West Seattle, Washington
22 Wednesday
Since Safeway has three stores in West Seattle, more than any other grocery chain, this might be of interest: The 1,300+-store chain announced today that it’s in talks with a potential buyer. Here’s one of the more thorough stories we’ve seen so far, published close to Safeway’s Bay Area headquarters. Safeway didn’t identify the prospective buyer, and no official deal has been announced yet, but industry observers are reported to believe it’s a private-equity firm. The 28th/Roxbury Safeway is the only local one for which the company owns the land, six acres worth; its Jefferson Square store is on a leased site, and it leases the land its Admiral store is on, after selling the site to American Realty Advisors one year after building the big new store.
(Click image for larger view – close enough to see the snow-covered trees!)
Down to the final four weeks of winter, and the Olympic Mountains finally have a truly wintry amount of snow! Thanks to Chris Frankovich for capturing this morning’s fully frosted view!
Thanks to Greta for mentioning this in a comment on the daily traffic roundup – there’s a multi-car crash on southbound 99 before the West Seattle Bridge exit. So if you haven’t left yet, consider going another way TFN.
7:14 PM UPDATE: SDOT says the crash is cleared.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Repeat offender Ryan Cox is back in jail this afternoon, hours after his case came up at last night’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting – on a night when the Seattle Mental Health Court was a long-planned topic of discussion.
During the discussion of Cox’s case, we discovered a warrant had been out for his arrest for two weeks, a warrant for violation of probation – same reason he had been taken in (and released after a day) last month. This time, the notation on the publicly viewable Municipal Court docket described him as “not a good candidate for probation” and labeled the warrant as “do not release.” (Photo at right is from 2009, distributed by police the first time Cox was being sought for vandalism.)
The docket also mentioned presiding Municipal Court Judge Kimi Kondo, who happened to be last night’s guest speaker.
Here’s how last night unfolded, including the discussion of the Mental Health Court in general, as well as Cox’s case.
(PHOTO BY KEN LAMBERT/THE SEATTLE TIMES – republished by WSB with permission)
1:41 PM: We are at the King County Courthouse, in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Theresa Doyle, where – after a month and a half of motions and jury selection – opening statements are about to begin in the trial of 69-year-old Lovett Chambers. He is the Gatewood man charged with second-degree murder in the January 2012 shooting death of 35-year-old Travis Hood alongside Morgan Junction Park. By all accounts, Chambers and Hood did not know each other; all they had in common is that both had been in a nearby bar moments before the shooting. We’ve read hundreds and hundreds of pages of court documents in the case in the past two years; they indicate that Chambers will contend self-defense, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder from the defendant’s experiences in prison and with police decades earlier. Under another name, he had a record, but nothing for the past 20-plus years while he lived and worked in West Seattle. About a dozen people are here in the gallery, watching the lawyers prepare. Depending on how it goes, we’ll likely add some updates here during the afternoon, in addition to more detailed coverage after proceedings are done for the day.
3:56 PM UPDATE: Court has recessed for the day, after both sides presented their opening statements, and jurors will hear from the first witness tomorrow morning. We have also added a photo, courtesy of our partners at The Seattle Times, who are also covering the trial; it was taken in the courtroom hallway at midday, showing Chambers at right with a deputy at left. We will publish a separate story later today with details of the proceedings.
12:52 PM: If you’ve seen/heard the big fire response, it’s for a house in the 2700 block of SW Kenyon (map), but most of the units have just been canceled. We’re checking it out.
12:58 PM UPDATE: Described on the scanner as a mattress fire.
1:16 PM UPDATE: Added photo. Fire’s out, no major damage, no injuries reported.
We start this West Seattle Crime Watch report 
with toplines from the crime-trends update presented at last night’s WS Crime Prevention Council meeting by new precinct commander Capt. Steve Wilske (right): Residential and nonresidential burglaries are below average this past month, he said, attributing that to arrests of juvenile-burglary suspects as well as the Anti-Crime Team’s work. Car prowls “have been low the past four months.” But auto thefts are up, “and that’s the one category where we’re up, and up pretty significantly,” he said. However, he said, two “very active auto thieves” who have been in custody since January 28th are blamed for much of the month’s spike – he says it’s dropped since they were arrested. Asked about violent crimes, “there’s nothing that really strikes me” as unusual, he said. He was asked about but did not have updates on West Seattle’s two unsolved 2013 murders.
(Most of the rest of the WSCPC meeting dealt with the ongoing Ryan Cox case and what turned out to be the synergistic pre-scheduled presentation about the city’s Mental Health Court – that’s all coming up in a separate story.)
