West Seattle, Washington
08 Friday
(Photo by Long Bach Nguyen – looking south on California SW from north of The Junction)
Blue sky, sunshine, very warm temperatures – that’s why we’re splitting the daily highlights into the “keep cool” section and the “what else is happening” section for the third day in a row:
WHERE TO KEEP COOL
HIGHLAND PARK SPRAYPARK: Day FOUR! Hours 11 am-8 pm. (11th SW/SW Cloverdale)
TODAY’S WADING POOL SCHEDULE: Hiawatha and Lincoln Park wading pools are open – see the addresses and hours here.
COLMAN POOL OPEN: See the schedule here. (On the Lincoln Park waterfront – reachable via walking or biking)
SOUTHWEST POOL OPEN: See the schedule here. (2801 SW Thistle)
AIR-CONDITIONED LIBRARIES: Delridge, High Point, and South Park Libraries all have A/C. For addresses and hours, see the Seattle Public Library website.
BOAT RIDE: This is our favorite cooling-off tactic when we can spare the time. Short ride? West Seattle Water Taxi (schedule here). Longer ride? Walk onto a Washington State Ferry from Fauntleroy and ride to Southworth and back (schedule here).
WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING
The calendar’s fairly quiet since it’s a holiday week, but here are a few things of note:
PEGASUS ANNIVERSARY: Today is the 20th anniversary for Pegasus Pizza‘s ownership on Alki, and they are offering everybody a 20 percent discount, today/tonight. (
BLOOD DRIVE: 1-7 pm at Peace Lutheran Church – walkups welcome. More info here. (39th/Thistle)
BIKE COUNTER CELEBRATION: The city’s second bicycle counter is up and running on the east side of the West Seattle Bridge, and you’re invited to a celebration during today’s afternoon commute, 4-6 pm; details here.
LITTLE LEAGUE TOURNAMENT CONTINUES: District 7 9-10 and 11-12 All-Star teams are in tournament play all week at Alki’s Bar-S Playfield all week, hosted by West Seattle Little League. According to the brackets on the WSLL site, tonight’s games start at 6 pm. (6425 SW Admiral Way)
FIGHTING FORECLOSURES: Washington Citizens Action Network is presenting a public forum tonight at Delridge Library “to discuss the foreclosure crisis in our communities.” 6:30-7:30 pm. (5423 Delridge Way SW)
‘DIG INTO MAGIC’: Magician Jeff Evans will “unearth subterranean secrets” for ages 5 and up at West Seattle (Admiral) Library, 6:30-7:30 pm tonight. (2306 42nd SW)
We’re working this morning on the annual special West Seattle 4th of July page, a one-stop shop for holiday information from transit schedules to special events like the Kids’ Parade, and wanted to send out a quick “last call” to make sure we’re not missing anything – including special business hours if your business is NOT closed on the holiday. If you have something to include, please comment here or just e-mail us at editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!
(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; other cameras are on the WSB Traffic page)
Welcome to July, and another hot day; the National Weather Service has an “excessive heat warning” out until 11 pm tonight. No major road work planned this week, but Thursday’s the 4th of July, so we’ll talk about transit-schedule changes (etc.) as the week progresses.
