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New theory in West Seattleite Jill St. Onge’s death in Thailand
May 6, 2009 5:40 pm
|      21 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle people

One day after we first told you about the death of 27-year-old West Seattleite Jill St. Onge while vacationing in Thailand, an overseas newspaper says there is a new theory: Instead of possible food poisoning as reported yesterday, Ms. St. Onge’s fiance Ryan Kells is quoted as saying he suspects chemical fumes from a nearby water treatment plant; the Andaman Times also says a Norwegian news outlet reports cyanide was found in the body of a 22-year-old Norwegian woman who also died in the area, reportedly after having stayed at the same guest house as Ms. St. Onge. The Andaman Times also has editorialized that more coverage is needed of what happened to the two women; here’s their editorial, with additional photos of Ms. St. Onge. Back here in West Seattle, KIRO TV has picked up on the story (their live truck was sighted near Ms. St. Onge’s workplace, Shadow Land, which is where we took the photo at left, during Junction trick-or-treating last October) and tells us they’ll have a report tonight at 6; we’ll add the link here when their story’s online. 7:12 PM: Here’s the link to KIRO’s story.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Teenage burglary suspects arrested
May 6, 2009 4:13 pm
|      11 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Highland Park | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

If you haven’t seen this already on the Crime Watch page, which automatically picks up updates from the SPDBlotter site – Seattle Police arrested two 13-year-old suspects running from a burglary scene in Highland Park (1400 block of SW Trenton; here’s a map) this morning; here’s the police writeup.

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Happening now: “South portal” group launches Viaduct process
May 6, 2009 4:09 pm
|    Comments Off on Happening now: “South portal” group launches Viaduct process
 |   Alaskan Way Viaduct | Transportation

We’re on the 9th floor of the Silver Cloud Inn by Safeco Field, where a new round of Alaskan Way Viaduct construction-related meetings is kicking off – one of three new “stakeholder”-type groups that will be involved in the next phase of The Viaduct’s evolution is meeting for the first time. Members include two West Seattle community leaders who were on the previous Stakeholders Advisory Group, Vlad Oustimovitch and Pete Spalding; there’s also a West Seattle Chamber of Commerce rep, Jerome Cohen, among the 22 total members of this “working group.” Executives from the four agencies involved in the process are starting the meeting — state, city, county, and Port of Seattle. We’ll add notes if/when anything big is announced, and a summary later. (The three groups’ meeting schedule can be found here.) 5:37 PM UPDATE: One West Seattle-relevant revelation: The Delridge RapidRide route that was written into many Viaduct scenario sketches is NOT likely to happen any time soon, per Ron Posthuma of King County Department of Transportation, responding to a question from Spalding: He says the money’s not there, not until “the economy comes back and the sales tax money starts flowing again.” The originally planned West Seattle RapidRide route, though, has been described here as fairly safe, despite Metro’s overall $ woes.

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Followup: New details about the death outside Roxbury Safeway
May 6, 2009 2:57 pm
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news

Just talked with King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. John Urquhart to get the latest on the case of a woman brought, dead, to the sidewalk outside Roxbury Safeway yesterday afternoon (original WSB story here). First: We don’t know her name, but we know the woman was 46 years old. Investigators have concluded that she was not brought from any sort of “homeless camp” after all – instead, it turns out, she had been in a trailer parked on the street nearby. She is believed to have been a transient, as are the two men who carried her to the store, one of whom stayed to wait for authorities, while, according to Sgt. Urquhart, the other one “ran off.” He says they specifically brought her to the area outside the store where there’s a pay phone, so they could call 911. There is no evidence of foul play, though the cause of death hasn’t been announced yet, pending autopsy results, so unless the autopsy reveals something unexpected, Sgt. Urquhart says, KCSO is not investigating further.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Car theft with a semi-happy ending
May 6, 2009 2:33 pm
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

We got two notes about this car theft but, before we could publish an item, a third note came in, saying the car had been found. Now, here’s the fourth note – tying up the story neatly (and neighbors may want to know a car thief’s at work nearby):

