West Seattle, Washington
17 Tuesday
Thanks to Bil Hood for getting us photos of tonight’s Seattle Lutheran High School graduation — one of two West Seattle schools with commencement ceremonies tonight (we posted West Seattle High School photos earlier). 32 seniors graduated this year; the total number of SLHS grads is now at 1,087, Hood says.
SLHS Class of ’08 valedictorian is Joseph Hwang, one of tonight’s speakers:
As we mentioned earlier, this leaves Chief Sealth High School awaiting its ceremony – 1 pm Saturday, Southwest Athletic Complex.
The whole WSB team is back from the rest of tonight’s events – most of which ran longer than expected — we are processing photos, video, info, all that. But here are the toplines, or bottom lines if you will:
—Fauntleroy Place groundbreaking: Seafair Pirates were there. So were the Hulings. And the various dignitaries mentioned earlier.
—Design Review Board meeting on 3811 Charlestown: New design with preservation element pronounced “99% successful.” Co-publisher Patrick, who covered Design Review this time, insists KING 5’s Jim Forman was there. Having worked 20-plus years in TV and never known a TV reporter to turn up for something as neighborhood-level as a Design Review meeting, I won’t believe it till I see it, on TV or online (no time to check yet). UPDATE: Here’s the clip.
–Design Review Board meeting on 4532 42nd: Not so glowing, needs more work.
More details on all of the above as soon as we can put it all together (along with more details from the Parks Board). Plus pix of tonight’s second graduation (Seattle Lutheran) are coming up momentarily.
We’re downtown at the city Parks Board meeting, where the discussion of the controversial “beach-fire ban briefing” has just concluded. City staff has backed completely away from the notion that a ban might have anything to do with climate change; “that was … weak,” one staffer said outright. Their focus is now entirely on the problems they say are caused by illegal beach fires at Alki and Golden Gardens, and wanting to “open a discussion” about how to address those problems. Absolutely no conclusions reached and no action is planned; interesting discussion and ideas along the way — full report a bit later, including a couple of other West Seattle items that have come up (meeting’s not over yet).
Two notes: First, Chas Redmond says a few more spots have the new West Seattle Trails walking map, if you’re looking for a (free!) copy — Alki Kayak Tours at Seacrest, Atomic Boys in Admiral, and the city’s Delridge Neighborhood Office. Full distribution list is online at westseattlewalks.org. Second, you probably heard about a new website scoring Seattle neighborhoods by walkability; if you haven’t already seen the WSB Forums discussion about it, here’s the topic we opened this morning.
West Seattle High School‘s graduation ceremony is under way in bright sunshine at Seattle Center’s Memorial Stadium right now; we took that photo (and the ones below) a short time ago – the photo above shows the 49 percent who are graduating with honors — including 10 valedictorians with 4.0 averages — were asked to stand and be acknowledged. They wore special gold banners:
Dignitaries there to share the ceremony with the more than 200 grads included West Seattle’s school-board rep Steve Sundquist and district superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson (third and second from right, respectively):
Seattle Lutheran High School‘s ceremony is 7:30 tonight; Chief Sealth High School grads are honored at 1 pm Saturday (Southwest Athletic Complex across from the school).
That’s the south side of Charlestown Center, the under-construction commercial building at California/Charlestown, a corner where much is happening — kitty-corner from Charlestown Cafe (where repairs are under way) and just north of Charlestown Court (Design Review meeting tonight). This is the site where the burned-out Schuck’s was torn down exactly six months ago today (WSB video coverage here). We checked today with the leasing agents to see who’s going to be in the building when it opens this summer; they don’t want to name names yet but Joe Beynon with Retail Realty Services tells WSB, “We have numerous deals in process at different stages so it looks that by the time the building is ready for the first tenant we may have 5 of the 7 suites leased.” He says they may be ready to name names by early next month but in the meantime, he believes the businesses with whom they’re negotiating will be “good uses for the neighborhood.”
The mayor’s office just added another event to tonight’s busy list: Groups from around the city are accepting awards for “Small and Simple” matching-funds grants tonight – and two of those grants are going to West Seattle projects – read on:Read More
That photo is courtesy of the West Seattle Soccer Club, which wants you to know that fall registration is under way – full details and deadlines at the WSSC site; the age groupings are detailed here. Board member Tim McMonigle tells WSB the league is growing so fast, they may have to expand to use South Park field, and they are looking forward to the Hiawatha renovation work later this year. Meantime, we have a girls-softball update too:
That’s the West Seattle Thunder 16U team, now in celebration and fundraising mode – coach Dan Baker explains why:
The West Seattle Thunder 16U fastpitch softball team won the Sea-Tac Metro Championships this past weekend, qualifying them for a trip to the National Championships in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The team will be holding a fund-raising carwash to help pay expenses for the trip. The carwash will be held at Swedish Automotive (35th Ave SW & Webster), this Saturday, June 14th, 10 am-4 pm.
Remember this photo from three weeks ago, when that truck crashed into Jan’s Beauty Salon on California south of Morgan Junction? The salon reopened quickly, but its owner still has interior damage to take care of (and as we reported later that day, doesn’t have insurance for it), so neighboring Chill just announced a benefit this Sunday, 10 am-2 pm.
