West Seattle, Washington

15 Monday

46℉

Spotlight Stories


  • Burglary

    BUSINESS BREAK-IN: Burglars hit Alki Mail

  • Closure

    CLOSURE CHANGE: Low bridge, starting Saturday

  • Sale day

    WS GARAGE SALE DAY 5/11: Register by April 25!

Think YOUR job is challenging?
March 25, 2008 8:30 am
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Seen around town

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Talk about work that requires you to go to great heights! WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham describes this scene: “A window washer at Merrill Gardens transitions to his ropes six and one half stories above 35th Avenue SW.” (Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)

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Happening tonight: Denny music benefit
March 25, 2008 6:55 am
|    Comments Off on Happening tonight: Denny music benefit
 |   How to help | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Starting at 4 pm, Endolyne Joe’s in Fauntleroy donates part of tonight’s proceeds to the Denny Middle School music program (featured here with video during its first-ever midwinter-break camp). Choir and band performances are promised, to serenade you during supper!

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Locksmith arson victim: “We WILL rebuild and reopen”
March 24, 2008 11:34 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | How to help | West Seattle fires | West Seattle news

So vowed Puget Sound Key and Lock owner Michael Dein when we talked with him briefly during the WSB Forum members’ gathering tonight at Beveridge Place Pub to plan a fundraiser. That’s him at left:

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He says they’re going to hang a banner outside the store marking their promise to return, though it may take a couple months – he says the building owner promises to rebuild the interior, but they need to replace a lot of equipment and other supplies that “melted” in the fire, and as we first reported hours after the Friday morning arson, they have no fire insurance. That’s why WSB’ers are organizing a benefit – below, a different angle of part of the group – that’s “JoB” second from right (forgive us for not gathering everyone’s names; we had to rush off to check out the outage that someone had just texted us about) – the group was about a dozen strong when we stopped by:

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JoB reports:

The consensus of the meeting is that we will have a combination raffle/social event sometime mid-April. The time and date will be determined by space availability … Our first choice is a tournament at West Seattle Bowl… But we will have to see what we can make work.

Next meeting is 10 am Saturday at Uptown Espresso, and even if you weren’t there tonight, you’re invited to pitch in and help. (Follow the discussion here.) Meantime, the Seattle Police Arson and Bomb Squad is still working to solve the firebombing; we talked with police spokesperson Mark Jamieson this evening and he had nothing new to report, just reiterating that the case is “a priority” and police want to hear from anyone with tips (call 911 or the arson hotline @ 800/55-ARSON).

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West Seattle scenes, Monday night edition
March 24, 2008 11:16 pm
|      9 COMMENTS
 |   Seen around town | Seen at sea

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Above, from WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham: Elijah Hajduk (age 5) and his dad Jonathan are towed by their dog Momo on a custom longboard at Alki. Below: Mac caught the fireboat Chief Seattle doing maneuvers off Salty’s:

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And here’s a pic sent by “X,” who happened onto it while out geocaching on Alki with his wife:

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“X” elaborates further: “On our walk back home along Alki, we heard a motorcycle rev up and then make a crazy sound. A poor lad had the misfortune of loosing control of his prized possession. We watched the bike slam under a truck. The driver flopped, bounced and slid. When we ran over to check on him, we were relieved to find him without any serious injuries, however, his motorcycle didn’t look so good.”

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Another way to feed hungry people in West Seattle
March 24, 2008 9:30 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   How to help

WSB’ers have opened their hearts and wallets for the local food banks, which certainly need help year-round — now, here’s another way you can keep somebody from going to bed hungry — Donna sends this (we mentioned the church shelter in question last month):

I’d like to let everyone know about a situation in our community that gives us an opportunity to serve some folks in need.

From February 2008 until mid-February 2009, West Seattle Church of the Nazarene is hosting a SHARE-run shelter for 20 homeless men each evening. Guests are on-site from 7 pm to 7 am, 7 nights a week.

Many of the shelter guests work and have little more than a roll for breakfast and a cup of soup for dinner at night. They need adequate nourishment in order to work, address their housing and health needs, and regain self-sufficiency.

Please consider providing meals for these folks, and please let your family and friends, church, local business, school, gym, etc., know about the need for help in providing breakfasts and dinners at the shelter during this year. Once, once in awhile, or a regular commitment—all offers are gratefully appreciated.

