West Seattle, Washington
29 Saturday
STUDENTS HELPING HAITI: From left, Lafayette Elementary student council representatives Anna Goldberg, Alyx Hastings and Quinn Gerberding. Proud Lafayette principal Virginia Turner says they “conceived of, publicized and organized the fundraising effort” that brought in $1,460 for Haiti relief — the council sponsored the collection. Lafayette teacher Kent Ferris worked with the students to help them make it happen. Another big announcement:
ARTISTS HELPING HAITI: Last weekend, we brought you a progress report during West Seattle artist/entrepreneur Stephanie Hargrave‘s art sale to raise money to help Haiti. She now has the final numbers: $17,031 raised during the one-day sale! It’s going to Partners in Health, Doctors Without Borders, and Mercy Corps. Stephanie took the above photo of all the art in her studio during the sale, and adds: “My two friends who were instrumental in the effort and worked tirelessly are West Seattleites Anne-Marie Meredith and Bronwyn McNutt.” She also included a full list of the artists who participated by donating work – see that list (with information on how to contact the artists – web links or phone/e-mail) here.
NEW WEST SEATTLE HELP FOR HAITI: Kari Robins e-mailed to say:
I am a West Seattle resident and a high school teacher. I am going to be traveling to Haiti this summer with Global Volunteer Network. I will be working with orphaned children and homeless women. I want to raise money to help offset the cost of travel and participating in the program.
I will be working with children, youth and women within two camps; Pinchinat and Kay Wolf. These camps have more than 3,000 people who became homeless after the quake. I will be helping to run education classes for children as the schools have been closed down until September.
I am looking for community support to help offset the expense and to maximize my time down in Haiti.
Read more about the type of work she’ll be doing, by going here; to e-mail her with questions and/or help, kari.robins@hotmail.com.
Ann Kendall, photography
Ann Marie Meredith, image transfers
e-mail at: annemm1@hotmail.com or call 206-349-5873Britt Freda, oil paintings
Camea Davidson, cards, paintings
Carla Davis, prints, paintings, cards
Carol Pierce, paintings
represented by Kaewyn Gallery – Bothell, has work at Overlake HospitalConrad Chavez, photographs and digital prints
Cynthia LaRowe, photography
info on photography: cynthia.larowe@gmail.comDana Cassara, jewelry
Diane Culhane, oil paintings
Don Bugler, sculpture, paintings
Frances Smersh, jewelry
Gail Howard, acrylic paintings
Garric Simonsen, fine art of all kinds
Gini Lawson, oil paintings
Holly Haynes, woven works
Jan Flynn, paintings
Jesse Young, photography
Joelle King, jewelry
Juan Alonso, fine art of all kinds
Julie Biggs, mixed media collage
Junko Yamamoto, paintings
Kamla Kakaria, encaustics, prints
Kathy Berg, paintings
e-mail at: kathy.berg@comcast.netKelly Lyles, fine art of all kinds
KT Grisez, sculpture, jewelry
Lara Swimmer, photography
Layne Cook, paintings
Leah Kangas, jewelry
Lonjina Verdugo, mixed media collage
Marcos Lewis, ceramics
for urchin vessels, contact: marcos@olypen.comMarita Dingus, fine art of all kinds
Mark Burgess, frames
wood frames: 425-828-6012Melinda Hannigan, oil paintings
Mike Mullins, paintings
Pam Keely, fine art of all kinds
Patricia Cameron Fine Art, gallery
*Patricia donated a print by one of her artistsPaul Rucker, cellist, fine art of all kinds
Rachel Illingworth, print maker
Rickie Wolfe, fine art of all kinds
*solo show coming soon with Gallery IMASally Ketchum
fine art of all kindsSandy Glass, graphic design
Sarah Savidge, paintings
Shaun Doll, encaustics
Stephanie Hargrave, encaustics, etc.
