West Seattle, Washington
30 Tuesday
(Photo courtesy Shorewood Christian School)
For a second straight year, Mrs. Beth Gatlin‘s second-grade class at Shorewood Christian School is supporting a nonprofit group on the other side of the planet … with popcorn. Last year, they sold popcorn after school, 50 cents a bag, to help missionaries in India buy bicycles – their popcorn sales ultimately bought five bikes at $105 each. This year they are selling popcorn again, in part to raise money for the same missionaries – who now are trying to build wells to get water to villages, at $1000/well — but also to help a Costa Rican orphanage buy books. If you can’t get over to Shorewood Christian to buy popcorn, you can bring a donation to the school office, 10300 28th SW (map), or call the school office at 206/933-1056.
A little more than a week after we told you about that speed-radar sign going up on northbound 35th near Willow, two more are up: Southbound 35th near Brandon, and southbound Fauntleroy near Brandon (map). (Thanks to Bob Loblaw for the tip on the Fauntleroy sign, which as of our drive-by a short time ago was not yet activated, though the other two – which start checking your speed about a block before you get to them are.)
DOGA AT TWILIGHT: Got word from Twilight Artist Collective in The Junction that Barking Buddha Doga is headed their way; Brenda Bryan will teach a special class in what Twilight has dubbed its “lovely back gallery” on November 20th, $20, with part of the proceeds supporting Twilight and the arts. Space is limited; sign yourself and your canine companion up ASAP — you can do it right now by clicking the button at the bottom of this post on the Twilight blog. Speaking of dogs:
“BASSETS FOR OBAMA” UPDATE: We told you last week about that sweetly goofy little campaign video made by Westcrest Park Off-Leash Area volunteer steward Stevo McElhenney, starring his basset hounds Barkley and Buddy. Now we get word from Stevo that the video has made the Air America Top 10 video contest this week, with a $500 prize up for grabs – but he, Barkley, and Buddy need your vote; go here and look for the voting box in the lower right sidebar.
Out of the WSB inbox, from Shannon Felix at Avalon Glassworks:
My business networking group has rare openings for a chiropractor and massage therapist who want to grow their West Seattle businesses. If this is you, please come to Pegasus Pizza on Alki this Wednesday 10/29 at 8 am for networking with 30 other local business people who share referrals. It’s free and breakfast is included. This is the Westside Professionals chapter of BNI (Business Network International), a thriving group which already has a naturopathic physician and acupuncturist with whom to exchange word-of-mouth business referrals. For more information, contact Shannon Felix, sfelix@quidnunc.net, 206-937-6369. These two positions will be quickly filled. Bring business cards this Wednesday morning, if you are interested.
Shannon’s business, by the way, has what is the only West Seattle pumpkin patch we know of – an art-glass pumpkin patch!
Big week for the Highland Park Action Committee — it’s sponsoring Highland Park Neighborhood Halloween on Friday night, with the Highland Park Improvement Club building as headquarters for family-geared fun. But first, tonight it was the regular monthly meeting, including a briefing on recognizing domestic violence and helping its victims, and the last-minute arrival of HPAC’s chair, fresh out of the City Council‘s budget hearing, with news about the ongoing fight against the potential construction of a city jail in West Seattle — read on for details:Read More
That’s video of South Seattle Community College‘s Mike Hickey, reading tonight during the second “candidates’ forum” held during voting for Seattle’s next “Poet Populist.” Here’s Mike’s official “candidate” page; he is one of two West Seattleites who are in the running (Karen Finneyfrock from Cooper Artists’ Housing at Youngstown read at a previous forum held elsewhere in the city; read more about her here). Voting continues one more week, till November 4th; the online ballot is here.
The trial of the Alki 18-year-old charged with murder in the 10/13/07 deadly shooting inside a car at 59th/Admiral is now in its third week. WSB is covering the trial start to finish; today, the defendant took the stand – here’s our courtroom correspondent’s latest report:Read More
Thanks to Susan and Ben in Admiral for sharing their jack-o-lanterns; we’d love to showcase yours – send pix (creative outdoor decoration pix welcome too) to editor@westseattleblog.com! (P.S. We’ve added more Halloween events to the WSB Holidays page, and speaking of Admiral, the listing on that page for merchant trick-or-treating Friday now has a link to the map showing all 31 participants!).
