West Seattle, Washington
07 Thursday
(thanks to Mona for the photo)
We’re checking on something happening at 16th/Roxbury (map) – there was a brief medic call to 15th/Roxbury, it closed, but Mona just sent word of a big fire/police presence in the area, and we got a call from Kevin too. More as soon as we confirm info. Avoid the area in the meantime. 8:11 PM UPDATE: This is on the King County side of White Center – King County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating; they say a man was hit by a car in the intersection – the driver told investigators he never saw the man. The man’s been taken to Harborview Medical Center. The Roxbury/16th/15th area is still closed at last report so avoid the area.
(looking north along 42nd from Jefferson Square during the 1st walking tour, February 28)
Reminder: If you can spare the time at midday tomorrow, it’s your next chance to get directly involved with the city’s review of parking in The Junction – a review that will eventually lead to a decision on whether the city will install pay stations, Residential Parking Zones, new time-limit signage, and/or other parking-management “tools.” At 11 am tomorrow, you can join the group rendezvousing outside Cupcake Royale at California/Alaska – as reported in our coverage of the first tour Feb. 28, the city reps want to hear about your observations and concerns. (Though the posted time is 11 am-1 pm, most of the first tour was done in about an hour.) If you can’t make the tour, you can have your say in other ways – contact info is on the parking review’s website. (Archived WSB coverage of the ongoing Junction parking review can be found here, newest to oldest.)
Just got word that vandal(s) hit the Chief Sealth High School – permanent campus – project overnight. According to a report provided by the Southwest Precinct, the construction crew arrived first thing this morning “to discover someone(s) broke into the secured school … set fire to a cabinet / cork boards, and broke multiple skylights and other interior windows.” The report elaborates:
They set a wood cabinet on fire, which caught nearby corkboards on fire. Numerous interior windows as well as skylights were extensively damaged. Several beer cans were left behind, as well as blood smears from where (the) suspect may have been cut. The fire alarm had been disabled due to reconstruction.
The report also says construction workers had reported graffiti vandalism and a “trash-can fire” the day before, which might have been the work of the same vandal(s). Detectives are doing followup work now, and the blood smears provided potential DNA evidence. We will check with Seattle Public Schools regarding damage estimate from this vandalism and what’s going to be done to step up security. 7:04 PM UPDATE: A district spokesperson says that information won’t be available till tomorrow.
On one side of Alki Ave, you’ll have St. Patrick’s Day night at Celtic Swell — on the other, a tradition from the other side of the globe. Thanks to Paige for e-mailing to share this:
CHAHAR SHANBEH SOORI tonight, Tuesday March 17 at Alki Beach Park, 7 pm-11 pm
Chahar Shanbeh Soori is the ancient Iranian festival dating at least back to 1700 BCE of the early Zoroastrian era. The festival of fire is a prelude to the ancient Norooz festival, which marks the arrival of spring and revival of nature. Chahar Shanbeh Soori is celebrated the night before the last Wednesday of the year. On this occasion people make small fires and jump over them of good luck in the coming New Year.
Please bring as much firewood as you can and light a fire ONLY in designated fire pits – otherwise the Fire Department will be called in and our fires will be put out. Be safe and have fun. *Note: This is a community organized event and not an IACA-sponsored event.
For other Iranian events celebrating the Persian New Year/Spring Equinox, go to:
iaca-seattle.org/calendar
1. The Parks Department sent out a roundup today of sports-signup highlights at their facilities around West Seattle; check it out here.
2. Just got a City Hall advisory that Hizzoner will be volunteering at the High Point Habitat for Humanity construction site tomorrow. Celebrityish help is nothing new on the project; we covered Seahawks wives helping out back in February.
When we first told you last Friday about the lawsuit that developers BlueStar filed against Seattle Capital and its parent company in connection with the stalled Fauntleroy Place development, we also mentioned there was word of another lawsuit. We’ve now learned more about that lawsuit: It’s filed against Seattle Capital and Fauntleroy Place LLC, but for this one, the plaintiff is BAJ Capital, local investor Christopher NeVan‘s firm, which state corporation-information files listed as one of the “governing” parties in FP LLC along with Seattle Financial. It tells the detailed tale of what allegedly happened with the site and its ownership last year – we’ll be reading it a while to distill it, and we’ll link it here as soon as we can. The first 10 pages (which are followed by exhibits including the original 2006 LLC agreement forming Fauntleroy Place) accuse the defendants of breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract. This suit was actually filed a few days before BlueStar’s suit (which isn’t yet available in the public online court system). ADDED 1:17 PM: Here’s the lawsuit if you’d like to read it for yourself. (The one filed Friday isn’t available online yet.) 2:28 PM: We’ve summarized the complaint, if you’d rather read the toplines than wade through the whole thing:Read More
Julie brought this up in the WSB Forums tonight — the King Conservation District has a districtwide election this Thursday for a Board of Supervisors spot, and all registered voters in Seattle (plus other parts of the district) are eligible to vote. 
