West Seattle, Washington
18 Monday
#1 — Our fly-fishing-blog friends at thee a** hooked whitey (one of the 75-plus blogs linked from our Other Blogs In WS page) report the first much-awaited Pink Salmon has been caught in West Seattle waters.
#2 — Here’s something pink you can catch without a hook or a net (just a checkbook). The famously pink Park Apartments just north of Lincoln Park are up for sale. Less than a million bucks!
Besides the fact the no-parking signs have all been lovingly placed along Cali this Hi-Yu Parade Eve, much like the stockings hung by the chimney with care on Christmas Eve …
… our top reason why you should join us as parade spectators tomorrow, rain or shine, anywhere along Cali between Lander (south of Lafayette Elementary) and Edmunds (south edge of The Junction) … surprises! One example: parade organizers have just added a late entry, likely to be a crowd fave; let’s just say it’s a float honoring a Seattle landmark. See for yourself, starting at 11 am Saturday (after the 10 am kids’ parade). We don’t need sun to have a blast.
The ex-Travelodge on Alaska just west of 35th, where the sign had been under a blue bag for months, is now suddenly redubbed SEATTLE WEST INN & SUITES. (We know you won’t believe it without a picture, but it’s such a dark & stormy night, ours didn’t come out.)
Harbor Avenue around the northeastern edge of the WS peninsula will be in for big changes if either or both of two ambitious ideas presented at last night’s Alki Community Council meeting become reality. It was emphasized that the two plans are not officially linked — but they have undeniable “synergy.” They involve land adjacent to, and east of, what many describe as West Seattle’s “secret gem,” Jack Block Park.
First: The Pier 1/2 concept for a new Water Taxi dock. It’s an unofficial proposal but may be gaining steam, since most would agree the Water Taxi can’t stay at Seacrest forever (among other things, the parking crunch is just too ridiculous). Pier 1/2 is Port of Seattle property adjacent to Jack Block Park. Much more on this and the other proposal, after the click …Read More
Two months after a liquor-license application revealed that Legends would be renamed Redline Music & Sports, looks like the change will happen next week.
Yet another tidbit from last night’s Alki Community Council meeting, big changes ahead for the semi-monthly Alki News Beacon: Its webmaster Cami MacNamara will take over as editor, as Christine L’Ecluse moves on to “a new adventure”; plus, toward the end of the year, subscribers will receive the Beacon by mail instead of by carrier. (If you pick it up at local businesses, don’t worry; Cami tells WSB that copies will still be made available at Alki/Admiral-area businesses.)
Nice article from the Times today. We really must take the WSB calamari devotee there soon. (As for the “deal” aspect, check out the coupon on the Kokoras website.)
Three meetings in less than two weeks, including the Alki Community Council last night, and now we know there won’t be a decision any sooner than fall about whether the Alki Statue of Liberty — removed for recasting exactly one year ago today — will return to its old base, or to a new plaza like this (all architects’ art here):
Both the couple leading a drive to restart the plaza project, Libby & Paul Carr, and the city Parks Department project manager for the statue, Pamela Kliment, are in difficult positions, to say the least. They all spoke at last night’s ACC meeting, but since it was just one item on a busy agenda, there wasn’t a ton of Q/A time. What’s difficult: For the Carrs, the fact they and their volunteer assistants are working hard on something completely unofficial, since the final say lies with the Parks Department; for Parks, the fact they have to be the “reality check” on a volunteer effort that inarguably is full of enthusiasm, vision, inspiration, and hope — Kliment noted that for one, it’s “distressing” that the statue spot is empty, after one full year, and for two, the situation is larger than the statue itself. Which the Carrs likely would not dispute, as they have a larger vision as well — they hope a grand new home for this “Little Sister of Liberty” could spark a nationwide revitalization project for the many other similar statues that have fallen into disrepair in the half-century since the Boy Scouts donated them. So for now, the Carrs and their group — which is not yet officially certified as a nonprofit — will continue their work, including a new logo they debuted last night (shown below; copyrighted by local artist Phil Jones) that they plan to put on fundraising items such as T-shirts and posters; and the Parks Department will look ahead to a public meeting announced last night, 7 pm Thursday, Sept. 13, location TBD (Kliment said she’s hoping for the Bathhouse but it’s got a “temporary hold” for that night).
We know more now about what’s planned for the NW corner of Cali/Graham (across from the big condo conversion), where as we noted 3 months ago we will be sad to see the ex-Butcher Block Espresso, ex-butcher shop, etc. go:
Here’s what’s new: The application for a permit to reclassify the site as seven separate parcels, and the land-use application specifying what would go on those parcels: Three 3-story buildings, one described as a “commercial” building with 6 “live/work units,” the other two described as 3-story “townhouse structures” with 9 total units. And these filings reiterate that the “existing structures” will be demolished. Sigh.
Bite Schmite; not a single reason to leave West Seattle this weekend. Harry Potter on campus! Parade! Free outdoor movie! Belly dancing! The WS Garden Tour! And that’s only the beginning (click ahead):Read More
We went to hear the latest developments in the Statue of Liberty situation, and came away with information on much more. Full reports to come, but for now, the headlines:
-A big new “workforce housing” (we’re guessing that’s the new buzzphrase for “affordable housing”) project is under consideration for Port of Seattle property along Harbor Ave (south of Florida).
