West Seattle, Washington
04 Monday
One, a business break-in attempt – the other targeted a car (whose owner is puzzled why the thief/thieves took what they did) – read on for both reports (one includes a photo):Read More
Followup to last week’s update from a spokesperson for the homeless encampment that calls itself “Nickelsville”: The Port of Seattle has just published a statement saying it’s rejecting the encampment’s request for an “extended stay” at Terminal 107 Park in eastern West Seattle, and will post new trespassing notices this week, expecting the camp to clear out by the end of September. We’re checking with encampment organizers for their reaction/next steps; they moved to the site a month ago.
(WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli)
That’s West Seattle photographer Rasmus Rasmussen in the foreground, Kelly Cline in the background. They’re at C & P Coffee till 6 pm tonight, or till they’ve photographed 120 jobseekers taking advantage of the “free headshot” offer (announced two weeks ago). We just checked in with Kelly via Twitter and she says it’s been a “slow-but-steady trickle” since this began at 11 am; she adds, “Happy people and gracious hosts. Very awesome feel-good vibes all around.” 4:12 PM: Diane just called, saying she’s just back from the photo setup and they haven’t maxed out yet, so they’ll definitely be there till 6. 10:27 PM: Here’s tonight’s Channel 13 TV story on the event.
Seattle Public Schools are back in session two weeks from tomorrow, and if you’ve got concerns/issues to discuss with your School Board rep, Steve Sundquist has issued an open invitation to his next coffee chat, 9 am tomorrow at Uptown Espresso in The Junction (California/Edmunds/Erskine). From the announcement:
This is an opportunity to share what’s happening in education here in West Seattle, with students from West Seattle and across the district. I hope you can join me, and spread the word with the people in your community. If you cannot make it, feel free as always to contact me with your concerns at (206) 252-0040 or steve.sundquist@seattleschools.org
Funding for the future Delridge Skatepark has taken as many twists and turns as a virtuoso performance by one of the talented skaters who will use it someday. First it was going to be in this year’s city budget – then that changed at the last minute. Then, half a million dollars was found after bids on other work – including Hiawatha Playfield renovations – came in much lower than planned, and another $250,000 was moved from what once was to be a “skate spot” at the future Myrtle Reservoir park (which is currently behind schedule for non-Parks reasons). Now, we have news from last night’s Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee meeting that the funding situation has taken another turn: Committee member (and Pigeon Point resident) Pete Spalding tells WSB:
The monies that the Parks Department had originally earmarked for this project vanished last month. This was once again attributed to the ongoing financial issues the City of Seattle is facing. The folks at Parks are committed to trying to make sure that the Delridge skatepark gets built. At last night’s Parks & Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee meeting a proposal was brought forward to use 500k in surplus Opportunity Fund dollars from the Pro Parks levy to fund this portion of the Delridge skatepark. There was lots of discussion of the pros and cons of making this transfer but eventually a motion was made and after more discussion the motion did pass. Now this has to be turned in to legislation that will go to the City Council for approval later this year. The folks in our community that support this project need to send e-mails, write letters and/or make telephone calls to all 9 of our City Council members encouraging them to support this legislation when it comes before them for a vote.
(Pro Parks is the levy that preceded Parks and Green Spaces.) We have messages out to other city sources to get more details on this situation, and will add that information as we get it. Meantime, here’s the contact information for City Councilmembers – West Seattle-residing Tom Rasmussen chairs the Parks Committee but since all members are elected “at large,” no one represents this area in particular, and it’s vital to express your opinion to all of them. 1:52 PM UPDATE: A bit more information: According to Parks spokesperson Dewey Potter, the $500,000 “vanished” because the city Finance Department said no to moving it to the Delridge Skatepark budget. (We’re still looking for the reason WHY the Finance Department said no; meantime, note that this was NOT money that the Levy Committee had a say over, in the first place – it didn’t come from the levy; it came from other projects, including Hiawatha, that came in with under-budget bids. Potter says last night’s committee vote to use remaining Pro Parks Opportunity Fund money “makes the budget whole” and faces the following Council action: “This money will be included in the 4th quarter supplemental budget legislation and adopted with the budget in November.” Meantime, the council Parks Committee will vote next month on the $250,000 move – so if you’re contacting councilmembers with an opinion, you’ll want to let them know what you think about that too, since it’s not a done deal yet.
