West Seattle, Washington
13 Sunday
James sent photos with this explanation:
I was walking through Solstice Park with my baby and dog and noticed a bunch of skinny-tired donut (360 skid-out) tracks in the groomed gravel of the lookout. Following the tracks, they led to the culprits fixing their scooters up the trail.
He says the riders were 3 male teenagers/young men: “… the broken (scooter) was blue.” One of the other two, he says, had a license plate that starts with 78 and ends in 52; he says some of the ruts left behind in this small park, formerly known as Lincoln Park Annex — uphill east of the tennis courts across from Lincoln Park’s north end, and also home to a P-Patch — were almost half a foot deep.
James says he did call police to report this. Motorized vehicles, including scooters, are prohibited on Seattle Parks trails.
That’s the team we found in the kitchen at Arbor Heights Community Church for the ARK Park Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser tonight (the park-plan ringleaders we first introduced you to last summer were in the group – Jan Seidel with the salad, at left, Loretta Kimball with the spaghetti, second from right). We showed you the ceremonial groundbreaking last month; the church is raising money to turn a nearby parcel into a playground-centered park. Play figured into tonight’s event, too, with activities for kids in separate rooms after dinner:
By the time we arrived at the spaghetti dinner, 2 hours into the 3-hour event, they estimated they’d already fed more than 200 people! From there, we headed northeast to Delridge, where the Chief Sealth High School cafeteria was also full of good times and good food – plus good music, at the 7th annual Honor Choir and Mariachi Tamale Dinner. In addition to enjoying the talent of CSHS student musicians, diners also heard from guest groups such as Mariachi Quinto Sol, featuring University of Washington students and alumni – here’s one of the songs they performed:
While at Chief Sealth, we bumped into a former TV co-worker, Lowell Deo, who was there to work on a Seattle Channel TV feature about CSHS that will air in his ongoing CityStream series later this spring – he promised to let us know when it’s scheduled, so we can let you know to watch for it. (Lowell profiled us halfway through this CityStream episode six months ago [15 minutes into the program].)
From West Seattle photojournalist Matt Durham, of mattdurhamphotography.com:
Clockwise from lower left: Spring foliage adorns the trails as hikers and naturalists tour Schmitz Park Friday. White Trillium flowers (Lily family) can be found by the keen observer. Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) sprouts from soggy soils and their flowers are short-lived. Various other plants and flowers await visitors in West Seattle’s second-generation “old growth” forest.
Never been to Schmitz Park? Here’s a map.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Much has changed since the first public discussion of possible changes to little California Place Park in North Admiral – and much has not.
What has changed:
*After going through the design process funded by a $15,000 city matching-funds grant, the proposal for possible park changes does not include anything resembling a children’s play area.
*The so-called “southern triangle” of city-owned land, southwest of the park itself, is now under Parks Department supervision since the process brought to light the fact it was somewhat neglected SDOT-owned right-of-way.
*Life has changed for one of the leaders of Friends and Neighbors of North Admiral — Manuela Slye is moving her Admiral District home-based bilingual Cometa Playschool — which some critics had suggested was a motivation for proposing park changes — to part of the former Prudential NW space about two miles south.
What hasn’t changed:
Those opposed to any changes in the small triangle of lawn and trees remain resolute, particularly nearby resident Jan Bailey, who has spent many hours standing in the park with her NO CHANGE TO PARK sign, gathering almost 700 petition signatures, and brought her sign and flyers to last night’s meeting, greeting neighbors at the door, then keeping vigil at the back of the room.
Also unchanged, one stark reality: The fact that intensive community fundraising would be needed to make any changes to the park.
We’re at Alki Community Center for the third and final “design workshop” in this stage of the process that could result in additions to little California Place Park next to Admiral Church (WSB sponsor) at California/Hill. Park-change opponents are here with bright lime-green mini-signs that say NO CHANGE TO PARK on one side, echoing the large sign held by Jan Bailey, greeting meeting attendees outside (then at the back of the room once the meeting began, per photo added above at 7:16 pm), while landscape architect Karen Kiest and members of Friends and Neighbors of North Admiral get ready to lead the meeting inside. About 35 people are here as the meeting starts; Steven Gray from FANNA just announced there will be a May 24 gathering, location TBA (probably at the park), to celebrate the time and energy everyone’s put into this – on both sides. Kiest will be presenting final design options for the park; we’ll add a note or two along the way as the meeting proceeds, before a separate, full writeup afterward. 8:41 PM UPDATE: The meeting just wrapped up; next steps, Kiest will write up a report within the next month and a half or so, and FANNA will decide what if anything they might pursue funding for – cost estimates presented here went all the way from less than $100,000 for one component of the “draft plan” to almost $400,000 for everything that could be done (including extending the park boundaries to green up a currently paved section of land on the north side that belongs to the park but is currently used as road). ADDED FRIDAY MORNING: While we’re working on the in-depth followup, here’s the design artwork shown at the meeting.
