West Seattle, Washington
01 Saturday
With less than a week remaining in 2013, our holiday-info focus turns to New Year’s Eve and Day. We’ll be adding more info to that final section of the WSB Holiday Guide, but tonight, from a listing already there, we’re spotlighting the one activity that covers both days!From Emerald City Wanderers:
Walk with us to celebrate the end of 2013 and the start of 2014! It’s a fun and healthy way to enjoy New Year’s Eve and Day, walking with family, friends and other kindred spirits. We’ll have 5- and 10-kilometer walks on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, different routes each day. And there’ll be hot soup to chase away any chills. Walks start on New Year’s Eve anytime between 4 and 7 PM, and on New Year’s Day between 9 AM and 12 noon, at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in West Seattle. No fee for the walks, which are noncompetitive.
The New Year’s Eve 5-kilometer route winds through the holiday lights in the Admiral neighborhood, and features beautiful views of the City. The 10-kilometer route heads down to Alki and features the lights on and around Puget Sound, Elliott Bay and downtown Seattle. Flashlights will be helpful.
On New Year’s Day, the 5- and 10-kilometer routes take walkers through the Alaska Junction. 5K walkers wander back to the start through quiet neighborhoods. 10K walkers walk along the Puget Sound shoreline, through a number of parks and shoreline features. This event is hosted by the Emerald City Wanderers and St John the Baptist Episcopal Church, and is sanctioned by the American Volkssport Association. Information about volkssports will be available.
St. John’s is just south of West Seattle High School, at California/Hanford.
P.S. New Year’s events to add to the guide? Please e-mail us – editor@westseattleblog.com – thank you!
New Year’s Eve (next Tuesday, December 31st), the White Center Food Bank needs volunteers who can lift boxes/crates of food. If you can help, e-mail audrey@whitecenterfoodbank.org or call 206-762-2848.
5:52 PM: An assault-with-weapons response rushed to the 1500 block of Holden. A man is reported to be there with a ‘knife wound to the buttocks’ that is believed to have happened somewhere else. More to come.
6:01 PM: Now radio traffic suggests it wasn’t a stabbing after all.
6:22 PM: No police/fire left at the scene by the time we got there.
Six West Seattle development notes/updates today:
3239 CALIFORNIA SW (map): A demolition application is pending for this commercial structure because of a development plan that’s been making its way through the system since spring. The site is part of the block that was upzoned in 2010 to NC2-40 and is across the street from the proposed 3210 California SW. Documents on file with the city include a proposed subdivision of the site into three lots; a site plan filed in spring proposed 2 live-work units fronting California with four single-family homes behind them, but the newest site plan just shows 4 single-family homes, two fronting California, two behind, height listed as 40′. The proposals are filed under three addresses – in addition to 3239 California SW, there’s also 3237B California SW and 3239B California SW.
4147 CALIFORNIA SW (map): Applications have just been filed this week proposing to demolish two single-family homes at this site, building a mixed-use building – described as one residential unit over 3,900 square feet of commercial space, fronting California – and a new single-family home behind it. It has not been formally announced yet, so watch for that, at which time a comment deadline likely will be set.
6536 24TH SW (map): An application was filed last week to split two parcels into eight at this site between 24th and 23rd north of Willow. Other documents in the city files indicate plans to build eight homes, with at least 16 parking spaces, next year, if approved. Documents also note there is a “small wetland” on the site, so there is additional environmental documentation on file.
7313 BAINBRIDGE PLACE (map): While construction is already well under way at this three-house project north of Lincoln Park – we reported on the site clearing 2 1/2 months ago – the plan to split it into three lots has just been approved. The notice in today’s Land Use Information Bulletin includes links for reading the full decision and finding out how to appeal it.
DESIGN REVIEW REMINDERS: Today’s LUIB also includes the formal notice of the next Southwest Design Review Board meeting for 3078 SW Avalon Way (8 pm January 16 at the Senior Center of West Seattle, as reported here three weeks ago; we’ve also noted that five other Design Review meetings are coming up in January/February).
MARKETING MICROHOUSING: You might have noticed the banner up in front of the first microhousing project to be completed in West Seattle, 4546-4548 Delridge Way SW (map).
That’s across from Southwest Youth and Family Services and Delridge Playfield, first mentioned here in fall 2012 when “boarding house” applications turned up in city files. It’s now being marketed – we found this recent listing with interior photos and a $750 pricetag. The two-building complex is officially Footprint Delridge, part of a new microhousing brand (same one that’s planning to develop 5949 California SW in Morgan Junction) – here’s the Footprint marketing website; the Delridge-specific page is here.
