West Seattle, Washington
23 Sunday
From the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor), we have word tonight that youth baseball/T-ball signups are wrapping up for ages 3-10 – there’s still room on some teams; you can sign up at westseattleymca.org until this Sunday, or in person at the Y’s Junction and Fauntleroy locations. Practices start the week of April 26; the season ends June 26. Meantime, another victory for the West Seattle High School varsity baseball team, now 6-1 on the season – we have the latest report from assistant coach Scott Meaker – read on for the recap!
The WSHS Varsity Baseball team hosted Bainbridge HS Tuesday afternoon at Hiawatha Sports Complex. The mighty hitting attack of the Wildcats overwhelmed the Spartans earning an 11-4 win. The Varsity is now 6-1 with their only loss coming to Bishop Blanchet, the number one ranked team in the state.
Freshman Sam Hellinger started the game pitching and had a terrific outing with 4 1/3 strong innings of pitching on 2 hits and 9 strikeouts. Sophmore Jeff Freeman actually earned the win by pitching 2 1/3 innings allowing only 2 runs, walking none.
In the barrage of 17 hits , sophmore Jeff Watkins led with a 4-for-4 performance hitting 2 HRs and 4 RBI. Senior Stephan Adams went 2-for-3 with a triple and scored 3 runs. Sophmore Tim Tinkler continued his hot hitting going 2-for-3 with an RBI, a stolen base, scoring 2 runs. Senior Trevor Martin also added a HR . The Varsity hosts Nathan Hale HS on Wed. at Hiawatha at 3:30.
The WSHS JV traveled to Bainbridge HS on Tues, losing 10-0. Freshman JT Snow pitched well, giving up 3 runs in 5 innings of work. There are no other highlights to report on this game! The JV travels to Nathan Hale on Wed. and hosts Hale’s JV at Hiawatha on Friday.
Thanks again to Coach Meaker for taking the time to provide these reports!
The fight to eradicate breast cancer isn’t won yet – but not for lack of fighting – and your help is needed in a big way. Two things to tell you about tonight:
WEST SEATTLE WALK: Evergreen High School student Anastasia is organizing a Breast Cancer Walk-A-Thon in West Seattle as her senior project. She says, “I hope to bring awareness to the community and help to fight this battle. I’m honoring my French teacher who passed away and my mom who is still fighting. Come join in the fight!” It starts at 10 am Sunday, April 18, at Keller Williams in The Junction and will end on Harbor SW near Salty’s. $20 to register, which gets you a T-shirt and refreshments. Sign up by e-mailing officer@lifeinbalancept.com or e-mail the registration form, with fee – the address is on the form here.
FASHION SHOW: Northwest Hope and Healing, led by West Seattle’s Shari Sewell, is getting ready for Style ’10, this year’s edition of the fashion show that raises money for NWHH’s work to help newly diagnosed breast-cancer patients. The event is April 29 at Showbox SODO, but many West Seattleites are involved, including boutiques Carmilia’s, Coastal and Sweetie. You can buy your tickets here.
ADDED 8:32 PM: Another event that’s coming up this weekend and is also a benefit for breast cancer – Dog Makeovers and Bake Sale for the Cure this Sunday at Muttley Crew Cuts, 9 am-4 pm. Here’s the Facebook event invite.
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli)
Big contingent from Chief Sealth High School at this morning’s West Seattle Chamber of Commerce annual awards breakfast – there to celebrate the first-ever “Westsider of the Year” honoree, basketball coach Colin Slingsby. From left, it’s athletic director Sam Reed, student athletes Daniel Davis and Tre’von Lane, principal John Boyd, Coach Slingsby, and Mary Davis (Daniel’s mom), who nominated the coach:
In his acceptance speech, the coach said he was proud to be representing Chief Sealth, and the many improvements it’s made – not just in sports. He also won the Seattle Times Coach of the Year award this past season. And though basketball season is over, his work isn’t – Sealth is now looking ahead to their much-lauded Summer Basketball and Life Skills Camp this summer, the 14th annual edition, for 2nd through 9th graders – you can see the brochure here.
