West Seattle, Washington
03 Sunday
It’s another do-or-die moment for the folks working to make Ercolini Park (west of The Junction) a reality: They need more commitments of volunteer time (and $) to help show the city they deserve a grant to transform the parkland from grassy field (photo below) to fully equipped neighborhood park — for an area that’s long on families but short on park space. The grant-decision time is near so if you can chip in to help the project, you can click here to e-mail project organizer Bill Barna or check out the Ercolini Park Updates site.
From 130-plus yard sales in 1 day, to a wild hour to try the Water Taxi, to women’s tackle football, to bellydancing, there is so much to do this weekend, you’ll wish you could just skip sleep. Full list is one click away:Read More
Even without the Cinco de Mayo wildness at your favorite drinking spot, it’s a BIG West Seattle weekend. Click for the full (and “full” is an understatement) list!Read More
The Water Taxi and Farmers’ Market, both returning on Sunday … Easy Street’s new “afterhours” shows continuing tonight … your chance to help shape a West Seattle landmark’s future … all part of the weekend preview roundup, a click away:
As we hinted a few times already, SO MUCH happening in West Seattle this weekend, you might as well not bother going anywhere else. World-class shows (like the members of COTR appearing at Cafe Rozella), free swimming, Earth Day celebrations galore, and … how can you pass up the first-ever Pet Rodeo and Snooty Walk? Full list with links, a click away:
We actually consider 13 a lucky number, so this is bound to be a great weekend. Garden plants for sale, free family fun courtesy of the WS YMCA, tons of tunes, and surprises as always — one click away:
A few weeks after our last update on the neighborhood organizers determined to take Ercolini Park west of The Junction from purchased parkland to bonafide park by summertime, there’s more news. Organizer Bill Barna says they’re almost halfway to their goal of getting 1,000 hours of volunteer time pledged; find out more about what’s up and how you can help, at the park website or e-mail Bill directly.
This isn’t happening till Saturday, but you need to pre-register, and organizers say space is limited, so here’s an early alert: People for Puget Sound is kicking off a kids’ art contest with a “beach treasure hunt” and low-tide walk at Lincoln Park this Saturday afternoon. Go here to find out more (including contact info for signing up).
It’s Friday, and that means time for the West Seattle weekend roundup. Indoor and outdoor fun to follow …Read More
The city says the grass ballfields are open again. Guess our spectacular sunny morning did the trick.
The Coast Guard returned to Don Armeni at midday today, launching at least three of their inflatables, with another hovering offshore. Still wondering why they often turn up here, instead of launching from their convenient downtown base across the bay?
The city parks department has just issued an alert — it’s closing all grass ballfields around the city because they’re just too soggy, with rain most of the weekend and more on the way. That includes Alki, Fairmount, High Point, part of Hiawatha, Highland Park, Roxhill, and West Seattle Stadium, among others.
Our side of the city has an amazing amount of parks in progress … land is set aside, names are assigned or assumed, “development” is all that’s left. Much of this is around The Junction — Dakota Place Park to the north, Junction Plaza Park to the east, the Ercolini site to the west. Though some $ for acquiring the land came from the 2000 Pro Parks Levy, citizen assistance is required to finish the process of turning set-aside land into full-fledged parks. Right now, Ercolini neighbors are gearing up for a push to get its metamorphosis finished by summer; as one organizer wrote in a note to us, “After you cut through all the requirements, politics, and whatnot, the bottom line is that we need to find volunteers and $$$.” So they’re planning to doorknock and leaflet, and they’re working on a website (not much there yet except a link to the latest park plan).
A city press release is out with official names for two West Seattle parks. No surprises, though — the site known as Junction Plaza will be Junction Plaza Park, and the site in the Delridge/Cottage Grove area is Cottage Grove Park.
-Guess who’s surfaced in the growing push to keep Charlestown Cafe from being replaced by a standalone Petco store: Former City Councilman Charlie Chong. His letter to the current council members is in one of the latest posts on the Our Town/West Seattle group site, as it moves to organize the fight.
-Also stepping up their fight: The Morgan Junction/Gatewood neighbors who say the construction across the street from Gatewood Baptist shouldn’t have sneaked through the permit process as a group of small projects instead of the one semi-big project it really is. One neighbor has just posted a new comment on this WSB page, contending the project is clearly illegal, and also wants everyone to know project updates are on the ORCA site.
