West Seattle, Washington
16 Thursday
(2007 view of Fauntleroy fish ladder)
Heartening news from Judy Pickens — the worst-case fears about Fauntleroy Creek‘s salmon season apparently are not coming to pass:
We DO have home hatch in Fauntleroy Creek! We had thought that all the eggs from last fall’s spawning surely washed out in the December 3 storm but not so. Several coho fry were sighted March 6 above the fish ladder and more may show up during a thorough survey. The ability of redds to survive the scouring of a major storm is remarkable and truly heartening for the future of salmon in our urban creeks.
If you’ve never been to the Fauntleroy fish ladder, it’s directly east of (and up the slope from) the ferry terminal. Read its history here.
From the reports at the Southwest Precinct: Remember the car-window shooting on 61st SW reported by Mark two days ago? 
A day later — yesterday around 3:30 pm — a passerby spotted “two juveniles” on the roof of a house in the same area, 3000 block of 61st SW, with suspected pellet/airsoft handguns. One of them was believed to be a 15-year-old boy who lives in that same house, but nobody was home when police arrived minutes later; no arrest yet but it’s a high-priority case. Now, the rest of the stories, including a drunken teen on the run, and stolen donations at a local school:Read More
This announcement just in from the city Transportation Department:
Next week SDOT paving crews will work on Alki Avenue
Southwest between 1732 Alki Avenue Southwest and Bonair Drive Southwest.From 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. one lane will be open, shared by northbound
and southbound traffic, assisted by traffic flaggers. Once the asphalt
surface is ground down, until new asphalt is laid, the roadway surface
will be rough and there will be raised castings.The crews plan to begin on Tuesday, March 11, and complete the project
by Friday, March 14.
That explains all the extra “no parking” signs we saw this afternoon east of the 53rd SW pump-project site — we THOUGHT that was a little too much to be blocking off.
Just talked with Alison Conner from Conner Homes, the company that — as we reported last night here and here — is now going forward, again, with plans to redevelop close to half the east side of California and west side of 42nd between Alaska and Edmunds in The Junction. No renderings yet – but she did supply many other details that the bare-bones city online filings don’t get into:Read More
You’ve probably seen the NO PARKING signs now up along Alki Ave (thanks to Angela for sending the photo) for the major project that’s about to start to expand the 53rd SW (underground) Pump Station. So how soon will the major work start in earnest? We just got another update this afternoon (after the first version of this post was published) from Erika Peterson from the county Wastewater Treatment Division; she says excavation work is likely to start next week, and work crews are in and out for “limited activity” between now and then, including some work in the street today. This project is going to last more than a year and a half, so it will be a fixture on Alki for not just this summer, but summer ’09 as well, with traffic effects along the way; you can find lots of details online, including this “what to expect during construction” page with a 24-hour hotline to call. (By the way, the pump-station project at Lowman Beach north of Lincoln Park is scheduled to start work next year.)
This weekend and next weekend, you have two live-theater options in West Seattle. One is ArtsWest‘s continuing “The Sweetest Swing in Baseball” (WSB sponsor); the other is “The Exile Project,“ opening tonight at the West Seattle High School Theater. (Shown in the photo above, Wendy Woolery and Gary Reed.) It’s billed as “an original Seattle musical-theater production” about “one man’s efforts to build a life after prison.” It’s produced, choreographed, and co-written by West Seattle’s Holly Eckert (and the music is by another West Seattleite, Amy Denio). We asked Holly if the tone of “The Exile Project” is as heavy as the subject matter could be – her reply: “This is a human story, and human stories are always filled with both light and dark sides. Remember, this man has just been RELEASED from prison, that’s a pretty happy moment for him filled with fantasies about pretty girls and cold beers. He returns to his mother’s house where he finds comfort as a middle-aged man in the arms of his mommy. This is a story that also penetrates this man’s subconscious and as we all know, that terrain is full of irony, satire, wisdom, humor and sadness. This play travels through both light and dark moments to tell a human tale. It’s that diversity of emotional territory that make it entertaining and engaging. Often, as we all know who have walked through it ourselves, tragedy is scattered with satire and humor. If you love a good story, great music, and terrific dancing, you’ll enjoy The Exile Project.” The production has its own website here with tons of information including performance times and ticket info; it plays at WSHS this Friday-Saturday-Sunday and the same three days next weekend.
If your mental image of a Chamber of Commerce resembles something centering on a tight-knit clique of good ol’ boys in leisure suits, boozing and schmoozing in a back room somewhere, you should know that bears no resemblance to what’s going on with the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce these days. Just the other day, in fact, West Seattle Chamber executive director Patti Mullen facilitated the latest edition of a semi-regular gathering that was the antithesis of that old stereotype — a casual event reaching toward the traditional goal of a healthy business community in a largely nontraditional way:Read More
Footnote to last week’s vote … the permit application for the CSHS work is now on file with the city.
WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham sent that photo — showing spectators looking up at the crane that’s on the 41st/42nd/Alaska megaproject — just before we turned up details of the new proposal kitty-corner to this site. As promised atop the original post below, we’re ending the night summarizing what we’ve learned (pending attempts on Friday to find out more from project participants):
*An “early design guidance” Southwest Design Review Board meeting is set for April 10 for two projects proposed to span roughly half the Alaska-to-Edmunds block in The Junction, from California to 42nd
*The west-side project, with the parcel stretching from 4700 California (Super Supplements) southward to 4710 California (Rubato), is described as 12,000 square feet of ground-level retail with 5 floors of apartments and 2 underground levels of parking
*The east-side project, stretching from the current Rocksport/Neighborhood Services Center frontage south to the site where Harbor Properties is building Mural, is described as 21,500 sf of ground-level retail with 6 floors of apartments and 2 underground levels of parking
*Both filings list Weber Thompson (architects) and Conner Homes (builders)
*The Design Review Board meeting on April 10 will be at 6:30 pm, location not yet listed online (meetings are usually at Denny Middle School or the Southwest Precinct)
*City records show previous proposals here in 2002
*The current owner bought the 1925-built west-side site for $1.4 million in 2000, the 1922-built east-side site for $2.1 million that same year
*Side note: Nothing in The Junction business core is on the list of official city landmarks, though the city Department of Neighborhoods has signaled some interest in certain sites like the Campbell Building (Cupcake Royale/Swee Swee, etc.), the Hamm Building (Easy Street et al), and the the former Kress building (Matador/JaK’s) – you can search the DON survey archives for any property (WS or not) here
(this post is a work in progress, as we continue to research details available online on this major Junction project that’s just gone public; we’ll put it all together into a more coherent update once we think we’ve found everything there is to find online tonight)
Twice a week, the city sends out its Land Use Information Bulletin, Mondays and Thursdays. Today’s came fairly early. It did not include a rather newsworthy project that made its debut later in the day on the Design Review Upcoming city page (maybe just a coincidence, but we notice this sort of thing every so often — major new proposal appears on the city website hours AFTER the latest biweekly bulletin goes out). Anyway, enough backstory. This one, scheduled for an Early Design Guidance meeting of the Southwest Design Review Board on April 10, is listed for 4706 California SW, which is the address currently held by Funky Jane’s. It’s described as a building with 12,000 square feet of ground-level retail and 5 floors of apartments above , two floors of parking beneath – so that would be a dramatic change for the block (though Mural will be rising high almost directly behind it). County records show the parcel stretches all the way north to Alaska (Super Supplements corner) and south to 4710 California (Rubato). The same owners, “4700 California LLC,” also own the neighboring parcel (Rocksport etc.). According to a project number on the Design Review Upcoming page, a proposal for that site will be discussed at the April 10 hearing too; this page for the project at that address, 4203 Alaska, mentions a building with 21,500 sf of retail and 6 floors of apartments over that. We are still researching right now to find out more online, since it’s after business hours and we won’t be able to get ahold of any of the listed contacts before tomorrow. Contacts listed on the official city project page include Weber Thompson (architects) and Conner Homes. This obviously has been in the works a while, as the history on the “fees and receipts” tab of this page goes back to August.
West Seattle Cellars owners are continuing to work on finishing the neighboring space they once hoped would become a wine bar. It’s been a while since our last update, and signs of construction are more noticeable outside the building, so we dropped by today to check on how it’s going. Turns out that work will be done next month; Tom and Jan are showing the available space to anyone interested in opening a “compatible food store” – but only by appointment, no drop-ins (and no other wine vendors) – they’re setting appointments by phone at 937-2868.
That’s a cameraphone photo of bogus bills snapped by a WSB team member who says they don’t look much better in person — badly defined imagery on back, for example — fake $50s that have turned up so far at Funky Jane’s Consignment and Many Moons Trading Company in The Junction (3-4 pm this past Monday), according to those businesses’ owners. We’re awaiting suspect description to share, but wanted to get the word out first to anyone who hadn’t heard.
(photo by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli)
As reported here earlier this week, West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen‘s campaign for rush-hour restrictions on the opening of the “low bridge” is making some headway. We told you yesterday that the Coast Guard’s regional bridge commander was quoted in a newspaper story as saying the proposal was about to be published for public comment and that we had a call out to him for further elaboration. He called back this morning and indeed had more details than were included in that newspaper article:Read More
Last year, they did “Schoolhouse Rock Live Jr.” (above, ArtsWest photo by WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham) – this year, “Disney’s Alice in Wonderland Jr.” – and signups for ArtsWest summer camp start this morning. Here’s the full scoop from AW (WSB sponsor):Read More
Two months ago, we covered a hearing in West Seattle about permits the Nucor mill (Delridge/Andover) requested to modify a crane so it can add operating hours. (The red arrow in the photo above points to where that will happen.) For anybody keeping track, the official decisions are starting to roll in – just got a note from the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency that it’s issued a permit required for this; you can read the associated fine print by following four links here.
AdamOnAlki reported it in the comments late last night:
74-43 in favor of Squalicum. Great season, boys. You surprised and impressed us all!