My wife and I thought we’d let you know her Honda Accord was stolen last night (we live on 37th Ave SW between Myrtle and Willow [map]) but thankfully recovered about a mile north of us on 32nd Ave SW. No serious damage but my wife’s phone charger was stolen (they left her $150 sunglasses, whew!). The thieves left the car turned on and the engine running – not long after we called the police the car was reported by neighbors who thought it odd a strange car would be left outside their house running all morning. It still had plenty of gas in it, though, and my wife happily drove off to work and we parted ways with the nice officers who responded quickly, Hope and Morales.

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Tomorrow night: WSHS musical, SNAP in Fauntleroy, fire heroes
May 6, 2009 1:26 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Safety | West Seattle people | West Seattle schools

Wanted to get you advance reminders of three big things happening tomorrow night, starting with this: The photo is from one of the final rehearsals of “Merrily We Roll Along,” the West Seattle High School student musical that opens tomorrow night. Marketing manager Sumeet Chadha sends this info too:

West Seattle High School Drama Club has been hard at work over the past few months putting together an adaption of Merrily We Roll Along. This musical features a variety of talented students singing, dancing, and performing at their best. If you haven’t checked out a West Seattle High School Production, now is the time to be pleasantly surprised at what high school theater is capable of.

“Merrily We Roll Along” shows for the following two weekends: May 7, 8, 9, 15, 16 at 7:30
Special Benefit Performance: May 14th at 8:00
$5.00 with reservation, $10.00 at the door. For tickets call: 206-252-8834
Performances at:
WSHS Theater, 3000 California Ave SW

ALSO TOMORROW – SNAP IN FAUNTLEROY: 6:30 pm is the time, Fauntleroy Church is the place, find out how to be ready for anything, as the Fauntleroy Community Association presents a free preparedness workshop with Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepare.

LAST BUT BY ABSOLUTELY NO MEANS LEAST – FIRE DEPARTMENT HONORS HEROES: Tomorrow night in the Bertha Knight Landes Room at City Hall downtown, the Seattle Fire Department holds its annual awards ceremony. Recipients include a West Seattle-residing firefighter/paramedic whose story we brought you earlier this spring, Dave Pedras (read that story here).

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West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day: Updated map, & more
May 6, 2009 12:17 pm
|    Comments Off on West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day: Updated map, & more
 |   Community Garage Sale Day | Fun stuff to do

West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, May 9, 2009West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, presented by WSB, is just three days away. So far (knock wood!) the forecast looks promising (last year we had some morning sprinkles but things improved fast). IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have an early copy of the map – it was called to our attention early today that the first map page, northern half of the peninsula, cut off a few number markers to the far west and the far east. The sales were all described in the listings, but the number markets couldn’t be seen on the first printed version of the map. So we have fixed it – DOWNLOAD THIS ONE (8-page PDF). The fixes only involves the second page of the map. No changes in the clickable (but not very printable unless you decide to make a customized version) Google Map (see it here), since the number markers have all been there all along. Meantime, we have more information to share about the biggest group sale site, the Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor)/Ginomai courtyard, from Hotwire’s Lora Lewis:

We will have stage costumes (ArtsWest) to hand blown glass to locally made tie dye. The Hotwire & Ginomai sales will have lots of fun items for sale:

2 racks of costumes and clothing and some arts and crafts supplies as well as some left over party supplies

Books galore
Arts & crafts supplies
Huge selection of jewelry
Unique yard stuff
Wall accent mirrors
2 brand new IKEA Lersta Floor Reading Lamps
Tie dyes made right here in West Seattle

A variety of leather items rescued, repaired and revamped (bags and coats and purses) a variety of new laptop bags, camera bags and messenger bags.

Vintage fancy lady purses
Handmade leather journals
1000+ cds with a wide spectrum of music

Lots of garage sale-y items too! We will also be taking donations starting at 8am the day of the garage sale for Furry Faces Foundation, a non-profit animal rescue group here in West Seattle. Just bring your donated items to the Furry Faces space right next to Hotwire. You will receive a charitable donation slip and a coupon for a free latte or Americano.

