West Seattle, Washington
22 Thursday
Went over to Delridge Skatepark – set for dedication during Delridge Day on September 17th – after getting a tip that somebody was skating the almost-finished park. “Somebody” turned out to be crew members from Grindline, the West Seattle-based company that designed and is building the park, just trying it out. (Important to note – they’re working on the project; this remains a CONSTRUCTION SITE, **not** open to the public.) Major construction work’s been under way for a little more than four months. P.S. To keep up with what else is planned for the Delridge Day festival, in addition to the skatepark opening, you can “like” its official Facebook page.
(UPDATED WEDNESDAY NIGHT with clearer images of the concepts, plus PDFs of graphics/info from the meeting)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Along the edge of the three-seasons-closed Highland Park wading pool, more than two dozen people gathered last night to get their first look at ideas for the spraypark that will replace it.
They also learned that the spraypark won’t be open next summer – because the scope of the project keeps expanding, so 2012 is now when it’ll be built, 2013 is when it’ll be open. (POST-MEETING UPDATE: The spraypark itself *will* be open for 2012; it’s the rest of the expanded project, such as building renovations, that wouldn’t be done till 2013.)
The big question the project team asked those who gathered in the park by the pool last night: Which of three proposed themes (see them full-size here) do you like, and what do you want to see around the spraypark – places to sit, places to hangout, art, etc.?
This will be West Seattle’s first and only spraypark, so it’s of potential interest to families all over the area, not just in Highland Park.
We took that photo back on sunny July 4th, the day Colman Pool celebrated its 70th anniversary on the Lincoln Park waterfront. That wasn’t the end of the anniversary festivities, explains senior guard Anne Barnes – they’re hoping you have memories to share:
We have had a great time out here, and look forward to the last few weeks of the season.
This is our 70th anniversary year (as you have reported). In addition to the party we held on the Fourth of July, we are also putting together a memory book for the pool. There are tons of great memories out there; we’d like to collect as many of them as we can! Swimmers can ask for a page to write on at the front desk of the pool, or they can e-mail memories to me (I will print them out and paste them in the book).
The pool is open every day until Labor Day (Sept. 5) and also the following weekend (Sept. 10 and 11).
Anne’s e-mail address is anne.barnes@seattle.gov.
Thanks to Sarah for the tip on this – she heard that Hiawatha’s wading-pool season would be extended since our not-so-summery weather has meant so few “open” days, so we inquired with Parks, and they’ve just sent an official announcement of wading pools citywide – including THREE in West Seattle, E.C. Hughes and Delridge as well as Hiawatha – where the closing date has been pushed back – click ahead for details:Read More
Two West Seattle Cooper’s Hawk tales: First, Tom Furtwangler shares the top photo of a juvenile hawk spotted outside his Gatewood home – sighted by his wife, who happens to be urban-nature author Lyanda Lynn Haupt. Tom says it was there just a few minutes, and quotes Lyanda as saying, “I think it’s a male because it’s small for a Cooper’s, but that’s just speculation. It’s a hard time of year for newly fledged birds because they are just learning to hunt. I hope he makes it!” This provides the perfect lead-in to two other Cooper’s Hawk photos shared this week by nature photographer/writer Trileigh Tucker:
Trileigh explains:
The first photo shows a young Cooper’s Hawk practicing her landing skills on a snag in Lincoln Park, and although the second photo (a different young female) looks like she’s showing off her new jewelry, she’s actually just getting ready to scratch her nose.
She continues:
The bands they’re wearing were put on as part of an eight-year study being conducted to learn about Cooper’s Hawks’ nesting ecology and winter site fidelity. So readers should look carefully and see if they can find banded hawks in West Seattle! Sightings can be reported to the Washington Ornithological Society’s research page at wos.org/research — look for the instructions for “Accipiters and Merlins” at the top of the page.
Trileigh is now writing about her sightings, and celebrating “the beauty and power of next-door nature,” online here. She says her site “focuses on local natural history (especially Lincoln Park, of course!), and what we can learn both about nature and about ourselves from being attentive to the natural world in our backyards and beyond. Come take a look!”
(Photo of Roxhill Park play structure, from Seattle Parks website)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
“What’s wrong with the play structure we have now?”
