West Seattle, Washington
08 Tuesday
Before the day ends, we do want to make note that we are now exactly two months away from West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – Saturday, May 11th, 2013. If you’re new to the area and/or WSB, this is not one big sale, but rather one big DAY of sales all over the peninsula, big and small and inbetween. This year marks the ninth annual WSCGSD, the sixth one that WSB will coordinate/present. We’re already starting to get phone calls, but no, registration is not open yet. We expect to accept signups starting Monday, April 1st. What you get for a nominal fee is a spot on the map, an online “ad” (also listed as text in the map packet), and promotion, promotion, promotion – not just to our audiences/collaborators/followers on the Web and social media, but also to hundreds of thousands of others via promotion/advertising that we seek out around the region. So note those two dates: If you are a prospective seller, April 1st, signups begin; whether you are a buyer or a seller, May 11th is the big day, when West Seattle becomes the Garage Sale Capital of Western Washington (if not beyond). Watch for updates not only here but also on the official WSCGSD website, the WSCGSD Facebook page (as well as the WSB FB page), and the WSB Twitter feed.
More news from the King County Ferry District, including a followup on part of this morning’s report:
The Ferry District board chair, West Seattle’s County Councilmember Joe McDermott, shared the view from his office as the county’s new maintenance and moorage barge arrived from Tacoma – that’s it on the center-left side of the photo. It’s 40′ by 120′ and was built mostly in Portland, then towed to Tacoma for the final phase of work. It has a few more weeks of work to go, hooking up utilities and so on, before it’s ready for use.
This afternoon, the Ferry Board’s executive committee approved the letter we mentioned this morning, officially accepting the transfer of the Spirit of Kingston, no longer needed after a passenger run ended between Seattle and Kingston. It’s an 8-year-old, 65-foot catamaran that was at first proposed to be used as a Water Taxi backup, though, checking Ferry District meeting records, we note Marine Division staff recommended that it become the primary West Seattle vessel. (We’ll check on where that stands.)
The two older boats on the West Seattle and Vashon Water Taxi runs don’t have to hang on too much longer; the executive committee also was briefed this afternoon on the county’s plan to put out RFPs (requests for proposals) by month’s end for two new aluminum catamarans with capacity up to 250 passengers. An earlier step in the process drew qualified responses from Bellingham’s All American Marine and a team led by Seattle’s Kvichak Marine, according to the newest Water Taxi newsletter. If the process proceeds as planned, the first boat may be delivered in the third quarter of next year, with the second one a few months later. The current boats are leased, not owned.
If you missed it over the weekend: Late Friday night, Seattle Police announced the dates/places/times for the first two public meetings about the Homeland Security-funded surveillance-camera system first reported here in late January (WSB coverage archive here): The first meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday) night, 7 pm, at the Alki Bathhouse, steps from the first camera noticed by a reader, the one on a pole next to Statue of Liberty Plaza, one of more than two dozen cameras police plan to install from Ballard to Fauntleroy (those already installed include the one in the photo above, at 63rd SW/Beach Drive). If you have questions, concerns, words of support, anything to say or ask, or if you just want to hear firsthand, be there.
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
4:45 PM: Sizable response to 12th and Cambridge (map) right now, where two cars are reported to have crashed, with one on its roof. There’s nobody trapped, per scanner, so they’ve scaled back what was a major “heavy rescue” response. More to come.
5:15 PM: A fast-responding tow truck already has righted the flipped pickup truck, reports WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli, who has also learned at the scene that no one was hurt.
The West Seattle High School PTSA has just announced that tickets are on sale for the annual “Taste of the Arts” on April 5th. Here’s the announcement sent by Lisa Clark from the WSHS PTSA:
This annual event celebrates the art programs at WSHS; culinary, visual and performing. The evening starts with the culinary art students preparing and serving delicious appetizers as attendees view the visual art (Student photography, ceramics, painting, drawing, and wood shop) on display that has been judged by 4 local artists. The musicians and cast of the spring musical, “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” are present for a short time to mingle before the attendees are escorted to the high school theater for the evening’s 8:00 pm performance. Tickets are $20 advance, $25 at the door, and include appetizers, 2 beverages, and entrance to the spring musical.
