West Seattle, Washington
23 Saturday
That’s one of the photos Fauntleroy resident Chris Porter sent us for his story published here about being an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August. Chris has a lot of natural enthusiasm, to say the least — on Election Day morning this past Tuesday, we found him with cheering sign-wavers atop the Fauntleroy overpass:
Hours later, after an early stop at the state Democrats’ party downtown — which he was just leaving when the projected Obama victory was announced at 8 pm — Chris went home, “giddy, tearful, and excited,” to host his own party. Now he’s looking ahead to a trip to D.C. for the inauguration; we sat down to chat with him on Thursday and ask what he thinks as the country comes down from the high spirits of a history-making night and starts looking ahead to what “change” might really mean:Read More
We first read about it on the Seattle Lutheran High School website this morning – students working on a tight deadline to put together care packages for troops, after finding out that an SLHS (civilian) mom was heading for Kuwait with deploying troops:
When we sent a note seeking more info, turned out Bil Hood at SLHS was already rustling up those photos and more information — and he subsequently sent us this article by Kayla, SLHS senior and Key Club vice president:
As Miss Sacha Mann, a Math Teacher and Key Club faculty advisor at Seattle Lutheran High School, was counting money for UNICEF, Mr. Adair Hinds, Head of Seattle Lutheran, approached her with a great opportunity for the school.
A parent of one of the sophomores, who works in the airline industry, will be taking 400 soldiers to Kuwait, and Miss Mann was asked that Key Club put together packages of items that would be donated by students and their families. “I was impressed with the overwhelming generosity and involvement by our students and their families to bring in the donations and write thoughtful cards in such short notice,” said Miss Mann, referring to the very short 2-day timeline the school was given. Key Club not only packaged these gift bags, but also supplied cellophane bags and granola bars for the packages.
The student body helped write thank-you notes to the soldiers and signed a banner that reads, “Seattle Lutheran High School supports our troops.” (top photo) 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.
With a very short deadline from Tuesday to Thursday, the school was able to put together more than 350 packages. In an effort to continue to support our troops, we have a Soldier’s Angels Club that is sponsoring 2 Marines who have been deployed to Iraq, and anyone interested in donating items for the care packages can bring them to the school office with a note for the Soldier’s Angels Club. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Seattle Lutheran High School is on Genesee between 41st and 42nd; here’s a map.
Two big names on the roster tonight. Frances Farmer’s Revenge (read our in-depth preview here) at the Admiral, and Twelfth Night Productions‘ “Bullshot Crummond” (WSB sponsor) opening night. Then tomorrow is Green Seattle Day and there are ways you can help (yes you can!) – a cat adopt-a-thon at Southwest Community Center too … Those are part of the 41 West Seattle events, from live music to work parties to a FREE dinner (with just one catch), on our handy list ahead:Read More
Alki Elementary is having a Veterans Day assembly on Monday (no school Tuesday) and we just heard from Diane Fields, who is trying to find veterans to be part of the assembly. You’d have to be available in time to get to the school by 2 pm Monday. If you can do it – or if you have a question first – please e-mail or call Diane ASAP, dianefields47@comcast.net or 206/954-1505.
Last week, we shot that video of West Seattle resident and South Seattle Community College faculty member Mike Hickey reading during one of the two forums for Seattle Poet Populist candidates, and we invited you again to vote. Just checked the Poet Populist website for word of results – and we discovered that Mike won! Congratulations! Here are the final vote totals. A celebration is set for 7 pm next Friday @ Hugo House. ADDED 2:56 PM FRIDAY: Publishing this story reminded us that we had video of King County’s Poet Laureate, Dr. Mona Lake Jones, from a White Center event earlier this week, and hadn’t posted it. She spoke during the YWCA Learning Center/King County Library branch ribboncutting at Greenbridge, on 8th SW just south of Roxbury, and she was fabulous. Click ahead to see our clip of her entire 6-minute poem/speech – or just check out the start to at least see what she’s all about:
Just in from SDOT: “There is a report of an accident northbound on the Alaskan Way Viaduct approaching Seneca Street that is blocking the two right-hand lanes. Traffic is very slow from approximately South Royal Brougham Way.”
When we got the first tips last month that November 7th would be the long-anticipated closing day for the Jefferson Square Starbucks, company PR would only confirm “end of October” — but we just stopped in to check, and today is indeed its final day. 7 pm, doors close, leaving West Seattle with Alki, Admiral, Triangle, Morgan Junction, Westwood Village Starbucks (not counting the supermarket/bookstore stands). The Jefferson Square SBUX closes two days short of what would have been its first anniversary.
