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West Seattle/White Center ways to help Samoa disaster victims
October 13, 2009 9:04 am
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   How to help | West Seattle news | White Center

(Pago Pago photo by Telemai via Flickr)
HIGH POINT RELIEF EFFORT: Posted on the High Point Neighborhood Association website – a desperate need for money and various items to be donated to help the High Point Lighthouse Samoan Assembly of God assist people coping with the aftermath of the tsunami/earthquake disaster in the South Pacific. They’re trying to get assistance together no later than October 23rd – so the sooner you can help, the better.

WORLD VISION BENEFIT AT EVERGREEN HIGH SCHOOL: A disaster-relief event is set for 9 am-1 pm October 24 at Evergreen (map), in conjunction with World Vision. The items they’ll be collecting are listed on the White Center Community Development Association website.

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Alki Kayak Tours: Award tonight, Mountain to Sound store soon
October 13, 2009 6:03 am
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   Environment | West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

(September photo by Auburn, during an Alki Kayak Tours trip)
Tonight at City Hall downtown, Alki Kayak Tours will be honored as one of the Mayor’s Small Business Award recipients (originally reported here). And that’s not the only big news for the West Seattle-based company – you might recall proprietor Greg Whittaker‘s search for a storefront – seems they’ve found one – he writes:

… We will be opening Mountain to Sound Outfitters at 3602 SW Alaska St. [map] We will offer Ski retail/rental/service, Paddlesports, Skates, and Vehicle Rack Outfitting. The licensing and setup is under way, but we will plan on a Thanksgiving week opening. We will also be in attendance at the Seattle Ski Fever and Snowboard Show.

Back to the award, Whittaker says, “It is an honor to be able to represent the interests of sustainable tourism in West Seattle.” Also among the winners (all listed here along with ticket info for tonight’s reception/ceremony) is Cupcake Royale, which has a shop in The Junction.

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West Seattle neighborhood roundup: Pigeon Point & beyond
October 13, 2009 4:00 am
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 |   Neighborhoods | West Seattle news

PIGEON POINT NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: Short meeting last night – with “getting the word out” about PPNC and its activities a major topic. The group recently switched to a new type of mailing list and is reviewing how it’s working. Also noted, the upcoming Green Seattle Day – November 7th – find out here how to get involved. PPNC’s next meeting will be a holiday potluck in December.

FAUNTLEROY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, ADMIRAL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: Both meet tonight. FCA‘s at 7 pm at The Hall at Fauntleroy; Admiral’s at 7 pm in the basement meeting room at Admiral Congregational Church. (Added 7:38 am – ANA president Mark Wainwright says the agenda will include updates on the Admiral Safeway redevelopment project, next summer’s concert series, officer nominations and a discussion of next month’s election.)

ALKI COMMUNITY COUNCIL: Larry Carpenter sends details on the ACC meeting coming up Thursday night at 7, Alki Community Center:

ACC member Ed Hanson will report on the potential impact on West Seattle of Alaska Airlines’ “Greener Skies Initiative.” Ed is the West Seattle representative on the Roundtable advisory group to the King County Airport Administration (Boeing Field). Changes in the altitudes and flight patterns of Alaska’s Sea-Tac flights could impact Boeing Field operations and increase traffic over West Seattle and Elliott Bay. Other agenda items include an update on the Homestead property and discussion of members’ goals and priorities for the coming year.

