Andrea Mercado from the Log House Museum — where you can check out the history of West Seattle, noon-4 pm Thursdays-Sundays — just sent this note:
Stop in Sunday, March 15th, between 11-2 to help us move file cabinets, brochures, books and papers out from the Log House Museum upstairs. Besides being an enormous help to the Log House Museum and Southwest Seattle Historical Society, you will also get to see the inner sanctum of the museum (upstairs) which is not generally open to the public. (oooooooohhhhh)
A 105 year old log structure is always an adventure to maintain and a joy to work in, but the building cannot handle the weight of our modern-day conveniences.
For 30 minutes, an hour or two of your time… there will be goodies donated by the Alki Bakery and beverages to keep us all going.
The museum’s in the big beautiful historic house shown in the photo above, 61st/Stevens in Alki (map).
With recent bowling-center closures elsewhere in the region, more bowling leagues are rolling our way – so Underdog Sports Leagues sent this announcement of new leagues at West Seattle Bowl, with registration open now:
Roll on Through Wet Weather Toward Summer!
Spring in Seattle could easily be renamed MoreWinter. It’s that tease of a season here in the Northwest that spans from after the holidays until about July. MoreWinter tosses out a nice day every couple weeks – but for the most part you could be in November. How to make it through until Summer? Take refuge in the warm embrace of the bowling alley. Liquid sunshine, prizes, theme nights (like Ugly Sweater Night), and classic fun will ward off April and May cold dampness!
The leagues are on Monday and Thursday nights, and run for 6 weeks each. Monday night league starts on the 30th of March at 7 pm, and Thursday is late-night bowling starting on March 26th at 9:30 pm.
Longing for the sun that seemed to shine throughout the workweek – and now has mischievously vanished? WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli captured some of it this past week on video – lovely water scenes off Beach Drive. Another video to share – this one from Arbor Heights Elementary School:
That’s a video plea for Barbara Bailey, the school’s music teacher, to get better and come back. Arbor Heights teacher Mark Ahlness shared that clip with us; he writes on his own website – which is among the 100 West Seattle sites featured on our automatically and frequently updated Blogs page (always good reading) – that she is “fighting valiantly to regain her health.”
TRAFFIC ALERT: To clarify the Alaskan Way Viaduct closure signs you may have seen regarding tomorrow’s St. Patrick’s Day Dash – according to this city alert, if you head northbound tomorrow morning (approximately 7:30-11 am), you will be routed off 99 at Western, since the Dash is happening north of The Tunnel. So that might cause some slowdowns. (Reminder, NEXT weekend is The Viaduct’s next inspection shutdown – full closure 6 am-6 pm Saturday and Sunday, Battery Street Tunnel closure from Friday night-Monday morning.)
First: Direct link to today’s long list of events from our West Seattle Weekend Lineup – just click here.
Second: We have one “what’s NOT happening” note – the West Seattle High School fundraising car wash has been called off, rainout.
Next: Tonight’s the night for two fun movie events in West Seattle. First, an update on the “Mamma Mia!” preshow wedding tonight atThe Admiral:
Melodie Anderson and John Babcock will get married onstage before the “Mamma Mia!” singalong screening, and yet another gift has appeared: Dinah Brein McClellan at the Admiral Theater says Standing Ovation Films has now donated its services to shoot the wedding and related events (including the donated wedding-party dinner at Cafe Revo). YOU, however, do NOT need to bring a gift – just help make sure there’s a good crowd to cheer on Melodie and John – they’re marrying before movietime, 7:30 tonight at The Admiral (tickets $8, available online till a few hours ahead of time, after that, at the door).
More in the mood for goofy family fun? Be at tonight’s Winter Indoor Movies on the Wall presentation of the original “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory“:
Your sponsors are the West Seattle Junction merchants; venue is the newest multipurpose facility in The Junction, West Seattle Christian Church‘s activity center (with not one but TWO big screens!) on 42nd just south of Genesee), price – absolutely free, and you’re encouraged to bring a nonperishable food item for the West Seattle Food Bank. Worth bringing a few bucks for concession sales and the special “Golden Ticket” raffle. More at the Movies on the Wall website. (Next week, the winter series finale – “Napoleon Dynamite“!)