-And one last reminder regarding a (so far as we know) noncontroversial project: As we mentioned Sunday, tonight’s the third and final public meeting to talk about what’s going to be done to transform the “Ercolini property” (photo below) into a park.
If you drive a few blocks west on Alaska from The Junction, you’ll see a big grassy lot on the right. This is the future park currently known as the “Ercolini property,” and the city’s final public meeting on its development is coming up this Tuesday night (6-7:30 pm at the Senior Center). For a tidbit of history on the park site, check out this photo page from a relative of its namesake. Kudos again to the community members who worked to get this land turned into a park instead of, oh, say, townhomes.
… to the deadline for naming two future WS parks, including “Junction Plaza” (currently home to the WS Tree as the holiday season winds down).
In case you didn’t hear this one yesterday … we found it on the city press-release page. Seems showing up at a park in ’07 with an unlicensed dog could earn you a fat fine.
We were going to say that driving around WS tonight was “normal” — no major lights out, etc. — for the first time in more than a week, but the pre-Christmas craziness is making up for it. Crowds galore. Good for our local businesses, at least.
In post-storm notes … got e-mail from the office of local County Councilmember Dow Constantine (while Seattle City Councilmembers aren’t elected by district, King County Councilmembers are), saying he’s pushing for a “formal council review of the local response to (the) windstorm.” As for the city, haven’t seen anything yet about the outcome of today’s “briefing.” The video is now posted on the Seattle Channel site (with an ironic disclaimer about “diminished” audio quality because of an “unforeseen technical problem”).
Today’s storm-aftermath photo: proof some of the fallen trees in Lincoln Park are being cleared away; we spotted this pile in the central LP parking lot.
Oh, this is a sad sight. Just found this post (with photos) about Lincoln Park playground damage, by local blogger Matt Rosenberg (on Sound Politics).
This near-winter time of year, it’s tougher to get a chance to tour the town in daylight. So here’s what we spotted today while catching up:
-A new pedestrian stoplight is up (though the crosswalk’s not painted yet) at Fauntleroy & Kenyon, around midway down the east side of Lincoln Park. About time; without it, you’re taking your life into your hands if you try crossing Fauntleroy anywhere between the 76 station and the park’s southernmost parking lot. Looks like the Fauntleroy Community Association’s been campaigning about this problem for a long time, so perhaps we have them to thank. (Speaking of pedestrian safety, here’s your chance to make a BIG difference: The city’s Pedestrian Advisory Board needs new members, and Monday’s the application deadline.)
-What was Fauntleroy Auto Works (Cali Ave just north of Fauntleroy), future site of what we think of as the Monorail Memorial Park, is now a pile of rubble.
-We found six seven places to buy Christmas trees in West Seattle, so far. (All are now listed on our ever-evolving West Seattle Holiday Stuff page.) Seems like fewer than years past, but as we realized while driving around, we’ve got fewer empty lots these days. P.S. The P-I mentioned the Holy Rosary lot today in a story about nonprofit tree sales.
Don’t go to Lincoln Park this Saturday looking for a quiet stroll among the trees. It’ll be the site of the Sundodger Invitational college cross-country meet. Haven’t found the exact times yet, but did find this course map.
(Also on Saturday — one more festival before we officially say goodbye to summer — the Morgan Junction Community Festival. The entertainment lineup is posted here.)
… let’s shout it together so it can be heard all the way across the water, from Vashon to Bainbridge to Magnolia … WHERE DID THE SUMMER GO? (Did you notice how early it’s getting dark? Sigh …)
Here are three things you might want to add to your to-do list, since within a few weeks you won’t be able to do them again till sometime next spring:
-Ride the Elliott Bay Water Taxi. It goes on hiatus at the end of this month.
-Go swimming (or sunbathing) at Colman Pool. A week from Sunday is its last day of operation this year. There are few sights sadder for us Lincoln Park walkers than the fall/winter plywood up over the CP plexiglass.
-Enjoy a demonstration at the West Seattle Farmers Market. The market itself is supposed to stay open every Sunday through mid-December, but the demos on its calendar only run through September (this Sunday, fresh tomatoes! yum!).
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