West Seattle, Washington

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Spotlight Stories


  • Shooting

    PARK SHOOTING: Self-defense investigation

  • Closing

    BANK CLOSURE: B of A to shut 1 WS branch

  • Parade

    WS GRAND PARADE: Video, pix of winners, more

Burned-out ex-Schuck’s nears the end
December 4, 2007 5:29 pm
|      18 COMMENTS
 |   Development | West Seattle fires | West Seattle news

We all got excited October 12 when, the day after the demolition permit was granted, the ex-Schuck’s at California/Charlestown started showing some signs of impending activity. Then … nothing, till a construction permit for the replacement project was issued last Friday, and today, we got a reader tip (thank you!) that takedown crews were on scene … WSB contributing photographer Christopher Boffoli went over for a look and reports, “… the entire interior is indeed gutted and the front windows are blown out. Looks like they went through the interior with a bobcat tractor [see second photo]. The north parking lot was full of burned-up debris.”

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Driven over the edge
December 4, 2007 4:32 pm
|      18 COMMENTS
 |   Seen around town

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From WSB contributing photographer Matt Durham: Cody Blue of West Seattle waits for a tow truck to pull his Chevy from its precarious position at 5916 Beach Dr. this afternoon. “I was visiting a friend and misjudged the curve to the driveway,” Cody explained. “I was blinded by the hood of my truck as I climbed over the hump and didn’t realize the roadway narrowed.” Cody’s truck suffered little damage and didn’t cause any property damage. (Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)

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Mid-afternoon miscellany
December 4, 2007 3:24 pm
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   Alki Statue of Liberty | West Seattle online | West Seattle weather

-The biggest building project under way in West Seattle right now is dealing with a good dose of rainwater, according to the photos we found here.

-The wonderful history-focused blog Vintage Seattle is taking a closer look at the northernmost “Painted Lady” currently on the market in West Seattle (as mentioned here in October).

-According to an e-mail just sent out on the Duke’s mailing list, the date is set for the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza Project fundraiser at Duke’s on Alki (as mentioned here last month): 6 pm December 27, hosted by radio talker Dave Ross, with promised appearances by two West Seattle political readers — here’s a screengrab from the e-mail:Read More

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Drying out: The icon of the Delridge Deluge
December 4, 2007 1:25 pm
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   December 2007 flooding | Delridge | West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

Remember this much-photographed car, under water yesterday outside Allstar Fitness? (photo by Lea Kuchan)

We found it again today. Our camera-equipped team member reports (shock) it’s full of mud. But all in one piece!

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Slide over Seacrest Park
December 4, 2007 11:46 am
|    Comments Off on Slide over Seacrest Park
 |   December 2007 flooding | West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

These photos are from Erik (thank you!), who says, “This is my parents’ house on the cliff above Seacrest Park. No known damage to the structure — yet. The washed-out street is Victoria Ave SW. SDOT was on the scene last night and reopened the road.”

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3 more chances to have your say on city parks’ future
December 4, 2007 11:03 am
|      1 COMMENT
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

Tonight at Hiawatha Community Center (6 pm), and tomorrow at Camp Long (5 pm) and Alki Community Center (7 pm), it’s your last three chances to tell the city Parks Department what you want to see in its plan for the future — we attended the first West Seattle meeting last week @ Southwest Community Center (read our detailed report here); the format is definitely discussion-friendly – you get to share ideas in a small group, rather than before a big crowd. Community activist Charles Redmond went to both the Southwest meeting and the Saturday afternoon Delridge meeting and gave us permission to share his thoughts, which conclude with a recommendation for you:Read More

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It’s official: Ercolini Park will be … Ercolini Park
December 4, 2007 9:47 am
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

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The suspense is over; the city Parks Department has made its decision. David Cagen from Friends of Ercolini Park just forwarded the park-naming announcement from interim parks superintendent Christopher Williams:

After receiving overwhelming support from the community, I have decided to name the park site located at 48th Avenue SW and SW Alaska Street, Ercolini Park. This name will recognize the longtime ownership of this site by the Ercolini family and their willingness to sell this property to the City for a public space.

I look forward to joining you for the opening of the new Ercolini Park in early 2008.

