West Seattle, Washington
09 Tuesday
Just out of the WSB inbox from Nancy Folsom:
Kelly Davidson, Project Manager for Seattle Parks and Recreation, just sent
me the news that Grindline (http://grindline.com/cgi-bin/view.pl) has been
selected as the DCC skate park designer.It’s great news. I was fortunate to be on the interview board last Tuesday
along with Matt Johnston–SeattleSkateParks.Org, Susan Golub–Seattle Parks
Projects & Planning, and Kelly. All the candidates were strong, but I felt
Grindline was the strongest. The company is local to West Seattle and is
passionately committed both to the sport and to the Delridge neighborhood.I hope the community brings their most positive ideas Wednesday night for
the first public design meeting. This development has the potential to be a
stellar community resource. As neighbor, I want this to be a fantastic
project, and it will take all of us working together.The meeting is Wednesday from 7:30 – 9 p.m. at Delridge
Community Center, 4501 Delridge Way SW.
Our previous reports on the Admiral group proposing a kids’ play area for the tiny park shown above — California Place, at California/Hill next to Admiral UCC church (map) — have been greeted by some comments suggesting the space might be better left undeveloped. Nobody showed up at the group’s first community meeting last night to express that opinion in person, but those who feel that way will likely be interested to hear that the proposal isn’t what you might suspect — they’re not seeking to turn it into a playground, but rather, per a phrase offered by a Parks Department staffer who attended the meeting to observe, a “play space.” Here’s the explanation:Read More
In addition to the next edition of West Seattle Movies on the Wall in the courtyard next to Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) — “The Goonies,” this Saturday night @ dusk (last Saturday the showing started around 9:20 pm, so definitely don’t be any later than 9, full info and entire season lineup here) — High Point Community Center has an outdoor movie this week too: “Peter Pan,” part of the next Thursday Night Family Fun event at HPCC (6-9 pm; if you want to check on an exact movie start time, call the center at 684-7422).
We told you on July 4th that the date for the first meeting about the proposed Delridge Skatepark was set for July 30. Now that’s just eight days away – and the city has issued its official announcement — saying, “at this meeting the community will focus on creating a vision for the park and will learn about scope of work for the design of the skatepark” as well as setting up an official page on the Parks section of seattle.gov (see it here). 7:30 pm, 7/30, Delridge Community Center.
Though Mayor Nickels has publicly expressed opposition to sending a new parks levy to Seattle voters before 2010, a majority of City Council members just voted to ask you to vote on the Parks and Green Spaces Levy this November, which is when the current Pro Parks Levy expires – a unanimous vote by all 7 councilmembers (with Sally Clark and Richard McIver absent). The current version, which has undergone a tweak here and a tweak there since the Citizens’ Advisory Committee approved it a few weeks back, totals $145 million over six years, which reportedly will cost the average homeowner about $70 a year. “The reason we’re doing this is is that parks are the affordable place to go in renewing our spirits,” said Council President Richard Conlin. West Seattle-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, who chairs the Parks Committee, thanked the many people who took the time to attend public hearings and offer comments, saying, “It’s been a very good public process,” even if it didn’t “take as long as the usual Seattle process” and, in looking ahead to what a new park levy might accomplish, reflected on the excitement that surrounds the opening of a new park – just nine days ago, he was at the dedication of Ercolini Park west of The Junction (below left, with Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher):
Back to the pre-vote speeches: “This is a very deliberative process we’ve gone through (with public hearings and a citizens’ advisory committee),” said Councilmember Tim Burgess. “Some of the greatest public works projects in our country have been done during tough economic times.” Councilmember Nick Licata said, “There’s been some criticism our citizens have become overburdened with levies … (but) this was not created by council alone.” Councilmember Jean Godden said, “Everybody cares about parks … parks touch everyone.” Councilmember Jan Drago said, “I have reservations about placing this on the ballot … because of (a) lack of prioritization, I believe we will have three competing ballot issues,” but she added, “I have decided to let the voters decide.” Councilmember Bruce Harrell said he has “faith” voters will make the right decision after “scrutinizing” everything on the ballot. The council already approved the mayor’s proposal to put a Pike Place Market renovation-money levy on the same ballot, November 4th; the other one to which Drago referred is a likely Sound Transit levy. The mayor could veto the levy, but only six councilmembers’ votes would be needed to override (and as we mentioned, seven voted “yes” today).
