West Seattle, Washington
28 Thursday
(Photos by Ellen Cedergreen for WSB)
They insist they’re actually glad to both have their giant rummage sales – gigantic rummage sales – humongous rummage sales – whatever-you-want-to-call-them rummage sales – on the same two days in March. But “dueling rummage sales” conjures up a fun image anyway. Tibbetts United Methodist Church (WSB sponsor) and West Side Presbyterian Church are both wrapping up day 1 of those mega-sales.
Both have outdoor merchandise as well as indoor, as you can see in the top two photos. Inside both churches, you will find tables and tables of stuff donated by hundreds of families. At Tibbetts, Marie and Floy were staffing the checkout line.
Browser’s paradise, both there and West Side:
Tibbetts continues till 4 pm today, and runs 9 am-3 pm tomorrow; WSPC continues till 5 pm today and runs 9 am-2 pm tomorrow. And if you love rummage sales, you will love West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, which we are organizing/sponsoring again this year – registration information soon; the big day is Saturday, May 14th.
“I can’t wait to spend $50,000 on these kids!” enthused Denny International Middle School principal Jeff Clark as he accepted the Thomas B. Foster Award for Excellence from the Alliance for Education, which brings with it a $50,000 grant for the winner and his school. A surprise ceremony was held a short time ago at Denny, with not only Clark, staff, and his 8th-grade students on hand, but also his wife and sons – future Denny Dolphins, as the principal proudly referred to his little boys – and a gallery of dignitaries, including two School Board members and newly appointed interim Seattle Public Schools superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield. Clark said it’s not just his award:
The Foster Award is given to an outstanding middle- or high-school principal each year. Among the dignitaries there to congratulate Clark was the man who received it two years ago, Phil Brockman, a former West Seattle High School principal who at the time was leading Ballard HS.
ADDED 4:09 PM: The official news release about the award:Read More
(Photo by David Roth)
Thanks to Sara for sharing the news this morning that you are invited to Lafayette Elementary‘s production of “Music Man Jr.” tonight and tomorrow at West Seattle High School:
Lafayette Elementary is staging a production of the classic musical The Music Man Jr. March 11 and 12.
The play begins at 7 pm, refreshments will be served and there is a $5 requested donation for admission.
Nearly 100 children are involved in the production and all costumes, sets, and props were donated or constructed by volunteers.
Our director is Melia Scranton – she is the art teacher at Lafayette Elementary. She has been working on the play as an afterschool program since November. Melia is a wonderful woman who never turns anyone away… hence: there are 97 kids (3rd, 4th and 5th graders) in our production of Music Man Jr. This show is huge and a lot to handle and she does it with an unending patience. The music is provided with the scripts and we have volunteers from West Seattle High School helping us in the sound booth
Since our play is volunteer based (a lot of parent volunteers!) we are asking for donations at the door (which pays for our scripts, costumes, sets, etc. and possible for a stipend for Melia next year because funding is tight). The costumes (which are fabulous!!!!) are designed and built by Kathy Wimer, Sara Jaecks, Jennifer Leigh and Gael Young.
To get to the WSHS Theater, enter from the southeastern side of the school – look for the gates by the lighted sign, and cross the courtyard to the entrance that’ll take you to the lobby outside the theater.
Julia wanted to get the word out about the burglary at her house on Thursday – including praise for the responding police officer – read on:Read More
Last night, we published a witness’s report about the hit-run crash at California/Dakota that killed a dog named Lucy (and nearly missed her owner). This morning, we have the story directly from Lucy’s owner Matt, who also shared the collage of photos of his beloved dog, as well as concerns he has beyond what specifically happened to him and Lucy:
My dog Lucy and I approached the crosswalk at California and Dakota from the west just before 7:30 on March 10, 2011 like we have done hundreds of times. We have crosswalks on arterial roads like California so people, their families and their pets may safely cross from one side to the other.
On this evening, we entered the crosswalk after the southbound vehicles stopped. I took a few steps into the crosswalk and waved my arms to get northbound traffic to stop. My dog by my side, the northbound traffic did not stop and my dog took one too many steps ahead of me and lost her life. The northbound car barreled through the crosswalk, almost hitting me but squarely hitting Lucy. The driver did not stop and my dog of 13 years was lost. This is a very sad day for me, my wife, and our 4 month old, who misses the dog she never got to know. Thank you for your support.
