West Seattle, Washington
30 Tuesday
Last night at the North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting (full report on main topics coming up later), some attendees (good crowd BTW!) were abuzz about e-mail from 
a neighbor detailing a Halloween night scare. Before reporting it, we checked this morning with Lt. Steve Paulsen at the Southwest Precinct to confirm the basics of what happened: Just before 3 am Saturday, “officers responded to a disturbance in the 5600 blk of 26th Ave SW (map). An unwanted guest came to the party with a rifle. Party guests wrestled the gun away and secured the subject. Police took the suspect into custody.” According to the neighbor’s e-mail, it was an assault rifle (police don’t dispute this, though we haven’t yet seen the full report), and “securing” the suspect involved duct tape. 4 PM UPDATE: MB just left this as a comment – wanted to add it here too for those who don’t usually read comments:
I can’t help but comment since I was at the party and grew up just down the street, so I know the neighborhood well. My mom mentioned it to a neighbor, who then brought it up at the recent Delridge meeting. I had already gone home when this went down, but it was my brave husband who took the rifle away from this idiot…and it was an AK47. I can’t thank him and his friends enough for literally saving the day. My husband initiated, but his amazing and brave group of friends were right behind him to help. They showed GREAT restraint in not doing serious physical harm to this guy. Thanks to them the night ended with no one hurt. I want to stress that this was not a party full of drunk teenagers or bad people who brought this on in any way. We had a great night with no problems until this happened. For whatever reason this guy didn’t like being told the party was about over. Thank god for people like my husband who aren’t willing to stand by and watch a tragedy unfold without trying to stop it. I am shaking with pride as I type! I guess he learned a thing or two during his two deployments (2005 in Iraq and 2007 in Afghanistan, he just got home in May). I am a lucky lady
Post-election and pre-(potential) weathermania, are you ready for some laughs? We’re welcoming a new sponsor – Twelfth Night Productions, opening “Bullshot Crummond” tomorrow night at Youngstown Arts Center. Here’s the official announcement:
“Before there was Austin Powers, before there was James Bond, there was … Bullshot Crummond! International man of action! … well … British man of action! … well … he certainly is British. Twelfth Night Productions presents Bullshot Crummond, a parody of the British pulp hero Bulldog Drummond, written by Ron House, Diz White, John Neville-Andrews, Alan Shearman, and Derek Cunningham. Bullshot Crummond was before James Bond and before special effects, providing much of the fun in this hilarious send up of 1930s low budget “B” action movies. The action opens with Teutonic villain Otto von Brunno and his evil mistress Lenya as they crash their plane in the English countryside and kidnap Professor Fenton, who has discovered a formula for making synthetic diamonds. Bullshot Crummond is called to the rescue and hilarity insues. Come see Bullshot Crummond as he saves the world one blunder at a time. Bullshot Crummond runs for a special two-week engagement at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (map) in West Seattle, formerly historic Cooper School. Showtimes are: November 7, 8, 14, 15 at 7:30 PM, and November 9, 16 matinees at 3 PM. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students & seniors, and are available through Brown Paper Tickets (brownpapertickets.com/event/46871) and at the Youngstown theater box office one hour before showtime on performance days.” We wish the Twelfth Night Productions crew a jolly good run for “Bullshot Crummond,” and thank them for sponsoring WSB to get out the word; the complete current list of sponsors is on this page along with info on how to join them!
(Photo by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli)
We reported last night on the impending closure of Beato Food and Wine after 2 years. Owner Brandon Gillespie promised more information today, and it’s in now. For starters, he says: “Beato is currently for sale. Anyone interested should contact Laura Miller at Catalyst Commercial Partners, 206-351-3573.” (Same listing agent as Blackbird.) His official statement in an e-mail newsletter includes information on final specials:
Due to the current economic conditions, I unfortunately have no choice but to close the doors of Beato Food & Wine. I cannot express how saddened I am to have to do so, and how much I have appreciated your business and support over the last two years. I want to thank the entire staff for all of their hard work. And more importantly, I want to thank all of our wonderful customers who supported us throughout. The final day of operation for Beato will be Friday, November 14th.