Though this is from the King County Sheriff, whose crimefighting turf starts just over the line in White Center, it’s part of a larger county criminal-justice-funding concern that in the end could affect us all – since, for example, it’s county prosecutors who handle city crimes too – so we wanted to share this announcement of an upcoming public meeting you might want to attend:Read More
(new Fauntleroy Place rendering added 11 am, just sent by Eric Radovich of BlueStar, click image to see full-size version)
We’ve already spotlighted two of tonight’s big West Seattle, or West Seattle-relevant, events — the Parks Board meeting with an agenda including “car-free day(s) at Alki” and “beach-fire-ban briefing,” as well as the Design Review Board meeting for 3811 California (and its acclaimed new design) and 4532 42nd SW — Also happening tonight, the groundbreaking party for Fauntleroy Place, popularly known as “the Whole Foods project”; developers BlueStar invite everyone to the event, with food, entertainment, and the official shovel-turning, 5:30-7 pm at 39th/Alaska (King County Councilmember Dow Constantine, West Seattle Chamber of Commerce executive director Patti Mullen, and West Seattle Junction Association president Dave Montoure are expected) — that’s the Schuck/Hancock site, if you still can’t place it:
BlueStar says FP completion is expected in February 2010. Also tonight, two graduations — West Seattle High School at Memorial Stadium (Seattle Center) at 5 pm and Seattle Lutheran High School at 7:30 pm — and the monthly West Seattle Second Thursday Art Walk (Google map of venues just added to its website). Looking further ahead? The WSB list of West Seattle events already stretches into next year.
Remember when we talked about the city’s “Give Your Car the Summer Off” campaign a couple weeks ago, and mentioned the city would identify certain streets for “Car-Free Days” before summer’s end? A briefing paper for tonight’s Parks Board meeting (same one where the beach-fire-ban briefing is planned) says:
SDOT is proposing Car Free Days for one Sunday each during this August and possibly September at these locations:
• Alki, between the Water Taxi dock at Seacrest Park and 63rd Ave SW in West Seattle;
• Create a loop from Pioneer Square to Pike Place Market via Alaskan Way and First Avenue to Olympic Sculpture Park;
• Connect Magnuson Park to Seward Park via Burke Gilman Trail, the Arboretum, part of Montlake Bridge and Lake Washington Blvd and encourage attendees of the Pro Bike Pro Walk event to participate.There will be the need for close coordination as park usage will be involved. For all locations, SDOT is interested in linking to special events and/or including programmed activities to enhance public awareness of the program and have a critical mass of public participation.
You can read the whole briefing paper here. A public hearing is planned on the proposed road closures during tonight’s Seattle Parks Board meeting; it starts at 7 pm at Parks Department HQ in Denny Park, 100 Dexter Ave. N. (scroll down this page for directions), and the sign-up sheet for public comment is available starting at 6 pm. It’s one of a mountain of major events tonight (all listed on West Seattle’s most comprehensive events calendar) – if you can’t go, here’s how to send written comments.
That’s longtime Highland Park resident Monica Cavagnaro, talking to the 34th District Democrats last night about how her neighborhood has evolved, and why HP is fighting the inclusion of two nearby sites (map) on the city’s list of four finalists for a potential new city misdemeanor-offender jail. The jail-sites fight was the big item on the 34th Dems’ monthly meeting agenda; more ahead on that, and other items:Read More
The WSB inbox has been devoid of first-person crime reports lately, so when we dropped by the Southwest Precinct this afternoon to check the latest police reports, we asked Lt. Steve Paulsen if things are indeed as quiet as they seem. Not entirely crime-free, as you’ll see in this report, but yes (knock wood), it’s been relatively quiet. After more than a dozen burglary arrests, for example, they think the word’s starting to get out on the street that you’re not so likely to get away with it in West Seattle. That said, we’ve got some summaries to share, including burglaries and car break-ins as well as the search for a man who tried to lure a girl into his car, gang-affiliated squatters getting the boot, more cases of alert witnesses helping foil crimes, and more – all from a full week’s worth of reports:Read More
Just checked the city’s Design Review website – if you want a sneak peek, you can now see the proposals, renderings and all, that will be made tomorrow night for both 3811 California SW (as previewed here this morning) and 4532 42nd SW. Click here for 3811 California (which is on tomorrow night’s Design Review Board agenda at 6:30 pm); click here for 4532 42nd (on the agenda at 8 pm); both meetings at Madison Middle School.
Also from last night’s Fauntleroy Community Association meeting: The board agreed to support a proposal by members Sherry and Ron Richardson, to request signage along Fauntleroy Way asking drivers to turn off their engines while waiting, to reduce fuel use, noise, and pollution.
Thanks to Todd for the tip – more of the work promised by the city along Barton near Westwood Village is getting done – the tape and cones are protecting newly poured ramps at the crosswalk between the shopping center and Roxhill Park. This WSB report from April has more on what’s to be done in this area (which is just east of where parking restrictions were put into place to try to discourage “car ranching”).
