West Seattle, Washington
29 Friday
Yes, we know various “long-range forecasts” hinted at snow, but the National Weather Service didn’t have the word anywhere until “possible snow showers” appeared in the latest outlook for Saturday night. Would be ideal if that happened after the West Seattle Junction Hometown Holidays Tree Lighting (5 pm tomorrow, Marty Riemer, Endolyne Children’s Choir, first drawings in the $6,500 Junction giveaway, be there, Farmers’ Market parking lot). Note the photo at left of the “little” Junction tree, taken by WSB’er Creighton last year in the midst of the Big Snow (this year we’re told they’ll just light the big one to its north). 2:33 PM UPDATE: SDOT says it’s brined the roads in case of ice/snow:
Following the new winter weather response plan, SDOT crews have proactively applied salt brine solution to roads and bridges to address icing concerns and be ready for any possible snow.
In addition to applying the brine solution, which remains effective for several days unless it rains, crews have also been responding to reports of localized ice on side streets formed by groundwater seeping onto roadways.
With possible snow flurries forecast for tonight and early tomorrow, SDOT trucks are being fitted with plows and spreaders, and will be ready if needed. Crews will be on call throughout the weekend. Residents and businesses are reminded, if a storm does occur, of their responsibility to keep adjacent sidewalks clear of snow and ice.
Tonight, and for most of the weekend, the holiday celebrations kick into high gear. The West Seattle Weekend Lineup is in the works, but first – one of the highlights from tonight’s calendar could be called the greenest holiday party in West Seattle – Sustainable West Seattle, Solar Washington, NW Ecobuilding Guild, EOS Alliance, Seattle Electric Vehicle Association, BALLE, CoolMom and the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition invite you to their celebration, 6-10 pm at the Duwamish Tribe Longhouse and Cultural Center. The party includes a potluck, so bring something to share; all ages are welcome – kids’ activities are planned, as well as music, dancing and prizes. Tonight also includes holiday open houses (Wyatt’s Jewelers [WSB sponsor] and Husky Deli among them) – check the WSB West Seattle Holidays page for the full rundown.
The precinct-by-precinct numbers are out for the November 3 (finalized Nov. 24) election, and our partners at the Seattle Times have made some maps. If you take a closer look at the one for the mayor’s race (direct link here, opens a PDF), you’ll see that, in general, the Joe Mallahan/Mike McGinn vote split east-west on the peninsula – Mallahan west, McGinn east. Earlier this week, Publicola put together a map that breaks down the McGinn/Mallahan support into several additional categories.
Two years after the murder of which she’s accused, almost one year after the start of her trial in Italy, the American student with West Seattle roots is awaiting the verdict this morning. This Google News query will take you to the latest stories from sources foreign and domestic. Jurors have been deliberating more than three hours, after hearing final statements including one from Knox herself. Her father Curt Knox told reporters the family is “very hopeful” she will be acquitted. ADDED 11:07 AM: KING5 interviewed Knox’s aunt Janet Huff in West Seattle this morning.
That’s what it looks like when the lights come on each night at the Menashe Family‘s Beach Drive home – where you’ll find West Seattle’s biggest and brightest Christmas lights display. You won’t usually hear that loud set of oohs and aahs, though – tonight, the lights had a special audience: Family and friends there for the videotaping of a cable TV show. They had to throw the switch a few times to get extra angles, like this:
Here’s the camera crew:
Really important to note – the show, which we’re told features several spectacular holiday homes around the country including the Menashes’, won’t air until NEXT holiday season – as in, late 2010; it’ll be on TLC. Too much production required to put it together in time for air this holiday season. But you can go see the Menashes’ display any night in person; as has now become an annual WSB tradition, we asked Josh Menashe to give us the 2-minute tour of what’s new in the display this year:
The Menashe display is along the southern stretch of Beach Drive – no direct access from the east but you can either hit Beach Drive from the Lowman Beach area and head north, or from the Jacobsen Road end and drive south. Here’s a map. Meantime, we’ll be spotlighting lots of light displays – let us know about yours, or something cool you’ve seen – here’s the archive so far, from this year and the past few years.