“This building’s going to be very visible,” one Southwest Design Review Board member pointed out during the board’s first look at early-stage plans for 4400 SW Alaska, a 37-unit building kitty corner to the home of the West Seattle Farmers’ Market (see the design packet here). It was one of two projects reviewed last Thursday night (we’ll cover the other separately), and that visibility shaped the discussion:
Someone asked us recently about the Schmitz Park coyotes, saying they hadn’t heard (much less seen) them lately. This sighting report received late Sunday night suggests they’re still around
I live near Schmitz Park Elementary on 50th and Spokane St. I was sitting on our patio in the back of our house at about 10:45 pm tonight and saw a single adult coyote heading north in our alley. 50th street “T” ‘s in to Spokane street at the front of Schmitz Park Elementary. Schmitz Park Preserve comes right up to the street in between the school and a residential property. Many homes border the preserve and there are no fences to keep coyotes from coming up to hunt in the neighborhoods. If anyone has pets that go out at night, please consider having them come in at night. I know how much we treasure out pets and I would not want any one to lose one to a coyote or raptor. Domestic pets don’t have a healthy fear of wild animals and large raptors that hunt in the nights and early morning hours. I was stunned to see one out in my neighbor’s yard. I have heard them but never actually seen them. One day they howled at the edge of the park around midnight and then another time at 9:30 in the morning. That was an odd time to hear them. I thought they were nocturnal. Hope this is helpful to those walking with pets in the evening as well.
There’s more you should know about co-existing with coyotes – read the state’s advice here.
One of the West Seattle-related photos we received from today’s Seattle Pride Parade is a story all its own:
Nichole Casado e-mailed the photo and an explanation of why she marched in memory of Lois Baldwin:
I’m the former active living director of Merrill Gardens-Admiral Heights. While there, I had a resident Lois Baldwin; you ran her obituary after her passing.
Lois lived her life with her partner Beatrice as an out-and-proud lesbian, but after Beatrice died, Lois moved to Admiral Heights and went back in the closet. This is very common. Gay seniors often feel they will not be accepted in traditional assisted-living and skilled-nursing facilities. There is a documentary about this called “Gen Silent.”
Because of Lois, I felt inspired as a medical professional to find a way to make our senior health care facilities more welcoming. In this search I was connected to the local chapter of SAGE and the NW GBLTQ Providers Network, which strive to educate medical professionals about aging issues for the gay community. I have learned so much from them and was proud to march with them today.
It was so fitting to march in honor of the memory of Lois, the first patient/ resident I had who made me start to think about these issues, A big thank you to her nieces, local West Seattle women Judy and Vicki, who gave me their blessing to march in memory of Lois Baldwin and also share her story as a learning tool for other health professionals.
Thanks to Nichole for sharing the story! Our earlier Pride coverage is here.
By the time we get to tomorrow’s daily traffic/transit tracker, this will probably be over, so we’re mentioning it now: Seattle Public Schools has announced the route for delivery of a double portable classroom early tomorrow (Monday) to Chief Sealth International High School. According to district spokesperson Tom Redman, the double portable is scheduled to be delivered between 5 and 6 am via the Kenyon St. entrance to the campus. To get there, it’s traveling this route set by transportation authorities: Highway 509 and 1st Avenue South to Olson Place SW and SW Roxbury, north on Delridge Way, to Holden, to 28th, and on to 2600 SW Kenyon, entering the campus from the Denny side. So if you’ll be traveling that area very early, or if live along it, be forewarned.
With the changes in home values over the past several years, more homeowners than ever have chosen to remodel rather than sell/buy. And that’s been good news for many construction companies here in West Seattle. Two of them, in fact, were winners in the recently announced 2013 REX Awards (REX = Remodeling Excellence): Ventana Construction (longtime WSB sponsor) and Weitzel Construction.
Ventana’s REX Award was in the category “Major Remodel Excellence: Residential Partial House/Addition $100,000 to $200,000.” They turned their client’s 200-foot sauna/hot tub/shower space into a powder room, laundry room, sitting room, and desk area – see the project here – the top photo is a wide “after” shot; next is a closeup of the “desk area”:
(P.S. If you missed it on TV, Ventana was featured on Channel 4 News a few nights ago – a wider followup on something noted here last month, newspapers found in the walls of a project in Ballard – see the story here, and see Ventana’s online story that featured not only the newspaper, but other unusual finds at some of their project sites.)
Weitzel’s REX Award was in the category “Rebuild Excellence: Residential Whole House/Rebuild – less than $300,000.”
