West Seattle, Washington
27 Saturday
The popularity of new Ercolini Park is a reminder of just what a playground, and park, can mean to a neighborhood. Neighbors in two areas of West Seattle are working now to make similar dreams come true, and we have updates on both: The first one’s a dream for this Admiral park that you might not even recognize as a park:
Just beyond the tree in the foreground, that triangle of land at California/Hill (map), immediately southeast of Admiral Congregational UCC Church, is indeed a park, called California Place (official city page here). Manuela Slye, who also happens to be opening the new Spanish-language preschool Cometa (as mentioned here), spoke to the Admiral Neighborhood Association at its last meeting about her dream of creating a playground there. She is in the very early stages of trying to figure out what that would involve, but already has a touching presentation (as read to the ANA) with children’s art and words about what it would mean to have “a place to play” there.
Second, in North Delridge, the “tot lot” project (previous WSB coverage here) for Cottage Grove Park is now seeking an architect. They are hoping to find a landscape architect that can donate her/his services for this small playground project, but there’s a possibility their grant-seeking could include some money for fees, so they want to hear from anyone interested. Read on for a full description of the work and who to contact:Read More
Tonight at Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor), West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival queens and princesses present, past, and potentially future (the current “candidates”) gathered for the annual White Rose Reception, a ladies-only event. As exciting as it was for the gowned young women you see above, it was also a big night for camera-wielding moms and mentors:
Before the cake break that led to the photo-op shown above, memories were shared as women and girls from past Hi-Yu courts stood up and introduced themselves – here are a few:
The five candidates vying to be the next Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu introduced themselves tonight; all five with a long list of accomplishments, as you can see here. (We shot video tonight for a future feature, as the candidates get ready for a variety of events leading up to the Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu coronation and reception on July 21.)
Just out of the WSB inbox, from Karen:
I wanted to let you know that there was a burglary in our Blockwatch area today, in the 5000 block of 35th Ave SW, mid-block, on the west side of the street. It occurred sometime between 7:00 AM & 5:30 PM while the owners were gone. The burglars entered through a window & took small electronics & other things that are easy to carry.
Our Blockwatch area covers a two block area just south of Providence/Mt. St. Vincent, between Dawson & Hudson streets. It is called the Hansen View neighborhood, which is part of Fairmount.
Thanks for getting the word out!
At center, it’s R.E.M. co-founder Peter Buck, flanked by West Seattle residents David Belisle (L) and Corianton Hale (R), at the launch party for their new book R.E.M.:HELLO tonight at Easy Street in The Junction. (Read more about it in our original report.) Here’s some video looking over their shoulders at the crowd for the signing during the first hour of the party:
With the 4th of July just a week and a half away, it’s high time to start thinking about it. A lot. So we’ve finished the WSB West Seattle 4th of July page 
and you can find it now from the row of page-navigation tabs atop every WSB page — or just click here. It’s your one-stop shop for everything from the Alki traffic-restrictions plan we first published here a week and a half ago (important info so read it now if you didn’t read it then), to holiday events such as the Admiral Kids’ Parade and the High Point Commons Park celebration, to Water Taxi, ferry, and bus info, and even all the details we can find about the fireworks shows you’ll watch from West Seattle — or elsewhere (we’ve got the statewide list linked on the page too). If there’s some other Independence Day info you’re looking for – or if you have an event to add to the page – please e-mail us, as we’ll keep updating it till the holiday’s over.
BERRY DELAY: This afternoon’s weather is picture-perfect typical June, but we all know what a weird year it’s been otherwise. As a result, the Rotary Club of West Seattle won’t get the first delivery for its berry sale — the strawberries — till next month, so the pickups originally set for this Friday and Saturday are postponed till July 11-12 – when raspberries will be available too. You can order berries through the Rotary Club’s website.
BOAT TRIP: If the forecast holds out, this is going to be spectacular: The Northwest Environmental Education Councill and Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition have a two-hour boat trip on the Duwamish this Saturday, 10 am-noon. It’s $20/person and you can sign up online here.
SHOE DRIVE: If you have any “gently used shoes” you’re thinking of getting rid of, save them for next month – Edie’s Shoes in The Junction sends word of a drive to benefit Soles 4 Souls – they’ll offer $10 discounts to customers who bring in “gently used shoes” to donate to the drive during July.
