West Seattle, Washington
13 Tuesday
–Sidewalk Cinema has finalized the list of what it’s showing during the West Seattle outdoor movie series in July and August.
–The Seattle Chinese Garden project near SSCC in east WS just got $1.2 million from one of Seattle’s sister cities (Chongqing, China).
–The P-I paid a visit to our gas-war intersection (Fauntleroy/Alaska, still both below $3 as of our last driveby a few hours ago).
Earlier this week, we grumbled to ourselves there just wasn’t much WS news to share with you; but tonight, it just won’t stop. Looks like WS is home to at least two members of this local family who survived a scare while hiking in Canada.
Seattle Weekly gets snarky about our lack of parking paystations, suggesting it’s ’cause Hizzoner lives here (but what is UP with the quote about “no kids with blue mohawks”?). Meantime, The Stranger includes two WS churches (#10 and #17) in this odd little roundup.
We must admit we didn’t know this manufacturing business was here in WS (in the business-but-not-retail zone east of The Junction) till this story just turned up about 90 people losing their jobs there.
Big article in today’s Times about the West Ridge Park condo-conversion project and Delridge-area housing development in general. Notable infobits in the article include the WRP developers’ expectations that only about a dozen of the 200-plus tenants will buy their units.
The ol’ Trader Joe’s rumor just keeps swishing around WS like a glass of Two-Buck Chuck in a Nisqually-length earthquake. An intrepid reader just e-mailed the company again, hoping perhaps for a pleasant surprise, and shared with us the following response. (Personally, we find the “check back in fall” rather intriguing!)
“At this time, we do not have any confirmed plans for Western Seattle. Feel free to check back sometime this fall for any updates.
Thanks for shopping with us,
Marci
Trader Joe’s Customer Relations”
According to this short report, a toddler is in critical condition after falling off a balcony. No address specifics in that report, but the online Fire Department log lists a major medic call in the 5400 block of Delridge (near Brandon) this afternoon.
The Robin Williams surprise also brought a few moments of TV stardom to the West Seattle Food Bank and executive director Fran Yeatts. (She told us the same thing in e-mail that she told the TV crew — no clue why Williams now has chosen twice to have local shows benefit the WSFB.) P.S., you can do your own good deed for the food bank right here, right now.
Today the P-I takes on the 47th/Admiral safety issues and the record of the driver who hit and killed Tatsuo Nakata, though without any new revelations (the Weekly thoroughly dug into the driver’s background earlier this month).
No new info in today’s P-I article on the Water Taxi — the year-round possibility hit the headlines 3 weeks ago — but it’s nice to see it get more time in the spotlight. Gives us an excuse to put up a photo left over from our weekend peek under the Seacrest pier – here’s how steep the walkway from the WT dock gets during a -3′ tide!
That phrase apparently applies to the Westwood Village vicinity for a non-shopping reason.
This article finally explains the wild sight some saw on WS streets at midday last Saturday. The officers’ persistence reminds us of the bank robber/signholder caper.
P-I just posted that Mayor Nickels’ father, Robert Charles Nickels, died today at his WS home, at age 81.
Two noteworthy articles just posted at the P-I site:
–First official online account we’ve seen of Charlie Chong’s funeral. Also, CharlieChong.com is updated with the funeral program that he wrote himself.
-For our fellow Blue Angels fans: Seafair says they’re definitely in.
TV news report (can’t find it written up online anywhere) says 7 people went to the hospital after a crash in WS this morning; pictures showed several crunched cars, one even upside-down. Online 911 logs show the rescue callout went to the 7700 block of Delridge at 9:23 am.
The Seattle Weekly has continued digging into the background of the 47th/Admiral crash that killed City Council staffer Tatsuo Nakata; the latest edition reports that the driver who hit him has a record.
Three WS-related articles on the P-I site today:
-A well-known climber from West Seattle, Lara-Karena Kellogg, died after falling in Denali National Park. A tribute on this climbing blog points to a site friends have set up to share memories and condolences.
–Robert Jamieson pays tribute to Charlie Chong. (We are still keeping an eye out for funeral/memorial plans and will let you know when we hear something.)
-The entrepreneurs who moved Retroactive Kids from Morgan Junction to Columbia City are profiled. Among other things, they observe that WS wasn’t funky enough. (We hereby apologize; we’re quirky and crazy ourselves but never quite made it to funky.)
A few more miscellaneous notes in the aftermath of the domestic dispute turned SWAT standoff @ 25th/Brandon last night: A nearby resident’s blog reports on the news crew that lingered long afterward and also has an earlier post with some great pix of the police action; the P-I has a fairly basic wrapup; Slog’s got the only truly complete report, including an interview with the owner of the battered BMW, seen below, ax in windshield and SWAT vehicle right behind, in a photo sent to us by a witness. P.S. According to the King County Jail Lookup, the suspect, Robert Joseph James, is still behind bars as of this writing, under investigation for four possible crimes including domestic violence, court-order violation, and malicious mischief.
The Metro bus driver under investigation in the deadly Enumclaw accident the other night usually handles a Sound Transit bus route from WS, according to the Times.
Latest information from the P-I. Given the particularly grisly details of the deadly attack, it seems hard to believe the suspect could only get 25 years in prison.
The Seattle Weekly has just posted an article with a few points we hadn’t heard before, including documents suggesting Tatsuo Nakata’s family considered suing the city, and a quote from the driver charged with a misdemeanor in the crash (who also has hired a lawyer), saying he “will probably release a statement soon.”
As noted and spiritedly discussed here 2 weeks ago, the driver who hit and killed City Council staffer Tatsuo Nakata at 47th/Admiral last November won’t face felony charges, but there’s a new development – the city has decided to charge him with misdemeanor assault.
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