*solo show july 1st – patricia rovzar galleryStephanie Tomczak, jewelry
*winner of an award of artistic excellence – BAM’s Indulge ShowSue Danielson, oil paintings
Theresa Neinas, block prints
First: We’re checking for official police information on this, but so far, what we have from a neighborhood source is that shots were fired earlier this evening in the 18th/Barton (map) vicinity. No one was hit but casings were found at the scene, we’re told. Our source says one of the possibly two vehicles involved was stopped; we won’t know about any arrests till we hear back from police. This would be just a few blocks east of the 21st/Barton shots-fired (also no one hit) situation we wrote about last week. ADDED 10:42 PM: Heard back from Lt. Ron Smith at the Southwest Precinct:
Initial call of a drive-by shooting in the 9000 block of 18th Ave SW. The call indicated 5 shots were fired up in the air from a dark-colored pickup truck. The truck was located and was occupied by a male. Another male standing on the corner approached the officer, was hostile toward him and diverted his attention away from the suspect vehicle. Search of vehicle was conducted and no weapon was recovered. ). No known victims or property damage at the time of the report, .22 caliber shell casings were recovered from the street. 3 suspects were taken to the precinct for further investigation.
(back to original report) Second: From our Facebook wall, an alert about a possible car prowler in Arbor Heights, a “guy checking out cars on 42nd Ave SW south from 100th [map] … yellow jacket with black/gray backpack, black pants/saggy, with black hat … checking through windows …” Police have been alerted.
Previously, the nearest crosswalk flags were at Dakota to the north and Dawson to the south. Now, according to this update on the West Seattle Junction Association website, baskets of flags are in place at the two midblock crosswalks in the heart of the business district. (They’re privately placed, not from the city, which has yet to expand the pilot program that put the baskets at California/Dakota, California/Dawson, and Avalon/Yancy in June 2008 [WSB coverage here].)
From Seattle Pacific University, where we covered the game via Twitter (@wsblive), the boys’ varsity basketball Metro League title game final score: Rainier Beach 51, Chief Sealth 34. But the Seahawks are still in the district playoffs, which start next week. We’ll add the recap and video here soon.
SUMMARY AND VIDEO ADDED 8:55 PM: Friday night, Chief Sealth found out that it’s not easy to hang onto the ball when you play Rainier Beach. Beach pulled away from Sealth early on in the second quarter and never looked back as the Vikings beat Sealth 51-34 to take the Metro League championship.
While the Seahawks managed to rebound the ball fairly well in the first half, they had a great deal of trouble shooting throughout the game. None of their players managed to make it into double digits on the night. The only player who got close was Tomas Ogbaslassie, with nine points. Also the teams’ foul-shooting percentage, which had been a strong point for them against Prep last Wednesday, fell off dramatically against Rainier Beach. Sealth converted fewer than half their free throws.
One of the high points for Sealth came in the second Quarter when senior Daniel Davis put up a three-point shot.
We’re checking for word on Sealth’s first game in the district playoffs. SATURDAY MORNING UPDATE: Sealth athletic director Sam Reed says that since the Seahawks have a first-round bye at districts, they’re scheduled to play at 4:45 pm next Friday at Bellevue Community College – vs. either Sammamish, Bainbridge, or O’Dea (depending on the outcome of two games between now and then).
More than two weeks have passed since the State House of Representatives approved SHB 1679, known as the Jason McKissack Bill, after the now-former Seattle Police officer who has been unable to work since a vicious attack while on the job in West Seattle a year and a half ago, and is losing insurance coverage as a result. We just got word from law-enforcement advocate Renee Maher that they’re hoping for another show of support – like the one that turned out for the bill’s first major hearing on January 25 (photo right) – when the bill gets a public hearing next Monday in the State Senate Ways and Means Committee. She says the hearing’s set for 3:30 pm Monday, Room 4 in the Cherberg Building, and: “We’d love to have everyone down there supporting Jason and his family!” (The Senate is where last year’s version of this bill stalled, so support there could be even more important than the support showed while it was going through the House. It’s one of the topics likely to come up when 34th District legislators – State Sen. Joe McDermott and State Reps. Eileen Cody and Sharon Nelson – hold a Town Hall at High Point Community Center tomorrow, Saturday 2/20, 11 am.)
