West Seattle, Washington
24 Wednesday
These two notes appear to add up to three burglaries – we will check with the Southwest Precinct first thing in the morning. In the meantime, wanted to get out the word. First, just in from Karen, who’s a Block Watch Captain in her area:
I wanted to let you know that there was a burglary in our Blockwatch area, the 5000 block of 37th SW, this evening. I believe that it occurred between 6 & 8 PM. We have also heard that there was a second break-in just one block south in the 5200 block of 37th.
The owners of the house in the 5000 block reported that their door was kicked in and the house was completely ransacked. A lot was taken, including jewelry and electronics. Also, two of their indoor cats were let out/escaped but have fortunately now been found.
This one came in a short time earlier from KP (and we were about to post it when Karen’s note came in):
I live on 37th Avenue SW and SW Brandon. I just talked with a neighbor on the 5200 block of 37th Ave SW who was burglarized today. She stated the whole house was tossed and they stole a TV, jewelry and a laptop. She said a house on the 5400 block had been broken into yesterday.
This area is southwest of The Mount, northeast of Fairmount Playfield. Here’s a map.
Seems there was some intricate viral-marketing stunt in selected cities today to promote the upcoming “Batman” movie (“Dark Knight“), involving bowling balls and phones placed in locations revealed on a website … and the Seattle bowling alley where one was secretly placed for a fan to find was (much to one writer’s surprise) West Seattle Bowl. Diehard fans are discussing it in this forum (but the fan who found it here isn’t a member, according to a post about 163 pages in from someone who reported being the also-ran).
Spotted tonight at Alki while we were helicopter-watching – this bottle/can recycling bin by one of the picnic shelters along the promenade. As we’ve reported previously, West Seattle is one of two areas of the city where the Parks Department has just launched a pilot recycling program. Here are the specific West Seattle park places where you’ll find these bins.
Yeah, we know that headline looks funny. Just a reminder of something we mentioned yesterday — tonight is Salute to Armed Forces Night at Safeco Field, and on that night last year, military aircraft over West Seattle caused quite a stir. (We’re off to Alki so that if it happens again, we’ll have photographic proof to add here.) 7:45 PM UPDATE: Whew, cold out there. Did get a little video of the flyby though (will post after dinner), but next year we’ll go to one of the Admiral viewpoints – the approach was mostly from Magnolia/Queen Anne; West Seattle got buzzed on the way back. 9 PM ADDITION: Here they are heading back west over Alki, directly over us as we walked back to the car thinking we’d seen the last of them after they made their Safeco approach from the north side of the bay.
FROM THE WEST SEATTLE FOOD BANK: Remember the Bruce Springsteen ticket auction to benefit WSFB? Eve Holt from the Food Bank e-mailed to say each pair of auctioned tickets went for $800! And when The Boss played KeyArena, a donation bin set up by WSFB volunteers collected more than $1,000 in cash and checks. You’ve got another chance to help WSFB this Saturday — we’ve mentioned before that because of the Feinstein Challenge, donations made now to the West Seattle and White Center Food Banks help them qualify for matching funds — this Saturday at Metropolitan Market in Admiral, WSFB will be accepting food and $ donations (the weight of food figures into a calculation for matching funds, too). And don’t forget, tickets are on sale for WSFB’s “Instruments of Change” fundraising dinner 6 pm May 1, with music, a Dessert Dash, and more (full details here, including reservation info).
FROM THE MARINERS, ON BEHALF OF WEST SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOL: West Seattle High School is playing at The Safe this Thursday night as part of the High School Baseball Classic — 7 pm, facing Kennedy High School. Admission is free and you’ll be able to park in the Safeco garage for $5 (and if you want to come early, it’s a doubleheader starting with Lakeside vs. Mercer Island at 4 pm). In order to participate, teams have to commit to a fundraising campaign involving selling tickets to a future M’s game, and as part of that, you can buy tickets for the June 3rd M’s-Angels game HALF PRICE! by going to this page – $10 for “view reserved” tickets that are usually $20, and $2 of the price goes to WSHS.
Bill Hibler (right) has been synonymous with “West Seattle computer store” for more than a decade now, as proprietor of Quid’-nunc in The Junction. But that era’s ending, now that Mohamed Lahlou (left) has bought the store; the transition’s in progress and will continue over the next few weeks. You may already have seen the big banner up in the window for LaptopFix.com — that’s one of Lahlou’s businesses, along with A-1 Best Computer. Hibler’s not completely leaving the computer business — he’ll continue running his Internet service, Quidnunc.net (currently with more than 500 accounts), but he’ll manage it from his West Seattle home. And he notes that he’s an Excel expert with a background in accounting – so if anyone’s looking for that sort of expertise, look him up! (He’ll still be active with the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce and ArtsWest.) But he’s also looking forward to having more free time now, and told us his wife is looking forward to having him around more often. Hibler says Lahlou’s expertise is in repair and service, which is what more and more Quid’-nunc customers have been seeking rather than retail purchases of software and equipment, so the sale was a perfect fit.
