West Seattle, Washington
05 Wednesday
5:37 PM: Thanks to the texter who sent word of this – it’s not on the 911 log, so apparently no major injuries – a multi-car crash on westbound Fauntleroy Way in The Triangle, just past Oregon. “Slow going,” says our tipster.
6:04 PM: Just went by to check; scene is completely clear.
First update is from a mayoral announcement this afternoon:
NO PUBLIC-SAFETY LEVY, SAYS MAYOR: Tax-watchers have long voiced suspicion that a city public-safety levy was on the horizon. Today, in an announcement about how SPD’s new North Precinct would be funded, Mayor Murray announced outright that he would not be proposing a public-safety levy this year or next. The announcement says that’s because the city’s Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) income remains “strong.” Read the announcement here. (It does not mention the funding plan for additional SPD hires the mayor recently promised.)
Second update is a followup on a story we reported earlier this week:
911 CENTER RENOVATIONS FOLLOWUP: On Wednesday, we reported on the renovations that SPD says have temporarily reduced the number of lines they have for dealing with 911 calls. We couldn’t find information about the project online, so we asked the city’s Finance and Administrative Services Department. Spokesperson Julie Moore explained that no bidding information was available online because “this project did not go through the traditional bidding process. We used the Job Order Contracting (JOC) process, which per RCW 39.10.420-460, allows the City to issue work orders directly to a JOC prime contractor for facility and utility construction projects not exceeding $350,000.” FAS is handling part of the project, while the equipment is being handled by SPD. So Moore is speaking only for the construction work, which she explains “is secondary but necessary to prepare the space for the main intent of the project – replacing the existing 38 dispatch and eight training/back-up consoles with new consoles and equipment. Additional equipment upgrades include large display monitors and software upgrades, all in collaboration and with support from King County E9-1-1, Seattle IT and several City and County service providers. The work is contained in the main call center/dispatch room, training room and nearby hallways on the 2nd floor of the West Precinct Seattle Police Department 911 Communications Center. FAS’ portion of the project is estimated at $348,000 and is being completed by Saybr Contractors, Inc. (a WMBE firm).” She says the scope of the work includes:
· Revise electrical to support new consoles.
· Replace static-dissipative carpet.
· Add new grounding to meet current radio system requirements.
· Add wall supports and electrical for new wall-mounted monitors.
· Add supervisor/chief dispatcher platform.
The first phase of the work updated the training area, and Moore says that was finished by March 11th. What’s under way now, updating the main call-center area for 38 new consoles, started on March 14th and is supposed to be done by the end of May. In the meantime, Moore says, 911 calltakers have been “relocated to the Fire Alarm Center co-located with the City’s Emergency Operations Center/Fire Station 10 at 400 S. Washington St.”
Before the year’s out, the county expects to complete the Murray Combined Sewer Overflow Control Project across from Lowman Beach Park, north of Lincoln Park; our most-recent project update followed the briefing presented last week to the Fauntleroy Community Association. There’s still some major work to be done, and some of it will bring dozens of concrete trucks to the site tomorrow. Here’s the alert:
King County’s contractor will be pouring concrete on-site tomorrow, Saturday, April 23 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to encase an electrical duct bank on the north side of the facility building (see photo). The electrical lines will provide power to the facility building and underground storage tank. The concrete will protect the electrical lines from moisture and heat.
Up to 10 trucks an hour will deliver concrete to the site. One concrete pump truck will be located on the east side of Beach Drive S.W. to pump the concrete onto the duct bank. Trucks delivering concrete will enter the site from Lincoln Park Way S.W. and exit using 48th Ave S.W. Trucks waiting to pour will park on Lincoln Park Way SW. Expect traffic delays and congestion while the pour is underway. Flaggers will be on site to safely direct traffic through the work zone.
Thank you for your continued patience during construction. Please contact the project hotline 206-205-9186 with any questions or concerns.
The million-gallon storage tank that’s at the heart of the project is expected to keep sewage from overflowing into Puget Sound when stormwater overwhelms the system.