Presenting the awards this morning was State Sen. Joe McDermott, shown in the next photo with WestSide Baby board member Anne Higuera (from Ventana Construction [WSB sponsor]) accepting the Community Hero Award on behalf of WestSide Baby executive director Nancy Woodland, who was on a long-planned family vacation:
Anne read a letter from Nancy, talking about keeping the nonprofit’s ship steady – but it turned into a speedboat! She was also lauded for her “boundless energy and good humor” while building the nonprofit that helps thousands of local families in need. Meantime, your co-publishers were honored to represent thousands of WSB’ers in accepting the Business of the Year Award:
That’s us with (center) Chamber board president Jerome O. Cohen. (The Chamber explained the award choices in its original announcement last month, which we published here.) Cohen also paid tribute during the event to departing board members Dawn Leverett of Windermere, Rico Smith of Rico’s Auto Buff, and Bill Hibler of West Seattle Internet:
The awards breakfast was put together this year by First Mutual Bank‘s Dotty Spadoni Hughes, who stopped for a photo with City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen:
And though we don’t have her in a photo, a shoutout as well to always-working-behind-the-scenes Chamber president/CEO Patti Mullen. Except for the annual awards breakfast, the Chamber meetings are monthly lunches, and in May, the guest speaker will be West Seattle-based entrepreneur Sunny Kobe Cook.
It’s on the WSB Events calendar but an extra shout-out might give you advance warning to go clean out your tool cabinet/garage/etc. – We last updated you in January about the West Seattle Tool Library, a Sustainable West Seattle project that’s getting close to reality. This Saturday, during West Seattle Nursery‘s 11 am-3 pm open house, you can bring a tool to donate, and get a full-day, 20%-off discount coupon for regularly priced WSN items, as long as the tool meets these qualifications: In working order; not gas-powered. (The Tool Library will open soon on the South Seattle Community College [WSB sponsor] campus.) The WSN open house features guest speakers too, on topics from orchids to chicken-raising – full details here.
Thanks, garage-sale fans! We now have almost 50 sales on the list for the 6th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, presented/coordinated by WSB, coming up Saturday, May 8, 9 am-3 pm,. If you’re new to this – it’s not one big sale, but instead MANY (close to 200 last year) sales big and small, all over the peninsula. Registration continues till April 22 (then we start mapmaking). Two sites have spaces if you don’t have somewhere to sell your stuff: There’s room for 20 in the Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) courtyard (but hurry! here’s the flyer). Also, C & P Coffee is a group space again this year. If you plan to sell in one of those spots but still want your own “ad” – up to 10 words about your sale – on the map, please register and pay as an individual, noting the group site as your sale address (each of those locations will otherwise simply be on the map as “site with multiple sellers”). Ready to register and be part of a fun day of shopping/selling all over West Seattle? Here’s the form; any questions, e-mail garagesale@westseattleblog.com.
In so many recent stories, the city’s budget challenges are the undercurrent, if not the main theme (example: our story from the last Parks Board meeting). The long process of honing a budget plan – and addressing the shortfall – includes stops for citizen input along the way, and the city has just announced two of them. Neither is in West Seattle but if you are passionate about an issue (parks? libraries? police? or?) you will want to know. The first is April 28th at the New Holly Gathering Hall, 7054 32nd Ave South (map), 5 pm sign-in, 5:30 pm hearing; the second, May 4 at North Seattle Community College cafeteria, same times, 9600 College Way North (map).
(Easel display from February reservoir-park meeting; photo by Dina Johnson)
As reported here in February, the third city meeting about the new park at the West Seattle/Westcrest Reservoir is set for April 24. Today, the city is sending official reminders about that meeting (here’s the flyer), which like the last one will be at 10 am on a Saturday morning at Southwest Community Center. We covered the first two meetings – here’s our report from December, and our report from February.
WEST SEATTLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AWARDS: This morning at Salty’s on Alki, the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce has its annual Awards Breakfast. This year’s honorees were announced last month: Nancy Woodland from WestSide Baby is the Community Hero of the Year, Chief Sealth High School basketball coach Colin Slingsby is Westsider of the Year (a new award), and WSB is honored to be accepting the Business of the Year award. The event starts at 7:30 am.
SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL: Reps from community councils and other major organizations around western West Seattle – what the city calls the Southwest District – meet at 7 pm in the South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) board room. The agenda includes City Council President Richard Conlin and a presentation/discussion of the Admiral Neighborhood Plan, as the SWDC starts a months-long look at the neighborhoods in its jurisidiction that have such plans.
WESTWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: Three big topics on the agenda for this group, 7 pm at Southwest Community Center: An update on Metro’s RapidRide and how it will serve the Westwood area; the future P-Patch at 34th/Barton; and teen drinking. More at the WNC site, www.scn.org/westwood.
