West Seattle, Washington
29 Friday
(WSB photos by Ellen Cedergreen)
With November so far being rainier than average – never mind that still-out-there possibility of snow showers this weekend! – the city wants people in landslide-prone areas to be on high alert (here’s one way the risk is tracked). This morning, they invited the media to an Admiral home for a demonstration of landslide-preparedness do’s and don’ts. Ellen Cedergreen was there for WSB; she reports that, in the top photo, Seattle Public Utilities landslide expert Bill Benzer is demonstrating the importance of keeping drains cleared – stormwater that has no place to go can run down slopes, adding to the landslide risk. Clearing drains tops this list of what to do:
1. Maintain drainage system (pipes, ditches, etc., on your property and keep street drains free of leaves and debris.
2. Direct stormwater away from steep slopes, if possible.
3. Perform periodic inspections of property before winter and during storms, keeping safety as the #1 concern.
4. Check weep holes on walls and keep them open.
5. Be alert during and following storms.
6. If you have an irrigation system, shut if off and check it out seasonally.
7. Keep fill and yard waste off slopes.
8. Leave stumps in ground on slopes
9. Call a professional if you have questions or a problem.
Part of the drainage check – annually checking downspouts for blockages:
Meantime, the landslide “don’ts”:
1) Don’t direct storm or other water onto a slope
2) Don’t denude vegetation on slope without a re-vegetation plan
3) Don’t cut into the toe (or bottom) of a slope.
4) Don’t remove tree stumps from slopes.
5) Don’t install a permanent irrigation system in landslide-prone areas
6) Don’t put fill or yard debris on a steep slope.
According to a study discussed at today’s event, 86 percent of landslides have some human involvement: broken pipes, uncontrolled storm water, excavating and filling holes. The city is taking a more active role in prevention since 1996-1997, when more than 300 landslides were reported, and no matter what kind of winter weather you’re facing, be ready! From the “Take Winter by Storm” campaign, Cornell Amaya showed off his emergency-preparedness backpack:
What should be in your kit? Here are some ideas (and don’t forget all the great resources at West Seattle Be Prepared). And you can get more tips about landslide awareness and prevention by going to a free city-sponsored workshop (previously mentioned here) that’s coming up on December 4th at South Seattle Community College‘s Judge Warren and Nobie Chan Education Center (across from the north parking lot), 10 am-noon.
With a week and a half till Thanksgiving, it’s time to start thinking how to offer extra help for the holidays. For Thanksgiving, we’re checking with our local food banks regarding their needs for food donations – particularly turkeys – look for that info soon; for starters, we’ve received this volunteer-help request from volunteer/resource coordinator Audrey Zemke at the White Center Food Bank, which serves southern West Seattle as well as WC (and north Burien):
The White Center Food Bank needs volunteers to help hand out holiday food the following shifts
Mon., November 22 – 12:30 to 3:30 and possibly 3:30 to 6:30
Tue., November 23 – 9:00 to 12:30, 12:30 to 3:30, and possibly 3:30 to 6:30
Wed., November 24 – 12:30 to 3:30, 4:30 to 8:30Mon., December 20 – 12:30 to 3:30 and 3:30 to 6:30
Tue., December 21 – 9:00 to 12:30, 12:30 to 3:30, 3:30 to 6:30
Wed., December 22 – 12:30 to 3:30Families, individuals or groups are welcome to contact me at audrey@whitecenterfoodbank.org or 206-762-2848.
Today was the big day that West Seattle Montessori School (WSB sponsor) students got up close and personal (as previewed here 2 weeks ago) with two turkeys from a flock that’s about to gain nationwide fame: They’ll be officially pardoned by President Obama in the traditional pre-Thanksgiving White House event (a ceremony initiated by the first President Bush in 1989). The turkeys’ role here: Educating kids about agriculture.
West Seattle Montessori was the only Seattle-area school chosen for the turkey talk; it was held at Delridge Community Center since the WSMS campus didn’t have quite enough room for the entire student body plus the turkeys and their entourage.
