West Seattle, Washington
04 Friday
(WSB photos)
Though the sign outside Southwest Pool still says its closure was to end today, the sign in the lobby tells a different story: Two more weeks until a “partial reopening.” The pool’s liner is being replaced, part of a package of improvements that one contractor is making at Seattle Parks pools around the city. The pool website elaborates:
The pool’s opening is further delayed due to unforseen complications. Drop-in programming will resume Wed. June 12 and the full schedule for summer resumes on June 24. All remaining spring lessons are cancelled. Accounts will be credited for the missed lessons in the near future, and affected registrants will be contacted via email addresses on file. The Teen Life Center is OPEN.
Southwest Pool also has had other recent improvements, primarily for accessibility – some are in view outside:
Those included, Parks told us recently, “accessible upgrades to parking, building entry, bathrooms, locker rooms, kitchen, and other areas of the facility.”
(WSB photos)
6:54 PM: Here’s what brought all those police to the vacant-and-slated-for-redevelopment apartment site in the 2200 block of SW Barton, just southeast of Westwood Village. Police tell us at the scene that a stolen car was ditched outside the building and suspects were seen going into the building, so, with a bullhorn and K-9 team, they’ve been trying to get the suspects to come out.
7:04 PM: Our crew has since left but we’re hearing by radio that police have gone in and aren’t finding anyone, so far.
8:30 PM: Seattle Fire has a “scenes of violence” headed to the Southwest Athletic Complex vicinity for a report of an injured teenager. More details to come.
8:34 PM: While police have confirmed there was gunfire, apparently the teenager was unhurt. … Officers have mentioned another possibly related gunfire scene elsewhere.
8:44 PM: Police at the stadium tell us a person in the stands watching the track meet that’s just ended/ending was grazed by a “stray bullet” – possibly related to the other gunfire scene, which is reported to be somewhere on Holden (we’re headed that way next).
8:49 PM: We’re just arriving at the other gunfire scene and as a commenter says, that’s actually 24th/Kenyon. No injuries reported.
8:54 PM: Photos added. Those markers show where police found casings at the 24th/Kenyon scene.
9:13 PM: Nearby residents tell us that they heard vehicles take off after the gunfire. They also mentioned a report of a street robbery nearby this afternoon; we’re checking on that.
1:55 PM: A Chief Sealth International High School student is being taken to the hospital, injured by a hit-run driver while crossing SW Thistle by the school. The injuries are not major, as the student is being transported by AMR instead of SFD medic unit. Westbound Thistle remains blocked right now; police are looking for what they describe as a “red Honda,” likely to have damage on the passenger side. If you have any information, call 911.
2:15 PM: The road has reopened. We have a request out to SFD for any available info on the student and their condition.
2:35 PM: SFD says the victim is a 16-year-old boy who was in stable condition when taken to the hospital.
2:44 PM: Police tell us they found the vehicle and arrested a suspect in Top Hat, in the 11000 block of 1st SW.
TUESDAY UPDATE: As Alex S. notes in a comment below, the driver was booked on suspicion of DUI and the jail docket shows a failure-to-appear on one prior case. We are checking further on the 29-year-old suspect’s history.
Passing by 35th SW and SW Barton, we saw the sign … “Tony’s OPEN.” So we stopped by to verify, and indeed, it’s day 1 of the 2019 season for the little family-owned produce stand in the red/green/white tent on the corner. Tony’s Market is open 9 am-7 pm daily and will be adding something new this season – a few select garden supplies, such as bark. Watch for that soon – some flower plants are already available:
This is an earlier opening for Tony’s than the last few years – they started in May last year and June the year before that. The market usually stays open through spring and summer before transitioning to Halloween pumpkins and then Christmas trees.