In an attempt to celebrate the last week and a half of the restaurant, we have changed the menu as well as designed a four-course tasting menu with wine pairings, available Tuesday through Thursday, for a great price. In addition, from now until our closing, we will be offering a 30% discount on all bottles of wine. Once again, I want to thank everyone who supported Beato over the last two years and invite you to join us one last time to taste an exceptional wine flight as well as what I believe is our strongest menu to date.
(Here’s the info on that “wine flight.”) Beato opened in December 2006 in the space that had previously been O2, after Ovio Bistro moved to The Junction (where it closed in June 2007, in the space now held by Ama Ama). It should be noted that while Beato will be the second West Seattle restaurant to close this fall, three are still scheduled to open — Cafe Revo on Avalon (new construction photos here), Fresh Bistro at Mural across from Jefferson Square (most recent WSB coverage here), and Zeeks Pizza in Morgan Junction (WSB coverage here) — and on a smaller scale, today is opening day for the OK Corral barbecue takeout place in the Triangle area (here’s our story from last weekend).
From the WSB Events calendar, a busy night: The first official Parks Department-organized meeting on the proposal for a “play area” at the California Place mini-park in North Admiral is at Hiawatha Community Center, 6 pm; Fairmount Community Association gets an update on the nearest Triangle developments and more, 6:30 pm at the chapel at The Mount; several fun events too including the Get Yr Fash On runway show at Mission (doors open 6 pm).
The Southwest District Council has new co-chairs for next year: Erica Karlovits of the Junction Neighborhood Organization and Chas Redmond from the Morgan Community Association. That was the easy part of Wednesday night’s meeting; otherwise, tough transportation talk put city reps in the hot seat — read on:Read More
Great photo of West Seattleite Val Mallinson and her “Victory Bike” on the P-I site. Val had kindly flagged us, so to speak, of her impending ride, but we got stuck elsewhere; glad to be able to share this shot, though!
We were down a bit because of a “hardware node” problem with the server. Fixed now. Reminder, any time the site is unreachable, planned OR unplanned outage, we will post at westseattleblog.wordpress.com, with updates on the outage as well as any news that happens in the meantime, and we’ll update our Twitter feed (twitter.com/westseattleblog) in such instances too.
She wasn’t the only movie star ever to emerge from West Seattle – but Frances Farmer was inarguably the most controversial and tragic. However, local historian, musician, and lecturer Peder Andreas Nelson points out, that was only part of her story — she had a side that is not discussed as often as her sanity battle, and that little-remembered side is what will be celebrated this Friday and Saturday during “Frances Farmer’s Revenge” at the Admiral Theater, with a chance for you to re-live Hollywood’s heyday while learning how this tumultuous star shone more brightly than you may have ever heard. We sat down last week to talk with Peder, whose idea sparked the two-day Admiral festival, for a closer look at why her, and why now — read on:Read More
From West Seattle writer Georgie Bright Kunkel: “The first Rosie the Riveter group to form in West Seattle will meet Monday, November 10th, at 2:00 pm in the Northwest Room at Providence Mt. St. Vincent at Hudson and 35th SW. Take the rear (west) entrance and the Northwest Room is the first door to your left. Any woman who worked in war industry or the war effort during WWII is invited to bring memorabilia and share stories at this first meeting. Contact Georgie at 206-935-8663 if you are interested in attending.” At left is what Georgie describes as “the original Saturday Evening Post Norman Rockwell cover that is the centerpiece of (her) collage of WWII Saturday Evening Post covers which will be displayed at this first meeting.” (Georgie was a “Rosie” and appeared in the 2008 Washington Women in Trades calendar celebrating those women and their work.)
