West Seattle, Washington
12 Sunday
Found a few more West Seattle light displays on this citywide list published by our partners at the Seattle Times – and that’s where we found the address for the home above, the Martin family residence at 44th and Holly in Morgan Junction. Some of the other homes on the Times list are already on the WSB West Seattle Christmas Lights map, and we’ll be checking out the few others we hadn’t already heard about. Your tips are appreciated too – editor@westseattleblog.com – through Christmas! You can find the map on the West Seattle Holidays page any time. To see the photos of lights we’ve already featured, check out the archive page for this “category” of WSB stories – find it here.
With changes in community-center operations around the city – including Southwest Community Center changing into a Teen Life Center and Neighborhood Service Center – that means different hours in the new year, as new “tiered” levels of service take effect. Seattle Parks announced those hours today; here’s the overview. In West Seattle, High Point Community Center – this area’s “tier 1” center – will be open 7 days a week, but all others will be open six days, except for Alki Community Center, whose schedule is five days a week. The community-center hours are all listed here, while the teen-program hours (including Southwest) are here.
On the last day before the biggest break of the school year, many schools have something special. We just learned today about this special annual tradition at Madison Middle School – luminarias! Award-winning counseling-team leader Lauren Divina explains that it’s a tradition dating back to the mid-’90s, “We lighted up luminarias along the pathway in front of the building to welcome our students on the last school day before the school break! … The entire staff greet the students at the front steps as they start coming in, we give candies, and there’s background music for the holidays.” Thanks for sharing the photos – we’re marking our calendar to go check this out in person next year!
Meantime, at Pathfinder K-8, the day before winter break was Crazy Hat Day, Akemi explained, sharing this photo:
According to Akemi, that’s Pathfinder 8th-grader Evaro: “Guess if we can’t use the viaduct, might as well wear it!” (Which reminds us, have you noticed lately how the south-end demolition is almost done? Here’s one of the newest WSDOT photos via Flickr.)
From SDOT:
Crews from the Seattle Department of Transportation will pave 35th Avenue SW from Southwest Othello Street to Southwest Myrtle Street next week [map]. They will start on Monday, December 19 and work through Wednesday December 21, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., weather permitting. All sidewalks and crosswalks will remain open. At least one lane of traffic in each direction will remain open, and on-street parking will be restricted. A police officer will assist traffic at the intersection of 35th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Myrtle Street.
If you have anything to say to the City Council before their final vote on West Seattle Triangle (and vicinity) rezoning, Monday afternoon is your last chance – in the public-comment period at the start of their 2 pm meeting (here’s the agenda). If you’ve missed the previous coverage, the rezoning is detailed in the ordinance the council will consider. You can read it here (that’s where we got the map you see above). Two of the main points: Most of The Triangle itself is rezoned from “commercial” to “neighborhood commercial,” which means different standards for future development, particularly stipulations about street-level features; several chunks of land, including some that are west/southwest of The Triangle itself, get 20 more feet of height, to an 85-foot maximum. That includes, for example, what are currently the sites of Les Schwab Tires, Cycle U (future Highline Medical), West Seattle Produce, WSP’s former site across Fauntleroy, the two gas-station sites across from each other at Alaska/Fauntleroy, Howden-Kennedy, and more – see the map (sorry we don’t have a larger version, but many browsers can zoom). The council also will vote on a resolution asking SDOT to do a parking study for The Triangle, since the topic came up so often in the process that preceded this. Side note: Right after taking up The Triangle, the council moves to a final vote on the plastic-bag ban.
That’s the clip we showed you last month with news that Chief Sealth International High School‘s Marching Band was back in the KZOK “Battle of the Bands” competition – the only Seattle school in the running. Today, band director Marcus Pimpleton is thanking everyone for the support that helped Sealth come in second (here’s the news on the KZOK website) – which brings a $5,000 prize! The competition included both public voting and expert judging. So what will the money go toward? we asked. Here’s the reply:
Right now the funds will just be sitting in our music ASB account until we determine which of our many priorities needs attention first. We have a few things we are hoping to fund this year – additional band uniforms and mallet percussion instruments are currently at the top of the list, but our jazz band is auditioning for the prestigious Essentially Ellington competition in New York. Our acceptance is a long shot but the students are working very hard and if they are accepted it is a possibility that we may have to delay acquiring more band uniforms and use funds to support that.
SDOT has just changed the schedule for westbound Spokane Street Viaduct overnight closures – starting with tonight, when it will be OPEN after all. The new schedule calls for two more overnight closures, next Wednesday night (9 pm-5 am) and Thursday night (10 pm-5 am). Reminder that the closures mean the I-5 and Beacon Hill ramps to the West Seattle Bridge are closed; the 6th Avenue S. detour from southbound 5 isn’t easy to navigate, so plan your route beforehand.