An unusual late-night announcement from the King County Council. An advisory committee has narrowed down the list of 11 candidates seeking appointment to the Council seat given up by Dow Constantine when he became King County Executive last week. They are recommending four candidates be interviewed for Council District 8, which includes West Seattle and White Center. All four are current elected officials; two say they’ll run for the seat in November 2010, 34th District State Sen. Joe McDermott (the only West Seattleite in the quartet) and 11th District Rep. Zack Hudgins,, while the other two say they will not run for the “permanent” job – outgoing Seattle City Councilmember Jan Drago (who ran for mayor instead of for council re-election) and 34th District State Rep. Sharon Nelson. Read on for the full announcement and what happens next:Read More
Two more gorgeous photos tonight, following up on the great ones shared earlier – thanks again to EVERYBODY. Top photo is Mount Baker, as captured by David Hutchinson tonight from Alki with the pink light of sunset/dusk. Next, Max caught tonight’s moonrise:
From City Hall downtown: The Seattle Design Commission has finished its two-part review of the portion of the Admiral Safeway redevelopment project on which it’s required to sign off, the “alley vacation,” and the vote was in favor of approval. (If a project requires a street or alley vacation – asking the city to give up its right of way – that requires several levels of approvals, including the Design Commission’s blessing in two stages, urban design and public benefit, what citizens theoretically are getting in exchange for giving up publicly owned property.) After the first presentation (WSB coverage here), which resulted in the group approving the urban design, they made it clear they wanted more information about its possible traffic effects, so at this afternoon’s review, architect Bill Fuller was joined by a traffic consultant. She said they’d studied the effects of five Safeway redevelopment projects in the region and by extrapolating those results – particularly knowing that these projects are not geared to bring more people to the store, so much as to add improvements that would have existing customers spend more money at the store – they do not expect a sizable traffic impact – about 300 additional “trips” per day beyond what the site generates now. The project will include about three dozen residential units and almost 100 “flex-work units” as well as almost doubling the size of the grocery store and adding a 6,000-square-foot retail building along California on the northwest edge of the property. Landscape architect Andy Rasmussen also joined the presentation, during which it was noted that the project will be trying for LEED certification. The only member of the public to attend and speak was longtime Admiral neighborhood advocate Dennis Ross, who again voiced strong support for the project. Leaving City Hall now to return to West Seattle, will add details of the commissioners’ concerns when we get back online.10:33 AM FRIDAY: Highlights finally added, ahead (note – we also have added graphics from the presentation – thanks to Fuller Sears for answering our request for digital copies):Read More
First – you’ve no doubt heard by now about the Papa John’s Pizza fundraiser, in which the company says it will donate its regional profits from orders next Tuesday/Wednesday to the families of the four Lakewood Police officers killed last Sunday. We just confirmed that the Papa John’s in West Seattle is participating. Meantime, another dining fundraiser has just been announced by Merrill Gardens (WSB sponsor), which has two West Seattle locations, where all proceeds from this event will go to the officers’ families:
Wednesday, December 9, 5-7 pm, Merrill Gardens at Admiral Heights & West Seattle will host a Pasta Dinner with all the fixings to raise money for the families of the fallen police officers in Western Washington. The dinner will be available for a minimum $10 donation. All money collected will be donated to the fund for the families.
Residents and team members at each of the 22 Washington State Merrill Gardens retirement communities will host this fundraiser that is open to family, friends and the general public. All food and beverages will be donated by Merrill Gardens.
Where: Merrill Gardens at Admiral Heights
2326 California Ave. SW, (206) 938-3964Merrill Gardens at West Seattle
4611 35th Ave. SW, (206) 932-5480
From SDOT:
Tomorrow, Friday, December 4, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Seattle Department of Transportation crews will close the left lane of Alaskan Way Viaduct northbound at Massachusetts Street. During the closure, the crew will install a temporary railing until a permanent repair can be made. The guard rail was damaged by a recent one-car accident. Motorists should expect slowing and use caution through the work zone.
