Crosswalk campaign
One side of the marquee atop Java Bean Coffee on Avalon pleads, SAVE OUR CROSSWALK!!!! The crosswalk in question is in the foreground of this photo, near a bus stop and a stretch of Avalon where many patrons of Java Bean and neighboring Luna Park Cafe have to park (and cross) since those businesses have a small lot:
We wrote Java Bean boss Tony Hoyt to find out what’s going on. He pointed us to this city Transportation Department webpage, which says in part:
SDOT has completed a technical analysis of the unsignalized marked crosswalk at SW Avalon Way and SW Orleans Street. This crosswalk no longer meets our recommended guidelines and will be removed.
Which makes no sense to Tony, who summarized the situation this way in a group e-mail he sent out this week:
The city of Seattle wants to remove the crosswalk from in front of the West Seattle Java Bean. A few years ago they removed a flashing, yellow caution light from above the crosswalk and one of my employees was struck by a car and nearly killed. Now they want to remove the crosswalk entirely. This crosswalk is 50 feet from two Bus stops and the city just installed two sidewalk cut away ramps last summer… now they want to remove the crosswalk. I guess this will make it safer for those older folks and citizens in wheel chairs to cross the street.
Tony says it would make more sense to restore the overhead warning light than to remove the crosswalk. We found an even more impassioned account (including more on what happened to the accident victim mentioned by Tony) written up here. Meantime, even though the city webpage makes this sound like a done deal, they’re still asking for comments; click to e-mail them.
Door-to-door alert
A WSB reader is a little leery about a door-to-door security-system salesperson that hit his neighborhood this week; he did some research and wants to share it with you in case you get a similar visit. Read More
Outage explained
For anyone still wondering about the power problems in south West Seattle last weekend — Scott Thomsen from City Light told us what caused the biggest outage Saturday morning: an underground cable failed and had to be replaced. Apparently this happens from time to time; cables’ insulation can go brittle because of “heat and other environmental conditions.”
And to all a good night
Now, the real challenge: Sleeping in a house that hasn’t let go of the afternoon heat yet. In case you face a similar challenge, here are three final photos for the day. First, the incredible neon sunset, photographed from the top of Gatewood Hill:
Next, a view of Duwamish Head before the sun went down, photographed by Bill Barna:
And from 35th and Roxbury, a tropical — and appropriate — window decoration.
OK, off now to stuff ice cubes in the pillowcase …
Liberty sooner or Liberty later: A bit like Viaduct Vs. Tunnel
More than two dozen heat-braving souls just wrapped up the first of two meetings led by an earnest Alki couple, Libby and Paul Carr, who are trying to salvage the stalled Alki Statue of Liberty plaza project. Ultimately, the final say on the future of this West Seattle icon rests elsewhere …Read More
Exactly six months ago today
Are we SURE we really want to whine about the heat (97 at the official gauge at Sea-Tac as of 4 pm, a new record for this date)? Consider what had hit us half a year ago (photo from Upper Fauntleroy, Jan. 11, 2007):
Cool AND free
Sorry we just woke up to something the rest of blogland has been chattering about for, well, hours … Since it’s 7/11, you can get a free Slurpee at 7-11. In WS, 7-11s are on Harbor Ave, at 35th/Avalon, Admiral south of Cali, Charlestown/Cali, and Cali/Erskine.
Happening tonight, and beyond
-One last reminder, the Alki Statue of Liberty meeting is 7 pm tonight, by the statue site. Up for discussion: Put the new statue on the old base and call it good, or keep the new statue in storage till a “plaza” for it can be paid for and built. (“Do it now” supporters are running this on Craigslist.)
-Tonight and every Wednesday night through Aug. 22, West Seattle’s megachurch is inviting its flock to weekly Lincoln Park barbecues.
