West Seattle, Washington
18 Thursday
Couldn’t let this go unremarked … Mayor “No Monorail Because The Voters Have Spoken” sticking to his tunnel-or-else guns in today’s Times, despite the paper’s poll showing 75% of respondents want something other than the insanely expensive tunnel:
“I’ve gone through the peaks and valleys of building a light-rail system in this city, and there were times in 2000 and 2001 where it was about as popular as Prohibition,” said Nickels, a Sound Transit board member. “We stuck it out and in 2009 we’re going to open light rail to the airport, and today if you took a poll there would be consensus that it was the right thing to do.”
And yet the monorail deserved to die after losing one of five votes? … leaving our side of the city completely and utterly without non-bus mass transit.
Catching up on a loose end: someone e-mailed us to point out that the current edition of The Stranger has a rapturous review of Talarico’s. Have they found their stride after 6 months? We’ll have to live vicariously through your reviews, as we pretty much never go out with an adults-only dining party.
A new wave of campaign signs washed up along Beach Drive and other points in West Seattle today, this time plugging Seattle Proposition 1, aka Hizzoner’s “Bridging the Gap” transportation tax. (Along Me-Kwa-Mooks Park, a pro-Prop 1 sign promises “More Bike Trails”; closer to Alki Point, the signs exhort “Fix This Street” — hmm, I’m not so sure that Beach Drive-paving $ is in there.) These signs join a semi-early blitz of “No on Referendum 1” signs, and if you think there’s potential for confusion between Prop 1 and Ref 1, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet — throw in King County Props 1 and 2 (plus Seattle Initiative 91, Seattle Charter Amendments 6-16, three state initiatives and a state referendum), and you might think you’re looking at a math worksheet instead of a ballot.
In case you haven’t done your research yet, here’s a few bullet points:
–Seattle Prop 1 raises property taxes for a variety of transportation projects, NOT including the viaduct. About $12 extra per month if your house is worth $400K.
-Seattle Ref 1 asks if you approve of the city’s strip-club regulations (including the famous “four-foot rule”).
-King Co. Prop 1 asks if you’ll let county leaders sell off some real estate along Lake Union and the Duwamish (scroll down that page for the full list), which all dates back to a bond measure from almost a century ago.
-King Co. Prop 2 raises sales taxes a tenth of a percent to pay for more bus service (the list on this page mentions Delridge as a key corridor).
We’ll get to the double- and triple-digit ones later. No endorsements here at this point, though we have to say, we’re still a little consumed by bad feelings about the signature-gatherers for Ref 1, who stood outside the Westwood Village Target some months ago and tried to grab shoppers’ attention by barking, “DO YOU HATE STRIPPERS?”
Never been to the Fauntleroy Fall Festival but sounds like it’s all indoors — 3 to 7 pm today, The Hall @ Fauntleroy (in the ex-school building, just up the hill from the Fauntleroy bizdistlet).
West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician may well be cursing into his coffee this morning. Since no voter verdict is pending, a paper & pollster decided to take The Pulse of the People another way regarding Viaduct Vs. Tunnel Vs. Neither. The best stuff is in the middle of the story — the Guv says she’s glad to have SOME kind of public feedback; Hizzoner says, in effect, never mind the people, he’s got the back of future generations; West Seattle respondents say (60%-40%) JUST REPLACE THE DAMN THING AND BE DONE WITH IT, ‘KAY? One thing about the story bugs me, though. It mentions that the first round of questioning to poll respondents included asking them about The Third Option. However, the story never gets around to mentioning exactly how many preferred it. (Maybe there’s a breakdown in the “dead tree” version of the paper? Speaking of dead trees, that’s one of our next topics.)
Chalk another one up for West Seattle Blog Spouse, who bet me that the ex-Remo Borracchini spot in The Junction would become a “fancy bakery with something French in its name.”
Sometime in the past 24 hours, a sign went up, as follows: “Coming soon (to delightfully spoil West Seattle with bread, pastry, cakes, chocolates and coffee)/Bakery Nouveau/home of world baking champion 2005/USA top 10 chocolatier 2004/William Leaman.”
