West Seattle, Washington
29 Friday
(All photos by Cliff DesPeaux; here, Queen Kelsey is in red dress at center, Princess Victoria two to the left of her in blue, Princess Rosemarie two to the right of her in aqua)
ORIGINAL 9:32 PM REPORT: Just crowned onstage at the West Seattle High School Theater: Queen Kelsey Bills and Princesses Victoria Ferrulli and Rosemarie Unite. (added – video of the announcements)
(All video by Tracy Record)
The two-and-a-half-hour pageant was the culmination of several judging sessions – the performance and speaking rounds tonight counted for 25 percent of the score. But the program featured much more, including performances by the outgoing Senior Court and Junior Court members, greetings from visiting past Hi-Yu royalty (including Funky Jane’s owner Angela Nichols, whose daughter Taylor Nichols is the newly crowned Junior Court Queen, 20 years after Angela was on the Senior Court):
The audience also heard from the current Miss Seafair (‘for five more days!” she smiled) and Margo Femiano, the 2008-2009 Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu who’s representing WS in this year’s Miss Seafair program – we’ll find out next Saturday night, before the Torchlight Parade, how she does!
Special scholarship-award winners, revealed just before the Queen and Princesses: Academic Achievement, Community Service, Creative Expression, Miss Congeniality Awards, all went to Victoria Ferrulli; Entrepreneurial and Technology Awards, both to Rosemarie Unite; Director’s Award, Kelsey Porter; Spirit of Hi-Yu and Hi-Yu Alumni Awards, both to Kelsey Bills; Athletic Leadership Award, Melanie Frey.
ADDED: More video, photos and details from the coronation – see it all ahead:Read More
On one hand, you’ll say, well, of course. On the other hand, it’s still an important official development in the ongoing saga of what might and might not happen at 3922 SW Alaska, aka The Hole, the stalled site that’s tied up in a big consolidated legal fight (the trial date for which – if no deal closes the case sooner – was recently moved to next year). You’ll recall that the original development plan there called for a Whole Foods Market and Hancock Fabrics store, as well as hundreds of residential units. We’d been checking periodically with Whole Foods since the project stalled, even pre-legal fight (to which Whole Foods is a party, though they did not initiate any of the legal action), and they insisted they still had a lease. Not any more, regional spokesperson Vicki Foley just confirmed to WSB when we checked again:
Yes, we have just terminated our agreement with the developer on the West Seattle site. We feel that it is very unlikely that the site will be built within a reasonable timeframe, if at all.
We are definitely looking into alternate sites, although we have not signed anything yet.
You’ll also likely recall that a Trader Joe’s is now set to go in (announced June 16th) at a site that is right across the street from the now ex-Whole Foods site. Tomorrow, we’ll check with Hancock Fabrics – headquartered a few time zones east, so we can’t reach them now – regarding their status on this long-stalled project. Also note, this does NOT mean that nothing will be built at this site – Whole Foods was supposed to be the “anchor tenant” to the original project, but was not the developer – we are also seeking reaction from the company that hopes to wind up owning and developing the site. (Data point: Looking into the archives, we are reminded that demolition at the site was under way exactly two years ago.)
From Linda Robson in King County Councilmember Jan Drago‘s office:
(T)he Ferry District Board of Supervisors today approved extending the West Seattle Water Taxi service through November and December this year. That’s about a $250,000 addition to the budget. This gets us one step closer to being able to offer year-round service for West Seattle residents, who are going to really start feeling the impacts of all the big road projects in that area, including the Spokane Street Viaduct work and the first phase of the Alaskan Way Viaduct work.
This would be, we’re told, for the “commute hours only.” Part if not all of the money would come from dollars set aside for maintenance that now will be funded from a federal grant.
