West Seattle, Washington
30 Saturday
Last month, we reported on the Admiral Neighborhood Association getting a preview of planned additions to Nantes Park (5062 SW Admiral Way). Today, the date was announced for a “community review” of the plans, in the context of an anniversary for the sister-city relationship the park honors. From the city’s announcement:
Mayor Jenny Durkan of Seattle and Mayor Johanna Rolland of Nantes, France signed a joint proclamation committing to a continued partnership between Seattle and Nantes and celebrating 40 years of the Sister-City relationship: “Our cities are places of experimentation and knowledge, incubators of creativity. They can be a source of proposals in many areas. We, the Mayors of Nantes and Seattle, are committed to sharing our experiences, fostering constructive dialogue, working together within the framework of our public policies, by 2030, and developing partnerships between Nantes and Seattle in all areas that can contribute to the well-being of our communities, and respect and protection of the fundamental values of freedom and equality that inspire us.”
The City of Seattle, through Seattle Parks and Recreation and the community, reaffirms its Sister-City relationship with Nantes, France with the launch of the Nantes Park Beautification Project to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Sister-City relationship.
Nantes Park, located at 5062 SW Admiral Way in West Seattle, will get a facelift that includes a paved loop walkway with embedded French art, temporary French art installations and student-submitted art tiles along the seat wall. The project, led by the Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association (SNSCA) in partnership with the Admiral Neighborhood Association and funded by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, the City of Nantes, the West Seattle Garden Tour and volunteers, will transform the park into a fun, family-friendly, and accessible communal area reflective of the sister-city relationship.
The SNSCA is collaborating with Claude Ponti, beloved and prolific French children’s author and illustrator, on art for the park. Ponti’s experience with the Jardin des Plantes and the Parc de la Beaujoire in Nantes will highlight French-influenced art in the Seattle’s Nantes Park, symbolizing the intersection of the two cultures through the Sister-City relationship. Nantes Park will also represent Ponti’s first art installation to be showcased in the United States.
“We are thrilled to work with Monsieur Ponti. He has created more than a dozen whimsical, interactive works of art in the Jardin des Plantes in Nantes that capture the attention of children and adults alike. Interacting with his fantastical creatures sparks imagination and creative play,” explains Susan Kegel, President of the Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association.
The park will also feature art-tiles lining the seat wall. The art tiles will showcase art submitted by students in Seattle and Nantes who participate in the Passe Partout high school exchange program between the two cities.
A community review is scheduled for Tuesday, March 30th at 7 pm. This is an opportunity for SNSCA to gather feedback on designs and for the community to provide input on the final art installations that will be featured in the park. Please visit the SNSCA website for more information on participating in the community review. …
The Nantes Park project is part of a year-long celebration on both sides of the Atlantic recognizing the 40th anniversary of Seattle’s sister-city relationship with Nantes. This spring, look for the release of a special Seattle-Nantes Sister City beer created in an international colla-beer-ation between Seattle’s Lantern Brewing and Nantes’ Bubar. This celebratory beverage, brewed and bottled in each city from a common recipe, will be a gose-style beer featuring Washington State cranberries and Guérande salt from the Nantes region. To capstone the year-long program, Seattle will welcome the delegation from Nantes in fall 2021 to celebrate the grand re-opening of Nantes Park and discuss ideas for future partnerships.
The Nantes community will be celebrating with a “Seattle Orchard” in the Jardin du Grand Blottereau, a sound installation at le Muséum by La Maison des Etats Unis, film screenings, lectures and much more. …
The link and phone number for participating in next Tuesday’s meeting can be found here.
(Image by Michael Hubbard, SAS Customer Service Representative)
Now that spring is here, warm weather is on its way, and parks will get busier. For people who bring their pets, Seattle Parks and Recreation has rules – such as, no pets on beaches or in ponds or streams. But what’s the problem? some wonder, insisting their pets are well-behaved. To answer that question, the Seattle Animal Shelter published this post: “Pets Are Not Allowed – But Why?” explaining three major reasons for rules regarding pets at parks, both on the water and inland. WSB reader Tami saw it this past week and emailed us suggesting that we tell you about it; she explained, “As a one-time beach naturalist with the Seattle Aquarium, this is an issue that concerns me, and I think it would be good to remind everyone WHY pets should respect public park spaces.” P.S. If you’re new in West Seattle, we do have one off-leash dog park, at Westcrest Park – it’s on this map with the city’s other off-leash parks.
