West Seattle, Washington
26 Tuesday
(August 2008 photo of park site at 42nd/Alaska)
Earlier this month, in our coverage of the Southwest District Council‘s latest meeting, we mentioned a preview of the upcoming Junction Plaza Park campaign, from West Seattle Junction Association executive director Susan Melrose. This morning, we have full details of the plan to finish the park – purchased with city ProParks money in 2005 — and how you can help. Susan says a group called “Friends of Junction Plaza Park” is being formed to head up the project, with leaders including Junction Neighborhood Organization president Erica Karlovits and Friends of Ercolini Park chair Katie Hjorten. The group will apply for a city Neighborhood Matching Fund grant of $100,000, to be applied toward the $350,000 needed to finish the park. Where you come in: Commitments of community support and volunteer hours are needed, to qualify for the grant – just like so many other projects that have benefited from the NMF, including Ercolini. And Susan says they only have about a month to get those commitments lined up; you don’t have to make a big commitment, she says: “We have exciting ways for people to help out with the park, and we’re looking to bring the community together – looking for small commitments of volunteer time to involve a wide section of the community.” You’ll see volunteers out at places such as the West Seattle Farmers’ Market to talk with people about volunteering for the Junction Plaza Park project, and you are invited to the first Friends of Junction Plaza Park meeting: 6:30 pm March 3, Senior Center of West Seattle. Susan stresses, they’re not looking for “huge” commitments – a little help from a lot of people will turn the long-planned park from dream to reality. If you have any questions in the meantime, or want to extend an offer of help ASAP, please contact her by e-mailing susan@wsjunction.org.
Just out of the WSB inbox from David:
Our car was stolen last night from the 4800 block between Alaska and Oregon, just two houses away from Ercolini Park [map]. I’m wondering if you have any other reports of thefts in the area, and if not, if you can post in the crime watch section so people are aware of it. It is a gold-colored 1999 Audi A4, so let me know if anyone sees it driving around!
No other reports in to us so far, but sometimes Crime Watch reports bring out news about something else happening nearby. David has called the police to come out and take a report.
It’s back to school today for Seattle Public Schools students, after the weeklong “mid-winter break.” And since open enrollment is later this year because of the closures/changes, more school tours are coming up too. Allison Carver from the Alki Elementary PTA e-mailed to flag us to added Alki tours, including one tomorrow morning and two in March; they’re listed here along with other upcoming tours at West Seattle North elementaries (WS Elementary has one this week too), while West Seattle South elementary tours are listed here (this week’s schedule includes Arbor Heights, Concord, Gatewood, Roxhill, Sanislo). Pathfinder K-8 has tours (in K-5 and 6-8 sections) this week, listed here; middle schools are listed here (Madison has one this week and Denny has more next month); for high school, West Seattle and Chief Sealth have tours next month.
(WSB photos by Christopher Boffoli)
ORIGINAL 10:08 PM REPORT: WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli is at the “fire in single-family residence” call at 30th SW/SW Bataan (a High Point street so new it’s not even on Google Maps, but we did find this). He says it’s a fairly sizable fire, lots of smoke visible, no flames. Photos and more info shortly.
(WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli)
10:22 PM UPDATE: From Christopher at the scene: “Firefighters from several companies seem to have the blaze extinguished. The building that was on fire is unoccupied new construction. Firefighters seem to be taking down a ceiling on the first floor of the structure to expose the source of the fire.” He adds that the house that caught fire appears to have been close to completion, but not done yet, with stickers still on the windows. From the scanner — the incident commander is going to start clearing some units to leave the scene. Also, the online fire-call log has revised the address to 6423 30th SW (map). Christopher also confirms, nobody hurt. 10:50 PM UPDATE: Seattle Fire spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen has now released an update: First firefighters on the scene saw flames through the house’s windows; the fire was mostly concentrated on the second floor – still no word on the cause or the dollar amount of the damage, till investigators can get in and look around.
(photo by Tony Bradley)
11:50 PM UPDATE: In her latest media update, Vander Houwen says fire investigators have determined this was an accidental fire, caused by an electrical-wire problem. Damage is estimated at about $50,000.
As reported here a few days ago, this Thursday, the city Parks Board will get a briefing about the proposal to run the Elliott Bay Water Taxi year-round from Seacrest “temporarily,” till its permanent home is found. This is the next step toward final Parks approval of the plan, which then would enable county-funded dock improvements to be built later this year, to be in place for year-round operations to start in early 2010. The “briefing paper” that will be presented to the board is available online now; it says Parks staff recommends approval of the plan, and recaps “overwhelmingly supportive” reaction at the Alki Community Center open house last month (WSB coverage here), while mentioning a few more points:
*Final decision expected from the King County Ferry District by the end of June
*Project then would go out to bid in July
*Construction should be done sometime in December
*Divers’ ongoing concerns about Seacrest will be addressed – the briefing paper says:
Some divers would like to see mitigation at the park for increasing water-taxi service at the site. They have always had safety concerns about the shared use at this site, but we are anticipating that the improved dock configuration will be much safer for the divers as it moves the water taxi boat further from the diving area. A group of divers is going to work with King County Councilmember Dow Constantine on assistance in providing some amenities for divers at the site. In the past few years, a diver shower and safety buoys have been added as mitigation at Seacrest.
