West Seattle, Washington
05 Sunday
You won’t notice it yet if you drive by on California or Alaska, but from 42nd SW, you can see that demolition has indeed begun on the remaining building on the site of Equity Residential’s 2-building, ~200-apartment project. A closer look shows long-hidden interior brick walls:
As discussed in comments on recent WSB coverage of teardown elsewhere on the site, this building was once – when it had a second story – home to the West Seattle Hospital, which later moved to the site on SW Holden that is now home to Navos. Meantime, another reminder that sidewalks on California and Alaska are closed – temporarily, as noted here Friday – while this stage of demolition continues for several days.
Stopping by the West Seattle Hi-Yu table at the Fauntleroy Fall Festival on Sunday, we found out Hi-Yu has just announced a big change: Boys are now welcome to apply to be Hi-Yu royalty, as well as girls.
The full announcement is on the Hi-Yu website, along with this link to the Junior Court application (which will download as a Word doc). The application has to be in by November 5th; this year’s Junior Court coronation is planned for the Hi-Yu Community Breakfast on November 9th. Girls and boys 8-12 years old are welcome to apply.
The Senior Court also will be open to both male and female candidates, and Hi-Yu says it’ll announce the application period soon. The next royalty will be part of a milestone – Hi-Yu’s 80th anniversary!
If you would like to get an application in person, Hi-Yu reps will be at the Hiawatha Community Center Halloween carnival this Friday night (one of the events are in the just-launched WSB Halloween Guide).
Relatively quiet weekend – no major incidents – but we do have reader reports to share in West Seattle Crime Watch today, and we’ve checked the Seattle Police map for current trends, noting for starters that burglaries are still running above average:
The map shows 23 burglaries reported in West Seattle since last Monday. That’s compared to 24 the previous week, and up from last October, which SPD online stats say averaged 18 a week. Eighteen is also the weekly average this year, through August, the most recent month for which SPD has published monthly stats. To see addresses, go to the map and click on any icon, which will tell you the street/block number and when it was reported.
Ahead – a stolen-vehicle report plus a look at the map/numbers for how that category of crime is trending in West Seattle right now, as well as other reader reports on car break-ins, mail theft, and two likely stolen items found:
More fencing went up this morning around the building on the southeast corner of California/Alaska, where sidewalks will be *temporarily* blocked off during the Equity Residential project demolition over the next several days (full details in this update from last Friday). Also happening today/tonight – highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
MICROHOUSING-RULES COMMENT DEADLINE: Speaking of development, have something to say about the city’s proposed rules regarding so-called “microhousing”? In case you missed our earlier story about the proposals (and the West Seattle projects in process) – see it here; today’s the city deadline for comments.
TOLLS ON I-90 BRIDGE? As previewed here over the weekend, the state has two meetings this week for your comments on potential I-90 bridge tolling, and the first one is tonight, 4-7 pm at Mercer Island High School. (If you can’t make it to a meeting, our preview also includes how to send your comment via e-mail.)
DUWAMISH DREAMS: The Duwamish River is more than an industrial waterway, more than a Superfund cleanup site – it’s a river within a city, home to wildlife, and the center of hopes, dreams, and years of work, past, present, and future, to help bring it fully back to life. Tonight, hear and talk about it during a community forum presented by Sustainable West Seattle at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7 pm. (5612 California SW)
HEAR ABOUT ‘LUNA GIRLS’ PLAN: As first reported here earlier this month, there’s a new plan for where to install local artist Lezlie Jane‘s new “Luna Girls on Alki” sculpture, and you are invited to hear about it and comment on it during a 6:30 pm meeting tonight at Marination ma kai (WSB sponsor) at Seacrest Pier. (1660 Harbor Ave. SW)
EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER? HOMESCHOOLER? You’re invited to an event presented tonight by the West Seattle Preschool Association – “Sing Into Reading” with Nancy Stewart, regarding the “importance of music and singing in early childhood development … In this workshop participants will learn the six early reading skills, and how singing is vital in building them.” 7-9 pm at Sweet Pea Cottage Preschool. (7141 California SW)
IT’S NOT TRIVIAL: Check the calendar – only place you’ll find EVERY listing we have for today, tonight, and far beyond – for tonight’s three listed trivia and pub-quiz events!
