West Seattle, Washington
19 Friday
That’s just one of a slew of photos JF sent us from a chaotic multiple-vehicle crash scene by his house at 40th and Andover (map) on Tuesday afternoon. He says it’s a spot where they’ve been trying to get city help for “traffic calming” to slow drivers down:
Read on for JF’s account of what happened, and more of his photos:Read More
It’s a WSB tradition to tell you about new sponsors when their ads start running, so we want to introduce you tonight to West Seattle-based garden coach Julie Hale, who’s offering her services just in time for the kickoff of spring gardening season. Julie’s career in horticulture has spanned more than twenty years. For much of that time, she owned a successful garden management and container-design business, with a clientele located primarily on the Eastside. In recent years, her focus has shifted to working one-on-one with clients in their own gardens. She offers a range of horticultural services, including general consulting, plant selection and placement advice, hands-on lessons in pruning techniques, formulation of seasonal maintenance plans, and container design and installation. She’s an active member of PlantAmnesty, a local educational nonprofit group dedicated to proper pruning and better gardening practices. She lives and gardens in West Seattle, and enjoys the opportunity to work locally with her neighbors and fellow West Seattleites! You can reach her by calling 206/351-8098 or e-mailing juliehale@q.com. We thank Julie for becoming a WSB sponsor; if you’re thinking about joining her and our other sponsors, here’s the place to start.
Habiba & Zahra Mohamed from West Seattle High School are back from the Chase Urban Debate National Championship in Chicago, where they took 11th place while representing the Seattle Urban Debate League. Here’s a great account, with pix.
Pulled over at Emma Schmitz Viewpoint on Beach Drive to snag a few seconds of video shortly after the lowest tide of the month (-2.4, just after 2 pm). Tomorrow afternoon’s low tide will be almost as low: -2.1, just before 3 pm.
The current principal is leaving – heading for Mercer Island, according to the farewell letter just posted by a WSB Forum member.
This afternoon we got the chance to spend a few minutes talking with the new leader of West Seattle’s police force (they handle South Park too), Southwest Precinct Capt. Joe Kessler. This was his first official day in the office at the precinct (which is just east of Home Depot). He says he’s thrilled to be working in West Seattle because of strong community involvement — and he considers community participation in info-sharing here at WSB to be part of that. When it was clear some of the department’s top leaders would be moving around this year (we first reported the moves in late February), Capt. Kessler says the Southwest Precinct was his top choice. He says he’s worked before with many people who are based at the SWP, so they’ve already got a good working relationship to start with. As he gets settled in, we’ll be talking with him more about his plans for leading the team that’s working — with your help — to keep West Seattle safe. (Capt. Kessler’s predecessor in the SWP’s top role, Capt. Mike Fann, is now running the Traffic Unit.)
Thanks to the people who just e-mailed and texted us to let us know that Beveridge Place Pub has sent out an e-mail update saying plans to reopen tomorrow in the new location next door, after closing the old location Sunday, are on hold because of inspection issues. We tried calling but got no answer; the e-mail forwarded to us goes on to say, “Unfortunately, we can’t provide an exact date for the new place right now, but we’re sure you understand we are trying to resolve things as fast as possible.”
West Seattle mom of three Anita Mitchell is not just fighting colon cancer, she’s fighting to help other people who are battling it. And that’s why she took time to talk with WSB about how she’s doing and about a celebrity-led event in Seattle this Saturday that’s a must-attend for not just patients, but also their family and friends — an event that wouldn’t be happening if she hadn’t pushed for it:Read More
That’s Tom Smith of Tom’s Automotive, honored at the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce‘s annual Awards Breakfast attended by 105 people at Salty’s on Alki this morning as “Business of the Year” — as he mentions in our video, in business 37 years! (Thanks to WSB readers for contributing nominations!) Also honored this morning, Warren Lawless with the Community Service Award; he has been a businessman and community leader in West Seattle for more than 65 years. The awards were presented by deputy mayor Tim Ceis; among those in attendance were other political leaders including West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, and countless West Seattle business/community leaders. ADDED 11:52 AM: Here’s a short clip from Warren Lawless’s acceptance speech. He had many great quips drawing audience laughter, but this brief quote seemed to get to the heart of what he was honored for:
Everyone who’s been to Westwood Village and/or neighboring Roxhill Park has seen this many times, and often in much greater numbers – the lineup of “for sale” cars along Barton. It’s long been a neighborhood sore spot, not to mention a safety hazard, among other things. This morning, after the latest Westwood Neighborhood Council meeting, president Steven Fischer sends word of major progress – on the parking issue and on crosswalk concerns in the nearby area where a woman was hit and killed in February:Read More
OK, so the job news in general can be a little glum. We’ve been through layoffs ourselves. However, people ARE hiring, and some are right here in West Seattle. So we’re now offering a section of the WSB Forums as a spot for any business physically based in West Seattle to post a WS job. You must include name, address, phone, e-mail in the post; no mystery, please. (We reserve the right to delete/reject any posting.) Seems worth a try, to help be part of the solution in uncertain times. Find the new WSB Forum Jobs section here.