Public comment is not scheduled to be taken on this item at Thursday’s Park Board meeting (7 pm, parks HQ downtown); a public hearing is set for March 12, with a vote on March 26, and Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher getting the final say after that. Side note: This week’s Parks Board agenda has another item likely to be of wide West Seattle interest — a proposal for changing parks’ operating hours — that “briefing paper” is online now too, and we’ll write about it shortly. (Side note in another direction: While checking links for this item, discovered the King County Ferry District has a “blog” site now, and it was running a web poll asking what you think county-run passenger-ferry service should be called — Water Taxi? Water Bus? Foot Ferry? Passenger Ferry? The poll appears to be closed as of this writing, though.)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
“Autism is treatable, and health insurance should cover that treatment.”
That’s how Allison Dennis summarizes her quest, which — on the night we spoke in her Upper Fauntleroy living room earlier this week — had just taken her to Olympia, to try to change a local legislator’s mind.
Allison’s preschooler son Jack is autistic, diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS, in semi-short).
He is getting therapy – which can make a huge difference for those with autism – but it comes at a significant cost. Allison and other parents and advocates are trying to get the state to change the rules about which treatments insurance companies must cover and when, but they are facing an uphill fight.
Also from the “coming up” file – The man whose office is in charge of what happens to criminals after they’re arrested is scheduled to be in West Seattle this Thursday, 
at the South Delridge/White Center Community Safety Coalition meeting. Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg‘s last major public appearance in the West Seattle/White Center vicinity was four months ago, at the “Public Safety in Peril” town-hall meeting (WSB coverage here) that he, Sheriff Sue Rahr, and others held to discuss then-looming budget cuts. So what’s happened since then, and how is it affecting the task of keeping criminals off the street since they’re caught? You can find out firsthand on Thursday night at St. James Place, 9421 18th SW (map); the meeting starts at 6 pm with free dinner, as always, and continues till 8 pm – Seattle Police and King County Sheriff’s Office reps are always on hand to update crime trends in the south WS/WC area too.
This Wednesday night is the first of six in a row with Fauntleroy Church inviting you to come share conversations about community – and what it really means in this much-changed day and age. The series starts with a showing of the well-received “The Fauntleroy Story” documentary (first covered here last July) and continues with a lineup of featured speakers that even includes your WSB co-publishers, as well as more-notable souls such as “Neighbor Power” guru Jim Diers and Church Council of Greater Seattle executive director Michael Ramos. As you can see on the flyer above, each evening will begin with “simple supper” (by donation) at 6 pm, followed by the forum at 7. Read on for the full text of the official news release about the series:Read More
Jeff Hogan of West Seattle-based Killer Whale Tales, who brought us first word of the big orca group that passed through on Friday, shares that photo of L-pod whales along with an update on his adventures as they headed north:
I got the opportunity to go out on the “fecal follow” boat with our friends from NOAA Fisheries after (watching from West Seattle shores) … We caught up with the 40+ members of L Pod at the Kingston Ferry terminal and stayed with them for nearly three hours as the whales moved northwards. The scientists I was with were trying to collect fecal samples, (yes..poop!) as well as fish scales left over from predation events.
The scat samples will allow the scientists to measure and determine a variety of things, including hormonal levels in the individual whales. These levels can be used to determine many systemic problems in the individual whales, like stress, illness or even something positive like pregnancy in females.
Check out this link to find out more (May 2008 KING5 story).
The prey samples collected will help to narrow down what these animals are eating throughout the year. Right now it looks like their diet is nearly 90% salmon, and mostly Chinook or King in the summer and Chum in the winter. The DNA recovered in the samples can also identify exactly which stream those salmon come from and can help to steer recovery of those specific runs.
By the time the orcas had moved to northern waters, three Seattle TV stations had recorded aerial video; here are links to those 3 clips – KOMO (4), KING (5), KIRO (7). Find out more about the “southern resident” orcas here.
Reported by CL:
Friday night, between 5 PMish and midnight, multiple cars on the water side of Alki near Luna Park received an egg wash… shells still on the street today, though mostly crushed by now. Cars were parked on both the east and west ends of the bus zone … so whomever threw the eggs had to keep at it a bit… probably others involved too, though these were what I saw… Also, don’t know how current / new , but there is a big graffiti on the seawall just off the bottom of the steps from Luna Park down to the beach … Seattle Parks has been advised.