(UPDATED 7:42 PM FRIDAY: Added comment from Marty McLaren, who now represents West Seattle on the School Board)
ORIGINAL 10:10 AM REPORT: Just received from Seattle Public Schools – Dr. Susan Enfield says she doesn’t want to be permanently appointed to the job she’s been doing temporarily:
In March, when I was appointed Interim Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools, the District was in crisis. I was tasked with assembling the very best team of professionals to help lead this District, create transparency, improve communication and restore trust between families, the community and Seattle Public Schools.
I am incredibly proud of the work our students, teachers, principals and staff have accomplished over the past 10 months. Seattle is fortunate to have such a team of dedicated educational professionals. The progress we have made is significant:
Seattle Public Schools students outperformed the state average in every tested subject in grades 3-8
Our four-year graduation rate is up from 67 percent to 73 percent in the last year
Our overall school performance is increasing, with 27 schools increasing their overall performance level during 2010-2011
Enrollment is on the rise
Our city passed yet another Families and Education levy that will provide essential supports to our studentsWhile I am proud of what we have accomplished together, today I am announcing my decision to neither seek nor accept the permanent position of superintendent after my contract ends in June. This was not an easy decision for me to make given my commitment to Seattle and to our students.
(Tuesday photo by Paul Swortz, taken from the West Seattle Bridge, shared via WSB Flickr group pool)
From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar and West Seattle Holiday Events/Info page:
EARLY DISMISSAL: School’s out early for winter break – one-hour early dismissal for Seattle Public Schools
FREE GUIDED ECO-HIKE: Join the Nature Consortium in the West Duwamish Greenbelt! Come out and see the changes that winter brings to Seattle’s largest remaining forest. We will explore the hidden treasures of this amazing natural wonder, and hear about the history and the future of the forest. Difficulty is mild. Inexperienced hikers, seniors, and babies in backpacks are welcome. Special note to parents of toddlers and preschoolers: please be warned that this hike is challenging for younger children, especially on the way back up the steep hill! Please bring your own water bottle. Granola bars provided. Long pants are strongly recommended due to overgrown vegetation in certain parts of the trail. Wear appropriate footwear – shoes or boots that can get dirty or muddy. Meet at the trailhead at 14th Ave SW and SW Holly streets by 1 pm – Call 206-923-0853 or e-mail nancy@naturec.org to reserve your spot.
AFTERNOON DANCE: Dance to the music of Lauren Petrie at Delridge Community Center, 1:30-3:30 pm.
SANTA PHOTOS: Options today/tonight include Santa at Westwood Village, 10 am-8 pm; the “former Westwood Santa” at CAPERS in The Junction from 3-7 pm; Santa at Northwest Art and Frame, 4-7 pm.
CHRISTMAS STORYTELLING: Storytelling event at White Center Cultural Center, 9421 18th Avenue SW, 6:30 pm: Christmas Posadas by Rosa Hernandez and Laura Villanueva.
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WINE TASTINGS: 1-4 PM at South Seattle Community College (Delridge Community Center, 1:30-3:30 pm”>details here) and 6-7:30 pm at Bin 41 wine in The Junction – Port for the holidays…and beyond! If you missed our port class, don’t worry…here’s your chance to sample a line-up of super tasty ports to cure those winter blues! And if you attended the port class…come anyway because we’re tasting a whole new line-up of wines! We’ll be showing you an LBV, vintage, colheita, 10 and 20 year tawnies and a unique rose port.
‘IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE,’ RADIO-STYLE: 7:30 pm performance of Twelfth Night Productions‘ “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Show,” at Kenyon Hall. Based on the classic 1946 Frank Capra film, playwright Joe Landry’s take on “It’s a Wonderful Life” comes to life as a live 1940s radio broadcast at historic Kenyon Hall, 7904 35th SW. Tickets are available online at Brown Paper Tickets, and at Kenyon Hall, $15/adults, $12 students & seniors.
‘EVERY CHRISTMAS STORY’: ArtsWest presents “Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!).” 7:30 pm; ticket info here.
CHRISTMAS TREES: In addition to the Holy Rosary Tree Lot (41st and Dakota) and Son-In-Law Tree Farm lot (California and Charlestown) both now at half-price, the Stop ‘n’ Shop at the Senior Center of West Seattle (California and Oregon) is selling donated trees for $25.