The photo (click for a larger view) is by Katheryne Martinez, who shared it on the WSB Facebook page, asking for help identifying what kind of fish the cormorants were fighting over. We seem to have a winning answer, “sculpin” – though opinions varied from there – but we wanted to share the photo here too. Katheryne caught the cormorants on camera near Don Armeni Boat Ramp.
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency has lifted the burn ban as of 11 am, after 18 hours, noting, “Conditions can change quickly this time of year.”
TREE-CYCLING: We are the last people to suggest you should rush that tree right out the door now that Christmas is over (unless it’s so dry that it’s a fire hazard). But this IS the first official day of the city’s free post-holiday tree recycling, which continues through January 12th. Here’s the city rundown of info on how to put out your tree for curbside recycling OR how to take it to the nearby South Transfer Station, which is OK with trees/sections up to 8 feet long, while the curbside limit is 6 feet per tree/section.
P.S. You can also support a local youth group via tree-cycling; the West Seattle Rainbow Girls‘ sixth annual Christmas Tree Recycling Fundraiser is set for Saturday, January 4th, at the Alki Masonic Center, with tree dropoff 10 am-2 pm and a suggested donation of $5 per tree.
OTHER HOLIDAY RECYCLING INFO … from “packing peanuts” to batteries to old Christmas lights, recycling info is here, again courtesy of Seattle Public Utilities.
(Latest bridge and Viaduct views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
It’s back-to-work for some, so we’re back on traffic/transit watch. One note about the latter – remember that Metro is at a lower service level between Christmas and New Year’s, so today’s it’s the “reduced weekday/no UW” schedule. The Water Taxi, by the way, IS back in service today.
A surprise before we close the books on Christmas 2013 – a communique late tonight from West Seattle Art Attack, the local glass artist who, with accomplices, has “attacked” unsuspecting locals with creations over the past six years or so (we first heard from WSAA in 2007, and most recently in 2012). These photos were included with this note:
The West Seattle Art Attack team pulled off another Christmas assault hitting well-decorated houses from Alki to Fauntleroy. The team picked about a dozen houses at random that just felt like they deserved a little gift. Many more were selected, but there were too many people out and about, and the “attackers” were spooked. Happy holidays and Merry Christmas, West Seattle!
Maybe you were a recipient – take a close look when you go outside tomorrow!
A last look at Christmas Day 2013, beginning to end, in community-contributed photos. Above, our friend Rebecca Nelson from Ravenna Blog photographed West Seattle while passing on a Bremerton-bound ferry around 8:30 am.
Less than eight hours later, an anonymous reader captured the setting sun’s golden gleam on downtown high-rises, looking east from Seacrest:
Shortly thereafter, Annie Wynn tweeted the next image, observing, “Because when the sunset is this gorgeous in West Seattle, all you can do is stand and watch
Thank you to the photographers – and thank YOU for your collaboration and support. Since WSB was launched (originally with a very different mission) on December 24, 2005, we are beginning Year 9, and expecting this to be the liveliest yet.
Thanks to Chris Frankovich for sharing another stirring scene, photographed Christmas Eve morning; he explains, “It was a little gray and hazy but caught two spectaular occurrences: Two eagles in the tree (a first) and the Kenmore airplane flying by.” Click the image for a larger view.
3:08 PM: Latest update on orcas headed this way: Donna from The Whale Trail says they are still reported southbound, off Richmond Beach, so whether we see them here before nightfall depends on how fast they are moving, among other factors.
4:07 PM UPDATE: Still north of Elliott Bay, according to commenters on the Orca Network Facebook page.
From Scott:
While attending the 7:00 X-Mas Eve Service at Fauntleroy Church last night my Mother in Law lost her purse. We were not able to find it in several attempts last night so this morning we went back and after searching we found the purse but all of the contents had been stolen including cash, driver’s license and credit cards.
We believe that one scenario is that the purse was dropped in the driveway while she was getting into the car at my Mother’s house at the corner of Brace Point and Wildwood. The purse nowhere to be found last night when we returned 30 minutes later last night but found it this morning just to the north in the brush in the area directly across Brace Point from the church. My Mother in Law is traveling from out of town and will need to catch a flight back so the missing ID at this point is more important than the cash, credit cards etc. My guess is that at some point the person that found it took what they wanted out of the wallet that was inside and then threw away the wallet. I was hoping that someone may find it so we can at least get the ID back. The driver’s license is from Virginia and my Mother in Laws name is Jane. We can certainly find some ways to get around the airport security issues when not having ID but the easiest solution would be to get the license back so we would be very grateful if someone was to find it and return it.
