Reaching right through the mail slot
On the eve of Mars Hill Church‘s official West Seattle debut in the temporary digs at Chief Sealth HS, the mail brought a postcard inviting us (little ol’ US? well, probably you too, since the card’s addressed to the everpopular “resident”) to join them. The postcard bills MH as “the nation’s 15th fastest growing church” and its main preacher Mark Driscoll as “one of the 25 most influential pastors in America” and “one of Seattle’s 25 most powerful people.” (What was that again about, the meek shall inherit the earth?) The MH-WS blog says more than 400 people showed up for last week’s trial run at CSHS. They will of course join an already-vibrant community of churches in West Seattle, such as (random mention here) the UU’s, who meet in the Masonic Temple on 40th SW; here’s what they’re up to.
Another Friday night Junction stroll
Always lots to see; here’s some of what we saw: Village Woodworks has a notice up on its door, addressed to its fellow Junction businesses, alerting them to watch out for a shoplifter that hit VW this afternoon, described basically as a 20-30 y-o white guy, average height/build, blue windbreaker. (Describes about two-thirds of the guys we walked past down the block, standing outside the various Junction restaurants creating clouds of smoke.) Meanwhile, two months after the eviction notice went up on the window at Emily Ann’s Dollar Boutique, the place is finally, finally cleared out. And right in the middle of the road — repaving is progressing; the center of The Junction’s southern block is filled with new asphalt — big dig right in front of Pagliacci, Clementine, Red Cup, and Natureway, though!
One story of sadness, another of hope
Sadness: Drove home just after 7 pm, headed up 35th (not our usual route) in hopes of seeing the gathering for Susanne Scaringi at 35th & Graham. Even more striking than the growing group we saw in that bleak lot (decorated earlier by mourners, as shown in this photo e-mailed to us tonight) was the line of bicyclists making their way after dusk, up the first big post-golf course hill on 35th, to get to the memorial. Learned even more about Susanne in this article today; a recent arrival in West Seattle, gone much too soon. Godspeed.
Hope: Another media account (video link here) brings us up to date on Cheryl Stumbo, the West Seattle woman who was among the survivors of the Jewish Federation shooting attack downtown two months ago. Good to hear about her recovery.
From the papers
–Cool article from the latest Seattle Weekly (if the link doesn’t work for you, try it later; the SW site seems a little quirky this am) about an artist whose striking work we saw during breakfasts at Easy Street earlier this year. Seems West Seattle’s Most Famous Musician saw them too, and … the rest is history.
-WS gets a brief mention in a Times piece today by the guy we consider the funniest writer in the local newspaper world, Ron Judd. It’s an imagined Q&A explaining the NW to a non-local, including:
Q: What should I know about West Seattle?
A: It’s lovely, and sort of an island unto itself in a social sort of way. Unfortunately, after the next big earthquake, it very likely will be an island unto itself in a physical sort of way.
Well, at least we already have ferry service.
A truly tragic crash
We might have forgotten to mention this West Seattle traffic tragedy if not for a note we got tonight. A woman riding a bicycle near High Point got hit during the morning commute. I hope the person who wrote me doesn’t mind me using this excerpt — she knows someone related to the victim, but I’ve excised that detail and another personal point:
Early this morning on 35th Ave SW, a 27 year old woman riding north on her bicycle hit a van headed north that turned onto SW Graham in from of her. As she had the right of way, the van driver either didn’t see her or thought he was faster. She’s in Harborview with “life-threatening” injuries. … I’m just thankful my (child) was so entranced by the sight of all of the flashing lights that he didn’t see her bicycle and helmet there on the road.
This makes us think about all the brave folks we see bicycling to work or school or the store, even though we are sadly lacking in bike lanes and other accommodations. Just this morning, Hizzoner stood up and talked about fighting global warming by encouraging more alternative forms of transportation, such as bicycling. Is this just lip service, or will he really make the roads safer for people like this lady who are already trying to do their part?