(WSB photo from last week, looking south across the project site)
Demolition work is over at the future site of a million-gallon storage tank meant to reduce combined-sewer overflows across the street at the Murray Pump Station on Lowman Beach. As King County’s Doug Marsano told the Morgan Community Association last week, this is going to be a BIG dig – 80 feet wide and 60 feet deep. It’ll all be previewed at a public meeting planned for 6:30 pm Wednesday, November 6th. The official announcement has just arrived:
Construction of King County’s new water-pollution-control facility near Lowman Beach Park gets underway later this year.
Do you have all the information you want about the project activities, schedule, and potential impacts to the community? Please join King County’s Murray Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Control Facility project team for the project’s pre-construction public meeting!
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
6:30-8:30 pm
Fauntleroy Church, 9140 California Avenue SW· Meet and share concerns with the project team
· Understand how the project protects public health and safeguards Puget Sound
· Review the project schedule
· Learn more about the project’s potential impacts to neighbors and park users
· Discuss how the County project team will work with the community to reduce disruptions
You can see the project’s final design plan on the county website.
Halloween is ten days away but since it’s on a Thursday, many – but not all! – of the events are this weekend. From community-center carnivals to business-district 
trick-or-treating, we’ve gathered together all the upcoming Halloween/harvest/fall-festival events from our calendar and you’ll find them in one place, westseattleblog.com/halloween – or click the HALLOWEEN tab beneath the header photo on any WSB page. If you haven’t let us know about your business/organization/school’s event, though, it might not be there – but it’s not too late for us to add it; e-mail editor@westseattleblog.com. No need for a long announcement – just send the basics, and if you have a web and/or Facebook link for the event, please include it. Thanks!
(East-facing camera on the West Seattle Bridge; see other cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Welcome to a new week! Just one alert for today – reminder that a TEMPORARY closure of sidewalks on the southeast corner of California/Alaska is scheduled to start today as demolition work begins on the west half of the development site there. Here’s our story from Friday.
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
10:04 PM: Fire crews are at a residence in the 4500 block of 41st SW in The Junction for what they describe as a “tapped dryer fire.” But they’re also acknowledging there’s lots of “residual smoke.”
10:29 PM: WSB contributor Christopher Boffoli checked out the fire scene and reports no one was hurt; he saw SFD “haul the smoking dryer out of the house.”
A second project is now on the Southwest Design Review Board‘s agenda for November 21st, in addition to 3210 California SW: The city’s tentative schedule for that night now shows the second and potentially final review for 3078 Avalon Way SW, now described on the city project page as an 8-story, 108-apartment, 61-parking-space proposal. That’s fewer spaces than were mentioned when it passed Early Design Guidance in its first board review in September 2012, from which the image at left was taken (as noted then, this is in the zone where new construction isn’t required to have any on-site parking at all). As shown in WSB coverage of the September 2012 meeting, a sizable group of neighbors has been following the project closely, and expanded its attention to other proposals in the area; most live on 32nd SW, a single-family-home neighborhood just north of the project site. The tentative plan for the November 21st meeting is for 3210 California to be reviewed at 6:30 pm, 3078 Avalon at 8, at the Senior Center of West Seattle (California/Oregon in The Junction).
In the wake of Saturday’s semi-annual Duwamish Alive! cleanup day, you have the chance tomorrow night to join in a discussion about the river’s future – not just the bigger cleanups that are happening now and in the future, but also the vision for what it should be. Sustainable West Seattle is convening the conversation, to be moderated by “Diver Laura” James, who shared the photo above from the start of Saturday’s cleanup (including kayaks loaned for the occasion by West Seattle’s Alki Kayak Tours). Reps from the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition will be there too, as well as other organizations with a stake in the river’s future, but this isn’t just about the experts – it’s about you. Come to C & P Coffee Company (5612 California SW; WSB sponsor) Monday night, 7-9 pm.
