West Seattle, Washington
03 Sunday
Balloons mark the spot as Olympia Pizza and Pasta on Delridge marks its first day in business, two months after we first told you it was coming. 5605 Delridge (map); open till 11 tonight.
Tthe West Seattle neighborhood readiness campaign we’ve been telling you about is still under way: To refresh your memory, the map above shows the West Seattle locations already designated as neighborhood gathering places for information and help in case of disaster — somewhere you’d be able to go, if the regular lines of communication weren’t working — and it’s important to memorize where your nearest one is, and to make sure your loved ones know too. (Some areas of south West Seattle are still a work in progress.) To help make it easier for you to know your gathering place, and to get info about how to be ready for the unthinkable, each area has set up a time for a drop-in event — Alki, (Alaska) Junction, Morgan Junction, Pigeon Point, Olympic Heights and Admiral have had theirs; the Fairmount event is noon-2 pm Sunday in the southeast parking lot of Providence Mt. St. Vincent. One more important thing we want to mention again: a checklist of supplies you can purchase right now to have on hand “just in case” – it has helpful specifics, not just the generalized lists you often see. We’ve uploaded it here so you can take a look and print it out for yourself for use in building a kit you can get to if you need it (and if you don’t have MS Word — here’s a PDF version).
Spotted this unusual sight while driving through Morgan Junction — the West Seattle Thriftway parking lot partly empty in the middle of the day! Called the store to get the scoop; managers tell WSB that it’s just restriping/sealing/blacktop work to freshen up the parking lot – no changes in the number or size of spaces – they’re taking advantage of the great weather to get this done, since it’ll dry faster; the Fauntleroy/Morgan entrance is closed at the moment (so you’ll need to enter off California). The work will continue through the weekend but they say today’s the “biggest chunk.”
Just got full details on this — a City of Seattle Career Fair is coming to the Joint Training Facility on the southeastern edge of West Seattle next Wednesday — here’s the announcement:Read More
Earlier this week, we showed you that photo of the Seafair Pirates clowning around with the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival banner as both organizations appeared at the first major parade of the season, at the Sequim Irrigation Festival last Saturday. That report also included an account of parade trouble involving the breakdown-plagued float-propelling vehicle; that problem’s not solved yet but Hi-Yu Festival president Tim Winston reports, the Pirates are lending some mechanical expertise, as their signature “vessel” Moby Duck also has decades-old infrastructure. However, that’s not going to help in time to get the Hi-Yu float to what was its next appearance, this weekend in Port Townsend; instead, Winston says, they’re arranging for the Hi-Yu court to ride in convertibles in that parade. He’s hoping the Pirates’ help will enable Hi-Yu to get its float in shape for its 6/14 gig in Marysville; he also says they’re still looking at the prospect of a fundraising drive to get the estimated $30K it would take for a float-propelling vehicle that would last for years to come, as Hi-Yu continues not only delighting West Seattle families, but also representing WS in events around the region (which brings the reciprocal event of those events sending floats and representatives to the midsummer parade here).
Congratulations to Madison Middle School seventh-graders Allie Commons and Dylan Tucker, who will be honored at a reception in Olympia today. They’re receiving an award at the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s annual School Art Show Awards and Reception, in connection with their work in the 2008 Youth Art Month flag-design contest (shown above). This comes as Arts Education Week wraps up. (Allie and Dylan’s work is featured on the state’s webpage for today’s event, as well as on page 2 of the program.) The Seattle Public Schools communication team also notes that Madison students “have been working on a project titled ‘A World with No Art’ with posters (on display at the school) illustrating what would be missing from their lives if fine art, music, dance, and drama did not exist.
A month and a half after we first told you about the bizarre surfing injury that left West Seattle native Addie Killam disabled (original WSB report here) — we have two updates: First, Addie is undergoing rehab in a western Colorado hospital and could return to West Seattle sometime next month. Second – work parties are happening today, tomorrow, and Sunday, as well as later this month, to get a West Seattle house wheelchair-accessible for Addie’s homecoming. Full details — including when help is needed, where it’s needed, who to call if you can help, plus a link for a donation fund — are all on this website that’s just been set up.
