Something else to do on Monday
OK, we are completely aware this is a gimmick cooked up by Metroblogging Seattle to try to get more readers, by conning other blogs into a link, though we wouldn’t have known they were running a “Best Blog in Seattle” contest except for the fact one lone person followed a link from there to here. NONETHELESS — we don’t suppose it would do any harm if you drop by MS to vote for us on Monday. Seems the preliminary round is one day only (like those olden-days sales at Bon Marche Bon Macy’s). Even more important on Monday, don’t forget about this (we’ll be there too).
Pedestrian-safety progress?
In December, the city promised curb bulbs, for starters, to make things a little bit better at the 47th/Admiral intersection where Tatsuo Nakata was hit and killed. Construction was supposed to have started by now; an e-mail tip noted there’s at least an outline on the street (which we subsequently, albeit non-thrillingly, photographed):
Looking out for us
According to this P-I update, the judge who ruled today on the ballot language for next month’s Viaduct Vote at least asked a question on behalf of all us West Seattle commuters (sadly it seems there’s no good answer to that question yet):
Seu said access to downtown is planned at King Street, though he couldn’t answer Erlick’s question about exactly how a West Seattle resident could get downtown from a new tunnel. “There is no final design,” Seu said.
Hot (food) tip
In all of our recent pizza patter (which has some fascinating new comments), questions kept popping up — like pepperoni atop the mozzarella — about which West Seattle Asian restaurants deliver. So guess what — just confirmed a tip from “The House” — Tom Yum Koong in The Junction has a banner up proclaiming that it’s delivering, starting today.
West Seattle’s literary hotspot
Every time we see folks tapping away on their laptops at local coffee places, we wonder … student? blogger? or perhaps, author? You might have more reason to suspect the latter at Uptown Espresso in The Junction these days. First, WS radio host/author/blogger John Moe revealed he wrote a lot of “Conservatize Me” there. Now Maritime History Network blogger (and journalist/author) Joe Follansbee is planning a reading/signing there in a few weeks for his new book about the Wawona. (Personally, if we had to choose an out-of-the-house spot to write that surefire bestseller someday, we like the view at Alki Tully’s …)
Clean sweep
West Seattle Blogger Spouse reports street sweepers working Cali Ave much of the day, apparently tackling the sand from Snowpocalypse ’07. Glad to hear it, having recently been caught in clouds of dust kicked up by hill-climbing buses traveling over the street-side sandpiles!
Chopper-buzz update: The police tell all
Tonight, thanks to helpful Cindi from MorganJunction.org, we have actual police info about last week’s incident that kept some WSers awake thanks to chopper involvement. A lieutenant from the Southwest Precinct sent her this explanation of (a) the crime and (b) why one inquiring caller couldn’t find anything out:
The call was a burglary with two suspects in the 6900 blk of 37th Ave SW. We were able to catch one of the burglars using the helecopter and K9.
Sometimes we do not staff the precinct clerk due to staffing shortages. A lot of the time, the daytime clerk may not be aware of incidents that occur at night unless it makes the news.
We could always do better in putting out info. We are currently trying to get the IT folks to allow us administrative access to revamp our precinct website in order to put out better info to the public.
Slice of silliness
We appreciate Robert Jamieson’s P-I columns sometimes, but clearly he doesn’t know the paradigm is that us blogger types are supposed to run around commenting on the paper, not the other way around. Searching for a column idea in a slow news week, he lands today on our Pagliacci delivery-limits discussion. (Nice the company responded to him but not to us.) Anyway, the same guy who defended Mars Hill’s misogynist main man just a wink of time ago is now defending Pagliacci. Sorry, the “seven-minute rule” doesn’t wash (seven minutes to get from The Junction to any place south of Cali & Morgan? in a horse-drawn cart?). We personally don’t think we’re aced out for economics (our own humble shack is a lone island of affordability among a slew of expensive view homes), just non-business sense (what’s the BS about a “cold, soggy pie,” when other outlets further north can get a hot one to us just fine?) — Mr. Columnist implies that the classism claim is the only complaint here and chides us for it, yet this was included in only TWO comments out of more than 50 on the two posts where we’ve had this discussion (#1 here, #2 here). But at least Pagliacci, in his column, has removed any hope they’ll be delivering to us south WS’ers. Welcome, Garlic Jim’s!
Miscellaneous mysteries
Seems about once a week, someone notices a mysterious, unexplained late-night closure on the West Seattle Bridge. Here’s the latest report (with one response saying, without elaboration, “it was a police training exercise”). Anyone with more definitive dirt, please let us know. Meantime, remember all those recent helicopter buzzings? We have one neighborhood account of what was happening at the time on the ground (after the jump) …Read More
Hollywood Video getting ejected
Looks like at least one of the big east-of-Junction mixed-use projects is about to accelerate: Got an e-mail tip that Hollywood Video at Alaska and 41st had announced it would be closing Feb. 11; went over to check it out, and before we could even approach the counter to inquire, we heard the clerk say it loud and clear to three different sets of customers. Apparently they expected more warning, but then suddenly, this weekend, the owner gave them two weeks’ notice — or so went the clerk’s version. This is the project that supposedly will include a QFC, just a few blocks west of the future Whole Foods, practically across the street from Safeway … wonder how soon the wrecking ball will show up?
Speaking of signs
The Huling/Gee sightings below aren’t the only notable sign activity under way. In The Junction, Jak’s Grill seems to be in transition between awnings; if you look really close at where the awning used to be, you’ll see the old KRESS AND CO. name in the masonry (city historic link here). And a bit further north, the Garlic Jim’s sign is up:
Bridge over troubled … earth
As of a few hours ago, the Thistle/Northrop sinkhole has a bridge over it, which means (a) the stairway down to Lincoln Park is fully usable again, and (b) you can get one heck of a view directly into the sinkhole (most amazing is the sidewalk along the west side of Northrop, just suspended in mid-air, nothing beneath it). We’ll have to go back later for a picture of that, but we did catch the bridge-building SDOT crew there this morning:
The nightlife fight
As computer-glued homebodies, we haven’t followed the simmering fight over the Seattle “nightlife premises ordinance.” But perhaps we should. One WSB reader forwarded us an urgent e-mail from a club in another part of town and suggests several WS establishments have a lot at stake in this too; check the e-mail out (after the jump), take action if you are interested, and please let us know if there’s another point of view on this to spotlight as well:Read More
Serving up a warning
Along with updates on menu items and special events, the latest e-mail newsletter from West 5 features a warning about being careful where you park behind that block of Junction businesses (excerpted in full after the jump):Read More
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