West Seattle, Washington
20 Friday
ORIGINAL 1:57 AM REPORT: Every so often, somebody e-mails to ask what the deal is with Cavvy’s, the never-open (yet not-empty) West Seattle store shown above in Google Street View, 5251 California SW, between Ephesus restaurant and Rick’s Barber Shop. Just half an hour ago, we got the tip from Rick himself – that Cavvy’s is supposed to open at 10 am today “after a mysterious 13-year hiatus … Everything will be on sale so shop early and shop often.” (Yes, we love 1 am news tips, or any time 24/7 …
editor@westseattleblog.com … 206-293-6302 …)
10:40 AM UPDATE: Sign on the door as of a few minutes ago says “Not open yet.”
11:58 AM UPDATE: Rick says in comments it’s now looking more like Monday. … And half an hour later, an update: Tuesday.
For more than a few local schools, it’s a tradition to get out of the classroom and walk laps to raise money — and today, perfect weather graced Alki Elementary School‘s annual springtime fundraiser, the Alki-a-thon. Allison Carver from the Alki Elementary PTA explained, “We stagger the grades (from oldest to youngest) and each grade makes a grand entrance with their own unique colorful team t-shirt and theme song!” Music, refreshment, and games – Crabwalk, Limbo, Buddywalk – were part of the fun. (Next week, by the way, Sanislo Elementary hits the ground running with its Jog-a-thon.)
Thanks to Lori Willson of Arbor Heights for sharing these photos, taken just hours ago at Emma Schmitz Viewpoint, across from Me-Kwa-Mooks Park on Beach Drive.
Three days after confirming reports that teachers around the district were being notified of layoffs, Seattle Public Schools has just gone public with the total number of layoffs: “Approximately 172 teachers and other certificated staff (approximately 5% of the total certificated workforce),” according to a news release just sent out. Read on for the full text of the announcement (which does not contain a school-by-school breakdown):Read More
We’ve been tracking this for a few weeks – now it’s down to the final faceoff, and as WSB’er GenHillOne was first to announce in the WSB Forums, Chief Sealth High School is 1 of 2 schools remaining in KIRO’s High School Spirit poll. Voting’s under way now – go here.
Three big plant sales this weekend – Furry Faces Foundation (with a book-signing!), Sound Yoga (WSB sponsor), Tibbetts Church … plus, “A Night of Swing” tonight with the West Seattle Big Band at Grace Church, a busy Saturday slate including the West Seattle Sportsmen’s Club Kids’ Fishing Derby at Seacrest … Sunday brings the Walk With Us to Cure Lupus 5K on Alki plus the beer/gardening art event at West Seattle Nursery on Sunday … more than 40 events in the full West Seattle Weekend Lineup, brought to you by Skylark Cafe and Club:Read More
That’s what 34th District Rep. Sharon Nelson‘s legislative assistant Joe Fitzgibbon just told WSB, when we called/e-mailed to check before publishing a news release announcing Governor Gregoire had signed her payday-lending bill (HB 1709; history, info, documents here). As we reported yesterday, with video, Rep. Nelson had told the 34th District Democrats on Wednesday night that she was waiting to hear if the governor would sign her bill in its entirety. Fitzgibbon just replied to our inquiry with, “In the end, she did sign the whole bill as it passed the Legislature, and we are thrilled.” Here’s the news release, which explains what the bill does:Read More
(2008 Junction Car Show photo courtesy Mark B. Bauschke)
Just got an update from Liberty Bell Printing‘s Michael Hoffman, who’s coordinating the September 20th event: “The car show is an official go. We have had a great response from sponsors and are excited to continue planning the event.” WSB is proud to be among the West Seattle Junction Car Show sponsors again this year; there’s still room for more sponsors – the application can be downloaded here. That page, by the way, is part of the official West Seattle Junction Car Show website, now up and running at wsjunctioncarshow.com. Michael also lists a few of the highlights planned for the show this year:
Antique fire trucks from the Last Resort Fire Department.
SFD teaching Fire safety for kids.
The Oh Boy! Oberto hydroplane on display.
A DJ playing 50s & 60s Music.
Event T-shirts at a great value.
More room for more cars and fun
That last line refers to the fact they’ve gotten permission to close the Alaska/California intersection, as is done during the West Seattle American Legion Grand Parade (July 18 this year!) – not just two self-contained blocks like last year. The show will run from 8 am till 4 pm on September 20th.
It’s been down most of the week – and we know us news types aren’t the only ones who noticed, because more than half a dozen people asked us if we knew what the problem was – but now it’s back: Real-Time 911. Note, as always, this only reflects fire/medic calls, NOT police calls, but we know many find it invaluable for checking “why am I hearing sirens?” etc. (When we called Seattle Fire Department‘s media unit earlier in the week to ask what was wrong, they indicated it was down as part of a larger maintenance/repair issue that affected systems even more critical to their operations than the online log.)
