West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
We’ve had several reports of car break-ins in recent days, and here’s another one: Don e-mails to report, “My truck was also broken into on the night of the 3rd. It was on 42nd near Blockbuster on Fauntleroy. Radio and some change is all that is missing. Damaged the locks on both doors to gain entry.”
Working on details – more shortly.
City Light says about 4000 customers are without power as of 1:15 this afternoon. The boundaries are listed as Webster SW on the north down to 113th Place SW, 30th SW on the east to Puget Sound on the west. Crews have been dispatched and as of 1:45 no time was given for when power would be restored.
Update 2 pm: According to Mike it’s affecting some traffic signals near Lincoln Park.
Update 2 pm: The Webster and Cloverdale signals are out (Webster shown in photo above, taken just before 2 pm), as are the ferry dock toll booths.
Update 2 pm: Fauntleroy power just came back on. Still waiting to hear back from City Light about the cause. Thanks to everyone who sent e-mail/text tips about the outage!
Thanks to much to Mike for finding this: Two weeks after 92-year-old Rosemary MacCorkindale was hit by a car and killed while crossing California at Dawson (9/22 photo above), we finally know more about her, thanks to this online obituary running today. It describes her as “very athletic,” born in Rainier, OR, and having outlived her husband Robert MacCorkindale. The obituary doesn’t mention any children of theirs but does say she is survived by a sister who lives in Idaho, and that Ms. MacCorkindale loved to spend time at the library, so memorial donations to the Seattle Public Library Foundation are suggested. Police are still investigating the crash; three days after it happened, we reported that detectives wanted to hear from anyone who saw it happen. She was the fourth pedestrian hit and killed in West Seattle in less than a year (after Gregory Hampel near Camp Long in August, Teri Soike near Westwood Village in February, and Oswald Clement at 35th/Othello last October); the rally planned by neighborhood activists hoping to improve pedestrian safety is at 3 pm tomorrow at 35th/Juneau, where a 15-year-old High Point girl was hit and injured by a car last month.
Back in June, we covered a regional briefing in SeaTac by King County Sheriff Sue Rahr (left), sounding the alarm about how the county’s budget crisis might affect public-safety services — services that affect Seattle residents (and other cities) as well as those in unincorporated areas like White Center, including the Prosecuting Attorney‘s office and the courts. Now, as budget-decision time approaches, the sheriff has just announced another series of public meetings at which she, Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, and two presiding judges will appear; one is October 29th in White Center – details are on our partner site, White Center Now. (Another meeting that’s not too far away from West Seattle will be at Town Hall downtown, 7 pm on November 3rd.)
Bridge traffic had 40-plus fewer cars this morning, thanks to that shuttle: It’s a Microsoft Connector bus heading east on Alaska from 40th after picking up riders at the Masonic Temple lot (where MSFT has rented park-and-ride spaces, as reported here) this morning — its first official run from West Seattle to Redmond after announcing the service expansion last month. The wifi- and bike-rack-equipped Connector also picks up WS riders further north (the route map’s in our original report). If you work for another non-WS company that provides a commuting solution to cut down on car traffic, we’d love to hear about that too.
Though Denny Middle School won’t be moving into its new location on the Chief Sealth campus for 2+ years, Seattle Public Schools wants to lock down a plan for the current Denny site’s future within a matter of months. A district-organized Design Team already has had its first meeting; tonight, the Westwood Neighborhood Council is offering the community a chance to voice its hopes and dreams. 7:30 pm, Southwest Community Center. (As we mentioned over the weekend, this is the first of three Denny/Sealth-related meetings over the next three nights; we are also reminded this morning that Friday night also brings a major school district-related meeting to West Seattle — 6:30 pm Friday, West Seattle High School library, the community meeting to talk about what should be in the district’s next levy request; see the flyer here.)
That’s the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival‘s 2008 float making its last parade appearance of the year, this weekend in Issaquah. The float’s had its ups and downs this year, and we asked Hi-Yu president Tim Winston to let us know when it was time to ask for your help — now’s the time, as he writes in this update about the 2008 float’s finale:
We had a successful day at Issaquah Salmon Days yesterday. The float ran great, thanks to Tim Szender of Quality Auto Electric in Des Moines and Al Glencross of the West Seattle Eagles. Tim replaced the entire ignition system of our 1967 Roadmaster with an electronic system. Al funded the repair.
The day started when we left the old Huling Garage (thank you, Harbor Properties) @ 4:30 am so the float could be ready for judging in Issaquah by 7:30. There was moderate rain for set up and staging; however, it stopped for the 10 am parade. Unfortunately, we had to trailer and cover the float in a steady, drenching rain:
This completes the 2008 parade season, so what’s next? The engine repairs will make it possible to keep the float running for the next 2 years while we raise funds and build a new float platform. With a few repairs to the frame and an upgrade to the sound system, it will be ready for 2009.
