Prosecuting Attorney tells West Seattle Rotary a “remarkable” story
That’s King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, special guest at this afternoon’s meeting of the Rotary Club of West Seattle at Salty’s on Alki. He shared what he described as a “remarkable” story — one that might cheer you up a bit, if the off-and-on deluge of Crime Watch reports tends to leave you worried. Satterberg said the crackdown on car theft has brought dramatic results – and he says that’s particularly important because car theft is seen as a springboard to other crimes; someone steals a car to go commit burglaries, or worse. Read on to hear about the numbers he listed, what else he told the Rotarians, and after that, a few notes about what they’re up to:Read More
New scholarships at South Seattle Community College
SSCC (West Seattle’s only college) just sent this out and wanted to make sure you knew:
Thanks to a generous donor to the South Seattle Community College Foundation, we have an opportunity to offer a special scholarship round to award two full scholarships (3 quarters each) to two students who have been in the U.S. Foster Care System.
Because it can be challenging to contact students who are eligible for this scholarship, we encourage you to let all students know it is available so they can determine whether or not to apply.
The application deadline is Wednesday, April 1, 2009, 4:00 p.m. in the Development Office, Room RS-01.
Application is available online; call 206 764-5809 for additional information.
West Seattle parking alert: New limits in Luna Park
(photo added 2:22 pm)
Dave Brewer e-mailed to share this alert:
On the 2900 block of SW Avalon Way, a section on the east side of the street that used to have no-limit parking is now a 2 hour zone. My assumption is that it has to do with Cafe Revo, directly across from the area.
Riders in my van pool (as well as at least three others that I am aware of) have been parking in this area during the work day for a couple years, so a warning to any others who have been doing the same.
Further up the hill (across from Ola, animal clinic, and beyond), is still unlimited.
We’ll be checking with SDOT to find out more, and see if anything’s in store for other areas of West Seattle.
Update: Seattle Lutheran’s journey to the state tournament
(video added 2:06 pm, SLHS gym sendoff for the teams just before 1 pm )
An update this morning from Bil Hood at Seattle Lutheran High School (which is on the northeast edge of The Junction):
Our basketball teams are heading to Spokane this afternoon for the State Basketball Tournament in Spokane.
The boys get started tomorrow night at 5:30 v.s the number 2 team in the state, Napavine. The girls follow at 9 vs. the number 2 girls team, Colfax.
There are links at www.SeattleLutheran.org to live audio and video feeds from the games as well as a cell phone text service that will send you the scores as they happen.
GO SAINTS!!
ADDED 2:06 PM: Video of this afternoon’s sendoff for the teams, before they left SLHS.
P.S. FROM ORIGINAL REPORT: One other high-school basketball note – we told you yesterday morning that Chief Sealth is in the running for its match vs. Cleveland to be chosen channel 7’s “Game of the Week” if it wins a webpoll – last hour to vote – go here (right sidebar). ADDED 2:05 PM: Thanks for voting – they won. Now, they’re trying to sort out exactly what that means – what kind of showcase the game will get – we’ll keep you posted.
Happening now: Denny, Concord “international school” celebration
We’re at Concord Elementary School — which is in South Park but is part of Seattle Public Schools‘ “West Seattle South” grouping — where a celebration is just wrapping up in honor of the recent designation of Concord and Denny Middle School as “international schools.” Above, you see members of the Denny steel-drum band and masked Concord second-grade dancers, who performed for dignitaries including Denny principal Jeff Clark, Concord principal Sandra Scott, and Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson. More highlights in a bit, along with details on specifics of exactly what this designation means to these two schools. (Clark, by the way, has ties to both schools – he mentioned he’s best known at Concord as “Gabe’s dad,” because his first-grader is in the immersion program, which now serves kindergarteners and first graders and will add second grade in the fall.) ADDED 11:46 AM: More from this morning’s event, including video: Read More
Announced tonight: ArtsWest’s 2009-2010 season slate
(video added Tuesday, Alan Harrison discussing AW’s mission)
Just back from ArtsWest in The Junction, where the 2009-2010 season was announced tonight with a first-of-its-kind onstage event. Four of the six productions are Seattle premieres (and one is a National New Play Network World Premiere). The six are: “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Carol Roscoe, 9/9/09-10/3/09; “Measure for Pleasure” by David Grimm, directed by Christopher Zinovitch, 10/21/09-11/14/09; “Plaid Tidings” returns for the 2nd consecutive holiday season 12/2/09-12/27/09; “Love Song” by John Kolvenbach, directed by Kate Witt, 1/27/10-2/21/10; “Sunlight” by Sharr White, directed by Vanessa Miller, 3/10/10-4/3/10; “Tell Me on a Sunday” (Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s one-woman show, starring Jessica Skerritt with Zinovitch directing), 4/28/10-5/23/10. ArtsWest executive director Alan Harrison told the announcement audience that despite the economy’s troubles, ticket sales for 2008-2009 are up 30 percent from a year earlier, and even art sales are up. (Meantime, ArtsWest’s next production of the current season, “History Boys,” opens this Wednesday.)
