West Seattle, Washington
28 Thursday
Today through Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, daytime highs could get into the 90s, and an “air stagnation advisory” is now in effect through 10 pm Saturday night, plus the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency has just called a Smog Watch. (Air aside, the Saturday forecast is an upgrade from how it looked last night, when cloudiness was predicted; in the “cup half full” department, may finally be a truly warm night for Movies on the Wall, on the heels of last week’s rainout; “Finding Nemo” is rescheduled to 8/21 but this week, it’s “Ghostbusters.”) As for staying cool today – all West Seattle wading pools are open: Delridge, Hiawatha, Highland Park, Hughes, Lincoln Park, as is Colman Pool on the L-Park waterfront. (Click the pools’ names to see locations and schedules.)
Many people have posted tributes to Gregory Hampel among the comments below our Monday night report that he did not survive the 35th/Dawson accident in which a car hit him as he ran into the street to try to catch his dog. The 39-year-old West Seattleite is survived by his partner Ed Swaya and their daughter Vivian; late last night, we received word of two funds being set up for donations in his memory, including one at the school where he taught:
Donations in honor of Gregory Hampel can be made to The Seabury School, where they are setting up a scholarship in his name.
Or, given the family’s commitment to the education of their daughter, donations are being accepted at any US Bank for the education fund for Vivian Swaya.
DONATIONS BY MAIL:
Deposit into “Vivian Swaya’s Account” (educational fund)
US Bank
1436 S. 312th St
Federal Way, WA 98003DONATIONS IN PERSON:
Go into any branch of US Bank.
No account number needed; simply use Vivian Swaya’s name.Sorry, no online donation available
The US Bank branch in West Seattle is at the northwest corner of 42nd/Edmunds (map). 10:09 AM UPDATE: A comment on our previous report includes this information on a service for Mr. Hampel today:
Gregory’s Memorial Service:
Thursday August 14
University Lutheran Church
1604 NE 50thviewing 10-noon
service following
This morning we welcome the newest WSB sponsor, Alki Kid’s Place, which is getting ready for its first season offering after-school activities in West Seattle, and is already up and running with summer programs that started in late June. Director Cheryl Snyder says Alki Kid’s Place is for children ages 4-14: “We offer a safe, nurturing environment along with a dedicated, caring staff. Our program was created to meet the growing needs within the community for quality, affordable after-school care for children. We offer a variety of activities including arts & crafts, movies, games, music, exercise, tae kwon do, along with quiet time for homework, reading, and relaxing as well as tutoring.” After-school programs start on September 3rd, and will be available 2:30 pm-6:30 pm. Cheryl says openings are now available — registrations are being accepted for fall — and they have daily rates as well as weekly rates, $15/day or $70/week. Alki Kid’s Place is at 6115 SW Hinds (map). To register or get more information, call 206-938-0145. Welcome to Alki Kid’s Place; all our current sponsors are listed on the updated WSB Advertise page, which also is the starting point for anyone interested in joining them (every WSB ad is seen more than 16,000 times a day, with an exceptionally low price per view!).
(photo by Dina Johnson)
If you still think the primary election – next Tuesday, or maybe you’ve voted by mail already – is a snoozer, last night’s 34th District Democrats meeting would have cured you of that notion. With sometimes-raucous debate and questioning, our area’s largest political organization settled on some endorsements and budgeting decisions, looking ahead to both the primary and general elections. Five of West Seattle’s own elected officials were there, along with one of the most controversial statewide politicians running for re-election, and a city leader – read on to say what was said, decided, and revealed, including their recommendation on the primary’s most convoluted ballot measure:Read More
Inspired by beach volleyball competition at the Olympics? Envious of what you see on the sand at Alki (and by the way, the EVP Pro Tour will be there Saturday)? The wildly popular Seattle Free School has just announced a free “beach volleyball for beginners” class, 6 pm August 22nd on Alki. But you have to sign up – here – ASAP.
We’re still in the “no spoilers on the home page” mode for those who recorded the show but haven’t watched it yet, so click ahead to see how Blayne did tonight, and what his Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) boss has to say about it:Read More
If you look at the link dates on the WSB Crime Watch page, things were quiet for a long stretch – now that’s changed, at least temporarily. Two more reader reports ahead, along with a reminder about two ways to become a better neighborhood crimefighter:Read More
This past winter, we reported twice on a bill in the State Legislature to allow beer and wine tastings in grocery stores — first report here, second report here. The bill eventually passed, and tonight, the state has announced the first 15 grocery stores “randomly selected” to participate in a pilot version of the program starting this October, and the only Seattle store in the first 15 (see the list here) is West Seattle Thriftway in Morgan Junction. 15 more stores statewide will be announced soon – they’ll be chosen from chains; Thriftway and the other 14 are all independents. (Hat tip to The Big Blog.) Here’s how the state says the program will work:Read More
Coming in from downtown on the Elliott Bay Water Taxi less than an hour ago, not only did we see fish jumping in the bay – we saw this lively crowd angling for them from the dock at Seacrest. Didn’t get a photo, but as we walked away from the dock, we saw one man who’d made quite the catch, cleaning a 2-foot salmon over in the Seacrest sink. (If you want a different view of the salmon now running in local waters, looks like it’s a great time to visit the Ballard Locks fish ladder viewing area, according to our friends at MyBallard.com.)
