West Seattle, Washington
03 Thursday
Two more video clips with sights and sounds from Saturday’s Delridge Day at Youngstown Arts Center (our as-it-happened coverage was here and here): First, one of the afternoon’s biggest ovations went to the Vicious Puppies Crew breakdancers. We wouldn’t usually put up 7 minutes of video of anything, but those guys were mesmerizing. Next, just one sample of the wide-ranging musical slate, which ranged from intense rock during the Youth Showcase in the morning, to acoustical folk later in the afternoon – in this case, it’s the Seattle Fandango Project, featuring members of Quetzal:
Last but not least, an update from the Delridge Playground fundraising booth:
Left to right, Holli, Betsy, and (mostly hidden) Lisa, who reported via our WS Blog page on Facebook:
Good news: between the raffle, the plant sale and donations we made over $300 for the new playground, and over 20 more folks signed up as interested in volunteering. Thanks, Delridge! Design #3 seems to be generating the most interest, but we’re still looking for feedback.
That’s a reference to the three playground designs from which the community needs to choose. You can see all three designs in this WSB report; there’s a feedback address there, plus word of a public meeting this Monday, 7:30 pm, where you can offer your thoughts on the designs.
This weekend, we welcome a new WSB sponsor, Desiree Loughlin from Windermere Real Estate in The Junction. 
She is currently showing 5057 35th Ave SW in West Seattle. Desiree’s been at the Junction office since 2001; that’s where she teams with Domenica Lovaglia and Jessica Tavares. During this time she has learned not only that there is “fair market value” for every home but that how the home is presented is also key — see how this all comes together, Sunday from 1 pm to 4 pm, at the open house for 5057 35th SW. She believes that real estate is financial AND emotional and when done properly is about building sustainable neighborhoods and communities. Desiree says this business philosophy is especially relevant in the current real estate market. “Right now, real estate needs sound judgment. Many clients are looking for overly optimistic assessments that are not warranted. My responsibility is to convey good information. I develop close relationships with my clients. Because I level with them, they know that they can make their decisions with confidence.” For a little background on Desiree, know that she’s mom to Jackson, a first-grader at Alki, and Ruby, a kindergartener at Lafayette. She laughs large, loves music and often plays at West Seattle’s many parks. This summer she’s looking forward to blue skies and the upcoming Hiawatha Summer Concerts (where she might even be performing). Here’s a map to Sunday’s open house site at 5057 35th SW.
Thanks to Desiree Loughlin for supporting community news, information and discussion on WSB; our current team of sponsors is on this page, along with information on how to join them!
During our interview with Mayor Nickels this morning (more on that later), he even referred to it as “car-free day” – its name last year – at which time we offered the suggestion that maybe next year it could revert to something simpler like that, as opposed to the current “Celebrate Seattle Summer Streets.” No matter what you call it, TOMORROW is the shutdown day on Alki. And while we’ve been discussing it here since our very first report of that date four months ago, the motto now is “no surprises” – so again, the basics: West Seattle’s main waterfront boulevard will be closed to most vehicle traffic 9 am-5 pm tomorrow. The parking restrictions kick in an hour earlier. The day starts with the West Seattle 5K (WSB sponsor) from the Alki Bathhouse at 9 am (you can register on-site starting at 8 if you’re not already signed up); then activities kick in around 11:30 am. There’s a general list on the city’s CSS website; Cascade Bicycle Club is sponsoring a full slate of activities, with the timeline here; Coastal is presenting live music and a mini-skate ramp; Bamboo Bar and Grill is planning live music 1:30-5:30 pm and a pig roast; and you’ll no doubt find other activities along the stretch, organized and ad-hoc (as we did in our as-it-happened coverage last year – tomorrow, by the way, our plan is similar to last year, with morning coverage checking out closure points and other details, as well as the as-it-happened report/s).
After spending most of the day at the Delridge Day festival, we haven’t been off the peninsula today, so we didn’t cover it in person, but Team Soapbox – a PR firm – sent the above photo of the health-care-reform march from Pratt Park to downtown earlier today. We know some West Seattleites were planning to take part; we previewed it in our coverage of the documentary screening and discussion at Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) earlier this week. (West Seattle participants whom we’ve seen mention it on Facebook – where you can friend us as WS Blog – included King County Council Chair Dow Constantine and Brian Allen of Sustainable West Seattle.) More on the march’s purpose, and participants, at its official website, may30thmarch.org.