Owner Dave Weitzel says, “I am very proud of my crew that turns out great work year after year. This was a challenging site (150 steps, 100’ drop in elevation on a 400=foot path) where much of the material was handled by a tug and barge at the start of the job, but there was just the one trip with that. Everything else went up and down the hill:
Despite the challenges, the project was a lot of fun because our great clients. One of them is a former interior designer, and they did a wonderful job in their selections and personal touches.”
Congratulations to Ventana and Weitzel (both of whom provided the photos shown in this story)!
“I did my best to represent West Seattle,” Patrick King says, after a visit to his Gatewood home this past week by the show “Ask This Old House.” Patrick and wife Chelsea – in the photo above with the show’s crew and a local subcontractor and lighting tech – bought the mid-20th-century-built house on SW Elmgrove in 2011. He says they contacted “Ask This Old House” to seek help with their kitchen floor last November. Then, two months ago, they were contacted when the show started looking for projects in this area. For the show, they learned how to install crown molding, which Patrick says “really looks great.” Contractor Tom Silva hosted the show filmed here, he says, flying in from Boston this past Tuesday with associate producer Heath Racela; Patrick took them to lunch at Cactus on Alki, and he says they “used the Seattle founding monument on Alki as the opening scene for their show” – here’s a photo he took of Silva and the crew by the water:
Racela tweeted this photo of the project in progress at the Kings’ home:
The crown molding project in Seattle is moving along nicely. pic.twitter.com/SHFGCOmr0J
— Heath Racela (@HeathRacela) June 26, 2013
The episode will stream online first, possibly as soon as this September, in a Seattle episode that also included two homes from Issaquah: “I’m proud I was able to influence the show with a little West Seattle flavor,” Patrick told WSB. “It was an exhausting couple of days but it was really fun.”
5:04 PM: The ongoing “it’s hot” alert from the National Weather Service is now a “heat advisory” in effect through 11 pm Monday. Right now, the temperature has just registered 91 degrees at Sea-Tac and Boeing Field – hottest temp we’ve noticed in the area all day. And a reader asked us to remind you again – don’t leave your pet in your vehicle, even for “just a moment.”
6:02 PM: Sea-Tac’s 6 pm temp is 92. We’re considering a ferry ride (always cooler on the water!).
11:52 PM: Today’s high was 93 at Sea-Tac. Meantime, the alert has now become an “excessive heat warning” in effect through 11 pm Monday, with the high temperature maybe even in the mid-90s.
2:34 PM: If you saw all the Seattle Fire crews, they were responding to a possible house fire in the 7700 block of Highland Park Way SW – but most have just been canceled. We’re en route and will check at the scene to see what happened.
3:22 PM UPDATE: Couldn’t get anything definitive at the scene – just one engine left (photo) and not easy to pull over on the busy street – but whatever it was, it was being extinguished with a garden hose in the front yard.
As Seattle’s annual Pride celebration crescendoes today, with the downtown parade under way right now, the marriage-equality flag is flying on the Space Needle, and West Seattleites were up there helping make it happen. The first two photos were shared by King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, who’s at center in the top photo, with four other West Seattleites – from left, County Executive Dow Constantine, Anne Levinson, Jane Abbott Lighty, and Pete-e Petersen. Yes, that photo is from atop the Needle – as is this one:
Meantime, as noted in our morning preview, Pete-e and Jane are among the grand marshals of today’s Pride Parade, as is West Seattleite Sarah Toce, who shares this photo of herself with the renowned couple:
Sarah founded the daily online news magazine The Seattle Lesbian just two years ago and has already grown a strong readership that stretches well beyond the city limits.
P.S. If you have photos of West Seattleites in today’s parade, please share! editor@westseattleblog.com or post to the WSB Facebook page and/or the WSB Flickr group – thank you!
ADDED: Thanks to Karen for this photo of OutWest Bar in the parade:
They were one of at least two West Seattle businesses participating, along with Stuffed Cakes, debuting its new truck.
