West Seattle, Washington
31 Sunday
5:41 PM: You can make art, join dancers, and/or just watch as Created Commons continues at Westcrest Park (9000 8th SW). Performances continue until 8 tonight, with a DNDA-curated Arts-in-Nature showcase. We’ll add photos and video when we’re back at HQ; if you can’t get here this evening, you have tomorrow, next weekend, and multiple events inbetween!
ADDED 7:24 PM: When we arrived this evening, dancer Noelle Price (above) was performing with electric cellist Gretchen Yanover.
She invited audience members to join her in front of the stage.
Co-emcee Lash (above) observed that their work conveyed “so much love and peace and sisterhood.” She handed the mic to co-emcee Dr. Sinead Younge (see her in our Night 1 coverage), who encouraged everyone to “be part of the art” (including pulling the cord that flaps the wings of the kinetic sculpture Interspecies Communication, made by Created Commons coordinating team Lelavision). Dr. Younge also offered props for Erika Bell from DNDA, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center manager and curator of today’s showcase:
(Erika Bell with DNDA executive director David Bestock)
The performances are telling stories, observed Lash, stories “that are not fictional – they’re real.” She introduced a group whose music and movement told stories of West Africa, Boka Kouyate and the Djeliyah Band:
They explained that the Djeli people were for centuries the ones who communicated between the community and kings, so the latter could more wisely rule.
See the Created Commons schedule here; tomorrow includes not only performances curated by artist/activist dani tirrell but also a panel on health-care access, part of the Created Commons mission to elevate science as well as art. This is all free; a booth is set up if you want to donate to Real Rent Duwamish, in honor of the Indigenous people whose unceded land is where this is taking place.
Last week, we previewed a first-ever event coming up at Westcrest Park (9000 8th SW) – actually a series of events spread over nine days, tomorrow (Friday, August 27th) through Sunday, September 5th – transforming part of the park into a “Created Commons,” hosted and curated by Lelavision. The Created Commons will feature what the overview describes as “BIPOC-centered performances, kinetic musical-sculpture, eco-art installations and workshops, wellness offerings, and science panels to cultivate our health as a community.” Now that it’s almost here, we have updates.
The first event is at 6 pm Friday (calendar listing here), honoring the Duwamish Tribe, with other participants sharing “stories, music, and tales of their activism on behalf of the resident Orcas in the Salish Sea.” On Friday night, families in need can get free groceries at the park, thanks to Free Food for All. A highlight this Saturday (August 28th) is the Arts in Nature Festival Showcase presented by Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, 3-8 pm, a mini-version of the annual festival, promising music, poetry, and dance.
As you can see in the full Created Commons schedule on Lelavision’s website, this isn’t just a spectator event – there are opportunities for participation. That includes the vaccination pop-ups we mentioned yesterday as well as free wellness classes:
Those are just some of the events – we’re adding listings to the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar too. And along with scheduled events, Lelavision will bring its kinetic sculpture Interspecies Communication (seen in South Park in 2017) to the park for community interaction, noon-8 pm all four weekend days (August 28-29, September 4-5). All events over the course of Created Commons are free, funded by grants and sponsorships.
(WSB photo, 2017)
Back in 2017, we photographed the portable kinetic sculpture “Interspecies Communication” during a daylong event at Duwamish Waterway Park in South Park. Now the sculpture and its creators – Vashon Island-based Lelavision – are coming to Westcrest Park in West Seattle for a nine-day “celebration of art and science.” From the announcement:
On August 27-September 5, 2021, Lelavision will animate West Seattle’s Westcrest Park with BIPOC-centered performances, kinetic musical-sculpture, eco-art installations and workshops, wellness offerings, and science panels to cultivate our health as a community.
As part of the Created Commons initiative, the performance and production company Lelavision (choreographer/organizer Leah Okamoto Mann and sculptor/musician Ela Lamblin) will provide a neighborhood celebration featuring BIPOC-centered performances, wellness offerings, and science panels utilizing their interactive kinetic sculpture, Interspecies Communication. This large sculpture — 50 feet long and 32 feet wide — depicts a whale and a bird. Visitors can make the bird “fly” from 12 pm to 8 pm each weekend of the event, by setting its wings in motion.