A quick read about the King CD might leave you thinking it’s mostly about rural King County — not so. For example, the King CD is involved with Longfellow Creek restoration here in West Seattle. Chances are, you’ve contributed part of its $6 million annual revenue. And if you watch this explanatory video, you’ll hear about a project at Seahurst, just a bit south of us. There’s only one polling place in Seattle – the downtown library, 10 am-8 pm Thursday (Julie’s forum post lists them all) – but if you read about this district’s work and want to have a say on which of these two three (including a write-in) candidates joins the board, now you know – you can. (By the way, King CD says there’s a historic aspect to the way they’re conducting this election!)
(Photo above, rescue boat and overturned kayak, from Tracy White – photo below from Doug and Anne, as the rescue boat was hoisted back aboard the Issaquah)
ORIGINAL 6:39 PM REPORT: On our way now to a call off Brace Point – a kayak overturned in the water, and according to what we’re hearing on the scanner, a ferry is trying to rescue the person who’s with the overturned kayak. 6:44 PM UPDATE: KING had an aerial picture – a lifeboat from a ferry has just picked up the kayaker and reportedly will bring him to the command post in the 9600 block of 50th SW (map). Some of the fire/medic units are being canceled now. 7:04 PM UPDATE: Still awaiting word from our folks at the scene on how the kayaker’s doing – looks like the ferry Issaquah, which helped with the rescue, is now heading back westbound, per VesselWatch. Just added the top photo from Tracy White – thanks! Tracy says, “The (rescue) boat appeared to pick up the kayaker, take them to shore, then come back for the boat …” Also just heard from co-publisher Patrick, who is at the command post – the kayaker was reported to be conscious and alert when brought to shore, and was taken to the hospital as of just a few minutes ago. 7:16 PM: Added the second photo above – thanks to Doug and Anne, who caught the rescue boat being hoisted back aboard the Issaquah. Here’s our photo of the 50th SW street end where police and fire crews staged:
ADDED 8:23 PM: No update on the rescued kayaker’s condition – privacy laws make it impossible to just call the hospital and say “how’s that kayaker?” without a name – but we have a few more photos, from WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli, starting with the kayak after it was brought back to the Brace Point beach:
ADDED 9:35 PM: KING has put up its helicopter video (silent) of the entire rescue – watch it here.
ADDED 11:14 PM: Can’t find it online yet, but KOMO had a short interview with the kayaker, identified as Scott Redfern. Q13 has the same name in this short story.
Earlier today, we saw the label crews trailing the pickup crews again, taping notices to trash/recycling containers along Alki Avenue – a reminder there are two weeks to go till new city contracts kick in, upping rates, expanding what’s recyclable, changing yard/food waste pickup to weekly, and for many households, changing pickup days. (We’ve been Monday since we bought our house in ’93; as of 3/31 it’ll be Tuesday.) If you don’t see a note attached to your can(s), watch your mailbox – the collection day is mentioned above your address on a brochure about the changes. Here’s the latest city news release aimed at keeping the impending changes top-of-mind; again, they kick in the week of 3/30. (Note the recycling/disposal-station rates are rising too.)
Back in January, West 5 in The Junction had its first-ever movie screening — “Rock ‘n’ Roll Gearhead – 4 Days with Billy Gibbons.” Its locally based filmmaker, Jamie Chamberlin, sent that photo and this accompanying announcement:
In response to the warm hospitality extended … by West 5 in screening the NW premiere of “Rock and Roll Gearhead,” Gibbons has flown up a most enviable wall piece. Taking time out of his hectic recording sessions with producer Rick Rubin down in Los Angeles, Gibbons custom pin-striped a mustard yellow guitar to be hung on display at The West 5. The legendary guitarist is celebrating a 40-year anniversary with his band ZZ Top and is slated to have a new album out this year as well as a worldwide tour. The guitar should be on display by week’s end.