If you have just moved to this state, or have just reached voting age, July 8th (one week from tomorrow) is the registration deadline if you want to vote in the August 6th primary, headlined by the vote that will winnow the field of Seattle mayoral candidates down to 2. If you’re ready to register, you can sign up right here, right now, via this link. If you need to register another way – or if you need to take some other action, such as changing your address – there’s lots of helpful info on this page of the King County Elections website.
The myths and truths about sex offenders and how police deal with them were at the heart of a briefing this past week at the West Seattle Block Watch Captains’ Network meeting. With the detectives hailing from the SPD Sex Offender and Kidnap Detail, the discussion ranged far and wide, including concerns about the recent White Center kidnap attempt, though that was outside SPD’s jurisdiction (the King County Sheriff’s Office is responsible for the unincorporated area south of the city limits). Our video includes the entirety of the meeting, led primarily by SPD Detective Tim Fields, with information about everything from the law to what you tell your children if a sex offender is living nearby; the detectives advised showing your children the photo and telling them to stay away from the offender.
P.S. Though we do receive occasional notifications from police about offenders moving into the area, and we publish them when we get them – such as this recent one – such notifications are NOT sent for everyone who moves into the area, and the best way for you to find out if one or more are living nearby is to use this lookup. That link is also reachable via a page on the SPD website that includes some context on the notification laws, including a reminder that most convicted criminals classified as sex offenders are “Level 1” – the lowest-severity level – and NOT covered by the notification rules.
SIDE NOTE FOR THOSE OUTSIDE THE CITY LIMITS: Toward the end, the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council was mentioned; it’s had a strong focus on public-safety information for the communities it serves. Its meeting schedule currently varies, rather than being on a fixed date each and every month, but in addition to watching for notices on our partner site White Center Now (we’ve been mentioning their public-safety forums here too), you can also check its website at northhighlineuac.org.
(Young belted kingfisher emerging from burrow to be fed; photo by Mark Wangerin)
Yes, yes, we know the 80s aren’t THAT broiling, but even those of us who spent many years in way hotter climes have a lower tolerance level … so again today, we’ll start with the “keeping cool” info.
KEEPING COOL
HIGHLAND PARK SPRAYPARK: Day three! Hours 11 am-8 pm. (11th SW/SW Cloverdale)
TODAY’S WADING POOL SCHEDULE: Delridge and Lincoln Park wading pools are open – see the hours here.
COLMAN POOL OPEN: See the schedule here. (On the Lincoln Park waterfront – reachable via walking or biking)
SOUTHWEST POOL OPEN: See the schedule here. (2801 SW Thistle)
AIR-CONDITIONED LIBRARIES: Delridge, High Point, and South Park Libraries all have A/C, and all are open 1-5 pm today. For location and other info, check the Seattle Public Library website.
WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
In addition to some every-Sunday events you’ll find on our calendar, here are a few more highlights:
LITTLE LEAGUE TOURNAMENT CONTINUES: District 7 9-10 and 11-12 All-Star teams are in tournament play at Alki’s Bar-S Playfield all week, hosted by West Seattle Little League, and our tipster Teresa tells us the local teams are playing at 10 am and 4 pm again today. Details and links in our Saturday update. (6425 SW Admiral Way)
WEST SEATTLEITES IN PRIDE PARADE: The parade runs through downtown, starting at 4th and Union at 11 am and heading north, but it will have even more West Seattle flavor than ever, with its grand marshals including history-making couple Jane Abbott Lighty and Pete-e Petersen as well as The Seattle Lesbian founder Sarah Toce; the list of participants also includes OutWest Bar.
