West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Thanks to Westwood Neighborhood Council president Steve Fischer for sending word that as part of the process in the Denny Middle School rebuild/Chief Sealth High School renovations shared-campus project, Seattle Public Schools has submitted landmark nominations for Denny and Sealth. (This is a required part of the process because of the buildings’ age; before significant work, or teardown in the case of DMS, occurs, the city must determine whether they merit landmark designation.) The Landmarks Preservation Board will have a public hearing on both nominations during its meeting at 3:30 pm next Wednesday (40th floor of the Municipal Tower downtown; other West Seattle items are on the agenda including approval of the Hiawatha Playfield project and Fauntleroy Church window work, since both involve landmarks). Also, there’s word of a SPS-sponsored public meeting April 22 at CSHS cafeteria, 6:30 pm, to review the “environmental checklist” for the Denny/Sealth project. Meantime, we were at Sealth today and noticed easels are up in the commons, with “dot voting” going on to prioritize 30 possible projects that could be funded with the money the school is slated to get beyond safety-related renovations. Last update — As we first reported a week ago, the legal challenge to the Denny/Sealth project is proceeding, though SPS confirms it has filed to have the complaint dismissed, because it “believes that the case is without merit.”
The new Land Use Information Bulletin from the city (published twice weekly; you can sign up in the right sidebar here to get it by e-mail) has several projects of West Seattle interest this time. We wanted to call attention here to three of them: First, in Admiral, the official notice of the Southwest Design Review Board meeting in two weeks for 2743 California SW (we told you about it a week ago when it turned up on the city website). Second, in Gatewood, looks like a plan is in the works for the building just west of Seattle International Church, 7148 44th SW, which was used as a school when Gatewood Baptist Church owned it (and was offered for sale separate from the church in fall 2006); here’s the city project page, which says the use is changing to “artist studios.” Third, after two “early design guidance” SWDRB meetings, the official land-use application is in for Spring Hill, BlueStar‘s proposed six-story mixed-use building at 5020 California (most recent WSB coverage here).
As of this morning, through Friday, April 25, registration is open and the first signups already have rolled in for the 4th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, which is happening 9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 10. (Backstory: WSCGSD is a creation of the late great community-connection organization Megawatt; its leadership hoped its signature events would go on, and allowed WSCGSD to be taken over by WSB, while Gathering of Neighbors will now be presented by DNDA.) If you haven’t participated before, as a sale-holder or shoppers, just to be clear: This is NOT one big day in one location — this is one day set aside for people to have sales all over West Seattle – as many as people sign up to have – in the past few years, there’ve been more than 100! – all promoted with a map and citywide advertising. For the first time, you can register online — go to the official West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day website at westseattlegaragesale.com to do that, or to get a downloadable registration form you can print out and mail in, or to see the list of locations where you will be able to pick up a registration form starting later today (just in time for the West Seattle Art Walk tonight – some of our form-distribution locations are Art Walk participants). And even if you’re not going to have a sale as part of WSCGSD on May 10, please set aside some time to shop till you drop – as happens every year, we will have maps available online and at several in-person locations starting a few days ahead of time; we’re also promoting/advertising the event to areas outside West Seattle so shoppers will flock this way. One more new feature this year: Contests – including “best sign” and “most unusual sale item.” Questions? E-mail garagesale@westseattleblog.com – and keep checking westseattlegaragesale.com for updates.
The call was “fire in single-family residence,” lots of units in the 5600 block of 42nd SW. 8:31 AM UPDATE: No fire. Scary smell triggered the call, but no smoke/flames to go with it.
BE A MASTER OF DISASTER: As mentioned previously, we’re working with community leaders between now and mid-May to nudge you to take a few simple steps to be ready for the unthinkable, just in case. Next step: Go to West Seattle Library (aka the Admiral branch) for tonight’s SNAP (Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepare) event, 6:30 pm. And get ready to find out more about your official neighborhood gathering place – where you would go for information and help if something major happened; the location list is almost done and dates are being set for you to drop by, get familiar, and get info, within the next few weeks.
HAVE A SAY IN TWO MAJOR JUNCTION-AREA DEVELOPMENTS: The Conner Homes proposal for California/Alaska/42nd (most recent WSB coverage here) and the Harbor Properties proposal for 38th/Alaska (most recent WSB coverage here) both come before the Southwest Design Review Board tonight for “early design guidance.” If you want to speak your mind about how these developments should look, this is the time and place. Both meetings are at Chief Sealth High School, with Conner on the agenda at 6:30 and Harbor at 8 pm. (If you frequently attend these meetings, as we do, you will be interested to note the SWDRB has two new members — just noticed on the webpage — including West Seattle architect Brandon Nicholson.)