The “presidential turkeys” – a flock of more than 20 Nicholas Strain toms – were raised by Foster Farms in the Central California town of Modesto. The touring turkeys are making a stop up north this afternoon, in Arlington, the other destination on their whirlwind Western Washington stopover. We’ll be adding video from their West Seattle visit a bit later.
(Aerial view of The Hole, September 2009)
We’re in King County Superior Court Judge Susan Craighead‘s courtroom downtown, where she has just announced her findings in the first trial over the two-years-stalled West Seattle project known as “The Hole” (or “Hole Foods,” before Whole Foods Market announced in July it was no longer part of the project). Among Judge Craighead’s opening remarks this morning: “This case has been my window on the collapse of the financial system and the real estate market. … It seems that all the ‘suits’ were to varying degrees in complicity in a sort of a game that constituted construction financing during this period.” What she was deciding here is whose lien has priority – and she has decided it’s the general contractor, Ledcor Construction, and their subcontractor, Aero Construction (which dug The Hole).
(Photo published on WSB April 30, 2008, courtesy John Cashill)
Various parties argued that what had been done to the site before a certain key point in summer 2008 – including the April ’08 hole-digging to which the above photo is related – did not amount to “work” and therefore Ledcor and Aero were not first in line with their liens – but the judge disagreed with that. She said that former financier Seattle Capital, when trying to make the claim during a potential sale of the site that no work had been done, “should have known and did know (that contention) was false.”
One big loser in her ruling: 3922 SW Alaska LLC, the company related to Madison Development that agreed to buy the note for what remained of the project and its excavated site, then (to boil it way, way down) sought “judicial foreclosure” more than a year ago in hopes of moving on with the site without the burden of millions of dollars in liens to be fulfilled. We are now reading our copy of the 53-page ruling (while about 10 lawyers in the courtroom do the same thing – they have a short window here to ask the judge for clarification before she moves on to an unrelated criminal trial at 10 am) and are going through it – though we didn’t cover the entirety of the 2-plus weeks of testimony in the trial, they are summarized in the ruling, and it affords quite the view into never-before-publicized specifics of how the whole project fell apart. So, what does this all mean for the future of “The Hole”? Depends first on whether the decision is appealed, and what happens with other pending legal action. More to come.
ADDED 11:05 AM: We will transcribe some of this later – since the document itself is not likely to be available online immediately – but one note summarizing the last few pages of the ruling: The judge says that the site should be sold at foreclosure as soon as possible, because The Hole itself was never meant to be permanent, and could either fail or be ordered by the city to be filled in, in which case millions of dollars in work, representing part of the value of the property at sale, would be lost.
ADDED 3:24 PM: The exact language from the judge’s ruling regarding that section is the first transcription we’re adding – read on:Read More
2 items of note in the city’s twice-weekly Land Use Information Bulletin, both of interest to anyone who wants to comment on the proposals, since their official city publication triggers relatively short periods in which you can do that: First, a revised application has been submitted for the 7100 Delridge Way SW development (first reported here last summer, then taken through an Early Design Guidance meeting before the Southwest Design Review Board) – on first look, the main difference appears to be a smaller retail area, 1,344 square feet mentioned in the new application vs. 1,750 originally mentioned. More details, and comment links (deadline 11/28), are here.
Also in today’s bulletin, the official application for Westside School (WSB sponsor) to move 5 portables onto its new site in Sunrise Heights (and create 45 parking spaces); as reported here last week, this is part of Westside’s new Middle School expansion. More details, and comment links (deadline also 11/28), are here.
(From smohundro via the WSB Flickr group)
From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar: 5-7 pm today on the South Seattle Community College campus, it’s the Autumn Wine Release and Sale event for the college’s award-winning wine program, with wine-tasting and hors d’oeuvres – six wines offered for sale (two of them newly released) this time around (campus map here – look for WWB) … 3 local library events: Baby Story Time at Southwest Library at 11:30 am, Afternoon Book Group at SW Library at 2 pm, and Family Story Time at High Point Library at 7 pm … As noted here Saturday, Nature Consortium‘s work party at College Street Ravine honors King County Executive Dow Constantine‘s birthday, 10 am-1 pm, call 206-923-0853 to RSVP/get directions … New event at the Senior Center of West Seattle: “Open Mike Monday,” 3 pm, call Carole at 206-579-4309 to sign up.