Three quick updates in the fight over where the city might build a potential new jail for misdemeanor offenders (it’s announced 4 sites as finalists, and 2 of them are in southeast West Seattle): First, the city’s added another page to its informational web site — the new Frequently Asked Questions page features its answers to some of the questions it’s received. Second, two more neighborhood groups discussed their positions on the issue last night; the Fauntleroy Community Association‘s board “voiced its opposition to the siting of jails in residential areas on the basis of land-use planning policy and the unnecessary costs and logistics of inmate transfers and lack of access to services needed by inmates (legal, bail, and city services),” according to Lynn Olson; meantime, we were at the Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting as members considered whether to sign on to a letter officially opposing the sites, and it’s decided to abstain for now. Third, the 34th District Democrats will discuss the jail-sites fight at their regular monthly meeting tonight, 7 pm, The Hall @ Fauntleroy.
Managed to grab and deploy the camera quickly when we happened onto those motorcycle officers late this morning on 35th by the Golf Course entrance. That, a phone call, and a new comment on yesterday’s post makes us think we should re-mention, if you encounter a similar scene again today — it’s not an escort for a visiting dignitary, it’s annual training.
With a few weeks to go to the original deadline for the Fauntleroy Community Services Agency to make a deal with Seattle Public Schools to buy the historic schoolhouse – now that the district’s selling it as “surplus” — we checked to see where things stand. According to an update issued this week by FCSA, “The district has extended the deadline to reach a purchase and sale agreement to August.” FCSA also says there’s still a possibility the back lot may be developed and says it “has been discussing what kind of development, who would own the property, who would receive payment for the development rights, and ensuring that any development would be compatible with the tenants and uses in the school.” They also are continuing to work on a formal application to have the schoolhouse designated as a city landmark (as we first reported last month), adding, “city staff has been very encouraging that the entire building could be eligible for designation.”
(2006 Admiral 4th of July Kids’ Parade photo courtesy of parade organizers)
Two parades are coming up in West Seattle next month – the big American Legion Grand Parade down California SW during Hi-Yu is July 19th, but before then, on a somewhat smaller scale – literally, in terms of participants’ size – there’s the 4th of July Kids’ Parade in Admiral. And its organizers say now’s the perfect time to jump in and help out. Here’s their announcement:
4th of JULY KIDS PARADE…sponsored by Admiral Junction Businesses and the Holy Rosary MOMs group!
Celebrate the 4th of July by bringing your family and friends to the 14th Annual 4th of JULY KIDS PARADE! Decorate wagons, bikes and trikes and join this old-fashioned parade. All are welcome – both spectators and participants. It’s not a parade without spectators! Bring your lawn chairs and cheer for our kids, there’s no shortage of great viewing spots along the parade route (look for the flags).
The Seattle Police and Fire Departments will lead the parade starting at 10:30 am at the 1100 block of Sunset Ave. SW (44th Ave. SW and Sunset) on the morning of July 4th. Following the parade, enjoy the fun and games in Hamilton Viewpoint Park. Bring a blanket and some lunch (leaving some room for treats from the Holy Rosary MOM’s group concession stand) and join the fun!
We need volunteers to help out at the parade! If you can help with general organization, set-up, children’s games, water balloons, or clean-up, please let us know. Our critical areas are children’s games and water balloons. If you are a fun, enthusiastic person who would like to lead the kids’ games at Hamilton Park, we need you! We also need game helpers to hand out 3-legged race ties, organize kids into age groups for races, answer questions, help out with the little ones, etc. Last year we had a heat wave on the 4th of July, and we ran out of water balloons in 5 minutes. This year a heat wave seems like a distant after-thought, but I’m sure the water balloon fight will still be a hit. We need water balloons!! If you can deliver 25-50 water balloons before the parade, please let us know. If you have a service group that is willing to donate their time to blowing up water balloons for a worthy cause, please let us know. We can only blow up so many before our fingers turn numb!
We also have need of a game-day photographer. Someone with photographic skills who can document our parade all-stars for future publicity.
Contact: Sherri Chun sherri.chun@att.net or Jodi Bennett jodiandwayne26@msn.com
Organizers also just confirmed that one of the Admiral District’s most famous residents will be on hand too – Mayor Nickels is scheduled to help kick off the parade at 10:30 4th of July morning.
That’s the dramatically different new design just unveiled by Junction-based Nicholson Kovalchick Architects for the mixed-use project at 3811 California SW (map), currently the site of the 80-year-old brick fourplex known as Charlestown Court:
It’s been 14 months since we first told you Charlestown Court was marked for teardown, and two months since we brought you the city Landmarks Board‘s decision that it didn’t merit landmark status, which seemed to open the door for demolition. But instead, a surprise twist last night, as we briefly mentioned earlier — full details ahead:Read More
Check the latest entry at City Councilmember Sally Clark‘s blog. (Where’s Hizzoner?) She’ll be back in West Seattle next week, by the way, at the Delridge District Council meeting, 7 pm June 18, Southwest Precinct. WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: OK, now we know where Hizzoner is.
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