We have a few points we would like to make:
* This particular crosswalk has a school and playground on one side, a church and park on the other, and bus stops on both sides, which results in a lot of pedestrian crossing. This crosswalk is not respected, my wife, my neighbors and I have repeated that many many times. While we lost our pet, this just as easily could have been a child who slipped from their parents hands and stepped into traffic that didn’t obey the crosswalk. We would like to gather neighbor support to campaign for SDOT to implement additional precautions, other than flags which are often stolen or ignored by drivers.
* We did file a police report. The incident is a hit and run and the incident number is 2011-80320. If you know anything about the car or driver please let the police know. Officer P. Chang stopped by our house to listen to what happened and he said anyone with information can call the non-emergency line at (206) 625-5011, provide the incident number and any information that will help identify the driver or car.
* Regarding the (car), I saw what seemed like a 70’s/80’s sleek sedan dark in color. Like an Electrica or LeSabre. Officer Chang told us that someone identified it as an El Camino.
(Photos by Ellen Cedergreen for WSB)
Life imitates art? Leading off our set of scenes from last night’s West Seattle Art Walk: First, at Keller Williams Realty, Los Angeles-based artist PJ Andrews showed off his character-themed art, including Underdog (above) – several more of his works, and other stops along the Art Walk way, after the jump:
Read More
Like pretty much everyone else, we will be continuing to watch the Japan earthquake situation throughout the day (and for many days to come), and we’ll have local information as relevant – relief efforts, etc. – but in the meantime, there is a lot of West Seattle information and news to continue to share. Here are the key events from today’s calendar:
CHURCH RUMMAGE SALES: It’s that pre-spring weekend when two local churches have their big rummage sales – Tibbetts United Methodist Church (3940 41st SW; WSB sponsor) from 9 am – 4 pm today, 9 am – 3 pm tomorrow; and West Side Presbyterian (3601 California SW) from 9 am-5 pm today and 9 am-2 pm tomorrow. Each of these sales has hundreds of people contributing, so you never know what you might find.
GATEWOOD ELEMENTARY AUCTION: Tonight at The Hall at Fauntleroy (9131 California SW), 5:30-9 pm, it’s the fundraising auction for Gatewood Elementary‘s PTA, “Bids for Kids.”
PET ADOPTION: Seattle Humane Society is at Pet Pros West Seattle (Westwood Village) with adoptable pets, 2-5 pm.
WINE TASTING : At Bin 41 wine: Wine tastings from around our state are spotlighted this month, tonight from Woodinville Winery, Patterson Cellars, with winemaker John Patterson, 5:30-7 pm.
FRIDAY NIGHT SKATING: Every week at Alki Community Center (5817 SW Stevens), it’s Friday Night Skate. Cost is $3 per person. You may bring in your own clean skates or borrow them from us. Time is from 6:45 – 8:45 p.m. For more information please call 684-7430.
GAME NIGHT: Uptown Espresso (4301 SW Edmunds) in The Junction, 6-11 pm, bring your own board games or try the ones on hand at the coffee shop.
(Video recorded at a home in Japan during the earthquake)
We’ll leave the information about the huge, magnitude 8.9 Japan earthquake to those who are covering it directly – but a couple of notes: First, the federal websites providing tsunami information are finally working properly (until a half-hour or so ago, they were not reflecting the watch that is in effect for the ocean coast) – here’s where to go for that information. Note that even though any wave generated in a situation like this is technically a “tsunami,” if one actually hits this side of the Pacific, it could be barely a ripple – we have seen that scenario play out time and again – BUT it is never a reason for complacency. “Watch” means lowest level of “keep your radar up.” We’ll be keeping an eye on the situation all night.
Second, until we get information about relief efforts to help the quake survivors, here’s something you can do to not feel so powerless in the face of the horrifying scenes from the Japan quake zones – THINK PREPAREDNESS. Start by knowing your Emergency Communication Hub location. Here’s the West Seattle-volunteer-created, info-rich West Seattle Be Prepared website, as a place to start.
