Tonight: Southwest & North Delridge councils; school board
IN WEST SEATTLE TONIGHT: The North Delridge Neighborhood Council meets at 6:30 pm @ Delridge Library, with its agenda including a playground-project update and a progress report on Chief Sealth HS @ Boren. Then at 7 pm, the Southwest District Council, with reps from neighborhood groups and other organizations in what the city considers West Seattle’s “Southwest District” (map here), meets @ the board room at South Seattle Community College. NOT IN WEST SEATTLE BUT WITH WS AGENDA ITEM: The Seattle School Board’s semimonthly meeting is at 6 pm at district HQ in Sodo; among the agenda items, the district’s share of the project to renovate Hiawatha Playfield (the city announced this summer that work would start this fall – although the timetable in that update has already slipped, since it anticipated an August vote). OTHER EVENTS: See the WSB Events calendar (including open-house nights at WSHS tonight, CSHS tomorrow).
Update: Movie “The Whole Truth” shooting in Lincoln Park
(looking south from the north end of the central LP parking lot where the crew’s headquartered)
ORIGINAL 9:17 AM POST: As mentioned here last week, the city’s film office confirmed shoots were coming up in West Seattle (while reiterating it can’t reveal who/what/when/where) – now, two reader notes say there’s a crew in Lincoln Park today; we’re on our way to see what we can find out. 9:31 AM UPDATE: 2 people down there (including WSB’er Jenny; thanks!) told us it’s called “The Whole Truth.” That didn’t bring up anything obvious on iMDB.com but a straight Google search brought up this page for the movie, and the e-mail address at the bottom would seem to verify. (Plus, a person we talked to said someone from “Law and Order” is in the cast, and the actors listed on the movie’s webpage include Elisabeth Rohm.) Not the first movie to film in Lincoln Park, of course; this recent WSB Forums thread about WS movie shoots mentioned the 1995 Drew Barrymore movie “Mad Love.” 9:48 AM UPDATE: Just found a production blog for the movie, by director Colleen Patrick. What we learned on site: They’re there till 8 pm tonight; the central Lincoln Park parking lot is closed for the duration; they’re currently shooting south of the ballfields that are near that lot. 10:10 AM: Adding a few pix. Note the “Talented Animals” truck (there’s a dog on the cast page):
West Seattle Food Bank: What it needs most, right now
Two days ago, we brought you first word of an urgent call for help from the White Center Food Bank, which also serves part of West Seattle. We’re visiting WCFB later today to see how people have responded and what’s still needed; meantime, we’d inquired with West Seattle Food Bank whether it also happened to have any urgent needs, and now we’ve heard back from executive director Fran Yeatts, who tells WSB: “We have been purchasing food at a furious rate to keep up with demand. Our numbers are about 20% higher than what they were one year ago and it is very difficult to keep the shelves stocked. We have been especially short on baby diapers and formula, but we are also very low on canned soups, fruits and protein items.” You can find out how to help WSFB by going to this page; the left sidebar has the hours for accepting donation dropoffs, plus a link to donate $ online.
High-school updates: Safety and transportation
SAFETY: While talking with Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen about Tuesday’s disturbance across the street from Chief Sealth High School‘s interim Boren campus (WSB coverage here), we learned that precinct leaders and the principals of Sealth and West Seattle high schools will be meeting today to talk about how things are going so far this school year.
TRANSPORTATION: This school year, Seattle Public Schools had intended to stop running most yellow-school-bus service to high schools around the city, including WSHS and CSHS, giving students Metro passes instead. But from the very start four weeks ago, parents in some areas started pointing out that some kids couldn’t find room on Metro buses; you can read some local stories in this WSB Forums thread. Now, some adjustments have been made; as a result, SPS spokesperson David Tucker says nine school buses are serving CSHS in the morning, four of which go to Denny Middle School first (fewer in the afternoon – four for CSHS alone, 2 more that pick up at CSHS and then Denny); and starting today, two school buses will be added for WSHS transporting about 106 students. Metro had added some buses in certain dayparts on the line serving WSHS but said it had no money to continue that into October or beyond.
