West Seattle, Washington
01 Sunday
From the files at the Southwest Precinct: 
We start with a robbery yesterday afternoon that targeted a very young victim — an 11-year-old boy. He told police he was at the 16th SW/SW Holden bus stop after 3 pm yesterday when three men walked up to him and began “throwing him around,” demanding his iPod Shuffle, then finally knocking him to the ground, pulling it out of his pocket, and taking off. He tried to chase them but stopped when he found a crossing guard at 16th/Myrtle; she called 911 after he told her what happened. The robbers are still on the loose at last report, described as 3 “very dark-skinned” men 18-20 years old, all about 6’tall, all wearing blue jeans. (11 PM UPDATE: A reader tells WSB a note went home today to parents at the victim’s school, telling them what happened and suggesting they remind kids to keep a low profile with valuable items and to walk to and from school in pairs or groups.) Several more notable incidents ahead:Read More
Thanks to Stephanie for spotting and forwarding this link to TV aerial photography of a group of seal (or sea lions?) off Alki. Just last Sunday, we published a reader report of a similar group off Jack Block Park. In the ’90s, you could often see groups of seals/sea lions “rafting” like this off Alki at certain times of the year, but not so much this decade, so this is a welcome sight.
JOIN US AT CAPERS FRIDAY NIGHT 1/18: The time and place is finally set for the first get-together announcing the first quarterly West Seattle Community Recognition Awards — the good folks at Capers have agreed to play host, 7 pm Friday 1/18. Hope to see you there. And in the meantime, you have till Saturday to nominate somebody for the awards (here’s how) — this is a grass-roots thing that we’re starting small (with the original idea from Divina proprietor Julie Mireille Anderson; read the original announcement here) and hoping to keep growing as a way of honoring some of the many people who really make West Seattle click.
NEW WSB FORUM – SCHOOL TALK: Find it here; thanks to Karen for the idea. We’ve been talking about this being school-choice season, and she suggested that it would help to have a place where West Seattle parents could share experiences and ask questions about schools. If you are a parent with child(ren) in local schools, public or private, or a school staffer, even if you don’t have a question or issue, please consider checking in on the forum as time goes by just in case someone has a question about the school(s) you’re most familiar with.
UPDATES ON CRIME WATCH AND PETS PAGES: We’ve added some new material today to these two new WSB pages — the Crime Watch page is where you will find links to crime-prevention resources as well as the latest police reports from the files at the Southwest Precinct; the Pets page is where we’re posting pet pix as well as lost-and-found announcements and resource links — we’ve created the West Seattle Blog Pet Photos Flickr group to gather local pet pix (you’re welcome to join!), and we’ve added a couple of them to the Pets page today for a special spotlight.
The mixed-use project that is proposed south of The Junction for 5020 California (map) and two adjacent properties (shown above), Spring Hill, goes before the Southwest Design Review Board tonight at Denny Middle School’s library, 6:30 pm. (Previous coverage: Neighbor organizes opposition, Jan. 1; our first report on the proposal, Oct. 20; city project page here.)
Just out of the inbox from Doug (thank you!):
I just witnessed the strangest thing up at the Junction (at 11 am). A commercial truck totally cut the corner too sharp turning right off Calfornia onto Alaska, and the top of the truck banged into the neon Easy Street overhang.. leaving a big dent.
The truck then proceeded to back up– scraping it again. People caught in the middle of the “walk all ways” scramble had to dodge this guy– one lady was so scared she totally stopped in the middle of the intersection and stood there.
The guy drove off.. and parked about a block away. Several people (including me) walked over and got his license tag. Don’t know if he plans on going back over to Easy Street … but I’ve already called and given them my information.
We subsequently went down and got the photo you see above. Not major damage – a gash underneath the overhang. And it did appear the truck driver went back. 12:50 PM ADDITION: 2 more photos, these from WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli, one with a different view of the dent, the second showing glass on the nearby crosswalk approach (which he mentions in the comments below):
WEST SEATTLE MIDDLE SCHOOL INFORMATION NIGHT: We’ve been talking here about the fact this is the “school decision” time of year for many families, particularly those whose children are entering school or moving between elementary and middle, or middle and high school. 
