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It’s not online yet but the agenda for next Thursday’s city Design Commission meeting (at City Hall downtown) came out today via e-mail, and the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza project will return that day for another review. The same commission had a long list of suggestions when they saw the project for the first time three weeks ago; read about them in our report from that meeting. FRIDAY NIGHT UPDATE: This review has been delayed – we’ll let you know when it’s rescheduled.

Charlestown Cafe update: Repair work hasn’t started yet

April 24, 2008 5:02 pm

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| Charlestown Cafe | West Seattle news | West Seattle restaurants

We just checked in again with Charlestown Cafe owner Larry Mellum; in our last update three weeks ago, Larry’s co-owner Ron Hanlon told us they were still awaiting the final go-ahead for work to start, and they couldn’t set a reopening date yet. Today, Larry tells WSB that the work required for the restaurant to reopen post-Feb.-4-fire still hasn’t begun:

The project has not yet started. We have been waiting for our Landlord and their insurance carrier to get the required construction proposal and deposit back to the contractor. To date that has not happened due I believe to some administrative glitches within their operation. … We are as anxious as you to get the Charlestown going again. Thank you again for all of your support.

Whenever the work starts, the cafe owners say it’ll take at least four weeks from that point to get it finished so the Charlestown can reopen. (You can always find the latest WSB coverage of the Charlestown Cafe situation atop this archive.)

Traffic alert: Bonair closure next week

April 24, 2008 4:31 pm

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| Transportation | West Seattle news

Just in from the city Transportation Department:

A contractor for a private development will close the 2100 block of Bonair Drive SW in West Seattle to traffic next week to repair the roadway. The street will be closed between Alki Avenue SW and Halleck Avenue SW (map) for four to five days. Drivers will need to use an alternate route.

New way to get a 4-year degree without leaving West Seattle

April 24, 2008 11:41 am

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Just announced today: South Seattle Community College and City University of Seattle are partnering for a program that will enable students to get a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with all four years of studies taking place on the SSCC campus in east West Seattle. SSCC says the deal will be finalized at a ceremony next Tuesday; here are the details released this morning.

It’s not just YOUR grocery bill that’s rising …

April 24, 2008 10:34 am

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| How to help | West Seattle news

You’ve heard the national-news stories about the rising price of staples like rice and wheat … and you’ve seen it when you go to the grocery store. But if you think your budget is tight, try running a food bank and trying to maximize every last fraction of a cent. Local food banks are hurting worse than ever as a result – not just from having to pay more for the food they buy, but also because the higher prices are sending more families their way for help — but the bright spot is that, donating to them in the next week not only will help with the crunch, it will also help them qualify for matching funds as part of a national “challenge” we’ve mentioned before. Here’s an update from Eve Holt at West Seattle Food Bank:

April 30th is the last day for donations to the West Seattle Food Bank that can be submitted for matching funds from the Feinstein Foundation’s $1 Million Challenge.

Donations of food and cash are especially needed right now because of rising food prices. Most of what the Food Bank has to buy is costing more and there has been a significant increase in the number of families coming to the Food Bank for help.

Checks may be mailed to West Seattle Food Bank, 3419 SW Morgan, Seattle, WA 98126. Credit card donations can be made by calling Eve Holt at (206) 932-9023 or online at www.westseattlefoodbank.org. A list of suggested food donations can also be found on the organization’s Web site.

The Food Bank’s first-ever Instruments of Change fundraiser is coming up one week from tonight, by the way. One other note: Part of southern West Seattle is served by the White Center Food Bank, which is also participating in the challenge; find its donation info here.

Morgan Junction apartment building for sale

April 24, 2008 12:21 am

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| West Seattle housing | West Seattle news

It’s called “Gatewood Apartments” but this 22-year-old, 16-unit building at 6547 42nd SW (map) is in the heart of Morgan Junction, right behind Thriftway. Just listed at $1,950,000. (This isn’t in the listing, but city records show an “unresolved” condo-conversion application from 2006.)