The plaintive question came from a man in attendance at Wednesday night’s community meeting about the two upcoming projects at Roxhill Park – $450,000 playground renovation and $600,000 “skatespot.”
The answer from Seattle Parks staffers in a moment, but first: This was the first of three community meetings on the Roxhill projects. Project manager Kelly Davidson opened the meeting, noting both are funded by money from the 2008 voter-approved Parks and Green Spaces Levy (whose Oversight Committee chair, Pigeon Point resident Pete Spalding, was in attendance).
Davidson briefly mentioned the Rob Dyrdek Foundation donation for the skatespot that led to a “no-cost design” contract with California Skateparks. She said the skatespot and playground projects are intended to be worked on simultaneously, in hopes that’ll enable both to be handled in one construction contract. Design is to be complete next January, with construction expected to take place February through September of next year. Besides the three public meetings, there will be an additional skatespot-design review with the city Skate Park Advisory Committee (open to the public).
The skatepark (technically a “skatespot”) will be in the northwest quadrant of the park, near the corner of 29th/Barton, north of the playground, which is envisioned at its current site. Here’s a roughed-out map shown at the meeting:
Though discussion of both projects kept happening throughout the meeting, it started with playground design, led by Parks’ landscape architects Frank Robinson and Shwu-jen Hwang.
If you haven’t already checked out the brochure for fall classes, programs, and events at West Seattle’s city-run community centers – it’s now available online, and registration is now available for the offerings that require it. The same brochure includes the fall schedule for Southwest Pool, from lessons to public swims.
Yet another project in progress in West Seattle: While in the High Point area earlier this week, we noticed work is well under way at Walt Hundley Playfield south of HP Community Center. It’s set to get synthetic turf, with $1 million from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy. It wasn’t originally on the levy list, but Parks saved so much money from other projects, including the recent Delridge turf installation, they were able to add this one. The project webpage is here; one community meeting was held, back in April, and our coverage of that is here.
A Seattle Parks postcard announcing the next public meeting for the Highland Park wading pool-to-spraypark conversion just arrived – and caused us to do a doubletake. The meeting on Tuesday, August 23, is listed as happening, not in a room somewhere, but at the actual site, 1100 SW Cloverdale (map). That’s fairly rare – so we called project manager Kelly Goold to make sure that wasn’t a typo. Nope, says Kelly, the meeting is indeed AT the site, so attendees can better envision the design concepts that will be presented. So mark your calendar for 6:30 pm August 23rd (here’s our coverage of the first project meeting).
Less than two weeks till a brand-new fundraising 5K in West Seattle – Breathe Deep Seattle, the first 5K event benefiting the LUNGevity Foundation, raising money for lung-cancer research. Starting at 9:30 am on Saturday, August 13, participants will run or walk the course through Lincoln Park, both through the forested upper area and along the beachfront lower area. Not signed up yet? Wondering what it’s all about? Organizers have shared a personal story in their latest news release – read on:Read More
If you have four or more unpaid parking tickets but you’re not taking the city’s “scofflaw” crackdown seriously yet – note that parking officers are apparently “booting” eligible vehicles found in parks, too. That’s the reminder Rob wanted to share along with the photo above (he also included a photo showing the notice left under the car’s windshield wiper). He spotted it in the north lot at Lincoln Park earlier this week: “I thought it was interesting because the car that patrols and boots cars with unpaid tickets is evidently patrolling the park’s lots too, not just the streets.” The city’s webpage for the “scofflaw” ordinance mentions only “city streets” – though parks, of course, are city facilities, so you might safely assume any parking place on city property/right-of-way is a place you might get caught.
Roxhill Park in Westwood is about to get a skatespot (which has not been without controversy) and a playground renovation, and Seattle Parks has set the date for the first public meeting about the project. According to a postal-mail notification that, as of this morning, seems to have preceded the full online notification, the meeting will be 6-7:30 pm on Wednesday, August 10, at Southwest Library (35th/Henderson). The postcard says Parks staffers will “outline the project scope and schedule, and learn what the community priorities are for transforming the play area and incorporating a new skatespot into the park.” The skateboarding area is expected to cover about 8,000 square feet, which is about two-thirds the size of the under-construction Delridge Skatepark. The $1 million-plus Roxhill project funding is from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy.
