West Seattle, Washington
03 Sunday
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).
Read on for two reports that came in Friday but involved break-ins earlier in the week:Read More
After covering a crash in The Junction this afternoon, WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli noticed several cars along SW Oregon east of 41st (map) with parking tickets. This, just a few days after parking enforcement in Junction-area neighborhoods was discussed at the most recent meeting of the Junction Neighborhood Organization (as reported at the end of this WSB article); JuNO president Erica Karlovits had suggested that better enforcement of existing rules and laws could ease the perceived parking crunch and confirm there’s no need for pay stations (which the city will be reviewing as part of the Junction parking study that’s under way now – next walking tour Wednesday, 11 am, meet at Cupcake Royale). Think your neighborhood needs parking enforcement? Here’s a place to start.
Thanks to everyone who has called and e-mailed. The “heavy rescue” call in the 3200 block of Belvidere (map) involved a pickup truck hitting a child – a boy, six or seven years old. WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli has been to the scene and was told the victim’s injuries are not life-threatening, but he was taken to the hospital to be checked out. He also was told the boy was playing with a toy truck when the truck, apparently belonging to someone working in the area, came down a steep driveway, and the driver just didn’t see the child. 5:29 PM UPDATE: Just talked to Officer Jeff Kappel with the Seattle Police media unit. He says the boy is 6 years old, “will be just fine” – bumps and bruises, at this point – and that it was truly an accident, so the truck driver (who Kappel says apparently knows the boy’s family) will not be cited.
Last night, we published a short summary right after the design-review meeting about the Conner Homes megaproject in The Junction; now, here are full details on what was seen and said, and what happens next:
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The crowd reaction was a bit reminiscent of an evangelistic church service when Rene Commons (above) stood before the Southwest Design Review Board last night to show those photos she’s shown holding. Many people in the 50-or-so-member crowd murmured and mumbled “uh-huhs,” maybe just short of an “A-men.”
Her point was that the Conner Homes two-building, 7-story megaproject at California/Alaska/42nd needs architectural flair, given its prominent future position in the heart of the business district that is now branded as Downtown West Seattle.
And the desire to see more detail is part of why SWDRB members asked Conner and his development team, including architects from Weber Thompson, to come back for (at least) one more review.
WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli is at the scene at California and Oregon (map); he says one car hit three others, and adds: “The driver is being taken to Harborview. Police said that there were no signs of alcohol use but that the man was having trouble answering basic questions about what happened. Traffic at Cali and Oregon is backing up a bit but SPD is waving through the rubberneckers.” 1:37 PM UPDATE: Added photo by Christopher, who updates that police say the red car was heading eastbound and crossed into the westbound lane, hitting at least two cars.
Some updates on Denny Middle School, from a conversation with Principal Jeff Clark: First big one, the move-in plan has changed for the new Denny that’ll be built on the nearby Chief Sealth High School campus. As we reported in recent months, there was a tentative plan to make the move over winter break 2010-2011. Now, Clark says, that plan’s been scrapped, since it would likely have been educationally disruptive, to say the least. The plan is now to move the Denny staff immediately after the end of the school year in June 2011 (so Denny summer programs that year will happen on the new campus), and start classes there in fall 2011. Also from our visit to Denny (and more to come later): Music director Marcus Pimpleton will lead the Denny Marching Band in tomorrow’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade downtown (parade info here), so if you’re going, watch for them!
Rummage-sale season is off and … rummaging. Two big sales started this morning: West Side Presbyterian Church (above – we found quite a crowd there a little while ago) and Tibbetts United Methodist Church (tons of stuff there too as shown below), both just north of The Junction.
Tibbetts is selling till 4 pm today, 9 am-3 pm tomorrow; West Side goes till 5 pm today, 9 am-2 pm tomorrow. By the way – don’t forget to mark your calendar – the 5th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, presented again this year by WSB, is May 9th, registration details to come.
A public notice is published today for an upcoming foreclosure auction that, according to online records, includes the lion’s share of one of Alki’s newer condo developments, 1350 Alki Avenue SW (built in 2008, which is also when the Google Street View image above was made). Of its 10 units, one is sold, according to this sales website and county property records. The foreclosure/notice of trustee’s sale document on the King County website (read it here) says that as of January, $5 million was owed, and says that what’s being offered at auction at the county Administration Building downtown on April 10th includes 9/10ths interest in the land and seven of the condo units.
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