P.S. Questions about this project? Next Tuesday (April 26), 5-7 pm, is your chance to drop by the site, look for the info tent that will be set up, and ask!
As Easy Street Records proprietor Matt Vaughan told a gathering in his café this morning, it’s just “ridiculous” that West Seattle has been without a permanent tribute to, and bearing the name of, Frances Farmer, the brilliant and beautiful WSHS graduate who became famous and infamous in Hollywood decades ago. He’s finally fixed that omission with this:
He dedicated that star just inside the Easy Street Café entrance this morning, also recalling Frances Farmer as not just an actress but also as an outspoken woman in a time when females were not supposed to speak out.
(Update: Here’s video of Vaughan’s remarks.)
The star, Vaughan said, was supposed to be in the sidewalk outside the shop, but that didn’t work out due to “politics,” so its place of honor is on private property inside his business. (Ms. Farmer died of cancer in 1970, just 56 years old, and is buried in Indiana.)
The 12th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – Saturday, May 14th – is just three weeks from tomorrow, and as promised, we’ve decided on the deadline for registration. If you’re having a sale and not signed up already, please register by next Wednesday night (11:59 pm), April 27th. You can do it right now by going to the official registration form here.
Garage/yard/etc. sales are a time-honored form of person-to-person recycling, so on this Earth Day, we’re proud to again be getting ready to present the area’s biggest Community Garage Sale Day, founded in 2005 by a community-connection organization called Megawatt; we’ve been coordinating it since the fourth edition, in 2008. If you don’t have enough stuff, or space, for a full-fledged sale, check ASAP with our two multi-seller sites, WSB’s coffee-purveyor sponsors, Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (which for WSCGSD oversees both its courtyard at 4410 California SW and the parking lot across the alley at Ginomai) and C & P Coffee Company (5612 California SW).
For shoppers, our tradition is to launch the map a week in advance, so you can check for it here and/or at our official WSCGSD site at westseattlegaragesale.com starting on Saturday, May 7th. Both the interactive web version and the printable/downloadable PDF version will include the up-to-20-words listings for the sales, too. More than 190 sales of all sizes, all over the peninsula, are signed up already. Again, here’s where to go. And if you have questions/problems, garagesale@westseattleblog.com is the official WSCGSD mailbox. Looking forward to May 14th!
Happy Earth Day! Thanks to Gary Jones for the Alki Point orca photos from their brief visit to West Seattle waters yesterday afternoon – so brief that because of other news breaking at that time, we only got a mention out on Twitter, before they turned and headed back north.
Tonight, also, is the first night of Passover. Now – highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar for the hours ahead:
EARTH DAY ART INSTALLATION AT ALKI: We covered this yesterday and now it’s officially on display. Here’s a new photo from our visit to the beach a short time ago:
Among those visiting this morning, our area’s State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, known for environmental/sustainability advocacy.
You can see this until about 7 tonight on the path and the sand east of Alki Bathhouse. Then, a project spokesperson told us, the recyclable clothing will go back into the system of the installation’s sponsor, Value Village. (59th/Alki)
FRIDAY AFTERNOON MOVIE: “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1956) is onscreen at 1 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle.
VINTAGE FASHION SHOW AND WINE TASTING FUNDRAISER: 2-4 pm at Bridge Park in High Point, benefiting the West Seattle Food Bank. Details in our calendar listing. (3204 SW Morgan)
SOFTBALL: Chief Sealth IHS and West Seattle HS face off at 4 pm today at Southwest Athletic Complex. (2801 SW Thistle)
PAUL GERARD PERFORMS: Live at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), “Paul Gerard, local singer-songwriter whose songs explore the spirit and soul of the Pacific Northwest waters, woods, and wanderers.” 7-9 pm. (5612 California SW)
‘REEL PADDLING’ FILM FESTIVAL: 7:15 pm-10 pm at Pershing Hall in The Triangle – details here. (3618 SW Alaska)
‘LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE’: 7:30 pm at Kenyon Hall, opening night for Twelfth Night Productions‘ Seattle premiere – details and ticket info here. (7904 35th SW)
ILLUMINATED KAYAKTIVISTS: 8 pm, in honor of Earth Day, activists looking ahead to next month’s anti-fossil-fuel “Break Free” actions plan luminary-lit kayaking off Seacrest Pier. (1660 Harbor SW)
Here’s our first of two reports from last night’s Southwest Design Review Board meeting, the shorter one because this project had little critique and little controversy. The three-story, 15-unit apartment building proposed for 1606 California SW in North Admiral won SWDRB approval in the minimum number of review meetings – two – though they were two years apart.