This family-friendly, zero-waste event is free and open to the public. All are encouraged to bring picnics, camping chairs, blankets, and filled water bottle, which will help them stay hydrated during the fun. Composting and recycle bins will help keep the park clean. Visitors should pack out all other trash in the spirit of leaving the park better than we found it. Vashon Island Growers Association will provide free organic produce, and a variety of food trucks will be on site, including delicious ice cream from event sponsor Full Tilt Ice Cream. There is limited parking at the park, but plenty of surface street parking. No alcohol will be permitted on site.
An Indigenous-centered opening will kick off the nine-day event on Friday, August 27, at 6 pm. Orca Annie & Odin Lonning, UW Tacoma Students from the Pacific Islander Student Association, will share stories, music, and tales of their activism on behalf of the resident Orcas in the Salish Sea. Duwamish Tribe representatives Ken Workman, Nancy Sackman, and Billie Jane Lakey will also be present. Donations for Real Rent Duwamish will be collected throughout the event to honor the Duwamish Tribe and acknowledge the unceded land the event will take place upon.
On Saturday, August 28, 12 pm – 8 pm, the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA) will present an Arts in Nature Festival Showcase, a condensed version of the well-loved annual Arts In Nature Festival that has offered an eclectic experience of art and performance in a local park for 22 years. Starting at noon, the park will be full of art on the paths, fun in the field, sound baths, roving dancers, and more. Between 3:00 and 8:00 pm, poet LASH will co-MC the main stage performances, with movement artists Danza Symbiosis, Seattle Capoeira, and Noelle Price with cellist Gretchen Yanover. Music features include Troy Osaki, Jennifer Moore, and Holy Pistola.
Sunday, August 29, from 12 pm to 3 pm, the park will come alive with activities and eco-arts in the field and with trail animations. From 4pm to 8pm, the festival will feature performances curated by artist and activist dani tirrell and a science panel on health-care access. Panelists include Candace Jackson of the African American Health Board of Seattle and Dr Sinead Younge, Director of the Social Justice Inquiry and Praxis Institute in the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership at Morehouse College. Performers Dandy (David Rue & Randy Ford), Northwest Tap Connection, Majinn (Michael O’Neal), J Mase III, Kutt’N’Up, and Malicious Vixens will take the stage following the panel. The evening’s finale will be a community dance party with DJ dark_wiley. Pop-up vaccines will be available on site.
On Tuesday, August 31, from 6 pm-8 pm, the festival will create a community event in honor of Overdose Awareness Day in collaboration with artist and counselor, Alexia Jones, the Executive Director of R2ise and Dr Seema Clifasefi of UW’s HaRRT Program (Harm Reduction, Research, Treatment). Vaccines will also be available on this day.
Friday, September 3, 6 pm-8 pm will feature a drumming circle with artist Sumayya Diop. Some drums will be provided, or participants can bring their own percussion (including clapping, stepping, and heartbeat).
Saturday and Sunday, September 4 and 5, 3 pm-8 pm Jack Straw Cultural Center joins Lelavision in presenting BIPOC poets, musicians, and dancers, including Hula Halau O’keala’Akua Naniloa Mana’oakamai; Jack Straw Writers, hosted by Anastacia-Renee; and music by JR Rhodes. Sunday’s presentations will include a Community Bon Odori; music by Nic Masangkay, Trio Guandalevin, and Seattle Kokon Taiko, and Jack Straw Writers, hosted by E.J. Koh.
You can also see the schedule details here.
FRIDAY UPDATE: The performance has been canceled because of illness – watch for a new date.
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Twice this summer, local musicians have serenaded Schmitz Park visitors with free “Flutes in the Forest” concerts – the video above is from the second one earlier this month. Next Saturday, you’re invited to the third one. From organizers’ announcement:
The JBC Flute Trio (Jennie Goldberg, Barb Cotton, and Carolyn Hoppe-Denend) will play an hour of flute trios including favorites from concert #1.
