West Seattle, Washington
26 Saturday
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Here in the heart of winter, it’s time to think about summer, especially if your family needs to line up camps for your kid(s). Our newest WSB sponsor, West Seattle CampFinder, is all about that – here’s what they want you to know about their service:
Finding the right summer camps for your kids just got a whole lot easier! West Seattle CampFinder is your local, comprehensive resource for discovering more than 600 summer camps from more than 60 local organizers. West Seattle CampFinder makes it simple to find camps and activities right here in West Seattle that meet your family’s needs.
West Seattle CampFinder was created by West Seattle mom Michelle Kusowski: “In 2023, I found myself spending hours gathering camp information, sharing information with friends, setting up reminders for registration dates, and hoping it all came together.” Thinking that there had to be an easier way and with the encouragement of family and friends, she decided to build it. West Seattle CampFinder was born.
The goal of West Seattle CampFinder is simple: to save families time by offering a centralized place for West Seattle summer-camp information, allowing parents to spend less time researching and planning and more time enjoying life. Now in its second year, West Seattle CampFinder has camp information, registration dates, helpful reminders, filter options, and more! And there’s more to come!
Check out the website at www.westseattlecampfinder.com and join as a member to access the resource. Follow us on Instagram at instagram.com/westseattlecampfinder for more updates and tips.
We thank West Seattle CampFinder for choosing to advertise their service by sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news on WSB. Interested in doing the same? Call or text 206-293-6302.
Every few weeks we remind you that if you’re looking for a new job – or new employee(s) – WSB has a West Seattle Jobs Offered section in the WSB Community Forums. This past week has brought new listings for local businesses, including our own, just posted. If you are hiring in West Seattle/White Center, it’s free to post – go here if you don’t already have a login. (When you post a job, be sure to include contact info so applicants can reach you directly.) No login needed if you’re a jobseeker browsing listings. Thanks for keeping it local!
By Aspen Anderson
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Around 200 West Seattle parents and community members attended a discussion about cell phones, social media and mental health on Tuesday night at Gatewood Elementary.
Much of this discussion was inspired by Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Anxious Generation.” The event aimed to kickstart a community conversation focused on supporting the mental health and development of West Seattle’s children as they navigate the challenges posed by modern technology.
West Seattle is joining other communities across the state in scrutinizing phones in schools and their impact. Vashon Island’s McMurray Middle School recently implemented a “phones away for the day” policy; Chief Sealth International High School was a trailblazer in this in fall 2023.
“Away for the Day,” created by the team behind the Screenagers documentary series, encourages phone-free schools after research studies linked phone proximity to reduced attention, mental health struggles and more. Speakers at the event highlighted HB 1122, a bill in the 2025 legislative session aimed at restricting mobile devices for public school students, as one to watch and support.
Caitlyn McGuire, a longtime public-school teacher and Gatewood parent, shared a story about a couple of students who were so worried about taking their masks off at lunch that they wouldn’t eat. They feared classmates would see their true appearances since they had created avatars on social media. This concern reflects a broader issue McGuire highlighted: the growing mental-health challenges among youth using social media.
“In the fall of 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Surgeon General declared a national emergency in child mental health,” McGuire said. “We know that our teenagers are spending more time on social media than any other activity. We also know that in recent years, we’ve seen soaring rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicidality among youth.”
McGuire discussed how social media algorithms are designed to be addictive, tapping into the novelty, emotion, and reward centers of the brain, which particularly appeal to teens who have not yet fully developed their frontal lobes.
“Kids feel bad, they don’t want to be up late on their phones and tablets,” McGuire said. “They do the same things that we do, saying, ‘Okay, I’m going to get off soon. I’m going to get off.’”
McGuire emphasized that parents, schools, and government need to intervene to help teens set healthy boundaries with technology.
The connection between social media and eating disorders was also discussed, highlighted by a video, “The Cost of Beauty: A Dove Film,” (eating disorder trigger warning) which moved many in the audience to tears.
Megan Fisher, a Gatewood Elementary parent and mental-health therapist, emphasized that parents must allow their children to grow independently, noting that children face too much protection in the real world and not enough in the virtual world.
