West Seattle, Washington
03 Sunday
Story and photos by Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Gearing up for a busy summer was the primary order of business at Tuesday night’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting, led by president Katy Walum. From the 4th of July Kids Parade to the Summer Concerts at Hiawatha, there will be no shortage of activity during the summer months, and ANA is ready to help make it happen.
As usual, the meeting was held in the lower level of Admiral Congregational Church (California/Hill) but was preceded by something new: A pre-meeting potluck to give neighbors a chance to get to know each other in light of recent violence citywide and community concern in West Seattle. Attendees brought a dish to share and deemed the event a success, and Walum said ANA will likely make it a regular prelude to their future meetings. “No pressure to stay for the meeting,” Walum added, “just a chance for neighbors to meet and talk.”
Highlights from the meeting itself:Read More
Just in from SDOT:
Next Monday and Tuesday, June 18 and19, between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., Seattle Department of Transportation Landscape Crews will be working on the bike trail that loops under the West Seattle Bridge at Harbor Island. Bicyclists will slow down and follow a very brief signed detour at the lower West Seattle Swing Bridge on 11th Ave SW on Harbor Island. To accommodate the landscape workers, vehicle traffic will be reduced to one lane westbound on SW Spokane Street and one lane eastbound on Klickitat Avenue SW in the vicinity of 11th Avenue on Harbor Island.
Ta-da! You saw it in the shop at South Seattle Community College‘s Automotive Technology zone one week ago (WSB coverage here), and today, the Schumacher Racing hydroplane rolled out, showing off its new look. (Official name, so you can watch for it during Seafair in August: The #37 Miss Beacon Plumbing H1 Unlimited Hydroplane.) Video and more photos, coming up.
ADDED 9:54 PM: Scroll through our sequence of photos and video as the event unfolded, starting as one last component was carried over to be placed atop the hydro:
(By next spring, the small “fry” in this bucket will be as big as the “smolt”)
Following last week’s report about May salmon releases involving 560 students visiting Fauntleroy Creek, steward Judy Pickens has news that a record number of coho smolts (“teenagers”) have been counted as they headed for saltwater:
Between mid-March and early June, Dennis Hinton, Pete Draughton, Steev Ward, and Gail Cucksey checked upstream and downstream traps daily to document how many smolts were leaving for nearshore habitat in Fauntleroy Cove. This number is the best gauge of how healthy creek habitat is for juveniles, who spend a year in freshwater maturing into the size (3″-5″) they’ll need to survive in Puget Sound.
A total of 157 made it out this year. That’s more than 5 percent of the eggs reared for Fauntleroy Creek in 2011 through the Salmon in the Schools program. In the wild, survival from eggs to smolts is substantially less, so this is a positive stewardship story for students.
Last year, volunteers documented 147 smolts leaving the park but only 37 making it the three blocks downstream. For this reason, State Fish and Wildlife authorized carrying smolts caught in the upper trap downstream to improve survival.
The next big monitoring period comes this fall, when volunteers watch for mature coho returning to spawn.
Big news from Tom Wyrick at Alki Arts – the traffic “island” on the north side of the Alki and 63rd intersection, practically out their front (roll-up) door, is no longer the almost-empty “island” it’s been since installation as part of the 2009 Alki Point sidewalk project. He shared the photos and this report:
For several weeks now we’ve been watching people walking around 63rd & Alki with plans and doing a lot of pointing. Yesterday we got a driftwood tree and today we are getting rocks!
Want to inspect it for yourself? Alki Arts is part of the West Seattle Art Walk tonight, 6-9 pm.
ADDED 6:03 PM: More information about the work – Seattle Parks senior landscape architect Joe Neiford says maintenance accountability for the island is in the process of being transferred to his department, from SDOT. He explains: “SDOT came up with some funding and gave it to Parks to do the redesign and relandscaping of this island so we are giving it the same treatment as the other areas in Alki Beach Park that we have been working on upgrading over the past several years.” Also in keeping with other shoreline parks, he says an art component may be in the works too. He’s working with Parks’ senior gardener for this district, Phil Renfrow. Neiford adds that, “We sincerely hope that Alki and all Seattle will be pleasantly surprised by this improvement, which was very difficult to make happen given the current economic conditions that the city is going through. It will take several weeks to complete all the elements so we hope that everybody will bear with our mess for a little while longer.”
