White Center Food Bank director Rick Jump is thrilled to have received that container to be turned into a worm-compost box for WCFB’s new “edible garden” – now he just needs a worm-savvy volunteer to help the box fulfill its destiny! He showed us the box when we stopped by this afternoon toward the end of a work party, during which Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle volunteers removed ornamental plantings from a long, narrow strip in front of the WCFB building, and started turning the space into the “edible garden”:
That’s Aviva from CHoSS – she brought kale and collard plants from her own garden to get into the newly tilled ground outside WCFB (which serves part of West Seattle, as well as White Center). The rich soil you see is partly thanks to compost donated by Cedar Grove, but that worm box we mentioned will have a big role in the future too – do you know how to set up and manage a box where worms will turn clippings and scraps into garden-ready compost? If so, please contact Rick at WCFB – rick@whitecenterfoodbank.org or 206.762.2848.
Friday night, between 5 PMish and midnight, multiple cars on the water side of Alki near Luna Park received an egg wash… shells still on the street today, though mostly crushed by now. Cars were parked on both the east and west ends of the bus zone … so whomever threw the eggs had to keep at it a bit… probably others involved too, though these were what I saw… Also, don’t know how current / new , but there is a big graffiti on the seawall just off the bottom of the steps from Luna Park down to the beach … Seattle Parks has been advised.
(Luna Park, in this case, refers not to the business district along Avalon just south of The Bridge, but to the area where the waterfront amusement park of that name stood long ago, now marked by the small piling-top pocket park that is also known as Anchor Park.)
Those West Seattle Girl Scouts (and some adult volunteers too) spent their Saturday morning working inside a big loading-dock building at Alaska Marine Lines on West Marginal Way, getting ready for their organization’s tastiest event of the year: Girl Scout Cookie sales! This morning, nearly 3,000 cases of cookies arrived, totaling about 60,000 boxes, approximately one for every person in West Seattle; they had to be sorted for troops to pick up, in stacks like this:
The cookies delivered and sold here are made byLittle Brownie Bakers in Kentucky, one of only two GS Cookie bakeries in the nation. 25 West Seattle troops will be selling cookies, with the official kickoff date February 27th (next Friday), and sales continuing through March 15. What’s new this year, you ask? Dulce De Leche (think caramel; read about all 8 available cookie varieties here). Cookie prices? $4/box. If you don’t encounter a Girl Scout selling cookies outside your nearest store, or some other way, send a note here and they’ll have someone contact you. And you won’t be surprised to hear you can become a “fan” of Girl Scout Cookies on Facebook. P.S. Tomorrow is Girl Scouts'[ “World Thinking Day,” and while covering the cookie arrival this morning, we got word of a big project the West Seattle girls are working on – stay tuned for more on that.
The map in the background of that photo from a recent meeting in West Seattle may show the world, but the gathered group was there to focus on one little corner of it: Fauntleroy. As part of the ongoing West Seattle Trails Alliance/Feet First project (notice the distinctive green maps, published last year, in front of participants), three wayfinding kiosks will be placed in Fauntleroy (with other neighborhoods slated to get them as well), and project leaders are meeting with neighbors to get direct local input on where those kiosks should go, what they should point to, and what kind of art they should showcase – read on for more:Read More
The car owner who just posted this item is hoping somebody saw who did it, last night or early this morning; remember that our forum has “private message” capabilities if you want to send information outside the thread.
(photos from Alki Lodge #152 pancake breakfast added 9:25 am – above, Rick Dusatko refills the syrup; below, Geoff McNeely wielding the spatula)
PANCAKES: On the griddle right now, till 11 am, and you’re invited – Alki Lodge 152, 40th/Edmunds (map) in The Junction. (Donation $5, $4 for kids, includes eggs, sausage, coffee, juice, the full meal deal.)
GET YOUR BUSINESS ON: Thinking of starting your own? Lora Lewis from Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) is hosting a session on what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. 7 tonight, e-mail to RSVP.
