West Seattle, Washington
08 Wednesday
Tomorrow night’s the deadline for nominating someone in the next round of West Seattle Volunteer Recognition Awards. WSB co-sponsors these awards with the Southwest and Delridge District Councils; reps from those two groups then review the nominees and choose the winners. This is the third round since spring of last year, and the winners will be honored one month from tonight at the West Seattle Hi-Yu Concert in the Park. Click ahead for the form you can use to nominate someone – thanks!Read More
Checking out multiple reports that the eastbound West Seattle Bridge is closed right now because of at least one crash. Witnesses say they’re seeing a vehicle on its side. 6:45 PM UPDATE: Witnesses say this crash is near the Walking on Logs curve. The fire/medic response for it already has closed; there was an earlier one further along the eastbound lanes, about an hour ago, and that call also has closed. City traffic cameras are not currently showing the bridge beyond the Fauntleroy entrance, so they’re not of use right now in determining its status. 7:04 PM UPDATE: The crash scene is cleared; police are reopening the bridge.
2 quick notes for those keeping tabs: Early Saturday morning, from Sonia via Facebook, a coyote was spotted running south in the 6500 block of 42nd SW (behind West Seattle Thriftway in Morgan Junction); midmorning on Thursday, Marsha reported a coyote at 36th and Dawson (map). We publish these not as a warning, but as a reminder, if you think “Nah, not MY neighborhood” – they’re everywhere, and here’s how to coexist with them.
Just in case you were wondering, there’s indeed a small-but-spirited classic-car show at Providence Mount St. Vincent as promised – a Father’s Day tradition. BYO umbrella. Scheduled to be on display till 3:30 pm. (Not pictured, a few more cars, including a Corvette. Here’s a map to The Mount.)
As work continues on Chief Sealth International High School renovations, and construction of the new Denny International Middle School next door, the date’s already set for two events celebrating the reopening of Sealth’s permanent campus (map): The day before classes start for next school year, a ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned, 9:30 am September 7th, at the main entrance. Then on Saturday, September 25th, an all-community celebration is planned, described in the announcement as “an opportunity for the community to come tour the renovated main building, gym and new Galleria/Commons.” The galleria’s where this photo was taken earlier this month (it, and the photo above, are courtesy of the project team):
If you missed it the first time, here’s our story from a hard-hat tour with Sealth students in April.
SIDE NOTE: Sealth’s graduation is one of four we covered in West Seattle this month – here are the story links:
South Seattle Community College (June 17th photos/video)
West Seattle High School (June 16th photos/video)
Chief Sealth International High School (June 15th photos/video – including the “flash mob”)
Seattle Lutheran High School (June 11th photos)
Thanks to Laurie for the tip on this week’s big win for Denny International Middle School students – and sharing the report that fellow Denny parent Lisa sent to a mailing list (republished here with permission):
On a wet and rainy Wednesday, Denny International Middle School took first place overall in the Seattle School District’s Middle School Math Olympiad. This was their second title in a row. They competed against a dozen other schools en route to their title defense. The team was led by 8th graders Bradley Marquez, Katy Carter, Lucille Bermes, and Eileen Lee. The 8th graders finished first overall, with the highest total score of all teams competing. The 7th grade finished 2nd in the 7th Grade division. The six members of the 6th grade team sacrificed their class field trip to the beach in order to participate in the event; however, the victory made the sacrifice worthwhile. The current 6th and 7th graders are looking forward to an unprecedented 3rd title in row next year. Congratulations to all who competed!
P.S. The new Denny continues taking shape nearby; while Chief Sealth International High School moves back to its renovated permanent buildings this fall (stand by for the next update), the adjacent new Denny isn’t scheduled for occupancy till 2011. Here’s a new aerial from the project team – top of the photo is north:
(Spotted at Delridge/Holden, photographed by Venessa)
From the West Seattle Weekend Lineup, 1 pm is the magic hour once you’ve taken Dad to brunch/lunch: The Father’s Day Car Show at Providence Mount St. Vincent, 1-3:30 pm; at West Seattle Nursery – it’s another Beerfest, 1-4 pm – with hot dogs as well as beer from White Center’s Big Al Brewing, bring food donations for the West Seattle and White Center Food Banks; at Camp Long, Nature Tots/Animal Daddies for the wee ones, 1 pm; also benefiting the WC Food Bank – if Dad’s an ice-cream fan, today marks the 2nd anniversary for Full Tilt Ice Cream‘s White Center location; if Dad likes ribs, check ’em out at 5 pm at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor); and tonight’s music slate includes the Ballard Sedentary Sousa Band at Kenyon Hall, 7 pm – go early for a root-beer float! Also today, as always, the West Seattle Farmers’ Market, 10 am-2 pm in The Junction.