When we saw half a dozen Seattle City Light trucks lined up along the west side of Fauntleroy yesterday, just west/southwest of Morgan Junction, we wondered what they were up to — especially remembering that the area where they were working, north of Holly, was one of the troublespots during the December 2006 windstorm outage (12/21/06 coverage here). Scott Thomsen from SCL checked it out for us and explains it’s “part of an upgrade in the service lines for that area. The crews are changing out a 4 Kilovolt line with a 26 Kilovolt line, which is our current standard. There are a couple dozen poles involved … and crews will be in the West Seattle area through the spring, then off and on through the summer continuing this work.” Today, they’re further east on Fauntleroy (this picture is from just past the Corner Inn):
Thanks to Mark B. Bauschke for that photo of a one-car crash that snarled things for a bit at the Delridge onramp to The Bridge this afternoon. Mark says he didn’t see any sign anyone was seriously hurt, but he wonders if this was a case of someone waiting too long to decide which way they’ll veer; he notes, “I often get cut off at that onramp by a car that waits to choose upper or lower ramp.”
We videotaped that close call in mid-January while reporting on the situation at 34th/Morgan, where kids from the growing High Point area cross Morgan to head south on 34th toward West Seattle Elementary. Neighborhood and pedestrian-safety activists have been fighting a long time to get improvements at that corner, where there’s no marked crosswalk and no “school zone” lights. Denise Sharify from Neighborhood House testified this morning to the city council’s Special Committee on Pedestrian Safety, asking for help. Councilmember Nick Licata, who surveyed High Point pedestrian-safety challenges with Sharify and others last November (WSB coverage here), asked SDOT’s Wayne Wentz what’s being done — Wentz said that’s not supposed to be a school crossing; the city would prefer that kids go to 35th and cross at the signal (which would be backtracking for most). Well, Licata noted, things change, and intersections should be re-evaluated. Wentz promptly replied, “My staff will go to the location by the end of the day.” We’ll drop by a few times to see if we bump into them; if we don’t see them, we’ll check with the city tomorrow to see if the promise was kept.
Just got Rick‘s pix and they deserve their own post. Same Rick who, as mentioned in the post below, hollered for the firefighters who were training nearby – here you see them trooping over:
More from Rick, who took the pix and reported the fire — he says the truck driver’s OK (Rick even told the DRIVER his truck was on fire!).
Thanks to everyone who’s sent pix of this (that one’s from Jeff) – more pix and info shortly. 11:37 AM ADDITION: Rick tells the story: “A little garbage truck fire in the alley behind Rite Aid. Fire Department was conducting an exercise across the street so it was easier to just holler ‘Fire!’ and it worked. They got there quick.” Here’s another photo from Jeff, once the fire was put out:
Confused about climate change? A Seattle-based group has a website 
where you can check the facts, and the myths, as vetted by a panel of scientific advisers. No, this isn’t some academic group, or someone who’s trying to get you to go wave protest signs downtown. It’s CoolMom.org – a moms’ group founded to support lower-ecological-impact lifestyles — and the real-life CoolMoms, including a Morgan Junction entrepreneur who co-founded the group, are launching a West Seattle chapter with a gathering tomorrow night. Meet them and read what it’s all about:Read More
Never mind the April chill, here’s news to warm a gardener’s heart: The schedule’s in for West Seattle-area Master Gardener clinics: The MGs will be at McClendon’s (White Center but close enough to WS!) 10 am-2 pm Saturdays starting this weekend — April 5-Sept. 13, and they’ll be at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market 10 am-2 pm Sundays, April 27-Sept. 14. They’re there to answer your home-gardening questions or help you identify specimens. The Master Gardeners’ annual citywide plant sale is at the Center for Urban Horticulture, May 5-6; West Seattle has many great plant sales in the months ahead too, and you’ll find them on our Events list page, along with other events such as the annual West Seattle Garden Tour.
From today through Mother’s Day (5/11), C & P Coffee is offering you a free coffee drink if you bring in a package of diapers – which will be donated to WestSide Baby. Maybe tonight, when C & P is hosting a talent show. Or tomorrow night, when the first meeting of West Seattle CoolMoms happens at C & P (watch for our in-depth story on them later today).
Just out of the inbox from Megan:
Our house was broken into today. We are in the 7300 block of 28th ave SW. They took the typical stuff … mostly electronics. The most disturbing part was all the rummaging they did; everything was thrown out of drawers, and the house was completely torn apart. They even tried to drill through a window, leaving it cracked but not broken out and broke our new plasma tv when they realized they couldn’t take it with them. The police indicated that this fit the profile of just wanting to damage property, not necessarily steal anything of value (nothing that they couldn’t walk away with). We are super bummed but no one was hurt, our pets were scared but safe and this is what insurance is for. It’s just a bummer that people are so disrespectful.
