West Seattle, Washington
08 Wednesday
If the reports we received are any indication, more than a few people are still stuck in this morning’s outbound-commute traffic, with bridge feeders like Avalon and Fauntleroy backed up more than usual, too. We’re checking with SDOT on whether anything in particular is to blame. In the meantime, here’s their weekly roundup of big events citywide that might affect traffic **this weekend** – read on:Read More
In case you have just come back from an extra-long Labor Day weekend, all the major schools, public and private, are back in session now. Give us an “F” for not asking for first-day-of-school photos this year; Jennifer shared one just in case – that’s her son Theo starting first grade at Schmitz Park Elementary, where she reports everyone was “warm and welcoming.” Besides the school reminder, here are a few other notes for today/tonight:
ROAD WORK ALERTS: Today and tomorrow, city crews are scheduled to be out fixing cracked pavement in the bike lanes on the south end of 16th SW, as explained here … The westbound Spokane Street Viaduct is scheduled to be closed for construction work 
overnight; details here.
WEST SEATTLE ART WALK: Here’s an excuse to be out and about during another warm sunny evening – the monthly West Seattle Art Walk, 6 – 9 pm. Here’s our preview from last night, with a link to the list of venues/walking map (or just get it here); at left, one of the images you’ll see tonight at Seattle Real Estate Associates (WSB sponsor) on 44th north of Edmunds, with the work of Elana Winsberg.
WINE TASTING: Second Thursday of the month also means Wine Club at C & P Coffee (WSB sponsor) from 6-8 pm. 21+, bring an appetizer, $5 tasting fee or wines by the glass or bottle, 5612 California SW. … Extended hours for tonight’s tasting featuring Australian wines at West Seattle Cellars, 6026 California – 5:30 to 9 pm.
ARTSWEST’S NEW PRODUCTION CONTINUES: It’s the second night for “Amy’s View” at ArtsWest Playhouse in The Junction, 7:30 tonight, running Wednesday-Saturday nights and Sunday matinees through October 1st.
WATERSHED COUNCIL BACK IN SESSION: After a summer hiatus, regular meetings resume tonight for the Fauntleroy Watershed Council, 7 pm at Fauntleroy Church (9140 California SW).
PILATES TEACHER TRAINING SIGNUPS: Early-registration deadline for Pilates instructor training by Beth Montanez, offering the first-ever Pilates teacher training course in West Seattle. It starts September 30th; full details are online, here.
(WSB photo from West Seattle Garden Tour 2011)
The drippy doldrums of June and July seem a distant memory now – but even the 2011 West Seattle Garden Tour fell on a rainy day. Its popularity, however, was waterproof. 800 people toured this year’s ten showcased gardens, according to WSGT’s Jane Watson, and the total take from ticket sales, sponsorships (with co-sponsors including WSB), and miscellaneous day-of-tour sales was up almost 10 percent over a year earlier. That meant a commensurate increase in the proceeds awarded to the beneficiaries, almost $24,000.
To celebrate that success and generosity, WSGT organizers and supporters gathered last night at the Duwamish Longhouse to officially make those awards to the beneficiaries – eight local nonprofits (including a garden project at the Longhouse itself – note Duwamish Tribe chair Cecile Hansen on the left side of the ceremonial check):
Representatives of each project/organization got a moment during the actual ceremony to explain their work – we got it all on video:
As a volunteer-powered nonprofit, the Garden Tour needs lots of helping hands – so if you’re ready to dig in, you can find the contact information here.
Two more door-to-door alerts have come in, apparently from the same block – another report of solicitors saying they’re representing Comcast, but raising neighbors’ suspicions anyway. The Seattle Municipal Code restricts door-to-door sales to between 8 am and 9 pm (read the code here), and this all happened shortly before the end of that window. Read on:Read More
With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 just a few days away, the West Seattle spot that became a regional touchstone is ready for candlelight-vigil visitors on Sunday night. David Hutchinson shares a new photo of the Alki Statue of Liberty, with this update:
The Alki Community Council would like to thank Seattle Parks & Recreation for completing the fall maintenance of the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza in time for this weekend’s 9/11 10th anniversary memorial. This afternoon, Tiffany Hedrick, of the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, completed cleaning and waxing the statue and hung the flag provided by the SW Seattle Historical Society.
As previously noted, the Southwest Seattle Historical Society/Log House Museum is hosting a candlelight vigil at the plaza starting at 7 pm Sunday night. Our partners at the Seattle Times have just published a preview, noting that the museum plans to bring to the plaza, just for the occasion, some of what it collected from the hundreds of tribute/memorial items left there in the days/nights after the attack. Several other tribute/memorial/remembrance events are planned in West Seattle/White Center; we have just added two more to the list (see it here, and please let us know if you have something to add – thank you).
