West Seattle, Washington
20 Monday
That little harbor seal photographed by Adem at the Fauntleroy ferry dock last weekend wasn’t technically a pup, Robin Lindsey from Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network explains, but rather a yearling. However, the season of seal births IS now under way, and if you see a little seal on a local beach, it’s most likely a nursing pup and it’s critical that you keep your distance so its mom won’t be scared away when she comes back for it. It’s also important to call Seal Sitters – 206-905-7325 (SEAL) – so they can help.
Earlier this week, rescuers had to intervene after a nursing pup got stuck in the rocks by Duwamish Head; the story is on their Blubberblog website. That pup, nicknamed Junebug, was the third spotted on West Seattle shores already this season, which Robin says is the earliest on record.
(Downy woodpecker, photographed by Mark Wangerin)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
WADING POOLS *WILL* BE OPEN: Since it’s cloudy this morning, we called the city hotline to check. Hiawatha will be open noon-6:45 pm, EC Hughes noon-7 pm, and Lincoln Park (as well as Highland Park Spraypark) 11 am-8 pm. Addresses and full schedules are here.
HEALTH AND HARVEST AT THE COMMUNITY ORCHARD: Have the day off? This is your chance to check out the Community Orchard of West Seattle‘s weekly Health and Harvest tour/work party/Q-A session, 5-7 pm Thursdays on the northeast side of the South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) campus. Read about it on the COWS website. (6000 16th SW)
NATURE EXPLORATION: 3:30 pm Thursdays, explore nature at Camp Long with naturalist Stewart Wechsler – details on his Stewardship Adventures in Nature website. (5200 35th SW)
LIGHTS ON AT SYNTHETIC-TURF FIELDS: Just so you’re not wondering why the lights are on tonight at Delridge, Walt Hundley, and Hiawatha Playfields – it’s part of Seattle Parks‘ plan to discourage fireworks use, which is illegal, dangerous, and costly. Here’s our previous note about it.
JACKIE POCK @ SALTY’S: 5:30-8:30 pm, live music at Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor), tonight featuring the acoustic music of Jackie Pock. No cover/minimum. (1936 Harbor SW)
(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Four- or five-day weekend for many, with the 4th of July tomorrow, so the morning commute is reported to be quiet.
Reminder – holiday transit changes for Friday are listed on the WSB 4th of July page.
TRANSPORTATION NEWS: A few headlines from Wednesday, if you didn’t catch them first time around:
–Mayor announces SDOT director choice
–More repaving in Morgan Junction
–SDOT’s new plan for Admiral Way hill
–What went wrong with the low bridge Tuesday night
Two strong-arm robberies this week in West Seattle both ended with the victims reported being assaulted and being robbed of their smartphones. Both happened in local parks; we obtained police reports for both:
HAMILTON VIEWPOINT PARK, MONDAY NIGHT: Police were called to the park in North Admiral at 10 pm Monday night. The two victims told police they were in the grassy area of the park, kicking around a soccer ball, when three people approached them and asked if they could play too. They did, for about 10 minutes, and the victims decided to sit down to rest. At that point, the report says, one of the other three yelled “You’re getting robbed!” and all three attacked the first two, punching and kicking them, and then stealing personal belongings that had been on the ground nearby. As they got away, the three attacker/robbers dropped everything but one victim’s iPhone. The report says they left in what looked like a blue late ’90s or early ’00s blue BMW. The three were described as males – one white, 6 feet tall, 170 pounds, medium-length blonde hair, baggy clothing; another dark-skinned, “possibly East African,” 5’11”, 150 pounds, with a flat-top haircut; the other black with a medium complexion, 6’3″, 230 pounds, short shaved hair. Seattle Fire was called to check out the victims’ injuries; one was described as having a swelling on his jaw “the size of a golf ball.” Police did not find the robbers.
ROXHILL PARK, TUESDAY NIGHT: This call came in to police at about 10:41 pm Tuesday. The victim said he was jumped while walking southbound on the north-south trail in Roxhill Park, just south of the bus stop in the 2700 block of SW Barton. Both robbers hit and kicked him before taking two smartphones from him, an iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy. He told police he recognized the two because they had been riding the bus with him from downtown all the way to Westwood, and that he had seen them often on Route 120 and on RapidRide Line C. Police did not find these robbers either; the victim described them as black, about 16 years old, both wearing black T-shirts and sweatpants (one orange, one black).
