Salads at Seacrest

June 21, 2007 7:25 pm
|    Comments Off on Salads at Seacrest
 |   West Seattle restaurants

A new P-I review raves as much about the cole slaw and Caesar salad at Alki Crab & Fish @ Seacrest as about the fish ‘n’ chips.

Your mission: Throw away less trash

City leaders have decided not to build another transfer station in Georgetown, good news for the folks there who’ve been fighting it; but they’re telling all of us, in order to really make sure we don’t need it, we’ve got to throw away even less trash than we do now.

A good omen

Congratulations to Lafayette Elementary on the launch of its long-awaited playground renovation, with this morning’s groundbreaking ceremony. On a school day that wouldn’t have existed if not for one of this past winter’s snow days, early overcast gave way to brilliant sunshine by the time the festivities started. We’ve got a few pix. First — the reason a new playground is needed (the entire 2-acre blacktop looks like this, or worse):

badblacktop.jpg

Here’s the groundbreaking lineup (note they couldn’t really smash shovels through the tough old blacktop, so look close and you’ll see a ceremonial pile of sand to be overturned) — participants included parent volunteers and student councilmembers as well as King County Councilmember Dow Constantine (center) and Lafayette Principal Virginia Turner (right):

groundbreaking.jpg

And one more photo of Dow C for good measure – he drew goodnatured boos by admitting he had attended Schmitz Park Elementary, not Lafayette. He got to read the long list of major project contributors — and there are many; more help still needed — info on how to do that is in our previous post on the topic.

dowlafayette.jpg

Sorry for the slowness

We thought it was just happening as we tried to add content to the site … but now we’re getting e-mail from WSB readers about difficulty getting to the site or going page to page. Please forgive us; we’re on the phone right now with the hosting company trying to figure out what the problem is.

Four places to be, & when to be there

June 21, 2007 8:31 am
|    Comments Off on Four places to be, & when to be there
 |   WS miscellaneous

Click! today or tonight: Click! is donating part of today’s sales to the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, then hosting a short presentation @ 7 tonight about what DNDA is up to.

-West Seattle Stadium: Tomorrow night, the cancer-fighting Relay for Life takes the field, 6 pm Friday all the way to noon Saturday. Drop by to show support and/or give $.

-Alki Masonic Hall (which is actually east of The Junction): Saturday morning, the Freemasons of the Alki Lodge invite everybody to their fundraising pancake breakfast, 8 am-noon, $5 adults/$4 kids.

-Lincoln Park beach: Sunday afternoon, the Paddle for PAWS swimmers make their journey. Be there to cheer them on; you can give $ online, too.

Last sunset of spring ’07

June 20, 2007 10:38 pm
|    Comments Off on Last sunset of spring ’07
 |   West Seattle beaches

From Alki tonight — so long, spring:

lastspringsunset.jpg

WS Gas Price Watch: Too many ups & downs

Or at least you would have to assume that’s why yet another station — 35th/Avalon 7-11, in this case — just swapped out its manual priceboard for something electronic:

711avalonelectronic.jpg

WS Emergency Preparedness event countdown: Reason #4

Tonight’s reason why you’ll want to be at this event Saturday: Our neighbors.

poster_emergency_preparedness_event_r2_generic1.jpg

Honor for High Point

June 20, 2007 7:21 pm
|    Comments Off on Honor for High Point
 |   High Point | West Seattle housing | West Seattle news

You don’t hear the word “cottage” around here much, unless it’s deployed as spin on a dinky house’s for-sale listing, but tonight it’s part of an honor for High Point — Cottage Living magazine has chosen HP as one of its Top 10 Cottage Communities for 2007.

Caffeinated Charger

Yeah, we know not everybody loves ’em (comments). But the new SPD cars sure photograph well. Christopher Boffoli caught this one outside Diva:

divachrischarger.jpg

What’s next for Ovio space

June 20, 2007 4:31 pm
|    Comments Off on What’s next for Ovio space
 |   West Seattle businesses

The Times quotes Ovio’s outgoing owners as saying another restaurant will definitely take over the space. City files show a construction permit application for “seating and bar alterations at existing restaurant,” dated this past Monday, and lists the applicant as Robert Coburn. That’s where our intel trail goes cold, for now. (Anyone else?)

TONIGHT: Speak now or for a decade hold your peace

June 20, 2007 1:21 pm
|    Comments Off on TONIGHT: Speak now or for a decade hold your peace
 |   West Seattle politics

Like the way King County government runs? Maybe not, you say? You’re in luck. Its every-10-years charter review is under way, and you can put in your 2 cents tonight, 6:30 pm, The Hall @ Fauntleroy.

2 more WS school board candidates make their case

June 20, 2007 10:19 am
|    Comments Off on 2 more WS school board candidates make their case
 |   West Seattle politics | West Seattle schools

Following in the pixelsteps of Dan Dempsey and Edwin Fruit, two more candidates for our open school board seat are taking their “guest blogger” turns at Educating Mom today: Maria Ramirez and Steve Sundquist.