(More photos added 9:36 pm; this one was substituted for previous cameraphone pic)
7:44 PM: Police and fire units are at the scene of a reported shooting in the 9400 block of 11th SW in Highland Park (map). We have a crew on the way. According to WSB contributor Katie Meyer, scanner traffic says the victim is a 20-year-old man, gunshot wound to the back but “conscious and alert.” Early description of the vehicle they’re looking for is a “late model blue Pontiac” last seen going east on Cambridge.
8 PM UPDATE: The victim is being taken to Harborview Medical Center. WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand is at the scene and says Gang Unit officers are there helping investigate.
Neighbors say they heard four shots; officers/detectives are looking for casings among other evidence.
8:17 PM UPDATE: SPD Blotter has just published essentially the same info we’ve already reported – noting that it’s “preliminary and subject to change.”
8:28 PM UPDATE: SPD Capt. Neil Low just briefed media at the scene. The victim is described as in “serious condition” as he was transported. According to Capt. Low, the victim was standing outside a car, when another car went by and fired shots; the driver of that car discovered the street was a dead end, and made a U-turn to get away. The victim is believed to be from “nearby.” Though as we noted earlier, there’s Gang Unit members at the scene, they’re not confirming whether this is believed to be gang-related.
7:48 AM UPDATE: Police have added a few more details to that same item on SPD Blotter (linked above):
The victim sustained a single gunshot wound to his back, it was considered serious, but not life-threatening. Officers and Gang Unit detectives located one .40-caliber shell casing in the street and a bullet hole in a house in that block.
The forecast is for clear skies, as far as the eye – or at least the forecaster – can see. Including Thursday night, which will bring the next West Seattle Art Walk, 6-9 pm. Three dozen venues (from Shanti Salon and Spa in the north to The Kenney in the south [both WSB sponsors]) – all listed on the official map, which is here. If you want to plan your stops in advance, you can find some of the venues’ previews on the official WS Art Walk site. The Kenney, for example, spotlights artists Martha Hicks and Cyndy Jensen, along with local framer Fred Madrid bringing a collection of historic West Seattle photos (available for purchase), plus live music – details here. Shanti will show photography by Laurie Z. In The Junction, Nature Consortium e-mailed a special invite for you to stop by its office at 4210 SW Oregon – where Kathleen McHugh‘s art will be on display:
McHugh is a Seattle painter who, NC notes:
… has been featured in exhibits locally, nationally, and internationally in places as near as Youngstown Cultural Arts Center and as far as Slovakia and the Museum of Modern Art. Kathleen’s work explores humanistic themes and serve as ‘visual allegories about identity and relationship[s]’.” She also teaches eco-art classes with Nature Consortium and has been working as a teaching artist in the Pacific Northwest since 1994. On Thursday, she is offering prints from her Banff suite at the West Seattle Art Walk. Local Latin-folk band Ama Trio, featured at this year’s Arts in Nature Festival, will also perform at the office 7:30 – 8:30 pm.
See you tomorrow night along the Art Walk!
Just out of the WSB inbox, the latest newsletter from Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Mark Solomon. And this one’s full of news you can use – first, the latest burglary-method trends; second, if you still don’t believe us for all the times we’ve quoted police as saying “It’s OK to call 911 – please do! – when you see/hear something suspicious” – here it is, direct from the source. Plus: Advice on how to make sure someone who looks official (non-law-enforcement), and turns up on your doorstep, really IS official. Read on:Read More
If you were looking forward to holiday food shopping at the new West Seattle Trader Joe’s – sorry to report, that apparently isn’t going to be possible. When construction at the 4545 Fauntleroy Way SW site started more than three months ago, the company told us it expected to open the store in the fourth quarter of this year. With that time frame approaching, some asked for an official update – including the WSB Forums member who started this thread, with one commenter subsequently posting that the opening had been delayed till first quarter of 2012. We renewed our inquiry to Trader Joe’s, and after a bit of confusion, got the answer back today from corporate HQ: “We are set to open sometime in 2012. We have not confirmed a date.”
