West Seattle, Washington
18 Wednesday
The Rotary Club of West Seattle sends word of an updated deadline for ordering raspberries and blueberries as part of its annual berry sale – July 22nd (one week from today). Pickup will be July 25-26 in the south parking lot at Admiral Safeway, and they’re expecting to offer “walk-up” sales those days too. Full details at the Rotary website.
From time to time, someone will e-mail or call about a disturbing/unexplained smell of some type, somewhere. Someone who talked with us at Summer Fest even asked about something he’d noticed repeatedly. We don’t always publish these reports – we’ve referred people directly to the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency – but now we’re thinking “crowdsourcing” just might help solve the mystery, so here’s one that just came in from Heather:
I’m not sure whether this is the sort of thing that justifies a request for information from the readers, but this morning there’s a terrible, noxious, plasticky smell over our neighborhood (west side of 35th and Holden) [map], and I wonder if anyone else notices it, and whether anyone knows what it is. This is maybe the third time I’ve noticed this, and it worries me. It reminds me of the smell of pesticides sprayed by crop dusters.
Our first line of advice was to complain to PSCAA so they at least have a record of it. Here’s how to do that.
POLICE APPRECIATION DAY: 10 am-8 pm @ Southwest Precinct, drop by and tell West Seattle’s police force “thanks.” VIADUCT PUBLIC MEETING: 5-8 pm, Madison Middle School, focusing on the South End Replacement Project‘s environmental assessment (see it here). FREE CONCERT: The West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival Concert in the Park is tonight, 7 pm, east lawn at Hiawatha – starring the West Seattle Big Band – take a blanket, lawn chairs, picnic dinner, have a blast. See you there.
Just out of the WSB inbox, from Deanna:
I live in the townhouses right next to the old Fairmount Elementary School (next to the baseball fields) and my car was vandalized sometime early Saturday morning (between 12 am and 8 am). These little f***ers for fun just ripped off my passenger side mirror and threw it into the street to get smashed. Good times! Also, they bent my neighbor’s antenna on her car so that it will no longer go up and down as her car starts.
Just thought you might want to know. Not that the police did anything other than take the report over the phone. But I hear kids out here all the time behind the abandoned school, and I think it’s time we start calling this stuff in and make them do something.
As we mentioned in e-mail back to Deanna, filing reports – no matter how small the vandalism, or theft, or other “property crime” seems to be – is really important, because tracking trends helps police determine how to deploy patrol resources, and which areas they need to keep a closer eye on. The nonemergency number is 206-625-5011.
We spotted the city’s newest fireboat Leschi cruising past Seacrest at sunset – no spray but scenic nonetheless. To the southwest, David Hutchinson caught this view of a sailboat near Alki Point:
One other photo to share – a different view of the Mount Rainier cloud we photographed from a ferry west of Fauntleroy last night – West Seattle resident Scott took this pic from Sunrise:
We love photos, from beauty shots to breaking news and beyond – editor@westseattleblog.com any time!
WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham sent that photo he shot a while back of West Seattle entrepreneur Ken Ahroni and his Lucky Break Wishbones, with word the Times reported over the weekend that Ahroni won his lawsuit against Sears. The story also says the long legal fight has taken something of a toll on Ahroni’s business, but he’s hoping to get back on the growth curve with a new marketing campaign.
As reported here last month, SDOT is proceeding with the Alki Point sidewalk project, which has sparked controversy on the partly-sidewalkless side of the west end of Alki Avenue. Project manager Sandra Woods expects to present the next major update at September’s Alki Community Council meeting, but in the meantime, resident Bill Leaming wrote to ask what’s in the plan for “traffic calming” — Woods replied, “We are moving forward with a design that maintains existing traffic conditions and provides accessible sidewalks for the entire project area using public right of way. We are also including several traffic calming measures in the design including improvements to the intersection of Alki Ave SW and 63rd Ave SW and raised crosswalks at both ends of the project.” Bill also inquired about the possibility of a Residential Parking Zone (RPZ); the city notes those have to be “community-initiated’ (more info here). He plans to bring it up for discussion at this week’s ACC meeting (7 pm Thursday, Alki Community Center).
Swedish Automotive recently joined WSB as a sponsor, and we’re telling you about it with a bit of a lag but in time to get out the word about its annual T-shirt giveaway/contest and bag giveaway. 
