Today I have submitted a request to an anonymous corporate donor to match the $8,591.45 raised by our businesses and our community during the West Seattle for Japan donation drive on Sunday, March 27th. If they agree to the full match our total raised will be $17,182.90.
This is an astonishing amount of money to be raised in such a short period of time. It speaks volumes about the caring nature of our businesses and our community. I couldn¹t be more proud to call West Seattle home.
In addition to the funds raised and matched through our donation drive, I have worked with several other donors and wish to recognize the efforts of Nancy McManus of QuallyQue for her efforts during the “tweetup” raffle for Japan relief.
I wish to also recognize the effort of a great group of kids at Pathfinder K-8. Through their ‘Penny Harvest’ program they are donating $500 to the WS4J relief effort and I have secured at least one corporate donor that will match that generous amount I am pretty sure I can leverage several other corporate donors to match what the Pathfinder children have donated with a goal of turning their pennies into dimes (or dollars). If you are aware of any potential donors, and would like me to approach them, please forward contact information to me directly.
Moving forward I will wait for the donor¹s response and when those funds are deposited I will split the proceeds 50/50 and have one check delivered to Peace Winds America (so they can remit to their office in Tokyo) and will have one check transferred to the account of KnK International’s bank in Tokyo. No agency fees have been taken, no credit card percentages have been charged, no bank fees will accrue. This is real money, getting directly into the hands of people who need it the most.
Thank you
Dave Montoure
West 5
If you missed the big day of fundraising on March 27th involving almost 30 businesses, here are links to WSB morning-till-night as-it-happened coverage: Morning report here; afternoon report here; evening report here.
A new tenant is finally on the way to the former Payday Loans space at 35th and Roxbury. WSB contributor Deanie Schwarz has just confirmed that a “medical-marijuana facility” is moving in. The business owner, John Davis, co-owner of Northwest Patient Resource Center, says it’s not a dispensary, it’s a “facility.” The impending move also has been confirmed by property owner Ken Kim. Davis tells WSB he’s hoping to open in about a month. This would be the third medical-marijuana business in West Seattle; two are opening shortly in White Center. Legislation to legalize and regulate medical-marijuana dispensaries just passed the State House today (it already had passed the Senate), with both of West Seattle’s State House Reps (Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon) voting yes.
• ‘Ooh and ahh’ as Capoeira Malês demonstrates an amazing acrobatic capoeira performance at 11:30. Spectators will have a chance to learn some of the basic movements and sequences of this exciting Afro-Brazilian art form that incorporates martial arts, dance and music together in a fun and accessible manner!
• Create at the arts and crafts table sponsored by the ARC Summer Day Camp program from High Point and Delridge Community Centers.
(5:22 PM NOTE: Still no info from police on cause/cited-or-not)
2:23 PM: We’re on our way to the 4800 block of California SW, where a car has reportedly crashed into a shop – east side of California, south of Edmunds, south end of The Junction. More in a moment.
(Photo added 3:06 pm – by Katie Meyer for WSB) 2:34 PM UPDATE: On scene now. The shop is California Nails. The car is all the way into the shop – “embedded,” as our crew puts it. Photo added. California is closed at the scene, south of Edmunds, at the moment. At least one person is hurt, and is on a stretcher.
2:43 PM UPDATE: We’re now told at least two people were hurt – a man has already been taken to the hospital, and a woman is being treated at the scene. (Update: The male driver was NOT hurt.) Fire crews tell us the injuries are NOT major. The shop owners tell WSB the woman was a customer “getting a fill” when they all heard a noise, and in came the car. Traffic south of the crash scene is being diverted westbound on Hudson. (Here’s scene video from WSB’er Kristina.) TV crews have arrived (and if you heard a chopper, that was KIRO).
(Video substituted 4:13 pm for original towing-out still photo) 2:57 PM UPDATE: That’s the car, which is being towed out of the shop.
(Photo by Katie Meyer for WSB) 3:18 PM UPDATE: It’s out now. Traffic still being diverted as of a few minutes ago. We’re continuing to add photos and video – as you can see from the angle immediately above, the crash did NOT take out the entirety of the storefront. But they’re closed at least for the rest of the day. A worker in a neighboring business told us the crash sounded and felt like an earthquake.
3:57 PM UPDATE: That photo shows the inside of the nail shop after the car was pulled out. We checked with Seattle Fire’s media team, and Lt. Sue Stangl tells us there actually was only one injury – the customer who ran out after the crash was barefoot and suffered some cuts. SPD’s official report is not in yet, so we don’t have details on cause/cited-or-not. They do tell us the scene has been opened back up to “routine traffic.”
