West Seattle, Washington
04 Friday
Thanks to Kippy Jo for the tip that Alki Elementary will start the school year with a new principal: Seattle Public Schools sent a letter to families this week announcing that principal Joanne Hill is on leave and former Loyal Heights Elementary principal Clover Codd has been appointed as interim principal. Read on for the full text of the letter, which the district provided to us by request:Read More
Today was the day by which the Port of Seattle had said it had hoped to use legal action to evict the homeless encampment that calls itself “Nickelsville” from its latest location, at Terminal 107 Park in eastern West Seattle. Instead, encampment spokesperson Revel Smith just sent this news release:
ln a last-minute collaborative effort, Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, Port Commissioner Gael Tarleton, Port Commissioner Kurt Beckett, Michael Ramos, Director of the Church Council of Greater Seattle, Paul Benz of the Lutheran Public Policy Office, Cecile Hansen, Chairperson of the Duwamish tribe and 4 Nickelodeons met together yesterday at the Duwamish Longhouse to discuss viable options for Nickelsville.
Speaker Frank Chopp asked the Port to work together with them. Speaker Chopp has worked on legislation for the Port before, and said he would introduce legislation clarifying the Port’s concerns so they were legally satisfied. In return, Port Commissioner Tarleton agreed to take a proposal to the rest of the Port Commission allowing extension of Nickelsville’s stay.
If allowed, the proposed agreement would allow Nickelsville to remain at the T-107 Park for an initial two months with a third month safety net. This would give parties who were at the table time to work together to find a permanent site for Nickelsville. The Port of Seattle and Nickelsville would seek a Temporary Use Permit from the City of Seattle for the three month stay at T-107 Park. Signals from the City are that a permit would likely be granted, and city police would comply.
Nickelsville thanks Speaker of the House, Frank Chopp for his advocacy and willingness to introduce clarifying legislation. Nickelsville continues to seek a stable permanent site, as well as sustain responsible stewardship of park land or sites which may become available in the near future.
No formal statement yet from the port. 7:33 PM UPDATE: Port spokesperson Charla Skaggs sent a note saying there’s “incorrect information” in the Nickelsville news release we posted verbatim above:
Speaker Chopp requested, and strongly urged, the port commission to grant an extension. In return for that extension, the members of the encampment would guarantee that they would leave willingly at the end of the extension. The port did not request that Speaker Chopp amend the port’s authority in any way.
The port has continuously stated that it is illegal for port land to be used for housing.
Please note that the commissioners have been asked to consider this request; no decision has been made.
Also, Kurt Beckett is the port’s director of external affairs, not a commissioner.
According to the port’s website, the commission has two meetings next week: a special meeting on Monday, a regular meeting on Tuesday. Agendas for both are linked here.
Heading back from Mayor Nickels’ news conference at City Hall, WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli sent this photo from a one-car crash that’s backing up westbound traffic on The Bridge. No medic units involved, per 911, so it appears no one was seriously hurt. Note the tow truck in the photo, which means it should clear soon.