After extending the deadline for the once-in-a-decade survey to help update neighborhood plans around the city, the Seattle Planning Commission has posted that final tally of how many surveys it received per neighborhood. Yes, technically, Ballard/Crown Hill finished first, BUT as noted before, that area has just one plan, while West Seattle is broken into five neighborhood-plan areas, so if you add them up — Admiral, Delridge, Highland Park/Westwood, Morgan Junction, West Seattle Junction — the peninsula finished first, with 1,076 total. Watch for word of followups this fall, including meetings to discuss how the survey information (and input from last month’s meeting at Youngstown Arts Center) will be used to update those plans. Never seen your (or the nearest) neighborhood plan? You can find the plans for those five areas — developed a decade ago — in the right sidebar here.
FREE HEAD SHOTS: We brought you first word two weeks ago of West Seattle photographer Rasmus Rasmussen‘s idea to help local jobseekers, and it’s since gotten attention from a couple of citywide media outlets, so it might be a hot ticket: 11 am tomorrow (Tuesday), first-come first-served, free head shots for jobseekers, C and P Coffee (5612 California SW; map). Here’s his own original post about it, and his followup about the publicity. (Early Tuesday update: Rasmus just announced via Twitter he’ll photograph up to 120 people, up from 100.)
FREE CONCERT: It’s been almost a month since we got the news that West Seattle Christian Church would play host to the African Children’s Choir for a free concert (donations accepted) – and now it’s almost here – Tuesday, 7 pm, in the WSCC activity center (east side of 42nd, south of Genesee; map). Here’s our original preview, including a clip of the world-renowned group.
As a side note to the recent West Seattle door-to-door alerts regarding magazine sellers who may or may not be legit, Ann shares a warning about solicitors in what are supposed to be secure buildings – read on:Read More
Two more reports to share – first, the break-in; a quick report from Shelley in Gatewood, just a few blocks from the one in the “broad daylight” report from earlier – she says a neighbor on Thistle near 37th SW (map) was broken into today – no other details yet. Meantime, David reports this from further southeast:
3:15 am last Friday two fellahs tried to steal a neighbor’s car. They got about fifty feet before being confronted by some interested neighbors. One perp fled and the other, who advanced menacingly on the neighbors but was talked out of anything rash, was arrested by SPD who arrived en masse a few minutes later. Owner and somewhat mangled car were reunited a short time later – all things considered, a happy ending. Since one of the neighbors fears retribution, as she was also a victim of the “multiple burglaries solved” robber, the exact address should not be referred to but it happened west of Westwood Village. Since happy endings are rare in crimes, I thought to report this.
Great point – as we were discussing with Southwest Precinct leadership last week while working on the “multiple burglaries” story to which David alludes, it IS important to get out the word about arrests as well as about the crimes themselves.
The election results won’t be final until a week from Wednesday, so daily counts are still coming out, and 
today’s total has Mike McGinn still on top of the Seattle mayoral race, almost a thousand votes ahead of Joe Mallahan, with incumbent Mayor Nickels (who conceded last Friday) two thousand votes behind Mallahan, in third. Here are those results; politics-watchers also had been noticing something we pointed out last week, the narrowing gap between the top two in the King County Executive race – Susan Hutchison now has 33% and Dow Constantine has 27% (full results here). As of the final Election Night count, it was 37% Hutchison, 22% Constantine. The county Elections Department estimates about 6,000 ballots remain to be counted.
McQuaid Real Estate reported via Twitter today that it’s closed a $4.5 million deal on a 36-unit multifamily building in West Seattle. According to the company’s publicly viewable Facebook info, it’s the Admiralty House at 1520 California SW (Google Street View above), which McQuaid had listed for $4.9 million (here’s the flyer). Its current online listings include La Playa Vista on Alki for $1.8 million.