James sent that photo, wondering about the status of the latest closure of that pier at Jack Block Park. Inquiring with the Port of Seattle (which owns and operates the park), we have learned that it isn’t going to reopen any time soon – and might even have to be rebuilt, according to port spokesperson Peter McGraw:
Deficiencies found in the most recent inspection of Jack Block Park pier in late 2020 led to closing the pier to the public out of an abundance of caution.
The Port’s goal is to address the present conditions of the pier, preserve public shoreline access and the open space public-use areas it provides; while balancing environmental, financial, and community stewardship goals of the Port of Seattle.
The Port is considering several potential park improvement alternatives to address the pier’s closure including its replacement, or shoreline and/or interior enhancements, and will be reaching out to communities and neighbors to gather input. Participation in the Jack Block Park survey will help inform the Port as to what current and potential park features are most important to users of the park.
Following survey analysis, the Port will host a virtual Open House outlining survey results and the proposed modifications for the Park. Stay tuned on further details later this month.
Those details will include how to participate in the survey, which isn’t open yet. The pier was closed in December, at least the third closure in a year and a half. The first of those closures, in 2019, was attributed to damage from an unidentified vessel hitting the pier. The rest of the park (which is at 2130 Harbor SW) remains open.
(WSB file photo)
Last week we published this report about a Longfellow Creek footbridge that was removed and won’t be replaced before next year. Today, word that another bridge across the creek is out for a while – the “Fishbone Bridge” that crosses the creek south of Dragonfly Pavilion at 28th/Dakota. Seattle Parks says the bridge is “temporarily closed while Seattle Public Utilities works on repairing and replacing portions of the bridge deck.” The closure is expected to continue through the end of the month. P.S. The bridge’s official name is Salmon Bone Bridge; it was designed by artist Lorna Jordan.
An update on a West Seattle park project headlined this month’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting.
NANTES PARK: Back in 2019, we published word of a survey by the Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association, seeking your thoughts on the little west Admiral park that honors the sister-city relationship. The project has proceeded, with a city matching-funds grant announced last November. ANA got an update on where the plan stands.
(Photo by Stewart L.)
5:17 PM: Thanks for the tips and photos! Wildlife advocates and state/local officers teamed up this afternoon to help a possibly injured or ill Bald Eagle at Don Armeni Boat Ramp.
(This photo and next by David Hutchinson)
One neighbor explains that he observed the eagle spending a long time just hanging out on the ground, moving very little even with people nearby – that’s unusual behavior. Wildlife advocate Kersti Muul told us, “It was flying short distances as they were chasing it but it did not want to fly. Its tail looked like it might be a little off.” It was captured for transport to PAWS:
David Hutchinson of Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network says his group got a call about the eagle being on the lawn at the park; “Seal Sitters assisted in taping off the area. A number of calls had been made and Fish & Wildlife Police dispatched two officers. They eventually captured the eagle and provided transport to PAWS for examination and possible rehab. Special thanks to the passersby who took an interest in helping this eagle and to Seattle Parks and the Seattle Police Department, who quickly responded and helped monitor and secure the area.”
11:12 PM: Kersti says she’s been told a vet will examine the eagle tomorrow. Meantime, she sent photos from this afternoon too:
Doug Ollerenshaw sent us the photos and report after looking into a bridge situation in West Seattle that reminds him, though on a much-smaller scale, of the “other” bridge situation that’s now in its 12th month – a maintenance problem and closure that won’t be resolved before next year. Above is his 2020 photo of a bridge across Longfellow Creek, near Greg Davis Park, that he noticed last year was showing signs of deterioration. Last summer, he noticed it had been removed, without public notice. “I figured it was a short-term thing, but finally started trying to figure out what was going on (this week) after seeing no sign of work on a replacement.” This is how the spot looks now:
He was pointed to the Parks Department, and got this explanation:
The bridge was removed in late summer/early fall this past year by our heavy equipment crew … The bridge had previously been compromised structurally for several years and the cracked stringer finally broke completely and was in the creek. We are looking for funding so we can identify a replacement timeframe/schedule. At this point it is uncertain, but hopefully, in 2022.
We’ll be following up on the funding issue, but in the meantime, this is one for the “in case you wondered too” file.
Thanks for the tip. Three weeks after construction started for the Alki Beach restroom rebuild at 57th SW [map], crews have turned the old restroom building into rubble. It will be replaced by summer with a ~$638,000 comfort station that will have three individually accessed all-gender restrooms meeting ADA requirements – a 50% increase in capacity from the old one – plus a new shower. The contractor is Burien-based JEM.