Anybody else old enough to remember Hands Across America (May 25, 1986)? Next Saturday, Hands Across the Sand is planned nationwide, to show opposition to offshore oil drilling – with on-the-beach handclasping if you are somewhere that happens to have a beach. In our case, Alki is on the list. Gather at 11 am by the bathhouse, demonstrate at noon. (Somewhat spooky to see that there were protests like these in Florida back in February – including along the Gulf of Mexico – months before the BP disaster.)
Via Facebook, Robert noted that next Saturday’s Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon came up at West Seattle Runner during yesterday’s kickoff party for the Alki Beach 5K in August – and that it was the first he’d heard of next Saturday’s marathon closing 
the Alaskan Way Viaduct. So, it seems like time to start the reminders: Next Saturday (June 26), The Viaduct closes in both directions at 5 am. Southbound is supposed to reopen at 1;15, but northbound not till 4 pm. This is all according to the road closure plan on the marathon’s website (which includes other closures elsewhere in the metro area). Side note: What makes it Rock ‘n’ Roll is the live music promised “every mile,” by local musicians – here’s the list, which includes some acts you can see in The Junction during West Seattle Summer Fest (co-sponsored by WSB) in three weeks – Massy Ferguson and Kris Orlowski.
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell was in West Seattle tonight – our photo shows her on the big-screen at Brockey Center on the South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) campus as she keynoted the 4th annual awards banquet for Washington Public Campaigns. She reiterated her support for public campaign financing – suggesting we wouldn’t have had to endure damaging deregulation-related debacles if we had it – and recalled her largely self-financed, political-action-committee-contribution-free 2000 campaign. Cantwell’s in her second term, which runs till 2012. The event was described as the biggest banquet for the group yet – more than 300 people (its “Dessert Dash” alone raised almost $6,000). WPC has a strong West Seattle link because its past president is Marcee Stone, who gave up that role in order to run for office – eschewing corporate and political-action-committee money in keeping with what she’s been fighting for – in the 34th District House Position 2 race. Stone emceed tonight’s event; award recipients (listed here) were State Sen. Eric Oemig (45th District) accepting the Public Leadership Award, Washington Community Action Network honored as Organization of the Year, and Elsie Simon as Volunteer of the Year.
P.S. Public campaign financing is on the agenda for another West Seattle event that’s just two nights away – Washington Public Campaigns will be featured at the next Community Forum presented by Sustainable West Seattle, 7 pm Monday at the Senior Center of West Seattle in The Junction (more details on the SWS website).
(Added Sunday morning update – fundraising total at the end!)
WestSide Baby is all about families – so celebrating dads (and other XY-chromosome types) was a natural for tonight’s first-of-its-kind Guys’ Night Out. Above, that’s WestSide Baby’s Nancy Woodland with Kemp Garcia, who came up with the Guys’ Night Out WS Baby benefit idea, and Gerard Denommee.
Poker and pool were part of the plan for tonight’s event at the White Center Eagles‘ HQ. P.S. Mark your calendar for WestSide Baby’s biggest event of the summer – next month already – the legendary Stuff the Bus Diaper Drive (with WSB among the co-sponsors), coming up Sunday, July 25. SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE: Nancy sends word that Guys’ Night Out raised $7,000!
Our full story on today’s daylong briefing/tour event regarding sewer-overflow control proposals at Lowman Beach is still in the works. But while we were waiting for our turn on the tour at Lowman’s Murray Pump Station – a surprise scene. These boys came over and asked if they could see – one of them was celebrating his birthday. Adult permission, and county permission, was secured, and down they went.
(Our tour photos, and the rest of the story from today’s “technical information session,” still to come; the tour went on to Alki for a look at the newly expanded 53rd Avenue Pump Station, too.)
Friday’s update on Jones Barbeque‘s impending West Seattle opening brought a few questions about other on-their-way businesses, including the Wing Dome location that’s going into The Junction, next to CAPERS. When last we checked in with Colleen O’Leary at Consolidated Restaurants, the Wing Dome’s parent company, they were hoping for June or July. Things are still going well, O’Leary tells WSB, but going a little more slowly because of the permit process: “A delay in permitting has caused us to push back our target opening date by another few weeks. At this point we’re planning for an early August opening.”