Added at 5:39 Here’s a closer shot that more clearly illustrates how the vehicle hit the barrier:
(WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli, added 10:21 am)
Mayor Nickels has just announced at City Hall, with family at his side, and applause greeting him as he entered, that he’s called Joe Mallahan and Mike McGinn to congratulate them on advancing to November’s general election. He is making his statement with a tone of “no regrets” and pride. He says he and city government has “made a difference each and every day” of his two terms. He says, “The Seattle today is stronger, better and kinder than the Seattle of yesterday” and says this is “an amazing place in an amazing time.” He says he will continue working hard for the “131 days left” of his administration. In response to the first question after his statement – why he lost – “I think the people of Seattle have decided it’s time for a new generation of leadership” and then he semi-joked, “I think there are dozens of issues” which caused people to vote against him. He said leadership means making tough decisions and “You get to make everybody unhappy – The Viaduct might be an example of that.” He says he hasn’t decided which candidate he will support in November. And regarding what he’ll do next – he says he has “no idea” yet. 10:19 AM: The mayor’s news conference just wrapped up. (Side note: In our photo above, in addition to family members with the mayor, that’s Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis near the center of his photo, also a West Seattleite, looking on.) ADDED 12:03 PM: Seattle Post-Globe has published a statement from City Council President Richard Conlin (who decided against a mayoral run, going for re-election instead; he faces West Seattleite David Ginsberg in November). ADDED 12:56 PM: You can see some of the humor that the mayor displayed, in this clip published to YouTube by the politics site horsesass.org:
ADDED 2:06 PM: Covering the announcement for WSB, Christopher Boffoli provides this transcript of what Mayor Nickels said this morning, including the questions that followed from the assembled media:Read More
We’ve been working on an overall update regarding what’s up – or not up – with the excavated-then-stalled site many West Seattleites have nicknamed “Hole Foods.” We’d hoped to wait to nail down a few more aspects of the story before publishing what Whole Foods itself is saying about it these days, but since a couple people (thanks!) have already e-mailed us about a short item at seattletimes.com today, we’d better just go ahead and share what WF’s regional spokesperson Vicki Foley told us yesterday afternoon, regarding whether they are still committed to that stalled site or possibly looking elsewhere:
We are watching the Fauntleroy Place project closely as the developer appears to have a number of obstacles to overcome, if he is to deliver the space to us by the deadlines in the lease.
Our original inquiry to WF earlier this week had been regarding whether there is a certain point at which they are no longer committed to the site (whose permit history is listed here); according to Foley, their commitment currently extends into next year. Meantime, WF announced earlier this week that its Interbay store is set to open October 14, and in other West Seattle grocery news, two sources (including this WSB Forums post) say the new QFC at Capco Plaza will open September 16th (10:31 am update: QFC spokesperson Kristin Maas confirms to WSB, “that’s the date we’re shooting for”). Our last Whole Foods WS site report was a month ago, when we broke the news that a West Seattle investor who’d hoped to buy the site was no longer pursuing a purchase. The financial firm that now owns the site has not yet responded to our requests for an update; there are currently four legal actions pending related to this project.
(WSB photo from 2008)
It’s been almost a year since a demolition permit was issued for the 86-year-old Shoremont Apartments on Alki (map), with a new development planned at the site. Since then, as the development climate has cooled, they have sat empty, somewhat battered and “forlorn,” the word used by “S” in tipping us that the city DPD has posted an “emergency order” at the Shoremont after finding it in violation of city codes by being “open to entry” – see the complaint/violation history here. The Shoremont last changed hands in early 2008; we last heard from its owner/developers in October and will seek them out again for comment on this.
MAYOR’S ANNOUNCEMENT: WSB will be at City Hall with the rest of the media at 10 am today to cover Mayor Greg Nickels‘ first news briefing since Election Night. Widespread speculation is that he will concede; after three days of vote-counting, he remains in third place, behind Joe Mallahan and Mike McGinn, though thousands of ballots remain to be counted.
DELRIDGE PRODUCE CO-OP MOBILE MARKET, WEEK 2: Lots of buzz about Week 1 of this experiment in making more fresh food available in Delridge. Today, this month-long pilot project starts its second week – a different location for each of four consecutive days (the same 4 each week). Find them today at Watts Electric, 9050 Delridge (map), 3:30-7:30 pm.
“THE MUSIC MAN”: Twelfth Night Productions (WSB sponsor) is now in the final weekend of this exuberant production (our video from last Saturday shows why we use that adjective!) – and since they had sellout crowds last weekend, you’ll want to buy tickets early (they’re available online). 7:30 pm tonight and Saturday, 3 pm Sunday, West Seattle High School Theater.
LAYNE STALEY TRIBUTE PRE-SHOW PARTY: Tonight, 7 pm at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), there are “giveaways, raffles, a silent auction, rare video footage and a night of music from the late Seattle singer” one night before the downtown tribute concert raising money for heroin recovery in memory of the late rocker. More at the Feedback Lounge website.
That’s just part of what’s happening today/tonight – check the WSB Events calendar, and the coming-up-later-this-morning West Seattle Weekend Lineup, for more.
