West Seattle, Washington
29 Monday
That’s one page from the presentation made to the City Council this morning by Junction business and development representatives – a vision for Fauntleroy Way as it passes through the area known as the “Gateway” or “Triangle” – potentially turning it into a tree-median boulevard. Read on for our full report on what’s being proposed for Fauntleroy, California, and Alaska in the area, including a dramatic new suggestion for how to stave off what many have called the “canyon effect” of the tall development for which much of the area is zoned:Read More
(cameraphone photo added 2:28 pm, more pix/vid to come in separate post a bit later)
Just set up in the 7100 block of West Marginal Way (map); we’ll head out for pix in a bit but in the meantime, you can see one on its official website. This, by the way, is at the intersection with Highland Park Way, same vicinity as one of the two potential city-jail sites in West Seattle. Organizers say they hope to make this a “permanent” encampment. The location was kept secret till organizers and participants, who met at four locations last night (according to their Google group) to make the move, actually set it up. According to their website, “While we are on Duwamish land, Nickelodeans are fearful that Mayor Nickels does not understand this.” The address they give, 7115 West Marginal, is Pacific Plumbing Supply’s property; we’ll check when we’re down there to see exactly what parcel they’re on. 1:10 PM UPDATE: The mayor told KING5 in an interview that just aired, “We will treat it like any other encampment – we will post it, and then clear it.” To “post” it means giving the residents 72 hours’ notice to clear out, as was done in the case of the Camp Long encampment covered here on WSB earlier this year. 2:01 PM UPDATE: Co-publisher Patrick is at the site and reports it’s on the river side of West Marginal, about 20 yards southeast of the intersection with Highland Park Way. Checking that on Parcel Viewer now … site has multiple owners but comparing it with aerial photograph of proposed jail site, looks like it’s definitely within those boundaries:
2:29 PM UPDATE: Seems the squatters didn’t know this was a proposed jail site – just a coincidence – or so they tell us; co-publisher Patrick, who is en route back with video etc., reports it’s fairly disorganized. Media swarming, of course; we ran into one newspaper columnist and one wire-service reporter. And this is now certain to be discussed at tonight’s prescheduled Highland Park Action Committee meeting (7 pm, Highland Park Improvement Club, 11th/Holden).
This just in from the mayor’s office. We’re all thinking about banks a little more than usual given what’s happening in the $ world, so this program for the “unbanked” may affect more people than before – read on:Read More
ORIGINAL POST: You can watch live online at SeattleChannel.org, or on cable TV at channel 21, the discussion previewed here is about to start, a bit later than expected since previous City Council business ran long. If anything major is revealed, we’ll add it to this post ASAP before writing our full report afterward. West Seattle businesses and developers are being briefed by Junction Association president Dave Montoure, Junction-based architect Brandon Nicholson, and Harbor Properties’ Denny Onslow. 10:55 AM UPDATE: A couple major proposals – the Junction Association (officially a “business improvement district”) is looking to expand its jurisdiction into the “Triangle” area into the east; the group’s suggestion is for a “view corridor” on developments along California, meaning the tallest parts of the buildings would be set back a ways from the street, so the facades along California would not be as tall; tree grates along California in The Junction to expand “walkable” surface on the narrow sidewalks. 11:06 AM UPDATE: Another major proposal: A median with trees along the section of Fauntleroy through the “Triangle” area. (We have the illustrations that are being shown today and will include them in our report afterward.) 11:22 AM UPDATE: The discussion is over. What we mentioned previously are the main headlines; stand by for that full report including the visuals of California, Fauntleroy, and Alaska and their potential futures.
BINGO: Derek, who discovered Monday night bingo at Alki UCC Church after the last time we mentioned it here, noticed it had vanished from our events calendar (oops! fixed!) and wanted to remind all would-be players it’s happening weekly – doors open 5:30 pm, games start 6:30 pm. More on this page of the Alki UCC website.
SCOUTS: Just got a note from Suzanne saying that tonight is Recruitment Night for Cub Scout Pack 284 at Gatewood Elementary School library, 6:30 pm: “Some of the Pack’s leadership and parents will be there to answer any questions about joining Cub Scouts. Our first Pack meeting of the school year will be Thursday at Our Lady of Guadalupe’s cafeteria at 7pm. First – Fifth grade boys are welcome to show up and check out what happens at the Pack meeting and hear about what scouts did over the summer including camp, hiking and the West Seattle Parade.” (ADDED 12:02 PM) Also: John e-mailed to say “Cub Scout pack #285 is having their recruitment night at 6:30 in the community room of St. John’s the Baptist Episcopal Church located (just west of West Seattle High School) at 3050 California Avenue SW. Pack 285 is one of the oldest Cub Scout packs in West Seattle and we are meeting to welcome new Cub Scouts and talk to parents who are interested in scouting. We will also be reviewing this summer’s activities and looking ahead at the fun events we have planned for the year. Boys in the 1st through 5th grade are welcome to join in. Contact Assistant Cubmaster John Woodworth @ 206-265-3295 or Cubmaster John Hoene at 206-372-3153 if you cannot make tonight’s meeting.”
