West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
(WSB photos by Ellen Cedergreen)
The Halloween wave is rolling in … and first to arrive, Toddler Pumpkinpalooza in two sessions today/tonight at High Point Community Center.
Other city-run community centers in West Seattle have celebrations tomorrow (and HPCC has another one)- but this one ushered in the festivities:
They got to show off costumes – like Clarabel above – and decorating skills:
Not only is High Point CC doing a second round of Pumpkinpalooza right now, they’ve also got a Freaky Fall Festival planned tomorrow night (Friday) at 6, same time as Halloween Carnivals at Alki and Hiawatha Community Centers; also tomorrow night, Southwest Pool has a free Halloween Family Swim at 7 pm. (Tons of other activities for all ages at multiple West Seattle venues, all listed on the WSB Halloween page.)
Five days to go till your ballot HAS TO be in – either by mail (postmarked no later than Tuesday) or by dropbox (by 8 pm Tuesday). One quick mention: If you are still making up your mind about the initiatives, there’s a new fact-checking site launched as a University of Washington project, assembled by graduate students, and it even looks at the refenda on the ballot. Check it out at factcheckwa.org. (Note – this is about the statewide measures only, not the local ones like the King County and Seattle Public Schools propositions.) P.S. King County is offering a digital “I Voted” sticker – get it here.
Another transportation alert just out of the WSB inbox: The West Seattle Water Taxi is adding a 7:30 pm run from Pier 50 downtown to Seacrest in West Seattle this Sunday, October 31, because of the Sounders’ game. That’s also the last day of the spring/summer schedule – remember the new Monday-Friday, commute-hours-only schedule starts the next day – Monday, November 1st.
In case you haven’t seen the signs that have been up along the routes leading to the 1st Avenue South Bridge – WSDOT has just sent a reminder: It will be completely closed 7 am-3 pm this Saturday in the NORTHBOUND DIRECTION ONLY for maintenance work. According to WSDOT’s advisory, a cracked half-century-old steel plate will be replaced during the 8-hour shutdown. (We’ll let you know here on Saturday if it reopens early – this alert also is atop the WSB Traffic page, which we continue tweaking to include more day-to-day information that you might miss in the main news stream here.)
Following up on the urgent call for help sent out late yesterday by Southwest Youth and Family Services‘ Cara Kroenke, and published here as well as circulated on local mailing lists – Cara just left this comment on last night’s story:
THANK YOU to everyone who is helping the family! SWYFS is beyond lucky to have such a loving community. We have raised the $1800 thanks to you and are now using the remaining money to help cover the costs of moving. They will be moving into two separate households (if all goes as planned) and will need deposit money, moving help and whatever gently used household items you might have. Does anyone know of a good storage company here in West Seattle? We could really use a small space to store the larger items until they move into permanent housing. Thank you for all you do to help SWYFS make the community safer and supported! Yours, Cara
If you missed the original coverage, this involves surviving family members of the three people killed by a West Seattle woman one month ago before she killed herself, all members of her family, as was the lone shooting victim who survived.
First, signs went up offering the forthcoming commercial space for lease. Now, scaffolding’s up on the east side of the stalled 35th/Avalon building, four months after news that it had been purchased by an area company, after being caught up in the Mastro Properties problems. The leasing is being handled by InCitySpace, described in the listing as “2415 (square feet of) retail/office space in shell condition awaiting strong tenant for build-out contribution by landlord,” $28 per square foot, potentially divisible into two 1,200-sf spaces. We have an inquiry out to ask about estimated completion and whether anybody’s signed on yet. (Thanks to everyone who sent tips about both the leasing sign and scaffolding sightings!)
Think your neighborhood needs a traffic circle? Speed-limit change? Something else to “calm” traffic? Check out this announcement shared by Delridge Neighborhood District Coordinator Ron Angeles – but this invite is for people from any West Seattle neighborhood:
A Traffic Safety Meeting will be at the West Seattle Library meeting room, 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm, November 17. Any resident who is requesting information on traffic calming of non-arterial streets should try to attend.