Two updates today: First, we reported earlier this week about West Seattle-based activist Chris Jackins‘ appeal of the Sealth site “determination of nonsignificance,” and a controversy over tree-cutting that had been done before a hearing on that appeal. We have new information on the appeal (and why there was no public notice of the hearing) – also, we have a report from last night’s Westwood Neighborhood Council meeting, where both city Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher and West Seattle’s school-board rep Steve Sundquist were on hand for some honest and open discussion about the future of the Denny site, once the old school’s demolished (shown above, the WNC “vision” for what the site could become – click image for a larger view):Read More
Out of the WSB inbox, from “a resident on 40th between Alaska and Oregon” (map): The note begins, “Just wanted to let the community know about a guy who was casing our house today …” Here’s the rest, including a precise description of the person:Read More
We’ve received several notes about a P-I in-depth article today that we agree is a must-read: A closer look at gang life, including prominent mentions of West Seattle and White Center (scroll to the bottom of the article for a map indicating which gangs are active and where). It’s accompanied by a photo gallery, which features a series of pictures of a gang initiation in Lincoln Park, starting with this photo. The P-I promises a follow-up tomorrow about the people searching for solutions.
FIRST, ABOUT THAT WEBSITE: Huge kudos to Blogging Georgetown, one of our favorite nearby-neighborhood sites, for going an important step further than we did in our report last night on the anti-bag-fee website: As you can read in this BG post, he looked up the StopTheSeattleBagTax.com URL registration, and notes that the domain was registered Monday, to … the American Chemistry Council. No surprise, as several commenters on WSB speculated along those lines, but it is a little startling that they didn’t bother to register the domain in the name of Washington Food Industry. We have sent a note to WFI spokesperson Jan Gee asking for comment on the Chemistry Council’s relationship to her group and this referendum campaign. This section of the ACC site has links about its previous efforts to stop this bag fee (and proposals in other states), including the radio commercial BG mentions.
SECOND, ON A LIGHTER NOTE: Just got this link from West Seattle’s own “tea lady” Tracy (who closed her Admiral shop some months back to focus on her downtown Tea Gallery operation) — Her brother, syndicated comic-strip artist Keith Knight, took on plastic bags in his strip “The Knight Life” over the weekend. You can see it here.
12:51 PM UPDATE ON FIRST ITEM: Response from Jan Gee at WFI:
The ACC is a member of the coalition and was very active during the City’s public hearing process on this issue. Their membership includes the manufacturers and suppliers of many of our bags. We expect them to be very supportive of this effort including significant financial support. As an association of family owned businesses we don’t have the resources to meet all the demands Seattle places on citizen referendum. They also have an IT person and I don’t.
Got a note from Laura in Highland Park wondering about an loud explosion-type sound that rattled her windows around midnight. Checked with the Southwest Precinct, which quickly provided this info: Somebody set off an explosive device in the backyard of a home in the 7700 block of 13th SW (map). “Shrapnel” from the explosion broke a window at the house; no injuries reported. The bomb squad was called out, and determined the device was made from “sparklers, ceramic, and duct tape.” The victims told police they don’t have kids who might have been involved in a prank like that, and have no idea who might have done it.
TONIGHT: 34th District Democrats‘ monthly meeting, with guests including City Council President Richard Conlin and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson, plus a jail-sites-fight update from Highland Park Action Council, 7 pm, The Hall at Fauntleroy.
TONIGHT: “Project Runway” week 5 and Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) barista Blayne is still in the running, so that means another viewing party at Ginomai (42nd and Genesee). Doors open 8 pm, show at 9 pm.
TOMORROW: West Seattle Second Thursday Art Walk, 6-9 pm. More than 30 venues – and not all in The Junction! – get the map and find out about some of the artists, at the official Art Walk blog (here’s a direct link to the map).
We’ll spotlight some of the Friday and Saturday events later today – Saturday in particular has some mega-events, such as Picnic at the Precinct and the High Point Neighborhood Center groundbreaking – in the meantime, you can check the WSB Events calendar list for dozens of happenings in the days/weeks/months ahead.