(ADDED) FINE FILMS AT FRESHY’S: Screening tonight at Freshy’s Coffee in the Admiral District, 7 pm – “Jackie Chan Kung Fu!” as the announcement puts it – “Legend of Drunken Master.” Here’s the Facebook event invite.
Our goal for April is a bite-size chunk of Disaster Preparedness Month information every night (all archived here) – and this time, it’s all about dates: A few to remember, for this month. First and foremost, 
if you’d like some hands-on instruction in emergency preparedness, the Fauntleroy Community Association, Fauntleroy Church and Fauntleroy YMCA (WSB sponsor) are co-sponsoring a workshop next Monday night (April 12), 7 pm at the church Fellowship Hall (9140 Fauntleroy SW). Here’s the event listing on Facebook. Next official opportunity after that is at Delridge Library on June 8, 6:30 pm, when SNAP (Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepare) will present a preparedness class. The city also has an Earthquake Retrofitting workshop in West Seattle in June – 11 am June 1 at the West Seattle (Admiral) Library. And – jumping back to this month – one more date for your calendar: April 21, 9:45 am, it’s a statewide earthquake-preparedness drill. Whether you’ll be at home, work or school at that moment, this state webpage has info on what to do to be part of the drill. Got those dates? Great! Also remember the “3 To Get Ready” campaign, which we introduced last night, and join the West Seattle Be Prepared group on Facebook.
Published late tonight at seattlepi.com: A woman is charged with attempting to promote commercial sexual abuse of a minor, after she was found in a Gatewood apartment where prosecutors say four teenage girls also were living – three of them runaways. The seattlepi.com report says police were tipped by one runaway’s mom, who discovered that the phone number from which her daughter had called her was linked to what the article describes as “a prostitution-oriented Web site.” Police found the 21-year-old suspect, Kendra M. Williams, with two girls in an apartment in the 7100 block of California SW (map), and say she told officers she was setting up an “escort service.” The King County Jail Register shows that Williams has been in jail since March 29, with bail set at $25,000; we’ll check the court documents after the online system reopens in the morning. ADDED WEDNESDAY MORNING: It has since been pointed out to us that this story originally appeared at SeattleCrime.com yesterday afternoon – with more details – you can see their story here.
Four weeks ago, we covered two community meetings about the impending South Park Bridge closure. During both, local business owners hoped their stories could be told, before the bridge closure endangered their enterprises’ survival. We assigned this story to a student journalist in hopes of continuing to tell those stories.
Story and photos by Briana Watts
University of Washington News Lab
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
“No Cierren El Puente” signs fill the windows of restaurants and businesses along 14th Avenue South. They sit along the street corners and occupy reader boards. The signs read “Do not close the bridge” because the revenue of these family-owned businesses is dependent on the traffic that moves across the South Park Bridge, slated to be closed June 30.
“There’s no way we can survive this,” says Gurdev Singh, co-owner of the South Park 76 gas station and the connected Subway shop on 14th Avenue South.
With the South Park community on one side of the Duwamish River and Boeing Field on the other, the SP Bridge is one of two connectors. Diverting traffic to the other, the First Avenue Bridge, could add 20 minutes to the commutes of South Park Bridge users, which include West Seattle and White Center residents.
“The First Avenue Bridge will be a parking lot,” predicted Bill Owens, owner of Seattle Canine Outfitters.
Another unique event is on the slate at West Seattle’s historic Admiral Theater. The Admiral will team with Women In Film/Seattle on April 19th for a tribute to film pioneer Nell Shipman. That night, The Admiral will show two of Shipman’s silent films – accompanied live by organist Dennis James, and with part of the proceeds benefiting animal charities, including a drive for donated items:
On April 19th, 2010, Women in Film/Seattle, and West Seattle’s Historic Admiral Theater partner to pay homage to two films by Northwest bred cinema pioneer, Nell Shipman. The “Kathryn Bigelow of her time,” Shipman is one of the first women who wrote, produced, and starred in many of her own productions. She became one of the first female directors in 1914, and by the ’20s, she had set up her own production company where she specialized in outdoor adventure films involving an assortment of wild animals including skunks, raccoons, wolves, and bears. Her films featured the outdoors; on-location shooting that would later become her trademark as a filmmaker. Shipman played a role that would occur throughout her film career: a strong, resourceful female who came through to save the day.
The announcement continues after the jump:Read More
Thanks to Rhonda from The Mortgage Porter (WSB sponsor) for the original tip on this – a three-car crash in the 3800 block of Beach Drive earlier this evening, but just one driver involved. According to police at the scene and witnesses, the driver hit two parked cars. (9:15 pm update: a witness in comments says the car that hit the pole is NOT the one that had the driver.)