COFFEE TALK: Every Thursday night starting this week, 6-8 pm, special “coffee hours” are planned at Cafe Rozella as part of the King County Food and Fitness Initiative — looking for your thoughts about the availability of activity opportunities and healthy food in Delridge and White Center. Read on for more info:Read More
Perhaps timing this announcement with perfect sidewalk-cafe weather, the office of West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician (gotta use that term every so often just to keep the search results high) just sent this:Read More
Thanks to the many people who have sent messages of support to Officer Jason McKissack, recovering at home after being attacked last week while trying to break up a fight. We have now added some of them to the page where you can send your own message if you haven’t already (or just revisit the same page to read some of the messages) and will be adding more through the afternoon – provided the senders gave permission for us to publish them (you can also send a private message and tell us not to publish it). The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council’s leadership committee came up with the idea and is working with the Southwest Precinct to be sure Officer McKissack sees your messages; we’ll keep this going till at least the end of the week. Thanks again!
Just out of the WSB inbox from “k” (thank you!) – we are en route to check it out:
just returned from safeway at jefferson square. 3 car accident right in front of the starbucks in the lot. close call for them! the cars were on the curb. not sure what happened, but police are there directing traffic and tow trucks are on scene. saw one fender on the ground and a lot of damage.
this lot is truly a mess always. this just made it even worse.
1:25 PM UPDATE: Don’t worry about trouble if you have to go to J-Square – the scene is now clear.
Just out of the WSB inbox from Kendall:
I feel somewhat silly reporting this. It seems so trivial compared to the serious crime reported on the blog, but my wife and I both had flat tires this morning. Apparently, we have some “harmless” vandals in the neighborhood-the north Admiral neighborhood. This is the second time it has happened in the last two months. The perpetrators flattened one tire per car and were even so kind as to replace the valve stem caps before scurrying off into the darkness. We do not know if these have been random acts or if we are the targets of someone’s ill will.
The first time it happened, my wife assumed (as anyone would) that it was a flat tire and not merely a deflated tire. She took it to Barnecut’s to have it repaired. Of course, they could find no leak. The young man working that day mentioned that there had been other people in the neighborhood with the same problem and suggested that it was some bored kids. Other than his saying so, we have no idea if this is the case.
The first incident happened several weeks ago and we imagined it an isolated event. This morning we were surprised to find both of our cars with flat tires. We park in the alley behind our house. Although it is just one block off California Avenue, it is a quiet, dead end alley. To the best of our knowledge, our nearby neighbors are not experiencing this problem.
It’s not the end of the world, but it is not fun to come out to your car in the morning and find a flat tire. Luckily, we have an air compressor so the vandals are not creating as much trouble for us as they imagine. I am sure our neighbors don’t appreciate my need to run the compressor at 7:00 AM, but at least we can solve the problem without putting on a spare.
Of course, we are thankful that they are not puncturing the tires, breaking into the cars, or engaging in some more seriously damaging activity, but it is a nuisance.
We don’t really have a clear understanding of whether the architects of this annoyance are targeting us directly or if this is a rash in our neighborhood. We’d like to think that we are random victims. We’re nice people and have done nothing to warrant this kind of special attention.
We are just wondering if anyone else in the neighborhood has experienced the same problem.
4 PM TODAY: Your editor here has been invited to discuss West Seattle this afternoon on Rain City Radio, a new audio interview “show” that the founder of popular Seattle real-estate blog Rain City Guide, Dustin Luther, recently launched. His post about it explains how to listen and/or call in to join the conversation.
7 PM TONIGHT: As reported here last week, two members of legendary rock band R.E.M. — Peter Buck and Bill Rieflin — will join West Seattle authors Corianton Hale and David Belisle for a launch party to celebrate their photography book “R.E.M.: HELLO,” 7 pm @ Easy Street in The Junction. (Party goes till 10; signing is 7-8.)
7 PM TONIGHT: The next big West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival event — the White Rose Reception — happens tonight at Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) – here are details from Hi-Yu’s Danette Carufel:
West Seattle Hi-Yu cordially invites you to the 2008 White Rose Reception. This event is for women only and is a celebration of past and present Hi Yu royalty and candidates. All are invited; festivities will begin at 7 pm tonight at Fauntleroy Church (UCC), 9260 California SW. Come and share your Hi-Yu memories or to learn about our community festival. Past royalty are encouraged to wear or bring their sashes and memory scrapbooks. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $5.00. For more information please call (206) 935-6517.