We’ve been listing school tours and open houses on the WSB Events page, and tonight is one unique night of particular value to parents of 4th and 5th graders: Representatives from the public and private middle schools of West Seattle will be at Gatewood Elementary, 6:30-8 pm. According to the info page on the Gatewood website, it’ll work like this: “At 6:30 pm each school representative will give a brief overview of their school’s programs, philosophies and activities. You will then have the opportunity to ask questions and speak further with the various representatives.”
WEST SEATTLE SECOND THURSDAY ART WALK: 6-9 pm, you can wander The Junction (and a bit beyond — from Ginomai – with its free parking lot – in the north, to C and P Coffee in the south) to see art, meet artists, and enjoy a closer look at some of West Seattle’s unique businesses and venues. Here’s the list of participating locations and artists.
Since we first reported Tuesday on the tragic death of Red Cup Espresso owner Angelia Paulsen, the comment area below that first report has become a touching board of tributes and memories. One of those came from her husband Sean O’Dea; we e-mailed him to ask him if there was any information he would want you to know about the shop’s future and how to help the family, and he wrote back late last night:
I have been thinking of renaming the shop to Angelia’s Espresso and keeping it open as a tribute to her. As you can probably guess, I have a lot on my plate right now, and am not too sure of when that will happen, but I will let you know. Angelia’s brother, sister and nephew want to open the shop tomorrow [WSB NOTE: that’s today, 1/10] and offer coffee for whatever donations patrons would like to make for our son Julian’s education, and Viking Bank has set up a fund for him as well.
As reported previously, her memorial service is 11 am tomorrow at St. Stephen the Martyr Church in Renton (church website here), and friends plan a candlelight vigil at 7 pm Saturday night outside Red Cup (on California north of Oregon, next to Pagliacci).
The red arrow in the photo above (from this page on the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency website) shows the spot where the Nucor steel plant (Delridge/Andover) wants to upgrade a crane so it can operate more hours. Because more hours mean more emissions, Nucor needs state and regional permits; tonight’s public hearing at the Alki Community Center provided the chance for supporters and opponents to have their say. One of the shortest public hearings we’ve ever attended:Read More
From Cendi:
I live on Gatewood Hill at California & Holden. Twice in the past two weeks, someone has come into my yard and put [well-known local business] stickers on my windows. It surprises me, because we are in such a highly visible area and the stickers were put on the two most visible sides of my house. Could this be working up to a break-in?
Don’t know if it’s a precursor to that, but it’s certainly vandalism. Police non-emergency number: 625-5011 (always on the Crime Watch page).
After a worried Thai-food fan e-mailed to ask why they’re closed and not answering the phone, we found the building permit for their remodeling work, then went by and saw a note on the door says they’ll reopen for dinner 1/15 and for lunch 1/22. (2 other concerned would-be customers came by just during the few minutes we were checking!)
What we heard from Seattle Public Schools administration at the end of the school board’s Denny-Sealth shared-campus project work session tonight boiled down to something a lot like what we heard at a meeting about it that we covered here in West Seattle last summer — Yes, we know, we didn’t get a whole lot of public input before roaring forward with this plan, but really, we’re in it too deep now to pull back, though we’ll get you a little more information on what it would cost to change course, if you really, really want it. The majority of the board members, of course, have been elected since the project was approved last year — 4 of the 7 school board members are brand new — and even though board president Cheryl Chow warned them not to get bowled over by the “freshman rush” of project opponents hitting them up, they asked for a chance to reconsider anyway.Read More
First top line from the school board’s just-concluded work session – maybe the Chief Sealth HS community’s concerns about the consolidation project would be alleviated if the district added at least $5 million to the Sealth renovations, for items such as a new roof and a new gym floor? District administration wants to focus on either that option or the current plan; the newer school board members want some more financial facts on the “rebuild Denny at Denny” third option too, before discarding it entirely. More details shortly; the work session wrapped up at 5:41, and the board is now about to launch into its regular session.
