West Seattle, Washington
17 Friday
We’ve been so eagerly awaiting the return of the Elliott Bay Water Taxi, we couldn’t resist getting up to glimpse its first Seacrest arrival of the season. Below is the proof (before the sun came out!), as it approached the dock @ 8:50 am today. (The kickoff party isn’t till noon but the Water Taxi is running its official schedule; first run from WS was at 9.)
On this busy spring Sunday, perhaps between your Farmers’ Market stop and your Water Taxi trip, take a little time to help ponder the future of the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse. A community open house is happening there 11 am-2 pm to facilitate and inspire that pondering. And there’s urgency — the school district still owns this 90-year-old treasure (the child-care center, events hall, and others based there are tenants) but is indicating it’s time to sell off this and other “surplus property.” If you have only driven by, perhaps heading to or from the nearby ferry dock, you may not realize how large the schoolhouse property is; as a result, as one reader wrote to us, “there are developers who are hovering over the property.” Will it be the next townhouse cluster — or will the community rally to preserve it? Drop by today to offer ideas … or absorb them … a rare chance to do something before it’s too late.
Didn’t know this was happening today, till we saw a banner at a worksite along Fauntleroy near Lincoln Park while we watched out a bus window: It was “Spring Rebuilding Day” for Rebuilding Together Seattle, which we hadn’t heard of till now; sounds like a great cause.
As of this morning, the WS station we’ve been watching was holding steady at $3.39/regular, but after a bus ride downtown (just $1.25!) we saw lots worse, such as the Shell @ Denny & Aurora (left). So if you’ve gotta fill up, home is better! (Or South Seattle Costco, where we paid $3.13 yesterday.) Oh, and the governor proclaims herself “ticked off” by the pump jumps.
After all the chatter leading up to the WS debut of Garlic Jim’s, it’s been open a month now, and the buzz has died down. A lot of folks gave it a try, with mixed reviews. So we’re asking today, has your pizza routine changed? Is GJ’s a regular part of it? Or, has the Pagliacci delivery-zone extension changed anything for you? 
We’ll start: Since GJ’s delivers to us but Pagliacci doesn’t, we haven’t gotten Pag pizza in weeks. (We’re sure they’re not missing us, since we’re not frequent pizza procurers.) Got GJ’s recently; 25 minutes from order to delivery, slightly overbrowned pepperoni pizza (left). We’ve noticed two major differences between GJ and Pagliacci: price, and subtlety — Pagliacci flavors can be subtle; 
GJ’s, generally not. Which is fine by us, as you would never mistake us for actual gourmets, though we do think GJ’s beats the non-locally based delivery chains (Papa John, Pizza Hut, Domino’s), and the price is right. Next up in the WS pizza world: the mysterious (still can’t find a biz license or anything else pointing us to who’s behind it) Giannoni’s (and neighboring Taco del Mar) is progressing at Westwood Village (right)
Three WS-related articles on the P-I site today:
-A well-known climber from West Seattle, Lara-Karena Kellogg, died after falling in Denali National Park. A tribute on this climbing blog points to a site friends have set up to share memories and condolences.
–Robert Jamieson pays tribute to Charlie Chong. (We are still keeping an eye out for funeral/memorial plans and will let you know when we hear something.)
-The entrepreneurs who moved Retroactive Kids from Morgan Junction to Columbia City are profiled. Among other things, they observe that WS wasn’t funky enough. (We hereby apologize; we’re quirky and crazy ourselves but never quite made it to funky.)
We’ve vented about graffiti/tagging vandalism before, but it’s reaching critical mass again. The latest “last straw” is an ugly tag on one of the charming Luna Park signs near the Avalon business area that’s taken on that historic name. Then there’s the ongoing saga of West Seattle’s once-fabled murals; taggers hit the one at the post office in The Junction (just part of the semi-disrepair the murals have fallen into, as Warren Lawless lamented in this recent‚ column). Finally, an e-mail tip says paint-equipped vandals have hit Lafayette Elementary repeatedly in recent weeks; not only is this kind of attack a needless hassle and expense for cash-strapped schools, but a parent points out, it also frightens the kids. Who is doing this and why can’t they be stopped?
The Water Taxi and Farmers’ Market, both returning on Sunday … Easy Street’s new “afterhours” shows continuing tonight … your chance to help shape a West Seattle landmark’s future … all part of the weekend preview roundup, a click away:
Gas Price Watch update (no, we’re not picking on the 35th/Holden Chevron, just happens to be our baseline this week – next week we might track someplace else): Up a dime/gallon this morning (photo at left). That’s 21 cents since early Monday morning.