We will also have hot dogs for sale (veggie too) with all the hotdog’ish condiments. All proceeds go to the Africa trip group at WSCC.

More seller info to come – we know everyone’s working hard to get ready – a couple of the mailing lists we monitor are for groups that are participating, even the Lincoln Park P-Patch! If you are a seller, with any size sale, your info packet from us will probably screech into the mailbox right at the wire tomorrow or Friday – if you don’t get it Friday, call us (206-293-6302) and we’ll personally drop off your “official participant” sign card, even if we have to drive around all night! And if there’s any extra info you want to post about YOUR individual sale, we invite you – yes, all 183 participants if you want – to post it in the WSB Forums‘ Freebies, Deals, Sales section – just make sure your subject line includes WSCGSD and your sale address – anything that turns up there, we’ll crosslink to westseattlegaragesale.com too.

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Followup: Details on the school district’s Jefferson Square deal
May 6, 2009 10:15 am
|      8 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

A week and a half ago, a WSB’er tip pointed us to a fine-print public notice that Seattle Public Schools has scheduled a public hearing on a deal to sell part of the property it owns at Jefferson Square. As we noted in this April 27 report, the hearing had not been announced with a news release, nor could the notice (or any details of the deal) be found anywhere on the school district’s website, and as West Seattle’s school-board rep Steve Sundquist subsequently confirmed to WSB, the proposed deal itself hadn’t yet been discussed in an open meeting – only behind closed doors in an “executive session.” Nonetheless, it’s difficult to imagine a public hearing going well if the public has no advance information on what’s going to be discussed, so we pressed SPS for more details, to enable us to share them with you; it took a week, but we finally have those details, as forwarded by David Tucker from the SPS communications team:

The school was closed nearly 30 years ago. The District leased it for 99 years to a developer who built the existing complex on site.

In the year following the original lease, the developer asked for the lease to be split into two parts. One would be for the residential portion of the site and one for the commercial portion. All of the rental charges would apply to the commercial property, and we currently receive over $200,000 $173,226** annually.

The apartment building sits atop the commercial structure. Conceptually, the residential lease is for “air rights”, and not of the land itself. In addition, the residential tenant is entitled to “support” of the apartment structure.

The residential lease has been assigned several times, and is currently held by Jefferson Square LLC. The lease contains a provision that gives the tenant the right to purchase the residential area for $1. In 2007 the tenant sent the District a notice it was exercising the option.

Even though the lease still has 75 years to run, and the District will receive no rent for the residential portion during that time, the District refused to sell the property, believing the $1 amount to be inadequate compensation.

The tenant sued the District over the refusal to sell. In March 2009 the parties reached a tentative agreement to allow the sale to proceed, but at a price of $500,000. The agreement is subject to School Board approval, which has not yet been requested.

In accordance with state law, the District will hold a public hearing, which is scheduled for May 21. At that hearing the District will take public testimony on whether the sale should occur. The District must also obtain an appraisal of the fair market value of the property interest, which has been ordered but is not yet available.

Once these two items are completed, the proposed sale will be presented to the School Board for their consideration.

The May 21st hearing is at 5:30 pm in the cafeteria at Gatewood Elementary; if you’d like to sign up in advance to speak (the district says you also can sign up that night), call 206-252-0118. This would be one of two pending sales of district-owned property in West Seattle; the other is the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse deal (most recent WSB coverage here).

**12:49 PM UPDATE: SPS’s David Tucker sent a note updating the information he provided – he had said the rent was more than $200,000 but now says it’s actually $173,226. Also, we have found the original lawsuit, filed in 2007 as mentioned, online – it contains a copy of the original lease, for anyone interested – view the lawsuit here; the district’s original response can be viewed here. (Court documents do not include anything related to the proposed deal except a notice from late March asking that the case’s scheduled trial be put on hold because a settlement had been worked out and it was anticipated the School Board would approve it.)