(Photo by Danny McMillin, shared via the WSB Flickr group)
Merry Christmas! We start the day with our traditional attempt at holiday helpfulness:
WHO’S OPEN FOR COFFEE: Here’s our list. If a West Seattle coffee shop told us during our recent round of calls that they would be open today, that’s noted here. Not necessarily an all-inclusive list, though we try our best, so if you find that someone is open but not on the list, please let us know! Same goes for any other change.
WHICH RESTAURANTS ARE OPEN? Here’s the list. Similar caveats.
WHICH GROCERY STORES ARE OPEN? Here’s the list. Since it’s a short list, it also mentions who’s definitely closed.
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS MAP: Going out to look at lights tonight? See the map on the WSB Holiday Guide page.
TRANSPORTATION: Metro is on a Sunday schedule today. … The West Seattle and Vashon Water Taxis do NOT run today. … Washington State Ferries‘ Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route is on a regular weekday schedule. … Sound Transit is on a Sunday schedule. … In Seattle neighborhoods with city pay stations/meters, parking is free today.
DINNER AND TOY GIVEAWAY FOR FAMILIES WITHOUT HOMES: The Skate Church is offering dinner and toys to homeless families 2-7 pm in their basement HQ at West Seattle Baptist Church. (4157 California SW)
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
11:14 PM: Big response for a house-fire call in the 9000 block of 21st SW, near Westwood Village (map) – possibly a fire in the basement. More shortly.
11:29 PM UPDATE: Christopher Boffoli is there for WSB and confirms it’s a basement fire – very smoky, he adds. Via radio, we’ve heard firefighters declare it “tapped.” No injuries reported so far.
11:37 PM UPDATE: Update from Christopher – all the residents got out OK; they’re still doing inventory on pets – he says, “They grabbed their dogs but they say a couple of cats are inside.”
NUTSKRACKER from Perinspire on Vimeo.
No, ballerinas are NOT all sweetness and light. Alki resident Simone Bruyère Fraser, who danced professionally for 10 years back east, wanted to have some fun and show ballet dancers’ tough side – so she and friend Esy Casey made that video, with composer Carl Clark, 
and invited us to share it here for the lighter side of Christmas. (Full credits are on the video.) Simone says she and Esy, the video’s director (at left with her in the photo at right), shot it at Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor) – perfect place, considering they are the home of life-size Nutcrackers. And yes, she has danced in “The Nutcracker” – “almost every role in 10 years … from lamb, to mouse, to snow queen!” These days, she also does commercial, TV, film, and print work as well as dance, but says her “true commitment is trying to do some good in this world and help people to ‘respect the dance’,” adding, “Ballerinas need respect!”
Gatewood photographer/pilot Long B. Nguyen sent that view of West Seattle (and beyond) – photographed on Monday – for us to share with you as a “holiday card from the air.” In turn, we thank him for sharing so many images – most, but not all, from the sky – in recent years! (Click the photo for a larger view.)
4:42 PM: Just got a call from someone asking about the smoke visible from Harbor Avenue, looking across the bay. There’s a big fire in the International District; the address on the SFD 911 log is 669 S. King Street. Here’s one of the photos SFD has tweeted:
Firefighters are fighting this as a defensive fire due to it being an abandoned building pic.twitter.com/WJWCT5KRev
— Seattle Fire Dept (@SeattleFire) December 25, 2013
Here’s what our friends at KING 5 are reporting.
6:29 PM UPDATE: Our partners at The Seattle Times quote SFD as pointing out that this building has a notorious past – as the site of the Wah Mee massacre 30 years ago.
8:39 PM UPDATE: Updated the Times link in the preceding paragraph – they now have a longer story elsewhere on their site. Also of note, West Seattle fire crews are assisting, per radio communication and the online 911 log, including Ladder 11, whose crew we had photographed earlier today assisting police on Genesee Hill, as well as Engine 11 from Highland Park and Engine 32 from The Junction.
WEDNESDAY MORNING NOTE: SFD published an update overnight; the fire wasn’t under control until almost 10:30 pm.
Here’s hoping for a “Silent Night” from here – but it hasn’t been a slow day for West Seattle public-safety personnel:
SCHOOL SUSPECTS: SPD called in Seattle Fire this past hour to help them get two suspects off the roof of the old, soon-to-be-demolished Genesee Hill school building. District security called SPD to check out a possible break-in; if you drove SW Genesee past the school, you might have seen the big response.
After a lengthy search, officers found two men. They are suspected to have been squatting there, we were told by police at the scene. Officers wound up on the roof with at least one of the suspects and asked for SFD’s help in getting him down; Ladder 11 from Station 32 in The Junction responded, and as you see in our photo, its crew wound up using a portable ladder rather than the truck’s big ladder.
