West Seattle, Washington

13 Tuesday

56℉

Spotlight Stories


  • Arrest

    RANDOM ATTACK: Man stabbed; suspect arrested

  • WSCGSD

    WS GARAGE SALE DAY! Photos from all around

  • 5K

    WEST SEATTLE 5K: Are you ready for Sunday?

West Seattle food news: Four notes
February 1, 2009 10:03 am
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle restaurants

ZEEKS PROGRESS: Five months after we first reported that Zeeks Pizza is taking over the former Corner Inn space in Morgan Junction, the company’s applied for its liquor license (beer/wine). Zeeks hopes to open this spring.

SPEAKING OF LICENSES: Also in the new-application file, the new owners of Slices on Alki have applied to take over its existing beer/wine license; the team includes Chris Frothingham, who is executive chef at 2100 Bistro at the waterfront Marriott.

IN CASE YOU HADN’T HEARD THIS: It was first mentioned in the WSB Forums weeks ago, but we haven’t mentioned it here; some Web-wandering early today inspired us to make a belated mention – Talarico’s in The Junction dropped its no-minors policy, and now serves pizza (etc.) to all ages, up till 8:30 pm.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, AND NOT PIZZA: Ama Ama Oyster Bar and Grill (WSB sponsor) is selling tickets starting today for Oyster Madness on February 28th – all the oysters you can eat plus beer/wine/sake tasting. More details here along with info on how to buy tickets.

Share This

Today: Farmers’ Market; Super Bowl parties; WSCC open house
February 1, 2009 7:02 am
|    Comments Off on Today: Farmers’ Market; Super Bowl parties; WSCC open house
 |   Fun stuff to do | West Seattle Farmers' Market | West Seattle religion

WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am till 2 pm today. Here’s the latest Ripe and Ready fresh list; new highlights include sea-salt caramels and sausage!

SUPER BOWL PARTIES: Four are in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup for today (here’s a direct link) – Puerto Vallarta, Redline, Rocksport, and Shadowland.

WEST SEATTLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH OPEN HOUSE: One year after groundbreaking (WSB coverage here), the Junction church is showing off its new activity center today – you’re invited to an open house 2-4 pm. It’s not just a facility for church uses – it’s available for community events too (like the Winter Movies on the Wall series next month), so they’re hoping folks will stop by to envision the possibilities. South of the church on 42nd south of Genesee (map).

Share This

New Washington State Ferries plan drops Fauntleroy expansion
February 1, 2009 12:42 am
|      9 COMMENTS
 |   Fauntleroy | Transportation | West Seattle news

As we reported a few hours ago, Washington State Ferries has gone public with the revised version of its Draft Long-Range Plan (see it here). It includes significant changes to the proposals for the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth run – most notably, the proposal to expand the Fauntleroy dock is out. Here’s the excerpt:

WSF concurs that the draft Scenario A did not adequately address the growth and operational issues associated with the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route. The revised proposal adds a fourth, small vessel to the route, operating as a shuttle between Vashon and Southworth. This allows the other three vessels on the route to operate in direct service between Fauntleroy and Vashon and between Fauntleroy and Southworth, better utilizing the capacity on those vessels and increasing overall efficiency on the route. It also increases capacity for Southworth, which is one of the areas slated
for high growth.

Based on comments heard at the Fauntleroy public hearing and comments received by the City of Seattle, the concept of expanding the Fauntleroy dock (as proposed in the draft Scenario A) is not viewed as feasible. As a result, the project has been removed from the Revised Draft Plan, and WSF will investigate all possible roadway and right-of-way options, if expanded vehicle holding is needed.