With the first-ever Seattle International Film Festival showings in West Seattle now less than a month away, WSB is co-promoting an Admiral Theater event to celebrate this major moment in WS cultural history: An opening-night party on June 5. The party is just taking shape – it will be fun but informal, probably something of an open-house format that night, before the 7 pm showing of the ever-so-appropriate choice “The Admiral.” On behalf of Admiral entertainment director Dinah Brein-McClellan, we’re asking you: Got any ideas for who or what should be part of that party (an all-ages, drop-in event)? If you’re a local business or organization, maybe you’d like to be part of it? Leave a comment here or e-mail 
Dinah, dinah@admiralentertainment.com – and stay tuned for party details. In the meantime, a reminder that tickets for the 25 SIFF movies to be shown at The Admiral June 5-11 are on sale now – ticket sales are all done through SIFF, *not* the Admiral, so you’ll want to snap them up sooner rather than later. The movie slate is here; ticket sales start here; details on special multi-show ticket deals are here.
(entrance and courtyard for new Denny Middle School)
We’ve just received these new renderings of what Denny Middle School — as of next fall, Denny International Middle School — will look like when its new building is complete on the Chief Sealth High School campus nearby. This view is looking west:
They’re from a presentation made to the Denny PTSA this week; you can see the full presentation, with other renderings, including the plan for the current Denny site, here. (While the presentation says the new building will be done in late winter 2011, we’re told that Denny principal Jeff Clark still plans to move the staff that summer and start classes there in fall 2011, as he told us two months ago .)
More on this week’s presentation, and other aspects of the ongoing CSHS renovation/DMS (future) construction project, can be found on this district-maintained website. The site also includes monthly construction updates (with photos).
Earlier this week, we reported on major progress toward construction money for the future Delridge Skatepark — 
the Skatepark Advisory Committee‘s recommendation that Parks Levy money for a Myrtle Reservoir skate feature move to the Delridge project (future site at right) instead. And this afternoon, there’s word the in-progress skatepark design will go public next week — the agenda for next week’s Seattle Design Commission meeting just arrived, and it includes a review of the Delridge Skatepark’s schematic design, next Thursday, 2 pm at City Hall. (We’re also watching to see if the proposed money move turns up on the next Parks Levy Oversight Committee agenda – the meeting is set for 7 pm May 26, and when the agenda is out, you’ll find it here.)
Aaron’s Bicycle Repair (in Morgan Junction) and BECU (all over) sponsored the West Seattle “commuter station” this morning as part of Bike To Work Day today – thanks to a different Aaron for sharing his photo. West Seattle bicycle commuters tell us a steady stream of riders went by as part of today’s event; stations like this were set up all over the city during the morning commute. Any other West Seattle bicycle commuters with BTW Day photos to share, editor@westseattleblog.com — we’ll add ’em! Thanks, and we wish you a safe ride home. ADDED 5:32 PM: Via Twitter, @greggscycles noted sightings of 150 bicycles while riding from West Seattle to Green Lake. 11:03 PM: Also from Twitter, King County Council Chair Dow Constantine (of WS) reported addressing a BTW crowd downtown. And West Seattle’s @bikehugger DL Byron has posted some of his BTW Day scenes. Final note: Bicyclist Kerry says that upon arrival at the WS commute station – the counter clicked to 599 – and #600 arrived shortly afterward!
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Sometimes when the public-comment period arrives midway through meetings of the Southwest Design Review Board – one of 7 such volunteer boards around the city charged with evaluating major development proposals – the concerns and complaints tend to meander away from the topic at hand, the project’s design.
Not last night, as The Kenney‘s redevelopment proposal returned to the SWDRB for a third “early design guidance” meeting (here’s our original as-it-happened update from last night; here’s coverage of the previous meeting in January).
Referring to the six-story “donut” building in the plans — a new formation since The Kenney announced it was shifting the design to scrap the panned plan to tear down the cupola-topped Seaview building — one neighbor declared, “I don’t want to live next to the Pentagon.”
“That’s a perfect design comment,” observed board chair Christie Coxley.