(updated Friday morning with attachments/images re: 59th/Stevens project “shadow” concerns)
Steps away from the busy beachfront, Alki Community Council members gathered tonight for updates on several topics – most notably, police plans for helping Alki stay safe, and two hot development-related issues — read on:Read More
The fight over what can and can’t be built on that large lawn in the 4800 block of Beach Drive, stretching westward from the city-landmarked Satterlee House, isn’t over yet. Richard Hill, lawyer for Satterlee House owner William Conner, has just confirmed to WSB that Conner is going to court to challenge the city Hearing Examiner‘s recent ruling on his development proposal. As reported here April 28th, Hearing Examiner Sue Tanner upheld the city Landmarks Board vote against Conner’s proposal to build three 3,000-square-foot homes on the land; it’s been subdivided into three lots for potential development, and it was suggested at the extensive hearing preceding the ruling (this archive includes all WSB coverage) that the board might have looked more favorably on smaller houses. The HE ruling was the city’s final say, so court action was the only means by which it could be challenged; the 51-page appeal asks King County Superior Court to review the decision – we won’t have time to review all 51 pages till later, but we’ve uploaded the document here in case you want to read it first.
After our bird-sighting report yesterday (haven’t solved the mystery yet), Ginny (thank you!!!!) sent us a link to the Urban Peregrines of Western Washington blog — pointing out that its newest entry, just published last night, is all about a banding effort targeting a nest that’s right underneath the West Seattle Bridge. Pictures included too. (This is peregrine-falcon-banding season, according to the previous entry.)
A little more than a month is left before Fauntleroy Community Services Agency needs to make an official deal with Seattle Public Schools as part of the first round of negotiations to buy the 92-year-old Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, which the district is putting up for sale as “surplus property.” Meantime, landmark status is being pursued – we heard last night from Alison Swing, who is working on the landmark-nomination documentation and asking to hear from anyone who can help her with this type of information:
I’m just looking for testimonies on behalf of the community on significant impacts the school has had on the local community, whether socially, economically, politically, and any other information on the significance of the school as a historic landmark for the community.
If you have anything to say along those lines, please e-mail Alison at aswing@u.washington.edu as soon as you can.
From Cass:
Just wanted to alert the neighborhood that there have been a few car break-ins in the neighborhood of Fauntleroy and Cloverdale (map), near Lincoln Park. The neighbors have seen a guy who is supposedly selling magazine subscriptions hanging around, and have reported the break-in and sighting to the Seattle Police. No big damage done, but a reminder to keep your eyes open and your cars locked.
This gives us the opportunity to mention that you can get your questions answered about “casing” — what should you consider suspicious, what should you not worry about, when to call the police, when not to — during a Q&A with local police leadership at next Tuesday’s West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting (Southwest Precinct meeting room, 7 pm). And if you have any other crime/safety concerns in your neighborhood, that meeting’s also the place to be.
From our latest look at the commercial-real-estate listings: Strata on California (California & Graham, north edge of Morgan Junction) has just been put up for sale, $15,250,000. It was just last June that, after buying the then-Graham Street Apartments for almost $9 million, Mosaic announced the conversion plan (WSB coverage here); the sales pitch started in October (WSB coverage here); Mosaic canceled the conversion in late November (along with its plans to turn the West Ridge Park apartments on Delridge into “Gables” and sell them as condos too). The listing describes Strata as “luxury multi-family” and also notes, “The neighborhood is made up of mostly new townhomes, exciting newer restaurants, and upscale home and clothing retailers.” (And the ex-Chuck and Sally’s across the street.) Listing agent is McQuaid, which has sold a boatload of WS buildings in the past year or so (scroll here). THURSDAY AFTERNOON ADDENDUM: Thanks to Di for the tip that Strata’s having a “model furniture sale” this Saturday, according to this CL ad.