Story and photo by Evan Miglorie
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
More than 200 people gathered in the West Seattle High School theater last night to watch – and talk about – “Race to Nowhere,” a documentary that sets out to examine what it warns is “the dark side of America’s achievement culture.”
The night began with an introduction delivered in person by the film’s director, Vicki Abeles. Her film interviews five several students on their experience with the intense pressures of our education system. Teachers were also interviewed, contending that modern educational systems place too much emphasis on memorization for tests, rather than actual learning. Another main concern voiced by parents, teachers, and psychologists was the unyielding pressure to perform. The impacts of this come at a high cost, they warn – drugs, cheating and even suicide can result from too much pressure put on young students.
So what do local students think? Some spoke out right after the film.Read More
<(From left, Sharon, Marcie, Marie, Jane, Kyle and Joan from West Seattle’s Endolyne Garden Club last Saturday)
One week after the sun-splashed planting party in which volunteers like the group above helped place 1,000 native plants at Junction Plaza Park, the city has sent out another reminder (see it here) that the park dedication (first announced last month) is coming up in 10 days – 5:30 pm June 29th, one week from Tuesday. Beyond the basics in the announcement, we asked the Parks Department if there’s word yet on who will join in the dedication event, along with the West Seattleites who have worked so hard (like the planting volunteers!) to make it reality. Here’s the plan so far, according to Parks’ Karen O’Connor: The city will be represented by Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, who chairs the Parks and Seattle Center Committee, and Deputy Parks Superintendent Eric Friedli; the music they’re promising will be provided by popular Seattle violinist Pasquale Santos. Friends of Junction Plaza Park hopes the weeknight evening scheduling means more people can come celebrate the long-awaited completion of the park (northwest corner of 42nd/Alaska).
(Photo credits: Top, courtesy Endolyne Garden Club; bottom, WSB photo taken last Sunday)
Lists courtesy of Square One Books
When we published last week’s WS Bookshelf, we were talking about hammock/lounge-chair reading … OK, today, it’s rainy-day reading! Every week, courtesy of Gretchen Montgomery @ Square One Books (WSB sponsor), we bring you her independent West Seattle bookstore’s 5 best-sellers in each of 4 key categories:
Hardcover:
1. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson
2. Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain
3. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall
4. Priceless by Robert K. Wittman
5. Bike Snob by BikesnobnycPaperback:
1. Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
2. Manhood For Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son by Michael Chabon
3. The Last Child by John Hart
4. The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles
5. Await Your Reply by Dan ChaonChildren/Young Adult:
1. City Dog, Country Dog by Mo Williams
2. Big Nate in a Class by Himself by Lincoln Pierce
3. The Red Pyramid Book 1 by Rick Riordan
4. Avalon Series/The Warlock Diaries by Rachel Roberts
5. Casper Babypants CDs by Chris BallewTeen:
1. Whisper by Phoebe Kitanidis
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
4. The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
5. The Cirque du Freak Series by Darren Shan
And a reminder that Square One is presenting a reading with two authors this week – featured in the teen list this week! – Thursday 6/24 – Phoebe Kitanidis, author of “Whisper” and Kimberly Derting, author of “The Body Finder,” will be at the Southwest Branch Library, 6:30-7:45 pm, to read, answer questions, and autograph; Square One will be selling copies of both books at the reading.
Tuesday is the final day of classes for Seattle Public Schools, and you can probably remember what it was like to try to get through those final few days till summer break – never mind the fact that, so far as we can remember, summer break used to arrive a lot earlier than it does now (at least where we grew up, elsewhere in the West). It’s a tradition for many schools to celebrate the year’s successes with special activities – and we received a few from two of the schools doing so yesterday – Top photo and next one are from Alki Elementary School‘s Razzle-Dazzle Day, courtesy of Nancy Woodland from WestSide Baby (which is sponsoring Guys’ Night Out 5 pm @ White Center Eagles tonight, don’t forget – sign up here!). Though we don’t have a photo, she says the principal even got dunked!
And at Lafayette Elementary School in the Admiral District, Friday was Field Day – Luckie shared the next two photos, explaining that the activities included hands-on sustainability adventures, like working with a worm bin:
Plus the more traditional goofy fun – water polo with spray bottles and a wading pool:
Here’s the calendar for next school year – note the early start date for West Seattle Elementary.
