West Seattle, Washington
18 Monday
Ten days till Freeway Fright ’07. You can skip the first day entirely by staying right here in West Seattle and golfing for a good cause: the first-ever Seniors for Juniors Golf Tournament @ WS Golf Course. 1 pm August 10th, hosted by local sportscasting legend Bruce King (photo right, from the Fir State Junior Golf Foundation site). Read all about it here, including how to register. (Getting in on this entitles you to more than golf — it’s a full day of fun, including refreshments, entertainment, and dinner.)
Catching up on info from Monday (one of the two days each week
when the city sends out its Land Use Information Bulletin, among other info sources):
-The land-use permits have just been issued for the megaproject that will bring QFC, Office Depot, apartments, and more to the ex-Hollywood Video site (photo right): it’s got two addresses, so two permits (4100 Alaska and 4122 Alaska).
-The permit’s also finalized for the “vegetation/tree removal” plan along Beach Drive (it too has two addresses, one on Beach and one on Atlas) that we previously lamented.
-There’s an addition to the agenda for the Southwest Design Review Board meeting @ SW Precinct Community Room a week from Thursday: After board members get the latest on the Charlestown Cafe site at 6:30, they’ll be dealing at 8 with the “mixed-use” project @ 2310 Cali. (For those concerned about the cafe site’s future, remember the community meeting this Thursday.)
7:15 AM UPDATE: The morning digest of yesterday’s city action is just in; a land-use permit was issued for the other Junction Megaproject, Fauntleroy Place. Busy times.
From the eyewitness who first told us all about Sunday morning’s shooting, second one in a short stretch of Delridge in two days:
I talked to my neighbor today and she said that an officer paid her a visit, as a follow up to Sunday’s shooting. The officer told her that apparently there is a turf war going on between gangs in White Center and West Seattle. There seems to be a house or apt. around the 5600 block of Delridge that is bringing them down here. As of yet they are not exactly sure what address or people.
The officer said that Sunday’s shooting was in retaliation for Thursday’s shooting. They encouraged her to call the police if you see groups of 2 or more around the 5600 Block late at night that appear to be doing anything like through gang signs or getting loud etc. they hope that if they can bother them enough they will move on.
Also of note there will be a block watch meeting at the Delridge library on Wednesday August 1, 2007 @ 6:30 pm. I encourage everyone in the neighborhood to attend. This is our neighborhood and we don’t have to put up with this cr*p!
The subject line on the e-mail about this lost cat was a grabber — LOST SPECIAL NEEDS CAT. Sammy’s owner writes that he’s a “special needs, indoor cat. His hind legs don’t work well, so he drags them around while he pulls himself along with his forelegs. He can move unexpectedly fast though. He was lost at 46th and Genesee in West Seattle on Monday morning. He is a medium-sized Siamese and he does not have a collar on.” Call Sammy’s people at 937-4418 or 396-8026.
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WS writer/broadcaster/blogger John Moe wrote to let us know his latest piece for public radio’s Weekend America has a WS angle — as he describes it, “comparing and contrasting Lindsay Lohan and West Seattleite Frances Farmer. I talk about her life in West Seattle, mention West Seattle High School, and a couple other local things.” Here’s the link.
The P-i has finally picked up on the one we reported here yesterday, with a story looking at whether the two recent shootings might be related.
Several people have written us wondering what’s up with Divina, north of The Junction, since it looks rather empty from the outside. We stopped to check out the sign on the door; it promises they’ll be “back in August” with more “new, fun” stuff.
This Hi-Yu Festival season, we’ve been privileged to correspond with some of the folks whose hard work makes a ton of West Seattle summer fun possible. Among them are Hi-Yu President Tim Winston, and Jim Edwards, who among many other things has a key role in making the Hi-Yu Parade happen, and a big role in the West Seattle Big Band, which keeps a busy schedule that included the Concert in the Park earlier this month. After our Torchlight Parade report including the photo of the Hi-Yu float getting a little help, Jim sent us some parade photos, and the tale of his 15 years driving the float …
Jim photographed the float from the Westlake Park grandstand area, just before it needed a little help. He also sent pix of his daughter, who represented West Seattle in this year’s Miss Seafair competition, and the outgoing Miss Seafair, Erin Waid, also from WS … those pix and Jim’s float-history tale, after the click.Read More
We’ve mentioned before that Delridge Arco, besides usually having the lowest posted gas price in WS (though one reader warned, that can be negated by a surcharge for using plastic), has quite the challenge for those tasked with changing its price signs: They have to change four sets of numbers, one on each side of its two big signs. If one particular digit appears too often — well, see our picture to witness the results. (The backward and missing digits are supposed to be 9’s.) Arco’s $2.79 is still the lowest in WS; next up, Admiral Chevron at $2.87 as of last night, with many others following at $2.89. Speaking of numbers, interesting Times story today about what kind of profit station operators apparently are NOT making off these prices.