West Seattle restaurant updates: Revo mural, Spring Hill changes
We showed you this mural while it was in progress on the south side of Cafe Revo (Italian restaurant taking over the ex-Murphy’s space on Avalon in the Luna Park business district); now artist Glenn Case is officially done, and Revo’s Sofia Zadra Goff tells us they gave the mural a name: Zetta, the middle name of Sofia’s greatgrandmother. We also peeked into the under-construction restaurant space, where the bar’s being built out of a single piece of wood:
Revo’s hoping to open around November 1st. Meantime, we got e-mail late today from Spring Hill in The Junction, wondering if we would share some news, and since we know how you all love restaurant info, we’re happy to oblige:
That’s the cover of the late-night happy-hour menu that Spring Hill is launching next Tuesday, according to the note from proprietors Mark and Marjorie Fuller, who add: “Also, beginning November 2nd we will be opening at 5:15 pm rather than 5:45 pm for fall/winter. One last note: Brunch is coming soon! We are hoping to start brunch the end of November/early December. We would like to extend our thanks to all the people who have supported spring hill restaurant and look forward to seeing you all soon!”
West Seattle scenes, as the sun sets on September
While down on Alki checking on Lady Liberty’s new plaque (more on that later), we happened onto that lovely sunset. Minutes earlier, we had snagged a nice pre-sunset shot from Don Armeni:
Then we came home to e-mail from WSB’ers kindly sharing their beautiful sunset shots, like this one from Hopey (featuring all three Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferries):
And this one from Greg (note the Seattle-Vashon foot ferry):
Greg’s accompanying brief note seemed spot on: “After a couple days of financial stress it is always nice to see the beautiful sunset from the Fauntlee Hills area.” Or, as we put it … thank heavens the best things in life are still free.
West Seattle Stadium’s future: Your input needed
Just in from the Parks Department via Southwest District Neighborhood Coordinator Stan Lock, an update on the process to seek proposals for renovating and operating West Seattle Stadium. Bottom line, the Parks Department doesn’t have the money to fix up the stadium, so it’s looking for somebody else to do that, in exchange for “a multi-year contract that allows (the operator) to recoup its capital investment and support its own business.” First step: A draft Request for Proposal (RFP) has just been issued, and the department’s looking for feedback before officially circulating it. A public hearing then is planned before the Park Board on Oct. 23; board members are tentatively slated to vote in November, which then would trigger the formal process resulting in a January decision on who will be chosen to run the stadium. Tons of details in this document, including the draft RFP, the timeline, and specifics on what the agreement would entail; we’re still reading it but wanted to get you the link ASAP.
1 month till Halloween, 2 chilling notes: Zombies, ghosts, witches
ZOMBIES, AKA “THRILL THE WORLD WEST SEATTLE”: An update from Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) proprietor Lora Lewis and her Thrill the World/West Seattle corps of dancers practicing to join the world-record attempt on October 25th: For the actual performance counting toward the record, they’ve joined up with the Seattle Thrillers, and will be in the 200-plus crowd dancing that day at Westlake, with an encore to follow during Trick or Treat in The Junction the same day and at Admiral Theater later that night. You can still join the dancers at the next edition of what Lora calls the “newbie zombie” class – tomorrow (Wednesday), 8:15 pm, West Seattle Christian Church (the full list of rehearsal times and places is on the Thrill the World/West Seattle blog home page).
