West Seattle, Washington
24 Wednesday
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham sends this scene from a house you’ve probably seen if you visit Lowman Beach – its occupant(s) put out decorations for almost every holiday. (Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
No, not the Seahawks.
BLUE: The Tap Project is under way. As we mentioned 2 weeks ago, participating restaurants are asking patrons to donate $ for their otherwise-free tap water; the $ goes to UNICEF for safe drinking water for kids. 4 West Seattle restaurants are participating (through Saturday): Ama Ama, Beato, Eats Market Cafe, Skylark. Saturday is World Water Day and will be marked with the Walk for Water on Alki.
GREEN: Sustainable West Seattle meets tonight @ Camp Long. The agenda includes a rep for Puget Sound Community Change — connecting green businesses and customers.
That’s Pat Wright of the Total Experience Gospel Choir on stage tonight at West Seattle’s Kenyon Hall, accompanied by KH proprietor Lou Magor in an impromptu-by-audience-request performance of “Amazing Grace.” This was the first of four amazing nights of Wright and her choir visiting KH somewhat as artists-in-residence, as they get ready for a major journey:Read More
That photo is from the listing we just saw for yet another parcel in the “Triangle” zone between Fauntleroy, Alaska, and 35th east of The Junction — 4450 37th, just west of the Diva Espresso building, two buildings on 4,200 square feet for $700,000, a small lot with big visibility (and C1-65 zoning); as an aside, the “comparables” listed on the last page of its flyer include the sale price for 4550 38th, site of the future Harbor Properties development — $3.1 million.
Above, “during” and “before” pix from the WSB Forum members’ smash-hit benefit this afternoon at Beveridge Place Pub — ringleader JoB has posted a wrapup in this forum thread, and we just got this note from Pete Spalding of the West Seattle Food Bank board:
WOW!!!! Where can I start?
First of all from all of our clients, the Board of Directors of the West Seattle Food Bank would like to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to the organizers, everyone that participated and to Gary the owner of the Beveridge Place Pub for making a big difference on a Sunday afternoon.
I could not believe the number of folks that turned out for this quickly, but well-organized event. Lots of energy in the room for not only the West Seattle Food Bank but also for a great program, Dress For Success. Through everyone’s hard work and charitable mood it was a most successful event. The big event today raised a whopping $704.51 along with approximately 300 pounds of donated food.
Just a quick plug to say that our work at the West Seattle Food Bank goes on everyday of the year. The need in our community is on the increase right now and we certainly appreciate all of the very generous folks here in our West Seattle community that help us keep our doors open to our neighbors in need.
Here are a couple of other ways you can help us right now:
1. If you are a Bruce Springsteen fan you know that he is playing at KeyArena on March 29th. You can go to this link charityfolks.com/cfauctions/auction_verticalngo.asp?slrid=1048
and bid on a pair of tickets to the show as well as passes to the E Street Lounge before the concert begins. The proceeds from this bidding will benefit the West Seattle Food Bank.2. On May 1st we will be celebrating our first anniversary in our new building by holding an event at the Hall at Fauntleroy. It is called Instruments of Change because everyone that comes that night is an instrument of change for our West Seattle Community. The event begins at 6 pm and tickets are $75. The ticket includes a sit-down meal along with some great entertainment. Phyllis Campbell, President/CEO of the Seattle Foundation, will be our guest speaker. You can go to our web site www.westseattlefoodbank.org to buy tickets or for more information.
Once again thanks for a great Sunday afternoon event. WSB readers ROCK!!!
Ditto that from us. Huge “way to go” for the folks who expanded their online friendship into the offline world and found a way to morph a meetup into a chance to do even more good in the community. You can join the ongoing discussion here.
(5:30 PM MONDAY UPDATE: Police say Jordan has been found – more info here.)
(ORIGINAL SUNDAY NIGHT REPORT) That’s a photo of missing West Seattle 14-year-old Jordan King, sent to WSB by her mom Paula, who has been handing out flyers near their Admiral home. Paula says Jordan has been missing since Thursday. In addition to being autistic, Paula says of Jordan, “She is homeschooled and has no memory for phone numbers so she could be very lost.” The family asks that you call 911 — they of course filed a police report, so there’s a record in the system — if you have any idea where Jordan might be. (Her description: 5-2, 138 lbs., dark-brown hair, hazel eyes, last seen in light-pink pants, black tank top, black tennis shoes, black hoodie.)
Quick photos snapped just before the official start of the West Seattle Food Bank-benefiting festivities. Beveridge Place Pub, now till 4 pm. Full details here (or scroll two posts down if you’re on the home page).