(Photos courtesy Seattle City Light)
If you had seen the crew in action, you might have considered it to be just another power crew at work. But Seattle City Light‘s new Harbor Island installation is about protecting wildlife. The utility sent photos as well as a news release explaining
Seattle City Light is testing a new device built by a local osprey expert to see whether it can protect the growing population of osprey along the Lower Duwamish River by keeping them away from hazardous high voltage power lines.
“We’re trying to keep osprey happy and off our structures, so we can coexist,” City Light Wildlife Biologist Ron Tressler said.
But last August, an osprey started building a nest on a Harbor Island utility pole and it caught fire.
“The fear is that if they came back and tried to nest, we could end up killing a bird,” Tressler said.
To prevent that from happening, the utility turned to osprey expert Jim Kaiser, a consulting wildlife biologist who owns Osprey Solutions. Kaiser and Ed Schulz, a retired electrical engineer from Everett, built a nest deterrent system by modifying and updating a design originally conceived for transmission towers by Idaho Wildlife Biologist Van Daele in the 1980s, and offered it to City Light for testing.
Two weeks after almost 30 local businesses joined together for the West Seattle for Japan fundraiser, we’re still getting word of more donations. WS4Japan organizer Dave Montoure of West 5 was invited to visit Pathfinder K-8 last week, as its students decided how to “spend” the $1,000 netted in their Penny Harvest efforts.
(Photo courtesy Amy Daly-Donovan and Jennifer Giomi)
Pathfinder’s volunteer Penny Harvest coaches Amy Daly-Donovan and Jennifer Giomi report:
Dave was very gracious, providing an overview of his experience and friendships in Japan and the tremendous generosity shown by the West Seattle community in raising money to support the citizens of Japan. He outlined the work of Peace Winds and KnK, and the Penny Harvest team was especially interested in the work of KnK as they focus their efforts on supporting children affected by these terrible natural disasters.
After meeting with Dave and holding telephone interviews with two other organizations, the Pathfinder K-8 Penny Harvest team decided to grant $500 to West Seattle for Japan (which is being generously matched by an anonymous corporate sponsor). The remainder will go to the Seattle Humane Society ($300) and Children’s Hospital Foundation ($200).
Other schools participate in Penny Harvest as well, which the Pathfinder team describes as “a fantastic philanthropy curriculum/program.” It’s explained online at pennyharvest.org.
Two West Seattle Crime Watch notes this morning. First one is a followup to an incident we mentioned on Twitter overnight – the screams that brought multiple 911 calls from a Fauntleroy neighborhood and led to an arrest; second, a “beloved” bike stolen this weekend, with its owner’s spouse asking that you keep an eye out – details on both, ahead:Read More
NORTH DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL TONIGHT: Agenda includes this Saturday’s “Green Up! Delridge” event (previewed here) and NDNC‘s strategic goals for the months and years ahead. 6:30 pm tonight, Delridge Library (Delridge/Brandon).
ADMIRAL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION TOMORROW: As mentioned briefly Friday in our first report on the Admiral Safeway hard-hat tour (2nd report coming today), ANA president Katy Walum invited all sides of the recent construction-site protests (WSB coverage here and here) to come explain (and answer questions). So far, Walum says, both the Regional Council of Carpenters and Marquise Drywall (the company they targeted) have confirmed they’re sending representatives. 7 pm Tuesday, Admiral Congregational Church lower-level meeting room (California/Hill).
According to SPD Blotter, a missing 2-year-old was found in West Seattle late last night, with the help of license-plate-recognition technology. The boy and his 40-year-old grandfather hadn’t been seen since Saturday afternoon. Their family got worried that the man might have had a substance-abuse relapse, so they notified authorities early Sunday. Hours later, an officer found the car because of history in the LPR vehicle; and shortly thereafter, he found out where the boy was. He’s now safe at home. The LPR technology is explained here.
On this one-month anniversary of the Japan earthquake: Being ready for disaster is more than your responsibility to yourself and your family – it’s also your responsibility to your neighborhood and community. As Disaster Preparedness Month continues, so does our monthlong series of reminders and reports. This time – new online resources including the West Seattle Be Prepared recap of Saturday’s Community Summit downtown – story and photos here. The focus here, how you can help your community. Read the recap here; and after the jump, more updates:Read More
(2010 West Seattle Grand Parade photo by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
Is it worth at least a few dollars to you to save a West Seattle tradition?
