West Seattle, Washington
12 Wednesday
(UPDATED with first official info from police – scroll or click to end of story)
6:09 PM: We’ve just learned that police are investigating another case of a “flasher” near a local school. This time, it was reported by two students from Madison Middle School. According to the mother of one of the students, the man was exposing/touching himself while in a car, with the door open, near 45th and Andover (map), about two blocks south of Madison, around 2:45 pm. She says he was described as a “30-something white male, dark hair, heavyset. Black, small 4-door sedan in poor condition.”
We are trying to reach police to see if they believe it’s linked to any of the previous recent incidents in West Seattle. (P.S. If you are just catching up with the day’s other news, that was 6 hours after rapist Michael S. Stanley was booked into jail, so there’s no chance it was him.)
6:28 PM UPDATE: And now we’re getting word of an incident outside Westside School (WSB sponsor) today as well – one of the schools targeted in earlier incidents. Multiple parents just tipped us – here’s an excerpt from the note that went home:
I regret that I must write to inform our Westside Families of another incident that happened at school today. This afternoon, several Middle School girls were playing near the fence along 32nd Ave. A man drove up, stayed in his car and began to touch himself inappropriately. The girls immediately walked away from the fence, notified an adult and were not in any physical danger. Staff were present on the playground and observant of the students. Parents of each of the girls involved have been contacted personally by the school.
Our primary concern is to keep your children safe at school and in the community. Our playground perimeter is fenced and secure, and we have video cameras in place. We have adults with children at all times on our playgrounds and in school. Just as in the previous incident, we are cooperating fully with law enforcement and will provide as much information as possible to support them in finding this individual and preventing him from engaging in this type of activity. We will also communicate with our colleagues at other schools that have been affected by recent similar events.
Those incidents were (links go to our coverage):
*September 9, Holy Rosary
*September 18, Holy Rosary
*September 18, Westside
*October 1, Hope (reported child-luring attempt, while the previous three were “flashers”)
It should be noted, police have never said whether any or all of those are believed to be related.
9 PM UPDATE: SPD Blotter now has a report on today’s two incidents – go here or read on for the full text:Read More
Thanks to Carolyn Newman for the photo of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior passing West Seattle earlier today. It’s docked at Pier 66, but it’s not here for a protest – it’s here on an official, pre-scheduled visit, and will be offering tours on the downtown waterfront this weekend – details here.
Before we get to today’s advice on what to put into your “Go Bag” in honor of Washington State Diaster Preparedness Month – one last reminder about a meeting tonight at which you can find out about other ways to prepare yourself and your neighborhood: The West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network will focus on preparedness resources during its monthly meeting, 6:30 tonight at the Southwest Precinct (Delridge/Webster). Everybody’s welcome!
Now, today’s get-it-in-your-bag advice, from West Seattle Be Prepared:
So far, you may have been able to fill your bag with things you have had sitting around the house. This time, you might have to go out to get this one – today you should put cash money into your kit. Recommended is about $100, and in small bills, no larger than $20 are best. This will allow you to purchase at stores even if their card-reader systems are not back on line.
Just getting started? Catching up? Planning to get started? Items 1 (the bag itself) through 20 are archived in reverse-chronological order here.
(Photo by Tony Bradley)
1:36 PM: We’re getting word that a car-motorcycle crash at East Marginal Way South and South Spokane Street (map) involves a fatality. That’s according to Seattle Fire via Twitter; the motorcycle rider was killed, while the car’s 55-year-old driver is being taken to a hospital “as a precaution.” More to come.
(Photo by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
4:05 PM: Investigators are still at the scene, so motor vehicles should avoid the area (bike path unaffected).
