–West Seattle Be Prepared (resource-laden, WS-specific website here; Facebook group for more discussion here)
-City’s 3 To Get Ready challenge (register for prizes!), which is being advertised on WSB this month
-Your Emergency Communications Hub – know it, know multiple routes to it.
Toplines from a short North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting at Youngstown Arts Center: The Brandon Street Natural Area is part of the Duwamish Alive! series of Earth Day cleanups this Saturday, 10 am-2 pm; volunteers welcome, and here’s the flyer NDNC co-chair Jay Mirro has sent around … A big cleanup is being organized as part of Delridge Day on June 5th, and Delridge Neighborhood District Coordinator Ron Angeles is taking ideas on potential cleanup spots that are not the “usual” locations; Angeles and Nancy Folsom are taking suggestions … Folsom also is continuing to work on the project for public art by the to-be-built-soon Delridge Skatepark, but needs help overcoming the latest bump in the road, a grant requirement for volunteer-work hours or monetary donations from residents … A deputy mayor is expected in North Delridge for a tour next month; Angeles is organizing a list of suggested stops. If you’ve got ideas to help with any of what’s mentioned above, the NDNC e-mail address is northdelridge@gmail.com.
The North Delridge Neighborhood Council meets at 6:30 pm, 2nd Tuesday of the month, at Youngstown.
The first of three sets of notes from community-council meetings we covered tonight: The Fauntleroy Community Association board, meeting at the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, was happy about the outcome of this year’s Food Fest/Membership Meeting. Not only was the March 23rd event’s turnout big (as shown in our coverage), board members were heartened by the night’s new memberships and renewals – overall, one of the best in a long time, they said. Also discussed: The county’s controversial list of three options (shown here) for controlling Combined Sewer Overflows at the Barton pump station by the ferry dock (here’s our March 19th report from the first major discussion of the proposals). The county’s still taking feedback; go here. Looking ahead: An update on The Kenney‘s redevelopment plan is expected to be on the May 11th agenda; before then, Endolyne Joe’shosts a Fauntleroy Fall Festival fundraiser April 27, dinner 5-8 pm and live music/happy hour afterward.
Jim Sander and Theresa Hoy led the Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council meeting last night as co-chairs for the first time. Before the meeting was too far along, all 20 or so chairs set up in a circle inside the Pathfinder K-8 cafeteria were filled, one by the night’s special guest, Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow. He’s always busy but has been on an extra-intense tour of neighborhood councils recently, as more groups show interest in helping facilitate the growth of Block Watch activism in their respective areas. Kinlow (who is a civilian SPD employee) stressed, “Get your entire block involved in watching out for each other’s homes. … When you see somebody out on the street or the sidewalks (who looks unfamiliar or out of place), think about them being in your back yard … call your neighbors, have everybody stand in the window and watch … if they see that (and are up to no good), they will leave your neighborhood.” More crime-prevention advice and other Pigeon Point notes, ahead:Read More
We got a call today from Daniel … who lives just around the corner on the beach close to the lighthouse property. He said a raft had washed up on the beach and wondered if it was ours. We checked there yesterday and didn’t see it. But it is ours. We’ll try to tow it back to our beach tomorrow, weather permitting. We can’t believe our good luck in finding this raft 3 times after the bad luck of losing it 3 times.
Three generations of the Smiths’ family collaborated a year and a half ago to build the raft, whose story you can read here.
We first told you last Thursday about the Southwest District Council‘s plan to send a letter about The Hole – aka the stalled development site originally known as Fauntleroy Place – pending some final tweaks, as well as a determination of who should receive the letter. Late today, the original drafter, Susan Melrose from the West Seattle Junction Association, sent around the final version, which has been sent by e-mail and postal mail to site owner Seattle Capital Corporation, and cc’d to 22 people including Mayor McGinn, members of the Seattle City Council, and various city department heads. As per the intent expressed during discussion at last week’s SWDC meeting, the letter voices concern about “over the condition, esthetics and most importantly the safety” of the chain-link-ringed, 4-story deep excavation. We’ll check tomorrow with Seattle Capital regarding any response that they plan to make; meantime, read on for the full final text of the letter:Read More
Teddy bears, balloons, flowers, and handwritten tributes are part of that memorial outside Twilight Artist Collective, at the spot along SW Alaska in The Junction where a man was found dead yesterday morning. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified him as 29-year-old Jeffery Kukkonen, hometown listed as Seattle, but an ME investigator told WSB they don’t yet know why he died, “pending toxicology results.” We reported yesterday morning on the discovery, which brought first fire, then police to the block between California and 44th, during the busy early-commute hours when many passersby wondered what was going on. So far, we haven’t found any other information about Kukkonen or the circumstances surrounding his death.