GRETCHEN’S GRAINS DEMO: Cooking demo today, 11 am-2 pm at Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor), for a West Seattleite’s line of frozen fully cooked grains. (42nd/Admiral)
SPUD/NEUTER FUNDRAISER FOR KITTY HARBOR: 5-8 pm at Ola Salon, a special event with live music, auction items, and a gourmet potato bar will raise money for Kitty Harbor, the West Seattle facility that finds homes for hundreds of cats and kittens every year. Details in our calendar listing. (2942 SW Avalon Way)
FEEDBACK GOES ACOUSTIC: A new series of charity-benefiting acoustic performances starts tonight at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), where by the way, they have “state-of-the-art” air conditioning. Details in our calendar listing; starts at 6 pm. (6451 California SW)
WOMEN’S SOCCER – LAST CHANCE TO SEE AC SEATTLE! According to the schedule, it’s the last West Seattle home game for AC Seattle, playing Issaquah Soccer Club at Southwest Athletic Complex tonight at 6 pm. (2801 SW Thistle)
Notice the gleaming classic cars outside the Admiral Theater tonight? The show of muscle (cars) was only fitting for the public premiere of a movie said to include more than 150 vehicles. The movie is “Clutch,” a years-in-the-making project for West Seattleite Jay Rowlands, as we reported two months ago. Tonight, he held court at the crowded premiere:
(This photo and next two, shared by Jennifer – thanks!)
The crowd that gathered for red-carpet arrivals filled the Admiral’s lobby:
And some of the cars remained outside the theater during the screening:
If you missed the premiere, you can get the film on DVD or BluRay – it was just released this week and can be ordered right from the “Clutch” website’s home page.
Three weeks from tonight, the courtyard next to Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) will fill with people, lawn chairs, and blankets, awaiting the kickoff of this year’s West Seattle Outdoor Movies series (co-sponsored by WSB). The movies are free and run on volunteer power – so this year we’re asking if you can help. There’s also a call out for pre-show musicians.
First, for volunteers, here are the prerequisites:
*Ideally available at least three of the six movie nights (consecutive Saturdays, 7/20-8/24); would need to be at the courtyard by 6:30 and stay until 11:30 or so
*Should have rudimentary knowledge of how to hook up professional audio equipment; you’ll need to help with some lifting and moving of the equipment
*Previous movie-theater experience? Big plus! But not required
*Training will be provided as the series begins
MUSICIANS:
*Need to have your own equipment and be ready to play an hour-long pre-show set.
Whether you can volunteer, or are an interested musician, or both – e-mail lora@hotwirecoffee.com to find out more.
While the West Seattle Hi-Yu float is in Port Orchard tonight for the Fathoms O’Fun parade, Hi-Yu leaders have had to make another tough decision: They say the traditional Junior Court Coronation will NOT be happening during this year’s Hiawatha Fun Fest on July 19:
The 2013 Board has decided that we are not able to select a Junior Court for 2014 during this year’s Summer Festival. We have been unable to line up enough nominees for the 2014 Board. Without adequate leadership for the Hi-Yu Summer Festival, we can’t assure a great experience for Junior Court members in 2014. If we are able to fill the open 2014 Board positions, then the Junior Court Coronation will be rescheduled (likely in the Fall). … We are sorry for the girls that have been looking forward to the event and the possibility of serving on the Junior Court. If you would like information about open positions on the Board and their responsibilities, please contact us at info@westseattlehiyu.com.
You can also find out more about being part of Hi-Yu by going to the general meeting this Monday (July 1st), 6:30 pm at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church (California/Hanford).
At West Seattle Stadium, 200 people are in the early hours of an all-night annual tradition raising money to fight cancer – Relay for Life of West Seattle. It’s running a different schedule this year, but one thing didn’t change – the survivors’ lap (above) to start it off. One of the two-dozen-plus survivors there today was the highlighted speaker for the kickoff, Angela Hurst (in purple, below). It’s been a year since she was diagnosed with colon cancer at age 37 and 16 weeks of pregnancy … a baby she lost from side effects of as she was about to begin chemotherapy that she was assured would be OK:
(added) Here’s video of Angela telling her story:
The stories are everywhere at Relay for Life, without even having to be told aloud:
And while the event itself runs about 18 hours, the fundraising began weeks and months ago. You might remember this mother-daughter team:
We reported on Lauri and Gerry Cunningham‘s take-out spaghetti-dinner fundraiser a week ago. They told us proudly today that they brought in $800!