Looking for someplace to take a break out of the sunshine? The West Seattle Rock Club (WSB sponsor)’s annual Rock and Gem Show continues til 5 pm today, then 10 am-5 pm again tomorrow, at the Masonic Hall in The Junction (40th/Edmunds). Good turnout when we stopped by earlier this afternoon. Kids’ activities as well as rock/gem displays, demonstrations and sales.
Here at Delridge Day at Youngstown Arts Center, playtime is what the North Delridge Neighborhood Council booth is all about – selling plants to raise the money needed to finish the contribution toward the fab new playground that KaBOOM! will build at Delridge Community Center in mid-July. (You can also sign up to help with the bulid-it-in-a-day project.) Then just steps away, you can borrow a hula hoop and hoop it up:
Rather create art? Multiple ways to do that — including indoor work with recycled materials, starting shortly, but out here it’s sidewalk chalk, among other things:
Part of the celebration is about food, since Delridge is involved with the King County Food and Fitness Initiative — besides the Delridge Produce Cooperative display, which we mentioned earlier, there are free apples available from Tiny’s (which you’ve probably seen at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market on Sundays), and right next door, it’s a taco truck!
Just up the slope behind us, you can even help the Nature Consortium build organic garden beds. This is all happening at Youngstown Arts Center till 5 pm; part of Team WSB is out checking out some of today’s other events, too, including the West Seattle Rock Club’s Rock and Gem Show (the Masonic Hall at 40th/Edmunds, also till 5 pm) – more to come! (A bald eagale just flew overhead, good sign.) ADDED 1:46 PM: Quick video clip of a contestant in the skateboarding competition:
Another competition’s under way right now – battle of the chefs – with the secret ingredient, Iron Chef style: Top Ramen! We’ll add a clip of that as soon as it’s uploaded. (added 2:46 pm – here’s the video:)
Speaking of food, talked with Galena White of the Delridge Produce Cooperative – they’ve been awarded the $15,000 city grant they were seeking for a mobile produce-providing setup – more details on that as they develop. 4:12 PM UPDATE: The festival’s wrapping up. We have some great video to share a little later – performances including breakdancers. Randy Engstrom, director of Youngstown Arts Center, just gave a closing speech of sorts saying this has been an “amazing” day.
Going to do anything about the “fewer trash cans in parks” policy that the Parks Department is pursuing? That’s the first WSBer-suggested question we asked Mayor Nickels this morning, and the answer is in the :45 video clip above. Backstory: As noted here last night, we were offered a half-hour to interview Mayor Nickels, as he prepares to officially kick off his campaign for a third term by filing paperwork this Monday. This morning, we got about 25 minutes with him at Admiral Starbucks (they chose the location); he appeared with his wife Sharon Nickels and their dog Edgar – saying they walk there every morning – as well as the folks who helped arrange the interview, including campaign spokesperson Sandeep Kaushik. We sat outdoors on the east side of the coffee shop, and we asked some of the many questions WSBers kindly sent in response to our request for suggested questions – many more than we could squeeze in, and we hope to get a chance to ask more later in the campaign. Meantime, we’ll share more from this interview later – just wanted to get out the park/trash answer, for starters.
Gorgeous day at Youngstown Arts Center as the Delridge Day festival gets under way. We’re actually outside, east side of the north parking lot, where performances will be happening in a bit, and lots of cool folks are tabling already – we’re right across from Girls Rock! and a couple tables down from Mandy Greer, who’s crocheting a fiber river to be installed at Camp Long next month. Adding first photos in a moment. The event’s happening inside and outside at Youngstown (across from Delridge Community Center) till 5 today. Political candidates are making the rounds too – City Council hopeful David Miller stopped by the Delridge Produce Cooperative display, which is kitty-corner from us:
More to come – we’re going to drop by the North Delridge Neighborhood Council plant sale raising money for the new Delridge CC playground, just two booths over and drawing lots of attention! They’re raising money to make a relatively small community contribution to the project that will build a playground in a day this July. Also out here in the breezy sunshine, Cari Simson from the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition (she also visited the last Highland Park Action Committee meeting) – kids can drop by and get an “Awesome Animals of the Duwamish” coloring book:
Full program for the day is on the Youngstown home page at youngstownarts.org.