More than a few WSBers have asked what we know about the city crew that’s been clearing part of the slope this week along the west side of Admiral Way, about halfway uphill from the West Seattle Bridge. We checked with Parks Department spokesperson Dewey Potter, who explains:
At this site there’s a little bit of park property and mostly Seattle Department of Transportation property. Under the Green Seattle Partnership, it’s the first piece of work to be done on non-park property, and the largest piece of non-park property identified as a Green Seattle Partnership site. Here’s the partnership web site: greenseattle.org and a recent Mayor’s news release
Parks is clearing the invasive blackberries. A banner will go up soon at the site inviting volunteers to come and help, if they’d like to, on the east side (the west side is too dangerous for volunteers because of its proximity to traffic and the steepness of the slope).
By the way, we regularly feature Green Seattle Partnership-promoted work parties in our West Seattle Weekend Lineup, published every Friday – here’s the GS list of what’s coming up this weekend, a particularly big slate since it’s the weekend before Earth Day. This page on the GSP website explains the importance of clearing invasives (ivy, and more) in urban forests.
More to come, but first some toplines, starting with: Two park updates from the Morgan Community Association meeting that’s under way right now at The Kenney: First, the new Morgan Junction park is unofficially open; it’s not going to be dedicated until the Morgan Junction Festival on June 13th, and its name hasn’t been chosen yet, but the fences are down (photo above added 9:19 pm) and the park is open for use. Second, a trail is complete in Solstice Park (the former Lincoln Park annex), some invasive-clearing work has been complete (and more is ahead), more than half a dozen new trees will go in this fall, and “site furniture” is going in within the next month, including benches behind the tennis court and a picnic table, according to Parks Department planner Susanne Friedman, who is briefing MoCA tonight. The park discussion is just part of a busy MoCA agenda – more to come.
ADDED 8:16 PM: Also at the meeting, SDOT’s Jessica Murphy is updating the Fauntleroy repaving/restriping project; she says the contract (with Merlino) was just executed today, and the start date for the work is mid-May – no word yet exactly where along the Alaska-to-Holly route the crews will start. Murphy also says Puget Sound Energy will be doing some gas main work in the Morgan Junction area in late May — we’ll check tomorrow to find out more on that. We also are getting a Zeeks Pizza update – Dan Black from Zeeks says they’re still on track for a MAY FIRST opening in the new California/Fauntleroy location (11 am!). (More details in a Thursday followup.) The building owners are here – they say the Feedback Lounge owners (north of Zeeks) couldn’t be at this meeting but hope to be open BEFORE Zeeks; checking their MySpace site, they’re saying they will announce their grand opening date this Saturday.
The City Council Parks Committee meeting that’s under way now included a major milestone: Approval for the first spending in connection with 
the Parks Levy approved by voters last fall – more than $24 million in all. This includes some West Seattle projects, such as the start of design work for the extra park space that will be created on the new “lid” of West Seattle Reservoir in Westcrest Park, $1 million in renovations for the Camp Long Lodge (left), $3 million for Delridge Playfield artificial turf, and $170,000 for Fairmount Playfield renovations including play-equipment replacement. The full list of projects can be found in the official legislation approved by the committee this morning (which goes to the full Council next week). Earlier in this morning’s meeting, the committee — chaired by West Seattle-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen – listened to a Parks Department presentation addressing concerns about artificial turf on Seattle playfields (including 12 existing installations as well as the aforementioned Delridge plan); Parks staffers noted that the city’s preferred supplier provides a product with no lead, while adding that only one city playfield has turf with lead (Genesee, in southeast Seattle), and said the advantages of artificial turf include year-round usability and lower maintenance costs.