Chamberlin says he’ll be visiting West 5 to personally present the guitar for display. There’s more about his movie, including its trailer, at this MySpace site.
President Obama announced action today to try to thaw the credit freeze affecting many businesses. Thanks to Diane for pointing out a story that brings it home: KING5 has an update today on BabyLegs, headed by a West Seattle entrepreneur. Business is booming, the story notes (see it here), but the challenges of getting credit have forced BabyLegs to lay off some workers in the meantime, according to the TV story.
Mayor Nickels has just announced that Deputy Chief John Diaz will be the acting police chief, as Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske leaves for his new federal job. He is speaking live on Seattle Channel right now and says he has no timetable for choosing a permanent chief. “The reason I accepted this,” Diaz said, “is because I’m a cop .. I’ve been doing this for a long time. … The Seattle Police Department needs to mirror the priorities of its neighborhoods.” Mayor Nickels says he will discuss details of the chief-search process once there’s an official vacancy – in other words, once Kerlikowske is confirmed as federal “drug czar.” Diaz, who’s 51, says he is interested in the permanent job. 1:25 PM NOTE: The news conference is now over; when the archived video is up on the Seattle Channel site, we’ll add a link here. TUESDAY NOTE: Here’s that link.
The White Center Food Bank, which also serves West Seattle south of SW Myrtle, is opening its doors one Saturday a month, as its clientele continues to grow. Full details at our partner site WhiteCenterNow.com.
Just got a note from Kirsty wondering why the windows at Circa in the Admiral District are papered over, so we ran over to check: Note on the window says the restaurant is closed for “equipment repairs” and planning to reopen March 24.
Michelle Baker is a born-and-raised West Seattleite – attended Lafayette Elementary, Madison Middle School, and West Seattle High School – but right now she’s in Butare, Rwanda (map), as part of her International Studies major at Seattle University. Before she left, she held a Beads for Life fundraiser to help Ugandan women – the photo above shows Michelle and mom Julie at the fundraiser. Now that she’s in Africa, Michelle is writing about her experiences online – michellejbaker.blogspot.com. But her trip is about more than studying; Michelle — a longtime soccer player — and her friend Caitlin, from Colorado, are also spending time in Uganda and have written a proposal to carry out a dream to help women through sports, by starting a soccer team in Northern Uganda. They need support, including money. Read on to see what they want to do and why:Read More
(refresh/scroll down for new pix and info as we get it)
(photo added 5:10 pm, courtesy of Cathy Woo, taken south of Alki Point)
Starting to really kick up, so we’ll open this new post in case of any problems. Note that West Seattle’s brand-spanking-new emergency-preparedness website is up and running, too – including where to gather in case of major disaster. See it here. 45 mph gust at Alki Point according to the hourly readings from the National Weather Service (that station is K91S). Let us know if there’s trouble where you are. And even if the power goes out – if you can get online, you’ll find us here too, since we have power and Internet-service backups. Another potentially helpful link: Here’s the City Light outages list (none in our area right now).
ADDED 5:28 PM: Anne from Ventana Construction (WSB sponsor) photographed this rainbow while in the Belvidere area just before the sun went back into hiding:
8:15 PM NOTE: We took a sunset/dusk drive around some of the major arterials. No obvious problems. Will be watching for another forecast update in an hour or so, to see if any other “surprises” are lurking later this week. There is a big tree down in South Park, though – got this photo from 8th S and Rose (map):
We’re told City Light is cutting up the tree now and that only a few homes lost power because of the downed tree.
9:58 PM UPDATE: Sustained wind has picked up again, but the new “forecast discussion” published at 9 pm still says things should calm down by midnight.
11:08 PM UPDATE: The official forecast itself updated at 11 pm. Now says wind “easing overnight,” but potentially gusting to 35 mph now and then in the meantime. Alki Point registered a 34 mph gust at the top of the hour.
11:35 PM NOTES: We also have two reports (comments and Twitter) of some snow mixed in with all this craziness, from Fairmount and High Point.
