West Seattle, Washington
16 Saturday
That photo shows a little sliver of West Duwamish Greenbelt (from our Nature Consortium-led hike last month) … one of only two West Seattle areas that were spoken up for during tonight’s public hearing before the City Council-appointed Parks and Green Spaces Levy Citizens’ Advisory Committee. There are other West Seattle projects on the list so far; we published this West Seattle-specific breakout over the weekend (apparently the list hit the Web relatively unheralded on Friday – several of tonight’s speakers from other areas of the city complained they hadn’t heard it was posted and so came to the hearing without having had the chance to read it; they urged the committee to have one more public hearing). Here are a few notes about the West Seattle mentions, plus toplines on what the rest of the city’s interested in, and what’s scheduled to happen next:Read More
A month and a half after his first report here of a homeless encampment at Camp Long (cleared by the city days later), WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham sent the above group of photos and this new report:
West Seattle can’t wish away the plight of those affected by homelessness and mental illness by looking the other way. Public parks are becoming uninhabitable as safe play areas for our youth, and natural habitat is being destroyed.
(L-R) 1. Signage warning squatters to vacate at a small encampment at Lincoln Park Annex remains after much of the belongings were removed.
2. Prior to the posting a considerable amount of debris and property became part of the park’s view looking at the Olympics.
3. After the encampment removal porn mags and refuse remains at the encampment.
4. The Alaska Junction is not immune from homelessness and mental illness. This shows a pedestrian recently passing by a person sleeping in Jefferson Square’s landscaping.
Lincoln Park Annex is now formally known as Solstice Park; it includes the upslope east of the tennis courts that are along Fauntleroy northeast of the rest of Lincoln Park. Side note; the city hasn’t called attention to this West Seattle cleanup (nor the one last month, though we were provided information when we pursued it) the same way as, for example, a recent Queen Anne cleanup (which even got this official news release on the city website).
Michael from M3 Bodyworks (WSB sponsor) e-mailed to say he was walking his dog at Jack Block Park this morning when he happened onto a Port of Seattle employee putting up a notice about West Nile Virus. We just called the port to check whether there’s something specific to be concerned about – short answer, no; long answer, West Nile virus was first detected in King County in 2006 and health authorities suspected that would mean many cases the following year – it didn’t happen but they don’t want you to let your guard down, so local agencies are warning people to continue taking anti-mosquito precautions, reduce “mosquito-breeding habitat” (water left standing a long time – so for example, keep your bird bath changed out), and report dead birds (they’re not testing every bird, the port says, just tracking where the reports come in). The Port says King County’s website is the best info resource for West Nile (here’s the page on reporting dead birds; here’s the WNV main page).
With the City Council-appointed Parks and Green Spaces Levy Citizens Advisory Committee — which includes three West Seattle members (and had a recent hearing in Alki; WSB coverage here) — two days away from its final public hearing, more details are out about the projects that a levy would fund. According to the documents linked to the council’s home page, the committee is looking at two options for structuring the levy – but the difference between them isn’t what they would pay for, so much as what percentage of the money would go to the proposed projects. The committee wants to hear from you at the Tuesday night hearing — 5:30 pm at Seattle Center — and/or by e-mail, so here’s our West Seattle breakout of what’s on the list:Read More
After this weekend (which kicks off with a free public swim today at 4:30), Southwest Pool — West Seattle’s only city-run indoor pool — will be closed for 3 1/2 months of work. The sign boils it down to just two words — “capital improvements” — but as we found out in an interview with project manager Garrett Farrell, which we requested after some WSB’ers wondered “why so long,” what’s going is so much more. You won’t see most of the effects — it’s really an overhaul of major components that keep the 1970s-era pool running, like the big old inefficient 30-plus-year-old boiler we got to see during a basement tour (click to watch the short clip):
Lots more about what’s changing, why it’ll take 3 1/2 months, how it’ll affect the adjacent community center (which will close a few times during pool work, starting with a 6/23-6/29 shutdown), and more, in-depth, ahead:Read More
ADDED 10:10 PM: Thanks to Scott for that photo of the grass seeding at the future Myrtle Reservoir Park — apparently it was just done today. ORIGINAL REPORT: The Seattle Design Commission‘s agenda for next Thursday just came out, and it includes a return engagement for the Myrtle Reservoir park plan, which has been at the center of “skatepark or not?” controversy for quite a while, though that appears to be out of the picture with recent revelations involving other sites (first High Point, then Delridge). Myrtle’s on the agenda for 1:45 pm Thursday during the SDC’s all-day meeting at City Hall downtown.