As Southwest District Council co-chair Sharonn Meeks said toward the start of tonight’s SWDC meeting, its agenda didn’t have one central guest or topic because “we just need to talk.” Rather than rattle off a mega-list of bullet points from the ensuing talk, we’ll be following up on a few things for separate stories, and making note right now of two things:
LAND USE SUBCOMMITTEE: Other neighborhoods have land-use committees that often look at projects of note outside official government processes such as design reviews, and SWDC announced a few months back that it intended to get one going as a subcommittee. The first meeting is finally set – 6:30 pm Wednesday, August 27th. Location TBD, agenda TBD, but if you’re interested in West Seattle development and land use and want to be part of a citizen-led group looking at it, set the date aside.
PARK DISTRICT BALLOT-MEASURE FORUM: Admiral Neighborhood Association president David Whiting announced that ANA’s meeting next Tuesday will include guests from both sides of the August 5th ballot measure proposing creation of a Seattle Park District with permanent taxing authority, instead of sending levies/bond measures to voters every several years to raise extra money for parks. The ANA meeting is at 7 pm Tuesday (July 8th) at The Sanctuary at Admiral, 42nd/Lander. (The Delridge District Council had a forum on the proposal in May; we recorded video.)
(WSB file photo)
ORIGINAL WEDNESDAY NIGHT REPORT: Seattle Parks has notified the Morgan Community Association that it’s closed the purchase of the Morgan Junction Park expansion site at 6311 California SW. The plan has been in the works for almost two years – we first reported the sale negotiations in September 2012. The site just north of the current park includes the building housing a minimart and dry cleaner to the north, and some undeveloped land to the west. We don’t have word on the final purchase price yet; the site had originally been listed as a potential development site for $2 million. There is no money budgeted yet for developing the site, which will officially be “landbanked” for starters, but it’s one of the projects for which money is earmarked in the Park District proposal on next month’s ballot (a preliminary version was noted here last October). According to what the city has told MoCA, the timetable for demolition of the building is not set yet, so the businesses will be there a while longer; the site needs some cleanup too because of its past.
THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: Parks says the purchase price was $1,887,000. The site is a little more than a quarter of an acre.
Just 9 days to go until the year’s biggest party, West Seattle Summer Fest (co-sponsored by WSB) – July 11th, 12th, 13th, closing the streets to vehicles and opening them to fun in the heart of The Junction. Today – news from the West Seattle Junction Association, which presents WSSF, that the first day of Summer Fest will feature the festival’s first-ever “pop-up library”:
West Seattle Summer Fest will host Open Air in Junction Plaza Park on Friday, July 11 from 10 am to 6 pm. The Seattle Public Library will bring a pop-up library outdoors (a kind of outdoor reading room, complete with book
tower and benches) where guests can check out books and DVDs from our mobile collection, take a break with a magazine, and chat with librarians (among other things). You can visit their landing page for a bit more information.In addition to the above, Open Air provides hotspots with free wi-fi access and charging stations for visitors. On site librarians are particularly interested in signing up visitors for library cards and showing them the range of ebooks, downloads, and databases offered by the library.
You can browse more advance info on Summer Fest – including the music schedule and vendor list/map – by going to the official website.
Toward the end of the peak pm commute on Tuesday evening, the “low bridge” malfunctioned, second time in two weeks. We asked SDOT today what happened. From spokesperson Marybeth Turner:
When the bridge operator was opening the bridge to allow a vessel to pass through at 6:20 p.m., the gate on the west side that stops vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians experienced a mechanical failure. A shear pin in the internal linkage had broken.
The bridge control system is designed to always fail in a safe mode, which prevented the operator from opening the bridge. The vessels, bicycles, pedestrian and vehicles were delayed until the operator was able to make the repairs himself. The delay was approximately 67 minutes.
On June 18th we had another control system safety shut down related to the sensors that monitor the location of the bridge. This caused a 2 ½ hour delay that likely affected many of the same commuters.
We continue to look for ways to engineer more reliable systems associated with bridge openings. A delay of this length, although rare, has severe impacts on the traveling public. Detour routes for bicycles and pedestrians are not convenient.
The Spokane Street Bridge opens over 1,500 times per year with very few incidents that delay traffic due to malfunction of the bridge.
