West Seattle, Washington
29 Wednesday
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.
The school-closure fight isn’t taking the weekend off: We stopped by Westwood Village on the way to the Cooper Elementary school-closure meeting (where we are now) – as promised, Arbor Heights Elementary parents are sign-waving outside Barnes and Noble, where students are at a “pajama party” tonight (and where a book fair all weekend is raising $ for Arbor Heights programs, as mentioned earlier) – we also saw at least one TV station (KIRO) there with a live truck, so you may have seen them on TV tonight. No other media here at Cooper, just us. More on their story later; the meeting has just begun (to recap – the district is now looking into possibly moving Pathfinder to Cooper instead of the original proposal last week to move it to Arbor Heights – more findings about that should come out at the board’s work session starting at 4 pm next Tuesday at district HQ).
Like last night’s Holiday Bazaar (WSB coverage here), Arbor Heights Elementary had long been planning a book-fair event tonight at Westwood Village Barnes and Noble – but now it’s taken on an added dimension. First, the book fair: 10 percent of B/N purchases made today through Sunday, with the voucher number 413831, will benefit various programs at AH, such as kindergarten assistant teachers and books for the school library. Meantime, Arbor Heights families will be there tonight for a kids’ pajama party starting at 5 pm, with kindergarten teachers presenting story time at 5:30, and in the meantime, the “Save Arbor Heights” campaign will be active outside, with signs and petition-signature-gathering. Tomorrow, they’re planning to be at the next “community workshop” (9:30 am) as well as School Board rep Steve Sundquist‘s Delridge Library gathering (3-5 pm) – more info on the Save Arbor Heights website.
We are in the King County Superior Court courtroom of Judge Michael Fox, where Brian Walsh has just been sentenced 
for the 2007 beating murder of “Benny” Reside (left), a mentally and physically disabled man who had been letting him stay in his apartment in Morgan Junction’s Cal-Mor Circle. This was the second part of a sentencing hearing that began October 17 (WSB courtroom coverage here), after Walsh pleaded guilty to second-degree murder (in a plea deal that we covered last summer). Prosecutors and family wanted the high end of the sentencing scale, 18 years, while defense argued for the low end, around 14. Reside’s sister Pam Reside Leach and brother-in-law Jeff Leach addressed the court again today (photo above shows Pam [left] directly addressing her brother’s killer [far right]), and for the first time, the killer, Brian Walsh, spoke as well, sobbing and asking the family’s forgiveness, reading from a handwritten statement. The judge is imposing the maximum possible sentence – 220 months, mostly, he says, because of the “absolute helplessness” of the victim, the unprovoked nature of the attack, and the savageness of the crime. More details from the courtroom – and the family’s reaction afterward (“It’s not a happy day,” Pam said) – will be added shortly. ADDED 12:38 PM: Read on for those details – what the family said, what the killer said, what the judge said:Read More
Just out of the WSB inbox from “a concerned Cooper parent” – to recap, one week after proposing that the Arbor Heights Elementary program be closed so that Pathfinder K-8 could be relocated into the AH building, the district is now also studying the possibility of Cooper Elementary as a Pathfinder home (which has been proposed and dismissed before):
Just wanted to get some information out about the possible closure of Cooper Elementary as a new location for Pathfinder. I understand that Arbor Heights has had a very vocal presence, fighting to keep their school alive. They have done a fabulous job. Unfortunately, their success puts Cooper Elementary on the chopping block.
The Cooper school family faces many challenges in organizing their efforts, including economic circumstances and language barriers. This makes us no less of a family, and no less deserving of community support. None of our kids deserve to be displaced.
We are holding a meeting at 6:30 pm (tonight) in room 107 at Cooper Elementary to organize ourselves and our message. Please attend if you can. If we don’t let our thoughts be known to the District and the public we may well lose the Cooper building to the Pathfinder program. Please come and contribute your thoughts and your voice.