Along with the Delridge alley cleanup noted earlier, lots more going on today. If you click here, you’ll jump directly to the Saturday section of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup. Lots of fun stuff as always, but also some serious business – For those interested in King County’s process of determining how to control “combined sewer overflows” (CSO) at Lowman Beach’s Murray Pump Station north of Lincoln Park, today is the all-day “technical information session” intended to get information to concerned neighbors who wanted more information on how the county chose the three options it’s looking at. The agenda and packed materials are linked here – note that the meeting starts at 9:30 am, later than the original announcement, at Gatewood Elementary. Also this morning, Seattle School Board rep Steve Sundquist’s final community chat before the school year ends, 11 am at High Point Library. Plus a late add to the calendar: Noon at High Point Neighborhood House, “Supper with Stories” – potluck to meet neighbors, tell your story, build community. Again – today’s full list is here.
You’ve probably heard of Adopt-A-Street; in North Delridge, a project under way could be dubbed Adopt-An-Alley. Neighbors have been working to clean up the alley behind Delridge Library, thinking that, among other potential benefits, if it doesn’t look like a dumping ground, it’ll stop being used as one. So they’re gathering again today, 11 am-1 pm, to remove more garbage and dig out blackberry stumps to keep them from growing back. They’ve procured bags and gloves from the Adopt-A-Street program and are planning to check out some tools from the new West Seattle Tool Library (which is open Saturdays 9 am-2 pm, more info here). Karrie Kohlhaas‘s announcement notes:
Last weekend some neighborhood kids came through on their bikes and helped out, learned about what we were doing…several people thanked us, one man said now it will be safe for his son to walk through the alley to the library, another person said they wanted to do this for so long but couldn’t do it alone…We can get it
done together. Join us!
The alley is between 25th SW and Delridge, between Brandon and Findlay (map). If you have your own gloves, shovel and/or dirt-loosening tool, bring it along.
Story and photos by Jonathan Stumpf
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Last night, at a special West Seattle joint meeting of the CIty Council’s Energy/Technology/Civil Rights, and Public Utilities/Neighborhoods Committees at the Chief Sealth/Boren campus, it was brought to the attention of councilmembers 
Mike O’Brien, Bruce Harrell, and Richard Conlin, that there’s a large disconnect between the discount utility, emergency shut-off, and home improvement services available to the community and those qualified that actually use them.
Presenting this info to the councilmembers and the audience of about 60 were various staff from Seattle City Light, Seattle Public Utilities, Mayor’s Office for Senior Citizens, Seattle Human Services, Seattle Office of Housing, St. Vincent De Paul, Central Area Motivation Program, and Council central staff.
Councilmember O’Brien opened the meeting with a call to the community. Read More
The “survivors’ lap” about an hour ago marked the traditional start of Relay for Life of West Seattle – the 10th annual all-night cancer-fighting fundraiser at West Seattle Stadium. This year, 22 teams with a total of 177 members are circling the track – one by one, or maybe more – till noon tomorrow, with $35,000 pledged so far, and high hopes that it’ll be more by the time Saturday afternoon arrives. You are welcome to drop in and cheer them on – one of the most memorable moments is just a few hours away, the luminaria ceremony to honor memories of those who didn’t win the fight; that’s scheduled for about 10 pm, and again, all are welcome.
This evening, the participants got a pep talk from King County Executive Dow Constantine, who has been on hand for past relays – including the first one in 2001.
ADDED: From the late-night luminaria ceremony – we walked along the luminarias along the south side of the stadium. You can hear, like murmuring in the background, names being read, for those who were being remembered:
After the luminarias (using battery-powered lights this year rather than candles) were lit, those on hand were asked to walk quietly along the track, to remember, and pay tribute. ADDED: One of the final events of the relay – the Kids’ Lap!
(Video still to come from the big announcement at the end.)
You don’t have to be a dad to have fun this weekend, but special events are definitely targeting fathers, and families overall – from a Sunday family Ultimate Frisbee pickup event just announced, to the car show at The Mount, Guys’ Night Out on Father’s Day Eve at WestSide Baby … Other big events include Relay for Life of West Seattle tonight through tomorrow morning … plus magic, music and more. Lots going on, just click ahead:Read More
From the WSB inbox, two West Seattle Crime Watch reports from incidents apparently thwarted today along separate sections of 35th SW – first, a burglary attempt at Red Star Pizza; second, a metal theft attempt – read on for both:Read More
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