More parks news coming up in an hour or so – this just came in so we wanted to publish it fast! 3:30 PM ADDENDUM: Friends of Ercolini Park chair Katie Hjorten wrote to the FoEP group (and gave us permission to republish):

I called Jim Ercolini to let him know and he couldn’t have been more pleased. He told me that he was the last descendant with that last name both here and in Italy. He said his parents would be so proud and pleased since they were share croppers in Italy. It was their life’s dream to own land. Now it will bear their name in perpetuity. He thanks all of us for our work on this project.

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New WSB page, new WSB sponsor
December 4, 2007 8:51 am
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   Holidays | West Seattle online | West Seattle religion

This morning, we launched a new WSB page to help you enjoy the holiday season — our Holidays page (it has its own tab in the navigation under the header throughout the site, or you can bookmark it here). Right now, it features West Seattle holiday events through New Year’s, plus our ongoing West Seattle Christmas lights map and a link to our West Seattle Christmas tree price check; at the top of the page each day, you will also see highlighted holiday events for that day/night. wscc.bmpThis page is presented by a brand-new WSB sponsor, West Seattle Christian Church (on the north side of The Junction, at the SE corner of 42nd/Genesee). West Seattle Christian Church is a growing church offering a lot more than worship services — it also is parent to the Ginomai artists’ studio facility right across the street at the SW corner of 42nd/Genesee — which among other things is a must-visit stop during the monthly West Seattle Art Walk; the next one is coming up Thursday 12/13 — we stopped at Ginomai during last month’s Art Walk and met several artists, then browsed the merchandise others were selling in the Ginomai community room. In addition, WSCC is home to West Seattle Christian Preschool, which is currently enrolling (find out more here). We thank WSCC for supporting WSB, along with our other sponsors, who are listed on this page along with info on how prospective advertisers can join them. (And if you have suggestions for additional features to add to the Holidays page, please let us know – we’ll be tweaking it at least once daily as the season rolls on!)

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Post-storm updates, including Allstar
December 4, 2007 5:38 am
|    Comments Off on Post-storm updates, including Allstar
 |   December 2007 flooding | Transportation | West Seattle weather

No major traffic trouble spots in Seattle so far this morning; here’s the list of outlying King County roads still having trouble (including one on Vashon), and if you have to drive outside King County, the state has a handy list of what’s up elsewhere on this page (including that big I-5 shutdown in Chehalis). ALLSTAR FITNESS UPDATE: Just called to check (in the wake of all that water in all those photos further down the page) — they ARE open today. ADDED 6:45 AM: Here’s the latest city press-release roundup of trouble spots (says all the ones here in WS are open again).

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West Seattle Christmas lights, 12/3/07
December 3, 2007 10:33 pm
|    Comments Off on West Seattle Christmas lights, 12/3/07
 |   Holidays | West Seattle Christmas lights

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As former apartment-dwellers, we particularly appreciate balcony brightness – and you can find a lot of it around West Seattle, especially along Harbor and Alki – but this trio of balconies is from California Avenue just south of Morgan Junction. We’re still scouting for lights and happy to get your suggestions; besides the new archive of featured lights, we also have created a map locating every place we’ve shown – click on each marker and you’ll see its location as well as a thumbnail photo. We’ll continue to update the map as each night goes by. (One more holiday note – it got a bit lost in the weather coverage but we posted our annual West Seattle Christmas tree price check yesterday afternoon.)

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Reader Recommendation Request: Computer house call?
December 3, 2007 9:31 pm
|      31 COMMENTS
 |   Reader recommendations

Provided the weather calms down, we’ve got several WSB Reader Recommendation Requests to get out to you – tonight we start with this one from Chris:

My home computer is not working…mysterious colors flashing on the screen, no access to the desktop … anyone know a good computer technician that does home visits?