What lightning allegedly doesn’t do, car thieves have done – strike twice. Someone has stolen Stacey‘s mom’s car, again. May 10th, she e-mailed to say her mother’s car, a 1989 Toyota Camry black 4-door, with a missing hubcap on the front passenger side, had been stolen from the 6300 block of 42nd SW. This morning, Stacey e-mailed WSB the photo above and the message:,”Again, my mom woke up today and her car was gone!!!!!!” (She also mentioned that in an unpleasant coincidence, her sister, a former West Seattleite living in Shoreline, discovered her Jeep stolen yesterday. Stacey says her mom’s car was found downtown four days after the May theft; as it says in the graphic she added to the photo above, call police if you see it.)
SDOT‘s weekly list of what’s happening Friday/Saturday/Sunday has arrived – and it includes a reminder of WSDOT‘s all-weekend Alaskan Way Viaduct/Highway 99 closure (11 pm Friday-5 am Monday); note that the southbound Aurora Bridge is getting work done this weekend too. The roundup does NOT mention high-school graduations at Memorial Stadium, but there are several, including Chief Sealth International High School at 1 pm Saturday and West Seattle High School at 5 pm Saturday. To see what IS on the list, read on!Read More
(Click image for larger view)
West Seattle photographer/pilot Long Bach Nguyen shares that recent view of the South Park Bridge construction site – note the western approach to the new bridge, at lower right. If you’re interested in the project, there’s a presentation in SP tonight – more in our list of what’s up for the next 13 hours or so:
COUNCIL PRESIDENT AT CHAMBER LUNCH: As noted here earlier this week, it’s your chance for Q/A with City Council President Sally Clark, who’s speaking at today’s West Seattle Chamber of Commerce Lunch, doors open 11:30 am at The Kenney (7125 Fauntleroy Way SW; WSB sponsor). Do RSVP first – here’s info on that plus the lunch cost.
HYDROPLANE LAUNCH: As previewed here yesterday – the Schumacher Racing hydroplane that’s been getting refinished and painted at South Seattle Community College will be “launched” from the shop today, with owner (and ’60s-’70s driving legend) Billy Schumacher on hand. Public’s invited, 2 pm on the north side of the SSCC campus.
SENDOFF FOR KIKI WATSON: The longtime Schmitz Park Elementary teacher is retiring after more than two decades, and families past/present are invited to her sendoff, 3-4:30 pm at the school today.
WEST SEATTLE ART WALK, JUNE EDITION: 37 places to visit, from Alki to Admiral to The Junction and beyond, during tonight’s monthly Art Walk, 6-9 pm. See the walking map/venue list here; the official Art Walk website with artist highlights is here. And it’s all FREE, including snacks/beverages at many stops along the way.
COMMUNITY SCHOOL OF WEST SEATTLE AUCTION: 6 pm at The Sanctuary at Admiral (42nd/Lander). This year, it’s raising money for the scholarship fund – the school says it provides $6,000 in scholarships every month.
DESIGN REVIEW FOR 9051 20TH SW: The Vesseliye project is now one building, not two – as explained in this WSB report last week – so it’s up for another Early Design Guidance meeting, 6:30 pm at Senior Center of West Seattle (California/Oregon).
SOUTH PARK BRIDGE UPDATE, IN PICTURES: This is not a community-meeting type of update, but rather a presentation of photos and info about how the bridge construction is going – 6:30 pm at the South Park Community Center (map and other details in the listing on our partner site thesouthparknews.com).
GENESEE-SCHMITZ NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: General meeting tonight at 7 at West Side Presbyterian Church – map and agenda details here.
WEST SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOL CONCERT: Lots of great music from local schools lately, and tonight it’s West Seattle HS’s turn to show off for a crowd (details here). 7:30 pm, school theater.
P.S. Happy Flag Day!
(Thanks to Tony for the photo – taken before police/fire arrived)
8:58 AM: If you haven’t left yet, avoid Avalon Way – at Genesee, traffic is going one direction at a time in the aftermath of a crash involving a motorcycle.
9:04 AM: All lanes now back open. At least one person is hurt; a private ambulance was just leaving as we got there (which indicates non-life-threatening injuries). We’re checking on their condition.