Last weekend, SDOT repaved the intersection of California/Fauntleroy. Next week, they’ll extend the new pavement a block south, according to this announcement just in:
Once Fourth of July festivities are over, Seattle Department of Transportation paving crews will move in to California Avenue Southwest to pave the block south of the Morgan Junction.
Providing the good weather holds, the crews will grind and pave California from Fauntleroy Way Southwest to Southwest Holly Street, starting at 7 a.m. on July 8 and July 9, and ending at 7 p.m. each day.
One lane of traffic will remain open in each direction with Police Officers and traffic flaggers assisting drivers through the work area. Crosswalks and sidewalks will remain open. On-street parking will be restricted.
As noted in our update on last weekend’s work, SDOT already has repaved stretches of California to the north and south.
(Photo from seattle.gov)
The mayor has announced his choice for Seattle Department of Transportation director: Scott Kubly, former deputycommissioner of the City of Chicago Department of Transportation and former associate director of the District of Columbia Department of Transportation. In the news release (read it here in its entirety), Mayor Murray calls Kubly “a transportation visionary” with “a proven track record” who has “worked on bike issues, car share programs, traffic management and pedestrian safety strategies, rapid transit and street cars; he’s done long-range budgeting, strategic planning, cost reduction, major capital project development, and performance measurement and accountability.” Kubly is quoted as saying:
Seattle is growing incredibly fast … To accommodate that growth and preserve the city’s great quality of life, we need a transportation system that doesn’t just get the basics right like freight mobility and safety,, but that also invests in new, high quality transit, bikeshare, new bike lanes for Seattleites from 8 to 80 to ride in, and improving the pedestrian experience throughout the city. It also means creating an environment in which the private sector can provide transportation services that complement the public transportation network. This means creating an environment that allows transportation network companies and taxis to thrive, carsharing to expand, or for new types of transportation services to evolve. The fact is, people aren’t tied to individual transportation modes, they’re tied to outcomes – and we must continue bringing forward options that will deliver the positive outcomes they need and expect.
West Seattle-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, who chairs the Transportation Committee, is quoted as saying:
Seattle needs a transportation director who recognizes the importance of a balanced transportation system and can help guide our city’s transition from auto-dependence. … Mr. Kubly’s experience in Chicago and Washington, D.C. shows a commitment to accomplishing just that. I look forward to our discussions with Mr. Kubly over the next several weeks. I also encourage the public to participate in the confirmation process.
Pending Council confirmation, Kubly is slated to start on July 28th, making $180,000 a year. He follows acting director Goran Sparrman and previous director Peter Hahn, who was announced last November as not staying on once former Mayor McGinn departed. Hahn had succeeded Grace Crunican, who resigned at the end of 2009.
SIDE NOTE: A search shows that the most-recent program for which Kubly made news in Chicago was overseeing its speed-camera program. … A few months later, here’s what one Chicago website wrote when Kubly announced his departure.
(King County Assessor’s Office photo)
Shoofly Pie Company in The Junction has announced its shop will close next month. Here’s what proprietor Kimmy Tomlinson posted this morning on Facebook:
Friends of Shoofly – After 7 wonderful years bringing pie to wonderful West Seattle, Zak and I have decided to pursue other life interests (I dunno, maybe write a cookbook?! ;)). Our last day at our retail store will be Sunday, August 17th. It is bittersweet, but we are also looking forward to the next chapter of our lives.
Thank you so much for supporting us from the beginning when most people were asking the question, “you’re going to open a bakery that only sells pie??!?” We hope you’ve enjoyed our handmade pies as much as we’ve enjoyed making them for you. Thank you to all the brides and grooms who have given us the honor of making your wedding pies. Most of all, thank you to our amazing staff who have always gone above and beyond throughout the years. We’ll miss you.
Please stop by at street fair and over the next weeks to enjoy some pie and help us say goodbye. And remember, Pie Fixes Everything!
Shoofly is at 4444 California SW, where it opened in July 2007 (and notes, also on FB, that it’ll be open 10 am-4 pm on the 4th of July).
One calendar highlight for tonight – the Southwest District Council IS having a July meeting. The agenda includes a summary of the two recent city “conversation” meetings – Councilmember Mike O’Brien on June 4th (WSB report here) and “West Seattle: Let’s Talk” last Saturday (WSB report here) and a report on the district’s proposed Neighborhood Park and Street Fund projects, as well as an update on progress toward creation of a West Seattle Land Use Committee. All are welcome – 6:30 pm, Senior Center of West Seattle (upstairs at Oregon/California). To see what else is on the calendar today, go here.
