West Seattle, Washington
05 Sunday
Along 35th, across the street from the highest point in the city, Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrated its annual Christmas tree lighting tonight. Here’s Father Jack Walmesley with the countdown:
And here’s the crowd singing “Jingle Bells,” jingling car keys in lieu of bells:
In case you missed it last weekend, here’s our video from the lighting of the West Seattle Community Christmas Tree in The Junction. (And we’ll be posting a wider photo of the OLG tree shortly as our Christmas lights pic of the night.)
(26th/Juneau photo by Kristin, originally posted Monday)
From the city and county, via the North Delridge Neighborhood Council: If you suffered flood damage from the Sunday/Monday deluge, be sure to call 800-523-5044 as soon as possible — local governments are trying to get an accurate picture of how much damage was done, for reasons including helping the federal government decide whether to make low-interest loans and other types of aid available. The hotline’s answered 7 am-7 pm daily; if you have trouble getting through, you also can report damage online. Also, if you need help clearing storm-related debris, you can call the city @ 206-684-3000 to find out how to get assistance.
Just out of the WSB inbox — Sustainable West Seattle and friends are suggesting you jump in the Sound! But not till tomorrow afternoon. That’s when climate-change activists are inviting you to meet at the Alki Bathhouse for a polar-bear swim to raise awareness about global warming, and in particular, the climate talks under way right now in Bali, as well as “the importance of this issue during the upcoming elections, and … the danger posed to the Arctic ecosystem (and its polar bears!) from the rapidly melting ice caps,” according to organizer Kristin Wheeler, who also says, “We will taking pictures and making ‘holiday cards’ for Congressman Reichert (the only W. WA member of Congress not doing what he should be doing for the planet!) beforehand and then we will plunge at 12:30 pm.” Kristin also says the nearby Tully’s is donating coffee to be provided to the chilled warming-fighters immediately afterward. It’s part of a national day of action; more info here. (That link asks the question “Have you invited local politicians to your plunge?” — hmm, given his activism on the issue, you suppose Mayor Nickels will walk down the hill to take part?) The weather tomorrow should be clear and bright (and cool!), by the way. This will be added to our Events page shortly as well as the forthcoming West Seattle Weekend Lineup list.
(2:35 PM NOTE – even if you read this earlier be sure to scroll down, we have added one more recent report) ORIGINAL POST: First – the broken window at Puerto Vallarta in The Junction remains a mystery, according to the folks we talked to at the restaurant:
They told WSB they just came in one day a few days ago, and it was broken. You’ll recall, nearby Northwest Art & Frame suffered a similar break just after Halloween.
Meanwhile, several things that WSB readers wanted to call to community attention. First, this just out of the inbox within the hour:
Not sure if this is peeper-related (I’m guessing it is), but my husband came home late last night at 1 am (Thursday) and reported police combing the area with dogs at 49th and Charlestown (the location of the last peeper spotting). The search didn’t seem frantic (no chasing) – just like a patrol or something. I can’t find any other details – but thought I would throw it out there to see if you knew anything more.
We also have this report of something that happened last Saturday night:
Last night there was an attempted break-in of our home at 5600 block of 48th Ave SW. We managed to scare him off by turning on light and yelling. He was pushing on door and jiggling handle. He is wise to have left as I was prepared to shoot him upon entry. He had short hair possibly shaven and was wearing a vinyl jacket and jeans. 911 was called and a report was filed. Officer told us a few others had reported a man walking through their yard. Please be on alert.
And from the far south side of West Seattle, another reader who didn’t want to be identified wrote over the weekend (lost amidst the weather coverage, but we are catching up now):
In looking at the blog crime section, I thought it might be worth a post that there may be a trend developing of attempted or successful home break-ins in a several block area around 35th Ave SW and SW 106th Street. I am aware of two that were completed burglaries and one attempted break-in, occurring since mid-September up to a few days ago. Two happened during daylight hours when the occupants were away.