We saw it in the Providence Mount St. Vincent newsletter that landed in the WSB postal-mail box one day: Wii bowling at The Mount. So much for the old image of retirees sitting around playing canasta, or maybe, just maybe, shuffleboard. They were kind enough to let us drop in to see for ourselves:
As you can see, they’re doing pretty well. Resident assistant Ken Howard told us that it’s really just a matter of, if you can’t get out to play the games, this is a new way to bring the games in to them:
By the way, if you’re not familiar with Providence Mount St. Vincent, it’s the huge complex on the west side of 35th along the big rise south of Alaska, nicknamed “The Mount,” and it’s been around longer than some of its residents – more than 80 years. It’s even home to a unique child-care program that brings together the oldest and the youngest members of the West Seattle community. As for the Wii — it’s also being used at local libraries, with occasional how-to’s for adults, and the Delridge Library is offering teens open play with Wii and Dance Dance Revolution this Wednesday, 3-5 pm.
Ever heard the phrase “the Seattle process,” as in, propose something, talk it to death over a long, arduous period of time, and then maybe in the end nothing happens anyway? NOT the case with this. Over the course of barely a week, a group of WSB Forum members has hatched this idea, expanded it, and this afternoon — with your help too — is making it happen. Join them at Beveridge Place Pub in Morgan Junction (map), 2:30-4 pm, for good times on behalf of a good cause – here’s the full announcement one more time:
Members of the West Seattle Blog Forums got together to create a fundraising social for the West Seattle Food Bank… and another local charity, the Seattle Dress for Success program.
What began as a few local members cleaning out their oversupply of quality handbags and donating them to charity as an excuse for a good party has attracted local attention and we are getting donations we didn’t expect; some of them top-end designer handbags.
All donated handbags will be up for sale at the auction… some of them will simply be for sale for $5… some of them will be up for bid with a $5 minimum and $25 maximum.
We will also be collecting non-perishable food items and cash/checks for the West Seattle Food Bank. Every donation will be matched through the current $1 million dollar Feinstein Foundation donation challenge (read more about it here). This will be a great opportunity to make your dollars count and help out one of our more important local resources.
What began as a problem; what to do with handbags that didn’t sell, has created another opportunity for donations. We will be donating any bags that don’t sell to the Seattle Dress for Success program and will also collect donations of quality used women’s business attire and cash/checks for their program. They especially need plus size clean and ready to wear clothing.
We expect participation from local representatives from both organizations and will have information on both organizations for those who would like to know more.
So if you are 21 or older (Beveridge Place is a pub), this is a great chance to drop by, have some fun, drink a little beer, drop off some of what you just cleaned out of the closet, do some good, find a great handbag at a really reasonable price and get to meet some of the more infamous West Seattle Blog Forum members. We will be wearing nametags with our sign-in names so you can identify us.
We are accepting donations of all types of quality bags; we hope to have something to offer those males who are brave enough to attend. If you would consider selling it at a consignment shop; we want it. You can show up at 2 pm when the pub opens to drop off donations, or contact JoB to arrange drop-off prior to the event. All unclaimed bags will be donated to Dress for Success.
If you’ve got any last-minute questions, the latest forum thread is here.
Westcrest Park Off-Leash Area steward Steve McElhenney reports West Seattle’s only official off-leash park area will be closed for two days next month — April 2-3 — for maintenance work, and that’s GOOD news! Here’s how he announced it to users:
Finally, after many years of complaining, my persistence is paying off. On Wed. and Thurs. April 2nd and 3rd. Westcrest will be completely closed! Parks will be trenching a water line from the entrance to the main area to replace my garden hose. They’ll also be repairing the fences and other maintenance issues. They are bringing in heavy equipment and have requested for full closure so we don’t interfere with their work. Thanks for your cooperation and understanding.
Again, that’s the off-leash area, not the rest of the park. Looking for an alternative OLA those two days? Here’s the city Parks Department’s full list.
E-mailed to WSB by Scott:
Home broken into on Friday morning between 9:30-11 am (3/14). Two attempts to throw rocks through windows of doors on back side of house. First unsuccessful, second successful in shattering 2nd floor window. Took TV, computer, and loose coins. Magazine solicitor came to door Monday prior at 3:30pm (late 20’s, African-American, 5’10”, 200 lbs [muscular], clean cut, nice guy, very talkative).
