West Seattle, Washington
20 Monday
Seattle Public Schools has just announced that Julie Breidenbach will be principal of Fairmount Park Elementary when it reopens in West Seattle this fall. We reported yesterday that a principal announcement was likely by week’s end, and this letter from superintendent José Banda, to be sent to all elementary families in West Seattle, has just arrived:
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Julie Breidenbach as the new principal of Fairmount Park Elementary School, effective immediately.
To meet the needs of our growing enrollment, Fairmount Park Elementary is scheduled to open for the 2014-15 school year. Ms. Breidenbach will be the planning principal this year and remain principal when the school opens to students. She will begin making the necessary decisions needed for a new school, including hiring teaching team leaders. She will also be connecting with families of students slated to attend Fairmount Park next year. [A note about enrollment: Current students who are in the new school’s boundary can stay at their current school, but will also be able to change to Fairmount Park if they wish. For more enrollment information, visit our Enrollment website.]
Julie Breidenbach transfers to Fairmount Park from Thurgood Marshall Elementary, where she has been principal since 2009. Fairmount Park will have an option APP program, and Ms. Breidenbach is a strong supporter of APP education. She has extensive experience in merging an APP program with a neighborhood school and is sensitive to the social and emotional needs of all students.
She is looking forward to the opportunity to open a school and work with the entire school community to build a school where children with all types of individual and special needs will feel part of an inclusive and supportive community.
A Fairmount Park school website has been established, and Ms. Breidenbach asks that all parents in West Seattle check the school’s website regularly. Meetings will be scheduled to work with families on getting the school ready to open and information on those meetings will be posted.
Ms. Breidenbach earned a Masters of Education from the University of Washington and a Bachelors of Arts in education from Washington State University. She holds a Washington State Administrative Certificate.
Please join me in welcoming Julie Breidenbach to Fairmount Park Elementary!
Information-night dates for Fairmount Park, to be held at Alki since the school is still undergoing expansion/renovation work, are in our Thursday story.
Family and friends will gather one week from tomorrow to celebrate the life of Sue Scharff, gone too soon at just 50, and they want to make sure everyone touched by her knows about the event:
Sue succumbed to ovarian cancer on December 16, 2013, at home, surrounded by family and friends. She was preceded in death by her mother Audrey Scharff and sister Beth Scharff. She is survived by her father Sam Scharff; son Jeremy Kim; granddaughter Miranda; ex-husband Kimin Kim; and nieces and nephews. Sue was a masseuse in West Seattle, where she lived for the past 9 years. She enjoyed many activities ranging from riding her motorcycle Thelma, walking along Alki, exploring Schmitz Park and Camp Long, but her heart belonged in Bridgeport, Washington, helping out at Rama Farms.
We will all miss Sue’s wonderful smile, her great life advice, her compassion for those of less advantage, and her big caring, giving heart. She was a wonderful Mother and Friend who could take any situation and find a peaceful solution. She selflessly volunteered her own body in research for ovarian cancer in the hopes of helping someone else.
We will hold a Celebration of Life for Sue at the West Seattle Eagles on Saturday, January 25th, at 1 pm. Come and enjoy time with friends and family as we share stories of the short but beautiful life Sue led.
Fun fundraiser to start your weekend – from the WSB inbox:
Come join us for the West Seattle Lions Club‘s annual pancake breakfast Saturday (January 18th) at the West Seattle Senior Center, 8 o’clock to 11 in the morning, 4127 SW Oregon. $6 per person; 10 and under, $4; free for children under the age of four. We will be serving pancakes, sausages, eggs, orange juice, coffee, and tea. Come and have a great time, and thank you for supporting The West Seattle Lions Club!!!
Jimie Martin PZC
West Seattle Lions President
(Latest bridge and Viaduct views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Our Friday watch begins. First note of the day – a WEEKEND ALERT if you are headed north; WSDOT is working on expansion joints on northbound I-5, just north of the West Seattle Bridge, and that means major lane closures from tonight through Sunday morning (they promise to finish long before the Seahawks game):
9 pm Friday, Jan. 17, through 10 am Sunday, Jan. 19
*Up to three of four lanes of northbound I-5 closed between South Spokane Street and Yesler Way.
*Access to and from I-90, S. Dearborn Street, and Edgar Martinez Drive South will remain open.
*Crews will keep at least one or two lanes of northbound I-5 open at all times through the construction zone area.
