West Seattle, Washington
19 Tuesday
This year’s West Seattle Outdoor Movies poster is out – one of the fun summer promotional posters you’ll see around town over the next few months. And it gives us a chance to remind you of the lineup. It starts with a special pre-season, adults-only Friday night benefit event on July 20th – “50/50,” admission with a suggested donation to support Thrive Through Cancer, a West Seattle-headquartered nonprofit. The following six movie nights are free, all ages, Saturday night showings, as always:
JULY 21: “Pretty in Pink“; preshow entertainment by “Bobcat Bob” Rice
JULY 28: “Young Frankenstein”; preshow entertainment by jump-rope ace Rene Bibaud
AUGUST 4: “Lion King“; preshow entertainment by Louie Foxx Magic Show (plus a free community barbecue)
AUGUST 11: “Iron Man“; preshow entertainment “secret musical guests” (!)
AUGUST 18: “Yellow Submarine“; preshow entertainment “Trivia With Jessie” (from Skylark Café and Club)
AUGUST 25: “Top Gun“; preshow entertainment “secret musical guests” (plus free pizza)
These events all happen in the courtyard between Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) and the dental building that’s home to Dr. Heidi Horwitz, DDS (WSB sponsor) and Dr. Gerald Wolff. Movies start at dusk, with the gates opening a couple hours ahead of time – don’t show up at the last minute, it’s usually a hot ticket! (P.S. The poster is by Riverbed Design.)
(WSB photo from July 4, 2011)
It wouldn’t be a patriotic holiday without the American flags lining California SW through The Junction. But a little help is needed this time around. From the just-circulated West Seattle Junction Association e-mail newsletter:
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO HELP PUT UP FLAGS IN THE JUNCTION!
The Junction Association puts up flags on all appropriate occasions. The Junction’s handy-man Don has been putting up flags for years, but health issues have made repeated trips up and down the stairs increasingly difficult for him.
So, who wants to help Don on the 4th of July?!
The volunteer job includes meeting him at 7:30am to put them out, and 6pm to put them away. The job includes lots of stair walking since the flags are stored in the basement of the Cupcake Royale building.
We are looking to create a list of interested people, so if you’d like to be called upon for this 4th of July or in the future, please e-mail Liz Schroeder at liz@wsjunction.org or call 935-0904.
This day got off to such a running start, we never published the daily preview. Here are two happenings of note:
(Photo courtesy ArtsWest)
XANADU OPENING NIGHT: ArtsWest‘s youth-apprenticeship program is ready to roll with tonight’s debut of “Xanadu,” 7:30 pm, first of more than a dozen performances between now and mid-July. Yes, it is indeed based on the roller-disco movie that starred Olivia Newton-John! Come cheer on an energetic cast of on-the-rise young performers. (Online ticket purchasing here – for tonight, just go to the box office.)
HIGHLAND PARK ACTION COMMITTEE: HPAC sent out this preview for its monthly meeting, which it dubbed “Sustainable Highland Park“:
Please join us (tonight) to hear about green home incentives, and how to get rebates for all kinds of fun stuff for your Highland Park property like rain gardens (using the water that falls on your own roof or driveway), cisterns, energy assessments, and energy upgrades. We’ll have a series of speakers from King County, Sustainable Seattle, Seattle Public Utilities and Community Power Works.
Meeting at 7 pm at the Highland Park Improvement Club on 12th and Holden, but come early to meet your awesome neighbors at the 6:30 potluck.
And a few other events are on the WSB West Seattle Events Calendar, which you can check any time.
Thanks to Colette for the tip: The women’s-clothing chain Dress Barn has closed its West Seattle location. The chain is owned by Ascena Retail Group, which made some recent acquisitions elsewhere in the women’s-clothing business and also announced it’s shutting down Fashion Bug (which is what Dress Barn used to be); we couldn’t find anyone at corporate HQ to discuss this closure, but Westwood Village management confirms that the store cleared out after deciding not to renew its lease. No one is locked in to take over the space yet, but they’ve had some interest.