MORGAN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: Official announcement from Steve Sindiong of MoCA‘s 7 pm October 21st meeting:

The Morgan Community Association (MOCA) Quarterly Meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 21, at 7 pm at The Kenney at 7125 Fauntleroy Way SW. Agenda items include the Neighborhood Plan Update, Pro-Parks levy and park opportunities, Murray Pump Station and Lowman Beach Combined Sewer Overflow projects, Kenney status report and emergency response. For more information, contact Steve Sindiong, 206-679-5915 or e-mail at: gnoidnis@comcast.net

FAIRMOUNT COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: Official announcement from Sharonn Meeks of the 6:30 pm October 21st meeting:

I have arranged for the Southwest Precinct of the Seattle Police Department to come to our meeting on October 21st at 6:30 in the chapel at Providence Mount Saint Vincent. Officer Mazzuca will discuss the issues that relate to our community as well as West Seattle at large. Benjamin Kinlow, Community Crime Prevention Coordinator for West Seattle, will also make a presentation and answer your questions. Harbor Properties will be making a presentation of the very soon to be under construction LINK Project at the corner of 36th and Alaska.

Other meetings are coming up in the next two weeks too, of course (see the WSB Events calendar), but these are the neighborhood-association meetings on the horizon.

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Traffic alert for early-morning drivers: Crash closes NB Viaduct
October 13, 2009 2:53 am
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 |   Alaskan Way Viaduct | West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

The northbound Alaskan Way Viaduct is blocked right now by a two-car crash, and officers are blocking all onramps to NB 99, including the one from the eastbound West Seattle Bridge. No word how long it’ll take to clear. 3:56 AM UPDATE: Took about an hour – the scene is now clear and The Viaduct is open again.

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Before the Candidates’ Forum: Meet the Delridge Playfield artists!
October 13, 2009 12:56 am
|      1 COMMENT
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle parks | WS culture/arts

This Thursday night’s West Seattle Candidates’ Forum (7 pm, Youngstown Arts Center) has gained a pre-show attraction: Nancy Folsom announced that the artists chosen for the Delridge Community Center Playfield project will be there that night at 6 pm to meet anyone interested in talking about what’s meant as a companion creation to the future skatepark (site at left). She says Zachary Bohnenkamp, John Osgood and Kevin Sullivan were chosen from nine artists/groups that sent letters of interest, adding that the team was chosen “because of the artistic merit of their work, their experience in public art projects, and their ability to work collaboratively with a community. I want to note that all the submissions were strong and the decision wasn’t easy, and I am grateful to all the artists for considering our project. The ten reviewers included two neighbors, a person from the skateboard park design team, a city Parks Department person who can advise on feasibility, two Youngstown Cultural Arts staff, and the director of the Service Board, a tenant organization of YCA that mentor youth. People have been generous with their time and help, which has been invaluable. We are currently working on identifying funding sources, developing a project plan, and the artists are starting to investigate ideas for the piece. I hope the neighborhood will take this opportunity to get to know the artists and to give the artists an opportunity to get to know us.” Come for the artists (6 pm), stay for the forum (7 pm), Thursday at 4408 Delridge Way.

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Neighborhood-planning followup meeting: Place AND date now set
October 12, 2009 11:18 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Neighborhoods | West Seattle news

When more than 100 people gathered to talk about neighborhood planning, past/present/future, in that air-conditioned room at Youngstown Arts Center on one of those record-setting-sizzler nights in late July (WSB coverage here), city reps promised there’d be a followup meeting this fall. As noted here last week, the date was recently set for November 5th; tonight, we have the official announcement and the official location, thanks to Sharonn Meeks, who’s president of the Fairmount Community Association and is on the citywide Neighborhood Plan Advisory Council. Here’s the city announcement she forwarded:

During June and July, many neighbors joined in meetings and many other hundreds participated in on line questionnaires to review the Draft Neighborhood Status Reports and comment on changes— good, bad, and unexpected —that have occurred since Seattle’s Neighborhood Plans were written in the late 90’s. We explored growth, transportation, housing, economic development, utilities, neighborhood character, open space and parks, public services, public safety. The Planning Commission’s reports on comments can be reviewed at http://www.seattle.gov/planningcommission

So, what did we hear?
Come to the November meeting in your area and find out.