From Michael in Gatewood:
Would like to spread the word on this one. On the 3900 block of Southern [map] our neighbor’s home was burglarized. Burglar used an ax to go through a secured back door in the middle of the day, Friday, August 21. Seattle Police were dispatched and came to house. No one hurt. No one saw or heard a thing, unfortunately. What concerns us is the violent nature of this break-in.
First, a reminder that West Seattle’s only city-run indoor pool, Southwest Pool, is now closed for three weeks of drain-safety work, scheduled to reopen September 14th. Second, this is the final week of 7-day operations at Colman Pool (photo at right) this summer; after this Sunday, it’s closed except for one last late-season weekend, Saturday-Monday 9/5-9-7. Here’s the schedule.
Those are portions of three photos sent by Mark – we’re not showing or publishing the entire three-letter tag on the fence, or the spray-paint vandalism on the van (a face on the hood and a splotch over the gas cap), but he’s wondering if anyone else had anything similar happen to them:
I live at the corner of 39th/Stevens [map], in the Admiral district. (Saturday) night someone tagged my fence and my neighbors’ van. Seattle police were called and the officer mentioned another incident with the “T(-)X” tag being used. Needless to say I am quite pissed and if anyone else has seen the same tag please notify Seattle PD.
Mark says it’s all been “removed” now, and while his neighborhood has not had a tagging problem before, a recent break-in has neighbors “on edge” and now they’re stepping up their vigilance even further.
Beach volleyball is an Alki fixture – now, beach soccer has hit the sand. West Seattle photojournalist Matt Durham from mattdurhamphotography.com covered today’s first-ever Sounders FC Beach Blast Tournament for WSB. The event was for amateur, adult players; 30+ teams signed up. Top photo: “Baranoff FC” (in red) threads the needle through two “West Side” (in white) players as sand flies. Next: Rory Sheehan from Buckley, sporting a “soccer mullet” and soccer-ball tattoo. Rory told Matt he’s been an avid soccer fan since childhood and has had the tattoo for 12 years:
The action was fast-paced and high-scoring, with short fields and small goals – here, in green, Seattle team “Synergy,” and in peach, the “What The’s,” also from Seattle:
Members of the same two teams are in this photo, showing the high level of sportsmanship that accompanied the high level of competitive action:
One more photo – captioned by Matt: “West Side launches a tremendous distance, off the sand, to head the ball toward Baranoff’s goal.”
Haven’t found a list of results online yet – send ’em if you have ’em, or else we’ll check with the tournament sponsors tomorrow.
The idea for this event hatched on the North Delridge Neighborhood Council e-mail list this past week – and they’re ready to trumpet the news:
ICE CREAM SOCIAL
Thursday, August 27th, 6:30-8:30 p.m.Cottage Grove Park
( 5206-26th Ave. SW , 2 blocks west of Delridge Way , between Brandon and Puget) [map]Come have fun, meet your neighbors, play your favorite lawn games, and enjoy a sweet treat.
Bring your own bowl and a favorite game (Frisbee, horseshoes, bocce, croquet, badminton, etc.).
All are welcome–we look forward to seeing you there!
The North Delridge Community Council meets the 1st Wednesday of every month, 6:30-7:45 pm, at the Delridge Library to engage in local issues, build community, and much more.
Contact us at northdelridge@gmail.com
(WSB photos by Christopher Boffoli)
The Admiral District’s next new restaurant is days away from opening: 4 months after first word that Brickyard BBQ was moving into space just south of Admiral Pub (map), WSB Forum members have been wondering when they’ll open. So Christopher Boffoli stopped by this afternoon on behalf of WSB to check, and reports that this Wednesday (August 26) is expected to be its official opening day. He reports that the activity spotted there in recent days has been “soft opening” activity for friends and family, as is traditional in the restaurant business. For our last report in late July, the owners told us they’d be serving Texas-style barbecue, likely 11 am-10 pm.