2:50 AM UPDATE: This table has the projected height of whatever “tsunami” might hit the Washington ocean coast. Note the highest is about three feet.
(Photos by Cliff DesPeaux for WSB)
Families, friends, and staff gathered last night to celebrate Chief Sealth International High School‘s winter sports season. Along with our photos, the story is best told by the season recap shared with the Sealth community the night before by Athletic Director Sam Reed:
On November 15 of this Fall, 153 Chief Sealth International student-athletes turned out for the first day of the Winter sports season, ready to represent our community in gymnastics, swimming, wrestling, and both boys and girls basketball. (Thursday night) we will gather to celebrate their accomplishments, along with those of both cheer and mock trial, at our annual Winter sports banquet. … All participating student-athletes, parents and supporters are invited to attend, eat dinner and hear from our coaches.
The recap continues, with more photos, after the jump:Read More
Wind worries seem particularly trivial tonight, in light of the Japan earthquake – but it’s still good news to know that the wind advisory expired, after hours of strong sustained and gusty winds, and there were no reports of major damage or even power outages. Above, Christopher Boffoli‘s video; below, Ellen Cedergreen‘s photos, starting with a sign askance in The Junction:
Next, tarps tousled by the wind on the West Seattle Produce/Beloved Mexico lot:
And the clouds off Alki:
No more weather advisories/alerts as of right now; we’re supposed to see some sunshine today.
(FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE: Lucy’s owner contacted WSB overnight – his story, and photos of her, can be found here)
From a reader, still shaken by what they saw tonight, and anonymous by request:
I was driving northbound on California at about 7:30 PM. At the intersection of California and Dakota, I saw the car (some sort of sedan) in front of me swerve to barely miss a guy who was crossing the street, from the NW corner to the NE corner. Then I saw his medium size white, furry dog fly up in the air as the car hit her. I couldn’t believe it when the car kept going northbound. The guy started screaming, and I chose to stop and try to help him vs. going after the car. As we were calling to find the location of an emergency vet hospital that would be open, the dog, whom I learned was Lucy, died on the sidewalk. The guy lived close by, and his wife and a friend came to help take her home. He was exceptionally upset. Another pedestrian stopped to offer support. A really bad scene.
We asked if the witness had any more detailed description of the car; they did not, nor do they know if the dog’s owner has reported this to police. We have a message out to police to ask about it (and if the driver perhaps turned herself/himself in later) but may not be able to find that out before tomorrow – unless someone who reads this has more information.
(WSY Dolphins cheering other swimmers; March 5th photo by Jacqueline Nokeo Muongchanh)
One week from tomorrow, four swimmers from the Dolphins swim team based at West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) will compete in the last regional meet of the fall/spring season. Just last weekend, more than 50 WSY Dolphins swam in the last big competition – and we have a report tonight from their head coach, Kyle Homad:
The West Seattle Y Dolphins swim team took 12th place at the Pacific Region North YMCA Swimming Championships last weekend in Federal Way. Twenty-five teams from across five states, including Alaska, Oregon, Wyoming and Idaho, competed in the meet.
The WSY Dolphins 12-Under girls relay team of Brynn Snodgrass, Maya DeGasperi, Angelica Gil, and Julia Olson raced to a 9th place finish in the 200 medley (2:24.49) and 8th place in the 200 Free (2:05.07).
The 12-U boys Dolphins relay team – Oliver Starkweather, Carlos Morales, Ricardo Martinez and Tyler Barker – finished 5th in the 200 medley (2:22.56) and 7th in the 200 freestyle relay (2:06.66).
The 14-U WSY Dolphins relay team of Darla Long, Karen Woodworth, Rose Morgan and Haley Kormanik came in 7th in the 200 medley (2:10.66) and 6th in the 200 freestyle (156.74).
