West Seattle, Washington
14 Saturday
Thanks to Noelle for the tip! Seven months have passed since we first reported that an Xfinity (Comcast) store was planned for the heart of Westwood Village, and the company has finally put “coming soon” signage in the windows. After we noticed the early permit filings in May, a company spokesperson confirmed this would be one of their “standard retail stores.” We’ll be checking again on a projected opening date. Meantime, as we also reported in May, that section of WWV is still planned for a Pet Supplies Plus store – permits continue proceeding through the system.
Also at WWV, something new-but-not-entirely-new has resurfaced – America’s Best Contacts and Eyeglasses, which we noted was pursuing a space in that central building 2 1/2 years ago, now has permit filings for the “E” building to the west – in the space currently occupied by Chico’s, according to the site-plan document (we’ll be checking with that company tomorrow – that space hadn’t even been publicly listed for lease).
Thanks to Nicole for the tip and photo! Less than a week after we reported the Westwood Village post office’s drive-up/ride-up mailbox was damaged and out of commission, it’s been replaced. The new one arrived sometime since Friday, which is when we last checked to see if the old one had been removed yet. That’s a new record for replacement – earlier this year the outage lasted about three weeks; in 2015 and 2017-18, replacing the mailbox took about four months.
Thanks to Colby for tweeting the photo and tip – the drive-up/ride-up mailbox outside the Westwood Village post office is out of service again. This is less than four months after the last time it was damaged and removed; that time, it was back after less than a month, but some previous damage-related removals have lasted a lot longer.
The images are from a texter who says this person tried to break into cars and storage at the Village Square condo complex near Westwood Village.
The burglary attempts were caught on camera around 5:30 am. We’ll add the police report # when we get it.
Thanks for the tips (including Mark, who also sent the photo): Southbound 26th SW has reopened between SW Barton and SW Roxbury. That’s the first time in almost four months that the stretch of 26th has been open both ways. It’s been rebuilt – one direction at a time – to better withstand the constant pounding it takes from buses. It’s been a years-long problem, with neighbors complaining their homes shook when buses passed on the flimsier pavement.
(WSB photos)
Almost two years (and one pandemic) after the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor) announced its plan for a new preschool/child-care center on the north side of Westwood Village, it’s finally getting ready to open. We toured the space with its director, Jill Mudge:
She’s worked with the Y in West Seattle for 29 years and is excited about not just how the new center is coming together, but about what it will be like to work with 124 kids ages 4 weeks through 5 years. “It will be amazing to watch their growth.” The rooms at the center are spread across two levels of what used to be a vision clinic. Even former patients wouldn’t recognize the configuration – walls have been moved and removed to create the big, bright rooms.
The West Seattle area has desperately needed more chlid-care/preschool options, Mudge says – some couples whose babies haven’t arrived yet are already on a waitlist. Each infant room will have two staffers caring for up to eight babies.
While most of the rooms are age-specific, there’s also flexible space where smaller groups can have lessons, The preschool instructors will teach with The Creative Curriculum:
You might notice in that photo that some books are in Spanish – Mudge says they’ll have some bilingual instructors who can teach in Spanish as well as English. Lots of opportunities to play, too.
That includes outdoor play – by the time the center opens, an expansive playground will be set up a short walk away, in what’s currently little-used parking-lot space immediately south of the Westwood post office. Mudge also foresees the Y’s facility being a boon for the shopping center, too, with an infusion of families shopping and dining before/after picking up or dropping off their little ones. The center’s even designed with hygiene in mind – two little tot-height sinks close to the entry:
They’re expecting to be open by the end of January, 6:30 am-6 pm weekdays. Right now, the Y is offering tours of the space and taking applications – go here to find out more.
Until 5:30 pm, Daystar Retirement Village (2615 SW Barton; WSB sponsor) welcomes donations at its drive-up/ride-up food drive. The “Friendsgiving” drive is collecting food for the White Center Food Bank. Daystar is right across the street from Westwood Village [here’s a map]. The most-wanted items are listed on the Daystar website. If you donate, you’ll be offered a gift in return – Friendship Soup mix!
Here’s another way to share your bounty with neighbors in need, if you can, as Thanksgiving approaches – Daystar Retirement Village (WSB sponsor) has a drive-through food drive this Wednesday, 3:30-5:30 pm. Bring donations for the White Center Food Bank to Daystar at 2615 SW Barton [map], right across the street from Westwood Village. A list of the most-wanted items are on the Daystar website.
Police summaries published today include an armed robbery at the 35th/Barton 7-11, second one there in three months (we reported on a holdup there in August). Police say it happened around 11:30 Wednesday night, and that the robber entered the store, “brandished a handgun, pointed it at the clerk, and demanded money … then fled the store on foot with money and the till.” A K-9 team was brought in for the search but the robber was not found; the summary does not include a description.