As registration rolls on for West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (coming up Saturday 5/9 – be part of The Big Map and regional promotion! – get in on the fun at westseattlegaragesale.com, 11 days left to register), we just got word of another big church sale, starting this Friday, and they’re still looking for donations: St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church (next to West Seattle High School) has its rummage sale this Friday-Saturday, April 17-18, and again the following Friday-Saturday, 4/24-4/25, 9 am-3 pm all four days. Got something to donate? Call the church at 937-4545. (This Saturday — one day only — also features a big sale and car wash at Alki Community Center; call ACC at 684-7430 for the scoop.) Never mind the wintry weather (sunbreak as we type, actually) – it’s time for spring cleaning – and sale season!
During our four fun hours at the Gathering of Neighbors on Saturday, we published a bit of news resulting from a chat with Pete Spalding, who (among other things) is on the new Parks Levy Oversight Committee: Pete told us a series of public meetings was about to be announced, giving you the chance to speak out about how you would like to see some of that money (particularly its $15 million “Opportunity Fund” for community-generated projects) spent. Tonight, we get word from Pete that the dates/times/locations of four open houses are now set, including, as he said, one meeting in West Seattle: 7-8:30 pm May 6, West Seattle Golf Course. (The other 3 open houses: 7 pm 5/4, Rainier Community Center; 7 pm 5/12, Green Lake Community Center; 7 pm 5/13, Parks HQ downtown.)
From Wallingford’s neighborhood-news site Wallyhood comes the story behind yellow ribbons and peals of laughter at Lowman Beach over the weekend: The replacement swingset installed last fall was dedicated in memory of Emma Kowalczyk, a Wallingford baby who died one year ago today. (More photos here.)
That’s Sophia the Italian greyhound, aka the current CityDog Magazine cover dog, companion to Wendy and Stephen Hughes-Jelen. Wendy’s High Point K9 Club has a new mission = a second off-leash area for West Seattle (the only one right now is at Westcrest Park). She explains: “The High Point K9 Club is refocusing its mission to concentrate exclusively on the creation of an off-leash exercise area for dogs in the community. The meetup group that was founded in August of 2007 will be purging inactive members so that all current active participants in the off-leash area project are plugged in and receiving communications as we go through the steps of this large project. You do not have to live within the borders of the redeveloped High Point to participate or use the off-leash area. People and their social dogs living in the surrounding communities are welcome to join and participate in the creation process and use of the park after it is done. If you have always wanted to design and build a dog park, we need you!” Just sign up for the group by going here.
Every Friday in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup, we include listings for Saturday morning work parties at West Seattle’s greenbelt treasures, from well-used parks to tangled greenbelts. So who are the intrepid volunteers who show up to help tend what so many of us take for granted? We sent a new WSB contributing reporter out this morning to meet one group and find out how much progress they’re making.
By Jonathan Stumpf
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
The first Saturday of every month is like most at Lincoln Park: Dog-walking, jogging and baseball make up the bulk of activities in this 135-acre urban forest. But among the shrubbery and trees, a group of individuals — the Friends of Lincoln Park — are performing an activity that is vital to the park’s future: the removal of invasive plant species.
The Friends of Lincoln Park is a volunteer group led by West Seattle resident and trained forest steward Sharon Baker. For three years she has been leading individuals into Lincoln Park to help with the removal of invasive plants like English holly and ivy, Himalayan blackberry, Stinky Bob, nipple-wort and clematis, with hopes of reclaiming the forest for the native plants.
Today, nine volunteers are on hand for this work party to help with removal of Stinky Bob and blackberry in the north end of the park. While Baker is not a botanist by trade, she did take an intensive course on plant identification through the Native Plant Society. “I know enough to be dangerous in the park,” Baker says. This knowledge is passed along to her group of dedicated volunteers—this is the first event for only one volunteer—and they begin ripping the blackberry and Stinky Bob from the undergrowth.
From the Gathering of Neighbors (continuing till 3 pm at Chief Sealth @ Boren, find us in the cafeteria, where free food’s available too!), where so many of the people we talk to often for WSB news stories are also here:
FAUNTLEROY PAVING UPDATE: Jessica Murphy from SDOT just stopped by our table. We asked if there’s word yet on whether the Fauntleroy Way paving project will stretch past California (see our previous report) – she says the bid was awarded a week ago and it WILL cover the full stretch, all the way to SW Holly. She’s here with updated flyers.