Again – for everything else happening today and tomorrow in West Seattle, go here!
After covering a crash in The Junction this afternoon, WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli noticed several cars along SW Oregon east of 41st (map) with parking tickets. This, just a few days after parking enforcement in Junction-area neighborhoods was discussed at the most recent meeting of the Junction Neighborhood Organization (as reported at the end of this WSB article); JuNO president Erica Karlovits had suggested that better enforcement of existing rules and laws could ease the perceived parking crunch and confirm there’s no need for pay stations (which the city will be reviewing as part of the Junction parking study that’s under way now – next walking tour Wednesday, 11 am, meet at Cupcake Royale). Think your neighborhood needs parking enforcement? Here’s a place to start.
Thanks to everyone who has called and e-mailed. The “heavy rescue” call in the 3200 block of Belvidere (map) involved a pickup truck hitting a child – a boy, six or seven years old. WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli has been to the scene and was told the victim’s injuries are not life-threatening, but he was taken to the hospital to be checked out. He also was told the boy was playing with a toy truck when the truck, apparently belonging to someone working in the area, came down a steep driveway, and the driver just didn’t see the child. 5:29 PM UPDATE: Just talked to Officer Jeff Kappel with the Seattle Police media unit. He says the boy is 6 years old, “will be just fine” – bumps and bruises, at this point – and that it was truly an accident, so the truck driver (who Kappel says apparently knows the boy’s family) will not be cited.
The original “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” is the second of three Winter Indoor Movies on the Wall in The Junction … at The Admiral, the singalong “Mamma Mia” will be preceded by a real-life wedding onstage … there’s a property auction and two rummage sales … a poker tournament tonight to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society … Gatewood Elementary and Pathfinder K-8‘s big fundraisers … the last weekend to buy Girl Scout cookies … and free yoga! That’s all among more than 40 events in this edition of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup (sponsored by Skylark Cafe and Club):Read More
Last night, we published a short summary right after the design-review meeting about the Conner Homes megaproject in The Junction; now, here are full details on what was seen and said, and what happens next:
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The crowd reaction was a bit reminiscent of an evangelistic church service when Rene Commons (above) stood before the Southwest Design Review Board last night to show those photos she’s shown holding. Many people in the 50-or-so-member crowd murmured and mumbled “uh-huhs,” maybe just short of an “A-men.”
Her point was that the Conner Homes two-building, 7-story megaproject at California/Alaska/42nd needs architectural flair, given its prominent future position in the heart of the business district that is now branded as Downtown West Seattle.
And the desire to see more detail is part of why SWDRB members asked Conner and his development team, including architects from Weber Thompson, to come back for (at least) one more review.
WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli is at the scene at California and Oregon (map); he says one car hit three others, and adds: “The driver is being taken to Harborview. Police said that there were no signs of alcohol use but that the man was having trouble answering basic questions about what happened. Traffic at Cali and Oregon is backing up a bit but SPD is waving through the rubberneckers.” 1:37 PM UPDATE: Added photo by Christopher, who updates that police say the red car was heading eastbound and crossed into the westbound lane, hitting at least two cars.
Some updates on Denny Middle School, from a conversation with Principal Jeff Clark: First big one, the move-in plan has changed for the new Denny that’ll be built on the nearby Chief Sealth High School campus. As we reported in recent months, there was a tentative plan to make the move over winter break 2010-2011. Now, Clark says, that plan’s been scrapped, since it would likely have been educationally disruptive, to say the least. The plan is now to move the Denny staff immediately after the end of the school year in June 2011 (so Denny summer programs that year will happen on the new campus), and start classes there in fall 2011. Also from our visit to Denny (and more to come later): Music director Marcus Pimpleton will lead the Denny Marching Band in tomorrow’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade downtown (parade info here), so if you’re going, watch for them!
So says a news release just in from the city – and it says furloughs are on the way too (following the example of King County, which has implemented some to save $ – including today’s furlough day for the King County Council) – here’s the news release:Read More
Rummage-sale season is off and … rummaging. Two big sales started this morning: West Side Presbyterian Church (above – we found quite a crowd there a little while ago) and Tibbetts United Methodist Church (tons of stuff there too as shown below), both just north of The Junction.