More info here – and you can get more information about SDOT‘s Neighborhood Traffic Control Program here.
(View of The Hole, photographed last month from atop the unrelated Link project)
One week after we reported the start of the trial in the tangle of lawsuits over “The Hole,” aka Fauntleroy Place, aka the 39th/Alaska site once envisioned for Whole Foods Market, Hancock Fabrics, and apartments, till everything fell apart in fall 2008, AFTER the site was excavated for what was to be a big underground parking garage. Yesterday, we went back to court to see how the trial’s going. For WSB, Katie Meyer sat in on yesterday’s session in King County Superior Court, and reports that Judge Susan Craighead estimates there’s enough testimony and cross-examination remaining to continue till at least Tuesday, with closing statements expected that day, and “oral findings” next Thursday.
Witnesses yesterday included BlueStar Management executive Steve Hartley, geotechnical engineer David Cotton, and Bryce Bryan Campbell, who was executive vice president of financier Seattle Capital when it was dealing with various parts of the 2-years-stalled project. Most of what they’re all arguing about (we published the full list of parties involved, from atop the legal documents, here) is who has the right to what compensation and in which priority/order. Ultimately, however this gets settled will affect what happens at the site next – a new entity related to Madison Development has been trying to take over the site, seeking “judicial foreclosure,” but until all the liens are settled, that apparently cannot happen.
Part of what’s being sorted out is how the whole thing fell apart, how BlueStar moved from being the developer to not being the developer (and some of that firm’s circumstances at the time were part of the questioning in court yesterday). BlueStar had told WSB this past spring that they still hoped somehow to be able to take over the project again; executive Hartley noted in court yesterday that they’d worked on it for seven years. Testifying later, former Seattle Capital executive Campbell said Fauntleroy Place had originally been seen as an investment for the firm, not a loan: “At the time, it wasn’t obvious the whole economy was going to come down.” He said SC had no intent to take the project through to completion, but rather to find a new buyer/sponsor for construction expenses, while retaining some ownership interest in the project. They had a choice between two such firms, and UDR won – but the path to finalizing that grew rocky, he testified. Whose fault it was that the project fell apart, is still at issue, as the different parties have different views, and that’s what the judge will have to sort out. Today is the last scheduled day of testimony for the week; we’ll go back to court when it resumes next week.
For the next four days/nights, it’s almost ALL about Halloween. Our all-in-one-place, by-category-of-event West Seattle Halloween list is here; from that list, High Point Community Center has two Toddler Pumpkin-Palooza sessions today, 10-noon and 5-7 pm ($5/child); The Sanctuary at Admiral shows the 1922 silent film “Nosferatu” (a “Dracula” adaptation) tonight, with live pipe organ, 7:30 pm ($5 person, also collecting nonperishable food items for West Seattle Food Bank). From the rest of the WSB West Seattle Events calendar – 3 fundraisers tonight: Pegasus Pizza on Alki is raising $ for the Livestrong Foundation, 4-11 pm; Beer Junction‘s tasting event benefits 2 animal-advocacy groups, 5-8 pm; tonight’s monthly WS Tweetup raises $ for breast cancer, 5:30-7:30 pm @ Endolyne Joe’s. On the not-West-Seattle-but-it’s-being-followed-here-closely front, today’s the day that the two firms still in the running to design/build a tunnel to replace the Central Waterfront section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct are supposed to officially present their proposals. More on the calendar (and again, the Halloween page, with dozens of events from now through Nov. 1, is here).
Story and photos by Karen Berge
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
More than 25 residents, plus a handful of presenters, attended last night’s information-packed meeting of the Highland Park Action Committee (HPAC).
The meeting at Highland Park Improvement Club (HPIC)’s historic headquarters began with an informative, but brief, presentation by Cari Simson from Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition (DRCC). She provided an historic overview of the Duwamish, including photos; then in contrast, she described its extremely polluted current condition, “basically, it’s a 5 ½-mile-long Superfund site,” a reference to the Duwamish being added in 2001 to the list of the most hazardous and toxic sites in the country.
