Followup: Bail reduced for West Seattle burglary/theft suspect
A court appearance this morning for 19-year-old Skyelar Hailey, charged with two counts of burglary after an incident last month that started with the theft of a teacher’s purse at West Seattle High School, continued with items being taken from an acquaintance’s home nearby, and ended with a foot pursuit involving police (all detailed here): According to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Hailey pleaded not guilty, and the judge cut his bail from $25,000 to $15,000. He is still in jail as of this moment, according to the county’s online jail register. As reported here Tuesday, the 17-year-old girl who was with him when this all happened is charged with burglary and ID theft, and also has pleaded not guilty.
West Seattle food news: Pizza Time bought by Red Star Pizza
The exterior sign isn’t up yet, but there are brand-new owners at, and a new name for, what was Pizza Time at 7514 35th SW (map). Shannon Cross tells WSB that while she and her husband are born-and-raised West Seattleites, when they decided to go into the pizza business, they couldn’t find the right place here, so they opened Red Star Pizza in the Pierce County town of Lakewood. Then Pizza Time went on the market – and they realized, “We have to have it.” Right now they’re in a transition time to the full menu they offer as Red Star Pizza (see it here on their website, which Shannon says will have the West Seattle location information soon), including subs, plus more fresh local ingredients, including, she says, produce from the West Seattle Farmers’ Market. And note the video games in the photo atop this story – Shannon explains that they’re into ’80s and ’90s nostalgia, so they’ve got five classic game machines. Like Pizza Time, they have delivery and carry-out — 11 am-11 pm Mondays-Thursdays, 11 am-1 am Fridays-Saturdays, 11 am-8 pm Sundays.
PCC Natural Markets: Welcome, new West Seattle Blog sponsor
(PCC’s West Seattle store staff, photographed by PCC’s Scott Parshall)
Our newest sponsor is celebrating a milestone — PCC Natural Markets opened its West Seattle location (2749 California SW) 20 years ago, and invites you to a big party September 13th with free food, fun, samples, even cooking demonstrations. The full celebration plan is on the PCC website. Here’s what else PCC wants you to know: When you crave all that’s fresh, local and organic, we hope you’ll visit all of us at PCC Natural Markets. We’ve served West Seattle since 1989 and are proud supporters of the West Seattle Food Bank, the Summer Concert Series at Hiawatha and numerous schools and community groups.
We began as a food-buying club of 15 families back in 1953. Today we’re the largest consumer-owned, natural food co-operative in the United States. Co-operative means our nine locations around the Sound are owned by our roughly 45,000 members. Not a member? You’re still plenty welcome to shop with us! But we hope you’ll consider joining the co-op to support sustainable agriculture and our long-running, environmentally friendly, community-based business.
You won’t find high-fructose corn syrup or plastic bags in our stores. Here’s just a sampling of what you will find in West Seattle: Produce, meats, dairy and more that meet our standards for quality, flavor and ethics; award-winning cooking classes through our PCC Cooks program; wine tastings; hundreds of kid-tested-and-approved foods labeled throughout the store via our Kid Picks program and a team that’s glad to answer your questions or give you a sample. Here’s to a lifetime of good eating!
Thanks to PCC Natural Markets – open 7 am-11 pm daily in West Seattle – for supporting neighborhood-based, community-collaborative news/information/discussion by sponsoring WSB. Our current sponsors are all here, with info on how to join them.
Midway through 8 days of librarylessness: 2 West Seattle notes
FRIENDS OF SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY AT SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL: Two FSPL reps spoke to the group last night, and asked again for library users to speak out to help them campaign against even more cuts next year. For starters, the survey mentioned here yesterday (direct link here) is one tool they hope to use; they also want library users to show up at budget hearings this fall, saying the usual handful of people who turn up to testify won’t be enough to impress city leaders. FSPL’s Sarel Rowe also noted that budget cuts and closures “leave a legacy” – the regular hours that don’t start till early afternoon part of the week are a never-changed holdover from years ago (as the group points out here).
USUALLY GET ONLINE AT THE LIBRARY? If you know someone who usually gets online at a library, here’s an option: Lora Lewis at Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) reminds us that her shop next to the Junction Post Office has a bank of computers, and “we have Internet happy hours open to 10 am and then 4 pm to close. You receive a full hour of Internet surfing with a beverage purchase. Outside of happy hour you still receive 15 minutes free Internet surfing with a beverage and it’s just 10 cents a minute for any overage. We have desktop computers, free wireless, a black and white printer, full color scanner, black and white copier. All the desktops have the full Microsoft Office Suite. We’re open 6:30 am to 7 pm.”
