West Seattle, Washington
28 Tuesday
We’re just back from the first-ever Sustainable West Seattle Festival in The Junction, and by all accounts, and our observations, it was a smash hit. SWS president Bill Reiswig said in closing remarks less than an hour ago that what he found really “moving” was all the interaction going on, between exhibitors and participants and festivalgoers — a fulfillment of the “building community, creating connections” mission you may have seen on the posters for the SWSF.
That’s what we experienced too; we had a great time not only spreading the word about West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, but also meeting so many people who are out there in WSB-land, including some folks we’ve “known” via e-mail for many months but never before met in person … thank you all SO much for stopping by to say hi. We’ll have a full wrapup later tonight with more festival pix and video. Congratulations to Sustainable West Seattle, which made a daring move by putting on a major event like this after less than a year in existence … and succeeded big-time.
(Our previous reports on the festival, under way in The Junction till 3 pm, are here and here.)
Just steps away from the Sustainable West Seattle Festival table that’s become temporary WSB HQ for the day, you can see the Westenders Scooter Club with those bright bikes. And though it’s not technically on the festival site, across the street by the northeast entrance to the Farmers’ Market, we spotted the “human-powered smoothie” maker:
The festival continues till 3 all around the Wells Fargo lot on the northeast corner of 44th/Alaska; we’re here mostly on behalf of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (just another form of recycling) — lots of folks have dropped by to say hi (thanks!). We’re just west of the “Main Stage,” where a variety of speakers have appeared throughout the day – later we’ll upload video from the speech by Jim Diers, former city Department of Neighborhoods leader, whose booming call for “NEIGHBOR POWER!” could be heard for blocks away!
Yesterday Sunrise/Olympic Heights, today – Admiral! Backstory: Continuing through late May, we’re helping local neighborhood leaders get you information that will help you keep your family safe in case of disaster. One big part of this spring’s campaign in West Seattle is the designation of neighborhood gathering spots so that everyone knows where they can go post-disaster to get information and help. This is being done on a very grass-roots level, and not all areas of West Seattle are set up yet, but those that are (marked with clickable icons on the map you see above) have been having drop-in events where neighbors can come by, meet the folks working on this, and get important info on simple steps they can take to be prepared. The next such event is happening right now at Hiawatha Park (click the spot on the map in the Admiral District). If that’s the spot closest to you, take a few minutes and stop by, sometime before 5 pm.
Those are Duwamish Tribe members singing a song of welcome to open the first-ever Sustainable West Seattle Festival, continuing till 3 pm in The Junction (Wells Fargo lot and surroundings, across from the Farmers’ Market). Other scenes from the first hour:
That’s the Polar Bear getting ready for its closeup. Next, the popular “Undriver Licensing” booth:
Next, evidence many festivalgoers already were “undriving”:
Here’s an overview of the area north of Wells Fargo. There are also booths in and around the south and east sides, including the drive-thru (our table is next to the main stage just outside the north end of the drive-thru).
Something for gardeners too:
If you haven’t been yet, drop by the WSB table, say hi, and pick up a West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (next Saturday — call it P2P recycling!) reminder. And remember the transportation/transit discussions happening inside ArtsWest, too.
It takes a village to put on a festival, and a small one is going up right now on the Wells Fargo lot @ NE corner of 44th/Alaska, where the first-ever Sustainable West Seattle Festival starts in less than an hour and a half. As mentioned in our previous post, at least one of us will be stationed at all times at a table there for the 10 am-3 pm duration, mostly to continue getting the word out about West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (next Saturday! stay, sunshine, stay!) — we’ve printed out small reminder slips you can put up on the fridge or wherever — but also to talk about community newsgathering and blogging with anyone who’s interested. Here’s the full festival program; here’s a quicker-to-read version of the schedule; we’ll cover various events through the day for in-progress and post-festival updates, too.
A little cruel that the sun finally showed up in the evening of “Opening Day” — but boaters braved the drizzly day anyway – we spotted these sailboats (and several others) coming out of the bay @ Don Armeni around mid-afternoon, while the schpritz (as we call it) dripped on down. Also seen around West Seattle:
West Seattle was the center of the plant-sale universe today, with several sales under way – that picture and the one below are from the Furry Faces Foundation animal-rescue fundraiser in the courtyard next to Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) – $20 gets you a hanging basket, you pick the plants and they’re assembled for you on-site. This sale continues tomorrow, 10 am-4 pm.
If you’re not intimately familiar with Junction geography, the sale site is at California/Genesee, just a few blocks northeast of 44th/Alaska, where you’ll find two big events tomorrow: West Seattle Farmers’ Market (10 am-2 pm) and the first-ever Sustainable West Seattle Festival (10 am-3 pm, full program here) — we’ll be at the latter with West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (next Saturday!) info and blogging tips for anyone who’s been thinking about starting one.