The Neighborhood Plan Advisory Committee (NPAC) and the Seattle Planning Commission want to report back to you on the trends that emerged so far and to get your help to identify the continuing priorities and new issues that should be emphasized in the final Status Reports and a State of the Neighborhood Report that will be presented to the City Council and Mayor. These reports will contribute to policy decisions including decisions about whether or how to updates neighborhood plans. Your input will also be important as NPAC shapes its recommendations on conducting, prioritizing and funding updates to the neighborhood plans listed below.

All Meetings at 6-8 pm.

Thursday, November 5th Mercer Middle School, 1600 S. Columbian Way [map]
Admiral, West Seattle Junction, Delridge, Georgetown, Morgan Junction, Westwood-Highland Park, Columbia City Hillman City Genesee, Rainier Beach

Tuesday, November 10th Seattle Central Community College, 1701 Broadway
Queen Anne / Uptown, Belltown, Pike Pine, First Hill, Eastlake, Capitol Hill, Central Area

Thursday, November 12th North Seattle Community College 9600 College Way N.
Broadview/Bitterlake, Haller Lake, Aurora Licton Springs, Crown Hill / Ballard, Greenwood/Phinney Ridge, Wallingford, Fremont, Green Lake, Lake City, University Community

For more information, contact David Goldberg at davidw.goldberg@seattle.gov or (206) 615-1447

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West Seattle Weather Watch: Wind on the way
October 12, 2009 10:23 pm
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 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

Though you might have seen some TV warnings of overnight wind, the National Weather Service says that for the city, the worst of it isn’t expected till Wednesday. Maybe up to 25 mph tonight and tomorrow, but gusts up to 40 mph are in the Wednesday outlook.

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Update: Protest sleepout on Beach Drive
October 12, 2009 10:04 pm
|      18 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

Most of the SHARE-organized group that is supposed to be targeting Councilmember Tom Rasmussen‘s Beach Drive-area neighborhood tonight is actually camping out along Beach Drive, in the parking strip in front of condos in the 3700 block of Beach Drive, across from Cormorant Cove and several blocks downhill from Rasmussen’s neighborhood (where three of them were planning to set up camp). As noted here earlier, since the group spent the night in Mayor Nickels’ North Admiral neighborhood on September 28th, it has moved on to several other councilmembers’ neighborhoods, including three nights near Councilmember Tim Burgess’s Queen Anne home; it’s lobbying for $50,000 in bus-voucher funding with no strings attached.

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West Seattle school-attendance-area map “mistake” disclosed
October 12, 2009 8:49 pm
|      39 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Back from School Board rep Steve Sundquist‘s Q/A session on the proposed school-attendance-area maps, arranged by the PTSAs of Schmitz Park, Lafayette and Alki Elementary Schools, and there was one big headline: Sundquist says the maps for West Seattle were WRONG out of the gate when announced last week – the Denny Middle School and Chief Sealth High School attendance areas ARE supposed to be, and will be redrawn to be, exactly the same, which in turn will affect some elementary boundaries. The divergence led to questions in comments on our coverage last week, from people puzzled by why Denny/Sealth would not have the same attendance area, since they will be sharing a campus soon. (Sundquist said Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson had announced this error – and one other, affecting part of North Seattle – at last week’s School Board meeting, the night after the proposed maps were made public, but we can’t find any mention of this online anywhere, and he acknowledged tonight that the error hadn’t been explained on the district website yet – in fact, the Sealth website still points to our original story with the two now-revealed-to-be-erroneous maps.) Nonetheless, Sundquist urged attendees – who peaked at more than 70 during tonight’s meeting in the Schmitz Park gym – to provide feedback to the district based on how the proposed maps appear now (newassign@seattleschools.org, and those 2 meetings coming up in West Seattle later this week). And there was plenty of feedback tonight on other components of the plan – (added 6:39 am) – read on:Read More

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Hiawatha update: New turf needs to be replaced already
October 12, 2009 4:48 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

(WSB photo from last Tuesday)
Just last week, we showed you crews putting down the new artificial turf for Hiawatha Playfield. Got word this afternoon from project manager Garrett Farrell that it turned out to be defective, so it has to be pulled up and replaced, which is sliding the completion schedule a bit. He says:

Contractor Field Turf began installing the new artificial turf on October 6th. Defects were found in the fabric and they have moved immediately to replace the product at Hiawatha.