Board chair Todd Bronk and members Don Caffrey, Alexandra Moravec, and Matt Zinski voted unanimously to give their final blessing. On hand for the city Department of Construction and Inspections (formerly Planning and Development) was the project’s assigned planner Katy Haima.
Here’s the design “packet” by Roger Newell Architects, whose Neal Thompson led the presentation, saying the project has a “great site” in terms of its view: Every living space will have a corner window. He said the project hadn’t been idle since its last review in 2014, since they had been working with the city “through four correction cycles” and changing the design to respond to feedback from the preview review.
The exterior will include stucco, paneling, wood soffits, and glass rails. The driveway into the garage (the plan includes 21 offstreet parking spaces) will have vertical planking along its sides, for “texture.”
The lone public commenter was former SWDRB chair Deb Barker, who recalled that she voiced concern about a section of “blank wall” back at the 2014 meeting – specifically the west side of the project, facing California – and it’s still there. She’s hoping for something honoring the “elegant nature of the project.” She said she’s “pleased with .. the palette and the materials.” And she “really, really like(s) the tower” on the building.
That same concern was voiced by board chair Bronk when members deliberated before voting. He and Caffrey both voiced support of the materials chosen. Caffrey also wanted to be sure sightlines for cars and pedestrians were considered in term the ramp to the garage. Bronk added his concern about “stacking” of cars in the alley. Moravec expressed appreciation for some of the landscaping along the ramp. Bronk, a landscape architect, did have a critique of the planned trees, thinking some evergreens would be called for, especially along the “blank wall” section on the building’s west side. Zinski said that with “a lot of corners exposed” on the building, it would be important to ensure the wood siding fit together well. He also said during deliberation that “those stairs [in the tower] had better be really nice if we’re going to see them.” Bronk focused on other details such as trellising shielding the trash area and also lighting being shielded on the alley side. Overall, he called the design “a great package.”
If you have feedback on the project, there’s still time, even if you missed the meeting – e-mail comments to the planner at katy.haima@seattle.gov.
Our report on last night’s second review, the board’s third look at 4532 42nd SW, will be published later today.
It’s reunion-reminder season! This announcement arrived last night:
West Seattle High School Class of 1956 is having their 60th class reunion at Salty’s on Alki on Friday, June 3, 2016. It will be held from 11:00 AM until 3 PM. For more information, contact
Sally Jo Banker Rich at 206 282 4335 or e-mail sjrich99 (at) gmail.com.
That’s the day before this year’s WSHS All-School Reunion.
(Click any view for a close-up; more cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
6:27 AM: Good morning! It’s Friday, and now a week away from the Alaskan Way Viaduct’s two-weeks-or-so closure. SDOT has just reported a crash at 26th and Roxbury. No word on traffic effects but there’s no associated Seattle Fire dispatch so apparently no major injuries.
Updates and reminders, starting with one big one:
FAUNTLEROY EXPRESSWAY WORK POSTPONED: We received and published the news late yesterday – SDOT’s spokesperson for the Fauntleroy Expressway earthquake-safety-pad-re-replacement project says its start will be delayed until at least mid-May. This is the project that will bring overnight closures of the west end of the West Seattle Bridge and lane closures day AND night on surface Spokane St. beneath it. Those closures had been announced as starting next Wednesday.