Saturday, August 21, 2021 – 2:30 PM
Bring your own chair or blanket. Invite your friends and family! Bring a picnic. Feel free to come and go.
On concert day, you’re advised to enter Schmitz Park from Admiral/Stevens.
Thanks to Mike Munson for the photo from Lincoln Park. Mike reports, “Shoulder to shoulder fishing this morning at Lincoln Park, just north of the pool. Saw several catches. The crowd has been building over the last week — run must be getting strong.” That’s the every-two-year pink-salmon run.
The Delridge wading pool is closed today because of a staff shortage. Seattle Parks just tweeted that announcement. Lincoln Park wading pool remains open until 7, Highland Park spraypark until 8.
(Photo from seattle.gov)
In late July, we reported that Seattle Parks hoped to reopen Southwest Pool – West Seattle’s only city-run indoor pool – in September. No date was set at the time. Now, we have one: Monday, September 13th. That’s when SW Pool (2801 SW Thistle) will reopen “for lap swim, limited aquatic exercise classes, independent aquatic fitness, and swim team rentals.” No swim lessons, though, per today’s announcement. In the meantime, city-run Colman Pool, on the shore at Lincoln Park, remains open through September 6th. P.S. The city still has aquatic-job openings!
(WSB June photo of soon-to-be-removed seawall)
We reported in coverage of last month’s Morgan Community Association meeting that Seattle Parks was close to choosing a contractor for the Lowman Beach Park project that will remove the seawall and tennis court and restore a more-natural shoreline. Announced today, the contractor is McClung Construction of Buckley, awarded a $1.2 million contract, according to Parks’ project manager Janice Liang. They’ll start mobilizing in early September, which means partial closure of the park; Parks says that “includes beach access, tennis court and trail access. Public access to a portion of the lawn and playground area will be maintained.” The failing seawall used to continue across the south half of the park’s shore, but that part was removed in the 1990s; the new work will not only expand the sandy beach area, but will also daylight part of Pelly Creek. (added) Construction is expected to last at least eight months.
Thanks for the tip! The Junction Plaza Park kinetic sculpture’s new wood framing has caught some attention. We asked Lora Radford at the West Seattle Junction Association. She says it’s related to the ongoing renovations at Alaska House, the apartment building whose south-facing wall it abuts – painting and other work is planned for the building, so this was done to protect the sculpture. In case you’re new – the sculpture, by local artist Troy Pillow, was installed and dedicated in 2016.
If you missed the first “Flutes in the Forest” outdoor concert last month – here’s another chance: 4 pm Wednesday (August 4th), Jennie Goldberg and Jaime Cornutt of the West Seattle flute duo Toujaise will be playing at Schmitz Park. Free, bring your own chair/blanket; enter the park from Admiral/Stevens [map] and, the musicians advise, “walk the paved road 300 feet to the sound of flutes in the forest.”
Thanks to Sean for sending that photo of a warning sign spotted along the trail north of the central Lincoln Park parking lot. We asked Seattle Parks about it, and got this explanation from spokesperson Rachel Schulkin:
People were reporting to staff that they were being stung on this trail. We put up the sign to warn people until we could investigate and decide on next steps. Today we identified and sprayed a wasp nest. Sign should be gone now.
We also only spray wasps if they are a danger to the public, as was the case here. If they are high in trees or away from heavily used areas and don’t present a danger to the public or staff, we leave them.
Here’s more info on Parks’ pest-management policy; here’s more info about wasps and other stinging inspects.
The chlorine shortage continues to impact our operations but we are hopeful that we can make it through to the end of the summer without any further impacts to the public.
(WSB file photo)
Yesterday’s temporary closure of the Delridge wading pool reminded us that we hadn’t checked on the state of Seattle Parks aquatics for a while. So here’s what we found out, thanks to Parks spokesperson Rachel Schulkin:
WADING POOLS: The current curtailed schedules aren’t expected to change before season’s end – what you see now is what you get, for this year.