The other major proposal for the Fauntleroy dock, adding an overhead loading system for walk-on passengers, is still in the plan. Meantime, under Scenario A, here are more specifics on what size ferries would serve the broken-up “Triangle” route:

Fauntleroy-Vashon
• Two 124-car vessels, operating in direct service between Fauntleroy and Vashon
• The two 87-car Evergreen Class vessels would be retired in 2015 and 2017 and replaced on the route with 124-car vessels

Fauntleroy-Southworth
• One 124-car vessel, operating in direct service between Fauntleroy and Southworth

Vashon-Southworth
• A small vessel, operating between Vashon and Southworth to allow for direct service on Fauntleroy-Vashon and Fauntleroy-Southworth and increase the overall capacity on both of these routes.

The proposal says that “small vessel” would be the Hiyu, which carries 34 cars, until it’s potentially replaced “in 2027 with a used 40-50 car vessel at a cost of $12 million” (2008 dollars). Next steps: As detailed in our earlier report, both Transportation Committees in the Legislature have work sessions scheduled in the coming week to review the revised WSF plan. The ferry system says it’s also continuing to collect and forward comments at wsfplanning@wsdot.wa.gov. Meantime, the plan’s status also will be on the agenda at the regular monthly FCA meeting at 7 pm February 10th and an FCA-sponsored community gathering at 7 pm February 18th.

Share This

West Seattle weekend scenes: Admiral cleanup success
January 31, 2009 10:52 pm
|    Comments Off on West Seattle weekend scenes: Admiral cleanup success
 |   Environment | West Seattle news | West Seattle people

For the second consecutive weekend, West Seattle teens helped clean up their community’s streets – last weekend, during the North Delridge Adopt-A-Street (WSB photo included here), and today, during the Admiral Neighborhood Association Adopt-A-Street. ANA president Mark Wainwright shared the above photo of Madison Middle School students who joined the operation (shown clowning around afterward with some of the big yellow bags of trash collected in the cleanup), and this update:

The kids are Dallas Baker, Lindsay Vanderpool, Sita Ross, Anton Summers, Megan Antalan, and Alexa Antalan (not in that order in the photo). It was awesome to have them there – they were all satisfying part of their volunteer hours for school. The bags of trash are behind them in the photo – of note were a set of tire chains and “millions” of the lane marker/bumps (what are these things called?).

A very successful day all in all. A big thanks should go out to Metropolitan Market and Dave Weitzel of Admiral-based Weitzel Construction, our two wonderful Admiral Adopt-a-Street sponsors. Met Market provides the meeting point, tables, chairs and great food and coffee, and Dave coordinates the event for our group (he’s a long-time member) and takes care of moving the trash to Hiawatha CC afterwards in his truck!

A quick shout out to two FANNA founders, Matthew Slye and Ann Limbaugh, who helped out today and want everyone to remember to attend their first design meeting for California Place Park coming up soon [Tuesday at 7 pm].

Great stuff… and no rain! We’ll be doing it again in approx. three months.

Matthew and Ann are in this photo we took at California/Lander (map) during the cleanup, along with Catherine Barker:

Other local organizations do cleanups too, including the Junction Neighborhood Organization; if you have one coming up and you’ve got room for more help, be sure we know about it so we can include it on the calendar (editor@westseattleblog.com)!

Share This

Transportation notes: Metro fare hike Sunday; ferry plan updates
January 31, 2009 7:33 pm
|    Comments Off on Transportation notes: Metro fare hike Sunday; ferry plan updates
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news

METRO FARES: Last warning, tomorrow’s the day they go up. Here are full details on new prices.

FERRY HEARING: Following up on the well-attended hearing in Fauntleroy a week and a half ago – next step for Washington State Ferries‘ long-range plan is a work session in the House Transportation Committee in Olympia, reviewing the plan at the start of the 3:30 pm meeting (agenda here), and a similar session at 1:30 pm Wednesday before the Senate Transportation Committee (agenda). WSF submitted its revised version of the plan today (linked here along with appendices; we are reading to see if any significant changes related to the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route). Meantime, the Kitsap County-based group Citizens Write Plan C, which is opposing both “options” in the WSF plan (A and B, ergo “C”), is organizing a rally for February 18 in Olympia; read about it here.

