West Seattle, Washington
28 Tuesday
This has been on the Crime Watch page since Seattle Police posted it on their SPD Blotter site (which feeds the CW page instantly as soon as SPD posts something) – but we wanted to call attention to it here too: Two homes on 32nd SW were hit by bullets last night, nobody hurt, nobody arrested. A High Point resident sent us a Twitter message last night about that time saying he’d heard what sounded like gunfire – we listened to the scanner for quite some time and monitored 911 but nothing obvious. In several separate Twitter messages, Ryan reported:
I live in High Point and am pretty sure I just heard gunshots. a lot of em, sounded like two different guns … I’m at 32nd and Juneau, it sounded less than a block away, and afterwards a car drove really fast down my dead end street … and then turned around and drove away …
We get “thought I heard gunshots” reports fairly frequently, and they don’t all pan out, but this one obviously did. We’re checking with the Southwest Precinct for any additional information about who’s been sought and potential motives. ADDED 2:02 PM: Lt. Steve Paulsen provides additional details: 5900 block of 32nd SW (map); no description of the suspect/vehicle. They haven’t quite zeroed in on the motive yet but are investigating the possibility it involved a relationship dispute of some sort. No relation to the “house hit by bullets” incident from 20th/Henderson last month.
We’re now hours away from the next significant release of school closure/change-related information from Seattle Public Schools, during a School Board work session this afternoon/evening (we will be there to post live updates; it’s not expected to be televised and it starts too early — 4 pm — for everyone who’s interested to be there from the beginning). Here’s a quick recap on where things stand:
*The official proposal on the table remains the one announced by Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson on November 25th (original coverage here): Close the Arbor Heights Elementary “program,” move Pathfinder K-8 into the Arbor Heights building, close the Genesee Hill Elementary building where Pathfinder’s been located since 1994 (five years after GH Elementary was closed as a school of its own), in addition to recommendations involving other schools around the city (full proposal here).
*That same night, after hearing the proposals, School Board members made various requests to district staff for additional research. One such request: Look into whether Cooper could become Pathfinder’s new home instead of Arbor Heights. As a result of those requests, Dr. Goodloe-Johnson presented an “update” at last Wednesday’s board meeting (see the full presentation here), and that update included this:
At the work session on November 25 the School Board indicated that the option of altering the Student Assignment Plan to permit the location of Pathfinder at Cooper should be evaluated. Staff are evaluating this option.
*As part of that 12/3 presentation, Dr. Goodloe-Johnson proposed tonight’s work session to discuss new data (for example, district staffers have been touring schools to determine “functional capacity” – how many students can really be served under current conditions, as opposed to the “planning capacity” – optimal theoretical conditions – that’s been discussed in district documents) and “potential final recommendations.” This, although the superintendent’s “final recommendation” is still not supposed to be announced until January 6th.
*Many schools caught up in this have already had meetings of their own to discuss strategy and status; the district has had two official “public workshops” in the past week (here’s our coverage of the first one Thursday night); and many more meetings are coming up, including an official meeting tonight at Arbor Heights (6 pm) with a district rep and an official public hearing 12/16 at the Genesee Hill building (6:30 pm – the full School Board won’t be there as there are other hearings that same night elsewhere in the city; West Seattle rep Steve Sundquist said at his 11/26 coffee gathering that he and fellow board members were working to decide who would go to which hearing).
Needless to say – more later! Meanwhile, WSB coverage of this round of school closure/change talk is all archived here; all the official district info related to what SPS calls “capacity management” is linked here.
Got this note from a Pegasus Pizza employee – who wants to be sure you bring something along when headed there for your next pizza this holiday season:
Hi, my name is Laura, I am trying to organize a big Christmas food drive down at
Pegasus Pizza on Alki. There is already a big box down there all ready and waiting for donations! But Pegasus isn’t exactly like Safeway where you can get something inside while shopping to drop off on your way back out the door so I’m having a much harder time getting the word out than I expected. I was hoping that it could go onto the events page of the blog just so that people will see it and know to bring stuff down with them when they come for lunch/dinner.Basic info: We are collecting any/all non-perishable food items; all donations going to the West Seattle Food Bank for christmas. If customers bring in 5 or more items of food, we are giving them a coupon for $2.00 off any size pizza.