CAR-SEAT RECYCLING: If you have car/booster seat(s) you’re not using – and can get to IKEA in Renton on Wednesday – you can be part of a first-of-its-kind event that WestSide Baby‘s Nancy Woodland just e-mailed to announce – though it’s not in West Seattle, it’s for families here and all over the south King County area. The event also includes safety checks for the car/booster seats you’re using now, and kids’ helmets too; read on for full details:Read More
THIS MORNING: First day of fall-quarter classes at South Seattle Community College. (So 16th SW will be busier, among other effects.)
THIS MORNING: Seattle City Council members hear from Junction business leaders, developers, and city reps regarding potential public-private coordination as big projects change the face of the “Fauntleroy Triangle,” in a briefing organized by West Seattle-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen. According to the agenda, this briefing should start around 10:15 am; you’ll be able to watch it live at SeattleChannel.org or cable TV channel 21. We’ll be covering it and will post here and via Twitter when it’s about to begin.
THIS AFTERNOON: The “design team” that will help shape the future of the Denny Middle School site, once the new Denny is built on the Chief Sealth High School campus, meets for the first time at 3 pm today at Denny.
TONIGHT: Highland Park Action Committee, 7 pm, Highland Park Improvement Club (10th/Holden). The jail-site search is in a bit of a lull but this group is continuing its work – and tackling other issues, too (last month, it was a presentation on the Spokane Street Viaduct project, which just kicked in with the lower eastbound Spokane St. shutdown last week).
That video shows a classic car revving up at the West Seattle Junction Car Show this afternoon (so loud, our camera’s mike had a little trouble coping!) – just as awards were handed out. Dave Dunn‘s ’41 Willys won the top award of the show, named in honor of the co-presenting Maple Valley Street Rats‘ Gary Parker, who died earlier this year. We also snagged a photo of Dave (plaid shirt) and his trophy with other event organizers, including our main info source, Michael Hoffman from Liberty Bell Printing (far left):
We don’t have the full official list of winners – they were rattled off faster than we could write – but we did want to note one other recipient – youngest participant, Steve Becker, 16 years old, who brought a 1941 Buick (not shown):
Now a few more pics, as promised:Read More
Both out of the WSB inbox. First, from Gretchen:
I just wanted to give a heads up about a car break-in that happened in the 1700 block of Thistle. I usually park my car in the driveway but it was left on the street for the past 5 days, since Wednesday. When we went to move it up into the driveway this evening we saw that the driver side door was open and the glove box had been torn apart. Nothing of value in the car, but filed a police report and placed a fraud report on our credit just in case. The door worked fine, no windows broken, so I think I left it unlocked. So…a reminder to not become complacent like I did! Lock those doors!
From Jennifer:
Just wanted to let you know my car was broken into at the West Seattle Allstar Fitness 2629 SW Andover St. on 9/20/08. According to the staff this seems to happen often.
Here’s the official Seattle Police advice for preventing “car prowls” (the term for crimes like these).
We got that photo on the south side of Youngstown Arts Center, looking southeast up the 23rd SW hill (map), after Eryka e-mailed us about what caused the damage: “Last night at 12:15 a.m. a driver in a brand new four door white pickup truck rounded the corner on Oregon to Delridge, quickly plowed through the guardrail, fence, and into the Cultural Arts Center lawn and driveway.” She says the driver appeared OK but impaired, and that police administered a sobriety test, then “cuffed him.” She added: “He went completely through the wire fence (or maybe under it?) and took out a couple of trees in the process. People zip around that corner incredibly fast. It’s a scary thought.” 9:32 PM ADDENDUM: Be sure to read the comments, where Mike Dady from the North Delridge Neighborhood Council notes this is at least the fourth time in two years this has happened – but also says help is on the way.
Quick note about two fundraising walks next weekend in West Seattle, and one next month just called to our attention by a West Seattleite: First, just one week left till the Alki Beach Run for Northwest Hope and Healing, a West Seattle-based group that helps cancer patients, 9 am next Sunday (most recent update here; NWHH is sponsoring WSB this month to help further spread the word). Also next weekend, Alki will be the site of Walk ‘n’ Roll to raise money to fight ataxia (a nervous-system disorder) – 10 am Saturday (registration at 9) – here’s the flyer. And we just found out through a West Seattleite on our Facebook list that the underdiscussed fight to prevent suicide is coming to Seattle with a Green Lake walk on Oct. 11 (the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention‘s “Overnight” happened in Seattle earlier this year; we covered it here, and previewed it in this interview with a West Seattleite who lost her dad to suicide). Kristen Preusser gets credit for spreading the word about the upcoming Green Lake walk; we sent in a pledge and she wondered if we’d mind sharing the link to her fundraising page. Nope, not at all; here it is. (Anybody else in WS signed up for this walk? Let us know.)