MONDAY REMINDERS: Monday is the King Day holiday, which brings transit/transportation changes – Metro’s on a “reduced-weekday” schedule, and the Water Taxis will NOT run. (Side note – if you’re interested in a little more info about the new boats being built, check this out.)
10:12 AM: Crash at Delridge/Alaska, per 911 log, and this photo was just texted to us:
We don’t know how it’s affecting traffic, but SFD has already cleared it and closed their part of the call, which suggests no major injuries.
Celebrating the grand opening of FASTSIGNS of West Seattle (WSB sponsor) Thursday night, owners James Pike and Jessica Lee posed with new WS Chamber of Commerce CEO Lynn Dennis. Chamber members came to join the party, holding their monthly After Hours event in conjunction with the grand-opening festivities. As noted here last month, FASTSIGNS’ goal is to “make it as easy as possible for the customer to achieve all of their visual communication goals, needs, and desires” and it offers many ways to do that. Many of its offerings were shown off last night, and some were given away as door prizes, including the local item FASTSIGNS’ Christine Greene is showing off in our photo:
Missed the event? Find them at 6323 35th SW, and online here.
Thursday night’s Southwest Design Review Board doubleheader meeting was a lot shorter than the last one over which the board presided. That’s because the second review was about one aspect of a project whose team voluntarily came back to talk about it, even after getting an overall thumbs-up last time.
The project is the four-story, 80-unit, 52-parking-space Junction Flats mixed-use project replacing three old houses at 4433 42nd SW. Its board approval last August (official report here) included a directive for bigger balconies on the 42nd-facing east facade of the building. Project partner Brandon Nicholson, owner/developer for this as well as principal of architects Nicholson Kovalchick, explained that wouldn’t quite work because it would take a bite out of the light for studio apartments set aside as affordable housing.
Pitching for the board to compromise on the directive, he declared that Junction Flats is different because the team is all local – “completely different than any development you’ll see (from) out of town developers. We know this neighborhood, we know this market – my firm was based here for 10 years until we outgrew the space … Our fear is that many projects are being developed by out of town developers” with units too big, rents too high, or units too small, zero parking, etc. One-fifth of Junction Flats’ units will be held at Homes Within Reach program levels.
In addition, he explained, they are using federally (HUD) guaranteed financing, and on a tight timetable due to reviews associated with that. He and NK staff architect Courtney McCunney brought three options (detailed in the revised design packet) for trying to meet the spirit of the board recommendation, which focused not just on livability but also on the building not looking so “flat” up against 42nd, as board member Laird Bennion described it, also expressing concern about the uniform size of the windows and a resulting “monolithic” look. He said making it an attractive building would be the difference in its survivability over the long haul, instead of getting “scraped in 20 years.” Nicholson agreed, saying they’re getting a 40-year loan, so they don’t want the building to expire sooner, either.
No audience members chose to comment, but the board did take a look at written and visualized input sent to planner Tami Garrett by René Commons from the Junction Neighborhood Organization. Ultimately they asked NK to go with “a combination of option 1 and option 3” as shown in the revised packet, and the meeting ended. Watch the project via this city webpage; if you have any comments, on design or other issues, send them to planner Garrett at tami.garrett@seattle.gov.
The new sauna at city-run Southwest Pool is open – so in case you hadn’t heard, we’re sharing the news, and photos, from assistant aquatics coordinator Matt Richardson:
Southwest Pool’s new sauna is open!
We invite all of our adult swimmers and water exercisers to try out the new sauna. Use of the sauna is included in your regular swim fee during adult and senior programs. Please read and follow the posted safety rules.
Come on in and smell the new cedar.
We are really excited and know that it was worth the wait.
The sauna measures 10 X 12 feet and is kept at 160 degrees. It was purchased with a loan from Rev-Eck and Meadowbrook Councils. It is part of our fitness-room-upgrade project. The remainder of the project is waiting on DPD construction permits. It should be completed over the next six months to a year. It includes leveling a concrete floor, HVAC, emergency egress, electrical and weight equipment for a total investment close to $120,000. It should not require shutting down the pool to complete the project.
Call the pool at 206-684-7440 for information about adult swimming and water aerobics.
Haven’t been to Southwest Pool? It’s at 2801 SW Thistle; you can see its schedule online.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
In the first of tonight’s two Southwest Design Review Board sessions, the 102-unit, 60-parking-space apartment building proposed at 3078 SW Avalon Way (map) has just been recommended for approval.
Architect Radim Blazej from Caron Architecture presented the revisions made to the project, which was going before the board for a third time; the previous meetings were in September 2012 (WSB coverage here) and November 2013 (WSB coverage here).