That’s the Chief Sealth International High School band’s entry (Jimi!) in a new online Battle of the Bands – the only Seattle contender – and starting right this moment, your vote can help them win. Director Marcus Pimpleton explains:
The Chief Sealth Band is participating in KZOK’s Battle of the Bands competition, in which the winning high school band will receive a $10,000 grand prize. The first round of the judging is based on votes texted in from listeners. We are encouraging everyone to text their vote to help the Chief Sealth Band make it into the finals. Sealth is the only Seattle Public School participating in this year’s contest, so we are encouraging all Seattle residents to rally around this band. Much of the Chief Sealth Band’s inventory is also used by the Seattle All-City Band, so a win for Sealth is a win for All-City.
To support the Sealth Band, text “rock8” to 24300. The system will accept up to 10 votes from the same number per day, so please text ten times a day every day for the next month. Voting begins (this morning) and runs to December 15th. Following the first round of judging, a panel of judges will ultimately judge the video submissions on their musicianship to choose the winning band, but we need texted votes to make it into the final round of judging.
Videos of the high school bands participating [editor’s note, including the one we embedded above] are available online at therockwfp.com/category/botb-2011 and will begin appearing on Comcast on Demand next month.
(WSB photo by Ellen Cedergreen)
Just five days after SDOT invited the media to come see its winter-weather equipment and listen to the readiness plan … there seems to be a slight chance of its deployment within a week. Late today, the National Weather Service issued a “special weather statement” for much of Western Washington, including our area, raising the possibility — however small — of cold weather that could even bring a bit of snow. From the advisory (yes, it’s published in all-caps):
…A CHANGE TO MUCH COLDER CONDITIONS IS POSSIBLE FRIDAY INTO NEXT WEEKEND…
COLD AIR IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER WESTERN CANADA DURING THE UPCOMING WEEK. THERE ARE STRONG INDICATIONS THAT CHANGES IN THE WIND FLOW ALOFT TOWARD THE END OF THE WEEK WILL ALLOW SOME OF THIS COLDER AIR OVER WESTERN CANADA TO FILTER INTO WESTERN WASHINGTON FRIDAY OR SATURDAY.
WEATHER GUIDANCE ALSO SUGGESTS THAT THERE IS A RISK OF SNOW…OR MIXED RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS OVER PORTIONS OF THE AREA FRIDAY OR SATURDAY. THE HIGHEST RISK WILL BE WHERE THE AIR IS COLDER…OVER THE NORTH INTERIOR.
WHILE WEATHER GUIDANCE HAS BEEN CONSISTENT IN SHOWING A CHANGE TO A COLDER WEATHER PATTERN…THEY HAVE BEEN UNEVEN IN SHOWING HOW COLD IT WILL GET AND HOW MUCH…IF ANY…SNOW WILL FALL.
NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW YOU COULD PREPARE FOR THE FIRST POSSIBILITY OF WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS IN THE LOWLANDS.
SDOT’s snow/ice-route maps are online here; here’s the direct link to the West Seattle segment. P.S. No word from famous forecaster Cliff Mass yet, at least as of 5:30 pm; we’ll keep checking.
Tomorrow morning, a judge’s announcement is scheduled to be the next step toward the future of The Hole – the excavation (behind the green-screened fence in our photo) for the stalled West Seattle project originally known as Fauntleroy Place, once slated for a new Whole Foods (they’ve since pulled out) and Hancock Fabrics (they haven’t answered requests for comment), plus apartments. The decision is in the first major trial in the tangle of lawsuits over what went awry; what’s scheduled to be decided is who has “lien priority” – the entity that holds the site’s note, 3922 SW Alaska LLC, is arguing against the claims of Ledcor Construction, among other components of the complicated case. If you’re interested in the fine print, here are documents summing up the points made in closing statements (which we covered a week and a half ago) – one from 3922 SW Alaska here, one from Ledcor here.
But The Hole’s future isn’t entirely a matter for a judge and development company to decide.