THIS AFTERNOON: City website says the City Council may vote today on whether to send the Parks and Green Spaces Levy to the ballot, after its 2:30 pm Committee of the Whole meeting @ City Hall downtown. TONIGHT: Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu Coronation @ Grace Church, 7 pm; Highland Park Action Committee (jail-sites fight and more) @ Highland Park Improvement Club, 7 pm; Sustainable West Seattle, 7:30 pm @ Camp Long. More events in West Seattle (and/or of WS relevance) for the days/weeks/months to come, on the WSB Events calendar page.
Less than two weeks after work began at the site of the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza, with temporary removal of the statue and demolition of the old base and surrounding asphalt, concrete is being poured this morning. Meantime, as we mentioned in coverage of last Thursday’s Alki Community Council meeting, the committee that raised $ for the plaza is looking for volunteer help again to plan the Sept. 6th dedication — and inviting potential volunteers to a July 31st picnic next to the construction site. ADDED MONDAY EVENING: More photos, thanks to David Hutchinson:
Thanks to Dina Johnson from Highland Park Action Committee for that photo of West Seattle Reservoir at Westcrest Park and a reminder about a meeting tonight that you might not have heard about if you don’t live in the immediate area — Seattle Public Utilities plans a community meeting at Highland Park Elementary (10th/Trenton), 6:30 pm-7:30 pm. We just checked with Stephanie Murphy, SPU’s reservoir-program manager, and she explained it’s an informal meeting to answer questions about “construction impacts” once the project to underground that reservoir (as has just been done at Myrtle Reservoir in West Seattle, as well as Beacon Hill Reservoir, where we joined the media tour and brought back fascinating underground video) gets under way.
On your ballot this November, you’ll find the city levy to raise $73 million over the next six years to fix up the Pike Place Market; the City Council approved it unanimously today. Right now, the council’s Committee of the Whole is discussing the proposed Parks and Green Spaces levy (live via Seattle Channel online or cable channel 21) – a final vote is due before the end of the month; this one’s future is iffier because the mayor doesn’t support sending it to voters this year – if you feel strongly one way or another, you’ll want to contact the mayor and council now (through seattle.gov).
As we got ready to add that video clip from yesterday’s Ercolini Park dedication to the original report we posted shortly after the event (that report is here), we realized it’s worth a breakout to call attention to the other new parks now in queue for West Seattle, all in various stages of development:
Two are right in the heart of business districts, the as-yet-not-officially-named Morgan Junction park on the former Fauntleroy Auto Repair (and, briefly, monorail-station-earmarked) site north of the new Beveridge Place Pub, and Junction Plaza Park, at the northwest corner of Alaska/42nd. The Morgan Junction project just got $90K in additional city funding to make the preferred design happen (funding coverage here; design coverage here) – here’s the most recent rendering shown to the community:
Junction Plaza Park needs more $ for full development (next steps on that are being planned now) but in the meantime is getting some irrigation and grass seeding (recent WSB coverage here) – we took this photo while a Parks crew was working there earlier this month:
There’s also Dakota Place Park, proceeding somewhat slowly at the old substation site at California/Dakota (haven’t gotten a progress report on that lately), and the Myrtle Reservoir park, to be built next year at the 35th/Myrtle site where the city has just undergrounded a reservoir; our recent Myrtle updates are here and here, and this is the latest design (click it to see a larger version):
There are other park-related projects in the works around West Seattle – new playgrounds, playfield upgrades, etc. – but those are the four brand-new parks next to be added, after Ercolini. It’s worth nothing that all four of these parks are being created with money from the citywide Pro Parks Levy that is expiring this fall (you can explore the background on each site, and other area Pro Parks projects, through this city webpage); the City Council is close to deciding whether to recommend a new parks levy be placed on the ballot – we detailed here some of what it would include for West Seattle (we are currently checking the latest version to see if any significant changes were made to the final proposal). The city council’s Committee of the Whole considers it tomorrow; then the Parks Committee has one more public hearing on the proposal this Wednesday, 5:30 pm, City Council Chambers. (All city info on the proposed levy can be found here.)