An almost-last-minute addition to the lineup for Saturday’s gala celebration of the Delridge Playfield renovations – Seattle Parks confirmed late today that six drummers from the acclaimed Chief Sealth International High School Drum Line will perform as part of the festivities, right before the speeches. That means they’ll be on between 1 and 1:15 pm. (Our video above shows the drum line performing at the Tacoma Dome last week while the Sealth boys were in the state tournament.) The West Seattle Soccer Club is co-sponsoring the celebration with DiscNW; there’ll be disc games as it starts at 12:30, and soccer games after acting Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams and City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen lead the formal dedication around 1:15. As planned during the design meetings we covered back in xxx, the field now has playing zones for soccer, baseball, softball, disc sports, and lacrosse (which was added to the plan by request during the community meetings we covered a year and a half ago). Its new lights use a third less electricity than the old ones, according to the city. The $3 million-plus project was paid for by the Parks and Green Spaces Levy, approved by voters in 2008.
Two special events in two days at the Southwest Precinct meeting room – most recently, this afternoon:
(Photo by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
After more than 36 years, this is the last week on the job for Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow (who announced his retirement plans two months ago – here’s our original report). This afternoon, an informal coffee-and-cake party at the precinct was led by Community Police Team Officer Kevin McDaniel, above with Kinlow, paying tribute as he got ready to move on to the next chapter. Christopher Boffoli was there for WSB, and reports that Kinlow said, “I want to say that it is really wonderful to have served the City and the citizens of Seattle and it has just been something that I have enjoyed doing, over and over again. Any time I could be of service to the people and help them resolve problems, to make their neighborhood safer, to make their homes safer, it has been my joy. That’s what really has kept me going. … I hope that what I’ve worked on will continue to live on and the neighborhoods will continue to be safe. And maybe I’ll have played a small part in making that happen.” Members of his family were there to celebrate him, too – here’s brother Joel Kinlow with him and Officer McDaniel:
(Photo by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
From Officer McDaniel: “He brought a passion to crime prevention that everyone grew to rely on and trust. … Benjamin has served in this position longer than any other crime prevention coordinator in the City. He has attended countless meetings and has established a strong web of block watches throughout the City. He has created relationships between the police department and the community that have reduced crimes in problem areas and have improved the lives of citizens in those areas. … The delivery of respectful professionalism and dependable service to the community was Benjamin’s trademark and top priority in serving the community. The Seattle Police Department couldn’t be more proud to have a person of Benjamin’s level of caring, professionalism and high moral fortitude representing our precinct and our department overall.”
So what’s next for crime-prevention efforts beyond what the on-the-street police routinely do? That’s one of the topics addressed at the other special event at SW Precinct:
(Lt. Pierre Davis, with West Seattle Chamber board chair Dave Montoure and Tom’s Automotive manager Kandie Jennings looking on)
The precinct’s operations Lt. Pierre Davis – second in command – spoke to the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday during its monthly lunch meeting. Lt. Davis promised a plan would be unveiled soon regarding how crime prevention will be handled without a dedicated coordinator on site. The precinct already has been working more closely with civilian volunteers including the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains’ Network. And he had lavish words of praise for citizen crime-combating efforts of all kinds – from Block Watch to businesses banding together, to WSB readers. “You guys have augmented what we have [police-wise] out there,” Lt. Davis told the lunch attendees. “You guys are something else.”
More than 40 people attended the meeting, which is held at the precinct once a year so that business and police reps can get to know each other better. Chamber board chair Dave Montoure of West 5 emceed the meeting; Chamber CEO Patti Mullen suggested to those on hand that they get involved with the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council, as well as with whatever efforts are under way in their own business district(s). Kandie Jennings from Tom’s Automotive Service (WSB sponsor) mentioned their efforts to keep their part of The Triangle graffiti-free – she says she’s out there with a paintbrush so often, she always wonders if someone someday will report here as a suspected graffiti vandal!
And Lt. Davis said there’s more to come regarding how the department will work with the community – with key players being three of the officers who were on hand for part of the event along with him, Community Police Team Officers Kevin McDaniel, Jonathan Kiehn and Ken Mazzuca.
He was asked about gang activity and said it’s not that common in West Seattle, nothing like it was in its ’80s hey day “when we had gangs roaming around, 30 to 40 deep.” Youth substance-abuse activist Renae Gaines cautioned that just because it’s not seen, doesn’t mean it’s not happening – same goes, she said, for her area of emphasis, drug and alcohol abuse among West Seattle teens.