She referenced the Let Grow Project, which encourages kids to try new things on their own — like climbing trees, running errands, and cooking — to foster independence. McGuire stressed that it is essential that kids get play-based childhood, not a phone-based one.
“Let’s give our kids what they truly need: a childhood filled with play, connection and freedom from constant digital pressures,” Fisher said.
Presenters encouraged parents to sign the nationwide “Wait Until 8th” pledge, which advocates delaying kids from getting a smartphone until 8th grade. The pledge also connects families with others who are actively supporting the cause, fostering solidarity. Once 10 families from your child’s grade and school sign the pledge, it becomes active.
Several ideas and solutions were presented during the event, including:
-Instead of giving kids a smartphone, consider a “Tin Can” — a landline phone that connects via Wi-Fi and only allows calls from programmed numbers, created by a local West Seattle parent.
-Consider a smartwatch or a more basic flip phone.
-Wait until the end of 8th grade to give kids a cell phone, and until they are 16 to allow social media account(s).
-Be mindful of your own phone habits, as children often model their behavior after adults.
-Have open conversations with your children about why waiting to give them phones and social media protects their mental health. Create clear guidelines, like no phones until after 8th grade, while also acknowledging their feelings.
-Focus on encouraging activities away from the phone, like sports, spending time with friends and exploring new hobbies.
The meeting was recorded and may be available upon request. Contact ga*******************@***il.com for more information.
If you thought you had missed the Southwest Seattle Historical Society‘s January “Words, Writers, Southwest Stories” earlier this month, good news, you have another chance. The January 9 presentation of “Stomp and Shout: The Untold Story of Northwest Rock ‘n’ Roll” – which we had originally previewed here – had to be rescheduled due to technical difficulties. So SWSHS is going to try the online presentation with author Peter Blecha again this Thursday (January 30), 6 pm. If you don’t already have the viewing link, you can register for it here. The presentation is free, but a $5 donation to SWSHS would be welcomed.
If you’re looking for a new job – or new employee(s) – in this new year, here’s one of our periodic reminders that WSB has a West Seattle Jobs Offered section in the WSB Community Forums. Six new listings are there, from just this past week. If you are hiring in West Seattle/White Center, it’s free to post – go here if you don’t already have a login. (And when you post a job, be sure to include contact info so applicants can reach you directly.)
(Photos courtesy West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails Group)
One month ago, we told you about a new website for the West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails. Now, there’s word of a newly updated map to help you safely and knowledgeably get out into the forest! Here’s the announcement:
The West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails Group (WDGT) has updated an extensive map of trails in the West Duwamish Greenbelt as part of its mission to activate the park and draw people to the vast green space.
The West Duwamish Greenbelt is Seattle’s largest forest, covering more than 500 acres spanning more than four miles north to south. There are two distinct networks of trails. The northern network is between Highland Park Way SW and the West Seattle Bridge and includes the Duwamish Longhouse, South Seattle College, the Seattle Chinese Garden, Riverview Playfield, Puget Park, and Pigeon Point Park. The southern network includes Westcrest Park. WDGT would ultimately like to see the northern and southern trail networks connected, but it has been challenging to maintain a viable trail in the section of greenbelt between Highland Park Way SW and Westcrest Park.
The updated map includes additional trails, trailheads, landscape features and points of interest. Trails on the map are color-coded as improved; partially improved (soft surface); rough, steep and adventurous; pedestrian path, and paved public trail. To help guide you in real-time in the greenbelt, download the map to a phone using the Avenza Maps app. You can also create a route or track a route.
Throughout the map, users will find names of different areas in both English and Lushootseed, the language of the Coast Salish, such as Seven Cedars — c̕úʔkʷs x̌payʔ.
The updated trail maps are posted at various trailheads throughout the greenbelt and are also available as a downloadable PDF at wdgtrails.org/trails. The QR code to download the map to your phone is also available on the map.
Trail conditions and quality vary throughout the year. The soft trails are often muddy and slick during periods of heavy rain. Avoid hiking in the forest when wind speeds are high. Because there is currently little to no signage in the forest, the trail map is a helpful navigation tool for hikers new to the area.