Thanks to James for the tip! The fence is up, heavy equipment has arrived, and that means construction is starting for the Alki Beach restroom rebuild along the Alki Trail at 57th SW [map]. It’s been two years since first word of the project, which will replace the two-restroom building with one that incorporates three individually accessed all-gender restrooms that meet ADA requirements. The ~$638,000 project is happening about a year later than the original (pre-pandemic) schedule. Burien-based JEM Contractors is the construction company, and Seattle Parks project manager Kelly Goold tells WSB they’re aiming to be done by early summer.
If you go to local parks this weekend, you might encounter the aftermath of this past week’s storms. Above and below are photos Mike Munson took at Lincoln Park, where, he explains, he found the above sign “at the bottom of the trail from the cliff to back of the pool at Point Williams, on the old road grade.” He also saw this:
That, Mike said, was “a small slide developing along the beach trail north of the pool. Some brush has been pushed a little way into the trail, and fresh gray goo is visible behind, upslope. It’s probably done sliding, but maybe more to come?” Parks crews also have been busy with downed trees. Today, we saw that this one is still on its side in the big field at Roxhill Park:
No notable rain or wind in the forecast – though note that mention of a possible snowflake or two next Friday.
(WSB file photo)
West Seattle’s only “edible park” invites you to stop by on Thursday night and bid 2020 farewell. Stu Hennessey sent the invitation on behalf of Puget Ridge Edible Park volunteers:
With our sights set on new hope in a new year, many of us feel the need to reflect on the struggles and losses of the past year and the 1.7 million souls we have lost. We also may want to say a swift goodbye to 2020 as well.
Therefore, the volunteers at Puget Ridge Edible Park thought it would be a good idea to invite our friends and neighbors to a Covid Candlelight Vigil and Say Goodbye to 2020 New Year’s Eve at the community garden. We have a luminaria-candlelit pathway to bring up to 5 people at a time to our New Year’s Eve fire to toss out the old year by throwing into the fire a written message or any symbol of bad memories over the last year.
The vigil will take place Thursday, New Year’s Eve, from 6 pm to 8 pm at 5265 18th Ave. SW. Be prepared to wait your turn to enter the park as we are limited to 5 people at a time. Wear warm clothes and bring some warm drinks. Parking will be available along 18th Ave. SW and SW Brandon St. Heavy rain will cancel. The volunteers at Puget Ridge Edible Park would like to offer you a healthy and happy New Year!
We’ve added this to the New Year’s section of the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide.
It’s a day of closure announcements. This one’s from the Port of Seattle, which has closed the pier at West Seattle’s Jack Block Park again:
Out of an abundance of caution, the Port of Seattle is closing the pier at Jack Block Park starting this afternoon. Deficiencies in the pier were noted in a recent engineering assessment, and further evaluation will be made next week for the repairs necessary to reopen the pier as soon as possible. The rest of the park will remain open during this time.
This is at least the third closure in a year and a half for the pier – previous ones were in January and mid-2019.
5:02 PM: The pier at Seacrest reopened this afternoon after replacement of the Water Taxi dock float that holds its passenger ramp. We took the photo just before sunset. On Friday, David Hutchinson caught the old float being lifted out:
Metro explains the work here; the new float will be more weather- and wave-resistant. This should mean the West Seattle Water Taxi service is clear to resume tomorrow, but we’re waiting for an official update on Sunday.
11:48 AM SUNDAY: The official update is in – WT servive WILL resume as normal Monday morning.
The darkest month of the year is almost here, with the earliest sunsets and shortest days, and – this year – COVID-canceled festivities. But Seattle Parks & Recreation has a plan to brighten some of those days.
It’s out with a brochure for virtual programs in December – from a free “family fun night” to classes and workouts (here are a few examples). You can browse the brochure here. The registration portal is here.
The department also has view-any-time videos on YouTube – cooking, books, sports skills to name a few. (And if you’re looking for info on Parks facilities, the ongoing open-and-closed list is here.)
Three West Seattle orgaqnizations are getting money in the city’s latest round of Neighborhood Matching Fund grants. To qualify for these, you have to demonstrate a match – of donations and/or volunteer time. As announced by the city, these are the three local grants in the fall cycle:
$49,500 to Highland Park Elementary PTA for Phase 2 of the Highland Park School Playground Project. This will support updating their 2016 Playground Master Plan to reflect current community needs and develop construction documents. (Community match: $31,000)
$25,840 to Highland Park Improvement Club for Community Gathering & Performance Space Renovation to provide HVAC work, ceiling repair, and new lighting and proscenium in the interior gathering/performance space, a popular venue for community meetings, arts and cultural events. (Community match: $28,380)
Citywide, 23 organizations are receiving a total of $756,000 in this round of grants. The next round of applications will be due in February; watch here for more info.
