West Seattle, Washington
10 Friday
Eight days after Red Cup Espresso owner Angelia Paulsen‘s tragically early death in a car crash, her husband Sean O’Dea e-mailed WSB early this morning to ask us to share this with you:
I cannot possibly find the words to describe or thank everyone for the level of support that has been offered to us at this time. I have had hundreds of people come to me with offers of help with anything I could possibly need. This has come from merchants, customers, neighbors and friends. It feels like the entire community has stepped up at at a time of overwhelming grief, and overwhelmed us with care and love. We are doing our best to keep the shop open, and will be open every day from 6 am to around 2 pm. As soon as I can, I plan to have it back to regular hours. I know how much Julian and I loved Angelia, and am extremely touched and honored by the love and respect shown to her memory. Thank you all.
Sean had previously posted in the comments section — up to 111 as of early this morning — following our original report on the accident.
That’s what project co-chair Libby Carr told WSB by phone tonight, at the group’s deadline for wrapping up active fundraising. Co-chair Paul Carr followed up with this e-mail:
We dropped off a letter to the Mayor’s Office late today informing them that we have more than met the goal. Counting the money from the City ($50,000) and what NPA says they can throw in the pot ($10,550), we have almost $175,000. We’ve raised about $115,000 in the last four months. The benches and landscape plaques are all sold or spoken for, and we are going to continue the brick sale (including the “specials”) until the brick company calls for the brick order; we estimate that will be two weeks to a month. We’re doing that partly because people asked for it, and partly because all construction estimates are just that-estimates. Someone has already suggested adding some bench backs-those are not currently in the design. There may be other changes by the City. It would be terrific to have a cushion.
We will have a more formal report to put up on the Sealady website in a
couple of days …
You can find that site here. And to catch up on how this has all developed since last summer, check the WSB Alki Statue of Liberty coverage archive here.
We reported earlier that the Dillard/Coxwell trial has begun. Per the P-I, the Ephraim Schwartz (47th/Admiral crash that killed Tatsuo Nakata in 11/06) trial also is under way.
One of the headlines from tonight’s West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting — the Southwest Precinct is working on security for a high-profile funeral that will be held in West Seattle next week. Lt. Steve Paulsen told the WSCSP tonight that the funeral for Deche Morrison, the 14-year-old found shot dead in South Seattle last Friday, is set for Tuesday at Freedom Church (35th SW & Roxbury), and Lt. Paulsen says you can expect to see a sizable police presence in the area. There are security concerns because police have not arrested anyone yet in this killing, nor in the killing of another teenage boy; the gang unit reportedly is looking into both. (More of the WSCSP meeting toplines tomorrow.) ADDED 12:30 PM WEDNESDAY: For those who had asked what time this will be happening next Tuesday — 11 am.
From the files at the Southwest Precinct (and no, it’s not that there’s been a lot of crime lately, this is just our first run through the reports since last Thursday): 
We start with someone who went to great lengths AND great heights to commit a crime. Sometime between Thursday night and Monday morning, at the megaproject construction site on 42nd north of Alaska, someone stole two mobile radio/phones worth $750 from a crane cab — meaning, according to the police report, that they had to climb a chain link fence, go down a 30-foot wooden ladder into the big construction hole, then up a 20-foot mud hill to reach the crane, and after that, up 150 feet to the cab (and of course back down again). Next, followups on a few incidents that readers reported here in the past few days, including a drive-by shooting and the alleged Starbucks groper:Read More
According to the daily calendar for King County Superior Court, the much-delayed trial is finally under way for Adrian Dillard and Ted Coxwell – the two former Huling Bros. salesmen accused of the most serious charges in the scandal that came to light almost exactly one year ago. A week and a half ago, their ex-co-worker Paul Rimbey was sentenced to nine months in jail for his role in what happened.
Thanks to Dawson for pointing out changes to this area along the southbound lanes of south Beach Drive — the sinking sidewalk is now marked as “closed,” and yellow barriers are up enabling walkers/runners to use part of what would have been the parking lane. We’ve walked that stretch before, always trepidationally, considering there’s a steep slope on the other side of the hedge bordering the now-closed sidewalk.