That photo was just tweeted by Mike Heavey (@mjheavey) – who says the barricades have just been moved at the 53rd Avenue Pump Station Project site on Alki, and the path’s open. So the promise made at last night’s Alki Community Council meeting by King County’s Martha Tuttle – that the path would open today – has been kept. Next up, as reported in our story – about a month of road work to rebuild the outside lane.
9:04 PM: Pigeon Point residents say the “no parking” warning signs are up but are stretching beyond the areas described in previous communication from SDOT. Neighborhood leaders are working to sort this out, and also hope to talk with city crew members expected to be in the area to check on the situation Monday morning.
EARLIER (ORIGINALLY POSTED 3:18 PM): We’ve been covering this for a week now, but in case you missed it, here’s the official reminder from SDOT of the North Delridge/Pigeon Point/Puget Ridge road closure/detour situation starting Monday – read on:Read More
When you step on board the 77-foot catamaran Rachel Marie – which will make the West Seattle-Downtown Seattle run of the King County Water Taxi when this year’s service starts April 5 (new date) – you may feel a little smarter. That’s because the boat used to carry rocket scientists. True! As explained by Robert Patronsky of Four Seasons Marine, which owns the RM and its sister ship Melissa Ann – the Water Taxi for the Vashon-Downtown Seattle run – this one made shuttle runs in the Western Pacific for many years, to a US military missile-testing site. A photo inside the vessel is testimony to this:
So are signs in English and the Marshall Islands’ language, Marshallese.
More recently, the RM was on a foot-ferry passenger project in Honolulu. But we digress. The reason we asked the King County Ferry District for a sneak peek on board the Rachel Marie, which is currently at a Ballard shipyard, is because many WSB’ers asked for more details when we first reported on the Rachel Marie (with photos) last month. Ask, and we’ll do our best to make sure you receive. “Is there an outside deck?” some asked. Here it is – room for about 40 people topside, stern – a one-minute tour of where you can sit/stand outside:
There’s an inside deck upstairs, too – keep in mind, this eventually is meant to run year-round – and then, the main deck:
While the Rachel Marie is capable of carrying more than 200, Susan Whitmore with King County says it will be certified for up to 150 – any more, and they have different crewing and security requirements. Right now, they’re finishing hiring the crew – they’ve got their captains, who will be in a wheelhouse you can watch through windows at the front of the top interior deck:
Some other notes: No concessions; the county might look at that later as a revenue measure, says Whitmore, but nothing’s planned when the season starts. You can bring your own food/drink, though, and there are some tables in the main-deck seating.
(A few power outlets, too, if you just can’t stay off your laptop during the trip across the bay.) And as you probably noticed in the video clip, interior bike racks – enough to hold 18 total, no extra charge. Though the Rachel Marie has the ability to run faster than its predecessors, they’re keeping the same schedule for now – while looking for the “sweet spot” between fuel efficiency and speed. The basic fare is higher if you’re paying cash, as reported previously; Whitmore says they’ll keep taking cash “for a while,” but the farebox will be at the dock, along with an ORCA transit-card reader, and they hope eventually to install credit-card-capable ticket machines at the docks (remember, on the downtown side, they’ll be switching to Pier 50, just south of Colman Dock). Again, the new Water Taxi season starts April 5; that’s a Monday, so Whitmore says they’re not planning the kind of festivities with which they kicked off the season in past years, but might have an open house at some point. Meantime, the new dock at Seacrest needs to be finished – and then this summer, county leaders have to figure out the funding that’s needed for the service to run year-round as hoped.
On a picture-perfect morning, the USS John C. Stennis, CVN-74, was spotted from West Seattle shores, headed toward Bremerton (WesCAddle mentioned it in the WSB Forums). Thanks to Kevin for this carrier-and-mountain view!
