West Seattle, Washington
09 Thursday
Thanks to Westwood Neighborhood Council president Steve Fischer for sending word that as part of the process in the Denny Middle School rebuild/Chief Sealth High School renovations shared-campus project, Seattle Public Schools has submitted landmark nominations for Denny and Sealth. (This is a required part of the process because of the buildings’ age; before significant work, or teardown in the case of DMS, occurs, the city must determine whether they merit landmark designation.) The Landmarks Preservation Board will have a public hearing on both nominations during its meeting at 3:30 pm next Wednesday (40th floor of the Municipal Tower downtown; other West Seattle items are on the agenda including approval of the Hiawatha Playfield project and Fauntleroy Church window work, since both involve landmarks). Also, there’s word of a SPS-sponsored public meeting April 22 at CSHS cafeteria, 6:30 pm, to review the “environmental checklist” for the Denny/Sealth project. Meantime, we were at Sealth today and noticed easels are up in the commons, with “dot voting” going on to prioritize 30 possible projects that could be funded with the money the school is slated to get beyond safety-related renovations. Last update — As we first reported a week ago, the legal challenge to the Denny/Sealth project is proceeding, though SPS confirms it has filed to have the complaint dismissed, because it “believes that the case is without merit.”
The new Land Use Information Bulletin from the city (published twice weekly; you can sign up in the right sidebar here to get it by e-mail) has several projects of West Seattle interest this time. We wanted to call attention here to three of them: First, in Admiral, the official notice of the Southwest Design Review Board meeting in two weeks for 2743 California SW (we told you about it a week ago when it turned up on the city website). Second, in Gatewood, looks like a plan is in the works for the building just west of Seattle International Church, 7148 44th SW, which was used as a school when Gatewood Baptist Church owned it (and was offered for sale separate from the church in fall 2006); here’s the city project page, which says the use is changing to “artist studios.” Third, after two “early design guidance” SWDRB meetings, the official land-use application is in for Spring Hill, BlueStar‘s proposed six-story mixed-use building at 5020 California (most recent WSB coverage here).
As of this morning, through Friday, April 25, registration is open and the first signups already have rolled in for the 4th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, which is happening 9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 10. (Backstory: WSCGSD is a creation of the late great community-connection organization Megawatt; its leadership hoped its signature events would go on, and allowed WSCGSD to be taken over by WSB, while Gathering of Neighbors will now be presented by DNDA.) If you haven’t participated before, as a sale-holder or shoppers, just to be clear: This is NOT one big day in one location — this is one day set aside for people to have sales all over West Seattle – as many as people sign up to have – in the past few years, there’ve been more than 100! – all promoted with a map and citywide advertising. For the first time, you can register online — go to the official West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day website at westseattlegaragesale.com to do that, or to get a downloadable registration form you can print out and mail in, or to see the list of locations where you will be able to pick up a registration form starting later today (just in time for the West Seattle Art Walk tonight – some of our form-distribution locations are Art Walk participants). And even if you’re not going to have a sale as part of WSCGSD on May 10, please set aside some time to shop till you drop – as happens every year, we will have maps available online and at several in-person locations starting a few days ahead of time; we’re also promoting/advertising the event to areas outside West Seattle so shoppers will flock this way. One more new feature this year: Contests – including “best sign” and “most unusual sale item.” Questions? E-mail garagesale@westseattleblog.com – and keep checking westseattlegaragesale.com for updates.
Perhaps an auspicious sign for the Gatewood Elementary School “Operation Imagination” playground-project progress — we saw that rainbow over the school’s east end as we arrived to check out the start of tonight’s meeting (previewed here Monday).
Parent volunteers and others gathered in the cafeteria, where their meeting began with a presentation of the plan for the “big toy” that will be the centerpiece of the play area:Read More
That’s just one of a slew of photos JF sent us from a chaotic multiple-vehicle crash scene by his house at 40th and Andover (map) on Tuesday afternoon. He says it’s a spot where they’ve been trying to get city help for “traffic calming” to slow drivers down:
Read on for JF’s account of what happened, and more of his photos:Read More
The current principal is leaving – heading for Mercer Island, according to the farewell letter just posted by a WSB Forum member.