(5:11 pm note – The hearing’s over; when we get code for the archived video, we’ll swap it out)
2:51 PM REPORT: Hit the “play” button to watch live – despite the slate you see, it IS in progress now. This meeting of the City Council’s Alaskan Way Viaduct Committee is the third of three events that we mentioned this morning. City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw just said about sixty people have signed up to speak in the public comment section, which has just begun, before the council discusses the proposed resolution announced this morning – which would say, the city intends to sign the tunnel agreements, but wants to see the bids (this fall) first. Here’s a photo sent by council staff via Twitter, showing the SRO crowd:
4:27 PM: The public hearing ended after about an hour and a half – primarily pro-tunnel – and has moved on into the councilmembers talking with a state team headed by Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond, who said, “Delay is not our friend” and insists that risk management is her team’s job. Meantime, Mayor McGinn’s reaction to the council’s “we’re passing a resolution but not signing yet” plan has finally come in – read on:
Might just be the boldest, wildest, most artful summer program in West Seattle – and it’s free (participants even get free lunch). At Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, the All-Access Summer Institute is offering “brand-new intensive classes for the creatively curious that build serious skill while having fun and meeting other cool youth!” “Quick and Dirty Without Tha Drama!” mixing writing, performing and visual art just started its first four-day 1-week session today, but there’s another one Aug. 2-5, 10 am-3:30 pm, with Antasia Parker and Mikel Moss. Then for the two weeks after that, “It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop,” a dance class that “will be making movement on the dance floor while also looking at hip hop as a social movement.” The announcement from Youngstown’s Alberto Mejia also notes, “Other resident Youngstown programs like FEEST, Roots & Shoots, and the Youth Media Institute’s Youth Out Loud Summer Program will also be running all summer.” Find out more at youngstownarts.org.
Two road reminders today: FIRST: The photo was taken this morning along 16th SW, north of South Seattle Community College, where the Brandon-to-Dawson section is now officially closed as work begins on another section of road rebuilding/repaving work. The city’s webpage for the project has a schedule of what happens and when, with work scheduled to last about two months. Go here to see the detour map. SECOND: If you have something to say to the city about the proposed Admiral Way “road diet”/”rechannelization” (here’s our report on the city’s “open house” 2 weeks ago), be sure to say it before tomorrow. As pointed out in a WSB Forums discussion, the city has set July 27th – tomorrow – as the deadline for comments – e-mail walkandbike@seattle.gov or call 206-684-7583. (The city project page also says, “These changes, as modified in response to public comments, are scheduled to take place in late summer 2010.”)
(WS Grand Parade photo by Rhonda Porter; Senior Court candidates rode in convertibles)
If you’ve been to any of West Seattle’s big events this summer, you’ve seen them: The five young women vying to be the next Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu, usually in their white-on-red Hi-Yu polo shirts. Since their introduction two and a half months ago, the have been appearing at events, helping raise money by selling Hi-Yu buttons and promoting the festival. Tonight, at the Hi-Yu Senior Court Coronation, we find out which of the five will become the next Queen and Princesses, not only representing Hi-Yu, but also representing West Seattle as the float travels to events around the region. You are invited to the coronation program tonight at West Seattle High School Theater, 7 pm. Click ahead for photos we took of the candidates as they prepared to ride in the West Seattle Grand Parade this past Saturday – and for a bit more info about tonight’s event:
(Saturday photo with from-above view of 36th SW firefighters, e-mailed by ‘Seattle’)
Following up this morning on two fires covered here over the weekend: Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen says the fire on 36th SW in South Admiral on Saturday afternoon (WSB coverage here) was accidental – “caused by a malfunctioning natural gas water heater that ignited nearby combustible material. The damage estimate was $20,000.” No one was hurt and the fire was out fairly quickly. (As for the smoke-seen-for-miles South Park fire covered yesterday – as just added to the original story, she says the cause is “undetermined” and damage totaled $2,000.)