VIADUCT CLOSURE STARTS NEXT FRIDAY: Early next Friday (April 29th) morning, Highway 99 will be closed between the Battery Street Tunnel and the West Seattle Bridge, for about two weeks – however long it takes for the tunneling machine to go beneath the Alaskan Way Viaduct. (There will be progress reports at least once a day here.) Is your plan all set? Any questions still unanswered?
WHAT’S CHANGED SINCE 2011 ‘VIADOOM’: We’ve been thinking about this one – some major additions to the local transportation scene since the fall 2011 one-week-plus Viaduct closure:
–1st Avenue ramp to/from westbound bridge (opened late summer 2012)
–RapidRide C Line (launched September 2012)
–South Park Bridge open (new one opened in June 2014)
-Larger West Seattle Water Taxi (Doc Maynard, double the capacity of Spirit of Kingston, took over the route in January of this year)
Anything to add? Also notable, SDOT says fewer vehicles use the Viaduct now compared to then, 90,000/day compared to 110,000/day. And conversely, more use transit. But this all means that even if you have a crystal-clear memory of how things went in 2011, it might not apply.
10:20 PM: Even if you weren’t part of it, you might recall the discussion of last Sunday’s long-running caucus in the 34th Legislative District (West Seattle, White Center, Vashon, and vicinity). The lists of who got elected are posted – but according to one precinct-committee officer who e-mailed us, urgent action is needed. Here’s the note we received Jennifer Knutson, Precinct 1252 PCO:
Long story short, because they were counting delegates so late … most of the delegates didn’t get their paperwork filled out – and it must be filled out by TOMORROW in order for both Clinton and Sanders delegates to be seated. We need your help getting the word out to our West Seattle/Burien neighbors.
Here’s the link from the 34th Dems.
Here’s what they say:
If you were elected as a delegate or alternate you need to submit a delegate form by Friday to this email address: 34demscaucus@gmail.com
Here is the delegate form and here is the Alternate Delegate form.
If you already completed one of these forms on the day of the caucus, you still need to submit again.
Contact Chair Marcee Stone-Vekich with questions. Her contact information is here.
Here is the credentials report for the caucus (PDF).
7:26 AM FRIDAY: See an update from the 34th chair in comments.
(WSB photo)
West Seattle’s historic Highland Park Improvement Club building is closed until further notice after an overhang, described as the”eyebrow” of the building, collapsed late today. Nobody was hurt, but the collapse raised safety issues and that means the much-used almost-a-century-old building at 12th and Holden is off-limits for now. Its regular uses include classes – yoga was scheduled tonight – as well as meetings and HPIC events such as Corner Bar and Movie Night; it’s also rented out for special events. We covered its 90th-anniversary celebration in 2009 – read HPIC’s history here – and it’s where we hosted the first candidate forum of last year’s historic City Council District 1 campaign, in February 2015.
(Photo by Billy Stauffer)
Seattle Fire and Police were at the scene to help secure things. So were HPIC leaders, who told us they first heard about this from an apartment resident across the street who reported looking out her window and simply seeing the awning fall down, without even much of a sound. Seattle City Light was en route to check if any power lines were in a precarious spot if the rest of the awning came down. We’ll be following up with HPIC about repair plans and needs.
4:59 PM: Just got word that the city has changed its mind about launching the bridge-and-more-closing Fauntleroy Expressway bearing-pad re-replacement project next week, right before the tunneling-related Alaskan Way Viaduct closure starts. Paul Elliott from SDOT just told WSB the bridge work will be delayed at least until mid-May.
6:06 PM: Backstory now that we’re (briefly) back at headquarters – the April 27th start date for this city work was announced just hours before the state announced the April 29th start date for the Viaduct closure, though it had been in the works for many months. When city, county, and state reps briefed the media on the Viaduct closure back on Monday, we asked the SDOT rep why they were still going ahead with the overlap. He mentioned they didn’t think there would be a problem because the bridge closures for this work would be late at night and early in the morning. We pointed out that the under-the-bridge surface daytime lane closures were more of a concern to commenters, and he said he would “take that back” to SDOT HQ. Back to this afternoon: Paul Elliott says an advisory is expected out tomorrow. And if you were still catching up to what this was all about – you might have seen the portable signboards in spots like Fauntleroy Way west of the bridge, talking about bridge closures 4/27-4/29 – that was for this (again, now postponed).