WEST SEATTLE ART WALK – MORE ADMIRAL PARTICIPANTS! It’s the second Thursday of the month, which means West Seattle Art Walk time, and as we reported last weekend, the Art Walk just keeps expanding — with five Admiral participants tonight (see the full list of participants in all locations here) as well as more than a dozen others in and around The Junction. You’ll find special events at many locations; 6-9 pm tonight. (And while you’re out on the Art Walk, look for registration forms for 2008 West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day — available starting tonight, at these locations and online — more on that a little later this morning.)
GOVERNOR’S CAMPAIGN KICKOFF AT THE “OTHER” SSCC CAMPUS: Governor Gregoire is officially running for re-election, and West Seattle’s State Senator Joe McDermott is inviting WS supporters to her next event — 3:45 pm today at South Seattle Community College’s Duwamish Apprenticeship and Education Center, 6770 E. Marginal Way S., at the Safety Lab in Building A (just inside the entrance.) Sen. McDermott also sent us this photo he took at a Gregoire event the other day in Auburn:
Perhaps an auspicious sign for the Gatewood Elementary School “Operation Imagination” playground-project progress — we saw that rainbow over the school’s east end as we arrived to check out the start of tonight’s meeting (previewed here Monday).
Parent volunteers and others gathered in the cafeteria, where their meeting began with a presentation of the plan for the “big toy” that will be the centerpiece of the play area:Read More
That’s just one of a slew of photos JF sent us from a chaotic multiple-vehicle crash scene by his house at 40th and Andover (map) on Tuesday afternoon. He says it’s a spot where they’ve been trying to get city help for “traffic calming” to slow drivers down:
Read on for JF’s account of what happened, and more of his photos:Read More
It’s a WSB tradition to tell you about new sponsors when their ads start running, so we want to introduce you tonight to West Seattle-based garden coach Julie Hale, who’s offering her services just in time for the kickoff of spring gardening season. Julie’s career in horticulture has spanned more than twenty years. For much of that time, she owned a successful garden management and container-design business, with a clientele located primarily on the Eastside. In recent years, her focus has shifted to working one-on-one with clients in their own gardens. She offers a range of horticultural services, including general consulting, plant selection and placement advice, hands-on lessons in pruning techniques, formulation of seasonal maintenance plans, and container design and installation. She’s an active member of PlantAmnesty, a local educational nonprofit group dedicated to proper pruning and better gardening practices. She lives and gardens in West Seattle, and enjoys the opportunity to work locally with her neighbors and fellow West Seattleites! You can reach her by calling 206/351-8098 or e-mailing juliehale@q.com. We thank Julie for becoming a WSB sponsor; if you’re thinking about joining her and our other sponsors, here’s the place to start.
Habiba & Zahra Mohamed from West Seattle High School are back from the Chase Urban Debate National Championship in Chicago, where they took 11th place while representing the Seattle Urban Debate League. Here’s a great account, with pix.
Pulled over at Emma Schmitz Viewpoint on Beach Drive to snag a few seconds of video shortly after the lowest tide of the month (-2.4, just after 2 pm). Tomorrow afternoon’s low tide will be almost as low: -2.1, just before 3 pm.
The current principal is leaving – heading for Mercer Island, according to the farewell letter just posted by a WSB Forum member.
This afternoon we got the chance to spend a few minutes talking with the new leader of West Seattle’s police force (they handle South Park too), Southwest Precinct Capt. Joe Kessler. This was his first official day in the office at the precinct (which is just east of Home Depot). He says he’s thrilled to be working in West Seattle because of strong community involvement — and he considers community participation in info-sharing here at WSB to be part of that. When it was clear some of the department’s top leaders would be moving around this year (we first reported the moves in late February), Capt. Kessler says the Southwest Precinct was his top choice. He says he’s worked before with many people who are based at the SWP, so they’ve already got a good working relationship to start with. As he gets settled in, we’ll be talking with him more about his plans for leading the team that’s working — with your help — to keep West Seattle safe. (Capt. Kessler’s predecessor in the SWP’s top role, Capt. Mike Fann, is now running the Traffic Unit.)