Now, read on for our most recent reader reports – including prowlers, suspicious behavior at a playground, a stolen car found by a WSB reader, and a stolen truck reported just over the city-limit line in White Center (could turn up here, so we’ll publish those reports when we get them):
John Loftus shared the Tuesday photo of a rare sight – a surf scoter on the sand at Alki. John writes, “Surf Scoters are a diving sea duck that winters in small flocks off our shores. Thousands were killed in a San Francisco Bay oil spill a few years ago and, although they are not endangered, scientists say their numbers have declined 50 to 70% over the past 40 years. While it’s not at all unusual to see Surf Scoters a hundred yards or so out on the water, this is the first time in 20 years at Alki that I’ve ever seen one standing on the shore. I hope he hadn’t encountered an oil slick. This is another good reason why otherwise law-abiding Seattleites should not run their dogs on the beach.” Speaking of wildlife:
LIVE CHAT RE: SICK ‘STARFISH’: The mysterious disease that’s been killing off sea stars in our area and many others, mostly on the West Coast, will be discussed in a live chat at noon today, including West Seattle’s “Diver Laura” James. Details here, including the chat link.
Some of what else is on the calendar:
PUBLIC SAFETY, CIVIL RIGHTS, TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE: 2 pm, this Seattle City Council committee’s agenda includes another vote related to federal Homeland Security grant money – no cameras mentioned this time, but you can read the documentation for yourself via the agenda. (City Hall, 4th/James downtown; live via Seattle Channel)
TALKING TUNNEL TOLLING: The advisory committee that’s working on recommendations for tolling the Highway 99 tunnel meets at 3 pm today at the Puget Sound Regional Council offices in Pioneer Square. Here’s the agenda; most recently, they were looking at a toll around $1-$1.25. (1011 Western, Suite 500)
CASSIS OPENS: 4 pm, first night at West Seattle’s newest restaurant, a French bistro on Alki. Here’s our Tuesday night preview. (2820 Alki SW)
DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOODS DISTRICT COUNCIL: Live or work in eastern West Seattle? Come see what reps from local groups/organizations are talking about. 7 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, with agenda highlights as follows:
7:00 p.m. Introductions; announcements; approve previous meeting summary – All
7:10 p.m. Volunteers for CNC committee on development/land use – Cindi Barker, Morgan Community Association
7:25 p.m. Introduction and Q&A with Captain Steve Wilske, Seattle Police Department
7:55 p.m. Seattle reLeaf /Tree Ambassadors – Katie Gibbons, Seattle Public Utilities
8:05 p.m. Large Projects Fund – Department of Neighborhoods
8:10 p.m. City Neighborhood Council report/other DNDC business items:
-Neighborhood Park and Street Fund applications
-March annual DNDC meeting
-Gathering of Neighbors/Delridge Day 2014
(4408 Delridge Way SW, room 106)
SEATTLE CLASSIC GUITAR SOCIETY OPEN-MICROPHONE NIGHT: 7-9 pm at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), an open-microphone event for guitarists of all skill levels – details in our calendar listing. (5612 California SW)
COMEDY NIGHT AT FEEDBACK LOUNGE: West Seattle’s Mona Concepcion hosts the latest monthly laughfest, starring Cris Rodriguez and featuring “a killer lineup of the city’s top comedians.” Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), 8 pm, free. (6451 California SW)
LOTS MORE FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT … on the calendar (and days/nights/weeks beyond, too) – see it all here!
Seventy-two years ago today, on February 19th, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the internment of more than 110,000 people in Western states, including ours, because they were from Japan or of Japanese ancestry. Before mid-winter break, students from Gatewood Elementary traveled to the historic site on Bainbridge Island formally known as the Japanese American Exclusion Memorial to learn about this. Teacher Darren Radu shared their report and photos:
We are students of Team Mt. Si at Gatewood Elementary. Over the past three months, we have been studying Japanese Internment during World War II. Did you know that as a result of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many people were suspicious of perfectly innocent Japanese and Japanese Americans, who were then forced to move to internment camps? The camps were terrible places (many cabins were horse and cow stables!) for people to live and the Japanese did not have a choice about moving. Internment affected many residents and families from the Seattle area.
We took a field trip with our teachers Ms. Moran, Ms. Ott, and Mr. Radu to Bainbridge Island to visit the Japanese Internment Memorial. We visited the actual beach where many local Japanese and Japanese Americans boarded ferries that took them to camps. The Memorial helped us to experience what it was like to be in their shoes.