ADDED FRIDAY MORNING: Here’s the official city announcement.
(UPDATED 8:11 PM with link to information now posted on SPU website)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
“We think our water’s safe. Having said that, we’re going to make sure there’s no cause for alarm.”
So said Andy Ryan from Seattle Public Utilities when we talked with him a short time ago about a new round of water testing and investigation that SPU has launched because of a situation in Tacoma involving lead.
The two cities’ water systems are NOT linked, but the situation that Tacoma uncovered MIGHT also be happening in a small part of Seattle’s service area, so SPU is advising a specific precaution: Until they find out for sure if the lead problem is happening anywhere here too, any time you have NOT run the water in your home or business for six hours, turn on a faucet and run it for two minutes before using it.
This is NOT just a West Seattle thing, and NOT related to the rust/sediment situation that led to the flushing that’s been happening here (just last night, we were out with the flushing crew and were starting to work on that update, when we found out about this and found ourselves writing this completely different water-system story instead).
What Tacoma has been doing, Ryan explained, is looking for galvanized-steel service pipes in their system that are connected to water mains with “a piece of lead pipe called a gooseneck.” He says Tacoma, Seattle, and many other cities have some of those goosenecks because their systems are so old. But they don’t know exactly where those goosenecks are – many are near older houses “built before good records were kept,” explained Ryan.
SPU DOES know where the galvanized lines connect to the water mains. There will soon be a map on the SPU website showing where those are – about 2,000 in Seattle, they believe. That will help them accelerate looking for the goosenecks. Ryan said there had already been an effort to replace them when crews found them, and they’ve been trying to find ways to step up the search. Tacoma, he explains, came up with a way to test water inside galvanized-pipe areas to look for heightened lead levels, and that’s what led to the current concerns, after a handful of samples came back. “As soon as we learned about this, we immediately started to figure out what that meant for our system,” Ryan told WSB. “Short answer is – we don’t know (yet).” So they’re launching the same kind of testing in the galvanized lines to see what turns up.
It should be noted, though, that Seattle Public Utilities has already been routinely testing its water for lead and other undesirable metals such as copper, “greatly exceed(ing) regulators’ standards.”
We visited the lab (March photo above) for our recent story about “who’s watching your water?” related to the ongoing effort to reduce the incidences of “brown water” here. (And yet again, if you haven’t followed our coverage, “brown water” does NOT involve lead – it’s basically rust that’s stirred up in the cast-iron water mains, and even visible levels of it are not a health risk. Lead is basically invisible. It has not turned up in Seattle tests, Ryan says.)
Meantime, they’re hoping to get some samples back “really quickly” to see if what Tacoma found “is applicable here.” Since the locations of possible problems aren’t known yet, “we are asking everyone to just be extra cautious – run your water for two minutes if it’s been sitting in the pipe for more than six hours.” That’s being advised out of “an abundance of caution,” he stresses. “Prior to hearing back from Tacoma, we had not considered, nor had regulators considered, these galvanized pipes and gooseneck fittings to be an issue.” There are some differences between how Tacoma and Seattle run their systems, he notes, particularly the treatment methods, which could lead to a different level of corrosion in their pipes, in turn meaning that what’s detected there will NOT turn up here. But they have to find out.
So:
Until you hear otherwise from SPU, follow the “run the water for two minutes after it’s been in the pipes for six hours” advice TFN. Keep watch for a map on their website showing the “general areas of the 9,000 galvanized service lines, maybe four percent of all our service lines. 2,000 of those might have the gooseneck fittings.” (Those fittings used lead because it was more flexible and less likely to break, he explained.)
If you have questions – SPU already has a special phone number: 206-684-5800.