-Not only will The Junction be jumping for Summer Fest this Fri-Sat-Sun, but tomorrow night has two big events as well: “Hair” opens at ArtsWest; and Divina plans a “post-construction celebration” to commemorate the completion of the paving project, with art as well as live music by Brazilian singer/guitarist Kiko Freitas.
-Art is also in the picture for the south edge of WS tomorrow night @ 7 pm, as Cafe Rozella premieres a photo exhibit, described as “native youth look(ing) at their environment.)
-And if you like low-tide beach walking, enjoy four days of midday low tides starting tomorrow.
Hoofing it
We won’t be able to check this out in person for a few hours, so we don’t know yet if they’re back in action today, but a couple notes have come in saying The Goats were at work in West Seattle again, this time on hillside brush toward the bridge end of Admiral.
Even cooler pix
People in WSB-land who haven’t passed out from heat exhaustion yet (78 at midnight! 12 degrees above San Diego!) were nice enough to send photos that might cool you off a degree or two.
First, from Luckie, a “party island” spotted off Alki on pirate day:
Second, from Jerry at JetCityOrange, a decorated tree in the window at Sleep Country in Westwood Village (we’re sorry we didn’t snap the inflatable snowman we saw the other day at Renton Honda, would have been a nice accompaniment):
Send us your pics, thoughts, tips, rumors, whatever, anytime.
There’s always eBay
If you’re still in the market for a fan or air conditioner you’re not completely out of luck, but you’re running out of choices.
Here’s the mini-AC shelf at the Delridge Home Depot as seen just before noon.
And as of lunchtime this is what the fan aisle at Target looks like.
All heat wave, all the time: Lunchtime update
According to the National Weather Service hourly temperature updates (KSEA is Sea-Tac, KBFI is Boeing Field, K91S is Alki Point but only shows windspeed, no temps; we’ll link to some personal weather stations later) — it’s about 80. Going for low 90s in the city but tomorrow’s in-city forecast alarmingly suggests possible upper 90s. Stay safe. For those of you pondering a movie to keep cool in those brutal early-evening hours, “Blades of Glory” at the Admiral at 6:45 pm might be just the ticket.
Scenes from a heat wave, morning edition
8:20 am, 70-plus degrees. Workers at Westwood Village Target are joking about someone interviewed on tv last night about how fast fans and air conditioning units are selling. They seem more impressed by how fast the interview went – five minutes distilled into five seconds.
At the front counter, a clerk is ringing up the first fan sale of the day. Out in the parking lot, closer to WaMu, a work crew is kicking up a dirt devil. And over Barton Street, looking east, the sun looks like 8 am Vegas more than 8 am Seattle:
Liberty sooner, or Liberty later?
Tomorrow (Wednesday) night, at the height of the heat, you can multitask by cooling off at Alki and joining in a meeting outside the Bathhouse, to help determine the future of the statue that might otherwise soon earn a nickname like “Liberty in Limbo.” Seems the replacement for the old one (Northwest Programs for the Arts photo at left) is done but fundraising for the “plaza” to surround the new one is not, so a community meeting is being called to discuss, among other things, whether to just install the new one and be done with it sooner, or carry on with the “plaza” project and see the installment happen later. Read the meeting organizers’ explanation, in their own words, after the click:Read More
Defeat the heat
Surely you’ve heard by now that the next couple of days will be ridiculously hot. That means discomfort will skyrocket with the temperatures, since most of us don’t have air conditioning and just aren’t acclimated to 90-plus degrees. 
But we don’t all have to pack ourselves onto the sands of Alki to stay cool. We thought it would be worth discussing alternatives in advance; for starters, we managed to cope with the last megahot spell by taking a late-afternoon walk through Schmitz Park (photo @ right). The trees of Lincoln Park, Camp Long, and other green zones in WS can do the same trick. (You can follow up a walk through LP with a dip in Colman Pool, which is open through the peak of the heat, till 7 pm.) Got a heat-beating tip to share with the rest of WSB-land?
Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson (official district photo at right) has started work as Seattle Public Schools
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