Simson’s presentation included two especially memorable slides: One lists more than 40 pollutants that have been found in the river that exceed healthy levels, the second shows warning signs that are posted along the river that urge people not to eat any of the bottom-feeding fish from the river.
More about her presentation and other agenda items, ahead:Read More
Story and photos by Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Almost 100 people packed the clubhouse Wednesday night for the third community meeting about the West Seattle Golf Course’s future driving range, as the project team unveiled a refined design they say was developed in response to numerous “environmental concerns, golf concerns, and neighborhood concerns” raised in the previous two meetings.
According to project architect Todd Schroeder, the new design (pictured above, full PDF version here) boasts a 300-yard full-size “double-loaded” driving range with 50 stalls, and a short-game practice facility and learning center. To accommodate it, some changes would be necessary to the surrounding holes — #1 would get a new green (otherwise largely unchanged), #8 would be converted to a “mammoth par 5” (570+ yards in length at the white tees, playable up to 655 yards for special events), and an entirely new #9 would be constructed adjacent to Camp Long.
Schroeder noted that the new #9 hole would be a downhill par 3 with an “amazing view of downtown Seattle from the teebox,” and that the tops of the driving range’s tall net poles (previously considered to be a major community concern) would still be “below the grade” of 35th Ave SW even at their highest point (120 feet).
Reaction to the new proposal was mixed, with some audience members lauding the project team for a “fantastic job” and a “world-class design,” but many others saying the project “isn’t worth it” and “should just go away” primarily because it does include changes to the 70-year-old golf course. One attendee called the proposal a “bait-and-switch” because such changes to the holes themselves weren’t considered to be part of the original plan as envisioned in the city’s Golf Master Plan (which indicated that the #1 golf priority city-wide was a “high-quality driving range in West Seattle,” according to the project team.)
Busy news night tonight, so we’ll just show two West Seattle jack-o-lanterns for you to admire – Karen shared the “friendly vampire” in the top photo – and this spider came in anonymously (is it yours?):
Browse our “Holidays” archive to see the pumpkins we’ve shown the past few nights; if you have one to show off, please share a photo – e-mail address (etc.) here! And if you’re looking for West Seattle Halloween activities, there are dozens in the next five (yes, even Nov. 1) days/nights – full list on the WSB Halloween page.
The westbound Spokane Street Viaduct closure that SDOT announced days ago for tonight into tomorrow morning has kicked in a bit early, according to a Facebook note from Heather – she says the southbound I-5 exit to the West Seattle Bridge was blocked off as of 9:30. That exit and the entire stretch of the westbound Spokane Street Viaduct from I-5 to Highway 99 will be closed until about 5 am because of construction work (part of the SSV Widening Project).
Just received from Cara Kroenke at Southwest Youth and Family Services, a little over one month after the quadruple murder-suicide in West Seattle:
I’d like to share with you an experience that I just had. At 11:00 this morning, I met with the surviving members of the family that was massacred in West Seattle. … To summarize, the grandmother of the Phan/Harm family, who lived through the genocidal Khmer Rouge attacks of Cambodia PTSD, went off of her medication that helped her deal with her PTSD and fatally shot five members of her family in West Seattle. Her youngest grandchild, Nivia, age 7, was home from school day with a 101 degree fever and witnessed the killings of her father, two sisters(one of whom was pregnant) and the shooting of her mother,Thyda. Grandmother then tried to shoot Nivia, but she ran out of bullets and while she was reloading, Nivia’s 17 year old brother, Kevin, grabbed Nivia and threw her out the window, he then fled himself. As this was happening, grandfather was coming home and heard the final shots as he opened the door, he saw the grandmother take her own life.
They were here at the agency today because they need help. They need counseling, community, love and financial support.
Please join me in contributing what you can; the family is in desperate need of $1800 to pay for the repairs that their landlord is charging them for the damages. Because most of their furniture was bloodstained, or worse, they need furniture and mattresses. The missed shots destroyed many household items as well, so glasses, pots, pillows, etc. would be greatly appreciated too.
