West Seattle, Washington
23 Tuesday
Just back from the West Seattle Community Christmas Tree Lighting in The Junction. Great crowd — couple hundred, we’d estimate — despite the rain/snow slush mix falling from the sky, and soggy slushy mess underfoot. (The big outdoor heaters, the type you find on restaurant patios, really helped!) We’ll post video a little later. Meantime, speaking of video, two people have e-mailed us with links to videos they’ve put on YouTube showing today’s West Seattle snow — this one is from Adam Dorsey, this one is from Steve Heck. One more big round of thanks to everyone who’s sent photos, video links, info, etc., for us to share during this snow day; next up – rain and wind, they say.
FINAL ADDITION, 9:25 PM: WSB contributing photographer Matt Durham captured two classic images today at Fairmount Park, images of the snow inspiring pure enjoyment: First, 14-year-old Cecilia Silva, trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue as the flurries began:
Second, a Brittany Spaniel romping on the Fairmount field:
(Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
TWELFTH REPORT, 5 PM: The weather service’s latest “forecast discussion” says we should see a few more hours of light snow before something resembling rain moves in. And we have another round of photos — first one is from Jana in Upper Fauntleroy, verifying our report that Vashon was coming back into view before nightfall – following three are from Adam, showing Whale Tail Park, activity at Alki Playfield, and sand covered with snow at Alki Beach:
ELEVENTH REPORT, 4:09 PM: Might be some hope it’s slowing down – looking west over the Sound, Vashon is visible for the first time in more than 2 hours. Meantime, more photos: First, a WSB photo of Santa Claus himself dancing in the snow with a Hi-Yu Princess at Hometown Holidays HQ, where we will be attending the Christmas Tree Lighting tonight (ceremony starts @ 6, Dickens Carolers @ 5:30) come h**l or high water … er … snow; second one is from Britnie along California Ave, also in The Junction; third one is from Andrew in Gatewood, same spot where he photographed Zoe enjoying the first few flakes earlier (scroll way down on this post for that photo):
TENTH REPORT, 3:40 PM: Just back from a chilly yet fun round of snowball-throwing – try it if you haven’t already. Thanks to everyone for the continued stream of photos: first, David Hutchinson sends a new view of Alki Ave and the bathhouse; second, Amy from Fauntleroy sends a view she says would normally show the ferry dock:
NINTH REPORT, 3:10 PM: Snow up here is only falling at flurry speed right now, but from all over West Seattle, we have lots of new pix – three for starters — from top to bottom, we have daPuffin‘s dog Mani in Arbor Heights, barely recognizable under the snow; Eddie‘s photo from just west of The Junction; and Stephen‘s overview of the Hometown Holidays corner:
EIGHTH REPORT, 2:55 PM: Photo from Creighton on Genesee Hill, where he says it’s “only getting snowier”:
SEVENTH REPORT, 2:40 PM: Been watching a 911 call at Avalon/Genesee (map); reader report from Alice says it appears to be a vehicle vs. pedestrian collision, and it’s causing traffic trouble, so stay away from that area. Team member who’s down at Morgan Junction Thriftway says the roads are OK down there.