First, about Swedish Automotive: Swedish has been West Seattle’s Volvo and Saab repair service center since 1983. Owner Dave Winters says his business philosophy is based on his mother’s old saying – take care of your car, and your car will take care of you. Now, about the T-shirts: Right now Swedish is giving away free reusable canvas shopping bags (timely!) and free T-shirts to anyone who stops by. You do not have to have work done on your car to get a T-shirt and/or bag, nor do you have to own a Volvo or a Saab. But here’s another incentive to stop by for a shirt: Between now and the end of August, Swedish Automotive is having its annual T-shirt picture contest. Swedish wants you to send a picture of yourself wearing their T-shirt while on vacation. The person who sends the picture from the place FARTHEST away from Swedish will win dinner for two at Salty’s. (Get your photo to Swedish by 8/31; winner will be announced 9/15.) All pictures must show the wearer next to an identifiable landmark to be eligible. Dave tells us past winning photos have come from all over — Europe and Asia included. To date, the picture that was taken the furthest from Swedish was sent from the tip of South Africa. But even in this time of “staycations,” the T-shirt and reusable bag can come in handy, so visit Swedish Automotive at 7501 35th SW (map), 206-938-8685. We thank Swedish Automotive and all our other sponsors for supporting WSB; interested in joining them, to have your ad seen an average of 16,000+ times every day (6/08 stats)? Here’s where to start.
Another not-just-West-Seattle item, but as with the previous one, your tax dollars are involved here, so you ought to know. Just announced by Seattle Public Utilities:
The city of Seattle’s five automatic public toilets, the subject of intense controversy even before their installation in 2004, will be auctioned on eBay, beginning tomorrow (July 16).
Minimum bid on the Hering-Bau automatic public toilets is $89,000 each. A public meeting on the surplus sales process for the toilets is set for Wednesday, July 23, 2008, at 3 p.m., in the Bertha Knight Landes Room on the first floor of Seattle City Hall, 600 4th Ave.
The toilets will be removed from service — locked and fenced in — on Aug. 1. The units are expected to be physically removed by their new owner sometime later in August.
P.S. Also from eBay, the West Seattle Pizza Time auction has ended with no bidders. (Thanks to Marge for spotting the item.)
On your ballot this November, you’ll find the city levy to raise $73 million over the next six years to fix up the Pike Place Market; the City Council approved it unanimously today. Right now, the council’s Committee of the Whole is discussing the proposed Parks and Green Spaces levy (live via Seattle Channel online or cable channel 21) – a final vote is due before the end of the month; this one’s future is iffier because the mayor doesn’t support sending it to voters this year – if you feel strongly one way or another, you’ll want to contact the mayor and council now (through seattle.gov).
As you can see in that video, not an easy task to move an iguana from one container to another. That’s Seattle Animal Shelter animal-care officer Michael Kokernak making the transfer earlier this afternoon at the shelter’s HQ in Interbay, watched by Sean, the High Point resident who rescued the iguana he’s nicknamed “Lucky.” If you missed it over the past few days, the story first started unfolding here with this post early Saturday, after another High Point neighbor, Ann, saw a couple drive up to the High Point pond, where they abandoned “Lucky.” She and others worried about the iguana’s fate, went looking for it; then Sunday, Sean wound up finding it in a tree near his home – appropriately enough, since he’s an arborist; here’s the photo he took after the rescue, which left him fairly scratched up because “Lucky” was somewhat stuck in that tree:
Sean didn’t want to talk to us on camera; he just wants to make sure “Lucky” finds a good home, and Seattle Animal Shelter is fairly confident it can help make that happen. So if you ever find yourself with a pet you can no longer care for – please don’t just abandon it somewhere – most such cases don’t turn out as well as this one. The shelter promises to let us know when “Lucky” gets adopted. And re: “citywide fame” – at least two citywide-media outlets picked up this tale of neighborliness and animal-welfare concern after seeing it on WSB; the first bit of coverage we know of for sure is via our ex-co-workers at Q13, who were at the shelter for the handoff, so you might see something at 9/10 pm tonight. 10:23 PM UPDATE: Short story on Q13, though they didn’t attribute to WSB, just said “according to a local blog.” Our material is copyrighted, FYI, and we have a strong policy of giving credit where credit’s due when we get info somewhere else, so we’re hopeful that will be remedied if the story is rerun.
For us, one HUGE reason we appreciate the Southwest Precinct and its law-enforcement team is the fact that they have trailblazed a new path to community partnership through their working relationship and info-sharing with WSB (shown above, your editor and young assistant with a few of the officers on Summer Fest detail keeping watch after a weekend full of lost kid/parent reunions and other actions that helped keep the festival VERY safe and pleasant for all). 99% of their time, of course, it’s a vastly more dangerous task, like the bank robbery/shooting two weeks ago and this West Seattle standoff a few months back:
And the most dramatic evidence of what officers face: The case of what happened to Officer Jason McKissack. All these guys and gals are out there (and at the precinct behind-the-scenes) doing an often-thankless job, so tomorrow’s a chance to offer in-person thanks. We’ll be there for the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council-organized Police Appreciation Day tomorrow and hope you will stop by too – any time between 10 am and 8 pm (so come by after work if you don’t have time till then), at the Southwest Precinct, northwest corner of Delridge/Webster, east of Home Depot. And if you have a chance to help with preparations today, there’s a WSB Forum thread right now to rustle up more donations of snacks and drinks for the event; check that out here.