The mother is still healing from her gunshot wounds and cannot work. The surviving family is in great need of emotional support, which they will receive from counselors at SWYFS, but they need the basics taken care of, including the $1800 debt, in order to start the healing process, so please if you can donate any money, do. If you would rather support the family with a Safeway or Albertson’s gift card, they greatly need money for food as well. Or, if you have any gently used household items, they would be appreciated as well.
The Phan/Harm family are currently living in temporary housing, but we are working with them to find permanent housing near the children’s schools.
I was able to spend time with Nivia today and we were able to talk about some of her favorite things; stuffed animals, Barbie, movies and books. She would very much like to read the The Magic Treehouse series and is going to be a cat for Halloween. I looked into her eyes and saw joy there; she is very resilient. She was even able to laugh a bit, but told me she can not sleep because she has nightmares; and wasn’t at school today because when she is able to sleep it is on the floor and that that is very uncomfortable and her mother wanted her to get her rest today.
Please keep her and her family in your prayers or thoughts.
Below is a link where you can make a donation. My goal is to raise/have pledges for the whole $1800 by end of day tomorrow. Please work with me so that this can happen for the family. Feel free to call me with questions, or come by the agency to drop off any donations. If you would like to send in a check, a gift card to the grocery store or a letter of encouragement/support, please mail it to:
SWYFS
Attention: Phan/Harm family support
4555 Delridge Way SW
Seattle, WA 98106
Many thanks for rallying with us for the Phan/Harm Family.
For your records, our tax ID # is:911-17862
Donate here link: http://swyfs.org/support_us/
Three West Seattle Crime Watch reports to share – two vehicle thefts from today (and a request to be on the lookout for the stolen vehicles), and a car prowl from earlier. The reports are after the jump:Read More
Usually, we hear about sightings. This one’s more like a hear-ing. From John and Joyce Loftus:
Last night at about 9:30 as my wife and I were getting home to our residence on Alki, we heard the unearthly sound of a pack of coyotes yipping and howling in unison in the greenbelt above our house — possible College Street Ravine. This is a symphony of sound that’s amazing to hear in a wilderness setting. It borders on the absolutely surreal when heard in the city. Of course, it heightens our concern for people’s pets.
As noted here over and over again, you can reduce the chance of coyote confrontations by reading and following the advice in this “coexisting with coyotes” info. And you can check out our archive of coyote sightings – some with photos – by going here.
Two quick notes about good news from two West Seattle schools today: First, Madison Middle School has just learned that it’s been recognized as a School of Distinction for the third consecutive year – one of only 12 schools in the state to have achieved that; it honors an ongoing pattern of academic improvement. Second, Seattle Lutheran High School shares word that it was presented today with its official Notice of Accreditation by the National Lutheran School Accreditation Association and Northwest Association of Accredited Schools.
During weeks of voting, the KING 5 “Best of Western Washington“ contest was all the buzz … and this week they’re rolling out the winners. No list yet that we know of, since they’re parceling out some of the announcements on “Evening Magazine” this week – but they’ve featured a couple West Seattleites already – among them, about a minute and a half into the top video clip, you’ll find Morgan Junction’s own Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) celebrated for “Best Cocktails”! Next clip is all about West Seattle radio/Web personalitiies Marty Riemer and Jodi Brothers, who took 2nd place in “best radio” – even though they now broadcast from Marty’s basement, almost a year after getting the boot from their last full-time radio gig:
We have it on good authority there are at least a few more West Seattle/White Center winners yet to come – next edition of “Evening Magazine” is 7 pm tonight, Channel 5 (and the list should be on best.king5.com starting Friday).