We’ve listed this with other business drives on the Holidays page, of course, but wanted to give an extra shoutout to Laura, who concluded her note by describing herself as “just a … college kid trying to make a tiny little difference.” Pegasus is at 62nd/Alki (map), online at pegasusonalki.com.
Just combed through the latest report released as part of the ongoing drive to settle on a Central Waterfront Viaduct replacement by year’s end: the draft version of the Economic Analysis of Viaduct Scenarios. The only major West Seattle-specific mention is this look at how the project might affect Nucor in North Delridge:
Nucor, a major steel company, operates Seattle’s steel mill. The Nucor plant is located south of the West Seattle Bridge. It is a 660,000 square foot plant with 291 workers that can make about 800,000 tons of steel a year. The plant recently got new air quality permits that would allow it to make up to 1.1 million tons per year.
In theory, viaduct removal and construction could pose problems for the mill. Because of its location, Nucor has few options but to deal with traffic on I-5, and will be concerned that capacity reductions, both temporary and long-run in the SR 99 corridor, will affect I-5. Its customers are primarily construction projects located around the region where steel has to be delivered by truck during daylight hours. Because there are limited options for stockpiling steel mill products outside of the affected area, the company’s ability to deliver products to customers could be impaired during construction. Permanent closure, however, seems doubtful because permits for steel mills are difficult to obtain and the Seattle plant has no local competition for steel production. Nucor does not provide all of the steel needed for construction in the Seattle area; a major portion of it is imported or comes from steel from mills in Oregon. Construction impacts would also affect imported steel, however, leaving Nucor with no net competitive disadvantage. Indeed, the viaduct project itself could be a major customer for steel and may even help Nucor.
Overall, the report reached no clarion conclusion, with this among its final bulletpoints:
No single scenario emerges as the best or worst from an economic impact perspective. On the many dimensions we evaluated, we found no option that was consistently at the top or consistently at the bottom. That makes decisionmaking harder. For example, the bored bypass tunnel (F) probably reduces business impacts during construction, but it will likely cost more, take longer to build (so that the impacts it does have last longer), and have an unquantified but important cost of exposing Seattle to several additional years of risk of a catastrophic collapse in an earthquake if the viaduct remains until the bored tunnel opens to traffic.
Before the next Stakeholders Advisory Committee meeting this Thursday (4:30-8 pm, City Hall downtown), state, county, and city reps are scheduled to reveal the finalists — two or three “hybrid” scenarios ostensibly to be cobbled together from elements of the 8 original ‘scenarios’ (all shown here). One committee member has already come up with a hybrid of sorts, according to citywide newspaper reports today. Then, whatever emerges later this week as the list of finalists, you’re invited to speak out about them at a public meeting next Monday night (12/15), 5-7:30 pm, Town Hall downtown – 1119 8th Ave (map).
That’s Stu Hennessey from Alki Bike and Board (WSB sponsor) with Sustainable West Seattle president Bill Reiswig and daughter Linnea at tonight’s SWS Money-Free Shopping Spree holiday party at Camp Long — where handmade/sustainably produced gifts were exchanged as were gift certificates for experiences/services:
Guest speakers included West Seattle Chamber of Commerce executive director Patti Mullen, who reminded everybody that “shopping local” means “shopping sustainably” because the more local businesses survive and thrive, the less we’ll all have to cross the bridge to find … anything!
Also discussed: The “Celebrate Local” pledge (still time for you to take it!) – the deals offered by King County Waste-Free Holidays are part of that campaign. Sustainable West Seattle usually meets the third Monday of each month; you’ll find SWS online at sustainablewestseattle.org.