This just in from Delfino Munoz, the Chief Sealth High School teacher who has been publicly voicing concerns about the current Denny Middle School-Sealth HS shared-campus plan:
The Seattle Education Association Representative Assembly just passed a resolution calling “…on the Seattle School Board and District Administration to direct BEX III/Facilities to provide an option for rebuilding Denny at the current Denny site…”
More details when we get them. ADDED 10:01 PM: Here’s the text of the final SEA resolution, from a doc forwarded by Munoz:Read More
Our area’s newest state legislator has begun her first legislative session this afternoon in Olympia. 34th District State Rep. Sharon Nelson was chosen last November to succeed Joe McDermott, who moved up to State Senate after Erik Poulsen‘s resignation. Rep. Nelson talked with WSB this morning about what she’ll be working on and how she’s hoping to hear from you:Read More
The WSB inbox gets rumor e-mails every day. We always check them out, and if they’re true, we report it here; if they’re not, we usually don’t say anything, except in an e-mail back to the original sender. Today, there’s one that we do want to mention here, even though the subject says it’s NOT TRUE: Got e-mail last night from someone saying they’d heard from a reliable source that West Seattle Bowl would be closing. Wouldn’t be hard to imagine that could make sense — other bowling alleys in the city are closing (Sunset Bowl and Leilani Lanes), and in the case of WS Bowl, the Fauntleroy Place project going in next door is going to make life on that block a little messy for a while. However, we just dropped in to ask WS Bowl in person, and manager Andy Carl says, “We’re NOT GOING ANYWHERE — our lease is good till 2017.” In fact, he told WSB, he’s doing interviews with some citywide media later this week about the future of bowling alleys in the wake of those other high-profile closures.
Thanks to Tracy from T(ea) Gallery — who as we mentioned recently just closed her Admiral location soon to focus on her new downtown store — for a tip about another business on the move – she noticed a “for rent” sign in the window at Basic Green Box (3407 California) and wondered what’s up. We just heard back from Charlotte of Basic Green Box, who says they are moving in April — new location not confirmed yet; they’re looking at several spots. BGB is next door to yet another space that’s in transition, the former Leslie’s Country Store spot that is becoming The Bohemian (our last update on that is here; they’ve since posted the same info on their website and MySpace).
As mentioned here on Friday, the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry runs are down to 2 boats through mid-February, starting today, because repair work is reducing the number of ferries available systemwide. Here’s the WSF overview, which mentions added passenger runs between downtown and Vashon to try to relieve some of the potential pain. Here’s the new F-V-S schedule; looking at the always-cool WSF GPS-powered Vessel Watch, it appears that Issaquah and same-class Kitsap will be the two boats on the run, since Chelan is going into drydock. For non-ferry riders, the effects you’re most likely to notice will be potential longer backups along Fauntleroy during the evening commute — considering Southworth-bound drivers will have a long gap between the 4:40 and 6:20 departures — and possible bus delays/overloads that Metro is warning riders about.
Two days till the deadline for the Seattle (Alki) Statue of Liberty Plaza Project to finish fundraising and figure out if they have enough to cover the full plaza design that’s proposed. We checked in with the project’s co-chairs this afternoon to see where things stand:Read More
Two people just e-mailed WSB about this. The following account is from Luckie (thank you!):
Last night at about 7:50, three shots were fired on SW Hanford near 44th Ave, and then a car was heard speeding away toward California Ave. I immediately called 911, as did several other neighbors. This morning, I searched the area where I heard it happen, and found three bullet casings and a slug in the street. A neighbor’s car, parked on the street, now sports two bullet holes. We called the police non-emergency number, and an officer arrived about five minutes later. She gathered the evidence and took statements. I don’t wish to give any more details, but this car was a specific target—this wasn’t a random shooting.
We will be checking with the Southwest Precinct to see if there is anything more. MONDAY MORNING UPDATE: Lt. Steve Paulsen @ the precinct says, “We are working hard on this … [indeed] it was not a random event.”
That house is at 5933 California (map), immediately south of the townhouses going up on the former Guadalajara Hacienda site (as we most recently documented here). On Friday, the city granted a permit to tear down this 85-year-old house; more townhouses are on the way. About a mile and a half north on California, in the 3400 block (map), demolition equipment is likely to be seen soon here:
We first mentioned the impending teardown-to-townhouses status of this site in October. The demolition permit’s been in effect since November but we just noticed the fence.
We told you yesterday about registration under way for West Seattle Pee Wee baseball; today, we’ve got a preview of West Seattle Little League registration, which is just days away:Read More
The controversy over West Seattle High School‘s impending switch from 4-period days to 6-period days is simmering on; the group behind this pro-4-period blog (with a comment thread where the fur’s been flying) sent this notice last night:
“Students for Democratic Process” are sponsoring: “March of the Wildcats” on Jan. 17 … 2:30-5 pm … WSHS students are marching from WSHS to Alaska Junction to protest the school district’s decision to switch WSHS from a 4-period day to a 6-period day. We invite all pro-4 students to join in! It’s our turn to roar!!
