West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Less than two months after Tully’s Coffee vacated the storefront on the southeast corner of Fauntleroy/California, we know what’s moving in: Cellular World. A few WSB’ers had e-mailed saying they’d heard “a cellular store” but we hadn’t been able to confirm which one – until we heard from Gypsie, who saw the signs go up today. Cellular World already has a store in Jefferson Square; we just talked with its manager Carlos, who says it’s not yet settled whether that store will stay open after this one is up and running. Whatever happens with that, he says, the Morgan Junction store is scheduled to open July 1st.
Thanks to those who pointed out the trailer that’s gone up in the Admiral Safeway parking lot, e-mailing to ask whether it marks the start of construction on the redevelopment, or something else. Safeway’s Sara Corn says the trailer will be the temporary pharmacy – they scrapped the plan to first build the smaller retail building along California on the northwest side of the parking lot, so it could serve as the pharmacy during construction:
The permit for the retail building was not issued per the planned schedule. Since Safeway wants to provide uninterrupted pharmacy service, we couldn’t demolish the store until the retail building was completed and the pharmacy was open. Waiting for this would cause our entire store construction to be delayed and likely pushed out to a 2011 start. For this reason, we decided to run our pharmacy out of a trailer so we can start the construction of the new store as soon as we receive our permits.
As for when construction will start – Corn says there are still a few steps ahead – the site rezone goes to the City Council in June (she expects public notice this week for June 9/23 meetings); no date yet for the alley vacation to be considered, but once that date’s set, she says they’ll have a construction schedule (which would include a date for the closure of the current store). The smaller retail building, she says, will now be built concurrent with the main store; Catalyst Commercial Partners is currently listing its retail spaces for lease. (Here’s our report from the project’s final Design Review Board meeting back in February.)
Update from last night’s forecast: From now till midnight, our area is under a “wind advisory.” The forecast says gusts up to 45 mph are possible – as are thunderstorms, as rain moves in. 2:04 PM UPDATE: The rain has begun and the wind is starting to pick up too. 12:10 AM UPDATE: Wind advisory now extended till 4 am.
Sean shared that photo and this explanation:
Our kids play, live, and learn in the parking strips of West Seattle. While this area is also a convenient place for one man’s trash to become another’s treasure, people need to realize that when there is no ‘FREE’ sign accompanying an item, it is not free. Last night our daughter’s play slide was taken from the parking strip, and I would like the person with Spring FREEver to please return it. Thanks for your help.
The parking strip in question is on 36th SW between Hinds and Hanford (map).
This Friday – which also happens to be Bike To Work Day in our area – West Seattleite Coree Pelko (photo right) will be in the Bay Area to hit the road for a fundraising crosscountry bicycling trip, the Sea To Shining Sea ride to help disabled veterans. Coree happens to be in active service right now. And her trip now has a double purpose – as a shipmate who was supposed to ride with her, cannot. Here’s the story she shared:
I am active duty in the United States Coast Guard and I am embarking on a Cross Country Bicycle Ride with the non-profit organization World Team Sports. They are one of the largest Non-Profits for Disabled American Vets. They help Disabled Vets achieve feats that able-bodied citizens only dream of. I am riding to represent the US Coast Guard, Seattle & My dear friend David Moulton (Also Coast Guard) but who cannot ride as a result of unforeseen circumstances with his health that arose.
She explains, after the jump – and we also have a link you can use to support the ride:Read More
First note comes from last night’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting (previous story here), but we wanted to double-confirm it before reporting it: Lt. Norm James says the man shot and killed in White Center early Saturday is the same man who was arrested in The Junction a week ago tonight after a brief police-weapons-drawn search that followed a report of a shoplifter thought to have had a gun. We are checking with King County Sheriff’s Office to see if there are any updates in the case. Meantime, we have two WSB’er Crime Watch reports to share. First, from Sharon:
Could you please have your readers be on the lookout (BOLO) for my 2004 Toyota Sequoia (white in color). It was stolen from my driveway, in the 5300 blk of SW Dakota [map] between late Sunday evening and 0800hrs Monday morning. The License # is 954UAF. Please contact the Seattle Police Dept. (or local Police/Sheriff if found outside city limits) if found or noticed driving around.
And from a parent who did not want to give her name:
Will you please post a notice regarding the selling of drugs in Schmitz Park under the Admiral Bridge overpass. My two boys were walking through Schmitz Park to Alki last weekend with a few friends, when they were approached & offered drugs to buy. Please ask our Community to report any suspicious or drug activity.