(Next big event for the West Seattle Chamber, as reported here yesterday, is the annual Awards Breakfast, April 6th at Salty’s on Alki – which also is being honored as Business of the Year.)
The newest brief update on SPD Blotter warns again, “The Aggressive Driver Response Team is coming to a neighborhood near you.” In a neighborhood near us, its recent catches include:
On March 8th, Aggressive Driving Response Team officers stopped and ticketed a driver on the West Seattle Bridge for driving 92 mph in a 45 mph zone.
That’s the only WS note in the update, but we thought you’d be interested.
(Photo added 5:14 pm – Tom Marx‘s view from Alki Avenue as the Vashon Water Taxi headed west)
4:36 PM: Now the National Weather Service says we could see gusts as high as 60 mph – so it has upgraded the weather alert to “high wind warning” until 8 tonight. Read the alert here. No notable West Seattle power outages so far (just a one-customer dot in Arbor Heights on the map at the moment).
6:12 PM: Added that photo by Lisa Guthrie, taken from Beach Drive. Meantime, Christopher Boffoli texted to say Constellation Park had at least two TV crews doing wind-and-waves live shots just before sunset. (We’ll have photos and video from him later.) P.S. Kenna Klosterman just shared a photo featuring one of those truck’s masts in the foreground of the waves off Beach Drive:
Just two hours till the monthly West Seattle Art Walk (the latest walking map and venue list is page 2 of this PDF). Among the dozens of talented artists showing their work and meeting art-lovers all around West Seattle tonight for the monthly WS Art Walk, you’ll find Machel Spence, whose photography has won raves here recently (as well as elsewhere) – she’s showing her fungi photography at Alki Arts this time around (next to Cactus at 2820 Alki SW), and you can say hi 6-9 pm. (Her photo above is “a photograph of a photograph” that’s part of the show.)
Two photographers are showing their work at Seattle Real Estate Associates (WSB sponsor). – The photo above is a sample of David A. Barnes‘ work (a wall in Paris, one of the many places he’s photographed during more than 40 years of work); the other photographer is Rosanne Olson. Come see their work and also meet the folks at Seattle Real Estate Associates – online at westseattleforsale.com – who have recently moved their office to West Seattle (you’ll find it in The Junction at 4535 44th Avenue SW).
Also from The Junction:
At Blue Willow, 4310 SW Oregon, you’ll find Theresa McCormick, who’s showing new work there this month, including watercolors, mixed media, and acrylics painted on location in Arizona, Samish Island, Cape Disappointment, and Orcas Island in Washington, 
as well as other abstract and imaginary paintings of “locations” she created – the work above is called “Shimmering Field of Yellow.”
And about a block north of Blue Willow, at Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor; 4410 California SW) – it’s a mother-and-daughter display! Cari Jones and Jessica Jones are showing their work. You can read more about them here.
Lots more previews if you scroll along the official West Seattle Art Walk website – venue by venue, artist by artist – all over the peninsula; you’ll also find the Art Walk on Facebook, here. Again, the list and “walking map” can be found on the second page of this PDF.
(Photos courtesy Kellen’s family)
Meet Kellen Gearon. He’s a West Seattle High School senior who’s asking for your help in the clothing drive he is launching tomorrow, to help local foster kids through Treehouse – which points out that foster children “get used to parting with familiar clothing and favorite toys, saying goodbye to family and friends, changing schools time and again.” While researching, he found out that the clothing allowance foster parents get maxes out at $300/year, and that state funding only covers 60 percent of the cost of basic care for foster kids. Donations collected by Kellen’s drive will go to the Treehouse Wearhouse, where foster kids “shop” – free – for must-have items including clothes, shoes, school supplies, books, and toys. (In 2009, he says, the Wearhouse distributed more than $1 million worth of such items to almost 3,000 foster children.) From Kellen’s open letter asking you to donate to his drive:
Here’s how you can help.
Donate new or gently worn clothing, shoes, and coats.
Pick up one or more gifts for a foster child.