The police search in Westwood – and a bit beyond – is targeting someone suspected of attempted sexual assault. That’s according to Southwest Precinct operations commander Lt. Steve Strand, who we talked to at the Highland Park Action Committee meeting that’s under way now. We had heard the “containment” area being set up just as we left for this meeting – a K9 team is part of the search. So far he had only a partial description to share – shirtless, wearing boxer shorts.
6:42 PM: That crash is the reason for a sizable emergency response at Westwood Village. Police tell us early indications are that the driver lost control of the car for some reason while heading toward the Rite-Aid store, and ran into it. Two people were being checked out by medics. The store is closed for now because there’s some cleanup to do inside.
6:49 PM: SFD tells us two female patients will be taken to the hospital by private ambulance, which indicates neither has major injuries.
6:58 PM: SFD’s technical-rescue crew is evaluating the scene, which is likely to be blocked off for a while.
8:26 PM: Just went back to check. Car’s gone; store remains closed.
Found in city permit files: MOD Pizza, the Seattle-headquartered chain that opened in The Whittaker a year ago, is adding a second West Seattle location. It’ll be at Westwood Village, with a space including the former Giannoni’s Pizzeria spot; the “site plan” document shows the rest of the space as the current Baja Taco, though the same building includes the closing-soon Payless Shoes.
(Southwestern side of Roxhill Bog, 2014 WSB photo)
From Roxhill Park to the Delridge Triangle, public spaces are part of our toplines from last night’s Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Coalition meeting:
BOG PROGRESS: WWRHAH and other community advocates have worked for many years to get action for Roxhill Bog in Roxhill Park, which is compromised by hydrology problems (as outlined in a report we published in 2014). Now there’s word of progress toward getting a study funded, with the first step being outlining the scope of work.
ARTS IN THE PARKS: WWRHAH’s Kim Barnes said a grant from this program will help make the recently announced World Music Day happen this summer. She’s hoping it will be a multicultural celebration as well as a music festival.
DELRIDGE TRIANGLE: The next step in improving this public space is a community workshop on March 23rd, as announced last month. Details of the Saturday morning event at Highland Park Improvement Club are expected before week’s end; other events will follow this spring as community participants plan the space’s future.
POLICE UPDATE: Southwest Precinct operations commander Lt. Steve Strand says crime in the area is down so far this year; police are continuing their emphasis patrols at Westwood Village. Strong-arm robbery is the current focus, because – as precinct commander Capt. Pierre Davis mentioned at the recent West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meeting – teens are getting targeted for their phones. The suspects also are juveniles, he said, adding that some arrests have been made.
OTHER RECENT MEETINGS: Recapped were the Southwest Design Review Board meeting for the 9201 Delridge Way SW self-storage project (WSB coverage here), attended by Barnes, and the February D-1 Community Network meeting (WSB coverage here), attended by WWRHAH’s Eric Iwamoto.
The Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Coalition meets first Tuesdays most months, 6:15 pm at Southwest Library (9010 35th SW).
Westwood Village apparently will soon have yet another vacant storefront: Payless ShoeSource, which has a store on the shopping center’s south side. National news outlets including NBC, Reuters, and CNN quote Payless tonight as saying it will close all 2,100 of its U.S. stores in the months ahead, with liquidation sales starting as soon as this Sunday. (Thanks to the readers who’ve sent tips on this.)
Three months after we reported that the Westwood Village Barnes & Noble would close this month, it’s in its final days. As the sign says, January 12th is its final day – the store staff tells us the hours on Saturday will be 9 am to 9 pm, and then it’s closed forever, after 13 years. No official word yet on the space’s future.
Just in via SPD Blotter – two arrests resulting from a late-night police call at what the address indicates would have been the Westwood Village 24-Hour Fitness:
Officers were called to a gym in the 2600 block of Southwest Barton Street just after midnight Tuesday morning for a report of a theft.