Another West Seattle school has principal news today: Thanks to Jeanne Merritt at Madison Middle School for forwarding the memo announcing that Henterson Carlisle, who’s been Madison’s interim principal, now officially has the job. Read on for the memo:Read More
Today/tonight’s highlights from the WSB West Seattle Events calendar: Day 2 of the South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) Rainbow Festival, with activities scheduled 10 am-3 pm (full list here) … A doubleheader at Youngstown Arts Center tonight – you’re invited to help shape the future of Delridge – not just the immediate area around the street but all of eastern West Seattle – during Strategic Delridge at 6 pm (explained here), followed by the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting at 7, with City Councilmember Mike O’Brien scheduled as a guest speaker … In The Junction, the final week of “Tell Me on a Sunday” at ArtsWest (WSB sponsor) starts with tonight’s 7:30 pm performance … And if you’ve got a preschooler, you’re invited to Fauntleroy Children’s Center tonight for a 6 pm presentation by parent educator Jean Vye about teaching 3- to 5-year-olds to include at playtime (RSVP to fauntleroychildrenscenter@yahoo.com) … More of today/tonight’s events listed here.
First toplines from Tuesday night’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting: The most dramatic crime trend mentioned by Southwest Precinct Lt. Norm James is a jump in car prowls – 124 in the past month, up from 97 the month before that. Lt. James suspects some of the rise can be pegged to more people reporting the break-ins, but they’ve also been studying the reports to look for a pattern – it seems, not surprisingly, more are happening where there’s easy bridge access (off Fauntleroy, for example), so they believe many car prowlers come from outside West Seattle, get some loot, and turn back around to leave. Emphasis patrols will start in the next few days to see if the crooks can be caught in the act; meantime, if it happens to you, Lt. James stressed the importance of reporting it, so patterns can be detected. On the other hand, residential burglaries are down – 40 in April, a little more than half the rate for the month before. Two other toplines: High Point is looking for 120 people to each devote just two hours a month to helping keep watch on the neighborhood this summer – they’re calling it the High Point Peace and Safety Team; you can reach Miranda Taylor through the High Point Neighborhood Association (its official website is at highpointneighborhood.org). Also, WSCPC president Dot Beard handed out a flyer (see it here) asking people to write the city to save the Crime Prevention Coordinator jobs, which are reportedly in danger of being cut if a federal grant is not renewed. City councilmembers’ contact info is here; mayor contact info is here. ADDED WEDNESDAY MORNING: One other note: There’s a new officer joining the Community Police Team: Jonathan Kiehn – Officer Jill Vanskike is leaving CPT to join the detective team.
The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets the third Tuesday of most months, 7 pm, SW Precinct.
A “special weather statement” is in effect (read it here) – bottom line, it’s going to get windy again, with gusts up to 45 mph predicted for tomorrow night, after a breezy day. Here’s the full forecast. Meteorologist Cliff Mass calls it “a serious storm” and breaks it down bigtime here – but also points out the worst of it will be on the seacoast.
Case closed: Two months after it was reported missing, the Endolyne Joe’s pig is back. We noticed it this morning and asked Dickie about the backstory. She said it’s been back for a few weeks; a Joe’s employee was at a real-estate open house and spotted the pig in one of the bedrooms! The employee called Dickie; Dickie called the police; the pig was recovered. No info on the fate of the pilferer.
New city-operated traffic cameras (NOT “red-light” cameras, just traffic-monitoring live cams) are finally online in West Seattle. Three of the latest images are “live” above – 42nd/Alaska in The Junction, Fauntleroy/Cloverdale near the ferry terminal, and 11th/Spokane near the “low bridge.” A westbound “high bridge” image is showing now too:
And there’s one at California/Alaska (see it here). The newest ones are not on the “traffic cameras” list on the city website, but they are on the Travelers’ Information Map. And we’ll add these to the WSB Traffic page tonight. (Hat tip to our friends at Capitol Hill Seattle and My Ballard, who published updates after discovering “their” new cams are online, inspiring us to check on “ours.”)
Thanks to commenter “dd” for observing that a crew was at “The Hole” this afternoon, removing the tagged green tarp that had been up against the fence – one of the problems pointed out by the community leaders who led a walking tour of the site late Monday (here’s our original report, published this morning). We went over to check on “dd”‘s report, and got the photo you see above. The crew told us they’d be replacing the tarps.