The Times just posted that West Seattle’s ex-city councilmember and citizen activist Charlie Chong is gone. Most recently, as we mentioned in February, he had lent his support to the Charlestown Cafe campaign, although we’ll always remember him best for the snowplows. 11:15 AM UPDATE: The P-I has an article up now too.
A few more miscellaneous notes in the aftermath of the domestic dispute turned SWAT standoff @ 25th/Brandon last night: A nearby resident’s blog reports on the news crew that lingered long afterward and also has an earlier post with some great pix of the police action; the P-I has a fairly basic wrapup; Slog’s got the only truly complete report, including an interview with the owner of the battered BMW, seen below, ax in windshield and SWAT vehicle right behind, in a photo sent to us by a witness. P.S. According to the King County Jail Lookup, the suspect, Robert Joseph James, is still behind bars as of this writing, under investigation for four possible crimes including domestic violence, court-order violation, and malicious mischief.
Some kind of a standoff happening — just caught a bit of a tv report – here’s an e-mail report from a witness – needless to say, sounds like an area to stay away from! (If you’ve got pix, send ’em to us.) 5:57 PM UPDATE: One comment quotes a media site as saying it’s over. Also, Slog has scene photo. 8:18 PM UPDATE: More details from the P-I.
A guy took an axe to his ex’s beamer– and is now holed up inside a house in 5200 block of 25th ave SW.Neighbors not being allowed access.. big cop presence.Axe is still hanging on the broken windshield
One month after putting it up, city crews finally pulled the covers off the left-turn light at 35th/Thistle this morning, and it’s up ‘n’ running:
Gas Price Watch update (if you’re just joining us, we found ourselves tracking the Chevron station @ 35th/Holden after witnessing a price change in progress Monday morning): After a day off, the rise resumes, perhaps inspired by the headlines. Up three cents overnight to $3.29/gal for regular (up 11 cents in all since the weekend).
Just verified a reader tip that Auto Buff, west of Metro Market, is moving next week (you can’t miss the huge banner out front, with the address of its new location on the east edge of The Junction). No detectable permit movement on the 42nd/Admiral mixed-use project planned for that spot, though.
More going on than just repaving:
–Set aside some time this Saturday to join West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician and a multitude of cool people at the Admiral Neighborhood Clean & Green event, 9 am-1 pm, meet at the Metro Market parking lot. Read more here about the whole Clean & Green mission.
–Say “so long” to the SOA storefront headquarters of Megawatt. Big sign in the window notes they’re moving to the new West Seattle Resource Center as of next Tuesday. (We’ll miss their SOA presence; best place to walk by and check out posters for everything and anything coming up in the ‘hood. We don’t usually hoof along 35th so we’re going to have to get our poster fix elsewhere.)
While up around 35th/Holden on Gas Price Watch (for the 1st time in 3 mornings, no increase), we stopped at Carosello for our morning coffee, first time in a while. We were more than pleasantly surprised by some improvements there: They’re serving some local brands you don’t see many other places: coffee from Caffe Umbria, organic treats from Boulangerie Nantaise and Mighty O Donuts. (If you’re a public-service worker, drop by on Thursdays in uniform and drinks are 2-for-1.)
The city just granted permits for the townhouse project that’ll replace this brick multiplex @ SW corner of Cali/Seattle (not far from similar projects).
Also on the topic of doomed brickwork, there’s an addendum to the saga of the unique fourplex that’s on its last legs across the street from Charlestown Cafe — scroll to the bottom of the original page to check out a comment just posted by one of its current renters.
When the city reported that the repaving was moving fast, that was no exaggeration. If you have to drive the north half of Cali, be forewarned that as of this morning, the heavy equipment has all moved north, currently focusing on a stretch from Admiral Safeway to McDonald’s — particularly challenging for drivers, considering there are two schools in that stretch (Lafayette Elementary and WS High). The work this morning is centering on the west side of the street and the crews are still straightening out the traffic flow on the east, so be patient — and watchful — our trip through was a bit of an adventure.
3 months after going public, WS-based Schooner Exact says business is hopping. They e-mailed us to make sure you know they’re the “featured cask” tomorrow night @ 6 @ Beveridge Place Pub, with what Schooner Exact partner Marcus calls “a seriously over-the-top Imperial 3 Grid IPA, on cask, naturally fermented, dry-hopped.” (We are beer idiots but we’re guessing that means it’s fairly swell stuff.) Marcus also tells us they’re up to three kegs/week, with new equipment and more on the way. He says you can find their creations “on a rotating basis” at West 5 too; follow their adventures on the Schooner Exact blog.
The automated ticket machines and other components of “Wave 2 Go” have been working their way down from ferry routes further north; now the date is set for their Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth debut.
For those of you who have asked — the city transportation department says the Admiral/Olga cam that popped up a while back will not be providing webpix like other city cams; it’s for traffic-signal “video detection” only.
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