Thanks for helping us get our message out. Hopefully the Delridge community can rally the same way Arbor Heights has and save Cooper Elementary!!
Arbor Heights also plans a protest and petition drive tonight at Barnes and Noble-Westwood Village during an already-scheduled school-related event; more on that separately, a bit later. WSB will of course cover both events.
Thanks to WSB’er “Chuck and Sally’s Van Man” for a tip that involves, yes, the long-closed Chuck and Sally’s Tavern in Morgan Junction (map): A film crew is there today. We went down the hill to check it out. It’s an independent production called “Greenspoke“; according to this site, “principal photography” just started a few days ago. A webpage for the film itself has the tag line: “Well-meaning scientists aim a green bullet at climate change. Bullets ricochet.” Here’s the online bio for its writer/director/producer Tom McEntire. (Film-crew members are also AROUND Chuck and Sally’s, as you’ll notice from the second photo we just added, taken across the street.)
Thanks to David Hutchinson for that sunset view from Don Armeni. Next, thanks to Eric Baer for gathering and sending photos from the Pathfinder K-8 “Rethinking Thanksgiving” event last night, a potluck attended by more than 200 members of the school community, and their invited guests, members of the Duwamish Tribe, welcomed with the kindergarten classes’ “famous tree dance and song”:
(Pathfinder photos by Alexander Cooley)
Teachers of the 2nd and 3rd grades gifted a button blanket to the Duwamish — whose longtime elected chair, the Honorable Cecile Hansen, is at right — for their new longhouse in West Seattle (which is to be dedicated soon). Each classroom has a clan animal represented on the blanket – Spider, Frog, and Owl:
As you likely have heard by now (if not, catch up on our archive here), the nonprofit Fauntleroy retirement center The Kenney has a $150 million redevelopment project on the drawing boards – one that would demolish almost every building on the site, even the century-old Seaview (above), famous far and wide for its cupola (which The Kenney promises would return somewhere in the project). Two weeks before its architects and developers return for the next Design Review meeting, neighbors and community leaders gathered at Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) last night to talk about their concerns about, and hopes for, the project, while also getting insight into the process the project must follow before any sort of green lights are given:Read More
It’s a long series of meetings between the first announcement last week of proposed Seattle Public Schools closures and changes and the final vote scheduled for January 29th. But you never know when one of those meetings will yield some news — so we’ll be covering as many as we can. Tonight — a public “workshop” at district headquarters, first of two in this particular format. It began with Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson presenting the closure criteria and the latest on the district budget shortfall (last night, finance boss Don Kennedy presented grim new numbers to the board). She said she was presenting that information to create context for the budget problems the district faces, noting that closing buildings is just one way to make up for the financial shortfall and deal with the district’s excess capacity.Read More
At the end of tonight’s Fauntleroy Community Association–Morgan Community Association meeting about The Kenney’s $150 million redevelopment proposal (that report’s coming up later), FCA president Bruce Butterfield announced the date for another major meeting next month: A Washington State Ferries public hearing on proposed changes to the Fauntleroy dock and the future of the route it serves. We brought you first word of the proposals last month, in this report from FCA’s ferry-system liaison Gary Dawson, saying that WSF was no longer considering routing Southworth ferries to downtown, and instead wants to expand the Fauntleroy holding area and add overhead walkways for the passenger deck. It’s all in the proposed long-range plan (read it here); now FCA says a public hearing on that plan will be at 6 pm January 21st, The Hall at Fauntleroy.