Story and photos by Karen Berge
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
After concerns surfaced following the Camp Long incident last week that preceded an hours-long SWAT standoff at a Delridge home, members of the park’s Advisory Council extended an open public invitation to its next meeting. (The meetings are public anyway, but not usually so high-profile.)
That meeting was held this past Thursday night.
The council had set aside the first half hour of the 2-hour meeting to focus on the top-of-mind incident involving what was reported as a large group of teens partying on Thursday night, July 14, with some reported to be intoxicated. They structured it for a 10-minute debrief, 10 minutes of public comments, and 10 minutes to present/discuss the council’s recommendations. About 20 people were there, including three Seattle Police Department representatives – Southwest Precinct operations Lt. Pierre Davis and Community Police Team (CPT) Officers Jonathan Kiehn and Ken Mazzuca — as well as members of the Advisory Council and Camp Long staff, plus other representatives from the Parks Department and Olympic Security (which provides security for the park), as well as a few people who live in the immediate neighborhood, and a woman who was chaperoning children on a park campout that night.
n discussion following last Thursday night’s late-night incident at Camp Long, which led to the 
IFriday morning SWAT situation outside a Delridge home (our most recent followup is here, including the full police narrative), members of the park’s Advisory Council suggested those with questions/concerns should come to the council’s next meeting. And now, David Kipnis sends word that the meeting is tomorrow (Thursday) night, 7 pm. He says the agenda will include a discussion of the incident. The meeting will be at the Camp Long Lodge (city photo at right), where the advisory council meets every third Thursday, all welcome.
No arrests yet in connection with the stabbing of two men Saturday night near Hamilton Viewpoint Park in North Admiral (original WSB coverage here). But friends of the victims say the initial police report at the scene – that the men were believed to be transients living in the park – is wrong, that the two men are Admiral residents who were “out for a walk.” Bob identified them in this comment as 25-year-old Zach and 52-year-old Glen. We don’t know their conditions, and there is no new official police information regarding the circumstances; that, we hope to get tomorrow. But to another point that has come up in the comments following last night’s coverage, “officers do check Hamilton Viewpoint regularly,” according to Southwest Precinct Lt. Alan Williams, who says computer logs show “an officer who works the district had logged out to the park and checked it an hour before this incident happened … The officer would have been very visible to anyone who was actually in the park.” One last point: The incident, he says, happened before the park’s 11:30 closing time – it was reported to SPD at 11:28, a few minutes after it happened (the Fire Department’s online log shows medics dispatched at 11:31).
(Photo courtesy of Amanda)
The SWAT standoff that shut down three blocks of Delridge through the morning commute today started with an incident at Camp Long late Thursday night that raised additional questions today. Jena, who was camping in the park’s cabins with a group of 4-to-7-year-old children, voiced detailed concerns in this comment following our original coverage, so we followed up with the Parks Department.
First, we should note that the 20-year-old man police were seeking at the home in the 5000 block of Delridge – until he turned up instead at the Southwest Precinct – remains in jail as of last check, under investigation for two felonies, domestic-violence assault and domestic-violence harassment. Police say he threatened his girlfriend with a gun.
Now, to Camp Long. Parks spokesperson Joelle Hammerstad answered our inquiries about what commenter Jena reported, including, in part, “Around 11:30 pm a huge party broke out in cabin 8, loud music, drugs and alcohol, and a young man started punching out the windows of the North bathrooms, fifty feet from our cabins (9 & 10).” First – we asked about damage from the window-breaking report and whether the reported party had led to cabin damage. Hammerstad’s reply: “The cabins are fine and do not have any damage. Four windows are broken in the men’s bathroom, but that is not affecting their use. They are more like ventilation windows over six feet off the ground.” To the more complicated issues Jena raised regarding security and communication – read on:Read More
(WSB photo from May 2009, KaBOOM! Delridge design meeting)
Two years ago, Delridge got a new playground thanks to the nonprofit KaBOOM! Now, another West Seattle neighborhood is getting one – High Point. They’ve been trying for a while, and now Bataan Park has been chosen, according to news shared by High Point Neighborhood Association‘s Jennifer Cobb. The playground will be built on September 23rd – but first, it has to be designed, and as was the case with Delridge, there will be a “Design Day” for kids. It’s set for next Tuesday, July 19th, at the Neighborhood House-operated High Point Neighborhood Center. It’s estimated that this playground will serve more than 500 kids in the High Point area. The event will be ongoing from 4:30-7:30 pm on Tuesday; the center is at 6400 Sylvan Way SW. Partners in the playground project include the Windermere Foundation.
