West Seattle, Washington
14 Saturday
After tonight’s meeting (first of two) about the upcoming Delridge Playfield improvements – to be paid for by $3 million in Parks and Green Spaces Levy money – we know a little more about where the project goes from here. Most of the 30-plus people gathered at playfield-neighboring Delridge Community Center tonight had concerns about how the field will be used once its artificial turf and new lighting are in. Per the presentation, it is designed with two baseball fields and two soccer fields, with a 360-foot disc run. Some on hand tonight asked if specially colored circles could be added to the turf for lacrosse play as well. Project manager Ted Holden, a landscape architect with Seattle Parks, said he could bring plans with that option to the next meeting (7:30 pm November 23, also at Delridge CC). The field’s new lighting also was discussed; most questions centered on when they would be turned off at night – 11 pm, according to Holden, who also said that any concerns residents have once they’re installed can be addressed by Parks staffers making adjustments as needed. As for the timetable, if all goes according to plan, construction would start next May, with completion in September. (The official project page is here.) ADDED TUESDAY NIGHT: Nancy Folsom has published her comprehensive notes from the meeting at the Delridge Leadership website; you can read them here.
$3 million worth of improvements are on the way for Delridge Playfield, thanks to the Parks and Green Spaces Levy passed last year. Tonight you can get details, ask questions and offer comments at a Parks-led meeting at Delridge Community Center, 7:30 pm, first of two about the project (2nd one is 11/23).
Just in from the city – the rule banning guns at “facilities where children and youth are likely to be present” is starting to take effect. The city says the rule won’t be in effect at any specific facility until it is posted there; one of the first two places where the notices will go up is South Park Community Center, and all other affected facilities will be posted by Dec. 1, according to the announcement, which you can read in its entirety ahead:Read More
This Thursday night’s West Seattle Candidates’ Forum (7 pm, Youngstown Arts Center) has gained a pre-show attraction: Nancy Folsom announced that the artists chosen for the Delridge Community Center Playfield project 
will be there that night at 6 pm to meet anyone interested in talking about what’s meant as a companion creation to the future skatepark (site at left). She says Zachary Bohnenkamp, John Osgood and Kevin Sullivan were chosen from nine artists/groups that sent letters of interest, adding that the team was chosen “because of the artistic merit of their work, their experience in public art projects, and their ability to work collaboratively with a community. I want to note that all the submissions were strong and the decision wasn’t easy, and I am grateful to all the artists for considering our project. The ten reviewers included two neighbors, a person from the skateboard park design team, a city Parks Department person who can advise on feasibility, two Youngstown Cultural Arts staff, and the director of the Service Board, a tenant organization of YCA that mentor youth. People have been generous with their time and help, which has been invaluable. We are currently working on identifying funding sources, developing a project plan, and the artists are starting to investigate ideas for the piece. I hope the neighborhood will take this opportunity to get to know the artists and to give the artists an opportunity to get to know us.” Come for the artists (6 pm), stay for the forum (7 pm), Thursday at 4408 Delridge Way.
(WSB photo from last Tuesday)
Just last week, we showed you crews putting down the new artificial turf for Hiawatha Playfield. Got word this afternoon from project manager Garrett Farrell that it turned out to be defective, so it has to be pulled up and replaced, which is sliding the completion schedule a bit. He says:
Contractor Field Turf began installing the new artificial turf on October 6th. Defects were found in the fabric and they have moved immediately to replace the product at Hiawatha.
The first load of new material will be on site Friday 10/16/09 with the balance arriving next week.
This delay has impacted our project schedule. All remaining work at Hiawatha is weather dependent.
Parks is actively coordinating the re start of the field turf installation with rubber surfacing of the new track scheduled to start 10/19/09.
Farrell adds, “Field Turf has done several great installs for Parks and knew right away that this was not consistent with the product they supplied to date. The old stuff will stay in place until we get all the new stuff here next week; then it will get replaced.” Watch the Hiawatha project website for schedule updates – according to Farrell, if the weather isn’t too bad, intensive efforts by FieldTurf could keep them on track for completion before Thanksgiving.
(Westcrest Reservoir construction photo from last spring)
As work continues on the West Seattle (Westcrest) Reservoir lid, the city is taking another step toward construction of the park atop it. A published notice indicates the Parks Department is now seeking letters of interest and statements of qualifications from landscape architects (deadline 10/26). The notice says construction is set to start in early 2011, and includes:
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The vision for this site is to create an innovative park addition adjacent to Westcrest Park that can accommodate a variety of park features and recreational uses, while seamlessly integrating the reservoir lid with the surrounding park. The project area is approximately 20 acres.
Park funding is coming from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy approved by voters last year. Highland Park Action Committee has been working to stay closely involved with the park-development process, including discussion during its Westcrest “mini-summit” in June (WSB coverage here).
