West Seattle, Washington
03 Thursday
…As in, less (fewer) restrictions could mean more variety in housing units. Or, so said the architects from whom City Councilmember Sally Clark 
and her Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee heard at Youngstown Arts Center Tuesday night. A fair share of the two-dozen-plus audience members came from a class at the UW, according to a shoutout from Clark as the meeting wrapped up, but those on hand also included two West Seattle architects who have spoken out on the subject before: Brandon Nicholson, who recently completed a city consultancy contract to work on part of the Multi-Family Code Update – that’s the zoning section that includes townhouses – and David Foster, a former chair of the Southwest Design Review Board (of which Nicholson is a current member, though he’s been on hiatus while on the city contract). No votes were taken, no decisions were made, but it’s another stretch of the road toward a change. Read on for details:Read More
Just circulated by Ron Angeles from the city’s Neighborhood Service Office in Delridge:
King County International Airport
July 1, 2009
Community NoticeSeattle/Tukwila/Renton metropolitan area residents may experience temporary increases in aircraft noise levels from SEAFAIR celebration events during July-August 2009. Please note the following dates:
July 29 Blue Angels Arrive
July 30 Blue Angels practice times:
10 a.m.-12 p.m.
1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
July 31 Blue Angels performances:
1:20 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
August 1 1:20 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
August 2 1:20 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
August 3 Blue Angels depart
First Wednesday night of the month is the regular meeting night for two West Seattle community organizations. 
One, the Southwest District Council, does NOT meet tonight, but the other does: If you live or work in the North Delridge area, join the North Delridge Neighborhood Council at 6:30 tonight at the Delridge Library. This group has a LOT going on, including the Delridge Community Center playground-in-a-day project on July 17th (a few dozen volunteers still needed at last report – have you signed up yet? E-mail helpdelridgeplay@gmail.com ASAP!).
This morning, SPDBlotter reports on an incident we heard play out via the scanner overnight without having all the details till now: It started in West Seattle, when officers detected a stolen car and followed it onto The Viaduct; the vehicle didn’t stop until the driver crashed it in the Woodland Park area. Along the way, radio communication between officers in various areas kept the vehicle in view. Police say that after it hit a tree and signs in the north end, the suspect – who turned out to be a juvenile – bolted, and tried to break into a nearby home before getting caught with the help of a K-9 team. Here are the details on SPDBlotter. ADDED AT 10:04 AM: Two details that aren’t in that report – we checked with SPD media unit Officer Mark Jamieson to verify the West Seattle location where this started — 7100 block of 35th. He also provided the suspect’s exact age: 17.
As the city Landmarks Preservation Board gets ready to hear the landmark nomination for The Sanctuary at Admiral this afternoon (3:30 pm, 40th floor of the Municipal Tower downtown, agenda here), it’s also set the date to hear the nomination for the Seaview and Sunrise Buildings at The Kenney. As this newly published public notice says, that hearing will be in two weeks – 3:30 pm July 15th at the Muni Tower; you can see the nomination document here. (The board’s proceedings are open to the public.)
Though August 18 is the official date for the primary election, voting begins in less than a month, as King County Elections will start mailing ballots four weeks from today (military/overseas ballots even sooner). Candidates in the hottest incumbentless race, King County Executive, talked environmental issues last night at Town Hall downtown, as a sizable audience looked on:
By Johnathon Fitzpatrick
Special to West Seattle Blog
The stage was set as if for a musical recital, with tall backed bar-stools and music stands. Hoping for a quintet performance by King County Executive candidates, the full audience that gathered at Town Hall for a debate on environmental leadership had to settle for the regular quartet performance by the four elected Democrats running in this officially nonpartisan race – King County Council Chair Dow Constantine of West Seattle, State Rep. Ross Hunter of Medina, County Councilmember Larry Phillips of Magnolia and State Sen. Fred Jarrett of Mercer Island. (8 candidates are running; see the full list here.)
As they climbed onto their seats for the debate, someone in the crowd shouted: “Where’s Susan?” That question seemed to be on many minds, as the audience erupted in boos when Clifford Traisman, moderator for the otherwise-orderly debate hosted by the Washington Environmental Council, gave the now-familiar explanation that candidate Susan Hutchison had declined their request, citing a prior engagement. (She did attend a forum the night before – here’s the Daily Weekly‘s account – and mentions the environment on her website’s “issues” page.)
Story and photos by Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
There were princesses everywhere, just as would be expected, at last night’s White Rose Ceremony and Reception in Fauntleroy, part of the 75th annual West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival festivities.
Dressed in jewel-hued gowns, dining on cake, the current courts met the new Senior Court candidates and offered them a little entertainment, during a women-only event to celebrate Hi-Yu royalty past and present.