Among the great places to be, indoors, this drippy, foggy afternoon – Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor; 6451 California SW) in Morgan Junction, where Holiday Bazaar II continues till 6 pm. In our top photo, Ivette Johnson (L) and Bradi Jones (R) from the Feedback team are with Mary Clymer (C) of Happy Delusions. While we were there, Feedback’s Jeff Gilbert told us last night’s live performance by Fiasco was a huge hit and brought in lots of food-bank donations, and since their annual allotment of live shows isn’t maxed out yet, they might have the band back before year’s end. (Speaking of comebacks, the Feedback’s famous Sunday ribs return at 5 pm today.)
Meantime, to the east, at Our Lady of Guadalupe School:
Jonathan French shares the photo from the free Sunday dinner for people 65+ that he e-mailed about last night – with OLG students serving the visitors! If you or someone you know fit the criteria, you can still head over till 5 pm and get in on dinner (34th/Myrtle).
Out of the WSB inbox: Jo Bader updates us on Girls On The Run of Puget Sound, “a non-profit organization whose mission is to use the power of running to educate and prepare girls in 3rd through 5th grade for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living.” Their after-school program has worked with girls at West Seattle sites including, in recent years, Hiawatha – where Jo coached last year – plus Pathfinder and Alki, and a big regional event is coming up in three weeks, Jo says:
On December 4, 2010, Girls on the Run of Puget Sound will host the New Balance Girls on the Run 5K <> at Seward Park in Seattle. This super-fun race is the culmination of the Girls on the Run fall training program and is an opportunity for girls to demonstrate their new “girl power!” This event is open to the public and one-hundred percent of proceeds will benefit Girls on the Run of Puget Sound programs.
Jo says GOTR is looking for “about 40 more volunteers to help out on race day” – and West Seattle help would be welcomed!
To register, volunteers should go to
www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/111234563257211405 and follow the instructions to access the volunteer sign up site. Once in, navigate to December 4th and sign up for a job.
The headline comes from the subject line of the e-mail in which Shelley shared the photo. As we had tweeted from the West Seattle Farmers’ Market earlier, violinist Pasquale was serenading shoppers today – and Shelley caught this scene of young fans who decided to savor the concert. (We last saw him in The Junction in June, when he played at the dedication of Junction Plaza Park – which by the way will be the site of this year’s West Seattle Junction Christmas Tree Lighting on December 4th, first time since 2006 that the official tree’s been on that site.)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
“Hard to believe it’s really me, whose name will be on high … to challenge those walking by …”
That line is from a poem by Pigeon Point-residing community activist Vivian McLean (above). It refers to the Delridge building carrying her name, Vivian McLean Place, home to the Delridge Library as well as apartments, and adjacent to offices. One of those offices belongs to the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, whose former executive director Paul Fischburg read the poem aloud last night at a party to celebrate Vivian’s 90th birthday:
Vivian is a founderof DNDA. Her birthday party filled the Highland Park Improvement Club with laughter and love, as well as for respect for Vivian’s many accomplishments, which themselves filled a scrapbook placed on a table for all to view:
The scrapbook went back decades; its first page told of an honor she had won in Michigan in 1940, years before moving here in 1948.
Even if you weren’t familiar with the impact she has had, you would have realized it with a look around the room last night. City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen stopped by. Community activists and organization leaders from around West Seattle abounded. Among them, her fellow Pigeon Point’er Pete Spalding, who wore this tribute in lights:
Pete has been involved with much of what Vivian’s work has turned from dream to reality. She lobbied the city to create the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council (which he has chaired), and organized community councils to comprise its membership (including the Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council, which he also has chaired). And as a co-founder of DNDA, not only was she involved with its work to build the aforementioned building bearing her name – the library was a longtime dream – but also with three major projects that were part of a subsequent capital campaign. They include the West Seattle Community Resource Center that is home to the West Seattle Food Bank (whose board Pete has led), as well as Youngstown Cultural Arts Center at the original Cooper School.
Last night, though, his main role was that of making sure Vivian was in attendance. And, of course, to help celebrate. “She likes to be with people,” her son Bruce had explained in his remarks; and last night, she certainly was.