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS,
With Christmas just nine days away, donation drives are wrapping up – and many still need you! Like these two – right across 42nd SW from each other:
(Photo by Alice Kuder)
Noon today is the donation deadline for the Toys for Tots drive at Prudential Northwest Realty in Jefferson Square (42nd/Alaska). Get a new unwrapped toy there by noon, because Alice Kuder is delivering them later this afternoon. Alice shares the photo from the Toys for Tots warehouse in Normandy Park – where she says three Marines, including Staff. Sgt. Chris Apgar (left) and Cpl. Stephanie Coverdale, are sorting and prepping donated toys for regional distribution.
Meantime, AAA in West Seattle is collecting donations for the”Nickelsville” encampment, where this Christmas tree is now up:
(Photo by Kevin McClintic)
WSB Forums members made the Christmas tree happen. But the people at the camp need the basics, too, and AAA is collecting soap, shampoo, toothpaste, and other toiletries. Alison explains that the office originally was collecting donations for Family Promise – but since that shelter program for families has shut down, they’re now collecting for Nickelsville and will make the delivery on Christmas Eve. Alison says toothbrushes and deodorant would be especially helpful. She adds, “The band 93 Octane (plays at The Bridge) is putting together some gifts for the teens that are currently living in the tent city and could still use New Socks, thermal underclothes, hats, scarves, gloves and anything else you can think of that could make their nights a little less miserable.” Bring donations to the AAA office at 4701 42nd SW, southwest corner of 42nd and Alaska.
As you can hear Madison Middle School principal Henterson Carlisle say in that clip, pep rallies happen all the time for athletics, so why not for academics? His students gathered in the Madison gym on Thursday afternoon to cheer two major awards the school has won this year. We’ve reported one of them, the fourth consecutive School of Distinction award, given for academic improvement. That award is statewide; the other one is national – as announced last month, Madison won the Career Awareness and Exploration Award from the National Consortium for State Guidance Leadership. First time in 15 years a school here has won that award, said Mike Hubert from the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who high-fived the Madison staffers involved in providing those services, led by Lauren Divina:
(added) Here’s the official school photo of Hubert with, from left, Linda Mundinger, Lauren Divina, and Claudia Whitaker-Greenway:
As for the School of Distinction Award, Carlisle said it’s a reason for everybody involved with the school to stand tall:
Madison was one of two West Seattle schools to receive that award this year, along with Alki Elementary.
More awards to report tonight: During last night’s 34th District Democrats holiday party at The Hall at Fauntleroy, the district’s annual awards were presented, and local elected officials were on hand to help honor them. 34th DDs’ webmaster Bill Schrier shared the photo – here’s who’s in it, and what the winners won:
Pictured are, Left to right: Tim Nuse, Chair, Lloyd Hara (King County Assessor), Steven J. Drew (Thurston Co. Assessor), Marcee Stone (E-Board Member of the Year), Joe McDermott (King County Council member), Kari Feeney (Rising Star Award), Les Treall, Jackie Dupras (Cherisse Luxa Lifetime Achievement Award), Steve Butts, Tamsen Spengler (Member of the Year), Lisa Plymate, Tom Rasmussen (Seattle City Council member). Kari, Les, Steve, Tamsen and Lisa are members of the Diversity Committee, which received the outstanding Committee Award.
The text of each winner’s citation can be read here.
We found out about tonight’s featured Christmas lights – 4152 46th SW – in the comment section following an earlier spotlight. DD said her husband, Duane Davis, started work on the display around Thanksgiving, and was expecting to finish last weekend. So we checked it out tonight and added it to the West Seattle Christmas lights map:
You can find the map on the West Seattle Holidays page any time. If you just want to scroll through photos of lights we’ve featured, use the archive page for this “category” of WSB stories – go here.
Two schools are celebrating award-winning students’ arts achievements tonight. First, from Explorer West Middle School (WSB sponsor):
The photo showing some of the Explorer West seventh-graders in the drama program is from Amy, and the report of two student honorees is from Alice:
On Monday night, two seventh grade students from West Seattle’s Explorer West Middle School won prestigious awards from the ACT Theater Young Playwrights Program.
For the past ten weeks, EWMS seventh graders have been working with ACT Theater Young Playwrights Program in the schools. Across Seattle 400 students submitted plays, in hopes of their play being selected for a production at ACT Theater. EWMS was one of two middle schools invited to participate in a mostly high-school-based contest with sixteen schools in Puget Sound, The Young Playwrights Festival. The top 47 plays were honored with an honorable mention and eight were selected for a full production at ACT THeater.
Winning in the top eight was seventh-grade student and lifelong West Seattle resident, twelve-year-old Finnley Kafer for her play, “The Trial of the Wolf and the Three Little Pigs”. Her play will be produced March 15 through 17 at ACT Theater.