Thanks to the people who just e-mailed and texted us to let us know that Beveridge Place Pub has sent out an e-mail update saying plans to reopen tomorrow in the new location next door, after closing the old location Sunday, are on hold because of inspection issues. We tried calling but got no answer; the e-mail forwarded to us goes on to say, “Unfortunately, we can’t provide an exact date for the new place right now, but we’re sure you understand we are trying to resolve things as fast as possible.”
West Seattle mom of three Anita Mitchell is not just fighting colon cancer, she’s fighting to help other people who are battling it. And that’s why she took time to talk with WSB about how she’s doing and about a celebrity-led event in Seattle this Saturday that’s a must-attend for not just patients, but also their family and friends — an event that wouldn’t be happening if she hadn’t pushed for it:Read More
That’s Tom Smith of Tom’s Automotive, honored at the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce‘s annual Awards Breakfast attended by 105 people at Salty’s on Alki this morning as “Business of the Year” — as he mentions in our video, in business 37 years! (Thanks to WSB readers for contributing nominations!) Also honored this morning, Warren Lawless with the Community Service Award; he has been a businessman and community leader in West Seattle for more than 65 years. The awards were presented by deputy mayor Tim Ceis; among those in attendance were other political leaders including West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, and countless West Seattle business/community leaders. ADDED 11:52 AM: Here’s a short clip from Warren Lawless’s acceptance speech. He had many great quips drawing audience laughter, but this brief quote seemed to get to the heart of what he was honored for:
Everyone who’s been to Westwood Village and/or neighboring Roxhill Park has seen this many times, and often in much greater numbers – the lineup of “for sale” cars along Barton. It’s long been a neighborhood sore spot, not to mention a safety hazard, among other things. This morning, after the latest Westwood Neighborhood Council meeting, president Steven Fischer sends word of major progress – on the parking issue and on crosswalk concerns in the nearby area where a woman was hit and killed in February:Read More
OK, so the job news in general can be a little glum. We’ve been through layoffs ourselves. However, people ARE hiring, and some are right here in West Seattle. So we’re now offering a section of the WSB Forums as a spot for any business physically based in West Seattle to post a WS job. You must include name, address, phone, e-mail in the post; no mystery, please. (We reserve the right to delete/reject any posting.) Seems worth a try, to help be part of the solution in uncertain times. Find the new WSB Forum Jobs section here.
That’s a new store that Safeway is building in Los Gatos, California, close in size to its current store in West Seattle’s Admiral District. Could a similar plan — underground parking, outdoor patio — be appropriate for the Admiral project that Safeway’s about to launch? It was one of many suggestions given to five Safeway reps who were on hand last night at the Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s monthly meeting. They had no presentation of their own to make — stating simply and quickly that they don’t even have a design outline for the site yet, and just wanted to hear thoughts from those at the meeting — and, from you:Read More
On the 14th anniversary of the day when millions were shaken to learn Seattle grunge-rock megastar Kurt Cobain had ended years of substance abuse by committing suicide, an earnest group gathered tonight at South Seattle Community College in hopes of strategizing how to save today’s young people from getting anywhere near that kind of lethal low point. You probably heard about the anti-underage-drinking town-hall meeting ahead of time; organizer Renae Gaines from Madison Middle School worked hard to get the word out.Read More
Busy night around West Seattle; we covered three events – first, here are quick notes from the Fauntleroy Community Association monthly meeting, including what’s been going on with the campaign to save the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse in the two weeks since the community meeting about it (WSB coverage here):Read More
That photo is courtesy Bill Schrier, who witnessed a startling sight in Metropolitan Market tonight – he describes it as a man yelling and throwing merchandise – Bill says what you see in his photo are store employees who managed to get the man under control till help arrived. No more details at this point about what happened or whether everyone is OK; we will check with police tomorrow.
This was so startling we didn’t even stop to note exactly what cross-street we were passing. But the blanket warning would be, avoid the left southbound lane of Fauntleroy in the Fairmount Springs vicinity (a couple curves before Morgan Junction) – our right wheel landed in a HUGE, jarring rut just now. Going to call 684-ROAD and report online ASAP but meantime, wanted to get out the word.
A month and a half after that open house at historic Fire Station 37 to show off plans for its replacement, the city’s filed for two more permits to facilitate the construction of the new station at 35th SW/Holden: a construction permit and a demolition permit (to tear down the dilapidated old house on the site). The old station, an official city landmark, will be sold after the new one’s up and running.
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