Just got word from Mary Ellen Cunningham of Friends of Dakota Place Park (map) that the dedication is set for 3:30 pm October 22nd “rain or shine.” The exterior work is done, including the art installation (photo), and as reported here last week, the city is putting together funding to finish the interior of the historic substation building on the site so that it can be used as a satellite facility for Hiawatha Community Center programs.
Wood chips await helping hands to move them into place for a new feature at Westcrest Park Off-Leash Area in Highland Park, West Seattle’s only official off-leash area: Westcrest steward Steve McElhenney tells WSB that this will be “a new “special needs” area of the park. I pitched my idea to Seattle Parks a few weeks ago to clear out an area right inside the offleash area north parking lot to create access for the elderly and disabled folks with dogs that had a hard time getting to the upper area.” Steve says that, thanks to Dennis Dylan and crew at the tree-service company JTS, they have lots of chips waiting to be spread – volunteers are welcome to join in and help 6-8 pm tomorrow night and 10 am-noon Saturday.
Thanks to Tim McMonigle of West Seattle Soccer Club for the tip that Hiawatha’s starting to get its new turf, part of field improvements that should be complete next month. Tim added: “I talked to one of the workers there and they said they’ll probably have the turf laid in the next week, then another couple weeks after that for all the prep work (lines glued, spreading rubber pellets). The backstops and track are all installed, although they still need to put rubber on the track. This will be fun watching the dramatic transformation over the next month.” As the official page for the project puts it, the finished fields will include “full-size facilities” for soccer, baseball and football.
Another update just in from the city regarding what started as 3 (projected) weeks of federally mandated drain-upgrade work at Southwest Pool and now has turned into 2+ months including repairs for a previously undetected problem – read on:Read More
JUNCTION PLAZA PARK: Within months, groundbreaking is expected for the long-in-the-works construction of this park at 42nd/Alaska. But first – one last public meeting – discuss the current design plan tonight at 6:30, Senior Center of West Seattle (southeast corner of California/Oregon).
VOTER-REGISTRATION DEADLINE: With Election Day four weeks from tomorrow, today’s the deadline to either postmark a by-mail registration form or register online – or to update your information. Here’s a link for form printout and online registration. (If you haven’t been registered in WA before, you can do it in person at the Elections Office up till 10/26.)
From left, that’s High Point Community Center‘s assistant coordinator Rebecca Hall and coordinator Brian Judd, with Superintendent Tim Gallagher at his open house happening right now at HPCC (6920 34th SW; map). It’s a casual drop-in event, so you can go over any time between now and 8 to join the chat (beverages and snacks supplied). Other Parks-affiliated folks we saw there in the early going included Parks Board chair Jackie Ramels (from Alki) and Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee member Cindi Barker (from Morgan Junction). Question, concern, idea for a West Seattle park – or someplace you think should be one? These are the folks to see – they’re there till 8. P.S. There’s a Facebook page now for highlights of West Seattle community centers’ activities – “fan” it here (and be sure you’re connected with us on FB too, facebook.com/westseattleblog).
The two meetings mentioned here last week for discussion of upcoming improvements at Delridge Playfield – artificial turf and lighting – have been rescheduled; the first one had been in conflict with the West Seattle Candidates’ Forum, so now you can attend that too. New playfield-meeting dates: October 19 and November 23, both at 7 pm, both at Delridge Community Center. You can find more info on the project – which is funded by the Parks and Green Spaces Levy approved by voters last year – by going here.
PARKS BOSS IN HIGH POINT: It’ll be the 2nd time this week that High Point Community Center has played host to a citywide superintendent: Tuesday night it was Seattle Public Schools‘ Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson; tonight, it’s Seattle Parks and Recreation‘s Tim Gallagher. He’s been running the city’s park system for almost two years now – how do you think it’s going? Issues in the parks you’re concerned about (or happy about)? Be at HPCC (map) at 6:30 pm.
FALL FASHION AFFAIR: The Junction is not only a great place to eat/drink — its boutiques have citywide fame. Four of them team up again tonight for the annual Fall Fashion Affair. Go to Carmilia’s, Clementine, Edie’s and Sweetie 7-10 pm – see what’s new and enjoy treats – a punchcard will then entitle you to bubbly @ West 5.
From the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee meeting downtown: The group voted unanimously Tuesday night 
in favor of spending money to finish the historic substation building at Dakota Place Park.