Our WS “live” cams page has long featured links to city and state traffic cameras in and near WS. In time for this morning’s commute, we tweaked the page to add images from those cameras: Each time you check the page, you will see the newest images from all the cameras we link to. They won’t automatically refresh (nor do they on their source sites), but every time you “refresh” or return to the page, you will get updated images for all cameras. Let us know any other cameras (the city and state have a ton) you would like to see added.
A reader sent us this photo, saying he took it this morning while passing by a house under construction in Fauntlee Hills. Haven’t seen a whole lot of protest banners around here, so we looked around online and found some backstory …
The unfinished house (which is separate from the older brick home in the foreground) is for sale for $1.2 million, according to this listing, about $1 million more than the landowner paid for the 5k-sf lot a year and a half ago. So what’s the banner-inspiring beef about this development project, compared to the dozens of others under way around WS? The online city records give us a hint; a complaint filed earlier this month, investigated, and found without merit, carries a note about checking the house’s height at the “external nailing inspection.”
First, a reader question for anyone and everyone in WSB-land. After that, three photos — not related to the reader question except that they are also things seen on/over Puget Sound. So here we go —
i’m curious if anyone else has seen a mysterious man, paddling STANDING UP on the Sound. we saw him last night about 6 pm, couldn’t believe our eyes! then, at 9 am this morning, we saw the same guy (we’re assuming). when we looked through our binoculars, it appeared that he was standing up on something resembling a surfboard as he paddles. has anyone else seen him or knows what it is he is doing?
If you do, leave a comment. Now, three photos we took around sunset tonight from the northern shores of Lincoln Park. Some of the folks on the boat in the first photo (which appeared to be related to an outdoor party at one of the waterfront homes just past the park) were actually jumping into the water. Brrr!
Since our update yesterday featuring the new flyer from the group that thinks it will take too long to embark on a new round of fundraising for what they call the “fancy-schmancy” plaza … here’s what else has happened:
First — That group has set up an e-mail address — libertyhomenow@yahoo.com — as mentioned in the comments below yesterday’s update. No website yet, but then again, we haven’t seen the pro-plaza group’s promised site at sealady.org go live yet either.
Second — Matt Hutchins, one of the architects that has donated his time to the plaza project and appeared at the recent meetings about it, e-mailed us some answers/clarifications to points that have been brought up by plaza opponents/doubters. Click ahead to read the complete text of what he wants to say (he also promises to answer questions here as well).
Guess you can’t just let those apartments lie idle while tenants flee before the deadline to buy in or get out. Spotted at West Ridge Park on Delridge this afternoon, balloon-festooned signs exhorting SHORT TERM LEASES! (photo below) and MONTH TO MONTH! (across the street), all within rock-throwing distance of the sign about the conversion to its new condo identity as “Gables” …
We’ll set up a special section soon, now that people who have lost or found pets are finding out this is another good place to get the word out. In the meantime, this just in: Izzy the 10-pound Cairn Terrier (photo right), described by her people as “shy but very friendly” and “looks like Toto from The Wizard of Oz,” disappeared from her High Point home sometime Friday. Izzy was wearing a pink collar with name and owner info. There’s a reward out for her safe return. 937-5693.
This one doesn’t seem to have been covered by the “traditional media.” However, the online 911 logs verify an “assault with weapons” call in the area at the time the letterwriter mentions, about three blocks south of Thursday night’s shooting. Here’s the e-mail we received, verbatim:
There was another shooting just up the street on Delridge early this morning. At the intersection of Delridge way sw and sw Juneau st. There was a shooting at approx. 1:50 am July 29, 2007.
The incident started with a car stop in the northbound lane of Delridge just after the intersection there where 4 young black males verbally arguing in the street. The car then pulled over and parked and another young black man got out. The 3 from the car proceeded to get into a physical fight with 2 other men. The fight seemed to have broken up with the 3 running back to their car when one of those 3 fired 5 shots in the direction of the other group and hit one of them.
The car speed off northbound on Delridge. The victim was hit in the head with a grazing wound. There were several eyewitnesses to the event who gave statements to the police. Who responded very promptly, they arrived at the scene just after the car left and ran to help the victim. Soon there where 3 fire trucks and 7 police cars, the intersection was taped off and evidence collected. The police said that the young man should be fine.
The gang unit was out and the victims companion refused to give a statement. Which in my opinion supports this incident being gang related. This is the second shooting in a 5 block stretch of Delridge in 4 days. In addition the police mention a driveby earlier in the week. I was the eyewitness who saw everything and gave a statement.
Hope this helps others in the community to be aware and to call things in. It’s okay to make a non-emergency call to 911 to report suspicious activity.
