West Seattle, Washington
09 Monday
Thanks for the tips that Delridge Arco, at $2.09 just last night, has dropped a dime since then and is now the first $1.99 gas spotted in West Seattle. (We cut the photo short but in case you’re wondering, midgrade is $2.19, premium $2.29.) ADDED FRIDAY: By this morning, at least two other stations were down to $1.99, including “Ruxbury” Gasoline – thanks to Sky for sharing this pic:
Before night finishes falling, a quick note about some of what’s happening in The Junction tonight as holiday-shopping season really starts to rev up: We’ve mentioned the Capers “Girlfriends’ Night Out” event (see the Holiday Happenings page for full details), and we’ve also received word of an event at Windermere in The Junction (4526 California SW): “Jewelry, scarves, glassware, holiday items galore! Hosted by Kim Tingley and Barb Ogden of Flutter and No Wire Hangers, an upstart boutique, soon to open in West Seattle. 5:30-8:30. Bevs and snacks served while you shop. % of proceeds to help fight Lou Gehrig’s disease!” Tomorrow, meantime, you’ll be able to start entering the holiday gift-certificate raffles being offered by participating merchants in the West Seattle Junction Association (WSB sponsor) – thousands of dollars in gift certificates will be raffled off next month, at events including the West Seattle Christmas Tree Lighting (5 pm 12/6). (More on Friday-Sunday events coming up in tomorrow’s West Seattle Weekend Lineup; also, Junction merchants have more holiday events listed on the WSJA website – we’ll be adding those to Holiday Happenings ASAP.)
The city Parks Department says a bid’s been awarded for Dakota Place Park construction (we published an update just before bids were due last month), and that the work will start December 1st and continue till February. WS Contractor Inc. is to deliver an “exterior package” including “a plaza with integrated artwork, ADA access, site lighting, multiple seating elements,
refurbishing existing historic elements, automated irrigation, and extensive community-provided landscaping.” From the official city webpage for the site (a former substation), here’s the schematic design for the park:
(added 4:56 pm – the streetscape level envisioned at California/Alaska, looking across from Easy Street)
Technically, the Seattle Design Commission is reviewing the proposal for an underground “alley vacation” – required for the two Conner Homes buildings at California/42nd/Alaska to have one underground garage – but the hearing that just wrapped up also yielded new information on where the project’s design is going overall, and new imagery that’s been provided to us by the architect (as shown at this meeting). The action from the meeting: Conner and its architects did not get final signoff – they will have to return to the Design Commission to answer a variety of concerns – the commission has to sign off on the proposal before SDOT can finish reviewing it, and the SDOT rep who handles such matters told the commission that her agency has its own concerns. Meantime, the project itself has one more Design Review meeting ahead – the architects tell us that will likely be in January, but no date is set yet. Stand by for more, including the new imagery – we’ll be in transit for a bit (heading back to HQ after three major events downtown today – this one’s at City Hall, which also was the scene of this morning’s jail briefing, with the Seattle Center Viaduct briefing between them) before we can add it here. ADDED 6:08 PM: Here’s another image, the massing (NOT the final design proposal with finishes etc., just basically the shapes) of the two buildings, looking south at them from Cupcake Royale vicinity):
More to come. The entire presentation document is way too big to link here but we’ll see if we can break it into chunks.
(photos removed 11/24 by request of the original provider)
Just in from Bil Hood at Seattle Lutheran High School, a followup to the story we brought you 2 weeks ago about the SLHS Key Club reaching out to Gulf-bound soldiers:
These photos are just in from Seattle Lutheran parent, Fabienne Zwerling (pictured in blue). She’s a parent of a SLHS sophomore and works in the airline industry; she took 400 soldiers to Kuwait.
The SLHS student body created care packages for the soldiers as well as writing thank-you notes to the soldiers and signed a banner that reads, “Seattle Lutheran High School supports our troops.” Some
students wrote short stories and jokes as well as thank you notes on their cards. “It feels good to know that we’re making a difference in a soldier’s life!” said senior Emily Meyer, Key Club president, as she
was writing a thank-you card.Last week the soldiers called the school on Fabienne’s cell phone. Their thank-you call was played for the students of the school’s p.a. system. These pictures were all taken on the plane ride over to Frankfurt. The Troops were then going to Kuwait and the a one year tour in Iraq.
