West Seattle, Washington
26 Friday
If you’re heading back this way in the next few hours, this might be a reason to avoid The Viaduct. From Peg Nielsen at SDOT:
Today, Tuesday, November 24, a Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) crew will be making emergency repairs to an expansion joint on the Alaskan Way Viaduct southbound just past the First Avenue S exit. From 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. the left and center lane will be closed southbound just south of the First Avenue off-ramp and will not hinder traffic taking that exit. Then, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., the center and right lane will be closed at the same location. Please use caution through the work zone.
TODAY’S MAIN EVENT: As of shortly after 4 pm today, West Seattle will be home to the officeholders of two of the state’s three top political jobs. That status isn’t permanent, but even after the changing of the mayoral guard in January, we’ll still be home-‘hood to the guy who runs the county. Dow Constantine takes the oath of office downtown at Daniels Recital Hall (the former First United Methodist Church) this afternoon at 4, and everyone’s invited. (Photo at left is one of our pictures from his primary-election-night party.) Also on the docket today:
GIVE!!!! Two days till Turkey Day. The folks fed by our local food banks need you, if you’re able to give. Here’s a few stats explaining why – from the White Center Food Bank page on Facebook, Beth Grieser (West Seattle Volunteer Recognition winner) pulled a shift at WCFB today and reported: “We fed 85 families on our shift today – 287 families for the day. The White Center Food Bank is low on large turkeys 16 lbs, cranberry sauce and dinner rolls.” You can take donations to WCFB 8:30 am-5 pm; they serve the southern third of West Seattle but all the rest is in the territory of the West Seattle Food Bank and they will be thrilled to get donations too – 9 am-3 pm today.
GIVE, #2: Tonight at Porterhouse in the Admiral District, West Seattle Helpline benefits from a sock and underwear drive — bring ’em, new — 6-8 pm, hosted by Rogue Brewing (full details on Facebook).
GIVE BY BUYING: Wreaths and poinsettias, anyone? They’ll be on sale at Southwest Youth and Family Services today, 9 am-7 pm – walk-in sales are promised, and if you preordered one (or more), it’s pickup time.
CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT: It’s been another year of hot issues for Seattle Public Schools, and here’s another one: Aligning what’s taught to who, where and when. How will it affect the student(s) in your family – if at all? Come talk with district reps, 6:30 pm, West Seattle High School.
TRIVIA TIMES TWO: If your brain brims with factoids large and small, old and new, you have your choice of two venues tonight and every Tuesday night: In Morgan Junction, Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor, and now open 11:30 am daily) is all about the tunes, with rock ‘n’ roll trivia starting at 8; at the beach, Christo’s on Alki trivia, hosted by Tom Hutyler, new starting time, 7 pm. Cash prizes at both.
Probably the shortest community meeting we’ve covered in a long time – barely half an hour (followed by about 20 minutes of folks milling around asking questions and looking at drawings): Monday night at Delridge Community Center, the Parks Department unveiled the tweaked design for the $3 million-plus Delridge Playfield improvements project, funded by last year’s Parks and Green Spaces Levy.
The project’s basics consists mostly of artificial turf, new lights and 25,000 more square feet of field space added to the current 175,500, with additional sports being accommodated: Following up on requests from last month’s meeting, lines will be added for lacrosse, so the field will be striped for baseball, softball, Little League, soccer, women’s lacrosse, men’s lacrosse and Ultimate Frisbee (which now will get two courses on one field rather than spreading them across two, at the request of advocates at the first meeting). Baseball and softball will trade corners between the SW and NE sections of the field; project manager Ted Holden said the field will have four colors of lines (dyed versions of the same Field Turf that’s being used for the entirely of the four-acre site) – besides white, men’s lacrosse will be in yellow, women’s in red, Frisbee in blue, as shown above. (Holden had the meeting’s 10 or so attendees choose between two shades of blue turf; they chose the lighter one.) He also said there would be two 50-foot stretches of fence along the northwest side of the field to keep soccer balls from going down a steep slope – it’ll arch from 10′ to 15′ at the middle of each section:
Holden also said he was glad to report something he said at the last meeting was wrong – the Field Turf is partly recyclable – its crumb rubber goes into “quiet asphalt,” its plastic is melted to make products including windbreaker jackets, etc.
He said the $3.2 million budgeted for the project should cover what needs to be done, but extras such as bleachers would have to be paid for “as money is available.” He expects to send the project out to bid by the end of January, with construction to be done next summer, June through August.