Less than an hour ago, Mayor Nickels and various other city dignitaries joined neighbors of Ercolini Park – and Jim Ercolini (with the mayor in that photo) from the family whose homestead was on the park site west of The Junction — for the official dedication, just a few weeks after it opened to a joyful reception.
Others on hand from the city included West Seattle-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen (chair of the council’s Parks Committee) and Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher:
Also, Parks Board Commissioner Jackie Ramels of Alki. But the real stars of the show all along have been the community members who banded together to push for this park, and then to give the time and money it took to make it reality — including Friends of Ercolini Park chair Katie Hjorten, who acknowledged that during the ceremony:
The next big gathering at Ercolini Park will be the community gathering for Night Out on August 5th (you can still sign up your neighborhood for an event that night – go here to get that done).
Two weeks ago, we reported on a proposal to build a playground at California Place, the mini-park shown above (California/Hill, next to Admiral UCC Church). Now we have word from Manuela Slye, who outlined the idea at the Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting last month, that a new group is forming and has just filed an application with the city Department of Neighborhoods to seek funding for the first phase of the project, including design work. As part of the process, you are now invited to the first community meeting planned by the new group, FANNA (Friends and Neighbors of North Admiral), to “discuss the status of the project, proposed timeline, and (seek) input and help from the community,” says Slye (who operates Cometa Playschool preschool). The meeting is set for 6:30 pm July 23rd at the West Seattle (Admiral) branch of Seattle Public Library; FANNA expects to hear from the city about its grant application by mid-August.
That backhoe has just moved into place as the Parks Department gets ready to start construction of the plaza to be built around the Alki Statue of Liberty, which –as reported here yesterday — is scheduled to be taken away this morning and put in storage for the two-month duration of the construction. Right now, Parks is loosening the statue off its soon-to-be-replaced base to prepare for the move. (Archived coverage here; more updates later.)
Thanks to David Hutchinson for those photos from Alki, where construction work is about to begin on the Statue of Liberty Plaza, as planned (here’s our report from last week). David says the Parks Department plans to start breaking up the asphalt tomorrow, and that’s also when Parks will take the statue away for temporary storage during construction, scheduled to last two months, with the dedication celebration planned for September 6. (See the latest site plan here; all archived WSB coverage of the Alki Statue of Liberty is here.)
What’s missing in that picture? Kids enjoying a city wading pool on a sunny Sunday afternoon — according to people who live near that pool, which is in the park next to Delridge Community Center. It’s always closed on Sundays – as are the two other wading pools in eastern West Seattle (Hughes and Highland Park), as well as not-too-distant South Park wading pool, while the two wading pools in western West Seattle (Lincoln Park and Hiawatha) are open seven days a week. In correspondence with the concerned neighbors, as well as in a response to a WSB inquiry, the Parks Department says the wading-pool schedule is carefully considered by geography. More on that ahead – but first, we took a look at the online citywide schedule and made this map, with blue markers showing the 7-day-a-week pools/spray features and red markers showing the ones closed Sundays (most of those are closed both weekend days, with a few exceptions; Delridge is open Saturdays):
The schedules aren’t new but the Sunday closures became particularly glaring for neighbors in the 90-degree heat a week ago, when the pool had a “rogue opening” as one neighbor described it, after somebody figured out how to turn on the water – and now they are trying to get the Parks Department to make a change – read on:Read More
Just out of the inbox from an e-mail list kept by local naturalist Stewart Wechsler, who leads independent activities as well as some like this in collaboration with the Parks Department. (We once joined in an Owl Hoot at Seward Park but are betting Camp Long is even more splendid!):
There are currently still 12 spaces for my Owl Hoot tonight (Sat. 7-5-08) at Camp Long in West Seattle this evening 8:30 – 10:30 pm with the Seattle Parks Department. Barred Owls are resident at Camp Long and there is a good chance of seeing and hearing them.