Traffic alert: Crash on northbound 99
Margie texted to warn other downtown-bound West Seattleites that northbound 99 is backed up because of a crash. The live 911 log shows one unit on the scene of a crash in that area. 7:42 AM: She texted that 7 cars are involved, blocking the left lane, “looks like a chain reaction.” 8:12 AM: Via Facebook, Kim says, “First Ave is a fiasco, don’t come this way.” 9:22 AM: Oliver notes in comments that the crash scene is reported to now be clear.
North Delridge Council: Leadership change, and more
Toplines from Wednesday night’s meeting of the North Delridge Neighborhood Council, held at Olympia Pizza because the usual venue, Delridge Library, was (like all other Seattle city libraries this week) closed:
LEADERSHIP CHANGE: NDNC will elect officers this fall, and co-chair Mike Dady announced he’s not running again.
That’s Dady (left) with City Councilmember Tim Burgess during the tour he organized five months ago to call attention to problem properties and push for changes in how the city deals with (or doesn’t deal with) them. He was lauded for an outstanding job throughout his tenure. The group is also restructuring the leadership to two co-chairs and two co-secretaries. They discussed realigning their committee strategy as well, to have more small teams focused on more critical areas.
PAST EVENTS: Last Thursday’s ice-cream social was deemed a hit; next up, a S’mores in the Park party is planned for Delridge Community Center park, 4-6 pm September 13th. Nancy Folsom reported that 8 people helped with last Saturday’s Adopt-A-Street cleanup, gathering 12 bags of trash.
TENANT TROUBLE: Southwest Precinct-based assistant city attorney Beth Gappert briefed the group on some North Delridge properties with troublesome tenants. She reported some had moved out, as Community Police Team Officer Kevin McDaniel continues to work with everyone involved. Current concerns include noise problems, on which she said he is also working.
SKATEPARK SUPPORT: Co-chair Jay Mirro will sign a letter drafted by Nancy Folsom reiterating NDNC’s support for the future Delridge Skatepark (as reported here last month, its funding situation has changed again). They urged everyone to contact city councilmembers about it, and Folsom volunteered to go to any necessary city meetings to provide a personal presence on behalf of NDNC’s support.
North Delridge Neighborhood Council meets the first Wednesday of every month, 6:30 pm.
Want to be on next year’s West Seattle Garden Tour?
(WSB photo from this year’s West Seattle Garden Tour)
Just a month and a half after the West Seattle Garden Tour, Gail from the WSGT Selection Committee says they’re ready to harvest the next round of participants:
ATTENTION ALL GARDENERS
Do you have the most beautiful garden on your block? Would you love to show it off? The 2010 West Seattle Garden Tour would love to have you on the tour. We are NOW selecting gardens for the summer of 2010. Call 206-935-9217 and leave a message if you are interested in sharing your garden. Thank you, cannot wait to see your garden.
West Seattle roadside scenes: Bike lane; sharrows; tree-cutting
A few more things of note, along West Seattle streets: The “rechannelization” – striping that’s part of the last phase of the road reconstruction – has begun along Fauntleroy Way; we spotted the striped-in bike lane tonight, as we headed northeast. SDOT announced recently that the work will be done by the middle of this month. And “sharrow”-painting continues to stretch further south:
We just noticed sharrows have been roughed in along Thistle between California and Delridge (map).Last but not least, Rhonda from The Mortgage Porter (WSB sponsor) called our attention this morning to this scene along Jacobsen Road just east of Beach Drive, south edge of Me-Kwa-Mooks Natural Area (map):
She wondered what was being cut and why, and so did we when we saw it, so we contacted the Parks Department – the crew had clearly labeled Parks vehicles – and Dewey Potter tells us:
This was a single dead alder tree that our Tree Crew Chief identified. It was hanging close to the road and the driveways of two houses. The bark was starting to fall off the stem and branches. The crew will leave a snag for habitat if possible. That is the only tree being removed.
“Traffic calming” in and near Fauntleroy: Radar-trailer sightings
If you haven’t passed them yet, note that radar-equipped speed-displaying trailers have shown up in recent days in and around Fauntleroy. The top photo is from the 9300 block of 45th SW (just south of Endolyne Joe’s [WSB sponsor]; map), photographed on Tuesday by Kevin McClintic, who decided to watch a while and see if it seemed to be having any effect:
The posted speed limit is 30 MPH. The average speed before the driver slowed down after seeing the radar speed displayed seemed to average around 32 – 36, with some of the higher speeds running in the high 30s. A couple of 40s, with a 42 being the record while I was watching. I even saw a bicycle coming down the hill at 37.
An interesting observation is that despite the fact there was no traffic officer waiting to write a ticket, the speed display almost always caused a significant slowdown. Even more interesting was that most folks in the low 30s speed range slowed WAY down to about 25 or so, while the faster drivers slowed down to 30 or perhaps 31, or 32.
