West Seattle, Washington
01 Wednesday
Just in from Paul Carr, who with wife Libby Carr is heading up the group that is picking up the stalled proposal to build a plaza for the recast Alki Statue of Liberty. His unedited e-mail responding to recent comments, questions, and criticisms, as well as some questions of his own, and the latest on their committee’s efforts, all after the click:Read More
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
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
“Sharrows.” The city’s definition: “… bicycle symbols that are placed in the roadway lane indicating that motorists should expect to see and share the lane with bicyclists.” City crews have roughed in some “sharrows” along a stretch of Beach Drive (this one is across from the north end of Me-Kwa-Mooks), as they start to implement the city’s Bicycle Master Plan:
A city handout made available at Thursday’s Alki Community Council meeting had full details on where this work will be happening and how it will affect traffic — click ahead for those details:Read More
Just after sunset, the vista from Marine View Drive:
Late afternoon, many of those Vashon-visiting Vespa riders trickled off several ferries in succession – we caught this one passing the homes across from Lincoln Park:
Also on Fauntleroy alongside Lincoln Park, a sign caught lying down on the job:
Now, the story, e-mailed by a reader who says she moved to WS 3 months ago and loves it:
I was visiting my son and his wife who live a block off Alki up against a greenbelt; we were sitting on the deck talking when a very large otter walked out from under the blackberry patch. He stopped and made eye contact with each of us, then turned slowly and with belly low crawled back from where he came. It was amazing. When I stopped to ask the men working on a roof a couple doors down, they laughed and one said it must have been what he saw crossing Alki late one night …
A WSB reader is a little leery about a door-to-door security-system salesperson that hit his neighborhood this week; he did some research and wants to share it with you in case you get a similar visit. Read More
The old Neilsen Florist building on the north edge of The Junction is one step closer to transformation into Shadowland: The neon just came off the old sign (photo below), and a knowledgeable source tells us it was offered to the Neilsen family. (This is just down the block from Shoofly Pie Company, which opens this Saturday, if your calendar’s not already marked!)
A reader e-mailed to ask where you can buy “I (Heart) West Seattle” bumper stickers. Thought we had discussed this here before but can’t find the evidence. Help! Anyone?
We’ve had many a discussion here about the need for at least one or two more burger options here in WS. Check it out — this P-I article says the Blue Moon Burgers folks are eyeing our side of the bay. Maybe. Possibly. (We haven’t tried them; have you?)
If you lost a set of car keys on Holden in the past day or so – somebody found ’em and turned them in at the SW Precinct. (The reader/key-finder who wrote to us notes cryptically that they’re keys for a “nice car.”)
Megawatt is looking for a part-time events coordinator to work August through mid-November, mostly coordinating its Gathering of Neighbors event. E-mail here to find out more.
If you recall our original posts about the young man who died after jumping off the West Seattle Bridge, you might want to know that his mother has posted a comment — since it’s deep within the site by now, we are reposting it here. (Note that the memo forwarded to us for one of those original posts mentioned a memorial for Jesse this Saturday.)
Hello,
I am Jesse’s mother. Jesse was a brother, cousin, uncle,nephew, grandson and a son. He was all of these and much more…
We loved Jesse for who he was.There are many people in his life that have been devastated by his death. Many more than anyone can count. Jesse lost his life to demons that have been with him for a very long time.
I knew Jesse before these demons. A gentle, laughing child with a smile that would light up a room. He was the child that always wanted to ride the biggest ride and race the biggest track. He threw his arms around anyone that he thought needed assurance and kissed those that needed that touch. That was my Jesse.
For all the parents in the world that have sat up nights, cried themselves to sleep and wondered “What more I could have done?” you are not alone. I put out my arms to you and want you to know that there are many of us.
For all of his friends…I give you my hope and love for being part of Jesse’s life then and now.
Thank you, Jean Williams
Creighton, whose blog is on our Other Blogs in WS page, tells us goats are grazing the hill along Marine View Drive, just up from the Endolyne area of Fauntleroy, clearing brush and delighting onlookers; he sent this photo.
9 am-1 pm today, WSHS theater & commons (better to go late than not at all). Top reason to go: Your loved ones. Be ready to protect & help them when “it” happens.
Why you need to spend a few hours @ WSHS tomorrow morning: Six months ago.
Tonight’s reason for being there Saturday: The 2001 quake wasn’t “The Big One.”
–Click! today or tonight: Click! is donating part of today’s sales to the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, then hosting a short presentation @ 7 tonight about what DNDA is up to.