A few final tweaks were suggested at the Monday night meeting – some changes to the Ultimate Frisbee area on the north side of the field, including cone markers, and adding a little more turf to the west side of the site. Holden said those requests will be incorporated into the design, and the final version will be posted online soon; watch the official project page.
Two West Seattle parents contacted us to share this news: Parents who use the Kids Corner drop-in child-care program at the Fauntleroy YMCA (WSB sponsor), which is based at Fauntleroy Church, got word today that the program is closing after this Wednesday. A letter from West Seattle YMCA branch executive Josh Sutton explains, in part:
You may know the church will be going through a significant remodel beginning in December and lasting through May. During this time some YMCA program spaces and access will be limited, and we expect overall use of the facility will likely decrease.
To promote child and staff safety, the Seattle Y has a 2-staff requirement at all times for children’s programs. While our staff and volunteers have done much work to improve the draw of the Fauntleroy Y’s Kids Corner, it does not sustain the number of visits per day that would keep it viable through the remodel. … Programs will remain closed for the duration of the remodel, and we will assess long-term decisions in the spring.
The letter also notes that for the duration of this, the West Seattle Y location in The Triangle “will be open to all Fauntleroy Local members at no additional cost,” and that the Triangle location offers 50+ hours of drop-in family programs. Sutton was at the Fauntleroy location much of today and plans to be there again tomorrow morning to answer questions. He told us the Y “weighed a lot of options, and came to this.”
On the eve of Dow Constantine‘s swearing-in as King County Executive, we are reminded that he declared five months ago there’d be no new jail for municipal misdemeanor offenders if he got the job. As you may recall, Seattle originally was looking at two West Seattle sites for a possible jail to house misdemeanor offenders the county was at the time saying it wouldn’t be able to handle after 2012; then Seattle partnered with a few other regional cities to continue pursuing the project, and kept one West Seattle site (West Marginal Way/Highland Park Way SW) under consideration. Now, county councilmembers have approved a three-year extension for providing jail services – which buys time, though the jail-planning process continues in parallel. Read on for the county’s official announcement:Read More
Two meetings tonight, both involving the Parks Department – we’re writing up the quick highlights of the second Delridge Playfield meeting shortly, but first, a few notes from Pete Spalding on the Parks and Green Spaces Levy (which is funding the playfield work) Oversight Committee meeting downtown: Both involve the levy’s Opportunity Fund, a chunk of cash set aside for neighborhoods and others to pursue park projects that weren’t specified in last year’s levy. First, Pete says the committee approved the criteria for projects pursuing a share of that money, without major changes from the draft criteria; second, a West Seattle meeting is scheduled so that potential applicants can get technical assistance – if you’re thinking about pursuing an Opportunity Fund project, mark your calendar for January 7, 6:30 pm, High Point Community Center.
Just out of the WSB inbox, from Julie Enevoldsen of Friends of Southwest Branch Library:
Friends of Southwest Branch Library invite all ages of board game enthusiasts, casual players, and anyone interested in learning a board game to our next two Board Game Sunday Afternoons, December 6th and January 10th, from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. in the meeting room upstairs at the branch (9010 35th Ave. S.W.).
Members of the Friends plan to bring a variety of board games and will be available to assist with learning to play them. (Examples? At our last Board Game Afternoon, people played a Catan game, a Ticket to Ride game, and a couple of word games and two-person strategy games.) If you have a board game you’d like to play or teach, please feel free to bring it.
Families with children old enough to enjoy board games are welcome; we request that parents consider their child(ren)’s temperament in deciding whether they would enjoy this event, and plan to attend with their child(ren). We are unable to provide child care for this event.
To let us know you’ll be attending, what games you’d like to play, learn, or bring, or for questions, please contact us at swt-friends@wlonk.com. Drop-ins are welcome, but we can plan better if we know you’re coming!
This event is sponsored by the Friends of Southwest Branch Library – which had a pilot Board Game Afternoon earlier this fall.
Alki Point’s Guy Smith – known most recently for the tale of the newly returned brant as well as for the Joy D. Smith Wildlife Raft – photographed the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis this morning as it headed back to Bremerton. Further east along the shoreline, we stopped by the West Seattle/Alki Wildlife Habitat Project demonstration garden weeding/planting party on Saturday morning.