West Seattle Golf Course is without water at last report while plumbers try to trace the source of a leak in a pipe near a fire hydrant in the parking lot it shares with West Seattle Stadium. The stadium was affected earlier too, but Seattle Parks says its water is back. So just in case there’s golf in your near future, you might want to check before you go.
5:38 PM UPDATE: Parks says the water is back on.
We were on our way to Colman Pool‘s 70th-anniversary celebration this afternoon when the Marine View Drive fire forced a detour – but we went back for a photo in honor of its birthday. There’s a bit of its history in Lori Hinton‘s “West Seattle 101” Colman Pool vignette; its origins as a “tide-fed swimming hole” are also noted in Seattle Parks‘ thumbnail Lincoln Park history. Here’s a Seattle Municipal Archives photo of the then-swimming hole in 1925:
Once built into a gorgeous pool, it was dedicated on July 4, 1941. Here’s a MOHAI photo from that year. The season for this beautiful on-the-beach saltwater swimming pool is short, and September will be here all too soon – here’s the pool schedule to plan your visit.
Thanks to Rod for sharing the photo via Twitter and wondering about the fire that took out the portable restroom on Beach Drive at Me-Kwa-Mooks Park overnight. Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Kyle Moore tells WSB, “Our fire investigator determined it was a set fire. Unknown suspect or suspects set combustibles on fire inside the port-a potty. Damage estimate is $2000.” We’re checking with Seattle Parks regarding replacement plans.
ADDED 12:52 PM: Joelle Hammerstad with Parks says the Southwest maintenance/management crew is already on the case: “They’ve already called and are trying to get another one to replace it before the weekend. We’re not sure if we can get it replaced, being as it’s the Friday before the Fourth of July weekend, and our contractor is slammed busy getting port-a-potties out all over the city. If they don’t get a new one installed today, they’ll get one there ASAP — but it could be early next week. We’ve called the folks who have picnics scheduled there and told them the potty is gone.”
3:04 PM UPDATE: Original tipster Rod reports, also via Twitter, that a new one HAS arrived – but it’s in a different spot.
A rocky spot for the future skatespot in Roxhill Park: It had full funding from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy and a green light from the city – and then came a donation. Usually a cause for celebration, but in this case, the city Skate Park Advisory Committee wants the Parks Department to turn it down. They say the donation announced early last month is locking the city into a contract for the skateboarding facility to be built by a company that ranked low when the Request for Qualifications went out. Read on:Read More
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
Saturday is a traditional time for people around the community to do volunteer work to help make the community a better place – and the group above was busy doing exactly that this morning in the Recovery Garden at Cottage Grove Park in North Delridge. It’s one of those places where you need to stop and take a closer look – which will be easier because of some of the work done today;
Tasha Mosher showed WSB’s Christopher Boffoli how volunteers were removing weeds that are obscuring some of the messages written on the stones that line the paths. The Recovery Garden began as a demonstration program to “de-stigmatize recovery” – explained on the city page for Cottage Grove Park.
One year after Fairmount Park got a playground makeover with $170,000 from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy, more levy money may be in the pipeline to renovate its restrooms and playground fencing. That is, if the levy Oversight Committee wins final approval for its idea to channel $10 million of the levy’s $13 million “inflation” padding into maintenance projects that have gone unaddressed because of the city budget woes.
West Seattle’s Pete Spalding chairs the committee, which has a public hearing next Monday (Jefferson Community Center, Beacon Hill, 7 pm) on its proposal. He wrote this open letter explaining that while the inflation pad was built into the levy, it hasn’t been needed, since the economic climate has brought many projects in not just within budget, but often under budget. The full list of projects the committee is suggesting for this $10 million fund is in his letter. The Fairmount Park comfort station and fencing, totaling $325,000, are the only West Seattle items on the list. If you’re interested in commenting, be at the hearing, or send e-mail (there’s a contact address on the committee’s page).
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