11 months after the drunk-driving crash on Beacon Hill that seriously injured the operator of West Seattle’s Jade West CafĆ© and his son, there’s finally, and sadly, a sign of the little restaurant’s fate. Sometime in the past few days, a “FOR LEASE” sign appeared in the closed-since-the-crash cafĆ©’s window at 6032 California SW. We have not yet reached anyone at the number on the sign; other various inquiries over recent months, by us and others, had gone unanswered, so this is the first verification of what many had feared, that the cafĆ© would never reopen. The driver who hit Wah Wong and son Jason Wong, who lost a leg as a result, pleaded guilty weeks later and is at Cedar Creek Correctional Center in Littlerock, serving a 2-year sentence (here’s our report from last February’s sentencing hearing).
From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar: The “Country Store” is open at Admiral Congregational UCC (4320 SW Hill) for gift shopping, noon-1 pm, with handmade gifts including jam/jelly baskets and baby blankets … 2 big occasions at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) today – their second annual Holiday Bazaar, 2-6 pm, and for dinner, their legendary Sunday ribs return … Curious Kidstuff (WSB sponsor) is having its big pre-holiday sale today, 25 percent off purchases $50+, 4740 California SW in The Junction, 9 am-5 pm … The Junction is also where you’ll find the West Seattle Farmers’ Market, 44th/Alaska, 10 am-2 pm; organizers promise pre-Thanksgiving cranberries today, among other things … 2nd and final performance for Seattle Lutheran High School‘s fall drama “The Odd Couple,” 2:30 pm in the SLHS gym (41st/Genesee), $5 adults, $2 children 7-14, under 7 free. … Giving opportunities today include the ongoing Java Bean Coffee House 20th Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive; bring nonperishable food – proteins especially appreciated – to 2920 Avalon Way; also, a toy drive for Restoration Worship Center, at High Point Community Center (6920 34th SW), noon-2 pm (details and contact info here). … And a reminder about the free dinner for 65+ at Our Lady of Guadalupe, 3 pm, noted here last night.
Out of the WSB inbox tonight from Jonathan French:
Tomorrow (Sunday) from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM the 5th grade class of Our Lady of Guadalupe School will be serving one of their bi-annual free dinners to senior citizens. It will be in the school lunch room (34th Ave. SW Entrance). The 5th Graders have been hosting this event for years, and many area seniors look forward to the event. The dinner will be deliciously prepared by Petros Fotopoulos, OLG Parent & proprietor of Christos on Alki. West Seattle seniors are invited & encouraged to come by for a delicious dinner tomorrow (Sunday), served by the proud 5th grade class. There will be raffles & prizes as well. For more information, contact Eleni French (eleni@alki.net). The next dinner will be early 2011.
Haven’t been to OLG? 34th and Myrtle (just east of the water towers); here’s a map.
Stacey shared the photo and this report of spotting one of West Seattle’s most-famous residents in an unexpected place:
Chris from Caspar Babypants was the Special Dancy Dance Guest at the Yo Gabba Gabba (Nick Jr.) show today at the Tacoma Dome! It was very cool! He did the Peanut Butter Smash Dance (I think that’s what it was called). My daughter was very excited and kept screaming, “I know him…I know him!” (not personally…we’ve just seen them enough so she “knows” him).
Of course, Chris (Ballew) is no stranger to arena appearances, through his other project … P.S. If you haven’t heard of Yo Gabba Gabba (without a little one in the family, we hadn’t), here’s its home page.
3 work parties to mention tonight – one coming up on Monday, two that happened today. First, from Nancy Whitlock at the Nature Consortium, if you have some time to spare midday Monday:
Habitat Restoration Work Party at the College Street Ravine!
Join Nature Consortium in celebrating Dow Constantine’s birthday by helping us conduct restoration activities in the College Street Ravine (Dow’s favorite greenspace) from 10 am-1 pm on Mon. 11/15. Tools, gloves & snacks provided. Bring a filled water bottle. RSVP to nancy@naturec.org or 206.923.0853 and directions will be sent to you.