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After the deluge
December 3, 2007 9:05 pm
|    Comments Off on After the deluge
 |   December 2007 flooding | West Seattle weather

Wettest December 3rd in Seattle history — now it’s cleanup time. Though we hear another shower out there, the experts all insist the worst of the weather is over (the wind advisory, for example, expired at 7 pm). If your neighborhood’s still experiencing major flood woes, let us know. Meantime, there’s a lot of other West Seattle stuff we wanted to tell you about today – but the storm got in the way; we’ll just start fresh tomorrow. First, though, a photo that came in tonight from Teresa – the playground at Sanislo Elementary during the deluge:

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And now – the drive home
December 3, 2007 5:13 pm
|      12 COMMENTS
 |   December 2007 flooding | Transportation | West Seattle weather

7:15 PM UPDATE: Went through that area of Delridge, nothing going on. So cancel that alert. Heard a city worker on the radio say Beach Drive is open again at the slide spot; will be heading out to check on that.

5:55 PM UPDATE: Could be new trouble on Delridge. “Automobile rescue” callout just popped up on the 911 site, 3800 block of Delridge (south of Skylark). Drivers heading that way, beware.

5:45 PM UPDATE: Steve reports: “Just got home (Gatewood) from SODO. First Ave S. and the high bridge were wide open.” Steve also notes that the Nucor mill is “completely dark”; we reported earlier that it had closed because of flooding – Margelyn also e-mailed earlier that she heard a radio-show caller say there’s a lot of water in Nucor’s basement and it might be closed a while; we’ll be checking on that but would also love to hear from anyone with firsthand updates.

5:09 PM UPDATE: OK, said team member has made it home. Summary: Not raining right now. Smooth sailing on The (high) Bridge, and beyond. Thinks maybe lots of people went home early. P.S. Check below in a few minutes for some added pix of today’s Delridge Deluge … we’ve received more, but don’t want to put them atop the commute info here till everyone’s home safe, so the post will be filed just BELOW this one.

4:42 PM UPDATE: Team member who’s heading home via The Viaduct says the left lane is closed for a stretch parallel to the south end of the waterfront (Coast Guard station on) so things are a little squeezed. Bridge update to come. Remember to scroll down for cam links and more.

4:15 PM UPDATE: First commute-home report from Vickie, who was worried about the Spokane St./Chelan Cafe’ area, but says Spokane “under the Harbor Ave offramps and to the north of Nucor doesn’t appear at this time to have any flooding troubles” — she says the low bridge, through that area, and up Avalon to 35th was all in good shape. (We have a WSB team member heading from downtown toward Morgan Junction soon and will have that update for you in a bit.) For those wondering about West Marginal Way – no trouble reported so far – here’s the city cam link.

4:10 PM UPDATE: Here’s a new press release from the city; it mentions that southbound lanes of the Battery Street Tunnel are closed, so if you get on 99 south of there, beware. No other West Seattle specifics aside from the Longfellow Creek flooding we have covered below.

3:35 PM ORIGINAL POST: We are gathering resources for drivers to check before heading back to West Seattle from workplaces elsewhere. First – so far as WS roads go – a recap of specific situations we have reported on further down the page: Remember that North Delridge has been the hardest-hit area (see photos and video below) – if you have to get to somewhere on Delridge, going around and approaching from the south is likely your best bet. Along Beach Drive, the mudslide’s not cleared yet (thanks to WSB sponsor Rhonda Porter from The Mortgage Porter for that update – she says on the north side, Beach Drive is closed at Jacobsen). For other roadway, here are some links to start with – we will add more info as we get/find it, including any reports you send about driving conditions:

WSB traffic-info page with cameras of particular WS relevance
All Seattle city traffic cams
All state DOT traffic cams
KIRO Radio continuous online regional traffic-incident info
Traffic.com regional traffic-incident info
Regional Public Information Network (RPIN) site with regional road closures and more
Alerts for roads managed by King County
Washington State Ferries service bulletins

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Delridge Deluge: More photos
December 3, 2007 5:12 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   December 2007 flooding | Delridge | West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

Yet more photos coming in from Longfellow Creek, Allstar Fitness, and environs; we don’t want to add them atop the commute info, since that’s the most important stuff for a while longer, so we’ll be adding them one by one here; keep scrolling down to check. First, from Tim — along the creek, near SW Genesee, close to the 13th hole of West Seattle Golf Course:

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From Kathy, another look at Allstar Fitness, awash in floodwater (let us know if you hear whether it plans to reopen tomorrow; we’ll check in the morning too):

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Chris M also sent us this link to some good shots in his Flickr gallery.