Two months after West Seattleites Marty Riemer and Jodi Brothers were dropped by The Mountain (where he’d been for 12 years), he’s just announced a new gig, via his Facebook page, where his status reads:
We have a new home! Starting Monday, December 7, Jodi and I are bringing the comedy to 96.5 JACK-FM. Tune in on Monday to 96.5FM (my old home from the KXRX days) for the “7:19AM Funnies” and “5:19PM Funnies.” We bring you the comedy 1 minute faster; first with the funniest. That’s what happens when you give us a little free time to be creative .. we come up with a 5:19 Funny. Awesome! Details at martyriemer.com
Here’s the direct link. Just this past Monday, we published a WSB interview with the duo. Congratulate Marty when you see him at the West Seattle Junction Tree Lighting this Saturday night (5 pm, Farmers’ Market parking lot).
A day and a half after our first report of arrests on the February 1st murder of Steve Bushaw in West Seattle, police have issued their official news release – with one new bit of info: They’re still asking for tips in the case. Read on for the full text (including where to direct tips):Read More
Notice something missing in that photo? At West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park along 35th SW at Alaska, overlooking the West Seattle Golf Course, the totem pole’s gone, with only that blue steel post in place. (Here’s a Flickr shot of what you SHOULD be seeing there; [added 6:48 pm] at left, a Rotary photo.) After a WSB’er e-mailed us yesterday to say she noticed it missing, we put in an inquiry to the Parks Department to ask if it had been taken away for maintenance – and also went over, not just to get the photo you see above, but also to see if there was a note about work being done. Now we’ve just learned, Parks thinks it may have been stolen. We just talked with Terry Boden, who works on maintenance for parks in this area; he says he checked throughout the department to see if anyone has any knowledge of the totem pole being taken away for maintenance, but hasn’t turned up anything – so he’s planning to call Seattle Police to report it as a theft. As donors and stewards of the 33-year-old park, Rotary Club of West Seattle has been investigating too, Josh Sutton tells us – checking out a report of a stuck truck getting towed from the scene, possibly while trying to take the pole away; in fact, while there yesterday, we noted these tracks in the grass:
Parks received that report too and hasn’t been able to confirm it. So if you know anything about what happened to the totem pole, Terry Boden would like to hear from you – he’s headquartered at Lincoln Park, 206-684-7457.
Thanks to those who answered the call for photos of the full-moon-rise that brought photographers to West Seattle viewpoints in droves last night, looking for a shot like … that one there! Thanks, Greg! (He’s also wondering if anyone can identify the specific peak in front of the moon in his image.) Also just in, Derek’s view from a little while later:
ADDED 11:11 AM: Two shots from Alki photographer extraordinaire David Hutchinson. For the technically minded, he includes this note:
The full moon photo is actually a combination of two taken on a tripod. The first was at a shutter speed of 1 second to expose for the downtown skyline and the second taken immediately afterwards at 1/60 of a second to expose for the full moon. At 1 second the moon shows as a white featureless disk and at 1/60th second the downtown lights are hardly visible. Our eyes do a great job of compensating for this difference in brightness.
David photographed from the Seacrest area, and went back for this morning’s sunrise:
ADDED 3:24 PM: Thanks to Sean for this closeup of just the full moon:
Thanks again! If any more come in, we’ll add them to this item.
RESERVOIR PARK PLAN: Residents of Highland Park have been brainstorming for years about the future of Westcrest Park and extra parkland to be created by the covering of its reservoir (including June’s HP Action Committee mini-summit); now, the work is well under way, and while the Parks Department says park construction won’t start till 2011, its official meetings to plan and design the space start tonight. 7 pm, High Point Community Center (map).
WESTWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: 7 pm, Southwest Community Center (map). Tonight’s agenda includes presentations on community murals, robbery prevention and the ReLeaf free-tree program.
ARTIST RECEPTION AT THE DUWAMISH LONGHOUSE: Photographer Joanne Petrina has been documenting the lives of Duwamish Tribe members for two years, and her work is on display at the almost-year-old longhouse in West Seattle ; tonight, you can meet her at an artist reception, 6 pm. Full details here. (Side note – there’s a holiday craft fair at the longhouse this weekend.)
LOW TIDE, AGAIN: As pointed out yesterday by Lura, tonight’s even lower than last night.
TWO AFTERNOON REMINDERS: The “alley vacation” component of the Admiral Safeway redevelopment project goes before the Seattle Design Commission at 2 pm today (previewed here); another planning meeting for the Admiral-area kiosks and signposts in the West Seattle Trails project (second one this week) starts at 4 pm at the West Seattle (Admiral) Library (map).