Earning an Honorable mention was seventh-grader Jackson Rockowitz for his play, “The Epic Story of Snuffles the Goat Farmer.”
Meantime, Chief Sealth International High School student Pazuzu Jindrich, 15, won a contest for her banner design commemorating Human Rights Day (which was December 10th).
The folks at PugetSoundOff.org held the contest and say Pazuzu was chosen the winner from among more than 125 entries! Listen to her explain it in this short video clip:
As you can see in the video – Pazuzu won a Kindle for her award-winning design.
Busy afternoon at Southwest Youth and Family Services in North Delridge – more than 80 families are picking up holiday food boxes, distributed with help from nearby Nucor Steel. From left in the next photo, from Nucor, are Shelby Stong, Darrell Wheeler, and Scot McSwane.
425 people are getting holiday food thanks to this distribution, which is the result of Nucor employees choosing to donate their annual community-service project to SWYFS. They collected donations, we’re told, through an intracompany safety-improvement competition.
As of 2:30 pm – a couple hours ahead of schedule – the California SW resurfacing between SW Findlay and SW Graham is finished, and the heavy equipment’s gone; just some sign pickup left to be done. If you haven’t driven it yet, here’s what they did: Scraped off the old asphalt on the travel lanes and put down new asphalt; the center turn lane and outside parking zones were left as they were. Rather than big jobs like last year’s Fauntleroy Way overhaul, this year we’ve seen smaller spot-paving/resurfacing work, a block or two or three at a time
Though a mostly final proposal isn’t expected until the January 4th Seattle School Board meeting, we do know now what Seattle Public Schools is suggesting for relieving the crowding at six elementary schools in West Seattle. Their proposal is in the PowerPoint presented last night at the board’s Committee of the Whole meeting (see it here). Pages 16 and 17 are the heart of what’s proposed here, broken out by middle-school “service area.” The booed-at-last-month’s-community-meeting (WSB coverage here) suggestions about splitting off kindergarten or 5th graders appear to have been scrapped. But reopening Boren (the former “junior high” at 5950 Delridge Way SW) as the temporary home of a STEM (science/technology/engineering/math) option elementary is on the list. Portables are suggested for Gatewood, Lafayette, Schmitz Park, and West Seattle elementaries, but not Arbor Heights and Roxhill. From the above-linked presentation:
We have a message out to West Seattle’s new school-board rep Marty McLaren, asking for comment. The official schedule calls for the final “short-term capacity management” plan – this is only the first phase, covering next school year – to be introduced at the January 4th school-board meeting, and then put to a vote two weeks later. (A longer-term plan, involving reopening/building more school/s, will be hashed out next year – and that’s when the district proposes figuring out where the new STEM elementary would be permanently located.)
MORE HALF-PRICE TREES: In addition to the Holy Rosary School lot (41st/Dakota), which cut tree prices in half starting yesterday (as reported here), the new Son-In-Law Tree Farm lot (California/Charlestown) has just halved its prices too, they called to say. (Our complete list of local Christmas tree sellers is on the WSB West Seattle Holidays page.)
TONIGHT’S HIGHLIGHTS: Busy morning, so we never got to publish our customary daily preview. Here are a few quick notes, though, for tonight: It’s the second-to-last Shop Late Thursday in The Junction before Christmas, with participating shops open till 9 pm … The first of several “Blue Christmas/Holidays”-type services in our area is 7 pm tonight at Westside Unitarian Universalist Congregation … Chief Sealth International High School and Denny International Middle School jazz bands are in concert, 7 pm, CSIHS auditorium … The Omilero fundraiser at OutWest Bar is tonight at 6 (as previewed here earlier this week) … Live music tonight at Avalon, with Pourquoi Pas, 6:30-9 pm (drink specials too).
TAKE A HIKE FRIDAY AFTERNOON! School’s out early, the forecast says it’ll be partly sunny … tomorrow might be a great day for a guided eco-hike with the Nature Consortium. 1 pm in the West Duwamish Greenbelt, meet at 14th/Holly. Free! RSVP to nancy@naturec.org.
Today we welcome one of our newest WSB sponsors, ARCpoint Labs. As is customary with new sponsors, we offer the opportunity for them to tell you about their business, and here’s what ARCpoint wants you to know:
(From left, ARCpoint Labs’ Jay Smith, Larry Rosok, La’chelle Singleton)
“Why ARCpoint? Accurate, Reliable and Confidential – ARCpoint Labs is here in West Seattle, doesn’t make you wait to get service in our clinic, and provides results quickly.