As city planner Garry Papers explained it toward the start of the meeting at the Senior Center of West Seattle – where the SWDRB has been having all its meetings in recent months – while the project still has a building-permit process to go through after this, public meetings are not part of that process, so this was the key opportunity for in-person citizen comment.
Blazej – going through parts of the revised design packet – recapped concerns voiced by the board and public at the previous meeting, including some aspects of the building’s Avalon-facing ground level, and reducing the 7-story building’s height as part of the transition from the single-family neighborhood behind it, to the north. He noted that the project is “pulling away from the alley” to provide more separation, even though other buildings on the block are almost all the way up against it.
“By compressing the building floor-to-floor” internally, they’ve reduced the height about three feet, Blazej said. It’s the top shaded area in the following graphic:
In response to concerns about whether the big windows envisioned for the ground-level units would bring privacy concerns, he said they’d raised the units and added some green-screening.
With so many important meetings in West Seattle on Tuesday night, including three neighborhood councils, at least one PTSA, and the WS Transportation Coalition forum, few West Seattleites made it off-peninsula for a citywide meeting that was also of great interest. What turned out to be a raucous meeting – presented by the city but sparked by a citizens’ petition – focused on whether so-called “lowrise” zoning should be changed. Yes, the changes a few years ago had some “unintended consequences,” as acknowledged by the city Department of Planning and Development reps leading the meeting – taller “lowrise” buildings, among them. Seattle Channel did record this meeting as well, and the video has just been made available, so we’re sharing it above. Some supporting materials and links – first, the slide deck used by the city at Tuesday night’s meeting:
City presentation from low-rise-zoning meeting
(If you can’t see it embedded there, go to the city website to see the PDF.) If you’d like to read a news story about the event, go here to see what our fellow neighborhood news service CapitolHillSeattle.com reported about Tuesday night’s meeting. And as for what happens next – the city is continuing to take comments as it develops potential revisions to bring to the City Council; see the right side of the project webpage for contact information.
P.S. We know of at least one West Seattleite who spoke – you’ll see Morgan Community Association‘s Cindi Barker at the 66:30 mark of the meeting video.
P.P.S. And if you’re wondering what parts of West Seattle are zoned low-rise, see our original preview of this meeting, published last month.
If you couldn’t make it to Tuesday night’s West Seattle Transportation Coalition forum with reps from city, county, and state government – now you can see it in its two-hour entirety, courtesy of Seattle Channel; their video is now available to watch, and we’ve embedded it above. (We chronicled it as it happened, here, where you can read how it unfolded, and/or join the conversation with more than three dozen comments. WSTC’s next meeting is February 11th – watch for details here.
Seven years after Seattle Public Schools closed Fairmount Park Elementary, it reopens this fall, after renovations and expansion work that’s still under way. We’ve learned that a principal has been hired and an announcement is expected soon – likely before the week is over. And there’s a schedule of events for families interested in and/or likely to attend, starting in just a few weeks. From the SPS website:
Parent Information Nights
These meetings will be held in Alki Elementary in the cafeteria: 3010 59th Ave SW
These informational meetings will be conducted by the principal and the later three dates will include teachers hired for the 2014-2015 school year
These events could be crowded so we ask that only adults attend unless you have child-care issues and need to bring your child(ren) along. Meetings will run from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on the following dates:
Thursday, Feb 6th (new date)
Wednesday, Feb 12th
Tuesday, Feb 25th
Wednesday, Feb 26th (new date)
Tuesday, March 4th
Here’s the attendance-area map with which Fairmount Park will start when it opens this fall.
You might call this a sort of lost-and-found notice – West Seattle High School‘s music program has lost some sheet music over the years, and hopes you have found it, and can return it! The announcement:
Did you ever play an instrument or sing in a school group at West Seattle High? Do you still have sheet music or music books that were taken home for practice, but never made it back? If so, the WSHS Music Department would LOVE to get these items back! (You will owe no fines and can remain anonymous if you wish.)
WSHS has an extensive music collection dating back to the school’s opening over 100 years ago, but many pieces are unusable because of missing parts. In many cases, replacement parts are either no longer in print or are expensive. Sometimes, it would take only a single returned part to make a piece playable again!
You may return your sheet music and books in one of the following ways:
— By mailing them to Mr. Ethan Thomas, Music Department, West Seattle High School, 3000 California Ave. SW, Seattle, WA 98116
— By taking them to the special box in the West Seattle High School library. (Please enter the building through the west courtyard.) Current students may take the music directly to the band room.