We also met our friend and amazing local artist, Steve Gardner, who showed us some of the ceramic sculptures he created for the memorial.
His work illustrates the lives of Bainbridge Japanese people before, during, and after internment.
We also worked with our teacher Colleen Moran to take a stand on the events of World War II by writing persuasive essays. It was important for us to learn about Japanese Internment because it helped us to learn from the past and to avoid making the same mistakes. We hope that other people will take the time to visit the Internment Memorial and continue to fight for justice, too!
Here’s a link to information about the Memorial:
Sincerely,
The Students of Team Mt. Si
Gatewood Elementary
This HistoryLink.org page shows how what was termed an “evacuation” unfolded in Seattle starting two months after President Roosevelt’s order.
(More cameras, and other info, on the WSB Traffic page)
We start the day with one more reminder that it remains a vacation week for Seattle Public Schools. And a followup:
WHAT’S NEXT FOR METRO FARE PROPOSALS: As noted in this spot yesterday, the County Council had Metro’s proposed fare changes – a 25-cent increase next year in the general fare, along with a 50-cent ACCESS increase and creation of a “low-income fare” – on its Tuesday agenda. Councilmembers did not vote, though. Our area’s Councilmember Joe McDermott says that’s expected to happen next Monday (February 24th), which is also when the council, meeting as the Transportation Benefit District board, is expected to vote on sending the Metro-money measure (car-tab fee, sales-tax increase) to voters for an April 22nd election. If the vote does not happen then, he says, a supermajority would be needed for approval, instead of a simple majority.
COMMUTE UPDATES … when there’s news. You can reach us with info via text/voice at 206-293-6302 – but not if/while you’re driving! It can wait until you get to where you’re going.
5:50 PM: Southbound 99 multi-car crash just north of the West Seattle Bridge.
A memorial service is planned this Saturday for Charles David Pierce, who died last week at age 54. Here’s the remembrance his loved ones are sharing:
Charles David Pierce died Tuesday, February 11, 2014. David resided at Providence Mount St. Vincent for the last thirteen years and died peacefully in his sleep.
For the last 36 years David has lived as a quadriplegic, as a result of a car accident at the age of 17. David graduated from Chief Sealth High School in 1980. David will be remembered for his strength of character, his sense of humor. and kind heart. David will be missed by all who knew him and cared for him.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, February 22, 2014, 9:30-12:00, at Providence Mount Saint Vincent Chapel, 3rd floor, 4831 35th Ave. SW.
(WSB publishes obituaries by request, free of charge. Please e-mail the text, and a photo if available, to editor@westseattleblog.com)
Story by Tracy Record
Photos by Patrick Sand
West Seattle Blog co-publishers
Jef Fike is so focused on fresh food, his about-to-open Alki restaurant doesn’t even have a freezer.
Tomorrow (Wednesday, February 19th) is the official opening night for Cassis, a name already known to fans of fine food who mourned the end of its Capitol Hill edition a decade ago and cheered when news of an Alki rebirth broke last year.
As a pink sunset glow topped storm clouds off Alki a few hours ago, we stopped in by invitation for a few photos of the just-completed interior, and an opening-night-eve conversation with Fike (above).
Before we get on with the rest of the night’s news – quite a sight at sunset. Thanks to Wayne McFarland for the photo above from Fauntleroy, and JayDee for the photo below from Upper Alki, both showing the storm clouds that rose over the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas, as well as further south, before and at sunset.
The forecast suggests it’ll be breezy and rainy off and on at least through Thursday night.
(May 2013 WS5K photo courtesy Tracy Brigham, whose sons greeted passing runners that morning)
Today’s afternoon sun reminded us that the countdown to spring is on, and we are exactly three months away from a big day along the beach – May 18th is the date set for the West Seattle 5K run/walk on Alki, organized by and benefiting the West Seattle High School PTSA, followed by SDOT‘s Seattle Summer Streets event (11 am-5 pm), once officially and still casually known as “car-free day.” You can sign up for the West Seattle 5K right now and get the lowest-priced registration – just go here. (As for the official start of spring, this year it’s March 20th.)
(TUESDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Next game for WSHS set; scroll down)
(WSHS #30, Lexi Iaone; photos by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
4:39 PM: In postseason competition at Ingraham High School in North Seattle this afternoon, the West Seattle High School girls’ basketball team has just lost to Mercer Island, 52-49; down by nine points at the start of the 4th quarter, head coach Sonya Elliott‘s young team (no seniors) embarked on a comeback, but fell short.
