West Seattle, Washington
04 Tuesday
The Weekly’s food blog Voracious says Mural, the Harbor Properties project in the ex-Petco parking lot, will include a restaurant called Fresh, involving folks from Herban Feast, which recently moved HQ from West Seattle to Sodo.
FIRST: The 911 log showed an “automatic fire alarm” call at West Seattle High School listed as open for several hours early this morning, which is unusual, so we called Seattle Fire Department to check. Public-information officer Sue Stangl says someone “threw a small chunk of concrete through a window” and followed it up by throwing a lit string of 100 or so firecrackers through the broken window — the smoke set off the fire alarm. The only notable damage was to the window, but the call stayed “open” on the log because of the ongoing investigation.
SECOND: A reader report about suspected “casing” and a subsequent burglary attempt that neighbors think might be linked:
Belvidere neighborhood last night near Olga and Belvidere . On Wednesday, police were called when two African-Americans, one heavyset boy, one girl, both around 16-18 yrs old, all dressed in white, were going door to door without ID. Last night there was an attempted break-in in the same area at a home where the owners had placed their garbage out early due to being out of town. Police again were notified but were directed to the wrong address. Suspect could only be identified as 6’1-6’2 and African-American with normal-fitting dark hoodie. White Cadillac with dark tinted windows seen in the neighborhood around the same time as both events.
If you had trouble getting into WSB over the past hour or so, please accept our apologies. Our server and its backups all crashed. We have some technical upgrades in the works in the not-too-distant future that should improve reliability. Meantime, when this kind of thing happens, we send out notes and news via Twitter – so if you’re not on Twitter yet, you might consider getting an account (doesn’t mean you have to use it much) — twitter.com, sign up to “follow” westseattleblog. (This won’t help during those occasional site outages but FYI, our Twitter updates also appear in the aqua box halfway down the sidebar; sometimes you’ll see notes, observations, updates there that aren’t worth official posts/articles but briefly notable anyway.)
Both at Hiawatha Community Center – the Fun Festival is scheduled noon-3, Junior Court Coronation at 1 pm.
The intersection of Bronson and Harbor doesn’t show up on online maps – or else we’d have one above this sentence. But it’s a real place – on the water side, a city-owned “street end” – and the Seattle Department of Transportation is finally ready to turn it into a park. SDOT “shoreline street ends” program manager Patti Quirk, who’s a West Seattleite, came to last night’s Alki Community Council meeting to talk about the plan – something community leaders have long pushed for, but couldn’t quite get approved, till now. Read on to find out more, plus other toplines from the ACC meeting:Read More
Thanks to David Hutchinson for the sunset silhouette of the Tribal Journeys canoes and onlookers at Alki (here’s our earlier report, with more info, photos, and links) – the canoes will be on the beach till Saturday morning, so there’s still time to go see them in person. Meantime, thanks to Austin for photographing this fireboat show near Seacrest:
Photos, video, news tips, reader reports always appreciated, editor@westseattleblog.com (other contact options listed here) … thanks!
If this is your second or third summer as a WSB’er, you know we are huge fans of the West Seattle Grand Parade, presented during the Hi-Yu Festival by American Legion Post 160 (many call it the Hi-Yu Parade but it’s been pointed out that while Hi-Yu participates, the festival does not PRESENT it, the Post does). We’re now just a day and a half away and thought we’d put together some parade notes of interest. First, the route – California and Lander (Admiral District) to California/Edmunds (The Junction); the purple marker denotes the start of the Kiddies’ Parade at California/Genesee (which also continues to Edmunds):
The Kiddies’ Parade is presented by the Rotary Club of West Seattle (all kids welcome to participate; here’s the flyer with details) and starts at 10:30 am – here’s one entry from last year:
The Grand Parade follows immediately after the Kiddies’ Parade. Next, if you missed it the first time around, here’s the list of parade highlights, as announced by parade organizers (and we’ve just learned of some late additions, including a Charlestown Cafe entry!). Among the many star attractions: If you thought the Seafair Pirates were a blast on the beach, wait till you hear their cannon fire echo down California Ave!
That’s just one of the photos we published last year. You’ll find the rest in this 2007 post and the links with which it ends – pointing you to all installments of our parade coverage from last summer. This year’s parade has about 70 entries (including the one we’re helping coordinate; you’re invited to be part of it) – and even if you aren’t so sure you’re “the parade type,” it’s another occasion for West Side Pride, since this is the oldest community parade in Seattle. Tomorrow, the countdown continues (as do the previews of other weekend excitement, including the first “Movies on the Wall” showing on Saturday night — “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”).
