told neighbors at an informal gathering last Saturday (WSB coverage here) that he would try to set one up, at least to get answers to their questions, and SFD has announced the meeting will be held this Saturday (January 17th), 9 am, at Station 29 (2139 Ferry Avenue SW, a block from the new interim site), with the other two involved departments – Finance and Administrative Services and Transportation – also officially sponsoring it.
SFD also has sent information elaborating on the response-time concerns that it says led to the scrapping of the long-announced plan to put interim Station 29 at the same Harbor Avenue site that had housed interim Station 36 until its upgrades were finished last summer:
The Seattle Fire Department is concerned about emergency response times to the community served by Fire Station 29. The National Fire Protection Association or NFPA establishes national goals for fire emergency responses. The national standard is to have the first arriving engine at a fire or medical emergency to be within 4 minutes, 90% of the time.
The reason for the national standard is time matters in emergency responses. When it comes to fires or cardiac events, every second counts. Fires grow exponentially. Also, with patients who have life-threatening medical emergencies such as heart attacks, the quality of care that they receive in the first six minutes can mean the difference between life and death.While searching for a temporary location of Fire Station 29, the Seattle Fire Department looked at response times from the 2500 Harbor Avenue site and from the SDOT triangle located on Ferry Avenue SW. The Department ran district-wide response models from both locations. The data revealed that the response time for a first arriving engine unit from Harbor Avenue would average 5 minutes and 35 seconds. A response time from the temporary location would average 4 minutes.
The maps (above) show the difference in responses from both locations. The dark green represents when the first arriving unit meets the national standard of 90%. The dark red indicates when the first arriving unit would meet the national standard less than 50% of the time. As the data map indicates, the Harbor Avenue location would have much slower responses to the community served by Fire Station 29. For this reason, the Seattle Fire Department wanted to keep Station 29 in the neighborhood it serves to ensure a consistent level of fire and medical protection for the citizens of West Seattle.
When determining the location of the temporary fire station, the City did look at a few other sites in the neighborhood, including the Charlestown Café and Life Care Center sites. Neither were viable options, the former due to it being in the permitting process for a residential project that is due to break ground this spring, and the latter because it would have required a zoning change, and having the fire engine pull out onto Admiral Way, then backing into the site from Admiral Way, is not ideal.
Not mentioned is an alternative city-owned site that has been mentioned in the discussion that’s erupted since last Wednesday’s announcement of the change in sites, SPU property in front of the current Station 29. We’re still checking on why that apparently was ruled out or not considered.
Previous WSB coverage:
1/11/15: Followup – Neighbors mobilize after site switch
1/7/15: New interim FS 29 location: Triangle by church
March 2014: Report mentioning Harbor Ave. site designated for interim FS 29
Two ongoing traffic alerts that we should mention here as the afternoon commute approaches:
*Delridge/Orchard intersection lights are out. “It’s a 4-way stop,” Sage reports via Twitter.
*Port-bound truck traffic has been backed up for hours, according to reader reports, on upper and lower bridges. We note that the low bridge has opened multiple times today, so that might have something to do with it. You can see the approach to the low bridge “live” here.
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