(Photo added 3:19 pm; SDOT crew at the top of the hill)
We’ve just heard from two people that the Admiral Way restriping (officially announced in early September) has begun. One of our area’s leading bicycle advocates, Stu Hennessey of Alki Bike and Board and Sustainable West Seattle, sends word, along with a suggestion:
The Admiral Way bike lane restriping has begun. The project will have partial lane closures in both directions from SW Olga St. to Avalon Pl. SW in both directions from Oct. 27th to Nov. 10th according to the no parking signs. This would be a great time to practice non-aggressive driving within the speed limit for the safety of the workers out there. … One bicycle “climbing lane” will be designated from the West Seattle Freeway offramp to Admiral and the Belvedere View Point. The right hand lane going downhill will have sharrows for bicycle designation. Hopefully we can convert that into a HOV, Bus and bicycle lane to keep the aggressive drivers from using the right lane to pass all the cooperative drivers and cut in at the bottom of the hill.
By the way, for bicyclists – Stu’s shop has been offering access to a bike rack that’s the same new style of bike rack you’ll find on Metro buses, so that bicyclists can practice with it if they decide to use the bus and haven’t tried it yet. While we stopped by his shop last week (as part of a TV story you might see tonight at 7 pm on channel 5, more on that later), Alki Bike and Board staffer “Apples” agreed to demonstrate it:
You can find the bike rack outside ABB at 2606 California SW. As for the Admiral Way restriping work, the official city project-info page is here. ADDED 1:16 PM: As M pointed out in comments, there’s a bit more advice about how to load the bus – and you can read the whole how-to on the Metro website (they have a non-embeddable video you can watch as well). And better yet, you can drop by Alki Bike and Board and practice in person.
A new citywide group has formed to try to get the city’s public-safety plans aligned with community priorities. The group is called Community Leaders for Public Safety, and one of its founding members, West Seattle’s Pete Spalding, shared its proposal with WSB. On the list – a strategy to fight graffiti vandalism, including bringing back the Seattle Police graffiti detective position.Here’s the full list of the CLPS priorities – remember, these are citywide, but many are certainly applicable to West Seattle:
Seattle Public Safety Initiative
Facilities
* Find a suitable alternative for Rainier Beach Community Center during the two-year closure, such as Rainier Beach High School, with a seamless transition to ensure continuity for critical programs.
* Fund the North Precinct facility. If existing building cannot be fixed, the precinct should move to a site like the Seattle School District facility on Wilson and Pacific. Parking for employees and the public must factor into the decision.
* Re-examine neighborhood substations and drop-in centers.Community Policing
* Prioritize community policing in training programs and best police practices.
* Develop neighborhood engagement strategies so officers understand a place and its people. Reimplement Neighborhood Action Teams. Ensure that the City’s neighborhood plans reflect public safety principles, and that the City of Seattle honors the neighborhood plans.
* Fund current Crime Prevention Coordinator and Park Ranger programs, and re-examine using Community Safety Officers.Community Programs
* Youth Initiatives: Build on current programs, with community-based advisory panels, emphasizing a long-term generational model. Support activities at playfields, schools, and community centers. Seek corporate funding and partnerships.
* Nightlife Initiative: Prioritize a socially responsible, vibrant nightlife, with clubs funding solutions to problems that originate in clubs.
* Public Alcoholism: Support successful models to house chronic street inebriates. Working with the Washington State Liquor Control Board, create an Alcohol Impact Area for Beacon Hill.
* Gangs and Graffiti: Implement a city-wide strategy to address gang-related crime, including prostitution, and a coordinated graffiti plan that reinstates the SPD graffiti detective.
* Social Services: Distribute facilities equitably throughout Seattle, with a moratorium on subsidized housing for neighborhoods that have reached capacity.Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)
* Apply CPTED principles in public playfields, parks, and other green spaces, and to DPD building permits, neighborhood zoning, and landscape decisions, and the Urban Forest Management Plan.
* Work with the Washington State Department of Transportation to incorporate CPTED principles into state road development and maintenance projects.Cooperation
* Leverage existing assets and interagency taskforces to address specific issues, and establish a public safety adviser in the Mayor’s office to lead interagency coordination and policy development.
* Schedule SDOT projects to allow for public safety response and more efficient emergency access.
* Fund programs that use Washington State DOC work crews and Seattle Community Court and Pretrial Diversion service workers, to support street cleanups, environmental restoration, vacant lot mitigation, playfield safety, and graffiti removal.Policy
* Enforce the no trespassing ordinance, nuisance housing ordinance, and encampment protocols.