Right after the city Parks Board‘s meeting last night, we posted a quick update to say the beach-fire discussion hadn’t taken any startling turns. Lots more to say about it, of course, so here we go – and after our account of that discussion, we have a few other West Seattle-related notes from the meeting:Read More
We’re downtown at the city Parks Board meeting, where the discussion of the controversial “beach-fire ban briefing” has just concluded. City staff has backed completely away from the notion that a ban might have anything to do with climate change; “that was … weak,” one staffer said outright. Their focus is now entirely on the problems they say are caused by illegal beach fires at Alki and Golden Gardens, and wanting to “open a discussion” about how to address those problems. Absolutely no conclusions reached and no action is planned; interesting discussion and ideas along the way — full report a bit later, including a couple of other West Seattle items that have come up (meeting’s not over yet).
The mayor’s office just added another event to tonight’s busy list: Groups from around the city are accepting awards for “Small and Simple” matching-funds grants tonight – and two of those grants are going to West Seattle projects – read on:Read More
(fall 2007 photo by Mark Bourne)
New information as the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza gets closer to construction: The group that raised money for the project has gone public with details of what it’s planning for a Sept. 6 event celebrating its expected dedication, and the Parks Department project manager has talked with us about the latest details — including a couple recent changes in the plan, and the one big concern that could cause construction snags — read on:Read More
Interesting West Seattle tidbit at the end of the City Council Parks and Recreation Committee meeting that just wrapped up – the committee (chaired by West Seattle-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen) approved an “easement in perpetuity” for two property owners in the 39th/Barton vicinity (map) over Fauntleroy Park, six years after they fixed a problem described as tracing back to a winter 1997 landslide from their slope into the park. Parks Department employees at the meeting noted that “fair market value” was paid for the easement, though we couldn’t find the purchase price in the fine print of what the council just approved. No doubt there’s a ton of backstory on this; we’ve been digging around online and only finding bits and pieces, though it looks like there was at least one public meeting in 2001 prior to the city-approved/landowner-paid work that fixed the problem.
(photo courtesy Friends of Ercolini Park)
Two updates – first, Friends of Ercolini Park confirms that the official city-involved event to celebrate the park’s opening is now set for 10 am July 12 (but as we’ve reported before, the park and its playground are open now; the city’s working to fix the one last loose end, getting play sand for the pit). Second update — One agenda item for tomorrow night’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting involves “a potential new playground on a Parks-owned piece of land at California & Hill immediately adjacent to the UCC Church.” (That church is where the ANA meets tomorrow, 7 pm.)
(WSB photo taken on Alki, November 2007)
Two more notes this morning on the still-smoldering re-emergence of the notion of banning beach fires on Alki (and at Golden Gardens) — First, City Councilmember Sally Clark has posted a blog entry panning the prospective ban, writing in part:
Let me just say that if there’s one thing I believe it is that we have a God-given right to have bonfires on the beach. Yes, I care about global warming and I believe that we all must make changes small and large in our lives to keep the planet alive. However, I cannot support extinguishing beach bonfires. Beach bonfires are not killing the planet. Hummers, coal-fired power plants, routine air travel, and single-occupancy car commutes are killing the planet.
Second, we’ve now read through the document that’s part of the “briefing” that park commissioners will get this Thursday (read the full document here). Here’s one point that didn’t get much play before Superintendent Tim Gallagher‘s “clarification” announcement late yesterday saying “no action this year”: The list of possible restrictions includes the idea of requiring people to pay for permits to have beach fires. The memo says Parks spends $60,000 a year to manage the beach-fire program and didn’t expect much immediate cost savings even if a ban were implemented: “Even with the cessation of the beach fire programs, park resources maintenance staff will still need to respond to illegal fires with cleanup until the public understands and accepts a no beach fire policy as a logical element of the CAN Initiative.” We sent a note late last night to Superintendent Gallagher to double/triplecheck that his “no action this year” statement meant NONE of these changes would be put in place this year, meaning COMPLETE status quo — he e-mailed back early this morning, “No change this year.” As for what happens for next year and beyond – we’ll keep watch.
Matt Johnston just broke the news at his West Seattle-based (but covering skating issues citywide) site seattleskateparks.org: Now it looks like Delridge will be the site for a West Seattle skatepark. Read Matt’s story here.