Just last week, Governor Gregoire reaffirmed to WSB, while visiting The Junction, that a decision on the Alaskan Way Viaduct Central Waterfront section would be made by year’s end, as planned. The timetable for what has to happen between now and then just got crunchier, however — an e-mail update from WSDOT says tomorrow’s Stakeholders Advisory Committee meeting, the first one in more than a month, was called off because “the transportation analysis for the eight scenarios is taking longer than anticipated.” The next meeting is Thursday 11/13 at Town Hall, 4:30-8 pm.
WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli sends that photo from California/Oregon with this report:
Witnesses at the coin shop below the senior center told me they heard a thud and ran out to find that an elderly woman had passed out at the wheel and sideswiped a car parked just adjacent to Shadow Land. She seemed to be the car’s only occupant. No one else was injured. The woman was still unconscious when I arrived. She was being loaded into an ambulance and transported to the hospital. There is a fire engine and police cruiser at the corner and flares in the road. But traffic seemed to be getting by at 5:00 without too much of a tie-up.
Thanks to “Mrs. L” for the tip – Leslie Kelly reports that Beato is closing as of November 14th. Nobody’s picking up the phone at Beato right now, but we’ll be working to see what more we can find out. This would be the second major West Seattle eatery shutdown in less than two months, after Blackbird Bistro (which is now listed for sale). 4:58 PM UPDATE: Went by to try to confirm in person. Proprietor Brandon Gillespie isn’t expected in tonight, but a staffer confirms to WSB that November 14th was just set today as Beato’s final day. 5:23 PM UPDATE: We e-mailed Gillespie too and he replied quickly, saying he’ll have the official news release out tomorrow, adding: “We have a couple promotions and other things so we can go out in a good way.” We’ll share that information tomorrow as soon as it’s available.
More numbers out from the King County Elections Department — updated this afternoon. They promise updated numbers late tonight, two updates tomorrow afternoon and late-night, and then daily updates for as long as needed until final results are certified just before Thanksgiving. Statewide, two races remain too close to call: For lands commissioner, Democrat Peter Goldmark is slightly ahead of incumbent Doug Sutherland, and challenger Randy Dorn is slightly ahead of state school superintendent Terry Bergeson (find results for those races here). Meantime, three more local leaders have answered our request on their thoughts on last night’s election and what’s next, including West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen with what’s next for city parks after Prop 2 passed (he chairs the Parks Committee), County Councilmember Dow Constantine with what’s next for mass transit after the Sound Transit measure passed (he chairs the Transportation Committee), and State Rep. Sharon Nelson on what it’s like to be elected for the first time (her first election after being appointed to the State House exactly a year ago) — you don’t often hear elected officials using words like “elated” and “thrilling”:Read More
Thanks to a heads-up from Wally, we shared a weather alert earlier this week – and now it comes from Seattle Public Utilities (the official forecast discussion mentions potential “small stream and urban flooding”) — last warning, clear those drains (and more):Read More
Steps over the city/county line, at this morning’s grand opening of the new Greenbridge YWCA Learning Center and county library branch (map), County Executive Ron Sims made that simple and heartfelt comment about President-Elect Obama‘s election. (To see the kids he’s referring to, check out our expanded coverage of the event on White Center Now.) Meantime, for everybody looking for a tangible souvenir of history, you might just have to print this out:
We photographed CNN on the bigscreen at Skylark Club and Cafe (WSB sponsor) during last night’s election-party coverage; today, if you’re looking for a newspaper front page to save, you might have trouble, as Kathleen from Highland Park e-mailed:
I don’t know if this will get coverage anywhere but I find the run on print papers today to be fascinating! I got the last Seattle Times and P-I at the Westwood QFC and searched in vain for a copy of the NYTimes. I visited 10 different stores around Highland Park and called many more around West Seattle and White Center. There is no NYT to be found! And again, the P-I and Times are gone in most places too! I guess I’m not the only one to want to memorialize this glorious day. You better believe I’ll be at the stores sooner for the Inauguration issues!
Looks like the Weekly‘s blog had a blurb about this too.