In the crowd were a dozen or more past Hi-Yu royalty, including Pam Storz, a princess in 1978, and Ella (then Vogelpohl) Engelking, who was Miss Congeniality in 1973.
(mid-June photo by Revel Smith)
The homeless camp that calls itself “Nickelsville” will mark one month back in West Seattle on Monday (here’s our June 6 report about its arrival) – if it’s still there. Spokesperson Revel Smith just sent this announcement saying they’ve been told to clear out of the 2nd SW/Highland Park Way site by then:
Yesterday, Ron Judd, Sr. Advisor to Governor Gregoire, told Nickelsville it must move by Monday July 6th. [Today] Nickelsville Representatives will appear downtown at end of the Women in Black Vigil [noon, 5th/Cherry] for homeless who’ve recently died. At that time they will present a letter requesting more time from Governor Gregoire. …
At the end of the vigil, Nickelodeons will provide a formal written request to the Governor asking for more time to stay at the current West Seattle site … while they seek a permanent location.No new permanent site has been made available at this time. “We’re asking the Governor, ‘Please give us a chance to find a permanent site.”
The site the camp took over on June 6, after moving from a church parking lot elsewhere in the city, is state-owned land, just east of the city-owned site where “Nickelsville” first set up for about a week last fall (punctuated by a police sweep).
At the Rotary Club of West Seattle‘s annual installation banquet tonight at The Kenney, Steve Fuller was honored as Rotarian of the Year. Josh Sutton from the West Seattle/Fauntleroy YMCA (WSB sponsor) sent the photo and info, explaining that Steve is “our most recent International Chair. Over the past two years, Steve has led our club’s efforts in supporting demining in Cambodia, fresh water wells in Vietnam, building the great Baikal Trail, put in solar refrigerator, generator & wiring at the East African Center in Takaungu, Kenya. He was pretty surprised! Outgoing president Carol Coram presented” the award. (By the way, the Rotarians have two more rounds of berry sales this summer – orders are being accepted now; check their website for info.) P.S. Also congratulations to Amy Lee Derenthal from The Kenney, installed last night as the new Rotary president.
Good news from Sherri Chun – the people represented in that photo from just before last year’s Admiral 4th of July Kids’ Parade, West Seattle’s ONLY Independence Day parade, will be back for this year’s edition on Saturday! Sherri just e-mailed to say that Mayor Nickels and the Hi-Yu Junior Court have confirmed. And she’s putting out the call for something specific:
We are anticipating nice weather – I am seeking volunteers to bring water balloons for the annual water balloon toss. Please e-mail me if you’re willing to bring 20 filled water balloons. sherri.chun@att.net. You can drop them at my house the day before, or I can come get them. Get out your red, white and blue, and we’ll see you there!
Every kid in West Seattle is invited to be part of the parade – be at 44th and Sunset (map), 10 am Saturday (that’s a half-hour earlier than previous years). And if you can, please bring a dollar donation per child – as Sherri explained two weeks ago, the fund that pays for the parade permit (and fun activities afterward at Hamilton Viewpoint) is running low and they’ll have donation boxes out to collect money to make sure the parade happens again next year, and beyond.
Thanks to Lisa for sharing that photo with the news that the West Seattle All-Stars, from the West Seattle Association of Pee-Wee Baseball, won the Maltby Invitational Baseball Tournament last weekend – taking the title in the U-10 bracket, with the leadership of head coach Manny Flores. Congratulations! (Got good news to share? Lots of ways to get it to WSB, any time!) ADDED WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON: Some upcoming Pee Wee Baseball info from league president Eric Olson:
Our 10U team is hosting the 2009 West Seattle Mustang Tune Up on July 10th – 12th.
Twelve of the best 10U teams from around the region will be at this tournament. This tournament gets them ready for the Pony Sectional tournament which is the first step in the process of making it to the Pony 10U World Series later this summer.The West Seattle Niners will be hosting the 2009 West Seattle Junior Mustang Shootout on July 17th – 19th. Again, 12 of the region’s best 9U teams will be in attendance.
Both tournaments are held at the West Seattle Pee Wee Fields at Lower Riverview. The address is 1200 SW Myrtle St. Tournament schedules can be found at www.westseattlepeewee.com.
(photo from Daniel, added 9:07 pm)
We got a call from someone thinking the huge plume of smoke to the east was from Beacon Hill. Nope – it’s an apartment building in Renton. We’re following photos and info via Twitter – here’s one photo, and another. Here’s a link to whatever’s the latest reported here;; a map to the exact location is here. ADDED 9:05 PM: A few more photos via Twitter – the flames; the smoke from Mercer Island. And we added a photo from Daniel (thank you!) showing the smoke as seen from Westwood. (P.S.) @alexpietsch on Twitter says the building that’s burning is newly constructed Harrington Square.