According to a variety of online references, Leaman’s been at Essential Baking Company in North Seattle for a while and does indeed have quite an impressive resume, dating back into his teens. West Seattle’s got a fair amount of good bakeries — so could this mean we’re in for something great?
A political editorial (pro-Initiative 920, which means anti-estate tax) in the Sunday Times/P-I describes Services Group of America, which moved from its Delridge HQ (the building with the huge flag) to AZ, as a “small business.” Hardly!
My condolences, by the way, to anyone who lost their job because they didn’t want to move from West Seattle to Arizona; been through the “no relo? no job” thing ourselves. But it’s “good riddance” to SGA’s boss, perhaps best remembered for getting ticked off that he couldn’t get a heliport on the Delridge building (convenient for his commute from Vashon), and had the gall to take the fight all the way to the state Supreme Court!
-The former Casablanca Coffee on 35th has changed its name again. After 3 months as the Coffee Shoppe, it’s now “Carosello.”
-The windows at the former Borracchini Bakery in The Junction are now papered over. Still no hint of what’s next, aside from the city permit application a month and a half ago mentioning “modifications to existing bakery.”
Forgot to mention one last time, a BIG reason to stay on this side of the bay this weekend — the viaduct’s closing, 6 am-6 pm, both days. (And if you want to feel even better about driving less, “An Inconvenient Truth” is still at the Admiral.) Plus, in addition to the events mentioned in the post below, Chas writes to tell us it’s the last Music Nights @ White Center event tonight (seven participating venues).
Here goes with our almost-weekly quick look at some of what’s happening around WS this weekend (which as far as we’re concerned, starts NOW!): The Fauntleroy Fall Festival on Sunday … Family skating at Alki Community Center tonight … Comedy juggling at Kenyon Hall tonight and Saturday … The first of two “Creative Conversations” at Youngstown Arts Center on Saturday … Clementine promises a grand-opening celebration with cake on Saturday (not mentioned on its website; saw it in a magazine ad!) … Tibbetts Church’s annual fall “rummage sale” today and tomorrow … “tick … tick, BOOM!” continues this weekend at ArtsWest … Volunteers are working on habitat restoration along the Duwamish on Saturday … Just outside the WS border, the Sonics-Storm Legends Tour stops at White Center Park/Community Center on Saturday morning … Elsewhere on the sports front, high-school football at West Seattle Stadium tonight and Saturday night … What are we missing? Leave a comment or e-mail us with anything to add!
Usually by this point in October, you can see what are literally the signs of fall: the “snow closure” road signs that city crews bring around and strategically tether to fixtures near steep spots — south end of Admiral, south end of Cali Ave, the nearly vertical drop on Charlestown, etc.
Instead of seeing these signs, we’re seeing record high temperatures and spectacular sunsets. So in case you’re missing typical fall weather, we found a reason to not miss it: the Columbus Day Windstorm, 44 years ago today.
Speaking of driving … We seem to spend more and more time stuck in the right lane on The Bridge in the mornings, sludging along to get to the viaduct, then in the right lane on the viaduct in the evenings, sludging along to get to The Bridge. Problem is, more and more of us are pouring into those funnels, now that the city is granting new teardown-to-townhome permits almost daily (putting a dozen or more households where just one once sat). I totally admit to being part of the problem, in my single-occupant (albeit little) vehicle. The bus would cost me 3 hours a day roundtrip right now — 3 hours I can’t spare — and I don’t think Ron Sims’ bus tax is going to make things any better. Laugh at me if you want, but I still mourn the monorail. (I’d settle for a year-round Water Taxi.) See you in the funnel …
Made it up to the Admiral District for the first time in a bit … the road work’s started there too. But don’t let any of this keep you from spending your green in the local bizdists … just allot a little extra time, and get creative with the parking!
At least, it sounds like that’s what happened last night, per Save Seattle Public Schools. I can’t find a news story about the hearing online from either daily paper. Prior to the hearing, though, the WS Herald had comprehensive coverage, even including a new editorial sort of apologizing for the controversial “huge egos” comment in last week’s paper.