It’s been almost ten months since SDOT announced it was shelving and redesigning a plan to widen the bike lane and buffer on the Admiral Way hill north of the West Seattle Bridge – here’s the last thing we published, back in September. The city said residents had voiced concerns about loss of parking spaces and time restrictions on what remained. At the time, they said a new version would be out “early” this year. It’s just arrived today:
As you know, SDOT has been studying how to make the uphill bicycle lane on SW Admiral Way safer and more inviting by widening the bike lane and buffer from SW City View Street to 80 feet south of 3508 SW Admiral Way. We originally proposed to restrict on-street parking on the east side of SW Admiral Way within this section to allow for the improvement. After receiving concerns about the impacts, we delayed implementation of the project to work on an alternative that would preserve some on-street parking.
The attached revised design preserves on-street parking in front of the residences, while restricting parking in the green belt area. Time restrictions will not be installed. The work is expected to be completed this summer.
Here’s a closer look at each of the color-coded configurations:
See all of the above in one PDF with the configurations next to the map here. And if you want to compare it to what SDOT originally proposed in May 2013, you can see that map here.
P.S. Speaking of SDOT, Mayor Murray is set to announce at 11 am today who he’s chosen to be the department’s next director.
(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
We’re off to a late start this morning but it’s been quiet – perhaps the pre-holiday slowdown already. No road work this weekend, WSDOT reminds us; holiday transit changes for Friday are listed on the WSB 4th of July page.
(Photo by Don Brubeck)
What’s the police plan for Alki this 4th of July? We’ve been talking to Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Wilske, who says that for starters, they’ve had additional patrols daily this week to “set the tone” for the 4th and also to guard against anything stemming from last Wednesday’s fight/stabbing. The precinct commander added that there are regular-duty officers specifically assigned to the beach, especially on third watch (evening and early am), and SPD continues “to use officers to close the beach at (11 pm), as well as requesting the assistance of the traffic unit and the parking enforcement unit when they are available to deal with some of the traffic congestion issues.” On the 4th of July itself, he says, “We will have a significant presence of both bike and foot officers starting about 4:00 pm on Friday. We are not planning to close down streets, particularly Alki, unless we have to for some reason such as clearing a path for the Seattle Fire Department. We will be continuing the emphasis on Saturday the 5th, and have it scheduled for every Friday and Saturday through the summer.”
(Photo by Rob Castillo)
July is not only the month for All-Stars to shine in the Major League Baseball world, it’s also time for youth baseball All-Stars too – and we have news of a West Seattle Baseball team on the way to the Pinto World Series. Leah shared the announcement:
Heat Advisory Warning – The West Seattle Baseball 8U All-Stars are on fire!
Congratulations to the West Seattle Super 8’s All Star team for winning the 8U PONY Regional Tournament at the Pee Wee Fields over the weekend. The championship results in the chance for these kids to go show their stuff at the Pinto World Series in San Jose on July 17-20. This is the third 8U Regional Championship that West Seattle has won since the tournament started in 2009, but the first time it has been sanctioned by PONY and resulted in a trip to the World Series.
The team will be doing a fundraiser to help cover some of their travel expenses. Look for more information to come on that. Congratulations, boys!
WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Here’s the GoFundMe site where you can chip in to help.
7:07 PM: Thanks to the texter who just sent word that the “low bridge” has been closed to traffic for about 40 minutes. Checking SDOT via Twitter, they report it’s “closed due to some gate issues” and that it should be fixed soon. Updates as we get them.
10:25 PM: No official SDOT updates since then; we’ve been watching this traffic camera and haven’t seen a vehicle cross.
Remember the car stolen from Queen Anne, found upside down in the water off Emma Schmitz Overlook?
(Photo republished with permission of Beach Drive Blog)
That’s the photo from Beach Drive Blog‘s original report early Sunday morning, June 22nd. We followed up with Seattle Police and Parks the next day and published this story. Right after the crarsh, Parks didn’t find noticeable seawall damage, but on second look, that assessment has changed. Update today from Parks spokesperson Joelle Hammerstad:
The crews who maintain the parks couldn’t tell if there was damage, but when our engineers went out there, they definitely found some. Please see attached pictures.