Back when we visited the Duwamish River Festival in South Park last August (here’s our story), we mentioned an informational booth about upcoming Superfund cleanups on the eastern edge of West Seattle. We put our name on a list of interested parties, in hopes that would keep us in the pipeline for getting information to you. A followup flyer (identical to this) arrived in the mail (the EPA sent versions to 8,000 people in West/South Seattle) recently saying the Environmental Protection Agency is “developing a community involvement plan” for those cleanups – one of which is at the site known as Lockheed West Seattle (tons of official EPA info linked from this page). As a followup, an EPA rep called to invite us to come down and answer some questions (apparently we checked the “wouldn’t mind being interviewed” box on something somewhere) – and we did that this morning. Here’s what we learned – and how you can get involved:Read More
Got a “media advisory” from Seattle Public Utilities today, with a reminder that the foam-packaging ban passed by the City Council with the plastic-bag ban is taking effect January 1st (the bag ban is on hold pending a citywide vote next year) – and food-service businesses are invited to a “trade fair” this Wednesday, to meet with “sellers of compostable food-service ware” – if you’re interested, read on:Read More
(West Seattle Cheetahs after a big win: Very back row left to right: Coach MacKenzie and Ali Campagnaro. Back row left to right: Anne Jorgenson, Tatum Dahl, Charli Ann Elliott, Sam Tanzer, Laura Jetland, Julia Nark, Abby Tuthill, Sami MacKenzie, and Annalisa Ursino. Front row left to right: Maddy Winter, Nicole Roed, Kelsey Klapperich, Gabby Rivera, and Danielle Nielsen. Not pictured: Julia Denison
Just before Thanksgiving, we reported on the West Seattle Cheetahs girls’ soccer team heading for the state playoffs (here’s that story). They played in Burlington this past weekend – and we’ve just received an update from John McKenzie that they have now advanced to the state championship game next weekend! Here’s his report:
After winning the District 3 Presidents Cup on Sunday, November 23rd, the Cheetahs traveled to the Skagit River Soccer Complex in Burlington for the state semi-finals in the GU-12 division. The team was well-prepared and rolled through their group play with a 3-game sweep, winning 3-0 in game 1, 3-1 in game 2, and 1-0 in game 3. The sweep gave the Cheetahs the number 1 seed in their group. They went on to win their semi-final match 3-0 and will now play in the state championship game Sunday, December 14, at 9:15 AM at Starfire Soccer Complex in Tukwila.
“It was tough playing 4 games in 2 days, but the well-conditioned girls rose to the challenge. They are a tireless bunch and they all know their roles on the team and none of them have ego or attitude issues,” said Coach MacKenzie. “We could tell the other teams were getting tired and we never let up.”
Congratulations again to the Cheetahs, and good luck in the title game! (Their opponent: The Tracyton Tornadoes from Kitsap County. The game’s open to the public; tickets $5, kids under 11 free, $5 parking at the soccer complex.)
Another forecast update – The National Weather Service still is calling for possible snow Friday night and Saturday (hey! that’s Christmas Ship night at Seacrest, Lowman, and Alki!) but whether or not that happens, there’s definitely VERY cold air on the way – Sunday highs may barely get to freezing.
Thanks to Marco for sending word, and that picture, of a bus stop closure TFN on northbound 35th just south of Avalon (as the sign says, buses will pick you up 20 feet south of there). Shortly after getting his note, we went to check out the area, and discovered that construction congestion because of Avalon Center is REALLY intense today – a lineup of cement mixers in the center lane on Avalon stretching eastward from 35th, eastbound lane on Avalon and northbound lane on 35th blocked off at the corner, good idea to avoid that area if you can:
Avalon Center is a mixed-use building (ground-floor retail, about 60 apartments, per city permits) that’s been under construction for almost a year at the southeast corner of 35th/Avalon (here’s our update from 11 months ago). Here’s the architect’s project page showing drawings of what it’s supposed to look like.
Gas prices continue to drop — the national average is its lowest in five years, according to weekend reports — but they’re falling more slowly; two West Seattle stations actually have the same prices as they did during our last survey a week ago. As for everybody else, varying drops. In the list you’ll see ahead, the first number is regular, as posted on the stations’ streetfront signs; second number is premium (where posted)Read More
Thanks to Huzefa Mogri for sharing that overview of the scene inside West Seattle Christian Church‘s (WSB sponsor) new multiuse facility, opened unofficially for a dessert-theater performance Sunday night, with Taproot Theatre staging “It’s a Wonderful Improv Life” – zaniness ensued, as this photo suggests:
More on the new facility soon; Taproot, by the way, performs the same show at its Greenwood theater the next two Friday nights – info’s on their website.