Make a donation.
Purchase gifts for Treehouse kids from March 11, 2011 until March 25, 2011.
Please bring your donations to the drop-off sites listed below and I will make sure they get to Treehouse.
Menashe and Sons Jewelers: 4532 California Ave SW
West Seattle High School: 3000 California Ave SW
Can’t get to the store? You can still help by shopping the Treehouse donation catalog at http://www.treehouseforkids.org/make-gift. Don’t forget to put Kellen Gearon on the “Drive Host” line at check-out. You can also mail your [monetary] donation to Treehouse, or drop it off at one of the drop-off sites, Menashe and Sons Jewelers or West Seattle High School in the office.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, and thank you for supporting kids in foster care.
Thank you,
Kellen Gearon
At the dropoff spots, just look for bins like this:
Looks like the question Diane included with that rainbow photo from midmorning was accurate … Shelley sent a rainbow photo too, calling it the brightest one she’d ever seen:
And as of this past hour, the forecast wind has started rolling in – still bright, but also very blustery. The latest version of the ever-changing wind advisory says this will peak around “mid-afternoon” with those potential 50 mph gusts. No West Seattle power outages so far (we’ll keep an eye on the City Light map).
Drill rigs and vactor trucks are now at work in the 17 blocks of Sunrise Heights/Westwood where King County is proposing “green stormwater infrastructure” to reduce “combined sewer overflows” at the Barton Pump Station by the Fauntleroy ferry dock. As noted here last weekend, this is part of the planning/testing/design process – to find out more about the groundwater in the area, before the rain gardens, street trees and other elements of the project are designed and built (assuming it passes environmental review and is finalized mid-year). They’re scouting spots now for groundwater-monitoring wells; the drill rig pictured above was working on 32nd SW alongside Westside School (WSB sponsor) this morning (and had an interested audience at times, we’re told).
The community-outreach manager for the project, Maryann Petrocelli, is also going door to door with flyers to the 500 or so homes in the 17-block area (see the map here) for which the project is proposed, and she tells WSB that as she talks to residents, she’s also finding out anecdotal information that will help – a spring in a backyard, a chronically flooded basement. Where they’re not sure about utilities or other underground complications, they’re using vactor trucks to look beneath the surface – this one was on 34th near Trenton:
Comments in our previous discussion brought up a troubled city raingarden project in Ballard; Petrocelli says the research and testing program for this one is designed to head off those kinds of problems. Meantime, the community meeting about what’s happening with the proposal is coming up at 6:30 pm April 6 at Westside School .
(Photos by Deanie Schwarz for WSB/WCN)
When WSB/White Center Now contributor Deanie Schwarz broke the news two weeks ago about reopening plans for the once-and-future Southgate Roller Rink in White Center, excitement ensued. So she has been checking back on what’s happening there. When she dropped by Wednesday, she discovered two updates – one including the sports stars who got their start at Southgate, the Rat City Rollergirls!
First, the renovation work is beginning: The photo above shows the 10,000-square-foot original maple floor under many coats of paint. A contractor with a stripping/sanding “tractor” will soon begin work; refinishing will then involve a unique urethane finish “which reacts specifically with the materials the skate wheels are made of,” Deanie reports, adding that the finishing touch will be a three-foot wall around the perimeter. Meantime, electrical work briefly exposed a bit of the old high ceiling (top right, in the photo):
That’s why it was “the Rollerdrome” in the ’30s. But its new managers do not have immediate plans to remove the newer dropped ceilings to expose the original beams; this was just a glimpse.
Now, on to the Rollergirls:
In Deanie’s photo, from left, RCRG chief operating officer Alyssa Hoppe, Jessica Ivey from the Grave Danger team, Josh Rhoads of new Southgate management, and “MaxMillion” from the Throttle Rockets team.
They told Deanie this was their first meeting to explore bringing RCRG back to the Southgate rink for special events offered to season-ticket holders (“The Rat Pack“). The discussions are in far too preliminary a stage for any details, even dates, but more talks will follow.