I haven’t seen juveniles, but we may discover some vocal hissing juveniles begging for food if, as might be expected there is whole family there again. We will also dissect some owl pellets. The program is appropriate for whole families with all ages and individuals.
Pre-registration is recommended. The fee is $8 per person. Either call 206-684-7434 before 6 pm or pre-register on line:
class.seattle.gov/parks/Activities/ActivitiesCourseDetails.asp?aid=97&cid=30803
A party’s under way celebrating the official opening of High Point’s Commons Park; we went up the knoll on its southwest side for these views that show how sweeping the park is:
The mini-amphitheater on the south side of the knoll had live entertainment – we were there for the end of a jazz combo and the start of these young performers:
Commons Park is most easily reached from Graham, at 31st (map).
That’s video of participants gathering for the start of the informal “parade around the park” this morning at brand-new Ercolini Park west of The Junction (map). The neighborhood volunteers who worked so hard to make the park a reality (here’s our coverage of the playground installation in April) are understandably busting with pride today, plus they have another big celebration ahead – the official dedication ceremony is scheduled for 10:30 am July 12th, one week from tomorrow. Here are some other Ercolini parade pix, courtesy of Scott Cronk:
(Meantime, our West Seattle 4th of July coverage continues — Admiral Kids’ Parade video coming up next; tons of helpful holiday info can be found on our 4th of July page.)
Before we shift into Total 4th of July Coverage Mode, a quick note about two meetings just announced regarding projects you might be following: DELRIDGE SKATEPARK – Word from city Parks Board vice chair Jackie Ramels of Alki is that the first meeting about the proposed Delridge skatepark (reported here when seattleskateparks.org broke the news last month) is 7:30 pm July 30th, Delridge Community Center. SPRING HILL (the mixed-use building, not the restaurant) – The next Southwest Design Review Board meeting for this project at 5020 California is now on the “Design Review Upcoming” website for August 28, time/place TBA. (WSB coverage of its last SWDRB meeting is here.) UPDATE: The Spring Hill Design Review meeting has been moved to September 11th.
(fall 2007 photo by Mark Bourne)
Today’s weather gives us one more chance to use that photo (as we did in rainy early June). If you are near the Alki Statue of Liberty today while tidewalking (very low tide @ 11:40 am), tomorrow for the fireworks, or Saturday for the Seafair Pirates Landing, take a last look because this section of Alki is about to change (as we first reported in this project update 2 weeks ago). Paul and Libby Carr of the Statue of Liberty Plaza Committee have just updated their sealady.org website but also included a few more details on the impending work in the following information e-mailed to WSB last night, including impending groundbreaking:Read More
WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham has filed several updates in the past two-plus months about homeless encampments he has been finding, and investigating, while exploring West Seattle parks. Tonight, he writes about two encounters with people linked to them:Read More
In our story last month about the renovation work that’s closing Southwest Pool till fall, we mentioned adjoining Southwest Community Center would have to close for a week here and a week there because of the project. SWCC just told us the next closure is next week: July 7-12, possibly a little longer. EARLY THURSDAY UPDATE: Junior Kitiona from SWCC sent more details – the closure is likely to stretch into the week of July 14th; how far, they won’t know till they get there – it’s because of the electrical-vault changeover mentioned in the pool-renovations article linked earlier in this post. We’ll keep you up to date on when the center is ready to reopen.
If you’ve noticed activity at the Junction Plaza Park site (42nd/Alaska), here’s what’s up – plus a question you might be able to answer:Read More
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