West Seattle, Washington
17 Tuesday
Spotted by the WSB Sales Guy while out on rounds.
(update since this original report – it passed)
It’s tanked in the state Legislature a couple times in the past few years, but Admiral resident Liz Wilhelm points out that the bill to allow grocery-store beer/wine tastings is back. In fact, it’s up for a hearing in the State House Committee on Commerce and Labor in Olympia at 8 am today, according to the bill’s official webpage. Liz has a lot to say about it:Read More
We’re out covering a meeting and won’t be able to add narrative to this post for a while — but now that the polls are closed, here are the links where you should be able to find results from the state’s presidential primary: Statewide results here, King County results here. 9 PM UPDATE: Statewide results so far, Obama 50%, Clinton 47% on the D side; McCain winning the R side by a mile. 2:30 AM UPDATE: Those numbers (Obama/Clinton) have held all night long.
This hour, Mayor Nickels delivered the 2008 “State of the City” address. 
Its full text is online; we see just one West Seattle-specific shoutout, a mention of Myrtle as one of the reservoirs getting new parks along with covers. (WSB coverage of the last Myrtle public meeting is here.) More intriguingly, he ends the speech saying he will be asking for citizens’ thoughts on a “Customer Bill of Rights” for the city (this news release has some details); certainly WSB-ers have had much to say about the city’s responsiveness or lack of same – what do you think such a “Bill of Rights” should include?
ELECTION: Presidential primary, 7 am-8 pm if you haven’t voted by mail; more info here.
RAPIDRIDE: Last of 4 West Seattle open houses to share information and take comments for this phase of Metro’s West Seattle RapidRide bus-service planning, 6-7:30 pm @ Southwest Library.
CRIMEFIGHTING: West Seattle Community Safety Partnership, under new leadership elected last month, invites you to tonight’s meeting, 7 pm, Southwest Precinct. If you have a neighborhood crime or nuisance concern and would like to ask local police what’s being done, or what can be done, about it — this hour is well worth your time. (WSB coverage of last month’s WSCSP meeting is here.)
For our state’s Democrats, the February 9 caucuses (final West Seattle results linked here) were the main event in the presidential-nominee-choosing process, because those are the only results used to choose delegates. (Next step in the process, delegates from precinct caucuses go to legislative-district caucuses April 5.) But tomorrow’s vote (7 am-8 pm at your polling place if you don’t vote by mail) will likely get some national-media attention regardless, particularly on the Democratic side, since things aren’t quite settled yet. And for Republicans, the vote does count toward delegates – roughly half will be chosen from the Feb. 9 caucus results (here), half from tomorrow’s primary results. More primary info here.
As promised, the 34th District Democrats have posted the official list of precinct-by-precinct results for West Seattle (plus Vashon and the rest of the 34th). Find it here. (P.S. The 34th DDs’ monthly meeting is 7 pm Wednesday night, The Hall @ Fauntleroy.) The King County Republicans only break it down by legislative district (see that here) – the 34th GOP ended with 66 McCain delegates, 44 Paul, 40 Huckabee.
First, a couple more photos that have come in since our caucus updates ended last night. This one is from Katie McKeehan Hart, who photographed her daughter Mary Kate Hart as they caucused at West Seattle Elementary:
This one’s from Josh Sutton, showing how big the group from just one precinct got, caucusing at Chief Sealth High School:
ADDED SUNDAY NIGHT: SRO caucus scene at West Seattle High School, from Matt Taylor:
Now, the “what’s next” info. First – there is still a statewide presidential primary on February 19; if you vote by mail, you’ve received your ballot by now. The Democrats are not using the results to choose any delegates (they have always used the caucuses instead; here’s 34th District Democrats chair Ivan Weiss’s explanation); the Republicans will choose half their delegates from the primary results, half from their caucuses yesterday. If you’re a Democrat and you’re wondering whether to bother voting, one thing to keep in mind, if you care, is that since the race is still perceived as close, the national media will likely pay attention to the results anyway, regardless of whether delegate-awarding is involved, so if you want your candidate to look good, you might as well show up for this too. (Personally, we never miss a chance to vote for anything.) As fr the long process of converting yesterday’s caucus results to national-convention delegates: The Democrats’ legislative-district caucuses are on April 5; delegates who go on from there will attend county conventions on April 13; then caucuses by Congressional district (here in West Seattle, we’re part of the 7th District) are on May 17, the state convention is on June 14, and the Democratic National Convention is August 25-28 in Denver. Oh yeah, and the actual election … November 4. (By the way, the 34th District Democrats are promising precinct-by-precinct breakouts on their website within a few days; for some unofficial counts, check the comments below our running post from last night.) One more note – just as we were writing this, we received the following from Steve Heck, titled “Open Letter to Washington State Democratic Leadership,” with some points of concern regarding the process, and he thought it might be a point worth discussing here:Read More
7:10 PM, FINAL UNOFFICIAL 34TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATIC RESULTS: The 34th District Democrats’ site says: 70% Obama, 28% Clinton. State Democrat results are here; state Republican results are here. Coverage below shows all previous updates, oldest to newest.