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More photos of Delridge flooding, plus a street closure
December 3, 2007 2:12 pm
|      8 COMMENTS
 |   December 2007 flooding | Delridge | West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

ADDED 2:25 PM: “The creek has burst free!” reports Kristin, who took these photos on Juneau between Delridge and 26th, and says 26th is closed.

2:12 PM: Mike actually captured the fabled “car swamped to its roof” we heard about in the lot at Allstar Fitness (2:38 PM UPDATE: reader reports, it IS closed because of the flooding) – that’s the car in the background:

Thanks again to everyone who’s sending WSB info and pix to share. ADDED 3:50 PM: Yet another picture of the now-iconic flooded car at Allstar, this time from Lea Kuchan:

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Beach Drive slide update: Here’s what it looks like
December 3, 2007 1:27 pm
|      11 COMMENTS
 |   December 2007 flooding | Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

As mentioned below, Beach Drive is blocked by a mudslide in the 6000 block. 1:40 PM: Photo just in from Dawson (thank you!), who confirms this is close to the area where the city granted a permit for slope-side trees to be cut earlier this year (previous WSB report here):

Here’s our photo, from a bit closer up:

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Break in the storm (coverage): New West Seattle peeper report
December 3, 2007 1:03 pm
|      10 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

Though we are devoting 99% of WSB to storm reports today (please e-mail us anything you’ve seen/heard), this just came in as a comment on last week’s peeper thread, and we wanted to make sure you knew:

Seems the same peeper struck our neighbors last night 12/2/07 3800 block of 49th Ave SW.

There was a peeping Tom outside our neighbors houses off & on for about 2 hours last night. Neither house knew of the other’s peeper until about 10:00 pm. Apparently he had ‘visited’ one & watched while the couple were hot tubbing a couple of hours earlier, ‘visited’ the neighbors kid’s room window across the street & waved at him about an hour after the first visit, & then back to look into the hot tubber’s bedroom about an hour after that. At about 10:00 is when the kid saw him return to 1st visit’s house & notified his dad. Needless to say, the police came shortly.

Unfortunately, not much could be I.D.’d. ~ 5′9″ – 5′ 10″, slender build, all in black ( or at least dark clothing).

Police have stated & my husband has read that he has been around the neighborhood for about 5 weeks now and his territory seems to cover from Admiral to Genesse & from 45th to 53rd.

My observation: it was pouring rain for those few hours. The person is either persistent with foul weather gear or lives close enough to go home & dry the clothes before going back out.

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Urgent Reader Recommendation Request: Basement help
December 3, 2007 12:45 pm
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   December 2007 flooding | Reader recommendations | Seaview | West Seattle weather

Some WSB readers still might not be able to post comments because of our ongoing tech work but if you are seeing this – you should be able to – and Cali in Seaview would appreciate advice:

> We are looking for a good service to call to help us with our basement flooding. We have tried everything all morning, it is not stopping. I am sure there are other people going through the same thing. Any help would be much appreciated.

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Beach Drive reported closed by slide
December 3, 2007 12:26 pm
|    Comments Off on Beach Drive reported closed by slide
 |   December 2007 flooding | Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

Included in this city press release: a report of a slide closing Beach Drive in the 6000 block. (map here)

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Video: North Delridge-area flooding
December 3, 2007 12:15 pm
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   December 2007 flooding | Delridge | West Seattle news | West Seattle video | West Seattle weather

From the Allstar Fitness/Nucor area:

From Delridge & Orchard:

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More West Seattle storm updates
December 3, 2007 10:33 am
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   December 2007 flooding | West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

(Please scroll down to the bottom of this post for the latest info; today we are updating in chronological order rather than reverse chronological) Can’t say this often enough: If you don’t HAVE TO drive, don’t. The water’s accumulating faster than even the best drains can handle it. Looks like bridge access from Delridge to the high bridge is back; the Fauntleroy/Graham trouble spot is open but the water is very tricky to navigate – here’s photographic proof:

Please e-mail us with info on any flooding trouble you are experiencing or seeing, so we can share it. Newest note is from Greg Daly, who says:

We had 4″ of water in our basement this morning due to a plugged up drain,
so I thought readers might be interested (as I was) in local weather stations. There are two between Lincoln Park and Alki, you can watch the rain totals update live if you’re so inclined.