-A little further west along Harbor Ave, there’s a new proposal for a Water Taxi terminal at a site adjacent to Jack Block Park known as Pier 1/2. With 500 parking spaces!
-New Liberty developments, too, including the Parks Department announcing an official public meeting about its future, 7 pm Sept. 13. (Location TBA.)
Stand by for more on all of the above and then some …
Don’t faint. A West Seattle-based couple is opening their own bakery — but not on our side of the bay. We best remember Stephanie Crocker and her “Sugar” creations from the Farmers’ Market last year; also, last November we told you about the pie fundraiser to help Stephanie and her husband John with expenses from his fight against cancer. That’s going well and now they’re getting ready to open their own place, Sugar Bakery & Cafe on First Hill (and blogging about it too). Stephanie tells WSB they hope to open in October – just in time for the bakery-mania of the holiday season.
So it seems that before The Commute From Hell became hellish yesterday, it got a little wild. Reader e-mail that just came in:
Did anybody see if the smaller possum that was trundling earnestly up
the center lane (right along the cement divider, not in a traffic lane)
of the eastbound West Seattle freeway at about 7:20 yesterday morning
got up and over the bridge?When I saw him/her, the little feet were scurrying right along, and
however I felt about possums, I wanted him to get to safety!
The folks working on Ercolini Park on SW Alaska just west of The Junction are in line for a $90,000 Neighborhood Matching Fund Award from the city — this isn’t a giveaway, but a hard-fought win that’s only possible when community members commit time and money to projects, enough to impress city leaders to chip in. Ercolini Park organizer Bill Barna says they have a little more fundraising to do — $6K worth — you can go to the Ercolini Park website to find out how to contact them to chip in $ (or anything else the project needs). Congratulations also are in order to Gatewood Elementary School; the next phase of its playground project also is in line for a $90K matching-fund grant. (Full list of matching-fund projects citywide, including a South Park skatepark, is readable here.)
Less than a week after we told you about the deal that ended the fight over the clump of townhomes going up (one nearly complete building, shown below) at the SW foot of Gatewood Hill, the situation gets ink in this week’s Stranger (one correction, the church wasn’t demolished; the property had belonged to Gatewood Baptist Church across the street and was sold along with it, but the developers re-sold the church to Seattle International; also the arrival of equipment wasn’t the first word of the development — we posted here 3 months earlier when the permit applications were filed). P.S.: You can expect work to start any second now on the final disputed row of townhomes (permit just issued); the selling agents have just planted a big sign plugging the “Seattle Townhome Team“; and developer Dan Duffus is on the panel for a city-organized “Forum on Housing Affordability” this Friday.
One year ago tomorrow, the old Alki Statue of Liberty was taken down and trucked away. 
Tonight at the monthly Alki Community Council meeting, it’s a third round of discussion about what could, should, and might happen next. (This follows two meetings in the past 8 days organized by community members Libby and Paul Carr, who are trying to re-start the project to build a plaza around the recast statue; here’s our report on the first meeting; a WSB reader’s observations from the second one is in the comments here.) Parks Department rep Pamela Kliment, who’s collecting public comment on all this, tells us she’ll be at this meeting after having to skip the last one; so will the Carrs. It’s an important debate about a West Seattle icon; get in on it by going tonight (7 pm, Alki Community Center) or by e-mailing Kliment (click here).
Much more WS news to tell you about, but it’s going to have to wait till morning. For now, we close the night with words of thanks for polite WS drivers, from a WSB reader who hopes to see more of them:
I know that it’s been tough for commuters using Admiral Way lately.
From those of us living just off Admiral between 37th and 39th, I’d like to send out a thank you to the few drivers who have been kind enough to let us into and out of our neighborhood.
Some days (like Monday when I had to take my cat to the vet) I waited 10 minutes to turn right onto Admiral from 39th. Finally, one driver, a man in a black sedan, let me in. Special thanks to that driver!
Hey, leg lovers! Remember the virtual catcalls over the Spud mascot in our pic (photo back for an encore performance at right) from the Seafair Pirates Landing festivities weekend before last? The West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival American Legion Grand Parade lineup for Saturday morning promises the Spud mascot … you better be there just in case it’s The One With The Calves! (Reminders: #1, parade route here. #2, the 11 am parade is preceded by the Rotary Club Kiddies’ Parade, in which just about any junior WS-ite is welcome to participate — meet at Cali/Genesee by 10 am.)
Just went by to visually confirm a reader tip: The Java Bean/Luna Park crosswalk is gone.
We didn’t get pix during the Concert in the Park last night … so here now for your viewing pleasure now, belatedly, are the tree and plaque on the south side of Hiawatha Community Center, officially dedicated last night by Hizzoner in honor of West Seattle’s annexation centennial (so now can we secede? j/k):ÂÂ
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A WSB reader stuck on this side of the bridge because of the Commute From Hell (see below) wonders if any WS coffee shop is toddler-friendly (play area, perhaps?). We have been to most if not all WS coffee shops in recent months and can’t recall any — but perhaps something has changed — anyone?
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