However, next year’s parade season depends on obtaining a covered car trailer for the float. Our existing flatbed trailer has become too demanding and dangerous for the volunteers. We are consistently the last crew to leave a parade. Getting the float on the trailer requires a carefully followed procedure for bracing the trailer, driving the float up steep ramps, and securing it. Then the unwieldy tarp must be pulled over the float and secured for freeway-speed winds. This whole process takes about 1 ½ to 2 hours a on sunny day. At midnight and/or in the rain, it can take substantially longer. Our peers with covered vehicle trailers, drive in the float, secure it with a built-in system, shut the door & leave. Unless we happen to have volunteers with trucking or equipment hauling experience, people have to be trained each year. The unpleasant hours that volunteers spend at this reduces the hours that we have available for coordinating community events.
Additionally, when Harbor Properties begins construction on the site where we are currently storing the float, which they have graciously provided for us, we will once again need a storage location. A covered trailer will provide many more storage options in, or close to, West Seattle.
We are planning to buy a new trailer similar to the one that the Leavenworth Autumn Leaf Festival purchased this year. Photo shows the trailer at the Seafair Torchlight Parade:
This 30’ extra-height vehicle trailer will cost about $12,000 and should last at least 20 years. We believe that is an obtainable goal this Fall and Winter, in addition to the annual memberships that we depend on for the festival’s annual scholarships and events.
We are offering both perpetual and annual logo placement on the sides and back of the trailer:
This is very good exposure, since the float travels to about 10 parades throughout the area. Depending on where the trailer is stored, there may be year-around exposure. Anyone who would like information about sponsorship should e-mail me at info@hiyu.com
Thanks,
Tim Winston
President
West Seattle Hi-Yu Summer Festival
WEST SEATTLE OBAMA FUNDRAISER: Graham Ford sends word of West Seattleites organizing an evening of “food, comedy and fundraising” for the Democratic presidential campaign, 6-8 pm tomorrow at Talarico’s in The Junction. Talarico’s is donating the pizza; the comedy is by Joe Vespaziani (video). Here’s the flyer with full details.
34TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS: Wednesday night, it’s the final pre-election monthly meeting of West Seattle’s biggest political group – 7 pm, The Hall at Fauntleroy. The 34th District Democrats, by the way, have just joined WSB as a sponsor – note the “paid political ad” space on the sidebar – to provide a continuous link to the sample ballot they have created listing their endorsements for the November election. Their WSB ad links directly to that printable sample ballot, or you can see it here.
ATTENTION, WEST SEATTLE REPUBLICANS: We’ve said it before, if you’ve got an event or meeting coming up, let us know and we’d be happy to publish that news too; editor@westseattleblog.com. (Here’s the 34th District GOP webpage.)
REMINDER – WSB HAS AN ELECTION-INFO PAGE: Debate schedules, links to information on the hot races and topics, automatically updated digests of political news and blogs — find it all here.
Brother Nicholas Kis from the Order of St. Francis in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia blessed dozens of West Seattleites’ pets this afternoon in the West Seattle High School parking lot, at a “Blessing of the Animals“ presented by neighboring St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church. Mostly dogs, just a few cats, one of whom received the first blessing; later, we discovered it had a special meaning:
(video no longer available due to blip.tv shutdown)
When we caught up with Pesky the cat a few minutes later, Pesky’s owner told us that blessing was really like “last rites” — later today, she was taking 14-year-old Pesky to the vet to be euthanized, after a long and painful battle with incurable renal disease. She read about today’s event on WSB and thought it would be an appropriate place to bring Pesky first. Just ahead, more video and photos:Read More
Last year, we caught up with the Seattle CROP Walk-ers as they strolled around Alki Point on a gray afternoon; for the ’08 Seattle CROP Walk today, the weather’s the same, but we found them heading east along Alki Beach instead, including the group shown above. The 3-mile walk raised money to fight hunger, with beneficiaries including the West Seattle Food Bank, the White Center Food Bank, and Northwest Harvest. Meantime, this may be a sign you could have a few more pennies in your pocket soon:
That’s the first sighting of $3.40-something gas in West Seattle this fall, found at Gasco (35th/Henderson). We believe it’s the lowest posted West Seattle gas price as of this moment, since the usual lowest-price spot, Arco, was at $3.53 when we drove by a bit earlier. Last but not least in this trio of WS Weekend Scenes, we wanted to share this photo by Steve Heck – click it to open a full-size version:
Steve’s wife Michelle Heck sent the photo with the explanation that it’s a “circumhorizontal arc,” photographed over Alki, looking southwest, Saturday morning.