Just got a note from Jessie, proprietor at Skylark Cafe and Club (WSB sponsor), West Seattle’s major live-music hotspot with bands six nights a week – she says, “I’m going to be on 107.7 The End’s Local Music show tonight with Megan Seling of The Stranger (8-10 pm) playing a few awesome bands that have played Skylark — as many as I have time for. Take a listen if you can!” She’s working to get mixdowns for Stevedore (which has two former Skylark employees) and Bend (which has two Shadow Land owners), who she says are both in the middle of recording right now. 6:31 PM UPDATE: Jessie reports in comments, “Got the mixdowns.” If you’re away from a radio, listen online, 8-10 pm: 1077theend.com.
Thanks to longtime WSBer Diane for spotting a “Moving/April 1st” sign on the door at smallclothes (map) and letting us know; sounded like a good excuse to check in on a local business that also happens to be working in the spirit of sustainability – so here’s what WSB’s newest contributing reporter found out during a visit to the store:
By Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Good news for fashion-forward kids and their cost-savvy parents: The resale kids’-clothing and gift store smallclothes is moving across the street to a new space on April 1st. Besides being larger and having an open floor plan, what’s the best thing about the new store? Mother-daughter co-owners Ruth and Stephanie Hargrave agree: “No stairs!”
For the past four years, faithful parents have dragged strollers up a flight of stone stairs to reach the duplex that houses smallclothes, seeking gently used and new clothes for their well-dressed tykes. The owners buy clothes without wear and tear, offering cash or store credit in return. Some of the clothes and shoes are brand-new and still have store tags on them; some have only been worn a couple of times.
(replaced original photo with video from Upper Fauntleroy at 8:35 am)
Nothing should surprise us, given what’s happened so far this winter, but waking up to Winter Wonderland, Yet Again, is still a bit of a shock. Someone mentioned “snow?” on Twitter last night; we went to the forecast to look and all we saw was the chance of some gusty winds later today. But at least where we are – it’s blanketed, already. And you?
8:02 AM: The current forecast insists this will change to rain later – and then give way to a wind advisory, noon-11 pm. Send a photo if you have one! editor@westseattleblog.com
8:17 AM: Here come the photos – thanks! First, from Tony in High Point:
From Scott C near Myrtle Reservoir:
From King County on Twitter a moment ago:
Snow is spreading across King County, but Metro buses are still moving with little disruption. Will keep you posted if that changes
From Cathy Woo on Alki – snowing down at the lower levels too:
Reminder that if you need to drive somewhere, our Traffic page has a variety of camera views in West Seattle and on the routes leading onto/off the peninsula.
8:36 AM: Just added video to the top of this report, a shaky pan from the arterial intersection nearest WSB HQ (California/Thistle; map) for posterity’s sake and anyone who’s out of town … Remember that it did snow in LATE March last year. Now, more photos – this one from Todd in Admiral:
From Jodi in the 4000 block of Fauntleroy Way alongside the approach to The Bridge (and she reports traffic’s getting by just fine):
Via Facebook (where you can “friend” us as WS Blog), Talani reports it’s more like rain on Alki right now. Still snow here but smaller flakes, and there IS some on the road, so drive carefully if you have to go somewhere. Meantime, famous forecaster Cliff Mass explains the super-size flakes seen earlier:
The snow is full of large aggregates (many crystals stuck together)…that is why they are so large (the surfaces of the snowflakes are melitng and wet…and this acts as a sort of glue to allow them to stick to each other). This happens in marginal temp situations, like we have now.
Update on who DID forecast this: On FB, we have one report that Channel 5 did hint at this, and another that Cliff M mentioned the possibility in his Friday KUOW appearance.
9:04 AM: From Diana in North Admiral:
And on the flip side, Talani’s photo of Alki Ave out the window of the beachside Starbucks:
From JH near Schmitz Park:
Pretty sure that’s now the sound of some snowmelt in the downspout outside the nearest window … And yes, the street’s now wet with a little slush, and it’s more rain than snow. So at least your photos will be indisputable proof for anyone who’s sleeping late and might end up missing the whole thing!
9:22 AM: Via Twitter, Bridgette in the Avalon/Luna Park area reports a Comcast cable-TV outage. Anyone else? Meantime, the big flakes are back. Guess this will be off-on for a while.