Per this TV story, West Seattleite Tom Milne kayaks to work – 13 miles each way. Sounds like he saw the same humpback JoB reported in the WSB Forums the other day. P.S. Kayakers and would-be kayakers may want to check out the annual Eddyline Demo Day this Saturday at Alki Kayak Tours at Seacrest (9 am-3 pm)
Thanks to Chas Redmond for that photo and word that the shelter on the southwest corner of California/Alaska in The Junction is back. When it was removed nine months ago (WSB report here), the county said it was going away so KeyBank could do some work on its building. (That same post had a long list of other shelter changes that were in the works at the time.)
With three nights to go till the first of two city-organized public forums on the two potential city-jail sites that are in southeast West Seattle, the Highland Park Action Committee got together again tonight to strategize in advance. Part of their plan is to research and counter some of the documents the city is citing as reasons why a jail wouldn’t be detrimental to this community (or either of the other two with potential sites). In particular, they are poking holes in this study posted on the city’s jail-info website, taking issue in particular with whether that federal study has any relevance to effects a jail might have here:
That’s HPAC’s Kathleen Voss, saying that trying to apply the findings of that study to the situation here is a real case of apples-and-oranges. HPAC chair Dorsol Plants also noted that even where there might be economic activity tied to a jail, the money from jail workers buying lunch in Highland Park, as he put it, would not outweigh the money lost by families that wouldn’t buy homes in HP because of a jail nearby. HPAC continues its activism on a variety of fronts, including an online petition that’s linked from its jail-info page, but the next big focus is Thursday night’s city forum, 6-9 pm at 9125 15th Place S. in South Park (map). HPAC will hold its next monthly meeting July 21 (7 pm, HP Improvement Club), so members will have a chance to confer before the city’s second public forum (July 26, 9 am, South Seattle Community College). But as Plants warned tonight’s 50 or so attendees, “It’s going to be a long fight.” To catch up with all WSB coverage on the jail-sites fight, check out the newest-to-oldest archive page here.
Josh Sutton from the West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) sends that photo with a big thanks to Nucor — it’s from the company’s annual golf tournament for about 150 staff, vendors and customers, over the weekend at Washington National in Auburn. “This year, they decided to make it a fundraiser, and chose the YMCA as their charity,” Josh explains — with more than $30,000 raised. “We’ll be using funding to support our various youth programs like child care, day camp, academic support, and teen programs.” The photo shows the winning foursome: Weylin Thompson from Mulvanny G2 Architects, Nucor summer Metallurgical Engineering intern Anthony Perugini, and Nucor’s Craig Anderson (who organized the tournament) and CJ Shin. The foursome had a 9-under-par 63, and there’s a P.S. from Josh: “2 Y execs won the longest drives – Sue Camou Arrant and Marcia Isenberger. Must be the power of a good workout.”
At center stage in that photo from a few summers ago is Kevin Wooley (with Jim Dever and then-Hi-Yu Court members). You may know Kevin and wife Tammy Wooley, who are Fauntlee Hills residents – among other things, he chairs the Fauntleroy Community Services Agency, currently working to save the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, and she volunteers at local schools. This Friday night into Saturday morning, we know where you can find them, and hundreds of others – at West Seattle Stadium, during the Relay for Life of West Seattle. It’s different from some of the other “walkathon” type fundraisers that happen each summer (like last weekend’s Race for the Cure) – and there are a variety of ways you can be part of it, with or without becoming an official participant. Read on to hear how Kevin and Tammy – a 10-year cancer survivor – describe it:Read More
Six days after Southwest Precinct police officer Jason McKissack was attacked while trying to break up a fight in High Point, he is recovering at home, but probably won’t be back at work for a while. Meantime, as reported over the weekend, charges are filed against the three teenagers arrested that night. But there’s one other aspect to this story: Many people have been wondering how to send a message to Officer McKissack. The leadership committee of the newly renamed West Seattle Crime Prevention Council had the same thought, and asked if we would set up a special page here on West Seattle Blog that you could use to get a message to the officer. We did, and here it is. A short form on that page will send an e-mail to a special box, and the WSCPC leaders will make sure Officer McKissack gets your message — in addition, if you tell us on the form that it’s OK to publish your message, we’ll post it on that special page too. Click here to go to that page now.