Monday night notes: From oil, to beer, to two kinds of building
WEST SEATTLE PHOTOGRAPHER REVISITS EXXON VALDEZ, 20 YEARS LATER: We’re having a tough time realizing it’s really been two decades since the Exxon Valdez catastrophe in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. But our memories, as a then-TV-news producer in San Diego, writing short stories from 2,000 miles away, are nothing like those held by Natalie Fobes (shown at left, photographed in Siberia), a West Seattle-based photographer who was one of the first on the scene of the spill in 1989 and spent three months chronicling how it affected wildlife and people. People for Puget Sound is sponsoring a presentation by Fobes and Cordova, AK, author-activist Dr. Riki Ott at 7 pm Thursday at REI’s flagship store downtown. In addition to looking back, they will look ahead to what’s being done, and needs to be done, to make sure nothing like this can happen again. More info, including how to get tickets, is on this page of the PPS website.
ORGANIC BEER: Elliott Bay Brewing Company‘s e-newsletter sent out today revealed another milestone in its organic brewing:
ORGANIC Beer NOW in West Seattle!!!
-On February 2, 2009 Elliott Bay Brewery and Pub became only the second brewery in King County to be awarded organic certification for its beers. While we’ve been brewing with organic grain for a number of years now, we decided to seek certification for our year-round house beers and a handful of our seasonal recipes.
-Look for USDA labels on the board above the bar and on our tap handles that will designate which of our current draught selections is certified organic.
COMMUNITY-BUILDING INSIGHT: Fauntleroy Church‘s “Re-creating Community in our Day” series continues Wednesday night, 7 pm, with Bill Grace, founder of the Center for Ethical Leadership. Simple supper by donation at 6 pm, presentation at 7. (Next week’s guest speakers are your WSB co-publishers, so we hope to see you there then too.)
FREE HOME-BUILDING/REMODELING WORKSHOP: Longtime WSB sponsor Ventana Construction is offering another one of its free, no-strings workshops for anyone and everyone thinking about remodeling or custom home-building. Call 206-932-3009 to have them save a spot for you. The event is at 6:30 pm Thursday at Ventana HQ north of Morgan Junction.
Welcoming a new WSB sponsor: Southwest District Council
Whenever a new sponsor joins WSB, we publish a special welcome with information the sponsor wants to share. This time around, we’re welcoming the Southwest District Council, with a special emphasis on one of its work priorities — emergency preparedness. The SWDC’s next meeting is this Wednesday night, so it’s a good time to share more information about it. First, an explanation: The Southwest District is one of 13 neighborhood districts in the city, created by City Ordinance in 1988. (The rest of West Seattle is in the Delridge Neighborhoods District.) Each district has a district council made up of representatives from neighborhood/community councils, business groups, a variety of other community-based organizations, non-profit human-service organizations, or arts/cultural groups. District Councils advise the city on services, initiatives, and programs, such as the Neighborhood Street Fund/Cumulative Reserve Fund and Neighborhood Matching Fund Large Projects applications, and provides a forum to inform, discuss, and encourage civic engagement and community-building. The Southwest District Council meets 9 or 10 times a year on the first Wednesday, at 7 pm – usually January, February, March, April, May, June, July (when needed), September, October, and November – at the President’s Board Room at South Seattle Community College on Puget Ridge (map). The District Council is staffed by the Southwest Neighborhood District Coordinator, Stan Lock with the city Department of Neighborhoods. Read on to find out about SWDC participants – and how the emergency-preparedness push (with a new website) can make a difference for your family:Read More
Bird tale with a happy ending: Alki falcon hit, helped, released
Alki’s David Hutchinson sent three beautiful photos of that bird along with the story of how he and wife Eilene Hutchinson encountered and helped it:
A week ago on Thursday, my wife and I were driving home along Alki Avenue when something streaked in front of our car. It collided with a truck heading the opposite direction and tumbled to the street. Thankfully, there was not much traffic at that time and we were able to retrieve it, take it home, and place it in a pet carrier. It turned out to be a Merlin, a small falcon about 10 inches long.
David continues:
We called Woodland Park Zoo, and they referred us to the Sarvey Wildlife Center up in Arlington. Their purpose is to “help our wildlife population continue, and assure immediate medical attention, food, and shelter for injured and orphaned wildlife.” They operate with volunteers and are funded through donations.
We dropped the Merlin off and during the past week, they rehydrated it, started it on solid foods, and made sure it could fly and was in good health. This past Friday, we received a call that is was ready for release. We brought it back to Alki and released it at the playfield north of Alki Elementary which is only about 1 block from where we had rescued it. It immediately flew to one of the large trees that line 59th Avenue where it sat for a long time sunning itself and grooming before flying away.
Thanks to David for sharing the story and photos. You can find out more about Sarvey Wildlife Center, by the way, at www.sarveywildlife.org or 360-435-4817.
Monday midmorning notes: 1 for now, 2 for later, 1 question
RIGHT NOW: Chief Sealth PTSA is asking for help getting the Chief Sealth-Cleveland basketball game chosen as channel 7’s “Game of the Week.” Take a sec to go to this page and vote (in the right sidebar).