(WSB photos and video by co-publishers Patrick Sand and Tracy Record)
2:28 PM: From cake judging to drumming to pumpkin-painting, the Fauntleroy Fall Festival is on! 9100 block of California SW (Fauntleroy Church, Y, Schoolhouse), both sides of the street:
Even behind the schoolhouse – which is where you’ll find the critters, including Gideon the miniature donkey and Buttercup the miniature horse:
Don’t miss a thing, now until 5:30 pm. Even if you’re from elsewhere on the peninsula, friendly folks like Fauntleroy Community Association president David Haggerty are here to welcome you:
Lots of activities to keep kids busy – this is no spectator festival! They can build birdboxes:
That’s in the church parking lot, where you’ll find some of the live music until the big tent, too. (added) Here’s a quick Instagram clip of Lauren Petrie, popular for playing at dances around West Seattle and beyond:
Festival info’s all in our West Seattle Sunday preview.
6:03 PM: Festival’s over; we’re continuing to add photos and video. Here’s Dance! West Seattle (headquartered in Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, performing today in the Fauntleroy Church Fellowship Hall):
That’s from their preview of the annual “Magical Doll Maker” holiday production, as explained here. Back across at The Hall, the cakewalk was a hot ticket:
It followed the judging of cakes created by community members – the big winner, this owl cake:
The owl cake was the creation of Aine McMahon-Grace:
In addition to Aine’s creation, the ferry cake caught our eye:
And there was a “beginners” category including these two:
Back over in the church parking lot, central festival venue, the Endolyne Joe’s (WSB sponsor) booth was selling pulled-pork sandwiches, with Elliot (below, center) on hand to help:
Fall in Fauntleroy is also about celebrating salmon, and again this year, creek/watershed steward Judy Pickens assisted young festivalgoers in the creation and decoration of salmon hats:
You can help call the salmon home by joining the annual drumming/singing event at the Fauntleroy Creek Overlook (across from the ferry dock) next Sunday (October 27th), 5 pm.
Back to today’s festival – other volunteers in action included Kathleen Steele and Pat inside the Fauntleroy Y (WSB sponsor):
Outside, FCA board member Kathleen Dellplain was on balloon duty:
And it’s not the Fauntleroy Fall Festival without a stiltwalker sighting:
Also with a great overview of the festival – young wall-climbers!
Remember the pumpkin-painting at the start of our story? By mid-afternoon, there were painted pumpkins aplenty:
Besides the mentioned-earlier salmon-homecoming event next Sunday, lots more coming up in Fauntleroy – watch fauntleroy.net (and the WSB calendar) for event updates, including between-festivals fundraisers for the FFF.
The spokesperson for the unions that have given strike notice to QFC, Safeway, Albertsons, and Fred Meyer says no deal yet. That’s from a media-advisory e-mail sent by Tom Geiger, who says about 30 hours remain in the 72-hour notice given to the chains on Friday night; he also says workers plan a rally at 7 tonight by the “countdown clock” set up at Westlake Park downtown. A strike would NOT affect Metropolitan Market, Thriftway, or PCC (WSB sponsors), though they are unionized; they have separate contracts with their workers.
More simple additions for your “Go Bag” – what you need to get by in case of catastrophe – as we arrive at Day 20 of our day-by-day packing project, in honor of Washington State Diaster Preparedness Month. Today’s instructions from West Seattle Be Prepared:
You’ve been packing food; time to put in plastic silverware, plates, bowls and/or assorted plastic containers with lids. I would recommend 1 plastic plate, one spork, and one plastic container with lid per person, but most folks have paper plates on hand and those would work as well. A small kitchen knife could be added. You don’t have to stock up a kitchen – just something to hold that soup and canned foods you’ve put in.
Catching up? Previous installments are archived in reverse-chronological order here. Plus – get another preparedness-info boost at Tuesday’s meeting of the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network – go here for details.