The night starts with the tasting and arts viewing, 6-7 pm at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church Hall next to WSHS, and then moves on to the school theater for the spring musical at 8 pm. You can buy tickets right now online – just go here.
P.S. The students’ art will be judged by four well-known local artists: Twilight Artist Collective‘s new owners Tracy Cilona and Christine Heidel; RobRoy Chalmers; and Stephanie Hargrave.
Washington State Ferries says a third boat will be back on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth run shortly, in time for the peak afternoon/evening commute:
The three-boat weekday schedule will resume this afternoon, beginning with the Tillikum departing from Vashon at 3:25 p.m. for Fauntleroy. The 64-car Salish will join the route and depart from Vashon to Southworth at 3:30 p.m. The Issaquah will make the 4:05 p.m. departure from Southworth direct to Fauntleroy. The Salish will replace the 87-car Klahowya while the vessel undergoes necessary repairs.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Greggette Guy loved the Girl Scouts, and the outdoors.
That’s why her family considered this to be the perfect tribute: A memorial plaque unveiled by her husband and daughter this weekend at the base of a totem pole at a Girl Scout camp in east King County:
Today marks exactly one year since Mrs. Guy’s life ended, decades too soon, at age 51.
The evening of March 11, 2012, she is believed to have come to West Seattle for a walk along the water, far from her home in Kent, but she had lived here decades earlier. The next morning, her body was found in Puget Sound, off the Harbor West Condos, half a mile north of where her car was found, by Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook. Three days later, police announced it was a case of murder; they kept the cause of death quiet for a while, but eventually disclosed she had suffered neck wounds.
One year later, no arrest, nor even a suspect description; a detective who came to the Saturday ceremony told us they remain very eager for any tip that might help solve the mystery of who killed Greggette Guy.
But on that sunny afternoon, the focus was on celebrating her memory. It was a simple and touching ceremony, not even 15 minutes long; we recorded it on video:
Mrs. Guy not only had volunteered with Girl Scouts, she had been one herself – her husband Dwight Guy shared this photo:
The Saturday tribute included a Color Guard ceremony, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Girl Scout Promise, led by the Guys’ 22-year-old daughter Darilyn and alums of her former troop, who carried the flag:
Girl Scouts organization representatives included West Seattleite Wendy Colton, who called Mrs. Guy “the epitome of everything that is good about Girl Scouts.” Her husband also shared a photo of her as a Girl Scouts volunteer:
He spoke briefly before unveiling the plaque with their daughter: “I still miss her. I always will.”
They had been married for 30 years. (The day before what would have been their 31st anniversary last September, he joined other murder victims’ loved ones at an event announcing billboards meant to bring in tips, billboards featuring photos including that of Mrs. Guy.)
September is also when Dwight Guy told us about the tribute involving the totem pole, which was carved and donated last year by a local artist, in honor of the organization’s 100-year anniversary, depicting levels of the program from Daisy Scout upward, and also paying tribute to Girl Scout volunteers like Mrs. Guy.
The ceremony honoring her ended with the singing of “Daylight Taps”; family and friends then gathered in a camp shelter where a slide show of photos played:
Refreshments included, of course, Girl Scout cookies.
IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THE MURDER OF GREGGETTE GUY: Seattle Police stress that you can call the SPD tip line at 206-233-5000. Or even 911 – be clear you are calling with information about a murder investigation. Or, use CrimeStoppers (which can accept anonymous texted tips – here’s how to do that; the information is permanently atop our West Seattle Crime Watch page, in case you need it again sometime). And here again is the CrimeStoppers poster, first posted soon after Mrs. Guy was killed last March:
(August 2011 photo of Spirit of Kingston at Seattle dock, by Oran Viriyincy, via Flickr)
Two notes this morning about the King County Ferry District, the agency responsible for the Water Taxi. First, its board’s Executive Committee meets this afternoon, and will consider a resolution to formalize and finalize bringing the Spirit of Kingston (backstory here and here) into the fleet as a virtually free backup.
