As reported here last night, the west end of the West Seattle Bridge was shut down for a while late New Year’s Eve because of a multi-car crash. SPDBlotter has published a short update today, saying the driver, first reported “driving erratically” on The Bridge, is suspected of DUI:
(The car) subsequently struck two other vehicles as well as the jersey barrier forcing the shutdown of the westbound lanes for 90 minutes. In addition, the eastbound lanes were shut down for 15 minutes while the jersey barriers were moved back into place. There were no serious injuries and the suspect driver was processed for DUI.
At right, that’s newborn Grace Weber, welcomed this morning by West Seattle residents Courtney and Dave Weber, according to Swedish Medical Center, which sent the photo with news that Grace is the first Swedish baby of 2010, born at 6:41 am today at the hospital’s First Hill Campus. Stats, according to the Swedish news release: 6 pounds, 15.6 ounces, 18.5 inches. Swedish quotes the proud parents as saying it was an unexpected blessing to have their first baby born so early in the new year, which is the centennial year for Swedish, where more than 200,000 babies have been born in that century since Dr. Nils Johanson founded the system. Since Grace is the first baby of the year, she and her family get a gift basket from the Swedish Auxiliary, a Swaddle Designs receiving blanket, and a ButterLondon manicure/pedicure set. (We’re checking on whether Grace was the 1st Seattle baby this year – so far we’ve heard of a 12:01 am baby in Bellevue.)
(WSB video and photos by Christopher Boffoli)
WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli reports about 50 people hit the beach, and then the water – as you see in his video above – for West Seattle’s 2010 New Year’s Day Polar Bear Swim. First, of course, before the dash into the Sound, it’s off with the clothes:
The water temperature, by the way, was on par with the air temperature – 49-degree water, and (at 10 am) 50-degree air. Immediately afterward, time to warm up again:
The post-swim warmup included free chowder donated by Duke’s, which is right across the street from the swim site:
Missed it? Or – want to do it again? This year, you have a second chance to run into Elliott Bay with dozens, maybe even hundreds, of kindred souls – Special Olympics of Washington is presenting the Polar Plunge on Alki, 11 am January 24. It’s a SOWA fundraiser so you need to register, individual or team – you can start the process here.
More restaurants are open New Year’s than Christmas, so we don’t have a full open/closed list for them, but a few notes: Some popular weekend brunch spots are offering brunch today too, like WSB sponsor Skylark Cafe, open at 9 am. And Redline Music and Sports in The Triangle is offering freebies at a “customer appreciation night” starting at 9 pm, including free pizza/pool/jukebox. Places keeping regular hours include Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), 11:30 am-2 am as always.
10:33 PM: Avoid The Bridge – there’s a multicar crash on the westbound side @ Admiral. 11:38 PM: The scene is said to start just west of Admiral, which is where drivers heading westbound were diverted. 12:44 AM UPDATE: The scene’s now clear, and traffic’s moving normally for the entire western stretch. No details on any injuries from the crash, but the emergency call didn’t progress beyond “motor vehicle accident” on the 911 log – suggesting no life-threatening injuries.
It wasn’t quite a downpour, but certainly a drenching mist, but that didn’t get in the way of a good time as Highland Park kicked off one of West Seattle’s two-dozen-plus New Year’s Eve extravaganzas tonight. Above, a two-minute spectacle outside Highland Park Improvement Club before the Highland Park House Party that’s just getting under way inside (you’re welcome to go join – details here) and after the HP neighborhood parade (video of that, to be added shortly). It was billed as the “Sage Comet” performance (watch the clip and you’ll get the “comet” reference) — but one of the performers explained afterward, sage is tough to get this time of year, so what burned was “rosemary from local farms”! ADDED 8:28 PM: Just before the “Rosemary Comet,” the first-ever HP parade returned to the luminaria-ringed HPIC, after about half an hour doing a mile-or-so loop through neighborhoods to the south:
As you can see in the video, most of the balloon lanterns had trouble staying lit – smaller fires don’t win the battle with rain – but paraders young and old whooped and cheered, drummed and thumped, all along the way; we trailed them for the first few blocks, and saw neighbors along the way coming to the door or the window, often returning the shouts of “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” Indeed.
Be safe tonight – and know there’s someplace to get your first coffee of 2010 tomorrow. Here’s who we have confirmed, in person or by phone, is open tomorrow, and when:
Mayor-elect Mike McGinn‘s team sent out a news release this afternoon with details on not just the Monday afternoon swearing-in ceremonies for McGinn and others, but also some other “inaugural week events” including a free music festival a week from Saturday with some of Seattle’s hottest street-food vendors on hand – read on for the full list:Read More
New Year’s tends not to bring as many store-hour changes as Christmas, but just in case you’re wondering, we checked anyway. First: Most state liquor stores – including the ones in West Seattle and White Center – are OPEN tomorrow, 11 am-7 pm (and open till 8 tonight as usual). Now, for the grocery stores – this goes for tonight AND tomorrow – only one West Seattle store has a holiday schedule:
SDOT just sent this traffic alert: “Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) crews will use closed circuit camera equipment to survey a sewer line on Battery Street above the Battery Street Tunnel this Sunday, January 3, from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. This work requires closing the northbound lanes of the Battery Street Tunnel during this time.”