That wasn’t a mystery for long … we were away from the computer for a few hours, and while we were gone, not only did someone find the website for the restaurant taking over the spot Murphy’s is vacating (here’s our report from last night), someone else forwarded us this e-mail announcement that appears to have gone out just about an hour ago:
Sean and Sofia Goff to open Cafe Revo Ristorante!
Coming soon to West Seattle!
Rustic Northern Italian recipes brought straight from the old country to our Pacific Northwest table.
Café Revò Ristorante is being created by West Seattle Residents; Chef Sean Goff and Sofia Zadra Goff.
Café Revò will welcome all of their guests as family, in a warm tradition of hospitality that has been handed down for centuries. The local motto is, Mangia, bevi e godi! “Eat, drink and enjoy!”
Together with their experienced management team, Milo Goodrich and Kevin Fry, Chef Sean and Sofia will be looking forward to welcoming you to their home at Café Revò.
The Café Revò website is caferevo.com. You can check out the menu here.
Continuing through late May, we’re helping local neighborhood leaders get you information that will help you keep your family safe in case of disaster. One big part of this spring’s campaign in West Seattle is the designation of neighborhood gathering spots so that everyone knows where they can go post-disaster to get information and help. This is being done on a very grass-roots level, and not all areas of West Seattle are set up yet, but those that are (marked with clickable icons on the map you see above) have been having drop-in events where neighbors can come by, meet the folks working on this, and get important info on simple steps they can take to be prepared. The next such event is happening right now at Hughes Playground (click the spot on the map near the words “High Point”; street address is 2805 Holden). If that’s the spot closest to you, take a few minutes and stop by; look for them on the north side, near the restrooms, till 4 pm.
TODAY: The weather’s a little sketchy but if you were going to wash your car anyway, note that the WSHS Class of ’08 is having another Grad Night-fundraising car wash at the school through 2 pm today.
TODAY: Arbor Heights and Highland Park Elementary Schools are both having rummage sales under way right now (AH has a plant sale too); more here.
TONIGHT: The Sanislo Elementary auction, 5 pm, Holy Family. More here.
THURSDAY: Another WSHS benefit — the Foundation is raising money for visual and performing arts with an evening of dinner and theater (and a few extras!) on Thursday night, hosted by County Councilmember (and WSHS alum) Dow Constantine — read on for full details and ticket info:Read More
KING 5 reported tonight (see the clip here) that a hearing on Monday could close the case of the June 2005 W. Marginal Way shooting death of Mike Robb, a West Seattle resident who coached tennis at Newport High School – with his killer declared not guilty by reason of insanity. (More background on the case in this September 2006 Times article; KING reported tonight that the lawsuit discussed in that story, against the killer’s parents, has been settled.)
Two weeks ago, we mentioned the CL rental listing for the soon-to-be-vacated Murphy‘s on Avalon suggested it would be a good space for a restaurant. Tonight, verification that one is on the way. It started with a tip from Kate (thank you!) that she met a couple who told her they planned to open a “Northern Italian” restaurant in that space. She didn’t get their names but recalls that “the chef has worked at and opened other restaurants.” As of tonight, we haven’t found their identities, but we do know the Seattle DPD website shows a permit application for converting the space to a restaurant. (The only name on the online application is that of the architect, Daniel Corcoran.) Side note — a couple blocks north, along the east side of the intersection where Harbor becomes Avalon, the long-defaced-by-a-tag Luna Park sign has finally been replaced (after a year).
Just in from city Parks Department spokesperson Dewey Potter, who had most recently said the clearing was likely to happen Monday:
I have just learned that the encampment has been removed and that our crew delivered to our warehouse the belongings that appeared to have any personal or monetary value. The cleanup took place after outreach workers notified our crew that they had completed their efforts to notify the people there.
We first told you about the encampment on Monday; WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham had been monitoring it for more than a month.
Just in from Charlestown Cafe co-owner Larry Mellum:
I finally have some good news to report. Everything is finally signed sealed and delivered!! Meaning that the Charlestown St. Cafe project is finally underway. I will do my best to keep you aware of our progress but as I have said previously, this is a four week project. Which means we should be open for business sometime around June 1st, with any luck possibly Memorial Day weekend.
It’s been almost three months since the Feb. 4th fire that closed the restaurant; we’ve been chronicling (scroll through our complete Charlestown Cafe archive here) the ups and downs of the owners’ quest for repair approvals ever since. Ironically, just days before the fire, we had reported the shelving of the controversial plan to build a Petco store on the site.