Southwest Precinct follow-up on the “unusual doorknocker”

April 23, 2008 7:24 pm

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| Neighborhoods | Safety | West Seattle news

As promised, we checked today with the Southwest Precinct re: last night’s hottest topic, the “unusual doorknocker” reported by Larry Carpenter in Alki. Sgt. Jeff Durden, who leads the Community Police Team, says they were working directly with Larry to get more info, and also checking with area military — at this point. Sgt. Durden says, “I doubt this was any kind of military operation. Everyone we have contacted concerning the matter has agreed.” He adds, particularly in the light of the trouble that Larry had reaching somebody at non-emergency police numbers — “Also as said/posted many many times before – call 911. 911 will always answer and this is definitely a situation where we want to get a patrol officer dispatched to investigate.”

Sneak peek inside Spring Hill (the restaurant)

April 23, 2008 2:16 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle restaurants

That photo is courtesy of Mark and Marjorie Fuller, showing a partial peek inside their still-under-construction Spring Hill Restaurant and Bar, which they hope to open on the north end of The Junction (former In Bloom space) in mid-May — “if all goes smoothly from here,” is Mark’s caveat. Menu? we asked, checking in for the first time since our January update. “Still in the works and not quite ready to reveal yet.” Hours will be 5:45 pm-midnight, 7 days a week. (All ages, he told us previously. And in case you wondered, no relation to the BlueStar development of the same name on the south side of The Junction that we’ve been telling you about since October.)

Denny-Sealth meeting: 4 Denny-site future options, and more

April 23, 2008 12:39 pm

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| Denny-Sealth | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | Westwood

(Model of future Sealth/Denny shared campus, looking northward over it, with the new Denny building north of/behind the Sealth gym on the eastern half of the campus)
As promised, here’s the complete update on last night’s SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act)-mandated public meeting on the Denny-Sealth project, which turned out to have a further-reaching scope than you might have surmised by looking at advance notice of the meeting. Though there was a formal presentation halfway through — with the contingent of school-district staffers and project consultants/architects almost outnumbering the general-public attendees — the most interesting info was available on and along the easels in the Chief Sealth HS Commons during the first half of the meeting:Read More

Two “developments” at 4415 Fauntleroy, home to Tervo’s

April 23, 2008 9:35 am

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| Development | West Seattle news

Heading east on Fauntleroy this morning, we noticed that sign on Tervo’s Mini-Mart, 4415 Fauntleroy (map), heralding new ownership, remodeling, and a “grand opening” next month. We’ve reported on this site a few times in the past few months — the death of its owner last September, and the property going up for sale in November. So far, no indication on the Liquor Control Board or city business-license sites who the new owner is, nor do King County records show a closed sale on the site (here’s the listing). HOWEVER — just checked the city files for the address, and there’s even bigger news — aside from the impending “grand (re)opening,” there appears to be a development proposal for the site, summarized online in the construction and land-use permit applications as: “Demolish existing commercial structure and construct new mixed-use building. Proposal to include retail space, 90 residential units, and associated subterranean parking.” Looks like time to update the Junction-area development/real-estate map – will work on that later today!

Denny-Sealth meeting tonight: Quick toplines

April 22, 2008 10:22 pm

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| Denny-Sealth | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Full article to come in the morning. A few toplines: While it was described as an “environmental-checklist meeting,” tonight’s Denny-Sealth project meeting at CSHS was far more sweeping in scope – including four “conceptual” possibilities for the Denny site, once the existing school has been demolished, and a chance for attendees to informally “vote” on priorities for spending the $10 million “extra” in Sealth renovation money. Also, the district admitted it fumbled another commitment to get Denny-Sealth info on its website in a timely manner; because the materials for tonight’s meeting were not posted earlier this month as promised — in response to an audience question, a district official said it just went up “this afternoon” — the comment period for this phase of the project will be extended till May 9. (The huge volume of material just posted online hours before the meeting is available here.)

Update: “Inconvenient Ride” homecoming and bike convoy

April 22, 2008 5:23 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | West Seattle video

That was the scene at Chief Sealth High School less than an hour ago as the “Inconvenient Ride” cross-country student bicyclists (they’re in the light-blue jackets) headed out, with plenty of company, for Benaroya Hall, site of tonight’s “Project Earth Care” benefit. ADDED 6 PM: A candid moment with three of the riders, including the youngest:Read More

Water Taxi countdown: Five days till the season starts

April 22, 2008 4:53 pm

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| Elliott Bay Water Taxi | Transportation | West Seattle news

We asked the staff of West Seattle’s King County Councilmember Dow Constantine for some info-bits to add to our Elliott Bay Water Taxi countdown, and here’s one for starters — Take a close look at this year’s schedule; the “maintenance break” gap at midmorning is gone; King County staff worked with Argosy to shorten the time needed, so there’s now a 9:30 boat from Seacrest and a 10:30 boat from Pier 55. (The Water Taxi starts its season on Sunday; rides are free all day and there’s a celebration from noon-2 pm.)