This week’s grand opening
Scrolling signboard at Viking Bank (which took over the former Burger King location on the east edge of The Junction) says its “lobby” opens this Thursday. We’ve been thinking about exploring alternatives to the Locally Based SuperMegaBank that inertia’s kept us with for years, but a click on the “fee schedule” link on Viking’s home page doesn’t show anything attractive — $33 per overdraft, for example, is worse than Locally Based SuperMegaBank.
Other local “brewers”
We are by no means Starbucks-bashers. You’re bound to find us going thru the new WS drive-thru every so often (especially since it’s right on our path to the bridge). But just for grins, we want to give a shoutout to the many other fine non-mega-mega-chain coffee providers around town (including those for whom coffee is not the main business). This is strictly from memory (and Googling), so please leave a comment to let me know who I’m missing:
Caffe Ladro, Hotwire, C & P, Tully’s on Alki and in Morgan Junction, Diva, Red Cup, Capers, Freshy’s, Bird on a Wire, Al’s Deli & Espresso, Thriftway, Metro Market, Revolution Coffee & Art, Uptown in The Junction and on Delridge, Sleepless, Alki Bakery, Coffee to a Tea with Sugar, Easy Street, Bubbles, Homefront, Zatz, Bikes and Brew, PCC, Verite/Cupcake Royale, Infinity, Alki Mail and Dispatch, and of course the ever-salubrious Java Bean.
Bad ad placement
You may get a different ad when you click this link for a followup to the Alki Avenue crash, but I have to say that a “Henry150s.com” ad box in the middle of a story about a vigil for a kid who died driving drunk (and the friend who died with him) just sucks. Here’s the screen grab:
Senseless loss
After thinking about it for a few hours, we realized this morning’s Alki Avenue crash that killed 2 teenagers reminds us more of the crash that killed 3 teens on the bridge three months ago, than the Alki Ave crash this past spring. We’ve all been that age; we all know how much you don’t want to listen to adult BTDT wisdom when you’re brimming with the impatience of youth … but if only we could make them listen. And if only we could all join together in protecting them. Who sold or gave them the beer that police were photographed hauling out of the water near the wreckage? Were they young enough that they could or should have had curfews, and been home long before the 5 am death plunge? Truly senseless, in every sense … of the word.
Sunday morning updates
-If you need to travel Alki Avenue/Harbor Avenue near the crash zone (see post below), beware — might be closed for a while — we were just down there a bit to the west side of the bend in the road, and yellow tape still stretched across the road, requiring drivers to turn around and head back toward the beach. Didn’t get to check where the shutdown was on the Harbor Ave side. Meantime, more updates are posted now: P-I story, also channel 5, also channel 7, nothing on the Times site as of 11:45 am … Consensus seems to be the SUV was speeding big-time before careening off the road.
-Speaking of traffic, we also cruised past Chief Sealth HS to see how jampacked the parking areas were for the Mars Hill/WS test run. Lots and lots of signs for “church parking,” including over on the Southwest Community Center side. Hope they are paying the city and school district a bundle of bucks for the privilege of tying all that up …
Land ho!
-The historic Satterlee House on Beach Drive (aka “The Painted Lady”) and its massive front yard are now separate listings, and the “subject to inspection” status of the listing for the “front yard” land would suggest a sale is near. (That’ll leave the house as a $1.2 million “fixer,” $300K more than it sold for in 2000.)
-Sad to see the latest permit granted for yet another teardown-to-buildup, this one at 1350 Alki Avenue, a red-and-white duplex where we recall seeing planters full of brilliant flowers (almost as memorable a display as Cindi Laws’ old place), till it was sold and marked for death. Goodbye, wood and planters, with a little room for the hillside behind it to breathe; hello, another five-story chunk of concrete, glass, and steel.
Safe from the saws
Maybe the city is a little bit serious about saving trees after all. Walking down a section of Cali Ave between junctions last night, we noticed two trees in the parking strip by a teardown-to-townhome project at Cali & Spokane — each with a plywood fence around its trunk, each with its trunk marked by a big bright green flyer with this admonition — PROTECT TREE! (I’d like to get a sheaf of those flyers and run around tacking them on just about every tree in sight.)
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