Ready to act on that call to action? Get involved with your nearest neighborhood council/association (we have a list in the right sidebar, for those that have webpages). First chance, 6:30 tonight, Delridge Library: Monthly meeting of the North Delridge Neighborhood Council. (And this Saturday, they could use your help too – it’s the periodic Adopt-A-Street cleanup for North Delridge; meet at Delridge Community Center, 10 am.) Next chance – 6:30 pm tomorrow night, the Fairmount Community Association (their turf is just south of the Triangle area, to around Providence Mount St. Vincent — aka “The Mount” — and vicinity), meeting at The Mount’s chapel with Triangle development updates on the agenda (reps from Harbor Properties and BlueStar are expected) and more. ADDED 4:09 PM: Another group with a meeting tomorrow is hoping you’ll come join in – this is out of the WSB inbox:
“We would like to remind the community of our meeting tomorrow 6-8 pm at Hiawatha
Community Center. Please come and share your ideas and explore the possibilities to make California Place Park a space for all to enjoy! Families are welcome! We will have a table with activities for the kids and light snacks as well. Hope to see you there!”
Ann Limbaugh and Manuela Slye
Project co-chairs
Friends and Neighbors of North Admiral
More on that meeting in this WSB report.
From Joe at 45th/Andover (map):
This morning after I left for work (5:30), my wife was investigating a sound she heard in the kitchen. There stood an unknown black male. Asked to identify himself and his intentions he said he “was there to take anything he wanted.” Someone had told him he could have whatever caught his eye. My wife had him wait outside while my son was summoned to speak with him. During this period my wife called 911. After speaking with my son the man left heading north through the alleys. In minutes 4 SPD units responded. Police caught him 2 blocks away; he was brought back for identification as the intruder. Long story short he is now a guest downtown. Hopefully this will help other local burglary investigations. Maybe the return of missing property.
Several Crime Watch updates just arrived in the inbox — first, Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen says a lot of great teamwork involving police and alert businesspeople may have solved a series of eyeglasses thefts:
On 11/04/08 at about 1230 hrs, SW Officer Bruce Wind observed an occupied suspicious vehicle at Westwood Village. Officer Wind checked the license plate of the vehicle. About a half hour later, Highline Eye Care Center (Westwood Village) called 911 when the employees recognized a possible suspect who robbed them last April. Highline employees provided Officer Wind with crime bulletins from Bellevue PD regarding a string of eyeglass thefts.
As Officer Wind was speaking with the Highline Eye Care employees, SW Officer Phil Rees on-viewed a complaint of an incident at West Seattle Optical (4500 blk of California SW).
Officer Wind recognized the incident and provided vehicle information to other officers. A Traffic officer spotted the vehicle in the 2600 blk of SW Genesee. Both male and female suspect were arrested. Suspected stolen property was also recovered.
Robbery detectives are following up on the case which may be tied to over 55 eyeglass theft cases in Bellevue and Auburn.
So many layers to the election, we will be bringing you followups for days, if not weeks, to come, but today we are checking in with some of your elected leaders and others with unique perspectives. For starters: All three 34th District state legislators, all Democrats, were on the ballot last night, but without opposition, there was no suspense to the results. Nonetheless, win they did: Rep. Eileen Cody, Rep. Sharon Nelson (appointed, and sworn in one year ago today, after Joe McDermott moved up to the State Senate a year ago following the resignation of Erik Poulsen), and Sen. McDermott (photo left), who writes in response to our request for reaction (and a bit about his future focus):
I am elated with the Electoral College success President-elect Obama achieved last night. I think it speaks to the hope and optimism we the people have. Here in West Seattle, Kimber McCreery and David Ginsberg lead a long list of people to whom thanks is due for their hard work on the campaign over many months!
Having worked with Governor Gregoire over the past 4 years as Governor, and previously as Attorney General, I find her leadership to be amazing and am pleased she has been re-elected. As I begin my new term in the State Senate, I plan on working with her on education and economic issues. In these times, we need to be sure that places like South Seattle Community College are well equipped to help people gain new skills in our economy and be successful in finding fulfilling employment.