(WSHS #12 Lydia Giomi, #21 Gabby Sarver, #10 Charli Elliott)
They’re not out of the postseason yet; our crew reports the Wildcats are expected to play again Friday night in Bellevue, opponent TBA. (More photos & game details later this evening.)
ADDED 11:02 PM: Coach Elliott tells WSB their next opponent is Liberty, 8:15 pm Friday at Bellevue College. Ahead, notes and a few more photos from today’s game:
First the call for help … then the dropoffs on a blustery Saturday … and now the tally: Mary Ellen Cunningham says the donations for City of Joy added up to about 800 pounds worth:
How’s that for West Seattle generosity! Fantastic. A bunch of us were elated going through everything … getting it all organized and packed up ready for the trip to Congo.
The center, which helps survivors of sexual violence in the DRC, accepts online donations too.
(UPDATED with full archived Seattle Channel video of mayor’s speech)
2:08 PM: Live online via Seattle Channel – Mayor Ed Murray‘s first State of the City speech. Watch it by clicking the “play” button. We’ll update later with the archived video as well as any notes of particular West Seattle interest. (3:57 pm note – the archived video is now viewable above.)
2:30 PM UPDATE: Several notes of interest so far – a mention of the Youth Ambassadors program active at several local schools (the mayor mentioned Roxhill, Denny, and Concord); also a nod to the Duwamish River in a climate-change mention, and a promise that he’ll do something about deteriorating street conditions.
2:45 PM UPDATE: Speech over, but Council Chair Tim Burgess asks the mayor to stay for a special presentation – a photo from Murray’s days as a council staffer. Now it’s on to the council’s meeting. A few other notes in the meantime – he touched on growth without any promises of slowing it, and called the “urban village strategy” a success; he voiced support for the expected April vote on Metro/roads funding and August vote on “sustainable parks funding”; he said he intended to call for a maritime summit; he said the city needs to rebuild trust with neighborhoods, and reiterated his plan for a neighborhood summit April 5th.
3:57 PM UPDATE: Here’s the full text, sent by the mayor’s office as a PDF. We missed another West Seattle shoutout – a mention of the recently announced 35th Avenue SW safety project. The full video is also available, so we have added that above.
That’s one of just dozens of images in a photo gallery showing unclaimed stolen property from a burglary spree – jewelry, phones, wallets, photos, sports cards, prescription drugs, more. We don’t know so far whether any of it is from burglaries in West Seattle. But just in case – we’re sharing this found-property info just in from King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Cindi West, who is asking that it be distributed far and wide:
Were you the victim of a burglary between January 2012 and July 2013? If you were and you live somewhere between Mill Creek, Washington and Tigard, Oregon, we may have property that was stolen in your burglary.
Detectives from the Sammamish Police Department and the King County Sheriff’s Office are trying to find the owners of stolen property that was recovered last July after the arrest of a couple who admitted to committing dozens of burglaries between Tigard, Oregon and Mill Creek, Washington.
Krystal Sweetman, 27 of Puyallup and Steven Tipton, 27 of Tacoma were arrested last July after an investigation that revealed the couple had committed more than 80 residential burglaries between January 2012 and July 2013. The couple sold many of the stolen items at area coin shops, netting over $346,000 in the 18-month crime spree.
Detectives also discovered that the pair had a storage unit that was packed with property taken from the burglaries. Many of the stolen items from the storage unit have not been claimed and detectives are hoping to reunite victims with their property.
In January, Sweetman pleaded guilty to multiple charges and was sentenced to 36 months in prison and 36 months in community custody. Tipton is expected to plead later this month.
Detectives have photographed the unclaimed property and have provided a [password-protected] link to photos for the public to view. Detectives are asking anyone who was the victim of a burglary between January, 2012 and July, 2013 to look at the photos to see if any of the property belongs to you.
If you have questions please call 804-885-KCSO (5276) – do NOT call other police department numbers. If you see property that you believe belongs to you, follow the instructions on the link. You will be asked to provide the case number of your burglary and will need to provide some proof the item is yours.
If you have trouble accessing the site, please try at another time. We expect the site to be inundated with viewers and access may be limited during the initial release of information.
Here again is the photo-gallery link; the password is SammamishPD – and it IS case-sensitive.
Thanks to Eric Bell for the photo of a hard-working bird he describes as “one of the sparrows that bus the floor of the Metropolitan Market outdoor seating area — free of charge.” Before we get too much further into this hard-working Tuesday, six things you might want to know about, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar.
METRO FARE HEARING: Just in case you don’t usually read our regular morning traffic-watch reports (where we include transportation-related news as well as traffic alerts and ongoing commute notes), details on today’s 1:30 pm Metro-fare-proposals hearing downtown – and how to comment online if you aren’t going – are in today’s edition.