9:31 AM: Kathleen just e-mailed from Highland Park and says that near Riverview Playfield, “no sign of rain” – still “tons of snow coming down.” (minutes later in Upper Fauntleroy, it’s 95% rain)
9:55 AM: Unless you’re in a micro-microclimate pocket and seeing otherwise, looks like the snow event is mostly over. But remember that there’s another round of wild weather predicted for later today – a wind advisory around the metro area, noon-11 pm – forecast excerpt:
SOUTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH BECOMING SOUTHWEST 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO NEAR 40 MPH THIS AFTERNOON.
But in the meantime, the more-typical weather has arrived just in time for the West Seattle Farmers’ Market (now till 2 pm in The Junction). And the first government news release has arrived too – King County’s overview.
On this rainy night – think of how great the rain is for all those West Seattle gardens-in-waiting, with the official start of spring just a week away. We have several garden-related notes to share:
P-PATCH VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: An update from Aaron Hernandez, who’s helping coordinate the creation of a new P-Patch on a plot provided by West Seattle Christian Church in The Junction:
We’ve finally got a name, Friends of West Seattle Genesee P-Patch. We’re shooting to meet the April 6 grant deadline, and I am still in search of potential volunteers. I am also interested in hearing from any local businesses able and willing to contribute to our project. The items we need vary, so if anyone is interested they should contact me. I’d also like to encourage businesses and other organizations to consider volunteering as teams, as it is a great way not only to contribute to our community, but also build and strengthen employee teams and relationships. My e-mail is wscc.grounds@hotmail.com.
LONGFELLOW CREEK GARDEN: We followed the development of this organic garden/mini-farm last year, and its volunteers are getting ready for a new growing season:
Another organizing meeting is planned tonight (Sunday) not far from the garden site in Delridge. If you’re interested in being part of it, send a note to longfellowcreekgarden@earthlink.net — you can also become a “friend” of Longfellow Creek Garden on Facebook – start here.
ARBOR HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY PLANT SALE: Orders are being taken now for plants that’ll be delivered in early May. All the info you need starts here. (And if anyone else has a fundraising plant sale under way, let us know – all our contact info is here.)
The movie and the singing are in full swing as we write this, and the cake/cupcake partying will follow, but we can report that tonight’s real-life wedding onstage at the Admiral Theater happened in fine style. We took the wedding party’s photo above in the lobby afterward; we’ll be checking our video in a bit. Good crowd on hand to applaud now-newlyweds Melodie Anderson and John Babcock, longtime sweethearts whose story you can read here and here; we met the fine folks from Standing Ovation Films, a West Seattle-based video-production company who read about the wedding plan here on WSB and donated a wedding-video package worth $2,000 (they had three cameras in the theater!); other donated gifts included the Cafe Revo wedding dinner, the Sugar Rush Baking Company cake and cupcakes, an anonymously gifted stay at a Lake Chelan vacation home, and the volunteer services of nondenominational minister Teri Ensley, who you may also know as the ringleader of local pet-helping nonprofit Furry Faces Foundation. For the occasion, till we have wedding video to share, here’s our favorite ABBA song:
ADDED 9:52 PM: Here’s the entire five-minute wedding – minister Teri’s mike did come on after the first 10 seconds or so:
(video no longer available due to blip.tv shutdown)
Thanks to Joe Follansbee for these photos of the Denny Middle School marching band in this afternoon’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade downtown. Joe reports: “The rain eased off for us and the wind was light, so conditions were tolerable. And the kids were near the beginning of the parade, so they (and their parents) didn’t freeze halfway to death!”
While we were visiting Denny yesterday morning (longer story to come), music director Marcus Pimpleton told us the marching band’s next parade is the Junior Daffodil Parade, two weeks from today in Tacoma (more info here).
Andrea Mercado from the Log House Museum — where you can check out the history of West Seattle, noon-4 pm Thursdays-Sundays — just sent this note:
Stop in Sunday, March 15th, between 11-2 to help us move file cabinets, brochures, books and papers out from the Log House Museum upstairs. Besides being an enormous help to the Log House Museum and Southwest Seattle Historical Society, you will also get to see the inner sanctum of the museum (upstairs) which is not generally open to the public. (oooooooohhhhh)
A 105 year old log structure is always an adventure to maintain and a joy to work in, but the building cannot handle the weight of our modern-day conveniences.
For 30 minutes, an hour or two of your time… there will be goodies donated by the Alki Bakery and beverages to keep us all going.
The museum’s in the big beautiful historic house shown in the photo above, 61st/Stevens in Alki (map).
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