Second – the Legislature is considering a bill, co-sponsored by local State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, that would kill the Ferry District (as well as the county Flood Control District) and consolidate operations into the rest of county government. But that’s a good thing, local County Councilmember Joe McDermott tells WSB:
Thanks to Jason Bland for the Sunday photo of Easy Street Records‘ mural artist Glenn Case, getting Jimi Hendrix onto the wall along SW Alaska (“new” album out). The day’s already looking brighter than the forecast promised, so let’s move on to the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar highlights:
MONDAY ARTISTS … meet every week at 9:30 am at the Island View Apartments, and welcome artists from beginning to experienced. Details here.
HIGH-SCHOOL SPORTS: Spring sports have just begun, and today features Chief Sealth International High School‘s girls-varsity softball team in action at Southwest Athletic Complex vs. visiting Roosevelt, 4 pm.
PARKING CHANGES @ NDNC: On the agenda for North Delridge Neighborhood Council‘s monthly meeting at 6:30 tonight, Delridge Library: An SDOT rep will be there to talk about impending parking removal on SW Genesee between Delridge and Avalon, to make room for buses; a “big-picture visioning process” for Delridge itself, north of Orchard (the stretch that is NOT getting repaved this year); and more – details are on the NDNC website.
BALORICO DANCE CLASSES: At Kenyon Hall, starting at 6:30 pm, and drop-ins are welcome. Details here.
NIGHTLIFE: Trivia and quiz, three venues, full details on the calendar.
(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; see other cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
Welcome to the first full week of Daylight Saving Time, 2013! One transit note – as announced by Washington State Ferries last night, Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth is on a two-boat schedule because Klahowya is in for repairs. Here are specifics from WSF:
For the two-boat schedule, the following sailings will leave from Fauntleroy to Vashon this morning: 6:50am, 8:25am and 9:05am sailings; from Vashon to Fauntleroy to Vashon the sailings will be at: 6:25am, 7:00am, 7:20am, 7:55am, 8:40am and 9:00am. From Southworth to Fauntleroy and Vashon will be 6:05 am (passengers only), 6:40 am, and 8:20 am. From Fauntleroy to Southworth, the sailings will be at: 7:45 am, and 9:05 am. (Two-boat schedule, here)
7:32 AM UPDATE: Just in from SDOT, some of the overhead messaging signs are still having trouble:
Some of the Variable Messaging Signs (VMSs), which provide travel times for drivers are dark again today coming out of West Seattle due to a malfunction in the time estimating system. The Seattle Department of Transportation is working to find and correct the problem.
9:13 AM UPDATE: Texter warns of “loose pillows” on the high bridge, and notes that’s extremely dangerous for motorcycle riders in particular. We’re hoping they have been reported to SDOT – any road hazard (including potholes) should be called in to 206-684-ROAD.
10:44 AM: The weeklong 2nd/Columbia bus-stop closure downtown – used by many headed back this way – came up in comments. Here’s the advisory:
From Monday, March 11 at 9:00 AM until Friday, March 15 at 2:00 PM, the bus stop westbound on Columbia St at 2nd Av will be closed due to construction.
During that time, board the RapidRide C Line and routes 21 Express, 55, 56, 57, 120 and 125 east of the closed stop, at the temporary stop southbound on 3rd Av just north of Columbia Street.
Bus service is not rerouted. All West Seattle service will continue to travel via Columbia St to the Alaskan Way Viaduct during this closure.
3:03 PM: Also just published as a standalone update – the Fauntleroy ferry run is back to 3 boats.
One more weekend community cleanup that brightened West Seattle – thanks to Brian Callanan for the photo and report:
Eighth grader Gabriel Berger (in glasses, right) picked up trash along 35th Ave SW with a group from OLG as his eighth-grade service project. Another pickup at 9:30 am next Sunday, just outside OLG church. We picked up well over 100 pounds of trash in forty-five minutes!