Police arrived and contacted the 51-year-old victim, who said he was relaxing in the sauna when he heard the beeping of an alarm. He went to investigate and saw four people taking belongings from his locker. The victim tried to stop them but the suspects fled out various exits. The victim chased two of the suspects as they attempted to get into a car that was parked in a spot reserved for disabled parking. The two suspects were unsuccessful and continued to flee but were taken into custody by responding officers.
Police recovered the victim’s car keys and wallet, the only things missing from the theft. Officers checked the car the suspects were attempting to enter and discovered it was stolen from an address in Renton.
Officers booked the 18-year-old suspect into King County Jail for theft and released the 16-year-old suspect to his parents after the Youth Services Center refused to book the juvenile for the theft charge. Detectives will continue their work in hopes of identifying the other two suspects.
11:55 AM: As noted here over the weekend, Seattle Parks-owned Southwest Pool had to close because of damage caused during Friday night’s windstorm/power outage. The closure continues today, according to this newly posted update:
Until further notice this week, SW Pool is closed due to boiler heat exchanger damage during a power outage. A new system is being ordered Monday 12/17 and we will reopen as soon as we can.
The pool was one of 10,000-plus homes, businesses, and other buildings that lost power for hours when 50+-mph winds blew through on Friday night.
12:45 PM: Via Twitter, Seattle Parks says the pool is expected to reopen around 3 pm today. We’ll check on its status then.
In our windstorm-followup report earlier today, we included tweeted word from Seattle Parks that Southwest Pool is closed because of a boiler problem related to the storm. Tonight, Erin Bruce from pool management sent word that the closure could last longer than the rest of the weekend:
Southwest Pool will be closed for the rest of the weekend and possibly into early next week.
Due to damage from Friday night’s windstorm, we have no domestic hot water, and cannot re-open until the problem is fixed.
We have no estimate for the repair timeline, but Parks staff are working as fast as they can to get the pool up and running as quickly as possible.
Southwest Pool is the city’s only year-round aquatic facility in West Seattle. Evergreen Pool in nearby White Center is also closed right now, for resurfacing work that’s scheduled to continue until early January.
Two more West Seattle Crime Watch reports:
STOLEN CAR: Katharine‘s green 1999 Honda CR-V EX was stolen from the Westwood Village QFC parking lot last night (Sunday, November 25th) at 9 pm.
The plate starts with BJQ and the vehicle has bumper stickers “West Seattle” and “Plant-Powered.” SPD incident #18-440904. Call 911 if you see it.
STOLEN MAIL: From Morgan:
We returned on Sunday afternoon around 1:00 pm from the holiday weekend to discover our mail had been stolen. Our mailbox is a locked box, not a great one, and it was open and our mail was gone. A few hours later a nice neighbor returned it saying they found it in the gutter by 29th Ave SW and Myrtle. We are on 34th Ave SW and Webster Street in the Sunrise Heights neighborhood. Just wanted to get the word out since our neighbors’ cars were also vandalized (windows smashed) between Webster and Othello on 34th while we were out of town.
11:03 PM: Hard to see on a rainy night, but that puddling on SW Trenton just west of 34th SW isn’t just from the rain. Water is bubbling up from the street because of a break. Thanks to the area residents who tipped us about this; one neighbor said a crew was out flagging gas lines in advance of the repair crew. They were gone before we got there; another neighbor said Seattle Public Utilities told them that work won’t start until morning.
1:10 PM: Work did start this morning and is continuing:
No word hoe much longer. SPU says 20 homes are affected.
(Added: Photo by WSB’s Christopher Boffoli)
2:05 PM: Big police response converging on Westwood Village and Roxhill Park after a robbery report. According to police-radio communication, the robbery happened at Target and the robber “pulled a knife on security.” The robber was reported to have been seen heading “toward the bus stop” so police are checking Roxhill Park. Description: “Black male, light-skinned, 6’1″, black hooded puffy jacket with gray fur around the hood, light jeans, black Nike shoes, bright orange backpack.” The stolen items are described as video games.