While back in The Junction for the Car Show-ending awards ceremony (more on that in our wrapup later), we hopped over to the Seattle Lutheran High School gym, where the Cupcakes for Cora fundraiser (previewed here) continues till 5:30 pm. And we got to meet Cora, who is in pre-kindergarten at Our Lady of Guadalupe. She said she’s feeling “fine,” and her parents confirm all’s going well right now; some 4-year-olds just aren’t too chatty but we really got Cora to talk a blue streak when we asked about her friends at school:
Mom Chrissie and dad Ron were kind of out of the viewfinder by the time Cora told us all that, but they wanted to say “thanks” to the West Seattle community for its generosity. If you don’t see this till after Cupcakes for Cora is over, there’s info in our preview post about how you can still chip in to help Cora and her family as this brave little girl fights to win her battle against the Wilms Tumor that has already put her through surgery and chemotherapy.
Thanks to Mark B. Bauschke for those photos with a closer look at a few of the cars gracing California between Edmunds and the post office (closed to traffic except for the cross streets) right now during the first-ever West Seattle Junction Car Show, continuing till 4 pm. We also received this cameraphone photo from somebody – nostalgic to us, since Dad had a T-Bird like this one in the early ’60s:
When we checked with one of the organizers, Liberty Bell Printing’s Michael Hoffman, about participants we might interview before the show, he mentioned West Seattleite Gordie Ryun, calling him “the reason we have a Car Show … (he) has had this idea for several years.” We didn’t catch up with him in advance but found him and his car at the show today.
Here’s video of Gordie telling the story behind his “T-Bucket”:
If you have any pictures you’d care to share, send ’em along (and be sure to let us know how you want to be credited) – we’ll post more tonight.
Though the current Denny Middle School won’t be vacated for more than two years — winter break 2010-2011 — Seattle Public Schools leaders say they need to finalize a plan for its site within the next few months. As mentioned here Friday, the district-organized Design Team (for which community volunteers were sought) starts meeting tomorrow (3 pm at Denny), and now the Westwood Neighborhood Council has set a community meeting to engage neighbors in a discussion of what they want to see. Here’s the announcement just released:
Goodbye Denny, Hello Sports Complex?
After Denny Middle School is relocated to its new location on the Sealth/Denny campus, the Seattle School District will demolish the existing school building. Current District plans call for an expanded sports complex including lighted softball fields, tennis courts and parking to occupy much of the area. As neighbors of the schools, what would you like the future site to look like?
Denny school neighbors voice your opinion!
Westwood Neighborhood Council is hosting a community meeting
7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Monday October 6
At the SW Community Center, 2801 SW Thistle
Come find out what is happening in your community!!
Please go to www.westwood-neighborhood.org for more information about this meeting, and about the School District’s plans.
Our coverage of the Denny site discussions to date, and the Denny/Sealth campus-combining project that’s leading to the future demolition of the current school, is archived here.
More than a year after we published first word of a proposal to tear down the 85-year-old Shoremont apartments at 57th/Alki, key permits have just been granted for the site: This one is a building permit for five townhouses; this one is a permit for a single-family residence; and here’s the demolition permit. A rendering for the single-family home is viewable here on the website of owners/developers/architects Pb Elemental, who sent us one for the other units when we first wrote about their plans last March.
That’s the view to the north and the south from midblock on California SW between Alaska and Oregon about half an hour ago, as entrants in the first-ever West Seattle Junction Car Show got ready to show off classic wheels like these:
And more participants were still arriving as of minutes ago – here you see a few heading north through the sections of California that otherwise are closed off for the day (Edmunds to Alaska, Alaska to Oregon, Oregon to the post office) with the east-west streets still open):
This grouping of cars looked very nicely color-coordinated with the Capers storefront:
We’ll be back later for a closer look; the car show (with WSB among the many sponsors) is scheduled to continue till 4 pm. More info about today’s events in this preview.
The car show‘s not the only event in The Junction today. Here are 2 more reminders:
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: As always, Sunday morning means we link to the latest “Ripe ‘n’ Ready” fresh sheet highlighting what to look for at the Farmers’ Market (10 am-2 pm, 44th/Alaska): Check it out here.