(October 2008 photo by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli)
Used to be, the most common rumor to hit the WSB inbox — twice a week, at least — was the one about the mythical Trader Joe’s that may or may not materialize in West Seattle someday: “I heard it’s going (x)!” “I heard it’s going (y)!” Those have dramatically slowed – replaced instead by frequent e-mails saying, “I heard 
the Whole Foods project is dead!” WSB procedure for dealing with rumors is usually this: We get the e-mail or the call; we check it out with people directly involved with whatever project or other concern the rumor involves. If it’s true – we publish a WSB report about what we found out. If it’s not, we just e-mail the original sender (or call them back, if it was by phone), and let them know what we found out, usually no sense in publishing something in such cases. But tonight, it seems like time for an on-the-record debunking, since excavation at the site is done and there’s no active work right now. Last time we checked the “I heard Whole Foods was dead!” rumors with BlueStar‘s Fauntleroy Place (Whole Foods) project manager Easton Craft, he explained that there would be something of a lull in the construction until the next phase (which is when you’ll see the crane). So when BlueStar’s Eric Radovich answered our e-mail late today asking about the status, he wrote:
Whole Foods Market is still in the Fauntleroy Place project…The project is wrapping up Phase I and Phase II (as Easton mentioned) will start sometime after the first of the year.
We hadn’t checked directly with Whole Foods for a while, so we called and e-mailed them too. This is the response we got from Whole Foods’ Pacific Northwest spokesperson Vicki Foley late today:
We are very excited about the West Seattle store, and I can tell you that the development schedule is on track, although I don’t have a definite opening date yet.
Certainly, we can see why people would be concerned about Fauntleroy Place/Whole Foods, given the general development climate, and the fact WF has had much-publicized troubles (although it took a step this week that is considered to be positive, so far as we can tell, and still has 66 stores in development, according to its annual report). But as of tonight, and as of about the 100th time we’ve done rumor-check on this one, both major players, the developer and the tenant, say all’s on track.
Local government agencies are getting quicker all the time at posting important info online. Latest example – it only took a day for the comments from, and video of, last night’s downtown jail-site forum to make it onto the jail-site-search website. Not fast, but faster than most. Highland Park Action Committee had a delegation there, and you’ll see some of their comments in the transcribed materials. All the links to the info and video are here. (If you’re just catching up: The search for a new misdemeanor jail is now focused on six sites, with one in West Seattle at Highland Park Way/West Marginal Way, but since there was a public forum for that site last July, the new round only targets the sites just added to the list – last night’s gathering was about the site newly proposed next to the downtown jail, which neighborhood advocates say would be the best site IF a jail has to be built at all.)
That’s Kelsey, who’s selling her glass ornaments at the holiday bazaar that’s under way till 8 pm tonight at Arbor Heights Elementary – and modeling the new fashion statement that you’ve seen in our photos from meetings in the past few weeks, with AH fighting a district proposal to close its “program” and relocate Pathfinder K-8 to the AH building. But this bazaar has been in the works a long time, long before the closure proposal started drawing on the community’s time and energy, and it’s a biggie – this is just one of two jampacked rooms full of merchandise, activities, and treats:
Some of the merchandise is kid-made, like Kelsey’s very professional painted-glass ornaments, but there are adult vendors here too – we were especially enchanted by these “presents” that are really crystal-clear sculpted plastic with lights inside:
Some whimsy, too – at this table, the “fish soap” looks from a distance like those little plastic bags of goldfish in water that we all brought home from carnivals a hundred years ago:
Again, the bazaar’s on till 8 o’clock tonight; if you live in north West Seattle, you may not even have been to Arbor Heights before (we lived on Beach Drive our first 2 years in WS and hadn’t ventured south of California/Fauntleroy till we were house-shopping!), but it’s worth the trip (here’s a map) – check the view we got after parking our car before walking to the bazaar pre-sunset:
Other schools’ holiday events are on our Holiday Happenings calendar (tomorrow night, for example, Lafayette Elementary has a craft fair, and everyone’s invited!).
West Seattle High School‘s got a lot more rhythm today, thanks to a surprise gift from the WSHS Foundation – here’s the announcement just out of the WSB inbox (and it includes a calendar date to mark for next year!):
On Tuesday, West Seattle High School music director Cathy “Coach” Rutherford stumbled across a surprise on the school’s auditorium stage — a stack of boxes containing brand new musical instruments. An hour later, she had opened and inventoried four Yamaha snare drums, with cases; two Yamaha Field Corps marching bass drums, with hardware and cases; and two sets of Zildjian marching cymbals.