8:07 PM: Seattle Police have just published an update via SPD Blotter, saying they believe the motorcycle rider, 24 years old, was speeding:
… Preliminary investigation indicates that a 24-year-old man was driving his white Yamaha motorcycle southbound on East Marginal Way South at a high rate of speed and passing vehicles using the bicycle lane. As the motorcyclist approached South Spokane Street he struck a green Isuzu Trooper SUV that had been travelling southbound on East Marginal Way South and was initiating a westbound turn onto South Spokane Street. The force of the collision caused the motorcyclist to be thrown from his motorcycle, and he subsequently sustained fatal injuries.
Fire department medics responded and pronounced the motorcyclist deceased at the scene. King County Medical Examiner’s Office personnel responded and took custody of the deceased man.
The 50-year-old driver of the Isuzu was transported to Harborview Medical Center via ambulance for precautionary reasons. Officers evaluated the driver of the Isuzu for signs of impairment; none were detected. …
The motorcycle rider has not been identified; his name isn’t likely to be made available by the Medical Examiner’s Office before tomorrow.
(MID-AFTERNOON UPDATE: Scroll/click ahead to bottom of story; building’s now mostly gone)
12:28 PM: As of noon, the western building on the heart-of-The-Junction development site was more than half gone. This one has far more history than the eastern building, which was torn down first; the one on the southeast corner of California/Alaska was the home of West Seattle Hospital for years, with multiple families welcoming new additions each day during the peak of the baby boom. Click ahead for photos and video from earlier this morning, when the facade started coming down (update: more images added @ 3 pm):
(UPDATE/EDITOR’S NOTE: Police now say Stanley is under investigation for sexual assault – scroll down for newest info)
9:50 AM: Just published on SPD Blotter:
Seattle police have arrested Sean Michael Stanley, a violent sex offender who fled Canada and entered the US earlier this month.
Just before 6 AM this morning, police received several reports that a man was yelling in an alley near the 2300 block of 44th Avenue SW in West Seattle.
One caller told police that when he’d asked the man to quiet down, the man had threatened to assault him.
When officers arrived at the scene, they Stanley, who became combative with officers and claimed he had a knife.
Officers found a small knife on Stanley, who appeared intoxicated, and booked him into the King County Jail for harassment.
ADDED 10:45 AM: First – in case you are wondering which alley in the 2300 block of 44th, police say it’s the one between California and 44th, behind the Admiral Theater (added: photo of the general area).
No word yet what he was doing in West Seattle; in case you haven’t seen the regional-media reports about Stanley, here’s one from the Seattle Times (WSB partner) published before today’s arrest. He is 48 years old and was out of prison in Canada after serving time for crimes including, reports the Times, “raping an 82-year-old woman who used a wheelchair and of luring and sexually assaulting two mentally challenged boys.”
On October 1st, he removed a monitoring device he had been ordered to wear, and eventually made his way to the U.S./Canada border crossing in Blaine, north of Bellingham. He turned up in Seattle last week and, while local authorities aren’t sure if he is required to register here – Canada didn’t even want him extradited – he did register as transient, saying he was living near Pike Place Market. Here is his page on the King County sex-offender registry site; we’ve added the photo from that page to this story.
11:07 AM: According to the King County Jail Register, Stanley was booked at 8:42 am and his bail is set at $1,000. He is listed on the register as Michael Shawn Stanley; the names/aliases listed on his sex-offender-registration page are Michael Sean Stanley, Michael A. Bigwolf, David Quintasket, Carl C. Youngpine. He is a U.S. citizen and entered the country on October 7th, according to Canadian reports. There’s more about his background in this story, which notes that he has a record with at least four dozen convictions.
11:39 AM: Since the charge on which he’s being held is a misdemeanor, it’s being handled by Seattle Municipal Court and the city attorney’s office, whose spokesperson Kimberly Mills says he is scheduled for arraignment tomorrow morning.
12:23 PM: Police now say Stanley is under investigation for a reported sexual assault just before his Admiral arrest early today. An update from SPD Blotter:
Shortly after arresting sex offender Michael Sean Stanley this morning, Seattle police received information that he may be the suspect in a sexual assault in West Seattle earlier today.