When the aforementioned map, and any other information, is online, we’ll link that here too.
BOTTOM LINE: For now, SPU is asking *everyone* to run their water for two minutes after six hours of non-use. (So, when you wake up, and when you get home from work, if your residence is empty during the day.) That will soon be narrowed down to the 9,000 or so customers who are connected to water mains via galvanized-steel piping. The lead goosenecks are only believed to be in use for a quarter of those connections, but that will be the most difficult thing for SPU to narrow down.
8:11 PM UPDATE: SPU’s website now has information, linked from its left sidebar, which points you to this page. No location information yet on where the city believes it has the galvanized piping that could be connected to the aforementioned lead-containing gooseneck fittings, but it promises, “More information about potentially impacted homes will be posted here soon.”
Celebrate Earth Day weekend by helping out with a community cleanup. We’re mentioning the ones we’ve heard about – yesterday, we featured Saturday’s North Delridge cleanup, and today, this announcement from the Highland Park Elementary School PTA:
Saturday is the second annual HPE Earth Day Cleanup. This year we are working together with the Playground Planning Committee to both clean up the school and design our future playground. The Earth Day portion of the event will meet at the front of the school from 9:00 – 12:00, rain or shine. Come prepared to clean up and beautify the school grounds. The playground planning portion of the event is from 8:00 – 4:00. Come to either event, or both. Stay for 30 minutes, or all day! Coffee and lunch will be provided.
HPE is at 1012 SW Trenton. The Highland Park community also has a series of neighborhood cleanups planned – more on that later – and if you’re looking for volunteers for your cleanup, we’d love to help; e-mail the information to editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!
11:29 AM: Thanks to the texter who sent that photo just as we were heading out to check on this art installation under way right now on Alki. The display has been in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar for tomorrow for a while, since it’s an official Earth Day event, but it’s so big that it’s being assembled today, sponsored by the thrift-shop chain Value Village, “using thousands of pieces of used clothing to represent the amount of clothing that ends up in the landfill.” VV is hoping you’ll instead be inspired to “reuse and recycle.”
1:51 PM: Just back from Alki. This is happening east of the Bathhouse, across from Pepperdock, on part of the north side of the path and continuing down onto the beach. A closeup look reveals messages like this:
The installation is striking, from any direction:
We were asked via Instagram what happens to the hundreds and hundreds of pounds of clothing after the installation’s run tomorrow is done. (update) A VV spokesperson says the clothing all came from the chain and afterward: “Each piece of clothing will be sent back to Savers/Value Village to be sorted through the typical process at their local recycling center in Fife.”
Now the rest of the story from last night’s Morgan Community Association meeting:
FUTURE PARK-EXPANSION SITE: We reported last month on the last business leaving the Parks-owned commercial building at 6311 California SW that will be demolished to expand adjacent Morgan Junction Park. MoCA president Deb Barker said Parks sent word that they will soon be boarding up the building and ringing it with a chain-link fence and “no trespassing” signs, since they’re already having trouble with squatters who apparently have gotten in by breaking through the building’s “rotten” roof. The fencing will be removed for a mural project during the Morgan Junction Community Festival on June 18th; demolition of the building is expected soon after the festival, Barker said.
ABOUT THAT MURAL: MoCA is looking for someone to lead the project, which will guide local kids in creating a vision of the future park expansion. Interested? Contact MoCA ASAP – contact info’s on the group’s website.
AND SPEAKING OF THE FESTIVAL: MoCA’s been making progress signing up vendors and bands – nothing to announce just yet. The “Bite of Morgan” food samples, donated by local restaurants in recent years, will not be back this year. Food trucks, a popular feature the past few years, will be.
LOWMAN BEACH SEAWALL: David Graves from Seattle Parks brought an update on the shifting seawall at Lowman Beach Park. The city is looking for a grant to study it, but even before that, there’s one big concern: Addressing the problem could require taking out the little park’s tennis court. Parks doesn’t know much about its usage before the Murray CSO storage-tank project took over much of the park but nonetheless promises to bring this issue and others regarding Lowman to the community, with public meetings expected.