PARKS LEVY COMMITTEE UPDATE: Pigeon Point’s Pete Spalding (above with wife Kerry Hughes) is here too, on behalf of the PP Neighborhood Council; he is one of three West Seattleites on the new committee overseeing how the money from last fall’s Parks Levy will be spent, and he tells us there will be a series of four public meetings citywide next month to get your thoughts on how to use the levy’s “Opportunity Fund” — dates aren’t set yet but will be soon, and he says one WILL be in West Seattle. So if there’s a park project you’d like to see happen (the Delridge Skatepark would be one proposal, since money to build it got cut out of this year’s budget)
More to come – including photos from the event!
Just heard from Pete Spalding, who’s been helping lead the months-long community effort to convince the city Parks Department to name the new Morgan Junction park after longtime West Seattle Herald reporter Tim St. Clair, even though he’s been gone less than the three years the department lists as a minimum for such naming proposals. Pete says they have ONE MORE DAY to gather petition signatures supporting the park name – they will be at the Gathering of Neighbors tomorrow, 11 am-3 pm at Chief Sealth High School (at Boren), where you can sign in person, or if you can’t go, contact Pete at bayouwonder@msn.com and he’ll arrange to get your signature. (The park is scheduled for its official dedication at the Morgan Community Festival in June, but construction’s been proceeding quickly — including sidewalk work on the California SW frontage — and it will likely be done well before then.)
Notes from this week’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting: Hours after the meeting, NDNC co-chair Mike Dady sent around photos including the one above, as a hopeful note looking ahead to this afternoon’s tour of Delridge-area problem properties: That was the scene exactly three years ago, he noted, right across the street from what is currently the temporary home of Chief Sealth High School. Dady recalled spending months trying to get the property’s previous owner to clean it up; finally it was sold, and the new owner quickly moved to get rid of the blight and move toward the development that’s now gone up on the site. This afternoon at 2:30, starting from Delridge Uptown Espresso, Dady will lead a tour of current problem properties, expected to include two city councilmembers and two city department heads (you’re invited too!). As he said at Wednesday night’s NDNC meeting, he isn’t just looking for something to be done about these specific sites – he’s hoping city leaders can be convinced to take action to toughen the laws regarding vacant properties, citywide. “They’re causing a lot of grief,” he said. “It doesn’t need to be this way … We have a chance to get something done.” That discussion started Wednesday night’s meeting, but other big items were on the agenda, including a major change for the playground project North Delridge residents have been involved with — read on:Read More
Also from the City Council meeting that’s under way now, 3 more items of West Seattle relevance: First, after hearing an explanation from Councilmember Tom Rasmussen regarding the significance of the Admiral Way/SW Manning parcel, the council just voted 7-1 (Richard McIver was the “no” vote) to approve the new plan to open a public discussion of the site’s fate. As first reported here earlier this month, the Parks Department is now willing to take over the site, which once was targeted for possible sale. We’ll let you know how to participate in the public discussion, once details of the process are outlined. Second, the council has just finalized appointments to the new committee that will oversee how the money’s spent from the Parks Levy approved last year; members from West Seattle are Neal Adams, Cindi Barker, and Pete Spalding. Third, councilmembers have approved rezoning for part of the High Point development (6800 31st SW is the official address) that Councilmember Sally Clark described as “correcting an oversight” from long-ago rezoning action. Details are in items 26 and 27 on the agenda.
That’s the future site of ARK Memorial Park, just west and a little south of Arbor Heights Community Church, which owns the 8,000-square-foot parcel. Under and around that gazebo, a small but hardy group gathered Saturday afternoon for the ceremonial groundbreaking:
The young assistants are Isabella and Elliana Kimball, sisters of the park’s namesake, Alexandra Ramona Kimball, stillborn on the same day – March 28th – one year earlier. As Hal Kimball noted goodnaturedly during the downpour-graced groundbreaking, baby Alexandra’s initials are part of the double meaning in the park’s name:
AHCC says the park/playground will be for the entire community, not just for church families. As noted in our first story about the ARK Park plan last summer (see it here), this is a private project, not seeking city funding. So far they have raised more than $5,000, enough to begin the project’s first phase, but that’s just a start; next fundraising event is a spaghetti dinner at the church Fellowship Hall on April 18th (more info here). The timetable for construction depends on how the fundraising effort goes, but
(WSB photo, January 2008, madrona alongside Schurman Rock)
We shared news of this event earlier this week but failed to get it into the West Seattle Weekend Lineup so here’s another reminder: Tonight at Camp Long, 7 pm, a coffeehouse and dessert-auction fundraiser featuring music by Jim Page and Grant Dermody. $10 per adult; kids over 5 are $5, and will be invited to participate in a naturalist program during the event. While Camp Long is a beautiful, sprawling treasure, its main entrance is a “blink and you miss it” spot along 35th, so here’s a map to help, if needed. (P.S. Registration is under way for Camp Long’s spring events; you can see the catalog here.)