If you hadn’t guessed from the photos, the garden’s at Seacrest:
Now to the rainforest – actually, Arbor Heights second graders doing a rainforest ballet as part of a recent event at Pacific Northwest Ballet:
Teacher Angie Nall explains the McCaw Hall performance: “Kayti Bouljon, Manager of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Community Education Programs, led Arbor Heights’ students in a 2-month study of dance that connected ballet with a rainforest unit. What culminated was a rainforest ballet!” Not far from there, last week a group of West Seattle moms and babies were at Seattle Center to join in a call for action against toxic household products:
Those are some of the moms and babies in the West Seattle Stroller Strides group. Proprietor Athena Frederick says more than 40 Stroller Strides moms from around the city showed up to join in the “Million Baby Crawl” event – she shared photos including this one of West Seattle rocker Chris Ballew, performing his family-friendly music as Caspar Babypants:
Four weeks ago, we wrote about Comcast‘s latest TV changes in West Seattle, including a plan to add HD channels on November 24th. The other night, “bl@ster” added a comment to that story wondering if that date – tomorrow – was still on. We checked with Comcast’s Shauna Causey (a West Seattleite), and she says the engineers confirmed to her that the channels should be up and running in WS by 9 am tomorrow. “If they have an HD TV, HD set-top box and a package that includes HD channels, they’ll automatically get the channels,” she adds. (What they are, was detailed here.)
Quick note about Thanksgiving coupons added to the WSB Coupons page, where six WSB sponsors now have special offers – $5 off when you let PCC Natural Markets do the cooking for Thanksgiving, and four newly added coupons for Hotwire Coffee – two for free drinks Thursday-Sunday, two offers that are good from Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve. See the Coupons page here – and note, we have a special link there for printing the holiday coupons on one regular sheet of paper, so you don’t waste paper printing out the header and the sidebar. (Speaking of Thursday coffee, we are almost done checking to see who’s open on Thanksgiving – Hotwire’s there 8 am-2 pm – and we’ll add the list to the WSB Holidays page as soon as it’s done.)
Update on the plan for tomorrow’s ceremony to swear in West Seattleite Dow Constantine as King County Executive – he’ll also announce his “100-day plan”:
King County Executive-elect Dow Constantine will be sworn in as the eighth County Executive in the history of King County’s charter form of government on Tuesday, November 24, in ceremonies at the former First United Methodist Church, a downtown sanctuary and landmark he helped save from demolition.
King County Elections is scheduled to certify the results of the November general election on Tuesday.
Immediately upon being sworn-in, Constantine will outline plans and initiatives for his first 100 days in office.
The ceremony and speech will be held:
Tuesday, November 24
4:00 p.m.
Daniels Recital Hall
Fifth and Marion Street [map]
People elected in November aren’t usually sworn in till January, but because of the nature of the transition before him – Ron Sims leaving before his term ended, Kurt Triplett taking over till the election – Constantine takes office tomorrow. With the ballot count almost final, Constantine’s victory has a 19-point margin – 59% of the vote, to 41% for Susan Hutchinson; in raw numbers, he got 101,000+ more votes than she did.
We’re updating the WSB West Seattle Holidays page daily – everything holiday-related in West Seattle and vicinity that we’ve heard about, seen, been told about, etc. – and wanted to mention some of what’s been added: For starters, 
the West Seattle Junction Association now has more details about what you’ll find at Hometown Holidays celebrations in December – our links are updated, and this one takes you directly to the HH info page on the WSJA’s newly remodeled/expanded website. Also, the events we’ve added – thanks SO much to everyone who’s sent information! – include not only more holiday fun (more holiday-music performances, for starters) but also additional ways to help: Two involve Barnes and Noble, which has the ongoing Page Ahead drive (buy and donate at the store) and also a Bookfair this Friday-Sunday to raise money for West Seattle High School Grad Night (voucher # is on the Holidays page); Dec. 2, you can make tree ornaments in a drop-in workshop that’s benefiting Scholastic Journeys, helping educate Third World kids; Dec. 6, First Lutheran Church of West Seattle has a St. Nicholas Faire, a fundraising bazaar on behalf of West Seattle Helpline and West Seattle Food Bank. And did we mention the Full Tilt Thanksgiving potluck, in addition to The Hall at Fauntleroy and West Seattle Eagles free dinners on Thursday? Keep checking the Holidays page for new highlights – and let us know what we’re missing – our whatever-works-for-you contact options (e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, phone, text) are all here. (2008 photo of a Pigeon Point hummingbird, from Jim & Laurie)
It was one of this fall’s most memorable Crime Watch stories – a Gatewood burglary victim (who subsequently identified himself here as “burglarbustindad“) 
followed a hunch to a supermarket Coinstar machine, where he found the 19-year-old who’d broken into his house, cashing in the change from BBD’s son’s coin jar. Commenting on another story last Friday, BBD disclosed that the person he caught, Kenneth Shouting, had pleaded guilty and been sentenced. Checking court records this morning, we found that indeed, Shouting pleaded guilty last month to residential burglary and was sentenced to 12 months plus 1 day in prison, which is within the “standard sentencing range.” According to court documents, Shouting’s past record included a conviction for attempted burglary almost two years ago – a case from Normandy Park, in which he also pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to serve less than 3 months behind bars.