Just out of the WSB inbox, from Jane:
I’m writing to report another car break-in, on the night of Friday, October 3rd, to my Honda Civic. The car was parked in front of the house. The location was 42nd Avenue SW between Brandon and Findlay. I reported the break in to the police.
The items stolen from the car were my teenage son’s backpack, which he left on the back seat, and his orthodontic retainers, stored in the front car compartment. The backpack is black with grey trim and contains papers and books belonging to a West Seattle High School student named Ben. The retainers are clear. If anyone notices these items dumped in their alley or yard, please contact me at lewis_ja@msn.com.
I thought this story could serve as another reminder of the importance of emptying our vehicles of valuable items – especially to teenagers who don’t always get why their parents tell them to leave nothing visible in the car.
We got late word that the West Seattle High School Swim Team’s having a fundraising car wash right now – till 4 this afternoon – if you drive toward the school on California, you’ll see signs like the one in our quick pic above. Sure, it’s cloudy, but you have to get the car washed SOMETIME …
Inside Olympic Hall Room 101 at the south end of South Seattle Community College on Puget Ridge, those ham-radio operators and others spent several hours Saturday morning making sure they’re ready for something they hope to never have to do: Relaying emergency help needs, status information, and more to the city Emergency Operations Center when all other means of communication are out of commission. Coincidentally, the test, which was meant to simulate “a major catastrophic winter wind storm,” happened just a few hours before the first hint of fall wind blew through the area. Involved were two trained ham-radio communications teams, all volunteers, from the Seattle Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) that serves the city’s Office of Emergency Management, and the Seattle Sub-Group of the Western Washington Medical Services Team. From outside Olympic Hall, these portable antennas hinted at what was going on inside:
The radio operators can use antennas like those to transmit directly or to relay the signal via one of four “repeaters” around the area, one of which is in West Seattle. Meantime, some of the gear inside was marked with the scenario for which it was being used; the storm simulation focused on communicating with Seattle Public Utilities regarding two areas of (hypothetical) trouble, the Madison Valley area where flooding killed a woman in the December 2006 pre-windstorm deluge, and the Perkins Lane area of Magnolia, a waterfront strip beset by mudslides over the years:
You probably won’t be surprised to hear that computers are part of the scenario these days too – one team was using battery-powered laptops to feed digital messages into radio equipment (sort of like wireless Internet), and Mark Sheppard from the city was at a computer-equipped command post overseeing the test, explaining where these volunteers would be dispatched to if disaster actually struck:
Spokesperson Dave Mann tells WSB that Seattle ACS members do drills like this about four times a year, to make sure they’re ready … just in case. More than 100 communicators belong to the Seattle ACS but there’s definitely room for more — considering they might have to assist the entire city in a time of trouble; find out more about them at their website (which also details exactly how many people are involved right now and what they’re ready to do) at seattleacs.com.
That’s one of our clips from the 2007 edition of Skeleton Theatre, the intricately staged animatronic Halloween show in a West Seattle yard, mobbed last year – just checked back on their Web site to see what’s in store this year, and it seems they’re plotting “a bigger concept … the 7 animatronic creatures this year (including a parrot) will be on two large pirate ships.” They’re planning shows 6-9 pm Halloween night and the night after.
Tomorrow’s the deadline for an online survey the state is conducting, asking businesses for their thoughts on how various scenarios for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct‘s Central Waterfront section — with a final decision due by year’s end — might affect their operations. If you’re a business owner, the survey starts here – once you’ve given a bit of info about your business, you provide an e-mail address to which the actual questionnaire link is to be sent.
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: Sunday morning means the weekly link to the Ripe ‘n’ Ready fresh sheet listing some of what you can expect to find at WSFM, 10 am-2 pm at 44th/Alaska. Here’s the link.
ANIMAL BLESSING #2: First one happened Saturday at The Mount; today, a big outdoor event at the West Seattle High School parking lot, starting at noon, presented by neighboring St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, and featuring the Humane Society MaxMobile with adoptable pets.
MORE: Here’s the direct link to our West Seattle Weekend Lineup Sunday list – with info on today’s other highlights (including Holy Rosary’s annual Alumni Sunday, the Seattle CROP Walk, Ciderpress in Delridge, and a Music Northwest concert).
On partner site White Center Now, we peeked into the new White Center Swap Meet shortly after its doors opened (at the former Southgate Skate Center) this afternoon; later came this followup on a hot deal. Day 2 of the White Center Swap Meet is 10 am-4 pm tomorrow.
