New estimated time for the power to come back on
Just re-checked the City Light outages hotline. They are now saying 2 am is when they expect to have power back in the north West Seattle areas that lost power in tonight’s pole fire. (206/684-7400 is that hotline, by the way.)
Pole fire causes power outage
The power’s out tonight for parts of Alki and some of the northern parts of West Seattle. A pole fire caused City Light to pull the plug for a couple of hours in order to make repairs. An update on City Light’s phone line said that work was underway as of 5:50 pm and the outage should last approximately two hours.
The Corner Inn is closed
We just spoke to Chris Deering, the sister of the last two operators of The Corner Inn at California/Fauntleroy in Morgan Junction, and she confirms that The Corner Inn is closed. The building has reverted back to the owner and is now being advertised for lease. Chris says that on behalf of her late brothers she’d like to thank the many people who came to The Corner Inn over the years. 10:50 PM ADDITION: Before tips came in today about the shutdown (thank you to everyone who e-mailed and texted), we had been checking on the “for lease” sign that had appeared on the west side of the building (see the photo above). Worth noting that there was a development proposal (described on the city project page as a three-story apartment building with ground-level retail) filed for this site back in 2006 — no activity since June of that year.
Big changes at the Admiral, report #2: What’s ahead
As we reported yesterday, the “new” operator of the Admiral Theater – who’s also one of its “old” operators – spoke with WSB and provided information we’re writing up in two reports. The first one yesterday focused on the fate of the donations solicited by the historic theater’s former manager (read that story here); this morning, our second report has the details on what the new operator plans to do next – including a relatively quick timetable for a key decision on the Admiral’s future:Read More
Highland Park jail-sites-strategy meeting: High-level help
That’s a video look at the crowd — about 100 people — from tonight’s Highland Park meeting, where neighbors gathered to further strategize opposition to two nearby sites on the city’s list of four potential locations for a new jail — the ones shown in these city aerials:
The crowd got support from King County Councilmember Dow Constantine and State Rep. Sharon Nelson, both of whom had said previously they’re opposing the sites. Constantine also unveiled a proposal that he thinks could render the city’s search a moot point — more on that, including clips from his energetic speech and Nelson’s remarks — ahead:Read More
What should be in a new parks levy? Alki crowd has its say
Tonight’s meeting at the Alki Community Center on behalf of the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Citizens’ Advisory Committee was all about public input — no votes were taken, no decisions were made; those are up to the City Council (and Mayor) eventually, but first, recommendations come from the 28 committee members, including West Seattle’s Bruce Bentley, Sharonn Meeks, and Pete Spalding, all of whom were on hand tonight (along with several others). Here’s some of what those on hand wanted the committee to consider when deciding what might go into a new parks levy this fall:Read More
Cove Park update: Return of the raven
Less than two weeks after somebody knocked Cove Park‘s raven sculpture off its perch, Gary Dawson of the Fauntleroy Community Association sends word tonight that it’s back, writing: “The Raven at Cove Park returned to his perch today, looking not the worse for wear. But he certainly wishes that he will not have to suffer another assault like the last one. At Cove Park, the Raven, Native American Canoe replica, and the pebbled stream bed, like the Stream Echo overlooking the fish ladder at Fauntleroy Creek, are the products of a talented Northwest artist, Tom Jay. Tom was commissioned for both projects that was both publicly funded and by local donations as well. The art is on public property and any damage to either by vandals is subject to Seattle’s code of property damage. At this time there is no lead as to the person or persons responsible for damaging the Raven, but anyone with knowledge of such should contact any of the Board members of the Fauntleroy Community Association.” (Our original report about the vandalism is here.)
Tervo’s reopens – and the suspense is over
OK, maybe we were the only ones in suspense, but we had been watching the blacked-out nameboard at Tervo’s Mini-Mart on Fauntleroy and wondering if perhaps the store would change its name during its closure. Not likely given the new owners had applied for a liquor license with the store name (as noted here), but anything’s possible. Anyway, today the grand opening banner’s gone up, and the new sign is up too — same name. It had been closed for about a month, undergoing renovations as part of the ownership change (previous WSB coverage here); a development proposal for the site is still in progress too. (We reported the property for sale last year; the listing is now “expired” but county online property records don’t currently have any change in ownership listed)
Another business birthday: Illusions turns 30 today
We’ve mentioned several business anniversaries in the past few days – and today, we have another one — Illusions Hair Design (WSB sponsor) is celebrating its 30th anniversary today (photo at left shows a bright blue “thank you, West Seattle” banner out front in honor of the occasion; we unfortunately missed our chance to snap a photo of their anniversary cake first thing this morning). As do many businesses that celebrate milestones like this, they’re offering customers a gift — at Illusions, today it’s 30% off all retail items.
Awaiting the latest on RapidRide? Briefing ahead
It’s been almost five months since the initial info about Metro RapidRide bus service to/from West Seattle began making its way around West Seattle (including that bus-concept sketch we photographed at a JuNO meeting). Routing announcements were to be made “within a few months,” Metro officials said at the time; no formal announcements yet, but the next major progress report is expected on Tuesday, when the Seattle City Council’s Transportation Committee has this scheduled (9 am):
What’s going on with Rapid Ride, Metro’s bus rapid transit between West Seattle and downtown? The Committee will be briefed by Seattle Department of Transportation Director Grace Crunican and Metro’s General Manager Kevin Desmond.
RapidRide isn’t supposed to start rolling till 2011, but routing decisions were to be made now so that preliminary work could begin.
From the “you saw it here first” file: Junction composting
Thanks to the folks who have sent us the link to a citywide-media story today about The Junction’s food-waste composting program. We broke that story here a month and a half ago (original WSB coverage here). But this is exactly why we set up the “More” page – so you can also keep track of what citywide/regional media sources are saying about West Seattle – the P-I story and others are linked there right now (the link lists are frequently and automatically updated, and the second half of the page includes the latest CL listings tagged West Seattle). P.S. If you missed it, the latest WSB Junction coverage involves a request for your input on the upcoming city parking review — check that out here.
Tree branches, a street sign, and an SUV door are among the items which didn’t make out well in some of the more unusual crime reports from the latest round we reviewed at the 
A spokesperson for the 
You’ve probably seen “under new mgmt” on its marquee – or a different look on its website – or you read 
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