MEET “SIREN”: A successful businessperson – and TV personality! – is in West Seattle at 2 pm at Anytime Fitness (WSB sponsor): Meet Valerie Waugaman, known as “Siren” from TV’s “American Gladiators.” She’ll be putting on a fitness workshop and also talking about personal success. (More info in this earlier coverage.)
In the past few days, we’ve heard about two Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fundraisers that we want to share with you – organizers of both are looking for pledges to help West Seattleites succeed in two upcoming events: First, from MJ Benavente at Snap Fitness (WSB sponsor) in The Junction –
Snap Fitness is sponsoring a team for “The Big Climb” at the Columbia Tower on March 22nd. It’s a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and we are trying to raise pledge money for our team members. Anyone interested in supporting the Snap Fitness climbers can contact the club directly at 206.299.1597, or via e-mail at seattlewest@snapfitness.com
The Big Climb is the regional LLS chapter’s biggest fundraiser, according to this webpage. And as for what it’s like to climb all the way to the top of Seattle’s tallest building – this video from a stairclimb participant who posted his achievement on YouTube in 2007 gives a hint:
Now, the other LLS fundraiser – this note came in from Mandy:
I am doing the Seattle to Portland ride this year and am training with Team in Training. As a part of this team, I need to fundraise $2800 which goes to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. To raise part of this money, there will be a poker tournament at the Admiral Pub on Friday, March 13th. It is free to play, and thegame that night is Omaha Hold’em. People do not need to know how to play–it is just for fun! Starts at 7:00 pm. If people want to play poker, they need to call the pub at 933.9500 to sign up. There is already a list started.
I will also be selling raffle tickets and the prizes are generously donated from local businesses. People are encouraged to come to the pub that night (even if they don’t play poker) to join in on the raffle, have dinner, play darts, and I will also be making delicious baked goods to sell for the cause.
Also–I am still looking for gift certificates from local businesses to enter into the raffle. This is an excellent way for local businesses to get their names out there and gain new customers!
After another meeting this week to get the envisioned Delridge Produce Co-op further down the road to reality, Galena White shares how it went, including word of a possible produce source, and a search for entertainment experts! Read on for Galena’s full report:Read More
After a week or so of practicing, tonight an invitation-only benefit gala (proceeds to the West Seattle Food Bank) opened the doors at the long-awaited Luna Park ristorante Cafe Revo. We will have photos back shortly; meantime, we have word from Sofia Zadra Goff – “Signora della Casa” (co-owner with chef husband Sean “Chano” Goff) – that they have decided to be open for dinner only this weekend, and will start lunch service on Monday. (Photos added 8:41 pm – below, in the kitchen, that’s Sofia at right, looking proudly over at Sean and his team cooking, while her dad, known as “Nonno,” smiles for the WSB camera.)
Out in the dining area – abuzz with the voices of a full house – we asked “Nonno” exactly what it is he’ll be doing:
It’s Oscars weekend, and yes, we have a West Seattle Oscars party (trivia! prizes!) – along with a poetry reading tonight, two Saturday events that could change your financial future, plus the chance to meet an “American Gladiator,” among more than three dozen events ahead in this edition of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup (sponsored by Skylark Cafe and Club):Read More
Almost every time we report on this, it draws a mini-crowd of people worried about the prospect of city-managed pay parking in The Junction. Here’s your big chance to have a say directly in person: The first “walking tour” of the study zone has just been set. And it’s on a weekend, to maximize your chance of participating. Just RSVP, and then show up. Here’s the announcement we just got from Dante Taylor, who’s working on the West Seattle Junction parking study for the city Transportation Department:
SDOT will conduct a walking tour of the West Seattle Junction next Saturday, February 28 from 12 pm to 2 pm. This is an opportunity for you, community members and me, the project manager, to meet and identify parking concerns in the Junction area. We will walk around parts of the Junction that are within the outreach boundary and make note of any areas where you feel the parking study should focus. I will have maps of the outreach area so that you can take notes. Please note that we may not need the full two hours, but it would be helpful if you were available during this time just in case.
Let’s plan to meet at the Cupcake Royale at the northeast corner of Alaska and California. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.