Beautiful day, but it started in unusual fashion. Charley Biggs shared that photo from Alki.
We try not to take up much time and space here on the main page talking about panels we’re on and outside-media mentions we’ve gotten for being among the first nationwide to truly succeed as a respectable, commercial, online-only neighborhood-news operation. It would be boring to prattle on about ourselves, since WSB is about you. But this is a rare bit of national exposure, so we’re breaking our rule, and linking to it here: Two weeks ago we spent a few minutes at the KUOW Radio studios in the U-District taping an interview for the weekly NPR show “On the Media,” which was putting together a look at the Seattle news world, post-paper-P-I. The finished product is on this week’s program – which airs on KUOW at 7 pm Sunday, but is online now, and you can listen (via the embedded player above, or go to the OTM site here) if you’re interested. Your editor here is featured for about four minutes, starting five and a half minutes into the piece (after Eli Sanders from The Stranger). Now, back to the news … and thanks again for your support, your sharing of news tips and stories and photos, and for just being there.
Rather than recap it all, here’s the direct link to the Saturday section of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup. The biggest events include the West Seattle Rock Club (WSB sponsor) presenting its free annual Rock and Gem Show (10 am-5 pm, Masonic Hall) — and there’s a huge slate of outdoor and indoor fun at Delridge Day (11 am-5 pm, Youngstown Arts Center), where we hope you’ll stop by the WSB table to say hi (check back here later for our live coverage). And on the beach, the Alki Volleyball Association opens its season this weekend. Whatever you do, have a great time (and remember that TOMORROW is the day Alki is closed to most traffic, 9 am-5 pm, for Celebrate Seattle Summer Streets).
The folks behind the Seattle Chinese Garden in West Seattle have announced two events for next month:
The Seattle Chinese Garden
Offers Monthly ToursSeattle, WA-The Seattle Chinese Garden at South Seattle Community College will offer free, guided tours the second Saturday of every month, March-October; the next tour will be on Saturday, June 13, 2009.
Tours begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Chan Education Center at South Seattle Community College (6000 16th Avenue SW, north parking lot entrance) with a slide presentation and discussion of the significance of gardens in Chinese culture. The tour then moves outside to the garden site where construction is under way for Knowing the Spring Courtyard and to Song Mei Pavilion, where tour guides discuss the construction of the pavilion and demonstration garden, describe the plans for the six-acre garden and point out the wide variety of plants on display.
These public tours last approximately 1½ hours, and no reservation is necessary. Groups of ten or more can arrange a private tour with two weeks advance notice. For membership, special event and guided tour information, call (206) 282-8040 or visit www.seattlechinesegarden.org.
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Seattle Chinese Garden
Volunteer Garden Work PartyThe Seattle Chinese Garden Society is hosting a volunteer garden clean-up party on Saturday, June 6th from 10 AM – 2 PM! Grab a friend, roll up your sleeves and help us prepare the garden for summer. Lunch and refreshments will be provided. Activities include: cleanup, landscaping, planting, pruning, and weeding.
For more information or to RSVP, please contact us at info@seattlechinesegarden.org or (206) 282-8040.
We hope to see you there!
Here’s the official announcement:
1st Annual PRIDE Hoop Camp-
Kick off the summer with a fun-filled week of hoops, June 22-26, 2009, with local professional player, Husky standout and West Seattle Boys Basketball Head Coach, Donald Watts, his coaching staff and players. For Boys and Girls, Grades 3-8 at West Seattle High School, 9 am-4 pm. $210.00. Register NOW for only $185.00!Register online @ www.wattsbasketball.com “Watts Happening” section.
All proceeds benefit the WSHS Basketball Program
Beautiful night for dancing, indoors and outdoors … that first video is from The Kenney, which had a “Senior-Senior Prom” tonight, with high-school seniors mingling with Kenney residents. The Las Vegas sign in front of the band is in honor of the “Rat Pack” theme. (Note in the video, that’s Kenney CEO Kevin McFeely taking a turn on the dance floor, off to the left at one point.) Completely different dance style a few miles southeast, for the Devil’s Dance Parade in White Center — an Afro-Peruvian costumed dance troupe started at 15th/Roxbury, wound its way through the business district, south, then west, then north, and wrapped up at Cafe Rozella:
We’ve got another clip on partner site White Center Now as the dancers paused to perform by the taco truck south of White Center Plaza. A concert followed at the coffeehouse.