You can even catch this one before the PR viewing party if you’re inclined to attend both: Wednesday night, the Delridge District Council hosts a screening of “Place Matters,” a half-hour-long episode of the PBS series “Unnatural Causes” which compares and contrasts healthy and unhealthy places to live – and the redeveloped High Point is spotlighted as an example of the former. 7 pm Wednesday, Youngstown Arts Center, everyone’s invited (here’s the flyer).
You saw it here weeks ago, but now it’s official – with the premiere two nights away, Bravo has officially announced the cast of “Project Runway” Season 5, including Blayne, the artistic barista from Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor). Here’s his official bio on Bravo’s site (with headshot links below it to the other 15 contestants). As we mentioned last week, Hotwire proprietor Lora Lewis has organized a viewing party for the Wednesday night season premiere in the community room at Ginomai (southwest corner of 42nd/Genesee, right around the corner from Hotwire), 8 pm, BYONABD (bring your own non-alcoholic beverage – and dessert).
Five days to the West Seattle Grand Parade, presented by American Legion Post 160. The Vancouver (B.C.) Police motorcycle drill team (shown above) is one of the 70-ish entries you’ll see (as previewed here earlier this month); the parade will begin with the Vancouver squad following their Seattle Police counterparts. The two have different styles, so having two motorcycle drill teams is by no means repetitive or redundant. And remember, if you loved the Seafair Pirates wading ashore at Alki (WSB coverage here and here), you’ll adore ’em on land. If you’re not already IN the parade, here are two open opportunities for participation: the Rotary Club of West Seattle presents the Kiddie Parade right before the Grand Parade – kids can sign in starting at 9:45 am Saturday at California/Genesee (map here; parade flyer here); and if you do/have done volunteer work of any kind, any amount, come have fun joining us in the first-ever Volunteers of West Seattle Grand Parade Marching Unit — no fancy marching steps required — just showing off the “people power” of volunteering — and there’s a reward involved (read about it here). We’ll continue rolling out more parade info as the countdown continues, leading up to Saturday; if you want to check out our coverage from last year — here’s a post with links to all of it.
Seen from the ferry Sealth between Fauntleroy and Vashon just before sunset – Mount Rainier with a cloud cap. Meantime, a final shot from West Seattle Summer Fest as we departed – the start of an evening full of shutting down and packing up:
Junction streets were set to reopen late tonight; next scheduled closure, California SW next Saturday midday for the West Seattle Grand Parade, south of Admiral to south end of The Junction; our parade countdown starts in the morning.
Saturday night, we brought you a reader report from Ann, who saw someone drive up to the High Point pond area, release an iguana, and drive away. She got worried about it and tried to find it, and others jumped in to help. Finally – as he first posted in a comment on the original item – Sean spotted it:
I read (the original post) and was thinking of all the different ways he was going to meet him maker: dog, raccoon, car,weather, internal issues from lack of food….
I looked out the window to look at my tree and my neighbors and saw something odd. I went outside and what do you know, the Iguana was catching some rays in my neighbors’ tree. I have always handled reptiles so I knew what I was in for. As I sit here bloody and bruised I can say I have caught the scared little guy. Anyone interested in a pet?
So — interested in an iguana (or know someone who could give it a good home)? Click here to e-mail Sean. MONDAY MIDDAY UPDATE IF YOU DON’T READ COMMENTS: Sean is taking “Lucky” the iguana to the Animal Shelter. We’re there to cover the handoff. He posted that they believed they’d be able to find him a good home. “Lucky” sure picked the right tree to hang out in!
(adding frequent updates, including photos, at the bottom of this post – scroll down!)
