Taste of West Seattle 2014: Restaurant signups, ticket sales on!

March 3, 2014 7:56 pm
|    Comments Off on Taste of West Seattle 2014: Restaurant signups, ticket sales on!
 |   How to help | West Seattle news

Local restaurants are officially invited to be part of this year’s Taste of West Seattle, the big annual benefit for the West Seattle Helpline, set for Thursday night, May 15th – here’s where to go to apply. And if you’re just hoping to go sample the best of the West Seattle venues that participate, tickets also are on sale now – $95 VIP with early entry (6 pm), special raffle, and private seating area; $50 for general admission (6:30 pm). 21+. Haven’t been before? Here’s our coverage from last year.

Followup: $2 million bail for suspect in December High Point murder, ex-boyfriend of victim’s daughter

Bail is now set at $2 million for the 20-year-old White Center man arrested Saturday (WSB coverage here) on suspicion he killed 46-year-old Nga Nguyen in her High Point home in December. Probable-cause documents identify him as the ex-boyfriend of Nguyen’s daughter, and say he has a history of “stalking” her. He was interviewed shortly after the killing, the documents say, and denied having been in the home recently – but investigators say fingerprints and DNA evidence at the scene matched his. The documents say that after being arrested Saturday and being read his Miranda rights, he confessed to breaking into the Nguyens’ home on High Point Drive on December 14th and killing his ex-girlfriend’s mother, who the Medical Examiner said died of blunt-force head injury and strangulation. Prosecutors have until Wednesday to file charges.

On ‘reality TV’ tonight: ‘Mystery Diners’ at Zippy’s Giant Burgers

Thanks to Lance for the tip – he noticed that Zippy’s Giant Burgers is on the “reality TV” schedule tonight. It’s an episode of the Food Network show “Mystery Diners,” listed as airing at 10:30 pm. Episode synopsis: “Blaine, the owner of Zippy’s Giant Burgers in Seattle, contacts Charles to investigate rumors that his new mascot is misbehaving. Mystery Diners Nadine and John go undercover to discover exactly who is behind the mascot costume.” (Who indeed? We’ll find out tonight.)

West Seattle development: New Design Review dates for projects at Alki Tavern, Charlestown Café sites, & 4505 42nd SW

If you’re tracking local development projects – one or more of these might be of note for your calendar. Newly added to the list of upcoming Southwest Design Review Board meetings (all of which are scheduled to happen at the Senior Center of West Seattle at Oregon/California):

(One of three early ‘massing’ – just height, shape, etc. – options proposed for 1307 Harbor)
1307 HARBOR AVENUE SW (FORMER ALKI TAVERN SITE), APRIL 3: We’ve been watching for signs of activity ever since the tavern closed a year ago (you’ll recall, its closing party was on St. Patrick’s Day of 2013). Finally, a project description has turned up on the city website:

… 6-story, 19-unit residential structure with 3,400 for restaurant and 7,000 sq.ft. of retail at ground floor. 12,000 sq.ft. of office will be located at the south end of the building. Parking for 40 vehicles to located below grade. Existing structures (residential and retail) to be demolished.

This project is tentatively set for its first SW Design Review Board meeting at 8 pm April 3rd, after the already-announced 6:30 pm fifth review of 3210 California SW.

3824 CALIFORNIA SW (FORMER CHARLESTOWN CAFE SITE), APRIL 17: When this 30-unit (townhouses and live/work) project went before the board a month ago for its first Early Design Guidance session, they asked the project team to try again (WSB coverage here). Now the date for the second presentation is set – 6:30 pm April 17th.

4505 42ND SW, APRIL 17: A second project is set for that night too – and it’s also a second round of Early Design Guidance (here’s our coverage of its first review in January). It’s 4505 42nd SW, on the southwest corner of 42nd and Oregon, 7 stories and 50 residential units.