ORIGINAL 3:13 PM REPORT: Just back from our caucus (at Denny Middle School). Topline on our precinct caucus: About 40 participants (more than twice what we had when caucusing with the same precinct four years ago); we started with a proportion of votes equal to 2 Obama delegates, 1 Clinton delegate, 1 undecided; ended with 3 Obama delegates (to the district convention) and 1 Clinton delegate. P.S. This photo just in from Tim, who caucused at Arbor Heights Elementary and says the lunch room was so packed they expanded to classrooms (same thing at Denny):
ADDED AT 4:19 PM: Thanks for the delegate results you’re posting comments. Keep ’em coming. Note the 34th DD results update link. Meantime, here’s another Arbor Heights Elementary photo, from Jeff:
ADDED 4:34 PM: Yes, there are Republicans in West Seattle. The line to get into the GOP caucuses at Southwest Community Center was literally down the stairs and out the door:
ADDED 4:43 PM: WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham sends these photos from Gatewood Elementary: First, State Sen. Joe McDermott during the pre-caucus sign-in:
You can figure out who Sarah Lehoch and Terrence Veccavo were supporting:
Here, Matt photographed 3-month-old Waverly Davis:
Copies of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available at his site, mattdurhamphotography.com. Meantime, we received another photo of a very young caucus attendee — this is Melissa‘s 4-month-old:
4:55 PM ADDITION: Lively citywide coverage at Slog, including Eli’s impassioned defense of the joyful messiness of the caucus process. For a sample of other news blogs around the area are reporting on caucuses, check the headline digest at Citizen Rain. More here as info and photos come in. So far, the results reports in the comments thread equal roughly 75% Obama, 25% Clinton. 5:05 PM ADDITION: The state Democratic Party has a results page ready, though it’s all 0’s so far. WA GOP promises results after 6 pm. 5:29 PM ADDITION: State D results are starting to come in: 66% Obama, 32% Clinton with 34% reporting. 5:48 PM ADDITION: The state also has a “jurisdiction-level results” page — scroll down to “King – 34th LD” for West Seattle (and Vashon). Doesn’t say if this is final but our district is listed at 73% Obama, 26% Clinton. 6:19 PM ADDITION: Bill Schrier, 34th DD webmaster, kindly informs us that the 34th has 1038 total delegates, so anything you see isn’t final till it hits that total. 6:30 PM ADDITION: The state Republican site is starting to post results. With 16% in, it’s McCain and Huckabee almost tied, Paul not far behind.
CAUCUSES: FInally, at the 11th hour, just about every media site large and small has joined in with “how to” links. Ours will stay up at the top spot in the right sidebar till it’s all over at midafternoon. (P.S. At least one note suggests those robo-calls with the wrong caucus date were still continuing last night. According to citywide-media reports, it’s not a sinister plot; a firm paid by the Obama campaign programmed Maine reminders – for Sunday – to go to Washington numbers – where of course TODAY is caucus day.)
DONATE USED BIKES & PARTS TODAY: PCC, 11 am-2 pm. Here’s what it’s all about.
TWO CLEANUPS AND A WORK PARTY: All happening before you caucus, so no excuses — Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s area cleanup starts at 9 am (more here); The EARTH Project at Cooper Elementary has a work party on the south side of the school (next to Pigeon Point Park) starting at 9 am; Junction Neighborhood Association, at 10 am (more here).
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: Received a couple notes about this — the Admiral restaurant Circa (2605 California) celebrates its 10th anniversary with a party tonight, described in one e-mail this way: “No regular dinner service – but a party for anyone who wants to celebrate. There will be raffles at 7:00 and 10:00, drinks, and food of course (miniature portions of Circa favorites: steak salads, Circa burgers and chocolate cake).”
Many more events are listed in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup.