The first load of new material will be on site Friday 10/16/09 with the balance arriving next week.

This delay has impacted our project schedule. All remaining work at Hiawatha is weather dependent.

Parks is actively coordinating the re start of the field turf installation with rubber surfacing of the new track scheduled to start 10/19/09.

Farrell adds, “Field Turf has done several great installs for Parks and knew right away that this was not consistent with the product they supplied to date. The old stuff will stay in place until we get all the new stuff here next week; then it will get replaced.” Watch the Hiawatha project website for schedule updates – according to Farrell, if the weather isn’t too bad, intensive efforts by FieldTurf could keep them on track for completion before Thanksgiving.

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West Seattle road-work alert: 2nd project ahead on Beach Drive
October 12, 2009 3:54 pm
|    Comments Off on West Seattle road-work alert: 2nd project ahead on Beach Drive
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts


View Larger Map

SDOT has now sent word of work this week on another section of Beach Drive, in addition to this one:

SDOT paving crews have been given the go-ahead to pave a block on Beach Drive SW, from SW Oregon Street to SW Snoqualmie Street starting Wednesday, October 14 and possibly continuing through Tuesday, October 20.

First the crews will grind off the old surface and then they will lay new asphalt. When they are grinding, (Wednesday and possibly Friday) one lane will remain open in each direction, with bicycles sharing the same lane as motor vehicles, and the crews working from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. When they are paving (possibly Friday, and could extend into Monday and Tuesday of the following week), all traffic will share one lane, assisted by a traffic flagger, and the crews may work as late as 6 p.m. Sidewalks will remain open.

The paving is needed to restore the street surface.

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Junction bus-stop update: “Within a day or two”
October 12, 2009 1:30 pm
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news

Another quick update on the long-gone bus stop on SW Alaska by the new QFC: SDOT‘s Marybeth Turner sends word that the city’s received the sign they need to restore the bus stop, and that work will happen within a day or two.

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Election 2009: Pete Holmes campaigns in The Junction
October 12, 2009 1:12 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

(From left, Chas Redmond, city attorney candidate Pete Holmes, former City Council candidate Dorsol Plants)
Voting starts later this week; vote counting starts on the official Election Day, three weeks from tomorrow. So campaigning, and campaign coverage, revs into high gear, and if we get word a candidate’s campaigning/speaking in West Seattle, we’ll be there. This morning, city attorney hopeful Pete Holmes visited The Junction to talk with supporters (like the two well-known West Seattleites in our photo above), reporters and businesspeople. He is challenging two-term city attorney Tom Carr, a West Seattleite; Holmes lives in the Seward Park area. While many candidates in other races are somewhat mellow about drawing distinctions between themselves and their opponents, not this one. At his Junction visit today – the first of at least five campaign stops on this day alone, he told us – Holmes again sought to contrast himself, for example, on the issue of how to fight graffiti vandalism:

For his part, Carr describes graffiti vandals/taggers as his “personal pet peeve.” (We talked with Holmes about several other issues and will add more to this report.) Both candidates were in West Seattle last month for a debate before the West Seattle Democratic Women; here’s our coverage; here’s the city Voters’ Guide with more information on both candidates.

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SHARE bus-voucher-money protest moves back to West Seattle
October 12, 2009 12:19 pm
|      17 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

They started with a sleepout in Mayor Nickels’ North Admiral neighborhood – they then moved on to the non-West Seattle abodes of several city councilmembers – and tonight, SHARE says, they will be back in West Seattle, sleeping outside Councilmember Tom Rasmussen‘s Beach Drive-area home, and by the shore nearby. From their news release:

Mr. Rasmussen lives on a small street. Our protesters will (divide) into two groups. Some will sleep outside of his house while the majority will sleep on the strip by the beach one block away.

