West Seattle, Washington
04 Thursday
As first posted here a week ago, that’s the map from the doorhangers that went out on Alki last week with another alert about this Sunday’s city-organized Car-Free Day, which will close that stretch of Alki SW to all vehicles but the Route 773 shuttle (and local residents who can’t reach their homes any other way) from noon to 6 pm. As mentioned here over the weekend, while there were speed bumps with Car-Free Day #1 on Capitol Hill two weekends ago, general consensus seems to be that Car-Free Day #2 this past Sunday in the Rainier Valley went more smoothly. SDOT’s Rick Sheridan tells WSB today: “There were no cars ticketed or towed during the (Rainier) event. SDOT’s outreach and use of multiple means of communications helped ensure community members were aware of the event and knowledgeable about the parking restrictions.” For Alki, Sheridan says that in addition to the doorhanger distributed last week (see it here ), SDOT also is “visiting businesses in person … and using an automatic phone-dialing system to call people in the area about the event.” (Both of those methods were deployed for last Sunday’s Rainier Valley Car-Free Day; the Alki calls are to be made this Thursday.) He also says the no-parking signs are now scheduled to be “set up a full 72 hours in advance,” which means you should see them Thursday, instead of the previously mentioned Friday – the parking restrictions will be in effect 10 am-6 pm Sunday along Alki SW in the zone shown on the map above (California Way to 63rd SW). We’ll continue posting daily updates (including information on Sunday activities scheduled along Alki during the event); the city’s official Alki Car-Free Day webpage is viewable here.
It’s been gone a while, but CSR wonders if perhaps someone in WSB-land has seen the birthday-gift bonsai (photo at left) stolen from her home earlier this summer. From her e-mail: “On the weekend of July 5th while my husband and I were away, someone entered our fenced-in backyard in the Admiral neighborhood of 48th Ave SW and Lander and stole a 30-year old Chinese Elm bonsai and planter that I had given to my husband for his 70th birthday. The tree, about 2 1/2 feet high, is beautifully shaped and was the focal point upon entering our yard. When we filed a police report, we were told that it is not unknown for unscrupulous gardeners and landscapers to steal plants (even digging them up) and sell them to their customers. We believe that someone who knows the value of bonsai trees saw ours when the gate was open and waited until the time was right to steal it. Bonsai Northwest told our insurance company that stolen bonsai sometimes show up on Craig’s List. I suspect that too much time has gone by for this post to help us recover our stolen bonsai, but I am attaching a photo to alert our community and on the off chance that someone may have bought it from the thief not realizing that it was stolen.” If you’ve got a tip, the SPD non-emergency number is 625-5011.
The photos and report come from proud dad Edgar Riebe:
West Seattle was the site of a young boy’s dream of starting a restaurant. It was a huge success, the food was well-received, and a good time was had by all the “patrons,” including friends and neighbors! The event was today, Sept. 1 @ 10 am.
The Chef
Eston Riebe
6 years old, Lafayette Elementary first-grader
He has loved cooking since he was very little. He really wanted to start a restaurant so the rest of the family jumped in to help.
He designed the menu, and helped cook all of the food. He even took all of the orders and served the food!The Restaurant
The restaurant was a benefit for the West Seattle Food Bank, and served breakfast to about 30 hungry people.
Our guests filled a barrel with donations — according to the West Seattle Food Bank, 40% of those who benefit from the food bank are children under the age of 18.
C & P Coffee on California Avenue donated coffee beans, cups and lids for the “food-raiser.” Thanks, C & P!
Click here to see the menu offered to guests; and here’s one more photo, where you see the young restaurateur waiting on guests:
We’ve had two reports today of markings like the ones at left — placeholders for “sharrows” — appearing along California SW (thanks to Scott C and Patt for the tips) in various spots between Alaska and Morgan Junctions. “Sharrows” are meant to remind drivers and bikers that they share the road. They’re already in place on other major routes including Admiral Way and Beach Drive (put in place about this time last year), and the city’s Bicycle Master Plan has them in the works for California SW all the way from College (in North Admiral) to Thistle, along with other streets (here’s the full map of the various bicycle “facilities,” including sharrows and bike lanes, envisioned for West Seattle).
Just got word that County Executive Ron Sims and West Seattle’s County Councilmember Dow Constantine 
(who chairs the council’s Transportation Committee) are about to announce “a proposed transit plan to add 4,000 more (daily) Metro bus rides during first phase of construction on the Alaskan Way Viaduct,” potentially starting next year (which is when a tangle of other transportation projects starts kicking in too). This comes days after Sims’ proposal of a two-stage 50-cent Metro fare hike in the next several months. They’re promising details at a media event tomorrow; we’ll be there.