The most recent West Seattle coyote reports shared by WSB readers:
*From Greg this morning: “Saw a few coyotes today at Brandon and 29th along the Longfellow Creek entrance.” [map]
*From Christopher on Saturday afternoon: “Pretty sure I just saw a coyote in the alley between Fauntleroy and 39th and Graham and Morgan.” [map]
*From Karen on Friday: “2 coyotes seen on 98th & 39th Ave SW, 5:30 pm Friday Oct. 18th, just 2 blocks off the top of Fauntleroy Park.” [map]
*From Chris, also early Friday evening: “Just saw a lone coyote poking around in the alley behind our house at 30th and Webster. It headed off down Webster.” [map]
*And on Thursday, Rachael reported that her “neighbor just saw a coyote on 10th & Elmgrove in Highland Park.” [map]
To wrap up this roundup, something new: Ron, who reads WSB daily from his residence in Mexico, sends “coyote news from elsewhere” on occasion. This week, he e-mailed a link from TV’s “Dog Whisperer,” headlined Five Ways to Keep Your Dogs Safe From Coyotes.
Thanks to Joan for the reminder that the state is midway through a public-comment period on whether to charge tolls on the I-90 bridge, so if you have an opinion, now’s the time to share it. This week, there are two public meetings – 4:30-7:30 pm tomorrow at Mercer Island High School, 4-7 pm Wednesday at the Northwest African American School in Seattle. Full details on both are on this page, along with links where you can sign up NOW to speak at either meeting. You can also comment by e-mail: i90eiscomments@wsdot.wa.gov.
Tolling has been proposed on I-90 to, in part, raise money for the new 520 bridge; this PDF includes more on this round of the comment process as well as the options that are under consideration – not with price tags, but with configurations, such as “just toll from Seattle to Mercer Island” or “just toll the HOV lanes.” This round of commenting runs through November 6th; a final decision is expected in 2015.
(Lincoln Park in the fog, by Michelle Riggen-Ransom, shared via the WSB Flickr group)
Not far from where that photo was taken, Fauntleroy’s big Fall Festival happens this afternoon, and it’s at the heart of today’s highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
CITYWIDE TRAFFIC ALERTS: In a Saturday comment, GMT mentioned that 4th is closed at Jackson on the south side of downtown; that northbound detour, scheduled to be in effect until late tonight, is part of the citywide-alerts roundup you can see here if you’re planning on heading off-peninsula today.
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: The market is in its usual spot 10 am-2 pm today BUT remember that NEXT Sunday (October 27), it will move into the streets as part of the second annual West Seattle Junction Harvest Festival. (44th/Alaska)
WORK PARTY AT CHINESE GARDEN: 10 am-noon, you are invited to help keep the grounds of the Seattle Chinese Garden beautiful. It’s just north of the South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) campus. (6000 16th SW)
GEAR SWAP, DAY 2: 11 am-3 pm, Mountain to Sound Outfitters‘ annual winter gear swap concludes. Not at the store – a few doors down, at American Legion Post 160 Hall. (3618 SW Alaska)
DAKOTA PLACE PARK NEEDS YOU! The park just north of The Junction can use some TLC going into late fall/winter, so your help 1-3 pm today will be much appreciated. Details here. (California/Dakota)
FAUNTLEROY FALL FESTIVAL: 2-5:30 pm today, in and around Fauntleroy Schoolhouse and Fauntleroy Church/Y! Music, performances, pumpkin-painting, pony rides, a percussion jam for teens … Lots of info in our previews:
*Festival lineup here
*Focus on “green” activities and music here
*Dance! West Seattle preview here
*Baking a cake to bring for the cakewalk (pre-festival)? Info here
The venues are right across the street from each other, 9131 and 9140 California SW (map); there’s parking behind the schoolhouse, and the RapidRide C Line stops right by the church/schoolhouse. See you there!
WEST SEATTLE COOKING CLUB: The theme for today’s meeting is “On a Stick,” so cook a recipe that qualifies and bring it to the 3 pm WSCC meetup at Beveridge Place Pub. (6419 California SW)
LIVE MUSIC AND MORE ON THE CALENDAR … what we’ve spotlighted above is only PART of what’s up today/tonight; go here for the rest.