GHOSTS AND WITCHES: West Seattle-based The Anunnaki Project has announced its annual Halloween event: “The Ghost Game: Tales of 13 Witches,” 8:30 pm Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at Youngstown Arts Center, described as follows: “This year’s production, which focuses on tales of witches from world folklore and mythology, features performances by members of The Cabiri performance troupe along with several guest artists including aerialist and butoh dancer Mary Cutrera and Courtnee Papastathis (aka Zita the Aerialist). Steffon Moody, an outrageously engaging humorist, physical performer and songster who has entertained audiences regionally and nationally for the past 20 years, will be playing Guto, the horribly charming yet sinister master of ceremonies. Steffon is a founding member of the UMO Ensemble (Vashon) and is currently a performer with the Big Apple Circus (NYC). Guests at the event will be woven into the evening’s festivities as storytellers, soothsayers, and supplicants as a procession of witches both entrancing and terrifying is presented. On Halloween night, the performances will be followed by a costume contest and reception with the artists.” Dessert too. Age 16 and up. Tickets are being sold by tables of 5, online via Brown Paper Tickets.
Update: Police respond to “disturbance” at Delridge/Juneau
Thanks to Sage K for e-mailing first word of this: We’re checking out the scene at Delridge/Juneau (map), kitty-corner from the north end of Chief Sealth High School’s temporary campus at Boren, where at least half a dozen police cars are in view. All police will tell us at the scene is that they were “asked to respond to a disturbance.” There are no aid/medic calls on 911, so whatever happened apparently does not involve injury. We’ll update with whatever else we find out. ADDED 12:24 PM: Photo above shows part of the police presence. We also have a reader photo taken looking over the scene, showing a fairly large group of officers and people they appear to be questioning, but we’re not going to post that until and unless we can blur/cover faces, because (a) we don’t know who’s accused of what, and (b) they appear to be juveniles. Meantime, we had checked with Seattle Public Schools‘ communications office to see if this was related to anything on campus, and spokesperson David Tucker checked for us – whatever happened, he says, took place off-campus, so information will have to come from police. ADDED 1:05 PM: Sage K blurred the faces in one of the photos she took (which wasn’t closeup on anyone to start with):
LATE AFTERNOON UPDATE: Mentioned this in comments and working on a separate followup, but bottom line, from a conversation with Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen – the big response was due in no small part to the fact that it was reported one of the participants (reportedly NOT a Sealth student) was believed to have a gun. No gun was found – one knife, though. And he confirms what we had perceived from the lack of an aid/medic call – no injuries.
Happening today/tonight: Weavers; party; handball; protection
WEAVERS: Special guests are visiting Cafe Rozella (which is on the southeast edge of West Seattle/north edge of White Center) this afternoon/evening — a women’s weaving collective from Oaxaca, Mexico, 3-9 pm. Read more here.
LAUNCH PARTY: Can’t think of the last time we heard a local business announce a “launch party.” But that’s what’s happening tonight at Beveridge Place Pub, 6-9 pm, to inaugurate Farris Law, PLLC, a new practice focused on small businesses. Proprietor Valerie Farris has planned the party as a fundraiser for Furry Faces Foundation and the West Seattle Food Bank through a fundraising raffle ($5/ticket, 4 for $20) for a variety of donated items including many geared toward her potential clientele, from a “PR startup package” to gift certificates for web design.
HANDBALL, ANYONE? Tonight (and/or any other Tuesday), you are welcome to join the open practice for Seattle Team Handball at Hiawatha Community Center, 7-9 pm. “All ages and genders,” according to the Seattle Team Handball website. (Tuesday afternoon note: Organizers say there’s a chance they might have to move to the West Seattle High School gym, so if you don’t find them at Hiawatha, head next door.)
SELF-DEFENSE FOR TEENS AND WOMEN: Tonight is the second of two “self-defense seminars” for teenage girls and women offered this month by Lee’s Martial Arts – open to ages 11 and up. More on the LMA website.
Budget-speech side note: Delridge Playfield turf $ from where?