That’s the Bradford Arms at 3911 California (map), the latest West Seattle apartment building put up for sale (12 units, $2.2 million). As of this writing, the listing calls it a “condo-quality building.”
Ellen Hansen from Metro just forwarded details on the newly added Westwood-area meeting planned to discuss RapidRide (as mentioned in our report below on the RR briefing at last night’s JuNO meeting): It’s not on the Metro website yet but she says it will be 6-7:30 pm February 19 at the Southwest Library.
Thanks to Pete R, who says he got that photo near Don Armeni with “awesome zoom” – he says he has seen this pup before, and saw its mom swim by a few times while he was watching. Meantime, word of a daytime coyote sighting also landed in the inbox, from SH:
I wanted to let all the cat and dog owners know that I saw a coyote loping down the middle of Northrop Pl SW at noon yesterday. He was a beautiful animal, looked well-fed. I thought that the cats would be safe out during the day, but I am having second thoughts about that now. Thought I would let my neighbors know about it too.
Northrop is a short street here in the Upper Fauntleroy/Gatewood border zone (its south end is at the top of the Thistle Street stairs); here’s a map.
Police, fire and medics are converging on California near the southwestern entrance to Thriftway. Looks like “a guy down in the street,” according to our witness; more when we find out more. 2:25 PM UPDATE: Call closed, scene clear. Apparently a medical problem rather than an accident.
Thanks to SW for e-mailing WSB to say work has really intensified today at the mixed-use project site at 35th & Avalon. We last discussed this project in mid-December, when the city granted a permit for shoring/mass excavation/erosion control. As you can see from the photo (taken from the bus stop on 35th, looking northeast at the site), all sorts of heavy equipment is there today; a new check of the city files reveals they’ve just applied for the building permit too. You can check architect Mark Travers‘ website to see what the future building is supposed to look like (we’re still wondering if they’re really going to build another Starbucks so close to the drive-thru!).
More than 2 weeks before the Metro RapidRide public open houses in West Seattle, the Junction Neighborhood Organization (JuNO) got a detailed preview of the future service last night, including even the buses’ likely red/yellow color scheme:
The buses will look different and so will their main stations and stops, so people will know the difference between a RapidRide bus and a regular bus. But before you get anywhere near riding one in 3 1/2 years, Metro’s looking for your thoughts on decisions to be made in a time frame that’s more like the next 3 1/2 months – decisions that might ultimately affect you even if you are sure you’ll never board a bus:Read More
10 events listed/linked here, for today/tonight alone – from school tours, to the School Board on Denny/Sealth, to the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce‘s annual meeting, to the Nucor public hearing. Oh, and a premiere too!
Many have asked what’s up with the long-stalled park project at the old substation site (2007 photo above) north of The Junction. Now there’s a long-awaited update from Friends of Dakota Place Park:Read More
Among the latest police reports filed at the Southwest Precinct, here are some of the most notable: In the 4500 block of 56th SW, at least four vehicles were broken into Sunday night-Monday morning. An SUV owner told police that a window was smashed and a GPS was taken; another owner said someone got into three of his vehicles, breaking the window of a truck and stealing a camera and gas card, then looking through the 2 other vehicles without damaging or stealing anything. More ahead:Read More
In case you missed it in comments below our original coverage, Erin Thomsen has left this on behalf of Angelia Paulsen‘s family, after reading all the memories and tributes in those comments:
To all of you who have left such wonderful memories of Angelia, we thank you from the bottoms of our hearts. Reading about the love and kindness and laughter she shared with everyone of you has meant the world to all of us. Her smile and radiance will live forever in every life she touched.
10:50 PM ADDENDUM: Thank you to Angi’s longtime friend Krissi for sharing the photos we just added above.
As we first reported this morning, a car crash on I-5 early Monday killed Red Cup Espresso owner Angelia Paulsen, and her memorial service is this Friday. Now there’s word of a tribute Saturday night outside her shop – this just in from Patty:
There will be a candlelight vigil to celebrate the life of Angi outside of Red Cup espresso on Sat at 7 p.m. All are welcome to join us. Angi was a very dear friend to us all. She will be truly missed.
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