SWIMMING POOLS: Five are open citywide, including outdoor Colman Pool at Lincoln Park, but that closes in early September. So what’s the status of West Seattle’s indoor city-run pool, long-closed Southwest Pool? Schulkin says, “We anticipate opening Southwest Pool in September for drop-in swim, and adding lessons in October.”
IMPORTANT NOTE: Reopening the rest of the city’s pools, Schulkin stresses, “is all dependent on our ability to hire pool staff and lifeguards. We are actively recruiting and hiring.” Info on the openings, and how to apply, is here.
(Added: WSB photo)
Seattle Parks says the Delridge wading pool – the only one scheduled to be open in West Seattle on Mondays – is closed today for repairs. Parks says it needed “an emergency concrete repair that requires a day to set.” They expect it to reopen tomorrow. If your kid(s) need somewhere else to cool off, Highland Park Spraypark is open until 8 pm as usual (1100 SW Cloverdale).
This Wednesday, a City Council committee will hold a public hearing on the proposal to rename what’s currently single-family zoning “neighborhood residential.”
Last Wednesday, a staffer from the office of citywide Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, the West Seattleite who’s sponsoring the proposal, was at the Morgan Community Association‘s quarterly meeting to talk about it.
That was one of several major topics at the online meeting led by MoCA president Deb Barker. Our recap is ahead: Read More
Thanks to Jennie Goldberg for the video from one of today’s spotlighted West Seattle events – Flutes in the Forest! She reports:
At least 40 people enjoyed the JBC Rose Trio at Schmitz Park today. Attached is a video clip of part of one piece from an hour of flute-trio music – Four Seasons by George Frederick McKay.
The trio plans another free concert in Schmitz Park this August or September.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
If you use West Seattle’s only dog park, the Westcrest Park Off-Leash Area, you’ve benefited from the work of Steve McElhenney, who’s been the volunteer steward there for two decades.
He’s given thousands of hours. But one of the gifts he’s tried recently to give – the gift of safety – has been roundly rejected. And he’s furious.
As has been reported in West Seattle Crime Watch coverage here over the years, Westcrest is a car-prowl hot spot. (Here’s just one of dozens of reports we’ve published.) McElhenney says he’s tried to get extra police attention there. But, he’s been told – as precinct leadership has said at countless community meetings – they’re shorthanded. (Back in February, the precinct said they’d try for extra patrols, but nothing’s been mentioned since then.) So he tried something else, something countless people are using on their own porches, decks, and yards: A camera.
Work has been going on at the Morgan Junction Park expansion site, north of the current park in the 6400 block of California SW [map], but it’s not a sign the long-shelved park-development project is getting under way. That and other “landbanked” park projects (including two others in West Seattle) have been indefinitely idled because of Parks revenue losses blamed on the pandemic. So, some asked, what’s up with the heavy equipment and piles of gravel/rocks that have shown up at this site?
Kelly Goold of Seattle Parks told WSB that it’s “being used by a contractor associated with a SPU project under a Revokable Use Permit. Instead of fees [for using the site] the contractor will perform work on the site – clearing and grubbing of blackberries and invasive, rough grading, limited demolition, and the like.” What’s the Seattle Public Utilities project? We asked SPU’s Sabrina Register, who said the project is almost next door, “repair to a section of the sewer main that runs along SW Beveridge Place as part of a multi-site sewer-rehabilitation project.” SPU has used other Parks property in similar ways before, such as a section of the Myers Way Parcels (explained here). As for the future of the Morgan Junction Park Addition, the site (which formerly held businesses including a dry cleaner) is still set for hazardous-materials remediation at some point in the not-too-distant future – Goold said the funding for that, unlike the park development itself, has not been suspended, but the work has to go out to bid. (Here’s the environmental “checklist” from earlier this year.) The city bought the park site seven years ago; its status is likely to be a topic during the next quarterly Morgan Community Association meeting (7 pm July 21st, full announcement to come).