According to the report police received this morning, Stanley met a 16-year-old male at a grocery store, struck up a conversation with the teen, and walked with him to an alley in the 2400 block of 44th Ave. SW. In the alley, Stanley plied the teen with alcohol, grabbed the teen, and sexually assaulted him. The 16-year-old pulled a knife on Stanley and was able to run to another location and contact police.
Detectives believe this incident may have preceded several calls to police about noise and threats in the alleyway. After investigating those complaints this morning, officers arrested Stanley for harassment.
Stanley, who fled Canada and entered the US earlier this month, is currently in the King County Jail, but will be re-booked on additional charges today.
Stanley is currently registered as a sex offender and is under the supervision of the King County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities are now working to determine how this will impact his offender status.
Since attempted sexual assault is a felony, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office will now be involved in the case; we’re checking with them regarding plans for a bail hearing – most likely won’t be before tomorrow.
3:32 PM: No new updates yet – the jail register still shows Stanley behind bars. He has been out of prison in Canada since April 2011. We haven’t found court documents for any of his cases but he does have a record in our state as well, dating up to the turn of the millennium. He had a King County Superior Court case from 1983 – when he would have been in his late teens – but the docket doesn’t cite the charge and the records are not available online.
MONDAY MORNING UPDATE, 10:05 AM: The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office tells WSB he has yet to be booked in the sexual-assault case, so he won’t be on the bail-hearing calendar for that today. He is in Seattle Municipal Court right now and citywide reporters say he has pleaded not guilty and that bail has just been set at $100,000. Separate story to come.
(WSB photo from October 2nd Sealth vs. WSHS game)
Last Saturday, the Huling Bowl … tomorrow, a rematch of division leaders in volleyball! Another West Seattle High School vs. Chief Sealth International High School game is coming up, and WSHS parent Laurie Sarver e-mailed us with an invitation/reminder for you to show up and support the schools’ athletes. Admission is free; it’s also Senior Night for four Wildcats players. The girls hit the court at 7 pm Wednesday night (October 23) in the WSHS gym (3000 California SW).
(East-facing camera on the West Seattle Bridge; see other cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning! No scheduled road work to report for today. While we watch to see how your commute goes: In the ongoing-projects department, there’s a new photo from WSDOT, shared via Twitter, of the work going on at the future Highway 99 south portal, now that the tunnel-digging machine is making some progress:
The tunnel’s future south portal is coming together. pic.twitter.com/2RF5f5jcro
— Bertha (@BerthaDigsSR99) October 21, 2013
Here’s an overview of how the South Portal area will work.
At its quarterly meeting, the Morgan Community Association voted to support the new West Seattle Transportation Coalition, got an update on the about-to-be-built sewer-overflow-control project at Lowman Beach, heard about efforts to improve cleanliness and safety at Morgan Junction Park, discussed a new development – and that was just the start:
(WSB photo, taken the day after the MoCA meeting)
FRIENDS OF MORGAN JUNCTION PARKS: In addition to the volunteer work this group is doing, talk turned to those who loiter in Morgan Junction Park. Park volunteers say they have engaged the people who hang out, but so far the loiterers are not complying with trash rules. And they say not enough people are calling 911 when they see rulebreaking; more should be making those calls, for wider community representation. The behavior is getting worse, it appears – one week earlier, there was a big drinking party, and a big bonfire was started in the park; Seattle Fire came but police were never able to respond because that happened concurrently with the Westwood Village-area stabbings. To address this, MoCA is working with police to find an official sign to put up regarding, “Drinking is against the rules, here’s who to call.” Also call in matters of public safety – somebody passed out, someone injured … “Don’t be shy,” said Friends of MJP’s Tod Rodman. “It’s your park – if people are there, the bad stuff will (recede),” added FoMJP’s Barry White.