ADDED 11:40 PM: Looks like the draft plan DOES include major changes of relevance to our area, including removing the proposal to expand the Fauntleroy dock. Writing a separate item to publish shortly.

Share This

From partner site White Center Now: Another food find
January 31, 2009 6:30 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   White Center

In his new series of weekly White Center restaurant reviews – starting last week with the highly popular writeup about roasted chicken and more at El Paisano — Justin from Full Tilt Ice Cream has just written up Queen’s Deli, a new eatery promising “authentic Khmer food.” Go here to read his review.

Share This

Seattle school-closure vote: Two followup notes
January 31, 2009 5:04 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle school closure | West Seattle schools

Two notes in the wake of Thursday night’s vote approving a plan for closures and changes including the end of the Cooper Elementary “program,” the shutdown of the Genesee Hill building, and the Pathfinder K-8 move into the Cooper building:

MEETING VIDEO: Thursday night’s meeting in its entirety is archived on the Seattle Channel website. Note that the cameras don’t have full audience views, so most of the heckling, booing, and other tumult is off-camera, but it can be heard, as can the rest of the proceedings (in some cases, more clearly than it was heard during the meeting, since the audio feed for this recording comes through board members’ microphones, meaning the audience interruptions don’t sound as loud as they did for those of us who were in the room; our video clips are incorporated into our coverage from Thursday night).

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Many questions remain, particularly for the families whose schools are involved in the plan; the district has promised an “updated FAQ” on its “capacity management” (closures/changes) page “within a few days.” Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson said at the Thursday night meeting that the families who would not be able to go to the same schools next fall will get “individual assignment letters” in the coming week. Those letters are supposed to stipulate whether Cooper students (outside those in the autism program, which will stay in the building) will be assigned to Gatewood, Highland Park, or Arbor Heights, per terms of West Seattle school-board rep Steve Sundquist’s board-approved amendment.

If the 60-year-old Genesee Hill campus closes this fall as approved by board members (the only remaining “if” would involve legal challenges, which have been mentioned by various citywide groups), that will be its second shutdown. The first one lasted from 1990 to 1994, according to this district-written article; 1994 is when it was reopened so Pathfinder, then known as Alternative School #4.

Share This

WSB site note: New page with info on our many RSS feeds
January 31, 2009 2:25 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   West Seattle online

If you read WSB via RSS – or are interested in doing so – we apologize for having our various feed links scattered senselessly around the site – till now: We just added a page to the tab-navigation bar under the sunset header, labeled simply RSS – it’s got direct links to our main feeds and instructions on where to find the links to the many other ways you can use RSS to read WSB (you can get a feed on the fly for any individual comment thread or forum thread, for example). Not sure what RSS is? Here’s a pretty good explanation.

Share This

Have you voted for county Elections Director yet? 3 more days
January 31, 2009 12:30 pm
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

checkbox.jpgJust a reminder in case you set your ballot aside when it arrived and haven’t gotten back to it yet: Next Tuesday is the special election for King County Elections Director, which is now an elected position because of a county Charter Amendment approved in November. Five people are running, including Sherril Huff, who’s in the job now; their names are listed here and linked to more information. This is an all-mail election, and you can’t send the ballot via USPS without a stamp; to skip the stamp cost, you can take your ballot to the drop box at the Delridge Neighborhood Services Center (5405 Delridge; here’s a map; here’s a list of other dropoff locations countywide). For people with disabilities who might have difficulty using the mail-in ballot, here’s information on “accessible voting centers” where the vote can be cast in person. If you’ve mailed your ballot, you can check here if it arrived. (To read the latest news reports on this race, go here.)