You can help! Give to White Center Food Bank, West Seattle Food Bank right now, and your gift goes further

March 3, 2014 12:29 pm
|    Comments Off on You can help! Give to White Center Food Bank, West Seattle Food Bank right now, and your gift goes further
 |   How to help | West Seattle news

Every March and April, local food banks participate in the Feinstein Foundation‘s annual challenge – whatever they raise during those two months qualifies them for a share of $1 million the foundation is giving to nonprofit hunger-fighting organizations. So the White Center Food Bank and West Seattle Food Bank both are hoping you will dig a little deeper through the end of next month. Here’s a message directly from the foundation’s founder, Alan Feinstein:

WHATEVER YOU DONATE TO THIS AGENCY, I WILL ADD MONEY TO IT. THE MORE YOU GIVE, THE MORE OF MY $1 MILLION THEY’LL GET—THANKS TO YOU!

Why am I doing this? Because I believe each of us was put here on earth to do what we can to help those in need. … we feel that YOU believe that, too.

My money started this campaign but it is YOU who will help decide how many needy people in your city or town will be fed this year.

This has become the greatest grass roots campaign ever to fight hunger in our country. Your donation makes you a partner in it with me!

So how can you help? One simple way – give money online. Direct links for the food banks’ online-donation pages:

*West Seattle Food Bank
*White Center Food Bank

It’s also a great time to organize a donation drive to get more people involved, via your school, workplace, neighborhood. Local food banks say this helps them in many ways, not just because of the Challenge, but because this is usually a time of year when donations slow way down – so hungry people in our community REALLY need your help.

West Seattle Summer Fest 2014 set for July 11-13 – application time!

(WSB file photo)
Just in from the West Seattle Junction Association – official word of West Seattle Summer Fest dates for this year, July 11-13, 2014. And if you want to be part of it, it’s time to start applying:

Local businesses, artists, restaurants, and non-profits are invited to participate. Our neighborhood consistently expresses interest in seeing local vendors and businesses at Summer Fest, and applying to have a booth at the festival is the first step. Please visit www.westseattlefestival.com for the application – and tell a friend!

For information on becoming a West Seattle Summer Fest sponsor, please contact WSJA Director Susan Melrose at susan@wsjunction.org.

West Seattle Monday: See what’s up for today/tonight

(Thanks to Hedi for the photo of Harbor Avenue’s Canada goose family out exploring)
Relatively quiet day/night, as we check highlights on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:

SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OPEN ENROLLMENT, WEEK 2: The second and final week of the Seattle Public Schools open-enrollment period – for those who “want to request a different school or program assignment for the 2014-15 school year” or haven’t yet registered their incoming kindergartener or otherwise new student – ends at 4 pm Friday, March 7th. If your student(s) already are assigned for next year, you should have received a confirmation letter, and you do NOT need to take any action now. If you DO need to apply – all the info’s here.

TODDLER INDOOR GYM: New times for the indoor gyms at West Seattle community centers; 1 pm is the Monday start for drop-in Delridge Community Center sessions. (4501 Delridge Way SW)

LEARN OIL PAINTING: A new six-week series of classes starts tonight at Alki Bathhouse, 6 pm. (60th/Alki)

WEST SEATTLE HI-YU MEETING: Come help the volunteers working to make this year’s West Seattle Hi-Yu community events and parade float happen! 7 pm at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church. (California/Hanford)

TRIVIA/PUB QUIZ NIGHT: Three venues in our calendar with Monday night events – 7 pm at Christo’s on Alki, 7:30 at Outwest Bar, 8 pm at Shadowland.

Extra time to buy your ticket for Arbor Heights Elementary auction

Since they know you’re busy, organizers of this year’s Arbor Heights Elementary School auction have extended the ticket-buying deadline to this Friday (March 7th). The auction is at The Hall at Fauntleroy on Friday, March 14th – doors open and bidding begins at 5:30 pm, dinner at 7 pm; see the official flyer here. This year’s “raise the paddle” direct donations are helping buy science equipment! You can buy your ticket(s) right now online, here.

TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Monday updates; Water Taxi’s new fares

(Latest bridge and Viaduct views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Happy Monday! Notes as we start our first daily traffic watch for the first full week of March:

WATER-TAXI FARE REMINDER: As reported here a week ago, King County Water Taxi fares have just gone up. If you use pre-paid-fare media such as an ORCA card, you’ll pay $4 one way on the West Seattle Water Taxi, up from $3.50; if you pay cash, it’s up to $4.75 from $4.