Back to the group’s main work: One more planting and mulching event will be happening in early November, an afternoon event after the Seahawks game, White said. “It’s been a great ride, and we’re getting more and more people involved.” The triangle park just north of West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor) had a great planting party recently with 20 volunteers from Peace Lutheran Church in Gatewood. The current planting project in the streetside strips by Thriftway is the store’s doing, it was revealed in subsequent discussion. Next, the Friends of MJP is going to look at the Fauntleroy/Juneau triangle property to find out how it can help.
Two-thirds of the way through Washington State Diaster Preparedness Month AND two-thirds of the way through the “Go Bag”/emergency kit we’re building one day at a time, with the help of West Seattle Be Prepared:
It’s time to dig through the pile of clothes that you were going to give away: Put in a change of clothing and a pair of shoes for each person. It’s better in our part of the country to make sure you have warm clothing included, rather than just a T-shirt or light pants. If you can fit them, a pair of gloves and a warm or waterproof hat should go in as well.
Items 1 (the bag itself) through 19 are archived in reverse-chronological order here.
P.S. Be extra-prepared by going to the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network‘s Tuesday night meeting – info here.
“Safety shouldn’t be scary!” So says the flyer for a special event just announced, with an open invitation to families from around the community:
Hope Lutheran School is sponsoring and hosting (the event) on November 5th, presented by Kim Estes, from Savvy Parents Safe Kids. Due to the recent events at various local schools (including Hope) involving children being approached by strangers, we felt a great need to not only review safety with our students, but also with our parents. We invite the community to attend this great workshop about how to keep our children as safe as possible. The 90-minute presentation followed by a question-and-answer session is free. Child care will not be provided. The event begins at 6:30 and ends at 8:00 pm followed by a question and answer session.
Here’s the full flyer:
(See it here if you can’t see the scrollable embedded version above.) Hope is at 42nd and Oregon in The Junction.
The unions representing thousands of grocery-store workers at chains including QFC, Safeway, Albertsons, and Fred Meyer say they have reached a tentative contract deal. So it looks like NO strike. Here’s their statement via Facebook:
We are very pleased to announce that today at 5 PM the union member bargaining team from UFCW 21 & 367 and Teamsters 38 reached a tentative agreement with the national grocery chains in contract negotiations. This tentative agreement has been unanimously recommended by the union member bargaining team. Details will not to be released until after union members themselves have had the opportunity to review the tentative agreement and vote on it. The times and locations of those vote meetings will be announced in the coming days after arrangements have been made to schedule the vote.
The announcement came with just a few hours left in the strike countdown.
(Blue Angels fly over Boeing Field, 2009 photo by David DeSiga)
An announcement by the Navy last Friday was so quiet, they’re shouting it a bit louder today – they’ve figured out how to resume “community outreach” and that means, among other things, that the Blue Angels are back in the air next year, and that some festivals will see Fleet Week ships again, including Seafair here in Seattle.
(USS Bunker Hill passing Alki Point during Seafair 2012; photo by Gary Jones)
Here’s the Navy’s announcement. You’ll recall that this year’s Seafair went without Blue Angels and a visiting fleet because of federal belt-tightening.
(WSB photo from June 2013 Relay for Life)
One of our area’s major cancer-fighting fundraisers, West Seattle Relay for Life, happens every summer – a memorable all-night relay with moments from exuberant to emotional. Like so many excellent events, it doesn’t and can’t happen without major volunteer help, and this is where you come in – maybe your special skills can make a difference:
Right now, the local American Cancer Society signature fundraising event is looking for committee members to help organize the 2013 Relay For Life. With just over nine months left before the Relay, the committee has a place for everyone.
Positions available include:
Sponsorship Chair: Get local businesses involved in this community-based event.
Online Chair: Manage the online fundraising arm of the American Cancer Society’s most successful event!
Team Development Chair: Help teams fundraise and recruit new teams to join the fight.