Parks manager Kevin Stoops explained that the department had $1.2 million in “excess interest earnings from Pro Parks” (the previous levy), and after putting $500,000 of that toward Delridge Skatepark, that left $720,000 – which his team proposed using for two Pro Parks projects that hadn’t been done yet – one of which is the Dakota Place Park building, which still needs a lot of interior work before it can be used as intended, as a “satellite facility” for Hiawatha Community Center programs. The committee unanimously approved Stoops’ recommendation to spend $400,000 from the “excess interest earnings,” which will be added to $120,000 from the Hiawatha Advisory Council to finish the work, including, he said, seismic improvements, flooring, wall work, paint, cabinetry, and more. “Until we can make that happen, the building is just a sculptural element,” Stoops said. As he recounted for the committee, the park adjacent to the building was recently completed, and some exterior work was done on the historic building – a city landmark because of its past as a City Light substation – but money wasn’t available to finish its interior. “This project was underfunded from the get-go,” another department manager, Michael Shiosaki, told the committee. Now, pending the next layers of final city approvals, that will be remedied; we’ll be checking on timetables for work to start.
Also at the Parks Levy Oversight Committee:
*Junction Plaza Park was discussed briefly, at the request of a committee member; Stoops said its funding is now “enough to make that project work” and also noted the SDOT plan to fix the nearby sidewalks and curb ramps. The “revised schematic design” will be shown at the final public meeting next week (6:30 pm Monday at the Senior Center) but the highlights Stoops listed included a “small stage area, at grade,” an ‘arc of plantings” at the rear of the site, and one or two light fixtures.
*Fairmount Playground upgrade: Stoops says the plans are 99 percent complete and they’ll be advertising for bids within two weeks.
*Opportunity Fund: Draft criteria for figuring out which projects will share this $15 million fund created by the levy were presented to the committee members at the meeting; questions and concerns were raised about some of the wording, so it will be brought back to them at October – with a public hearing to follow in early November. Initial applications will be due in February, so committee members are anxious to make sure that community groups and others are working now to be ready to apply for a share of the money, and asked that Parks staff post the application timeline on the Opportunity Fund webpage as soon as possible.
12:42 PM UPDATE: Pete Spalding sends word that the date/time/location has been set for the aforementioned public hearing on Opportunity Fund criteria:
At last night’s meeting we discussed the need to schedule a public hearing on the Opportunity Fund criteria. The hearing will provide a chance for the community to speak to the Committee on the proposed criteria before they are formally approved. The public hearing will be Monday, November 9, at 7:00 pm in the Park Board Room.
That’s at Parks HQ downtown (in Denny Park).
FAUNTLEROY/CALIFORNIA SIGNAL: You may recall our story from last week, in which the city’s project manager for the now-virtually-complete Fauntleroy Way road rebuild/repave/rechannelization, Jessica Murphy, said crews would be out this week to fix the Fauntleroy/California signal timing. According to longtime WSBer and nearby resident Mike, looks like they have been (we’re checking to see if SDOT will confirm 12:26 pm – just got confirmation from Murphy, “Fauntleroy and California has been restored to normal operation”).
SOUTHWEST POOL: Last week, the city Parks Department warned that a problem detected during federally mandated drain-upgrade work could further delay the reopening of West Seattle’s only city-run year-round pool. According to a note on the Southwest Pool home page, that seems to be the case – reopening is now tentatively scheduled for October 19; by then, the shutdown will have lasted almost two months.
Your West Seattle city-run community centers all have Advisory Councils – and one of those groups wanted to share the news of what they’re up to. We were forwarded the above photo of members of the Southwest Community Center Advisory Council and a summary of their monthly meeting last Thursday:
Guest speakers were Royal Alley-Barnes and Sue Goodwin from the City of Seattle, who described a new program. Seattle Youth Violence Initiative (“Power of Place”) coming to Southwest C.C. soon. The late Friday and Saturday program is planned for teens on the “edge “. It targets good kids who are starting to face the challenges associated with adult decisions. The teens will be offered on site community resource support for counseling and educational guidance. Focus will be placed on making choices that will prepare teens for success in life.
Join Us! Citizen direction and participation is essential to our success. Monthly meetings are held to talk about programs, policies, and financial issues. Our advisory councils always are looking for new members. If you would like to get involved, please contact the facility staff for further information. The next meeting of the SWCC Advisory Council is scheduled for 7 pm Oct. 15th at the Community Center and is open to the public.
Read more about the SWCC Advisory Council here. For the other centers: Alki’s advisory-council info is here; Delridge, here; Hiawatha, here; High Point does not have a standalone council listed.
On behalf of City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen (who chairs the Parks Committee), this photo and update are just in from his legislative assistant Brian Hawksford:
In August the Seattle Parks Department closed on a .12 acre property, with an abandoned house, located in the Admiral Way greenbelt.
Last spring Councilmember Tom Rasmussen spotted a “for sale” sign on the property and immediately called the Parks and Recreation Department to urge them to make an offer. The property was in foreclosure and the Parks Department negotiated a purchase favorable to the City.
This acquisition along with the transfer to the Parks and Recreation Department of the Manning St. SW triangle and 9.6 acres of other City owned properties along Admiral Way will place over 70% of the land fronting both sides of Admiral Way from the West Seattle Bridge to the Belvedere Viewpoint into a greenbelt.