From Chief Sealth International High School athletic director Sam Reed, we have Sealth’s spring sports wrapup – just in time for Thursday night’s spring-sports banquet – read on for his full writeup:Read More
During the very first meeting of the special West Seattle Triangle Advisory Group (WSB coverage here), it was clear that parking was one of the hottest issues regarding the area’s future. City planner Susan McLain promised a special meeting would be devoted to that topic – and today she’s sent the agenda for that SDOT-hosted meeting, coming up this Thursday:
I. Introductions (10 min) Casey Hildreth, SDOT
II. Review of 2009 West Seattle Junction parking project (20 min) Danté Taylor, SDOT
III. Discussion of key issues (30 min) All
a. Employee parking
b. Residential (RPZ) parking
c. Hide-and-ride, park-and-ride
d. BRT parking impacts
IV. Next steps (5 min) Casey
V. Q & A (25 min) All
(BRT refers to RapidRide – “Bus Rapid Transit.”) The meeting’s at 6 pm Thursday, Senior Center of West Seattle, and everybody’s welcome. Meantime, the city has posted documents and graphics from past Triangle Advisory Group meetings here.
Remember the saga of the Pigeon Point sign – first poking fun at a road closure, then cut down and stolen, then having its frame replaced? Now, Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council co-chair Jim Sander has created a new two-sided sign – to urge participation in Blockwatch. You can figure out the first photo; in the second one, if you don’t recognize the face, that is local uber-involved Pigeon Point resident (and former PPNC chair) Pete Spalding. Speaking of Blockwatch, dare we remind you again that tonight is the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council‘s monthly meeting, 7 pm, Southwest Precinct, which is also where the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains’ Network will have its second meeting one week from tonight – Tuesday, May 25, 6:30 pm (here’s the Facebook invite).
As first reported here April 8, the Southwest District Council voted to send a letter to the owners of The Hole – the excavated-then-stalled Fauntleroy Place/Whole Foods site at 39th/Alaska/Fauntleroy – voicing concerns about safety and aesthetics issues. (Here’s our April 13 report with the final text of the letter.) Then at last week’s Junction Neighborhood Organization meeting (WSB coverage here), president Erica Karlovits announced a date was set for a representative for the company that wants to take over the site, Madison Development, to come out for a walking tour and firsthand look at the concerns.
Last night, that tour happened. In the top photo, that’s Madison spokesperson Natalie Quick with Karlovits, her fellow SWDC co-chair Chas Redmond, and West Seattle Junction Association executive director Susan Melrose, who originally proposed the letter. In this clip shot and edited for WSB by Christopher Boffoli, they explain the tour:
As for whether Madison Development is currently liable for The Hole, Quick is checking on that – in a complicated series of transactions tied up with the legal action involving the site, an entity called 3922 SW Alaska LLC holds the note and has filed for judicial foreclosure.
Read on for our notes from the tour, and more photos:Read More
Thanks to Joan (via e-mail) and Rob (via Facebook) for asking about a police search late last night, with K-9, in an area ranging (at least) from 35th/Graham to 39th/Holly. Southwest Precinct Lt. Ron Smith tells WSB that it started when someone who lives in the 6700 block of 40th SW (map) came home to find a burglary in progress. The burglars fled; police started searching and, with K-9 helping follow the trail, found and arrested two suspects. (P.S. As noted earlier, the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets tonight @ the precinct, 7 pm.)
(Edited since original publication after WSB was notified 5/26/10 by another media outlet that the “promo photos” provided for our use in publicizing the show were actually the property of that media outlet. The photos have been removed at that outlet’s request, and we have removed text that referred to the no-longer-appearing-in-the-story photos.)
Thursday night is opening night for “Once Upon a Mattress,” a joint production of West Seattle High School‘s Drama and Music Departments, playing Thursday-Saturday and again May 27-29. Above, you see the production’s sizable cast, which is also getting help from student marketers who provided this synopsis of the musical’s plot:
A love-sick nobleman seeking to marry his sweetheart does his best to find his ruling prince a suitable bride so that he himself may wed. No one in Prince Dauntless’s kingdom is permitted to marry until the prince himself exchanges vows — a problem hindered by the fact that the prince’s overprotective mother, Queen Aggravain, has thus far thwarted all efforts to marry her son. This does not sit well with the honorable Sir Harry, a man whose heart longs to wed the fair Lady Larkin, and after a long and arduous journey specifically designed to find the prince a bride, Sir Harry returns to his kingdom to present Princess Winnifred of the swamps. Immediately smitten by the princess, Prince Dauntless sets into motion plans for a lavish wedding as his scheming mother cooks up a test that’s sure to send his marital plans awry.
Not only do ticket-buyers support this production, but they’re also helping raise funds for the program’s future.
Tickets for “Once Upon a Mattress” are $10 at the door, $5 with reservations, kids under 12 half-price with a paying adult, and if you make reservations for six, you only pay for five; for reservations, call 206-252-8834. All performances are at 7:30 pm; here’s the Facebook events page.
