Seattle Police launch car-finding tweets: @getyourcarback
We are at the Seattle Police Department‘s West Precinct, where SPD has just officially announced its Twitter account to find stolen cars – @getyourcarback. More after the briefing.
2:45 PM UPDATE: After the briefing, media reps were ushered up to the 911 center to see 27-year SPD veteran communications supervisor Gary Raymond send out the first two tweets (that’s him in the photo above, added 2:56 pm). They will NOT include location information – media unit Sgt. Sean Whitcomb says that could dissuade people from being on the lookout, since a stolen vehicle could be taken far outside the theft area fairly quickly. The full news release announcing the program is on SPD Blotter. We’ll add the stream of tweets to the WSB Crime Watch page as soon as possible, so you can check them even if you don’t want to use Twitter. SPD says that if this works out, they’ll consider expanding their use of Twitter – it could provide instant information on a host of situations, including road closures resulting from police-involved incidents. Until now, the only tweeting that SPD was doing came from the media unit via @SeattlePD – usually links to SPD Blotter reports, with the occasional breaking-news note. The stolen-car tweets will NOT be repeated on @SeattlePD – so if you want to get them from Twitter, you need to follow @getyourcarback. 2 more notes: They will not tweet when a car’s been found – if you see one you saw on Twitter, just go ahead and call 911; if it turns out it’s no longer listed as stolen, they’ll be able to tell. And do not tweet back with information about sightings – CALL 911.
West Seattle High School invites you to join its holiday drive
From December 3rd through 17th – two weeks starting this Friday, continuing till the last day of school before the winter break – West Seattle High School hopes you will join in its Holiday Drive. Science teacher/cheerleading coach Christina Ruzzine says contributions will be accepted at the school office. Full details:
We are asking students and our community to donate all the warm clothes and blankets that they are no longer using. Also, we are taking canned and non-perishable food items.
Our goal is to have a two-week-long donation effort to raise clothing for the Orion Center, and food for the West Seattle Food Bank. We are having a competition between classes for who can raise the most, and want to open up our campus to those members of the community who would be willing to donate.
Our goal is to allow our community and school to work together in efforts to help those in need. We here at West Seattle High School have many families in need, which lead us to believe that there are many more families in West Seattle that could use our help during this cold winter season. We want to give community members a chance to step on to our campus and see what the Wildcats are all about.
Haven’t been there yet? WSHS is at 3000 California SW. The office is reachable from the entrance on the north (Hiawatha-facing) side of the school.
P.S. Got a holiday donation drive that’s not on the WSB West Seattle Holidays page yet? Please let us know so we can help get the word out.
West Seattle holidays: Hanukkah begins; so do ‘Christmas Cocktails’
From the West Seattle Holidays page:
HANUKKAH, NIGHT ONE: The eight-night Jewish Festival of Lights starts tonight at sundown. So far, the only public West Seattle event we have listed is a December 6th party co-sponsored by Seattle Kollel and West Seattle Torah Learning Center. Any others to add to the page? Let us know.
CHRISTMAS COCKTAILS: Just got word this morning from Jeff Gilbert at the Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) of holiday fundraisers including this one starting tonight, involving not just the Feedback:
Jeff explains that Feedback, Skylark Café (also a WSB sponsor), West 5, Shadowland, Maharaja, and JaK’s Grill are all participating:
• Each participating bar came up with a signature holiday cocktail or drink special.
• $1 of each of these beverages sold goes into a pool at the end of the promotion, with the cash proceeds being divided equally to benefit the West Seattle, White Center and South Park food banks.
• The promotion starts December 1st and runs through December 24th. This will help the food banks replenish their stock after the holidays, when they need it the most.
To see the list of drinks (and their ingredients) – go to this page on the Feedback website. Meantime, starting this Friday, the Feedback adds another donation drive: “Tots for Toys.” Yes, you read correctly. Jeff elaborates, “We’re giving away a FREE basket of Tater Tots for every new, unwrapped toy to be donated to the Marines’ toy drive.” That runs from December 4th through December 17th.