During his budget speech this afternoon (video and documents linked here), Mayor Nickels mentioned West Seattle a few times, notably when talking about the budget including money for artificial turf at Delridge Playfield (see page 10 on his “budget highlights” document). This raised a question for us, as we had just told you on Saturday about the Parks Levy campaign stopping at the field and noting that the levy would raise $3 million for the Delridge turf project (see it on the levy “project list” here). So which is right – Delridge turf $ coming out of the mayor’s budget if passed, or coming from the new Parks Levy if passed? We talked to the mayor’s communications director Robert Mak, who believed it was from regular city $ – but that doesn’t explain why it’s on the levy list too, so we’re checking with levy supporters to see what they have to say. TUESDAY MORNING UPDATE: Heard back from Councilmember Tom Rasmussen (who chairs the council’s Parks Committee). He says, “If the playfield improvements are funded through the 2009-2010 Parks budget and capital improvement program as recommended by the Mayor, then funds earmarked in the levy for the field can be redirected to other parks or athletic fields projects.” TUESDAY EVENING UPDATE: Robert Mak’s answer to our followup question is along those same lines. He says the mayor included it in the budget proposal “trying to guarantee this project gets done” – levy or no levy. (The levy was proposed and sent to the ballot by the council, you may recall, despite the mayor’s stated desire to wait another couple years before asking voters for more parks $.)
Crime Watch reader report: Gone in a smash
Look closely and you’ll see the broken window glass around the edges of that photo, e-mailed to WSB by Paul, who wanted to warn people in the area about what happened to him:
My vehicle was broken into at the corner of Fauntleroy Way SW and 35th Ave. The thieves broke my front passenger window and stole a portable GPS that was installed in the car.
10:06 PM ADDITION: Shortly after we posted this, we got a separate short note about a different wave of car-window attacks: “9/28 around 3 am, 4 vehicles had windshields broken on 13th Ave between Holden & Kenyon.” TUESDAY MORNING ADDITION: And one more report, this one from Melody: “On Sat, 9/27 between the hours of 12 am-3 am my neighbors on 13th Ave SW (between Holden and Barton) had a brick thrown at the back of their car. It dented the exterior (they missed the windows).”
West Seattle scenes: Private park-n-ride; cruise season ebbing
One week ago, we were first to break the news (outside the company, anyway) that Microsoft’s Connector employee bus service had picked the date to expand into West Seattle; today, a tip from Sue led us to signs like that one in the parking lot by the Masonic Hall on the east edge of The Junction, one of several pickup/dropoff spots with which the service will launch next Monday (and we’re told it’s already full up!). Now, a seagoing sight from Alki:
During the heart of the summer cruise season, you don’t usually see the big ships in Elliott Bay on Mondays. But now it’s shoulder season and schedules are different; late this afternoon, Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas (left) and Celebrity Cruises’ Mercury both headed out. Serenade was the last non-Celebrity ship scheduled to visit this year (according to the schedule on the Port of Seattle website); Celebrity’s Infinity stops in tomorrow, and Millennium on Wednesday, then Mercury is in four more times (running a schedule of short Northwest cruises) until its departure ends the cruise season on Wednesday, October 15.
Urgent call for help from the White Center Food Bank
West Seattle is actually served by two food banks with distinct boundaries – and the one that serves southern West Seattle, the White Center Food Bank, is in urgent, immediate need of help. Just got this note from executive director Rick Jump:
I don’t want to be like the boy who cried wolf so I don’t ask for anything unless the situation absolutely warrants it. Our numbers are up (way up) and donations are down. We are currently experiencing critical shortages of food which will begin to impact services in the next week or two. Our inventories are shrinking fast and we need almost all types of non-perishable food. Canned fruits and vegetables, soups, tuna, cereal, dry variety foods such as Hamburger Helper, Rice-a-Roni and Mac & Cheese are especially needed at this time.
Information on where to go and how to donate can be found at whitecenterfoodbank.org — at this page in particular (which also includes a link to donate $ online). Meantime, we’ll be checking with West Seattle Food Bank to see if they have any immediate needs as well.
Posted tonight on the Google mail group for the homeless encampment at West Marginal/Highland Park Way: They’re 
As mentioned here before, the next scheduled weekend of 
Those big white signs have been up for almost a year now along California between Hinds and Hanford (city map at left), the section proposed for “upzoning” (
Thanks to Sarah for posting this in comments following
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