Please see our very humble website (westseattlemeals.airset.com) for more information and for open dates on the calendar. (They’re ALL open right now!) Folks who want to provide a meal should then contact me with:
· the date(s)
· plans for delivery
· any questions
· phone number and email address

Thank you for your generosity and willingness to help others at a difficult time in their lives.

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Power outage in parts of east West Seattle
March 24, 2008 7:45 pm
|      17 COMMENTS
 |   Utilities | Westwood | WS breaking news

citylight.jpgThanks to those who e-mailed and texted us about an outage in parts of east West Seattle – the City Light recording says the boundaries are Brandon to 97th, 8th to 26th, with more than 800 homes/businesses affected, no word on the cause. Heading out to find out more. 7:55 PM UPDATE: One e-mail and one comment says at least some of the power’s back on – we still have a team member driving the area to see if anyone’s still out. 8:40 PM UPDATE: Found a City Light crew (photo left) patroling Delridge but no signs of lingering outage.

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Reminder: Meeting tonight to plan benefit for arson victims
March 24, 2008 5:29 pm
|    Comments Off on Reminder: Meeting tonight to plan benefit for arson victims
 |   Crime | West Seattle fires | West Seattle news

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Three days after the arson that did $90,000 damage to Puget Sound Key and Lock (Friday photo above) and adjacent businesses, no word yet of any big breaks in the case (just checked with Seattle police), but tonight WSB Forum members are gathering – 7 pm, Beveridge Place Pub – to plan a benefit for the arson victims, primarily the locksmith business owner, Michael Dein, who had no fire insurance, as we reported hours after the fire. WSB’ers have already proven they can do great things – and lots of ideas and people-power are needed. Even if you can’t be there in person, a reminder – an account is set up and donations can be made at any Wells Fargo Bank branch, account #5358011681. 7:50 PM UPDATE: Dropped into BPP very briefly to get pix and check on the gathering – about a dozen people were there and they had a plan outlined within minutes – Michael Dein was there too and told WSB he’s definitely rebuilding and reopening, and heartened by the outpouring of support. Full report on this later after we hear the final outcome of the meeting.

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Q from Councilmember Rasmussen: Viaduct-closure effects?
March 24, 2008 2:53 pm
|      49 COMMENTS
 |   Alaskan Way Viaduct | Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

So how did the weekend closure of The Viaduct affect you? City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, a fellow West Seattleite, wants to know — as he works with the city Transportation Department to make sure WS is a priority with all the transportation planning that’s under way now. Among other things, he’s wondering – did you find yourself in one of the backups that happened even with all the advance warning? Did you get enough advance warning – and/or enough warning while it was happening (the warning lights, signs, etc.)? What alternate routes did you find yourself using? Did you have to change your plans or drop plans because of the shutdown? Anything else you want to say about it — don’t hold anything back! Post comments here.

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Still keeping vigil
March 24, 2008 11:37 am
|      37 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news

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After the reported U.S. death toll in Iraq reached 4,000, we checked to see if the residents of this house across from Lincoln Park (previously noted here and here) were still keeping vigil — they are, with the U.S. injury toll as a second number.

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From the “teens doing positive things” file
March 24, 2008 10:17 am
|      1 COMMENT
 |   West Seattle people | West Seattle video

Not all public-school students in West Seattle go to Seattle Public Schools. More than 100 attend school on Vashon, which is closer than the in-city school commutes some local families make. Among them is Max Westerman, who says the student commuters have to wait a long time to get a ferry back to WS after school; instead of just griping about it, he started a petition to ask Washington State Ferries for a 2:50 pm Vashon-Fauntleroy sailing, similar to one offered during the recent 2-boat schedule:

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(We talked with Max last week when he brought his petition drive to Fauntleroy Food Fest.)

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School vacation week – for some
March 24, 2008 6:53 am
|    Comments Off on School vacation week – for some
 |   West Seattle schools

Some West Seattle private schools have this week off – Our Lady of Guadalupe and Holy Rosary, for example – but Seattle Public Schools‘ spring break isn’t till next week.