Route update for bicycle convoy

April 22, 2008 4:05 pm

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| Delridge | West Seattle news

The police escort is staging at Chief Sealth and the Inconvenient Ride bicyclists, with dozens of other students, will head out shortly, with a new route: they now plan to head north on Delridge all the way from Thistle to the low bridge.

Earth Day business spotlight: Alki Kayak Tours expands

April 22, 2008 2:29 pm

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| West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

As the Elliott Bay Water Taxi gears up to start the 2008 season this Sunday, one of the two businesses that share Seacrest Boathouse/Pier with the EBWT is gearing up for a double expansion that we’re telling you about today in honor of Earth Day: West Seattle is home to a fair amount of “green” businesses, but you can’t get too much greener than human-powered recreation. Alki Kayak Tours is open now for the season and expanding this year in two ways; we sat down with owner Greg Whittaker (pictured above) to talk about the expansion and about how far the business has come since its first season (this is season number four):Read More

Update: Permits issued for “townhomes long after teardowns”

April 22, 2008 11:32 am

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| Development | West Seattle news

Five months after our last update on that empty lot along California just north of Morgan Junction (previous WSB coverage here), Knoll Development has just been issued construction permits for the four addresses at the site where townhomes and live-to-work units are to be built: at 6021, at 6025, at 6029, and at 6031. Looks like this is the Knoll website page about the development (this is just up the block from the live/work units that will be part of the 6053 California development).

Update: Police-escorted route for “Inconvenient Ride” bikers

April 22, 2008 10:50 am

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| Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

UPDATED WITH NEW ROUTE SINCE ORIGINAL POST AT 9:49 AM: As mentioned earlier this morning, the Southwest Precinct wanted us to share this so that you will know ahead of time and be able to help contribute to the safety of the “Inconvenient Ride” students and their bicycling escorts, who could number up to 200, as well as their police escorts. This is the route they are to follow after a welcoming celebration at Chief Sealth High School in mid-afternoon, as they then head on to tonight’s Global to Local benefit downtown. The route has changed a little since our first post an hour ago:

Starting approximately 4:15 pm Tuesday:

From Chief Sealth, east on Thistle Street, then north on 16th Avenue, west on Myrtle, and north again on 21st Avenue. We will veer west on Croft Place, then Juneau in order to head north on 26th Avenue, then pass by the Gatewood bus riders at Delridge Community Center. Following a brief hello, we’ll continue on to the Lower West Seattle Bridge.

(From earlier update, the rest of the route will be:
Remain on Bike Trail over West Seattle Low Level Bridge
Cross Spokane St. at 11th Ave SW, continue East on trail to E Marginal Way S
Head North on E Marginal Way S, becomes Alaskan Way S
Continue North on Alaskan Way S to Spring St.
Head East on Spring St., up the hill to 3rd Avenue
Head North on 3rd Avenue to Union St.
Turn W on Union and into Benaroya Loading Dock – North side of Benaroya Hall, entrance is off of Union St.)

We will be riding single file, observing bike safety rules and etiquette, and will be accompanied by a number of expert riders, including some from Cascade Bicycle Club.

1:37 PM P.S.: Thanks to “Que” for sending us the KING5 noon news link.

Denny-Sealth: Local meeting tonight, School Board tomorrow

April 22, 2008 8:49 am

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| Denny-Sealth | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | Westwood

TONIGHT: 6:30 pm, Chief Sealth High School, the next public meeting regarding the Denny-Sealth construction project — as described by Westwood Neighborhood Council president Steve Fischer, “The School District has issued their Environmental Determination; the Appeal period closes shortly. Copies of the Environmental Checklist will be available for the community to review. For those who are interested, they should attend the meeting and see what the District is proposing.”

TOMORROW: The Seattle School Board agenda includes several items related to the Denny-Sealth project – somewhat technical but if you follow the links to the attached documents, there are a few more project-plan specifics to be learned.