Share This

Winter “Movies on the Wall”: Here’s the lineup!
January 31, 2009 9:30 am
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   Fun stuff to do | West Seattle news | West Seattle Outdoor Movies

moviesonwall.jpg

Earlier this month, you had the chance to suggest what you’d like to see at the first-ever Movies on the Wall Winter Series in The Junction, an indoor spinoff of the popular outdoor summertime series. Now, Lora Lewis of Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) sends word of the “winners”: First, at 7 pm March 4, it’s “The Mummy” – here’s the trailer:

(Lora says they’re planning a bathroom-tissue mummy-wrapping contest to go with that one!) At 7 pm March 11, it’s the original “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” where the wacky candymaker was portrayed by Gene Wilder:

Then, mark your calendar for 7 pm March 18, for “Napoleon Dynamite“:

All movies are free at the new activity center of West Seattle Christian Church in The Junction (which opens the center’s doors to the public for an open house tomorrow, 2-4 pm, by the way) – Lora promises, “All the fun of the outdoor summer series including concessions, cupcakes, charity raffles other great community activities. Bring your blankets and chairs and join us for the Movies on the Wall Winter Series.” (Doors will open at 5:30 pm with the movies at 7) WSB is proud to be among the sponsors; we hope to see you there!

Share This

Weekend Lineup reminder: Help clean up Admiral this morning
January 31, 2009 6:03 am
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Environment | How to help | West Seattle people

You too can enjoy temporary use of spiffy orange vests, yellow bags, handy picker-upper gizmos, and more if you spend a few hours today doing what the folks in that clip did on the day we video’d them one year ago – join in the Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s quarterly Adopt-a-Street cleanup. Meeting place is the same, Metropolitan Market, 9 am, free coffee and “light breakfast” treats. That’s just one of a TON of West Seattle happenings today and tonight – here’s the direct link to the Saturday section of our latest West Seattle Weekend Lineup. 10:06 AM UPDATE: Admiral Neighborhood Association president Mark Wainwright sent a note that 14 volunteers have turned out so far and “tasty lunch bags” remain up for the taking along with more supplies – so there’s still time to get over to Met Market and fan out to help with the rest of the cleanup (till about noon).

Share This

West Seattle Crime Watch: Status reports on 2 cases
January 31, 2009 1:12 am
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

ADMIRAL BURGLARY: Much has been written – even more in the comments than in official stories – about 18-year-old Skyelar Hailey, charged with burglary after his Admiral arrest November 10. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has notified neighbors that after Hailey’s latest court appearance, he has chosen to proceed to trial (prior court documents had suggested a plea bargain was a possibility) and the date is set for April 21. Hailey, whose publicly viewable record includes 10 cases in which he is listed as “defendant,” spent 10 days in jail following the November arrest.

DELRIDGE SHOOTING BEFORE CENTRAL DISTRICT MURDER: CentralDistrictNews.com reminds us (see the story here) that Friday marked one year since the rampage in which Rey Davis-Bell was arrested for allegedly shooting into his girlfriend’s Delridge apartment (WSB coverage here) and then killing a Central District restaurateur. CDN says Davis-Bell is not scheduled for trial until October.

Share This

National Gang Threat Assessment: Read it online
January 30, 2009 10:11 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

Just saw a KING5 followup about the FBI’s just-released “National Gang Threat Assessment,” but we don’t see a link to that actual FBI report on their website; we have the link from an FBI news release e-mailed today, so we wanted to let you know that if you want to read it, you can find it here. Page 18 focuses on the current/predicted Northwest gang situation, and names the gangs the FBI believes are most “criminally active”; information on those individual gangs starts on page 23. No Seattle specifics, but local law-enforcement agencies are listed as contributors.

Share This

West Seattle Crime Watch: Vandalism spree on wheels
January 30, 2009 8:59 pm
|      15 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news

Robert e-mailed to report that a carful of people went along 47th from at least Erskine to Raymond (map) about an hour ago, hitting cars with a hammer. Police were called; no word of arrests so far. 9:54 PM UPDATE: Checked back with Robert to see if he had a description of the car — “light/white-colored sedan. With a low rumble of an exhaust.”