Got crime/safety concerns? Your monthly chance to bring them directly to Southwest Precinct police leadership is here again, as the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meets tonight, 7 pm at the precinct (Delridge/Webster). Guest speaker tonight is Liquor Control Board Lt. Woodrow Perkins. … At South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor), it’s the first of three days of the Rainbow Festival, with activities starting with the “Parrot Lady” at 10 am and continuing through a reception for the college gallery’s newest show “A Labor of Love“ 5-7 pm (full schedule here) … Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) hosts the “Exile on Main Street” CD release party, 8 pm (details on the Feedback website) … At The Bohemian tonight, it’s Books for Beers, with a portion of beverage sales 6-10 pm – plus proceeds from raffles – going to Room to Read (event flyer here, with appetizer coupon) … Not in West Seattle but of interest if you want to take the next step in helping marine wildlife: As announced by WS-based Seal Sitters, marine-mammal-stranding training is at 6:30 tonight at the Seattle Aquarium (WSB sponsor) … Even more on the WSB West Seattle Events calendar.
A few more West Seattle volunteerism reports have come in since last weekend, to add to the ones we’d already spotlighted. First, Michele reports from northwest of The Junction:
Patty Blair organized a traffic circle cleanup party at 47th Ave SW and Dakota [map], Saturday, May 15th. 14 neighbors came together to pull weeds, pick up trash and dig up stumps. The traffic circle once knee high in grass looks beautiful. Michele Miller supplied coffee while Patty served homemade carrot muffins and chocolate chip cookies. Neighbors helping out were Barbara and George, Art, Bobbie, Erik and daughters Addy and Riley, Heidi, Lilith and daughter Nora, along with Sherry and daughter Yasmine, also Beth who came from Queen Anne . Many others drove by thanking us and shouting support . By the end of the day we made new friends with our neighbors, strengthened friendships and found a lot of earthworms and snails. Thanks also to the city who supplied gloves, bags and safety vests.
Photo above, Erik and daughter Addy (with others in the background); below, organizer Patty:
(What’s YOUR neighborhood up to? Share it with the rest of West Seattle!) Next – one more project from Rampathon. On Saturday, we showed you the one done that day in Highland Park by Potter Construction (WSB sponsor); turns out another West Seattle-based construction company, Weitzel Construction, had a Rampathon project too – Dave Weitzel shared this photo of the completed project in Magnolia:
Hundreds of West Seattleites enjoyed his work last holiday season … and even though Christmas is more than seven months away, Jim Winder is well on his way to creating this year’s lights-and-music extravaganza. He sent us photos of a special delivery the other day, with this update:
Been working since January on this year’s Christmas display, welding up a new, bigger Mega Tree and some Mini Trees…and I (just) received my 785 lbs of LED lights!!!
We will be adding nearly 45,000 lights to this year’s display for a total of nearly 55,000 lights!!! We are adding a lot of more elements to the display and hopefully a few other surprises to really make the display a lot more interactive for the people. We are also planning our own website which will have the show hours and when and what songs will be playing. Lighting ceremony will be Thanksgiving night, and will hopefully have a Northwest Celebrity to do the honors.
Along with all that we are also planning on having a collection box for those who would like to donate to a charity to be announced later. We will also be collecting food stuffs for a West Seattle Food bank…
So we are quite excited and can’t wait for the colder weather!!!! (well…at least me anyway…)
What – you don’t quite remember Jim’s lights? Maybe this will refresh your memory.
This Saturday, Julia Bolz speaks at Alki UCC. Event-presenting InSPIRE Seattle is hoping many will come hear about her amazing work. Local writer David Preston spoke with her in advance of her visit.
(All photos in this story are courtesy Ayni Education International)
By David Preston
Special to West Seattle Blog
In 1998, Seattleite Julia Bolz decided to take a sabbatical from her successful immigration law practice to follow her heart around the world. She ended up in Africa, where she focused on empowering the poor — especially women and girls — by working with nongovernmental organizations focused on microfinance, health care, and human rights.
Not long into her journey, she knew the work was for her, so she resigned from the partnership to work full time in the field of social justice. In all, she has worked in, or travelled to, more than 70 countries — more countries than many folks could name — but since early 2002, “right after the Taliban were removed from power,” her focus has been Afghanistan. There, she founded a project called “Journey with an Afghan School” that builds and equips schools, provides teacher training, and builds bridges of understanding between the two countries.
Building a school can be a major undertaking, so I asked Julia why she started there rather than, say, sending blankets (which is what I, a struggling journalist, would have done.)
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