10:33 AM: Seattle Fire spokesperson Kyle Moore tells WSB the injured person was the motorcycle rider, “sitting and conscious when (firefighters from Ladder 11) arrived. They examined him and found no obvious major injuries. The rider, who was in his 30’s, was wearing his helmet. AMR transported him to Harborview as a precaution.”
10:33 PM: Just got a note from Ray, who identifies himself as the motorcycle rider hurt this morning. He says he left the Harborview trauma center with “a few dozen stitches and 3 fractured toes.” He wanted to thank the witnesses who helped him; from what he knows of what happened, Ray says, the van driver “did not see me coming and pulled out onto SW Avalon (left turn) and hit me on the right side (I was heading northbound toward the bridge, down the hill).” He recalls that the driver seemed “apologetic.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE: When this school year began, we covered the first meetings of both the West Seattle High School and Chief Sealth International High School PTSAs; now that it’s ending, we are circling back to cover their final meetings. Here’s our WSHS PTSA report from last week; ahead, our report on Sealth’s final meeting, Tuesday night.)
(Incoming and outgoing CSIHS PTSA presidents: Ted Reed, Amy Daly-Donovan)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Not only did the final Chief Sealth International High School PTSA meeting of 2011-2012 look back and ahead, it also included a presentation of information that no one in attendance could ever have hoped to use – what teens need to know about the law.
But first:
PRINCIPAL’S FIRST-EVER YEAR-END UPDATE: First-year principal Chris Kinsey said he believes Sealth is “on the tipping point of going from good to great … in the coming years we are going to transform what it means to be an urban high school.” A crowded one, at that – enrollment for next year is now projected at 1342, a hundred more than the start of last year, and four portable classrooms will be arriving before next year begins. (9th-grade language arts and history teachers will work in them, according to Kinsey.)
We don’t know if they have a Block Watch, but what CJ‘s neighbor did for her epitomizes how they’re supposed to work:
I just wanted to pass on what happened (Wednesday). I came home to a story from my nanny. Late (in the) morning a neighbor (who I have not met) who lives in the apartments across the alley came over to tell us that she had seen a man in our backyard looking around there and into our next-door neighbor’s yard. Our backyard is enclosed by a high fence and the gate is always closed. You have to reach over the fence to open the gate. The neighbor told our nanny that she asked the man what he was doing and that he then asked her for money. She called the police who came soon after.
We live on the 2100 block of 42nd Ave SW. If you pass this on to your readers, would you please thank my neighbor for her concern and actions?
You just did! P.S. Registration has just opened for the annual event in which you can get together with your neighbors to celebrate and enhance prevention, awareness, and just plain neighborliness – Night Out on August 7th. The updated SPD webpage is here.
Thanks to Denny International Middle School principal Jeff Clark for sharing photos from Wednesday night’s third and final spring concert by musicians from Denny and adjacent Chief Sealth International High School. (Above, the Denny Beginning and Junior Band.) He declared the well-attended performance “a resounding success”:
The Denny International Middle School and Chief Sealth International High School Band concert was a resounding success this evening! I was very impressed by the 6th graders all the way up to the graduating seniors. Music is thriving at Denny and Sealth. Thank you to Mr. Pimpleton and all of our families–congratulations to all of our scholars!
Three more photos, ahead!Read More
Noting Seattle Times (WSB partner) coverage of an eagle family elsewhere in the city, West Seattle photographer Gary Jones checked in on Lincoln Park’s own bald-eagle family this week – that’s Mom and Dad “making a bunch of noise in a tree not far from the nest,” he notes, while back in the nest …
No official count, but eagles certainly seem more numerous in our area this year – at least we’ve seen them a lot more often than years past!
Next year, Jack Menashe‘s Junction business, Menashe and Sons Jewelers (WSB sponsor), will mark 40 years in The Junction. Today, as he and his family accepted the “Everyday Hero” award from the Kiwanis Club of West Seattle, he said he’d learned a lot over the years, and that it’s been a remarkable experience. It hasn’t just been decades of business, but also decades of community support – his wife Linda Menashe described him as the most generous guy she’s ever known, with charity donations, youth-sports sponsorships, and gifts to schools (just last February, the Seattle Lutheran High School gym was formally christened the Menashe Family Gymnasium), as well as their legendary Christmas lights. Linda was there to join in today’s celebration, along with their daughter Joanna and visiting relative Paul from California:
The weekly Kiwanis lunch meeting at Be’s in The Junction, not far from the Menashes’ store, also heard a special presentation on salmon from 11-year-old Alex Lee:
Alex, photographed with the Kiwanis Club’s Dr. Steve Leifheit, is homeschooled but studied salmon through Roxhill Elementary School.