No details yet on the men’s ages or whether they were booked into jail.
AUTO THEFTS: Two reader reports have come in today about stolen cars whose owners ask you to be on the lookout for them. First:
My car was stolen this morning (12/24) around 10 am in West Seattle. I had it parked on the street in front of my home on the 5000 block of 38th Ave SW. It is an older model Honda CRV 2000 …license plate number WYG585 .Color is red with a few stickers on the backside as well a spare tire with black cover….If you have any information, please contact the non emergency police line at 206-625-5011 … Thank you!
Also, from Sally:
My car was stolen over the weekend. The last time I saw it was on Saturday, 12/21/13 at 9:30 pm and I found out it was missing on Monday, 12/23/13 at 7:30 am. It was stolen from the North Admiral area in a secure parking garage.
It is a dark green 97 Honda Accord in pretty good shape. It has a spoiler and the letters and logos are in gold. The license plate number is 521-ZDJ. If anyone finds it, please report to the police. Thank you in advance and I hope you enjoy the holidays.
Just announced by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency:
Due to increasingly stagnant weather conditions, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is issuing a Stage 1 burn ban for King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties, effective at 5 p.m. on December 25, 2013. This ban remains in effect until further notice.
During a Stage 1 burn ban:
No burning is allowed in fireplaces or uncertified wood stoves. Residents should rely instead on their home’s other, cleaner source of heat (such as their furnace or electric baseboard heaters) for a few days until air quality improves, the public health risk diminishes and the ban is cancelled. The only exception is if a wood stove is a home’s only adequate source of heat.
No outdoor fires are allowed. This includes recreational fires such as bonfires, campfires and the use of fire pits and chimineas.
Burn ban violations are subject to a $1,000 penalty.It is OK to use natural gas, propane, pellet and EPA-certified wood stoves or inserts during a Stage 1 burn ban.
11:11 AM: Last night we were asked about a sizable police response and apparent arrest in Arbor Heights near 35th and 102nd. Today, we have details: Police arrested a 13-year-old suspected in multiple burglaries/attempts. Officers found him after a report of someone trying to break into a house near 98th/32nd; items found on him were linked to other break-ins. The report we obtained from police says he just got out a week ago after serving time for other burglaries. Still working on more info – added details to come.
ADDED 12:33 PM: More details from the report:
That’s the McKean home between Schmitz Park and Madison – just added to our map (see below), one of the lists we put together each year in hopes of being helpful during the holidays. For this Christmas Eve, our daily preview is all about the lists:
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS MAP: You can go directly to its page on Google Maps, or see it in the WSB Holiday Events/Info Guide. Click any icon for the address, and links to get directions and other information. (Note that the music-synched West Seattle Lights/Helmstetler Family Spectacular is on until midnight tonight, with free hot chocolate 6-8 pm – remember to bring your West Seattle Food Bank donation or donate online.) Thanks to everyone who has sent suggestions and/or photos this season – and thanks to everyone who has taken the time to decorate, brightening the season for passers-by!
RESTAURANTS OPEN CHRISTMAS EVE AND/OR DAY: Here’s the list – please note the caveats!
(added) TACO TRUCK FREEBIES: 11 am-3 pm today, Taqueria El Antojo, the truck in the Short Stop lot north of Morgan Junction Park, is giving away food for Customer Appreciation Day.
GROCERY STORE HOURS FOR CHRISTMAS EVE/DAY: Here’s the list, including when they’re closing tonight and who’s closed tomorrow.
CHRISTMAS EVE CHURCH SERVICES: See the WSB Holiday Guide for the churches that sent us their service times/info for tonight (thank you!).
(added) NEED SOMETHING WRAPPED? From the Holiday Guide – Furry Faces Foundation and AARF have one last “Wrap It Up” (by donation for their animal-advocacy work) event, 2-7 pm today at Beveridge Place Pub. (6413 California SW)
CHRISTMAS DAY COFFEE: This info is mostly helpful tomorrow, but in case you want to plan ahead, here’s the list. Caveats here too, and as with restaurants, if you as a customer discover last-minute changes, or if you as a proprietor make last-minute changes, please let us know, since we’re here 24/7/365 as always.
Local shopping hours today? We just didn’t have the bandwidth to canvass local stores too BUT you are welcome to comment on this story if you’re open for last-minute shoppers!
(More area traffic cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning. As you’d expect, quiet, as reinforced by this tweet from the WSDOT person watching metro-area highways:
Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small, were singing because there's no traffic at all. My heart is growing 3 sizes!
— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) December 24, 2013
One more reminder that the holiday schedule changes start today for Metro riders, as outlined here – today it’s the “reduced weekday” schedule.
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