The building in question is envisioned in the newest design documents (see them all here) as actually more of a square, but before recommending that The Kenney move to the next phase of design review, board members had their own thoughts about it and other project aspects too, while architect Gene Guszkowski (from Wisconsin-based AG Architecture) revealed some news since the new design proposal was previewed at a community meeting last week:
Another update this morning as 16-year-old Chief Sealth High School student Coreena Wolford 
continues her fight to recover from major injuries suffered in a crash 9 days ago. As reported previously (last week’s story here, Monday update here), Coreena collided with another driver the afternoon of May 6th, while she was driving to South Park’s Concord Elementary for her volunteer work with the Team READ tutoring program. She has been in the hospital ever since, and her family is now approving updates to a Caring Bridge website set up to provide information on her recovery (that’s where the photo at left is from). This morning, there’s a new post – a fund is finally set up for those who want to donate to help with Coreena’s expenses:
Bank: BECU (Boeing Employees Credit Union)
Account Name: Benevolent Account for Coreena Wolford
Account Number: 3583245599 (checking)
BECU Routing Number: 325081403
You can donate at any BECU branch, or use that information for a transfer from your own account at any bank. Meantime, a short update on Coreena’s condition accompanies that information, saying she is “doing much better.” You can sign her online guestbook here.
Since Furry Faces Foundation‘s big plant sale this weekend is all about raising money to help animals, a bonus event on Saturday fits right in: West Seattle author Val Mallinson will be signing and selling copies of her books “The Dog Lover’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest” and “The Dog Lover’s Guide to Seattle” for the first four hours of the first sale day, donating $1 from each book sale to F3. As F3’s announcement puts it, “Together with her faithful companions Cooper and Isis—also known as “The Wonder Wieners”—Val reveals the best dog-friendly romps, digs, and eats in the Pacific Northwest in these two new guidebooks.” She’ll be there 10 am-2 pm tomorrow (Saturday); the plant sale is 10 am-4 pm Saturday and Sunday; the location both days is 3809 46th Ave SW (map). And did we mention the plant sale also will offer pet-adoption opportunties? in addition to the “1,200+ healthy, nursery quality plants at reasonable prices, beautifully suited for Pacific NW gardens” – even more details here.
Kokoras Greek Grill in Morgan Junction (foreground) and Eats Market Cafe in Westwood Village (background) were two of the food purveyors at Thursday night’s Taste of West Seattle at The Hall at Fauntleroy, benefiting West Seattle Helpline – and even in the early minutes, when we dropped in for some quick pix, the place was buzzing:
Others on the long list of Taste of West Seattle participants included WSB sponsor Cafe Revo (added Friday – Revo won “best bite”!). As we mentioned earlier in the day, it was a busy night around West Seattle. We also made the rounds of some of the West Seattle Art Walk venues – first, it wouldn’t be Art Walk night without food, and neon-bright cupcakes were offered at The Skate Church in The Junction:
Then we caught up with a few artists – at Clementine, William A. Herberholz:
At Keller-Williams Realty, artists included Mark Morgan and Krissy Maier:
And before the night was out, we went to Alki to catch the post-sunset glow – the Bathhouse was a beautiful Art Walk venue, with the view blending right in as an artwork in its own right:
The West Seattle Art Walk has venues from Fauntleroy to Alki to Admiral to Morgan Junction to Delridge, all over the peninsula, and you can enjoy the next one on June 11th – do note, many of the art shows are up for the entire month, not just WSAW night. At ArtsWest, though, the annual student exhibition is only up two more days – today and tomorrow.
Two nights after all those kids (and some accompanying grownups too) got together to design the future Delridge Community Center playground, Betsy Hoffmeister posted this pitch via Facebook, reminding they just need a bit more cash for the project:
Shameless plea for cash: NDNC must raise $670 more in earnest money for the Delridge Community Center Playground Project. Here’s how to send anything from $5 to $670: go here https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/DelridgeNeighborhoodsDevelop/OnlineDonationDNDA.html and make a donation. In the comment box write “FOR NDNC PLAYGROUND PROJECT.” Tell me how much you sent so I can keep track and send a TXU/tax letter.
Betsy’s at betsy (at) hoffmeisters (dot) com. NDNC is North Delridge Neighborhood Council, for which she serves as co-vice chair.
SIGN: Amy reports a sign sighting on the Fauntleroy “overpass,” which would be the first one in a long time, since extra DON’T YOU DARE DO THAT-type signs went up … Unfortunately, she says the sign bears an unfriendly message we won’t repeat. Off to check it out as soon as we hit “publish” on this item. (Added later – Nope, it was gone.)
LINK #1: Remember the Cat’s Eye Cafe’ on Fauntleroy north of Lincoln Park, closed after a car hit it three years ago, now the Four Aims Center? Its former owner Julie Malcolm is in the street-food business up north, according to this Edmonds article about Here and There. Sounds a little bit like the Snohomish County version of Skillet
LINK #2: Husky football players visit Roxhill Elementary, and gohuskies.com tells the tale.