* Ensure citizen oversight, a comment period for proposed policy changes, and public notice of meetings by committees working on public safety-related policies.
* Establish a quarterly meeting between the Mayor and Community Leaders for Public Safety
Spalding says many of the founding members are from Precinct Advisory Councils (he chairs the one for West Seattle’s Southwest Precinct) or crime-prevention groups. They’ve already sent this proposal to Mayor McGinn, CIty Council members, City Attorney Pete Holmes, and Police Chief John Diaz; the cover letter, which you can see here, summarizes, “We believe the return on investment in community programs – that address the needs of youth, that counter gangs and graffiti, that encourage service and safe housing for homeless people and others at risk – will make a sustainable difference in the quality of life for all Seattle residents.” We’ll keep you updated on where this goes from here.
From last night’s meeting of the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains Network: Advice you can use even if you’re not a Block Watch captain – how and why to call 911. The advice came from an expert: Southwest Precinct Community Police Team Officer Jonathan Kiehn. His explanation included the best thing you can do once the dispatcher answers the phone. Read on:Read More
(Photo by Danny McMillin – recent Alki sunset, but reminded us of the promise of sunrise)
From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar:
TRAFFIC ALERT: Westbound Spokane Street Viaduct closed tonight, 10 pm-5 am.
EARLY DISMISSAL DAY FOR SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Two hours early; here’s the district’s list of important dates with reminders on this and other upcoming schedule changes. P.S. One special activity today because of the early dismissal – High Point Library offers “Game On for Teens,” 3-5 pm.
SPEAKING OF SCHOOLS: West Seattle’s school board rep Steve Sundquist is at Delridge Library, 11 am-12:30 pm, for one of his periodic community chats; the West Seattle High School PTSA meets at 7 pm tonight in the school library.
MAJOR COMMUNITY MEETINGS TONIGHT: At the top of the list, community meeting #3 for the West Seattle Golf Course Driving Range. Meeting #1 (August report) proposed a site with so many drawbacks, it was scrapped by meeting #2 (September report), which stirred anger from some golfers because the new potential site might require changes to the current course. What will be proposed tonight? Be at the golf course clubhouse, 7 pm … Right before that meeting, the West Seattle Triangle Advisory Group of local community and business leaders meets at 5:30 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle – they’ll look at the “right-of-way design concepts” that project architects presented to the Seattle Design Commission 2 weeks ago … The agenda for Highland Park Action Committee‘s monthly meeting (7 pm, HP Improvement Club) includes a Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition rep (big news for the river lately, as we reported in coverage of the recent Sustainable West Seattle forum) and discussion of a possible new name for the group.
DIALOGUE ON PUBLIC TRUST: CityClub’s Community Matters Campaign comes to West Seattle for a discussion about public trust – what does it mean? why does it matter? 6:30 pm, Peace Lutheran Church (39th/Thistle). Register online here.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth weekly installment of this new WSB feature – if you missed the explanation/introduction with which we prefaced the first one, you can see it here.
By Megan Sheppard
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
From reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers:
*A Westwood-area resident had lots of rationales for why his black BMW had a set of blue lights on the top portion of windshield—lights that looked suspiciously like those that might be used in an undercover police car. (An officer had pulled the man over after seeing the lights activated.) The officer told him that although he was not writing a citation, he was writing a report with the driver’s name and license plate in case there are problems or cases of “mistaken identity” in the future.
*Early Friday, 911 operators received noise complaints about three vehicles loaded with people in the 4400 block of 26th SW. Four people in two vehicles were identified and released. In the third vehicle, two of the three people inside refused to identify themselves and became hostile with officers. It might be because the two were wanted on warrants: The driver was wanted on a $500 King County warrant for hit and run and was turned over to the custody of Renton police. His passenger had two warrants —$1,100 from Renton and $1,500 from Des Moines — for failure to appear on charges of driving with a suspended license. He was booked into King County Jail.
7 more reports ahead:Read More
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