ADDED 2:40 PM: Stephanie originally sent this in last Sunday night and just reminded us (please forgive us) we hadn’t posted it:
I wrote you not more than a few days ago in regards to a car break in of my neighbors. Well, the criminals have gotten greedier. One of the people whose car was broken in to now had their apartment broken in to. The criminals broke a bedroom window and stole some high priced items. This was pretty bold because I was home as was another neighbor and we didn’t hear the glass break.
I find this very troubling because locks don’t seem to be enough. What will it take….. metal bars?????
Grrrr I am so upset for my neighbors and for the community of Delridge. Is there any sort of block watch along Delridge?
As we noted when posting Stephanie’s previous report, she lives north of the Home Depot area. We referred her to the Seattle Police crime-prevention resources including this huge list. And for everyone, our standard caveat: Always report suspicious activity to Seattle Police. Always. Even if it seems like nothing can be done, or nothing is/was done, having the incident(s) on record can help them identify trends, deploy resources, etc. And keep WSB posted on what’s happening in your neighborhood, good as well as bad, so we all can be watching out for each other as much as possible.
Val e-mailed us to ask about the “no parking” signs along a stretch of 35th. This city press release explains what it’s all about: Arborists will be out tomorrow volunteering their time to prune “street trees” in several areas of the city — in West Seattle, along 35th between Holden and Alaska.
The county Public Health Department wants to make sure you know about this: Sunday, 10 am-2 pm, first-come, first-served, free flu shots @ Delridge Community Center.
–This P-I article has a cool map at the end showing that West Seattle got more rain in the big storm than most other parts of the city.
-One more update on the “Allstar car” — Ty Hammond caught it “on the move” tonight, hours after its owner told WSB about its impending tow:
(photo by Lea Kuchan) In case you don’t go back to comments on day-old posts – we wanted to highlight this comment just left on our followup about the now-famous car swamped in the Allstar Fitness parking lot during Monday’s megadownpour:
I am the somewhat sad and soon to be past owner of this car. It is indeed being totaled by my insurance – they say that they are liable if they fix it and something happens. Happily, I am aware of the folks who get ripped off by having totaled cars get reconditioned and sold. I have arranged for it to be towed to a salvage yard, and scrapped out for body parts. The bad karma will end with me.
Thanks for your support, though. I feel privileged to have such supportive neighbors.
Best,
E
The lot behind Petco in The Junction isn’t closed to parking yet but it’s apparently on the brink (the folks in the store are also waiting to hear when) – so suggests the sign on the fence, shown in our photo above; it discusses other parking options, and advises Petco shoppers to get store workers to help them with big items, and of course it also talks about the project coming to that site: Mural, which is the second project on this page at the site of its developers, Harbor Properties (side note, a power permit for the construction project was just granted). Petco, you may recall, wants to move to a new future building at the Charlestown Cafe site; things on that front have been publicly quiet (city project page here) since the last Design Review Board meeting four months ago (our detailed report is here, and it includes links to all the background).
(above photo by WSB contributing photographer Christopher Boffoli) North of The Junction, reconstruction is back in high gear at 4132 California, the live/work units (city project page here; developers’ project page here) that were under construction when a huge early-morning fire (below photo by Garrett Burke) destroyed the project August 17th. Investigators declared it arson but so far as we know have never made an arrest (hotline for tips: 800-55-ARSON).
We all got excited October 12 when, the day after the demolition permit was granted, the ex-Schuck’s at California/Charlestown started showing some signs of impending activity. Then … nothing, till a construction permit for the replacement project was issued last Friday, and today, we got a reader tip (thank you!) that takedown crews were on scene … WSB contributing photographer Christopher Boffoli went over for a look and reports, “… the entire interior is indeed gutted and the front windows are blown out. Looks like they went through the interior with a bobcat tractor [see second photo]. The north parking lot was full of burned-up debris.”
Remember this much-photographed car, under water yesterday outside Allstar Fitness? (photo by Lea Kuchan)
We found it again today. Our camera-equipped team member reports (shock) it’s full of mud. But all in one piece!
These photos are from Erik (thank you!), who says, “This is my parents’ house on the cliff above Seacrest Park. No known damage to the structure — yet. The washed-out street is Victoria Ave SW. SDOT was on the scene last night and reopened the road.”