More big events ahead for the Kiwanis include their Charity Motorcycle Poker Run and Classic Car Show on June 23rd and participation in the Seafair Pirates’ Landing activities on July 7th; more info on their website at kiwaniswestseattle.org.
As reported here last month, there’s a youth sport here in West Seattle that hasn’t gotten as much buzz as field sports like soccer and baseball, but has athletes achieving big things: Riflery. Tonight, we have an update from coach Joe Matter on a team that’s just gotten word of major national success, and will be off to a championship event later this month:
The West Seattle Thunderbirds have had a busy junior season. These four girls: 9th Graders Lily Voynick, Corinne Blair, Juniors Emma Carey and Lauren Phillips, are one of only a few all girl teams competing nationally.
These girls won the NRA National Junior Sectional – Indoor Conventional Position Smallbore Rifle team title, shooting an 1573/1600. Lily Voynick placed 2nd with a 398/400. They are also awaiting confirmation of breaking the National Women’s Team record for metallic sights, last set in 1969.
They further went on to win their age group, Intermediate Junior, and finish 4th overall in the NRA National Junior Sectional – Precision Air Rifle Position team competition. Lily Voynick finished 11th in the Intermediate Junior Division, shooting a 581/600.
And finally, they took 2nd in the Intermediate Junior division of the NRA National Junior Sectional – Indoor Metric Position Smallbore Rifle, shooting a 2203/2400. Lauren Phillips led the team with a 566/600 and finished 6th in the Intermediate Junior division and 15th overall. They are also awaiting confirmation of 2 more National records: The Intermediate Junior Team Record and the Women’s Team Record in this event.
The team is heading south to Anniston, AL to compete in the NRA Jr. 3P Air Gun Championships and the CMP 3P Air Rifle Championships at the end of June.
A High Point resident who wants to be anonymous found what they described as:”45 bike keys, 2 house keys & 1 Nissan car clicker” near their house this week. We usually point lost/found to the WSB Forums, but this one was just too weird; the finder wondered whether it might be crime-related, and planned to turn it in to police, so if you know whose these are, contact them at 206-625-5011.
A guilty plea today for 20-year-old Angelo Felice, who, 16 months ago, was arrested and charged with the Fauntleroy stabbing murder of a man best known by his vaudeville name, Hokum W. Jeebs. Felice was arrested while spotted walking in eastern West Seattle after someone saw him climbing out of the Kilbourne Park ravine near Jeebs’ home the morning after the murder – as detailed in this WSB comment – and reported the sighting to police. Today, Felice pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of 2nd-degree murder, which carries a potential sentence of 10 to 18 years, but court documents say prosecutors will recommend a sentence of 140 months – just over 11 1/2 years. Felice had moved to Seattle less than a month before killing Jeebs; he had juvenile convictions for burglary and assault. (2011 photo by Jill Schmieder of Altena Photography, for WSB)
There are actually three public high schools in West Seattle – though one is much smaller than the two you could probably name off the top of your head. It is Middle College High School, based at South Seattle Community College for 15 years, but about to move. Seattle Public Schools spokesperson Teresa Wippel explains that “the college recently informed us that they received two large grants and need to re-occupy the space currently used by Middle College students” – who currently number 70.
Tonight, during their monthly meeting, the 34th District Democrats will be asked to consider a resolution asking SSCC and SPS to work it out for another year. Supporters also have spoken about the situation at school-board meetings; the resolution expresses concern that the program stay in this area, rather than moving to a possible spot east of downtown.
But SPS appears to have found a new home for the school, and it’s in what Wippel describes only as “South Seattle.” She tells WSB, “We have been looking for a new South Seattle location, and will be announcing a move to a new facility in the next few days, after we have had an opportunity to make final arrangements and notify our Middle College families.” She says they’re not expecting any changes to the curriculum for the program, described as “a college prep and dropout prevention program aimed at students who have the ability to go to college but because of life circumstances don’t always see a postsecondary education as an option.” Supporters say that’s been an advantage of having MCHS based at SSCC – the potential to move right into college at a familiar location.
