In this morning’s traffic roundup, we briefly mentioned SFD units blocking part of Harbor Avenue because of a medical response at Seacrest. Though the callout was not listed as a water rescue, we later learned from readers in the area that the person who was treated by SFD medics had been diving. Dispatch audio indicated he was unconscious when brought out of the water around 9 am. Radio exchanges also indicated that he would be taken to Virginia Mason Hospital, which has a hyperbaric chamber. Seattle Fire spokesperson David Cuerpo tells WSB that the 63-year-old man was assessed as being in critical condition when transported to VM.

Thanks to Stewart L. for the tip and the photo above. Part of the city effort to rein in problems along Alki/Harbor Avenues has been signage, and here’s more. He says these signs were installed Friday or early Saturday at Don Armeni Boat Ramp, which has become more of a hotspot for trouble from stunt driving all the way to murder (two unsolved shooting deaths at or near the park in 13 months).

(WSB photo)

Police have been stationed at the park on some nights as well.

P.S. Our archives remind us that this isn’t the first time signage has been added in hopes of tamping down on some problems at the boat-ramp park.

11:56 AM: Thanks to Tom Trulin for the photos taken today as the years-overdue Lincoln Park South Play Area replacement enters the home stretch. Seattle Parks most recently told us it would be complete this month. Tom’s photos show some of the marine-theme features in the design created with community input six years ago.

This past Friday marked seven years since the old south play area’s shutdown because of safety concerns from wood damage.

At the time in July 2017, Parks said it might take a year to fix or replace the damaged structure. We’re checking to see if they have an official projected opening date yet, now that this appears to be down to the final stages of construction.

4:56 PM: Parks spokesperson Karen O’Connor replies, “We are working through some final construction items. We should have a better idea early next week on an opening date.”

4:51 PM: Several people have asked about a multi-unit SFD response at Lincoln Park this past hour. All we know so far is that it was dispatched as a report that an 11-year-old had “fallen 25 feet” near the north parking lot. The log shows that SFD medics are making a hospital transport. (added) Once medics started evaluating him, they said it was more like a 12-foot fall, from a tree, and that he was alert/conscious.

5:57 PM: SFD confirms to us that the 11-year-old fell an estimated 12 feet and was in stable condition when taken to Harborview.

By Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Members of the Morgan Junction All-Wheels Association (MJAWA) met online last week to discuss the latest plans and ideas for an all-wheeled “skate dot” area (dedicated to activities like skating, scooters, and biking) in the south part of eventually expanding Morgan Junction Park.

The overall “Morgan Junction Addition Project” timeline from Seattle Parks can be found here, with completion expected by Spring of 2025. For historical context: The site was purchased by the city in 2014 and then “landbanked” for park expansion (see our prior coverage here; the site was formerly a dry cleaning business, and “soil remediation” work has been required). 

In recent months, MJAWA has been gathering community feedback about their three potential design concepts for the all-wheels area, which would be up to 1,500 square feet, within the larger park:

Story and photos by Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

A new West Seattle community park with an inspiring origin story was officially opened to the public in an emotional celebration ceremony and ribbon-cutting on Sunday.

The new park, at the south end of the West Seattle Church of the Nazarene property at 4201 SW Juneau St, is called Maarten Park, named after neighbor and congregation member Maarten Verburg, who passed away in 2023 after battling leukemia, and who was instrumental in helping to realize the vision of converting the space into a park.

More than a decade ago, the church began plans to revitalize and redevelop its property, which included building six townhomes, and utilizing the outdoor open space known informally as “the park” which has been used over the years for outdoor movies and gatherings and other events. Sunday’s ceremony, which we previewed earlier last week, represented an important step in officially establishing the park as a true community resource, according to church leaders. 

Here’s a video of the ribbon-cutting portion of the ceremony, with Verburg’s wife Marcy Mabry and son Jakob doing the honors, and with an introductory assist from pastor Shaun Mattson, as kids eagerly waited for the park to open: 

Prior to the service, the congregation held a “church service in the park,” during which Mattson talked about the history of the church property and the support and generosity of Verburg, whom he said “started as a neighbor, became a friend, and turned into a church member” and was a “gift to us all”:

As the service concluded, the congregation and visitors moved toward the south end of the property, for the park dedication ceremony:

Mattson (at center) invited Joe Paar (at left), a local developer who was instrumental in helping with the church’s property plans including the development of the park, to say a few words, with help from church family member Jayden (at right) who held the ribbon-cutting scissors:

The group also acknowledged the efforts of John Mullan and his team at PlayCreation for donating time and materials to help get the project completed.

Mabry (with her son) then shared that her husband “loved living in this neighborhood; he loved this community and this church,” and she said she’s thankful “for all of the great things to come from having this space for kids, neighbors and community to gather:” 

You may notice in the photos that both Mabry and Mattson were wearing Dutch wooden shoes, in honor of Verburg (who was born in the Netherlands, and famously wore the shoes often while working on the church grounds). Mattson joked that “You could always hear Maarten coming!” and Mabry said that she and Maarten even wore the shoes during their wedding):

After the ribbon was cut and the kids and their families happily ran into the park to play, the group prepared and enjoyed a BBQ lunch:

The park itself includes open play areas and playground equipment, in addition to toys for younger kids to enjoy: 

Maarten Park is open to the public, south of the church building at the southwest corner of 42nd Ave SW and Juneau St. 