Here’s a map of that area.
You usually know him for his party coverage (like WSU and OLG), but correspondent Rock Steele, Man About Town, has a way with wildlife video too, allowing us to call your attention to this irresistible clip he got over the weekend of baby hummingbirds in their Alki-area nest.
If you don’t know them already, meet Dawn Leverett and Patti Mullen — board president and executive director, respectively, of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce. As changes aplenty propel West Seattle into a bigger, busier future, they are among the key people looking at “the big picture” and fighting to ensure WS is more than a bedroom community whose residents have to squeeze through a worsening bottleneck to work and shop elsewhere. WSB sat down with them both a few days ago for an in-depth chat:Read More
The latest in the thrilling new series of “weather video from outside WSB HQ’s front door” — hail that moved through about 5:30. The forecast promises sun and mid-50s within a few days; we’ll believe it when we see it.
TONIGHT: If you commute from or through downtown, one last reminder that the Mariners are playing their home opener right now (follow it live online), and since it started at 3:40 pm, it’s likely to break up during the evening commute, with attendant effects on popular West Seattle-bound routes including The Viaduct, Alaskan Way, 1st and 4th Avenues.
TOMORROW: Speaking of the Mariners — tomorrow is Salute to Armed Forces Night at Safeco Field. On that same night last year, many West Seattleites were rattled (literally and figuratively) by the aircraft queueing over WS before their Safeco flyovers. (Here’s what we posted that night last year.) So this serves as your early warning for tomorrow night.
ALSO TOMORROW: The first cruise ship of the year will be visible from West Seattle shores – it’s Celebrity Cruises’ Mercury, the one with the “X” on the funnel seen at right of the photo below (taken toward the end of last cruise season; see this year’s full Seattle cruise-ship visit schedule here):
Thanks to Scott for that photo of a sizable police/fire response early this morning in the 6000 block of California. In case you heard the sirens too, here’s the word on what happened, from Lt. Steve Paulsen @ the Southwest Precinct: Police were called about a fight in the street involving two men (Scott says there was plenty of shouting even before law enforcement arrived); when officers intervened, they themselves were attacked, and had to use a Taser to get one suspect under control.
Thanks to Stan Lock, Neighborhood District Coordinator at the city’s West Seattle Neighborhood Service Center in The Junction, for sending the agenda for this Thursday’s city Design Commission meeting, 
which will include a presentation of the latest schematic design for the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza (archived WSB coverage here) as well as a design-development update on the Myrtle Reservoir park, which as we reported a month ago is apparently definitely slated for 
some kind of skateboarding feature. Here’s the full agenda for Thursday’s meeting, which is open to the public; the Statue of Liberty comes up at 1 pm Thursday, Myrtle Reservoir at 2 pm (followed by a design update on the south Viaduct replacement project at 3 pm), all in room L-280 at Seattle City Hall (600 Fourth Ave. downtown). One more Statue of Liberty note – today’s the last day to order a brick for the plaza; find out more at the Plaza Project site.
Quick teardown at that site, 60th and Admiral, just a week after we told you about the permits for two duplex townhouses. Not too far away, permits are in for one duplex and two single-family homes at 6106 SW Stevens (map; project pages here and here), where a backhoe (not pictured) is already stationed behind this house:
On to the south side of West Seattle:
That’s 5933 California, which we’ve been watching for a while now (not torn down yet unless it happened this morning – we’re about to head out to check) — The latest Land Use Information Bulletin, out today, features the permit granting a seven-unit subdivision at that site (next to the townhouses at the ex-Guadalajara Hacienda site). And the Delridge building boom continues, with a permit in today’s LUIB for four 2-unit townhouses at 8444 Delridge (map).
(1st photo from King County Assessor; 2nd by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli)
We have been reporting for almost a full year now on the fate of Charlestown Court, the 81-year-old brick fourplex across the street from the Charlestown Cafe. As we first told you last October, it is under review for possible city landmark status (or possible teardown); on February 20th, we covered the city Landmarks Preservation Board hearing downtown at which board members agreed to consider its exterior architecture for possible landmark designation. Now, it’s decision time — this Wednesday (agenda), the Landmarks Board is scheduled to listen to public comments, and vote. (The process is explained here.) If you want to tell the board what you think, e-mail comments to board coordinator Beth Chave before Wednesday at beth.chave@seattle.gov; you also can speak at the public hearing this Wednesday, 3:30 pm on the 40th floor of the Municipal Tower downtown. This process was set in motion by a proposal to tear down Charlestown Court and replace it with a 4-story mixed-use building (official city project page here), a project that’s still in the pipeline pending the outcome of the landmark review.
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