Some stories were joyful – like the last one in the slideshow – and some were painful. Photojournalist Christopher Boffoli assembled this group of more than 30 of the hundreds of memorable images he produced for WSB news coverage this year. He put them together in a black-and-white slide show (just hit “play” on the first frame and they will automatically advance). Many are from breaking-news scenes, where Christopher often arrived before your editor here even got word something had happened, but you’ll also see wildlife, volunteerism, aviation, and evenJP Patches. Many of these scenes, you will probably remember; if not, there are brief descriptions on the photo set’s home Flickr page. We’ll have more to say about ’09 in the hours ahead, as well as a couple lists with New Year’s Day practicalities. And, once more, if you’re STILL not absolutely certain what you want to do tonight, we’ve added two more venues to the New Year’s Eve list on the West Seattle Holidays page.
Drive to or through SODO? You’ll be interested in the traffic alert we just received from WSDOT – it’ll affect city streets as well as state routes. Read on:Read More
Want to see this happen in YOUR neighborhood? Betsy Hoffmeister from Delridge (who catalyzed the Delridge Playfield-playground process after months of working on a proposal for a different site) and Ann Limbaugh from Admiral have both forwarded word that KaBOOM! is coming back to Seattle in 2010 to build another playground and looking for potential places to do it. They’re not just looking at West Seattle – they’re casting the net citywide – but Ann and Betsy both wanted to make sure the word got out as many places as possible, especially since the application deadline is less than two weeks away – read on for more specifics:Read More
Heading out of West Seattle for a story-related interview yesterday, we noticed a sizable crew working by Walking On Logs; Anne at WSB sponsor Ventana Construction noticed too, including the detail that they appeared to be pouring concrete, and wondered what’s up. We checked with SDOT to see what project this is related to, and Marybeth Turner replied today that this is more work related to one of West Seattle’s new traffic cameras: “SDOT crews are pouring the foundation for a new pole on which the traffic camera will be mounted and also pouring the foundation for a new control cabinet. You will likely be seeing crews out during the next month or two completing the work at this location–installing a pole and mast arm, installing the cabinet, etc. The new ‘ITS’ items being installed at various locations in the city will not be operational until the fiber optics system that connects all of them is completed.” As reported here last month, the new traffic cameras – which are also going up in The Junction and near the Fauntleroy ferry dock – aren’t scheduled for activation before March. (ITS is the “Intelligent Transportation System,” explained by SDOT in this WSB story from March, in which we had first word of the new traffic cameras.)
(December 28th sunset photo by Stephanie Moores, featuring Sam)
If your plans for tonight (which might be soggy) aren’t quite finalized, check the West Seattle Holidays page for our New Year’s Eve list. Local restaurants and lounges are throwing parties galore. So are other venues and groups – even a parade, where you’ll find these deployed:
As pedestrian advocate Chas Redmond puts it, the first version of the West Seattle Trails walking map was “obviously a best seller” – 20,000 (free) copies handed out in 6 months. The map first came out in summer 2008. Now it’s been updated – see the new version here – and just needs to be printed – with one hitch: The matching-fund grant money that was available to get the map printed first time around isn’t at the ready this time, so, Redmond says, “We – the West Seattle members of the project team and Feet First – are seeking support to have this new version printed.” The cost is estimated to be around $3,500; if you’ve got any ideas how to help make the map-printing happen, you can reach him at credmond@mac.com. (Meantime, you can print your own copy of the new map with this PDF.) He’s also involved with West Seattle Wayfinding, which is using Neighborhood Matching Fund money to put up kiosks and signage to help people make their way around West Seattle – at westseattlewalks.org, there’s an update on planning for the five kiosks that are set to go up in the Admiral and Alki areas (see the planned locations here; a round of Admiral meetings already has been held, and Alki meetings will follow, early in the new year). Between the kiosks, you’ll see signposts like this:
Before the planning process got started for Alki and Admiral, meetings in Fauntleroy resulted in decisions about three kiosks for that area – more on that here.
Jenny at the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor) asked to share this message of thanks, “letter to the editor” style:
The West Seattle and Fauntleroy YMCA would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our members and to the West Seattle community for supporting our 2009 Giving Tree program. Hundreds of wishes were thoughtfully and generously fulfilled for more than 90 families who struggle just to meet basic needs.
We have special gratitude for WJE (Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.), The Boeing Company’s Spirit of the Holidays Drive, and Windermere West Seattle for adopting entire YMCA families and making their holidays especially bright. Thank you to The Charlestown Street Café for hosting wish tags on their own tree and accepting donations on behalf of the YMCA.
At a time of great challenges, your generosity demonstrates the spirit of community continues to thrive.