(WSB photo, April 2019)
Just before the pandemic wiped most other concerns off the map for a long time, in February of last year, a “stakeholders meeting” shone the spotlight on endangered Roxhill Bog (part of Roxhill Park). Now the struggle to save it is back on the front burner, and another community meeting is planned. Here’s the announcement/update from the Duwamish Alive Coalition:
The second public meeting for the community led restoration of Roxhill Bog will be held online November 17th from 6:30 to 8:00 pm, to provide an update on the hydrology study of why the wetland has been drying out and possible solutions along with the results of the community survey that was conducted. The online link to the meeting can be accessed by registering through DNDA.org or Duwamishalive.org
Roxhill Bog is one of the last peat wetlands of the historical 26 within Seattle, dating back 10,000 years and home to a unique ecosystem of plants and animals. It’s also the headwaters of Longfellow Creek and an important community asset where the community can experience and learn about nature. Over the last couple decades, it has been drying out, which has significantly degraded its ecosystem – with increased invasive plants, loss of wildlife, and unsuitable usage of the area creating safety concerns.
Community members, alarmed about the loss of this community treasure, created a collaborative partnership with the Delridge Neighborhood Development Association, Duwamish Alive Coalition, Roxhill Champions, and American Rivers to help restore the bog wetland. With help from Seattle Councilmember Lisa Herbold and King County Councilmember Joe McDermott. the partnership was able to acquire funding for the hydrology and soil studies and the community survey, which received over 260 responses, and restoration design.
The November 17th public meeting will review the results of the studies, and community survey and seek input on the restoration design. This is an important opportunity for the community to provide comments about the project and their hopes for the wetlands’ future.
For backstory, see our report on last year’s meeting. There’s also a lot of background on this webpqge assembled by the now-dormant Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council.
The next school dine-out fundraiser sent in for the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar is this Sunday. If you mention Lincoln Park Co-op Preschool when ordering takeout that day (October 10th) from MOD Pizza at Westwood Village, they’ll get a share of the proceeds from your order. The restaurant is open 10:30 mm-10 pm, on the south side of the shopping center (2800 SW Barton).
(WSB photo, February 17)
Back in February, a three-hour SWAT standoff played out at Westwood Village, ending with two arrests. Rafael Meyers and Jerry Plute Jr. were eventually charged with second-degree burglary for breaking into the building east of Target, punching holes through the walls between Wyatt’s Jewelers (WSB sponsor), Sport Clips, and the vacant space north of them, stealing a gun among other things. Meyers was arrested first; Plute eventually was taken into custody on the roof. The two were let out of jail after one day, when a judge declined prosecutors’ request to set bail. Seven and a half months later, Plute has reached a plea bargain and will be sentenced tomorrow, while court documents indicate that an agreement is in the works for Meyers. Plute, a 35-year-old Top Hat resident, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, first-degree criminal trespass (a gross misdemeanor), and the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is recommending a suspended 1-year sentence when Plute, who has no felony convictions, appears before King County Superior Court Judge David Steiner tomorrow afternoon. The files do not indicate yet what’s in the potential plea bargain for Meyers, but it may include other cases, as the notation on the most recent hearing notes mention a “global disposition.” Meyers has other burglary cases pending including a burglary at Peel & Press in Morgan Junction last year.
If you’re going to the West Seattle High School football game tonight vs. Kent Meridian, you’ll see that new feature at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex – the stadium’s full name is now on its scoreboard. The photo is from Mr. Cantu’s friend Doree Fazio-Young, who says the signage was installed this week and that the official dedication is expected next month; she also says West Seattle muralist Desmond Hansen is painting a portrait of Mr. Cantu for his memorial garden. Mr. Cantu, the stadium’s longtime grounds manager, died in 2018 at age 51; this past spring, the School Board approved naming the complex in his honor.
(WSB photo)
Westwood Art Studio (9042 31st SW) is one of nine stops on this weekend’s West Side Artists studio tour. Each stop hosts multiple artists; at this studio, we found (above, L-R) Gary Georger, the studio’s owner Damian Grava, and Jacob Foran. Find the full list and map of studios on the self-guided tour here; until 5 pm today, and again 11 am-4 pm tomorrow, you can visit as many as you want to!
We’ll admit, we don’t know when this mailbox reappeared – given that previous absences had lasted for months, we weren’t checking regularly. But just in case you hadn’t already noticed, the Westwood Village post office’s drive-up/ride-up mailbox is back, We reported August 29th that it was damaged and taped off; within a few days, it was removed. (The USPS never did respond to our questions about damage cause and repair plans.) Meantime, another mailbox mystery remains – we subsequently checked on the 63rd/Hinds streetcorner mailbox, which also disappeared recently; as of this morning, it hasn’t been replaced.
As announced last month, the city’s only indoor pool in West Seattle, Southwest Pool (2801 SW Thistle), will reopen next Monday (September 13th). And finally, the initial schedule is out:
The full flyer has info on fees and health/safety policies.
As seems to happen every few years, the drive-up/ride-up mailbox outside the Westwood Village post office is damaged and out of service. We don’t know when it happened; someone texted us about it a short time ago and we went over for a firsthand look. We’ll be checking with USPS tomorrow. Last two times it sustained major damage, in 2015 and 2018, it was out of service for about four months. Meantime, if you need this kind of mailbox, there’s one outside the post office in The Junction, 4412 California SW.