A memorial service is planned Wednesday for 92-year-old Victor Weith, whose family shares the remembrance that he himself wrote:
Victor Paul Weith
April 12, 1920 – March 8, 2013Several years ago, Vic wrote his own obituary:
“Born in Alva, OK, 4/12/1920. Spent next 20 years in Alma, Kansas. Graduated from Alma High School.
Two of my buddies and myself decided to go to Seattle in 1940 to look for better jobs. We worked for Boeing and Bremerton Shipyards. Met my future wife in December 1941; we married in October 1942. I went into the service in February 1943 in the 11th Airborne Division. Spent the war in New Guinea, Leyte, Luzon, Okinawa, and then Japan. Our division was the only Airborne Division that was in the Pacific. Participated in a lot of war in several years.
My wife and I moved to West Seattle in 1945 and still have our home there. I spent most of my working years in sales.
I had several exciting things happen to me. In 1981, as I was getting ready to retire I picked 18 out of 20 Monday Nite NFC football winners, earning my wife and myself a trip to the Super Bowl. Then in 1993, playing golf in La Quinta, California, I had two holes in one on the same day. The odds for that was 67 million to one.
I had a very good life and a wonderful wife. It was great! We had 4 children: Susan Blakely (husband Dick), Michael Weith (deceased), Cathy Kemper (husband Neil), John Weith (wife Patty). Five grandchildren: Brad Herriges (wife Cara), Sean Herriges (wife Miho), Abbey Weith, David Weith, and Ryan Kemper; and three great-grandchildren, Alexis, Andrew, and Nicholas Herriges.”
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 am on Wednesday (March 13, 2013) at Holy Family Catholic Church, at 9622 20th Ave SW. Reception following.
For the second night in a row, someone has fired a gun from a car in West Seattle. Saturday night, a car and home were hit at 20th and Cloverdale, no injuries; Sunday night, again no injuries, and this time no property damage, but Southwest Precinct Lt. Alan Williams confirmed to WSB that spent casings were found after shots were reported to have been heard around 10th SW and SW Elmgrove. Also, he says, whoever did it was nowhere to be found.
10:43 PM: Turns out the server switchover we mentioned Friday night, to address recent intermittent site slowness, needs a bit more tinkering – and the tech team is set to do it tonight, right after 11 pm. As a result, WSB will have a bit of downtime – maybe 15, 20 minutes, we’re told. As always, if there’s breaking news in the interim, we’ll get the word out in our other major channels – Facebook (here), Twitter (here), and if needed, our other websites, White Center Now and The South Park News. Thanks yet again for your patience.
6:42 AM NOTE: The tinkering is finally over as of about half an hour ago, and WSB has fully moved onto a more-powerful new server. Seems to be running well, but it’s early, so if you hit any speed bumps, please let us know.
Earlier this week, the new Westwood/Roxhill/Arbor Heights community council heard from Seattle Police crime-prevention coordinator Mark Solomon (here’s our report). Later in the week, he addressed two recurring topics in his periodic community newsletter – the rules regarding door-to-door sellers, and when it’s OK to call 911. You might find the advice helpful, so if you aren’t on his mailing list, check out the newsletter in its entirety here, courtesy of the West Seattle Block Watch Captains’ Network.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Allstar Fitness‘s prospective new owner Sam Adams says the court documents don’t tell the whole story.
After members of the club, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, contacted WSB yesterday about court documents they’d received, we reported on those documents and other recent filings, which ask a judge to “reject and terminate the contracts” of “long term prepaid members” who bought their memberships before last August’s bankruptcy filing (reported here in October), without otherwise defining “long term prepaid,” but saying that would be about 2,100 contracts.
Even before that, we had messages out seeking a conversation with Adams, the former Seahawks (and other teams) pro football player turned health-club entrepreneur, to find out more about his plans for West Seattle’s biggest fitness club, which he says he will rename the West Seattle Athletic Club.