Just got Seattle Public Schools‘ news release about open enrollment starting March 2. It mentions district reps will be at the Delridge Library to take applications March 11, if you’d rather apply in person instead of by mail (or at an out-of-West Seattle location). Read on:Read More
Thanks to Dawn211 for posting a comment on our report about Natureway closing its Junction shop, noting that Funky Jane’s Consignment would be the new tenant. We subsequently got that confirmed by building co-owner Gina Terrana, and today, we stopped in to talk with Funky Jane’s proprietor Angela Nichols (photo above). Hers is one of several businesses that needed to move anyway because the Conner Homes project is taking down the existing buildings at California/Alaska/42nd; since demolition’s not happening immediately, so she’ll be moving to the new location over the summer, she told us. By the way, Angela also had a note about what’s happening in her business right now – winter’s over and it’s time to think spring, so the current focus is on “spring preview.” (Funky Jane’s is at 4706 California now [map] and the new location in a few months is at 4455 California [map].)
Thanks to the WSB’er who wrote to make sure everyone knew that the founder of a longtime West Seattle business — Mary North Travelin the Triangle, founded more than a half-century ago — has died. According to this obituary, Mary Margaret Finley North was just a few months shy of her 90th birthday. You can sign the online guestbook here.
On the heels of the solid-waste-pickup discussion during this morning’s storm-aftermath report at the Seattle City Council, we just got a news release from Seattle Public Utilities saying they want to be SURE you know that trash pickup days are changing (for “most” households) and recycling rules are changing too. March 30th is the date, and while that’s been reported before, it’s now only a month away. Read on for the official reminder:Read More
(12/18/08 photo from Chris, taken on Delridge ramp to West Seattle Bridge)
Members of three Seattle City Council committees just got an hourlong update from three city department heads, and one of their own analysts, on more hindsight regarding the December ’08 snowstorm woes, and what’ll be done to improve city response next time. The highlights: Emergency Management director Barb Graff says the storm was overall a “$3.5 million hit” to the city budget (Councilmember Jan Drago said she wished there’d been a report on the private-sector “hit” too), though there’s hope that federal disaster-relief dollars could help cover some of that, if a presidential proclamation is made (word is expected within a week). SDOT director Grace Crunican says the city now has two more snowplows: 29 total, up from 27. The two additions cost $40,000 each.
(12/18/08 photo from Saney, taken at California/Hanford)
With that equipment, and with up to 13 more pieces of equipment available from private contractors – who are now on a retainer that will cost $30,000 (plus actual usage fees) the first year, $15,000 the second, and no additional fee after that – she says the city will be able to commit to keeping 744 “arterial lane-miles” of key streets clear no matter what, for buses and cars to use. (Using West Seattle – where she lives – as an example, Crunican said that would include California, Delridge, and 35th. No specific cross-streets, we will be looking into whether the specifics are in writing somewhere.) More highlights from the discussion, just ahead (we’ll be adding links in the next half-hour or so but wanted to get out the gist of what was said):Read More
Metro is trying to get the word out that road work in Sodo will change some bus routes as soon as Monday – if you use Metro buses that run through that area, here’s the news release you should read.
(added 1:32 pm, the whale-watching crowd south of Alki Point earlier this afternoon) ORIGINAL 10:28 AM POST: Quick update from Jeff Hogan – those orcas (see previous item) may be heading this way – northbound in Colvos Passage (west side of Vashon) at last report. We’ll update this item when/if there’s more info, and we’ll also post to Twitter (even if you don’t use Twitter, you can see our updates here). 11:15 AM UPDATE: Update from Jeff, now they’ve been spotted off Alki Point. 12:11 PM UPDATE: TV station says it’s streaming online (here’s the link – we’re checking it now). 12:28 PM UPDATE: Looks like they’re now refeeding video shot earlier. 1:03 PM UPDATE: And here’s the direct link to the aerial video now archived on KING5’s site.
A crime report this morning from WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli in The Junction, who along with neighbors is hoping this car’s owner will come forward fast:
We had a car prowl overnight on 41st between Alaska and Oregon. In the two years I’ve lived here this is the first one I’ve seen on this block. Side window shattered and there’s stuff all over the passenger seat so it looks like someone went through the glovebox. I called it in to the police but there’s nothing they can really do until the owners call and report it and we’re not sure exactly who owns this car.