The driver was taken to the hospital “for observation.” We drove by the scene again a little while ago, and the pole was still angled, but the wrecked cars were gone. (P.S. A few others have shared scene photos on our Facebook wall.)
Every quarter, there’s a new lineup for the West Seattle Art Walk – some venues come, a few go. And so now that it’s spring, there’s a brand-new roster: 41 venues in all, from Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) and Alki Bathhouse in the north, to Gail Ann Photography and Bird on a Wire Espresso in the south. (In addition to Click! other participating WSB sponsors include Hotwire Online Coffeehouse, Brunette Mix, Feedback Lounge and Mural Apartments.) You can visit any or all of the 41 stops this Thursday night, 6-9 pm. For details on the artists, check out the official Art Walk website – among the listings so far, “bacon people” at The Body Bar – and watch for highlights on the WSAW Facebook fan page.
To be clear, the vote a short time ago in the City Council’s Regional Development and Sustainability Committee is NOT a commitment to a White Center (etc.) annexation vote in November 2011. But as committee chair and City Council President Richard Conlin summarized the 3-0 approval of this resolution, it puts the city “on the path” toward a vote. The next chapter in the rollercoaster/seesaw saga of “Who will annex White Center (and vicinity)?”: The full council must vote on the resolution, likely Monday. More details at partner site White Center Now.
(Photos courtesy Tilden School)
It’s all about partnerships. Our previous story included a public-private partnership to fix up a stretch of local sidewalk, and here we have what you might call a public-private partnership with local students adopting a park. In this case, Tilden School‘s fifth-grade class has been taking care of their closest park, and sent along this story:
Tilden School has officially adopted the beautiful Dakota Place Park, and we, the fifth grade class, are enjoying being park stewards! We will visit the park weekly to clean up trash, pull weeds, and remove invasive species. Before the end of the school year, we will teach the fourth graders how to care for the park so they can be the park stewards next year.
We would like to thank MARK SINDELL of GGLO for designing such a beautiful green space for the West Seattle community and for all of the many small mammals, birds, and insects that are native to the area. Mark gave us a tour of the park to explain its history, design, and plant life.
We would also like to thank all of the kind donors for giving us the tools we needed to begin our stewardship project. Thanks to JUNCTION TRUE VALUE, MCLENDON HARDWARE WHITE CENTER, and WEST SEATTLE NURSERY. Your generosity is truly appreciated!
Come visit the extraordinary Dakota Place Park, and bring all your friends and Fido on a leash!
Dakota Place Park is at California/Dakota (map) and itself, like many local park projects, involves community partnership, with community volunteers playing a huge role in making it a reality. Tilden is less than a block south of the park.
During the last Seattle Parks Board meeting, we reported Superintendent Tim Gallagher‘s announcement that a construction contract has been awarded 
for Junction Plaza Park. We’re still checking on how soon work will start on the park itself – but we have word from SDOT that work to replace the sidewalk in front of the park (which is at the northwest corner of 42nd/Alaska) is imminent. SDOT’s Peg Nielsen says it’ll start within the next two or three weeks and will be sequenced with the park work. The sidewalk wasn’t part of the original park plan but Nielsen says it’s a “cost-sharing” project, funded with money from the Bridging the Gap Sidewalk Safety Repair Program and the Neighborhood Street Fund. One other example of “cost-sharing” resulting in new sidewalks has just been completed in Morgan Junction – the new sidewalk in front of Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) – the subject of this newly posted SDOT online feature.
That’s one of the photos the FBI has just released of the woman who robbed the Junction KeyBank yesterday afternoon (here’s our original report). They’ve sent the “WANTED” flyer too – it contains two of the other (small) photos they’ve sent; here’s another one from the FBI e-mail to media:
And one that’s on the “poster”:
We’re asking to see if they have larger versions – we’ve blown these up a bit but that doesn’t help much. Meantime, the FBI adds:
This individual should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information about this individual is asked to contact the FBI by telephone at (206) 622-0460, or e-mail at seattle.fbi@ic.fbi.gov
(Double-crested cormorant male with breeding plumage, photographed at Don Armeni by David Hutchinson)
Not much on the calendar this Tuesday aside from the regular recurring events, though those are certainly worth noting – 8 pm rock ‘n’ roll trivia at Feedback Lounge (which celebrates its 1st anniversary later this month!) and 6 pm open turntables at Skylark Café and Club (both WSB sponsors), and in The Junction, Shadowland hosts its regular songwriters’ showcase. One item of note on the City Council calendar this afternoon: the Regional Development and Sustainability Committee will take up a resolution formalizing the city’s “potential” interest in a White Center (and vicinity) annexation vote in November 2011 – pushed back from Mayor McGinn‘s original pursuit of a vote this year, after a financial review last month suggested annexation could be too costly to pursue in the current budget crunch. The meeting’s at 2 pm and will be live on cable and online via Seattle Channel.