Back in May, we brought you first word of West Seattle’s first-ever Art Lending Library, which made its debut at Youngstown Arts Center during Delridge Day, explained here by Seth Damm, who just sent word of an upcoming opportunity to try it out:
For all those who didn’t get a chance to participate in the first Art Lending Library, good news, we will be open one night only coming up this Thursday, October 9th from 6 to 9 pm in conjunction with the West Seattle Art Walk. Come down to the Youngstown Cultural Center (4408 Delridge SW) , browse our collection of local artwork, sign up for a library card if you don’t already have one, and select a piece for free delivery later in the month.
Youngstown is one of the newest additions to the monthly Art Walk lineup and is now one of two venues on Delridge (joining Bubbles); here’s the full list of who’s participating Thursday night (as well as during the November and December Art Walks).
(click for full-size version)
If you’re interested in the Denny/Sealth combined-campus project and/or what happens to the Denny Middle School site when its current buildings are demolished after the new school is built on the Sealth campus, you need to know about three major meetings in the coming week. FIRST: A community meeting Monday night to talk about what you would like to see happen at the Denny site post-move. The Westwood Neighborhood Council has developed a vision for the site (sketch above) but that may not dovetail with school-district decisionmaking unless there is strong community support for turning the site into something more than sports fields and tennis courts. The community meeting is at 7:30 pm Monday at Southwest Community Center. SECOND: The next night, the public is invited to the next meeting of the official city-convened committee that is reviewing whether the Denny/Sealth project will be permitted “departures” from city codes, for reduced parking and increased height. The Departure Advisory Committee meets at 7 pm Tuesday in the Denny cafeteria. THIRD: On Wednesday night, the Design Team looking at the future of the Denny site, which includes school district and community representatives, meets at 7 pm Wednesday in the Denny library; you’re also welcome at this meeting.
We’ve seen bursts of heavy rain and some bouts of breeze already today … but it’s likely to get worse, says the National Weather Service, in issuing this “wind advisory” that’s in effect till 9 pm. 4:56 PM UPDATE: Here’s the link to check for the latest power outages listed by City Light. We’re just back from Burien and environs; power was out to some businesses near Burien City Hall, and we saw a big SCL presence at 1st/152nd. Some “wires down” calls show on the live 911 log, including one right now in the 2200 block of SW Orchard (map). 6:45 PM UPDATE: Photo added from “wire down” – it’s over by the taco truck/Vietnamese Cultural Center spot north of Home Depot.
Today is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals, and that’s why this weekend you had two invitations to get your pets (etc.) blessed. First one happened this morning at Providence Mount St. Vincent; that’s Father Lyle Konen in the video above, delivering the blessing (The Mount asks that residents not be photographed, so as far as the participants go, Cesco the dog at left is all we’ve got, but overall there was quite the crowd – listen for the collar-jingling in the video). Next blessing event is tomorrow, public also invited, at the West Seattle High School parking lot at noon tomorrow, presented by neighboring St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church. Full event info here – not only will blessings be offered, but handmade items will also be for sale, along with refreshments, and if you’re in the mood to add to your household, the Humane Society’s MaxMobile will be there (second half of this post shows its recent appearance at Thriftway).
At Thriftway in Morgan Junction, that’s (from left) Jake Webley, Gini Johnson, and Greg Ross, collecting food and money for local food banks as part of a drive presented by local Prudential realtors. They have the north door covered; another team has the south door; and you’ll also find Prudential folks at West Seattle PCC. This is happening till 2 pm today – and not only can you help by giving food items and/or money, Gini told us that if you present them with your receipt, they’re doing a one percent match. If you don’t see this till after 2, you can also drop off food bank donations at Prudential’s West Seattle offices through the end of the year. Meantime, at another grocery store — QFC in Westwood Village — these folks are “shopping for help” too:
The smiling folks you see in that photo include local fire cadets, currently based at the Joint Training Facility on the southeast edge of West Seattle, and today they’re asking you to help “Give Burns the Boot” by collecting $ on behalf of the Northwest Burn Foundation. You’ll find them at QFC — and others at Metropolitan Market in Admiral — till 4 pm today. (If you miss this event, you can donate to NW Burn Foundation online by going here.)
Out of the WSB inbox, from Karen:
I wanted to report that our car was broken into overnight near the corner of 46th and Genesee (map). They took the change, emergency road kit and tire chains. This is the 6th time that car has been broken into at that location over the past few years. Nothing of much value has every been stolen but it is a nuisance and, just like tagging, increases if left unchecked. I would remind everyone to report any crime no matter how small. It allows the police to track activity and will increase patrols in effected areas.
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