And as David went on to add, the West Seattle High School boys’ first trip to the state basketball tournament in more than 30 years isn’t quite over yet:
(Today) they play Auburn (22-3) … They have the potential to finish in 5th place, if they can win 3 straight games. It’ll be tough but it’s not over.
Today’s WSHS-Auburn game is at 2 pm at KeyArena.
Sat in on tonight’s monthly meeting of the Southwest District Council and brought back lots of quick updates on West Seattle goings-on plus heard new and interesting things from the group’s guest speaker, City Council President Richard Conlin (left), who also spoke to the Alki Community Council’s last meeting (WSB coverage here):Read More
We’re overdue for a Southwest Precinct report review but today it seems most of the reports are coming directly to us, too, anyway – like this one just out of the WSB inbox:
SW Stevens and 46th Ave SW Break-In
Today, Wed. March 5th, our high school son came home for early dismissal and found our house ransacked. After giving the police a report, we are realizing we were lucky no one was hurt. After kicking in our back door the thieves had time between 9 and 11:30 am to go through, search and make a mess of 6 different rooms in our house. They took coins, cash, cameras, and I-Pods. If you saw anything suspicious in the neighborhood 2-4 blocks west of PCC today please call the police.
One side note, thanks to everyone for clearly describing their location when sending in these types of reports. It really helps alert your West Seattle neighbors to exactly where things are happening so they can be on the lookout too.
It wasn’t criminal court, but at times it felt almost that contentious — with occasional interjections of OBJECTION! — as the city Hearing Examiner heard the first witness today in the fight over whether homebuilding will be allowed on the expansive front lawn of Beach Drive’s “Painted Lady.” The home — an official city landmark — is also known as the Satterlee House, and its former owner David Satterlee was the first witness to testify, several days before lawyers on both sides will present the bulk of their cases. We went to the Hearing Examiner’s windowless room on the 40th floor of the Municipal Tower downtown to see how this would unfold:Read More
Just out of the WSB inbox:
I would like to report the following incident that occured around 5:10pm today:
I noticed 2 cars speeding down our alley between Lander & Stevens while I was working in the backyard. I looked up and saw the male driver of the first car (not sure if there were others in that car) who evidently noticed me. The second car was driven by a female and had 4 people in it.
I heard the cars stopping by my neighbor’s house. I looked to see what was going on and saw the people taking firewood from a stack by the garage and throwing it into their cars.
I told them to stop stealing the wood and they just stared at me. When my husband came around the corner, they got back into their cars and left.
One car is a white sedan, the other one is is a beige sedan with a license plate number (ending in) TQW. I’d guess the age of the people high school age to early 20’s.
The SW precinct told me to call 911, which I did.
The removal of a whole row of big evergreens along two lots lining the east side of 41st between Rose and Southern (take your pick whether this is south Gatewood or north Upper Fauntleroy) had several people e-mailing us today — one calling it a “tree massacre” — to ask “can they DO that?” We checked it out and the answer appears to be “yes,” since the trees were on private, already-developed property with older houses – if that defines your property, you can cut down trees without a permit. Both lots on the block appear to be real-estate listings no longer on the market; the site shown in the photo still has an aerial-photo map that gives you an idea of how many trees were there before. The parcel now likely has a major view, as it’s on the west-facing slope, looking toward the Sound, Blake, Vashon, Olympics, etc. No development permits filed for either lot so far.
E-mailed by Mark, who then promptly headed off to get the glass replaced:
At around 1:30 this afternoon, I was driving down the 3000 block of 61st Ave. near Alki when my car’s front passenger-side window exploded. Apparently it had been struck by a really fast rock, or else shot with a pellet gun or something similar. I phoned in a police report on the spot, and they responded quickly by showing up and taking down details. Didn’t see the %$#*$@ who did it, although after I pulled over and went to the impact spot to see what I could find, I caught a glimpse of at least two people running behind the houses there, with a male voice shoutingsomething as they ran. The two police officers who responded mentioned that four youths have been caught in connection with the recent similar incidents in the Admiral neighborhood, and although the punks have some little bit of time in juvenile detention coming up, they are currently not being held anywhere. Whether or not this incident is connected to them is anyone’s guess, but the officers did say they were going to check out the nearby streets to see if they could find out anything more.
So that’s that. The good news is that neither my wife nor anyone else was in the passenger seat, otherwise they would have been sprayed with glass.
8 o’clock sharp this morning, we took that photo from Spokane/Marginal, with truck traffic backed up three ways while the low bridge was open about a mile ahead. Two days ago, we told you West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen was intensifying his push to restrict bridge openings during AM and PM rush hours, in hopes of cutting down on situations like the one you see above; today, there’s word of progress on the proposal — according to the Times, the regional U.S. Coast Guard district plans to publish a notice that will start a 60-day period for comment from the marine industry, after which another 30-day review period would be required before the restrictions (7-9 am and 4-6 pm) would potentially take effect. We have a call out to the USCG to find out more.
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