West Seattle, Washington
14 Monday
From Lashanna:
West Seattle Summer Fest 2010, brought to you by the West Seattle Junction Association, is quickly approaching. Do you belong to a dance, choir or martial-arts group? Or a group with another talent that you would like to share? There are some performing slots open for local youth groups at Summer Fest. July 9-11th. For more information or to request a time slot please e-mail Lashanna at lashannaw@gmail.com – Last year we had performances by West Seattle Karate and Pathfinder K-8’s performing troupe – it was quite the treat for festivalgoers. This year we would love to have more!!
After 30+ years in news, we finally get to use the old joke in a headline. Actually, Susanna Moore suggested it, sending these photos with this report:
Returned from a preschool pick-up to find these two in front of our house on Walnut Ave. in Admiral district. Who is missing these pretty chickens! Here are a few pictures – they’re still out there pecking at the grass and sidewalk….
Yes, we’ll add them to the lost-and-found Pets page too – but couldn’t resist; on a showery day, you would expect to see ducks wandering instead of chickens …
(WSB photo of the Satterlee House, 4866 Beach Drive, taken in 2008)
Just got word from the clerk’s office at the state Supreme Court that the justices have said “no” to the request that they take up the longrunning case of whether a specific 3-house development can be built in front of West Seattle’s city-landmark Satterlee House, aka the “Painted Lady of Beach Drive.” As previewed here Monday night, the court’s Department 2 took up the “petition for review” (along with dozens of others) yesterday, behind closed doors. This is a process that does not involve oral argument – the justices review the documents submitted in the case, and decide whether to take it on. And the clerk’s office tells WSB “the petition for review was denied.” They confirm that’s the end of the line as far as judicial review; we will be checking for comment from both owner William Conner‘s lawyer G. Richard Hill and the city’s lawyer, Judy Barbour; this case even had drawn national attention along the way. More to come. (We have covered this extensively over the past 2+ years, each step of the way through the system – our stories are archived, newest to oldest, here.)
2:33 PM: We’ve heard back from Barbour, who called the ruling “a nice retirement present for me! And I do hope that Mr. Conner will now give up the fight and let the old place be fixed up and returned to usefulness as a home.”
5:09 PM: Hill hadn’t seen the decision yet, so is reserving comment until he has. The denial has now been noted on the Washington Courts website, however.
When you visit Delridge Community Center for the ReFRESH Southwest festival this Saturday (1-5 pm, another update later today), you might wonder what’s up with 
Delridge Skatepark construction on the northeast corner of the DCC grounds. Though fall completion was the hope just a few months ago, that won’t happen – project manager Kelly Davidson tells WSB that skatepark construction is now expected to start in late summer, which would mean completion early next year. She says issues with groundwater and drainage at the skatepark site have meant it’s taking longer to completing the documents needed to send the project out for bid, but they’re getting closer – she’s hoping a meeting with engineers tomorrow will settle the issue of how they’ll deal with drainage.
Pending approval by Seattle Public Utilities, Davidson says “over-excavating” is likely to be the solution — digging a bigger hole, and surrounding the project area with fill that drains better than the existing clay. (She says a project team member has described it as “surrounding it with a sponge.”) Otherwise, groundwater could back into the bowls during heavy rain, and that would be a safety risk. She says this won’t change the skatepark design (by West Seattle-based Grindline), and doesn’t expect the water work to put the project over-budget, as they have a “contingency” to deal with this kind of issue. “Everything else [regarding construction] is ready to go,” she says, while acknowledging they would have liked to have known more about the drainage/groundwater challenges sooner, but geotechnical engineers didn’t get involved until the project’s “additional funding” was available at the first of the year. Once construction begins, she says it’s likely to take around 80 working days – based on a five-day workweek, that would be four months – meaning the skatepark isn’t likely to be open before next year. (If you’re looking for Parks info about this online – Davidson says the project webpage should be updated sometime later today.)
(WSB photo from March 16)
In March, the first organizing meeting was held for a brand-new West Seattle neighborhood association, the Genesee-Schmitz Neighborhood Council (WSB coverage here). Now organizers have scheduled the first official, general meeting and want to make sure people who live in the area know it’s coming up, one week from tomorrow! Click ahead for full details on the 7 pm June 10th meeting at West Side Presbyterian Church:Read More
(The white geese of Fauntleroy’s shore, photographed mid-May by Bonnie)
SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL: Reps from groups/organizations around western West Seattle – the area the city considers the Southwest District – meet tonight at 7 pm, board room at South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor). Deputy mayor Darryl Smith is a highlighted guest.