WHAT’S NEXT: This morning’s daily preview on WSB includes the schedule for this evening, with events open to the public including Bubbleman‘s performance right now and the popular kids-music band Recess Monkey at 6:30, and then the luminaria ceremony at 10 pm, as participants and visitors remember those they’ve lost as well as paying tribute to those who are fighting. The stadium gates will lock at 11, but people will remain on the track all night, with closing ceremonies planned at 7:30 tomorrow morning. If you want to donate, you can do so while visiting the stadium or online, here.
Big weekend for baseball! Thanks to Teresa for sharing the news that West Seattle Little League is an All-Star Tournament host for District 7, with 9/10 and 11/12 teams representing communities from South King County to North Seattle starting play today at Alki’s Bar-S Playfield, continuing till next Saturday. First-round games today included WSLL’s 11/12 this morning, and 9/10 coming up at 4 pm – when we stopped by Bar-S about an hour ago, Renton and Rainier were on the field. It’s a bustling scene off the field too:
You’re invited to stop by and watch; the schedules, and brackets, are linked from the WSLL home page.
(U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Katelyn Tyson)
Four weeks ago today, we talked with the 13th Coast Guard District‘s then-commander Rear Adm. Keith Taylor about his impending retirement. After Friday ceremonies at Seattle’s USCG station, he’s enjoying his first full day of retirement, and District 13 has a new commander, a role that usually includes residence on the grounds of the Alki Point Lighthouse. The new commander is Rear Adm. Richard T. Gromlich – he’s on the left in the photo above, with Rear Adm. (ret.) Taylor at right, and Vice Adm. Paul F. Zukunft, commander of Coast Guard Pacific Area and Defense Forces West, between them. Before coming to Seattle to lead the 13th District, Rear Adm. Gromlich, a Pennsylvania native, served as the Coast Guard’s first director of operational logistics, overseeing 13 bases and one base detachment (here’s his full bio). Read more about the change of command and Friday’s ceremony on the USCG website.
(May 2012 WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli)
Last year, we reported on a house fire in the 8400 block of 20th SW. But in the days afterward, the story moved far beyond the fire itself, to become a story of neighbors helping neighbors. Today, we received a note from the home’s owners, Martha and Brian Mallett, who say they are finally back home, and wanted to share words of thanks:
We, Brian and Martha Mallett, victims of a house fire May 1, 2012, have returned home after being away for eleven months. We were cared for two days by the Red Cross, had a two-month stay in the West Seattle Motel (wonderful hospitality) and nine months in a big house on Orchard Street in Highland Park. Our home is brand new, some furniture is still missing but we have the essentials.
The community, our friends, and our family have given us so much to be grateful for. There have been phone calls, notes, cards with words of encouragement and gifts. There were so many good samaritans, we cannot name them all. Speaking of family, they have worked really hard to reach our intended goal. All these folks have given from the heart and we plan to pay forward. We credit Lisa and Randy Leininger and their followers, the Seattle Fire Department, and the Highland Park Improvement Club for contributing in a big way to our well-being. We love West Seattle and the people in it.
Lisa and Randy were the neighbors who organized a fundraiser days after the fire. They posed with Martha that day, and shared the photo with us:
Thanks to Martha and Brian for sharing the followup!
Karen is hoping you can help her find her stolen car:
My black 2005 ford Mustang was stolen last night (6/28) around 11pm. It was parked outside my home on the street (in the 1700 block of) Alki Ave SW. The license plate is AGX1087. If you have seen anything suspicious or were taking photos in the area, please e-mail Karen at kkapsca@yahoo.com.
And to let police know, they request a call to 911.
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