Metro invites you to take a survey to answer that question. Here’s the news release they just sent:
Construction of the State Route 99 tunnel on the Seattle waterfront will continue to affect bus service for the next few years. When the Columbia and Seneca street ramps are closed in 2016, it could change access to downtown Seattle for many King County Metro Transit routes.
Metro is planning ahead on how buses will be routed through downtown Seattle in the long-term and during construction once the SR 99 tunnel project is complete and the city of Seattle begins works on the Central Waterfront project. It is starting by soliciting feedback from the public via an online survey, and would particularly like to hear from current riders of routes: 15, 15X, 18, 18X, 21X, 54, 54X, 55, 56X, 113, 120, 121, 122, and 125.
The survey can be found online.
Survey respondents will help Metro look at potential pathways to connect transit from south of downtown along Alaskan Way to the Third Avenue transit spine in the Central Business District. Two possible pathways are Columbia Street, or a combination of Main and Washington streets.
If you have questions or need the survey in an alternate format, please call 206-263-9768 or email haveasay@kingcounty.gov.
(Photo courtesy SSCC)
Remember our story last week about the Schumacher Racing hydroplane getting paint and refinishing work courtesy of the Automotive Technology program at South Seattle Community College? It’s almost done and tomorrow, you are invited to the event “launching” the hydro. Just in from SSCC:
The public is invited to the “launch” of the No. 37 hydroplane owned by legendary Billy Schumacher as it departs the South Seattle Community College campus at 2 pm, Thursday, June 14. It will be the first time the boat’s 2012 racing season colors and sponsor graphics will be revealed. Owner Billy Schumacher, former driver, will be on hand.
The boat has been housed at the college while Automotive Collision Repair students have given it a complete make-over, including stripping the old paint, and applying the new color and clear coat. At the same time, Heavy Duty Diesel and Automotive Technology students have performed major maintenance on the truck that will tow the No. 37 across the US during the racing season.
The boat is owned by legendary Billy Schumacher (“Billy the Kid”), the former unlimited champion driver who won 17 races from 1967-1976, and is perhaps best known for his unprecedented string of wins with the Miss Bardahl team. Schumacher Racing has paid a shop fee and materials costs for the student project.
The newly-painted and refinished boat will carry the South Seattle Community College name and logo on its side as it competes throughout the U.S. and in Qatar this season.
The automotive program is just south of the north parking lot on campus, accessible from the north entrance at 6000 16th SW on Puget Ridge.
11:43 AM: If you’re seeing a big police response, they’re heading for the 6700 block of 37th SW – conflicting reports of what might have happened, but possibly a shot or shots fired – we’ll have more as we get it.
11:47 AM: Still no confirmation of shots – scanner traffic has even indicated they’re checking out whether “a transformer blew because of a bird.”
11:50 AM: Lt. at the scene confirms the bird scenario. No shots. All’s well.
One month till West Seattle Summer Fest begins in The Junction – July 13, 14, and 15, those magic days/nights when the streets in the heart of “downtown West Seattle” close for the neighborhood’s biggest party of the year. Today, you can preview the official list of Summer Fest vendors – see the list here. Once you’ve found a vendor that interests you, you can cross-reference their number with their location by zooming in on the map you’ll find here. (WSB, a Summer Fest co-sponsor, will again this year be assisting fairgoers and reporting live from the Information Booth.) The eagerly awaited music list is expected soon; as reported here last week, we know Caspar Babypants will be back, on Friday 7/13 at the community stage on SW Alaska (which is where community performance acts such as dance troupes will be found).
ADDED 1:50 PM: One more local act has announced via Facebook that it’s playing Summer Fest on opening day, too: Branden Daniel and The Chics (2 pm 7/13, they say), featured here back in March because of the West Seattleite-led band’s “Mor Yay” video featuring mostly WS scenery.
(County rendering of Cove Park, after the Barton Pump Station project)
From last night’s Fauntleroy Community Association meeting: The latest timeline for the start of major work for the Barton Pump Station upgrade project – which will close Cove Park north of the ferry dock for about two years – plus, neighborhood traffic/parking concerns related to school commuting via ferry – read on:Read More
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