Two incidents to alert you about this afternoon. One – word of a credit-card scammer who hit West Seattle Nursery (WSB sponsor) – with a distinctive description, and a distinctive purchase – and WSN wants to make sure other businesses are on the lookout; two, word of a car break-in – read on for details of both:Read More
Next step in the plan to seek private operators for West Seattle Stadium is a Parks Board vote Nov. 13 on the “request for proposals” (as we reported last week), but in the meantime, there’s a new website set up by people concerned about its future. We got word today of savewestseattlestadium.blogspot.com; its author is requesting your comments and other feedback, and is planning to add additional info to the site in days to come.
Out driving around to check on a few things this morning, we noticed what looked like a particularly prolific graffiti-vandalism spree in recent days – one particular tag (which we will not name or show) in dozens of spots, from safety signs to real-estate signs to concrete construction blockades, where it hadn’t been just days earlier. Can’t say for sure if the vandal is a teenager, but in most cases, graffiti vandalism is done by young offenders. That reminded us we’d been meaning to write about a discussion at last week’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting — an update on the mayor’s proposed youth-violence-prevention program, and what local police are seeing and doing:Read More
Both are on the WSB Holidays page (along with tons more Halloween and winter-holidays events) but in case you’ve got something to sell at events like this, wanted to mention it quickly here too: 
Arbor Heights Elementary has its bazaar 4-8 pm December 4th; table charge $25, call or e-mail Amy Christensen, 206/938-2634 or amychristensen_3@hotmail.com – Highland Park Elementary has its bazaar 9 am (setup) to 3 pm December 6th, table charge $10, call Christie Sjostrom at 206/252-8250. (If you have an event coming up that’s NOT already on our Holidays page, or Events page if it’s not holiday-related, please e-mail us the info!)
Just heard back from Dewey Potter at the Parks Department, after we checked in to ask whether any sort of “grand reopening event” was planned for Southwest Pool, as the end of its four-month-plus renovation closure nears. Short answer, “no event scheduled yet”; long answer, there is some news — instead of November 1st, the reopening is now planned for November 7th. Here’s why:
There will be a slight delay in the opening because of time lost to three factors: a delay in selecting the contractor as low bid was rejected, delay by the manufacturer in shipping the air handling unit, and water damage because the roof was exposed during the August rains.
Instead of opening on Saturday, November 1 as originally planned, we will now open on Friday, November 7. Drop-in recreation programs will be affected by this delay, but swimming lessons are scheduled to start on November 8 and will continue as originally planned.
The contractor will finish their primary work on Friday, Oct. 31: a new HVAC system, new roof, new boiler, and upgraded electrical systems. Also included in this closure are energy conservation improvements including a pool blanket, UV disinfection system, and new lighting. Parks maintenance crews will need the additional six days to address other maintenance needs and prepare for reopening.
The original reopening date actually was in late September; it changed to 11/1 in August (as we reported here). We reported on the project’s scope in a preview story just before the pool closed for construction; see that story here (rare peek inside its inner workings!). And you can get a look at what was happening inside DURING the construction by watching the latest edition of Seattle Channel‘s “CityStream” show, which includes a story about us here at WSB; it’s viewable online here, or on cable Channel 21 at these various times between now and early Thursday morning (the WSB and Southwest Pool stories are about midway through the half-hour show).
Thanks to Bil Hood for that photo and this update:
Hope Lutheran Church and School celebrated a milestone today. The day after the church celebrated its 90th year of ministry, ribbon-cutting ceremonies took place, opening up the new wing of the grade school. The 8th grade, kindergarten and preschool classes all moved into their new rooms, and for the first time, all of the school’s classes are housed in the same building. The final phase of the construction will be completed at the end of the year, with the addition of a new computer classroom, music room, Discovery Program rooms, elevator, much larger church lobby and much more. To follow the progress, visit HopeSeattle.org.
We covered the Hope Lutheran project groundbreaking ceremonies back in June (here’s that report, with video); it’s one of three church-construction projects in the same area on The Junction’s northeast edge.
HIGHLAND PARK ACTION COMMITTEE: Monthly meeting at 7 pm tonight, at the Highland Park Improvement Club building — if you live in HP (map here), this is YOUR neighborhood group, with a lot going on that you can find out about, and help with, by showing up. Friday night, same location, it’s Highland Park Halloween, 5:30-8:30 pm (spooky scoop here; more West Seattle Halloween goodness here).
POET POPULIST CONTENDERS: We mentioned a month ago that two West Seattleites are in the running to be Seattle’s next Poet Populist. Tonight, one of them, South Seattle Community College‘s Mike Hickey — along with six other contenders — will read (and answer questions) during PP “Candidate Forum #2” at Youngstown Arts Center, 7 pm, free. Meantime, you’ve got one more week (till 11/4) to cast your vote here.