(WSB photo from July 2009)
On the hottest day in Seattle history last July, the group in that photo talked about the West Seattle Junction Neighborhood Plan, as part of a West Seattle-wide meeting at Youngstown Arts Center (WSB coverage here), with breakout groups discussing all five of our peninsula’s neighborhood plans. The Seattle Planning Commission co-sponsored that gathering and others like it around the city, as a series of Neighborhood Plan Status Checks; now the commission is out with a report suggesting which neighborhood plans it believes should be updated next, and the Junction plan is among those at the top of the list. The “white paper” sent a few days ago to Mayor McGinn and other elected officials (see it here) lists five neighborhood plans as in “urgent” need of updating – and the Junction plan is the only one from West Seattle that’s in the group. The document explains:
An unanticipated, significant development opportunity exists in this neighborhood planning area because Huling Brothers Automobile has vacated/sold several acres of land. The redevelopment opportunity at the “gateway” to West Seattle, in combination with the future RapidRide stations, warrants a precisely focused subarea plan and urban design effort that would implement goals already outlined in the neighborhood plan; the current neighborhood plan calls for redeveloping this area and improving the gateway. We understand that DPD’s City Planning office has begun a small planning effort here and would encourage more resources for an interdisciplinary approach that includes transportation, housing, parks and economic development in addition to land use and urban design that will result in right of way improvements, urban design, zoning and land use. We also strongly recommend enhanced efforts designed to create transitions between the new development and the retail core on California Avenue that serves as West Seattle’s downtown heart.
The “small planning effort” refers to the Triangle planning process, which launched with an advisory-group’s first meeting two weeks ago (WSB coverage here) and continues when they meet again tomorrow night, 6 pm, Senior Center of West Seattle. Meantime, this same “white paper” also has a group of neighborhood plans around the city listed as “important” to update – those 6 plans include Delridge (see the plan here), with this explanation:
Recent assessments have shown that current infrastructure exists to support additional jobs and housing growth in this neighborhood. A neighborhood plan update would look fully at the opportunity this presents and also allow for planning that considers whether, where and how additional growth should occur.
The city’s neighborhood plans were developed more than a decade ago; an updating process has begun, but because of budget constraints, only a few are expected to be tackled each year for the foreseeable future. West Seattle’s other three neighborhood plans are Admiral, Morgan Junction, and Westwood/Highland Park, but the Planning Commission did not rate any of those three as either “urgent” or “important” to update soon.
If you drive through The Triangle, you might notice that major progress is being made on Link, the mixed-use project that Harbor Properties is building along 38th SW between Fauntleroy Way and SW Alaska (map). Harbor’s Emi Baldowin tells WSB that a vegetarian restaurant, Chaco Canyon Organic Café, is considering leasing part of Link’s ground-floor retail space and wondering what you think about their potential prospects here – so we said we’d be glad to put this out for your opinion. Chaco Canyon says it’s the first certified organic restaurant/café in the state; right now they have one location, in the University District (map). Sound like something you’d be interested in (or not)? Post a comment!
The agenda for this Thursday’s Seattle Design Commission meeting just arrived, and a West Seattle project is on the schedule: The West Seattle (Westcrest) Reservoir Park “concept design” is scheduled for review at 10:30 am Thursday. This will come nine days before the next scheduled public meeting on the project (that’s set for 10 am April 24 at Southwest Community Center). The new park is being built on what is in essence new land, created by the undergrounding of what was an open reservoir. Thursday’s Design Commission meeting is open to the public and will be in the Boards and Commissions Room at City Hall downtown.
Maybe you saw that pile of bags by Walking On Logs at the southwest end of The Bridge, and noticed the landscaping around it is suddenly a lot neater? Fairmount Community Association‘s Nancy Driver says it’s the work of a Department of Corrections crew that just came out to cut back the blackberry vines and other overgrowth in the area. They have helped in the past but weren’t originally scheduled to do that kind of work this year; however, the Department of Neighborhoods‘ Southwest District coordinator Stan Lock worked with them to see if it was possible, and DOC’s Jim Thorburn brought a crew out to get it done. So Nancy wanted to send them both a public thank-you, along with one more reminder for you: Anyone interested in involvement with the ongoing citizen effort to keep the area around the structures trimmed and trashless is welcome to come to another meeting about it tonight, 5:30 pm at the High Point Library (here’s our coverage of the 1st meeting).