We have a follow-up question out to organizers, asking whether this Thursday protest is intended to be a march down the sidewalk, or the sort of street march for which a city permit might be required. 12:05 PM UPDATE: Just got this from one of the parents who will serve as a “monitor” during the march:
The students (and several adult monitors) will march from WSHS to the Alaska Junction, staying on the sidewalks and crossing with the lights. Once at the Junction, they will hold signs, pass out flyers, and cross four-ways at each “walk” sign.
I have applied for a permit in the event the number of students is high, and I have provided the police at the S.W. Precinct with a copy of our application and a map of the route.
Back in August, we mentioned that this building and the house behind it at 3256 California were up for sale, and the Beauty Box salon had posted plans to close. Though this parcel is now right in the middle of the proposed “upzone” area, it looks like the buildings will be around a while – we stopped today to read the sign in the window, which says it’s the new home of West Seattle Natural Medicine, moving from 4141 California to open at this location Jan. 21 (a week from Monday). There’s more about the move on the clinic website.
A few weeks after we reported on the appearance of that sign in the long-awaited Spring Hill restaurant space (ex-In Bloom) that we’ve been watching for more than a year on the north end of The Junction, we have just heard from Mark and Marjorie Fuller, owners of the restaurant-to-be — who want you to know they’re looking for a maitre d’:
Spring Hill restaurant will be opening in March, maybe April and for now, are looking to hire one good person for our Maitre d’ position. We were wondering if the West Seattle Blog would help by posting our craigslist ad.
Sure thing. Here’s the link; and here’s the text of that ad, which reveals a little more about Spring Hill:
SPRING HILL, Chef Mark Fuller’s contemporary/casual restaurant is seeking an experienced Maitre d’ to work evening dinner shifts.
This is a full-time position with good pay and many benefits.
We are looking for enthusiastic and professional people with a genuine feel for hospitality and attention to detail.
The restaurant will be located at 4437 California Ave SW in West Seattle and will open this Spring. This is a brand new 74-seat restaurant. Expect the food and wine menus to reflect the Pacific Northwest.
Please email a resume and brief cover letter to springhilljobs@gmail.com.
We have follow-up questions out to the Fullers to see if we can get a bit more info to share with you about what Spring Hill will be like.
Here’s the latest from the state ferry system – a 2-boat schedule for weekdays on Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth, for at least a month, 
starting Monday. This is because of repair needs discovered during the ongoing ferry inspections. In this followup from the Kitsap Sun, one commuter from that side of the Sound calls it a “horrible schedule.” This could affect even those who don’t use ferries, since it’s likely to mean longer lines along Fauntleroy in service gaps during the evening commute. ADDED 9:25 PM: Metro says this situation may affect some West Seattle bus routes too.
Remember last year’s crosswalk cancellations, such as the one in Luna Park and the one at 35th and Kenyon? Seems a new one, with signal, is on the way to Fauntleroy Way (which also lost one last year, at Rose) – the new one will be at Dawson (map above) From Kevin (thank you!):
After hearing about the city deciding to remove a number of crosswalks in West Seattle over the past year or so, I thought you might want to hear about one actually being put in.
Along with a number of neighbors at the bus stop, who have been calling and writing Seattle Department of Transportation, my wife and I seem to have convinced the powers that be that crossing Fauntleroy Way between SW Edmunds St and SW Findlay St really is like playing a giant game of Frogger.
We’ve been talking with various people at SDOT for the past six months or so and just before Christmas got some good news. SDOT conducted a new traffic study and found that the intersection at Fauntleroy Way SW and SW Dawson St not only warrants a marked crosswalk but a signalized one as well. From our conversations it seems it will be similar to the signalized crosswalk next to Fairmount Elementary School.
I think it will be a wonderful thing for the neighborhood. It might even slow drivers down a little on the “Fauntleroy Freeway”.
The text of SDOT’s email is below.
Dear Mr. ____,
I have some good news for you and your wife. We did a new traffic study and a pedestrian signal is warranted. It is at our 2008 new signal list and we will start design soon. Thank you again for your time to write us, and you have a wonderful holiday season.You have a nice day!
Valerie Lee
Senior Civil Engineer
Seattle Department of Transportation
Signal Operation Division
Just a reminder that the memorial service for Angelia Paulsen, the owner of Red Cup Espresso in The Junction who was killed in an I-5 crash earlier this week, is this morning: 11 am, St. Stephen the Martyr Church in Renton (church website here), and friends plan a candlelight vigil outside the shop (on the west side of California, north of Oregon) tomorrow night at 7. ADDED FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Dan Jacobs from West Seattle Christian Church and Ginomai arts center says vigil attendees are welcome to park in the Ginomai lot, on the west side of 42nd just south of Genesee.
The Kitsap Sun says Washington State Ferries‘ first major onboard advertiser, JanSport, will be on various ferry runs today, including Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth in “late morning,” giving backpacks away.
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