It’s festive … it’s sustainable … it’s affordable … it’s 24 hours away! Tomorrow night is Sustainable West Seattle’s Money-Free Shopping Spree, and you are invited – 6-9 pm, Camp Long Lodge. It’s a potluck and gift-swap occasion, and while SWS is hoping people will bring handmade gifts — the full list of what to bring (food and gift-wise) is on the SWS website — their latest bulletin also notes:
… if you don’t have time to pull together a gift between now and Monday, it is good to purchase something made by hand locally and give that OR better yet please consider offering a service/skill for 1-2 hours: gardening, bike repair, a foraging tour in West Seattle, wormbox 101, beekeeping 101, tutoring, a meal, making a dinner, kayak tour, etc. The possibilities of what you can give of some time to a neighbor are limitless …
In addition to the money-free gift swap, the event also features food, music by West Seattle acoustic guitarist Gunnar Goelitz, and guest speakers — West Seattle Chamber of Commerce executive director Patti Mullen (did you know the C of C is heavily involved in promoting sustainability? It’s even got a Green Team!), Sustainable Seattle executive director Sean Schmidt (who’ll talk about the Celebrate Local campaign that’s under way citywide this season), and WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand with a few words about the wonderful sense of community we’ve been seeing and reporting on throughout the year. That’s tomorrow, 6-9 pm, Camp Long Lodge (map), check out the complete details here.
They’re the biggest and brightest Christmas lights in West Seattle – the mega-display at the Menashe Family home on Beach Drive. We took a WSB video tour again this year — that first clip is a 2-minute walkthrough; next, Josh Menashe tells us what’s new this year:
Here’s a closer look at the mailbox he mentioned:
The Menashe display is along the southern stretch of Beach Drive – no direct access from the east but you can either hit Beach Drive from the Lowman Beach area and head north, or from the Jacobsen Road end and drive south. Here’s a map.
Santa Claus isn’t just comin’ to town – he’s here, till 4 pm (and noon-4 pm the next two Sundays) at Cupcake Royale, with photographer Donna Ryan, for Santa photos provided by the West Seattle Junction Association (WSB sponsor); donations are suggested, and go to three West Seattle nonprofits that have a heavier-than-ever load to bear this year – West Seattle Food Bank, WestSide Baby, and West Seattle Helpline. Meantime, kitty-corner via the Walk All Ways intersection at California/Alaska, the Hometown Holidays Headquarters tent is where you’ll find wreath sales for Pathfinder K-8:
Volunteering at the booth today for Pathfinder, Lashanna Williams and Jen Kocir. The school’s fundraising wreaths will be on sale at the HHH tent the next two Sundays (noon-4 in front of Key Bank) too. P.S. They’re doing face-painting too.
It’s so far away that the extended forecast could do anything in the meantime – but just the same, kudos to the WSB Forums for sounding first alarm on POSSIBLE snow at the end of the week; join the conversation here; read the “forecast discussion” here. 3:22 PM UPDATE: Official forecast just updated to include snow chance for Friday night-Saturday.
Just out of the WSB inbox from Ryan in Seaview, with the photo above:
Unfortunately I’ve got bad news to share. Sometime between 3 am (I was up feeding our youngest son) and 10:30 am, our beautiful 1959 Airstream trailer was stolen off its parking pad. It was double locked and in full view in the alley. We live on 45th Ave SW between Juneau and Findlay. We’d really appreciate it if you could post a photo or two on the blog asking for your readers to keep an eye out for it.
Since Ryan sent several photos, we’ve posted two more angles (one showing the back of the trailer, one showing the front) after the jump:Read More
That’s the view from the stage in the Farmers’ Market parking lot a couple hours ago, as your WSB co-publishers joined an eclectic crew of performers and guest tree-lighters for what turned out to be a double tree lighting (maybe not such a surprise if you saw the lights being tested last night) – the little “official” Junction tree, and the big tree right on the 44th/Alaska corner. Hope you enjoyed it; having sat through too many long events featuring endless speeches, we managed to make it through what was envisioned as an hour-long program in about 40 minutes. Of course, the nailbiting part is ahead of time, when you wonder whether anyone will show up – here’s the view from the refreshment-tent-to-be around 4:30:
Even around 5 till 5, almost no one was there, but we all chanted the mantra: No one in Seattle EVER shows up early for ANYTHING. And sure enough, before long, hundreds were on hand. Our pix are all from the stage/backstage view, but one group that provided a particularly festive view from any angle – the “Plaid Tidings” guys from ArtsWest‘s holiday show:
OK, now as for the actual tree-lighting – everyone was watching the small “official” tree, but instead, the big tree on the corner lit up – followed shortly afterward by the little one — Junior Member of the Team got both:
We’ll add some more video later – the Endolyne Children’s Choir did a great job too, as well as the plaid guys. Meantime, The Junction (WSB sponsor) is a hot place to be tomorrow, too – the first Hometown Holidays Sunday brings Santa photos at Cupcake Royale, noon-4 pm, along with mule-carriage rides and special in-store events (more here). SUNDAY NIGHT P.S.: Nice photo gallery by the fab M&M at Incremental Updates (one of the 100 West Seattle-based blogs whose automated feeds power our Blogs page) – get past the first couple showing us, and there are lovely shots of lots of nice folks having a great time. See it here.