Ivey added: “There’s a possibility you’re going to be seeing us around [White Center] a lot more. We’re just really excited about the possibility to bring the season-ticket holders this opportunity. They’ve been asking to come to some of our events and they haven’t been able to attend because of the location at a private facility; we might be able to bring the ticket holders here to Southgate. “
She shone some light on derby’s roots at Southgate, too: “Back in the 20’s and 30’s, to ease the Great Depression, they had to be creative and were looking for new activities that were inexpensive. They would have dance-a-thons at the then-Southgate Rollerdrome, and eventually roller-skating marathons. As was the case in the dance marathons, whoever could endure and was the last skater on the floor would be declared the winner of the contest. As they extended the hours of these marathons, from 24 to 36 hours, participants would become tired and the competitors would start deliberately knocking down the other skaters to get an advantage to win the marathon contest. It was out of those physical and uber-competitive marathon skating events that derby skating arose into a spectator sport of co-ed teams.” Then came the TV heyday of roller derby, as stations tried to fill time with everything they could find in the ’50s.
A little more history, from RCRG COO Hoppe – She told Deanie that her grandmother was the Queen of the Rollerball at Southgate before WWII – forbidden by her family to attend events lest she become a “rink rat,” undesirable for a “proper young Christian woman of that era,” so she made up alibis and sneaked away with a friend to travel from Green Lake all the way to Southgate to roller-skate far from the watchful eyes of anyone they knew from the north end!
P.S. Southgate Roller Rink has launched a Facebook page with ongoing updates – you can “like” it here. More updates as the pre-reopening renovations continue in the weeks ahead.
Among the items of interest for this afternoon’s meeting of the City Council Parks and Seattle Center Committee is an update on the proposal to study the possibility of raising money by charging for parking at some city parks. We brought you first word of this back in October, when Lincoln Park was mentioned as a possible candidate. What’s on the committee’s agenda today is a preliminary report about the feasibility of even studying the topic. You can read it here; it basically says so many issues would come into play, that it just might not be worth it. If councilmembers do want to give it a try, the report says, the “strongest candidates” for paid parking include the Lincoln Park south lot. And one option presented would be a “pilot program” possibly including that lot:
Implement a small pilot program at 1-3 sites, without conducting broader occupancy counts. The sites may include Lake Union Park, Lincoln Park south lot, and Green Lake Community Center. These sites have the least variation in use weekly and seasonally, good transportation alternatives, and controlled nearby street parking. If conducted at all three sites by City staff, the approximate cost of this option would be $182,000, which covers $90,000 for 6 pay stations, and $92,000 in staff costs.
The other two options include spending up to $70,000 for another consultant study – though the report also goes on to note that the possibility of paid city-park parking has been studied multiple times since 2003 – or, dropping the whole thing. The meeting’s at 2 pm (viewable live on Seattle Channel, cable 21 or online at www.seattlechannel.org).
4 PM UPDATE: We’ll have a roundup of the meeting later, including a couple other items, but topline: The committee members were leaning toward the idea of a pilot project at one location, South Lake Union. No formal vote or decision yet – we’ll keep an eye out as the proposal progresses.
(Photo of sea lions on barge buoy, taken from Water Taxi on Tuesday, by “expatom”)
We’ll be tracking the weather all day – good news is that it’s expected, so far, to calm down in time for tonight’s monthly West Seattle Art Walk. We’ll feature a few highlights in a preview later, but in the meantime, you can review featured artists and venues by going to the WSAW website at wsartwalk.com … Also tonight: The Holy Rosary Parents Club-presented screening of the documentary “Race to Nowhere” at Admiral Theater, 6:30 pm … Southwest Seattle Business and Professional Women has a movie screening tonight too, benefiting its scholarship fund – “Iron-Jawed Angels,” 6:30 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center … Afternoon events: All are welcome to say goodbye to longtime Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow, now days away from retirement, at a 1-3 pm party at the precinct (cake and coffee) … At City Hall, the Parks and Seattle Center Committee‘s 2 pm meeting today (agenda here) has items of interest to West Seattle, including updates on the citywide Golf Plan and the Parks and Green Spaces Levy (including purchase of the site for Puget Ridge Edible Park) … More on the WSB West Seattle Events calendar!
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