KEEPING WATCH ON THE PARKS LEVY MONEY: The committee that’ll keep an eye on what’s being done with money from the $145 million Parks Levy approved by voters last fall includes three West Seattleites — Neal Adams, Cindi Barker, and Pete Spalding. Their appointments were approved by the council’s Parks Committee today; the committee’s first meeting is 7 pm March 30th at Parks HQ downtown.
MATCHING $: A city event tonight honored groups from all around the city that are getting money from the latest round of Neighborhood Matching Fund Small and Simple Awards — including, from West Seattle, $14,850 for Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle< to put on an Edible Garden Fair and Tour; $14,935 for Sustainable West Seattle‘s second annual SWS Festival; $14,700 for the Youth Media Institute to put on workshops to help young people “counter negative coverage of the High Point community” by telling their own, positive stories; $15,000 for Friends of the Duwamish and the Duwamish Tribe to produce “The Duwamish Diaries,” historical exhibits and multimedia presentations to be shown in Delridge and Greater Duwamish areas. These grants require applicants to get commitments of volunteer time and donated money matching at least the full sum of what they’re seeking from the NMF, which limits ‘Small and Simple’ sums to $15,000.
Followup on a report we brought you last weekend, that the Parks Department is likely to take over a city-owned parcel at SW Manning/Admiral Way, once was proposed for sale on the open market: Just got the official announcement that the City Council’s Parks Committee gave its approval this morning to the plan to seek public comment before going ahead with that change — read on:Read More
(From last year, approved “schematic plan” for Myrtle Reservoir park)
Thanks to “jsrekd” for posing the question in the WSB Forums — what’s up with the park site at Myrtle Reservoir (map), where construction was supposed to be starting soon? First stop, the project’s official page on the city Parks Department website – where a new update revealed that the Myrtle park-construction schedule is “on hold” and that work may not start until this fall. That led to a call to project manager Virginia Hassinger, who says the delay is because Seattle Public Utilities work on the newly covered reservoir is taking longer than expected — the same crew that’s working on the Beacon Hill reservoir-covering project (remember this story, with underground video?) is working on Myrtle. Once park construction does start, Hassinger tells WSB, it should take about three months; she says she can’t wait to get going and get it done, but they can’t take control of the site till SPU’s work is done.
Got something you’re wondering about? We have a few other followups in the works and are always ready for more – send a note or call any time (all our various contact methods are here).
(WSB photo from August 2008)
Last August, we brought you first word of the plan for ARK Park in Arbor Heights, on the site shown above, which is owned by neighboring Arbor Heights Community Church. Now the date for groundbreaking is set, as well as for another fundraiser – here’s an update from project leaders Loretta Kimball and Jan Seidel:
1. Our February 9th Benefit provided an enjoyable evening of music to those who attended and helped us establish a solid Development Fund for ARK Memorial Park. We appreciate Chad Kimball and cast members of Memphis for their part in making our first fundraiser a success as well as the generosity of our donors!
2. A Groundbreaking Ceremony will be held at the site (102nd and 42nd Ave SW [map]) on Saturday, March 28th at 3:00 p.m. in memory of baby Allexandra Ramona Kimball on her 1 Year Birthdate Anniversary. Refreshments will be served in the Fellowship Hall of Arbor Heights Community Church following the groundbreaking ceremony.
3. We are planning to hold our second fundraiser, a Spaghetti Dinner, on Saturday evening, April 18th in the Fellowship Hall at Arbor Heights Community Church. Dinner will be served between 5:00 and 8:00 p.m. There will be family friendly activities such as a bouncy house, face painting, etc. Cost of the dinner is $5.00 for singles, $10.00 for couples and $15.00 for families.
You can read more about the park plan – which is a private/community-funded project, not a city park site – at this website.
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