West Seattle, Washington
19 Tuesday
Two days ago, we reported that at least five West Seattle schools were dealing with the news that they would lose teachers because the district’s enrollment projections had fallen a bit short – along with about 20 other schools around the district. We followed up on Friday with updates including how Schmitz Park Elementary‘s principal explained the situation to families of his first-graders, and early word of a Sunday rally for West Seattleites to show their concern.
Tonight, some updates:
*The start of tomorrow’s rally has been described as “after the Seahawks game” (which starts at 10 am) – approximately 2 pm. Everyone interested in participating is invited to show up at California SW and SW Admiral Way. This is a rally to call attention to the West Seattle-wide situation. Organizers suggest wearing your school’s colors and bringing noisemakers.
*A Tuesday afternoon protest outside Seattle Public Schools headquarters in SODO (4 pm, 3rd and Lander) is being planned.
*Alki Elementary families are expanding fundraising to try to avoid losing a first-grade teacher, in the vein of what Gatewood Elementary did when facing a cut last year. The fundraising now includes two dine-out events announced by the Alki PTA:
–Mission (2325 California SW) is donating 20 percent of food/drink sales tomorrow (Sunday)
–Marination Ma Kai (at Seacrest, 1660 Harbor SW) is donating 15 percent of its food sales 4 pm-8 pm Tuesday (October 13th), according to Patti Johnson from the Alki PTA. She also shared these points about how loss of a teacher affects more than that teacher’s class:
The loss of this one teacher will have an enormous impact to the school and the children.
*First grade class sizes from 21-22 students per class to 26.
*Second grade class size from 23-24 students per class to 26-27.
*Will put at least one classroom in overload status.
*Creation of a 1st-2nd grade combination classroom (in addition to the 4th-5th combination we already have).In addition to the statistics above, changing classes in-year will have other ramifications and effects on the children:
Learning a new routine takes approximately 2-3 weeks. Students changing to new classrooms will result in all students in those classes losing instructional time because the teacher will have to spend time teaching every class routine to the entire class, again, after having just become proficient in routines from the start of the school year.
Students will spend time meeting their new classmates and new teacher prior to the change in class assignments, thus resulting in more loss of instructional time.
Building custodians and other staff members will take time out of their normal duties to move student furniture (desks) and any other furnishings needed into new classrooms to accommodate the need for more desk, table, and shelf space in the newly assigned classrooms.
School counselors will have to work with students who have anxiety, fear, depression, etc. from loss of stability due to new class assignments. (Some students have pre-existing issues that make them more susceptible to these feelings).
Tutoring time that was intended for intervention of students needing to reduce the achievement gap will be shifted to support students in a split classes.
There will be less Playground Supervisors during two recesses per week for Alki 1st graders because of the reduction of staff members able to do supervision.
Alki also has an online petition:
*”Keep Alki Elementary Class Size Manageable” – petition here
Schmitz Park, whose principal says two 1st-grade classes now will be at 28 students each and a third at 29, also has an online petition, first noted in our Thursday story – find it here.
This one has a broader focus:
*”Our Kids Need Their Teachers – Rethink Budget Cuts” – petition here
And as noted at Schmitz Park on Thursday night, advocacy to elected officials matters most of all – whether you’re involved with any of the affected schools or not, you can help with this.
The district, meantime, as reported on Friday, has responded with this general message.
7:37 PM: If you’re using the Washington State Ferries Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route tonight, note that M/V Tillikum is having mechanical trouble, so WSF has cancelled at least three runs, including Vashon 7:35 pm and Fauntleroy 8:00 pm departures.
11:04 PM NOTE: WSF has continued sending alerts about delays throughout the evening – check here for the latest, if you’re heading out.
The day is ending more cheerfully than it began for Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) proprietors John and Frances Smersh. The shop’s 11th anniversary party is on, until 8 pm as planned, despite the overnight burglary (one of two local businesses hit, as reported here). And despite the fact the burglars even made off with the champagne. That was easily replaceable, as pointed out on the Click! Instagram account. So stop by to shop and sip.
Along with treats, you’ll also find deals, as noted in their website announcement about the event – written five days ago; it points out that #11 is the steel anniversary, and: “… steel is a strong material, but not unyielding, moving both to the forces of nature and of women and men. The celebration of eleven years in business has its roots in both strength and flexibility.” Along with words of thanks, that item also notes this marks five years since Click! moved from a cozy Admiral space to the spacious storefront at 4540 California SW in The Junction.