(click to see a larger version)
You see them soaring overhead – or sometimes perched in a tree or on a piling – but this is a somewhat unusual view of West Seattle bald eagles, courtesy of Susan Grossman of Singing Pixel Photography. She writes:
I was very excited to watch this eagle family interact on the Duwamish Head end of Alki this morning. While the bird in the foreground is gigantic, it seems to be a half-fledged chick. It was running along the beach on and off for a good half hour, flapping its wings and crying piteously and hopping into the air and crashing back down, while Mom sat on the pontoon with what looks like an older or better-developed sibling and watched. Eventually Mom and sibling came back to the chick. Mom seemed conflicted; the youngster would crouch and flap his wings and peep yearningly at her exactly like a begging sparrow chick, and Mom would move toward him and stretch her head toward him, then jerk away. Eventually Mom flew back to the pontoon and Sibling stayed on the beach with the youngster, huddling with him and grooming him in what looked like a comforting way, and watching while he found some fish and excitedly ate it. Eventually Youngster made it into the air and Mom joined him and the family soared off.
I don’t know much about eagle behavior, but it looks like the chick, which is monstrously huge but a baby nonetheless, is at that stage where the parent starts being impelled to start withdrawing parental care. But everyone in the group looked miserable and conflicted. Do eagles live in multi-age groups? The sleeker young eagle definitely seems better-developed and looks older, but he or she also clearly had a strong bond with the ruffled youngster.
Dizzying array of fun things to do this weekend here on the peninsula – never mind those big events elsewhere (Bite of Seattle, etc.) — and a few more have come to our attention in recent days, so besides putting them on the Events calendar page (and in tomorrow’s West Seattle Weekend Lineup), here are quick highlights, followed by a final word on West Seattle’s “Project Runway” contestant (and plans for more viewing parties). First, a fundraiser:
That’s the Illusions Hair Design (WSB sponsor) car in last year’s West Seattle Grand Parade – they’ll be in this Saturday’s parade too (more parade updates here later today) to promote a fundraiser they’re putting on the very next day for one of their favorite nonprofits, Pencil Me In For Kids: A car wash on Sunday, 10 am-2 pm, West Seattle Eagles’ parking lot (by the Junction post office).
Sunday is also West Seattle Garden Tour day; we reminded you about that the other day, but then just heard from the WSGT folks that they are still “looking for a few good volunteers to assist in guiding attendees in the gardens this Sunday. Morning and afternoon shifts are available. (3-hour shifts) Please contact Lee Kramer, Volunteer Coordinator at (206)932-8662 if you are interested in helping out.”
Saturday, a couple of interesting sales have just been added to the calendar: First – the Ocean View Community Beach Club is inviting you to its quiet corner of southwest West Seattle:
The Ocean View Community Beach Club is having its periodic neighborhood garage sale this Saturday, July 19th from 8-5. The address is 11408 Marine View Dr SW. [map] West Seattleites are invited to drop by and have a chat with friendly neighbors.
Also having a sale Saturday – one of West Seattle’s many one-of-a-kind businesses, Casual Industrees. 6205 SW Admiral, 10 am “till dark,” they promise.
Last but not least, speaking of fun, a couple addendums on the “West Seattle barista Blayne on Project Runway” front. First, we made it back to Blayne’s workplace, Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) in The Junction, today for a brief debrief with proprietor Lora Lewis on how she thinks Blayne did in the season premiere last night:
Lora also confirmed that the viewing parties at Ginomai @ 42nd/Genesee (here’s our coverage of the first one last night) will continue for as long as Blayne remains a contender. So you’re invited again next Wednesday, show at 9 pm/doors open at 8 pm, bring a non-alcoholic beverage to share and a “small dessert.” (We’re told that fun was had at Shadow Land last night as well, for those who preferred adult beverages to accompany their viewing.)
As first reported here last week, the Jefferson Square Starbucks (the standalone store at the NW corner, not the “licensee” stand in the Safeway) is on the list of 600 company-owned stores that will close. Starbucks just released the full official list today. It’s the only West Seattle Starbucks on the list, which includes six other stores in Seattle: 328 15th Ave E, 620 Denny Way, 1220 Howell St., 2201 E. Madison Ave., 1218 N. 45th St., and the “Northgate Mall II” store. No timetable is mentioned (we’ll check with corporate PR tomorrow).
Thanks to David Hutchinson for those photos and word that the Tribal Journeys canoes have landed at Alki (which explains the Lincoln Park sighting earlier) – the canoes at Alki (on the sand east of the Bathhouse) are Muckleshoot canoes, according to the Tribal Journeys website. We visited during their stop last year (WSB coverage here) – quite something to see if you can get down to the beach tonight (reading the online schedule, looks like they may be here through tomorrow night too, with security watching the canoes while their occupants are bused to accommodations elsewhere). Canoes are traveling four routes as part of this event, all bound for a celebration in British Columbia.