The updated map was supported by a Community Partnership Fund grant from the city of Seattle. (The grant also supported an update of the West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails website and creation of an exhibit at the Log House Museum.) Matt Dressler, Cartographer and GIS Analyst at Mountains to Sound GIS in West Seattle, who created the map in 2022, updated the map from sources of available GIS data along with GPS tracks recorded by WDGT members.
WDGT is a collection of neighbors who promote walking and hiking trails in the greenbelt in partnership with the Duwamish Tribe. WDGT has been offering seasonal (April- November) free guided hikes in the greenbelt for nearly a decade. Find more info and opportunities to get involved at the new website.
(Photos courtesy Christopher Boffoli unless otherwise credited. At right, WSB’s Patrick Sand in 2016)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
My heart is broken to have to share with you the news that WSB co-founder Patrick Sand has died.
Patrick died suddenly at our home/HQ in Upper Fauntleroy on Thursday morning (October 17). He called for help and I found him on the floor. SFD medics tried 10 rounds of CPR but were unable to revive him.
So many in West Seattle know Patrick as the salt-and-pepper-haired photographer who’s always there when something’s going on – breaking news, festivals, art walks, school sports, so much more. Photography and breaking-news rapid response were his major responsibilities for WSB, as well as our advertising business.
Patrick was my husband as well as my co-publisher and business partner. We had 40 years together, starting with our first date in Grand Junction, Colorado, in fall 1984. He had grown up there and was running a radio station; I went there for my first news-producing job, working at a TV station in the same building. My TV career later brought us from San Diego to Seattle in 1991; we looked around the city for places to live and chose – mostly because of its water proximity – West Seattle, where we welcomed our son five years later. Another milestone of sorts for us in the mid-’90s, Patrick took an early interest in the internet in 1994, and we bought a PowerMac and got connected via an early ISP called Delphi.
A decade-plus later, Patrick and I founded WSB as a news site in 2007. I had started it in late 2005 as a “blog about West Seattle” with random ramblings; in December 2006, after the big windstorm left tens of thousands of West Seattleites without power (us included), readers who had found us by then started asking us for more information about the status of restoration, and other problems. So we started trying to find out. During the next year, we started covering more and more local news, and in fall 2007, after some readers suggested we should try selling advertising, we decided to try to make a go of it as a business, so I quit my TV news job.
At the time, he was stay-home dad for our son Torin, which he always said was his favorite job ever, along with WSB. Stay-home fatherhood was relatively uncommon in the late ’90s-early ’00s, so it was his first round as a trailblazer, which we then were considered for launching WSB in the hyperlocal-news wave of the late ’00s.
WSB won a national Online Journalism Award and regional awards from organizations like SPJ and CityClub, but the most meaningful awards were local, like the Orville Rummel Trophy for Community Service that we carried in the 2010 West Seattle Grand Parade.
We rode in a little electric-powered cart that Patrick had to drive nerve-wrackingly from the downtown dealership where we found it (we declined the traditional ride in a convertible). Also so meaningful – the honor we received from the Fauntleroy Watershed Council last year.
(WSB photo by Patrick Sand, October 2023)
WSB will go on. Patrick was too proud of, and dedicated to, our work to want to see it end just because his time on this plane of existence was up. His joviality and fortitude are irreplaceable, among so many other attributes I can’t even give voice to right now, so bear with us as we figure out how to move forward. Please honor his work and role in the community by continuing your partnership with us in community-collaborative news coverage.
(Photo courtesy Lora Radford)
Patrick Sand, 67, son of the late Henry B. Sand and Mildred E. Sand, is survived by me (wife Tracy Record), son Torin Record-Sand, rescue cat Sullivan.
To quote Jackson Browne‘s beautiful memorial song “For a Dancer” – “Somewhere between the time you arrive and the time you go, may lie a reason you were alive, but you’ll never know.” I’m pretty sure Patrick did know … and that all those of us whose lives he enhanced knew too.