SHARE says its main point of contention is a request for $50,000 from the city for bus vouchers; the city has said it would provide the money if SHARE promised not to close its shelters, a promise SHARE has said it cannot make because of funding challenges.

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Chocolate sauce, anyone? Westside Pharmacy inventory sale
October 12, 2009 12:07 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

(September WSB photo of Westside Pharmacy owner Michael Ng by Keri DeTore)
This would usually be fodder for the WSB Forums’ Freebies/Deals/Sales section – but Westside Pharmacy (California/Brandon) has made headlines here a couple times in the past month, for the QFC move and then for the armed robbery (with the arrested/rearrested suspect) so its “goodbye sale” (just out of the WSB inbox) announcement is news too – they’re selling off remaining inventory at the old location from medical supplies to soda-fountain chocolate sauce – read on for their announcement:Read More

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Westcrest reservoir park: City starts looking for designers
October 12, 2009 10:03 am
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Highland Park | West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

(Westcrest Reservoir construction photo from last spring)
As work continues on the West Seattle (Westcrest) Reservoir lid, the city is taking another step toward construction of the park atop it. A published notice indicates the Parks Department is now seeking letters of interest and statements of qualifications from landscape architects (deadline 10/26). The notice says construction is set to start in early 2011, and includes:

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The vision for this site is to create an innovative park addition adjacent to Westcrest Park that can accommodate a variety of park features and recreational uses, while seamlessly integrating the reservoir lid with the surrounding park. The project area is approximately 20 acres.

Park funding is coming from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy approved by voters last year. Highland Park Action Committee has been working to stay closely involved with the park-development process, including discussion during its Westcrest “mini-summit” in June (WSB coverage here).

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Today/tonight: Closures, road work, school notes, and more
October 12, 2009 6:21 am
|    Comments Off on Today/tonight: Closures, road work, school notes, and more
 |   Pigeon Point | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

COUNTY FURLOUGH DAY/COLUMBUS DAY CLOSURES: Another $-saving furlough day for King County, though courts are open; federal offices and banks are closed for Columbus Day, no mail either.

ROAD WORK ALERTS: Reminder, today’s the day SDOT starts rebuilding a small section of Beach Drive. Here’s our original alert. And the bike lane (etc.) work on Fauntleroy Way south of Morgan Junction continues too (here’s last week’s story on that).

NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING: The Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council meets at 7 pm tonight, Pathfinder K-8/Cooper School building.

SCHOOL NOTES: Got questions about the proposed attendance boundaries just made public as part of Seattle Public Schools’ assignment plan? Listen to what West Seattle’s school-board rep Steve Sundquist has to say in an appearance tonight at Schmitz Park Elementary, 6 pm, presented by the Schmitz Park, Lafayette and Alki PTAs. Meantime, a book fair with part of the proceeds benefiting Roxhill Elementary is happening tonight at Barnes and Noble-Westwood Village, 6 pm; use the voucher that you can download here.

COUNTY EXEC CANDIDATES’ ENVIRONMENTAL FACEOFF: Not in West Seattle but not far – King County Executive hopefuls Dow Constantine and Susan Hutchison are scheduled to focus on environmental issues at a forum at 6:30 pm tonight, Seattle Aquarium. (Here’s the original announcement.)

(added 8:59 am) CAMPAIGNING IN THE JUNCTION: With voting starting later this week (ballots are to be mailed at midweek), campaigning is intensifying – city attorney candidate Pete Holmes plans to be in The Junction at 11 am today, talking with supporters and reporters (and anyone else interested) – he’s starting near Talarico’s, according to his campaign.