CUPCAKES FOR CORA: We first told you about Cora (photo left) a few days ago: She’s a West Seattle 4-year-old who just started preschool — and is fighting a rare cancer called Wilms’ Tumor; she’s already been through surgery and is now receiving chemotherapy. This afternoon in the Seattle Lutheran High School gym (4141 41st SW; here’s a map) 2:30-5:30 pm, you’re invited to “Cupcakes for Cora,” a fundraising – and just plain fun – event to help Cora and her family, including a silent auction as well as those cupcakes. It’s a drop-in event, so stop by whenever you can make it.
Lots of West Seattle folks with long-planned events today proved themselves adaptable, like the people of Pigeon Point, whose community celebration this afternoon-evening went on as scheduled – with just a few changes, like moving the bouncy house inside Cooper Elementary (map). Next West Seattle neighborhood celebration on the calendar: the Fauntleroy Community Association‘s Fauntleroy Fall Festival, October 19.
One more reminder tonight – our next update will be some early-morning pix as the cars get set up (some spaces are left for same-day registration – “load-in” is at 6:30 am, from the east side of the Edmunds/California intersection). Tomorrow, 8 am-4 pm, it’s the first-ever West Seattle Junction Car Show (with WSB among the co-sponsors), featuring more than 200 pre-1975 cars along California SW, which will be closed in Edmunds-Alaska, Alaska-Oregon, and Oregon-post office sections (the west-east streets remain open to traffic). There’s a raffle, T-shirt sales (design at left), and several special options for breakfast, including Puerto Vallarta opening at 7 am, West Seattle Eagles offering breakfast starting at 7 am, and Elliott Bay Brewery opening at 10 am. And don’t forget to wander over to the West Seattle Farmers’ Market at 44th/Alaska for the zucchini races (here’s our coverage, with video, from last year). The forecast looks a little better than today.
Just in case you hadn’t heard, it’s the first debate in this fall’s Chris Gregoire vs. Dino Rossi rematch. 9 pm, channel 4, or live online. If you want to discuss it afterward, there’s a governor’s-race topic in the WSB Forums’ 2008 Election section (or start a new topic!).
In the Alki area and saw some police/fire activity a little while ago? WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli checked it out, and sent the photos that accompany this post. At first, a “water rescue” call went out on 911, with the typically large response; then all but one engine was canceled. Witnesses who were having a party under tents at the beach (photo below) told him a fully clothed man had gone into the water and looked to be in danger/trouble, so someone called 911, and when fire/police started to arrive, he ran out of the water, soaking wet, and took off into the residential neighborhood to the east. When a new emergency response showed up a few minutes later, Christopher investigated that, and discovered the man — still sopping — turned up near Alki Community Center, was checked out by paramedics from Engine 29 and turned out to be OK. Christopher adds, “He was quoted as saying the temperature of the water ‘surprised him.’ Police transported him home.”
Thanks to Diane for spotting this: Seattle Condo Blog reports that West Water, the Morgan Junction condo conversion chronicled here last year during its inescapable marketing blitz, has taken its remaining for-sale units off the market. Nothing to independently verify that but listings at both its addresses (6960 and 6970 California SW) that came up in G-searches are marked “unavailable.” We first reported last November that some of the units were up for rent,
Missed getting this one in this week’s West Seattle Weekend Lineup, sorry about that. But the results and details from today’s Sundodger Invitational cross-country track meet at Lincoln Park are already up on the UW Athletics website; certainly the weather conditions lived up to the race name today (here’s the course map if you’re interested).
Almost since their start 9 months ago, the WSB Forums — with more than 28,000 posts in nearly 2,000 topics, to date — have been a place for West Seattleites to help each other, as well as a place to discuss myriad topics (sometimes cheerily, sometimes crabbily, seldom boringly). 
Help comes in many forms, from the official sections such as Reader Recommendations (where’s the best place to … who’s the best person to …) and Jobs Offered (businesses can post “help wanted” listings FREE), to individual discussions/events such as the fundraiser that helped an arson-damaged business recover (our report here), and many other smaller efforts in which people have come together to lend a hand. So the current economic jitters have inspired a new section: Freebies, Deals, Sales. Fairly self-explanatory (sales includes yard/garage/rummage sales, but can also include major business sales, like “annual half off everything”) – rather than set too many guidelines at the start, we’re going to watch first to see how YOU choose to use it. We just put it up a few hours ago and already, two people have posted freebies. West Seattle/White Center vicinity only, please; and, when your freebie is gone, or your sale is over, come back to post that too, so we can keep the area current. We prefer that the posts come from those who are offering the freebie/deal/sale, but if you spot something good you want to share, it’s OK to post that too – we reserve the right to delete anything suspicious, though (so this kind of thing doesn’t happen). Anyway: The new section’s here.
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