That’s the wading pool at EC Hughes Playground. When Seattle Parks wading pools start opening for the season tomorrow (Saturday, June 22), it won’t be ready to go. We discovered this while checking the Parks pool-info page – “E.C. Hughes Playground wading pool is closed for repairs.” No explanation, and our subsequent visit to the park (2805 SW Holden) didn’t show anything obviously wrong with the pool, but we did see evidence of some water-related work elsewhere in the park, and Parks spokesperson Christina Hirsch tells us that’s related:

Our Facilities crews are addressing a pipe issue at this location. We replaced a substantial section of the waterline and when we re-energized the system another section failed. We are currently working with a contractor to replace another hundred feet of mainline using vertical boring to avoid a large excavation on the site. We hope to have a schedule for that work next week. Once we get that complete, barring any other issues, we should be able to open things up rapidly.

So for the start of the season, West Seattle will have three wading pools:

–Lincoln Park (8011 Fauntleroy Way SW), daily starting Saturday, noon-7 pm, last day September 2
–Delridge (4501 Delridge Way SW), Wednesdays-Thursdays-Fridays, noon-5:30 pm, June 26-August 16
–Hiawatha (2700 California SW), Thursdays-Fridays-Saturdays, noon-5:30 pm, June 27-August 17

(When EC Hughes does open, its scheduled open days are Mondays, Tuesdays, and Sundays.) Remember that on cooler days (below 70) the pools generally don’t open; you can check the status every morning by calling 206-684-7796 (recorded info updated by 9:30 am), and we also include wading-pool info in our daily “what’s happening” lists.

P.S. Highland Park Spraypark is already open and continues daily operation, 11 am-8 pm, at 1100 SW Cloverdale, through September 2.

(WSB photo – part of Maarten Park)

More than a decade after the West Seattle Church of the Nazarene embarked on a project to redevelop part of its property long known as “the park,” what remains as open space is truly becoming one. The church will dedicated what it calls Maarten Park in a community celebration on Sunday. This update is from Marcy Mabry:

This Sunday, June 23, will be the grand opening celebration of Maarten Park! Located next to West Seattle Church of the Nazarene on the 5900 block of 42nd Ave, the church dreamed of this greenspace becoming a park where neighbors and kids can gather, have fun, get to know each other, and build community. Named for our neighbor and congregant Maarten Verburg, who passed away in 2023, Maarten loved anything that brought people together, and he loved a good party – so let’s celebrate!

The day will start with a special church service outside in the park at 10 am. Following, around 11:15, will be the opening ceremony. Then we party! At noon, hamburgers & hot dogs should be ready, feel free to bring a dish to share. West Seattle’s own The Viking Surfers will be playing a set around 1:30. ALL are welcome!

West Seattle Naz is a small church that does so much for so many with so little, and their gift of this greenspace transforming into a park for the community could not have happened without the generosity of friends, neighbors, congregants, and family who have pitched in – whether it be financially, with volunteering, and with cheering on the crew! Very special thanks to John Mullan and his crew at PlayCreation for donating time and materials to make this dream a reality!

There’s still more to do to make this an even more awesome park: Park lighting, more outdoor toys, hillside climb & explore objects, outdoor lighting, and recurring maintenance costs. If you’re able to donate to support the park, you can do so at either link:
westseattlenaz.org/about-us/maarten-park
gofundme.com/f/maarten-park

When last we asked Seattle Parks about the Lincoln Park South Play Area timeline – with construction finally under way, seven years after it was closed for wood damage – they told us it was expected to be complete this month. We went over the other day for a look, and noticed that despite June having less than two weeks left, the play area did not appear anywhere near complete. As the top photo shows, the new play structure is in place, but otherwise, the site still looks fairly raw:

The project webpage hadn’t been updated since January when we looked on Monday before sending Parks’ media team an inquiry. They have yet to reply, but we noticed that our inquiry has led to a small update on the website, where the anticipated completion date has changed from June to July.

This is the third-to-last day you’ll find Colman Pool covered in early afternoon, for a while – the historic heated-salt-water pool on the Lincoln Park shore goes 7 days a week starting Saturday (June 22), just in time for possible mid-80s temperatures! The season schedule is now online – noon-7 pm daily, broken into lap swim, rec swim, and swim lesson sessions. Also remember that the pool will be closed to the public five days for swim meets, June 27-29 and July 12-13. Fees are listed here; if you’re planning on going often, you might consider getting a pass. Colman Pool is scheduled to close for the season after Labor Day.

(Photos by Omar Abdulkadir for WSB)

Park visitors of all ages got a chance to experience climbing during Camp Long‘s Mountain Fest on Saturday. It’s the annual chance to explore the park’s unique features that give you the chance to climb without leaving West Seattle:

Mountain Fest also provided opportunities to learn about wildlife – whether from The Falconer‘s raptors like this owl …

or from Seattle Parks naturalists who were there to answer questions about other creatures you might see (all in a day’s work for them, since Camp Long is an Environmental Learning Ceter):

If you didn’t get to Mountain Fest, Camp Long is open to visitors at other times too – the main entrance is at 35th/Dawson, by the historic lodge, which is available for rentals (as are the 10 cabins at the park)

Thanks to Lisa McGinty, forest steward with Friends of Lincoln Park, for a report and photos on their latest restoration event:

We had a great time in the forest on Sunday. Twenty-five volunteers gathered to enjoy wildlife, nature education, and have fun getting muddy doing some forest restoration.

Grateful to the community for showing up and caring about our urban green spaces!

This event is part of the Society for Ecological Restoration’s Make a Difference Week – an annual week of global restoration action where individuals and organizations from around the world host and participate in local volunteer restoration events to achieve a tremendous global collective impact.

Missed it? If you have time tomorrow afternoon/evening, it’s not too late to get in on the World Environment Day restoration event at Pigeon Point Park!