TWO REMINDERS FOR SATURDAY: Daylight Saving Time kicks in Saturday night/Sunday morning, 2 am (set your clocks an hour forward). Third year it’s been this early. That happens hours after the first Winter Movies on the Wall showing: The next three Saturday nights, West Seattle Junction merchants (and other co-sponsors including WSB) present an indoor winter version of the popular summer movie series. Free! Inside the huge new West Seattle Christian Church activity center, on 42nd south of Genesee (map), doors open 5:30, “The Mummy” starts at 7; here’s the official site.
QUESTION (added 10:49 am): We’ve now received two reports of a “weird, loud whooshing noise” late last night – both from east of California, south of Admiral. No clue what it was but both notes are from quite reliable sources, so we’ve no doubt SOMETHING was heard. If you have any idea, please post a comment or e-mail us, editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!
Update: Accident near Chief Sealth HS this morning
In case you live nearby or drove by and wondered what happened: This is the accident that briefly led to a huge “heavy rescue” callout on the Longfellow Creek side of Delridge across from the Chief Sealth/Boren parking lot about an hour ago. That callout was closed fairly quickly because the person in the truck got out OK. Police at the scene told us that person was taken to the hospital to be checked out; no word on age or other identification, or on exactly how the truck wound up “offroad.”
Followup: Mike Gain takes the Prudential NW reins with optimism
(photo at left, Mike Gain in his West Seattle office, next to framed drawings of Cayce and Gain’s past headquarters)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
“Personally, I think the market’s bottomed out.”
Longtime West Seattle real-estate/development leader Mike Gain was careful to include the term “personally.” But it’s emblematic of his optimistic nature, which he is using to fuel what he calls the “run” to get up to speed as he takes over Prudential Northwest Realty, which he ran for two years after he and Roger Cayce sold their West Seattle-iconic Cayce and Gain real-estate firm to Prudential in 2002.
That “run” hasn’t stopped since at least Tuesday, when he prepared to tell the PNW areawide team he was coming back to run the company (as first reported here Thursday morning, once Gain confirmed it).
Even as I sat in Gain’s 3210 California SW office this afternoon – where I’d last visited in December 2007 to talk with Gain and Cayce about their rezoning proposal for the blocks surrounding it (more on that proposal’s status later) – signs of that “run” persisted.
Read More
Update: Fire in South Delridge; prayer hall closed
(added 7:14 pm, photo by Tony Bradley, replacing our original iPhone photo)
ORIGINAL 6:16 PM REPORT: 9428 Delridge, commercial building. Here’s a map. Scanner says smoke from the second floor. Off to check it out.
6:31 PM UPDATE: (From TR at the scene) No visible flames, but smoke coming from roof of the Ty Ty Market building that is just to the north of the Cafe Rozella (etc.) building on the alley (which veers southeast from a driveway opening on Delridge). Flames were seen on the second floor, but seems to be out now. The fire engines have traffic blocked around the Delridge and Roxbury Triangle.
UPDATE 6:43 PM: No one was hurt and fire crews are mopping up.
UPDATE: 6:51 PM: Traffic is also blocked along 17th SW between Roxbury and Delridge as crews are still packing up.
7:02 PM UPDATE: The incident commander told us at the scene that fire investigators have just gone in to figure out what started the fire and how much damage was done. SFD spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen says nobody was inside when the fire started. Photographer Tony Bradley got to the scene shortly after firefighters and saw some flames behind a 2nd-story window; we’ll add his photo when we get it (7:13 pm, we subbed it out for the iPhone photo originally on top of this – and here’s a second one from Tony, beneath this update).
10:07 PM: Just in case you’re wondering, we’re still awaiting official word from SFD on the fire’s cause.
8:49 AM MONDAY: Our fellow White Center Now contributor Ricardo Guarnero at neighboring Cafe Rozella says the fire actually was in a Muslim prayer hall in this building. We are still awaiting word from Seattle Fire investigators regarding cause/damage. Ricardo adds that there’s a note on the door saying “MASJID is closed indefinitely,” and adds, “The sign is on the door where Muslims gathered to pray five times a day. Next door is the ‘Hope Academic Enrichment Center.’ Both were there for the Muslim community in White Center – mostly African immigrants from the horn of Africa.”
12:39 PM MONDAY: SFD tells WSB that “improperly discarded smoking materials … in a vinyl couch” were to blame for the fire, which has been ruled accidental. Damage is estimated at $25,000. A photo we took at the scene this morning shows a burned couch:
West Seattle traffic alert: Seaview sinkhole at 48th and Graham
Thanks to Nick for e-mailing to share the news that this sinkhole has opened in the middle of the Seaview straightaway section of 48th SW, at Graham (map). As you can see, it’s been blocked off, but this is right smack in the middle of a 2-lane, 2-way arterial, so best to be forewarned to slow down if you use that road.
It’s the rectangle of grass on the northwest corner of Alaska/42nd, at the foot of one tall building now, with more in the works across Alaska. Tonight, you are invited to share the next step toward turning 
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