STATE OF THE CITY: Also downtown – but you can watch live via Seattle Channel, online or on cable – Mayor Ed Murray presents his first State of the City speech to the City Council, 2 pm.
TUESDAY TUNE-UP BENEFITS MARY’S PLACE: Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor) invites you to come listen to pianist Victor Janusz and accordionist Robertson Witmer tonight, 6:30-8:30 pm, and raise money for Mary’s Place – details in our listing. (1936 Harbor SW)
ARBOR HEIGHTS ZONING-EXCEPTION MEETING: 6:30 pm at the Arbor Heights Elementary library, it’s the first meeting of an advisory committee considering whether to recommend approval of zoning exceptions needed for the new AHES – explained in our calendar listing. (37th/104th)
MEET NEW PRECINCT COMMANDER: 7 pm tonight at the Southwest Precinct, the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council‘s monthly meeting will start with an introduction and crime-trends update from Capt. Steve Wilske, the precinct’s new commander (here’s our recent interview with him). All welcome; the agenda also includes a primer on Seattle’s unique Mental Health Court. (Delridge/Webster)
‘BLUES TO DO’ AT THE FEEDBACK: The Blues To Do Tuesday night series continues at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) at 8 tonight, with Steve Bailey and the Blue Flames. (6451 California SW)
(Sunday morning photo courtesy Jason)
Since information was scant when we checked out the Roxbury/Olson one-car crash early Sunday (original report here), leaving multiple questions unanswered, we just followed up with media liaisons for Seattle Police and Fire. Police do believe the driver fled the scene, through a window; the three people found in the car were in the front-passenger and rear seats. All are described by Seattle Fire as men in their late teens/early 20s; though they were taken to the hospital, none had serious injuries. The report also notes that while police tried to talk with them at the hospital to find out more about the crash and the apparent hit-run driver, none would respond. The ownership of the crashed red Lexus wasn’t clear, either; the report says the person on record as its registered owner had sold it to “a presumed auto dealer” a month ago. It was totaled, and impounded; other damage involved the shrubbery into which the car crashed – the officer writing the report noted, “It appears as if the vehicle was traveling in a northeasterly direction on Olson Place when it drove up over the curb and struck a tree on (a) planting strip. The car continued across the sidewalk, where it struck the shrubbery in (a) front yard.”
P.S. That intersection is West Seattle’s top spot for collisions, according to an SDOT presentation covered here last fall.
(Seattle Pride photo: 8th grade/freshman players at Portland showcase last year)
More youth-sports news: Tryouts start this weekend for Seattle Pride basketball. From Jason Vann:
This is our 5th season as a local West Seattle program. We have kids from Sealth, West Seattle, Seattle Lutheran, Hope Lutheran, Denny, Madison, and Holy Rosary. We have teams and tryouts for girls and boys, from 5th grade through juniors in high school, ages 11-17.
Tryouts are scheduled for the next two weekends – read on for the schedule:
(More cameras, and other info, on the WSB Traffic page)
Holiday’s past, so most things are back to the usual baseline – except for Seattle Public Schools, which are out all week, so take that into account.
COUNTY COUNCIL HEARING ON METRO FARE CHANGES: At its 1:30 pm meeting today, the King County Council plans a hearing on the fare increase that is part of the proposed package to avoid transit cuts, in legislation that also creates a special low-income fare. From the KCC website:
The fare increase, which would be implemented in March 2015, would raise fares by 25 cents for all fare categories for Metro Transit bus service. It would also increase fares for Access paratransit service by 50 cents.
The legislation would also authorize the creation of a reduced fare program for transit riders. It would set the fare at $1.50 and establish the eligibility threshold at 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, currently $22,980 for an individual and $47,100 for a family of four.
If you can’t be there, you can send in your thoughts via this form.
8:27 AM: Comment and e-mail mention that the Highland Park Way hill is closed to traffic. 911 log has a notation about a fuel spill.
8:50 AM: Per scanner, Highland Park Way is now open again.
10:03 AM: We asked Seattle Fire about the “spill,” since they responded – Lt. Sue Stangl says, “It was a small trail of fuel up Highland Park Way that ended near a fresh pile of gravel.” So, a mystery spill so far.
Just in case you’re driving this way overnight – the southbound I-5 lane closures south of downtown are over a few hours early, according to an e-mail alert just in from WSDOT. (Next week’s closure involves the southbound collector-distributor lanes and two on-ramps; details here.)
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