The City is currently undertaking a significant reforestation effort along this stretch of Admiral Way as part of the Green Seattle Partnership. The house will be demolished (date to be determined) and the site restored to a natural condition.
This acquisition was made possible with funding from the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy. Councilmember Rasmussen praised the Parks and Recreation Department for its quick action in saving this portion of the greenbelt from possible development.
Starting later this year, people with proposals for spending the levy’s Opportunity Fund will be able to start the application process – find out about it here. And you can get a firsthand look at what the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee, which has three West Seattle reps, is up to, by attending their next meeting a week from tonight, 7 pm September 29, at Parks HQ downtown.
That photo from Twitter shows some of the silky pink that stretched across the sky after tonight’s final sunset of summer; tomorrow night, fall arrives, and you can greet its arrival with Alice Enevoldsen, who you may remember as the heroic volunteer WSB mapmaker during Snowpocalypse last winter. Alice is among many other things, author of alicesastroinfo.com, and is welcoming you to join her at Solstice Park (over the tennis courts northeast of Lincoln Park; map) tomorrow night to greet the arrival of fall at 7:06 pm our time. Could be some stargazing involved if the weather holds; read Alice’s full invite here.
Big news in West Seattle with so many Parks Department properties here: Mayor Nickels is proposing a gun ban in parks facilities “intended for children and youth.” (The prospect of new city rules on guns in parks also came up at an Alki Community Council meeting this summer, during discussion of recent incidents involving firearms, like this one in June, although it does not appear the ban would include beach parks like Alki.) Here’s the full text of the city announcement, plus information on how to formally comment on it:Read More
The final public meeting about Junction Plaza Park (mentioned in our coverage of Tuesday’s Junction Neighborhood Organization meeting) is now officially scheduled: 6:30 pm October 5 at the Senior Center of West Seattle. Topics will include what the Parks Department announcement describes as “plant selection and minor design elements.”
ORIGINAL 11:14 AM REPORT: West Seattle’s only city-run indoor pool, Southwest Pool, has been closed for three weeks while its drain system is upgraded to meet new federally mandated safety standards, and was scheduled to reopen Monday; we just checked with the Parks Department to see if that’s still the plan – and spokesperson Karen O’Connor tells us there’s in fact a new reopening date: September 21st, a week from Monday:
Currently, they are finishing up the work and will run tests on Monday, September 14th. We will have a better idea if the opening on the 21st is firm following the tests on Monday the 14th.
In the meantime, since outdoor Colman Pool is now closed till next year, your swimming options in West Seattle are limited to private pools; the West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) is one of them, and does sell day passes.
2:42 PM UPDATE: Got additional information from SW Pool’s assistant coordinator Matt Richardson, as well as this photo (his explanation is below it):
I thought I would provided a bit of insight into why the closure is running longer than expected.
The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (VGBA) closures have been a challenge for our maintenance personnel. Every site has had its unique elements. Southwest is no different.
Prior to the closure, our engineer and lead pool operator submitted plans and construction drawings to the health department for approval. The permits were issued based on the original construction blueprints. The plan was to use the existing drain sump and attach the new VGBA compliant covers. When the pool shell was opened up, the drain sumps did not match the original blueprints. This required our engineer to design new poured in place concrete sumps and re-submit the drawings to the health department.
The new permit came through in the afternoon of Tuesday, September 8th. Our plumbers have been working feverishly this week. The cement crews should be starting on Monday with pouring new sumps and plastering. The cement requires a couple of days cure time. It takes about 5 days to fill and heat the pool up to our usual 85 degrees F. That puts us opening on Monday September 21st.
A quick note for all of our current lesson participants. The lesson session that was scheduled to begin on September 16th is delayed. We plan on starting lessons on Wednesday September 23rd. All of the currently enrolled participants will have the fees for the missed classes credited onto their accounts.
Our estimate of re-opening on September 21st is based on everything going on as planned. We will update the latest information regarding the opening date on our voicemail and our pool schedule page at
http://www.cityofseattle.net/parks/aquatics/Pools/southwest/schedule.htmThank you for understanding as we work to comply with the new federally mandated codes that resulted from the VGBA.
Sincerely,
Matthew Richardson, Assistant Coordinator
Seattle Parks – Southwest Pool
Chilly or not, this is the final day of 2009 operations for Colman Pool on the shore in Lincoln Park. It’s on a “holiday” schedule – page 5 of the brochure – which means: Lap swim noon-1:30 pm, public swim 1:45-4:45 pm, half lap swim/half family swim 5-7 pm. (This was also supposed to be the final day of the season for city wading pools, but unlike swimming pools, they don’t open if the forecast doesn’t call for temperatures of at least 70 degrees; you can check the wading-pool hotline at 206-684-7796.)
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