— By dropping them off with one of our volunteer music sorters, Toni Reineke. Email tonireineke@comcast.net to get info on location.
If you have questions, please email Mr. Thomas at etthomas1@seattleschools.org or leave a message for him at 206-252-8800.
P.S. If you or your friends or family have music that belongs to other West Seattle schools (e.g., Sealth, Madison, Denny) and want to deliver it to us, we’ll ensure that it is reunited with the appropriate school.
P.S.S. Do you have a used instrument gathering dust? WSHS also welcomes instrument donations!
Five West Seattle development notes this morning:
FIRST LOOK AT EARLY DESIGN FOR EX-CHARLESTOWN CAFE SITE: After tonight’s unrelated doubleheader, the Southwest Design Review Board‘s next scheduled meeting is now set for January 30th (instead of the originally published 23rd), and 3824 California SW, proposing 30 townhouses and live-work units for the ex-café site, with 30 parking spaces, is one of the projects (here’s the official notice). We first told you about the plan last June, but there was no public hint of the design until now – its Early Design Guidance packet is available online for public perusal; see it here. Remember that this stage is just the “size and shape” (massing) stage; what you see above is the developer’s preferred massing – light blue represents live-works facing California, darker masses are townhouses behind them – pending discussion at the meeting two weeks from tonight, which also includes Early Design Guidance for 4505 42nd SW, 50 apartments and 16 parking spaces (here’s that official notice).
3005 HARBOR AVENUE: Today’s Land Use Information Bulletin announces the land-use application for 3005 Harbor Avenue SW (map), proposing a four-story, 8-residential-unit project replacing an 97-year-old house. Comments are being accepted through January 29th; you can use this form, linked from the application notice, if you’re interested in commenting.
6536 24th SW: This potential eight-house site (map) was first mentioned here last month. Today’s LUIB includes formal notice that comments are being accepted for the proposal to split its two parcels into eight.
TWO MORE FORMAL DESIGN-REVIEW NOTICES: Both mentioned here before, but in case you missed them, from today’s LUIB, the official notices for two projects that return to the SW Design Review Board on February 6th – 4400 SW Alaska and 3210 California SW.
2 HOUSES AFTER A LOT SPLIT: This has NOT hit the LUIB yet, but a new land-use application is in for two houses on the site of one at 4022 19th SW (map), where a lot-boundary adjustment was approved last year.
(2012 WSB photo by Nick Adams)
There’s a little bit of pirate in everyone, they say. Or, for some, a LOT of pirate. If that’s you – maybe you want to consider joining the notorious band known as the Seafair Pirates, who sent scurrilous word early today that they are recruiting:
Opportunity knocks, you swabs! The rare chance to join an organization hailed by the Seattle Times as “Seattle’s best respected cheesy thing,” awaits you! For sixty-five years the Seafair Pirates have been tickling the Emerald City’s funny bone. Are you cut out to help the Pirates continue to provide this vital community service?
The deal is the same as the pitch used by all navy recruiters; JOIN UP AND SEE THE WORLD! (Japan, Mexico, Canada, Ballard!) Of course like the navy you’ll work for your passage, but that’s all part of the life of adventure we’re offering you.
If you think you’ve got what it takes, find out more about the Seafair Pirates Candidate Program at www.seafairpirates.org/Candidate. If you don’t wish to apply electronically you can reach us at Seattle Seafair Pirates, PO Box 30674, Greenwood Station, Seattle, WA 98113, or by telephone, 206-521-3300. So get your note in that bottle now!
The Seafair Pirates originally banded together in 1949 in conjunction with the first Seafair to promote Seattle’s summer celebration while having fun and serving the community. Despite their bad-guy image, the Pirates make dozens of appearances annually at hospitals, nursing homes and charity fund raisers. During the height of Seattle’s SEAFAIR Celebration, they appear at several events and parades each day.