If you are following the ongoing almost-a-soap-opera-sometimes about the Alaskan Way Viaduct‘s Central Waterfront Project tunnel proposal, and the City Council and Mayor’s conflicting opinions about whether amended agreements protect the city from the cost-overrun responsibility the Legislature wrote into the original bill – three things you’ll want to watch today (and of course we’ll be watching too). First, the Council gets a briefing from City Attorney Pete Holmes during its 9:30 am meeting; second, seven council members (all except Mike O’Brien and Bruce Harrell) and Holmes plan an 11:30 am news conference; third, the council’s special Alaskan Way Viaduct committee takes up the agreements at 2:30 pm. The folks at Seattle Channel tell us all of the above will be streamed live online, at www.seattlechannel.org/councillive. 10:41 AM UPDATE: The 1st discussion has just begun (apparently delayed while city legal staff put “finishing touches” on documentation). Councilmember Sally Bagshaw says the council will propose and vote on a resolution indicating their commitment to proceed, BUT will not sign the agreements till early next year, after seeing the proposals (bids) to be opened this fall. 11:45 AM: The council’s media briefing is under way now. It was noted that the council’s resolution is not subject to mayoral veto; he can decline to sign it, but it doesn’t require signature to move forward, since it’s non-binding.
Newly hung murals are gracing the walls of the closed-again Genesee Hill Elementary School … ironically, relocated from another closed Seattle Public Schools building, the former home of Van Asselt Elementary on Beacon Hill. That’s part of what’s happening as the new Genesee-Schmitz Neighborhood Council continues working with the district to keep the vacated campus from becoming an eyesore (or worse) – and they’re inviting you to join in a cleanup this Saturday, 9 am-1 pm: it’ll involve gardening, too, starting with the front beds and moving to the north playground as time allows. The GSNC also promises, “There will be free popsicles at noon!”
Before you lock up for the night, a reminder in this report from Kris:
Hi there, I wanted to report that my parents’ car on 47th Street SW (by Sunset) [map] was broken into last night and it looks like others might have been hit overnight. They left other vehicle information outside the car. Fortunately not much of value was in the car but others should be on notice to ensure they keep their cars locked on the streets. It’s unfortunate as we had assumed we lived in a pretty safe neighborhood.
We checked the available-so-far online police reports and aren’t seeing other reports in that area so far – but the “other vehicle info” could have come from elsewhere (there’s a 5100 block of SW Hudson car prowl listed for early this morning), or might be from incident/s not reported to police (who stress that it’s important to report, even if nothing was taken).
(Earlier WSB as-it-happened coverage of today’s WestSide Baby “Stuff the Bus” in West Seattle can be seen here)
About half an hour after the last diaper donations arrived at the WestSide Baby “Stuff the Bus” donation-drive site at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market, the diaper-filled bus pulled up in White Center – where WS Baby is headquartered – to unload, and the volunteers you see in our video got to work. Before the bus left West Seattle, WestSide Baby’s executive director Nancy Woodland had given us the quick tally on what they’d counted up, as of just after 2:
That followed a sudden down-to-the-wire flurry of donations – including these three deliveries just minutes after 2:
We didn’t get everyone’s names but we know the last three – local architects Brandon Nicholson and Shanna Kovalchick (whose business is headquartered in The Junction, steps away from the Stuff the Bus site) and toddler son Benjamin. And even though the donating finally stopped there around 10 past 2, it moved on down the street, where we caught up with Full Tilt Ice Cream‘s Justin Cline for the second time today (without even going to his White Center HQ):
His famous ice cream was served at the West Seattle Nursery Ice Cream Fest till 4, to raise money and collect diapers (note the boxes that had already arrived). Add to that volunteers at three local Safeways – we’ll check with WestSide Baby tomorrow to see if there’s a final total yet. But the bus-stuffing isn’t done – while last year they collected at locations in West Seattle and Burien on the same day, this year they’ve broken Stuff the Bus (co-sponsored by WSB) into two events, and they’ll have the bus at Burien Town Square during “Hot August Nights” on August 7th – spread the word! (You can also donate to WestSide Baby online anytime – go here.)