(Photo courtesy Harbor Properties)
As reported here yesterday, construction is beginning for Link, Harbor Properties‘ 200-unit, 14,000-square-foot-commercial building along a block of 38th running north from Alaska (map). Harbor says the former school building in the photo above and the former auto shop on the site’s south end will both be demolished over the next 10 days; other equipment, including excavation gear, will arrive within a week; the big “tower crane” should be up by mid-January; construction is projected to last about 17 months. ADDED 1:30 PM: Teardown work started on the north side almost simultaneously – here’s how it looked by midmorning:
We have a few more project details to add shortly, after a followup chat with Harbor execs.
(December 2008 photo)
SNOW BRIEFING: Not sure you completely have a handle on what the city will do differently if snow falls again this winter? This morning at 10, the City Council gets a briefing on SDOT‘s newest snow-removal plan – you can watch live via Seattle Channel, online or cable 21.
FOOD BANKS: They’re running out of time to get your donations for pre-Thanksgiving distribution. West Seattle Food Bank is open to take donations 9 am-7 pm today (here’s their full holiday-week schedule); White Center Food Bank, 8:30 am-5 pm. Both need turkeys, too!
DELRIDGE PLAYFIELD IMPROVEMENTS: Second of two meetings tonight, 7:30 at Delridge Community Center, and the focus will be on reviewing the design and getting more input before the project approaches the work stage. Go here to see the design and review notes from the previous meeting last month.
REMINDER: No school for elementaries and K-8 schools in Seattle Public Schools all week; they have parent/teacher conferences Monday-Wednesday – then Thursday-Friday are offdays districtwide.
Later today, the King County Council is scheduled to adopt the county’s 2010 budget. One component of the most recent budget revisions could endanger programs the county doesn’t even pay for, according to a rep for the King County Food and Fitness Initiative – they explain that the county budget calls for the complete severing of King County’s ties to the Extension program (which also involves Washington State University), because the small amount of remaining funding was cut completely. (Originally, the budget called for 84% less funding than the year before – leaving about $100,000 – but that was cut late last week.) They explain that if Extension is left with NO financial relationship with King County, they will lose a $1.2 million grant just offered to the Food and Fitness Initiative (which has been sponsoring programs in West Seattle and White Center), and they will be unable to offer even volunteer-run programs such as Master Gardener and 4-H. They say even a tiny amount of funding will keep the county’s Extension ties alive and allow them to continue pursuing outside grants. So they’re asking for support in hopes the budget will be amended before this afternoon’s scheduled final vote by the council, whose contact information is here.
(Latest image from city camera pointing east on The Bridge; refresh for updated image)
Just last week, when reporting on more new traffic cameras being installed in West Seattle (but not scheduled for activation till next year), we had asked SDOT for an update on when at least one of the cameras on the “high bridge” would be back. Hadn’t received a reply yet (two months ago, we were told “shortly”). But tonight, we notice – the one that’s pointed east is working again. We’re going to take a leap of faith and put it back in the sidebar, where it’s been gone for a few weeks once it was clear both “high bridge” cameras were out of commission. Cross your fingers.
Opinion:
By State Rep. Eileen Cody (D-West Seattle) and State Sen. Karen Keiser (D-SeaTac)
Chairs of the Washington House and Senate Health Care Committees
Many senior citizens are concerned about the impact health care reform will have on them. They’ve been targeted by opponents of federal health care reform with false and misleading claims.
One fear is that reform will come at the expense of Medicare benefits or other current coverage. The fact is, Medicare was created by our government more than 40 years ago out of the belief that no one should go without health care once they reach retirement age. That commitment will not change. Neither will benefits.