This afternoon we got the chance to spend a few minutes talking with the new leader of West Seattle’s police force (they handle South Park too), Southwest Precinct Capt. Joe Kessler. This was his first official day in the office at the precinct (which is just east of Home Depot). He says he’s thrilled to be working in West Seattle because of strong community involvement — and he considers community participation in info-sharing here at WSB to be part of that. When it was clear some of the department’s top leaders would be moving around this year (we first reported the moves in late February), Capt. Kessler says the Southwest Precinct was his top choice. He says he’s worked before with many people who are based at the SWP, so they’ve already got a good working relationship to start with. As he gets settled in, we’ll be talking with him more about his plans for leading the team that’s working — with your help — to keep West Seattle safe. (Capt. Kessler’s predecessor in the SWP’s top role, Capt. Mike Fann, is now running the Traffic Unit.)
West Seattle mom of three Anita Mitchell is not just fighting colon cancer, she’s fighting to help other people who are battling it. And that’s why she took time to talk with WSB about how she’s doing and about a celebrity-led event in Seattle this Saturday that’s a must-attend for not just patients, but also their family and friends — an event that wouldn’t be happening if she hadn’t pushed for it:Read More
That’s Tom Smith of Tom’s Automotive, honored at the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce‘s annual Awards Breakfast attended by 105 people at Salty’s on Alki this morning as “Business of the Year” — as he mentions in our video, in business 37 years! (Thanks to WSB readers for contributing nominations!) Also honored this morning, Warren Lawless with the Community Service Award; he has been a businessman and community leader in West Seattle for more than 65 years. The awards were presented by deputy mayor Tim Ceis; among those in attendance were other political leaders including West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, and countless West Seattle business/community leaders. ADDED 11:52 AM: Here’s a short clip from Warren Lawless’s acceptance speech. He had many great quips drawing audience laughter, but this brief quote seemed to get to the heart of what he was honored for:
Everyone who’s been to Westwood Village and/or neighboring Roxhill Park has seen this many times, and often in much greater numbers – the lineup of “for sale” cars along Barton. It’s long been a neighborhood sore spot, not to mention a safety hazard, among other things. This morning, after the latest Westwood Neighborhood Council meeting, president Steven Fischer sends word of major progress – on the parking issue and on crosswalk concerns in the nearby area where a woman was hit and killed in February:Read More
That’s a new store that Safeway is building in Los Gatos, California, close in size to its current store in West Seattle’s Admiral District. Could a similar plan — underground parking, outdoor patio — be appropriate for the Admiral project that Safeway’s about to launch? It was one of many suggestions given to five Safeway reps who were on hand last night at the Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s monthly meeting. They had no presentation of their own to make — stating simply and quickly that they don’t even have a design outline for the site yet, and just wanted to hear thoughts from those at the meeting — and, from you:Read More
On the 14th anniversary of the day when millions were shaken to learn Seattle grunge-rock megastar Kurt Cobain had ended years of substance abuse by committing suicide, an earnest group gathered tonight at South Seattle Community College in hopes of strategizing how to save today’s young people from getting anywhere near that kind of lethal low point. You probably heard about the anti-underage-drinking town-hall meeting ahead of time; organizer Renae Gaines from Madison Middle School worked hard to get the word out.Read More
Busy night around West Seattle; we covered three events – first, here are quick notes from the Fauntleroy Community Association monthly meeting, including what’s been going on with the campaign to save the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse in the two weeks since the community meeting about it (WSB coverage here):Read More
That photo is courtesy Bill Schrier, who witnessed a startling sight in Metropolitan Market tonight – he describes it as a man yelling and throwing merchandise – Bill says what you see in his photo are store employees who managed to get the man under control till help arrived. No more details at this point about what happened or whether everyone is OK; we will check with police tomorrow.
A month and a half after that open house at historic Fire Station 37 to show off plans for its replacement, the city’s filed for two more permits to facilitate the construction of the new station at 35th SW/Holden: a construction permit and a demolition permit (to tear down the dilapidated old house on the site). The old station, an official city landmark, will be sold after the new one’s up and running.
FIRST: That’s the Propel biodiesel station taking shape (first mentioned here last month), with the pump canopy now up, at 35th/Barton. According to the Propel website, it’ll sell B20 and B99 grades. SECOND: Not far away, we stopped by Bird on a Wire Espresso today and noticed they’ve switched to compostable disposable cups, for a surcharge (more info on the Bird website). THIRD: During the 34th District Democratic Caucus on Saturday, West Seattle’s King County Councilmember Dow Constantine mentioned something about “climate change work with Congress (this) week.” We asked his staff for details, and here’s what they sent:Read More
We reported March 20 about City Council President Richard Conlin telling the Delridge District Council that the council had commissioned a poll to find out if citizens support another Pro Parks Levy (most councilmembers do, the mayor doesn’t) since the original’s expiring. Poll results are out this afternoon and the council says it’s pro-levy, 2-to-1.