(SCROLL DOWN for updated storm info)
1:58 PM: You’ve probably noticed the wind has kicked up in a big way. The National Weather Service now has the area under a “wind advisory” alert until 5 pm, with sustained winds from the south-southwest at 20 to 30 mph, and the possibility of gusts up to 45 mph.
2:23 PM: Since then, we’ve also had another wave of heavy rain, and we’re hearing reports of some street flooding, including near the heart of Morgan Junction. Off to check. Also adding a phone-video clip from one wind/rain burst. Check your nearest storm drains when you can to be sure leaves/other debris aren’t clogging them.
3:20 PM: That video is from Fauntleroy Way in the Fairmount Springs area, where leaf-clogged drains have left enough water across the road for hydroplaning. We noticed some caring souls out there working to unclog the drains. We also checked out the alley behind the businesses on the west side of 4700 block of California SW in The Junction – longtime troublespot:
Brian Allen sent word that Weather Underground tallies the rain at more than an inch, this afternoon alone. Also just caught this traffic alert via a tip from Tamisha:
No visual but per @seattlepd flooding on SW Admiral Way has ramp to EB West Seattle Bridge closed. Use caution & use alternate routes
— seattledot (@seattledot) October 10, 2015
4:38 PM: The ramp is open again.
SATURDAY: Thanks to everybody who’s messaged to ask about this, including “cugrngneer,” who shared the photo: The state ferry you’re seeing in unusual places and unusual maneuvers today is the M/V Tacoma, which has been at Vigor on Harbor Island for a while and is now on sea trials getting ready to go back into service on the Bainbridge Island/Downtown Seattle run.
SUNDAY MORNING: Just saw Tacoma passing Fauntleroy, out on sea trials again today.
Some of the cats and kittens at the Seattle Animal Shelter Cat Adopt-A-Thon at High Point Community Center were snapped up fast. But Katya, 10, above, didn’t have a forever home yet as of about 15 minutes ago. Go see her and the others looking for new homes.
HPCC is at 6920 34th SW and this is on until 3 pm. There’s even a tent where you can get acquainted with your potential new furry family member.
(That’s Bowser the kitten.)
ORIGINAL REPORT, 11:32 AM: An unpleasant surprise for the proprietors of Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) as they arrived this morning to get their shop ready to open for the day – someone broke in overnight. “Not very much” was stolen, Click! proprietor John Smersh reports; they’ve been cleaning up to get on with the day – and the night, since, as noted in our daily preview, this is Click!’s 11th anniversary and they’re planning a 5-8 pm party. That’s definitely still on, John says, so they hope to see you there.
P.S. Because of the cleanup, they’re not opening for the day until 1 pm.
ADDED 3:39 PM: John had said a police officer told them another business, in South Admiral on California SW, had been broken into early today as well. We couldn’t find it on the SPD map or in Tweets By Beat at the time but have since learned via a reader tip that it happened at the live-work offices in the 3400 block of California SW.
4 PM: We have since heard directly from the burglarized business, Guenther Group, confirming theirs was the business broken into by someone who smashed through the front door (in Click!’s case, it was the rear) early this morning.
Sunday nights are usually quiet on the calendar – event highlights often ending around mid-afternoon. Not tomorrow. So here’s a heads-up if you haven’t already seen this on the calendar: The Southwest Seattle Historical Society is presenting a free concert and film, “Some Places Are Forever Afternoon: A Tribute in Music, Words, and Film to White Center’s Richard Hugo,” 6 pm Sunday inside the historic White Center Fieldhouse at Steve Cox Memorial Park (1321 SW 102nd). Admission is free, thanks to funding by 4Culture; the concert features pianist/composer Wayne Horvitz (who’s in the video invitation above), who released a Hugo-tribute CD in July. The event also will screen “Kicking the Loose Gravel Home,” an hour-long 1976 film about Hugo, who was just 58 when he died in 1982.
(Photo by Sam Nizam)
Happy Saturday! Highlights for today/tonight, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
DON’T TOSS IT, DONATE IT! West Seattle Jr. Football and Cheer are hosting a clothing and textile drive today:
Dropoff will be at West Seattle High School. There Will be a Clothes For The Cause trailer parked at the north end parking lot from 9 AM to 5 PM. We all have unwanted textiles that are out of fashion, not needed, or no longer fit. Instead of discarding surplus clothing and household linens, give them a second life through supporting West Seattle Jr. Football and Cheer.