Back-to-school week is big for everyone involved, from families to students to school employees … but there are three people in the latter category for whom this is an especially big day: Three new principals for Seattle Public Schools in West Seattle. This morning, we stopped by Arbor Heights Elementary to say hi to new principal Christy Collins, whose appointment we reported here back in June. She’s keeping the Arbor Heights school community up to date with her own new website (see it here), complementing AH’s longtime site. Collins succeeds Dr. Carol Coram, who is now an assistant principal at the newly dedicated Denny International Middle School. We checked in with West Seattle’s other two new principals yesterday – Chris Kinsey at Chief Sealth International High School (during the Denny dedication) and Jo Lute-Ervin at Lafayette Elementary (during her school’s playground dedication).
The demolition work under way today at 5020 California SW, the future mixed-use development site known as “Spring Hill” (no relation to the popular restaurant), is a mixed blessing for at least some of its neighbors.
On one hand, the multiplexes on the site have been eyesores – plagued with squatters, tagging, and other vandalism – for the past few years. The project was once on a faster track, back when original developer BlueStar was also developing what’s now known as “The Hole” and even looking at developing what’s now being remodeled as the future West Seattle Trader Joe’s. If you don’t live nearby, you might not even have noticed how badly trashed the site had become, since from California SW, it’s hard to see – even now with demolition under way:
(The top view is from the alley on the site’s east side.) On the other hand, the neighbors fought hard, during the original round of design review 3 years ago, for development guidelines that might somewhat minimize the future apartment/retail building’s effects on nearby residents. Then the site went into foreclosure and was idle till the project was revived under new ownership earlier this summer (as first reported here and here), with an increased number of apartments – 101, instead of the original 91. The city did not require the reopening of design review for the change, but did offer neighbors reassurance that the increase would not result in any notable change to the building’s size or appearance. The developer, Burien-based F & M, has not responded to our requests for comment, so we don’t know their timeline, but we do know the city’s online files show some necessary permits are not yet finalized, and also show a recent complaint (demolition may be rendering it moot).
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
“It’s the end of the world as we know it …”
In the West Seattle High School library last Friday morning, one of about four dozen students gathered for a special training session observed how appropriate that hook from REM’s classic 1987 song seemed.
Freshman year, which feels to so many 9th graders just like “the end of the world as (they) know it,” will never be the same at WSHS, thanks to a program called Link Crew.
The students we watched on Friday morning were getting ready to use it to accompany, mentor, reassure, entertain the 250 (or so) members of the WSHS Class of 2015 – on Day 1 today, and throughout the year – starting with a special freshmen-only assembly this morning (top photo).
This is the first time that WSHS has used Link Crew – a transition program that’s been deployed nationwide for more than a decade. (Read more about it here.) We were invited to sit in on the Friday morning coaching/training session, as the participating juniors and seniors got ready to roll:
As expected, City Councilmembers voted on Tuesday afternoon, quickly and with little discussion, to authorize the sale of West Seattle’s former Fire Station 37. The process of getting to this point – including collecting public comment – has taken months; the ex-station at 35th and Othello (map) has already been vacant for almost a year. So, we asked the city, what happens now? The reply is from Katherine Schubert-Knapp of the city’s Finance and Administrative Services department, which helps other departments with “property disposition” (among other things):
Now that the Council has authorized the sale of the property, our next step will be to select a real estate broker to help the City market it publicly. We are preparing a Request for Proposals … After the broker is under contract and we have developed a marketing plan, we’ll be going out to the public with a goal of casting a wide net for potential buyers. We’ll have a better idea of the timeline in a few weeks. Everyone who has previously expressed interest in this property will be kept up to date.
And even if you’re not formally on that list, you will too, as Schubert-Knapp promises media updates on the process. (We’ll be keeping watch between news releases, too.) The station is in a single-family-zoned area, and it’s expected someone will buy it for just that purpose. P.S. If you never got the chance to visit the 86-year-old landmark – there’s a video tour in this WSB story from last year.
From SDOT (and the WSB Traffic page), that’s a “live” look (refresh for the latest) at the east end of the Spokane Street Viaduct, aka the West Seattle Bridge between I-5 and Highway 99. It’ll be half-closed overnight for the next three nights, and that’s part of today’s preview, from the WSB West Seattle Events calendar:
BACK TO SCHOOL! That’s today’s big news, and it’s likely to affect you even if you don’t have a family member who’s a student or school staffer. While many independent schools started classes yesterday, today’s the first day for several of the biggest ones – including Westside School (WSB sponsor), which is debuting middle school this year, Explorer West, and West Seattle Montessori (WSB sponsor) – as well as the first day for all but one local Seattle Public Schools campus (West Seattle Elementary started its new year yesterday). The district has changed its transportation plan again this year, with most buses serving more routes than before, by the way, so what you see on the roads, and when, will be different from last year (this means many schools’ starting/ending times have changed, too).