Many more!This year’s Relay For Life of West Seattle will take place overnight in July (date TBD) at West Seattle Stadium.
Want to know more, or just go ahead and volunteer? Contact chair Santina, santinarigano@yahoo.com, or ACS staff partner Nici, nici.eaton@cancer.org. An organizational meeting is coming up in early November and they can tell you more.
You won’t notice it yet if you drive by on California or Alaska, but from 42nd SW, you can see that demolition has indeed begun on the remaining building on the site of Equity Residential’s 2-building, ~200-apartment project. A closer look shows long-hidden interior brick walls:
As discussed in comments on recent WSB coverage of teardown elsewhere on the site, this building was once – when it had a second story – home to the West Seattle Hospital, which later moved to the site on SW Holden that is now home to Navos. Meantime, another reminder that sidewalks on California and Alaska are closed – temporarily, as noted here Friday – while this stage of demolition continues for several days.
Stopping by the West Seattle Hi-Yu table at the Fauntleroy Fall Festival on Sunday, we found out Hi-Yu has just announced a big change: Boys are now welcome to apply to be Hi-Yu royalty, as well as girls.
The full announcement is on the Hi-Yu website, along with this link to the Junior Court application (which will download as a Word doc). The application has to be in by November 5th; this year’s Junior Court coronation is planned for the Hi-Yu Community Breakfast on November 9th. Girls and boys 8-12 years old are welcome to apply.
The Senior Court also will be open to both male and female candidates, and Hi-Yu says it’ll announce the application period soon. The next royalty will be part of a milestone – Hi-Yu’s 80th anniversary!
If you would like to get an application in person, Hi-Yu reps will be at the Hiawatha Community Center Halloween carnival this Friday night (one of the events are in the just-launched WSB Halloween Guide).
Relatively quiet weekend – no major incidents – but we do have reader reports to share in West Seattle Crime Watch today, and we’ve checked the Seattle Police map for current trends, noting for starters that burglaries are still running above average:
The map shows 23 burglaries reported in West Seattle since last Monday. That’s compared to 24 the previous week, and up from last October, which SPD online stats say averaged 18 a week. Eighteen is also the weekly average this year, through August, the most recent month for which SPD has published monthly stats. To see addresses, go to the map and click on any icon, which will tell you the street/block number and when it was reported.
Ahead – a stolen-vehicle report plus a look at the map/numbers for how that category of crime is trending in West Seattle right now, as well as other reader reports on car break-ins, mail theft, and two likely stolen items found:
More fencing went up this morning around the building on the southeast corner of California/Alaska, where sidewalks will be *temporarily* blocked off during the Equity Residential project demolition over the next several days (full details in this update from last Friday). Also happening today/tonight – highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
MICROHOUSING-RULES COMMENT DEADLINE: Speaking of development, have something to say about the city’s proposed rules regarding so-called “microhousing”? In case you missed our earlier story about the proposals (and the West Seattle projects in process) – see it here; today’s the city deadline for comments.
TOLLS ON I-90 BRIDGE? As previewed here over the weekend, the state has two meetings this week for your comments on potential I-90 bridge tolling, and the first one is tonight, 4-7 pm at Mercer Island High School. (If you can’t make it to a meeting, our preview also includes how to send your comment via e-mail.)