Two months ago, the volunteers who run the West Seattle American Legion Post 160 Grand Parade sent up the first warning signal (WSB story here) that they will need financial help to bring back the decades-old tradition this year: Thousands of dollars worth of help that used to be provided by the city, to block off a mile-plus of California SW for the parade, is now something Post 160 is supposed to pay for. And since the parade does not charge entry fees – if it did, it would have to pay an even bigger bill for a costlier permit – that means a call for sponsors/donations.
In that February report, parade chair Dave Vague asked for ideas of how to raise the money. WSB commenter Jordan suggested using PayPal for donations. That’s now been set up – to take donations large and small.
(Note that while the parade is NOT a West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival event, Hi-Yu has agreed to lend the Grand Parade its PayPal setup, so that’s what your receipt will reflect.)
Vague tells WSB they need to raise $4,000. As first noted in the February report, the road-closure barricades will cost $3,000. The parade permit will cost $500 (if they charged entry fees, it would be $2,000 more!). And they would like to have a bit of pad beyond that for potential expenses such as sign damage and a banner if major donors/sponsors emerge.
Speaking of that, they would still welcome sponsors – you can reach Vague through Post 160 at (206) 935-9407, or e-mail him: vagued@comcast.net.
Three months till this year’s parade (July 23) – provided the money can be found. Here’s the donation-page link again. You don’t have to have a PayPal account – you can use any major credit card.
P.S. The parade now has a Facebook page, too – “like” it here.
The line stretching outside Easy Street Records in The Junction this afternoon was there for a rising-star duo: Capitol Hill hip-hop artist Macklemore and musical partner Ryan Lewis, signing autographs:
Macklemore’s road to stardom is a distinctly new-millennium path – as detailed by our partners at the Seattle Times earlier this year. Right now, he’s on break from a national tour (here’s the schedule), after performing his Dave Niehaus tribute “My Oh My” at the Mariners’ home opener – here’s the Times’ video with Macklemore’s song as the soundtrack for scenes from the event:
EDITOR’S NOTE: West Seattle writer Jen Boyer covered “Deadliest Catch” stars and fans at the “CatchCon” annual gathering last year, and we published her work as a WSB Extra. This year, after part of the cast kicked off their promo tour with that recent Alki Tavern stop, Jen cast off to the big event again, and netted an interesting ride home.
Story and photos by Jen Boyer
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
For the third year in a row, die-hard “Deadliest Catch” fans descended on Seattle’s Pier 66 for CatchCon on Saturday. Discovery Channel’s convention for its crab-fishing reality show greeted a record 2,037 fans to mix, mingle, rub elbows with the fishing crews, and get a taste of crab-fishing tasks.
It’s the season for school auction/dinner events, including a few more this weekend. Among them, the Holy Rosary auction last night – which wound up raising money for another area school, too! The story is told by auction emcee and West Seattle journalist Gregg Hersholt, after the jump:Read More
Three West Seattle Crime Watch reports – a man attacked while walking home explains how he scared off his attackers (and declares his defiance); plus, a burglary and a car break-in, ahead:Read More
KIDS’ BOOK FAIR: At Freshy’s Coffee (2735 California SW) – 4 pm to 7 pm. Six children’s book authors (four that are from West Seattle!) reading from their books and signing autographs. See who, and which books, here.
MUSIC AT THE MARKET: At today’s West Seattle Farmers’ Market, 10 am-2 pm inThe Junction (44th/Alaska), market manager Catherine Burke says there’ll be live music with KT and Hoops (10-1). Plus, Master Gardeners are back for the season.
SPRING SALE: The St. John’s the Baptist Episcopal Church Arts & Crafts Cooperative is having its first of two sales this year, 9 am-2 pm, parish hall at 3050 California SW.
A well-known West Seattle business is dealing with tragedy tonight. The Swinery was closed today, with a note on the door (photo here) saying the store was “closed today (Saturday) due to a family emergency …” That turned out to be a death in the store’s family … its owner, Chef Joseph Brewer: Tonight, Swinery manager Amie Collier confirmed Mr. Brewer’s death to WSB contributor Christopher Boffoli, who reported last year on the changes that eventually led to Mr. Brewer taking over the popular store. We do not know the circumstances of his death; Collier did not wish to comment further. The note on the store’s door this afternoon (we saw it after going to The Swinery to check on a telephoned tip about this) said they plan to be open tomorrow (Sunday). Here’s Mr. Brewer’s biography from The Swinery’s website. (2010 photo at right by Christopher Boffoli)
Her community-advocacy work was intense and serious – yet Delridge community activist Vivian McLean was also known for her whimsy.