As has been discussed in other threads, we all want to be careful not to assume all door-to-door solicitors are potential burglars casing our homes. However, the recent wave of daytime burglaries coincides with an increase in solicitor reports, so as my mom always said, “better safe than sorry” — and always ask solicitors for ID/license. Here’s the city code governing solicitors.
Every week, the Neighborhood Farmers’ Market Alliance sends around its list of highlights from the West Seattle and U-District markets, the only ones it’s running year-round. So here’s the latest on what you’ll find tomorrow, 10 am-2 pm in The Junction:Read More
March 2007 was a news-laden month in West Seattle; going through the archives (which you can access month-by-month, dating back to the 12/05 start of WSB, from the list toward the bottom of the right sidebar), we note that yesterday marked exactly a year since the deadly shooting at 37th/Findlay, one of three murders in West Seattle last year. 
The victim was 35-year-old Dewayne West, who had spent time in prison for killing someone when he was 16 and lived in the house outside which he was killed. The suspect, 29-year-old Jabarie Phillips, whose criminal record dated back to age 14, has been in jail since 3/16/07, two days after the shooting, charged with second-degree murder, bail set at $1,000,000. The docket in case shows his trial date, postponed several times (not unusual in these cases), is now tentatively set for May 6. The last round of court documents we reviewed didn’t note a clear motive, but the suspect and victim were described as having known each other a long time.
As noted here, The Viaduct will be closed northbound tomorrow morning, 8-10:30 am, for the St. Patrick’s Day Dash. And next weekend’s the big inspection-closure weekend — currently scheduled to be closed in both directions, 6 am-6 pm Saturday & 6 am-6 pm Sunday, with the Battery Street Tunnel closed continuously 6 am Saturday-6 pm Sunday. Another road note: Looks like the Alki Avenue paving didn’t get finished in the expected window – we drove that stretch earlier today and there’s clearly work yet to be done, but we don’t have an advisory from SDOT on when it will resume and how long it will take, so we’ll check Monday.
“Be sure to get a picture of the teenagers!” we were told, shortly after we showed up to check on this morning’s Fairmount Ravine cleanup under the Admiral/Fairmount bridge. Here’s a wider perspective shot to show you how high up they went to help with the cleanup:
And that was just the team under the bridge’s east end – more cleanup volunteers were up under its west end:
We weren’t brave enough to get any closer than street level, where John Lang — who’s lived near the ravine for 19 years — told us about 10 people showed up to help with the annual cleanup, but more work might have to be done next weekend. Neighbors have been doing this every year since 1993, and tend to find unusual items like this car door:
John said they pulled some ivy too – a problem about on the magnitude with the graffiti you see all over the concrete under the bridge, which is a magnet for not only vandalism, but also drinking, resulting in the debris that filled dozens of blue bags today. But the volunteers were in good spirits when we dropped by – and also thankful for free beverages and treats, donated by Tully’s and Metropolitan Market.
Not only is sale season (as noted earlier this morning) under way, so is fundraising-car-wash season. Above, you see a quick snap of the Seattle Rainiers 14U team‘s car wash that’s happening till 4 pm today at Complete Auto Repair on the west side of 35th at Holden (map here, but you can’t miss ’em; stretched out over about 2 blocks in both directions are some of the most enthusiastic sign-wavers we’ve ever seen). And the sun’s out just in time!
Two local productions — “The Exile Project” at the West Seattle High School Theater and “The Sweetest Swing in Baseball” at ArtsWest (WSB sponsor; more on TSSIB here) — are in their final weekend. As we mentioned when it opened, “Exile Project” is the creation of a team led by West Seattle’s Holly Eckert; its subject is so curiosity-piquing that we talked with her this week to find out more — and her comments are as thought-provoking as the subject:Read More
From the latest West Seattle-related items linked from the More page (which you can check any time for citywide and regional coverage mentioning WS, 
beyond what we’re covering here on the WSB main page) — we find Nicole Brodeur writing in the Times today about an amazing event we mentioned here last weekend — starting tomorrow night and continuing for four nights, Pat Wright (left) and the Total Experience Gospel Choir come to Kenyon Hall in West Seattle (map) as they prepare to revisit Katrina-ravaged areas of the South. Find out more at the Kenyon Hall website; Brodeur is scheduled to be part of the events tomorrow and Monday night.
This morning, we’re sending out the traditional welcome to a sponsor who joined WSB this week — real-estate investor Brent Fosso, a West Seattle resident, of IBuySeattleHomes.com. 