With so much going on last night, we sought some help making sure the major events could all be covered — and a WSB’er who has reported previously for us, Evan Baumgardner, agreed to handle one of them — the Seattle Public Schools hearing on the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse sale (one month after a community meeting about it, WSB coverage here). Here’s his report:Read More
From the “Campus Security Report” in the latest South Seattle Community College newsletter:
April 28: Student directed to leave the Library after repeatedly refusing to stop using his cell phone, to library staff and then security officers.
Actually that’s just one small snippet from a newsletter jampacked with other news from West Seattle’s only college; the folks at SSCC invited us to share the whole thing with you here.
We mentioned it briefly last night, and promised more details: After weeks of declaring the decision was made and space for a “skate feature” would definitely be reserved in the new Myrtle Reservoir park, city Parks Department managers announced an abrupt about-face last night. That left opponents happy, skatepark supporters fuming, and other issues with the park plan bubbling to the forefront:Read More
Thanks to WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli for those photos from tonight’s Day of Prayer gathering by the Alki Statue of Liberty. There was music as well as prayer; leaders from more than 10 local congregations had promised to participate, including West Seattle Christian Church (WSB sponsor), Life Church, Arbor Heights Community Church, Eastridge Christian Assembly, the Providence Mt. St. Vincent Chapel, Holy Rosary, West Side Presbyterian, Mars Hill, Hope Lutheran, First Lutheran, and Calvary Chapel.
A sudden turnaround by the city Parks Department was announced at tonight’s third public meeting on the Myrtle Reservoir park project: Two weeks after project manager Virginia Hassinger reiterated to the Morgan Community Association that the “final approved schematic design” for the park would include an area set aside for a “skate feature,” she and city skatepark plan manager Kevin Stoops told tonight’s meeting that plan had been taken off the table — as of earlier today. More in a bit.
We last mentioned this Alki project at 59th/Stevens when reporting on SDOT signage-prep work in the neighborhood two weeks ago. The house on the property where that sign is on display, an 83-year-old home purchased for $795,000 last year by Cobb Construction, is proposed for teardown, to be replaced on the 7,770-square-foot lot by two single-family homes and one three-unit townhouse. The public meeting just announced for May 22 (Admiral library branch, 6:30 pm) is “to gather comments on the project.” Most projects this size don’t get this type of public review; we called the planner assigned to the project, Janet Wright, who explained it’s the result of a petition signed by more than 50 neighbors, linked to the fact the project requires SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) review because it’s proposing 5 units on a lot that normally could ot have more than four. P.S. Two people have now pointed out, this site is listed for sale – $1,000,000.
Those are two more of the most recent photos WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham took at the Camp Long homeless encampment he has been investigating (first WSB report here; followup here). We just got an update from Dewey Potter at the city Parks Department:
The outreach people will try once more tomorrow to see if there’s evidence of anyone living at the camp site. If they are satisfied that the people have left, they will notify the crew chief and Parks will clean up the site on the next working day, Monday.
See that bun? It almost kept Zippy’s Giant Burgers (16th/Holden) from opening as planned today. We called this morning to see if Opening Day was on schedule and were told “If the buns get here …” They did, and the burgers are on the grill. Hours: 10:30 am-9 pm Mondays-Thursdays, 10:30 am-10 pm Fridays, 11 am-10 pm Saturdays, noon-7 pm Sundays. (Cash only.) Below, employee Chris LaFayette and owner Blaine Cook, proud of the new enterprise:
From Andrea (here’s a map of the location she mentions):
Around 8:30 p.m. last night a suspicious man knocked on our door claiming to be selling home security. He was from “Icon Security” but after googling the company we discovered it was fake. He asked my husband strange questions such as if he was married and how long we’d lived there. We called the police an hour later after realizing he was a fake, but they said they couldn’t do anything as too much time had passed. The told us to call 911 right away if it happens again. I’d like to know if anyone else has encountered this man. We’re located around 29th and Holden.
In separate e-mail, Andrea’s husband described the solicitor as a “chubby 30-ish white guy.”
This is the day we warned you about. Three newsmaking events in West Seattle tonight:
**Seattle Public Schools public hearing on the proposed Fauntleroy Schoolhouse sale, 6:30 pm @ the schoolhouse
**National Day of Prayer, 12 local churches participating, 6:30 pm @ Alki Statue of Liberty
**Next public meeting on the Myrtle Reservoir park project (most recent WSB coverage here), 7 pm @ High Point Community Center
Then, as mentioned yesterday, May Day events on the other side of the bay might affect you as you get around the city.
And if you get around by water, note that today marks the start of the “peak season” — and peak fares — for Washington State Ferries. (More here; find fare information here.)
Much more (including an Alki Bathhouse art reception and West Seattle-based Northwest Hope and Healing’s fashion show) on our Events list.
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