After a series of briefings and hearings focusing on how the city dealt with the challenges of Snowstorm ’08, this morning we will hear about the “after-action reports” that key departments were ordered to prepare. Three Seattle City Council committees are meeting jointly at 9 am to get the lowdown from three department heads: Barb Graff, Director of the Office of Emergency Management; Grace Crunican, Director of the Department of Transportation; and Ray Hoffman, Acting Director of Seattle Public Utilities (previous director Chuck Clarke has moved on to his new job with Cascade Water Alliance). Here’s the agenda; you can watch live online at seattlechannel.org or on cable Channel 21. 10:01 AM UPDATE: This discussion is just starting now, after the meeting’s first hour was spent on the Mercer Corridor project.
(December 2008 photo by Jeff Hogan)
This afternoon, Jeff Hogan from West Seattle-based Killer Whale Tales called to say a sizable group of orcas was reported off Point No Point on the Kitsap Peninsula (map) and possibly heading this way. No sightings reported by sundown but Jeff – who provided us with photos and info about West Seattle’s last major orca sighting in December (photo above) – e-mailed this update tonight:
Turns out up to 20 plus killer whales were at the Edmonds/Kingston Ferry and still heading our way. It’s quite possible that they will be off WS in the morning. My scientific colleagues are very interested in getting out on the water to collect both photos and scat samples, especially if the new baby is with them. If any WSB’ers see them, please contact Orca Network at 1.866.ORCANET or they can call me at 206.660.0835. I will let WSB know what is going on as soon as I know something.
Two babies have been sighted/photographed with Puget Sound orcas recently, in fact – photos are on this page at the Orca Network’s website. (9:50 pm note – we just received the Orca Network’s nightly “sightings” newsletter – you can subscribe here – and it includes several sightings of this group, with the last one reported at 5:10 pm, passing Carkeek Park.)
If you are arrested and jailed, there’s usually a three-day window for you to be charged or released. With the weekend/holiday, today was the deadline for charges against 21-year-old Dion Fillmore, arrested in connection with the murder of his 70-year-old grandmother Lavon Barrette in her Fauntleroy/Dawson apartment building last weekend. We checked with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and spokesperson Dan Donohoe tells us that while Fillmore has not yet been charged in the killing, he remains jailed because he is charged in a separate case, punching a man in the face so hard a cheekbone was broken, last December 15th. Court documents say the attack happened when Fillmore was walking that night along Fauntleroy Way, not far from his grandmother’s apartment, and encountered the victim walking with Fillmore’s uncle. Fillmore’s bail is set at $100,000 and he is due in court March 5th to answer a charge of second-degree assault. Regarding the murder of Ms. Barrette (detailed in court documents Monday), Donohoe says, “A decision regarding homicide charges will be made at a later date.”
According to our fellow neighborhood-news-site operators at MyBallard.com, when the Church of the Nazarene (42nd/Juneau) agreement withSHARE expires at the end of this month, the group’s small shelter for homeless men will move from that West Seattle church to a building in Ballard. See the My Ballard story here. As we noted in original coverage of the shelter’s arrival a year ago, the church has hosted other shelters, so we’ll be checking to see if another one is taking this one’s place.
PANCAKES: On the griddle right now, till 11 am, and you’re invited – 
It’s Oscars weekend, and yes, we have a West Seattle Oscars party (trivia! prizes!) – along with a poetry reading tonight, two Saturday events that could change your financial future, plus the chance to meet an “American Gladiator,” among more than three dozen events ahead in this edition of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup (sponsored by 
Almost every time we report on this, it draws a mini-crowd of people worried about the prospect of city-managed pay parking in The Junction. Here’s your big chance to have a say directly in person: The first “walking tour” of the study zone has just been set. And it’s on a weekend, to maximize your chance of participating. Just RSVP, and then show up. Here’s the announcement we just got from Dante Taylor, who’s working on the West Seattle Junction parking study for the 
With the weekend/holiday, today was the deadline for charges against 21-year-old Dion Fillmore,
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