WESTSIDE PROFESSIONALS: Up early and got some time? This business-networking group welcomes visitors, 8 am, The Kenney (WSB sponsor), 7125 Fauntleroy Way SW. More info on the WSP Facebook page.
HIGH POINT MARKET FARM STAND: 4-7 pm, 32nd SW/SW Juneau. Buy seasonal fresh organically grown produce from a stand right next to the mini-farm where it’s grown.
SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL: Local community meetings are getting back to their regular schedules, starting with the Southwest District Council, 7 pm, South Seattle Community College board room (6000 16th SW – central building on the west side of campus) – agenda includes a project update on the Fauntleroy Expressway Seismic Retrofit (scheduled for this fall).
ARTSWEST’S NEW SEASON BEGINS: “Amy’s View” opens the new season at ArtsWest Playhouse in The Junction, 7:30 tonight, continuing Wednesday-Saturday nights and Sunday matinees through October 1st. (Here’s our preview from earlier today.)
OVERNIGHT TRAFFIC ALERT: Westbound Spokane Street Viaduct closed for construction work tonight, tomorrow night, and Friday night, 10 pm-5 am, details here – note that 1st Avenue South at Spokane St. is also closed the same nights, and that the westbound SSV closure means that you will not be able to get to the WS Bridge from I-5 or Beacon Hill.
6:06 AM: Just in case you heard the sirens and wondered – there’s been a big response in the past 15 minutes or so to a “pier fire” call at Vigor Shipyard (1801 16th SW) on Harbor Island. Scanner communication indicates it’s NOT a major call and that it’s already “tapped,” so all but a few of the responding units have been canceled. 6:12 AM: Also per scanner: The small fire was on or near a “Navy vessel” that’s at the shipyard and has its own “shipboard firefighters,” who are getting help from Seattle Fire crews in making sure it’s completely out.
(Photo courtesy ArtsWest)
Despite some changes in the off-season, the show must go on at ArtsWest, and tonight it does exactly that, with the first production of the 2011-2012 season, “Amy’s View” by David Hare. One review from back east describes it as “about the lure and pitfalls of materialistic society, about whether love and faith and perseverance will prevail over hedonism and greed…” and more. During the run, through October 1st, showtimes are 7:30 pm Wednesdays-Saturdays, 3 pm Sundays; you can buy tickets online here.
Right after the ribbon was cut and the doors were opened, a work crew was still handling details on a very important wallhanging inside the new Denny International Middle School – a banner with the slogan, “Expect the best.”
That’s what was on display during what Denny principal Jeff Clark called “a thrilling day” – including his best suit, renowned for its shade of bright blue:
The weather couldn’t have been better – the sun shone bright as Denny/Sealth construction-project manager Robert Evans got help from two students to raise the flags:
(Photo by MIKE SIEGEL/The Seattle Times, used with permission)
Also worth of “best” status – the national-anthem performance by Janelle Maroney:
Janelle is both a Denny alum and Chief Sealth International High School student – perfect symbolism for the fact the two schools are now the first middle/high-school combo in Seattle Public Schools to share a campus. It hasn’t been a universally popular idea along the way; School Board president Steve Sundquist acknowledged the “robust discussion” dating back four-plus years (such as this meeting we covered in June 2007), to the passage of the levy that raised the money for the project.
But it moved ahead, and the new 130,000-square-foot school now prepares to welcome students on Wednesday. With so many involved along the way, the list of those who helped cut the ribbon was long – here are all the sets of scissors set out for them:
Sheree Fantz-Gut from the Denny PTSA and Nadene Paltep, student-body president, led the “call to the ribbon” – summoning the participants – and then, everyone counted down, to the strategic snips:
As the school has been readied for opening this summer (here’s our story on an August tour), the old Denny has been demolished a few blocks away (after one last sentimental journey), and the site has been cleared, to make way for fields, tennis courts, play equipment, and maybe someday an elementary school. But the history embodied by the school’s name remains – and the celebration included Andy Harris, a descendant of the school’s namesake, pioneering Seattle settler David Thomas Denny:
(Denny’s life is detailed here – including reasons for renown beyond being a settler; he even helped Washington women win the right to vote.) After that bow to the past, it was time to look ahead. After going through the co-location-planning process with Sealth’s now-former principal John Boyd, Denny principal Clark has a new partner, Sealth’s interim principal Chris Kinsey, and they’re about to make Seattle Public Schools history:
Give them a few weeks to settle into it, then check out the campus for yourself during Denny’s community open house at 10 am on Saturday, September 24th.