Accepted items: clothing new and old, paired shoes (any kind, any condition), towels – bath, kitchen, rags, blankets, sheets, quilts, backpacks, curtain/drapery, purses, belts, tablecloth, placemats, stuffed animals.
(3000 California SW)
CLASS FOR HOMEBUYERS: WSB sponsor HomeStreet Bank is a co-sponsor of this class focused on “winning the bidding war and using creative financing to purchase more home.” RSVP if you see this early enough. 10 am-noon at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
NORTH SHOREWOOD PARK PLANTING: 10 am, come help with TLC for a neighborhood park, as explained here. (10061 21st SW)
VIETNAMESE STORYTIME: 11:30 am at Delridge Library, stories, songs, and rhymes in Vietnamese. All welcome. (5423 Delridge Way SW)
CAT ADOPT-A-THON: Noon-3 pm at High Point Community Center, more than a dozen kittens, including Robbie:
… as well as mature foster cats, are waiting for you to give them a brand-new home. (6920 34th SW)
MAKE POM-POM ANIMALS: 1 pm at Southwest Library, it’s part of “See Art, Make Art,” in connection with the ongoing Community Art Showcase – details here. (35th SW & SW Henderson)
FREE HEALTH FAIR: BendnMove is hosting a free Health and Wellness fair from 1-4 pm. Organizers say you’ll find “10 West Seattle health practitioners on site to discuss options for achieving or maintaining optimum health.” (3270 California SW)
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, CLICK! It’s the 11th anniversary of Click! Design That Fits (longtime WSB sponsor), and you’re invited to the party tonight!
(Photo by Jared Chandler)
Join Click! proprietors John Smersh and Frances Smersh for the 5-8 pm party:
*Sparkling beverages and snacks
*Photo booth (professional photographer will be on site 6-7 pm)
*20% off all in-stock items (excluding our featured artist)
Full details here. (4540 California SW)
HARVEST DINNER AND TALENT SHOW: 6 pm potluck dinner – bring a dish to share! – and talent show at Highland Park Improvement Club. Go here to see what it’s all about. (12th SW & SW Holden)
BON-FULTON: Live at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7-9 pm. (5612 California SW)
PINT, DALE, WHATEVERLY BROTHERS: Big bill tonight at 7:30 pm at Kenyon Hall – check it out here. (7904 35th SW)
FIRST SHOW AT PARLIAMENT TAVERN: Stuporhero, Blanco Bronco, Lux Fontaine, Coke & Snickers are all on the bill, 9 pm at the new Parliament Tavern. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
Something else you can do today/tonight …
MAKE A CAKE FOR THE FAUNTLEROY FALL FESTIVAL CAKE WALK TOMORROW: The festival is 2-5 pm Sunday, but cake dropoff is at noon, so by the time we mention it again in the Sunday morning preview, it’ll be pretty much too late for you to bake and decorate a cake, so go get details on the FFF website now – and see some of last year’s entries in our 2014 coverage.
At Southwest Athletic Complex on Friday night, Chief Sealth International High School‘s homecoming game vs. Ingraham ended in a 1-point loss, 13-12. But before we get to the details, an update on a frightening incident that stopped the game for a while just before the end of the first half:
Sealth senior Andrew Leota was down for about 20 minutes before being taken to a medic unit. Both teams and their cheer squads made a line to the ambulance and applauded as the stretcher went by.
While injuries are not uncommon at football games, many already had a nearby tragedy on their mind, the death of Evergreen player Kenney Bui after an injury in Burien a week earlier, so that gave this even more gravity. This injury, however, did not appear to be major. Sealth athletic director Ernest Policarpio told us that Andrew thought he “took a helmet to his lower back” and was doing better as he was taken to the hospital for evaluation. The game eventually resumed and the first half was finished. We will be checking on his condition.
Here’s the rest of the story from the game:
Nine months ago, 33-year-old Emanuel Kozma was found in a treehouse, where he’d tried to hide from police searching for him in connection with package and mail thefts in Alki. He subsequently was charged with three felonies and has been in jail since his original arrest on January 8th. Last month, a jury found him guilty of theft; today, he was sentenced – and is about to go free, having been sentenced to what amounted to time served.