There’s been so much road work around West Seattle the past few months that you might not have even paid this much heed, but SW Alaska through The Triangle and Junction has extra work going on today – it’s the final phase of the work to rechannelize SW Alaska, linked to the RapidRide bus line starting in September. We already mentioned the parking removal that started taking effect earlier this month; now they’re working on the lane changes – our photo shows the crew that was installing overhead signage for the lane changes. Here are the toplines, from an SDOT news release published here in April:
· Install an eastbound business access and transit Lane (BAT) between 42nd Avenue SW and 40th Avenue SW
· Install a westbound BAT lane between Fauntleroy Way and 42nd Avenue SW
· Remove parking on the north side of SW Alaska Street between California Avenue SW and 42nd Avenue SW and north side of SW Alaska Street between 41st Avenue SW and Fauntleroy; remove parking on south side of SW Alaska Street between 42nd and Fauntleroy
· Install a westbound left turn pocket at California Avenue and SW Alaska Street
· Install an eastbound left turn pocket at 42nd Avenue SW and SW Alaska Street
· Install a westbound bicycle lane between Fauntleroy Way and approximately 30 feet west of 41st Avenue SW
This has all been in the works for more than a year; SDOT announced its decision last September.
3:32 PM UPDATE: WSB contributor Christopher Boffoli photographed some of the road-surface work that’s also going on:
We asked SDOT why there wasn’t a traffic-alert notice about today’s work, since they usually send alerts about something this significant. From spokesperson Peg Nielsen:
Work on the transit priority corridor in West Seattle is ongoing. Some work has been difficult to schedule in advance due to variable weather conditions. We expect the work will take another week or two before rechannelization changes are implemented, and are working on an update to send out tomorrow, including signage and pavement marking.
SDOT did send out an overall advisory when RapidRide work started weeks ago, but this round seems to be affecting traffic more than some of the other components, such as bus shelter and curb bulb installation.
Two notes this morning from the east side of The Junction:
(Click picture for larger image)
Thanks to West Seattle pilot/photographer Long Bach Nguyen for that new aerial of the Oregon 42 site at 42nd/Oregon, where excavation is now under way, following demolition of the remaining three homes on the site. It’s had development plans since 2008, but the first round stalled and a revised proposal was unveiled one year ago; nothing happened till last month, when a fence went up and we confirmed with the site’s San Diego owners/developers that they were about to begin. The homes were demolished in late May. The project is planned for 131 apartments.
Immediately east of that same block, a potential development site has just gone back on the market:
That’s 4515 41st SW, in a (newly added) photo by WSB contributor Christopher Boffoli. He also photographed the site in 2007, following development proposals including an idea for a park-and-(car)pool facility. (City files show a 7-story apartment-building proposal was canceled in 2010.) The 2007 $1.5 million listing apparently did not yield a sale, as county records currently show no changes since the current owners bought it for $925,000 in 2005. Today, a tipster points out its brand-new listing for $2.8 million, with the description: “Fantastic development site right in the heart of the West Seattle Junction. Zoned LR3 and in the West Seattle Junction Hub Urban Village and Frequent Transit Corridor. Possible 70+/- units …” (Before you comment on the price comparison, please note we haven’t verified whether it’s the exact same lot size as the previous proposal – just that it’s the same street address.)
P.S. Also in the 4500 block of 41st, a relatively small townhouse project is up for “streamlined administrative design review,” which means no board meeting, but its design packet is publicly available online.
FIRST REPORT, 8:51 AM: Thanks to Christine for the first tip (and to everyone else who’s alerted us since!) – the Shell-owned drillship Kulluk has left Harbor Island, where it’s undergone what’s reported to be $100 million work at Vigor Shipyards, being prepared for a controversial new round of Arctic oil exploration. It arrived at Vigor almost a year ago – while the much-photographed SBX was still there (it had to move out briefly for Kulluk to move into place, as we reported that day). Right now, it’s being accompanied by Aiviq, the icebreaker whose arrival we showed you on June 2, when Greenpeace Esperanza was here too, watching for the Shell rigs’ departure. The rig that arrived later, Noble Discoverer, is still moored at Vigor right now. As noted here Monday, those three ships and others are now under a federally granted protection order for a 500-yard “safety zone” while they are in transit. The U.S. Coast Guard is escorting this group as it heads slowly westbound in Elliott Bay.
9:47 AM UPDATE: Thanks to Karyn for that earlier view from downtown, with Colman Dock in the foreground and West Seattle in the background. The flotilla is heading northwest now, about two-thirds of the way through the bay, still visible from north-facing West Seattle shores but getting more distant.
9:54 AM UPDATE: The Noble Discoverer has left too and is quickly catching up to the rest of the flotilla.
It arrived at Vigor in early April (WSB coverage here).