We’re among a dozen-plus journalists at City Hall (7th floor conference room) in a “brown-bag” Q/A session with Mayor Mike McGinn. Not that anybody’s actually lunching, of course. So far, he’s fielded questions on everything from municipal broadband to Highway 520 to funding the bicycle plan to the new Youth/Families Initiative; we asked about library funding, given that two West Seattle libraries have been cut back to five-day-a-week operation. He said it’s too soon to say but he’s hoping not to have to cut libraries further. 12:10 PM UPDATE: The Q/A session is now over. Look for coverage in a variety of places in addition to here – PubliCola, seattlepi.com, The Sable Verity (whose author/editor we just met for the first time), Crosscut, Q13. We got in the last question – why is he pursuing White Center (etc.) annexation now? The answer seemed to boil down to it being an exploratory matter more than anything, and might not ultimately make budget sense, but they’re pushing forward with finding out what the people who live in the prospective annexation area think. We got most of the session on video and will post some excerpts later. (Thanks to Diane for noting on Twitter that mayoral staffer Aaron Pickus had tweeted a photo of some of us – that’s your editor with the glasses and the MacBook.) ADDED 1:53 PM: Video of the mayor’s answer to our library-funding question:
A few more clips later.
Tonight at 6, Chief Sealth High School‘s boys’ varsity basketball team plays Rainier Beach for the Metro League title. After Sealth’s Thursday afternoon practice, we talked with coach Colin Slingsby:
Sealth has a challenge tonight – they lost to Rainier Beach twice this year, once by 9 points, once by 10, and RB is undefeated in the Metro League, #2 statewide in 3A. No matter what happens tonight though, Sealth still moves on to the district playoffs next week. You can cheer them on tonight at 6 at Seattle Pacific University (map); we’ll tweet live from the game on our “live events” Twitter account (which you can check on the Web even if you are not a Twitter member), @wsblive (twitter.com/wsblive).
Followup to our story late Wednesday night about three graffiti-vandalism arrests in West Seattle and our request for your thoughts on this particular category of crime: We’ve learned that West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and his colleague Councilmember Tim Burgess – respective chairs of the Transportation and Public Safety (etc.) Committees – have asked for an audit of how the city handles graffiti and litter, which they describe as “street disorder.” Specifically, they asked the City Auditor earlier this month to review 7 points, including the city’s graffiti and litter laws, the rate of arrest/prosecution of offenders, intradepartmental coordination of city cleanup efforts in both areas, and “innovative efforts other cities have implemented that Seattle might replicate.” Rasmussen and Burgess asked auditor David Jones to get this done by June 1. We received their letter to the auditor from Rasmussen’s office after they saw our Wednesday night story; read the entire 2-page document here.
More than 60 people were at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center last night for U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott‘s “winter 2010 community meeting.” The big topic was the same as it’s been for months – health-care reform (McDermott, you may recall, also happens to be a doctor) – which he’s been involved with for years.
He said he remains optimistic a health-care-reform bill will be passed, but whatever is finally approved, won’t necessarily be “final” – his example was Medicare, first passed in 1965, worked on every year since then. McDermott said he would like to see the 1945 act creating state insurance commissioners repealed; his view is that one central set of controls would represent a more efficient system. Asked about voter anger, McDermott suggested that the most infuriating thing for a voter is to see her/his representatives do nothing – those are the people, he says, who will get voted out. On another hot topic, he said he supports ending the filibuster rules in the U.S. Senate that so often slow progress there to a standstill. Last but by no means least, he believes legislation will be introduced within a few months to negate the U.S. Supreme Court‘s ruling on “corporate personhood.” Got something to say to Rep. McDermott? His contact info is here. Meantime, three more elected officials who represent you are having a Town Hall meeting tomorrow – the 34th District legislative trio, State Sen. Joe McDermott (no relation to Jim), Rep. Eileen Cody, and Rep. Sharon Nelson. They’ll be at High Point Community Center, 11 am tomorrow (Saturday).