In addition to the theft case, Kozma also had pleaded guilty to two other charges – one, a plea bargain that brought the burglary charge in the Alki case down to criminal trespass, the other in a case for which he had a warrant out for his arrest when caught in Alki. In that case, he pleaded guilty to felony harassment. Charging documents in that case say he had threatened to shoot and kill an 18-year-old woman who was described as a friend, when she avoided responding to his requests to drive him to a probation appointment. The threat happened near Kozma’s home in White Center in the summer of 2014.
Court documents say Kozma’s criminal record – with three and a half pages of convictions – goes back 20 years, to age 12, with what’s described as “numerous misdemeanors and felonies” along the way, including harassment, assault, indecent exposure, and weapons charges. Today, Judge Dean Lum sentenced Kozma to a year in jail, suspended while he is monitored for two years, plus what amounted to the time he’s served since the January arrest, 274 days. He’s still on the King County Jail Register right now, but court documents say the judge signed the order for his release (a drug warrant from Everett is still listed on the register, and it’s not clear whether that’s been resolved, so we’ll continue checking on his post-sentencing status). The photo above, by the way, is the most recent one the state Corrections Department had when we requested it after his arrest.
(Added: Image from webcam over tunnel-machine access pit tonight)
No hint of this just two days earlier, when WSDOT released a video update on the Highway 99 tunnel-machine repairs, hours before its quarterly stakeholders meeting, but, late today, the state sent out a very different update, saying it’s suing its contractor:
WSDOT is committed to working with Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP) to complete the SR 99 Tunnel Project.
We are also committed to protecting taxpayers.
Today, WSDOT filed a lawsuit against STP in King County Superior Court. This filing was prompted by recent court filings by STP and their insurance companies. Filing this lawsuit ensures WSDOT will have a right to make legal claims in the future. This lawsuit does not prevent STP from pursuing claims under the terms of the design-build contract.
Taking action to preserve WSDOT’s rights in court was a necessary step. Our focus remains on completing the project, and removing the seismically vulnerable Alaskan Way Viaduct. We intend to ask for a stay of WSDOT’s lawsuit until the project is completed and asked STP to join us in this request.
This delay in the lawsuit will allow for work on the SR 99 Tunnel Project to be completed before litigation takes place.
The intent of today’s action is simple: protect the interests of Washington taxpayers.
There will be no further statements on this legal matter.
While WSDOT provided the case number – 15-2-24943-6 – we checked the online files, and no documents are available there yet, just “Case Title: Washington State Department of Transportation vs Seattle Tunnel Partners” on the page. We’ll keep checking.
This follows news earlier this week, first reported by the Puget Sound Business Journal, that WSDOT has told insurers it expects costs to rise more than $78 million because of the tunnel-machine trouble. That in turn came out as part of another lawsuit, one filed in New York state by insurers against STP, which says it’s hoping to get the machine going again in November, almost two years after its underground breakdown.
Last night, we reported on the first day of work by artist Jesse Link on the mural long planned for the south-facing wall of the Lofts At The Junction apartment building (4535 44th SW). We went by late this afternoon to see how it’s going. The artist was gone for the day, but it’s clear that, as he had told us in a brief shouted exchange yesterday, it’s a heron and a boat – with the words WORK IN PROGRESS painted across the space for now, lest anyone think otherwise.
(Added: Photo by David Hutchinson, seen from Don Armeni)
3:06 PM: As of a few minutes ago, Air Force One had left Eugene and was headed this way, so, as expected, the president should arrive at Boeing Field by 4. He’ll be headed to downtown, and then back to Boeing Field 7-ish. Updates to come.
(Added: Photo courtesy Jonathan – AF1 approaching Boeing Field)
3:43 PM: Air Force One landed a few minutes ago. Northbound I-5 is closed from Albro northward, awaiting the motorcade.
3:56 PM: Regional media at Boeing Field say the motorcade’s heading for downtown. The onramps to I-5 close for this too, so if you’re heading for the eastbound bridge, you can expect to be stopped until President Obama has passed.
4:07 PM: The onramps have reopened, so traffic on NB I-5 should get back to normal again soon. Downtown, you’ll see these restrictions and these bus reroutes until the president’s visit is over. Metro also issued a general alert about “service delays for routes heading south from downtown Seattle.”
6:34 PM: Regional-media coverage indicates the president’s speech is over and he’ll be headed back to Boeing Field momentarily. This WSDOT tweet underscores that:
DRIVER ALERT: SB I-5 is now closed just before Stewart St/Denny Way (Exit #166).
— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) October 10, 2015
If you need to get to the east side of the West Seattle Bridge, particularly Southbound I-5, we’d advise waiting a bit.