Tonight at Hiawatha Community Center (6 pm), and tomorrow at Camp Long (5 pm) and Alki Community Center (7 pm), it’s your last three chances to tell the city Parks Department what you want to see in its plan for the future — we attended the first West Seattle meeting last week @ Southwest Community Center (read our detailed report here); the format is definitely discussion-friendly – you get to share ideas in a small group, rather than before a big crowd. Community activist Charles Redmond went to both the Southwest meeting and the Saturday afternoon Delridge meeting and gave us permission to share his thoughts, which conclude with a recommendation for you:Read More
The suspense is over; the city Parks Department has made its decision. David Cagen from Friends of Ercolini Park just forwarded the park-naming announcement from interim parks superintendent Christopher Williams:
After receiving overwhelming support from the community, I have decided to name the park site located at 48th Avenue SW and SW Alaska Street, Ercolini Park. This name will recognize the longtime ownership of this site by the Ercolini family and their willingness to sell this property to the City for a public space.
I look forward to joining you for the opening of the new Ercolini Park in early 2008.
More parks news coming up in an hour or so – this just came in so we wanted to publish it fast! 3:30 PM ADDENDUM: Friends of Ercolini Park chair Katie Hjorten wrote to the FoEP group (and gave us permission to republish):
I called Jim Ercolini to let him know and he couldn’t have been more pleased. He told me that he was the last descendant with that last name both here and in Italy. He said his parents would be so proud and pleased since they were share croppers in Italy. It was their life’s dream to own land. Now it will bear their name in perpetuity. He thanks all of us for our work on this project.
Yet more photos coming in from Longfellow Creek, Allstar Fitness, and environs; we don’t want to add them atop the commute info, since that’s the most important stuff for a while longer, so we’ll be adding them one by one here; keep scrolling down to check. First, from Tim — along the creek, near SW Genesee, close to the 13th hole of West Seattle Golf Course:
From Kathy, another look at Allstar Fitness, awash in floodwater (let us know if you hear whether it plans to reopen tomorrow; we’ll check in the morning too):
Chris M also sent us this link to some good shots in his Flickr gallery.
ADDED 2:25 PM: “The creek has burst free!” reports Kristin, who took these photos on Juneau between Delridge and 26th, and says 26th is closed.
2:12 PM: Mike actually captured the fabled “car swamped to its roof” we heard about in the lot at Allstar Fitness (2:38 PM UPDATE: reader reports, it IS closed because of the flooding) – that’s the car in the background:
Thanks again to everyone who’s sending WSB info and pix to share. ADDED 3:50 PM: Yet another picture of the now-iconic flooded car at Allstar, this time from Lea Kuchan:
As mentioned below, Beach Drive is blocked by a mudslide in the 6000 block. 1:40 PM: Photo just in from Dawson (thank you!), who confirms this is close to the area where the city granted a permit for slope-side trees to be cut earlier this year (previous WSB report here):
Here’s our photo, from a bit closer up:
Though we are devoting 99% of WSB to storm reports today (please e-mail us anything you’ve seen/heard), this just came in as a comment on last week’s peeper thread, and we wanted to make sure you knew:
Seems the same peeper struck our neighbors last night 12/2/07 3800 block of 49th Ave SW.
There was a peeping Tom outside our neighbors houses off & on for about 2 hours last night. Neither house knew of the other’s peeper until about 10:00 pm. Apparently he had ‘visited’ one & watched while the couple were hot tubbing a couple of hours earlier, ‘visited’ the neighbors kid’s room window across the street & waved at him about an hour after the first visit, & then back to look into the hot tubber’s bedroom about an hour after that. At about 10:00 is when the kid saw him return to 1st visit’s house & notified his dad. Needless to say, the police came shortly.
Unfortunately, not much could be I.D.’d. ~ 5′9″ – 5′ 10″, slender build, all in black ( or at least dark clothing).
Police have stated & my husband has read that he has been around the neighborhood for about 5 weeks now and his territory seems to cover from Admiral to Genesse & from 45th to 53rd.