(Luna Park, in this case, refers not to the business district along Avalon just south of The Bridge, but to the area where the waterfront amusement park of that name stood long ago, now marked by the small piling-top pocket park that is also known as Anchor Park.)
Those West Seattle Girl Scouts (and some adult volunteers too) spent their Saturday morning working inside a big loading-dock building at Alaska Marine Lines on West Marginal Way, getting ready for their organization’s tastiest event of the year: Girl Scout Cookie sales! This morning, nearly 3,000 cases of cookies arrived, totaling about 60,000 boxes, approximately one for every person in West Seattle; they had to be sorted for troops to pick up, in stacks like this:
The cookies delivered and sold here are made by Little Brownie Bakers in Kentucky, one of only two GS Cookie bakeries in the nation. 25 West Seattle troops will be selling cookies, with the official kickoff date February 27th (next Friday), and sales continuing through March 15. What’s new this year, you ask? Dulce De Leche (think caramel; read about all 8 available cookie varieties here). Cookie prices? $4/box. If you don’t encounter a Girl Scout selling cookies outside your nearest store, or some other way, send a note here and they’ll have someone contact you. And you won’t be surprised to hear you can become a “fan” of Girl Scout Cookies on Facebook. P.S. Tomorrow is Girl Scouts'[ “World Thinking Day,” and while covering the cookie arrival this morning, we got word of a big project the West Seattle girls are working on – stay tuned for more on that.
The map in the background of that photo from a recent meeting in West Seattle may show the world, but the gathered group was there to focus on one little corner of it: Fauntleroy. As part of the ongoing West Seattle Trails Alliance/Feet First project (notice the distinctive green maps, published last year, in front of participants), three wayfinding kiosks will be placed in Fauntleroy (with other neighborhoods slated to get them as well), and project leaders are meeting with neighbors to get direct local input on where those kiosks should go, what they should point to, and what kind of art they should showcase – read on for more:Read More
The car owner who just posted this item is hoping somebody saw who did it, last night or early this morning; remember that our forum has “private message” capabilities if you want to send information outside the thread.
After another meeting this week to get the envisioned Delridge Produce Co-op further down the road to reality, Galena White shares how it went, including word of a possible produce source, and a search for entertainment experts! Read on for Galena’s full report:Read More
After a week or so of practicing, tonight an invitation-only benefit gala (proceeds to the West Seattle Food Bank) opened the doors at the long-awaited Luna Park ristorante Cafe Revo. We will have photos back shortly; meantime, we have word from Sofia Zadra Goff – “Signora della Casa” (co-owner with chef husband Sean “Chano” Goff) – that they have decided to be open for dinner only this weekend, and will start lunch service on Monday. (Photos added 8:41 pm – below, in the kitchen, that’s Sofia at right, looking proudly over at Sean and his team cooking, while her dad, known as “Nonno,” smiles for the WSB camera.)
Out in the dining area – abuzz with the voices of a full house – we asked “Nonno” exactly what it is he’ll be doing:
Dinner service this Saturday and Sunday will start at 4 pm. More info at the Cafe Revo website.
Almost every time we report on this, it draws a mini-crowd of people worried about the prospect of city-managed pay parking in The Junction. Here’s your big chance to have a say directly in person: The first “walking tour” of the study zone has just been set. And it’s on a weekend, to maximize your chance of participating. Just RSVP, and then show up. Here’s the announcement we just got from Dante Taylor, who’s working on the West Seattle Junction parking study for the city Transportation Department:
SDOT will conduct a walking tour of the West Seattle Junction next Saturday, February 28 from 12 pm to 2 pm. This is an opportunity for you, community members and me, the project manager, to meet and identify parking concerns in the Junction area. We will walk around parts of the Junction that are within the outreach boundary and make note of any areas where you feel the parking study should focus. I will have maps of the outreach area so that you can take notes. Please note that we may not need the full two hours, but it would be helpful if you were available during this time just in case.
Let’s plan to meet at the Cupcake Royale at the northeast corner of Alaska and California. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.
E-mail Dante at dante.taylor@seattle.gov or call him, 206-684-8186. To catch up on the Junction parking-review background, check out our coverage archive (newest to oldest).