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West Seattle High School alum’s shuttle mission: Days away
May 6, 2009 9:11 am
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle people

johnson-gc-thumbnail.jpgJust got a news release from the University of Washington that reminds us, the space shuttle mission piloted by West Seattle High School Class of ’72 alum Gregory Johnson (here’s our August story) is scheduled to finally lift off next week (11 am our time Monday, per nasa.gov), if all goes as planned between now and then. The UW news release notes that Johnson graduated after studying engineering there, and that’s not the only UW link – read on!Read More

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Happening tonight: 2 councils, plus your Park Levy $ ideas
May 6, 2009 7:39 am
|      17 COMMENTS
 |   Delridge | Southwest District Council | West Seattle parks

Here’s hoping you feel more like the osprey in Alkimac‘s photo today than the crow – unless you prefer to be the scrappy outsider! Anyway, once your great Wednesday is in the books, here are tonight’s highlights for how to make a difference in your neighborhood (and beyond):

NORTH DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: 6:30 pm, Delridge Library. Discussion is certain to include the big Delridge Community Center playground breakthrough reported here earlier this week.

SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL: 7 pm, South Seattle Community College board room. Agenda includes a presentation on the changes ahead (reported here three weeks ago) in the Restricted Parking Zone program (here’s the city’s official page).

PARK LEVY $ AND HOW YOU THINK IT SHOULD BE SPENT: 7 pm, West Seattle Golf Course. Not all of the money in last fall’s Parks and Green Spaces Levy was earmarked for certain projects, so the city’s going into neighborhoods to talk about the possibilities (as well as the already-set projects).

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Targeted by burglars, a third time
May 5, 2009 11:54 pm
|      32 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

Out of the WSB inbox, from J:

I would like to share the fact we had the 3rd burglary today (2 break-ins
and 1 attempt) since we moved to 41st and Thistle [map] about two years ago. At least one of the thugs squeezed through an 8″x12″ window in the basement (seriously?). They set the alarm off, but apparently it didn’t stop them from stabbing the alarm panel speaker with a large kitchen knife (baaad speaker, you!). They didn’t harm the horn.

Then they just ripped the alarm panel off the wall – the alarm company reported anyway because it has a battery.

It was a rainy day, so they made a big mess. They decided to leave all other expensive toys and went only for the LCD TV (lucky us). Although, they wrapped the TV with our most favorite blanket.

The cats had a short, but nice time outside until I arrived.

This was at 5:20 pm, open, exposed corner lot in the rainy but bright afternoon. Besides caring less to do this while I usually would have been home already (I wish so badly that I was!), the two guys wearing rubber gloves, hauling a large size TV out of a house with the alarm in the background, the TV covered up sparsely with a blanket and leaving the door open.?

Hey people, come on! They might not look like they live here, nor do I believe their car has ever been seen on our street and they were for sure covered in dirt from crawling under the muddy deck – yet not one person has seen or heard anything. What can we do, if we are all working during the day in this area and the thugs get more and more desperate?

Ah well, one day I’ll catch one.

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A West Seattle celebration: Happy 97th birthday to Emma
May 5, 2009 10:14 pm
|      7 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle history | West Seattle people

By Ron Richardson
Special to West Seattle Blog

(Emma, left, with Betty Allen)
The Tuesday group at the Original Bakery in Fauntleroy celebrated Emma Harman’s 97th birthday today, May 5, Cinco de Mayo. The Bakery is a place where, over time, folks become acquaintances, then friends. This is how I got to know Emma. Readers probably have such a place in their corner of West Seattle.

These informal groups drop in on a regular basis, share experiences, vent frustrations, gossip, tackle the problems of the world and celebrate things like folks’ birthdays. Books and articles are shared and talked about. Emma and her friends meet every Tuesday and sometimes Thursday as well.

Bernie Alonzo, owner and baker at the Original Bakery, prepared a cake for our remarkable neighbor, Emma.