With spring break over, high-school baseball season gets into full swing. Chief Sealth High School plays at Cleveland today, hosts Ingraham tomorrow, and visits them Friday; West Seattle High School‘s schedule is featured in this update from assistant coach Scott Meaker, including an update on yesterday’s win:
The West Seattle Varsity faced cross -valley rival Cleveland HS at Hiawatha Sports Complex on Monday afternoon. West Seattle prevailed 16 – 2 in 5 innings. Senior Ryan Wernli earned the win, pitching 3 innings, allowing 1 hit and 2 runs on 4 strikeouts. He walked none. Sophomore Jeff Freeman went 2 -for-3 with 3 RBI, a double and a HR. Junior Issac Luton went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI, a double, and scored 2 runs. Junior Tim Tinkler went 3 -for-4 with 3 RBI and scored 3 runs. Senior Ryan Wiggins hit a 3-run HR. West Seattle plays Bainbridge Is. HS at Hiawatha on Tuesday at 3:30 and hosts Nathan Hale HS on Wednesday.
Sports and other updates always welcome from local schools – here’s how to share ’em.
Each night in April, we’re marking Disaster Preparedness Month with info on one more step you can take to increase your chances of getting yourself and your family through the unthinkable – just in case. Tonight, it’s actually 3 steps, but we’ve mentioned two of them already: 
It’s the City of Seattle’s “3 to Get Ready” Preparedness Challenge, during which the city Office of Emergency Management is sponsoring WSB and other media outlets to promote a campaign to take those 3 steps and get 3 people you know to do the same thing. Step 1 – Store emergency water. Step 2 (we highlighted this Saturday night) – Set up an out-of-area phone contact. Step 3 (mentioned here Sunday night) – “Drop, cover, hold” in case of earthquake. Got all those? Follow the link on this city page to sign up for a special prize package between now and May 7. We’ll mention it again as the month rolls on – and you can find it again by looking for the “3 to Get Ready” ad in the WSB sidebar. ALSO: For WSB, we’d love to share preparedness pix, to inspire others – For starters, once you have your water stored, send us a pic of yourself/your family/any or all of the above with the big container(s)! (Here’s how to get us that pic.) Final note – our nightly reminders: Know your Hub; and join The Group!
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
As an all-star group of community activists and businesspeople gathered for the first in a new series of meetings to map a vision for The Triangle – the mostly industrial/commercial area east of The Junction, bounded by 35th/Fauntleroy/Alaska – what wasn’t discussed loomed almost as large as what was.
The two-hour-long meeting was about three-fourths through when Harbor Properties‘ Denny Onslow angled into the issue: “The parking issue is the 500-pound gorilla in the room. We can’t ignore it, or say we’ll address it later.”
Harbor has one of the biggest stakes in The Triangle right now, with what is currently the biggest in-progress construction project in West Seattle, Link, which will supply about 200 of the potential 2,000 new residential units the area might eventually hold, and will not solve “the parking issue,” as it is designed with fewer than 1 space for each of those units.
But the Triangle already has its parking-challenged moments, even before new residents start moving in.
The West Seattle Hi-Yu Summer Festival is moving toward its busy season – and Hi-Yu’s Deena Mahn has some news to share tonight: First, it’s our first look at the recently chosen 2010 button design – which Deena and daughter Zoe Mahn designed. The buttons will be sold for $1 as usual, all summer long, and Deena adds, “Many thanks to Steve Fischer for digitalizing our drawing!” The “Dreams Do Come True” theme for 2010 was chosen four months ago (WSB coverage here); the float with that theme is now being turned from dream to reality, Deena reports: “The float building is under way, and many volunteers led by Tim Spencer are feverishly trying to finish for our first parade appearance in Sequim on May 8th.” Meantime, she also has a long list of thank-yous for the recent Hi-Yu Spring Tea and Auction – read on to see the list:Read More
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