Next briefing: We’re at Seattle Center’s Center House, where the next sheaf of data in the search for the Alaskan Way Viaduct Central Waterfront solution is being released. One quick topline: The costliest in terms of time and money would be Scenario F, the “bored tunnel” — up to 9 and a half years of construction time, $3.5 billion cost. The numbers here are all described as “capital costs” — so that’s just the basic building costs for the “Highway 99 corridor” itself, not including additional components in the complete study area (which includes downtown) such as changes to I-5, changes to traffic, etc. Other “capital” dollar figures: Scenario A, “demand management/low capital,” $800 million; B, “surface boulevard,” $800 million; C, “surface couplet,” $900 million; D, “independent elevated,” $1.6 billion (shown in WSDOT rendering above); H, “lidded trench,” $1.9 billion; E, “integrated elevated,” $2.2 billion; G, “cut and cover tunnel,” $2.7 billion. The handouts here also break out the major components in terms of cost — relevant because the government leaders working on this have said that the three “finalist” options to be determined within a few weeks likely will be composites with elements of the current “scenarios,” rather than including any existing scenarios exactly as they have been considered up till now. WSDOT’s Ron Paananen stresses, these are “rough estimates.” ADDED 12:57 PM: Our previous links to briefing materials have vanished into the wireless ozone, so here they are again: For starters, all eight “scenarios” — pieces of which will be cobbled into the eventual “finalists” — have a new set of graphics that you can see by going to this Flickr collection set up by WSDOT. The handout with the full range of cost possibilities can be seen here; the handout with the full range of construction-time possibilities can be seen here. Later today, the Stakeholders’ Advisory Committee will be briefed on this information, 4 pm, Plymouth Congregational Church (downtown). The city and state officials who have been leading these briefings stressed again today, they are still on schedule for state/city/county leaders to arrive at a final recommended solution by year’s end. One interesting note from the briefing: SDOT’s Bob Powers said they’re realizing as they evaluate data that, regarding transit, “if we build it, the riders will come” – so there is a suggestion that before major construction starts, transit additions be made, including a second West Seattle RapidRide Metro bus route along Delridge (that previously was suggested as something that could be considered in the long run). ADDED THURSDAY EVENING: A downtown public forum is set for people to speak out on whatever the final options are revealed to be: 5-7:30 pm December 15, Town Hall (1119 8th, downtown). Also – all materials presented at today’s briefing, plus additional information unveiled at the Stakeholders Advisory Committee meeting later in the day, is now posted on the Viaduct website – look here, under November 20 meeting materials.
We’re in the briefing room next to the mayor’s office at City Hall downtown. A media briefing with the next steps on the jail-site search process is about to begin – and we’ve just been given a list of the six sites that are now under consideration, including sites that other cities partnering with Seattle have brought to the process. The Myers Way South site in southeastern West Seattle is OFF the list, but the Highland Park Way/West Marginal Way site (Google Street View imagery above; here’s a conventional map) is still ON the list, along with two other Seattle sites (King County Jail Annex at 5th/Jefferson, and 1600 W. Armory Way), one in Bellevue, one in Shoreline, and one in “unincorporated King County” (13225 NE 126th). More after the briefing. Next steps include a series of public forums next month — none of which is set for West Seattle, though there will be a “scoping” meeting at South Seattle Community College January 13th as part of the environmental-review process. Also, a new website is mentioned in pre-briefing material: www.necmunicipaljail.org (though it’s not up as of this writing – the jail-process communications team says it should be up within the hour) — and the one-sheet given to the media says “no decisions will be made until 2010.” 10:23 AM UPDATE: The public forums, it’s been explained, are for the newly identified sites – West Seattle and Interbay already had forums. The aforementioned website has just gone live, and it includes this link to the official news release from today’s briefing. Seattle spokesperson Catherine Cornwall, who has led this briefing, says the studies explaining why the Myers Way site is off the table and Marginal/Highland still on, are on the new website (we will search out direct links shortly). One of the big reasons why Myers is off the list, Cornwall added, is a concern about wetlands in the area. Here’s our video clip with her explanation:
(video no longer available due to Blip.tv’s closure)
ADDED 12:45 PM: Just in – a statement from King County Councilmember Dow Constantine.
“I’m very pleased with today’s announcement. The Myers Way site has been removed from the list, in part because of the environmental issues – issues which I also cited in my June 2 letter to Mayor Nickels. I wish the Highland Park Way site was not still on the list. Instead of a Seattle-only effort, this is now a regional process with King County and suburban cities having a seat at the table. The expanded site list now includes possible locations across the region. I am particularly happy to see promising sites on the Eastside, and in Downtown Seattle adjacent to our existing jail.”