Jenny Bradbury
Volunteer Giving Tree Coordinator
West Seattle & Fauntleroy YMCA
(9/13/09 photo by WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli)
More than three months after the September 13th “World Naked Bike Ride” in West Seattle – in which a dozen-plus cyclists in various stages of undress rode from Morgan Junction up California SW through The Junction and on to Alki and Lincoln Park (WSB coverage here) – its organizer has been charged with indecent exposure. Daniel Johnsoncontacted us via Twitter last night to report he’d gotten notice of the charge. We cross-referenced city files to confirm it, then called the City Attorney‘s office today for details. According to deputy city attorney Mike Finkle, the charge stems from a police report filed the day of the ride. You may recall from our coverage this year and last, police had explained that someone would have to complain (or engage in “lewd behavior”) for them to intervene. According to the court document Finkle read to us, that’s what happened: First police were stopped by someone in the 2400 block of Alki during the ride, saying he was offended to see the unclothed riders, particularly because he had a child in the car; the officer wrote of stopping the group nearby “two minutes later,” and being told they had permission to do this each year. The officer, nonetheless, told them not to continue on to the beach. Less than an hour later, police got a call from someone complaining about the “nudists,” as the report put it, gathered in Lincoln Park, “with children around”; officers found the group at Fauntleroy and Webster, at which time, the report says, they all put their clothes back on and left. Johnson, identified as the leader of the group, is the only person charged, the court documents indicate. He is scheduled for an “intake hearing” in mid-January.
(Photo courtesy Rhonda Porter)
You may have seen police activity related to this in the past half-hour or so: A motorcycle rider has been taken to the hospital after being hit by a van by Jacobsen and Beach Drive. The van took off but police have since found it and the driver. We’re told the motorcyclist was conscious when he was taken to the hospital, and he was taken by ambulance, rather than aid car, which usually indicates not-life-threatening injuries. The road’s open. ADDED 7:44 PM: From “Proud Sister” in the comment section:
One other bit to the story that you didn’t know about is that my little brother Mr. Adam Layman, happened to drive down Jacobsen Rd. at the same time they were trying to get away.
When he saw what had just happened the neighbors motioned for him to follow the van that had fled the scene. He confronted the two guys at the top of Jacobsen. The passenger took off running and the driver said he would be back he just had to go and get some new tires!
So my little brother (a 25yr.old 4th gen. W.S.H.S. grad) followed the driver for about 10 min. and directed the cops to his whereabouts. He’s my hero and I’m so proud of him!!!
Meantime, Jeff sent a photo of the motorcycle, post-crash:
In the comment section following yesterday’s update on impending King County Water Taxi dock construction at Seacrest, there was a request for a closer look at the plan, to find out more about how divers might be affected. We asked the King County Department of Transportation for an image of the latest rendering – all we had was our photo of what was up on an easel at a meeting early last year – and what you see above is what they sent today. (Click the image, or here, for a larger view – you may have to click “zoom” if your browser allows it, once the new image comes up.) Most of the components are being built off-site to minimize the amount of time people are affected at Seacrest, but piles will be driven and so neighbors are warned of noise and other construction-related inconveniences. The first day of this year’s Water Taxi season is scheduled to be April 4, but whether it continues year-round from that point on – as the new dock is meant to facilitate – depends on the results of a search for funding, since the county budget crisis last fall led to the King County Ferry District cutting back on the taxing authority it was using.
That’s the finalized map from SDOT showing the end result of the two-year West Seattle Junction parking review, posted online yesterday and mailed to Junction-area businesses and homes. (Click the image or here to see the mailer full-size.) The review began in February 2008 (here’s our first report), elicited mostly sighs of relief five months ago when SDOT announced no pay stations were forthcoming, then ended in November (WSB coverage here) with a recommendation of signage changes along several blocks in the “study area.” They’re the same ones announced at the November meeting – on the map above, the ones marked in green will be posted as 2-hour zones, and the ones marked in dark blue will change from 1-hour to 2-hour zones, with the signs going up “in early 2010.” Here’s the official city infopage for the Junction parking review – that’s where you can read the background documents including evaluations of the Junction parking situation as surveyed during the review. Also worth noting if you missed our November report – though the city’s original plan was to study another West Seattle neighborhood’s parking situation in 2010, SDOT said that plan’s now changed, and there won’t be another survey here (Admiral, Alki and Morgan Junction are on deck, eventually) before 2011.
Happy New Year’s Eve-Eve! The West Seattle Holidays page is keeper of our New Year’s Eve list – more than 20 options, and another event’s been added – 9:30-11 pm tomorrow, you can join a Camp Long-sponsored Low Tide Beach Walk across from Me-Kwa-Mooks along Beach Drive. If you’re interested, you need to call to preregister today – 206-684-7434 – or preregister online by going here. Meantime, Camp Long has gone public with its full list of January/February highlights – read on to see it – we’ll be adding them to the WSB Events calendar too:Read More
At right, that’s newborn Grace Weber, welcomed this morning by West Seattle residents Courtney and Dave Weber, according to 
Ready for a new year even better than the old one? Here are a few notes for the holiday that’s kicking it all off:
Happy New Year’s Eve-Eve! The
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