At King County Juvenile Court, the 14-year-old who beat an Alki woman unconscious as she worked as a Metro bus driver has just been sentenced to a year in juvenile custody – Judge Chris Washington decided to impose the extra-long sentence the prosecution had requested, rather than the standard sentence (at least a third less) that his lawyer had asked for.
Before announcing his decision, Judge Washington heard from the attacker’s mother – late to the hearing, reportedly because she was working as a school-bus driver – and very briefly from the 14-year-old himself. The mother insisted her son is “a good kid” and could “never hit anyone” and started to blame the victim for what happened the January night her son lashed out while the bus stopped in Tukwila. But she was interrupted by the judge and prosecutor and told not to address the victim again. Her son briefly addressed the victim at the judge’s suggestion – saying only “Sorry for assaulting you.” The victim asked that he say it again while looking at her; the judge said he could not order the boy to do so, but he did it voluntarily. She said, “Thank you.” She had said yesterday – when she made her statement (read it in our previous report), though the sentencing itself was not concluded because of a delay requested by the defense lawyer – that she wasn’t sure she’d be here today; but this morning, she told WSB, “I needed the closure” that being here for the duration would provide.
The attacker has already spent 11 weeks in juvenile detention, which will be credited toward his one-year sentence; he also was ordered not to ride Metro buses between 8 pm and 6 am until he is 21, and will have to pay restitution for any costs the victim has incurred because of what happened. The judge explained his decision by citing “the severity” of the attack and saying he would not accept any attempt to blame it on the fact the 14-year-old wasunder the influence of alcohol at the time. ADDED 10:53 AM: More details from the hearing, including more of what the judge and the teen’s mother said – read on:Read More
(Bushtit that’s been working on its hanging nest in Lincoln Park, observed/photographed by Trileigh)
‘NEIGHBORHOOD NIGHT’: The second Tuesday of each month could easily carry that title, as it’s the night when multiple community councils meet around West Seattle. Some don’t meet every month, so tonight we have “only” three – North Delridge Neighborhood Council, 6:30 pm, Youngstown Arts Center; Admiral Neighborhood Association, 7 pm at Admiral UCC Church; that’s also when Fauntleroy Community Association meets at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse. One other note of interest to multiple neighborhoods: The newly formed group working on a longterm plan for volunteer help to care for the Walking On Logs area has its second meeting at 5:30 pm, High Point Library; not too late to join in.
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL TRIVIA: Ready to keep rocking after that event? Move south on California SW to the Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) for the weekly 8 pm rock ‘n’ roll trivia faceoff. (Also check The Feedback’s home page for new details on specials and events for next week’s 1st-birthday celebration.)
YOU BE THE DJ: Tuesdays are also open turntables night at Skylark Cafe and Club (WSB sponsor), 6 pm – dust off your old (or not-so-old) vinyl and come in to share your music.
RATHER DANCE? The spring sessions of Irish dance classes are starting this week at the West Seattle VFW Hall; info and schedules at tonycomerford.com.
RATHER CHANT? Free workshop tonight at SoundYoga (WSB sponsor) – Intro to Vedic Chant with Chris Dormaier, 7 pm,
GET YOUR SALE ON: It’s the thirteenth day of registration for the 6th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, coming up on May 8 – the ultimate form of person-to-person recycling, with sales large and small all over the peninsula, and time left to register yours (start here)!
The “disaster” inDisaster Preparedness Month doesn’t have to be something huge, regional, cataclysmic. Much of the preparedness information we’re presenting all month also can apply to something on a personal/household level – again, something we all hope never will happen, but to quote the old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Tonight, the ounce of prevention is another webpage: Fact sheets and hotlines, compiled by the state – including an A to Z list, actually A to W, from accessible information (including Braille and ASL) to winter-storm preparedness. This one, you can bookmark and go back to later, printing out any and all fact sheets you’d want to have available – and/or consider bookmarking it on your smartphone for mobile accessibility. Certainly, your default plan CAN be “Call 911” – and it’s merited in many of the circumstances – but knowing initial steps to take while authorities rush in, or what to do if it’s a large-scale disaster and they’re overtaxed, could be the difference between life and death. Now, our nightly reminders:
–West Seattle Be Prepared (resource-laden, WS-specific website here; Facebook group for more discussion here)
-city’s 3 To Get Ready challenge (register for prizes!), which is being advertised on WSB this month
-your Emergency Communications Hub – know it, know multiple routes to it.