That’s David Robertson and Paul Binder of PB&J Textiles in front of their old location at 7349 35th SW (map; next door to Olympic Heights Laundry, which they operate) – the space where they have just announced they will open Coffee at the Heights, target date mid-June. They have been working on it for a while but kept it under wraps until they were close to the final stage of the permit process for converting the space. Once Coffee at the Heights is up and running, they plan to be open 5:30 am till 8 pm, maybe later; they will serve coffee, pastry, desserts, and sandwiches (the sandwich operation might not be up when they first open, depending on how the Health Department approval process goes). Meanwhile, their current retail/production location for PB&J Textiles is offering something timely:
That’s the display in the south windows of PB&J at 5962 Fauntleroy (map) – reusable bags, just in time for the proposed city tax on non-reusable shopping bags. (As the display notes, $4 will get you one of their bags or potentially 20 non-reusable bags, your choice!) You can buy them right there at the shop.
Just back from the scene (map). Victim is actually a 60-year-old woman, according to police, who also told WSB she was crossing against the light. Neighbors and officers were also helping the woman who hit her, who was sitting on the corner, sobbing inconsolably. Police say the woman who was hit should be OK – she was described as “stable” just as Medic 32 was about to pull away to take her to Harborview Medical Center to be checked out. The southbound lane was closed for a while but should be open again now as the scene clears. 11:59 AM ADDITION: We are choosing not to use the video we have that shows the driver, as police indicate it was not her fault. In this clip, as medics lift the victim onto a gurney to get her to M-32, you can somewhat hear the driver in the background (though we were standing as respectfully far away as we could) along with the voices of police/firefighters trying to comfort her. We think that’s an important part of the story; it was heartbreaking to hear. We are certainly going to think twice about jaywalking, even when it seems safe.
Thanks to Jeremy for the tip – since our last check of the King County website late last night, the Elliott Bay Water Taxi‘s full operating schedule has been posted online. Direct links to the schedule tables: Weekdays; weekends. (As first reported last month, the Water Taxi starts running April 27; the full schedule continues through Oct. 31.)
You saw it here first more than a month ago — word from Admiral Neighborhood Association president Mark Wainwright that Admiral Safeway was ready to “start the process of redeveloping the store.” Mark’s just sent out the reminder for tomorrow night’s ANA meeting with confirmation that the store site’s future is indeed on the agenda: “… some Safeway representatives and their design folks will join us to have a fairly informal discussion about the redevelopment of the Admiral store location. We won’t see any new design work at this point.The goal is to have a discussion about what people would like to see happen with the new development.” By the way, West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen will be a guest at the meeting, too. All are welcome, 7 pm tomorrow, Admiral Congregational church, California & Hill (map).
FAUNTLEROY SCHOOLHOUSE: Finally got word from Seattle Public Schools about the date/time of the official public hearing on the district’s plan to sell the schoolhouse, mentioned at the community meeting 2 weeks ago (WSB coverage here): It’s not on the district website yet, but SPS spokesperson David Tucker tells WSB the hearing is set for 6:30 pm April 29, at the schoolhouse.
RESIDENTIAL PARKING ZONES: As mentioned in our coverage of the impending Junction-area parking review (most recent update here), there’s a chance RPZ’s would be considered for the residential neighborhoods around the business district, which already report major parking crunches because of “park-n-hiders” and construction workers. The city is now officially reviewing RPZ policy and inviting you to fill out this online survey.
COUNTY CHANGES: Did you know there’s a hearing in West Seattle tomorrow night on more than a dozen amendments proposed to the King County Charter? Might sound dry but on the other hand, some of ’em might affect your life (see the list here). We somehow managed not to hear about the hearing till Julie Enevoldsen (thank you!) told us about it this afternoon. 6:30 pm tomorrow, Emerald Room at The Hall at Fauntleroy.
When the e-mail came in, our eyes insisted on reading “coop” as the word that’s short for cooperative. But no, it’s coop as in chicken coop. They’re legal in the city, and Seattle Tilth is now accepting chicken coops in West Seattle (as well as Georgetown and Beacon Hill) as candidates for their City Chickens Coop Tour. The tour’s on July 12 but the deadline to apply is May 1st; e-mail Seattle Tilth “city chickens coordinator” Angelina Shell, angelinashell@seattletilth.org, if you (and your chickens) are interested.
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