Less than a mile northeast, we happened onto one this afternoon, on the southwest-bound side of California SW between Fauntleroy Schoolhouse and Fauntleroy Church (map):
In many cases, the speed trailers are in place at the request of neighborhoods and/or neighborhood groups who have monitored speeds and documented a problem, working with the SDOT Neighborhood Speed Watch Program – more info here. The neighborhood group overseeing the area where these were sighted is the Fauntleroy Community Association, whose next meeting is next Tuesday (9/9), 7 pm at the schoolhouse.
Final election results: Here’s how West Seattleites did
King County has certified the results of the August 18th primary. You can find all results here; we’re breaking out how West Seattle-residing candidates did in the final certified countywide vote totals – top three in each race (top 2 move on to November 3rd election), West Seattleite with asterisk before name:
COUNTY EXECUTIVE
Susan Hutchison 110052 33.05%
*Dow Constantine 89833 26.98%
Fred Jarrett 40527 12.17%
SEATTLE MAYOR
Mike McGinn 39097 27.71%
Joe Mallahan 37933 26.88%
*Greg Nickels 35781 25.36%
SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL POSITION 4
Sally Bagshaw 63348 51.01%
David Bloom 22690 18.27%
*Dorsol Plants 17822 14.35%
SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 4
Tom Albro 121518 41.86%
*Max Vekich 81362 28.02%
Robert Walker 61848 21.30%
Besides Constantine and Vekich, two other West Seattleites will be on the November ballot – their races only had two candidates, so it was an automatic pass to the general – Tom Carr, incumbent Seattle City Attorney challenged by Pete Holmes, and David Ginsberg, challenging incumbent City Council President Richard Conlin in the Position 6 race. Finally, a few turnout notes from the August primary: 31.5% participation countywide (percentage of ballots returned); 38.5% participation in Seattle; among the County Council districts, ours – District 8 – had the second-highest turnout, 37.2%, eclipsed only by District 4 (downtown/north end) with 38.2% (the lowest was District 3 [easternmost King County] with 24.6%).
West Seattle Whole Foods site update: Judicial foreclosure sought
Discovered this during our periodic peek into the online records for the various lawsuits pending related to what was the Fauntleroy Place site (map), 
nicknamed “Hole Foods” since currently it’s a huge excavation awaiting a development that’s still supposed to include a Whole Foods store (as well as Hancock Fabrics and residential units): The newest development is that a legal action seeking “judicial foreclosure” was filed in King County Superior Court last week, by a firm identifying itself as 3922 SW Alaska LLC (the official address of record for the site), as a third party intervening in the lawsuits and liens pending regarding the site. The documents say that new entity holds the note/deed to the site as of late June (with the note’s most recent valuation listed as $21 million).
You can read the “complaint for judicial foreclosure” here; here’s an associated document, an order putting off a motion for summary judgment by a party to one of the lawsuits, because of the “intervention.”
As soon as we found this, we sought comment from Foster Pepper, the legal firm representing the party seeking foreclosure. They have not called back.
So to make sure we’re interpreting the action as accurately as possible, we informally consulted a real-estate-transaction expert (not involved in the case) who tells us it’s not unusual for a new entity to be formed in a situation like this to take over the financial and other liability. He adds, though, it’s not so commonplace for judicial foreclosure to be sought instead of nonjudicial – this type, he says, tends to take longer.
Bottom line, though, it’s another step in the path to getting the site’s future resolved, but it’s the first time the word “foreclosure” has been formally raised in this situation, and it could lead to the property being sold at auction. As we reported two weeks ago, Whole Foods’ official stance is that they are still expecting to open a store there, but they are “watching (the project) closely” to see if the commitments in their lease will be met. (When ground was ceremonially broken in June of last year – WSB coverage here – a February 2010 completion date was projected.) Lots more to follow up on this, of course, as we have done and will continue to do.
Today/tonight: Southwest and North Delridge Councils, more
SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL: Reps from community councils/associations and other major organizations in what the city refers to as the Southwest District section of West Seattle (map left) will gather in the board room at South Seattle Community College, everyone welcome, 7 pm. City Councilmember Bruce Harrell (who chairs the committee overseeing utilities and technology) will be a guest, as will reps from Friends of the Seattle Public Library and Southwest Seattle Historical Society to talk about the fire-damaged Alki Homestead.
NORTH DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: Neighbors from all around North Delridge are welcome – note that because of this week’s library shutdown, NDNC will meet at Olympia Pizza (5605 Delridge; map), 6:30 tonight. Lots going on in the neighborhood (including plans for another get-together at mid-month, following up on the ice-cream social success).
FUNDRAISER FOR FIRE VICTIMS: 4-8 pm at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) in Morgan Junction (6451 California SW; map), you can bid on silent auction items to help out local musicians/artists affected by a July house fire near The Junction last month. More on the FL website.