“The drums and cymbals are the most recent gift from the West Seattle High School Foundation, which has dedicated many tens of thousands of dollars in musical instruments and visual arts equipment to our school,” said WSHS principal Bruce Bivins. “We are fortunate to have a caring community.”
The drums and cymbals will augment the school’s popular new Drum Line class, taught by Rutherford. Valued at $6,600, the Foundation’s gift resulted from donations at the Spring Dinner & Play last May, an annual event featuring a catered dinner and reserved seating at the school’s spring musical. In 2008, the school produced A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Mark your calendar for the Sixth Annual Dinner and Play to be held May 14, 2009.
“The Foundation also committed to adding a trombone and a Sousaphone this year,” said Bivins. “At $700 and $4,000, respectively, there’s no way we could accomplish that without their help.”
“Our board comprises a dozen members of the West Seattle community who are really committed to the arts,” said Foundation president and WSHS alum Christy Rowe. “We know what a difference visual and performing arts make to the overall quality of education. All of us remember the difference it made in our own high school experiences, our dedication to the school and to lifelong learning.”
The West Seattle High School Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, raises money to purchase necessary items left unfunded by the school and district. Larger gifts in recent years have included musical instruments, choir robes, audio/visual equipment, and electronic ‘smart’ boards. Donations are accepted throughout the year. For more information, call 206-252-0476, e-mail wshsfoundation@gmail.com or go to www.wshsfoundation.com on the Web.
A few West Seattle notes on the semiweekly Land Use Information Bulletin sent by the city (you can subscribe in the right sidebar here): The 3-story office-building project just north of PCC has officially applied for its land-use permit (notice here; here’s our report from its Design Review meeting last April). Also in today’s LUIB, a three-lot subdivision has been granted for 6739 25th SW (map); read the decision here – this is the Google Street View of the area:
The LUIB also includes the official notices of the Design Review Board meetings 12/18 for 4502 42nd SW (as reported here a week ago) and The Kenney‘s redevelopment project (which, as mentioned here earlier, is the subject of a community meeting at 7 pm tonight, Fauntleroy Church [WSB sponsor]). On the 18th, the DRB will meet at Madison Middle School; 4502 42nd will be discussed at 6:30, The Kenney at 8.
We’re back at the Alaskan Way Viaduct project HQ in the Wells Fargo building downtown for another of what’s become nearly weekly briefings on more data from ongoing analysis of the options under study for replacement of the Viaduct’s “Central Waterfront” section. A final scenario is supposed to be settled on by year’s end. The data that’s coming out today involves analysis of “open space” created by the various scenarios, and economic impacts. We’re reviewing the material handed out in advance of the briefing – the “open space” information includes significant analysis of the “integrated elevated” option, Scenario E (above), that’s gained a lot of buzz (in no small part because of support from State House Speaker Frank Chopp) – the handout says that option “is the least desirable option from an urban design and open space standpoint and, in some respects, is worse than the existing Viaduct. While (it) has the most open space overall, it provides a lower quality of public space and compromises the historic identity of the waterfront and access to it from the downtown.” That’s just part of what we’ll hear about shortly, when state, city and county reps join us media types for the briefing. We’ll add any major points as it continues, as well as links to these presentations when they are up on the Viaduct project website (alaskanwayviaduct.org) – meantime, here’s the “open space” presentation, from the media disc that’s just been provided, and here’s the “economics” presentation. All this comes out in advance of the Stakeholders Advisory Committee meeting later today (4 pm, City Hall). UPDATE: The presentations are all on the Viaduct website now too – under Dec. 4 meeting materials – find them here. Here’s the news release summarizing what’s being presented today:Read More
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