Archived WSB coverage of Denny-Sealth can be found here.

Update: Fire damages vacant house on 21st SW

April 21, 2008 7:52 pm

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| West Seattle fires | West Seattle news | WS breaking news

That photo and video clip show the house at 5645 21st SW (map) where flames did significant interior damage within the past hour. Firefighters tell WSB the house was a “vacant rental”; nobody was inside, nobody hurt, they don’t know yet how the fire started — damage was particularly heavy in the living room, and firefighters had to “ventilate” the roof. Investigators are just getting to work on looking for the cause.

New parks levy? New advisory committee has West Seattle reps

April 21, 2008 7:09 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle parks | West Seattle politics

Latest move by the City Council in its pursuit of a new parks levy – which the mayor reportedly wants to delay – as the old one expires, is the appointment of a citizens’ advisory council. We recognize at least three names on the list as West Seattle citizen activists (Pete Spalding, Bruce Bentley, and Sharonn Meeks); while we crosscheck for other WS ties, here’s the full list of members:Read More

Skittish about skateparks? How about a tour?

April 21, 2008 3:01 pm

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| Neighborhoods | West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

As we reported last week after covering the Morgan Community Association‘s quarterly meeting, some controversy remains over the Parks Department‘s plan to save space for a skateboard “feature” at the soon-to-be-built Myrtle Reservoir park. At that meeting, Parks Department project manager Virginia Hassinger suggested a firsthand look at some existing skateboarding facilities might assuage concerns. MoCA’s Cindi Barker is proposing organizing a tour this Saturday if enough people are interested. Here’s more from Cindi:

One of the suggestions made near the end of last week’s Morgan Community Association meeting was for people who had not been to see a skatepark in action to take a “field trip” to get some info. I’d be willing to organize such a trip, something like in a caravan to visit the Ballard Bowl (4,200 sq ft bowl), the Burien Skate park (a 7,500-square-foot skate park, Nakano Associates, architect, coincidentally the same architect hired to do the Myrtle Reservoir Park itself) and a third park mentioned by Virginia Hassinger at the MoCA meeting, which sounds smaller in scale and is more melded in with the surrounding park rather than a pure bowl design. If neighbors can observe the skate parks in operation, it might answer some questions and give neighbors a good idea of what they can expect. I realize that the next Myrtle Reservoir Park design meeting on May 1 isn’t about the skatepark, but it sure is sounding like we should know what to consider around this proposed skatepark feature. I would propose a Saturday morning, maybe running from 10 to 2, to cover drive time and allow us to spend about 45 minutes at each park. If people could comment to this posting, it would give me an idea of how feasible or well attended this would be.

No obligation, but if you’re potentially interested, say so in the comments here and we’ll let you know about “next steps.” This could be a good prelude to the next public meeting about the Myrtle park, which is 7 pm May 1 at High Point Community Center.

Update: Missing teen home safe

April 21, 2008 1:50 pm

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| West Seattle news

That’s a photo of 15-year-old Sydney Hess, a West Seattle High School student who is missing, according to a family friend who asked us to post her photo and a request for help in getting her safely back home. She is believed to have run away on Friday night and did not show up for school today. The family asks: “If you have seen her or have any information about her whereabouts, please call Heather Hess at 206/291-4933 or contact the Seattle Police Department [Southwest Precinct] at 206/733-9800.” 6:48 PM UPDATE: Word is that she is back home safe.

West Seattle Crime Watch: Followup on 17th/Trenton gunshots

April 21, 2008 12:32 pm

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| Crime | Highland Park | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Early Sunday, we posted 3 reader reports about gunshots at 17th/Trenton and promised to follow up with the Southwest Precinct. Just heard back from Sgt. Jeff Durden, who shared this info from the report: A 22-year-old was having a party for a friend’s birthday; “uninvited guests” showed up, a fight ensued, “several rounds” were fired into the air. The shooter(s) took off. No arrests, no injury, no property damage … no description of the suspects’ car, either. Regarding readers’ reports that this house had problems before, Sgt. Durden, who leads the Community Police Team, says it wasn’t on their radar but CPT officer Adonis Topacio will investigate — that’s who to contact (info here) if you have info to share.