(Tuesday photo of 53rd Avenue project site, by Chas Redmond)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
“This project has been a long haul,” King County Wastewater Treatment rep Martha Tuttle told Thursday night’s Alki Community Council meeting, referring to the 2-years-and-not-done-yet 53rd Avenue Pump Station Project.
Uneasy laughter flowed through the room.
“It has been two years that we’ve been in construction and the fatigue the community feels is strong. We do apologize for that,” she continued. But she had some good news.
This June, it’ll be two years since the Corner Inn closed its doors at Fauntleroy/California, the space now transformed into Zeeks Pizza. But the spirit of the Corner Inn has lived on here and there around West Seattle – and here’s the latest incarnation: We got a note from “Johnny Roadkill” about a new Ladies Night starting up at The Bohemian this Sunday night, with the bartender known best as “Corner Inn Lynne” mixing the drinks Sunday nights, hoping to create a new tradition. Click the image at left to see the flyer full-size; Johnny says, “There will be music, ladies’ drink specials and fun times.” But everyone’s welcome – guys too. (Lynne got mentions in the comments when we covered the Corner Inn’s shutdown in June 2008.)
From last night’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting at Youngstown Arts Center, lots of updates, including new information about what’ll be the biggest Delridge Day event ever, as well as this fall’s Gathering of Neighbors. Read on for the full report:Read More
For the second time in three nights, a rollover crash has blocked traffic on Highway 99. This time, it’s northbound, near the stadiums, so if you are heading toward downtown from West Seattle, avoid that route TFN. Not much info about the crash yet except that it’s one vehicle this time, someone was rescued from the vehicle, and police were searching for someone who reportedly ran away from the crash scene.
Beth asked that this be passed along so others in her area would know:
The water for a block or so (it’s at our home at 40th & Hinds [map]) is brown. Apparently it is rust in the water & in response to an emergency call today that they had at 39th & Hanford. The lady at the city of Seattle Water dept said that it should go away within a few hours but she recommended not drinking the water with the high amount of rust in it. We thought we had a major plumbing issue & imagine everyone in the neighborhood is concerned about that as well.
Here’s the official city information on what causes water discoloration and what you should do if it happens at your home.
(7:44 pm – updated with Parks Board chair’s reaction in appearance before Alki Community Council)
ORIGINAL 5:44 PM REPORT: Just in from the Parks Department:
Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent Tim Gallagher today decided to relax the rule that would have banned smoking in parks effective April 1, 2010, and to approve the recommendation of the Board of Park Commissioners.
The Board recommended this language in the Code of Conduct: “Smoking, chewing, or other tobacco use is banned within 25 feet of other park patrons and in play areas, beaches, or playgrounds.”
“Based on the input from the public that followed my initial decision,” Gallagher said, I have decided that a gradual approach to a smoking ban is reasonable.”
We were first to report yesterday that Gallagher had decided not to accept the Parks Board’s recommendation and instead was going to put a total tobacco ban in place; strong reaction ensued, including (so far) 90+ comments on our Wednesday afternoon story. We’ll hear from Parks Board chair Jackie Ramels in about an hour, as she is scheduled to guest at the 7 pm meeting of the Alki Community Council at Alki UCC.
7:44 PM UPDATE: We’re at the Alki CC meeting now, where Ramels says she was asked by a reporter earlier if the turnabout represented a waste of time – first the superintendent decides to overrule the board, then changes his mind – but her reaction was instead: “I think it illustrates that the Parks Department is responsive to public comment.” In response to questions, she acknowledged the board had concerns that a total tobacco ban would be part of what some had seen as a pattern in the proposed code changes of grounds for targeting homeless people for park removal. She also said she expected enforcement of the new code would be focused more on downtown, since “that’s where the park rangers are.”