SIXTH REPORT, 2:35 PM: Now the snow is sticking on the road, at least up here. One member of the team just headed down the hill and will be back with a road-conditions report (and Thriftway crowds). Here are two more WSB reader photos — first, Lisa spotted a hummingbird seeking protection from the snow; second, Ashley‘s photo from SW Orchard (Gatewood):
FIFTH REPORT, 2:20 PM: Two more photos (as the snow intensifies up here again) — first one from David Hutchinson looking out at Alki, second one from Dunsany in Highland Park:
FOURTH REPORT, 2:10 PM: It’s lightened up a bit on our hill. Meantime, here’s the view Jan sent from Admiral:
THIRD REPORT, 1:55 PM: Even up here on the highest hills, while it’s sticking on plants and cars, the street is still “bare and wet” – not quite cold enough at this point for anything else (our temp gauge says 35) …
SECOND REPORT, 1:30 PM: Starting to stick. Just got this WSB reader photo from Andrew near 36th/Morgan, captioned “Zoe in the snow” – keep the pix coming, we’ll post ’em all here as a running commentary of WS in the snow:
FIRST REPORT, 1:07 PM: At least, it’s snowing here in the higher elevations of south West Seattle. Some of these flakes are coin-sized, though not sticking much so far; hard to photograph but here’s an early shot looking down California from Upper Fauntleroy (send your pix as the day goes on!):
Still seems to be a chance you might get caught in a flurry (here’s the latest forecast) — but what could be more Christmasy? Day 1 of Hometown Holidays in The Junction starts @ noon; remember to bring donations for the Warm Clothes Drive (at left, we caught up with West Seattle Junction Association executive director Susan Melrose a short time ago at HH HQ — aka the Farmers’ Market parking lot — with one of the first donations). The full list of today’s activities, noon-7 pm, in stores and all around The Junction, is now posted online here. (And you can peek ahead to tomorrow’s 10 am-5 pm lineup here.) Tonight’s highlight, of course, will be the Christmas Tree Lighting, starting with Dickens Carolers music @ 5:30 and the ceremony commencing @ 6. Here’s the tree, just about ready for the switch to be thrown; see you there!
The WSB video camera dropped by the Husky Deli 75th anniversary Open House tonight. The 1st clip includes a cameo of the spectacular cake created by nearby Bakery Nouveau; the 2nd one checks out the food & drink offered at the big event. Husky’s website, by the way, has been undergoing some renovations and now includes photos from Husky’s past. May the Miller family and staff enjoy 75 more! (at least)
Didn’t happen the other day. Maybe it won’t happen this time. But you never know, so we are duty-bound to pass along the city’s “we’re getting ready just in case” press release, as well as the latest forecast, which says there might be a little snow tomorrow afternoon/evening; a few flakes might be extra-festive for tomorrow night’s West Seattle Christmas Tree Lighting (Farmers’ Market parking lot, with Dickens Carolers @ 5:30 pm and tree-lighting ceremony beginning @ 6, more details to come in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup, posting here by 2 pm) during Hometown Holidays in The Junction. Bundle up (and bring Warm Clothes Drive donations to help others do the same).
Just out of the inbox, from Stephanie (who lives slightly north of the Home Depot area of Delridge, for your frame of reference):
I was hoping you could post this as a warning to all those living on Delridge. I woke up this morning to my neighbor telling me her car and another neighbor’s car were broken into last night. The criminals broke the windows to get into the cars. It must have taken place early this AM since I came home late last night and saw nothing wrong with their cars. This is really upsetting that people would stoop this low to break into cars. So I guess all we can do is make sure our cars are locked, nothing is left in the car, and we watch out for one another.
Right on schedule, this truck was spotted this morning at one of the ex-Gee/Huling lots, picking up remaining vehicles; today is the day by which the Gees agreed to completely clear out, as per the agreement reached in the Hulings’ lawsuit to evict them for not paying rent. The Gees’ suit against the Hulings, meantime, goes on; most recent development reported here was a judge’s denial of the Hulings’ motion to force the Gees into arbitration, promptly appealed by the Hulings.
UPDATED FRIDAY MORNING: Last night’s West Seattle HS meeting on the California Ave upzoning proposal drew a big crowd (SRO in the library, almost 100 people). Very spicy meeting, with the landowners behind the proposal — real-estate/property-management partners Roger Cayce and Mike Gain — there not to make a presentation (that was done by their representative Josh Stepherson, and it was no different from what we heard at an informal meeting two weeks ago), but to participate in the discussion, where they heard lots of angry opposition, before and after explaining why they want the zoning changed. Here’s our complete report:Read More
We heard earlier today that the Seafair Pirates’ stolen cannons had been found – but didn’t know till this P-I Big Blog post tonight (last item) that the discovery was apparently made somewhere in West Seattle. Found a little more info in this press release linked from the Pirates’ website; it says the cannons were turned in to the Southwest Precinct. The Pirates plan to present a reward tomorrow to the man who found them, identified in their press release as Jim Love; don’t know if he’s from WS, though public records do show a James Love here on the peninsula.