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Ending Easter on an optimistic note …
March 23, 2008 10:30 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Holidays | West Seattle weather

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Photographed early this evening from Lincoln Park’s south parking lot, looking east.
ADDED MONDAY MORNING: Jill was taking pictures during the evening sun/storm mix, and caught this intriguing scene that managed to make utility lines look almost picturesque:

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And we couldn’t resist adding this golden-lit photo from Lincoln Park beach:

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Crime Watch reader reports: Brazen taggers; gas siphoning
March 23, 2008 9:56 pm
|      10 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Highland Park | Safety | West Seattle news | Westwood

Two Three West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports to share — as discussed elsewhere, primarily in the interest of all of us watching out for each other. First from Erik in Westwood:

My neighbor’s house just got vandalized. Their fence was tagged by graffiti vandals at 8:15 tonight at the corner of 16th and Trenton in plain view right across from a street lamp. I scared the vandals away (before I got their license plate! D’oh!) but called 911 and the police took a report and were circling the block. I think other neighbors should be aware of this, and I think it’s worth sharing the “tip” that I should have gotten the license number before scaring them away. Keep an eye out for a red Mazda or Toyota with three vandals out looking for property to destroy and property values to drop.

ADDED MONDAY MORNING: This one from Shannon may be related:

There was a lot of tagging going on behind our townhouses on 18th Ave SW near Barton. We didn’t see it happen and, surprisingly, our dogs didn’t bark but we saw flashing lights when the police officer arrived. The vandals tagged our fences and a van parked in the lot of the apartments across the alley with the “M13” gang sign. The neighbor who reported it said they were driving a white car. His daughter saw them and he ran outside. When he did run outside, they drove away quickly before he could get their plates.

Just wanted everyone to be on the lookout. The officer says this is a known gang sign but, for some reason he didn’t make very clear, he believed it was a fake… not that he had any evidence that it was a fake he just said he had a “feeling” it was a fake. Needless to say, that didn’t make any of us feel any better.

(back to the original Sunday night post) And from Dunsany:

Last night, someone broke the lock off my gas cap and siphoned my tank. We’re in Highland Park near 12th and Holden. Savages, I only had maybe 5 gallons in the tank. I hope it was worth it.

Remember, police stress that if you see someone or something suspicious NOW, call 911. If you want to report something that happened some time ago, the non-emergency number is 625-5011.

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Search off Alki tonight – UPDATE: Surfer OK
March 23, 2008 9:37 pm
|      9 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea

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Thanks to Cleat for that shot of a Coast Guard boat heading westward against the major chop early this evening, bound for a search that happened in the 6 o’clock hour near Alki Point. We have been trying to get official info on this and haven’t been successful yet; reader reports say there was concern about a possible missing windsurfer. We hope “no news is good news” in this case; hard to believe it wouldn’t be widely, and officially, reported, if someone were still missing right now. 10:05 PM UPDATE: Thanks so much to Guy, who saw the original post here and just sent this note:

The kite surfer is okay. We live near the point and had seen him out there. All of a sudden we saw the kite go by very fast with no rider. I called the Coast Guard and reported it. They called me back later and said the surfer had had a life jacket and wet suit on and had made it back to shore but had lost his kite. He saw the CG helicopter and thought maybe they had spotted his kite. He called 911 and thus there was a happy ending!

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Cougmania in West Seattle
March 23, 2008 8:23 pm
|      11 COMMENTS
 |   Seen around town | WS & Sports

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The mysterious contributor “Rock Steele, Man About Town” sent photos (thank you!) from last night’s revelry at West Seattle’s official WSU-fan bar (we would say “Cougar bar” but that can have a different connotation), Redline Music and Sports (35th south of Avalon). Washington State has made it to the “Sweet 16” round of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament thanks to the victory these scarletcrimson-and-gray diehards were cheering — according to the official WSU Athletics website, first time the Cougs have gone this far since 1941! The Cougs’ next match is 4:30 pm Thursday vs. North Carolina.

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Viaduct reopens early (as usual)
March 23, 2008 3:47 pm
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   Alaskan Way Viaduct | Transportation

As usually happens during the weekend closures, The Viaduct has reopened earlier than expected — the state Transportation Department says it was back in business as of about 3 pm. Inspection results are due out later this week; some repair and maintenance work was done during the weekend downtime, shown here as listed by WSDOT:

*Smoothing out the roadway surface on the Columbia Street on-ramp
*Searching for and removing loose concrete on the viaduct
*Repairing expansion joints and damaged bridge rails
*Applying a protective covering to exposed rebar
*Servicing drainage systems and traffic cameras
*Washing the walls of the Battery Street Tunnel, and inspecting the lighting, fire suppression and ventilation systems

WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham went on the public walking tour of The Viaduct during the closure and sent these photos, explaining the lower one as “simple technology measuring the movement of The Viaduct’s joints and cracks with a sliding rule attached across two points of contact”:

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(Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)

