WS Gas Price Watch: Below $3 a gallon!

June 12, 2007 9:54 am
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 |   Gas prices | Transportation

admcalichev305junetwelfth.jpgnumbersguy.jpgOK, so it’s $2.99 diesel at Admiral/Cali Chevron, but that’s still below three bucks. And regular isn’t far behind — now down to $3.05  (left photo). At least two other WS stations are down to $3.09 for regular — Cali/Andover Exxon and Delridge Arco, where (right photo) the guy with the thankless job of fixing 12 sets of numbers with every price change was busy again, just moments ago. How low will it all go? Maybe not much lower, if you believe the national reports. But on the other hand, it’s worth noting that suddenly West Seattle gas prices are significantly below the Seattle average.

1 of the 5 WS school-board candidates makes his pitch

June 12, 2007 8:32 am
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 |   West Seattle politics | West Seattle schools

Educating Mom has offered space to all school-board candidates to post “guest blog entries” making their pitches for the job. One of the first, just up today, is Dan Dempsey, WSHS teacher who’s one of the five people in the Aug. 21 primary for the school-board job that Irene Stewart is leaving.

The other new WS pet-food store

Hot on the heels (tails?) of discovering that All The Best is Alki-bound, we think we can match a name to the pending pet-stuff store at Westwood Village: Pet Pros is advertising jobs at its “new West Seattle store.”

Lady in wading

Next Monday, if you’re out for a walk on Alki around 9-something am, watch for a woman heading out into the water. No, not a polar-bear swimmer … a County Public Health employee. We’ve seen her the last two Mondays – today, wading quite some distance from shore – taking water samples, then returning to her official county government car. Trying to find out where we can see the test results!

Latest repaving update from the city

This just in from the Seattle Department of Transportation:

Work on California between SW Genesee and SW Spokane Street has been completed except pavement striping, to be done within the next three weeks.

Final paving of California Avenue SW between Spokane Street and SW Admiral Way is tentatively scheduled for the last week of June.

The contractor plans to begin work on SW Admiral Way between 41st Ave SW and SW Olga Street the first week of July.

The entire project is scheduled for completion in mid-August. Normal work hours for the contractor on California Avenue SW are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

During the peak periods (6-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m.) at least one lane of traffic in each direction on California Avenue SW will remain open. At other times, traffic on California may be restricted to one lane with the use of flaggers. Turns to and from side streets to California Avenue SW may be restricted. Detours may be necessary at times. On-street parking is not allowed in the construction area.

A date to remember

The Times reminds us that today is the 29th anniversary of the notorious incident (detailed nicely at HistoryLink.org) that paved the way for the high bridge: the day Rolf Neslund (whose subsequent murder is featured in a book by Ann Rule) crashed a freighter into the bridge’s predecessor. That finally closed years of squabbling over whether to build a better bridge; the current high bridge opened in 1984. So next time you’re stuck in morning bridge traffic (recent photo below) … remember, it might be worse if not for Rolf …

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Bye-bye, blacktop

If your familiarity with Lafayette Elementary goes no further than having seen its brick exterior along the busy block of Cali (photo below) just south of Admiral, across from Safeway — you probably don’t know about the sad shape of its playground — cracked old blacktop, no grass except for the weedy kind poking through those cracks.

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All that’s about to change; the city’s just issued a permit for replacing some of that blacktop with grass, part of a playground renovation project that’s been years in the making, and the groundbreaking celebration is set for one week from Thursday — the Lafayette PTA wrote us to say everyone’s invited (9:30 am June 21). They’re still collecting $ for future phases of the playground; click this e-mail link to contact someone for more on that; click ahead to see the official invitation for next week’s event:Read More

Traffic talk tonight

June 11, 2007 8:31 am
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 |   High Point | Transportation

One week before Sylvan/Morgan closes to through-traffic between 35th and Delridge for three months of construction-related utility/road work, there’s an “open house” tonight where you can find out the latest on detours, local access, and also more on what’s up with the ongoing High Point-area development: 4:30-6 tonight, High Point Library.

Lincoln Park, post-sunset

June 10, 2007 10:19 pm
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 |   West Seattle beaches

Hard to tell if we’ll get many semi-clear sunsets this week, so here’s a view from tonight:

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Coming up this week … and beyond

June 10, 2007 8:13 pm
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 |   West Seattle Art Walk | West Seattle people | WS culture/arts

johnhphoto.jpgTUESDAY: One last event in memory/honor/celebration of popular WS waiter John Hartley (photo at right), who died suddenly last month — John Hartley Memorial Karaoke @ Skylark, 9 pm-1 am. Free; donations will be accepted to help his roommate stay in the house they rented together; singers will be encouraged to share stories and memories.
art+walk.jpgTHURSDAY: The next West Seattle Art Walk in The Junction. Go here to see the artist/location lineup as it stands so far (at left – the Art Walk’s new logo), then get yourself down to The Junction 6-9 pm that night (and every second Thursday).
A WEEK FROM NEXT SATURDAY (JUNE 23): Four hours that could save your life — and your family. Neighbors and groups from all over WS will gather at WS High School (theater and commons) 9 am-1 pm to talk and learn about WS Disaster Preparedness — how ready are we, what can you do right now to be as ready as you can be, and more. See the poster with full details here.