HEARTLAND CAFE STARTS DAILY BREAKFAST TOMORROW:Nancy from the new Heartland Café sends word that they start daily breakfast tomorrow, opening at 8 am Tuesdays-Sundays (closed Mondays) Heartland owner Jay says their hours are now: 8 am-10 pm Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 am-3:30 am Fridays and Saturdays, 8 am-3 pm and 5 pm-9 pm (supper) Sundays. The Benbow Room bar is open 11 am-2 am Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 am-2 am Saturdays-Sundays.
TWO TONS OF DONATED FOOD: You can’t quite read it in the photo at that size, but the folks at Curves West Seattle collected 1,939 pounds of food – almost a ton – in their recent food drive. However – their friendly rivals at Curves Westwood collected 2,087 and “won” the annual competition. Nonetheless, they point out in the announcement that accompanied the photo – the local food banks are the real winners.
SPECIAL MOTHER’S DAY CARD: West Seattle letterpress enterprise Myrtle Alley Press just announced it’s part of a fundraiser that you might consider as a Mother’s Day gift idea: If you donate to Jubilee Women’s Center “in honor of your mother or a special woman in your life,” the announcement says, “Jubilee will send a beautiful letterpress card – that truly captures a mother’s spirit of giving – to the honored recipient.” Myrtle Alley Press – which uses antique, hand-cranked printing presses – donated the printing of the card, shown above. Inside, it reads: “Thank you for all the small things you have done and continue to do, day after day. Happy Mother’s Day.” Jubilee provides transitional housing for homeless women; you can make a donation and arrange for a card by following this link. (Mother’s Day is May 9th – the day after West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day!)
Another sign of spring this past weekend at playfields all around West Seattle — the season kickoff for West Seattle Soccer Club teams. In the photo, it’s Italy vs. Brazil – WSSC board member Tim McMonigle explained that the organization “outfitted all the teams in country jerseys to commemorate the upcoming World Cup in South Africa this June.” He also says it’s “another record-breaking year, with almost 1,000 kids participating.” Almost 200 adult volunteers, too. You can find schedules here.
There’s a new feature in the next edition of the free workshop that Ventana Construction (WSB sponsor) is presenting this Wednesday night – important information about new EPA lead-paint rules starting this month for homes built before 1978. And you might also be interested in learning how to cash in on the energy-tax credits that are ending this year. The “Building a Better Home” workshop offers information for custom-home building as well as remodeling. It’s free, led by Ventana’s owners along with architect Kim Goforth, starting at 6 pm Wednesday and running about an hour and a half. They request that you RSVP ASAP since space is limited – call 206-932-3009.
Just got word from Seattle City CouncilmemberBruce Harrell‘s office that they’re inviting people to join on a special walking tour tomorrow night in West Seattle – covering two blocks that have the new LED street lights intended for installation citywide. The tour actually starts outside West Seattle, at Lighting Design Lab tomorrow at 7 pm, where the new lights will be demonstrated and discussed; then vans will shuttle participants to the West Seattle tour site – the lab’s at 2915 4th Avenue South (map). The tour blocks are 53rd and 54th SW, between Charlestown and Dakota (map). The city will replace all 40,000 street lights with LEDs over the next five years, and expects to save more than $2 million energy costs a year when they’re all in place. If you’re interested in joining the tour, here’s the official advisory.
Seattle City Council members have just unanimously (8-0, Sally Clark absent) approved the resolution that lays out a path toward a potential annexation vote for White Center and vicinity in November 2011, though the city wouldn’t have to commit to a vote till early next year. Details at partner site White Center Now.