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Here’s the list of West Seattle parks getting recycling bins
March 23, 2008 1:03 pm
|    Comments Off on Here’s the list of West Seattle parks getting recycling bins
 |   Environment | Highland Park | West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

You may have heard that Seattle Parks will soon put out recyclesymbol32.JPGtheir first recycling containers for park visitors, beginning with parks in West Seattle as well as the city’s southeast section. They’ll collect glass bottles, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans. Suspecting this didn’t mean ALL West Seattle parks, we asked the Parks Department for a list of exactly where those containers will go, and Dewey Potter from the communications team obliged:Read More

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UCC churches’ Alki sunrise service: Truly “rain or shine”
March 23, 2008 8:42 am
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Holidays | West Seattle religion

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Those intrepid Easter-morning beachgoers at water’s edge were worshipers from the Admiral, Alki, and Fauntleroy UCC congregations who clearly meant it when they said “rain or shine” for their sunrise service on Alki Beach. We took this photo from a distance, with zoom, so as not to intrude; just as we walked off the soaked sand at about 7:25, we noticed the group breaking up. The rest of today’s West Seattle services are listed here.

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West Seattle Easter Sunday 2008
March 23, 2008 5:04 am
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   Holidays

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(photo of that always-festive Lowman Beach house by WSB contributor Matt Durham)

WEST SEATTLE EASTER SERVICES: Here’s our list, one last time. It starts with Freedom Church at 6 am, continues through the Alki and Forest Lawn outdoor services, and onward from there.

EASTER REMINDERS: All Seattle public-library branches are closed today. So is The Viaduct for the continuation of its weekend inspection, 6 am-6 pm (sometimes it reopens early, we’ll keep an eye out during the afternoon to let you know if that happens this time).

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Early-morning bridge death on Fairmount
March 23, 2008 1:43 am
|      9 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news

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A big but brief rescue callout early this morning to the stretch of road you see above, Fairmount beneath the Admiral Way bridge – brief because the person, described by police as an “adult male,” was dead at the scene, according to WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli, who went there to investigate the callout. The King County Medical Examiner will investigate the death, but crews at the scene told Christopher it appeared to be suicide. As we’ve reported before, suicide is an epidemic that needs to be addressed, not ignored as is the policy of some media, so we report it here along with other means of violent death. For those who have thought about it — the local Crisis Clinic is there to help: 206/461-3222. There’s a national hotline at 800/SUICIDE. MARCH 28 UPDATE: The King County Medical Examiner’s Office confirms the person found under the bridge was a suicide victim, a 54-year-old West Seattle man.

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Two Chief Sealth High School updates
March 22, 2008 11:59 pm
|    Comments Off on Two Chief Sealth High School updates
 |   Denny-Sealth | West Seattle schools | West Seattle video

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First, that’s a quick bit of video from tonight’s Chief Sealth Mariachi and Honor Choir fundraiser, the annual tamale dinner at which diners were serenaded by the student musicians; you can hear the CSHS mariachis in our clip. Find out more about Chief Sealth’s music program at its website.

Second, almost a month after the Denny/Sealth shared-campus vote, the School Design Team meetings — which are open to the public — are starting up again next week, 3 pm Tuesday at CSHS. Organizers say the next meeting will include a project update and “discussion of next steps.”

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Pre-Easter seal
March 22, 2008 11:34 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle beaches | Wildlife

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Yes, yes, we know, sea LION, really. WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham got these companion shots with marine mammal and canines eyeing each other from sea and shore at Lincoln Park. (Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)

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Drinkable Easter treats for West Seattle Peeps fans
March 22, 2008 8:42 pm
|      7 COMMENTS
 |   Holidays | WS beverages

hotwirepeep.jpgWhile out photographing outdoor sunrise services tomorrow (listed on our West Seattle Easter Sunday Services page along with every other WS service we could find), we’ll be stopping by Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) in The Junction for their Easter-season treat — Peep lattes. Really! Hotwire proprietor Lora provided the photographic proof. The ones with yellow Peeps have honey and vanilla; pink Peeps, strawberry and white chocolate; green Peeps, peppermint and milk chocolate. Lora says Hotwire will be open 7 am-6 pm tomorrow. (And if you’ve got a little one in tow, Hotwire’s having a Peep hunt – find the six Peep pix hidden around Hotwire, get your own Peep.) IF YOU’RE READING THIS POST-EASTER: Lora says the Peeps are “put away for the year” but other spring treats are now on the menu – including lavender mochas and rose lattes.

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