Tibbetts is selling till 4 pm today, 9 am-3 pm tomorrow; West Side goes till 5 pm today, 9 am-2 pm tomorrow. By the way – don’t forget to mark your calendar – the 5th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, presented again this year by WSB, is May 9th, registration details to come.
A public notice is published today for an upcoming foreclosure auction that, according to online records, includes the lion’s share of one of Alki’s newer condo developments, 1350 Alki Avenue SW (built in 2008, which is also when the Google Street View image above was made). Of its 10 units, one is sold, according to this sales website and county property records. The foreclosure/notice of trustee’s sale document on the King County website (read it here) says that as of January, $5 million was owed, and says that what’s being offered at auction at the county Administration Building downtown on April 10th includes 9/10ths interest in the land and seven of the condo units.
A major followup this morning to our status report yesterday on the idled Fauntleroy Place/Whole Foods development at 39th/Alaska/Fauntleroy: WSB has learned that a lawsuit has just been filed. The firm that has been developing the project, BlueStar Management, is suing Fauntleroy Place LLC (the official site owners), Seattle Financial Group, and Seattle Capital Group (one of the governing parties of FP LLC). We are working right now to get a copy of the full complaint, but a watchlist of newly filed lawsuits summarizes this one as alleging breach of contract and defamation. Construction on the site has been idle since last fall, and Seattle Capital disclosed in late January that they were in the process of selling the site, though they have not been available for comment this week and the status of the reported sale is unknown. More to come; we will add comments and documents to this story as we get them. 11:12 AM UPDATE: BlueStar’s Easton Craft referred us to the company’s lawyers for comment, and we expect to speak with them soon. There also is word of an additional lawsuit linked to this project, also filed this week, and we are working to get details on that. 8:09 PM UPDATE: We have a statement from Susan Rae Fox at Ryan, Swanson and Cleveland, the firm representing BlueStar, in response to several questions we asked:
BlueStar Management, Inc. filed the action to recover unpaid management fees incurred in connection with the Fauntleroy Place project and is merely seeking to be fairly compensated for the project development services it rendered. BlueStar has been committed to, and worked diligently for the Fauntleroy Place project from the very beginning and was shocked and saddened to be summarily terminated in December 2008.
The action was filed after a formal request for mediation was rejected and was in no way intended to adversely affect any current activity on the project. BlueStar continues to believe that bringing Whole Foods to West Seattle as part of the Fauntleroy Place development will be good for West Seattle. BlueStar wants to see the project succeed and does not believe that the filing of this action is inconsistent with that goal.
The city Board of Park Commissioners – the Parks Board, for short, whose chair Jackie Ramels and vice chair Neal Adams are both from West Seattle – took a field trip Thursday night to meet at the West Seattle Golf Course clubhouse instead of their usual digs at Parks HQ on the north end of downtown. The meeting was preceded by even more of a jaunt – they visited two of the locations to be discussed in the night’s business, Seacrest Pierand the Golf Course itself. Seacrest is before the board because Parks has to sign off on the King County Ferry District plan to fix up the Seacrest dock to facilitate year-round Elliott Bay Water Taxi operation starting next year (this year’s season starts April 5); the proposal is detailed here, and in our coverage of an informational meeting in Alki. Board member John Barber said he had some questions about the use of parks land for nonpark use, given a past ballot measure guaranteeing park uses for park land; city staff will review this, but noted that this extended use of Seacrest is only expected to last three to five years, while the county continues working to find a permanent home for the Water Taxi. Former port commissioner and nearby-park namesake Jack Block spoke in support of the Seacrest dock improvements, even though he cautioned that the long-term solution must be found elsewhere (a proposal for a terminal adjacent to Jack Block Park has long been floated); the board vote on this happens in two weeks. Next, the Golf Master Plan; tonight’s review focused on the money aspect. Two competing proposals are under consideration — one costs $30 million and would pay for all recommended upgrades at all city golf courses. The other costs $20 million and prioritizes key work. Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher told the board that staffers are learning toward #2 given the rough economic times — when things get better, the department could go on to complete the remaining $10 million work. Raising the money is the challenge; Gallagher said the city can finance $20 million in improvements without raising green fees, but not $30 million. Following tonight’s discussion, a public hearing on the Golf Master Plan is set for the April 9 Parks Board meeting, and a board vote on April 23.