It’s open. One comment’s already come in on last night’s thread so we wanted to put up this post before anybody else came to the site looking to comment. Did you go? What’s it like? Discuss!
That’s Darius Dale, posing during his senior year @ West Seattle High School for WSB contributing photographer Matt Durham, who reports that Darius has made the All-Ivy Football Team @ Yale (scroll down this page to “second team offense”). Matt recalls, “When I met Darius, he struck me as a gentle giant. He was very kind and intelligent, and students and staff appeared to have an high affection for Darius. If my memory serves me correctly I seem to recall Darius was carrying a 4.0 GPA at the time of the photo. On first impression he appeared to be such an outstandingly well-rounded teen that I attempted to recruit him into the fire service, telling him to finish college first.” This page details Darius’s achievements at WSHS and Yale, where he’s now a junior.
Just out of the WSB inbox, from LyndaB — the photo above and this info:
Yet ANOTHER car collision at 35th and Juneau. Southbound. Occurred at approximately 5:40 pm today. Both drivers appear to be ok.
Here’s a map of where it happened.
Gee whiz, leave the house/computer for a couple hours and look what happens – for the second time today, Mosaic Homes announces it’s canceling a West Seattle condo conversion (thanks to everyone who e-mailed us about this; we also got our own e-mail, above, since we were on the mailing list). As we’ve reported previously, it’s been trying like mad to sell “Strata on California,” formerly the Graham Street Apartments at California/Graham north of Morgan Junction, but apparently not doing so well, hence the announcement above that Strata will be rented out. (And remember, as also reported here, the much-marketed West Water condo conversion less than a mile south is already resorting to rentals.)
Exterior work is under way right now at the ex-Coyotes, finally confirmed firsthand to be the future home of Pegasus Pizza (whose original location next door will be torn down for a new building). The beige-ish panel actually features marbling much like the current Pegasus decor. Meantime, we talked to a worker outside the future Alki Urban Market – he said he had no clue when they’ll be opening; and down the street at the ex-Alki Mail/Dispatch, future Pioneer Coffee Roasting Co., someone’s inside working on a huge PIONEER sign. As for the water side of the street, a couple scenes from our breezy, chilly walk:
As part of Hometown Holidays in The Junction this weekend, 
there’s a Warm Clothes Drive under way for area families. As Susan Melrose, executive director of the West Seattle Junction Association, explains: “We are looking for all types of warm clothes to keep all members of our community warm through the winter. Clean out your children’s closet and hand-be-down piles looking for all types of winter clothes including jackets, pajamas, boots, long underwear, sweaters, socks, and more. We will collect these items at Hometown Holidays Headquarters (44th Ave SW and Alaska) all weekend long. WestSide Baby will pick up the loot on Sunday (December 2) at 5 pm. And if you don’t have these items, you can help this organization by bringing diapers too.”
If you haven’t already procured a “hard copy” — you can get the November/December Alki News-Beacon online here. In it, you’ll find an article we submitted, and editor Cami MacNamara graciously accepted — it’s about what you can do now to make sure you can still get online after disaster (windstorm, anyone?) strikes, featuring info from the presentation we prepared for last summer’s West Seattle-wide Emergency Preparedness Event. (The bonus online info mentioned in the ANB article is a downloadable doc you’ll find here.)