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Orchard Street Ravine spruce-up – and 2 BIG events ahead
October 11, 2009 11:22 pm
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 |   Environment | Gatewood | West Seattle news

Yes, cleaning up and restoring West Seattle’s greenspaces can be fun, even if they call it a “work party.” We got the photo from a participant in Saturday’s work party at Orchard Street Ravine in Gatewood, where 8 people showed up, including new volunteer Cassandra. According to our contributor, the biggest job of the day was creation of “tree life saver rings” around a madrona and native bitter cherry to keep them from being strangled by clematis and “blackberries on steroids.” One more native cherry needs work next time, and 100 creeping dogwoods will be planted then – “next time” means November 7th, which is Green Seattle Day, with Friends of Orchard Street Ravine partnering with the Green Seattle Partnership. Find out more about Green Seattle Day here; this also gives us an excuse to remind you that, to the east, Duwamish Alive! work party/cleanup day is next Saturday – find out more about that (and how to be part of it) here.

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Video/photos: Eat Local Now! gala in The Junction
October 11, 2009 6:08 pm
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   Sustainable West Seattle | West Seattle news

We’re at the Alki Masonic Hall in The Junction (with sponsors including Sustainable West Seattle) with more than 250 people for the sold-out Eat Local Now! celebration.

Exhibitors (including us) line the walls, beautiful herb plants decorate the tables, and attendees are milling about enjoying appetizers and beverages. We’ve checked in on the kitchen, where some of West Seattle’s best-known chefs are working, and we have the menu too, which we’ll be adding to this report so that if you’re not here, you’ll see some of the local food that’s being celebrated – more to come! 6:22 PM: Added video of chefs in the kitchen dishing up Roasted Winter Squash and Carrot Soup, a recipe by Chef Bill Taylor of Talaris Conference Center. Green salad and warm salad by Chef Brad Glaberson of Cucina Fresca are coming out too.

The Jeff Fairhall Local Food Hero Award (for which nominations were sought here last month) will go to Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin, during the “spoken presentation” part of the program in about an hour. 7:03 PM UPDATE: Among the speakers, Mashiko proprietor Hajime Sato, who made headlines recently for vowing to serve only “sustainable sushi” – he talked about the reality of farmed fish:

Being aware of where your food comes from – how it’s raised, how it’s grown – is a central theme of this event. The Eat Local Now! menu lists lots of information about each item – here’s part of the main course, Miso-Glazed Salmon from the Wild Salmon Fish Market with Granny Smith apples from New Roots Farm (whose Jason Salvo is among the speakers, talking about the hard but rewarding work of being a farmer) and celery-root salad from Boistfort Farm, prepared by Chef Dalis Chea of Fresh Bistro, and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes.

Among the forthcoming desserts: Chocolate Bread Pudding with Mint Creme (chocolate from Theo’s) by Chef Toby Matasar from Eats Market Cafe in Westwood Village.

8:32 PM: Added the dessert photo. Speeches are over, and it’s on to music/dancing. As one speaker put it, you can’t just accept what you get, you have to demand more – more locally grown food, more knowledge about where your food comes from, more support for local growers. The kitchen staff here got a big round of supportive applause, by the way:

We’ve got more info/visuals to add when we get back to HQ, including video of Council President Conlin, as he accepted his award, talking about local-food efforts on Delridge. (10:50 pm – here it is)

This is a citywide event, held in West Seattle for the first time, presented by – in addition to SWS – CoolMom, BALLE Seattle, and Sustainable Cascadia.

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Time capsule opened during Holy Rosary centennial celebration
October 11, 2009 5:27 pm
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 |   West Seattle history | West Seattle news | West Seattle religion

From WSB contributing journalist Kathy Mulady: Holy Rosary capped its Centennial Celebration today, with celebrations that included removing the 1937 time capsule (above) from the cornerstone of the church:

The contents were on display a few minutes later across the street in Lanigan Hall, where church members and friends celebrated.