Here’s what Brent wants you to know about himself and his business: “Brent Fosso and family: West Seattle – Here I stay. Being native to Seattle, I grew up in the Ballard area. But in 1984 I purchased my first fixer upper home, and it was right here in West Seattle. I commuted over to West Seattle everyday to work on the place, and it did need a LOT of work. It’s funny thinking about the price nowadays. It was just a few blocks from what is now The Charlestown Cafe. I bought it for $26,000. That was a lot of money back then, but a reasonable price for a fixer. I spent the summer remodeling the home with a new kitchen and bath. I was only 24 years old in 1984 (you can do the math), and I didn’t have any money. So I convinced my landlord to go in partners with me. We used his money and my labor. We sold it on a hot August day to a nice couple. So I decided to move to the part of town I grew to love, and have been here ever since. I kept purchasing fixer-uppers and have watched the Seattle housing market take off, wishing a bit that I had held on to some of those homes I bought for now what seems like so little. But the times keep moving forward. Technology has changed real estate investing quite a bit. My website IBuySeattleHomes.com has been a place for many years now where people can learn more about what kinds of real estate I purchase and how to get in touch with me. Now my wife, two daughters and I have deep roots here. I love West Seattle.” In addition to reaching Brent through his website, you can call him at 206/935-5000. (Want to join Brent and the 20 other West Seattle businesses currently sponsoring WSB? Start here!)
That was the scene in the waning moments yesterday of Day 1 of the West Side Presbyterian Church mega-sale — which continues starting at 9 am today along with Day 2 of the Tibbetts United Methodist Church mega-sale. WSPC (map) runs 9 am-2 pm today, Tibbetts (map) 9 am-3 pm today. Both sales are among an avalanche of other activities listed in the latest West Seattle Weekend Lineup, including WSB Forum members’ Handbags for Hunger benefit/meetup 2:30-4 pm tomorrow @ Beveridge Place Pub.
Out of the WSB inbox, from Peter:
I just wanted to inform the WSB and my neighbors that early this morning (around 2:30,) my car alarm went off. We turned it off and must have scared away a possible thief, as my rear “vent” window was broken when I went to leave for work this morning. Nothing in the car was disturbed (radio, car seat base) so it looks like the thief ran off without stealing anything. The car was parked in the lot below our apartment building at 41st and Admiral. This is the second time in 6 years that a vehicle of mine was vandalized without any theft occurring in the lot. The really annoying thing is that the cost of replacing the small vent window was more expensive than replacing a whole windshield. While I generally feel safe in the Admiral District, the alley on Walnut Ave. on the other side of the building is often host to late night drug deals, vandals who have smashed windows to the dentist office located there, and is also a popular spot for teens to hang out under the aforementioned office to smoke pot. I’ve heard Dr. Naden confronting the teens before, but they still hang out vandalizing dumpsters and being a nuisance. It is not a stretch to think that they may have been involved in some way.
From the Southwest Seattle Historical Society/Log House Museum:
Are you a retired Accountant or CPA? Are you looking for some meaningful work that will benefit you and your community?
The Southwest Seattle Historical Society and the Log House Museum are in need of a volunteer like you to be our Board Treasurer. We need a skilled individual who has the time to maintain the accounts of the Historical Society which operates the Log House Museum, Birthplace of Seattle on Alki. Let’s talk! We have a Board of Trustees, a Museum Director and staff that you would work with to keep us “in balance.†Please contact Marcy Johnsen at 206-909-9366 right away!
We’re here at Skylark for the Metroblogging Seattle party (till 8:30, with luminaries such as Monica Guzman from the P-I’s Big Blog, 
Mona from Kirida, Shawn from Slightly North, plus the Metblogs team, including Alki’s CeRo) … seems we won … thanks for the votes! Also thanks to Jessie at Skylark for mentioning WSB on the menu (somebody pointed this out to us; we haven’t been here in a while) — the Tater Tots (photo left, from the famous “Dishes to die for” discussion) are billed as “As seen on the West Seattle Blog.” 9:42 PM ADDENDUM: One more West Seattle blogging luminary was there too – didn’t see her till after we’d posted – Pam from Nerd’s Eye View. Re: the menus, Jessie told Patrick they are brand-new, so look for the Tater Tot nod next time you’re at Skylark. As for the question about what we won – this year, actual prizes! A night at Hotel Max downtown, a bag of CDs from Sub Pop, potential future tickets to events at Neumo’s and Northwest Film Forum. Plus a repurposed trophy that is from a 1971 event in Burien but we’ll cherish it always. Thanks again to the Metblogs team for putting on a fun bash!
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