Thanks to Angela for e-mailing tonight to share the news about a roadside fundraiser planned for Thursday at Emma Schmitz Overlook along Beach Drive. 31-year-old Jessica Oldwyn, who lives in Green Lake, is in the third year of fighting a brain tumor, and writing about her fight online. As she writes in a recent entry, she has an experimental treatment coming up, and the ongoing fight is costly – so her parents are going to sell organic cherries to raise money to help. They plan to be at the waterfront park 11 am-1 pm this Thursday (and as Jessica writes, other locations later).
The Parks and Green Spaces Levy passed by Seattle voters three and a half years ago included an Opportunity Fund for community-generated projects and acquisitions – and the second round of projects is now starting to make its way through the pipeline. The levy’s Oversight Committee is chaired by West Seattle’s Pete Spalding, who says that last night’s committee meeting yielded some numbers: 112 letters submitted for potential projects, 87 of which would be “development” – new Parks facilities – and 25 “acquisition,” new Parks property. West Seattle and vicinity had the largest number of letters of interest turned in – 32; second most was from the northwest section of the city, 22. The next step is the formal application process, with a September 17th deadline, after technical-assistance workshops to be scheduled during the summer; the full timeline is here.
5:36 PM: Receiving lots of calls/texts about a helicopter over White Center/Highland Park. Witnesses say it’s Channel 7 TV, which subsequently said via Twitter they were checking out an “unconfirmed” report of a possible drug bust in the area.
5:43 PM UPDATE: We checked with King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Cindi West, who says she’s working to get more information about a search warrant in WC.
In three and a half weeks, you can make history by being part of the first-ever West Seattle Float Dodger 5K – a run/walk right before the West Seattle American Legion Post 160 Grand Parade, reminiscent of the Torchlight Run preceding the Seafair Torchlight Parade. If you haven’t registered for the Float Dodger 5K yet, you can have fun doing that during the registration party at West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) this Sunday. We asked WS Runner’s Tim McConnell for a few more details on what they’re envisioning the Float Dodger will be like:
The race is 75 minutes before the start of the parade. The course starts at West Seattle Runner (Charlestown and California), goes north and turns around at Lander. There may be a float (or two) parked in the middle of the road we will have to run around.
From there, it’s south on California to Edmunds for the second turnaround, then heading north on California to West Seattle High School’s southwest parking lot (just north of Hanford). The parking lot is the finish area, where we will have vendors giving out products to the participants. We will also be announcing the top 3 finishers of the race, male and female, plus the winners of the costume contest.
The race is open to everyone; runners, joggers, walkers, dogs, cats, even kids! There is a time limit, and those in the back will be getting followed by the vehicles that deliver the floats, hence the name Float Dodger. If you are slower than 4 mph (15 minutes a mile), then you may be asked to finish on the sidewalk, but you will be able to finish. A steady pace walking will keep you in the race and on the course, so you don’t have to run any of it to be able to complete the entire distance. The start time means that there will be a good amount of your West Seattle neighbors lining the course waiting for the parade.
100% of the profits benefit West Seattle Rotary and the Lymphoma/Leukemia Society. We are still looking for sponsors; call West Seattle Runner for more details.
And this Sunday, you can sign up – and ask questions – noon-4 pm, at WS Runner. Get $5 off your registration fee, enter prize drawings, check out the massage booth, and share in a birthday cake for WSR co-proprietor Lori McConnell! WSR is upstairs on the northwest corner of California/Charlestown. (P.S. If you’re worried about running and not having a place to watch the parade – WSR says there’ll be a special viewing zone for participants.)
(Click photo for larger view)
In North Delridge, the Youngstown Flats development at 26th and Dakota is almost at its full six-story height, as our newest aerial view from West Seattle pilot/photographer Long Bach Nguyen shows. Its 190-plus units are scheduled to open next spring; the design approval and permits originally were obtained under different ownership, and then the project idled – before groundbreaking – until Legacy Partners and Barrientos LLC stepped forward last year. There are two components to the development that you don’t often find – one is that they’re working to turn the SW Dakota “street end” to the north into a pocket park with access to Longfellow Creek; the developers’ latest update mentions that the North Delridge Neighborhood Council is planning to seek a Neighborhood Matching Fund grant to help fix it up, and NDNC is looking for volunteers to be on a project committee – here’s more on their site. The other is their ongoing “artist engagement program”; we reported on one acquired piece in April, and the developers have announced that they’ve chosen two more artists to create work for the lobby – Michael Harrison and encaustic artist Patti Bowman.