ORIGINAL 3:02 PM REPORT: We’ve gotten a few notes about a big smoke plume to the east. It’s a house fire in South Park. We’re here – it’s right by the ex-bridge. The house appears to have been boarded up. Debris burning nearby produced much of the smoke. 3:42 PM UPDATE: Adding a photo. Firefighters confirm the building was vacant, though they’re not sure now whether it was a garage or storage building. Investigators were en route when we left South Park a short time ago; they’ll figure out how the fire started. No injuries. 4:59 PM UPDATE: Adding video from as close as photographers were allowed:
We also noted the presence of Engine 11 from Highland Park:
During many of the meetings we covered before the South Park Bridge’s shutdown a month ago, the issue of police and fire response came up – backup units can’t come from the east side of the river any more, and there was discussion that they’d be more reliant on units from West Seattle, like E-11. Meantime, no word yet on this fire’s cause. MONDAY MORNING UPDATE: Dana Vander Houwen with Seattle Fire Department says damage is estimated at $2,000, but the fire’s cause is “undetermined.”
Beautiful day at the beach, and you have till 6 pm to enjoy the final hours of the 2010 Alki Art Fair. If you took a close look at each and every booth, you’d find numerous items to catch your eye, and perhaps send you reaching into your wallet. Strange Child Ink‘s T-shirts caught ours:
(If you don’t see this till it’s too late to go to the beach to find him – artist Brendan Wenberg says he’s a regular at the Fremont market.) Also eye-catching – this Frank Zappa portrait in the Heartmarks booth:
As previewed here before the fair, this year’s Alki event entertained visitors with a long list of live-music acts, too – all free – with donations collected (and T-shirts sold) to benefit the scholarship fund for art programs at the Alki Bathhouse and nearby Community Center.
Need your car washed? Head to the West Seattle Eagles‘ south side parking lot before 3 pm – Pencil Me In For Kids will benefit, raising money for school supplies for kids in need (September gets ever closer) … look for the Illusions Hair Design (WSB sponsor) VW Bug on California outside the entrance, balloons and all.
Also up and running till 3 pm – the Highland Park Sunday Market‘s third edition at 12th/Holden. More edibles this week, including the Full Tilt Ice Cream bike – we even spotted Full Tilt proprietor Justin Cline chatting with the Street Treats truck crew:
Among the other offerings – gorgeous cedar planters made by a Highland Park resident:
(He’s also stocking up the West Seattle Nursery Ice Cream Fest under way now till 4 pm, raising money for WestSide Baby and collecting diapers on Stuff the Bus day.) And Alki Cab Company‘s Kelly Merten is selling her jewelry as well as her books about raw food and raising vegetarian/vegan kids:
You can get raw food at a couple booths with fresh produce, by the way! The market’s in the Highland Park Improvement Club lot.
(Adding in-progress reports till the 2 pm final tally)
9:08 AM ORIGINAL REPORT: That’s the sizable WestSide Baby contingent in Saturday’s American Legion Post 160-presented West Seattle Grand Parade – promoting today’s big event, the annual “Stuff the Bus” diaper drive (co-sponsored by WSB), 10 am-2 pm at West Seattle Farmers’ Market. Go buy some diapers and drop them off at the school bus you’ll see parked on 44th SW by the market. If you can’t make it there, you’ve got options – during the same hours, 10 am-2 pm, volunteers are collecting diapers at all three local Safeways (Roxbury, Jefferson Square, Admiral). And at West Seattle Nursery from 1-4 pm, you can drop off diapers during the Ice Cream Fest (featuring Full Tilt Ice Cream, with proceeds also benefiting WestSide Baby). They help thousands of local families every year – here’s a simple chance to be part of helping them keep the littlest members of those families healthy and happy. We’ll see you there.
10:08 AM UPDATE: We got to the bus just in time to photograph the first donors – Ava and Helen, who brought more than 50 diapers! Note that WestSide Baby also is having a bake sale – with cupcakes, cookies and more. It’s under a tent immediately north of the bus. Check out the cute fish cookies:
We’ll be checking back!