NEXT ROAD-WORK REMINDER: Next weekend, the I-5 expansion-joint work resumes; this time, they’ll close up to 3 northbound collector-distributor lanes downtown from Friday night until Monday morning. The James and Madison exits will remain open, WSDOT says.

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME STARTS SUNDAY: Almost time for a time change, already. Next Sunday morning at 2 am (call it Saturday night if you prefer), we spring forward an hour as Daylight Saving Time begins.

TALES OF A TEMPORARY COMMUTER: Continuing our almost-daily notes on joining the morning exodus from West Seattle temporarily while covering the Morgan Junction murder trial downtown – today was the longest yet, but the bridge wasn’t the biggest challenge; 4th Avenue S. was clogged. It’s the most direct route from the bridge to the courthouse parking garage we’ve been using (the courthouse is between 3rd and 4th on the south end of downtown), but today, it was a wait through multiple cycles at just about every light, for no obvious reason aside from me and the other commuters just filling the street. Left the house at 8:15, got to the garage at 8:50 (still not much to complain about, we’ll admit).

12:58 PM: Thanks to Keri for mentioning trouble with a semi-truck on the bridge offramp to northbound I-5. Checking cams in the area, we don’t see any sign of a backup, so it might be clear by now.

Fire Station 32 rebuild: Temporary home chosen on 40th SW

Saturday’s open house at Seattle Fire Station 32 in The Triangle was intended mostly to display the final design of the $15 million FS 32 rebuild, but there was other news – the station’s temporary during-construction home has been chosen. David Kunselman, administrator of the city’s Fire Facilities & Emergency Response Levy program, says it will be set up on the 40th SW site the city has purchased for a future park.

Construction of the new FS 32, he said, could start by the end of this year – so the station might be moved by then. The temporary site is flanked by the sites of development plans – 4745 40th SW to the south, 4755 Fauntleroy Way SW across 40th to the east/northeast – where construction might be under way by then.

Back to the new Station 32 itself (read project details here) – images of the design by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson were displayed around the bays of the station during the open house:

That’s the side facing 38th SW, same side that currently looks like this:

Looking southeastward toward the SW Alaska side:

And southwestward:

The rebuilt Station 32 will be headquarters to the area’s Battalion Chief (B7), currently based at Fire Station 29 in Admiral, which also had a design open house Saturday. FS 29 has a $3.5 million project on the way, mostly seismic upgrades (details here). When that begins in about a year, its temporary home will be the one where Station 36 is now – at Harbor SW/SW Florida. A similar upgrade is also on the way for Highland Park’s Station 11, but it will not have to leave its 16th/Holden site during the $2.7 million project, which Kunselman says is currently out to bid.

ADDED: Here’s the PDF with a clearer look at the renderings shown above.

West Seattle Booster Club: Going to bat for WSHS teams’ needs

A group of West Seattle High School parents, alumni, and faculty is “working to upgrade the West Seattle Booster Club to a membership-based organization for the first time” – and they are ready now to ask you to be part of the upgrade.

A commenter wondered about the Booster Club in the discussion following this WSB story a week ago about a crowdfunding drive by the WSHS tennis coach, who said she had virtually no budget. The club uncloaked and announced they had pitched in.

On behalf of the WS Booster Club, Donna Veenhuizen shared this open message to the community, including word of a brand-new website:

The Club’s goal is to assist all of athletic programs at the high school with uniforms, equipment, and needs the school budget cannot cover, and we would love to have you join us. We are very new (just started getting organized last spring), and have already been able to help the girls’ soccer team, swim team, and tennis team.

Check us out at westseattleboosterclub.org and please share with everyone you know! Membership and participation are keys to our success, so the more people that know about us and get involved, the more we can help. You can donate to the Booster Club on our website, and 50% of your annual membership dues goes toward the sport of your choice.

We also have “West Seattle Athletic Department” t-shirts and sweatshirts for sale (photo at right; please e-mail us for more info) and a fan gear website. All proceeds benefit the students at West Seattle High School!

There’s another way you can get involved: In person. The West Seattle Booster Club’s next meeting is this Tuesday (March 4), 7 pm in the school library. Veenhuizen says they’re also welcoming questions and ideas at westseattleboosterclub@gmail.com.