We recently got a note from Jeff wondering about progress on the Alki pump station project, which has now been under construction for almost a year and a half. So we checked with the King County Wastewater Treatment Division folks, and Heidi Sowell sent an update – note the chance to ask your questions in person during Sunday’s “Celebrate Seattle Summer Streets” event (closing Alki to most traffic 9 am-5 pm that day). Here’s what Heidi sent:
Crews are completing the construction of the pump station. Much of the current work on the project is occurring below ground and improvements may not be as noticeable to those living, working and visiting the area.
… 53rd Avenue Pump Station Upgrade
In February 2008, construction began on upgrades to King County’s 53rd Avenue Pump Station in West Seattle. This underground wastewater facility, located on the west side of Alki Avenue Southwest at 53rd Avenue Southwest, is more than 50 years old and in need of repairs, new equipment and more underground space.The 53rd Avenue Pump Station will remain underground but will be about three times as large. Current improvements to the Pump Station will bring the facility into compliance with current code and design requirements while also increasing reliability. The pump station will help manage combined stormwater and wastewater flows from nearby neighborhoods and will reduce overflows into Puget Sound.
Construction Milestones
* Utility and storm drain relocation – Spring 2008
* Force main installation – July 2008
* Sheet pile driving – August 2008
* Pump station excavation – Fall 2008
* Pump station construction – Winter 2008 through Summer 2009
* Testing of upgraded facility and property restoration – Fall 2009Learn more at http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wtd/projects/westseattle/53rdAvePS/ or visit us
at the Alki Seattle Summer Streets event this Sunday from 9 am – 2 pm (near the pump
station). Thank you for your continued patience through the 53rd Avenue Pump Station
construction!
It’s the next big festival of the pre-summer – and it’s happening tomorrow at Youngstown Arts Center: Delridge Day, 11 am-5 pm. We’ll have a table there, and we’re inviting kids and teens to write short messages to share online with the WSB world – we’ll also be reporting “live” on the events throughout the day. But we’re just a tiny part of the event – there’s food, live music, dancing, gardening, mural-making, skateboarding, a plant sale to raise $ for the new Delridge Community Center playground, and one thing we’re particularly looking forward to finally seeing in person – the work of Mandy Greer, who is crocheting a fiber river that’ll be installed at Camp Long this summer. Indoor AND outdoor fun at Youngstown for Delridge Day tomorrow – we look forward to seeing you there! (Here’s a map to Youngstown, if you’ve never been there.)
Next time you go to a Bartell Drugs store – starting Monday – take along a nonperishable food donation to help with the hunger crisis – we received this announcement from Bartell:
“Stock the Pantry” Food Drive June 1-14: helping to
feed out-of-school children and their families during
summer monthsWHAT: Bartell Drugs launches the “Stock the Pantry”
food drive with Northwest Harvest by accepting
nonperishable food donations at all 55 Bartell Drug
locations from June 1 to June 14.The drive builds on a long-time relationship
between Bartell’s and Northwest Harvest to support
in-need families in the communities we serve.THE NEED: This two-week food drive is especially
important to help Northwest Harvest replenish food
stocks during summer months–when families that
normally depend on free or reduced-price school meals
may struggle to provide those meals at home.Some “kid-friendly” food item
suggestions include tuna, instant oatmeal, macaroni and
cheese, peanut butter, cheese crackers, applesauce and
canned fruit in individual serving sizes.WHEN: June 1 – June 14, 2009
WHERE: All 55 Bartell Drugs Locations in King, Pierce
and Snohomish Counties
For more information on Bartell Drugs
locations, visit www.bartelldrugs.comFAST FACTS:
* Only 2 out of 5 low-income children who receive
a school lunch also receive a lunch in the summer
months. – Western Region Anti-Hunger Consortium* 16% (approximately 226,000) of Washington’s
children under 18 live below the federal poverty level.
– American Community Survey, 2006 and Washington Kids
Count, 2009* Washington children live in families and
communities that are facing harsh cuts in health care
and other services.* Over the next year in Washington, an estimated
40,000 new kids will drop into poverty, driving up the
need for programs that help children and families. –
Children’s Alliance, May 2009* Children suffer when their parents lose jobs
and health insurance and can’t make ends meet.* Demand for safety net programs will grow as
unemployment rises, further straining a system that
isn’t able to meet the need we have now.