Here are the weather station links Greg mentioned: first one here, second one here. 11:07 AM UPDATE: From Vickie:

I was driving to work about an hour ago trying to figure out which way to go through Delridge…the Allstar Fitness parking lot is completely flooded to the point where at least one car is totally submerged, you can just barely see its rooftop in the lower part of the lot. At the time I drove through the water in the lot was almost equal to the side street next to it and beginning to overflow into the street itself.

11:10 AM UPDATE: The WSB team member who’s currently roving with cameras verifies this, says the creek is definitely spilling over in spots, and also says the street is closed by Nucor/Allstar, and that someone at Nucor told him the plant is closed too (if anyone has info to the contrary, please e-mail us; we’ll try confirming by phone as well). 11:50 AM UPDATE: From Erin: “Just got back from dropping my husband off at the airport – we had read earlier that W Marginal was flooded so we took the high bridge to I-5. There are long back ups (all the way to I-5) trying to get IN to the airport due to flooding, so please inform your readers to take 509/518 if that route is now open, or to leave plenty early.”

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Delridge ramp to West Seattle Bridge closed; other woes
December 3, 2007 6:25 am
|    Comments Off on Delridge ramp to West Seattle Bridge closed; other woes
 |   December 2007 flooding | Delridge | West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

Traffic reports say you can’t get to The Bridge from Delridge because of deep water that even has a car stuck in it. Also, WSB reader “K” warns everyone to check their basements — after waking up to flooding woes. 6:43 AM UPDATE: Also, if you use the The Viaduct, alternates might be a good idea because the Battery Street Tunnel is reported to be closed. There is one slight bit of good news – the National Weather Service says the strongest winds today will be “mainly north of Seattle” — so looks like we are “only” going to have to deal with the rain. 7:13 AM UPDATE: It’s likely slow going no matter where you are coming from — part of our team is trying to make it to The Bridge on Fauntleroy and reporting a delay that starts around Graham — because of very deep water, with city crews on the scene. Going to try to divert to 35th; will let you know if trouble ensues there. 7:30 AM UPDATE: Gave up on the 35th idea, still slogging along Fauntleroy past ex-Gee/ex-Huling — here’s the city cam:

7:45 AM UPDATE: Longfellow Creek is “as high as we have ever seen it,” says one nearby resident. Radio traffic report says cars are backed up on Admiral trying to get to The Bridge, too. 7:55 AM UPDATE: Our team member made it to The Bridge and says the left lane is closed, eastbound, roughly parallel with where you exit for Admiral on the other side – looks like a stalled car, tow truck getting in place, traffic moving OK eastbound once you get past it. 8:05 AM UPDATE: Just in from a reader: “West Marginal Way is closed about half way between the bridge and 509 (and there are several very deep very wide puddles even before the closure). This closure hasn’t made the traffic reports yet as far as I can tell. I found this out the hard way this morning.” 8:35 AM UPDATE: Natashia just e-mailed, “Both lanes of northbound 35th are backed up to one road before Morgan. I turned around to head back home, and had to miss turning left onto my road because southbound lanes were traveling tight & aggressive. Be careful out there — and be nice!! :)” (Here’s the traffic cam for 35th, NB cars coming toward the camera) 9:05 AM UPDATE: We’re heading out to check on flooded spots. If you need to drive somewhere, this is one of the best updated lists of “incidents” that we’ve seen.

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Fauntleroy car accident update
December 2, 2007 11:16 pm
|    Comments Off on Fauntleroy car accident update
 |   West Seattle news

Sorry we couldn’t update this sooner; the tech upgrade mentioned earlier is still in progress (so still no new comments, sorry). Turns out this was a fatal accident. According to the Seattle Police media-info recording, a male driver and female passenger were in the car shown at left, speeding northbound on Fauntleroy, in the inside lane, when they tried to change to the right lane around 38th (near the main ex-Gee/ex-Huling showroom), lost control, hit a pole, then the pole snapped and fell on the car, almost instantly killing the driver, identified only as a Seattle man in his 20s. The woman, described by police as a 20-year-old Seattle resident, suffered only minor injuries. Police believe “weather conditions” were a factor as well as speed.

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