Today’s the day. Go buy some diapers, drop them off at the big yellow WestSide Baby bus parked next to the Farmers’ Market, 10 am-2 pm. Here’s who they help. They hope to have 60,000 diapers before the day’s done; help ’em meet, then beat, that goal. Still not sure you can take the time to help? The official WestSide Baby press release for today’s event makes a good case; click ahead to read it.Read More
Back from seven hours downtown (if you start parade stakeout around 3 pm, you can still get a great spot not too far south of Westlake Center, and catch up on reading). A few pix of WS relevance — first, West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician, back in the parade this year after skipping last year:
In honor of West Seattle’s many longshore workers, we snapped our first-ever sighting of the ILWU Drill Team:
Then there were the fine folks from the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival, cheerily waving from atop and alongside the “Pearls of the Sea” float:
Their good cheer was extra-brave, considering the float was tow truck-powered by the time it got to our spot along the route (did the overheating problem rear its ugly head again?):
Next: Blue Angels mania! (Here are this year’s I-90 closure times, if you need ’em.)
To summarize where the Alki Statue of Liberty situation stood before today:
-New statue done.
–Plaza project in limbo.
–Organizers of new pro-plaza group held two meetings and addressed the Alki Community Council.
–City Parks Department has final say and plans public meeting September 13th.
And now: The “Bring Miss Liberty Home NOW!” faction goes public. MONDAY EVENING UPDATE: The flyer previously linked here has been pulled because the group is working on a new one that they are making sure does not mislead anyone into thinking it’s an official Parks Department document.
The weather’s more beautiful than expected and there’s a good crowd browsing the Art Fair booths at the beach. Dozens of booths, plus a bouncy toy for kids ($1), are on the blacktop promenade, both sides of the bathhouse. Live music, too! Here’s a few scenes we caught while strolling through — first, the obligatory overview:
Two pix from our favorite booth, on the west end of the Art Fair — Hoppy’s Garden Art, lovely and reasonably priced creations (the rectangular trellises in the second photo were $79 & $89):
Not part of the fair but part of the scenery — with a low-ish tide down on the beach itself, boogieboarding was in order:
Art Fair signs say it’s 10-5 today and tomorrow; city website says till 6; just an fyi in case you’re not planning to go till late in the day.
Hot out of the inbox:
At about 8 a.m. this morning my husband and I saw a little
brown dog running down the east side of 35th just south of Holden. We
tried to pull over but for fear of chasing him into the street we kept
going and hoped for the best. When we returned to our home near 39th and Elmgrove at 9:30, there was the same dog, still looking lost. We tried
to catch him but he’s very scared and he we eventually lost sight of
him around 41st and Kenyon. This dog successfully crossed 35th once this
morning, I am worried he’ll try again and he’s obviously lost. The
dog was small, around 8-10 pounds and looked like a dachshund, possibly
mixed with chihuahua. He was wearing a black collar and I am not certain
there were any tags. Please keep a look out for him and I am also
hoping if his owners read this, they can narrow their search.
Leave a comment if you know whose dog this is – with the Art Fair, the parade, etc., we will be offline for a good chunk of time today and e-mail won’t be seen for a while.
Though tonight’s Seafair Torchlight Parade happens downtown, there are a few Seafair-related items of WS relevance:
-Because of the Torchlight Run preceding the parade, The Viaduct will be closed tonight, from 5:45 till 7:30 or so.
-The West Seattle Hi-Yu float got fixed, thanks to Alki Automotive, and is ready for the parade; it got a lot of ink (pixels) in this Seattle Times parade preview.
-Thanks to Northwest Asian Weekly, we found out a West Seattle teenager has a prominent role in one of the most popular parade entries: Jennifer Gee, featured by NAW as an “Outstanding Graduate” for her achievement as this year’s West Seattle High School valedictorian, is captain of the Seattle Chinese Community Girls’ Drill Team (photo taken by Jason Parker at Hi-Yu Parade last weekend).
-Last but not least, West Seattle writer/humorist John Moe (whose blog Monkey Disaster is one of the 70-plus sites linked from our Other Blogs in WS page) wrote an amusing piece about potential Seafair revisions for the Times.
If you’re going to the Torchlight Parade, we’ll see you there. If not, we highly recommend checking out the first night (since last week was rained out) of Movies on the Wall by Sidewalk Cinema, featuring “Best in Show,” next to Hotwire Coffeehouse. Free! Fun! (Here’s our post from the first time we went last year.)
The Alki Art Fair, of course, is now just hours away … you can’t miss the signs all over WS …
Then in a couple weeks, there’s a second Art Fair in West Seattle — this one on August 11th at C & P Coffee south of The Junction. It’s their first one ever, and they’re looking for more participants; e-mail the C & P folks to find out more.
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