Those renderings by the Viaduct Preservation Group are leaning against the wall in a briefing room at Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Program HQ in the Wells Fargo building downtown (3rd/Madison), where we are covering a briefing at which the Stakeholders Advisory Committee is going to get more information on why the idea of retrofitting The Viaduct is no longer under consideration (as announced when the options that ARE under consideration were unveiled June 26, listed here under “Step 4”). We’ll be summarizing this later along with the information we gathered the other night at the West Seattle open house for the South End Replacement project. The committee members who are here include West Seattleite Vlad Oustimovitch, who says he’d asked for a briefing like this to get a more detailed explanation on why retrofitting was ruled out. Here’s a summary of the studies analyzed as part of the process of reaching the retrofit-off-the-table conclusion.
FIRST NOTE: We guessed wrong when we speculated about the source of the jets some saw/heard earlier today — turns out it was a Boeing F22 stealth-fighter arrival. Here’s video and info on the KING5 site. Seems they were en route to a Museum of Flight ceremony; the MoF is celebrating Boeing Field’s 80th anniversary later this month AND of course a week after that, it’s Blue Angels mania (see you there?).
SECOND NOTE: Road work just announced for Highland Park this weekend. Note from SDOT:
SDOT crews will repair the concrete pavement on SW Holden Street between 11th Avenue Southwest and Highland Parkway SW in Southwest Seattle. A detour will be in place for all traffic starting at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 19. By no later than 5 p.m. the same day the traffic will be reopened to eastbound traffic. By noon on Sunday, July 20, the street will be opened to westbound traffic. The street will remain open to pedestrians throughout the project.
(photo by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli)
Less than 24 hours after the construction-trench collapse that ended with that dramatic rescue, retty remarkable news just in from Sofia Zadra Goff, who with husband Sean Goff is creating Cafe Revo on Avalon, next to the site of the collapse and rescue operation (WSB coverage here and here):
Sean came down to meet with one of our vendors at the Cafe Revo space today. While he was there the man who was stuck in the trench yesterday came by to pick up something he left at the construction site in the parking lot. He is walking fine and is doing well! Sean got to meet him and his family. So I thought I would let you know to share the wonderful news :)
Bruce Butterfield of the Fauntleroy Community Association tipped us to this boat when he saw it passing southern West Seattle shores – by the time we got down to Lowman Beach for a look, it was on the beach at Williams Point (by Colman Pool) – we couldn’t take the time to walk over there right now to find out more, but caught this photo via zoom. 4:48 PM UPDATE: Looks like it’s part of Tribal Journeys – just got some photos from Alki – posting them separately. Web site here.
The semiweekly city Land Use Information Bulletin has just arrived, and the site shown above — 4103 SW Edmunds, proposed for teardown-to-five-townhomes (as first reported here in February) kitty-corner from the south side of Jefferson Square — is the only West Seattle project on it; the city has ruled that its land-use permit application doesn’t require environmental review even though it’s technically in an “Environmentally Critical Area” because of the steep slope. Its construction and demolition permits are still pending. Nothing unusual given that it’s in the densifying area around The Junction, but it comes at a time when the city is about to start reviewing “multifamily zoning” (as reported here). Related to that issue, a West Seattle resident just cc’d us on her letter to a councilmember expressing opposition to the changes – we’ve had some glowing reviews of them already, so we’re sharing this counterpoint – read on:Read More
That photo is courtesy of Martha Tuttle with the King County Wastewater Treatment Division, who just sent this update on the short-term 53rd Ave. Pump Station “bypass” that the county acknowledges made last night an extra-noisy one for Alki-area folks – she says its duration will be closer to 24 hours than the possible 36:
King County expects that the work will be completed this evening . The pipe installation is completed. This afternoon the County will use TV/video cameras to inspect the force main before restarting the pump station. We understand that this part of the construction was extremely noisy and disruptive and we appreciate how patient the nearby residents have been.
Till that’s done, all those orange trucks have been taking wastewater out of the system at 53rd and trucking it over to the pump station in the 3500 block of Harbor – more than a dozen 3,500-gallon trucks – and the pedestrian walkway on the water side of the work zone is closed, with flaggers helping people cross at both ends of it. The entire project at 53rd, which started in February, isn’t scheduled to be done till fall of next year.
Out of the WSB inbox, from Patricia:
During the usual morning dog walk, we were on Beach Drive headed towards Alki point, just across from the Sewage Treatment Plant when I heard a running sound. Looked down at the beach (tide was out) and a coyote was looking at us as it ran south along the beach.
Pretty exciting to see. Expect to see them up on the hills and in the parks, but not on the beach!