17 days now have passed since we first brought you the story of Pogo, the Papillon who escaped from her North Delridge home. Betsy Hoffmeister and family have continued to search far and wide, and she e-mailed this update late Thursday night:
A woman called at 9:30 pm on Thursday, March 12, 2009 to report that she had seen a small white dog with long fur and dark markings hanging around S 124th St and 4th Ave S for most of the day. After seeing a sign up at Fred Meyer in Burien, the woman realized that the dog she saw might be Pogo. She called us and drove back. The dog was still there. She yelled “here Pogo” and the dog turned and looked at her. When she parked her car, she crunched the gravel which startled the dog. The dog ran from 124th in a southerly direction, through back yards. With this young woman, I spent 30 minutes tromping through people’s driveways yelling and whistling, shining my flashlight under cars, into carports, and into bushes. No sign of a dog. I would like to alert families living near Arbor Lake Park, or South of there, or thereabouts, that we are looking for our beloved Papillon and the reward is still waiting for the kind soul who finds her. If this dog was our Pogo, she is clearly running scared. If you see her – or any other stray pooch you are trying to coax – the advice I got from the canine specialist was to not run after a dog, but rather to sit down or crouch down, call the dog’s name, and let the dog come to you. Again, my number is 206 353 9334. I will be going back to the neighborhood (later today) to put hang tags on the doors of all the neighbors.
Often, a “ridealong” – when a civilian observer goes along with a police officer on patrol — can be uneventful. Not the ones that West Seattle-based author Michael Stusser writes about, vividly and compactly, including one from the Southwest Precinct; read his story here.
When we interviewed King County Council Chair Dow Constantine the day he declared his candidacy for King County Executive, the main angle was, West Seattleite goes for the top job. When you’re an “ultralocal” news organization, that tends to be the main spin – what’s the West Seattle angle? So we were a little surprised to get a fast followup call on behalf of the man who had thrown his hat in the proverbial ring a few weeks earlier – County Councilmember Larry Phillips, who lives in Magnolia, our peninsula’s semi-twin on the other side of the bay. Phillips is resolutely not conceding Constantine’s backyard to the hometown candidate, and wants you to start getting to know him, even with the primary still five months away. So he came to West Seattle recently to chat with WSB, and here’s the result:
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Larry Phillips and Dow Constantine have more in common than the fact they’re both currently members of the King County Council and both currently running high-profile races for King County Executive.
Both also are lawyers and former state legislators. And – although the King County Executive and Council positions are now officially nonpartisan, so you won’t find this on the ballot – both are Democrats.
Both also made the point in conversations with WSB that they consider themselves fighters. (Phillips has a catch phrase: “Common sense, uncommon courage.”)
Thanks to Dina Johnson for sharing photos from tonight’s Chief Sealth High School PTSA-presented Multi-Cultural Night. Raffles and a silent auction helped raise money toward the “wish list”:
But that was only part of it – student performances took centerstage:
Along with dancing and music – poetry too!
Besides cultural celebration and fundraising, tonight’s CSHS event included buffet dinner, too!
Tonight’s Design Review meeting for the Conner Homes (owner Charlie Conner, photo left) project at California/42nd/Alaska won’t be the last. After a somewhat rushed meeting — High Point Library had to close at 8 pm, no matter what — board members agreed the project wasn’t quite ready for final design-review approval. Board chair David Foster told WSB afterward that they’ll work with city planners to see if that last meeting can be scheduled sooner rather than later – perhaps in three weeks (which would be Thursday, April 2nd). More details later on the concerns, and kudos, expressed for the project, what board members want to see in that next review, and what else happens now. (Monday morning note: Full article will be published separately no later than noon this afternoon.)
With recent bowling-center closures elsewhere in the region, more bowling leagues are rolling our way – so 
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