West Seattle Wednesday: Double pickup; HP party; ‘Tuna’…
(Last Friday’s rainbow – photo by G. Sherwood)
If you missed trash/recycling last Wednesday (the second of 2 days with no city pickup because of the snow/ice), put out double today – though note that they’re not guaranteeing recycling … In lieu of business meetings, Highland Park Action Committee and Highland Park Improvement Club are combining it all into a Holiday Potluck Party tonight at HPIC (12th/Holden), 7 pm … Speaking of holidays – now that it’s December, the WSB West Seattle Holidays page is jumping – tonight, Tibbetts United Methodist Church (WSB sponsor) has its annual Advent Program and Hobby Table, 7 pm (3940 41st SW) … As previewed here last night, “A Tuna Christmas” opens at ArtsWest (WSB sponsor), 7:30 pm … Also in The Junction tonight, Bin 41 presents a tasting with two Washington winemakers, 5:30 pm-7 pm … And The Kenney is hosting a free book reading and signing with Tony Vivolo, author of “Growing Up in New York’s Italian South Village,” 6 pm (7125 Fauntleroy Way SW) … More on the calendar!
West Seattle Volunteer Recognition Awards: Winter winners!
This Sunday afternoon at 1 pm in The Junction, we hope you can take a few minutes to stop at Hometown Holidays Headquarters (by KeyBank) and applaud the latest winners of the twice-yearly West Seattle Volunteer Recognition Awards. You nominated them; reps from the Southwest and Delridge District Councils picked the winners; and along with the councils, WSB co-sponsors the awards. We customarily announce the winners a few days ahead, but in case you want to be surprised, we’re putting the list after the jump – Read More
The WSBeat: Wrong holiday; officer bitten; smashing spree…
By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog
From reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers:
*After several trips to the area of 30th and Andover, officers were finally able to speak with three men –- very intoxicated men — who were partying and disturbing the neighbors with fireworks. The yard smelled of recently exploded materiel and the nearby area was covered in spent bottle rockets, mortars and a roman candle. The house was littered with beer cans, 400 bottle rockets, and 12-gauge shotgun shells. (The group hadn’t been shooting the shotgun but had been racking and unloading it.) One of the men was very apologetic at having disturbed the neighbors (he had no idea it was 3 AM) and all received a stern warning about handling a firearm while intoxicated. The three were told to go to bed, clean up the neighborhood in the morning, and stop by the precinct when they were sober to pick up the shotgun, which was temporarily confiscated.
*Early Thursday, officers were called to Morgan Junction to investigate why a woman was sitting in her parked car, screaming. She refused to exit or unlock the vehicle, and according to the officer’s report, “her mood swings were near hysterical … calm, then crying, then laughing, then angry in a matter of seconds.” She finally rolled the the window down a crack, and as the smell of intoxicants wafted out, she rooted through an assortment of bags in the vehicle. When she still refused to come out, an officer managed to reach through the cracked window and unlock the door. But he wasn’t quick enough: The “completely irrational” woman bit the sergeant’s gloved hand, clear through to (and breaking) the skin. She was finally handcuffed and transported to Harborview for an evaluation.
Another human-bite case, same area, along with 12 other summaries, after the jump:Read More
West Seattle holidays: ‘Tuna Christmas,’ ‘Wonderful Life’ to open
(Photo courtesy ArtsWest)
Your double dose of West Seattle onstage live-theater holiday goodness is about to arrive, courtesy of ArtsWest and Twelfth Night Productions (both WSB sponsors). First – award-winning “A Tuna Christmas” opens tomorrow night at ArtsWest – running through December 24th as it tells the tales of the townspeople of tiny Tuna, Texas, “where the Lions Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies,” on the day before Christmas, with catastrophes looming like a holiday theater production gone awry and a sabotaged decorating contest. Tickets are available online (showtimes are posted there too).
Then on Friday, it’s opening night for Twelfth Night Productions’ “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play” – and the venue this time is Kenyon Hall:
(Photo courtesy Twelfth Night Productions)
You know the “Wonderful Life” story. But that’s not all that’s in store for showgoers. Twelfth Night says you’ll find pre-show caroling this weekend with the Chief Sealth International High School Honors Choir raising money for its Carnegie Hall trip, and the second weekend in a singalong with Kenyon Hall ‘s Lou Magor, plus the first two Fridays will include a “7-minute Nutcracker Suite adaptation by local dance troupe Van Glam.” The shows are at 7:30 pm December 3-4 and 10-11, and 3 pm December 11-12; tickets are available online here.