Until 8 pm, Westwood Village invites you to the central parking lot (2600 SW Barton; south of Bed Bath & Beyond) for a belated Night Out party, as previewed here. SPD’s Mounted Patrol brought the mini-horse shown in our pic.
(WSB photo)
More public facilities are reopening. X weeks ago, after a reader question, we reported that the city was close to announcing a plan for reopening the Southwest Customer Service Center and its counterparts around the city. This afternoon – the announcement: The SWCSC (2801 SW Thistle), in the same building as Southwest Pool and Teen Life Center) reopened today. Its hours will be Mondays-Fridays, 9 am-5 pm. The center offers a variety of services including in-person bill payment.
(SPD photo from High Point Night Out event last night)
Though National Night Out is usually on the first Tuesday in August (here’s our coverage from last night), some have chosen other nights for parties. That includes Westwood Village, which is teaming with Seattle Police for a Night Out event one week from tomorrow, 6-8 pm Thursday, August 12th. From the WWV announcement:
To promote police-community partnerships, members of the Seattle Police Department will distribute free giveaways to event attendees during Westwood Village’s National Night Out event, held on the north side of the shopping center in the parking lot near Bed Bath & Beyond. There will also be a live DJ and activities for children, including a face painter, balloon twister, and a kids chalk area where children can make their very own chalk masterpieces. This event is free and open to the public; no pre-registration is required.
The center is at 2600 SW Barton.
Another road-work alert for the week ahead. This is part of the preparations for converting Metro Route 120 to the RapidRide H Line next year, but it’s not part of the project on Delridge Way itself – that one is being done by a city-hired contractor, and this involves a county-hired contractor. After a reader tip that 26th SW work was beginning, we asked Metro for info, and here it is – repaving 26th SW south of Westwood Village, where buses are blamed for myriad paving woes:
Metro’s contractors, Walsh Construction, have already begun upgrades for RapidRide H Line at 25th Avenue SW and SW Barton Street (bus stop improvements) and at the intersection of 15th Avenue SW and SW Roxbury Street (road and pedestrian improvements) in the Westwood Village area. Starting as early as Wednesday, Aug. 4, Walsh will begin demolishing road panels in the northbound lanes of 26th Avenue SW between SW Barton Street and SW Roxbury Street.
This will start several months of work on 26th Avenue SW. The work will occur in phases moving from northbound to southbound over the remainder of the year. Paving of 26th Avenue SW has long been a request from community and Metro and the Seattle Department of Transportation are excited to bring this improvement as part of RapidRide H Line. Improving the condition of the road will benefit all users and strengthen the roadway for future frequent future RapidRide H Line service.
As early as Aug. 4, northbound drivers will be detoured off of 26th Avenue SW between SW Roxbury Street and SW Barton Street. The turn from SW Cambridge Street to 26th Avenue SW also will be closed during work. The northbound closure is expected to last two to three months. Once the northbound demolition and repaving are complete, crews will move to work on the southbound lanes, reopening northbound traffic on the improved northbound lanes and detouring southbound drivers. Transit will also be rerouted off of 26th Avenue SW to 35th Avenue SW and the northbound bus stop located at the intersection of 26th Avenue SW and SW Barton Street will also be temporarily relocated to SW Barton Street.
Metro notes, “Typical work hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with some nighttime and weekend work.”
(Photo from seattle.gov)
Though restrictions are lifted, and our state has officially “reopened,” much remains closed. The City of Seattle, for example, has yet to reopen many of its facilities for in-person use, Among the closed facilities: Neighborhood-based Customer Service Centers, which offer a variety of services including city utility-bill payment. Since 2012, the city’s lone West Seattle CSC has been at the Southwest Teen Life Center/Pool building (2801 SW Thistle). This week, Laura emailed, asking if we’d heard anything about the CSCs’ status. They’re administered by the city’s Department of Finance and Administrative Services, whose spokesperson Melissa Mixon tells WSB, “We’re actually in the process of finalizing a reopening plan for the counters and expect to have more information to share in the next week pertaining to the dates.”
(WSB photo, December 2020)
Bus stops along two West Seattle Metro routes have been bagged like that for the past half-year. This September, one set of stops will reopen. Metro plans to continue “suspension” of Route 37. But it is planning to bring back Route 22, which runs between Arbor Heights and The Junction. This was not in the tentative plan Metro had presented to a County Council committee earlier this year, but it was added by the time Metro returned to the council’s Environment and Mobility Committee last week. (Here’s the presentation, which notes that the Route 22 restoration was added to its fall plan because of survey feedback.) We didn’t hear about it until local transportation writer Ryan Packer mentioned it in a WSB comment discussion; we followed up with Metro spokesperson Jeff Switzer, who confirmed, “Route 22 will be returning with weekday service with the fall service change, operating between 6 AM-9 PM. Similar to service levels pre-pandemic, service will be hourly.”
| 7 COMMENTS