Go, Hawk! OK, so it’s not a SEAhawk – it’s an immature Cooper’s Hawk, according to Mark Wangerin, who shared the photo – impressive just the same. Now, on to tonight’s calendar highlights:
CHARTER-SCHOOL PITCHES: Three prospective South Seattle/Highline-area charter-school operators make their pitches at a meeting tonight in White Center, part of the official process in which the state will decide whose application(s) to approve. The first presentation is at 5, then one at 6, and one at 7, all detailed in this preview on our partner site White Center Now. It’s happening at the Technology Access Foundation‘s Bethaday Learning Space in Lakewood Park. (605 SW 108th)
FASTSIGNS GRAND OPENING: One of West Seattle’s newest businesses, FASTSIGNS (WSB sponsor) in Upper Morgan, is hosting its official grand-opening party tonight, in conjunction with the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce‘s monthly After-Hours event, but all community members are invited to stop by, 5:30-7:30 pm. (6323 35th SW)
VOLUNTEER AT WESTSIDE BABY: Third Thursday of the month means an evening volunteering opportunity at WestSide Baby – 6-9 pm: “Come and help us sort donations and fill orders for local children! Snacks and drinks provided, Spaces are limited so please RSVP to Shana – shana@westsidebaby.org” P.S. Teens are welcome, including those meeting service requirements for graduation – parent permission is required; forms can be found on the WS Baby website. (10027 14th SW)
DESIGN REVIEW DOUBLEHEADER: First meeting of the year tonight for the Southwest Design Review Board, and it’s another doubleheader – at 6:30 pm, they review the 100-plus-apartment project 3078 SW Avalon Way (design packet here); at 8 pm, 4433 42nd SW, aka the 80-unit project “Junction Flats” (design packet here). Both meetings are upstairs at the Senior Center of West Seattle; both will have public-comment periods. (California/Oregon)
ALKI COMMUNITY COUNCIL: 7 pm at Alki UCC, with topics including this week’s citywide meeting on lowrise development, and a look at the year ahead. (6115 SW Hinds)
GENESEE-SCHMITZ NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: 7 pm at West Side Presbyterian Church – details in our calendar listing. (3601 California SW)
WEST SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT PRODUCTION: The West Seattle High School student-directed winter show ‘The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon’ has its second performance in the WSHS Theater tonight, 7:30 pm. More info here. (3000 California SW)
MUCH, MUCH MORE … on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, for today, tonight, and far beyond.
(Latest bridge and Viaduct views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
As Thursday begins, we look ahead to the holiday weekend, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day observed on Monday. King County has already sent reminders that there will be NO Water Taxi service on Monday, and that Metro buses will be on the “reduced weekday” schedule.
The West Seattle High School varsity girls are on a roll, to say the least, with eight wins in a row. At home, they more than tripled the score of visiting Rainier Beach on Wednesday night, 63-18. As you’ll see in the stats, Lexi Ioane (top photo, #30) led the scoring with 20 points; Lydia Giomi was next up at 15 – she’s #12 in the next photo, with #10 Charli Elliott, third in scoring at 10 points:
#4 Maggie Cooper bringing the ball downcourt:
#21 Gabby Sarver:
Big challenge ahead for head coach Sonya Elliott‘s team on Friday, as they visit Holy Names, which has a 9-game winning streak going and beat Chief Sealth on Wednesday night, 72-29..
Big night of basketball at the Seattle Lutheran High School gym:
Bear Creek visited to face the Saints. The girls played first; while the game was tied at the half, 13-all, Bear Creek pulled away and picked up the victory, 42-29. But the night included a special celebration for their coach, Bruce Carlson:
Earlier this month, he got his 500th win with the Saints, in their January 7th win over Shoreline Christian. And then he notched number 501, versus Concrete. His day job is at Menashe and Sons Jewelers (WSB sponsor) but he’s been on the coaching staff since the early ’80s – almost but not quite dating back to the school’s opening.
The night was wrapped up by the Lutheran boys’ varsity game
Bear Creek won that one too, 76-52. Top scorer for the Saints was Abijah Smith, with 23. Next up – Mt. Rainier Lutheran visits SLHS to play the boys at 1 pm Saturday, while the girls are on the road that day vs. Auburn Adventist.
We are happy to be able to share this photo by Alki’s David Hutchinson. Just after sunset, we were walking along Don Armeni, where we found him staked out waiting to see if the moon would make this kind of appearance. No sighting by the time we moved on – but eventually, it showed up, spectacularly.
ADDED MONDAY MORNING: David shares this link with some trivia about last night’s full moon – and why it was nicknamed the “Minimoon.”
While WSDOT and its contractor deal with the issue of why the Highway 99 tunnel machine is stalled and how to get it unstalled – another matter is moving forward: Deciding how the tunnel will be tolled. The committee working on the issue met Tuesday afternoon, somewhat overshadowed by a major transportation announcement made elsewhere, so we followed up today.