(Video and most photos added postgame)
The annual Huling Bowl game – cross-peninsula high-school varsity football, West Seattle vs. Chief Sealth – is over, and for the second consecutive year after a long WSHS win streak, Sealth keeps the trophy, breaking the game open in the second half and winning 49-19. Our as-it-happened coverage from West Seattle Stadium is below; post-game video with the Luther Carr-coached Seahawks jubilantly claiming the trophy is above, and we will be adding numerous photos below in the hours ahead, so check this story again in the morning to see what happened not only during but also before the game:
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ORIGINAL REPORT, BEGINNING AT 7:04 PM: The big game is on – Chief Sealth Seahawks vs. West Seattle Wildcats, varsity football with the Huling Bowl trophy at stake.
We’ll be updating from West Seattle Stadium as it goes.
7:18 PM: First score of the game, with 4:43 left in the first quarter – Chief Sealth, touchdown by #7, LeeAndre Dickerson. Extra point is good, 7-0 CSIHS.
7:35 PM: First quarter’s over, score still Sealth 7, WSHS 0.
Lot of turnovers.
8:02 PM: Second touchdown in the game is also #7, LeeAndre Dickerson, for Sealth, seen in our Instagram clip:
No point after; score’s now 13-0 Sealth, with 2:26 left in the first half. The marching bands have left the stands to get ready for the halftime show.
8:14 PM: The Wildcats are on the board, with #12 Carter Golgart scoring a TD with :25 to go in the first half.
Attempted two-pointer failed afterward; score now 13 CSIHS, 6 WSHS.
8:19 PM: It’s halftime – still Sealth 13, WSHS 6. (added)The bands took the field.
Instagram clip from the combined bands’ performance:
Band directors Marcus Pimpleton (Sealth) and Ethan Thomas (WSHS):
8:38 PM: The second half has just begun. Good fan turnout on both sides.
8:46 PM: Sealth #42, Marquise Givens (above), just scored a TD, with the point after by #34, Edgar Marquez. It’s now Seahawks 20, Wildcats 6, with 9:48 left in the third quarter.
8:49 PM: And after #59, Sam Tino, came up with the ball again for Sealth, #2, Brady Crane got a 45-yard TD on the reverse. Point after good. Now 27-6 Sealth with 9:26 to go in the third quarter.
9:00 PM: West Seattle answers with another touchdown by #12, Carter Golgart (above), but the 2-point conversion attempt failed. It’s now Sealth 27, WSHS 12 (two-point conversion failed), 5:33 left in 3rd quarter.
9:09 PM: It’s a night for scoring two TDs, at least for the three players between both teams who’ve had TDs so far. Now there’s another for Sealth by #42, Marquise Givens. It’s 36 CSIHS, 12 WSHS.
9:18 PM: Third quarter is over, still 36-12 Sealth. Meantime, thanks to CSIHS’s Twitter crew for informing us that #42 has the wrong name on the printed roster – those two TD’s are the work of Marquise Givens, and we’re editing the above updates to reflect that.
9:20 PM: Another Sealth TD with 10:18 to go in the game. #41, Allen Delker.
9:30 PM: With 7:23 to go, a quarterback-keeper TD by #12 Weston Reed. It’s now Sealth 49, WSHS 12.
9:36 PM: The Wildcats answer – West Seattle’s #5 Carter Mensing with a TD, 4:39 left in the game. 49-19 Sealth. Some spectators have left but a lot of dedicated fans remain. Last year, by the way, was the first time in memory that Sealth won the Huling Bowl – that was a close game (19-15). Two minutes now remain in this one.
9:46 PM: It’s final, 49-19 Sealth over WSHS for the Huling Bowl. Trophy to come.