More on the WSB West Seattle Events calendar and the West Seattle Holidays page – which includes ongoing “giving tree” and other charity efforts as well as specific time-based events – LOTS of chances to make this a happier holiday for those going through tough times.
Judging by our early-morning inbox yield, some folks followed up on the recommendation we shared Tuesday from Lura, who sent info about late night low tides continuing the next two nights – David Rosen from SlickPix Photography saw the stars you see above, and the Alki curve you see below:
We also have a bit of video from Alki – WSB contributing reporter Mary Sheely was out with husband Dave Sheely (catch his designs at Urban Craft Uprising this weekend!) and they spotted this camouflaged crab:
Also a photographer’s delight – the full moon that’s just graced us – the prospect of seeing it come up pre-dusk led to this lineup:
Thanks to “westseattledood” for that shot of photographers staked out at the Admiral Way viewpoint last night, awaiting the moonrise over the downtown skyline. Haven’t seen any photos of it yet but we’d love to run one if you have one! Facing the other way, we received a few dusk photos of the USS John C Stennis out and about again – this one from Chris S with the Olympics’ “The Brothers” peaks in the background:
Thanks again to everyone for sharing photos and video – you can send it directly (editor@westseattleblog.com) or also share via Facebook or the West Seattle Blog group on Flickr.
From Wednesday night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting: The group took the first steps toward forming committees with members focused on specific needs/concerns. As co-secretary Holli Margell (at left with Patrick Bergner) noted, the four board members can only do so much – they need help. The matter of who’s on which committee hasn’t been settled yet, but they did decide on the committees: Public safety, including attendance at monthly meetings at the Southwest Precinct; outreach, to get the word out about the council’s existence, and to interact with other groups, as well as planning events and maintaining a website; beautification, which includes the quarterly Adopt-a-Street cleanups and traffic-circle maintenance; streets and pedestrians, focusing on street improvements and how to make the area more walkable; and two other areas were being combined into one committee — transportation (bike lanes, bus routes, etc.) and planning/development. Meantime, NDNC revisited the road-project proposals they’re supporting for potential city funding; after getting an indication from the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council that only smaller projects are likely to succeed in getting funding, they dropped the $6 million Delridge traffic-calming idea for now. They’re instead asking the district council to consider championing the Brandon and Hudson sidewalk projects, as well as drainage/sidewalks for 25th SW between Brandon and Juneau. (See our NDNC report from last month for more on the first two projects.) Two more notes – The group is sending a card to the precinct, expressing their thanks and support, during what’s been a difficult time for law enforcers around the region – Margell is holding the card in the photo above left. Also, co-chair Mirro pointed out at the meeting that since the Delridge Library will be changing its hours because of city budget cuts early next year, the council will have to change its meeting time/day. No decision yet; we’ll let you know when they announce the plan.
Francine e-mailed to share the story of something that happened Tuesday because of the road work shown in our photo above (taken Wednesday) at the far north end of California SW – it’s part warning, and part thanks for Good Samaritans – read on:Read More
Not sure if it’s a first but certainly it’s a rarity – Easy Street Cafe, better known for live music (and breakfast/lunch), is the venue where a play will be performed the next two weekends. Dylan Ward (left) shares the announcement:
I am producing my new play “Closing” at the Easy Street Cafe, on Dec 4th, 5th, 11th, and 12th, which are Fridays and Saturdays respectively. The show starts at 9:30pm. Tickets are $15 and are available at the door or in advance at Easy Street Records. Tickets include Coffee and Pie. All of the cast and crew either live in, work in, or are from West Seattle.
“Closing” is about Rowan, who is working at the Catharsis Cafe on its last day of business. Catharsis is a failed art space/coffee shop, and all Rowan wants to do is leave his failures, co-workers, and old lovers behind him. He and the owner are ready to lock up and ship out, but a particularly strange woman appears and asks to tell her story about seals. Despite his impatience, Rowan must reconcile his feelings and allow her to speak.
Dylan says the closing night of “Closing” is already almost sold out – so this weekend’s your best chance to see it. We asked, why Easy Street? Dylan’s reply – “because the play takes place at a cafe. I figured that rather than building or mimicking a set for a cafe, I would just use one. The audience members will be sat at seats in the cafe, and the play will happen in the aisles, at a table, on the stage, and behind the bar.” We also couldn’t resist asking whose pie they’ll serve: The pie is by Janiel’s Alki Pie Company, baked here in West Seattle.