7:18 PM THURSDAY: The northeast corner of Junction Plaza Park is empty tonight. That’s where, for the last six months, a city-placed “hygiene station” had stood. The West Seattle Junction Association had long been asking the city to remove it, saying – as we reported in September – a small park in a struggling business district wasn’t the right place for it. Both residents and businesspeople said it had created dangerous conditions and spoke of being harassed or threatened by people hanging out and camping in the park because of it; police were summoned to the park many times to deal with disturbances.
The city had remained noncommittal about potential action, even at an online community meeting three weeks ago (WSB coverage here). But today, the portable toilets and sink were removed. We didn’t hear about this in time to ask the city Human Services Department for comment (which we’ll do tomorrow); WSJA executive director Lora Radford says she was told it’s been moved elsewhere in the city. Her reaction to the removal: “This was never about criminalizing homelessness, but more about the quality of life that was diminished for people experiencing chronic drug and mental health challenges. No one belongs in a tent as a permanent shelter, or in parks, or on sidewalks. To use public green space as an acceptable form of housing is shortsighted and dangerous. Thank you to all the West Seattleites who took action; together communities can force change.” The city placed another “hygiene station” in West Seattle, in the parking lot of the Salvation Army center in South Delridge, but to our knowledge there’ve been no complaints about it. The Junction, meantime, still has a permanent city-funded portable-toilet installation about a block west of the park, on SW Alaska just east of 44th SW.
Side note: The Junction removal comes one day after the mayor announced a proposal to expand programs to clean up trash in parks and on streets.
8:26 PM FRIDAY: Our inquiries to the city were answered late today – primarily, what happened to the hygiene station components removed from Junction Plaza Park. The lead department is not Human Services, but rather Seattle Public Utilities, whose spokesperson Sabrina Register tells us:
The handwash station located at Junction Plaza Park was relocated to 44th and Alaska to enhance hygiene services at the existing sanican. Both the sanican and the hand-wash station will receive daily cleaning and re-stocking by City vendors. In addition, Seattle Parks and Recreation staff will conduct daily visual inspections to ensure the station is in good working order.
The two sanicans at Junction Plaza Park were removed and will be relocated to another location which has yet to be determined. The siting team maintains a list of locations requested by other City departments and community members. The new site will be chosen following the same siting criteria as past hygiene stations. These criteria include high need, absence of redundancy, on or adjacent to City property, does not pose access barriers for facilities or private property, and ease of closing post COVID-19 response.
(WSB photo)
Two days before election results start coming in, we have a winner – the Puget Ridge community, where neighbors offered future voters a fun lesson in democracy, organizing a parade to the South Seattle College ballot drop box today, after kids got a chance to vote at Puget Ridge Edible Park. The parade even featured a mini-marching band.
The kids’ vote wasn’t about the presidential race or anything else on the official ballot – it was about what they’d like to see at the community-created, community-managed park.
(Photo by Althea Chow)
The voting was part of a mini-harvest festival at the park:
(This photo and next by Ada-Reva Spae)
This was a volunteer effort, as is everything at the park (see our report from August). Ada-Reva Spae was lead organizer, and she credits Karen Crisalli Winter as the “Magical Mystical Wizard Master of Activities,” Marty McLaren as “Chief Votemaster,” plus “party planners extraordinaire” Stu Hennessey, Lisa Kauffman, Cathy Wilmering, and Janice Singh. At SSC, a photo op with the kid-size ballot box next to the official drop box concluded the festivities:
Those are the four potential “concepts” for Lowman Beach Park that were unveiled in an online meeting a week and a half ago (WSB coverage here). At issue: Once the tennis court is removed during the upcoming project to take out the failing seawall on the north side of the park, should a new sport court be built in what’s currently the park’s open grassy area? And if so, what kind/size of sport court? The Seattle Sports Complex Foundation, a community organization that is leading the advocacy for a new sport court, sends word that the newest survey will be open for two more weeks – go here to comment (and to review the concepts), before November 16th.
)(WSB file photo)
Next weekend doesn’t just bring Halloween – it’ll also be the last weekend before Election Day. A unique celebration is planned on Puget Ridge. The announcement is from Stu Hennessey:
Following a harvest festival and crafts party where kids will vote on the future of their world within our neighborhood, we will be having a kids’ parade to our local ballot box at South Seattle College, at Puget Ridge Edible Park, 5265 18th Ave. SW, West Seattle, Sunday, November 1st. Kids’ parade to the ballot box starts at 1 pm.