ADDED THURSDAY NIGHT: The city’s jail-site communications team calls our attention to the Resources page on the new jail-info website, if you’re looking for various studies and reviews, including analysis of why the Myers Way site was taken off the list, while the Highland Park Way/Marginal Way site is still under consideration.
Those images are from the revised “early design guidance” Admiral Safeway presentation that will be taken to the Southwest Design Review Board tonight, two months after board members asked Safeway and its architects (Fuller Sears) to go back and come up with more distinct options for the proposed redevelopment of the Admiral site. (9/25 WSB report here) In advance of tonight’s meeting — at which public attendance and comment are encouraged — the new presentation is available online (you can get it here). The four “alternatives” above (views from the northwest, as if you were in a helicopter over Circa looking toward Mt. Rainier) have been added — #4, #5, #6, and #7. The last one is flagged as the company’s “preferred” alternative, and is more detailed because it’s from the original presentation (hard to say what’s been changed there, but that’s up to the applicants to explain at the meeting). 6:30 tonight, West Seattle (Admiral) Library branch (map).
Much happening today even before the unscheduled news starts breaking. First, two media briefings that aren’t public events, but WSB will be there to bring you the news as close to immediately as possible: There’s a City Hall briefing at 10 am about the jail-site search — the first official jail-related news in months. 11 am at Seattle Center, it’s a briefing about the Viaduct-solution search; this time, we’ll get information on projected cost of the various options — including the much-buzzed “integrated elevated,” shown above in a WSDOT rendering. The following events are all open to the public: West Seattle Democratic Women‘s monthly lunch, 11:15 @ West Seattle Golf Course, call 935-3216 by 10 am for a reservation; High Point Community Center has a free (early) Thanksgiving dinner, from turkey to door prizes, 6-8 pm; Southwest Community Center hosts its final workshop on designing a new fitness room, 6 pm; the Southwest Design Review Board looks at the revised proposal for the Admiral Safeway rebuild, 6:30 pm at West Seattle (Admiral) Library; Alki Community Council meets at Alki Community Center, 7 pm. Fun stuff tonight too, like “Girlfriends’ Night Out” at Capers in The Junction – see the Events calendar for more.
We reported Tuesday on tree work being done as a followup two months after the volunteer-laden West Seattle Gateway Cleanup organized by the Fairmount Community Association (that’s the neighborhood south/uphill from the Triangle). 
The photos above and at left show some of what the tree crew took away at the end of its workday. Organizer Nancy Driver reports: “On Tuesday, City Foresters pruned the understory on 15 Japanese red pines and 15 to 20 deciduous trees in the gateway area and cleaned out at least 70% of the invasive vines that were in the trees. They also removed two dead trees that had fallen long ago. All work was done under the supervision of an ISA-certified arborist and was permitted by SDOT. Everyone should be able to notice the improved profiles of the trees, and just as important, the work will contribute to the improved health of many of the trees. The work was funded by generous contributions from Harbor Properties, Excel Pacific, Ken & Donna Olsen, Jeffrey Bond DDS, Scott Lybeck/Courtesy Tires, Next Pages LLC, Menashe & Sons Jewelers, Mike Ng/Ng Westside Pharmacy, Yarmuth Wilsdon Calfo PLLC, Diane Kennedy/Curves, Jim Sansburn/John L. Scott Realty, Wiseman’s Appliance, Robin Mers M.D., Doris Jennings, Linda Walsh/Clementine, Deanne Sposari, Dixie Dokken, Joseph Webster, Margaret Miaullis, Wanda Pommer, and Joan Jeffrey. “
Some of these factoids might surprise you; they surprised us, when we heard the infobursts presented by the featured guest at last night’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, Steve Freng, who is a manager for the Northwest HIDTA (pronounced HIGH-tuh – High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area). Read on for those infobursts, in bullet-point form:Read More
The flip side of dry fall sunshine is the lack of snow – there’s still time, though, and the kids at Explorer West Middle School are getting ready for it. Amy French sent the above photo and this report on what it was all about:
Explorer West Middle School kicked off their winter outdoor program yesterday when the school’s 6th grade students had the opportunity to work on a snowshoe construction project with Lee Getzewich, MSR Snowshoe Product Manager for local outdoor gear manufacturer Cascade Designs, Inc.. This was the first step in designing and building the snowshoes that the students will use for several outings to Snoqualmie Pass this winter. Mr. Getzewich helped the students think about the design and then work out solutions with the materials. The 2008-09 snowshoe program has evolved to use local, native willow as the main framing material instead of PVC frames, so the students are now building snowshoes with even more natural materials.
We love school news, big and small – send yours any time to editor@westseattleblog.com! (WSB coverage of local schools and school-related issues is all archived here, newest to oldest.)