Just made public: The long-range plan for Washington State Ferries, which says the system is $3.3 billion short of what it needs for the next 22 years. Here’s the link; read on for the news release – we’ll be analyzing it for Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ramifications:Read More
Whether it’s here in the news section or in the WSB Forums, food never fails to cook up a lively discussion. With that in mind, and his own interest in the subject, WSB contributing journalist Christopher Boffoli has been taking a behind-the-scenes look at some local restaurants, including the Luna Park business district’s 4-months-old Café Revò (WSB sponsor), and with a holiday weekend ahead, we wanted to share the video he put together – as well as the article that begins below. Before we get to that: Knowing we would be running this, we also checked with Café Revò’s Sofia Zadra Goff to see what’s in store for the 4th of July – she says they’ll be open at 11 am as usual, breakfast and frittata menu till 3, then dinner; planning to stay open till 11 unless it gets “really slow.” She says they’re suggesting also to customers that “people can come get food to go from Cafe Revo to take to the beach or picnic, or buy their favorite wines from us for their 4th of July events since we have our retail wine license.” Now, as a companion to the video story above, here’s Christopher’s report in text:
By Christopher Boffoli
WSB contributing journalist
The longer I live in the Pacific Northwest, the more it reinforces the extent to which I count myself fortunate to be living in one of the most interesting regions for food in the country. Still, as an East Coaster of Southern Italian descent, it is not always so easy to find many of the familiar foods and flavors of my childhood. The Italians and their “soul food” are here. Somewhere. You just have to work harder to find them. Their presence is not as well-defined as, say, the Nordic or Asian communities in Seattle. For every bright star like Salumi or Via Tribunali, it seems there are many more watered-down red-sauce joints that pass themselves off as Italian but are just a copy of something that wasn’t very authentic to begin with.
Around this time yesterday, a huge Seattle Fire Department response rushed to the 4100 block of 48th SW for what turned out to be a basement fire, nobody hurt. We just checked with SFD spokesperson Helen Fitzpatrick to get the cause: She says a waterbed heating pad ignited, catching the mattress and then the frame on fire. Damage total: $70,000. (On the WSB Facebook page, a relative of the family mentioned that while the fire damage itself wasn’t so much, there’s a lot of water damage and many keepsakes were lost.) Photo by WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli
If you drive Thistle between California and Delridge, you’ve probably noticed that banner outside Peace Lutheran Church. We first reported June 6 about the Tour de Revs heading this way — three Lutheran ministers on one special bicycle, pedaling around the country to fight global hunger — and now we’ve got an update on the street party/barbecue that Peace Lutheran is planning for their visit 6-8 pm Thursday — Kristie says everyone’s invited to a barbecue, and to ride with the “Revs” afterward:
We’ve officially been granted the permit for this all-invited Block Party featuring the three cycling Revs on the bamboo bike designed by well-known eco-bike maker Craig Calfee … Bring a donation for the West Seattle and White Center Food Banks and something to share. Picnic fare available. Ride with the Revs and hear about their cross-country journey! 6-8 pm, ride following.
Peace Lutheran is at 39th/Thistle (map). You can read all about the Tour de Revs (and see their unique three-person bicycle) at their website – including this section with frequent updates.
West Seattle is one of the city’s three focus areas for the Youth Violence Prevention Initiative – as discussed during last Thursday’s City Council town-hall meeting in Fauntleroy — so anything related to it is news here, even if it’s an event happening in another part of the city, like this one: It’s just been announced that Marian Wright Edelman is coming to Seattle for a YVPI summit next Tuesday in the Rainier Valley – read on for the official announcement:Read More
Just received from Dow Constantine‘s campaign:
Rivals Jarrett and Constantine Jointly Call for Greater Openness and Transparency in King County Executive’s Race;
Phillips and Hutchison continue to refuse to make public candidate questionnaires
Today, two of the major candidates for the office of King County Executive, King County Council Chair Dow Constantine and State Sen. Fred Jarrett, issued an unusual joint statement pointing out that they are the only two candidates to have been fully open and transparent in making public the detailed candidate questionnaires they have submitted to a wide range of constituency groups and organizations.
State Rep. Ross Hunter has posted some, but not all, of his questionnaires on his web site. King County Councilmember Larry Phillips and former television anchor Susan Hutchison have refused to make any of these important documents available to the public.