The materials from the meeting are now available online. A final recommendation won’t be voted on until next month’s committee meeting, but right now, this slide deck and this text document lay out the case for this potential draft recommendation: $1 midday, overnight and weekends; $1.25 during peak periods, 6-9 am and 3-6 pm weekdays. To reduce “diversion,” they’re also looking at dropping it to 75 cents in the off-peak daytime hours, with a possible one-hour extension to weekday pm peak.
This would raise $1 billion over 30 years. Here’s how that might break out:
The committee is described as concerned with the cost of collecting the tolls – fully a third of what they bring in. And it’s looking at other ways to discourage diversion, including recommending studies of “regional tolling.” This may still evolve between now and next month’s meeting, February 19th.
Plans are in the works for Seattle’s Neighbor Appreciation Day on February 8th – and fire-station open houses are among the most popular features every year. The schedule is out, and it looks like this year, you’ll be able to stop by Fire Station 11 at 16th/Holden in Highland Park, Fire Station 32 at 38th/Alaska in The Triangle, and/or Fire Station 37 at 35th/Holden in Sunrise Heights. Tour times on February 8th (a Saturday) will be 11 am-1 pm. What else can you do on Neighbor Appreciation Day? See the suggestions here (including e-card templates).
3:19 PM: Changes continue at the top in Seattle Police – and now there’s a West Seattle ripple effect: This afternoon multiple sources confirm to WSB that Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Joe Kessler is becoming an assistant chief. Just yesterday, he told us about the promotion of his second-in-command, Pierre Davis, to captain. This follows Mayor Ed Murray‘s recent announcement of Harry Bailey as interim chief, with previous interim chief Jim Pugel returning to assistant chief, a rank from which three men have recently or are about to have departed. No other details yet about exactly what this means for West Seattle police leadership, but we expect to find out more during next Tuesday’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting at the precinct, if not sooner. Kessler worked in the downtown administration before returning to lead the local precinct one year ago.
ADDED 7:02 PM: Capt. Davis confirms that he “will be commanding this precinct until other decisions are made.” And Assistant Chief Kessler’s promotion, among others, is now officially mentioned on SPD Blotter.
ADDED 10:29 PM: A farewell note from Kessler:
As I prepare to move once again from the Southwest Precinct, I would like to take a minute to thank all of you for allowing me to come back “home” again last year. After spending two and a half years as your Precinct Commander prior to my departure in 2010, it was my great pleasure to have the opportunity to come back to the Southwest Precinct and again serve this community.
The men and women of your Precinct bring a high level of professionalism and pride to their work.
It is only through your support and working together that creates the great environment that allows our officers to provide the quality of service you have come to expect. I have appreciated the hard work of you and our community leaders who have developed strong working relationships with our officers to make this community safe.
Again, it has been a pleasure to serve your community and thank you for your support and I look forward to working with you in the future.
Sincerely,
A/Chief Joe Kessler
Southwest Precinct
(December 29th photo by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
The date and time are now set for the memorial walk in High Point honoring 69-year-old James St. Clair, hit and killed two and a half weeks ago at 35th and Graham. We reported last week on Seattle Neighborhood Greenways‘ plan for the walk, in connection with local groups including the High Point Neighborhood Association, and following HPNA’s meeting last night, it’s set for 1 pm this Saturday, January 18th, starting in front of High Point Branch Library (35th/Raymond). Participants will walk south to the crash site, and then two more blocks to Neighborhood House’s High Point Center to talk with city representatives about safer streets. SNG says the mayor’s office, SDOT, and SPD will participate.
Mr. St. Clair was the second person in seven years killed at that intersection; 27-year-old Susanne Scaringi died after her bicycle collided there with a car in 2006. In 2007, 85-year-old Oswald Clement was hit and killed at 35th/Othello; in 2008, 39-year-old Gregory Hampel lost his life near SW Dawson; in 2011, 24-year-old Andrew Seffernick died at 35th/Juneau. There have been repeated calls for safety improvements.
SNG says Mr. St. Clair, a member of the Tlingit people who had lived in High Point less than a month before his death but had been in Seattle more than 30 years, was born in Hoonah, Alaska. His brother, Oscar Jacob St. Clair, is quoted in the group’s announcement as describing James, who walked with a cane, as strong, independent, funny, and outgoing:
“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for recognizing Jim. For seeing all people, even poor people. Our family, my brothers and sisters, are in sorrow. I pray a positive light will happen because of this. A lot of people need to walk in the evening. They want to go to the grocery store like Jim did on his last night. I hope in his memory we see brighter lights, a stoplight, a safer community.”
More about Saturday’s memorial walk is on the SNG website, here.
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