7 pm, Alki Community Center. Agenda is previewed here (where you also can download the latest Alki News Beacon if you haven’t read it yet). Many more events for today, tonight, the jampacked weekend that’s around the corner, and way beyond – all on our Events calendar page (including even more Saturday additions).
We didn’t entirely love the site search “widget” we’d been offering atop the sidebar … so we found something better. The new search box still uses Google to comb WSB, including the Forums, but results are on a more full-featured G-page. BONUS: If you need to search the whole Web, now you can do that from any WSB page – use that same box but uncheck the boxlet next to “search West Seattle Blog.” Problems? Let us know. Thanks!
No spoilers here on the home page, in case you’re watching later via TiVO etc. … we’ve got a viewing party report for starters:Read More
Almost lost amid all the other news, till the county just called with an update: Tonight’s the night that they’ve started to use pump trucks to move sewage flow from the 53rd Ave construction site (first warning posted here last week), so that it can briefly bypass the regular pipes. County spokesperson Martha Tuttle says, “It’s a bit more chaotic than we expected.” 15 trucks are operating right now – probably fewer later as the flow slows. Here’s the route the trucks are taking.
Trucks traveling to the West Seattle Pump Station will follow Alki Avenue Southwest to Harbor Avenue Southwest. Trucks traveling to the Alki Stormwater Treatment Plant will follow this route: Alki Avenue Southwest to 63rd Avenue Southwest to Beach Drive Southwest to 64th Avenue Southwest to Southwest Wilton Court.
The trucks involved are similar to the rigs involved in this afternoon’s Avalon rescue – “Vactors.” We just talked to another worker at the scene – she says traffic is down to one lane for the duration of this (24 to 36 hours, so possibly all the way till Friday morning); the pedestrian walkway on the water side is closed for a few blocks, so flaggers are helping people get to the other side of the street to use the sidewalk there. The county also stresses that if you have a major problem, please call their 24-hour construction hotline – it’s linked to a pager so you need to leave name/number – 206-205-5656.
WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli shot those photos (and all others in this report unless otherwise credited) as the rescued worker was taken to an aid car to be rushed to the hospital. Meantime, we’re starting a new post here to put together all the information we have, now that the construction worker’s been rescued (see previous post for our two-plus hours of frequent as-it-happened updates). Here’s Technical Rescue Lt. Powell explaining afterward what the operation was like:
The Fire Department says the bucket of an excavator that was being used at the scene is believed to have had something to do with the collapse that trapped the worker for more than two hours. You can see that excavator on the right side of this photo (which we’ve also added to our original series of updates below):
As the owners of nearby future restaurant Cafe Revo told WSB during our updates, the crew was doing drainage work on behalf of the landlord at that site, not related to their work turning the ex-Murphy’s into a restaurant. According to an SFD spokesperson, the rescued man is “alert” but since he is just now being evaluated at the hospital, there’s no further word yet on his condition or whether he suffered any internal injuries. Here’s a shot of the roadblock during the incident – sounds from the scanner like it’s now cleared (let us know if you’re seeing otherwise):
ADDED 7:25 PM: The entire rescue unfolded before the eyes of the folks who live in the residential unit at the back of the Revo building — Sarah sent us photos including these next three, starting with this bird’s-eye view of some of the fire equipment and its personnel:
As for the actual rescue scene itself, she had to shoot through a window screen, but if you missed the earlier live aerials many of us watched online and/or on-air, you can get an idea of the incredibly intense activity that surrounded the collapse site until the worker was pulled out:
A different kind of activity hub was across Avalon, where reporters and photographers were asked to stay, for safety’s sake (theirs and the crews involved in the rescue):
ADDED 7:55 PM: More photos taken by Christopher – first one, the scene before the Vactor trucks arrived to help clear the debris that were trapping the worker:
Workers began to assemble sections of pipe after a city truck brought it in:
Nearby salon Ola had to be evacuated after a while just in case the scene became more dangerous:
More rescue teams converged around the scene:
Firefighters from Ladder 11 rigged lines and pulleys to provide leverage so they could get the victim out:
P.S. The Fire Department just updated its media-info line with a few more details. They’re not releasing the worker’s name but say he is reported to be in stable condition. He became trapped in the 8-foot-deep trench when 1 side of it “collapsed in on him.” Technical-rescue experts worked with Seattle Public Utilities crews to get the man out – SPU’s two large Vactor trucks pumped dirt out of the hole; meantime, there were “about five” Technical Rescue team members in the hole with the worker as the operation continued, while medics monitored his condition, made sure he had pain medication, kept him hydrated. Christopher’s photos at the top of this post are vastly better, but we did also shoot video as the rescued man was being taken to the aid car:
11:21 PM UPDATE: KOMO identifies the man as Kelley Vielle and quotes family members as saying he’s on oxygen but able to talk and “moving his toes.”
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