This event is our effort to introduce children to the democratic process, giving them some voice in real decision-making that will affect a child’s view of their own neighborhood. In replacement of the traditional Halloween activities that will be curtailed due to Covid-19 we are offering a harvest festival and crafts party at Puget Ridge Edible Park. From 11 am to 1 pm, the children can do crafts and activities as well as vote for future activities and events at their local edible park. At 1 pm they will parade a short walk to the ballot box at South Seattle College to celebrate participation in democracy and take photos. A separate and smaller ballot box will be placed beside the official box.
The event is planned, Stu adds, “with wide separation and required mask wearing to comply with COVID-19 CDC and state guidelines. Any groups formed will be separated within their group and far away from any other group.”
(Design by Karen Kiest Landscape Architects)
That’s the final design for Hiawatha‘s to-be-relocated play area, as just announced by Seattle Parks:
Seattle Parks and Recreation is happy to announce the completion of the final concept design for the new play area at Hiawatha Playfield. To review the design, (go here) or view a large concept design board at the park near the adult fitness equipment. Karen Kiest Landscape Architects worked with SPR and input from the community to develop the final design concept. Thank you to the community for their participation in this design. Hiawatha Playfield is in West Seattle at 2700 California Ave. SW.
The goal of this project is to transfer the location of the play area from the north end of the park to the grass area just south of the wading pool. The project includes new play equipment for children 2 to 5 and 5 to 12 years, swings, a small plaza, and restoration of the old play area site. The new location will improve visibility and access for all.
Play area construction is planned to start in the summer of 2021 and end in December 2021, along with restoration of the old play site. Other areas of Hiawatha Playfield will remain open during construction. However, there are other projects in the planning stages for this area (community center renovation and athletic field turf replacement).
Funding for this play area project is provided by the Seattle Park District. The Seattle Park District provides more than $47 million a year in long-term funding to tackle the $267 million major maintenance backlog for Seattle Parks and Recreation as well as other facilities including the Aquarium and Zoo. The Seattle Park District helps improve and rehabilitate community centers, preserves the urban forest, performs day-to-day maintenance of parks and facilities, provides more recreation opportunities for people from underserved communities, supports programs for people of all ages and abilities, and acquires and develops new park land.
Separate from this project, the city has announced – as we reported early in the budget-review process – that Hiawatha Community Center itself is expected to be closed for all of next year because of its own renovation work. An update on that project is here.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Once the Lowman Beach Park seawall and tennis court are removed, will a new sport court be installed elsewhere in the park?
More than 50 people attended last night’s online community meeting, the next step in the process. They saw four “concepts” – a full-size court that could accommodate tennis and more, two versions of a “medium-size” court, and a court-less option with “amenities.”
The community group advocating for a new court, the Seattle Sports Complex Foundation, obtained a city grant for planning and schematic design, but funding would have to be found beyond that to actually install something. With that in mind, the project team – led by HBB Landscape Architecture – is on track to complete a schematic design by year’s end.
For the meeting, on hand from the project team were Aaron Luoma and Rachel Dotson from HBB, as well as Pamela Kliment from Parks and Lisa Uemoto from the Department of Neighborhoods.
Luoma recapped the plan that’s leading to the removal of the existing tennis court – the removal of the failing seawall and transform the area into something more natural, with an expanded beach and daylighted Pelly Creek. It’s going out to bid soon. With that and other existing features including underground utilities led to the designation of an “opportunity area” in the southeast part of the park for this potential project.
One West Seattle event of note tonight: The second community meeting about a proposed sport court at Lowman Beach Park. The upcoming seawall-removal project will also take out the current tennis court; though there’s no replacement in the plan, a community group is pursuing a proposal to build a sport court – not necessarily tennis, or just tennis – elsewhere in the park (see the “opportunity area” above). That group got a grant for a survey and community meeting (here’s our August coverage here), and plans to announce the results and next steps tonight, 6:30 pm online. To attend:
Meeting number: 146 733 7298
Password: lowmanbeach
(Link here)
Join by phone – 206-207-1700
Thanks again to tipster Mike – first, he reported the south Lincoln Park parking lot’s reopening back on Thursday; today, he sent the photo above with news that the north Lincoln Park lot is open again as well. (We had checked just yesterday afternoon, and at that time it was still closed.) As we noted on Thursday, while tomorrow is the official reopening date for lots like these (as we first reported two weeks ago), Parks crews have actually been reopening them over the past week, since the work that’s involved – like removing those big blocks from the south LP lot – couldn’t all be done in one day. The lots and others at “destination parks” citywide were closed seven months ago as “an effort to encourage social distancing and reduce the number of congregating crowds”; then in May, the south lot opened some accessible spaces for disabled park visitors.
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