Delridge ‘Food Hub’? One recommendation of a new city report

A new city report reiterates that access to healthy food in Delridge is abysmal, especially for low-income families. The report follows surveys and focus groups of women in the Delridge area, and was presented to the City Council in a briefing this past week; thanks to Councilmember Tom Rasmussen for pointing it out. The report was inspired, it says, by the Seattle Women’s Commission and Councilmember Mike O’Brien looking into a Delridge community member’s concerns of how difficult it was to find healthy food in the area, even if she took transit to the store, complicated by the logistics of bringing along young children. The report’s executive summary is here, with recommendations from creating a Food Hub – maybe even with a Farmers’ Market-type produce stand – to transportation improvements, to supporting the Delridge Grocery co-op startup that’s aiming to open its market later this year. Here’s the slide deck shown at the briefing.

West Seattleite still working to help Philippines typhoon victims, four months later

(Photo courtesy Dave Nichols)
Four months later, you aren’t hearing much (if anything) about it, but temporary shelter and permanent homes are still needed for typhoon victims in the Philippines, according to an update this past week from the United Nations. Those helping with the former include West Seattleite Dave Nichols, at left in the photo above. He works with a disaster-relief nonprofit called ShelterBox, as noted here in this November report. Since then, Dave has gone to the Philippines to help, and after he returned home, he resumed making presentations everywhere he can get someone to listen. He tells this story, to make sure you and others are still aware that help is needed:

I am an American who volunteers for a British disaster relief agency called ShelterBox. Our goal is to deploy aid in the form of a box containing a fairly large tent, blankets and ground cover, cooking utensils, Mosquito nets and a family water purification. We do this fairly quickly thanks to the generosity of our donors. Our two person teams of volunteers are typically on the ground doing assessments 48-72 hours following a disaster.

I returned from the Philippines, where a devastating typhoon wiped whole villages off the islands. It also killed north of 6,000 people. When did this happen? November 8th. There are 7010 islands in the Philippines many quite large, and the typhoon went right through the middle of these islands. My deployment started on January 10th, and I first went with a teammate to an island named Bohol, which was struck by a 7.4 earthquake in October flattening whole towns.

Read More

West Seattle Crime Watch: Street holdup; Maxima stolen again…

Three reports in West Seattle Crime Watch today, starting with this just in from SPD Blotter – heard snippets on the scanner overnight but now the police have a full report:

On March 2nd at approximately 12:57 a.m. officers responded to the report of an armed robbery of a citizen near California Avenue SW and SW Dakota Street. Preliminary investigation indicates that a man and a woman were walking on California Avenue SW when two black male suspects in their 20′s approached them. One of the suspects brandished a handgun and robbed the victims of their cell phone, money, purse, wallet and ipad.

The suspects then fled the scene running northbound in the alley on the west side of California Avenue SW. A witness saw a black male get into the front passenger seat of a white Lexus sedan. The Lexus was last seen driving eastbound from SW Bradford Street and California Avenue SW. The suspect vehicle is further described as a white Lexus 4-door sedan with gold trim and Washington plates. There are no further suspect descriptions available at this time. The suspects and suspect vehicle remain at large.

Anyone with information about this incident or who may know the identities or whereabouts of the suspects or suspect vehicle is asked to call 911 or Seattle Police and refer to this incident. Anonymous tips are welcome.

Speaking of cars – for the second time in two weeks, someone has taken Trevor‘s car:

Read More

West Seattle Crime Watch: More charges for Nicholas Broughton, now out; judge refuses to raise bail

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Two more charges have been filed against 32-year-old Nicholas Broughton (right), the repeat offender arrested one month ago after stealing an SUV in Tacoma, getting detected by LoJack here in West Seattle – drawing the Guardian One helicopter (whose crew published video of the incident) – crashing the SUV through a fence, and breaking into a relative’s home.

By the time the new charges were filed, Broughton had been out of jail a week and a half, and while prosecutors asked the court to reinstate a higher bail, a judge told them no.

We discovered all this while making a routine check of the case’s status, via online court files; here’s what we found:

Read More

West Seattle Sunday: From the Farmers’ Market to an Oscars party…

Thanks to John Hinkey for the photo of beautiful mountains, sea, and boat taken in last Friday’s sunshine. How will today unfold? Here’s some of what’s on the calendar!