From left, Susan Melrose from the West Seattle Junction Association (WSB sponsor) and Cari Day Day wielded the shovels this morning at the ceremonial groundbreaking for Junction Plaza Park (northwest corner of 42nd/Alaska). The park will have both grass and paved areas, as well as numerous native plantings, and work should be done by June. Here’s a rendering from last fall, showing landscape architect Karen Kiest‘s design:
As soon as the park’s done, there will be a special community event to help with plantings, and everyone’s encouraged to join in – to get on the notification list for that, e-mail Melrose at susan@wsjunction.org. ADDED 1:12 PM: Early this morning, a few hours before the groundbreaking, the park contractor was out taking soil samples; Christopher Boffoli spotted the work and got this photograph:
After the ceremony, Seattle Parks project manager Gary Gibbons explained in a short interview what the sampling is for, and what happens next:
As we’ve been reporting over the past year-plus (here’s our coverage archive), while Junction Plaza Park has been in the works for more than a few years – the site was purchased in 2005 – one last major community-contribution push involving WSJA and the Junction Neighborhood Organization helped make the long-held dream a reality.
(October 2009 photo courtesy Guy Smith)
Last fall, we brought you the story of the Joy D. Smith Wildlife Raft – tethered to a round white buoy with blue stripe, northeast of Alki Point. This morning, the raft’s co-builder Guy Smithe-mailed to ask that people be on the lookout for the raft — it’s gone, apparently having broken away from the buoy (which is still in place) sometime overnight. If you’ve seen it – or something you think MIGHT be it – please call Guy at 206-937-8742.
We have just left Juvenile Court southeast of downtown. The Alki woman beaten unconscious while on the job as a Metro bus driver in Tukwila earlier this year has just addressed her 14-year-old attacker in court – but his sentencing has been postponed at the request of his lawyer, who told Judge Chris Washington that he thought the hearing was tomorrow, and therefore didn’t notify his client’s mother. Judge Washington agreed to let the defense present its side tomorrow but offered to hear from anyone who wanted to speak today – so the prosecution made its case, and that included the statement that the 57-year-old driver had told us via e-mail that she would give. As she had hoped, some fellow drivers, and transit union leaders, were there to support her, filling what few seats there were in the small courtroom. Visibly shaken just at the sight of her attacker, the driver nonetheless mustered courage and poise to give her statement clearly and firmly; during it, she asked her attacker to look at her (he did) from his seat, perhaps 10 feet away, and told him, among other things, “Hate never wins.” She also said she prays for him “to become a better man” and “to heal,” as she hopes he will. The court was told that he has substance-abuse and anger problems, and that he is a known gang member, who while he has no conviction record, has had at least 15 documented contacts with law enforcement. The sentencing hearing will resume at 8:30 tomorrow morning. We will add more from today’s proceedings a bit later. ADDED 4:05 PM: Our transcription of the victim’s statement in the courtroom today – read on:Read More
ORIGINAL 7:40 AM REPORT: A police investigation is under way in The Junction right now, and the north sidewalk on SW Alaska is cordoned off in the block between California SW and 44th. Det. Mark Jamieson in the SPD media unit confirms that they’re investigating a “deceased male” but says “it’s way too soon to tell if (he died) from natural or other causes.” He says the call came in from the Fire Department at 5:50 am; the 911 log shows an aid call to that area at 5:42 am. At the scene, what appears to be a covered body is visible just west of the bus waiting area between Easy Street and Twilight (behind the police car in our photo – we don’t show bodies, covered or not). Officers at the scene would say only that they were awaiting the Medical Examiner‘s arrival. The investigation has put a bus waiting area off limits, so riders are being directed to the next northbound stop along 44th. We’ll be checking with authorities later to find out whether this turns out to have been natural causes, or not. Thanks to those who e-mailed/called/texted about this; the first note was from Jonathon, who wrote, “When I arrived at my bus stop in the Junction around 5:45 this morning, a fire truck was just pulling up. A gentleman on a bicycle had called 911 out of concern for someone laying face-down in the alcove of the art collective. The cyclist had shaken the man but was unable to elicit a response. The firefighters also shook him and checked for a pulse; I couldn’t tell from where I was standing what they concluded, but the man certainly wasn’t moving.”
8:11 AM UPDATE: The body’s been removed and so has the police tape, so the bus area is open again. 8:42 AM NOTE: We checked back with Det. Jamieson, who notes that homicide detectives were not called out, so while an official cause of death isn’t in yet, that indicates no obvious sign of foul play. We will continue checking.
The first of three sets of notes from community-council meetings we covered tonight: The 
Jim Sander and Theresa Hoy led the 
At 
also can apply to something on a personal/household level – again, something we all hope never will happen, but to quote the old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Tonight, the ounce of prevention is another webpage: 
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