Three notes to share, loosely related in that they have something to do with health care. First, student nurses from the Seattle University College of Nursing are inviting you to a health fair this Saturday – 10 am-4 pm @ High Point Community Center. They’re organizing it as a school-related project and they are really excited about the chance to come help people be healthier; they’re offering blood-sugar testing and blood-pressure checks for adults, mouth-care demos and face painting for kids, as well as information on a variety of health challenges and conditions. Here’s the flyer. Second – On Saturday afternoon 5/31, West Seattle acupuncture practitioner and community activist Miranda Taylor will be offering “community-style acupuncture” at the CommuniChi clinic on Beacon Hill; fees are sliding scale and proceeds on this particular day are going toward West Seattle community activist Maria Ramirez‘s School Board campaign from last fall. Appointments can be made online at the CommuniChi website. Last but not least, the date is now set for a Junction drugstore transition — new information (including plans for grand-opening freebies such as massages!) and a video interview, ahead:Read More
May not be the only one by now but it’s the first one we’ve seen on our morning rounds: 35th/Holden Chevron (often, but not always, West Seattle’s highest price for regular, as noted in our archived coverage of West Seattle gas prices). According to AAA, the citywide average is $3.83/gallon, up 28 cents in the past month, 37 cents in the past year, though this particular station/grade is 43 cents over the price we noted this time last year. (One last data point for fellow numbers fans: The Seattle average is 8 cents over the national average.)
From this morning’s official police update on last night’s double shooting in the 5600 block of Delridge (WSB late-night and overnight coverage here): The woman is 28, her son is 10. Both are expected to fully recover. Police spokesperson Renee Witt says the woman “was in her kitchen cooking when someone fired multiple rounds through the kitchen window,” hitting her several times in the chest and leg. That was on the north side of the residence; then on the south side, someone – police aren’t sure if it was the same person – fired multiple times into the residence from the south, hitting the boy once in the shoulder. Still no arrests and no suspect description (beyond the possible “burgundy SUV” involvement mentioned last night) — but Witt says that detectives from the homicide and gang units are investigating and “talking to possible suspects” as well as looking into a possible motive. 12:03 PM UPDATE: Side note – two noontime tv updates included interviews with the owner of the future Olympia Pizza location we’ve been telling you about (former Pacino’s Coffee) less than a block north, and reported that it’s opening in two days.
And another major scheduled event from Tuesday night: The JuNO meeting with updates from two major Junction-area developers who had some new info to share:Read More
Busy Tuesday night in West Seattle. Among the scheduled events, the Viaduct open house; thanks to West Seattle writer Charla Mustard-Foote for covering it for WSB:Read More
(scroll down for latest updates – newest update, 2:08 am)
(photo of Delridge/Juneau roadblock taken by Sage K, added 11:53 pm)
Helicopter and many police involved right now in search centering on the 5600 block of Delridge. The call is “assault with weapons 14” which usually means multiple patients known or suspected. Trying to find out more. Thanks to those who e-mailed us with first word. 11:03 PM UPDATE: Whoever they’re looking for in this, scanner traffic indicates they’re not in custody yet, so if you’re in that area, be safe and be sure to call 911 if you see/hear anything/anyone suspicious. 11:05 PM UPDATE: One TV report says woman and boy shot. We heard scanner traffic talking about a 12-year-old male gunshot victim so we believe that’s from this incident. We’re also hearing that police may be looking for two suspects. 11:10 PM UPDATE: Victims taken to Harborview Medical Center, which indicates serious wounds. According to King County records, 5625 Delridge is a duplex. 11:17 PM UPDATE: According to the police media-info line, this started with a 911 call around 10:30 pm from a woman reporting hearing 10 to 12 gunshots. The media-info line describes the victims’ wounds as “non-life-threatening” and also says a third person was believed to have been shot at, but not hit. 11:36 PM UPDATE: Nearby residents say the helicopter has left the area, but we are not hearing any scanner indications of any arrests so far. Sage K does report northbound traffic is still being rerouted at Delridge/Juneau, where police have the road blocked. Sage also sent photos; stand by. 12:01 AM UPDATE: Lots of new info in update we just got from the Seattle Police media-info line. Most important: “Tentative” description of the vehicle police are seeking – a burgundy SUV. That’s ALL the information they have on possible suspects. Also, they identify the victims as a mother and her 12-year-old child. She was shot twice in the chest; he was shot in the back of the shoulder. Both are expected to survive, according to police. They say the search and investigation currently involves: Guardian 1 (helicopter), K-9, CSI, homicide, and gang units. Nobody in custody as of this report filed moments ago. 12:47 AM UPDATE: Sage K reports in comments that Delridge is now fully open again. No notable scanner activity in the case for a while, meantime. (We’ll keep monitoring till at least 2 am and will post whatever we hear/learn …) 2:08 AM UPDATE: For anybody still awake and wondering, no new developments reported. We’ll continue to monitor for a while longer, as we’re still working on an unrelated article that has to be done before the WSB newsroom shuts down for the night.