I will also continue my work on Voter Registration. I believe we should encourage citizens to vote and our current deadlines for voter registration to not fulfill this value.
I thank West Seattle and the 34th District for the opportunity to serve you in the Washington State Senate over the next two years.
Speaking of SSCC, that’s where Sen. McDermott will lead the second part of a two-part class focusing on this year’s election, discussing and analyzing how it all shook out — 6:30 pm next Monday.
Postscript this morning from Lora Lewis at Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor), re: those “election special” drinks: “We did sell the ‘Obama for Change’ more than any other election special yesterday, maybe an indicator of yesterday’s outcome?? Of our customer ‘electoral votes’: Obama 27, McCain 0, Biden 7, Palin 1.” ADDED 9:25 AM: From the daily bulletin at Chief Sealth HS – the student body’s mock election also had the same results as the official voting, with Sen. Obama, Gov. Gregoire, and Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott getting the most votes.
(MargL and daughter voting in Arbor Heights)
Not too much suspense left right now (except state school superintendent and lands commissioner) so we’re going to call it a night earlier than the 2 am or so we were originally pondering. King County Elections sent out another vote-total update around 11:20 pm; highlights include the fact both Seattle levies are now past 60 percent approval (only 50 percent plus one was needed). We had a blast today, running around West Seattle for most of the day, pre-dawn till post-dusk, seeing and showing how people were spending this historic Election Day – so different from how we spent all but one of the previous presidential elections dating back to 1984: huddled in a TV newsroom, nailbiting over final preparations for the always-crazy live Election Night show, then helping make that show happen. Before we go, a final report on how this night went, from WSB contributing journalist Christopher Boffoli:
Wow! What a night. We were at Ama Ama around dinner time and everyone seemed riveted to the televisions there. Whenever Obama would win a state, everyone would cheer.
Then we moved on to Shadowland. The place was packed. By the time of the McCain concession speech, it was standing room only. It was quiet as he spoke, but many were very moved by the senator’s words. I think some realized that it was the end of a dream for the senator. Then we all waited for the Obama speech and it was (just as I expect it was everywhere else) an outpouring of emotion. People were applauding every time he would pause in his speech. And they were shouting ‘Yes we can!”
This is the 6th presidential election in which I’ve voted and I’ve never seen anything like this before
P.S. To catch up on results, follow the links in previous posts; King County says it’ll update vote totals two more times tonight, around 12:30 am and 1:30 am. We’ll have roundups tomorrow, too.
(scroll down for latest updates on state/local vote notes)
That’s what it was like inside Skylark two hours ago a few minutes after Sen. Obama was declared President-Elect Obama (the bigscreen TV had switched from Jon Stewart to CNN by then). Half an hour later, as we drove back to WSB HQ, we saw more signs of revelry: Along Delridge, a woman and kids, jumping up and down and shouting at passing cars. Not far from where we caught one last voter scooting in with seconds to go till the doors closed on a tremendously busy Election Day at Delridge Community Center (more than 1200 ballots, we were told):
STATE/LOCAL RESULTS LINKS:
Governor and other major statewide offices
Seattle Pike Place Market and Parks levies
Sound Transit Prop 1
Statewide ballot initiatives (985, 1000, 1029)
Local legislators (all unopposed)
King County charter amendments
10:15 PM UPDATE: CNN is projecting Gov. Gregoire will win re-election; currently leading in the vote count, 52%-48%. Initiative 985 losing, 1000 and 1029 winning. Seattle levies both passing. Outside Seattle but notable – Darcy Burner well ahead in rematch with U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (results here).
10:50 PM UPDATE: New ballot totals released by King County in past half-hour still show the parks and Pike Place levies passing handily (both needed only simple majorities). All county charter amendments except 1 are passing – looks like more county leaders will have to run as nonpartisan candidates in the future. In notes from elsewhere, the California same-sex-marriage ban is leading; Minnesota Senate race is almost a tie – less than 200 votes between challenger Al Franken (former Saturday Night Live cast member) and the Republican incumbent he ran against.
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