Emma Taylor (her maiden name) was raised in the Eastside mining town of Newcastle. When she was a young girl, her family experienced a harsh mining strike. That experience produced in Emma a keen sense of right and wrong and launched her into the struggle for social and economic justice for the underdogs. These were the Depression years, and she was determined to enter into the struggle to create solutions.

By the late 1930s, Emma was elected to the Washington State House of Representatives.

Read More

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West Seattle business news: 2 more Admiral arrivals
May 5, 2009 9:44 pm
|      8 COMMENTS
 |   Pets | West Seattle businesses | West Seattle schools

FIRST ADMIRAL NOTE: The second business to move into the long-empty space at 42nd/Admiral is finally ready to go public – joining CF West Seattle (here’s our previous story on CF-WS) will be Muttley Crew Cuts, currently located further south on California. Muttley Crew Cuts’ Kelly Rothenbuhler tells WSB they’re planning to move into the new space June 15, and it makes more growth possible for MCC: “It is a much bigger space at 3000 square feet. We will be able to do a lot more day care because we have more room for the dogs to run. There will be separate areas set up for different play types. There will be 2 larger areas and 1 puppy area and a senior dog area. The space also will allow for more retail area in the future. We will be open 7 days a week Monday through Friday 7 am to 7 pm and Saturday and Sunday 9 am to 6 pm.” A banner marking the new location might be up as soon as tomorrow. By the way, Muttley Crew Cuts and CF West Seattle are BOTH participating in West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day this Saturday, at the new space at 42nd and Admiral (their sales are #14 and #15 on the map – get it here) — CF is selling to benefit the Liver Foundation, Muttley Crew’s sale will benefit English Springer Rescue America.

SECOND ADMIRAL NOTE: Thanks to Forest for the tip on this – a short distance from the spot we were just discussing, Bloom Preschool and Transitional Kindergarten is opening in The Admiral (the building with Bartell Drugs). Here’s the school’s website with more info.

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Got flu questions? County beefs up the hotline
May 5, 2009 6:28 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   Health | Swine flu

A note from King County Public Health:

Starting tomorrow, Wednesday, Public Health’s Flu Hotline at 877-903-5464 will provide expanded service by offering callers an opportunity to speak with registered nurses. Hotline nurses will tell callers how to manage their symptoms at home, tell them if they need to see a doctor or health care provider and answer other medical questions about H1N1 flu. The Flu Hotline number is 1-877-903 KING (5464).

Also tomorrow, perhaps coincidentally, county political leaders plan a media briefing to “call for state legislators to provide dedicated public health funding to help counties statewide.”

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Chief Sealth High School celebrates Cinco de Mayo – and an award!
May 5, 2009 5:05 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | West Seattle video

Those dancers were part of Chief Sealth High School‘s Cinco de Mayo assembly earlier this afternoon – and the assembly ended with a bonus: Seattle Seahawks reps (including defensive tackle Craig Terrill) were there to present Sealth teacher Nancy Ruyzcki with the Symetra MVP award (officially announced last December), which brings the school a $20,000 grant and what Sealth’s Sam Reed describes as “a complete set of laptop computers that will be for use by our students in a mobile-classroom setting” – see ’em here:

Terrill also led the students in a cheer – noting that he’s a Seahawk and they (because of the Chief Sealth mascot) are Seahawks too:

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Sheriff’s deputies investigate death outside Roxbury Safeway
May 5, 2009 4:01 pm
|      37 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news

(photo of Sheriff’s Office and Medical Examiner units at store, added 4:36 pm)
Thanks to Heather for sending us a note saying she had just seen King County Sheriff’s Deputies and what looked like a body outside Roxbury Safeway (map). We called KCSO’s media spokesperson Sgt. John Urquhart and he confirms, yes, it’s a body. Two men walked up carrying what was at first described as an unconscious woman; medics arrived and reported obvious signs she was already dead. Sgt. Urquhart says it’s too soon to speculate on the circumstances and whether a crime was involved, but he does say the investigators are looking into the possibility that the men and woman might be related to a “nearby homeless camp.” We’re on our way over to try to find out more. 4:14 PM UPDATE: Medical Examiner staffers are at the scene, investigating with deputies. Shoppers are being routed around the scene, which is out in front by the soda machines.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: The Alki shooting police report
May 5, 2009 3:35 pm
|      22 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