That’s a new store that Safeway is building in Los Gatos, California, close in size to its current store in West Seattle’s Admiral District. Could a similar plan — underground parking, outdoor patio — be appropriate for the Admiral project that Safeway’s about to launch? It was one of many suggestions given to five Safeway reps who were on hand last night at the Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s monthly meeting. They had no presentation of their own to make — stating simply and quickly that they don’t even have a design outline for the site yet, and just wanted to hear thoughts from those at the meeting — and, from you:Read More
On the 14th anniversary of the day when millions were shaken to learn Seattle grunge-rock megastar Kurt Cobain had ended years of substance abuse by committing suicide, an earnest group gathered tonight at South Seattle Community College in hopes of strategizing how to save today’s young people from getting anywhere near that kind of lethal low point. You probably heard about the anti-underage-drinking town-hall meeting ahead of time; organizer Renae Gaines from Madison Middle School worked hard to get the word out.Read More
Busy night around West Seattle; we covered three events – first, here are quick notes from the Fauntleroy Community Association monthly meeting, including what’s been going on with the campaign to save the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse in the two weeks since the community meeting about it (WSB coverage here):Read More
That photo is courtesy Bill Schrier, who witnessed a startling sight in Metropolitan Market tonight – he describes it as a man yelling and throwing merchandise – Bill says what you see in his photo are store employees who managed to get the man under control till help arrived. No more details at this point about what happened or whether everyone is OK; we will check with police tomorrow.
This was so startling we didn’t even stop to note exactly what cross-street we were passing. But the blanket warning would be, avoid the left southbound lane of Fauntleroy in the Fairmount Springs vicinity (a couple curves before Morgan Junction) – our right wheel landed in a HUGE, jarring rut just now. Going to call 684-ROAD and report online ASAP but meantime, wanted to get out the word.
A month and a half after that open house at historic Fire Station 37 to show off plans for its replacement, the city’s filed for two more permits to facilitate the construction of the new station at 35th SW/Holden: a construction permit and a demolition permit (to tear down the dilapidated old house on the site). The old station, an official city landmark, will be sold after the new one’s up and running.
FIRST: That’s the Propel biodiesel station taking shape (first mentioned here last month), with the pump canopy now up, at 35th/Barton. According to the Propel website, it’ll sell B20 and B99 grades. SECOND: Not far away, we stopped by Bird on a Wire Espresso today and noticed they’ve switched to compostable disposable cups, for a surcharge (more info on the Bird website). THIRD: During the 34th District Democratic Caucus on Saturday, West Seattle’s King County Councilmember Dow Constantine mentioned something about “climate change work with Congress (this) week.” We asked his staff for details, and here’s what they sent:Read More
We reported March 20 about City Council President Richard Conlin telling the Delridge District Council that the council had commissioned a poll to find out if citizens support another Pro Parks Levy (most councilmembers do, the mayor doesn’t) since the original’s expiring. Poll results are out this afternoon and the council says it’s pro-levy, 2-to-1.
That’s David Robertson and Paul Binder of PB&J Textiles in front of their old location at 7349 35th SW (map; next door to Olympic Heights Laundry, which they operate) – the space where they have just announced they will open Coffee at the Heights, target date mid-June. They have been working on it for a while but kept it under wraps until they were close to the final stage of the permit process for converting the space. Once Coffee at the Heights is up and running, they plan to be open 5:30 am till 8 pm, maybe later; they will serve coffee, pastry, desserts, and sandwiches (the sandwich operation might not be up when they first open, depending on how the Health Department approval process goes). Meanwhile, their current retail/production location for PB&J Textiles is offering something timely:
That’s the display in the south windows of PB&J at 5962 Fauntleroy (map) – reusable bags, just in time for the proposed city tax on non-reusable shopping bags. (As the display notes, $4 will get you one of their bags or potentially 20 non-reusable bags, your choice!) You can buy them right there at the shop.
Just back from the scene (map). Victim is actually a 60-year-old woman, according to police, who also told WSB she was crossing against the light. Neighbors and officers were also helping the woman who hit her, who was sitting on the corner, sobbing inconsolably. Police say the woman who was hit should be OK – she was described as “stable” just as Medic 32 was about to pull away to take her to Harborview Medical Center to be checked out. The southbound lane was closed for a while but should be open again now as the scene clears. 11:59 AM ADDITION: We are choosing not to use the video we have that shows the driver, as police indicate it was not her fault. In this clip, as medics lift the victim onto a gurney to get her to M-32, you can somewhat hear the driver in the background (though we were standing as respectfully far away as we could) along with the voices of police/firefighters trying to comfort her. We think that’s an important part of the story; it was heartbreaking to hear. We are certainly going to think twice about jaywalking, even when it seems safe.
Heading down to check it out – scanner says child involved in auto vs. pedestrian. Probably a good idea to avoid the area.
Thanks to Jeremy for the tip – since our last check of the King County website late last night, the Elliott Bay Water Taxi‘s full operating schedule has been posted online. Direct links to the schedule tables: Weekdays; weekends. (As first reported last month, the Water Taxi starts running April 27; the full schedule continues through Oct. 31.)
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