Go see a Mariners game while helping the West Seattle High School baseball team! They play in the annual High School Baseball Classic at Safeco Field every spring, and part of the deal is for WSHS to help sell tickets to an M’s game. This year, they’re selling tickets to a second game to meet their quota, and offering you the chance to buy in: The game is Saturday, September 22, vs. the Texas Rangers. You can get what would be an $20 ticket for $8 (***that’s the corrected amount – we had the numbers transposed previously**). If you’re interested, call Gina at 206-779-9793.
Those are the tables and chairs placed in Junction Plaza Park by the West Seattle Junction Association. They are this morning’s “photo of the day” in honor of their continued existence – when we reported their installation two-plus weeks ago, a few commenters predicted they’d vanish within a few weeks; we countered good-naturedly with faith in humanity (despite 30 years in news). The tables/chairs have been there almost three weeks, so three cheers for optimism … and for a place to enjoy lunch in the park. On with the calendar highlights:
TONIGHT’S TRAFFIC ALERT: From our custom-combined list of this week’s closures, day-by-day: Just one for today/tonight – the southbound Alaskan Way Viaduct will be closed overnight, 9 pm-5 am. (P.S. Wherever you’re heading, and whenever, the WSB Traffic page has all the West Seattle-relevant cameras.)
TRYING TO DECIDE ABOUT RETIREMENT LIVING? West Seattle’s senior/retirement-living communities are joining forces for a Town Hall-style event to share information and answer questions, 2 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle (California/Oregon). Details here.
STAND-UP PADDLEBOARDING: The lack of summer sun doesn’t stop this summer series of Tuesday night racing. 6 pm, Alki Kayak Tours at Seacrest (1660 Harbor SW); details here.
OPEN HOUSE: Arbor Heights Cooperative Preschool (10404 34th SW) invites prospective families to visit; starts at 6 pm – more info here.
BLOCKWATCH CAPTAINS NETWORK: This month’s meeting is all about getting ready for Night Out block parties on August 7th, as previewed here last night. Tonight’s meeting is at 6:30 pm at the Southwest Precinct meeting room, Delridge/Webster.
HI-YU WHITE ROSE RECEPTION: It’s a reunion and a celebration for Hi-Yu royalty past and present as the heart of the summer West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival season nears. 7 pm at Fauntleroy Church (9131 California SW), details here.
21st SW south of Croft Place has just reopened to traffic, after most fire crews left the scene of a small early-morning fire at a vacant house in the 6500 block. (The house is almost completely hidden from the street, behind the white fence at the left side of our photo.) No injuries reported, and SFD was working to figure out what caused it, and whether it was intentional or accidental. (Scanner traffic noted that a silver Toyota Tacoma pickup truck was stolen from a neighboring home, and police were trying to find out if that was somehow related.)
The motorcycle rider killed on West Marginal Way SW in West Seattle on Sunday is now identified: 67-year-old Dave Fenton, who, The Seattle Times (WSB partner) reports, served eight years on the Tukwila City Council. (The photo at right is from his 2005 campaign, when he lost his bid for a third term.) The King County Medical Examiner’s Office lists the cause of death as multiple traumatic injuries; Seattle Police said on Sunday that the rider was killed instantly after hitting a pole and being thrown from his Harley (WSB photo above left) and that witnesses say the motorcycle and a black car were “racing” right before the crash, which closed the road for 5 hours. Tukwila records archives show Mr. Fenton’s focuses as a councilmember included crime prevention and telecommunications, as well as multi-family housing (he is listed as an owner of a large complex there).
ADDED 8:15 AM: Overnight, Mr. Fenton’s daughter Monica posted this comment following our original story:
This is tragic and my heart is broken. Dave Fenton is my father and he was the victim of this terrible fatal accident. My heart aches and I still can’t believe he is gone. He loved riding his Harley on beautiful sunny days and Sunday was one of those rare delights. He was 67, a trained rider, both participant and advocate of offered safety courses for ALL bikers. He LOVED to ride Alki and on a beautiful sunny day he was doing what he loved. There is more to this story and investigation. We will have a celebration of life ceremony on Sunday, July 1.
11:06 PM: The day’s second “assault with weapons” call for local police/fire. This time, they are still trying to sort out, after about 10 minutes, what, if anything, has actually happened. A caller claimed there had been some kind of fight involving knives near the Super 24 store in the 5400 block of Delridge, but so far, per radio traffic, police haven’t found any sign of it, nor any victim(s). We’re continuing to monitor.