Four months ago, North Delridge Neighborhood Council co-chair Mike Dady led a tour of “problem properties” in the area – including rundown homes that sit vacant (like the one above at 3804 23rd SW, where another complaint is under investigation now), often frequented by squatters, posing safety and sanitation risks to neighboring residents and businesses. (Here’s our detailed report.) Two City Councilmembers — Sally Clark and Tim Burgess — plus one council candidate (David Bloom) and two city department heads were along for the tour; action was promised on several fronts, including a potential city rule change to allow properties to be demolished even if a plan for their replacement has not been approved. Dady followed up with the city this past week and learned that rule change is making it through the system; here’s the “determination of non-significance” published last month as part of the process – according to Department of Planning and Development director Diane Sugimura, one of the city officials who joined April’s tour, no one appealed that notice, so the ordinance went to the mayor’s office last week – you can read its full text here. Mayoral and council approval are required; we’ll follow its progress through the system.
(Photos by WSB contributing journalist Kathy Mulady)
If you haven’t been to West Seattle Farmers’ Market yet today … as always, it continues till 2 pm, with a profusion of late-summer flowers, including sunflowers and gladiolus.
The next special event at the market, by the way, is Tomato-Tasting Day, two weeks from today, with the Zucchini 500 races a week after that.
We have received half a dozen notes now about this – some wondering what’s happening, and one with a little information, so we are sharing that info to let people know it is being checked out: An audible alarm has been going off for more than 12 hours at an Admiral-area home. (We will not get more specific about the address – if you are in the area, you know; any comments that get more specific will be deleted, since this is obviously a currently unoccupied house.) According to one nearby resident, whose note had the subject line “The never-ending burglar alarm,” police have checked it out repeatedly, but the alarm does not seem to be tied to any particular company, so it can’t be disabled, and no one’s been able to reach the residents by phone so far. Another nearby resident, Kristen, described the situation: “It’s been going ALL night…kinda putting a buzz kill on our Sunday morning.” 11:26 AM UPDATE: Just got word it’s finally stopped.
Story and photos by Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
West Seattleites had the chance to learn the story behind a popular park on Saturday morning, as the Southwest Seattle Historical Society presented a Live History Talk and Walk at Me-Kwa-Mooks Park, featuring Alan Schmitz — grandson of Ferdinand and Emma Schmitz — describing the area as he came to know it as a child.
He was joined by SWSHS president Judy Bentley (photo below) and by Joan Hockaday of the Olmsted Society, author of Greenscapes—Olmsted’s Pacific Northwest (photo above with Schmitz), about the famed designer of parks in Seattle and elsewhere.
Sharing stories and memories, Mr. Schmitz painted a picture of Me-Kwa-Mooks very different from what we see today.
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: Not only will fruit and vegetables abound at today’s market (10 am-2 pm, 44th/Alaska, map) — here’s the Ripe ‘n’ Ready lineup — but fresh fish is in the spotlight too — Loki says via Twitter that it’s selling its last fresh Alaskan salmon of the season.
DELRIDGE PRODUCE CO-OP MOBILE MARKET: Third day of its second 4-day week, which means you’ll find them today next to Cottage Grove Park (map/address), 11 am-3 pm. The photo at left is from Saturday’s session, with rainbow carrots among the offerings again. If you’ve missed our earlier reports, this is a four-week experiment to see if Delridge can support an enterprise that would offer fresh, healthy food, explained here, and while it’s in the experimental stage, the produce is free (just fill out a quick survey!).
BENEFIT FOR NURSES’ TRIP TO SENEGAL: Tonight’s your chance to support nurses Syd and Susie‘s trip to provide health care in Africa (previewed here) by donating supplies and/or money – and the place to do it is The Bohemian, starting at 5:30 pm.
More in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup.
Fire-dancing at dusk was featured again this year at the Nature Consortium‘s Arts-in-Nature Festival, which opens its second and final day at Camp Long at 11 this morning – last night, however, a different act ignited the fire … The Cabiri. These photographs are by Greg Wright, who also caught the aerial troupe in a less-incendiary moment:
Though The Cabiri isn’t on today’s Arts-in-Nature schedule, so much more is — see the schedule by looking here — including the Camp Long cabins in their temporary new roles as art zones:
Arts-in-Nature Festival runs 11 am-6 pm today at Camp Long (map/address); admission is by donation, $5. (Here’s our earlier report with WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli‘s video and photos; added Sunday morning – Christopher has put together another video with scenes from the end of Night 1:)
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