(Photo by Jerry Simmons, showing what he called a ‘cloud flower,’ seen ‘blooming’ during Sunday’s sunrise)
Here’s our highlight list for the hours ahead, mostly from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
SOUTHWEST ARTIST SHOWCASE: Visit Southwest Library (9010 35th SW), open 10 am to 6 pm today, to see the art work community members are showing at the library this month!
COMMUNITY CUP SHOWCASE: Multiple artists’ cup creations, on display all month at Dubsea Coffee (9910 8th SW), open until 2 pm.
SPORTS: The Chief Sealth International High School slow-pitch softball team (6-5) hosts Lincoln for two games at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex (2801 SW Thistle), 4 and 5:30 pm.
FOOD TRUCK IN ARBOR HEIGHTS: Rotating weekly food-truck visit, 4000 block of SW 107th, 4 pm.
GET CRAFTY: 6-10 pm, Monday brings “Crafting and Creativity Night” at The Missing Piece (9456 35th SW), info here.
D&D: Weekly D&D at 6:30 pm at Meeples Games (3727 California SW). All welcome, first-time players too.
MONDAY NIGHT TRIVIA! FOUR places to play tonight – Music quiz at Easy Street Records (4559 California SW), 6:30 and 7:30 pm … 7 pm at The Good Society (California/Lander); 7 and 8 pm Sporcle Pub Quiz at Three 9 Lounge (4505 39th SW); 7:30 pm with QuizFix at The Skylark (3803 Delridge Way SW)
MEDITATION IN FAUNTLEROY: All are invited to free weekly Zen sitting/meditation in the chapel at Fauntleroy UCC (9140 California SW), 7 pm-8:30 pm.
MEDITATION IN ALKI: The Alki Dharma Community also hosts Monday night meditation at Alki UCC (6115 SW Hinds), 7-8:30 pm.
MUSIC AT THE ALLEY: The Alley in back of Bonjour Vietnam is open – tonight you can listen to live music from The Westside Trio, 8 pm at The Alley (behind 4509 California SW), 21+, no cover.
SING! 9 pm start for Monday night karaoke at Talarico’s Pizzeria (4718 California SW).
If you have a West Seattle/White Center event to add to our calendar, please send the info to we*************@***il.com – thank you!
Shortly after we moved here in 1991 so your editor could start work at a local TV station, we happened onto a local comedy show on a different station – and for most of the rest of that decade, it was a regular part of our Saturday nights, as it was for so many people back then.
(September 1994 TV Guide page kept by Tracey Conway, used with Now & Then permission)
The show, “Almost Live!“, was almost midway through its 15-year-run on KING TV by the time we first watched, a half-hour that made fun of current events as well as specific Seattle-and-vicinity neighborhoods – with sketches like “Ballard Driving Academy,” “Cops in Wallingford,” “East Side Story,” even “The Making of Studs of South King County,” as well as lampooning life in the Northwest – the timeless tale of “Seattle Summer”, for example.
We’d heard The Seattle Times was looking back this weekend on “Almost Live!” to mark 40 years since the show’s debut, synergizing with a Museum of History and Industry exhibit that opens next weekend. What we didn’t know was that a West Seattle journalist/historian wrote the stories comprising a package that figures prominently in today’s print edition of The Times, especially its Pacific Magazine, until that writer, Clay Eals, mentioned it while visiting our booth at Saturday’s Admiral Funktion street festival.
The “Almost Live!” exploration is in the spirit of the “Now & Then” columns that Clay co-produces for the newspaper’s weekly magazine, but much more in-depth. And you don’t have to be a Times subscriber to see the results of the three months Clay spent diving into “Almost Live!” – the Now & Then website has even more. And Clay mentioned two West Seattleites who factor into it – more on that in a moment. First, some links: The main Times story is here; as Clay writes, the show “proved that a major city could laugh at itself with universal appeal.” Even if you were an “Almost Live!” superfan, his story will likely tell you a lot you didn’t know about its history and origins. And if you’ve ever wondered what happened to the performers – who were among the 30+ people Clay interviewed – here’s that story. Then there’s the story about the MOHAI exhibit’s champion, and a related Now & Then column. Oh, plus “Where to find more ‘Almost Live!‘,” including YouTube.