HIGH POINT COMMUNITY CENTER: (map) Free (early) Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night – turkey, veggies, rolls, door prizes! 6 to 8 pm.
SOUTHWEST COMMUNITY CENTER: (map) They’re still accepting vendors for the Holiday Bazaar coming up 9 am-5 pm December 6th. Call 684-7438.
ALKI COMMUNITY CENTER: (map) Free spaghetti dinner 6-9 pm December 11th, a chance to “come see what programs we have to offer and fill out a questionnaire for future programs” according to a flyer we picked up while speaking to a group there today.
First sighting of $2.0-something gas in West Seattle – Delridge Arco within the past hour, right after we left the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting at nearby Southwest Precinct. Exactly 24 hours earlier, after we left the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting at SWP, it was $2.13, which was a two-cent drop from when we drove by during the daytime Tuesday. (We did one price check in November of last year, at which time the same station came in at $3.05; the AAA pricetracker also has the current citywide average at exactly a dollar less than this time last year.)
Tonight we’re at the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council‘s monthly meeting, chaired by Pete Spalding of Pigeon Point, who also leads the West Seattle Food Bank board – he has mentioned the success of last weekend’s various fundraisers for WSFB (including the Beer Church, CoolMom.org, and Rocksport events) in tandem with the relentless ongoing increase in demand for WSFB help. We have a few more to mention: This Saturday, 8 pm-midnight at Kenyon Hall, a community dance with Rick Berinato and the Paperback Riders will benefit WSFB ($20 donation suggested). Also, we’ve received word that the 18th annual food drive at Java Bean Coffeehouse on Avalon is under way, continuing through this Sunday; bring nonperishable foods to drop off – preferably “Thanksgiving-type food,” according to the flyer (which you can see here) – the food’s going to Northwest Harvest, which supplies various area food banks. One more note: We have been reporting on partner site White Center Now about the multi-ton potato donation that’s just arrived at the White Center Food Bank; see today’s video coverage here – here’s a photo of WCFB executive director Rick Jump, Blaine Hirai from the donating farm (Hirai Farms in the Moses Lake area), and 11th District State Rep. Bob Hasegawa (whose district includes part of White Center) with some of the potato sacks:
You can donate $ online to both local food banks, any time – WSFB’s site is here; WCFB’s site is here. ADDED 9:30 PM: Celeste e-mailed us (thank you!) to say that Jefferson Square Safeway is still promoting “buy a turkey for $5 to donate to the West Seattle Food Bank,” so check that out when you grocery-shop.
If you travel The Bridge this Saturday night into Sunday morning, you’ll likely see city crews and encounter lane closures. Here are the details.
The OK Corral barbecue joint (4417 Fauntleroy in the Triangle; map) opened two weeks ago without even switching signage (here’s our post-opening chat with owner Otis Austin) – but now that’s been remedied – first spotted it last night, got a pic while passing at noontime today. (The “grand opening” sign, however, is legacy from the previous tenant, who didn’t last long.) Also, just got word from West Seattleite Tracy Dart that Christo’s on Alki has added new menu items:
I wanted to pass along some info from my friends (and next-door neighbor) who own a
restaurant down on Alki. The Fotopoulos Family, owners of Christo’s on Alki, are starting their new Greek Menu tonight featuring Mama & Papa Fotopoulos’ traditional recipes from their home village in Pelopnese, Greece. Featuring Lamb Chops, Dolmathes, Moussaka, Pastitsio, Flamed Saganaki, Lemon Oregano Chicken and Potatoes – as well as Gyro & Souvlaki platters. They will continue to have their original menu (pizza’s, pasta, sandwiches & salads, etc.) available as well.I’m excited to have another option for Greek Food in West Seattle, especially from a family who has been serving food in West Seattle since 1996. The entire family runs this place, and mama and papa live over the restaurant. Almost makes you think it’s how it would be back in the old country.
Tracy, by the way, is one of the West Seattle-residing blog authors whose sites are featured on our Blogs page – always the latest 100 entries from a pool of 100 West Seattle-based writers (we’ve been catching up with the latest requests to have sites added to this continuously, automatically updated page – please let us know if we’ve missed yours).
The remodeling work at Stop ‘n’ Shop on the ground floor of the Senior Center of West Seattle was supposed to be done in time for a grand reopening last Saturday – but it took a little longer than planned, so this Saturday is now the plan (just in time for it to be part of your Junction holiday shopping plans!). The Christmas items in the photo above are in the window now, and will be waiting when the shop reopens. Here’s the word from Cindy Gwinn:
The newly remodeled Stop and Shop will open its doors this Saturday at 10 AM. We would like to invite you all to join us. The new hours are 10 am to 4 pm, 7 days a week.