-West Seattle Stadium: Tomorrow night, the cancer-fighting Relay for Life takes the field, 6 pm Friday all the way to noon Saturday. Drop by to show support and/or give $.
-Alki Masonic Hall (which is actually east of The Junction): Saturday morning, the Freemasons of the Alki Lodge invite everybody to their fundraising pancake breakfast, 8 am-noon, $5 adults/$4 kids.
-Lincoln Park beach: Sunday afternoon, the Paddle for PAWS swimmers make their journey. Be there to cheer them on; you can give $ online, too.
Tonight’s reason why you’ll want to be at this event Saturday: Our neighbors.
Remember the Inauguration Day windstorm? (Here’s a refresher.) The things that make WS so beautiful also make us vulnerable. Send at least one delegate from your family or business to Saturday’s event; you’ll still be done in time for afternoon fun.
A new comment on our original item about the Saturday night WS Bridge suicide is worth home-page exposure. As we wrote in the original item — we all need to talk more about preventing suicide, which kills more people in our area each year than murder. And to the point raised in this case, King County’s website points out that LGBT youth are at especially high risk. Here’s the comment in full (late afternoon update, we have removed the name at the request of someone who voiced confidentiality concerns, until and unless we hear otherwise):
(posted by “The Gay Curmudgeon”)
The young man was a volunteer at Lambert House, “a center for Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning youth and their allies”If only we were more accepting of our youth, if only we could do more
to tell them we care, if only we could do more to protect them from
diseases like HIV, if only…FROM: Ken Shulman, Lambert House Executive Director
TO: Lambert House VolunteersDear Lambert House Volunteers:
I am deeply saddened to tell you that [name deleted for now by WSB], a long-time Lambert House youth, committed suicide on Saturday night by jumping off of the West Seattle Bridge. [name], who was 21, first came to Lambert House when he was 15. He considered Lambert House to be very important to him and for other LGBTQ youth.
[name] gave an HIV-prevention education presentation to the Lambert
House Boys Group two weeks ago based on his personal experience becoming infected with HIV. It was [name]’s hope that he could educate other gay males to avoid becoming infected. On his physician’s advice, [name] started HIV anti-retroviral medication last Saturday. He reported having immediate side-effects including a rash and severe nightmares.On Saturday, June 30, at 4:00 p.m. at Lambert House, [name]’s friends,
including Lambert House graduates, current youth, and others, will hold
an all-ages memorial celebration of [name]’s life. Any Lambert House
youth and anyone who knew [name] is welcome to attend.I cannot express how saddened I am by this loss.
-Ken
~The Gay Curmudgeon
Tonight’s reason why you need to be there Saturday: WS is in the tsunami zone.
Four days after the 41st/42nd/Alaska megaproject (with QFC) cleared a city hurdle, the Fauntleroy Place megaproject just a couple blocks to the east (with Whole Foods) has cleared one too. The company in charge of the project, Blue Star Management, says city council members unanimously approved the “alley vacation” today, and explains the alley’s future: “The alley running north to south from SW Oregon Street to SW Alaska Street between 40th Ave SW and 39th Ave SW will be relocated into an L-shaped alley, running from SW Oregon Street south and then exiting west at about three-quarters block on to 40th Ave SW, instead of continuing toward SW Alaska Street.” Blue Star reiterates that it hopes to start construction early next year; below is the latest rendering of what Fauntleroy Place is supposed to look like.
This escaped our usual web-combing for WS-related news: near the bottom of this “digest” from Sunday’s Times, a brief note about an apparent WS Bridge suicide on Saturday night. (Suicide gets very little media coverage because of an apparent belief that talking about it will cause more of it. This unforgettable 2004 Seattle Weekly story tackles the issue more eloquently than anything we’ve ever seen.) But back to the subject of what happened on The Bridge Saturday night … it was pointed out to us by one of the writers linked from our Other Blogs in WS page, who went on to say:
I saw the young man walking up the bridge on Saturday night seven minutes before he jumped. I went up the Delridge on-ramp at about 8:08 pm, saw him well up the ramp, wondered about him, figured he was on his way to a car, and then went on to my own thoughts. I didn’t notice as I got on the bridge that there was no car. He jumped about 8:15 pm according to the Seattle Times. He was young-looking, lean and well dressed.
Last night, I drove under the bridge and looked up and down and tried to come to terms with what he did and what I might have done.I was thinking that a lot of West Seattleites must have seen this man. Perhaps we could piece together a timetable of when we saw him and offer some details to his survivors of his last movements.
One more note from us: The Seattle Crisis Hotline is 206-461-3222. A great list of support resources is here.
| 8 COMMENTS