Trouble in the Triangle. Sort of. Read the whole tale in this WSB Forums post.
Almost 5 months after it closed for major upgrades of systems including water heating, air circulation, and electrical service, Southwest Pool reopens at noon today (here’s our preview from yesterday) … The centennial celebration at Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) continues with the Fauntleroy Art Show, open to the public in the church’s fellowship hall 7:30-9 tonight and 10 am-4 pm tomorrow (long list of artists; see it here) … High-school football tonight: Chief Sealth hosts Lakeside at Southwest Athletic Complex, 7 pm (congratulations to Seattle Lutheran for a 53-0 win over Evergreen Lutheran last night; West Seattle HS plays Enumclaw @ Memorial Stadium tomorrow) … Many more events in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup, which we’ll publish later this morning.
By the time the first official city-organized meeting — not the first public meeting — about possible changes to California Place Park had ended, one Friends and Neighbors of North Admiral co-chair was fiercely defending the process she and other group members had gone through to get their idea to what amounts to the official starting line. And park-change opponents were just as fierce in their opposition. The person who’s accountable for the final decision on what, if anything, will happen at the park, Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher, opened the meeting — what he said, and what else was said, declared, argued, proclaimed — plus what’s next — just ahead:Read More
We couldn’t make it to GET YR FASH ON at Mission last night — meetings to cover, news to report. As terminally unfashionable as we are, who knows if they even would have let us in. But never fear – for anyone else who missed it but wondered what transpired on the runway — actually the Mission bar — Urban Fashion Network has photos (with a link to more).
Tonight’s Fairmount Community Association meeting was the first neighborhood-council gathering at which BlueStar Management has publicly discussed its plan to acquire yet another piece of Junction/Triangle real estate: the Huling Chrysler site just east of the 76 station at Fauntleroy/Alaska. It’s immediately across Fauntleroy from one of the projects BlueStar already has on the drawing board, Gateway Center (the old Huling Buick site), which in turn is across 39th from BlueStar’s Fauntleroy Place (Whole Foods). Shown in the photo above, from tonight’s meeting in the Providence Mount St. Vincent chapel, is BlueStar’s Easton Craft; read on to see what he had to say about the new proposal and the seemingly endless questions about whether the Whole Foods project is really going forward, plus other notes from the meeting (including Harbor Properties‘ presentation):Read More
This information has been emerging in the comments section on our followup to last Saturday’s diver rescue near Seacrest (original WSB report here; followup here), as well as in e-mail exchanges with the diver’s sister, but since many people wouldn’t normally check back on a days-old story, 
we want to publish an update here: According to West Seattle resident Lila Tran, sister of the rescued diver Duy Tran (shown at left in a photo she shared), “After some tests, the doctors told us that there is zero hope for recovery. At this point, the machine is keeping him breathing but his brain is completely gone.” She added that her mother is still holding onto hope of a miracle, and so was planning to move Duy — a 30-year-old father of two — to a “long-term care facility.” We had asked Lila if there was anything the community could do to help, and after a few days’ thought she told us they may indeed need help with medical bills; we are waiting to hear information on either a fund to which people can contribute, or a PayPal link, and will let you know when we get that information. Meantime, the most recent comment on our previous update comes from a contractor for whom Duy had worked; he writes, “I would like to say that ‘Lou’..as I know him by, is a very great man, and I’m DEEPLY saddened by this. I am a General Contractor and Lou is our hardwood floor installer, and is a very honorable man who I have gotten to know well over the past couple years. It hit me hard on Monday when Lou didn’t show up for the job…I knew something happened because he has never missed a deadline, and then I spoke with his brother and it broke my heart to hear this.” Seattle Police divers were investigating immediately after the accident on Saturday morning; some accounts of what happened have been posted on this Northwest Dive Club forum thread.
In the “no news is good news” vein, we did want to let you know that so far we haven’t heard of any major problems around West Seattle, though the rain is steady and the night is young. If you have to go out, don’t just drive carefully, also walk carefully, since so many wet slippery leaves are on sidewalks, parking strips, gutters, etc. All of King County remains under an “urban and small stream flood advisory” from the National Weather Service till early tomorrow morning; that’s detailed here. Meantime, the county has activated its Flood Warning Center because of some river trouble – you can watch for alerts on that and other regional emergency-related news at rpin.org. We’ll keep watch on into the night and starting early for the morning commute too, since that’s when these kind of conditions can lead to the most trouble.