As expected, our Sunday-night survey of West Seattle gas stations revealed major price slippage in the past week — the biggest, a 44-cent drop (at the station where we just had the first $2.60-something sighting, Arco on Delridge, photo left). Read on to see where the stations were at as the weekend ended, and how that compared to where they were this time last week:Read More
In day’s-end golden sunlight, more than 60 people gathered at the Fauntleroy Creek overlook this evening to drum, sing, and call the salmon home – with many of the songs and chants led by Jamie Shilling (top photo) and many young participants, as seen in the second photo. After the first song, Fauntleroy Creek champion (and neighbor) Judy Pickens explained the native tradition that inspired this annual gathering – and also shared some information on what you might call the “state of the salmon”:
Cub Scout Troop 793 contributed players to a skit telling the tale of how the mischievous Norse god Loki turned into a salmon – here’s the final passage – the “stars” are in the middle of the picture:
And the entire group joined in other songs and chants like this one:
Now, it’s up to the spawners to come home and create the next generation of Fauntleroy-born fish. This past spring, as we reported here, Judy and other creek-watchers were heartened to see some “home hatch,” despite major winter storms that they feared would have washed the eggs out of the creek. Tomorrow, volunteers begin their watch in Fauntleroy, hopeful of seeing spawners swim in and continue the cycle. To find out how to help, go to this page on fauntleroy.net (and if you scroll all the way to the bottom, you’ll see a short clip of a spawner spotted in the creek during a previous season). The fish ladder, by the way, is marking its 10th anniversary this fall.
Two sites to update in North Delridge — one more mysterious than the other. That would be the one shown above, right behind the DSHS/Kidney Center building. Its official address is 4040 26th (map), and we got a few notes after that fence went up around it a week or so ago. No activity has ensued — yet — and its official city webpage doesn’t show any recent permit-granting; most of the applications were from a few years ago, save a “phase III” construction permit application last May. In the original 2005 application, for which a land-use permit was issued in 2006, this was proposed as a “six-story, 154-unit apartment building with 2,500 square feet of retail and 11 live-work units.” We contacted Anka Developments, listed as the applicant on most of the DPD pages, and a spokesperson wrote back that the company is no longer involved with the site, noting that it was sold a year ago. The purchaser, PortVue LLC, has the same address and phone number as Woodinville-based Sierra Construction, where we have left an inquiry that has so far gone unanswered; we’ll keep working it. Meantime, there’s a fuller picture of information about this nearby site:
From the corner of Delridge/Dakota, that’s a look across the street toward the site that’s in city records as 4106 Delridge, subject of its first “early design guidance” meeting this past week – reviewers told the architect they want to see the project for a second round – read on to see why:Read More
Thanks to Courtney for capturing the aerial view of the sizable Zombie Walk that’s been heading through The Junction and up toward Admiral this afternoon/early evening – we mentioned it on the calendars, but you might still have been startled to see it; it’s a citywide event, and this year they decided to stalk West Seattle. (No relation to the zombies of the Thrill the World event yesterday, though some Thriller-dancers were reportedly considering joining in!) P.S. Lots of participants in the Zombie Walk means lots more pix online, including some posted by Tofublog and Kero360.
Thanks to Luckie for these photos of “the entire West Seattle YMCA Preschool” (the Y’s a WSB sponsor) taking its “annual trip to the Carpinito Brothers pumpkin patch in Kent.” Luckie continues: “There are few things more gleeful than 35+ preschoolers scrambling around acres of pumpkins. Best of all were the squishy dead pumpkins, which were a source of endless fascination.” That’s what you’re seeing here:
Got a Halloweenish pic to share? Jack-o-lantern, decorations, or? E-mail us!
Last reminder — 5 pm today, Fauntleroy Creek overlook (here’s a map; 
it’s across from the ferry terminal and up the bank – you can take the 54 bus and get off at the terminal, or park at Lincoln Park‘s south end and walk down – nearby street parking is somewhat spotty), come help drum (makeshift drums welcome too) and sing to summon the spawners. It’s been a tough year for salmon runs up and down the coasts (and those who rely on them, like Puget Sound’s resident orcas) so the fish need all the help and welcoming they can get.
In recent days, we checked on a few park projects around West Seattle, but didn’t get a chance to report the results immediately. Before these quick updates gather dust in our notebook/inbox any longer, here they are, in one roundup:Read More
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