Thanks to those who forwarded this to us (we’re on the list too but just got the note) – From King County Public Health:
The *Saigon Boat Café* located at 2632 Alki Ave SW, Seattle was closed by a Public Health food inspector on February 18, 2010, 11:30 AM for operating without valid food business permit and approved plans. The restaurant will be reopened once the inspector confirms that the person in charge of the establishment satisfies all requirements to get a valid permit per the instructions online at
www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/ehs/foodsafety/FoodBusiness
The restaurant opened less than a month ago. (You can track all current Public Health-ordered closures, and their status, here.)
In case you “don’t usually read the comments” – there are tons today, and we thank everyone for taking the time to share their thoughts. Two things of note we just found by reviewing the most recent wave:
TOM STEWART MEMORIAL SITE: As with many highly successful people, the owner/chair of formerly West Seattle-based Services Group of America clearly had a lot of fans, and non-fans. For those who wish to share condolences in a more official way than commenting on news stories, a commenter on WSB points out that SGA has now set up a webpage with links to family and business photos as well as an option for commenting. Here’s the link. Meantime, nothing new so far in the investigation of the Arizona helicopter crash that killed him along with his wife, 5-year-old daughter, and two others.
GRAFFITI TIPSTER: Our filter (which has saved the site from more than a million spammer “comments,” so we try not to get mad at its occasional error) held onto this comment for a long time till we just spotted it – Paul says he tipped police to the suspected graffiti vandals arrested last night, and implores you to “get involved”:
I am the person who witnessed the 3 kids applying their tags to the Rite-Aid wall. I called it in and while waiting for police, followed the kids from a distance, then called back to alert police of their location. No flag waving but the point is that I got involved and stayed involved until (luckily) resulted in the 3 arrests. These are young (young!) kids. Please get involved when the opportunity arises. The only way to end tagging is to make it difficult for taggers to achieve their goal. Handcuffs do that really well.
Police reiterate, call 911 when something is happening NOW – don’t worry about evaluating if it’s a real emergency; the 911 operator’s job is to sort that out. Meantime, following the graffiti-arrest story, we asked your opinions on the state of the spray-paint (etc.) vandalism problem in West Seattle – please consider joining the discussion if you haven’t already.
(The Olympics and The Sound, photographed today by Christopher Boffoli)
Four notes this afternoon, all with a green theme:
END MIDWINTER BREAK WITH A FREE ECO-HIKE: Looks like tomorrow will be as beautiful as today when the Nature Consortium leads its free monthly guided eco-hike through West Duwamish Greenbelt – great way to wrap up the week-long school break if you’ve got students at home, still a great time if you don’t. 1 pm Friday, meet at 14th/Holly (map), mild terrain suitable for kids too. Please RSVP to Lisa, lisa@naturec.org or 206- 923-0853. (P.S. Signed up for the Nature Consortium’s benefit brunch yet? March 14; event sponsors include WSB – see you there!)
SEED SWAP ADDITION – BRING OLD SHOVELS AND GARDEN TOOLS: One more feature’s been added to Saturday’s Seed Swap ‘n’ Sale that Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle is presenting at South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) – north side, horticulture area: “Bring any old shovels or other garden tools which could be transformed into garden art. We are looking for mosaic artists, welders, anyone with imagination to turn rusty old tools into something beautiful to put in the garden. Finished pieces will be auctioned at our summer Edible Garden Tour.” 1-4 pm Saturday (here’s the seed list).
FAUNTLEROY CHURCH RECYCLING EVENT REMINDER: Another reminder to be ready to bring your stuff to Sunday’s electronics/appliances recycling event with 1 Green Planet at Fauntleroy Church‘s parking lot (map) – 9 am-2 pm, more details here (and yes, it’s open to EVERYONE).
“CROW PLANET” AUTHOR AT HOPE LUTHERAN: Just got word today (thanks, Gwen!) that Gatewood-based Lyanda Lynn Haupt will discuss, sell and sign her newest book “Crow Planet” (featured here) at Hope Lutheran Church Commons (map) at 1:30 pm Sunday. This is the first event in the new “Third Sundays at Hope” lecture series. Everyone’s invited – you don’t have to be a church member.
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