First, new information on the upcoming 16th SW paving project near South Seattle Community College, from Rick Sheridan at the city Transportation Department – he says the schedule is now pushed back about a month:
An update on the paving work that will occur on 16th Avenue SW this summer. The project, previously scheduled for June, will now instead begin in late July. This is being done to accelerate our work on 4th Avenue S between Royal Brougham and Airport Way, and lessen its impact on the traveling public and nearby businesses.
We will still be able to repave 16th Avenue SW during the summer session at South Seattle Community College, when student traffic through the area is lower. The work will last approximately six weeks and require a detour.
Here’s the official city page about the project. Meantime, a report from Marco in High Point, regarding the 30th SW sidewalk work between High Point and Delridge, right after this photo he just sent:
After weeks of construction on 30th Ave SW they removed the ‘road closed’ sign at the bottom of the hill, but not yet at the top (Juneau).
The city’s most recent update, published online earlier this month, said the project was on schedule to be done “in early June.”
Editor’s note: Back in February, we took that photo when the Robotics Team from Gatewood Elementary visited Yoky Matsuoka, director of the Neurobotics program at the University of Washington. Now, two members of the team will get to work more closely with Matsuoka and her colleagues – here’s the story:
By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Chatting with Sophia Gut (left) and Emma Atkinson about bio-robotics and ultra-sonic sensors, it is easy to forget that the two Gatewood Elementary School students are just 10 years old.
The girls share a passion for building robots.
Both have been invited to spend a week this summer at the University of Washington laboratory of Yoky Matsuoka, an associate professor of neurobotics who is developing a lifelike robotic arm connected to the human brain.
That’s a photo from last year’s Father’s Day Car Show at The Mount. If you’ve got a car to show off, they’d love to have you be part of this year’s show – here’s the announcement we just received:
A Father’s Day tradition at Providence Mount St. Vincent is to host a Classic and Antique Car Show for our residents and for the community. We’re looking for owners of such vehicles to display their cars and chat with folks on Sunday, June 21st from about 11 am until 3:30 pm. It’s always a good time. There’s a small competition for best entry in several categories. And it’s rewarding to see the great pleasure that this brings to our residents, most of whom are in their 80’s and 90’s. If you are interested, please call Eileen at (206) 937-3701, ext 28674 or e-mail eileen.mccloskey@providence.org and let her know that you’ll be coming.
(And let us know too, so we can stop by for a pic or interview while we’re covering the show!)
Along with that photo came this story, headed “Car Prowl, 6900 block 40th SW (up the hill from Thriftway)” [map]:
My car was broken into last night and my backpack was stolen along with all my textbooks, notes, binders, and pens, etc. Please, if anyone finds the following items contact me and I will be happy to come pick them up. I only have two more weeks left in my quarter at school and I desperately need to get my work back and textbooks. Items taken: 1) Textbook: Sol y Viento (Spanish Textbook/Hard Back) 2) Textbook: A Concise History of the Middle East (Soft Back) 3) Pink&Green polka-dot binder with a ton of Spanish homework inside 4) Spiral Notebook with Middle Eastern History notes & English Notes 5) REI Backpack (Olive Green and Light Olive Green) has two pockets and 1 small pocket for pens.
Thank you so much for any help you can provide! My phone number is 206-290-7489 for anyone that finds these items.
Sincerely,
Desperate College Student
We say that for so many reasons – the West Seattle Rock Club (WSB sponsor) has its (free!) annual Rock and Gem Show this weekend, Delridge Day tomorrow at Youngstown Arts Center (we’ll be reporting live – hope to see you there!), the first-ever West Seattle 5K (WSB sponsor) will hit the street during “Celebrate Summer Streets” on Sunday… It will also be a magical Sunday afternoon at The Admiral, and tonight you can play Rainbow Bingo at the Senior Center or catch the “Devil’s Dance Parade” in White Center … lots of live music tonight too … help mulch tomorrow on behalf of the Alki Community Wildlife Habitat … more than FIFTY events ahead in the full West Seattle Weekend Lineup, brought to you by Skylark Cafe and Club:Read More
We get half an hour to interview Mayor Nickels tomorrow morning. We’ve got questions galore, of course. But it wouldn’t be a truly two-way news service if we didn’t ask you what YOU would ask him. (And if you don’t want to post it in a comment, editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!)
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