The owner of Edie’s Shoes (in The Junction, just west of Easy Street) wrote to let us (and you) know about a cool-sounding event she’s part of this Thursday night: Her store, Carmilia’s, and Sweetie will be open for “late-night shopping” 7-10 pm — with wine and appetizers, she says! Gee, one more nail in the coffin of our WS memories from back when apparel offerings in The Junction didn’t go much beyond Shafrans (scroll down for historical photo). A few more of these hi-fash stores, and you’ll half expect to see the “Sex and the City” gals strutting down Cali Ave.
Four weeks till Election Day, maybe less time till “voting day” for you if you use absentee ballots, so it’s never too soon for a reminder that there’s a lot more at stake this time around than just the big statewide races. For one, there’s Seattle Proposition 1, a tax levy for various transportation projects (NOT including the viaduct). Here’s the official city page with the ballot language; here’s how the city council summarized it when they approved it for the ballot; to find some West Seattle specifics, you have to read this and skim ahead to page 5 and beyond. Worth a look before you make a gut decision on “$365 million in taxes, or not?”.
The site for Clementine is up. (That link goes to the shop’s “about us” page, which is more refreshingly real than most such pages are.)
-The latest incarnation of the school-closure hearing roadshow is in West Seattle this week. As I write, the Roxhill hearing is under way; tomorrow night, I wouldn’t be surprised to see fireworks at the Pathfinder/Cooper hearing. You can track the developments more closely at the Save Seattle Public Schools blog (run by a Pathfinder mom).
-Speaking of closures, the viaduct will be out of commission 6 am-6 pm both days this weekend for its twice-yearly “is it REALLY still safe to drive on this thing?” checkup. And in The Junction, a closure related to the Cali Ave repaving is scheduled to continue for a few more days.
-Now, an opening: Sometime in the past few days, the GRAND OPENING banner went up at Kokoras Greek Grill in Morgan Junction, on the east side of Cali Ave, just north of Fauntleroy. We’ll run by in person as soon as we get a chance and report back on the menu offerings.
That question is answered at the end of this heartbreaking story from today’s P-I.
If you’ve been here more than a few years, even if you have never gone below the water’s surface, the idea of dwindling marine life won’t surprise you. Even around WS, we don’t see what we often saw in the ’90s — “rafting” California sea lions off Alki, diverse and numerous bird sightings south of Alki Point including surf scoters and buffleheads.
Not to say it’s all gone. But it’s going. Maybe not irreversibly, though — there are success stories out there, such as the brown pelican and the gray whale, when those in power dare to do something.
How could we have missed John Moe? Heard a lot about his new book on the radio while driving around the past few days. The site for his “day job” mentions he lives on this side of the bay; his blog archive mentions some writing sessions at “the West Seattle Uptown Espresso.” (Which one?)
Catching up on biz news tonight, driving most of Cali Ave for the first time in a few days … sorry if it’s old news to you, but now we know what’s replacing Emily Ann’s Dollar Boutique in the prime (but so often turned over) real estate @ the southwest corner of The Junction: Big banner in the window proclaims “A Special Delivery for West Seattle/georgia blu/a baby boutique/Opening November.” Doesn’t surprise me in the least; first came the condos, now comes the baby boom, evidenced every Sunday with the abundance of young families in the crowd at the Farmers’ Market (among other examples). But will this new arrival give birth to a neon sign, to fit in with its corner-mates?
Just a few words before we get back to other business … Yes, I agree with various commenters on the post below that In-n-Out would be the ultimate burger franchise to have here. I didn’t bring it up because there’s no point — they haven’t even expanded into Oregon, much less WA, and until they settle their family trouble, I doubt they’ll go much further than their current Southwest turf. By the way, we just tried the Tacoma Carl’s Jr. — had to go to Tac anyway, so took a side trip (it’s off Highway 16 on the way to Point Defiance, Tacoma Narrows, etc.). Even at 11 am on Sunday morning, the joint was jumping — including a couple members of the Tacoma PD. I predict quick colonization northward. (Bonus trivia question for any other longtime or semi-longtime WS’ites … can you name the burger joint that used to be on the site where Jack in the Box is now? At least, it was still there when we arrived in the early ’90s.)
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