We are going to truss up the wall with structural steel as a temporary measure as we await a full replacement. We have been working with the Army Corps of Engineers for some time on a replacement project, and we expect that the replacement will happen sometime within the next two to three years.
BDB reported on the replacement plans back in April.
Demolition-for-redevelopment notes today:
4745 40TH SW TEARDOWN UNDERWAY: Thanks to Maris for the heads-up on Monday that backhoes had taken up position at the 40th/Edmunds project site. They hadn’t started work by day’s end but this afternoon, they’re taking down the office building on site, former home to businesses including what might be West Seattle’s biggest tech firm, Tango Card. (You’ll recall our story last August about its search for a new WS location, which it found not far away, in Jefferson Square.) 4745 40th SW won final Design Review approval in December (WSB coverage here), and applied for the demolition permit in March. is slated for 150 units and 115 parking spaces, with some live-work units and a relatively small commercial space on the ground floor, adjacent to the future city-park site to its north. (That site in turn will soon be the temporary home of Fire Station 32 while that station is rebuilt on its site in The Triangle at 37th/38th/Alaska.)
THREE DEMOLITION-PERMIT NOTES: From the city files today, all in single-family-house projects:
*1 DOWN, 2 UP AT 4316 SW THISTLE: A demolition-permit application is in for the site of this 106-year-old Gatewood house across from the top of the fabled Thistle stairway, as well as early word of two houses to replace it, pending a lot-boundary adjustment which has a case number but no documents on file so far; county data for the 7,500-sf site does show two lot numbers.
*1 DOWN, 1 UP AT 3426 38TH SW: The permit has just been granted for demolition of this 106-year-old bungalow, with a new house slated to replace it.
1 DOWN, 1 UP AT 4707 14TH SW: A demolition permit is sought for this 85-year-old house on 15,000 sf of land, where records show one new house is planned.
(Click image to see full-size PDF)
After two Early Design Guidance meetings ended with the Southwest Design Review Board basically saying “try again,” the developer of the former Charlestown Café site at 3824 California SW has hired a new architect going into its third round of EDG (scheduled for 8 pm July 10th, as previously noted). A spokesperson for developer Intracorp tell WSB that Johnston Architects is the firm now on the project, replacing Caron Architecture: “Their designs are quintessentially Northwest with an organic nature and human scale that Intracorp is seeking to capture for the 3824 California Ave. community. Intracorp has also added a new landscape architect, Karen Kiest, to the team. This team brings an immense amount of experience and creativity to the process of creating great places.” The proposal is now for 28 townhouse and live/work units instead of 30, and the list ahead was provided as a summary of major changes:
(Photo by Danny McMillin, at South Alki on Sunday – click image for larger view)
As the holiday nears, the calendar thins out a bit – but we have a few things of note for the hours ahead:
WADING POOLS & SPRAYPARK HOURS TODAY: Warm day in progress – so here are ways to stay cool! City wading pools open today are Lincoln Park (11 am-8 pm), Delridge (12-6:45 pm), South Park (12-7 pm). Highland Park Spraypark is open 11 am-8 pm.
WEST SEATTLE BIKE CONNECTIONS: Lots on the agenda for tonight’s monthly meeting, 6:30-8 pm, at HomeStreet Bank (WSB sponsor) in The Junction – details on the WSBC website. (41st/Alaska)
CHORAL CONCERT: 7:30 pm at Fauntleroy UCC Church, “Vashon Suite: No Bridges,” composed by Bronwyn Edwards, performed by the Vashon Island Chorale. Details on the church website. (9130 California SW)
LOTS OF NIGHTLIFE! Live music, trivia, bingo, more – see the individual listings on the calendar page.
Seattle Parks is again planning to keep the lights on at synthetic-turf fields to discourage fireworks, and says security will monitor for extended hours, too. This time, it’s planned for both Thursday and Friday (July 3-4). Three West Seattle fields are on the list for security monitoring 9 pm-4 am and lights 8:45-11 pm: Delridge, Hiawatha, and Walt Hundley, all of which have been renovated in recent years. We’re adding this to the WSB West Seattle 4th of July page, still open for other holiday info if you have something to share – editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!
Reminder from King County Elections – time’s running out to get in on the August 5th election, which is more than a primary – it’s also when Seattle voters will decide whether to approve creation of a Park District with permanent taxing authority to raise money for Seattle Parks:
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