Just got Seattle Public Schools‘ news release about open enrollment starting March 2. It mentions district reps will be at the Delridge Library to take applications March 11, if you’d rather apply in person instead of by mail (or at an out-of-West Seattle location). Read on:Read More
Thanks to Dawn211 for posting a comment on our report about Natureway closing its Junction shop, noting that Funky Jane’s Consignment would be the new tenant. We subsequently got that confirmed by building co-owner Gina Terrana, and today, we stopped in to talk with Funky Jane’s proprietor Angela Nichols (photo above). Hers is one of several businesses that needed to move anyway because the Conner Homes project is taking down the existing buildings at California/Alaska/42nd; since demolition’s not happening immediately, so she’ll be moving to the new location over the summer, she told us. By the way, Angela also had a note about what’s happening in her business right now – winter’s over and it’s time to think spring, so the current focus is on “spring preview.” (Funky Jane’s is at 4706 California now [map] and the new location in a few months is at 4455 California [map].)
On the heels of the solid-waste-pickup discussion during this morning’s storm-aftermath report at the Seattle City Council, we just got a news release from Seattle Public Utilities saying they want to be SURE you know that trash pickup days are changing (for “most” households) and recycling rules are changing too. March 30th is the date, and while that’s been reported before, it’s now only a month away. Read on for the official reminder:Read More
(added 12:25 pm – here’s a link to the full “after-action report” discussed today)
(12/18/08 photo from Chris, taken on Delridge ramp to West Seattle Bridge)
Members of three Seattle City Council committees just got an hourlong update from three city department heads, and one of their own analysts, on more hindsight regarding the December ’08 snowstorm woes, and what’ll be done to improve city response next time. The highlights: Emergency Management director Barb Graff says the storm was overall a “$3.5 million hit” to the city budget (Councilmember Jan Drago said she wished there’d been a report on the private-sector “hit” too), though there’s hope that federal disaster-relief dollars could help cover some of that, if a presidential proclamation is made (word is expected within a week). SDOT director Grace Crunican says the city now has two more snowplows: 29 total, up from 27. The two additions cost $40,000 each.
(12/18/08 photo from Saney, taken at California/Hanford)
With that equipment, and with up to 13 more pieces of equipment available from private contractors – who are now on a retainer that will cost $30,000 (plus actual usage fees) the first year, $15,000 the second, and no additional fee after that – she says the city will be able to commit to keeping 744 “arterial lane-miles” of key streets clear no matter what, for buses and cars to use. (Using West Seattle – where she lives – as an example, Crunican said that would include California, Delridge, and 35th. No specific cross-streets, we will be looking into whether the specifics are in writing somewhere.) More highlights from the discussion, just ahead (we’ll be adding links in the next half-hour or so but wanted to get out the gist of what was said):Read More
(added 1:32 pm, the whale-watching crowd south of Alki Point earlier this afternoon)
ORIGINAL 10:28 AM POST: Quick update from Jeff Hogan – those orcas (see previous item) may be heading this way – northbound in Colvos Passage (west side of Vashon) at last report. We’ll update this item when/if there’s more info, and we’ll also post to Twitter (even if you don’t use Twitter, you can see our updates here). 11:15 AM UPDATE: Update from Jeff, now they’ve been spotted off Alki Point. 12:11 PM UPDATE: TV station says it’s streaming online (here’s the link – we’re checking it now). 12:28 PM UPDATE: Looks like they’re now refeeding video shot earlier. 1:03 PM UPDATE: And here’s the direct link to the aerial video now archived on KING5’s site.
A crime report this morning from WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli in The Junction, who along with neighbors is hoping this car’s owner will come forward fast:
We had a car prowl overnight on 41st between Alaska and Oregon. In the two years I’ve lived here this is the first one I’ve seen on this block. Side window shattered and there’s stuff all over the passenger seat so it looks like someone went through the glovebox. I called it in to the police but there’s nothing they can really do until the owners call and report it and we’re not sure exactly who owns this car.
(December 2008 photo by Jeff Hogan)
This afternoon, Jeff Hogan from West Seattle-based Killer Whale Tales called to say a sizable group of orcas was reported off Point No Point on the Kitsap Peninsula (map) and possibly heading this way. No sightings reported by sundown but Jeff – who provided us with photos and info about West Seattle’s last major orca sighting in December (photo above) – e-mailed this update tonight:
Turns out up to 20 plus killer whales were at the Edmonds/Kingston Ferry and still heading our way. It’s quite possible that they will be off WS in the morning. My scientific colleagues are very interested in getting out on the water to collect both photos and scat samples, especially if the new baby is with them. If any WSB’ers see them, please contact Orca Network at 1.866.ORCANET or they can call me at 206.660.0835. I will let WSB know what is going on as soon as I know something.
Two babies have been sighted/photographed with Puget Sound orcas recently, in fact – photos are on this page at the Orca Network’s website. (9:50 pm note – we just received the Orca Network’s nightly “sightings” newsletter – you can subscribe here – and it includes several sightings of this group, with the last one reported at 5:10 pm, passing Carkeek Park.)
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