We are also receiving donations. We are looking for clean, working items. If you have large furniture you can not deliver, we can pick it up. West Seattle only, please. Please call Cindy Gwinn at 206 915-5595 for pickup time.
All donations can be left in the back of the store, or by the front door after 4pm or you can always come by during open hours.
Thank you West Seattle, for all your support
Speaking of seniors – thanks to the seniors’ group at Alki Community Center that invited us to come talk to/with them this morning – anyone who has the outdated opinion that the Internet’s mostly just for “young” people should meet folks like them (we were thrilled to learn that just about everyone in the room was familiar with WSB!) – and of course, you can be “young” at any age, anyway (heaven knows, your WSB co-publishers have more than a few years in the rear-view mirror).
Thanks to Cherisse for spotting this while we were offline for a bit: Former Sen. Tom Daschle, brother of Southwest Youth and Family Services director Steve Daschle, is reported to be President-Elect Obama’s choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Here’s one report. Tom Daschle was here in West Seattle just two months ago as keynote speaker for the SWYFS breakfast at Salty’s; here’s our report from that event.
(video no longer available due to blip.tv shutdown)
(the Fauntleroy stretch targeted for paving, “dashcam” view as we drove northbound to the briefing)
We’re just east of downtown, at the McGilvra Place pocket park, where Mayor Nickels, SDOT director Grace Crunican (also a West Seattleite), and others have just wrapped up a media briefing to talk about citywide paving plans for 2009. We came to seek clarification on the status of the Fauntleroy Way (Alaska to California) paving proposal, which lost some of its funding in late budget moves by the City Council (as we reported two days ago) and was said to be in jeopardy. Here’s what we’ve learned: The mayor and SDOT say there WILL be repaving next year on Fauntleroy – the city just has to figure out how much it can afford. Crunican told us just before the briefing that they are looking for other sources to make up the $1.5 million (almost a third of the estimated cost) that the council moved to a long-overdue project elsewhere in the city (Linden) — and some of that may come from other bids that are out right now, potentially coming in for less than was originally budgeted (given the current construction/economic climate). So they’re moving forward with plans for the project, including the proposed restriping we’ve been reporting on – the open house for information and comments on that remains set for December 1st, High Point Community Center, 5:30-8:30 pm. ADDED 1:36 PM: Adding a couple video clips – this one is the mayor giving a shoutout to communications assistance, with regards to road work, from sites like WSB (we got a shoutout by name since we were standing 10 feet away with our video camera, next to one TV station and the Seattle Channel):
(video no longer available due to blip.tv shutdown)
Other interesting tidbits from today’s briefing included the fact that more than 800 intersection signs citywide have been replaced so far this year. Here’s the official news release from the briefing.
Once upon a time — actually just about three years ago — 4200 Admiral and 4210 Admiral (regular map here; Google Street View image above) were to comprise the site of a new mixed-use building; the application is still technically “open” on the DPD website, including the original vision of a 14,000-square-foot grocery store, once speculated to potentially be the long-yearned-for Trader Joe’s. With this development long on the drawing board (and a demolition permit even applied for), some businesses in the buildings closed or moved (like Auto Buff a year and a half ago). Most of the first rush of activity played out before WSB launched three years ago, so we don’t have much archived coverage, but we knew of the applications and kept an eye on the project pages. Now, something new — spaces up for lease; this CL ad covers the TNT tavern space at 4210 Admiral, this CL ad covers “office space plus warehouse” right on the corner at 4200.
Two nights of major meetings — you’re invited, indeed encouraged, to attend any and all:
7 PM TONIGHT: Southwest Precinct meeting room — Delridge District Council with a busy agenda including a jail-site update from Highland Park Action Committee and the latest on the Southwest Healthy Youth Partnership (whose online survey will be available shortly).
6:30 PM TOMORROW: West Seattle (Admiral) Library branch — the next Southwest Design Review Board meeting (first mentioned here 10/30) for the proposed Admiral Safeway rebuild (here’s our report on the last one in September).
7 PM TOMORROW: Alki Community Center — the Alki Community Council‘s agenda includes a Block Watch presentation by SW Precinct crime-prevention coordinator Benjamin Kinlow.
From tonight’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting (last one of the year – the group won’t meet in December), not only the latest crime-trend toplines from police, but also citizen reports – including a store reportedly selling troubling merchandise – read on:Read More
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