Well-kept semi-secret? Delridge CC computer lab open!
Circulated on a couple of city mailing lists today: A reminder that the Delridge Community Center has a computer lab available for anyone to use, teens through seniors. Lab coordinator Leslie Howle says there’s usually room for more to come use it, explaining:
We provide a free computer lab for teens through seniors to use our 12 computers and access the internet. We offer homework help for teens only from 2:30 – 4 every day and the rest of the time we are open to everyone to drop in and use the lab. We offer very inexpensive classes, some geared for seniors in particular and some for all adults, on computer basics and fun things like Photoshop and building a blog or website. … Beginning in January, we will be expanding our hours and offering the time between 1 and 2:30 for seniors to come use “open lab” time or take a class. We will also be available to help adults with resume writing and job search during that time and in the evenings.
Haven’t been to Delridge Community Center? Here’s a map. And you can check Delridge CC hours on its website.
Another key City Hall vote: ‘Multifamily Code,’ townhouses & more
Even after the vote on the California SW rezoning proposal, we stayed at the City Council’s Committee on the Built Environment meeting because one more item of local note was coming up: A vote on another years-in-the-making proposal, changes to the Multifamily Code – as in, zoning for multiple-unit projects such as townhouses.
When the process began back several years ago, the development climate was very different – even here on WSB, it seemed we were publishing a “teardown-to-townhomes” story every day. Now, development proposals are few and far between, as already-built units sit vacant, and developers struggle with financing. But it’s invariably cyclical, so the process marched on, and the committee just gave its approval to the package of changes (including the one about which local architect Brandon Nicholson had voiced concern a few weeks ago on behalf of a regional architects’ group). A breakdown of what it’ll mean to future projects will have to wait till later; you can read copious details in this section of the city’s website. Next step: Final council consideration on December 13th (which likely also will be the date the full council considers the California SW rezone).
West Seattle Weather Watch: Driving danger = drain reminder
Thanks to Shelley for sharing that photo of a megapuddle on the west side of the 35th/Cloverdale intersection in Westwood. The most recent blast of wintry weather brought down most of local trees’ remaining leaves, and that means drains need attention – the city has repeatedly urged residents to “adopt a drain” and go tend to the ones nearest their homes. If you have removed the leaves and it’s still clogged – here’s the city hotline to call: (206) 386-1800 – more info here. (Any other puddles worth warning drivers about?)
California SW rezoning proposal passes council committee
(Video of this morning’s entire committee meeting, from Seattle Channel; West Seattle item starts at 21:10)
We’re at Seattle City Hall, where the Council’s Committee for the Built Environment has just – with what chair Councilmember Sally Clark described as some frustration – voted 3-0 to deny the appeal of the California SW rezoning proposal, and send it to the full council for a final vote. That comes 3 years after the emergence of the proposal to rezone a block of California SW between Hinds and Hanford for taller buildings and bigger commercial spaces. The vote followed almost half an hour total of oral arguments from opponents – mostly neighbors who had filed formal appeals – and supporters, including area business/property owner Roger Cayce. Click ahead for details on what preceded the vote (we are progressively adding more details to the story before moving on from City Hall, where we’re also now monitoring the same committee’s forthcoming vote on the Multi-Family Code (which addresses townhouse design – and much more – and has been years in the making):
Read More
Concerts coming up: Sealth Jazz Night; Bells of the Sound
“They take music seriously, but also have serious fun!” says Monica, explaining the photo of Chief Sealth International High School‘s Jazz I group at the recent Mill Creek Jazz Festival. She sent it to accompany this invitation:
Please come join the Chief Sealth community for an evening of Jazz performed by our two Jazz ensembles.