Just in from the West Seattle Junction Association — the program for West Seattle Summer Fest, coming up July 11-12-13 — and it has first word of the music acts you can expect to see. It’s not on the Summer Fest website just yet, so download it here (the music lineup is on page 7, with performer info starting on page 10). The program has other Summer Fest details too; click ahead for a few additional notes of interest:Read More
Tama and Sacha are two of the Charlestown Cafe team members working hard today to get the beloved restaurant back in shape for its grand reopening, now just days away, as first reported here last Thursday. It’s been a long and bumpy road to get the restaurant reopened after the February fire that at first left cafe co-owners hoping they’d only be closed for “days”; here’s one reason it took so long:
That’s the new hood system required as a condition of reopening. But as our photo shows, it’s in place and ready to go, and the place was abuzz with work when we stopped by earlier today:
Our Charlestown Cafe coverage — not just the fire, but also the development controversy that unfolded in preceding months — is all archived here.
Just out of the WSB inbox, from BG:
Yesterday (6/22) an attempted burglary was successfully thwarted on the 9000 block of 13th Avenue SW [map]. At approximately noon on Sunday, I was in my home office when I noticed three youths engaging in suspicious activity across the street in my neighbor’s driveway. With one youth serving as a lookout, the other two removed the screen from our neighbor’s kitchen window and attempted to enter the house. The neighbors were away for the weekend.
I immediately called 911 and police arrived in time to apprehend one of the suspects. Two suspects escaped and were not apprehended. I was shocked by the brazen attempt to burglarize our neighbor’s home in broad daylight on a Sunday afternoon. These three juveniles have been recently observed by others in the area looking into cars and appearing to case houses. I urge you to keep an eye out for them in your neighborhood. Their physical descriptions are as follows:
1. Female, juvenile (14 – 17 yrs. old), African American, approx 5’ 5’’, stocky build. Short hair, worn in a bun in the back of the head. Last seen wearing tight blue jeans, and a tight black top.
2. Male, juvenile (14 – 17 yrs. old), African American, approx 5’ 8’’, muscular build. Last seen wearing baggy shorts, a dark oversized coat, and an orange knit stocking cap.
3. Male, juvenile (14 – 17 yrs. old), African American, approx 5’ 10’’, muscular build. Last seen wearing baggy shorts, a dark oversized coat, and a red baseball cap.These three juveniles work as a team. The female has been observed walking in our neighborhood on the more than one occasion, and serves as a lookout for the male juveniles. Vigilance made the difference on our block yesterday and the West Seattle Blog deserves credit for making us all more aware of suspicious activity in our neighborhood.
And in turn we hat-tip to West Seattle’s police force at the Southwest Precinct, which is trailblazing for the whole city by aggressively advocating this kind of watchfulness and repeatedly reminding us all not to hesitate calling 911 for ANY kind of suspicious activity as it happens. If a life’s not at risk, the response time depends on what else is going on, but as we were reminded in a recent chat with precinct leaders, thorough and complete crime reports at the very least help them decide where to best deploy their people when they’re planning schedules and emphasis patrols.
STATION CONFIRMATION: Yesterday, we showed you the long-closed Roxbury 76 station getting fueled. Today, the state liquor-license-application site shows “Roxbury Gasoline” at that location applying for a store license to sell beer/wine. So a mini-mart’s on the way too.
FUTURE TOWNHOUSES: The city’s latest Land Use Information Bulletin includes the decision approving a five-lot “subdivision” at 4009 California, currently home to this:
A permit to build five townhouses here was issued earlier this month.
TONIGHT: The Highland Park Action Committee meets tonight (7 pm, Highland Park Improvement Club, 11th and Holden) to continue strategizing opposition to the two HP-vicinity sites (map) on the city’s “final four” list of potential jail locations. THURSDAY: The first of two city-organized public meetings focusing on those two sites — this one’s in neighboring South Park (6 pm @ 9125 15th Place S., map here); the second meeting is July 26 at South Seattle Community College. More on all planned city forums here; city info page on jail-site search here; HPAC jail-sites info page here; all WSB coverage on the jail-sites issue is archived here.
Not West Seattle-specific but worth a reminder: The State Patrol is launching publicity this week to remind all drivers that troopers plan to start enforcing the “hands-free law” July 1st (one week from tomorrow. Drivers holding cell phones to their ears could face $124 fines – unless you were calling 911 to report “a highway emergency.” WSP will be partnering with at least one mobile-phone company at a media event this week to point out that it’s easy to set your phone up so you can talk “hands-free” while you drive, if you need to.
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