That’s the overgrown and undermaintained “Gateway to West Seattle,” along the Fauntleroy end of The Bridge. Just a month is left now till the September 13th event that pretty much needs to be the volunteer effort of the century to get this cleaned up — all the way from Walking on Logs to 35th/Fauntleroy — and all you have to do is commit two hours to be part of it – but organizers REALLY need to hear from you NOW. Here’s the latest from Nancy Driver, who’s not only coordinating volunteer help but also the massive preparation work that’s going into maximizing what those volunteers will be able to do that day (with free coffee! snacks! warm feeling of having accomplished something!) as well as soliciting sponsors for some of the costs the city doesn’t cover (like blackberry-munching goats!):
Stan Lock and I met this morning with the City of Seattle’s Clean & Green Interdepartmental team and did a reconnaissance of the cleanup area. The plan is that the City (SDOT) will be trimming up the bottoms of the trees so that Wa. Dept of Corrections can get in and clear out underbrush under the trees. The City will also be blocking off the lane of traffic adjacent to the clean up site for the 6 hours of the cleanup. Additionally, the City is providing three trucks to haul off green debris and bagged litter, as well as providing rakes and garbage bags.
The City is firmly behind the project and has made a substantial commitment to the project but it’s a huge area to clean up and they can’t provide all the resources to do everything that needs to be done to do a complete cleanup. The community needs to show its support, not only through volunteering the day of the project but by donating funding to get the additional needed work done. There’s probably a half acre or more of blackberries to contend with so we hope to raise money to get in a herd of goats for two to three days to clean out the blackberries. This will cost $825 per day. We are also hoping to raise money to have a tree company come in and finish trimming up the trees and take out any trees that need to be removed. There is substantial tree work that needs to be done and based on the estimates received, this will cost around $10,000 to $12,000. We hope that West Seattle merchants and companies developing properties in West Seattle will step forward to cover the costs for this work. Of course, we would welcome donations from individuals too.
Beyond the actual cleanup, we also need local groups and businesses to step up and “adopt” a portion of the gateway area. The City wants to know that once we get this area cleaned up, it will be maintained. Adopting a portion of the area would mean a commitment similar to one you’d have with the “Adopt a Street” program.
We need to pull together 200 or more volunteers for the cleanup day to donate 2 hours of their time. We will need groups of volunteers of 60 to 70 at two-hour intervals starting at 9 am. Volunteers will be asked to do some hand weeding, rake up green debris and pick up and bag litter. Tools and safety vests will be provided by the City, and gloves have been donated by the West Seattle Garden Tour Committee. Diva Espresso is providing coffee and we are talking to other merchants to chip in with some light snacks.
Some of the groups that have committed to pulling together teams of volunteers are: Mars Hill Church, Karen Lavalle/Windermere Realty, West Seattle Garden Tour, Democrats Work, and Harbor Properties.
Because this is such a big undertaking, we have to be well organized on the day of the cleanup to get everything done. This means we need to line up as many volunteers as possible prior to the cleanup (the earlier the better) so that we can have more or less equal numbers of volunteers showing up for the 9 am group, the 11 am group and the 1 pm group.
Anyone interested in volunteering, helping pull together volunteers, or helping with fundraising should contact me at ndriver@quidnunc.net.
Thanks to all who have already volunteered.
Nancy Driver/Fairmount Community Association
Though it’s not West Seattle-specific, we’re going to keep close tabs on the bag-fee-referendum drive because it’s clear a lot of people are passionate about it – on both sides. So here’s the latest: Jan Gee of Washington Food Industry, the grocer-advocacy organization that’s gathering signatures to cancel the bag fee/foam ban, points out that their website has gone live at StopTheSeattleBagTax.com. Gee also confirms what we had suspected – this was the first place where the petition drive was reported; they didn’t announce it publicly before signature gatherers like the one we met just started fanning out over the weekend. If you come across anyone organizing a “defend the bag fee” effort, let us know; meantime, one of the fee’s main backers is in West Seattle tomorrow night — City Council president Richard Conlin will be a guest at the 34th District Democrats‘ monthly meeting, 7 pm at The Hall @ Fauntleroy. (Also on the agenda, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson, who’s in a tough re-election campaign looking ahead to next Tuesday’s statewide primary.)
Kelly Guenther sends this photo from what he describes as the annual Junction Merchants’ Boat Cruise, apparently docked in Bremerton. We recognize some well-known faces … how ’bout you?