COOLMOM TALKS ENERGY: CoolMom‘s monthly meeting, with a special guest from Seattle City Light, C & P Coffee, is tonight at 7 pm.
SCHMITZ PARK PERFORMS FOR SCHOOL BOARD: Just before tonight’s Seattle School Board meeting, around 5:45 pm, Schmitz Park Elementary students will present a preview selection from next week’s school musical, “Willy Wonka, Jr.”
NOT *IN* WEST SEATTLE EITHER, BUT … 2 chances today/tonight to see and hear the three finalists for Seattle Police Chief: You can attend (or watch a live online stream from) a special forum with them and the mayor at 6 pm, Rainier Room at Seattle Center – or, earlier, the City Council Public Safety/Education Committee hears from the finalists, City Hall, 9:30 am (agenda here; Seattle Channel will be live on cable and online).
More on the WSB West Seattle Events calendar.
Your Seattle Public Library team wants you to know that the Summer Reading Program has officially begun, never mind whether the weather agrees. Ken Gollersrud from High Point Library says there are “many great free programs over the summer for all ages right here at several West Seattle branches including Duct Tape Mania, Bookmaking for Teens, Save Our Amazing Raptors, Electronic Gaming, Zinery 101, Paper Airplanes, 20,000 Volts Under the Sea, among others.” You can sign up, and track progress, online – details here.
Starting right now, and continuing through this time the night of June 21st, nominations are open for the next round of West Seattle Volunteer Recognition Awards. WSB co-sponsors them with the Southwest and Delridge District Councils, which provide the volunteers who review the nominations and choose the winners. It’s a pretty simple concept: Volunteers need to be celebrated – and this is a way to honor the most hardworking, wonderful one(s) you know. This’ll be the third round since last spring; here’s who won the first round; here’s the list from the second round. Use the form below (or if it’s not working for you, here’s a direct link). There are four categories, for individual volunteers in community, environment, or youth work, and for a group award. Winners will be honored during the West Seattle Hi-Yu Concert in the Park at Hiawatha on July 20th.
That’s the promotional video for this year’s Lunafest – a one-night film festival of sorts – featuring short films by and about women. It’s been making its way around the country, and Thursday night, it’s in West Seattle at Admiral Theater, co-hosted by Stroller Strides of Seattle (which offers fitness classes in locations including West Seattle). Every place it goes, Lunafest is also a benefit for a local nonprofit, and as noted online, the West Seattle showing is benefiting the Salvation Army’s domestic-violence programs, as well as the Breast Cancer Fund, a Lunafest beneficiary nationwide. The 90-minute showing of short films (all described here) will be preceded at 6:30 pm Thursday with a silent auction and reception; more info on The Admiral’s website; tickets are available online here.
No news release or e-mail announcement yet – it’s not even on the official Seattle Parks page so far – but a city postcard that turned up in the postal mailbox today announces the date for the 4th and final public meeting on the design for the 20 acres of new parkland atop West Seattle Reservoir: 10 am-noon June 26, Southwest Community Center. The postcard says the “final schematic design” for the 20 acres of new park land, adjacent to the current Westcrest Park, will be unveiled at the meeting. The parkland was created by covering half of the previously open reservoir and filling in the other half; as reported here last Thursday, the reservoir lid is complete, and Seattle Public Utilities says the newly undergrounded reservoir is already two-thirds full. P.S. If you haven’t seen the three “concepts” shown at the last meeting April 24, they’re in this short version of the presentation that was given.
5:13 PM ORIGINAL REPORT: We’ve gotten two tips of a robbery at Viking Bank on the east edge of The Junction. Will be there shortly to find out in person. 5:19 PM: Adding photo in a moment. Police are definitely at Viking Bank (4022 SW Alaska) and we’re seeing would-be customers getting turned away. Working to get info of description(s). 5:31 PM UPDATE: Confirmed at scene that the bank was indeed robbed. Talked to Det. Jeff Kappel in SPD media unit – he says the robber was described as female, 55 years old, 5-1 or 5-2, sunglasses, black scarf, gray zip-up hoodie, thin build. Possible maroon SUV getaway vehicle. 5:48 PM NOTE: For those who were wondering, the last West Seattle bank robbery was the Admiral B of A on May 5th (here’s our original coverage; here’s our followup with news of arrests).