We’ve been covering the West Seattle Junction parking review since it was first announced a year and a half ago (archived here, newest coverage first). Last month, the city announced pay stations would not be recommended – but the parking review continued, and a committee meeting tonight revealed more of its possible results.
By Jack Mayne
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Even though paid parking kiosks are off the table for The Junction’s business district, a small contingent of the West Seattle Junction Parking Project Committee expressed worries tonight about parking problems once various apartment projects and new business spaces are finished.
Currently, in terms of potential changes to city-controlled parking in The Junction, it appears only some adjustment in the number and placing of “2-Hour Parking” signs is needed, the city says. Dante Taylor, heading the parking review in the Junction area for the Seattle Department of Transportation, told three members of the committee at the meeting at Ginomai that the city could come back and check how things are going in six months and possibly again six months after that.
WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli reports (and photographed) a big crowd for tonight’s Brian Waite Band performance, second-to-last in the first-ever Summer Concerts at Hiawatha series presented by the Admiral Neighborhood Association (co-sponsored by local businesses and organizations including WSB). Christopher says that “all of the kids were dancing up front and having a fun time. After a few days of heat the weather forecast says the lows will be back down into the 50’s tonight and it was already fairly breezy out there tonight. But the crowd didn’t seem to mind.”
Video to come. (added 10:58 pm – here it is)
Next Thursday night, 6:30 pm, the Admiral concert series concludes with the West Seattle Big Band; tomorrow night, Summer Concerts at The Mount (WSB sponsor) – which, like the Hiawatha series, is free – presents Mariachi Fiesta Mexicana, 6 pm.
Tomorrow’s the final day – after an extension – to fill out a relatively quick survey (explained here) regarding your thoughts on the state of your neighborhood (or, if yours isn’t in the survey, one that you visit frequently) and how you’d like to see its future shape up. The Seattle Planning Commission has been updating that bar chart lately, and while on one hand it looks like Ballard/Crown Hill is insurmountably ahead, if you add up the five West Seattle neighborhoods that are included (Delridge, Junction, Admiral, Morgan Junction, Westwood Village/Highland Park) the peninsula is number one – but we still haven’t even totaled 1,000 responses – need fewer than 200 to hit that mark – so can you spare a few minutes to have a say on how you think it’s going and where you think it should go? Start here – deadline’s tomorrow.
(WSB photo from November 2008)
Remember West Seattle High School‘s amazing division-title, 9-2 varsity-football season last year? This year’s football season is coming up fast. We’ve got the schedule, courtesy of new running-backs coach Mike Kreiger, and it starts two weeks from tomorrow with a game against a school from Vancouver, B.C. Before we list the full schedule – we asked Mike about any current fundraisers, and here’s what he told us:
The team is now selling “gold cards” or “adrenaline cards” for $25 to help the team go to camp and pay for new gear. With the school district cutbacks we lost a lot of our funding and we’re trying to get next generation helmets, blocking sleds and more. Players just got the cards and will be going door-to-door from now until Sunday to get support for the team. The card has some great re-usable 2-for-1 deals from local W. Seattle businesses like Subway, Taco Del Mar, Domino’s, Zatz Bagels, Papa John’s, Puerto Vallarta, Great Harvest Bread and more (22 total). … Anybody interested in helping the team or sponsoring us or anything at all is encouraged to call (206-432-2626) …
Lots more about WSHS athletics at westsideathletics.com – now, read on for the football schedule Mike provided:Read More
King County Elections’ daily vote update has just come out, and Joe Mallahan remains in the lead for mayor, with Mike McGinn second, incumbent Mayor Greg Nickels third. See those results here. Here’s the table from the results website:
Joe Mallahan 28126 27.22%
Mike McGinn 27586 26.69%
Greg Nickels 26416 25.56%
Full results are all linked here. ADDED 4:36 PM: Browsing through the rest of the results – no big changes but in the King County Executive race, the gap between Susan Hutchison and Dow Constantine has narrowed again – she is now at 34.6%, he is at 24.9%. (Here are the full County Exec results.)