We know we’ve shown you the Harbor Ave Canada geese over and over again … but this afternoon, we just happened to be working in the car at Don Armeni for a short time, and there they were, and we were powerless to resist the desire to pull the camera out of the laptop bag, and … Besides the two little guys shown with the adults here, there were also two — elder siblings? — in the group (and note the aft end of the Magnolia-docked cruise ship at left):
ADDED 11:28 PM: David Hutchinson, who has shared excellent photos of the Harbor Ave goose families, says he and wife Eilene have been observing them all and he happens to have a lot of backstory:
The 2 older goslings were hatched on one of the pilings near Salty’s the thirdweek of April. Their father is the larger adult with the large indentation in his feathers on the right side of his chest. Based on our observations, he is the “alpha male” goose along Harbor Avenue. When he and his family approach, everyone else leaves very quickly – even the 4 adults with the 19 goslings.
We have observed him and his mate since last year when they had 4 goslings. Only 1 lived to adulthood – 2 disappeared and we took the 3rd to PAWS with a badly injured leg (it later had to be euthanized because the injury led to a severe infection). This year there were originally 4 again but 2 of those disappeared. The 2 smaller goslings you photographed were “adopted” by this family on Mother’s Day, May 10th. That morning they showed up at Don Armeni with a different family and by afternoon, they had joined their adoptive family and their parents had left. From what we have read, very young goslings have not “imprinted” on their biological parents and will go off with other goslings of similar size. Once this happens, the adoptive parents will not allow the biological parents near.
We’re at the Senior Center of West Seattle, where more than 50 people are gathered as The Kenney‘s 
$150 million redevelopment project is back before the Southwest Design Review Board. Architect Gene Guszkowski has just announced that the cupola-topped Seaview building was formally nominated today for landmark status (not listed yet on this page, though), which triggers a separate city process that, as he noted, will proceed in parallel. Much of this presentation should duplicate what was shown at the community meeting we covered last week (here’s our report; here’s the official presentation packet), but we will add to this report with anything else new that’s disclosed tonight, as well as first word of the SWDRB’s decision – whether the project will advance to the next step in the process – once it’s in (not likely to be before 8 pm). 6:44 PM UPDATE: Guszkowski just announced the long-requested (and ultimately required) tree survey will be done at the site next Monday. 8:09 PM UPDATE: The board has unanimously agreed to let the project move on to the next phase of Design Review, which could be the final phase. Most public concerns involved the massing of the large square “donut” shaped building at the heart of the project – board members suggested perhaps “eroding” its western side and building up its eastern side, to allow more sunshine in the courtyard. They’re also asking architects to look at whether they really want the potentially relocated Seaview building to be the complex’s main entry – they’re asking to see entryway options when the project comes back for the “recommendations” round.
By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Susan Rosenthal was all smiles this afternoon at City Hall as she was recognized and honored as Seattle’s first woman firefighter to rise to the rank of assistant chief (first reported here yesterday).
She called it “the best day of my life.”
Rosenthal, who recently bought a house and moved to West Seattle after years of living in Wallingford, was one of the first few women hired by the Seattle Fire Department in the 1970s. (On the card in the photo atop this story, she is the firefighter in the front, with the hose.) “We were told it would require strength and stamina. Now I know that meant more than just muscles,” she said.
We promised a followup on the hot-dog cart controversy: As reported here yesterday, we had learned that the Hot Dog Joes cart which set up outside Beveridge Place Pub in Morgan Junction in late February didn’t just go away because its trial period ran out, HDJ’s Joe Jeannot told WSB he’d been cited by the city twice and was having trouble working the situation out. Part of the problem is a city ordinance saying vendors aren’t allowed within 200 feet of parks, but as we noted yesterday, Jeannot acknowledged there was more to the story, though he declined to discuss details. Today, SDOT has some details in this statement sent to us by communications director Rick Sheridan:
The cart’s operator, Hot Dog Joes, was cited by SDOT for vending without a permit in the right of way. They did not have a health certificate or insurance to serve at that location. While cited for being within 200 feet of a park, the health and safety issues were the overriding reasons for the citations. The permit, health certificate and insurance are common requirements for food vendors, to prevent folks from getting sick or being injured, and can be easily obtained.
We tried to work with the cart operator so they would be in compliance with the law. Our Street Use inspector, who helps regulate right of way areas like sidewalks, warned the onsite vendor in person and sent a follow-up e-mail about the violations well before writing the citations.
Hot Dog Joes was aware of the requirements as they started the permit application process but never completed it. Given that they had received several warnings and refused to follow the law, the department was forced to write the citations. However, we are happy to work with Hot Dog Joes and help bring their hot dogs and bratwursts back to West Seattle.
So will they be able to work it out? Jeannot is a West Seattleite and told us in our initial conversation that whether it’s outside BPP or elsewhere, he would love to have a cart here. We’ll be contacting him for an update on whether there’s progress in working out the situation with the city. Meantime, we also contacted Councilmember Tom Rasmussen‘s office regarding the 200-foot rule, since he runs the Parks Committee, and he promised to look into the rationale for it, and to see if it might merit changing.
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