After almost two hours of tributes – from politicians, from neighbors, from family – her memorial this afternoon at Delridge Community Center, 16 days after her death at age 90, ended with a round of “The Hokey-Pokey” (video*).
Though our view didn’t include every single member of the standing-room-only crowd, participation looked universal. That would have included King County Executive Dow Constantine, former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, City Council President Richard Conlin, City Councilmembers Jean Godden, Nick Licata, and Tom Rasmussen, County Councilmember Joe McDermott, and Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith. And neighborhood luminaries too numerous to name (Steve Daschle of Southwest Youth and Family Services emceed). Even Jim Diers, the former Department of Neighborhoods director renowned for his evangelization of “Neighbor Power!” was on hand; Diers is the one who urged mourners, “Let’s keep her spirit alive.”
Just got word tonight that West Seattle’s own kid-rock superstar Caspar Babypants has another hometown gig coming up: In honor of the first anniversary of City Mouse Studio and Store (WSB sponsor), CB will play two “mini-concerts” at City Mouse (4218 SW Alaska in The Junction) on Friday, May 6th. That day, there’ll also be a sale (select items up to 30 percent off) and a raffle (every purchase brings a chance at winning a $200 merchandise gift certificate). City Mouse also is announcing the impending launch of their online store (citymousestore.com will go live May 1st), with a 20 percent discount on first-time orders all month long (you’ll be able to skip shipping costs if you order online and pick up at the West Seattle store!). The in-store concerts, by the way, will be free.
(Photo courtesy WS YMCA sports director Matt Schlede)
Tomorrow’s the last day to sign up for West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) Youth T-Ball/Baseball’s next season. The program is for kids ages 3-10, with one practice during the week and one game on Saturdays (except for the 3-year-olds, who don’t play games). Practices start the week of April 25; games, the week of May 7th, with the season running through June 25th. There are four leagues: 3-year-old T-ball, 4/5 T-ball, 6/7 coach pitch, 8-10 coach pitch. They play at fields all over the area. You can register at the Triangle or Fauntleroy Y locations, or, here’s the link to register online (Y sports summer-camp info can be found there too).
Next weekend, the West Seattle Women’s Golf Club opens its 2011 season at WS Golf Course – and Pat asked us to share this invitation:
Women have been golfing since the 16th century, when Mary Queen of Scots first coined the term “caddy” and played the famous St. Andrews course shortly after the death of her husband, Lord Darnley. Yes, they say well-behaved women rarely make history.
Women have been golfing with the West Seattle Women’s Golf Club (WSWGC) since the 1940s, and many lasting friendships have been formed over the years as a result of the camaraderie of golf. Several social events occur during the year, but the main objective of the WSWGC is to provide a friendly atmosphere in which to learn about golf, to play golf, and the chance for some fun competition.
Annual dues are $70.00 plus a $5.00 initiation fee for new members. Dues pay for your GHIN number and handicap, reserved tee-times on Tuesdays and Saturdays, weekly competition fees, most WSWGC tournament fees and operating expenses, as well as providing a great opportunity to meet and play golf with other women golfers.
Please join us for our Season Opening “Swing into Spring” Social on Sunday, April 17th, 2 PM at the West Seattle Golf Course. An $8 entry fee will provide you with yummy appetizers, a collector logo golf ball and information about the Club as well as a chance to win some fun prizes including a free weekday round of golf at West Seattle Golf Course! RSVP by 4/13 to Kay Whelan at mkwhelan@comcast.net – Interested in membership? Send inquiry to Ruthi Winter at 68gator@comcast.net.
Hope to meet you on the first tee at West Seattle Golf Course!
Today I have submitted a request to an anonymous corporate donor to match the $8,591.45 raised by our businesses and our community during the West Seattle for Japan donation drive on Sunday, March 27th. If they agree to the full match our total raised will be $17,182.90.
Two 
On this one-month anniversary of the Japan earthquake: Being ready for disaster is more than your responsibility to yourself and your family – it’s also your responsibility to your neighborhood and community. As Disaster Preparedness Month continues, so does our monthlong series of reminders and reports. This time – new online resources including the 
A well-known West Seattle business is dealing with tragedy tonight. 
Her community-advocacy work was intense and serious – yet Delridge community activist Vivian McLean was also known for her whimsy.
Women have been golfing with the West Seattle Women’s Golf Club (WSWGC) since the 1940s, and many lasting friendships have been formed over the years as a result of the camaraderie of golf. Several social events occur during the year, but the main objective of the WSWGC is to provide a friendly atmosphere in which to learn about golf, to play golf, and the chance for some fun competition.
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