12:11 PM UPDATE: As of noon, the bus hit 10,000 diapers. The photo above shows volunteers Yvonne and Jordan at Admiral Safeway – one of the three local Safeways where diapers also are being collected till 2 pm, just like the bus at the Farmers’ Market; when we stopped there around 12:30 pm, they’d already rounded up 800 diapers at Admiral Safeway (where you can say hi to Anne from Ventana Construction [WSB sponsor and “Stuff the Bus” co-sponsor] between now and 2). If you’ve got kids, bring ’em along to donate at the bus – they get to beep the horn!
2:18 PM UPDATE: 27,000 diapers’ worth of donations at the bus (and totals to come from satellite dropoffs)! You can bring diapers to West Seattle Nursery till 4 pm (and buy Full Tilt Ice Cream to raise $ for WS Baby). Separate update in the works for later. Nancy Woodland of WS Baby says this may be the best year yet!
(West Seattle Grand Parade 2010 photo by Creighton Yost)
ORIGINAL 6:59 AM PREVIEW: At the height of Hi-Yu, the day after the West Seattle festival’s float, royalty and volunteers got to show their stuff for the hometown crowd, they’re inviting you to come have brunch with them today. The annual West Seattle Hi-Yu Community Brunch is 9 am-noon this morning, at a different location this year – Alki UCC Church (6112 SW Hinds; here’s a map) – particularly convenient if you’re going to Day 2 of the Alki Art Fair (10 am-6 pm; live-music schedule here). Brunch is $6 adults/$3 kids. Among other things, the community brunch is your last chance to wish the candidates luck before tomorrow night’s coronation (you’re invited to that too – 7 pm Monday, West Seattle High School Theater – and advance tickets should be on sale at today’s brunch).
10:30 PM UPDATE: We just dropped in to check on how the brunch is going. Hi-Yu’s Carol Winston told us that as of just after 10 am, they’d already served about 50 people!
(All photos by Christopher Boffoli unless otherwise credited)
There were actually two parades in West Seattle on Saturday – with the Rotary Club of West Seattle-presented Kiddie Parade charming the crowd in The Junction ahead of the American Legion Post 160 Grand Parade. This participant had not just a tiger in the tank, but also on the head:
Other creative costuming was sighted, too:
And just like in the Grand Parade, some cool cars made their way down the route:
Yes, the proper parade rider must have sun protection:
(Photo by Creighton Yost)
But it’s not a parade without a banner – here’s the banner that always leads this parade off:
(This photo and the subsequent three, by Mindon Win)
Also carrying a banner – the newly crowned 2010-2011 West Seattle Hi-Yu Junior Royalty:
Music provided by the Junior All-City Marching Band!
If you missed it this time around, remember the Kiddie Parade is right before the Grand Parade every year, and all kids are welcome to join in.
(WSB photo from July 11 Highland Park Sunday Market)
It’s in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup, but in case you missed it – while you’re out and about tomorrow morning/afternoon (including, we hope, a stop at WestSide Baby‘s Stuff the Bus diaper drive at WS Farmers’ Market in The Junction), you’ll be able to visit the Highland Park Sunday Market, returning for its third go-round after a week off. The hours have now changed to 11 am-3 pm, and organizer Tiffany Silver-Brace sent word this week about some of what you’ll find:
Alki Cab Co., Street Treats, Jolie Blue’s soaps, TwoBraids glassware, household items by Clone Press, handcrafted cedar planter boxes and bird houses, Art Image Creations (kid-oriented art), photos by Corie Brooke, Rogue Family Farms fresh eggs, bread and veggies, pickled veggies from The Bootleg Canning Co., and more!
The HPSM is in the Highland Park Improvement Club parking lot at 12th/Holden (map).