It’s become a Thursday tradition this summer – SDOT’s roundup of where in Seattle you’ll find big events, and how they might affect traffic. (Reminder – as we reported yesterday, the King County Water Taxi will have extra runs for tonight’s Sounders match and Saturday’s Seahawks game.) Read on —Read More
The Southwest Precinct says two recent arrests appear to have solved a lot of burglaries — at least eight, and potentially more. We’ve spoken with both Detective Nick Bauer and Sgt. Jeff Durden to get the details you’re about to read: It started with a burglary on August 7th, 3400 block of 47th SW (map) – the resident(s) left the house for just 15 minutes, with a window unlocked or cracked open, and that’s all it took for burglars to get in. With some description information from neighbors, and a GPS-equipped BlackBerry stolen in the break-in, police tracked two suspects – one adult, one juvenile. That led to a search warrant for a house in the 1800 block of SW Brandon (map), where police found stolen property – “tons of it,” as Det. Bauer put it. Read on for the rest of the story:Read More
Just got word there are still a few spots left to golf tomorrow in the Seniors for Juniors benefit tournament at West Seattle Golf Course. In addition to the info you see above, there are also tickets available for dinner/auction afterward, also at WSGC (banquet room) – those tickets (no golf) are $25, same contact info. Here’s our original preview; here’s a list of the items being auctioned; even more info here.
(Yusef Mahmoud and Tyler Webster in “Dark of the Moon”; photo by Nichole DeMent)
Two more events on tonight’s slate, in addition to the Hiawatha concert mentioned earlier: First, tonight through Sunday, ArtsWest presents its summer Theater Conservatory production, “Dark of the Moon,” billed on the AW website as “is a dramatic stage play in the vein of Romeo and Juliet set in the Appalachian Mountains during the 1920s,” with a supernatural spin — a “witch boy” falling in love with a “human girl.” More info here.
Second: Though the city announced a month ago that it’s not recommending paid street parking for The Junction, that’s not the end of the Junction Parking Project, which may yet result in other changes. You can find out about the next steps in the process by attending the Junction Parking Project Committee meeting tonight, 6 pm, Ginomai (42nd/Genesee; map). More about tonight’s meeting in our preview from Aug. 11th.
Here’s the news release we received from West Seattle Dawg, a WSB sponsor and one of the businesses in the Morgan Junction block that’s home to Christopher’s Salon, whose owner is recovering from surgery:
A few weeks ago, the owner of Christopher’s Hair Salon fell ill and was hospitalized and had surgery. He spent significant time in the hospital. When he was released from the hospital he had missed weeks of work, and had a mountain of hospital bills.
The neighboring businesses wanted to help Christopher out so we are beginning to do a fundraiser to help him. West Seattle is a great business community, and many business know and support one another. West Seattle Dawg, a few doors down, began contacting people to help Christopher.
“Christopher has been kind to us since day one when we opened our doors, said Rex Post, owner of West Seattle Dawg. “We wanted to do something to help our neighbor who is a kind and wonderful person. So we are asking businesses to do different things to help our neighboring business owner.”
This Friday West Seattle Dawg will begin giving half of their baked-goods sales to Christopher. We will donate 1/2 of Friday, Saturday, and next Friday and Saturdays sales to help him. We are also coordinating a raffle that will have various items from businesses and do a raffle on August 30, 2009 at Christopher’s Salon. The tickets will be $5 each and available for purchase at Christopher’s Salon beginning this Friday August 21st.
We will also have a list in participating business that will donate items, services, and have donation jars available.
If you own a business, and would like to have something in the raffle, please contact: info@westseattledawg.com. Tickets will be for sale [starting] this Friday [tomorrow] at Christopher’s Salon at: 7009 California Ave SW.
On Sunday, August 30th, from 9 am – until ?, Caryn and Nick will be doing haircuts all day, with 100% of all sales going to Christopher.
If you have any questions please contact Rex at info@westseattledawg.com or call Caryn at 206-932-1760. West Seattle is not just a city, it’s a wonderful community that wants to help one another.
The block with Christopher’s and West Seattle Dawg is between Myrtle and Frontenac on the west side of California SW (map).