6:49 PM: The freeway has reopened; the president is at Boeing Field.
7:02 PM: Wheels up for Air Force One, now headed for San Francisco. If you like the behind-the-scenes details, here’s the “daily guidance/press schedule” for today, information routinely published by several news sites.
We’re welcoming a new WSB sponsor this afternoon: Something new at Admiral Chevron 2, the Growler Station!
It’s part of the new “Extra Mile” store at the station on the northwest corner of 41st SW and SW Admiral Way, a new place to stop to buy fresh craft beer to take home. You’ll find four rotating selections, including local favorites – you can check them online here before you go, and they’re on a reader board at the station too. Bring your own growler, or get one while you’re there. Here’s a reason to stop by and try it: a coupon!
You can either print the coupon (right-click on the image) or show it on your phone when you’re at Admiral Chevron 2. (You can use the ShareThis feature beneath the story to e-mail yourself the link if that’s more convenient!)
We thank Admiral Chevron 2 featuring the Growler Station for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.
Those are the sites where you can help Seattle’s only river by giving a few hours of your time to be part of this fall’s edition of Duwamish Alive! – one week from tomorrow, 10 am-2 pm on Saturday, October 17th. Organizers would love to hear from you ASAP, so use this list to choose one of the sites on the map – which include five in West Seattle – and sign up.
(UPDATED with new online petitions, plans for a Sunday rally, and more – scroll to story’s end)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
At least five West Seattle elementary schools have been told they’ll lose teaching positions as a result of Seattle Public Schools‘ review of where enrollment stood at the end of September.
While a district-wide list has not been made available, as first reported in our Thursday coverage, we were able to confirm Alki, Highland Park, Roxhill, Schmitz Park, and West Seattle Elementary Schools are among the ~25 schools citywide dealing with this.
Nothing’s completely final yet, though, and principals and their school communities have been scrambling to see what they can do to minimize effects. Here’s what’s new so far today:
*Last night at Schmitz Park, this area’s most populous elementary with 600+ students, the annual Curriculum Night for first- and second-grade families found principal Gerrit Kischner trying to explain how his long-crowded school – moving into a new building next fall – has wound up with a teaching position on the chopping block. And it found parents declaring that the ongoing funding challenges of public education are unacceptable and vowing action, including a letterwriting campaign. (They also are continuing the online petition we mentioned in Thursday’s report.)
*This morning, an Alki Elementary parent confirms that school has started a crowdfunding campaign to try to save the position that’s slated to be cut.
First, from the Schmitz Park meeting, which we covered at the suggestion of several concerned parents:
“Remember, the kids are going to be fine,” Kischner reassured the first-grade parents who gathered in the school cafeteria instead of dispersing to classrooms as would have been SOP – a change made necessary by the expected loss of the first-grade class that was to be taught by Julie Pietsch.
Several parents, including PTA president Robert Kelly, sported T-shirts in support of that classroom, P-8:
(“The fox says” is a reference to Schmitz Park’s mascot.) In the early going at the meeting, before the second-grade parents left to visit their teachers, he promised the organization would find ways to support the teachers in what he declared to be a crisis, and reminded parents that volunteer work would be important like never before.
Kischner said principals had found out about the cuts on Monday night. He said a group of them is meeting with Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland today “so we can say we did everything we can to lessen the impact on kids.”
(Dark-eyed junco, photographed by Mark Wangerin)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
FRIDAY AFTERNOON MOVIE: “A Knight’s Tale” (2001), 1 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle. (California SW & SW Oregon)
PARENTS’ NIGHT OUT: 5:30-8:30 pm at Admiral Congregational Church – details here. (California SW & SW Hill)
FRIDAY NIGHT SKATING: 6:30-8:30 pm, go skate at Alki Community Center! (5817 SW Stevens)
HIGH-SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Two games are being played in West Seattle tonight, both at 7 pm, Ingraham visits Chief Sealth International High School at Southwest Athletic Complex (2801 SW Thistle) – it’s homecoming night for the Seahawks! Also – Bainbridge visits O’Dea at West Seattle Stadium (4432 35th SW)
CHRIS & LYLE: Live music at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7-9 pm. (5612 California SW)
NODDY & QUALIA: Electropop music at The Skylark (21+), 9 pm. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
WEEKEND PREVIEW: Go browse our complete calendar to see what’s up. The biggest event of the weekend will be Sunday afternoon’s Fauntleroy Fall Festival – if you missed our preview, complete with activity/entertainment schedule, see it here!