Not West Seattle-specific but of potential interest here:
SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD: Last meeting before the new school year starts a week from today; agenda items include the new contract just approved by the teachers’ union. 6 pm, district HQ in SODO (2445 3rd S.; map)- here’s the agenda.
FINAL ELECTION RESULTS: The last few ballots are to be counted and the county will certify the August 18th vote today (watch for the final report here). The trends that took shape within the first week of ballot-counting haven’t changed – but now we’ll have the final numbers to read the tea leaves looking ahead to November 3rd.
West Seattle Junction Car Show – less than 3 weeks away
More huge events coming up in West Seattle this month before a small pre-Halloween lull – and one of them is the 2nd annual West Seattle Junction Car Show, Sunday 9/20. WSB is proud to co-sponsor the show again this year; the official news release from the West Seattle Junction Association is out, so we’re sharing it here:
– Three blocks of downtown West Seattle at The Junction will be cordoned off on Sunday, September 20 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the Second Annual West Seattle Junction Car Show (wsjunctioncarshow.com). This family friendly, community-oriented event will take place on California Avenue SW between SW Genesee and SW Edmunds streets and will feature classic cars and hot rods from the 1920’s to the 1970’s. Antique fire trucks from The Last Resort Fire Department, the Oh Boy! Oberto hydroplane and fire safety tips for kids from the fighters of the Seattle Fire Department will also be part of the festivities. Classic car enthusiasts can register their car on the day of the event for $20 and will be admitted on a first-come-first-served basis.
Trophies will be awarded in several categories, including Best in Show, Best of Decade, Best Ford and Best of West Seattle. DJ Galen Suave will be spinning classic hits from the 1950’s and 60’s. A gas grill courtesy of Junction True Value ($350 value) as well as over 20 donated items from West Seattle businesses will be raffled off. Raffle tickets are one for $1, six for $5 or 13 for $10 and will benefit the West Seattle Helpline. Day-of coupons for many Junction merchants will be available at the Information booth, as will Car Show tee shirts and Junction bumper stickers. As always, parking is free in The Junction at four marked lots, one on 42nd Avenue SW and three on 44th Avenue SW.
“This event, sponsored by The Junction and the merchants of West Seattle, is a chance for us to give back to the community. Attendees are welcome to stroll along the street and enjoy the show with their families,” explains Michael Hoffman, owner of Liberty Bell Printing and event co-chair.
If you attended last year, you’ll note one major change – the streets will be closed in the same “footprint” as West Seattle Summer Fest, a wider closure than last year. Find out more at wsjunctioncarshow.com.
“Project Possible” helps West Seattle homeowner; can you pitch in?
Sometimes, there may be more to the story of what seems like a “nuisance house” in a neighborhood. At least, that’s what you could draw from this item we happened onto while wandering the Web – a West Seattle homeowner in dire need of help to fix up a house that got trashed while a crisis pulled her away (scroll down that page to see the photos). We contacted “Project Possible” to find out more; Scott Bishop told us his startup is meant to help people with extreme situations like this who run out of places to turn, but he then has to work to line up volunteer/donated help to pitch in. As you’ll see toward the end of the story on his website, some help is still needed, particularly a stump grinder; his contact information is there if there’s anything you can do.
New expected completion date for Alki pump station: November
You’ll be looking at that scene along Alki for two more months, because the expected completion date for the 53rd Avenue Pump Station expansion project on Alki has moved back a few more weeks. Two recent notes asking us for updates led us to contact King County Wastewater Treatment spokesperson Martha Tuttle, who says they’re now expecting the project to wind up in early November, instead of the October date discussed when we published an update in late spring. She explained:
Although the construction is substantially complete, the new pump station must go through significant testing to be fully functional. … We will not be clearing away the barricades/signs/ materials until the pump station is fully operative, which is around the first of November. Sorry for that news. We know the walkers, joggers and bikers are really tired of our presence.
Work on the pump station began 19 months ago (here’s our first report from February 2008). The county website explains what’s being built – tripling the size of the underground pump station.
Quick update from Angelina’s new owners: “Now closed”
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As scheduled (and reported here 2 weeks ago), Angelina’s Trattoria is now closed in Admiral so its new owners can make renovations. We got a note via Facebook from co-owner Allison Rich, regarding the closure and the staff status:
I wanted to let you know that Angelina’s is now closed; the paper will go up on the windows tonight, and the buildout will start when all permits are in order. We are still hoping to open in early October. We are keeping the chef and manager, as well as meeting with all of the current staff tomorrow.
Staffers had posted an open letter to customers in the comment section following our previous report. The new owners are planning to add new restrooms and a bar during the renovation work; they’ve said they’re keeping the name, and while the menu will remain Italian-focused, there’ll be some “not Italian” offerings too.
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