If that sounds like a lot, consider that Clay says it’s only a fraction of what you’ll find on the Now & Then website – start here and wander at will. (If you can’t see the Times stories because of the paywall, Clay’s site has free-to-view versions of them all.)
Now, as for the West Seattleites who factor into this: First, one of the regular performers on “Almost Live!”, Tracey Conway, is a WS resident. Here’s a video she produced with some of her favorite characters:
And here she is in a recent photo by Clay:
He notes, “She’s quoted in the cover story and shown in 14 photos therein. But she also is part of the sketches sidebar” – best and most-overlooked sketches – and the material on Now & Then includes excerpts from his interview with her.
A West Seattleite playing a smaller but memorable role, Clay points out, is Aurora Bennett, who runs John Bennett Properties. “At age 8, she stars in one of what I say in the sketches sidebar is an ‘overlooked’ sketch, ‘Totally Realistic Barbi’ (no typo), just 1:40 long, from 1994. Quite timely given last year’s Barbie movie phenomenon. Tracey Conway plays her mom.” You can see it here.
If you get the print edition of The Times, Clay says “Almost Live!” stories and photos comprise 18 of the magazine’s 26 pages, as well as “a significant chunk of The Mix,” the arts-and-entertainment section of the paper itself. Meantime, the MOHAI exhibit opens August 31st and is expected to be on display for six months – here’s more about it.
With warmer, sunnier weather, more people are outside, and that invariably means more lost/found items. If you don’t frequent the WSB Community Forums, you might not realize we have a lost/found (non-pets) board there, and right now we have several new listings – lost/found keys and a found backpack, for starters. The forum boards are self-post zones (though we assist if needed) and you can get a login by going to westseattleblog.com/log-in (only required if you want to post something – otherwise it’s open to all for reading).
P.S. Our West Seattle lost/found pet listings are in the same place as usual – here.
(Southwest Seattle Historical Society photo)
The headquarters of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society – the historic Log House Museum on Alki – is a great place to visit, but it’s only open two days a week (or by appointment), and sometimes you just might feel like wandering through West Seattle’s past at other times. Now you can! The SWSHS recently announced an expansion of photos and scanned materials you can see online:
We are excited to announce that select items from the Southwest Seattle Historical Society’s permanent collections are now available online. We thank our many volunteers who have helped scan photographs, transcribe oral histories and letters, and organize folders so that you can explore Southwest Seattle History from home. We will continue to update this searchable collection to include additional objects, oral histories, archives, and more.
Not finding what you are looking for? Contact mu****@************um.org to schedule a research appointment or visit the Log House Museum to browse the entirety of the Historical Society’s collection database.
Go here to see what’s now available online (organized into 13 categories, even one for the legendary Luna Park amuseument park). For in-person visits, the regular Log House Museum hours (at 61st/Stevens) are noon-4 pm Fridays and Saturdays.
(SDOT photo, January)
SDOT announced today that it’s set the date for a surface-traffic closure starting October 7th and lasting “approximately one week” to reinstall the cylinder removed last January. From the announcement:
… The next step in the maintenance process is to reinstall the turn cylinder that was removed from the low bridge’s east pier housing last winter for refurbishment. When the east pier’s cylinder was removed last December, preparations to overhaul all four of the bridge’s hydraulic turning cylinders were actually already underway as part of our comprehensive repair and maintenance effort. When the unexpected damage to the cylinder occurred, the planning work we had already completed enabled us to quickly jump into developing a response plan and likely allowed us to complete repairs sooner than if we had been starting from scratch.
The turn cylinder overhaul work will replace or repair these parts so that they can continue to function as originally designed, and can be readily replaced if needed, as part of our ongoing preventative maintenance work on this bridge.
From Saturday, October 7 through Saturday, October 14, 2023, crews will reinstall the repaired turn cylinder inside the east pier housing that was removed in early 2023. The remaining three turn cylinders will also be rehabilitated in the future. This operation will require us to close the low bridge for people driving, biking, and walking for approximately one week. Our work will be vital to keep the bridge reliably in operation for today and the future.