This morning, he called. He claims that while the court documents say about 2,100 membership contracts are proposed for termination, he intends to honor “99 percent of them.”
Just in from Washington State Ferries:
The Klahowya will be out of service on Monday, March 11, due to necessary repairs to the vessel. Fauntleroy, Vashon and Southworth will be operating on a two-boat schedule. Updates will occur as more information becomes available.
We’ll update this story if the plan changes tonight; there’ll also be updates in tomorrow’s edition of our daily transit/traffic tracker.
As previewed here, you had a chance to ask questions directly of the man who runs the Seattle Department of Transportation if you had gone to the Southwest District Council meeting this past Wednesday night. A few people took advantage of the opportunity to bring up neighborhood problems as well as larger issues. We recorded the wide-ranging 47 minutes of Q/A on video. If you can’t spare 47 minutes to listen – here are direct links to some of the topics (note – if the links don’t go to the spots they should, drag the playback bar on the YouTube window of the full clip above to the minutes/seconds spot mentioned):
14:00 – The bus bulbs at California/Fauntleroy
16:00 – Bus lanes on SW Alaska
21:31 – With increased development in The Junction, how involved is SDOT? “There are days we can’t go to The Junction because there’s no place to park.” Density is based on the city’s Comprehensive Plan, Hahn noted. He cited South Lake Union rezoning. “With 1,000 more apartments going up in The Junction, does SDOT say, we need (something) to help with traffic … ?” Hahn observed that the same question came up at the Sustainable West Seattle Transportation Forum last year (here’s our coverage, with video), and mentioned the alley-vacation process (frequently covered here) requiring “public benefit” from the developer. He mentioned that one developer downtown wound up buying another streetcar for the city. So, he was asked, could developers buy another bus, or ?
27:30 – Who makes the decisions to add bus bulbs, reduce lanes, etc.? asked another attendee, and how can the “silent majority” have their feelings known? “It’s not like individuals are just making up stuff,” Hahn said, citing again the city’s Comprehensive Plan, ultimately saying it’s a reflection of the City Council. He also says they often hear from people with a specific interest, more bike facilities, for example, so whatever your opinion is, come to meetings and have it heard.
31:00: SW Alaska on the RapidRide route through The Triangle – including parking and traffic concerns as well as unfulfilled promises about making that stretch a “pedestrian corridor,” with street trees. Ongoing parking issues exist, with parking commitments made to businesses between 36th and 38th in jeopardy again. Hahn says he could come out to walk the area and see the issues.
39:00 – Density in The Junction is already 104 percent of what was projected, but the capacity of the street has been reduced.
At 41:50, Vlad Oustimovitch from the Fauntleroy Community Association summarized much of what had been said to Hahn in the preceding half-hour-plus: “It’s almost like somebody deliberately designed something to not work.”
SDOT will be back in West Seattle this week – at the North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting tomorrow (Monday) night (6:30 pm at the Delridge Library), for example, a rep will discuss the new parking restrictions on SW Genesee to make more room for buses (here’s our February story on those changes).
Photos by Nick Adams, on assignment for WSB
Report by Fairmount Ravine resident John Lang, special to WSB
Blue skies and warm weather greeted a record-number 39 volunteers for the 21st annual Fairmount Ravine cleanup.
Thank you to all the ambitious hard-working neighbors who participated Saturday morning.
It was great to see so many new faces this year, especially those who live adjacent to the ravine.
There have been homeless people periodically camping in this area and that was the case Saturday.
Seattle Police quickly responded and politely moved 5 individuals and their property away so the ambitious community of workers could clean up trash.
Needless to say, there was so much trash that it filled two full-size pickups (thanks, Randy and Tim!)
We discovered four encampments, three in the woods and one under the bridge. Two were within 50’ of a residence.
Three were cleaned up and the fourth will need to be addressed in the near future, as the work crew ran out of energy. The bridge provides an attractive dry cover and all campsites provide relatively obscurity.