SDOT GRANT: MoCA is proposing another use for $24,000 available from SDOT to buy “street furniture” – spending it instead on repairs for the gravel alley behind businesses on the east side of California SW north of Fauntleroy. This is something that’s been a thorn in the area’s side for a long time and has even been proposed for city grant funding before – most recently in 2013, when this WSB story explained the problem. The street furniture money had a caveat anyway – maintenance and liability insurance. MoCA leaders say in other neighborhoods, that’s a responsibility placed on business owners rather than a community council.
HALA FOCUS GROUP MEMBERS: The meeting also included a brief chat with locals who had been chosen for the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda “focus group” neighborhood spots. As you can see on page 4 of this list, five people from the Morgan Junction Urban Village area were chosen, including MoCA board member Cindi Barker, who was on the original HALA advisory committee. In general, local reps hope to provide the focus group a perspective on what life south of downtown is like for people struggling to get by.
The Morgan Community Association meets quarterly on third Wednesdays, 7 pm, at The Kenney – keep up to date between meetings by checking in at morganjunction.org.
Thanks to Lindsi Griggs for that adorable photo of ducklings in Longfellow Creek! Now, on to our calendar highlights:
TINKERLAB: Today’s session of the free, all-ages, drop-in STEM-related-activity session is at High Point Library, 4-6 pm. (35th SW/SW Raymond)
WEST SEATTLE TIMEBANK: Give some time, get some time! From our calendar listing for the WS Timebank event – 6 pm, orientation for new members; 6:30 pm, potluck and conversation; 7 pm, introductions and guest speaker Stu Hennessey, recently returned from a journey to Cuba. All this happens at the Senior Center of West Seattle. (California SW/SW Oregon)
DESIGN REVIEW X 2: As previewed here Wednesday, two projects will go before the Southwest Design Review Board tonight, both with opportunities for public comment: A 15-apartment North Admiral building, 1606 California SW, at 6:30 pm; a 54-apartment mixed-use Junction building, 4532 42nd SW, at 8 pm. Both reviews are upstairs at the Sisson Building/Senior Center. (California SW/SW Oregon)
NORTHWEST HOPE AND HEALING FASHION SHOW: “Style ’16” is sold out so this is just a reminder that if you DO have tickets, tonight’s the night at Showbox SODO – raising money for West Seattleite-led and -founded Northwest Hope and Healing, which helps breast-cancer patients.
‘HOW WE SAVE WHALES FROM SPACE’: The Whale Trail presents researcher Bruce Mate, 7 pm at The Hall at Fauntleroy; doors open at 6:15. Full details in our calendar listing. $10 ($5 for kids under 12) – advance tickets available here. (9131 California SW)
OPEN MICROPHONE – UNPLUGGED! The monthly acoustic open-microphone event at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) is tonight, 7 pm. More info in our calendar listing. (5612 California SW)
BELLY DANCING: The free monthly Alauda showcase is at 7:30 pm tonight at The Skylark in North Delridge. All ages! (3803 Delridge Way SW)
And one note about what’s NOT happening:
ALKI COMMUNITY COUNCIL CANCELED: No April meeting for the Alki Community Council, which otherwise would meet tonight (third Thursday).
(WSB photo from east end of closure zone on first “car-free day” in 2008)
9 AM: New information about this year’s “car-free day” event September 25th on Alki, which, as reported here last month, will be the first one since 2014. An SDOT representative told the Morgan Community Council last night that the event now officially known as Seattle Summer Parkways (previously, Seattle Summer Streets) will also be the first one in several years to close Alki and Harbor Avenues all the way to Don Armeni Boat Ramp. That’s the distance spanned during the first event in 2008; a lane will remain available for residents to get to and from their homes if needed. Entertainment and other plans will be out as the event gets closer. This was one of more than half a dozen topics on the MoCA agenda – full report to come.