REMINDER – NO VIADUCT CLOSURE TODAY AFTER ALL as reported here last night, the inspection is done and so there’s NO second all-day closure between the West Seattle Bridge and Battery Street Tunnel. But 99 is still closed from the BST north to Woodland Park Zoo through late morning for the Hot Chocolate 15/5K.

WEST SEATTLE SUNDAY SOCCER: 7:30 am at Delridge Playfield, join the weekly pickup games – explained on the WSSS Facebook page. (Delridge/Alaska)

TWEED RIDE TO BIKE EXPO: 10 am, join West Seattle Bike Connections on a ride to the Seattle Bike Expo. (Don’t miss the artistic-cycling champs while you’re there!) Details on the WSBC site. (Meet under the WS Bridge)

WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm, with vendors including the recently debuted, West Seattle-based Sod House Bakery. (44th/Alaska)

GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SALES CONTINUE: Another local troop shares their cookie-selling photo today (send us yours!), the third day of this year’s cookie sale:

We are Daisy Girl Scout Troop #45172 out of Gatewood Elementary. We will be selling cookies at Westwood QFC 12-2 and WS Thriftway 4-6 Sunday. This is our first year selling cookies. We are taking donated cookies to some of the local nursing homes and also collecting cookie donations for Operation Cookie Drop to send to the troops. Come by, say hi, and buy some cookies to help support the Girl Scouts.

The online lookup to find all of West Seattle’s cookie-selling troops, and their times/locations, is here.

OSCARS VIEWING PARTY: The silver-screen awards are on the big screen at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), 4 pm red carpet, 5 pm awards. (6451 California SW)

SEATTLE PRIDE ‘LAST CHANCE’ TRYOUTS: 15-17-year-old girls and boys have one last chance this evening to try out for the Seattle Pride basketball league. See our previous story for times and other info. Tryouts are at Seattle Lutheran High School. (40th/Genesee)

‘ROOTS MUSIC VARIETY SHOW’: That’s how tonight’s lineup at Kenyon Hall, “From West Seattle to the Bering Sea,” is described. 7:30 pm. (7904 35th SW)

SEE MORE for today, tonight, next week, and beyond, browsable here.

West Seattle food: Sod House Bakery joins Farmers’ Market lineup

(Photo courtesy Sod House Bakery)
Thinking about going to the West Seattle Farmers’ Market tomorrow? If you do, look for a new vendor that is doubly local – not only is Sod House Bakery selling its wares in West Seattle, it’s also owned by West Seattleites. We asked them for a little info, after learning about their debut last week:

Sod House Bakery is Evan Radick and Nina Faccone’s small bakery project based out of West Seattle. Last fall we realized our dream of many years by starting our own bakery and are building it from the ground up. We just became a vendor at the West Seattle Farmers Market, and hope to be selling all around Seattle this summer season. We make fun, delicious pastries like pop tarts, cookies, hand pies, and mini cakes.

As always, the market is open 10 am-2 pm at 44th/Alaska.

Happening now: Music, much more @ Youngstown’s ‘Thrive 8’ party

March 1, 2014 8:01 pm
|    Comments Off on Happening now: Music, much more @ Youngstown’s ‘Thrive 8’ party
 |   Delridge | West Seattle news | WS culture/arts

Big fun for even the littlest ones at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center “Thrive 8” celebration – especially the ones who got all wrapped up in balloon creations:

Over in the theater, DJ Manos was onstage, with more performers to come:

Youngstown is celebrating its 8th anniversary in the historic Cooper School at 4408 Delridge Way SW. Refreshments too. Admission $10 adults/$5 kids, benefiting Youngstown’s cultural/arts/youth programs – which you can find out more about at youngstownarts.org.

West Seattle traffic alert: Viaduct will NOT close again Sunday, but …

Inspection work on Highway 99 between the West Seattle Bridge and the south end of the Battery Street Tunnel is done for the weekend, so that stretch will NOT close again on Sunday. We just confirmed that with WSDOT spokesperson Laura Newborn. However, until about noon Sunday, 99 will remain closed north of the tunnel – until 6 am, to Valley Street for construction work, and then for the rest of the morning, to the Woodland Park Zoo area for the Hot Chocolate 15/5K.

