Maybe Queen Anne would have been a better example
Our websearch for WS news turned up the following quote in this story from Spokane. We’re scratching our heads because honestly, even with the condos and townhouses, we still think WS is far from a horror story.
“My vision of Spokane Valley is not to look like West Seattle in 30 years,” (Spokane) Councilman Rich Munson said
You suppose we can get our WS-dwelling mayor and councilmember to call him up and tell him to stop dissing us?
It’s in their nature — and yours
Every week in our West Seattle weekend lineup, we include the “work parties” that are set up each month at sites that are among our area’s most precious natural treasures. For example, the Brandon Street Natural Area, which is a section of the Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail, where Jay Mirro leads the monthly events and is hoping to see a few more folks turn out today. He writes:
Brandon Street Natural Area is just west of the corner of 26th and Brandon Street (2 blocks west of Delridge). We work from 10-2. Volunteers can expect to pull weeds and wheelbarrow mulch. It is a family friendly day of work along a beautiful day section of the trail by Longfellow Creek. Folks should bring water and a lunch.
Nice day to work outdoors, too, with the cloud cover. Drop by & be a hero. If you’re wondering first, what’s a work party really like – Lina Rose from EarthCorps wrote us with a recap and some pix from the West Duwamish Greenbelt event last weekend; like the one today at Brandon Street, it involved a lot of mulch:
Click ahead to read Lina’s recap (including what this work will enable volunteers to do next time), see more pix (including one that might answer questions such as “gosh, would I really fit in at one of those work parties?”), and find out about an event next weekend:Read More
Fire semi-drill
A nerve-wracking time tonight for the Delridge complex hit by the last big-ish WS fire just last weekend. Here’s another eyewitness account and pix from Sage K:
Our SFD has been hard at work lately; there was another response to the Longfellow Creek Apts, D building tonight around 9 pm. 6 fire trucks rolled up and Delridge was blocked off around the complex. 3 fire trucks were quickly sent on their way, and the remaining 3 had things quickly under control as it was only smoke and not a fire. They soon rolled up their hoses, let people back into the building and were on their way. The scene was clear as of 9:30 pm. On an interesting note a Metro bus 120 got waylaid on the side of the road where it had pulled off. The hoses were right in front of it. The bus with passengers had to wait their until the road was cleared.
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One picnic down, one to go
Photos below from tonight’s Alki community picnic @ the playfield — barbecue and bouncing, what more could you ask for on a nice night like this? Tomorrow afternoon, another picnic to which all of West Seattle is invited: It’s at the Seattle Police Southwest Precinct next to Home Depot, and besides picnicking with your protectors, you also will get a chance to tour the precinct — 1-4 pm tomorrow.
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Fire investigation update, Friday night
More pix and a little more information on the aftermath of the 4132 Cali fire: First photo below, looked like investigators were wrapping up at the scene a little while ago. Slog reports the Seattle Fire Department told them that the ATF involvement is routine for “large fires” like this and that so far there is no reason to suspect anything criminal, though the official cause has yet to be announced. Second photo below is from Christopher Boffoli, who talked with firefighters when he visited the site and reports the ones who were hurt are doing OK; in addition, he was told the firefighter who reportedly had a broken leg, actually just has a dislocated shoulder.
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Freeway Fright ’07: Beware the drive home
By all accounts, things are uglier out there than even the usual sunny “let’s get out of here and get the weekend started” Friday afternoon. And there’s a Mariners game tonight, to boot, which usually bodes badly for the southbound Viaduct. Here’s the latest from WSDOT; if you want to check our group of relevant-to-WS live cams, all six are now at the top of our West Seattle Cams page. Drive safely!
Officially open
We reported 2 days ago that Bubbles on Delridge was expected to open by the end of the week … and indeed it has … just got this photo, GRAND OPENING sign and all, while en route to check the fire investigation (more on that in a few minutes). A reader writes to tell us the hours for Bubbles on Delridge are 6 am-8 pm M-F, 8 am-8 pm Sat-Sun.
Working to find out how the fire started
New photos from the fire scene: Investigators are there, looking around the nearby buildings as well as the burned condo project itself. Several people who lived in apartments to the south are still staying somewhere else because it’s too dangerous. No updates yet on how this started. This will have interesting ramifications for the block in general, since besides the project that burned, several other nearby sites are slated for construction.
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Fire aftermath
This morning the Seattle Times says three firefighters were taken to the hospital, one with a possible broken arm. This is the scene this morning and the smoke odor hits you from a block away. 8:12 AM UPDATE: Fire Department quote here, new construction goes up “like a campfire” (as Garrett’s photos show) … By the way, Cali IS open past the fire scene; watch out for looky-loo slowing.
The southwest corner of the building had the most damage.
Update on big fire north of The Junction
We are just back from going down to check out the big fire near Cali/Genesee; Cali is blocked between Oregon and Dakota because of the huge response. The burned building is out of view but a neighbor who says he made the 911 call told us at the scene that it’s the under-construction condo building on the east side of Cali and at least one of its floors collapsed as it burned (comments on our first post below would seem to confirm that). He says there were huge flames for a while. The entire blocked-off zone is full of fire units (more than two dozen called out, according to the city 911 site); it appears at least one person got hurt — we saw someone on a stretcher wheeled into an aid car. You can expect the street to stay blocked off for quite some time while this is investigated; we will check back after the sun comes up to see how much damage was done.
Big fire callout
Anybody up late, we are hearing the sirens here – two miles away – and seeing the online 911 for a big fire callout at Cali/Genesee. If you’re closer, let us know what you see. We’re not sure how close we’ll be able to get.
33.3% of the City Council visits WS
(left to right starting with the pink jacket, are Seattle City Council members Jan Drago, Richard McIver, Sally Clark, meeting at High Point Community Center tonight as the Economic Development and Neighborhoods Committee)
We went to tonight’s meeting to make sure we didn’t miss anything earthshattering. A few dozen other people showed up to see what happened with the latest proposals to crack down on nightclub noise and violence; the new noise rules advanced unanimously, the “nightlife premises licensing” proposal got a 2-1 vote (McIver against). The latter proposal has been watered down a bit (potentially affecting far fewer businesses around the city) and didn’t draw much passionate opposition; the only emotional public testimony came from two women who say they got beat up at a Belltown club the other night and couldn’t get the club to care, so they’re for tougher rules, as is Jackie Ramels of the Alki Community Council, who spoke early in the meeting to voice her support. Toward the end of 2 1/2 long hours, the council members heard excellent short presentations by leaders of the High Point redevelopment project, the West Seattle Food Bank, Neighborhood House, and Safe Futures — lots of specifics there for future updates here.
TONIGHT: Have fun, help fix up the Admiral Theater
Hot out of the WSB inbox: The Admiral Theater is having a “surprise midnight movie” TONIGHT (doors open 11:30), admission $5, all proceeds to the restoration project. The movie: “Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End.” Be there! Also from the Admiral Theater, two more items that are free to a good home, first come first serve according to the theater’s Steve Garrett: Glass-top display freezer, and upright “Pepsi refrigerator.” Steve says both “need to be charged.” Don’t wait till the midnight movie, call him now if you want either or both at 206-938-0360 theater, 206-856-9798 cell.
Pup protection
The harbor-seal pup that’s been hanging out on Alki now has its own protection zone, with yellow (crime scene type) tape blocking off a section of beach by the Bathhouse. We caught a photo just before the seal went for a noontime swim, with the help of zoom – since as we all need to remember, it’s important to KEEP YOUR DISTANCE …
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