In response to this noteworthy lack of transparency, Jarrett today said: “The selection of the next King County Executive is one of the most important decisions that voters will face this year, and will have a major impact on the future of this region. One of the significant challenges the next Executive will face is changing the county culture to one of openness and transparency. If candidates are not willing to be open and transparent with the voters now their willingness to meet that challenge is doubtful. That is why it is so important that all of the King County Executive candidates give voters a clear and detailed understanding on where they stand on a wide range of issues, and why I issued my challenge to all candidates to post their completed questionnaires. Unfortunately, Dow Constantine and I are the only candidates to have done so.”
Dow Constantine added, “As rivals for the office, we disagree on issues. But on the need for full openness and transparency Fred and I are in agreement. That is why we have both posted all of our candidate questionnaires on our respective web sites. The other major candidates owe it to the voters to make public the full range questionnaires that they have privately submitted to the various interest groups with a stake in the outcome of the race.
“The voters have a right to make an informed choice about the next King County Executive. How can they expect to believe the promises of change and reform coming from some of the major candidates when those same candidates continue to hide their views on major issues from the light of public scrutiny?”
That house in the 8600 block of 9th SW in Highland Park – a few houses north of SW Trenton – was the scene of a big made-for-media announcement this morning that brought out a swarm of TV and radio crews as well as your friendly neighborhood local online news source. Congressmember Jay Inslee (whose district is mostly to the north and west of Seattle), State Rep. Bob Hasegawa (from the 11th District south of West Seattle/White Center) and leaders/workers from the Laborers International Union of North America were there to announce the first home in the Northwest to be weatherized as part of LIUNA’s program involving federal “stimulus funding.”
The home that’s being weatherized first belongs to Carolyn Ostrom, who’s in the UFCW T-shirt in that photo, standing with a group including Rep. Inslee (right), Rep. Hasegawa (left), and LiUNA’s regional vice president Mano Frey (center), who’s based in Alaska. Within his first minute and a half of remarks, as you’ll hear in our video, Rep. Inslee tied this event into the energy bill passed in the U.S. House last week and bringing troops home from Middle East wars:
The union’s big talking point today was a training program to credential workers for weatherization jobs, and some of the trainees were in the crowd watching the announcement:
Inside the house, the weatherization work was under way:
And the homeowner said she’s looking forward to the results:
Now the big question: How to apply for either the training or the weatherization. We circled back with contacts and, for the training, were pointed here; for the weatherization, check with the Moontown Foundation (we still have a few inquiries out and will add anything more we learn).
Just launched, a city-assembled page of “recession resources” links — see it here.
If you didn’t see it Saturday — either via WSB or via being stuck in it in person — Creighton sent that photo of the eastbound bridge backup during the Alaskan Way Viaduct‘s shutdown for the Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon (compounded by other road changes/closures). SDOT did send out lots of advance warning, as noted here and elsewhere, but on Saturday, numerous WSBers reported that the “Viaduct Closed” warning lights in West Seattle and on The Bridge weren’t on. Marybeth Turner from SDOT acknowledges it was human error, not a mechanical problem:
SDOT’s procedure for using the warning lights that alert motorists that the Viaduct is closed is clear: in coordination with the Seattle Police Department, if the Viaduct is closed, the lights should be on. This weekend, the policy was not followed. We have re-acquainted and re-focused key staff on our procedure.
Something similar happened last October. The lights were installed in late 2007. ADDED 12:51 PM: So if it DOES happen again, whether a human or mechanical failure, is there a hotline to call? we asked. Turner’s reply:
People may call (206) 386-1218 and report the lights are not functioning. There is someone on hand to answer this phone 24-hours a day.
That’s the same number you’d call about emergency road problems “after hours.”
We’ve collected event listings, fireworks/travel/transportation/etc. information and other holiday notes on one page as in years past. See the 4th of July page here – and please let us know if you see something missing or have a holiday-related question it doesn’t answer. Thanks!
Will Seattle’s future townhouses transcend the dominant design critiqued in that city photo/graphic? City Councilmember Sally Clark hopes so. Tonight — almost one full year after she, Mayor Nickels and West Seattle architect Brandon Nicholson stood together at the Capitol Hill announcement (July 2008 WSB coverage here) of the proposal to change the Multi-Family Code, particularly as it affects townhouse design, the committee Clark chairs brings the topic to West Seattle. At 6 pm at Youngstown Arts Center, her Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee convenes a “review and discussion of issues surrounding townhouses and other low-rise housing.” Those issues are detailed in this 12-page memo, if you have time for a little advance studying – after which, if you have something to say, tonight’s agenda has room for it, with a full hour set aside for public comment. (And if you want to check on the status of the entire Multi-Family Code proposal, that’s all here.)
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