Just 3 days ago, we republished the “West Seattle 101” chapter celebrating Alki Beach fires. Now, it seems, they once again are in danger of being extinguished forever: Tonight there’s word that when the city Parks Board meets next Thursday, members will hear about a proposed ban on beach fires at Alki and elsewhere — in the name of climate change. The online agenda says the proposal is to “eliminate beach fires as part of the Climate Action Now program.” The board meets 7 pm Thursday, 100 Dexter Avenue North. (It’s listed as a briefing, not a public hearing.) This is the second time in four years that a beach-fire ban’s been proposed. The city website says the briefing paper on this will be available online tomorrow on the Parks Board page.
Tonight’s meeting at the Alki Community Center on behalf of the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Citizens’ Advisory Committee was all about public input — no votes were taken, no decisions were made; those are up to the City Council (and Mayor) eventually, but first, recommendations come from the 28 committee members, including West Seattle’s Bruce Bentley, Sharonn Meeks, and Pete Spalding, all of whom were on hand tonight (along with several others). Here’s some of what those on hand wanted the committee to consider when deciding what might go into a new parks levy this fall:Read More
Less than two weeks after somebody knocked Cove Park‘s raven sculpture off its perch, Gary Dawson of the Fauntleroy Community Association sends word tonight that it’s back, writing: “The Raven at Cove Park returned to his perch today, looking not the worse for wear. But he certainly wishes that he will not have to suffer another assault like the last one. At Cove Park, the Raven, Native American Canoe replica, and the pebbled stream bed, like the Stream Echo overlooking the fish ladder at Fauntleroy Creek, are the products of a talented Northwest artist, Tom Jay. Tom was commissioned for both projects that was both publicly funded and by local donations as well. The art is on public property and any damage to either by vandals is subject to Seattle’s code of property damage. At this time there is no lead as to the person or persons responsible for damaging the Raven, but anyone with knowledge of such should contact any of the Board members of the Fauntleroy Community Association.” (Our original report about the vandalism is here.)
A spokesperson for the Seattle Parks Department confirms to WSB that the longtime director of Alki Community Center, Ken Davis (shown at left in WSB-reader-provided photo), is being moved to South Park Community Center. We checked after receiving several e-mails expressing concern about the change; one of those e-mails, plus more from the Parks spokesperson, just ahead:Read More
As reported here a few hours ago, we’ve got very low tides at midday all week – bottoming out on Wednesday with the lowest tide of the summer. The field trips weren’t waiting for that – the photo above shows Eastside kids swarming Constellation Park (buses parked nearby bore the names Issaquah, Bellevue, and Newport). We stopped by Lowman Beach, too, where these birds perched on tide-exposed infrastructure for an eagle’s-eye, er, seagulls’-eye view:
The sun’s coming back someday. Maybe even this afternoon, the forecast suggests. So we’re adding three outdoor-fun chapters to the West Seattle 101 (note the “tab” link on our header) section here on WSB. WS 101 
is the all-things-West-Seattle book written by Lori Hinton, who’s been sharing selected chapters here on WSB for the past few months. Today, we add Lori’s stories about Westcrest Park Off-Leash Area for dogs and their people, the blazing beach fires of Alki, and historic Colman Pool (which reopens Saturday for its third and final preseason weekend); the full WS 101 on WSB archive is here.
This time of year, the quieter north side of the Lincoln Park shore is an especially wonderful place to watch the sun slide behind the Olympics.
We told you last Thursday about the raven sculpture at Fauntleroy’s Cove Park getting knocked off its perch, apparently a victim of vandalism. As we mentioned in that report, it’s in the custody of Gary Dawson from the Fauntleroy Community Association; we checked back to ask him its fate, and he says: “We have a plan on how to repair it and reinstall, but it will take some time to get at it. It won’t be that big of a job, just need to dedicate time to work on it.” No updates on the search for whoever’s to blame.
If you didn’t get the “combined summer brochure” for all West Seattle city-run community centers and pools by mail, you can download it here (44-page PDF). One thing that caught our eye while browsing the brochure: If you too have ever rued being too old for “American Idol” — there’s an “Over-40 Talent Showcase” in August, described as follows:
Discover the unique talent of West Seattle residents in a fantastic talent showcase. The performance will feature song, dance, and instrumentals that will surely have you up on your feet. For audition information and sign-ups to perform call Sheree
Seretse at 684-7438.
Location: Southwest Community Center 8/23 Sat. 8 pm
One other community-center note – the sign outside Delridge CC says it’s closed tomorrow through June 15th. (And don’t forget the Southwest Pool closure for major work, 6/14 through late September.)
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