Located just off Delridge Way and SW Andover Street, ARCpoint Labs offers a comprehensive array of high-quality drug, alcohol, DNA, and background screening services to businesses as well as families and individuals seeking screening.
Have you ever wondered if someone is really your child, your brother, your granddaughter? DNA testing can provide those answers. ARCpoint provides DNA testing that provides accurate and conclusive results. Legal DNA results can be used for court cases, immigration purposes or just for your own information.
ARCpoint also conducts drug testing using a variety of specimen types, such as urine, hair, nails and saliva. Often people think that a drug test is a drug test. Not true! For example many people do not realize that the standard drug test does not cover many prescription drugs. ARCpoint will match your needs with the screening that is best for you or your company.
Whether you are an employer looking to reduce risk, reduce absenteeism, or improve safety for your employees and customers or if you are an individual that needs drug testing services, we will work with you to determine the screening that will work best for you.
ARCpoint, for your workplace, your family – your life.” Find ARCpoint Labs online by going here, or call (206) 504-1681.
We thank ARCpoint Labs for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news on WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.
Just got an e-mail pretending to be from “King County Ecommerce” regarding property taxes. We are 100 percent sure – even before we check – that it’s bogus. So we wanted to warn you not to open it, if you get it too! The telltale flaw: It is formatted just like an e-mail we received yesterday pretending to be from “Puget Sound Energy,” which definitely wasn’t, and led to a warning from PSE itself. The dangerous part about these e-mails is the attached zip file. DON’T OPEN IT. Ahead, read the alert that PSE sent out late yesterday (and, ADDED 2:52 PM, a warning from King County about the new one):Read More
Busy morning for emergency responders. We checked this out right after the Fauntleroy shed fire. From the scene and the scanner, police believe that this car was hit by another vehicle that left the scene, just hard enough to override the parking brake and send it rolling onto the sidewalk and up to the front of this commercial building just south of 35th/Barton (map).
No injuries and no serious damage – the car hit the mailbox post and took out a few bricks on a planter in front of the business’s front window. (Editor’s note: We’ve blurred the plate on the top photo, per WSB policy on faces/addresses/plate #s.)
8:18 AM: More Seattle Fire units are on their way to the 8600 block of Fauntleroy right now. This started as a call about a “shed fire” and moments ago, crews on the scene called for a “full response” because it’s apparently spread to the house, as well as to a neighbor’s shed. We’ll be on scene shortly. The traffic camera above shows the emergency vehicles, just south of the south Lincoln Park parking lot.
8:33 AM UPDATE: On scene – northbound Fauntleroy Way traffic is blocked, as the “live” traffic-cam image above shows, but some southbound traffic (toward the ferry dock) is getting through. Police are there to help direct traffic. We haven’t seen damage to the house in front of the shed (seconds after we added this, the incident commander confirmed this), but the shed itself is significantly burned.
No report of injuries; investigators are on the way to figure out how it started.
8:51 AM: Traffic moving again. We’ve removed the traffic-cam image since the blockage is gone. We’ll update this later when there’s information about how the fire started; for now, we’ve added a photo from the scene (by WSB’s Patrick Sand), as well as a photo (courtesy Amy) showing the smoke, which was widely visible for a while (we even got one sighting report from Vashon, across the Sound).
9:29 AM: Added new photo atop this story – taken by Kristi while the shed was engulfed in flames.
10:59 AM: SFD spokesperson Kyle Moore has information on the fire’s cause and damage:
The renter of the property was not home when the fire began. A Seattle Fire Investigator determined this was an accidental fire that began from an extension cord that ran from the house to the detached shed. Several extension cords were strung together to power a portable heater inside the shed.
An SFD Investigators estimates $17,000 in total damage. The breakdown of the damage estimate is $8,000 to the shed, $5,000 to the contents of the shed and $4,000 to the exterior of the garage.
(Thanks to Dana Rambo, first car behind the roadblock just after 8 am)
If you haven’t left yet, note that traffic is worse than usual right now. Fire units have a medic-response call on the eastbound West Seattle Bridge parallel with Admiral. And at the east end of the bridge, if you are heading to southbound I-5, there might be some distraction from an emergency call on the northbound side right at the bridge exit. (Thanks to everybody who tipped us on this)
8:48 AM: As far as we can tell, the medic units have cleared.
12:36 PM: We asked SFD about the incident. From spokesperson Kyle Moore: “At 7:58 we received a 911 call reporting a female in her late 60’s who was unconscious but breathing. She was inside a black car on the right side of Eastbound West Seattle Freeway in front of the steel plant. At 8:14, Medic 32 transported the patient to Harborview Medical Center.” He didn’t have information on her condition, though.
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