Musicians 11 to 77 are invited to join the multi-age groups of Westside Symphonette as it gets ready to start a new season of rehearsals and performances — no audition required! Toni Reineke says you just have to show up. The first rehearsals are two weeks from tomorrow — Tuesday, September 16th, 5:30-6:30 pm for the junior orchestra, 6:45-8:15 pm for the senior orchestra. New location this year — the temporary (till summer 2010) home of Chief Sealth High School, which is the former Boren JHS at 5905 Delridge (map). Questions? E-mail Toni at tonireineke@comcast.net or call her at 206/243-6955.
Two months after the sign went up, the doors are ready to open for the first of two years Chief Sealth High School will spend at the former Boren Junior High on Delridge – and now there’s word that Sealth is inviting the community to a tour and barbecue next Saturday, 11 am-2 pm. Address: 5950 Delridge; here’s a map.
From the Times: Moses “Moe” Beerman, who helped in the creation of West Seattle’s wonderful murals, has died. His memorial is set for Fauntleroy Church on September 29th — which would have been his 88th birthday. The Times story notes that not only did he work on the murals, he also designed the fabled Hi-Yu float featured in the Junction Post Office mural shown above. ADDED 2:47 PM: From Judy Pickens:
As a tribute to Moe Beerman’s artistic talent and humor, Fauntleroy Church is putting together a collection of his cartoons to display at his memorial service and keep up for awhile afterward. Anyone who has a particularly cherished example of his work (card, poster, or ?) and would be willing to have it scanned and reproduced for the show should call the church office at 932-5600 or email info@fauntleroyucc.org by Sept. 19. One or two sentences about the cartoon (occasion, year) would be great, as well.
From the WSB inbox, CB tells the story:Read More
One week from today, as officially announced 7/30, the city shuts down Alki SW from California Way (by Seacrest) to 63rd, noon-6 pm on Sunday 9/7, for its last 
Car-Free Sunday of the summer. Last week, Car-Free Sunday #1 on Capitol Hill was cut short by rain and roiled by controversy, but the first report we’ve seen about Rainier Valley today calls it “trouble-free.” We’ll add other links as we find them; meantime, here’s the city page with all the info you need about next Sunday – we’ll of course continue posting info in the week ahead. ADDED MONDAY MORNING: The P-I has a Rainier Car-Free Day blurb up now.
(The Michael Jackson original is unembeddable, so we’re showing the Star Wars version instead)
The summer may be over but a thrilling new round of fun has begun, per Lora Lewis from Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor), who just announced … she’s putting together a dance team to “join the Thrill the World Guinness Book of World Records event!” — thousands (millions?) of people doing the “Thriller” dance in groups, worldwide. The team’s already got a blog (check it out here; looks like Blayne of “Project Runway” fame is involved too) – plus the date for the first rehearsal: This Wednesday, 8-9 pm, Ginomai (southwest corner of 42nd/Genesee; that’s conveniently right before this week’s PR viewing party) — you’re invited — just RSVP by sending Lora a note at lora@hotwirecoffee.com. Subsequent rehearsals will be the same day/time each week; the Seattle event for Thrill the World, at which time this team will strut its stuff, is 11 am October 25. Lora’s already registered the team so as she puts it — “all you need to do is show up and dance!” (and she has a step-by-step video, so don’t worry if you’ve never done it before). More at the team’s blog (thrilltheworldws.blogspot.com), and the official worldwide website is thrilltheworld.com.
That’s Addie Killam of Highland Park, getting ready to ride her new hand-operated bike along Alki this morning. If Addie’s name sounds familiar but you just can’t quite place it – we first told you about her in this April report, when news came that she had become paralyzed after a freak surfing injury. Later, friends, family, neighbors, and WSB’ers worked to help fix up a house so she could come home to West Seattle this past June after weeks of rehab in a Colorado hospital. Now, Addie’s in training for a special Mike Utley Foundation fundraising ride coming up in about a month. Along the Alki bike path, we talked to her for a moment before her training ride this morning:
The Mike Utley Foundation raises money “to find a cure for paralysis”; Utley’s story is detailed here — he is a Seattle native who was a football star at Burien’s John F. Kennedy High School and then at WSU, followed by two years in the NFL, till the injury that paralyzed him in 1991. He underwent rehab at the same place in Craig, Colorado, where Addie spent time earlier this year. Now he lives in Wenatchee, where she’ll be riding her new bike in the 50-mile Dam2Dam on September 27:
Addie’s looking for sponsors for next month’s ride; to find out how to help, check out this post on the blog about her ongoing recovery – it’s got full details on what to do (you can also go directly to this page on the Mike Utley Foundation website – just make sure you fill in Addie Killam’s name).