As mentioned briefly earlier, on the eve of the first day of school for Seattle Public Schools, the district’s interim superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield invited media to a briefing/Q & A session – and held it here in West Seattle, at the new Denny International Middle School, just before the dedication celebration.
It wasn’t a case of speech-and-a-few questions, but more like a wide-open 35-minute Q & A; we asked about the elementary-overcrowding issue at some West Seattle schools, and Dr. Enfield acknowledged that remains a problem in several areas around the city, including here. She said she’s hopeful that, even as district and school staff work to deal with short-term issues (with measures such as the portables in place at Lafayette, Schmitz Park, and Gatewood), long-term proposals will come out within a few months. As in, which school/s might reopen? we asked. She wouldn’t get into specifics, though it’s widely expected that Fairmount Park Elementary is first on the list; School Board member Steve Sundquist discussed it at a community Q & A session we covered in June. He has two of those community Q & A’s coming up this month, by the way – 11 am September 10th at High Point Library, and 11 am September 21st at Delridge Library.
P.S. For more coverage of the superintendent’s session today, here’s the roundup from the Save Seattle Schools site, whose Melissa Westbrook was there and asking about many hot topics; here’s a story by Katherine Long of the Seattle Times (WSB partner).
Just received a door-to-door alert that, as its sender notes, could be legitimate, but the hour and the subject seemed odd to her; we also have had one in queue about a magazine seller. Read on for both:
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We got the tip from Lita, and made it over for a quick pic before sunset: Just in time for tomorrow’s first day of school, Roxhill Elementary has some fresh paint, thanks to donations including work by West Seattle contractor Al Keim, per both Lita’s note and the big “thank you” sign in front of the school. The overhauled “R” is perhaps the most notable result; it was one year ago that Westwood neighborhood leader Donn Devore worked to organize some rehab for the “R,” but ran into some red tape. (Our story from back then shows the R’s former state of disrepair.)
Thanks to the WSB’er (sorry, we didn’t recognize the number!) who messaged us (206-293-6302 any time) with the sunset photo – vivid orange, in no small part because of the smoke from the still-burning “Big Hump” fire in the Olympic National Forest. Here’s the latest, from the Kitsap Sun; the most recent estimated size remains at 150 acres, and firefighters are having a tough time with it. It was just three acres when the smoke became noticeable all over this side of the Sound (here’s our story from last Sunday). Authorities say an abandoned campfire sparked it. 8:36 PM NOTE: Mystery solved – the photo is from Debra Herbst (thanks!).
The second the ribbon was cut – kids swarmed the new play structures at Lafayette Elementary in the Admiral District, the culmination of many long months of fundraising and other hard work. Here’s a wider view, tweeted by @alexpietsch:
The party continues till 7, including a free barbecue courtesy of the Junction QFC:
The Toucans are playing steel-drum music, perfect on this almost-tropical late-summer night. Words of acknowledgement and celebration were offered by Deborah Hazlegrove and Holly Grambihler, co-chairs of the Play It Forward Project, which matched a $100,000 city grant with money, labor, and materials:
The playground isn’t all that’s new about Lafayette when school starts tomorrow – there’s a brand-new principal, Jo Lute-Ervin:
We’ve just spotted previous principal Virginia Turner, here to celebrate as well – “I worked hard on this for years!” she told someone who came over to say hi – as are School Board members Steve Sundquist, Harium Martin-Morris, and Peter Maier, as well as West Seattle’s executive director of schools, Aurora Lora. And Zach Scott from Seattle Sounders FC is signing autographs.
And there was homegrown entertainment – the Lafayette Popcorns jump-ropers!
This was phase 2 of the longrunning playground makeover … and yes, somewhere down the road, there is a phase 3 (“the back forty,” it was described tonight) … but first, time to enjoy. And to play.
(Photo courtesy Cori Roed)
Since our late-arriving summer shows no sign of letting up – people with dogs will want to know about this: Cori sends word that the Arbor Heights Swim and Tennis Club (11003 31st SW) is opening its pool for the second annual water-polo team fundraiser “Dog Days at the Arb.” 5-7 pm next Monday-Friday (Sept. 12-16) and noon-2 pm next Saturday (Sept. 17), you are welcome to bring your dog for a swim. No people in the pool – this comes after it’s been closed for the year – just dogs (but owners have to be there to keep an eye on them). Suggested donation $10/dog; money raised goes to buying new caps for the AH water-polo team. There are other caveats, too – all listed on the official flyer.
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