(that whimsical chair’s on sale at the Art Dive tent, just north of Oregon, artist is Alicia Hopkins, mnahopkins (at) aol.com)
Our third and final day of frequent updates from the WSB Summer Fest HQ in the official Information Booth (come say hi, right in the Walk All Ways intersection at California/Alaska) starts shortly. Our team member who’s first on the scene reports things are getting busy already. The booths are scheduled to be open till 7 pm tonight (fixed typo from earlier – it is SEVEN, and the music continues till then too). More to come – you can find all the official info (including the music lineup) here. 11:58 AM UPDATE: Read More
As we got ready to add that video clip from yesterday’s Ercolini Park dedication to the original report we posted shortly after the event (that report is here), we realized it’s worth a breakout to call attention to the other new parks now in queue for West Seattle, all in various stages of development:
Two are right in the heart of business districts, the as-yet-not-officially-named Morgan Junction park on the former Fauntleroy Auto Repair (and, briefly, monorail-station-earmarked) site north of the new Beveridge Place Pub, and Junction Plaza Park, at the northwest corner of Alaska/42nd. The Morgan Junction project just got $90K in additional city funding to make the preferred design happen (funding coverage here; design coverage here) – here’s the most recent rendering shown to the community:
Junction Plaza Park needs more $ for full development (next steps on that are being planned now) but in the meantime is getting some irrigation and grass seeding (recent WSB coverage here) – we took this photo while a Parks crew was working there earlier this month:
There’s also Dakota Place Park, proceeding somewhat slowly at the old substation site at California/Dakota (haven’t gotten a progress report on that lately), and the Myrtle Reservoir park, to be built next year at the 35th/Myrtle site where the city has just undergrounded a reservoir; our recent Myrtle updates are here and here, and this is the latest design (click it to see a larger version):
There are other park-related projects in the works around West Seattle – new playgrounds, playfield upgrades, etc. – but those are the four brand-new parks next to be added, after Ercolini. It’s worth nothing that all four of these parks are being created with money from the citywide Pro Parks Levy that is expiring this fall (you can explore the background on each site, and other area Pro Parks projects, through this city webpage); the City Council is close to deciding whether to recommend a new parks levy be placed on the ballot – we detailed here some of what it would include for West Seattle (we are currently checking the latest version to see if any significant changes were made to the final proposal). The city council’s Committee of the Whole considers it tomorrow; then the Parks Committee has one more public hearing on the proposal this Wednesday, 5:30 pm, City Council Chambers. (All city info on the proposed levy can be found here.)
Though it’s Day 3 of West Seattle Summer Fest, you’ll find the West Seattle Farmers’ Market in its usual place at the usual time (44th/Alaska, 10 am-2 pm) too. Just remember, if you haven’t been down to The Junction yet this weekend, Alaska’s closed off between 42nd and 44th, California’s closed between Oregon and Edmunds (and most of the block north of Oregon, after a break for crosstraffic to get by on Oregon itself), and parking is a little crunchy. Here’s the link to today’s fresh sheet (for markets citywide so look for a few notations of items not available in West Seattle).
We didn’t make it back for a decent Street Dance photo-op after all, but that video shows about :30 of the Saturday Knights, Saturday night’s most-inquired-about act at the Info Booth. Live music today runs 12:45-7 pm; full list here – in our music-lineup preview last month, festival organizers recommended Capping Day and Green Pajamas as Sunday highlights (Carrie Akre‘s on the schedule too). Also today, we are going to have a ringside seat for Kids’ Karaoke (same place the Lion Dancers performed today, middle of California/Alaska intersection), 11:30 am-1 pm, 2:30-4 pm, hosted by Matthew Darling. And a vendor recommendation: WSB’er Diane Vincent recommends Frog Hollow Coffee, offering 10 flavors of iced coffee in the block between Alaska and Edmunds. West Seattle Summer Fest gets going for the day at 11 am – see you then!
A few weeks after we talked with Sean Goff and Sofia Zadra Goff for this WSB preview of their restaurant-in-progress Cafe Revo on Avalon, they just sent this update to their mailing list (which you can sign up for here):
Our building plans have been submitted to the Department of Planning. We now wait for the approval so we can begin the permit required buildout. Meanwhile we are hand building all of our wood tables for the restaurant. (see website for photos). The building of our hand-crafted wood bar will also begin soon. Painting continues on the outside of the building. We have been busy meeting with many wonderful companies, choosing our vendors mainly based on that they are local businesses and that their company works in a ‘Green’ friendly way. We have also recently gotten other permits in place (electrical) and our sign permit is in process. The tentative date for the fabulous Cafe Revo sign to go up is August 7th, thanks to our signs creator, Western Neon. We also have decided to use Seattle’s own Caffe Vita for our coffee and espresso. We hope to open by the end of September. Thank you to everyone for the wonderful support already of Cafe Revo. We appreciate it more than words can say. Sean and Sofia
The e-mail update also points to a page on their website introducing “Nonno,” who — as explained in our story last month — is Sofia’s dad, called that by the Goff kids because it’s Italian for “grandpa,” but also how the Goffs hope their customers will come to know him too. They’re inviting people to e-mail him (address is on that page) with questions about the restaurant, his family’s ancestral hometown (and the restaurant’s namesake) Revo, and/or “about growing up in West Seattle in the ‘good old days’.”
Weekend after next, Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) is throwing a whale of a party for its centennial – and getting ready for it now; this morning, Judy Pickens, Pat Gedney, and Marilynn Bernahl were among the volunteers sprucing up the church grounds during a centennial-prep work party. Special events for the centennial weekend celebration July 25-27 include the Friday Night Bean Feed and Talent Show (followed by Vespers on the Beach) on July 25, an open house and dinner/documentary showing on July 26, and a special anniversary worship service and reception on July 27. Full details at the church website.
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