Share This

OK, guess we can’t get away with not mentioning this one
January 30, 2009 5:39 pm
|      8 COMMENTS
 |   Alaskan Way Viaduct

We saw this earlier today and thought “yawn, we’ve seen that done before on other topics.” SCENIC_Alaskan_Way_AWV1.jpgBut more than a few people have sent it to us via e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook, so we’re thinking maybe it’s worth sharing in case you haven’t seen it yet. The site was just registered this morning so clearly a goofy reaction to the early-am earthquake. Let us be perhaps the last to introduce you to: HasTheViaductCollapsedYet.com. (Please forgive us if at any point AFTER this it turns into a redirect to a scam, porn site, or RickRoll … ) P.S. Looks like ownership was claimed, here.

Share This

Suspected pet-theft alert: Shiba Inu missing
January 30, 2009 3:17 pm
|      28 COMMENTS
 |   Pets | West Seattle news

At left, that’s Butch the Shiba Inu, for whom Ray and Mary Eldridge are frantically searching right now. They e-mailed to say, “We believe someone stole our dog, a black and tan Shiba Inu … from in front of the West Seattle Library this afternoon. He looks like a miniature Malamute, weighs about 22 lbs. He has a microchip in him, and tags with our phone number. Please be on the lookout for him and call us if you see him. Our number is 206-914-1290.” They say they’re reporting it to police as well. UPDATE: They clarify, this happened outside the High Point library.

Share This

Current and former mayors at West Seattle High School on Monday
January 30, 2009 3:07 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle politics | West Seattle schools

This just in from the King County Public Health department:

In the span of 20 years, Seattle’s School-Based Health Centers have grown from a modest pilot program at Rainier Beach High School to a system that now serves the health needs of 5,000 students every year across 14 Seattle School District middle and high schools.

On Monday, February 2, City of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, Former City of Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson and Public Health – Seattle & King County Director and Health Officer Dr. David Fleming will join health care providers and community partners to celebrate this 20-year milestone in providing high-quality, comprehensive adolescent health care that improves the health of our community and promotes school success for our youth. …

* Celebration: At 10:30 a.m., Mayor Nickels, local officials and community partners will meet in the school library for a celebration and remarks, including testimonials from current students who use the School-Based Health Centers.

The announcement also mentions that WSHS principal Bruce Bivins will participate in the event, along with Lib Kratz, a Nurse Practitioner from Sealth Teen Health Center.

Share This

West Seattle Weekend Lineup: Three “super” days
January 30, 2009 2:46 pm
|    Comments Off on West Seattle Weekend Lineup: Three “super” days
 |   Fun stuff to do | WS culture/arts | WS Weekend Lineup

wswllicon3.pngDrama! ’60s rock nostalgia! Yoga to help an ailing teacher! Free coffee and breakfast treats for everyone who helps with the Admiral Adopt-A-Street cleanup! And of course, West Seattle Super Bowl parties! All happening in West Seattle now through Sunday night, more than 40 events ahead in the Super Bowl weekend edition of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup (sponsored by Skylark Cafe and Club):Read More

Share This

From the WSB Blogs page: This might make you laugh too
January 30, 2009 2:04 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   West Seattle online | West Seattle people

As you probably know, for more than two years WSB has had a page (see it here) which points you to the latest updates from nearly 100 blogs by West Seattle-based writers. Among the latest links: This post by Ian Lurie, from his always-snappy site Conversation Marketing — geared toward marketing writers, but it made us laugh; maybe just because we get so much spam, it hit home.

Share This

Alki-based boutique Coastal closing University Village location
January 30, 2009 12:09 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

Out of the inbox: Coastal, the Alki-based boutique that expanded to the north end a couple years ago, just sent this to its e-mail list:

For the past two years, we have loved being a part of University Village; enjoying new customers and giving our Alki customers another place to shop Coastal on the north end of town. However, at the end of February, we will be closing the University Village Coastal and moving exclusively back to the beach.