ADDED 6 PM: Thanks to Cami for sending this close-up photo from the Obama KeyArena rally:
From earlier:
That’s one more from Josh at KeyArena earlier, while Sen. Obama was speaking. If you squint at the stage on the lower right quadrant of the pic, you’ll see Rep. Adam Smith, Gov. Gregoire (in the reddish-pinkish top), and West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician (bringing that phrase back for old times’ sake) behind him. For those who asked if the speech was archived anywhere yet – just checked all four tv news sites, both dailies, plus Slog … not yet. Now, a photo from Olympia:
We told you last night that West Seattle’s state Sen. Joe McDermott was introducing a resolution today honoring Chris “JP Patches” Wedes on the 50th anniversary of the start of his classic local kids’ TV show. This pic sent by Sen. McDermott features him with Chris Wedes – sans the makeup – and the senator’s cousin Emmett Blake (“Patches Pals and West Seattleites both,” notes Sen. M). Also, he sent a link to the text of the resolution introduced today.
Equal time for last night’s Sen. Clinton publicity: Sen. Obama is touring a South Seattle business this morning and speaking at KeyArena early this afternoon – we spun by about an hour ago and noted a good-sized crowd on the west side of the Key – listening to the scanner, they have just opened the doors and it sounds like madness — just heard something about the line stretching to Fifth Avenue (east of Seattle Center). One quote from somebody on the scanner: “This is the longest line I have ever seen in my entire life.” Many citywide media outlets are promising to cover the speech live, including KIRO Radio and KING5.com, which promises to stream an Obama event shortly, and is streaming Sen. Clinton’s Tacoma town hall right now. (Info on tomorrow’s caucus is linked from the top right of this page; we’ll be adding to that info shortly.) TRAFFIC ALERT: We’re also hearing about traffic woes on East Marginal because of Sen. Obama’s visit to McKinstry, so that’s a good area to avoid till he’s moved on to the Key around noontime. 10:40 AM ADDENDUM: Back at the Key, latest radio chatter sounds like they’re expecting capacity and turnaways.
So Team WSB set out a couple hours ago with the following intention: Drop by the Magnolia open house on “coexisting with coyotes and other wildlife” just long enough to get info to bring back to report here, then move on to the Sen. Clinton rally at the Pier 30 Event Center. No, not that we are officially endorsing anyone here, but it seemed like history to us, and we would check out the Sen. Obama KeyArena rally tomorrow morning too if not for a conflict with a meeting we have to cover. Anyway, we’ve got the coyote scoop – it wasn’t just an open house after all, there was a rather engaging/informative presentation and we will write that up for tomorrow morning – but no candidate. For all the fuss about Hillary lukewarmness (as compared to Obama-mania) — it was a ZOO down there for MILES around. People were walking all the way from the ferry dock to the north, and from the WS Bridge to the south. (Tow trucks were starting to target those who dared to park in no-parking zones.) And the people we saw from our vantage point in the Alaskan Way traffic jam weren’t just the “old Democrats” ridiculed by The Stranger and others as the alleged Hillary base, but plenty of young adults, and young families with kids in tow. We shot some vid from the car:
Meantime as expected, she’s running late; we’re watching for the promised webcast of the speech, hasn’t started last we heard. (And as we typed that, we heard scanner traffic indicating she hasn’t landed yet and is expected to start speaking around 9:30. Oh, plus the PD is launching a major parking-enforcement effort because “parking is so bad that some people have parked on the railroad tracks.”) 9:05 PM ADDENDUM: Scanner now says the Hillary venue is full and “they’re turning people away.” 9:30 PM UPDATE: If you’re interested, looks like the rally’s under way. Live on KING5.com.
Official King County news release: Mail-only voting delayed till next year.
With the Saturday caucuses suddenly in the national spotlight, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are both coming to Seattle in the next few days. Her appearance is scheduled for tomorrow night at Terminal 30, the cruise-ship facility on the south edge of the downtown waterfront, not that far from the WS bridge. His appearance is set for Friday, location TBA 11 am @ KeyArena. No word of last-minute GOP candidate visits, so far. More caucus info in previous WSB coverage here.
5 pm. Cafe Rozella info here. Any other West Seattle Super Tuesday parties? Post ’em!
Nine days till the caucuses, and we’d wager that after the most recent dropouts, the field of remaining candidates is not likely to shrink further before then. In addition to the West Seattle caucus info we already have reported (most recent update here) we have word of some West Seattle-specific campaigning: Local supporters of Sen. Barack Obama want you to know about two websites (there’s Alki 4 Obama and West Seattle for Obama); a local Ron Paul supporter is planning a round of sign-waving on Saturday. (Just noticed Paul is in Seattle today, by the way.) If you have West Seattle-specific info about people campaigning for any other candidate, please let us know; we’ve Googled, and trawled candidates’ websites, but nothing else is coming up so far.