2:11 PM: Per radio communication, police are detaining a suspect on Roxbury. They also report “knife recovered.”
2:20 PM: Per radio, the man in custody has been taken back to the scene, where the guard has confirmed that’s the suspect, who is now being taken to the precinct.
While our regular lost/found/non-pets section is here, unusual “found” or “lost” items might wind up on the news page too. Like this one from Southwest Pool, where a mystery wheelchair materialized:
On Thursday morning when staff opened the pool, we found a wheelchair in our lobby. We do not know who the owner is or why it was left at the pool but we really want to return it to its owner. The owner can call us at 206-684-7440 and describe the wheelchair. We really would like to see it reunited with its owner.
Given that fencing around the front of the Southwest Customer Service Center, the city understands why you might think it’s not open. But, says city spokesperson Cyndi Wilder, it is!
Customers to the Southwest Customer Service Center (2801 SW Thistle St.) have reported that they think the office is closed due to construction happening at the front entrance. We’re making ADA improvements to the front entrance, but we’re open during construction. We’re asking customers to enter using the south entrance instead. Hours are Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (No passport application processing after 5 p.m.) Anyone with questions should call the Southwest Customer Service Center at 206-684-7417.
Southwest Pool next door is open too, as noted on the marquee.
Noticed while out this afternoon that demolition has begun on a long-in-play redevelopment site south of Southwest Library, 9030 35th SW. 10 years ago, the two-house site started Design Review as a 4-story, 33-unit, 38-parking-space mixed-use project; that went idle. Then in 2016, a new mixed-use proposal emerged and went all the way through the process – this time 5 stories, 40 apartments, 32 parking spaces.
(Rendering from 2016 design packet for 9030 35th SW)
As shown in our photo, one of the two houses on the site is now gone; the other is next.
P.S. If you’re wondering about the also-fenced-off property to the north, the Alison Apartments at 9020 35th SW, it’s not part of this project, but it’s vacant, after changing hands last year, and city files note a “substantial rehabilitation” is planned.
Today we’re welcoming one of our newest WSB sponsors: John L. Scott Real Estate Westwood. Here’s their message for you:
This John L. Scott office is owned by Scott Henry and Chantille Henry, who grew up and have worked in West Seattle nearly their entire adult lives, mostly in the real-estate industry. They believe strongly in giving back to the community, by volunteering time and donating to different organizations. Now as sole owners of John L. Scott Westwood, they are bringing that focus of community outreach to the company as well. Earlier this year, the John L. Scott Westwood real-estate agents and their clients donated to Chief Sealth International High School‘s Closet, which assists students in need with clothing, food, and school supplies.
John L Scott Westwood‘s owners together have 26 years of experience in West Seattle. While covering Burien as well with a staff of 50 agents, they remain a West Seattle-owned and -operated business. Scott and Chantille say they are always customer-focused and have worked for the past 26 years
to make sure their agents are customer-focused too.
Scott says the market is rapidly changing since the start of this past summer. There’s been a definite change. The five-year trend of Seattle being a seller’s market has come to a close and now West Seattle is becoming a buyer’s market. Right now more homes are for sale and it’s taking longer to sell. As such he and Chantille believe that their John L. Scott office’s strength is in the fact that they and their team understand the market and the neighborhood because they’ve been serving West Seattle for so long.
You can find John L. Scott Westwood online here; their office is on the breezeway on the north side of Westwood Village (2600 SW Barton); they’re reachable by phone at 206-938-5572.
We thank John L. Scott Real Estate Westwood for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.
Earlier today, the West Seattle Crime Watch reports were all bicycle-related. This afternoon, it’s all about cars:
ABOUT THE 35TH/BARTON RESPONSE: Thanks to everyone who messaged us about this response a short time ago (including the person who texted the photo, taken from inside a bus that had to stop). Police say it was related to a suspected stolen car that turned out to NOT be a stolen car.