ADDED 10 AM: One more note about Summer Parkways – there’s a planning meeting tonight, starting at 5:30 pm at Alki Community Center (5817 SW Stevens), to review the route and brainstorm activities before heading out to walk the route for half an hour and “build a vision” for the event. All welcome.
(Click any view for a close-up; more cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
6:03 AM: Good morning! We start as almost-usual by looking ahead:
NEXT MONDAY: Road repairs start Monday (April 25th) on 26th SW south of Westwood Village. Here’s the updated city-issued alert.
NEXT TUESDAY: The draft version of Sound Transit 3 includes light rail to West Seattle. For it? Against it? Want to make sure it’s done a certain way? Have ideas for doing it better? Take some time to go to the official West Seattle meeting next Tuesday (April 26th) – open house starts at 5:30 pm, presentations at 6 (King County Metro’s long-range plan is being discussed too), your chance for commenting throughout (and take the online survey ASAP) – West Seattle High School, 3000 California SW.
NEXT WEDNESDAY: The Fauntleroy Expressway (west end of high bridge) earthquake-safety-cushion re-replacement project is scheduled to start April 27th with a series of overnight closures plus some surface Spokane St. lane closures at other times under that section of the bridge. Still awaiting final-final word from SDOT.
FRIDAY, APRIL 29TH: The Alaskan Way Viaduct‘s two-weeks-or-so tunneling closure is set to start in 8 days, BEFORE the morning commute. Lots of info here, including a reiteration that the surface streets/paths/sidewalks UNDER the Viaduct are not expected to have to close.
At this week’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, police said car prowls remain rampant. And we have more to report here:
INSTRUMENTS STOLEN: Maggie e-mailed that image along with her report that this happened in The Triangle:
My partner and I are musicians who were traveling through Seattle this week, visiting family, and had our car broken into and all our instruments stolen. Among the stolen gear was a rare parlor guitar, handpainted with no maker/label, from the early 1900’s. We are hoping it will surface at a pawn shop or music store somewhere so we can get it back… any help getting the word out would be so appreciated.
OFF-LEASH AREA ALERT: Two readers reported seeing/hearing evidence of multiple car prowls in recent days at the Westcrest Park Off-Leash Area, and the police-report map confirms it.
DETECTIVE AT WSBWCN NEXT WEEK: Also on the topic of car prowls/thefts, Seattle Police Detective Scotty Bach is the guest at next Tuesday’s West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meeting, sharing expertise on prevention and deterrence. 6:30 pm (April 26th) at the Southwest Precinct, all welcome.
One more reader report:
BIKE FOUND – STOLEN? From Steve, the photo and report:
Early in the morning of April 19th, a bike appeared in the alley behind 63rd Ave SW on the North side of Admiral. It is a Raleigh M20 Aluminum frame Mountain Sport Bike (2005?) with Shimano cranks and shifters.
Steve shared additional details that the owner would know – if this is your stolen bike, let us know and we’ll connect you.
(Added: Lightning photo by Chris Frankovich)
If you were looking south around 9 pm (we were headed home from a community meeting), you might have seen the lightning too – or at least heard the thunder rumbling in the distance since then. It all followed this sunset:
You can see the clouds gathering in that view from Chris Frankovich. Next, from Beach Drive, a wider view from Claudio Gonda:
And from The Junction, Renate Child shared her view, adding, “I love where I live.”
Forecast for tonight says breezy with a chance of (more) thunderstorms and showers; tomorrow, partly sunny, but cooler than it’s been for these past four consecutive 80+-degree days!
Another baseball victory for Chief Sealth International High School, 4-0 over Seattle Prep. Sealth head coach Ernest Policarpio says Nik Turcinec “pitched a complete shutout game. Exciting all the way around!” That’s 7 innings, and four strikeouts. Offensive stars for the Seahawks included David Johnson, who went 2 for 3 with an RBI, and Kyler Gaither, 1 for 1 with an RBI and two walks. Sealth and Seattle Prep face each other again on Friday, 3:30 pm at Steve Cox Memorial Park in White Center.
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