Just received documents from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office with the charges against the four suspects who, as we first reported early this morning, have been arrested in connection with the February 1 shooting death of Steve Bushaw in The Junction. The suspects named in the documents are the same three who we found on the King County Jail Register early today – 27-year-old Bryce Huber, 30-year-old Brandon Chaney, 28-year-old Danny O’Neal Jr. – and the man arrested in San Antonio, TX, 32-year-old John Sylve. More as we read the documents. 4:43 PM: The documents tell a long and complicated story which as we boil it down appears to explain why so much time elapsed between the murder and the arrests – it appears to have been an extremely complex investigation, involving a lot of cell-phone trails in the evidence – read on for more as we add it:Read More
Here’s another reason to be at the West Seattle Junction Hometown Holidays Tree Lighting (at left, The Tree, photographed this afternoon) this Saturday night: The latest winners of West Seattle Volunteer Recognition honors will be introduced and, with your help, cheered mightily! Today we’re giving them an advance shoutout, now that the application-review committee has announced its decision and gotten the news to the winners (in hopes they all can be there). It’s another star-studded group:
COMMUNITY
Chas Redmond
Pete Spalding
Both are involved with too many groups to list here (we’ll have a more detailed report on the winners this weekend). Just a quick sampling: Chas co-chairs the Southwest District Council and leads the West Seattle Trails project; Pete leads the West Seattle Food Bank Board of Directors and is a WS rep on the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee.
ENVIRONMENT
Jay Mirro
Judy Pickens
Both are involved in a variety of community efforts but are being recognized in this case as active stewards of revitalized West Seattle waterways: Jay, Longfellow Creek; Judy, Fauntleroy Creek.
YOUTH
Janet Hillier (Chief Sealth High School PTSA)
Paul Leonardo (Southwest Seattle PONY Baseball president)
GROUP
Volunteers at Providence Mount St. Vincent (as the nomination form pointed out: The Mount has more than 200 active volunteers ranging in age from 14 to 92!)
Congratulations to all these hardworking volunteers, and thanks to everyone who nominated someone for the honor – this is the second group this year (meet the first group here), and there’ll be another chance in the new year to get recognition for more of the hardworking volunteers who help make West Seattle a very special place. And back to the Tree Lighting, where they’ll get their turn in the spotlight – it all starts at 5 pm Saturday, Farmers’ Market parking lot at 44th/Alaska, including music, caroling, and more, as the kickoff to Hometown Holidays (co-sponsored again this year by WSB) – and remember to enter the $6,500 Junction giveaway BEFORE Saturday, so you’ll be in the first drawing during the tree-lighting event!
MAYOR-ELECT’S THIRD TOWN HALL TONIGHT: While Mayor-Elect Mike McGinn hasn’t scheduled a Town Hall in West Seattle yet, the one he’s having tonight in Rainier Beach is meant for the “south” section of the city – including us – it’s at 7 pm, 8815 Seward Park Ave. S. (map).
BAKERY NOUVEAU OPEN HOUSE: More holiday fun – the renowned West Seattle bakery has its Holiday Open House 6-8 pm tonight in The Junction, not far from this next event:
OPENING NIGHT FOR “PLAID TIDINGS”: The holiday musical fave is back at ArtsWest again this year – as explained here. You can see Frankie, Sparky, Jinx, and Smudge in holiday form through December 27, and this Friday night is a special “Toast to the Holidays” – featuring wine! – more about that here.
THINKING ABOUT REMODELING/BUILDING A HOUSE? Ventana Construction (WSB sponsor) is offering another of their every-so-often free workshops – no obligation – lots of info. It’s at their office (the log-house-style building at 5458 California SW) tomorrow night, 6 pm, free but RSVP requested – contact info’s here.
You may recall the mysterious bicycle accident on Delridge in August that left a woman seriously hurt – with no conclusion by law enforcement regarding whether she had fallen or been hit. The rider, 27-year-old Angela Sweet, has been publicly chronicling her recovery online, with family help, and it’s now been announced that a benefit concert is planned for December 22. According to her website, she has been back home for less than a month.
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