The time capsule included a 1937 newspaper, letters that had yellowed and crumpled with age, coins and other a little envelope of powder that left many wondering what it was … or what it once was:

Holy Rosary’s Father John Madigan thanked everyone for many volunteer hours that were put into the year-long celebration.

Seattle Archbishop Alexander Brunett celebrated Mass and attended the afternoon events afterward.

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West Seattle Whale Watch video: Orcas! Seen from Beach Drive
October 11, 2009 2:32 pm
|      16 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

ORIGINAL 2:32 PM REPORT: Just got a message from Jeff Hogan – orcas headed northbound, spotted near Southworth (on the ferry run with Fauntleroy). Get those binoculars out! 3:47 PM UPDATE: Just back from Beach Drive, where we caught sight of them from Constellation Park (as did others nearby with binoculars and/or hands-shielding eyes)- they were closer to the Bainbridge side than the West Seattle side. Checking to see if our video came out! 4:09 PM: It did – and we have just added it to this report. A bit shaky/blurry but we were zooming all the way to almost-Bainbridge, and it’s just a standard-issue small handheld. More whales than we thought we were seeing, squinting at the camera in the sunshine! 8:20 PM UPDATE: For a closer look – here are two photos just shared by Terry Wittman, taken from Southworth:

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Election 2009: Referendum 71 faceoff at Farmers’ Market today
October 11, 2009 2:14 pm
|      99 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

Thanks to Sandi and Dave for sending that photo from the West Seattle Farmers’ Market, noting the counterprotesters with handwritten signs reading “Meet the Bigot.” Referendum 71 is one of two statewide measures on next month’s ballot (the other is I-1033). Your ballot may arrive in the mail as soon as the end of the week, as mailing is scheduled to start Wednesday. R-71 is a referendum on the domestic-partnership-rights bill approved by the State Legislature and signed by the governor to make sure that registered same-sex domestic partners (and opposite-sex partners 62 and up) will not be denied rights such as hospital visitation, death benefits and taking leave to care for an ailing partner. Voting to approve Referendum 71 — the positiion WSB endorses (a departure from our general current no-endorsement policy) — affirms the Legislature’s vote and guarantees those rights. Here is the “ballot title” language you will see on your ballot:

The legislature passed Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5688 concerning rights and responsibilities of state-registered domestic partners and voters have filed a sufficient referendum petition on this bill.

This bill would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage.

The state’s Online Voters’ Guide with information on R-71 (as well as arguments for and against) can be seen here.

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2 boards need you: Fauntleroy Schoolhouse; SW Historical Society
October 11, 2009 1:25 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   How to help | West Seattle housing | West Seattle news

Looking for a way to get more involved with your community? Here are two!

schoolhouse.jpg

FAUNTLEROY SCHOOLHOUSE BUILDING ADVISORY BOARD: As the Fauntleroy Community Service Agency gets closer to closing the deal to buy the historic Fauntleroy Schoolhouse (here’s our most recent update), it’s forming a Building and Site Development Advisory Board “to oversee the building development and operations within the context of this mission,” according to the official announcement. They’re hoping its members will include (but not be limited to) people with expertise in areas such as real-estate development, building renovation and construction, property management, real-estate negotiations, public/private financing options, familiarity with city/state/school district, connections to local community groups. Interested? Call FCSA president Kevin Wooley, (corrected) 206-933-6410.

loghousemuseum.jpg

SOUTHWEST HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD: SWSHS, which operates The Log House Museum, says it’s “looking for board members who have the skills and enthusiasm to bring to our organization for three-year terms beginning in 2010. Participation in our board will be challenging and rewarding, stretching your skills and abilities. You will also gain experience in the meaningful work of preserving West Seattle history, making new friends in the community and the pride of knowing you’ve contributed to a vital organization.” Interested in helping with historic preservation and running a small museum? E-mail a letter of interest to board member Joey Richesson at EuniceSnit@aol.com, or call her at 206-909-9016, before the end of the month.

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