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ADDED: Pre-game scenes – WSHS staff including Principal Ruth Medsker were at the grill for the free barbecue:
Wildcat-spirit treats were part of a bake sale to raise money for the cheer squad:
Speaking of whom:
We photographed their CSIHS counterparts practicing pre-game:
Back in the parking lot, the tailgating continued:
A short time later, the home team’s band marched in, and it was on:
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Next week, the final games of the regular season. It’s West Seattle’s homecoming game on Thursday (October 24) at Southwest Athletic Complex, against Nathan Hale; Sealth is on the road Friday (October 25th) vs. Ingraham at Northwest Athletic Complex.
Thanks to “Diver Laura” James for sharing photos from today’s fall edition of Duwamish Alive! cleanup, more than half a dozen work parties on and around the waters of the Duwamish River.
If you missed the chance to help out today – the next Duwamish Alive! events will be in the spring, and you can watch the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar for numerous community-cleanup opportunities between now and then.
The big tent went up this morning in the Fauntleroy Church parking lot, one of the three main venues for tomorrow afternoon’s Fauntleroy Fall Festival, 2-5:30 pm. This afternoon, we have the festival lineup, shared by Judy Pickens – from activities to live entertainment to food/drink:
For a larger view, the full-size PDF is here. Weather looks promising; the Seahawks already have played this week, so there’s no football distraction; no excuse not to come be part of it on Sunday afternoon, in and around the church/Y building and the historic Fauntleroy Schoolhouse across the street (9100 block California SW).
P.S. If you’re a cake-baker, there’s still time to create one for the Cake Walk (prizes!) – here’s how.
This time around in the day-by-day “Go Bag” building series – featured on WSB so you can do something meaningful during Washington State Disaster Preparedness Month – today’s bag-building step involves something you can’t buy at the store, though you might still have to spend a little money to make it happen if you don’t have anything to use to copy or scan. From West Seattle Be Prepared:
Make copies of your important papers and put them in a waterproof bag in your kit. Here’s a list of what to consider including: identification cards, insurance policies, birth certificates, passports, glasses prescriptions. Also include a picture of each family member and pet; these can be especially helpful should you get separated and have to search for each other later.
And in today’s reminder that our most common type of disaster – Wyoming, seldom hit by earthquakes according to US Geological Survey records, had one on Friday, magnitude 3.6; today, a magnitude 6.5 quake hit in the Gulf of California.
Catching up? Previous installments are archived in reverse-chronological order here.
As noted last night, Tuesday’s meeting of the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network will focus on emergency preparedness; details here.
The stars of the show, the pumpkins – priced in small, medium, large – were arrayed as if they were the greeters when we stopped by the Lincoln Park P-Patch Pumpkin Festival about an hour ago. The P-Patch isn’t actually at the park – it’s at what was the Lincoln Park Annex before it was renamed Solstice Park, a little bit uphill from the tennis courts on the east side of Fauntleroy Way (look for the festively decorated sign before turning). Right across from the pumpkins, before you get to the plants, bulbs, and bake sale, is this quilt:
$2 gets you a raffle ticket, benefiting the P-Patch Trust. This is all continuing until 1 pm, so get there fast!
Back on Wednesday, the first day of the “soft launch” for the new ‘Zaw take-and-bake pizza shop at 35th and Fauntleroy, Jennifer shared that photo of her son Owen with pizza maker Aidan, as they picked up the first of dozens of free pizzas given away via RSVP. No more freebies, but today is the shop’s official opening day; hours are 2-9 pm Fridays and Saturdays, 2-8 pm Sundays-Thursdays. Here’s their menu, all takeout – pizza, salad, take-and-bake dessert, and beverages, including wine and beer. ‘Zaw is a local chain with eight other locations in Seattle and on the Eastside.
You’re never too young to volunteer, and here’s photographic proof: Students Lowen and Meah are working right now at Arbor Heights Elementary School‘s Fall Cleanup. The parent volunteer who shared the photo says they’re among at least 10 kids who are helping out; the work party continues around the AHES campus until noon.
ADDED 11:25 AM: More volunteers – Taytum, two-almost-three; Tiffany, parent; kindergarteners Derek and Kieran:
Any time you want to help out – browse the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, which is where we list community cleanups as well as a multitude of other events, from live music to neighborhood meetings to library programs and way beyond!
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