Two weeks ago, we brought you a WSB reader’s report that the office staff at West Ridge Park on Delridge told her the condo conversion to “Gables,” by the same people who brought you “Strata,” was slowing down. Then one week ago, we noted that the Mosaic Homes website no longer listed “Gables” as “coming soon.” Mosaic still to this date hasn’t returned our messages, but another West Ridge resident just e-mailed WSB to tell us this notice landed on the doorstep this morning:
“We are pleased to announce that the owners of West Ridge Park have decided to not go forward with the planned condo conversion at this time. The property as a whole will remain a rental property … We sincerely want to thank each and every one of you for your patience and understanding during these past months of change and uncertainty. We hope this announcement will please all of you. I know you are very excited that we are staying as a rental community, and hope each of you will stay with us in 2008.”
This was to be a huge condo conversion and got a lot of citywide coverage earlier this year, as harbinger of a trend — can’t help wondering if it might become the same thing now, in the opposite direction.
We went to tonight’s Southwest Community Center meeting for the Parks Department’s future Strategic Business Plan not realizing it would be an interactive format – listen to organizers for a few minutes, then break into groups and discuss ideas and opinions for most of the rest of the time. What resulted was a public meeting that really felt like a public meeting – with the emphasis on “public.” This was the first of six of these meetings happening in West Seattle over the course of the next week (full list here, continuing with High Point Community Center @ 7 pm tomorrow), and if you care about the future of our city parks, we strongly urge you to make time to participate in one of them. Here’s what we experienced tonight – including a high-level observer:Read More
You may have heard the first stirrings of Snow Suspicions ’07. Here’s a link to the National Weather Service‘s updated forecast (posted at 3:30 pm) – the outlook for the metro area says “local accumulations of an inch or so (are) possible, mainly on hilltops away from the water.” The “forecast discussion” further refines the metro outlook to “Seatac southward” — but you just never know until it hits (or doesn’t). By the way, we had a “snow day” exactly one year ago today; go to our November ’06 archive page and scroll down a bit to read the 11/28/06 posts. (No photos, sorry, we weren’t camera-equipped way back then!)
On the eve of the public meeting about the upzoning proposal for both sides of California Ave between Hanford and Hinds (and a bit south on the west side), two updates: Neighborhood opponents are distributing a flyer around the area with their concerns and full details of how to have a say (they sent us a copy; we uploaded it – click here to read it); supporters continue to add comments to our earlier posts (one comment is at the bottom of the list here; another one at the bottom here). Tomorrow night’s meeting is at West Seattle High School, 6:30 pm. For background info, the city’s page about the proposal is here; our report on informal presentations made 2 weeks ago to the Admiral Neighborhood Association by a developers’ rep and a city planner is here.
SENATOR HERE THIS MORNING: U.S. Senator Patty Murray and a long list of business and education leaders will be in West Seattle this morning, in Olympic Hall at South Seattle Community College, for a field hearing of Murray’s Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety.
FIRST STOP IN THE CITY PARKS HEARING TOUR TONIGHT: As we reported earlier this month, the city Parks Department is touring the city in a series of 30-plus public hearings on what should be in its forthcoming Strategic Business Plan. Tonight is the first of five hearings in West Seattle (7-9 pm, Southwest Community Center). Lots more info here; the full list of meetings is here; if you are absolutely certain you cannot make it to any of those meetings, the Parks Department has a “short online survey” you can take here. With so much parkland here on our beautiful peninsula — and remember, we’re the biggest neighborhood in the city! — it’s vital to have West Seattle opinions, hopes, and dreams represented in the forthcoming Parks plan.
Big response to this morning’s post about the Chief Sealth High School class offering free web design to some West Seattle nonprofits and small businesses next semester; the P-I’s Big Blog checked in with teacher Sam Reed, who told us this afternoon he’d heard from more than a dozen prospects; by tonight, it was up to 30.
The King County Elections Department has just certified final results from this month’s election; the final count in Seattle School Board District 6, which is centered on West Seattle (but is voted on citywide in the general election), was Steve Sundquist (photo left) 61.2%, Maria Ramirez 38.4%. Sundquist and other newly elected school-board members will be sworn in at school-district HQ in Sodo tomorrow night.
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