Two notes regarding proposed projects that the Southwest Design Review Board will consider in public meetings coming up this month and next: First, a change — The 9/11 date we first mentioned last week for the Admiral Safeway (photo above; the rendering for the new proposal is to be released at a community meeting sometime in the next few weeks) rebuild project has just been moved to 9/25, per the city’s Design Review-Upcoming page; on that night, after the Safeway project at 6:30 pm, it’s the next review for the Harbor Properties project at 38th/Alaska, both meetings at the Southwest Precinct. Meantime, here’s what’s on design reviewers’ agenda this Thursday night:
On Thursday, two major projects are on the Southwest Design Review Board agenda – the newest design for Fauntleroy Place (above, the most recent publicly released rendering) at 8 pm; the 35th/Graham High Point mixed-use project at 6:30 pm, both meetings at High Point Community Center. Chip Marshall from Lowe Enterprises, which is developing the HP project, gave WSB a tiny bit of a sneak peek today regarding the commercial part of the project:
At this point the commercial is only in the very rudimentary planning stages. It will be along 35th and a portion of Graham street with a public plaza space in-between at the junction of the two streets.
Of course we are at the mercy of what end users will want to locate there, but we believe that given its location on a busy street as well as being the gateway to High Point that it should be attractive to a number of potential tenants.
We have had a meeting with High Point residents and they expressed interest in a coffee shop, some form of food related business that could also serve as a community meeting place, a restaurant as well as possible live work spaces, all of which we are open to.
(Left to right: Westside Dermatology’s Abbey Reyes, Dr. Kelli Arntzen, Amy Nelson PA-C, Stacey Lynema, and Jon Davis)
This afternoon, the traditional WSB sponsor welcome goes out to Westside Dermatology, located in The Junction on 44th SW. When we welcome a sponsor, they get the chance to tell you about themselves, and here’s what Westside Dermatology has to say: “Last September several WSB readers recommended Westside Dermatology’s Dr. Kelli Arntzen in the reader recommendations section for someone suffering from psoriasis. To this day new patients to Westside Dermatology keep mentioning the WSB as how they heard of the clinic. Having lived in West Seattle for over 18 years, Dr. Arntzen appreciates how the blog has provided a sense of community and a source of information to West Seattle. She founded Westside Dermatology in 2004, and has since added Amy Nelson PA-C and James Collyer, MD to the practice. Along with General Adult & Pediatric Dermatology, they provide cosmetic services like Botox, fillers (Restylane and Juvederm), and laser treatments (laser hair removal, IPL photo rejuvenation, laser vein and spot treatment). They also have a full-time aesthetician, Jennifer Hogan, who specializes in helping patients develop a daily skin care regimen with dermatology-grade skin care products like Dermalogica, SkinCeuticals, and Revale. Jennifer also provides medical facials and chemical peels. They recently became one of the very few clinics in Seattle offering the Aluma Skin Renewal System, a radio frequency device that tightens skin and reduces wrinkles in a nearly painless, no downtime procedure. Appointments can be made by calling 206-937-8954. For more information, visit their website at www.Westside-Derm.com.” Thanks to Westside Dermatology for supporting 24/7 West Seattle news, information, and discussion by sponsoring WSB; all our sponsors are listed on the WSB Advertise page, along with information on how you can join them. (Reader Recommendations, by the way, now have a section all their own in the WSB Forums; you can find it here.)
We’re still combing through the past week or so of reports filed and approved at the Southwest Precinct – read on for the noteworthy cases we’ve seen so far:Read More
Introducing – the Puget Sound Stars Baseball Club (13U)! We heard from Brian Chase, who says, “My son just finished with West Seattle Little League and some of us decided to start a Sandy Koufax Select 13U Baseball Team here in West Seattle. We have many WSLL & Bronco kids on the team but have a few spots open for the 2009 season.” If you know a player who might want to go for one of those spots, tryouts are a week from tomorrow, 6-8 pm 8/20 — for more details including location, e-mail Brian by clicking here.
From Admiral to Pigeon Point, some West Seattle residents say train noise is getting worse, and – as first discussed in this WSB Forums thread – they are ready to figure out how to put some limits on it. Not to stop the trains — as Liz Hardy explains, “Many people are affected by this noise because we have found that the bulk of the train traffic is at night and early morning. While we all understand that this is an industrial area and we do not expect (or want) the train traffic to stop, this is also a residential area and something needs to be done to mitigate the effect that the train noise is having on the surrounding neighborhoods.” As the West Seattle Train Noise Action Committee, they are now working to establish a federal “quiet zone” (explained here) in the area around the Port and Harbor Island. They’re hoping you can come to their first meeting, even though it’s downtown – they’ve booked West Seattle-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, plus SDOT and Port of Seattle reps too – is Monday, at City Hall downtown for various reasons, and they are hoping for a big turnout – if you are concerned about train noise, be there: 5:30 pm Monday 8/18, Sam Smith Conference Room on the 2nd floor at City Hall (600 4th Ave.; here’s a map).
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