Hot headlines from the Alki Community Council meeting
We went to hear the latest developments in the Statue of Liberty situation, and came away with information on much more. Full reports to come, but for now, the headlines:
-A big new “workforce housing” (we’re guessing that’s the new buzzphrase for “affordable housing”) project is under consideration for Port of Seattle property along Harbor Ave (south of Florida).
-A little further west along Harbor Ave, there’s a new proposal for a Water Taxi terminal at a site adjacent to Jack Block Park known as Pier 1/2. With 500 parking spaces!
-New Liberty developments, too, including the Parks Department announcing an official public meeting about its future, 7 pm Sept. 13. (Location TBA.)
Stand by for more on all of the above and then some …
Bakery that’s not opening in WS
Don’t faint. A West Seattle-based couple is opening their own bakery — but not on our side of the bay. We best remember Stephanie Crocker and her “Sugar” creations from the Farmers’ Market last year; also, last November we told you about the pie fundraiser to help Stephanie and her husband John with expenses from his fight against cancer. That’s going well and now they’re getting ready to open their own place, Sugar Bakery & Cafe on First Hill (and blogging about it too). Stephanie tells WSB they hope to open in October – just in time for the bakery-mania of the holiday season.
Commuting critter
So it seems that before The Commute From Hell became hellish yesterday, it got a little wild. Reader e-mail that just came in:
Did anybody see if the smaller possum that was trundling earnestly up
the center lane (right along the cement divider, not in a traffic lane)
of the eastbound West Seattle freeway at about 7:20 yesterday morning
got up and over the bridge?
When I saw him/her, the little feet were scurrying right along, and
however I felt about possums, I wanted him to get to safety!
City cash for two WS projects
The folks working on Ercolini Park on SW Alaska just west of The Junction are in line for a $90,000 Neighborhood Matching Fund Award from the city — this isn’t a giveaway, but a hard-fought win that’s only possible when community members commit time and money to projects, enough to impress city leaders to chip in. Ercolini Park organizer Bill Barna says they have a little more fundraising to do — $6K worth — you can go to the Ercolini Park website to find out how to contact them to chip in $ (or anything else the project needs). Congratulations also are in order to Gatewood Elementary School; the next phase of its playground project also is in line for a $90K matching-fund grant. (Full list of matching-fund projects citywide, including a South Park skatepark, is readable here.)
Liberty sooner or Liberty later: Meeting #3 tonight
One year ago tomorrow, the old Alki Statue of Liberty was taken down and trucked away. 
Tonight at the monthly Alki Community Council meeting, it’s a third round of discussion about what could, should, and might happen next. (This follows two meetings in the past 8 days organized by community members Libby and Paul Carr, who are trying to re-start the project to build a plaza around the recast statue; here’s our report on the first meeting; a WSB reader’s observations from the second one is in the comments here.) Parks Department rep Pamela Kliment, who’s collecting public comment on all this, tells us she’ll be at this meeting after having to skip the last one; so will the Carrs. It’s an important debate about a West Seattle icon; get in on it by going tonight (7 pm, Alki Community Center) or by e-mailing Kliment (click here).
Thanks & good night
Much more WS news to tell you about, but it’s going to have to wait till morning. For now, we close the night with words of thanks for polite WS drivers, from a WSB reader who hopes to see more of them:
I know that it’s been tough for commuters using Admiral Way lately.
From those of us living just off Admiral between 37th and 39th, I’d like to send out a thank you to the few drivers who have been kind enough to let us into and out of our neighborhood.
Some days (like Monday when I had to take my cat to the vet) I waited 10 minutes to turn right onto Admiral from 39th. Finally, one driver, a man in a black sedan, let me in. Special thanks to that driver!
Your tree, your plaque
We didn’t get pix during the Concert in the Park last night … so here now for your viewing pleasure now, belatedly, are the tree and plaque on the south side of Hiawatha Community Center, officially dedicated last night by Hizzoner in honor of West Seattle’s annexation centennial (so now can we secede? j/k):ÂÂ
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Toddler-friendly WS coffee shop?
A WSB reader stuck on this side of the bridge because of the Commute From Hell (see below) wonders if any WS coffee shop is toddler-friendly (play area, perhaps?). We have been to most if not all WS coffee shops in recent months and can’t recall any — but perhaps something has changed — anyone?
Commute from hell
Was it a preview of Life Without The Viaduct? The Battery Street Tunnel closed for a while at peak commute time this morning because of an accident, and that meant an hour-plus from WS to downtown. Another reason to check traffic reports BEFORE you hit the road (oops).
Aliens over Alki?
A local internet-service pioneer (we remember hearing about his company way back when we got online in the early ’90s) keeps a blog about UFO sightings and ET encounters, after experiencing one himself. Today he has posted a photo he took at Alki on Monday, saying he thinks it shows a “teardrop-shaped UFO.” (Hmm, taken the same day it was reported a new “X-Files” movie might finally come to pass. The truth is out there … somewhere.)
Big Band, big fun
This morning’s rain was just a memory by the time the West Seattle Big Band opened its annual Hi-Yu Festival Concert in the Park tonight at Hiawatha. Excellent, eclectic program … preceded by West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician, who said a few things about his home ‘hood’s annexation centennial and noted a new commemorative tree and plaque on the south side of the community center. We caught a more interesting scene on the sidelines pre-concert, which we would have liked to have dubbed the dog ‘n’ pony show if only a canine had been present:
Then, the tunes. This was the first time we’ve ever seen/heard the WS Big Band, a volunteer group which donates its time and money to promote music in public schools.
More pix and notes from the concert, plus your next chance to catch the WSBB, after the click:Read More
2 simple ways to help WS families
#1 — Buy a backpack (or more than one) and donate it to the West Seattle Helpline back-to-school backpack drive, under way right this very moment. They hope to hand out hundreds next month. Drop off the backpack(s) at Capers in The Junction, or at Helpline’s new HQ in the WS Community Resource Center, 35th & Morgan (Tues-Thurs, 10 am-2 pm).
#2 — Pre-order your copy of the new “Harry Potter” book from Square 1 Books in Jefferson Square before Friday, and $5 will go to WestSide Baby — plus you’ll get two tickets to a special “Harry Potter” event at the Admiral Theater on Friday. (It’s also not too soon to start gearing up for WestSide Baby’s “Stuff the Bus” diaper drive on 7/29!)
Stop and smell the roses (and the lavender, and …)
Great news for garden lovers — organizers tell us tickets are still left for this weekend’s West Seattle Garden Tour. At your leisure, as long as it’s between 9 am and 5 pm Sunday, you will get to go gawk at “an eclectic mix of eight residential gardens” and hear from guest lecturer Marianne Binetti. You can even buy tickets online if you do it by tomorrow, or you can get tix in person up through tour day at a variety of locations including ArtsWest, West Seattle Nursery, Capers, True Value, and Metro Market.
Recycling, the final frontier
We’ve confessed before that food-waste recycling is the one type of recycling we just haven’t quite gotten on board with yet. Looks like we’re going to have to; reports this morning (Times here, Weekly here) say we’re all going to be paying for pickup in less than 2 years. We hate paying for something we’re not using. Like the basic cable channels we don’t watch. Wish tv channels could be purchased a la carte. But we digress. So, we’ll get with the program. Maybe Sustainable West Seattle has advice! (More on the city’s “zero waste strategy” here.)
Hey, leg lovers! Remember the virtual catcalls over the Spud mascot in our pic (photo back for an encore performance at right) from the 
We’re counting down to the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival American Legion Grand Parade this Saturday morning (
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