Meantime, thanks to a different group of volunteers, one of West Seattle’s most visible greenspaces got a little cleaner:
If your pathway to the West Seattle Bridge is via Fauntleroy, you see “Walking on Logs” every day. The overgrowth and litter stack up pretty quick, and it’s been more than seven months now since Fairmount’s Nancy Driver helped organize a new stewardship effort, since longtime West Seattle community advocate/volunteer Earl Cruzen couldn’t do it singlehandedly any more; they were out today cleaning and trimming. There’s still more work to be done, and we will pass along the word from Nancy when we get it.
Also out today: The Rotary Club of West Seattle was along the Duwamish River, sprucing things up at the Port of Seattle-owned Terminal 105 Viewpoint (which is just east of the Duwamish Longhouse). Just three weeks from today, it’s one of the Rotarians’ biggest service events of the year – the 37th annual Children’s Holiday Shopping Spree (more details on their website).
Thanks to West Seattle writer (and world-traveling volunteer!) Lori Hinton for sharing this photo taken this afternoon at the Westwood Village Bank of America. We’ve seen teams from the West Seattle-headquartered Seattle Police Mounted Patrol at Westwood before – Becky shared a photo last February; a year earlier, we caught a photo at Westwood’s then-WaMu. SPD has told us they bring the horses to areas like this to get used to working in traffic. But now, as reported here more than a month ago, the Mounted Patrol is slated to be disbanded as part of the new budget – and while not all the fine print is finalized, we haven’t seen/heard anything indicating the mayor’s original proposal will change.
This year’s holiday bazaar at the Southwest Community Center is in the lobby shared by the community center and adjacent Southwest Pool. And there we found Tiffany Tomcal and Ryan Daley from the Chief Sealth International High School Honor Choir, selling “Carnegie Cakes” – cupcakes as part of their fundraiser for the choir to travel back east to sing at Carnegie Hall next Easter (you can see/hear the choir in a video clip from our coverage of the Sealth Veterans Day assembly). The SWCC bazaar continues till 4 pm at 2801 SW Thistle. Marion Lisko is there too, with Cookie Lee Jewelry:
The biggest bazaar we’ve visited today is the craft fair at Bridge Park Retirement Community (WSB sponsor) in High Point (3204 SW Morgan) – where the vendors include Bella and her dad, with their Funsies baby clothes:
At Bridge Park, you can also get a chair massage from Betty Lewis of Unwind Today:
And of course, Christmasy offerings abound – be sure to poke around all the corners of the lobby/dining level at Bridge Park to find them:
Like the SWCC bazaar, the Bridge Park event is also continuing till 4 pm, as is one we haven’t made to yet, at Providence Mount St. Vincent (4831 35th SW).
The treats and decorated trees are inside at West Seattle Nursery, where the annual holiday open house continues till 3 pm, but you’ll want to venture outside too – wreath-making is under way, with a seminar coming up at the top of the hour …
Also outside: Free espresso! And the barista’s been busy …
West Seattle Nursery is at California/Brandon; the official open-house info is here; and note that West Seattle Nursery will be selling Christmas trees again this year too. (Not there yet – unless you take note of the beautiful potted Norfolk pine indoors!)
Still two and a half hours to bring your tote bag(s) to the Fauntleroy Church fellowship hall and stock up on gently used toys as the annual CoolMom Toy Swap ‘n’ Sale continues – they’re spotlighting some items that are too big for your tote bag, too – toddler-size cars on the stage in the background, and baby/child furniture in the foreground:
Fauntleroy Church is across from the historic schoolhouse, at 9140 California SW – that’s not a continuation of the long stretch of California, but rather a bend in the road if you are either heading up Wildwood south of the ferry dock, or heading down Barton west of 35th. The sale continues till 1 pm, with proceeds benefiting WestSide Baby as well as CoolMom. Never know who might just jump into your tote bag!
12:57 PM: Got a text that in the waning moments, everything is half price.
Out of the WSB inbox, from Marian:
A pair of fluffy, well fed individuals were sniffing around our neighbors’ drive at the 1900 dead-end block of Walnut [map] this morning about 9:00. They didn’t seem to mind us gaping at them a bit!
We publish coyote sightings not as a warning, but as a reminder that they are more or less everywhere, even if you are somehow sure they can’t be in YOUR neighborhood. Here’s important advice about coexisting with them, and here’s our archive of previous reports you can scroll through (some with photos).
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