Update: 20-year-old man arrested in connection with December murder of Nga Nguyen in High Point

(WSB photo from December 2013)
4:12 PM: Seattle Police have just announced an arrest in the murder of 46-year-old Nga Nguyen, found dead at her home in the 5900 block of High Point Drive in December, the cause of death later described by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office as strangulation and blunt-force head injury. The announcement this afternoon on SPD Blotter says a 20-year-old man was arrested today:

On March 1st, 2014 at approximately 11:00 a.m. Seattle Police Homicide detectives, following up on information developed during the course of their investigation, arrested the 20-year-old male suspect at his residence in the 10700 block of 18th Avenue SW in White Center.

Homicide detectives interviewed the suspect and subsequently booked him into the King County Jail for Investigation of Murder.
There are no additional suspects being sought in this case, which remains an active and on-going investigation.

Police had hinted an arrest was near – as reported here January 21st, Capt. Pierre Davis told the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council that detectives were “working on something – hopefully they can bring something to a close very quickly.” The police announcement has no information about a motive nor whether the man had any prior relationship with or knowledge of Ms. Nguyen; we’re researching further and will add anything more we find out.

5:41 PM UPDATE: So far we have found two court cases listed for the suspect – in one, he is listed as the respondent in a protection-order filing dated four days after Ms. Nguyen is killed. The online court-records system withholds details and documents in these types of cases so we don’t know who sought the order. Also, a summons was issued for him to appear in court later this month in connection with a year-old case listed as trafficking in stolen property; the document contains no further details, but we are continuing to research. The suspect will almost certainly have a bail hearing in the murder case on Monday, and we will find out more then, if not sooner.

West Seattle weekend scene: First full day of Girl Scout Cookie sales; complete local list of who’s where, when

Thanks to Carey for the photo of Troop 45120 launching Girl Scout Cookie sales at Admiral Safeway. This is the first morning-to-night day of the 17-day sale; we mentioned the online cookie-locator lookup in our West Seattle Friday preview yesterday. Using that, with a 5-mile radius around the 98116 zip code, we believe this is the complete West Seattle list from now through the end of cookie sales two weeks from tomorrow, troop by troop, generally in 2-hour increments. (Troop 45120 will be back at it tomorrow, 10 am-noon, at PCC Natural Markets-West Seattle [WSB sponsor]; if you check the linked list, you can find cookies somewhere all the way up until 8 pm.)

Video: See what champion ‘artistic cyclists’ did on 2 wheels during Roxhill Elementary visit before Bike Expo shows

Corrina Hein, Stefan Musu and Lukas Matla – world-champion artistic cyclists from Germany – are performing at the Seattle Bike Expo this weekend, and warmed up by performing at local schools, including West Seattle’s Roxhill Elementary on Friday afternoon, where we of course had to capture them on video:

If you’re going to the Bike Expo, their remaining performances are today at 1:20 pm, 3 pm, and 5 pm, and tomorrow at 11:15 am, 1:15 pm, and 3 pm. The expo is at Smith Cove Cruise Terminal in Magnolia.

Update: Electrical problem sparks fire call at Emeritus on 35th

(Photo by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
10:58 AM: Big fire callout to 4611 35th SW, which is the Emeritus Senior Living facility. Arriving units did not find any obvious sign of fire – sounds like they might have found a bit of smoke in a sixth-floor laundry room – possibly an electrical problem. We’re en route to check.

11:05 AM UPDATE: Most of the fire units have been dismissed (we’re heading north on 35th and have already passed Engines 11 and 37 heading back to their stations). We’re now arriving in the area just north of Alaska on 35th and two units are still visible outside the building. No traffic effects.

12:07 PM: Tim Clemans was at the open house at Station 32 nearby when they got the call for this – here’s what Tim recorded via Google Glass:

Since it initially went out as a “fire in building” call, that meant a huge response just in case – not just from the nearest station (this one) but from others in West Seattle as well as specialized equipment from across the bridge. Meantime, SFD wrapped up after clearing the smoke generated by the laundry-room problem