In the courtyard between Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) and Drs. Wolff/Horwitz, you might call it ’80s night for the second of six Saturday night editions of >West Seattle Outdoor Movies. When it gets a bit darker, tonight’s movie will start – the specially decorated cupcakes from Coffee to a Tea with Sugar, above, provided something of a preview. Good crowd tonight, filling the courtyard but a little more elbow room than last week’s standing-room-only showing of “Mamma Mia!”
That’s how it looked about 20 minutes ago – more moviegoers have arrived since then. Every week, there’s a special pre-movie activity, and tonight, it’s ’80s trivia, hosted by Jessie SK from Skylark Café and Club:
Skylark is one of tonight’s business co-sponsors (along with Pagliacci Pizza – which provided free slices earlier – Nicholson Kovalchick Architects, and WSB – we’re also the overall “media sponsor” for the whole series). The activity and movie are always free; raffle tickets (with donated prizes, which tonight included Hotwire and Pagliacci cards!) are sold before the movie – $1/ticket or $2 for three – to raise money for a local nonprofit (tonight about $100 has been raised for West Seattle Helpline) – and charity-benefiting concessions are sold by West Seattle Christian Church, so bring a few dollars next time you attend. Next Saturday’s movie is “Fantastic Mr. Fox“; the full season slate is on the official West Seattle Outdoor Movies website.
Before the 75-plus entries in today’s two-hour West Seattle Grand Parade rolled, roared, marched, glid and strolled down the route, they gathered at/around the starting line, which is California/Lander – unpacking, arranging, in some cases, even posing for photos (particularly the most famous of the entries, like JP Patches). On assignment for WSB, Edgar Riebe of West Seattle-based Captive Eye Media roamed around behind the scenes in the pre-parade hours – the video above is the result! ADDED EARLY SUNDAY: And from inside our electric car as the parade began, here’s the first minute (shot by WSB editor TR) as we got the go-ahead to start rolling:
One thing we noticed, riding in a vehicle for the first time – people yelled and waved as they saw the signs on the side of the car, not the banner on the front (so the audio you hear doesn’t synch with the video – we had the camera pointed forward most of that minute). Thanks again to everyone who came out to see the parade; our coverage – before, during, after – is in the WSB West Seattle Grand Parade archive, newest to oldest.
(Photo from today’s West Seattle Grand Parade, by Christopher Boffoli)
You couldn’t miss the reminders all over the WestSide Baby entry in today’s West Seattle Grand Parade (other coverage here and more to come) – tomorrow is their biggest donation drive of the year, “Stuff the Bus,” with a school bus to be set up right at the 44th SW entrance to the West Seattle Farmers’ Market, waiting for you to show up with armloads, bags, wagonloads, whatever, of diapers to donate. 10 am-2 pm. If you can’t get there in time, there are several other places you can drop off diapers as part of the event – like the Ice Cream Fest at West Seattle Nursery, 1-4 pm tomorrow (selling Full Tilt Ice Cream, and part of the proceeds going to WS Baby) – and also breakfast at the White Center Eagles, 9 am-noon (details here) – plus volunteers will be ready to accept your diaper donations 10 am-2 pm tomorrow at all three local Safeways.
ORIGINAL 4:23 PM REPORT: Scanner indicates it’s indeed a fire in the 3400 block of 36th SW (map), though how big, we don’t yet know. On the way.
4:31 PM UPDATE: Via Facebook, Eric says he’s a block away and not seeing smoke. The scanner indicates the fire is now “tapped” and some units are being canceled. Christopher Boffoli is en route to cover for WSB and we expect to hear from him shortly.
4:39 PM UPDATE: Christopher sent the photo we added above. He says a bit of smoke was visible from the eaves but confirms the fire’s no longer active. Awaiting info on what happened and confirmation that no one was hurt.
4:58 PM UPDATE: Confirmed, no injuries. Christopher reports that one resident made it out safely and that the fire is believed to have started in the basement; he adds the first-floor joists are still smoldering so there’s a bit of smoke. The fire investigator has just arrived so we won’t know the cause till later. But note that 36th is closed between Hanford and Hinds till the trucks clear.
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