A similar move was made last year by Capers, which closed its Fremont expansion location to focus exclusively on its flagship store in The Junction. ADDED 9:40 PM: We e-mailed Coastal’s owners to ask if they had any additional comment – here’s what Christy and Sarah wrote back:

While we are sad to be closing Coastal at University Village , we are very much looking forward to focusing our efforts on the Alki Beach store and bringing even more fun and energy to our West Seattle community. We intend to be on Alki for a very long time and appreciate the support we’ve received from our customers there for the past 5 ½ years.

During this time of economic instability, we’d like to encourage our friends and neighbors to continue to shop locally to ensure the success of the small businesses we all love and value.

Share This

Science+math=fun: Meet the Gatewood Elementary robotics team
January 30, 2009 11:24 am
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Gatewood | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

(From left, students “Skate,” “Crash,” “K-Mart,” “Bubbles,” “Splat,” “Pie,” “Gears,” and “Panic,” with robots Trek, No Name, Wall-E, and Robo – the stuffed monkey at middle is Swinger)
One of the West Seattle schools scheduled to get a significant influx of new students as a result of last night’s closure vote is Gatewood Elementary. Just so happens, hours before the vote, we were visiting Gatewood at the invitation of Erik Christensen, who volunteers with its Robotics Team. What? You thought robotics was mostly for older kids? No way! These young creators are working with a Lego-based system, in a setup like this:

The Gatewood Robotics Team meets after school on Thursday afternoons; its members are getting ready for a big outing to the UW next week, so we stopped by in advance to meet the students (who wanted to be known by their “robot-building” nicknames) and their robots, and thought you’d like to meet them too. (If you’re school-shopping for next year, by the way, Gatewood has tours coming up in the next few weeks; dates/times are listed here; the full tour list for Seattle Public Schools can be found atop our Events page.)

Share This

Update: Post-earthquake bridge inspections – no problems
January 30, 2009 10:02 am
|    Comments Off on Update: Post-earthquake bridge inspections – no problems
 |   Alaskan Way Viaduct | Safety | Uncategorized | West Seattle news

From SDOT:

Responding to this morning’s earthquake, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is inspecting the city’s elevated roadway structures for any possible damage. The department has already examined the Ballard, Fremont, University and Spokane Street bridges and has found no indications of damage from the earthquake. The inspections will continue with assessments of the Magnolia, Emerson Street and Jose Rizal bridges, the 15th Avenue NW Interchange and the Spokane Street Viaduct.

Given the small size of the earthquake, the department is carefully examining a key number of its bridges, viaducts and overpasses. If any earthquake damage is discovered, SDOT will then escalate its inspection to all citywide elevated roadway structures.

The Washington State Department of Transportation is responsible for inspecting the Alaskan Way Viaduct and is already at work on that important elevated structure.

ADDED 12:16 PM: SDOT has sent an update:

Inspections of elevated roadway structures across the city
by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) revealed no damage
from this morning’s earthquake. … In addition to visual inspections, SDOT performed test openings on the four movable bridges and found all systems operating correctly. This testing covered the Ballard, Fremont, University and Spokane Street bridges.

Share This

Help Waunda get healthy: Friends seek auction donations
January 30, 2009 9:04 am
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   How to help | West Seattle people

Friends and family are working to help raise money for a woman known to many who shop and do business in The Junction — Waunda from the Sports Junction (in the breezeway on the west side of California, south of Oregon). Lee Blanchette explains:

Waunda has been at the Sports Junction since the 80’s and is the epitome of West Seattle. She has done more things for more people than anyone you will ever know. On October 31st Waunda was diagnosed with TTP (thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura): A rare life-threatening disease involving embolism and thrombosis (plugging) of the small blood vessels in the brain and has spent the last 2 ½ months at Swedish Hospital. She is finally home but has many months of rehabilitation ahead of her. We will be having a silent auction February 7th at the Rocksport from 7 to 9 pm, followed by live music throughout the evening. We are asking local businesses to donate to the auction to help with Waunda’s recovery. Please call the following numbers or contact her daughter Deanise at the Rocksport.

Tara 253 353-6622
Lee 206 898-6986

Share This