Out of the WSB inbox, from Don, who wants you to be aware of what happened to him:
In the neighborhood due south of Alaska Junction’s Jefferson Square, we discovered that mail had been taken from our box, opened, and gone through, in search of credit card information and anything else of value. The perps tossed the remainder in our yard, which was ironic, as one thing of value turned out to be some expensive train tickets for an upcoming vacation trip. The only thing we actually lost was one of those fake credit-card-like things on a junk-mail come-on from American Express, but we found pieces of the neighbor’s mail near our house as well. When we mentioned this to USPS personnel, they told us to call the police and file a report, and let the local postmaster know as well.
BE ON THE LOOKOUT. These creeps take advantage of unlocked mailboxes and have no problem committing local and federal crimes. They are probably working neighborhoods across the area.
In a later e-mail exchange, Don told us police would not take a phoned-in report because nothing of value was missing. We will be checking with local police leadership after the holiday to see if there is a baseline for reports to be taken in this kind of situation; Don’s filing a report online with USPS, in the meantime.
While at Alki for another story this morning, we checked in on the Statue of Liberty Plaza — since the big all-day dedication ceremony is next Saturday, just one week away (there’s extensive coverage in our Alki Statue of Liberty archive, plus a full schedule of events is on the Plaza Project website). As you can see in the photos above and below, there’s not much still missing but the new pedestal and the statue itself (this 7/8 report includes video showing it “flying away” when temporarily removed for the construction); plantings are even in place now:
One week from today is the first of four presentations at West Seattle-area library branches focusing on early literacy. They’re happening at four different branches, one day each month from September through December, and they’re geared toward parents, educators, and child-care providers. Free of charge, but you need to register; more info here.
A few miscellaneous notes to share, including one from the scanner moments ago:Read More
New post on County Executive Ron Sims‘ blog: Charts showing this summer’s rise in Metro ridership. Previously, he notes, the trend was for lower ridership during warm weather. (Well, we haven’t had that much warm weather this summer, but never mind that. Some of the ridership-rise reasons seem obvious – hello, $4 gas.) 400,000 boardings per weekday, as of last month. Meantime, reminder: Metro’s on Sunday schedule for Labor Day; Water Taxi and its shuttle are on Saturday schedule. Here’s the official advisory.
Just announced by WSDOT – another round of open houses to share the latest on what might happen to the Central Waterfront section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct (the part that Governor Gregoire vows to bring down by 2012; what will replace it, is still being worked out). 
One of them’s in West Seattle — 5:30-7:30 pm September 16th at Fauntleroy Church. This is from the latest AWV bulletin, which also reminds us all that the next weekend-long inspection closure for The Viaduct is set for October 18-19. (And if your head’s not already spinning from all these dates, remember that the first closure related to the Spokane Street Viaduct project kicks in on September 8th – we’ve got the WSB archive with the details permalinked atop the right sidebar to make sure nobody misses that news.) Back to The Big Viaduct – here’s the info page with all the latest on the Central Waterfront project, including the upcoming West Seattle open house.
Seattle Public Schools‘ communication team has just announced the plan for Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson‘s appearances on the first day of school next Wednesday, and the biggie is right here in West Seattle, at Denny Middle School:
At Denny Middle School, Dr. Goodloe-Johnson will join Mayor Greg Nickels in a press conference, welcoming students back to school and encouraging middle-school students to start thinking about college. 10 am–11 am.
Her other announced appearances include Concord and Wedgwood Elementaries.
Some of what was discussed at last night’s South Delridge/White Center Community Safety Coalition meeting will be of interest to anyone living/working in south West Seattle – including some good news about ongoing issues in the area — so we’d like to point you to the full report we have just posted on partner site White Center Now; you can read it here.
Scenes like that one along Alki SW won’t be repeated along West Seattle streets next month, after all. As Beach Drive Blog first reported, the route for this year’s Seattle-area Breast Cancer 3Day Sept. 12-14 has been revealed, and it’s traveling along the Eastside plus the edges of North Seattle (see the “cheering stations” listed here). Nonetheless, more than a few West Seattleites are among the walkers, so if you get a chance to go cheer them, you’re bound to be giving some neighbors a boost.
A changing of the (sign) guard in The Junction this week: Six years after Also Furniture changed its name to Sleepers in Seattle, the Also signage came down, and Sleepers signage went up:
The photos come from Sleepers in Seattle owner Meryl Alcabes, who notes that her company’s been in The Junction for 17 years in all.
We’ll be posting a few updates from tonight’s South Delridge/White Center Community Safety meeting, both here and at partner site White Center Now; because of the area covered by that meeting, law enforcers from both the Seattle Police Southwest Precinct and the King County Sheriff’s Office attend. One major update tonight came from SW Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen: He says the Community Police Team officers (meet them here) will be back to normal duties “next week.” You may recall, the precinct’s been dealing with personnel challenges mostly caused by officer injuries, and Lt. Paulsen announced in late July that the CPT officers would have to move to patrol duty, though they would continue to work in their usual areas; he said at the time that this situation was likely to last “a month to a month and a half,” and it’ll be right in that time frame when they return to normal duties next week.
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