Over the weekend, after local TV stations reported a teenager had been beaten up in Highland Park early Tuesday and had said his attackers made racist remarks, we promised to work to get the police report as soon as possible. Today’s the first day it’s available; even the SPD media officer who was on call over the weekend did not have access till now. But SPD has now provided the report narrative, and we have transcribed it below in its entirety. One new detail you’ll see in the narrative- an officer spoke with two potential suspects shortly after the victim was discovered:Read More
Just got word from the Seattle Mariners that a West Seattle poet is one of their three finalists in the nationwide “All-Stars Among Us” contest (sponsored by Major League Baseball and People Magazine). From the Mariners’ announcement:
Richard Gold, of West Seattle, founded the Pongo Teen Writing Project to help abused and neglected kids heal through writing poetry about their experiences. Over the past 15-years, Pongo has helped over 5,000 kids in such places as juvenile detention centers, homeless shelters and psychiatric hospitals. Gold says writing, especially poetry, has powerful therapeutic value because the act of expression is a relief that helps young people understand and cope with their emotions surrounding often traumatic losses in their lives.
You can vote for him (or any other finalist) by going here by June 20th. Each MLB team will have one winner, and all 30 will be honored during the pre-game ceremony at the MLB All-Star Game on July 13th (this year it’s in Anaheim). The Mariners’ other two finalists are Puyallup’s Tim Hannah, who founded Jamie’s Heart after losing his two-year-old daughter to a congenital heart defect, and Lake Forest Park’s Alyse Rome, who founded Amazing-Kids.org to inspire and honor excellence in children.
With two days to go till Thursday night’s open-house celebration at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, one of its major tenants, the Fauntleroy Children’s Center, is welcoming some outdoor cleanup help today – a small herd of goats. Four of them were at work on various ivy-and-other-invasive-infected spots around the back parking lot when we stopped by, so no big group shots, but FCC’s Kim Sheridan says, “They should be here for the day, cleaning up our planting beds and miscellaneous greenery that needs their attention.” (The one in our photo was taking a quick break to stare – wistfully? – at the nursery stock on the other side of the fence from his designated ivy patch.)
Thanks to Pete Rowen for the photo – he’s one of several people who e-mailed this morning to share the news that the “For Sale” sign just went up at Alki’s vacant, vandalized, weed-ringed Shoremont Apartments (2464 Alki; map). As reported here a month ago, the bank that owned the site – once slated for ultra-modern condos – was taken over in April by the federal government; the city has continued to write up the site for various code violations, but the inspector told us that due to the ownership situation, that had been little more than “an exercise in paperwork.” We couldn’t find the new for-sale listing online so we talked with one of the agents listed on the sign; Steven Chattin tells WSB that the listing will be online in a few days – they’re “having a website built for the property right now” and it should be live later this week. (The website for the team that’s selling it is here.) He says there’s no listing price: “We’re going to do a call for offers on June 25th.” We asked if he knows whether anything will be done about the condition of the site in the meantime, and he said not to his knowledge – “it’s being sold as-is.” (Note: We will always disclose if we alter a photo beyond cropping/light adjustment – so please note that we blurred out a big black-paint tag that’s on one of the boarded-up windows in Pete’s picture.)
Last year at West Seattle Summer Fest, the then-new (Heart) Delridge T-shirts were a hit – at the information booth, we fielded multiple queries on where people could find the North Delridge Neighborhood Council‘s table so they could buy one. Just got word from Holli Margell of NDNC (who’s modeling the shirt in the 2009 photo at right) that they’re selling them at this Saturday’s Delridge Day/Sustainable West Seattle/ReFRESH Southwest Festival – but you need to preorder, so that yours will be waiting for you at the NDNC booth:
We have a new batch of Heart Delridge T-shirts ready to sell to raise money for the North Delridge Neighborhood Council. Sized from kids 2T to XXL, they cost $15. You can reserve one of them by e-mailing heartdelridgetee@gmail.com with your name and desired size and it will be waiting for you at the booth.
The festival is 1-5 pm Saturday on the Delridge Community Center grounds; several big events will precede it in the morning, including community-cleanup activities and Delridge Walks – there’s still time to get a group together to walk to the festival, and potentially win a prize! You can sign up here. Meantime, there’s more festival info here, including activities/music highlights.