We’re at Hiawatha Community Center for the first city-organized meeting on the proposal to add a “playscape” to California Place Park. About 100 people here – biggest turnout we’ve seen at a public meeting in a while. The “no change” crowd seems to have the most vocal representation so far. City Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher (at left in the photo above) addressed the crowd at the start of the meeting. Full report later. 7:48 PM NOTE: It’s been contentious at times – emotional at times – this is the first of four meetings – no dates for the future meetings are set yet. We will let you know the moment they are. Full details to come.
You’d probably have to be a real Southwest Pool devotee to notice what is NOT in that picture 
we took this afternoon, during a tour of the work that’s been done since the pool closed — thanks to project manager Garrett Farrell, who gave us a guided preview tour just before the mid-June shutdown (see it here), then sent word today that he could squeeze in a pre-reopening tour if we were interested. That, despite his work zone still being a hive of activity, with contractors, pool staffers, painters, and inspectors – note all the permit paperwork on the front window, shown at left. (Give up on the top photo guess yet? The pool’s old, stained waterslide is no more.) But there’s a lot more you won’t see which constitutes the infrastructure improvements and upgrades that the project was really all about. For example, take a look at the blue structure that’s been added on to the northeast side of the pool building:
Unless you are a staffer or contractor, you’ll never see the air-circulation equipment that’s inside – but we got to climb a ladder for a sneak peek (that’s Farrell, surveying the work):
We’re processing video and pix to add to this report, along with more information on the power, energy-saving, and water-treatment features that have been added (plus one effect poolgoers will notice from the new air-circulation system). But we wanted to get this first part out fast enough to let you know, it’s confirmed — after a couple delays along the way, and what turned out to be almost five months of work, Southwest Pool — West Seattle’s only city-run indoor pool — WILL reopen at noon tomorrow. ADDED THURSDAY EVENING: More on the improvements resulting from the months of work and installation of new equipment, including the energy-efficiency specifics:Read More
From the city’s latest semiweekly Land Use Information Bulletin: Formal applications have been deemed “complete” for for the two buildings that Conner Homes proposes in The Junction, California/Alaska and Alaska/42nd. That means the formal comment period is open — for the next 13 days. You can send those comments through Nov. 19th via the city’s online form, by clicking “comment on application” on this page for the California/Alaska building and on this page for the Alaska/42nd building. The city pages now describe both as 7-story buildings, with 72 residential units in the California building and 126 in the 42nd building, plus the 307-space underground garage (requiring a subterranean “alley vacation” that needs City Council approval). P.S. Today’s LUIB also included a reminder of the next Design Review meeting for the Admiral Safeway project; as we first told you a week ago, that meeting will be at 6:30 pm 11/20, West Seattle (Admiral) Library branch.
Serious rain off and on so far today — forecast has updated with an alert of “heavy rainfall possible tonight through Friday morning” — and the city’s already in “urban flood response” mode, according to an alert from Seattle Public Utilities. We talked with spokesperson Andy Ryan, who says SPU is keeping close watch on known trouble spots around the city, including parts of North Delridge (who can forget what happened 11 months ago); WSB’er Chris, in fact, tweeted that he was “delighted to see the utility crew cleaning up/checking on the Delridge onramp at 5:45 this morning” and suggests we remind everyone that the Drainage Emergency Hotline is 206-386-1800. (At left, the view through the window, er, windshield, of the WSB Mobile Office. Anyone recognize the backdrop?)