Fine day for a drill

June 10, 2007 3:57 pm
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 |   Seen around town

Two days after our last sighting of Seattle Fire Department training in WS, we happened onto another round this afternoon — the fireboat Chief Seattle tied up just west of Salty’s, running a hose (and a couple of small support boats) to the shore. We observed for a few minutes, took pix, then came home to find much better photos in our inbox from Christy of On Focus Photo Blog — so we’ll gratefully use hers instead:

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Two more from the Sunday paper

-Buried near the end of this article about wi-fi on state ferries is the note that it’s expected on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth run by mid-July.

-We’ve talked before about the city’s crackdown on unlicensed pets; here’s a case where it appears to have gone way too far. HERE’S A LINK YOU SHOULD CHECK TO SEE IF ANYTHING IS PENDING AGAINST YOU. (Mentions your past history, too.)

Details on the Delridge development boom

Big article in today’s Times about the West Ridge Park condo-conversion project and Delridge-area housing development in general. Notable infobits in the article include the WRP developers’ expectations that only about a dozen of the 200-plus tenants will buy their units.

WS Gas Price Watch, plus a cautionary tale

June 10, 2007 12:49 am
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 |   Gas prices | Transportation

As noted in a comment on our last WSGPW post, Admiral/Cali Chev has plunged further, now down to $3.09/regular. And Delridge (by Home Depot) Arco is no longer the second-lowest; it’s still $3.15, but Exxon at Cali/Andover is down to $3.11, and Charlestown/Cali 7-11 has posted $3.12. Note the key word “posted.” A WSB reader e-mailed to say he filled up with one of the higher grades at that 7-11 tonight before noticing the pump price was higher than the sign price. Prices have been changing so fast – check before you pump.

Award-winning wine, made in West Seattle

If you think the nearest winery is in, hmm, maybe, Woodinville — nope. The Puget Ridge Winery is in east West Seattle at SSCC, and it’s just won an award for student-made wine — click to read the college’s press release:Read More

What kind of heartless lowlife would steal a tricycle?

A WSB reader just e-mailed to say someone stole their 5-year-old’s tricycle from their yard in Westwood, his first and only bike, and they’d like you to be on the lookout, since it has sentimental as well as monetary value. Full text of their e-mail below the photo:

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Stolen from our Westwood Village yard, probably by some joker who got tired of riding it a block away. So just in case it shows up let us know, we don’t have the funds right now to buy a bike for our 5 year old and it was a special 2nd birthday present. It was red, rusty, monster front tire, ladybug bell on front. Attaches to a red wagon but they were too busy to steal that, too, hence why we think it was a lark.

If you see it, their contact info is in this post on Craigslist.

Everybody’s a critic: Our first (sort of) arts review

June 9, 2007 9:52 am
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 |   WS culture/arts

When the folks from The Community Theatre e-mailed to ask if we’d be interested in seeing “Carver’s Pieces” and possibly writing about it, we wrote back, funny you suggest that, we’d been thinking about doing a little arts reviewing here at WSB now and then, since one of us actually used to do that for a living (not in Seattle). So if you want to read the results of our journey into Youngstown Arts Center to shake the rust off that particular branch of the skillset, click ahead!Read More

A wing, a prayer, and an application

June 9, 2007 1:51 am
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 |   West Seattle religion

Church-expansion projects are getting to be almost as common in WS as teardowns-to-townhomes. Hope Lutheran’s hopes of expanding the church & school (plans, FAQ, even a video on the church website) are advancing; the city has officially accepted their land-use application.

Who’s running for what, the final list

June 8, 2007 6:29 pm
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 |   West Seattle politics

The deadline to file for this year’s elections has just passed; here are a few WS-related notes from the final list. No time to rustle up info-links on the new additions at the moment so if anyone can vouch for them, please leave a comment, and we’ll follow up with more info later.

–West Seattle’s King County Councilmember, Dow Constantine, has indeed filed to re-run in District 8, and along with Democrat challenger “Goodspaceguy” Nelson, has a Republican opponent, John Potter.

–Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, who lives in WS but will be voted on by the entire city (like all the other council positions), is the only council candidate to draw no opposition, so — re-election congratulations already (pending write-ins, we suppose).

–West Seattle’s open seat on the Seattle School Board (Irene Stewart is leaving) has a crowded field of contenders: Two more candidates, Zeinab Ahmed and Edwin Fruit, filed today, joining Steve Sundquist, Dan Dempsey, and Maria Ramirez.

Traffic alert for Saturday

June 8, 2007 5:28 pm
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 |   Transportation

Many of us on the south end of West Seattle use the South Park Bridge from time to time. So we wanted to mention that it will be closed all day tomorrow — 7 am to 7 pm — for what the county describes as “electrical repairs to the draw span.”

Burglars heading north?

The burglars who repeatedly hit neighborhoods in Gatewood (where neighborhood leaders say no fewer than six city/police officials showed up for a meeting the other night, wow!) may be heading north, according to e-mail we just received from somebody on the north part of the peninsula. Click ahead to read it:Read More

WS Gas Price Watch: Gas war?

That’s what they used to call it when we were much, much younger – gas stations in something of a price-cutting competition. Right now the WS deathmatch seems to be between Admiral/Cali Chevron and Delridge Arco. But at least as of minutes ago, Delridge hasn’t dropped all the way down to match Admiral/Cali’s $3.13 — Arco’s two cents above that. Meantime, here’s a bigger price photo than usual, just ’cause we like the composition.

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