Cool coverage

What better time than a sunny day — on the brink of “official” summer — to contemplate “the region’s hidden ice-cream shops” — that’s what the UW Daily does in this article, with Husky Deli featured prominently.

Got $32m ‘n’ change?

June 20, 2007 5:31 am
|    Comments Off on Got $32m ‘n’ change?
 |   Delridge | Seen around town

Back on Flag Day, our photo post featuring the megaflag at the SGA building on the north end of Delridge generated a side discussion about the building’s fate. Just looked up its for-sale listing: $32,500,000. (Maybe when Paul runs out of property to buy on the other side of the city? WS needs a streetcar too!)

WS Emergency Preparedness event countdown: Reason #5

Remember the Inauguration Day windstorm? (Here’s a refresher.) The things that make WS so beautiful also make us vulnerable. Send at least one delegate from your family or business to Saturday’s event; you’ll still be done in time for afternoon fun.

And we’ve got one proposed addition

… to this: “Thou shalt not blaze through a four-way stop without giving all due respect to everyone else at/in the intersection.”

Got crime? Do this!

Lots of WS worries lately – from Westwood vandalism to Gatewood burglaries to break-ins further north. If you have neighborhood crime concerns, you are invited to voice them tonight at the West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting, 7 pm @ the SW Precinct. On a related subject, a WSB reader e-mailed us asking for help with a hit-and-run that crunched his car; click ahead to read his note:Read More

More on the WS Bridge death

A new comment on our original item about the Saturday night WS Bridge suicide is worth home-page exposure. As we wrote in the original item — we all need to talk more about preventing suicide, which kills more people in our area each year than murder. And to the point raised in this case, King County’s website points out that LGBT youth are at especially high risk. Here’s the comment in full (late afternoon update, we have removed the name at the request of someone who voiced confidentiality concerns, until and unless we hear otherwise):

(posted by “The Gay Curmudgeon”)

The young man was a volunteer at Lambert House, “a center for Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning youth and their allies”

If only we were more accepting of our youth, if only we could do more
to tell them we care, if only we could do more to protect them from
diseases like HIV, if only…

FROM: Ken Shulman, Lambert House Executive Director
TO: Lambert House Volunteers

Dear Lambert House Volunteers:

I am deeply saddened to tell you that [name deleted for now by WSB], a long-time Lambert House youth, committed suicide on Saturday night by jumping off of the West Seattle Bridge. [name], who was 21, first came to Lambert House when he was 15. He considered Lambert House to be very important to him and for other LGBTQ youth.

[name] gave an HIV-prevention education presentation to the Lambert
House Boys Group two weeks ago based on his personal experience becoming infected with HIV. It was [name]’s hope that he could educate other gay males to avoid becoming infected. On his physician’s advice, [name] started HIV anti-retroviral medication last Saturday. He reported having immediate side-effects including a rash and severe nightmares.

On Saturday, June 30, at 4:00 p.m. at Lambert House, [name]’s friends,
including Lambert House graduates, current youth, and others, will hold
an all-ages memorial celebration of [name]’s life. Any Lambert House
youth and anyone who knew [name] is welcome to attend.

I cannot express how saddened I am by this loss.

-Ken

~The Gay Curmudgeon

Coffee for a cause

June 19, 2007 10:57 am
|    Comments Off on Coffee for a cause
 |   West Seattle online | WS beverages

As Rhonda reminds us at Beach Drive Blog, part of the money you spend at Tully’s today goes toward the J.P. Patches statue that will help raise money for Children’s Hospital. (Two Tully’s in WS: Alki and Morgan Junction.)

Support your local authors

We’ve noted before that WS is awash in authors. Here are updates on two:

Eilis Flynn notes that her latest book, Festival of Stars, is partly set in WS.

Clay Eals has gotten a lot of press for his Steve Goodman biography, Facing the Music. This Saturday, 1 pm @ the outdoor courtyard of the Log House Museum, he tops the bill for what the museum calls a “combination music/reading event.” (P.S. One of Eals’ other credits: editing the definitive WS history book — through its 1987 publication — West Side Story.)

Progress for the other WS megaproject

Four days after the 41st/42nd/Alaska megaproject (with QFC) cleared a city hurdle, the Fauntleroy Place megaproject just a couple blocks to the east (with Whole Foods) has cleared one too. The company in charge of the project, Blue Star Management, says city council members unanimously approved the “alley vacation” today, and explains the alley’s future: “The alley running north to south from SW Oregon Street to SW Alaska Street between 40th Ave SW and 39th Ave SW will be relocated into an L-shaped alley, running from SW Oregon Street south and then exiting west at about three-quarters block on to 40th Ave SW, instead of continuing toward SW Alaska Street.” Blue Star reiterates that it hopes to start construction early next year; below is the latest rendering of what Fauntleroy Place is supposed to look like.

fauntplc.jpg