Last night at the North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting (full report on main topics coming up later), some attendees (good crowd BTW!) were abuzz about e-mail from 
a neighbor detailing a Halloween night scare. Before reporting it, we checked this morning with Lt. Steve Paulsen at the Southwest Precinct to confirm the basics of what happened: Just before 3 am Saturday, “officers responded to a disturbance in the 5600 blk of 26th Ave SW (map). An unwanted guest came to the party with a rifle. Party guests wrestled the gun away and secured the subject. Police took the suspect into custody.” According to the neighbor’s e-mail, it was an assault rifle (police don’t dispute this, though we haven’t yet seen the full report), and “securing” the suspect involved duct tape. 4 PM UPDATE: MB just left this as a comment – wanted to add it here too for those who don’t usually read comments:
I can’t help but comment since I was at the party and grew up just down the street, so I know the neighborhood well. My mom mentioned it to a neighbor, who then brought it up at the recent Delridge meeting. I had already gone home when this went down, but it was my brave husband who took the rifle away from this idiot…and it was an AK47. I can’t thank him and his friends enough for literally saving the day. My husband initiated, but his amazing and brave group of friends were right behind him to help. They showed GREAT restraint in not doing serious physical harm to this guy. Thanks to them the night ended with no one hurt. I want to stress that this was not a party full of drunk teenagers or bad people who brought this on in any way. We had a great night with no problems until this happened. For whatever reason this guy didn’t like being told the party was about over. Thank god for people like my husband who aren’t willing to stand by and watch a tragedy unfold without trying to stop it. I am shaking with pride as I type! I guess he learned a thing or two during his two deployments (2005 in Iraq and 2007 in Afghanistan, he just got home in May). I am a lucky lady
Post-election and pre-(potential) weathermania, are you ready for some laughs? We’re welcoming a new sponsor – Twelfth Night Productions, opening “Bullshot Crummond” tomorrow night at Youngstown Arts Center. Here’s the official announcement:
“Before there was Austin Powers, before there was James Bond, there was … Bullshot Crummond! International man of action! … well … British man of action! … well … he certainly is British. Twelfth Night Productions presents Bullshot Crummond, a parody of the British pulp hero Bulldog Drummond, written by Ron House, Diz White, John Neville-Andrews, Alan Shearman, and Derek Cunningham. Bullshot Crummond was before James Bond and before special effects, providing much of the fun in this hilarious send up of 1930s low budget “B” action movies. The action opens with Teutonic villain Otto von Brunno and his evil mistress Lenya as they crash their plane in the English countryside and kidnap Professor Fenton, who has discovered a formula for making synthetic diamonds. Bullshot Crummond is called to the rescue and hilarity insues. Come see Bullshot Crummond as he saves the world one blunder at a time. Bullshot Crummond runs for a special two-week engagement at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (map) in West Seattle, formerly historic Cooper School. Showtimes are: November 7, 8, 14, 15 at 7:30 PM, and November 9, 16 matinees at 3 PM. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students & seniors, and are available through Brown Paper Tickets (brownpapertickets.com/event/46871) and at the Youngstown theater box office one hour before showtime on performance days.” We wish the Twelfth Night Productions crew a jolly good run for “Bullshot Crummond,” and thank them for sponsoring WSB to get out the word; the complete current list of sponsors is on this page along with info on how to join them!
(Photo by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli)
We reported last night on the impending closure of Beato Food and Wine after 2 years. Owner Brandon Gillespie promised more information today, and it’s in now. For starters, he says: “Beato is currently for sale. Anyone interested should contact Laura Miller at Catalyst Commercial Partners, 206-351-3573.” (Same listing agent as Blackbird.) His official statement in an e-mail newsletter includes information on final specials:
Due to the current economic conditions, I unfortunately have no choice but to close the doors of Beato Food & Wine. I cannot express how saddened I am to have to do so, and how much I have appreciated your business and support over the last two years. I want to thank the entire staff for all of their hard work. And more importantly, I want to thank all of our wonderful customers who supported us throughout. The final day of operation for Beato will be Friday, November 14th.
In an attempt to celebrate the last week and a half of the restaurant, we have changed the menu as well as designed a four-course tasting menu with wine pairings, available Tuesday through Thursday, for a great price. In addition, from now until our closing, we will be offering a 30% discount on all bottles of wine. Once again, I want to thank everyone who supported Beato over the last two years and invite you to join us one last time to taste an exceptional wine flight as well as what I believe is our strongest menu to date.
(Here’s the info on that “wine flight.”) Beato opened in December 2006 in the space that had previously been O2, after Ovio Bistro moved to The Junction (where it closed in June 2007, in the space now held by Ama Ama). It should be noted that while Beato will be the second West Seattle restaurant to close this fall, three are still scheduled to open — Cafe Revo on Avalon (new construction photos here), Fresh Bistro at Mural across from Jefferson Square (most recent WSB coverage here), and Zeeks Pizza in Morgan Junction (WSB coverage here) — and on a smaller scale, today is opening day for the OK Corral barbecue takeout place in the Triangle area (here’s our story from last weekend).
From the WSB Events calendar, a busy night: The first official Parks Department-organized meeting on the proposal for a “play area” at the California Place mini-park in North Admiral is at Hiawatha Community Center, 6 pm; Fairmount Community Association gets an update on the nearest Triangle developments and more, 6:30 pm at the chapel at The Mount; several fun events too including the Get Yr Fash On runway show at Mission (doors open 6 pm).
The Southwest District Council has new co-chairs for next year: Erica Karlovits of the Junction Neighborhood Organization and Chas Redmond from the Morgan Community Association. That was the easy part of Wednesday night’s meeting; otherwise, tough transportation talk put city reps in the hot seat — read on:Read More
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