While at the Southwest Precinct late last night looking at reports including the Morgan Junction anti-gay vandalism case (WSB coverage here), we also found the police report from Friday night’s Alki shooting. Not all of the 44-page report is public, but there are a few additional details of interest – read on:Read More

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Morgan Junction park officially named “Morgan Junction Park”
May 5, 2009 2:11 pm
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

We broke the news a week and a half ago that the city Parks Department had recommended naming the new Morgan Junction park “Morgan Junction Park,” pending Superintendent Tim Gallagher‘s approval, and today the department announced that’s been finalized as its official name. The park, which opened last month after construction concluded, is to be dedicated June 13 during the Morgan Community Festival. The official announcement explains, “The Parks Naming Committee considered some 17 nominations, and after applying the criteria in the Park Naming Policy, unanimously recommended the name Morgan Junction Park because it acknowledges the history and location of the park.” (Among the other nominations was, of course, Tim St. Clair Park, in honor of the longtime West Seattle journalist who died last year; department naming policy says it can’t be done till someone’s been gone three years.) The park is on California SW, just north of the newly revitalized business block with Zeeks Pizza (opened May 1st), Feedback Lounge (opened April 25th) and Beveridge Place Pub (moved a year ago), near the Morgan/Fauntleroy/California “junction” intersection, and was the former site of an auto-repair shop, once purchased with the intent of development as a future monorail station before that transit project was killed. West Seattle still has three more new parks in the works — Junction Plaza Park, the newly covered Myrtle Reservoir site, and new parkland where West Seattle Reservoir in Westcrest Park is being covered. P.S. Got ideas for where money from last year’s Parks Levy should be spent? Wednesday night is your chance to offer comments at a meeting at West Seattle Golf Course, 7 pm.

ADDED 5:22 PM: Couldn’t resist asking Dewey Potter at Parks what the other name suggestions were. The reply:

Morgan Park
Deputy Steve Cox Park
Eddie Alvarez Park
Charlie Chong Park
Beveridge Place Park
Bicycle Park
The Whistle Stop Plaza
Walter R. Hundley Park
Quincy Jones Park

or after:
Ken Griffey Jr.
Tina Turner
Dorothy Dandridge
Lena Horne
Jesse Owens

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West Seattle woman dies in Thailand; food poisoning suspected
May 5, 2009 12:39 pm
|      26 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle people

Shannon Felix, proprietor of Avalon Glassworks in the Luna Park district, sends this news: 27-year-old West Seattle resident Jill St. Onge has died in Thailand, one of two tourists whose deaths are suspected to be linked to food poisoning. Ms. St. Onge worked at Shadow Land, where we took the photo at left during last year’s Junction Trick-or-Treating. She and the other woman who died, a 22-year-old from Norway, were staying at a guest house on Phi Phi Island, according to this article from a local news site, the Andaman Times. The story quotes Ryan Kells, Ms. St. Onge’s fiance, an Avalon Glassworks employee who was traveling with her. Ms. St. Onge had been writing about their travels on this personal website; the last update was a week before her death. The Andaman Times article says an autopsy is being done in Bangkok to find out more about what killed her. Ms. St. Onge and Kells were supposed to return home next week after 3 months overseas. ADDED 4:48 PM: Thanks to Shell for finding and sharing this link – a website set up by family/friends to tell more about what happened to Ms. St. Onge and what’s happening now.

