West Seattle, Washington
19 Friday
-Today’s your first opportunity to drop off your ballot in West Seattle (High Point Community Center).
–Dave Fox’s take on the whole mess is almost funny.
–The Weekly reviews the viaduct’s twisted history.
-Is Councilprez Nick really just mad at Hizzoner over viaduct-vs-tunnel, or is this really worth getting wadded up about?
-If you want to take a good close-up look at the viaduct before the voting deadline, Sunday morning’s your chance.
As mentioned about halfway through the plentiful comments on this post three weeks ago, a big Delridge apartment building is going condo. (Odd little blip on the city website about the complex “failing” an “inspection” this week, related to all this.) The Weekly features the project in this story (by photo, not by name) and links it to a company whose website simply notes “West Seattle, coming soon.”
No surprise that Pagliacci’s WS delivery expansion inspired another mention today by that P-I guy. Unlike last time, though, no shout-out to us bloggy types, good, bad, or otherwise.
If you use Delridge to get onto the WS Bridge, one of your neighbors has a request for you … they say it much better than we could (especially since that’s not our route), so here’s the whole e-mail, after the “jump”:Read More
For what it’s worth … WS only got one shout-out in the text of the State o’ the City speech (read it and watch it here), just delivered by West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician. Even in the section that mentions tons o’construction in various neighborhoods … no mention.
Two days after e-mailing the guys at Pagliacci, we just got this reply:
Thank you for inquiring about our delivery area. We have indeed
expanded our delivery service area in an effort to reach more of our
customers. Our new border to the south is Holden Street and to the
east is 27th.Thank you,
Jeff Woodruff
Director of Operations
Pagliacci Pizza
–Official WS Herald editorial position: Yes on replacement-a-duct.
–Bruce Ramsey says we should just be happy we GET TO vote!
-What life supposedly would be like during construction.
-No Tunnel Alliance plots a “We (Heart) the Viaduct” rally for Election Eve.
–Another tunnel opponent writes the Herald, dubbing Hizzoner “Gridlock Greg.”
-As for Hizzoner himself, he’s talking cops today, not the t-word.
… about the Never-Ending Popularity Poll. Today’s the last day to vote. We’re guaranteed to lose; USS Mariner probably gets as many people per minute as we get all day. But if not for some fine folks out there, we wouldn’t have made it to the Final Four as the last neighborhood blog standing … so thanks!
Just got details on the restaurant in the works for the ex-Neilsen Flowers space at the north edge of The Junction. Its proprietor says it’s been a long slog to get some necessary city approvals (note permit just issued, six months after application!), but they’re finally making progress. It’ll be a 21-and-up restaurant and bar, called “Shadowland” (a change from the original plan, and a reference to a biography of West Seattle’s troubled movie legend Frances Farmer). They’re hoping to be open by summer.
“Open House,” sure, but “Grand Opening” for a mini-cluster of new $400K townhomes (Fauntleroy & Findlay)? Struck us funny, or maybe we’re just giddy from sunshine.
#1, second Thursday of the month means Junction Art Walk night. Haven’t received the full lineup from the fine folks at Divina yet, but got a heads-up from participating WS artist Kelly Rae Cunningham, who says she’ll have collage work @ Clementine.
#2, wondering what’s up with Fauntleroy Place? Will Schuck’s/Hancock ever come down, so Whole Foods etc. can go up? Next stage in the process is the Southwest Design Review Board meeting Thursday, 6:30 pm @ the Southwest Precinct. (We can’t go but would love postable notes — we’ll give you a byline if you want — from anyone who can.)
–Four state legislators (including our West Seattle rep) say, even before the votes are counted, it’s time to revisit The Third Option.
–In the transcript of his online Q-n-A session, lame-duck Councilmember Peter S says no/no will “send (politicians) a message” — but then in the next breath says he’ll ignore the vote results if they turn out “yes elevated.”
-The Muni League says voting no/no isn’t enough — vote blank/blank.
-Dylan says, don’t even vote.
–Blue-Eyed Buddhist ‘fesses up to a yes tunnel/no elevated vote.
A frequent reader who got involved in the recent Pagliacci uproar says PP claims to have quietly stretched its delivery area south, finally. Maybe as far south as Holden. Anyone who can confirm this with an actual pizza delivery south of Morgan, let us know; Holden isn’t south enough for us, but we tried asking anyway, and got the slapdown. We also e-mailed Pagliacci management early today to inquire; no reply. (Though WS Blogger Spouse insists that if Pagliacci notes enough of a drop after Garlic Jim’s opens in two weeks, “bet you’ll see them deliver all the way to Southcenter.”) Well, we won’t hold our (garlic) breath.
Mark Wainwright reports on the Our Town West Seattle group that he and the folks who run the endangered Charlestown Cafe have agreed on a time and date for a community meeting: 7 pm March 28, at CC. They’re hoping for a big show of support; mark your calendar now!
-The viaduct’s just in a bad place, period.
-What life would really be like during a rebuild.
-A rebuild would spend $50K on behalf of each of us, says the Sightline Institute. (Can we just take the $ instead?)
… at least, you’ll want to be here if you’re a parade fan like us. Just got word that it looks like 11 am Saturday, July 21, for this year’s Hi-Yu Parade down Cali. (The Seafair parade downtown is one week later; Blue Angels, one week after that.)
The SOA coffee shop Freshy’s gets a couple paragraphs at the end of a Washington Post article about the Starbucks malaise.
If you live in one of West Seattle’s many older houses and have a bit of curiosity about who lived in your house way back when, here’s an unlikely tool: The city database of “side sewer cards.” Look up your address and you’ll find an image of the hand-drawn, hand-written records showing where your house connects its “side sewer” to the nearest main city pipe and who owned it last time it was inspected (check the back of the “card” for that info). And if yours goes back far enough that the person who originally owned it is likely to have left the planet by now, you can look ’em up on the Social Security Death Index.
-Times columnist Danny Westneat takes a walk under the viaduct with a guy identified as a West Seattle writer (we’re guessing this is him, though there’s no geo info on that site) and arrives at the conclusion that he’s joining us No/No-ers.
-Missed this one in the Saturday Times: Tunneling would raise our utility bills.
-And it’s a Times trifecta in this PATP update: E-mail your questions now for tomorrow’s online session with lame-duck councilmember Peter S, following last week’s appearances by Nick L and Hizzoner.
Just noticed (thanks to Seattle City Buzz) that the next Seattle Animal Shelter cat adopt-a-thon is next Saturday @ Alki Community Center. Both of our cats are ex-shelter kitties; besides getting joy from having them share our lives, we get to bask in the warm and fuzzy feeling we probably saved theirs.
Or so it appears, at the only motel in West Seattle, where the Travelodge sign is now tarped over. Tried calling; no answer. Checked the Travelodge website; it says only “dates for this property are not available on our system at this time.” Hmm. (On a somewhat-related note, why IS that the only motel or hotel in WS? We kinda get the Alki angst over the lodging proposal there, but surely there is room somewhere within our borders for a nice non-B&B place to stay … you’d think. We had one a century ago!)
Looking around YouTube to see what people have posted from WS lately, found this.
-Even a “new” viaduct would include a section of repaired/retrofitted viaduct, says the P-I.
-A fan of a seldom-discussed option, a bridge over Elliott Bay, lays it out in the Times.
-Pro-viaduct commercial, analyzed.
-Anti-viaduct commercial, analyzed.
-Near the end of this councilmember-who’s-leaving profile, West Seattle’s Most Famous ex-State Supreme Court Justice thinks 100,000 people live in WS.
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