Unsupervised homeless camps are an absolute mess of garbage, discarded clothing and other water-soaked articles, and without any latrine provisions. These are very difficult to clean up considering the steepness of the hillsides.
We encountered widespread evidence of drug use, which is also a concern.
That aside, it is gratifying to see the result of everyone’s hard work and their willingness to make West Seattle a great place to live.
Special thanks to Sarah Schieron, Zatz Bagels, and Metropolitan Market for their generous contributions of sustenance in support of this community event.
EDITOR’S POSTSCRIPT: Even before we published this, an area resident e-mailed to say she was so grateful to the neighborhood volunteers she saw out working yesterday, but, she added, she is seeing transients back under the bridge today and “throwing trash in the ravine”; she asked, “Is there anything we can do?” Contacting the SPD Community Police Team is one suggestion; a CPT officer had mentioned at a recent community-group meeting that there had been some encampment abatement elsewhere.
Three West Seattle business notes to share:
VENTANA CONSTRUCTION CELEBRATES ITS TENTH: Above are Anne and Clarence Higuera, owners/founders of Ventana Construction (longtime WSB sponsor), photographed during an open-house celebration Friday night marking their business’s 10th anniversary. They shared thoughts about the milestone on the Ventana website, describing their work as something that “affords us the opportunity to meet new people every day and talk with them about the dreams for their home, and after some careful planning, make those dreams come true.” Congratulations!
HARRY’S CHICKEN JOINT UPDATE: We reported last week on the new restaurant’s delivery-to-Beveridge-Place-Pub launch; today Harry’s announced via Facebook that the restaurant (former Meander’s/Jade West space) will open this Wednesday.
ALSO OPENING NEXT WEEK: West Seattle’s fitness-business boom continues. The next to open will be Inspire West Seattle, in the California SW-fronting building north of Admiral Safeway, whose owner tells us they’re formally opening on March 15th. We first reported on Inspire’s West Seattle plan back in August.
From SPD Blotter this morning:
Officers are investigating a possible drive-by shooting that occurred last night in the 2000 Block of SW Cloverdale Street [map]. No one was injured, but a parked car and a house were struck.
Officers from the Southwest Precinct responded to a report of shots fired last night around 10:35 pm at that location. The occupants of the home told officers they heard the bullets hit the house, but did not hear any gunshots. Officers located a parked car that had been hit by a bullet, and a bullet was removed from the wood door frame on the house. It is presumed that the shots came from a car on the street. Officers conducted an area check, but did not locate any suspects.
Perhaps in recognition of the fact it’s an adjustment day for everyone, with Daylight Saving Time arriving overnight, there’s not much on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar today. The biggest one-time-only event: Tryouts for West Seattle Little League players, as previewed here on Friday. P.S. If you’re looking for the new sunrise/sunset times, you can always find them – along with forecasts, tide times, and more – on the WSB Weather page.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The newest development in the AllStar Fitness Chapter 11 bankruptcy and proposed sale: 
We heard today from multiple club members who reported receiving a copy of these court documents for a motion asking the federal bankruptcy judge to allow the cancellation of contracts purchased before the bankruptcy proceedings started last August.
Other court documents we have since obtained online say that would mean a cancellation of more than 2,100 contracts for the North Delridge club.
Those documents explain that Chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee Richard Hooper believes:
… the Club’s balance sheet has been hampered by the Debtor’s longstanding practice of selling long-term membership as significant discounts. A practice which the Trustee ceased in the interim period of his appointment. It was often the case that the Debtor would offer members reduced monthly rates in return for prepaying 6 or 12 months at a time. The Debtor would further discount these pre-paid memberships by offering an additional 6 or more months free of dues as an additional incentive for prepaying the already reduced rate. As sales of these prepaid membership slowed, the Debtor’s ability to meet its ongoing obligations suffered greatly. It appears from the Debtor’s financials that it relied heavily on these prepayment to meet operational and other needs…
The court documents say the trustee does want to:
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