11:15 PM: Still no word of any victims being found – the call has been “closed” on the Fire Department’s 911 log – but police are still searching for suspects reported to be armed with knives.
That’s Seola Beach Drive in southernmost West Seattle, a street that first leads through a ravine, and then to a small beach community. It’s where one WSB’er had an encounter last night that might portend the arrival of federal coyote hunters in West Seattle, from an agency that reportedly has killed a million coyotes, among other animals, and come under increasing scrutiny as a result. We are still investigating – but on the chance that someone else has had a similar encounter, we wanted to share his story, and the results of our first followup.
Just days after their first-ever Appreciation Party (WSB coverage here), the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network is indeed having a regular meeting tomorrow night, 6:30-8 pm at the Southwest Precinct (if you come early, around 6 pm, there’s leftover Zippy’s root beer and Full Tilt Ice Cream from the party). The main topic: Getting ready for this year’s Night Out crime-prevention/community-building Block Parties. WSBWCN leaders explain, “If you want packets to pass out at your Night Out, you are welcome to come stuff your materials during the meeting. There will be bags for kids and adults with information about crime prevention and emergency preparedness.” P.S. Register your block for Night Out by going to this SPD webpage.
Since last night’s road-closing delivery of a two-classroom portable to Lafayette Elementary, and the sighting of another one on its way to West Seattle Elementary today (above), we checked with Seattle Public Schools to see which other schools will – and won’t – get portables. The district confirms, for starters, what a commenter said after we mentioned which schools had city permits pending for portables: Gatewood Elementary and Pathfinder K-8 are NOT getting them after all. SPS spokesperson Tom Redman tells WSB, “Processing and review of permits takes 6 to 8 weeks. Thus, SPS filed for permits prior to the completion of the open enrollment period. Actual 2012-13 enrollment data indicated that portables are not needed at Gatewood and Pathfinder.” With that, and with the deliveries last night and today, our area has two more to go, as listed by Redman:
Schmitz Park Elementary
2 single portables = 2 classrooms
Tentative Schedule:
-1st portable (in halves on two trailers) scheduled to arrive 6/28 Thursday early morning and the 2nd portable (in halves on two trailers) scheduled to arrive 6/28 Thursday late morning/early afternoonChief Sealth International HS
2 double portables = 4 classrooms
Waiting to be moved from the south side of Thistle Street (now at SW Sports Complex) onto the campus
Time and date of move to be determined by SDOT – will schedule with contractor
Sealth principal Chris Kinsey told us earlier this month that 9th-grade language-arts and history teachers will work in their portable classrooms.
ORIGINAL REPORT, 3:54 PM: In case you are wondering about the big emergency response to 18th SW on Puget Ridge – the call is “assault with weapons” but Seattle Police say it’s believed to be self-inflicted.
5 PM UPDATE: As you can see in our photo above, this happened at the end of a dead-end street. No traffic effects; a few police and fire units were still on scene.
NOTE: If you or someone you know is thinking of or threatening self-harm, the 24-hour Crisis Clinic hotline for King County is 206-461-3222.
The WSB Crime Watch page has long had the “sex offender lookup” link in its resource section – but unless you check it frequently, you won’t necessarily know if a registered sex offender has moved into your neighborhood. Today, for the first time, we received e-mail from Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Mark Solomon listing Level 3 sex offenders that have recently moved into the area. We’re sharing it, along with SPD’s words of caution that this is not meant to be an alarm-sounding, but an FYI:Read More
Lura on Beach Drive shared that photo from a busy moment in central Puget Sound around 10:20 this morning – while a new wildlife platform bobbed in the foreground, the background included a state ferry, an aircraft carrier – identified by Beach Drive Blog as the USS John C. Stennis – and the Tor Viking II, yet another of the ships that have converged on this area as part of the Shell offshore drilling flotilla that’s heading north sometime soon with the two drilling rigs that have been getting work done at Vigor Shipyard on Harbor Island. According to a document published in the Federal Register last Friday, Tor Viking (in Everett right now) is one of the 17 vessels for which a 500-yard safety zone has been ordered – including the drill rigs/ships Noble Discoverer and Kulluk – once they head north. (The Greenpeace Esperanza, which had been here for a while to monitor the potential departure, left this area some days ago.)
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