Metro‘s out with a reminder this morning that the next of its three-times-yearly “service revisions” is coming up June 12. Nothing major for West Seattle, but the announcement includes a reminder of the three routes that will be affected by the South Park Bridge‘s permanent closure on June 30th, as well as a reminder about the routes that are currently affected by the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project, two weeks after shutdown of the westbound 1st Avenue South ramp to the West Seattle Bridge. Read on for the highlights:Read More
(Photo by Chas Redmond)
Recognize that mosaic? No? Answer at the end of today’s preview … But first: Fares rise today on Sound Transit Express buses (like the 560, serving West Seattle) – check here to see if you’re affected. … The city’s Neighborhood Service Centers, including Delridge and The Junction, are closed for a furlough day. … Tonight, Seal Sitters offer volunteer training, if you’d like to join them on the beaches around West Seattle, protecting seals/sea lions (and sometimes other marine mammals) – be at the West Seattle (Admiral) Library, 2306 42nd SW, 6 pm … Fall registration for West Seattle Soccer Club starts today … “7 Invaluable Tips for Homeowners” is a free workshop at Jefferson Square tonight, presented by Savvy Seattle Women (more here) … Zydeco dance for beginners hits the floor – in a good way! – at 7 tonight at Highland Park Improvement Club … More on the WSB Events calendar page! (*Mosaic answer: Dakota Place Park)
Here are 2 of the latest out of the WSB inbox – click ahead:Read More
For more than two years, we’ve covered the fight over whether the owner of the “Painted Lady of Beach Drive,” the city-landmarked Satterlee House (4866 Beach Drive), will be allowed to build 3 houses on its expansive front lawn – subdivided into buildable lots years ago. The longrunning fight began in December 2007, when the city Landmarks Board rejected the specific 3-house proposal that owner William Conner wants to build, saying the houses would overwhelm the Satterlee House itself and aspects of the site that made it a landmark (a designation sought by its previous owner in the ’80s). Conner appealed the decision to the city Hearing Examiner, who ruled against him in April 2008, then to King County Superior Court, where he lost, then to the 1st Division State Court of Appeals, same result last December, and then (as reported here in January) it’s before the state Supreme Court as a Petition for Review. We’re mentioning it tonight because tomorrow is the official date that Supreme Court Department 2 is scheduled to consider it – it’s one of two “motion days” in the court’s current session. The court may, or may not, agree to review the case; that decision is based only on written materials – no oral arguments are scheduled at this stage. The city has maintained all along that it has not prohibited Conner from building on the site – it has only rejected the particular proposal he brought forth and declined to change. We don’t have the actual petition – Supreme Court case documents are not filed online (though decisions are), and our request to get it from Conner’s lawyer went unanswered – but we do have the city’s 21-page answer, which they provided after it was filed in February (see it here).
(Photo courtesy Shaw Dixon)
More baked goods, anyone? First, Heavenly Pastry – now, meet Baked In Seattle. If you visit The Junction during the next West Seattle Art Walk – Thursday, June 10th – Shaw Dixon invites you to come in and help her celebrate the “grand opening” of Baked In Seattle, sharing “bake space” with Blue Willow Catering and Luncheonette in The Junction (4310 SW Oregon), as well as, Shaw tells WSB, “selling products at the gorgeous luncheonette (and) wholesaling to small, natural groceries around Seattle such as Ken’s and Ralph’s.” Between 6 and 9 the evening of June 10th, you can stop in for free appetizers, wine as well as her specialties – mini-cheesecakes and fruit-filled crumble pie. This is Shaw’s second career – she worked for FedEx for more than a decade, but after a bout with thyroid cancer, she decided to go into business doing something she loved – and that turned out to be dessert-making!
(Post 160 retiring the colors as the 40-minute service concluded)
Just an hour and a half after a ferocious rainshower, the sun finally made its West Seattle Memorial Day Weekend 2010 debut in time for the annual service at Dignity Memorial-Forest Lawn Cemetery and Funeral Home (WSB sponsor) honoring those who have served.
Seattle Opera mezzo-soprano Melissa Plagemann sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “America the Beautiful” and “God Bless America” (with attendees joining in the latter, as you can hear in our clip):
American Legion Post 160 Commander Chris Shea, a Navy veteran, reflected on the USA’s long history of fighting for our, and others’, rights: “We must remember, we are Americans. We do not give up – we value our freedom.” The dozens in attendance knew that firsthand – they included veterans as well as relatives of those who had served and are buried at Forest Lawn, crosses and flags marking their graves this weekend, like every Memorial Day. Shea acknowledged these are challenging times, but no challenge is insurmountable:
This was his fifth time speaking at the annual service. ADDED 6:39 PM: Kristen Rasmussen from the West Seattle Big Band (which you can see at the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse celebration next Thursday) played Taps:
That photo is courtesy of Jim Edwards (who has played it in previous years) and whose Life son Kyle Edwards from Scout Troop 284 was photographed by WSB as he walked up the knoll to place the wreath at the Forest Lawn Tomb of the Unknown Soldier:
(Almost 400 of the 1,300+ crosses that are up at Forest Lawn this weekend are brand-new, thanks to Kyle’s Eagle Scout project, his dad tells us.)