Another event covered tonight (JuNO and Viaduct reports still to come): the Fauntleroy Community Association‘s monthly meeting. No huge news, but a few notes:
–The recent Endolyne Joe’s fundraiser for Fauntleroy Fall Festival brought in $1150, more than double last year’s take.
–Good turnout and results for the recent cleanup at Cove Park.
—Website updates are in the works.
–FCA’s looking into applying for one of the city’s free-trees offers.
–Still working to settle on the neighborhood gathering place and time as part of the community emergency-preparedness effort that’s under way around West Seattle this spring (by the way, the Fairmount neighborhood’s event is up next, this Sunday).
–No rep on hand to update the schoolhouse-purchase plan.
Fauntleroy.net is the place to find out more about FCA and how to join.
This was most recently mentioned by Sue in her comment on the Fauntleroy-speeding thread last weekend – now, we get word from Megan S (thank you!) that the Fauntleroy/Dawson (map) pedestrian signal is apparently happening sooner rather than later:
Our intersection has been marked with white spray paint for a few days now, so I figured they might be updating the wheelchair ramps or something, but apparently they are going to be putting in a pedestrian signal at this intersection. Since this is right near two fairly busy bus stops and the Fairmount Playground, it is about time that someone make the street a bit safer for people wanting to cross it. Didn’t see this news on the blog, so figured I’d give a heads up to both drivers and those on foot. According to the flier we received on our door today, further info can be found by contacting Awelker Nurhussen at awelker.nurhussen@seattle.gov, or Valerie Lee at valerie.lee@seattle.gov (this latter works in the traffic signal operations department of SDOT) Also of possible concern is the fact that parking will be limited in the area during construction – not such a big deal for those of us with driveways, but I know that there are both apartments and condos in the area.
Megan tells WSB the flyer said that the work originally wasn’t scheduled to start till late summer, but the equipment’s available now so it’s starting this week.
As promised, more details from the Southwest Precinct on the latest burglary arrests – here’s the story as told by Sgt. Jeff Durden:
Today around noon, 911 is called about a suspicious car in the 7900 block of 30th Avenue SW. The license plate comes back to a stolen vehicle. Officer Jonathan Kiehn responds, but the car is gone. However, he recalls that a house on the block was burglarized recently and decides to check it out. Officers discover that the same house was burglarized again. About ninety minutes later Officer Ron Hylton locates the stolen vehicle in South Park, along with the three juvenile male suspects and property stolen from the home.
This makes 13 arrests in the past 17 days for residential burglary in West Seattle. All different suspects.
Yet another bulletin from Lt. Steve Paulsen @ the Southwest Precinct, and this one we will take the liberty of quoting verbatim, because it’s about YOU! too:
Just arrested 3 more burglary suspects..The arrest included a stolen car and weapons. (I am losing count…I think we are up to 13 [arrests]) … In my entire 24 years with the Department, I have never experienced the level of teamwork between the citizens, patrol officers and detectives … truly amazing!
Details should be available a bit later. We were just down at the precinct reviewing report printouts for the first time in a while, and it’s true – so many arrests are coming with the help of alert, persistent, determined citizens. It’s not too idealistic/corny to say you CAN take back the streets.
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