DUWAMISH DREAMS: The Duwamish River is more than an industrial waterway, more than a Superfund cleanup site – it’s a river within a city, home to wildlife, and the center of hopes, dreams, and years of work, past, present, and future, to help bring it fully back to life. Tonight, hear and talk about it during a community forum presented by Sustainable West Seattle at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7 pm. (5612 California SW)
HEAR ABOUT ‘LUNA GIRLS’ PLAN: As first reported here earlier this month, there’s a new plan for where to install local artist Lezlie Jane‘s new “Luna Girls on Alki” sculpture, and you are invited to hear about it and comment on it during a 6:30 pm meeting tonight at Marination ma kai (WSB sponsor) at Seacrest Pier. (1660 Harbor Ave. SW)
EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER? HOMESCHOOLER? You’re invited to an event presented tonight by the West Seattle Preschool Association – “Sing Into Reading” with Nancy Stewart, regarding the “importance of music and singing in early childhood development … In this workshop participants will learn the six early reading skills, and how singing is vital in building them.” 7-9 pm at Sweet Pea Cottage Preschool. (7141 California SW)
IT’S NOT TRIVIAL: Check the calendar – only place you’ll find EVERY listing we have for today, tonight, and far beyond – for tonight’s three listed trivia and pub-quiz events!
(WSB photo from last week, looking south across the project site)
Demolition work is over at the future site of a million-gallon storage tank meant to reduce combined-sewer overflows across the street at the Murray Pump Station on Lowman Beach. As King County’s Doug Marsano told the Morgan Community Association last week, this is going to be a BIG dig – 80 feet wide and 60 feet deep. It’ll all be previewed at a public meeting planned for 6:30 pm Wednesday, November 6th. The official announcement has just arrived:
Construction of King County’s new water-pollution-control facility near Lowman Beach Park gets underway later this year.
Do you have all the information you want about the project activities, schedule, and potential impacts to the community? Please join King County’s Murray Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Control Facility project team for the project’s pre-construction public meeting!
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
6:30-8:30 pm
Fauntleroy Church, 9140 California Avenue SW· Meet and share concerns with the project team
· Understand how the project protects public health and safeguards Puget Sound
· Review the project schedule
· Learn more about the project’s potential impacts to neighbors and park users
· Discuss how the County project team will work with the community to reduce disruptions
You can see the project’s final design plan on the county website.
Halloween is ten days away but since it’s on a Thursday, many – but not all! – of the events are this weekend. From community-center carnivals to business-district 
trick-or-treating, we’ve gathered together all the upcoming Halloween/harvest/fall-festival events from our calendar and you’ll find them in one place, westseattleblog.com/halloween – or click the HALLOWEEN tab beneath the header photo on any WSB page. If you haven’t let us know about your business/organization/school’s event, though, it might not be there – but it’s not too late for us to add it; e-mail editor@westseattleblog.com. No need for a long announcement – just send the basics, and if you have a web and/or Facebook link for the event, please include it. Thanks!
(East-facing camera on the West Seattle Bridge; see other cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Welcome to a new week! Just one alert for today – reminder that a TEMPORARY closure of sidewalks on the southeast corner of California/Alaska is scheduled to start today as demolition work begins on the west half of the development site there. Here’s our story from Friday.
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
10:04 PM: Fire crews are at a residence in the 4500 block of 41st SW in The Junction for what they describe as a “tapped dryer fire.” But they’re also acknowledging there’s lots of “residual smoke.”
10:29 PM: WSB contributor Christopher Boffoli checked out the fire scene and reports no one was hurt; he saw SFD “haul the smoking dryer out of the house.”
A second project is now on the Southwest Design Review Board‘s agenda for November 21st, in addition to 3210 California SW: The city’s tentative schedule for that night now shows the second and potentially final review for 3078 Avalon Way SW, now described on the city project page as an 8-story, 108-apartment, 61-parking-space proposal. That’s fewer spaces than were mentioned when it passed Early Design Guidance in its first board review in September 2012, from which the image at left was taken (as noted then, this is in the zone where new construction isn’t required to have any on-site parking at all). As shown in WSB coverage of the September 2012 meeting, a sizable group of neighbors has been following the project closely, and expanded its attention to other proposals in the area; most live on 32nd SW, a single-family-home neighborhood just north of the project site. The tentative plan for the November 21st meeting is for 3210 California to be reviewed at 6:30 pm, 3078 Avalon at 8, at the Senior Center of West Seattle (California/Oregon in The Junction).
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