The announcement also says that free Transit GO credits will be provided so you can take a daily bus or Water Taxi round trip at no charge. (Metro had previously announced that the Water Taxi will be out of service October 14-15 for winter preparation, so we’re checking to see if the low-bridge closure is expected to end by October 14, or whether some overlap is possible.)
Sometimes we include this reminder in the daily preview list, but today we’re making note of it separately: The WSB Community Forums‘ Freebies/Deals/Sales board is our spot for listings of yard sales, other items for sale, and free items. In the latter category, there’s a new listing this morning for free wood, and two late-season yard-sale listings. The Community Forums are also home to our free listings for local businesses with job openings, and the Lost/Found/Non-pets board (pets have their own page here. To post in the Community Forums, you need to register – go here for that.
Usually we’ve moved on to other news and information by 10 am at the latest, but today the traffic roundup has been stuck at the top of the WSB front page for a few extra hours because of technical trouble that’s kept us from publishing anything new for the past few hours. Thanks to our tech team for sleuthing and fixing the problem so we can resume publishing!
Looking for a job that’s close to home? The WSB West Seattle Jobs Offered section of our community forums has lots of new listings – 19 local jobs listed in just the past week – so we’re publishing one of our periodic reminders, in case you were unaware of its existence. For local businesses/organizations, it’s free to post a job. You do need a (free) log-in for the forum section – and if you don’t already have one, you can get that here. You don’t need a log-in to browse the section if you’re looking for work, though – just go here.
(WSB photos)
This afternoon, state and local cleanup crews were at the encampment across from the Arrowhead Gardens senior-living complex on Myers Way in southeast West Seattle. After photographing what they were doing, we asked WSDOT how exactly today’s work fits into the “resolution” plan detailed at a meeting Tuesday night (WSB coverage here). Here’s what WSDOT’s Brian Nielsen subsequently said in an email update:
As mentioned on Tuesday evening, last Friday WSDOT posted notice at the Myers Way encampment sharing that all operable vehicles needed to move off the site, urging individuals who have challenges moving their vehicles to reach out to outreach teams on site for assistance. Work wrapped up yesterday to place barrier to eliminate access for any new vehicles to the site. The City of Seattle also posted “No Parking” signs on both sides of Myers Way.
This is a very important step in WSDOT and our partners’ work to manage access and inhibit growth within the encampment. We also know there are inoperable vehicles that will likely remain onsite and will be addressed once the encampment is resolved.
I’m also glad to share that the pool and associated wood fencing has been removed. I know this garnered a lot of attention and for many was a symbol of how firmly entrenched this encampment was. We were able to successfully provide housing for the individual associated with these structures. Related to some of our discussion Tuesday evening, this individual was not initially interested in moving, but felt differently after working with the outreach team.
In coordination with the City of Seattle, a significant amount of debris and trash removal also occurred today, allowing for better access and sight lines as well as removing potential flammable material. Ongoing trash pickup will continue.
Also from Nielsen’s update: “While the timeline to resolution doesn’t have exact dates, it is one based on proven results. The (state Right Of Way Safety Initiative) has successfully addressed 30 encampments statewide with over 800 housing offers matched to people’s individual needs. Of those, 694 people remain in their housing options – that’s an 85% success rate in keeping people living indoors.”
As much as many love classic cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse, their real-life rodent counterparts tend to evoke different sentiments – and for good reason. Public Health-Seattle & King County‘s Environmental Health Services team wants to know what you know about rodents in Seattle, so they are hoping you can spare a few minutes to answer this online survey. You can also access it via this QR code:
In the note asking that we share this with you, Public Health explains, “The information will be used to help us improve our programming and technical assistance offerings.” (Did you even know Public Health has a rodent program? Read about it here.)
Despite its name, the Senior Center of West Seattle is about far more than serving seniors. It’s also a public gathering and event space, a community service provider, and it has ground-floor business space, too. Now the center is at the crossroads of envisioning its future, and would like your thoughts on both what it’s doing now and what it should do in the future, via a strategic-planning process. Explains center executive director Amy Lee Derenthal, “Our board and staff are thinking big and long-term as we imagine the future of our organization and the community as a whole.” We previewed the survey, and it has open-ended questions, not just checkboxes; when you have a few moments, consider participating – the survey starts here.