Meantime, two auto-theft reports received via e-mail:
GREEN 1997 HONDA CIVIC: Taken from Arbor Heights earlier this week:
Melody‘s car was taken from her driveway at 97th and 39th SW around 4 pm Monday, a 1997 Honda Civic LX, Dark Green, License AGS2316. Also: “There is (was) a red assist walker, handicapped parking permit, and a small pink service dog vest and leash in the car.” Call 911 if you see it or if you see this next stolen vehicle, also a ’97 Honda:
BLACK 1997 HONDA CR-V: From Codie:
My 1997 Honda CR-V was stolen from my driveway on 4th Ave SW, near Roxbury/Myers Way, between 12:45 am and 8 am. It’s black, 4-door, basic, wear and tear, but in good condition. Had a wheelbarrow and yard working tools in it. Along with my recently passed Father In Law’s Marine Corps hat with his pins on it. License plate number AUA5782.
It was stolen 2 years ago about the same time of year and I happened to drive by it 6 weeks later parked in front of a house by (Dick Thurnau Memorial) Park. Please, if you see any unusual cars parked in your neighborhood for an unusual amount of time, ask your neighbors if it’s theirs or if they have noticed how long it’s been sitting.If nobody knows please take the time to call it in…somebody could be looking for it.
My car sat literally down the road, 8 blocks one way and 6 blocks the other, for over a month, full of “family” stuff at the time, car seat, car hart jacket, dog food, trike…it was super rainy and wet that year. When I happened to find it, it was super moldy and full of everything in it except the dog food…started right up, thankfully. Took months to get all the mold out and the car seat was not useable. However, I spent 6 weeks in the rain on the bus with my 3 year old. That included Halloween. The person whose house we found it in front of said that, yes he had noticed it, and yes he had asked around, but just hadn’t gotten around to calling it in. We made the best of it then and I will again (we have a beater car that we acquired last time this happened through the grace of a friend). My CRV is paid for and I just replaced the windshield and a myriad of other things to ensure that it keeps on keepin on. I can only hope when it is found it’s still drivable. Please keep your eye out … thank you for taking the time to read.
Auto theft is up sharply in this area over last year; more about that in our upcoming coverage of last night’s West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meeting.
When Marcellus Turner, who leads the Seattle Public Library system, came to West Seattle for a community conversation earlier this month, we weren’t able to be there, but SPL told us they planned an online recap. That recap is now online, and if you’re among SPL’s thousands of local users, you might be interested. Along with a summary of what Turner told those in attendance at Southwest Library, you can also read how he responded to the following questions – on the recap page, each is followed by a plus sign you can click to see the response.
Are building renovations covered under the maintenance portion of the budget?
Is the Library allowed to pursue grants?
Do you approach local businesses to request in-kind services?
When I was growing up, librarians were strict. But now, kids are often noisy while playing games on computers, sometimes multiple people per one computer. It goes against what I feel is the proper use for the Library.
Different libraries seem to allow different levels of noise. Can we have a maximum noise level?
If there’s a group that gets consistent complaints, can they be removed?
I have inadvertently viewed material on the public computers at the Central Library that I didn’t want to see. What is being done to prevent that?
How is the Library addressing the needs of people who need quiet vs. people who need to make noise?
Can the Library have resources, programs and outreach focused on people with dementia?
Could we have more Young Adult titles in Peak Picks?
Can the Library loan more physical objects? For instance, a wooden shoe that kids could learn to tie shoes with.
If nobody is waiting for a book, why are we limited to only two renewals?
Please don’t shelve juvenile non-fiction with adult non-fiction – it makes it hard for me to find the kids books.
Is the Wi-Fi turned off at night?
I want to see book groups at every branch.
When we give our information to a third party company through the Library, like for streaming videos or e-books, is the info we give them protected by the Library’s privacy policy?
This was Turner’s only West Seattle stop in the current round of community conversations. SPL says about 30 people were there.
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