My observation: it was pouring rain for those few hours. The person is either persistent with foul weather gear or lives close enough to go home & dry the clothes before going back out.
Included in this city press release: a report of a slide closing Beach Drive in the 6000 block. (map here)
(Please scroll down to the bottom of this post for the latest info; today we are updating in chronological order rather than reverse chronological) Can’t say this often enough: If you don’t HAVE TO drive, don’t. The water’s accumulating faster than even the best drains can handle it. Looks like bridge access from Delridge to the high bridge is back; the Fauntleroy/Graham trouble spot is open but the water is very tricky to navigate – here’s photographic proof:
Please e-mail us with info on any flooding trouble you are experiencing or seeing, so we can share it. Newest note is from Greg Daly, who says:
We had 4″ of water in our basement this morning due to a plugged up drain,
so I thought readers might be interested (as I was) in local weather stations. There are two between Lincoln Park and Alki, you can watch the rain totals update live if you’re so inclined.
Here are the weather station links Greg mentioned: first one here, second one here. 11:07 AM UPDATE: From Vickie:
I was driving to work about an hour ago trying to figure out which way to go through Delridge…the Allstar Fitness parking lot is completely flooded to the point where at least one car is totally submerged, you can just barely see its rooftop in the lower part of the lot. At the time I drove through the water in the lot was almost equal to the side street next to it and beginning to overflow into the street itself.
11:10 AM UPDATE: The WSB team member who’s currently roving with cameras verifies this, says the creek is definitely spilling over in spots, and also says the street is closed by Nucor/Allstar, and that someone at Nucor told him the plant is closed too (if anyone has info to the contrary, please e-mail us; we’ll try confirming by phone as well). 11:50 AM UPDATE: From Erin: “Just got back from dropping my husband off at the airport – we had read earlier that W Marginal was flooded so we took the high bridge to I-5. There are long back ups (all the way to I-5) trying to get IN to the airport due to flooding, so please inform your readers to take 509/518 if that route is now open, or to leave plenty early.”
Traffic reports say you can’t get to The Bridge from Delridge because of deep water that even has a car stuck in it. Also, WSB reader “K†warns everyone to check their basements — after waking up to flooding woes. 6:43 AM UPDATE: Also, if you use the The Viaduct, alternates might be a good idea because the Battery Street Tunnel is reported to be closed. There is one slight bit of good news – the National Weather Service says the strongest winds today will be “mainly north of Seattle” — so looks like we are “only” going to have to deal with the rain. 7:13 AM UPDATE: It’s likely slow going no matter where you are coming from — part of our team is trying to make it to The Bridge on Fauntleroy and reporting a delay that starts around Graham — because of very deep water, with city crews on the scene. Going to try to divert to 35th; will let you know if trouble ensues there. 7:30 AM UPDATE: Gave up on the 35th idea, still slogging along Fauntleroy past ex-Gee/ex-Huling — here’s the city cam:
7:45 AM UPDATE: Longfellow Creek is “as high as we have ever seen it,” says one nearby resident. Radio traffic report says cars are backed up on Admiral trying to get to The Bridge, too. 7:55 AM UPDATE: Our team member made it to The Bridge and says the left lane is closed, eastbound, roughly parallel with where you exit for Admiral on the other side – looks like a stalled car, tow truck getting in place, traffic moving OK eastbound once you get past it. 8:05 AM UPDATE: Just in from a reader: “West Marginal Way is closed about half way between the bridge and 509 (and there are several very deep very wide puddles even before the closure). This closure hasn’t made the traffic reports yet as far as I can tell. I found this out the hard way this morning.” 8:35 AM UPDATE: Natashia just e-mailed, “Both lanes of northbound 35th are backed up to one road before Morgan. I turned around to head back home, and had to miss turning left onto my road because southbound lanes were traveling tight & aggressive. Be careful out there — and be nice!! :)” (Here’s the traffic cam for 35th, NB cars coming toward the camera) 9:05 AM UPDATE: We’re heading out to check on flooded spots. If you need to drive somewhere, this is one of the best updated lists of “incidents” that we’ve seen.
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