Today we’re welcoming InterConnection as a new WSB sponsor. That means they get to explain to you what they do:
InterConnection is a Seattle-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization building digital equity by providing affordable computers and internet service to underserved groups. Digital inclusion is critical in today’s society, where access to information, education, health care, and employment opportunity is increasingly difficult without a computer and the internet. Since 1999, InterConnection has provided affordable computers to more than 300,000 people and prevented more than 6 million pounds of e-waste from entering landfills through environmentally sustainable computer refurbishment, re-use, and recycling.
Become a Business Partner, Enable Digital Equity in Seattle
Computers are often retired before their usable life is over. By partnering with InterConnection, businesses ensure that their computers are refurbished for reuse, or recycled instead of reaching landfills.
As the first U.S. nonprofit to earn R2 and ISO 14001 certification status, InterConnection provides sustainable IT asset disposition solutions for companies large and small. We follow industry best practices ensuring the confidential data and private information existing on IT assets is never compromised. InterConnection’s standard data destruction procedures are compliant with NIST 800-88 Guidelines for Media Sanitization and the Department of Defense 5220.22-M.
Drop Off Your Used Electronics for Reuse & Recycling
InterConnection proudly offers a secure, environmentally friendly way for community members to dispose of unwanted electronic devices and accessories at our Loading Dock in Fremont, Monday through Friday from 10 am-3 pm.
Shop
InterConnection has great deals on locally refurbished desktops, laptops, and tablets – complete with a 1-year warranty and free shipping nationwide!
We thank InterConnection 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.
As discussed in comments following this morning’s traffic watch, the traffic camera that’s long shown West Marginal and Highland Park Way suddenly moved to another part of the city. Responding to our inquiry, SDOT explained that the move is part of an upgrade – that was a long-in-place portable camera, but now the permanent ones are activated, explains spokesperson Ethan Bergerson:
We have installed four new permanent traffic cameras in this general area (two intersections, each with two camera viewing angles). All of these cameras will now have the option for live video streams. We’re in the process of updating the Traveler’s Map (at this moment the view from the University District is still appearing in addition to the correct camera feeds, and you can use the “prev” and “next” buttons to switch to the correct cameras.).
Here are the locations:
W Marginal Way SW & Highland Pk Way SW (two camera angles):
2nd Ave SW & Highland Pk Way SW (two camera angles):
(To get the video feeds, you have to access the cameras via the SDOT map; the cameras and where they point are controlled by SDOT’s traffic center.) We’ll be adding these cameras to the WSB Traffic Cameras page too.
The state Attorney General’s Office is offering a new way to report robocalls – an online complaint form that is “specifically designed to assist attorneys and investigators to quickly react to complaints and stop the calls.” Along with that, they’ve also set up a new website “with descriptions of robocalls and telemarketing scams, including strategies for combating them.” Previously, you were only able to use the AG’s general consumer-complaint form to report suspicious calls. The new form is aimed at gathering information that will help state investigators “better track and discover patterns for robocalls in the state — and prevent other Washingtonians from getting more illegal calls.” Next time you get one, here’s the new form. Read up on robocalls (some of which ARE legal) and scams here. And if you want to report non-robocall types of scams/illegal telemarketing, you can do that here. And yes, the state has taken robocallers to court – today’s announcement notes three cases, including one in which a $10 million penalty was ordered.
Time for one of our occasional reminders that WSB has a section where local businesses can post job listings for free, so if you are looking for a new employee – or if you’re looking for a new job – check it out. The section is accessible via the JOBS link in the menu, whether you’re reading WSB in desktop/laptop or mobile format. It’s part of the WSB Community Forums, so you do need a login to post there. If you don’t have one, look for the box on the right sidebar in desktop/laptop/landscape-portrait view, or otherwise go to westseattleblog.com/log-in. If you post a job listing, please include direct contact info for applicants, as our software doesn’t offer direct messaging. If you’re looking for work, there are a dozen new listings just this week, from automotive-service adviser to kayaking guide – go look!
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