Current reform efforts aim to improve Medicare’s finances so it will remain viable for generations to come. If we don’t take action now to reduce fraud, abuse and insurance company overpayments, it’s estimated that by 2017 the money Medicare spends on benefits will exceed its income. Seniors would then have to pay more or they would receive fewer Medicare benefits. Health care reform legislation will improve Medicare’s finances.
Reform legislation would also help older Americans who are not enrolled in Medicare by making it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. The bills in both chambers also require insurance companies to cover routine screenings for preventive care such as diabetes, osteoporosis and colonoscopies with no out of pocket costs. And both bills would end age discrimination by making it illegal for insurance companies to charge ridiculous rates for people just because they are older.
In the past few weeks, we’ve heard from several people about a traffic problem on the “low bridge” during rush hours, involving truck backups, and Port of Seattle Police directing traffic. Rob was the first to e-mail, and he made the Google Map you see above (follow the “View Larger Map” link for more details on what it shows). Most recently, Desiree wrote the other day to ask about this. We inquired with the port – so here, for starters, is what we received back from Port spokesperson Peter McGraw:
A combination of factors has created the current congestion – we are aware that it is impacting the community and have been working to keep traffic moving in and around Terminal 5.
Like many other businesses, terminal operators are feeling the impacts of the down economy with lower cargo volume, and are scaling back hours of gate operation to reduce costs. Other ports in the region are experiencing similar issues at their gates, though it can be more pronounced here because of the proximity of our terminals to major thoroughfares like the West Seattle Bridge.
Also, there’s a surge in export cargo from Eastern Washington right now- so more trucks from across the mountains are lining up at Terminal 5 very early in the morning. They do so in order to make a second trip on the same day. On the bright side, this means that goods are moving to markets, which is a very good sign for the region’s economy. Each container represents men and women working in King County.
The Port of Seattle has been working hard to correct this traffic problem by working with the truckers, terminal operators, City of Seattle and the port’s own police force to find a solution. We recognize this is a problem for the truckers, for nearby businesses, and for the community, and we are looking for both interim and long-term solutions. We also need to ensure that the swing bridge can open and close to allow marine traffic from the Duwamish to move in and out of Elliott Bay.
While we work with other stakeholders in finding a workable solution, Port of Seattle police will assign additional officers to keep intersections clear and make sure the swing bridge is not blocked. Please feel free to call either of the port’s media officers, myself, Peter McGraw (206-787-3446) or Charla Skaggs (206-787-3235) if you continue to experience unusual amounts of traffic congestion and delay in this area.
Rush hour bridge opening, of course, is yet another issue; you may recall the city’s request to reduce the number of rush-hour openings, and last year’s rejection of that request.
Just a few of the artists/craftspeople/vendors you’ll find inside the Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) till 6 pm, in its first-ever Holiday Bazaar. Get out of the wind – support local small businesspeople (and some nonprofits too, like Furry Faces Foundation, with pet gifts!). And after this one – lots more bazaars and other holiday-season events can be found on our updated-daily West Seattle Holidays page.
Didn’t catch a name, but thanks to the caller who tipped us to this – a mudslide behind a residential building in the 1200 block of Alki Avenue SW (map). No injuries reported, and the residents we saw told us they had NOT been asked to leave – authorities reportedly showed up, checked it out and left. It took out part of a fence behind the building:
But it’s yet another reminder about potential perils of the soggy season – the city has landslide-awareness info here, including what to do if it happens to you.
Alki Point wildlife watcher/writer Guy Smith shares that photo with news of the first brant sighting – just two days after we published his story about the small geese who return to West Seattle waters (and elsewhere in Puget Sound) Thanksgiving week every year (see Guy’s story here). So – just like clockwork, they’re back; Guy photographed these a bit earlier this afternoon.
One month after announcing it had secured financing for the project, Harbor Properties‘ Emi Baldowin reports that construction work is scheduled to officially begin tomorrow at the Triangle site where it’s building Link. There’s already heavy equipment staged on the north end of the site, as you can see in our photo (taken along Alaska, from which point the site runs north along 38th [map], with to-be-demolished buildings including an ex-Huling garage and the former home of West Seattle Montessori School [WSB sponsor, now at a new location]). Link will have 200 apartments and 14,000 square feet of retail; at last month’s Fairmount Community Association meeting, Harbor’s Denny Onslow said they expected construction to go “really fast” – which still means just under a year and a half.
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