(July 2009 West Seattle Grand Parade photo by Patrick Sand)
That’s just one of many scenes from last year’s West Seattle American Legion Post 160 Grand Parade (its official name, not “Hi-Yu Parade” though the West Seattle Hi-Yu contingent is a popular participant!). This year’s edition is coming up July 24, from California/Lander to California/Edmunds as usual, and, also as usual, it’s a massive volunteer undertaking, as are most if not all of the other community parades around Seattle. And since it’s a free event, its organizers don’t exactly have a big pot of money on which to draw for expenses – which is why a recent announcement sparked so much concern: The city had recently started notifying parades that effective immediately, they would have to pick up the cost for no-parking signs and other standard trappings.
We heard about this from local organizers, and checked with SDOT. Communications director Rick Sheridan replied:
Based on the significant budget shortfall that the city is facing in this and future years, SDOT is reviewing all of its programs. In an era of tight budgets, SDOT believes it needs to carefully focus its limited resources. In previous years, the department placed traffic controls signs for community events and the city covered the expense. This year SDOT proposed that events needing these services should be responsible for covering the costs.
However, based on concerns raised by organizers of several community events about their ability to cover these costs on short notice, SDOT has reconsidered this decision for 2010. Program cuts for this year will not include reductions in event support and we will look for alternative midyear reductions.
But, Sheridan went on to say, this plan WILL be in next year’s budget. So here’s the challenge for the West Seattle parade and others: WS Parade Coordinator Jim Edwards explains they are stuck in a conundrum. Just charge entries a little more to cover the cost, you say? Problem is, they cannot charge for entries at all, without sharply raising their costs: Edwards explains that any parade charging for entries has to pay five times the permit fee of those that don’t.
The West Seattle parade usually gets a few monetary donations, which help cover costs, but otherwise, because of the permit prerequisite, everyone who enters the parade – and watches the parade – does so for free.
(July 2009 West Seattle Grand Parade photo by Christopher Boffoli)
Edwards says parade organizers would like to have the right to charge a fee to entries that use the parade as a marketing opportunity – commercial and political entries – without Post 160 having to pay for a costlier permit. If the rules were changed to allow that, it would help them cover what they expect will be at least a $1,500 added cost for the signage next year, if the new SDOT plan goes through.
It’s not that the parade’s been draining resources over the years without compensating the city at all; Edwards explains that the West Seattle parade already participates in the city’s “cost recovery” process, and has taken steps over the years to use fewer city resources: “Our original permit costs were upward of $1,500. But because we have a good community who cleans up the roadway at the end of the parade, our costs steadily decreased over the years. We reduced costs further by downsizing crowd estimates slightly as well. We further cut costs at the request of (police) by moving the parade south of Admiral Way.”
(Photo from July 2009 parade by Tracy Record)
The “cost recovery” process, he says, had been multidepartmental on the city side – but now with SDOT’s announcement, he wonders, “Are we now going to have each department instituting its own cost recovery process? Our parade is 1.5 miles. If you include assembly, dispersal, Metro bypasses, Emergency routes. We have signage on about 3.5 miles of roadway…. Our costs will be much higher than say the 2-block-long Magnolia parade.”
So for now, it’s on with this year’s parade as usual, but American Legion Post 160 and those who run Seattle’s other remaining community parades will be watching the city-budget process, to see how this shakes out.
“Knowing that this increased cost may be a possibility next year doesn’t make it any easier to pay, but at least we have time to figure out how,” Edwards says. “It would be our hope that the Special Events Committee makes changes to the rules and allows the community parades to charge a small fee to commercial and political entries in the parade, while still maintaining the free status to everyone else. … I would also hope that the portion of the permit that is (already) considered SDOT costs, (then) be removed from the permit fee. These fees were established under what the city called a cost-recovery program some 15 years ago or so. It was determined that we needed to pick up some of the costs that the city departments incurred from all these parades, hence the massive increase in permit costs.”
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