JULY 21 UPDATE: SPU has corrected which project is being staged at the future park site – it’s for the water-main repair work on SW Othello in Gatewood, not the upcoming Beveridge work.
(Schurman Rock photo courtesy Seattle Parks)
From Diana Palmer:
West Seattle Girl Scouts’ Day Camp, a 60-year tradition at Camp Long, just had a last-minute cancellation to help belay and teach climbing to Girl Scouts at the famous Schurman Rock at Camp Long. July 21, 22, and 27 & 28 between 10:30 am-3 pm, Looking for volunteers or affordable organization to help teach 200 Girl Scouts rock-climbing skills!
If you can help, call Diana at 206-579-4222.
(WSB file photo)
Last week, the city announced a 9-month pilot program closing Golden Gardens, the Ballard beach park, at 10 pm, but nothing for Alki. Today – four days after a deadly shooting – an announcement that Alki will close early too, but only for the next four nights:
Seattle Parks and Recreation is implementing new temporary closing hours at Alki Beach Park (2665 Alki Ave. SW) beginning on Friday, July 2 through Monday, July 5. The park will close daily at 10:00 p.m. (instead of 11:30 p.m.) and reopen as normal at 4:30 a.m.
This temporary closing time change, authorized by SMC 18.12.040, is intended to deter illegal use of fireworks and to help mitigate illegal activity at the park during the anticipated busy holiday weekend. Alki Beach Park has experienced an increase in public safety issues, including acts of violence, excessive noise violations, illegal fires, and unpermitted events.
SPR has already implemented several strategies to try to discourage illegal behaviors at Alki Beach Park:
· Public education: To clarify and publicize beach fire rules and other park rules, we are using our website and social media resources, sandwich-board signs at the park, and most recently, two large electronic reader-boards stating that fires are allowed in authorized firepits only, and the time by which fires must be extinguished. (Reader-board messaging may change to reflect updates.)
· Enhanced staffing: Five staff are on the beach nightly. They remind park users that fires can be in firepits only and must be extinguished by 9:30 p.m.; remind park users that amplified music is prohibited; pick up litter; clean and restock restrooms.
· Reduced hours for fires: Staff extinguish beach fires by 9:30 nightly.
· SPD coordination: We stay in close communication and strategize with SPD regarding efforts to enforce laws and prevent illegal behaviors.
Alki Beach Park will continue to allow beach fires over the holiday weekend in designated fire rings. All beach fires must be extinguished by 9:30 p.m. and all visitors will be asked to leave the park by 10 p.m. Please see beach fire rules here.
Alki Beach Park daily operating hours will return to 4:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. effective July 6, 2021.
(Reader photo, 2020, fireworks debris at a local park – one that did NOT have lights on)
Every year, Seattle Parks announces it’s keeping lights on for a few hours on the night of July 3rd and 4th at certain locations to try to deter fireworks use. It’s just announced this year’s list. Lights will go on around 8:30 pm and off at 11 pm this Saturday and Sunday at locations including these in West Seattle:
Delridge Playfield, 4458 Delridge Way SW
Hiawatha Playfield, 2700 California Ave. SW
Walt Hundley Playfield, 6920 34th Avenue SW
West Seattle Stadium, 4432 35th Ave. SW
The Parks announcement notes that fireworks, among other things, destroy artificial turf, which would cost more than a million dollars to replace on a full-size field. Also noted: “The fields will be monitored by security from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m.”
P.S. We’re checking with other jurisdictions with local parks/sports facilities to find out about their deterrence plans, if any.