Will West Seattle go for Obama? Edwards? Clinton? Romney? Paul? McCain? Or? Here’s another reminder that Washington caucuses are two weeks from today, 1 pm on Saturday 2/9, various WS locations for Democrats, Southwest Community Center for WS Republicans. The caucus results will count for all the Democratic presidential-candidate nomination process in our state, and half the Republican process (the GOP’s other half will come from the Feb. 19 WA primary). Tons of info links in previous WSB coverage (here, here, here) and on the websites of the 34th District Democrats and King County Republicans. Plus, a reader e-mailed WSB tonight (thank you!) to point out that February 1st is the deadline for the Democratic Party to receive the equivalent of an “absentee ballot” — it’s an affidavit that can be filed by those who say they can’t make the caucuses because of religious observance, disability challenges, or military service. You can download the form here (the second page of the PDF includes the three options for sending it in — postal mail, e-mail, or fax). P.S. Caucus talk is under way in the WSB Forums, too.
The first city official we pinged about this (see earlier report) was Council President Richard Conlin — and he replied tonight:
Thanks for the message. I am very familiar with this problem — we caught a developer on Greenwood doing this a couple of years ago, not for the design review purpose, but to evade sidewalk construction requirements. When we reported it to DPD, they were able to enforce the requirement by telling the developer that both parts of the project had to be permitted together. I wasn’t aware that it was as widespread as your story indicates, I thought the one we found was an isolated instance.
Since DPD did take corrective action on the one we found, that suggests that it is not the law that needs to be changed, but rather that something in DPD’s procedures. I’m wondering if there were complaints made on any of these projects and if DPD responded in any way. It may be that a Councilmember intervening might be necessary, which would be unfortunate, as that should not be required, but it is a path that can be taken.
Council President Conlin, you may recall, had some interesting comments about development — “McMansions” in particular — during his appearance last week before the Alki Community Council (WSB coverage here). One other note — we sent the “micropermitting” link from earlier today to our favorite citywide news blog, Slog, thinking they might be interested since Slog and parent publication The Stranger pay closer attention to development issues than many other citywide news sources. They posted a followup late today; if you haven’t seen it yet, that link is here.
The Legislature is one week into its session. We talked on Day 1 with new State Rep. Sharon Nelson; your other 34th District (map) legislators are Rep. Eileen Cody and Sen. Joe McDermott. You can check the list of bills they’re sponsoring or co-sponsoring (frequently updated) online: Nelson’s list is here, Cody’s is here, McDermott’s is here. If you want to contact them about anything, remember the semi-secret Rep. Nelson shared in our interview – e-mail them directly (each of their names above is linked to their respective sites), instead of through the general Legislature address; that’s the quickest way to get to them, and therefore for them to be able to get back to you.
We’ve mentioned it before and it’s time to mention it again: Our state’s caucuses are on Feb. 9, exactly three weeks away. The 34th District Democrats are doing their level best to make sure everyone in the area knows about it — someone was out doorbelling in our neighborhood today (we didn’t get to the door in time but he left a doorhanger with info, including our precinct number and caucus site), and the 34th DD Caucus Outreach Committee had a meeting today. (Also meeting today, according to Slog — area Clinton supporters including County Executive Ron Sims gathered in South Park.) The 34th DD’s website has a caucus info page including a list of locations, by precinct; you can find your precinct number on this county page (but beware, the “polling place” that comes up after the precinct # is NOT your caucus place) — or for a one-step process, try this statewide page (type your address below the map, it’ll find your precinct and caucus site). The 34th District Republicans‘ website still isn’t as info-rich as the D page, but the King County Republicans’ site has its own caucus locator; you may not need it, as it appears all West Seattle Republicans are caucusing at Southwest Community Center. The GOP is choosing half its WA delegates through the caucuses and half through the Feb. 19 primary, but the Democrats are choosing all their delegates through the caucus process.
That’s newly elected Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin, speaking tonight to the Alki Community Council. “Every neighborhood counts,” he declared, and hit on several hot topics. But the hottest topic of the night took center stage before he spoke, when a large, displeased group of Alki Point residents tried to pass a resolution about the one issue that had brought them all to the meeting:Read More
A bill to give cities the power to limit condo conversions is coming up for a State House hearing this Friday, says Slog. It’s HB 2014, which died last year. Here in West Seattle, the conversion pace seems to have slowed, with high-profile conversion cancellations at Strata and West Ridge/Gables, but apartment buildings continue to sell (and be put up for sale, with descriptions like “condo-quality”). If you want to tell your legislators what you think about HB 2014, remember your new State Representative is Sharon Nelson (WSB interview here, including contact info) and your new State Senator is Joe McDermott. 10 PM SIDE NOTE: The P-I has just posted an article about a condo development near Seattle Center that’s going to be finished as apartments instead; an expert quoted in the article says apartments “are the pre-eminent land use” in the city right now.
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