We received a text and this photo a short time ago (thank you!) about another bicycle accident at almost exactly the same spot on Delridge, south of Holden (map). This one apparently involved only the bicyclist, according to Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen (whom we called because there were no police at the scene, and the fire truck left as we were arriving, barely 15 minutes after the 911 dispatch). We saw the victim taken off in a private ambulance, also as we were arriving, which usually means not-major injuries, and the road is clear now, so this seems to have been fairly minor, but we’re mentioning it because what happened two mornings ago (which police still have not solved, according to our check with them late yesterday) is still fresh. By the way, we heard back last night from Amy, a friend of the bicyclist hurt on Tuesday, and she says her friend is “still (in) icu and she’s very broken to say the least, she had to have surgery this morning and will have to have a few more. She is still here though thankfully. but mostly right now she and her husband and extended family just need a whole bunch of prayers.”
That’s the Brian Waite Band – in the middle of their “20,000 Volts Under the Sea” tour and plugging into the Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s Summer Concerts at Hiawatha series tonight. 6:30 pm, east lawn of Hiawatha Community Center (map), free admission, bring your own chairs/blankets/picnic dinner. And if you’re bringing kids – there’s face-painting tonight, too! Weather looks promising, unlike last week. (This is the second-to-last concert of the first-ever series, which concludes next week with the fabulous West Seattle Big Band.)
(2008 Arts-in-Nature Festival photo by Marco, featuring Pyrosutra performing at Camp Long)
It’s the hottest ticket in West Seattle this weekend – The Nature Consortium is getting ready for its annual Arts-in-Nature Festival this Saturday and Sunday at Camp Long, and joined WSB as a sponsor this week to help get the word out. The arts at the festival span multiple disciplines, from visual to audio, from performance to participation, and the artists include musicians like now-West Seattleite Chris Ballew (from Presidents of the United States of America) performing as Caspar Babypants – here’s our video of CB at West Seattle Summer Fest last month:
He’s scheduled to perform in the Geodesic Sound Dome (one of five venues) at 2 pm Sunday; festival hours are 11 am-9 pm Saturday, 11 am-6 pm Sunday. Lots more highlights – including The Cabiri (aerial dance), plus your last chance to see Mandy Greer‘s art installation Mater Matrix Mother and Medium, a crocheted river by Polliwog Pond:
(July photo by Sharonn Meeks)
Here’s a printable version of the Arts-in-Nature Festival schedule; here’s the schedule as an online grid. Admission is by donation, $5/person. And if you haven’t been to Camp Long – here’s where to find it.
Just out of the WSB inbox, from Blake:
We had our jogging stroller stolen out front of our yard in broad daylight this afternoon at 34th and Othello [map]. We were standing 30 feet away when it happened but didn’t notice. We purchased it this Monday to exercise with our 13 month old child. If anybody sees a green jogging stroller for sale in the West Seattle area, please contact me at bjs210bjs@gmail.com.
Blake says they don’t have a photo. Which leads us to a point police made when we were talking with them this afternoon (working on a story about a burglary bust, which you’ll see here tomorrow) – be sure to keep identifying information so that if your stolen property is found, it can be returned to you more easily – that means serial numbers, photos, or etch an identifier into the item.
This morning, Steve wrote to share this story:
> So, we have this gigantic plum tree in our yard. Way more than we could ever eat on our own. Way more.
Typically we spend the end of the summer wiping smashed plum off our shoes and depositing plums into the yard waste bin. This year, we got in contact with a cool organization called Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle (in West Seattle). You call them or fill out an online form about your fruit trees. They show up with a bunch of volunteers, pick the ripe fruit, deliver it to local food banks that night. You can help pick or not. Really nice people, super easy to work with. They came and harvested the plums last night, they left us as many as we wanted for ourselves and took the rest. Might be cool to let people know about this — I was vaguely aware of the idea, but finally remembered to track them down this year.
Shortly after Steve’s note, we coincidentally heard from Aviva at Community Harvest, who says they’ve got more trees waiting to be picked – 10 new tree donors this week alone! – but they need a hand – more than one hand, actually:
Someone asked us to check into this – we can’t find the original note but we did find the answer
| 6 COMMENTS