(Four WS-relevant views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
6:59 AM: One traffic alert to start with – the investigation of a deadly shooting at 4th Avenue S. and Royal Brougham has the northbound lanes of 4th closed. Buses are rerouted off 4th in the area as a result. The shooting happened three hours ago.
PRESIDENTIAL VISIT: Looking ahead to the afternoon/evening commute – President Obama‘s schedule is projected to be about the same as what we were discussing yesterday, arriving at Boeing Field before 4 pm, heading to the Westin downtown for two events, leaving around 7. The transit reroutes planned for the visit are detailed here; the downtown security zone is detailed here. He’ll be coming here from Eugene, OR, where Air Force One will remain during his visit to Roseburg (shuttling via helicopter), so we’ll have a good short-term alert when he’s on the way.
8:01 AM: 4th is now open both ways, per SDOT:
UPDATE: All lanes are now open on 4th Ave S at S Royal Brougham Way.
— seattledot (@seattledot) October 9, 2015
8:05 AM: One weekend traffic reminder for West Seattle – 2-5 pm on Sunday (October 11th), the Fauntleroy Fall Festival is happening at venues on both sides of the 9100 block of California SW. Our preview has details, including the entertainment/activity schedule.
8:11 AM: If you’re headed for southbound I-5 from the West Seattle Bridge, it could get a little problematic – there’s an SFD response at Albro.
8:13 AM: The 4th Ave. S. bus routes that were rerouted earlier are back to normal except for one thing: “The northbound stop just north of Royal Brougham Way remains closed,” per a text from Metro.
8:38 AM: That stop has now reopened.
9:01 AM: All SB I-5 lanes are now open at the scene of the fire call mentioned above, south of the West Seattle Bridge (though two northbound lanes remain blocked).
9:43 AM: From Washington State Ferries:
Starting Monday, Oct. 12, customers are advised to prepare for at least a week of longer than usual wait times due to a temporary vessel downsizing on the Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route. The temporary downsizing is needed to maintain a 3-boat sailing schedule while the Cathlamet is out of service for its annual maintenance and U.S. Coast Guard inspection. The F/V/S route will be served by the 124-car Issaquah, 87-car Tillikum and 87-car Evergreen State.
West Seattle’s newest community-created playground is officially open. It’s at Pathfinder K-8 on Pigeon Point, whose principal David Dockendorf wielded the ribbon-cutting scissors:
One of the parents who led the project through years of fundraising and volunteer work parties, Kelly Guenther, emceed the celebration:
Along with the play equipment, you’ll find a message here and there:
It was a true reason to celebrate, after more than a year and a half of work:
And now, it’s all about playtime.
See all the steps along the way via the playground project’s official website.
Update on a story we reported here about this time last night: The memorial bench from ARK Park in Arbor Heights has been found. The family of the baby for whom it was named says the little bench turned up in some bushes in the park, broken in two. Despite the damage, they’re glad to have it back, and thankful that so many people were on the lookout for it.
Two scenes from tonight’s West Seattle Art Walk, both in The Junction on California between Oregon and Alaska:
That’s Sheila Lengle, who spent the evening at Windermere West Seattle (4526 California SW), where her show “Prevail!” raised money to fight breast cancer, which she has survived. As the preview of her show noted, creativity was a pathway to healing for her, resulting in bright, beautiful paintingss.
A few doors south, Click! Design That Fits (4540 California SW; WSB sponsor) is featuring the work of Deanna Baldi (and shared this photo of her, taken tonight):
As you can see, her work is also inspired by the world of plants – her paintings “strive to capture the essence of beauty in bloom,” she says. They’ll be at Click! until next month’s Art Walk, which will be November 12th (remember that WSAW is a great night for artful holiday shopping, especially in November and December).
Thanks to Eddie for the photo and word that painting is under way on The Junction’s highest-profile mural in a long time. A mural has always been in the plan for the south-facing wall of The Lofts At The Junction (4535 44th SW), but the design wasn’t done until long after the project went through Design Review and started construction. After Eddie shared the tip this afternoon, we went over and hollered up at the artist to ask what’s in store – not knowing at the time that it’s Jesse Link, last featured here when he painted a mural on The Shack coffee house in Luna Park a month and a half ago. This afternoon, via that ground-to-bucket exchange, he told us the mural will feature a heron and a tugboat.
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