We didn’t make it to this morning’s district-organized “community workshop” on the school-closure plan — same format as the one we covered Thursday night — but a report is up on the P-I site. It mentions Arbor Heights Elementary parent Gerard Denommee getting applause for suggesting taking the issue to state lawmakers and fighting for better public-school funding, rather than continuing to pit neighborhood against neighborhood to fight for shares of a shrinking pie. The Arbor Heights PTSA Yahoo! group also has an account of the meeting, and a more vivid description of the ovation received by Denommee, as well as a mention of Cooper Elementary parents’ presence (as they’d planned at the meeting we covered last night). Next meetings: Tuesday night, the School Board is scheduled to get new data and discuss the next phase of recommendations at a board workshop starting at 4 pm at district HQ; that same night, a district-organized meeting is planned at Arbor Heights, 6 pm. In the meantime, feedback can be sent to the school district any time at capacity@seattleschools.org. (All WSB coverage of this round of school-closure proposals is archived here.)
Just a couple of clips to add to the coverage we published this morning of this morning’s Rotary Club of West Seattle Christmas Shopping Spree – with Rotary volunteers joining 90 West Seattle kids at Sears in Sodo this morning for breakfast, lunch, shopping, and holiday cheer — above, you see the arrival; next, it’s some Christmas caroling with Rotarian Irene Stewart once the shopping was done:
Find out more about the Rotary Club at its website, westseattlerotary.org.
Also up early and volunteering their time early this morning: The Rotary Club of West Seattle. This is the day for their annual Christmas Shopping Spree at Sears in Sodo – when Rotarians team with local kids to share breakfast and lunch, shop for clothing and shoes, take photos with Santa, and more. The kids will go home with the items they’ve chosen and tried on – items they desperately need this time of year, including coats and socks:
… but there’s holiday fun later this morning too, and we’ll have pictures of that later. Rotary volunteers were there just after 6 am; the kids arrived around 7. West Seattle Rotarians have been doing this since 1972, and this year, they’re shopping with 90 kids from six West Seattle elementary schools (more background is on the Rotary Club’s website, where you can also find out more about the group, which meets Tuesdays most weeks – meeting info is in the left sidebar on the club’s home page).
That’s one of the slogans half-jokingly suggested toward the end of a small but spirited meeting at Cooper Elementary School tonight in Pigeon Point (map) – its first group meeting since Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson announced at Wednesday night’s School Board meeting that her staff — as requested by board members last week — was looking into possibly moving Pathfinder K-8 to Cooper instead of to Arbor Heights Elementary. The “Save Cooper … Again” refers to previous proposals to close or change the Cooper program, and some of tonight’s participants were veterans of those battles — read on for our report on the talking points Cooper is rushing to prepare as a late entry into the school-closure battle:Read More
From David in Gatewood:
I … wanted to get the word out about a pair of prowlers in the Gatewood area. I live on 41st behind Thriftway and came home to a neighbor of mine who stopped me and said she chased away 2 (african-american) men in our front yard this morning at 10 AM that were clearly prowling in the windows of our home. Our front yard has a white picket fence and she had said they had opened the fence and they were in our front yard looking in the home. She walked up to our yard with her large dog and they immediately retreated up the street to 41st and Frontenac. Thanks to our great neighbors but I wanted to let the area know in case anyone may have seen these guys today.
| 6 COMMENTS