Jazz Night at Chief Sealth
Thursday, December 2nd, 7 pm
Free, but donations always gratefully accepted
The school’s at 2600 SW Thistle. Another concert just announced :
Bells of the Sound performs at 7:30 pm Friday, December 10th, at Tibbetts United Methodist Church (WSB sponsor):
Choirs singing on the Christmas Ship, ballerinas dancing to The Nutcracker, and rain pattering on an umbrella-these are just some of the sounds of Christmas in the Puget Sound. And bells-what would Christmas be without the sound of bells? Bells of the Sound, the premier handbell group in the Puget Sound, will present The Sound of Christmas, a delightful program that offers a new take on several holiday favorites, including O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Pat-a-Pan and Feliz Navidad. Join us as we ring in the season!
Tibbetts is at 3940 41st Avenue SW; admission is a suggested donation, $10 adults, $8 children/seniors. Adding this one to the WSB West Seattle Holidays page, where several other concert listings await (make sure we have yours!).
West Seattle holidays: Junction decor; Hometown Holidays; more
Several holiday notes tonight: The photo’s from The Junction, as workers put up holiday greenery in the middle of the gray afternoon. When Junction decorating is done, you will see garlands and wreaths as well as the roof-outline lights that are new this year (if you haven’t seen them yet, be sure to go after dark and take a look!). It’ll all be complete in time for this first big Hometown Holidays (co-sponsored by WSB) weekend ahead — Saturday night brings the tree lighting in Junction Plaza Park (5 pm), Sunday brings Santa photos at Donna Ryan Photography ($15 donation goes to WestSide Baby), mule-carriage rides, and the West Seattle Volunteer Recognition Awards (1 pm at Hometown Holidays HQ outside KeyBank – we’re revealing the winners here tomorrow, but come cheer them in a brief ceremony Sunday at 1). Junction Hometown Holidays events are just part of what you’ll find on the WSB West Seattle Holidays page, which is one of two special pages we have this year – we’ve also just added three more listings to the WSB West Seattle Holiday Shopping/Business Guide, a new advertising page for local businesses to let you know more about their special deals, hours, etc., this holiday. Take a look to find out about special late hours and more – for example, one of the new additions, Avalon Glassworks, is offering you a discount for every item you bring in for their food-bank drive (up to 10 items)!
Why the Morgan Junction McDonald’s is closed tonight
Four notes came in within the past half-hour asking why the Morgan Junction McDonald’s is closed and dark tonight. We went over to check; a note on the door says it closed at 6 tonight for “equipment upgrades” and will reopen at 7 tomorrow morning.
3 West Seattle Soccer Club teams are district champs, off to state
(Photo by Matt Lawrence)
Those are the Cheetahs, a GU-14 team from the West Seattle Soccer Club that’s won the District 3 title and is headed off to the state Recreational Cup championship qualifying round this weekend, as are two other teams, including the BU-19 Sambas:
The third team going to the state qualifying round is the BU-11 Crush (9:13 pm update – thanks to Bill Lange for the photo):
Thanks to Cori Roed for 1st word of this, with the Cheetahs photo, and to Tim McMonigle for sharing the Sambas picture (he’s the blue-shirted coach at left). Tim explains, “These three teams will be competing with the winners of the other districts around the state to be called the best recreational team in their age bracket in the state. A big honor if they make it.” The games this weekend are all quite a ways from home – the Crush plays in Shelton, the Cheetahs in Aberdeen, the Sambas in Vancouver/Camas – but a week later, if any make it to the state finals, they’ll play at Starfire in Tukwila.
Never-ending pup season brings 1st winter Seal Sitters training
(Photo of Queen Latifah is by, and used with permission of, Robin Lindsey)
Seal-pup season is usually over by now, but West Seattle-based Seal Sitters are still seeing pups hanging around local shores – including the one nicknamed “Queen Latifah, who has hauled out now for 50 days straight!” according to Seal Sitters’ Robin Lindsey. As a result, they’re presenting a training session for volunteers next week, first time they’ve ever done one in winter. The training session will be 6:30-8:30 pm Thursday, December 9th, at Camp Long Lodge; current volunteers are “welcome and encouraged to attend as well,” according to the announcement, which also requests RSVP (you can contact Seal Sitters through their website at www.sealsitters.org).
Twenty people 
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