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The Kenney previews new design that saves the Seaview building
May 5, 2009 12:03 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Development | The Kenney | West Seattle news

That’s architect Gene Guszkowski, showing one of the new renderings that his firm AG Architecture has drawn up since The Kenney changed its mind about demolishing the iconic century-old Seaview building as part of the $150 million redevelopment project it’s been working on since last summer (first WSB report here). He presented the new plan last night at Fauntleroy Church during a community meeting organized by the Morgan Community Association and Fauntleroy Community Association; as MoCA’s new president Deb Barker put it, “The owners and architects are here to get feedback from you”:

Barker is a former chair of the Southwest Design Review Board, whose current members will see The Kenney’s proposal a week from Thursday (6:30 pm 5/14, Senior Center of West Seattle). So what feedback was offered last night by the 30-plus in attendance? Read on for details and more photos:Read More

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Cat adopt-a-thon at Alki Community Center on Saturday
May 5, 2009 11:13 am
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   How to help | Pets | West Seattle news

Saturday is already a great shopping day because of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (here’s how to get The Map!) – if you’re in the market for a new pet too, check out adoptable foster cats at Alki Community Center. (The one pictured at left got a home during the last West Seattle adoption event in November.) We posted this in the WSB Forums yesterday but wanted to mention it here too while we have a moment – read on for the official announcement:Read More

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See where West Seattle’s 3 new traffic cameras will go
May 5, 2009 9:38 am
|    Comments Off on See where West Seattle’s 3 new traffic cameras will go
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news

Right now, the city Transportation Department (SDOT) has just three West Seattle traffic cameras that you can see online – not counting the ones on The Bridge. One is the camera shown above, at Fauntleroy/Alaska (all city traffic cameras are viewable from the Travelers’ Information Map). We’ve just learned that the number of West Seattle traffic cameras, viewable online, is about to grow. We discovered this while checking out an online notice about the city taking bids for more work in a traffic-technology program, with a mention of West Seattle. Subsequent checks directly with SDOT yielded information about the program, and the locations of the next three West Seattle traffic cameras: two in The Junction — California/Alaska and 42nd/Alaska — and one near the Fauntleroy ferry terminal, at Fauntleroy/Trenton – we’ve mapped the three locations here:


View Untitled in a larger map

The ITS contract that’s going out to bid also lists work at other spots where sensors will be installed for real-time traffic information, plus a role in the forthcoming Metro RapidRide bus service — with the first bus unveiled yesterday (here’s our coverage, with photos) — as explained by SDOT spokesperson Rick Sheridan:

… the advertisement for bids refers to Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) components that SDOT is installing citywide. We are adding devices to improve traffic flow efficiency and provide roadway related information to the city and travelers. These enhancements help improve safety and travel times, and reduce fuel consumption and pollution.

SDOT is currently updating many signal cabinets to facilitate future Rapid Ride corridors. For West Seattle these changes will occur along SW Alaska Street, 35th Avenue SW and Fauntleroy Way SW. The cabinets and associated fiber optics will let our system detect buses as they approach signalized intersections. If a bus is detected and the signal is about to turn red for the bus, the signal instead will extend the green for the bus in order to reduce delays for riders.

No date yet for when the three new cameras will be in operation; you can see the existing ones, plus a few state/county cameras of relevance to local drivers, “live” any time at the WSB Traffic page.

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Seattle Lutheran HS student wins state music competition
May 5, 2009 9:05 am
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle schools | WS culture/arts

State championships aren’t just about sports and academics – there are the arts, too! Congratulations to Seattle Lutheran High School senior Mitchell Siburg, an SLHS Jazz Band member who won first place in the guitar category at the recent 2009 Washington State Solo and Ensemble Contest (full list of statewide winners here), sponsored by the Washington Music Educators Association, held on the campus of Central Washington University. To get to the statewide competition, he had to win the regionals here in Seattle; Bil Hood at SLHS says Mitchell “performed a modern composition in the classical genre titled ‘Sadaude,’ by Roland Dyens, an unaccompanied work in three movements. … Mitchell will attend Buffalo University in New York next year, majoring in music, and hopes to enter a career in performing arts.” (School/student news? editor@westseattleblog.com any time!)

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