(WSB photo, last week – Lowman Beach tennis court and swing set)
About 50 people showed up online Tuesday evening for the third meeting about a possible racket-sport court for Lowman Beach Park once the current one is removed along with the failing seawall nearby. Here’s what it boiled down to: Seattle Parks says it’s open to the idea of a pickleball court in currently open space on the south side of the park, but not another tennis court. And Parks doesn’t have money for any added features, so if a pickleball court is proposed and approved, the estimated $450,000 cost would have to be covered by a community fundraising campaign. A community group, the Seattle Sports Complex Foundation, got a grant to cover the cost of the process up to this point, working with HBB Landscape Architecture on concepts, but as was made clear last night, this meeting marked the end of that process. Furthermore, Kliment said Parks’ approval wasn’t guaranteed if this community group or someone else decided to pursue the pickleball option – just that Parks isn’t opposed to it, as long as it wouldn’t require removal of the park’s popular swing set, but Parks is opposed to a new tennis court. So now the ball is in community advocates’ court, so to speak. As for how much longer the current court will be available, the removal project (also grant-funded) is out to bid right now and expected to start later this summer. As explained in a separate series of public meetings, it will result in beach restoration and Pelly Creek daylighting.
P.S. Parks says it’ll post video of last night’s meeting on this page soon – we’ll add that link here when it’s available.
(WSB file photo, Delridge wading pool)
Seattle Parks is still opening some of its wading pools and sprayparks this Saturday (June 26th), but the schedules will be more limited than first announced, at least for a while. That’s because of the chlorine shortage, according to Parks’ announcement:
Due to a regional shortage of chlorine that is just coming to the fore, SPR must make temporary adjustments to this summer’s wading pool schedules. Spraypark schedules remain unaffected at this time.
For wading pools, the new schedule allows all previously-announced pools to open, but on an alternating schedule. This will enable equitable distribution of our current supply of chlorine until we can obtain more. When that occurs, our plan is to open each wading pool 7 days per week. Some pools will operate from Saturday to Tuesday, and some from Thursday to Sunday. For now, all wading pools will be closed on Wednesdays.
We understand how frustrating this situation is, and share in your disappointment. Rest assured that staff is working diligently to solve the matter, and know that we will update you as soon as we know more.
So here’s the West Seattle plan:
Highland Park spraypark (1100 SW Cloverdale) – Open 7 days a week, 11 am-8 pm, as planned
Delridge wading pool (4501 Delridge Way SW) – Open (updated) noon-5:30 pm Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays
Lincoln Park wading pool (8011 Fauntleroy Way SW) – Open noon-7 pm Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays
(As previously announced, Parks does NOT plan to open the EC Hughes or Hiawatha wading pools this year.)
(2012 Lowman Beach aerial photo – pre-Murray CSO Project – by Long Bach Nguyen
Last weekend we published the announcement of a third public meeting about what might happen at Lowman Beach Park once the crumbling seawall and neighboring tennis court are removed. The announcement said only that “two concepts” would be discussed. Today Seattle Parks revealed those two concepts are: Pickleball court, or no replacement. But Parks also says more tennis courts in the area will be opened to the public. From the announcement:
Two public meetings have been held and three concepts were reviewed. After reviewing the work from the community and the design team, SPR recommends either adding a pickleball court (and saving the swings) or allowing for no additional change than the beach restoration project. SPR does not support the tennis-court concept.
SPR’s recommendation takes into account the park location, its unique characteristics, proximity to other tennis courts, and future maintenance impacts. In addition, SPR reviewed the images from the public meetings, phone calls, emails, and the extensive community outreach to inform this decision. The decision also supports SPR’s Strategic Plan, as the Healthy Environment section calls out preserving a healthy ocean and marine environment that contribute to the health of the Seattle and Pacific ecosystem and a balance between active and passive recreation.
SPR did hear from the community about the importance of racket courts and has worked out an agreement with Seattle Public Schools to open the six courts at the Southwest Athletic Complex [WSB photo above]. The courts are free for drop-in unless reserved … Information about court reservations can be found here.
(We don’t see the SWAC courts listed there yet; we’ll check with Parks tomorrow.) Back to Lowman Beach – the meeting is online at 6:30 pm next Tuesday (June 29th); register here to participate. If the pickleball concept is pursued, funds have to be raised to build it, as Parks has no funding allocated beyond the beach restoration following the seawall/tennis-court removal.
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