West Seattle, Washington
06 Sunday
From WSB contributing photographer Matt Durham: Tuesday morning, “Dan” walks and feeds the pigeons on Alki Beach. Dan can often be seen walking Alki Beach with two or three pigeons perched on his shoulders or tucked under his arms.
(Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
The King County Elections Department has just certified final results from this month’s election; the final count in Seattle School Board District 6, which is centered on West Seattle (but is voted on citywide in the general election), was Steve Sundquist (photo left) 61.2%, Maria Ramirez 38.4%. Sundquist and other newly elected school-board members will be sworn in at school-district HQ in Sodo tomorrow night.
From the inbox (thanks to “AA”):
Looks like either a glass truck lost its load, or someone t-boned it. There is glass ALL over the intersection and the police have a big blockade around it and a traffic arrow. The backup was almost a half-mile down Delridge when driving North to South. There is no backup driving South to North. Sylvan is blocked west of Delridge. The glass truck is parked in the Arco parking lot and there are people milling about. Worth letting people know if they can take an alternate route to the South Delridge area, it’s probably a good idea.
The next step is here for the medians left mostly bare since the Admiral Way repaving last summer (as seen in our August photo above). Now, the city says it’s ready to figure out where it wants to put trees in the medians, with time for you to have a say on whether you agree:Read More
WSB contributing photographer Christopher Boffoli spotted the last piece of the Shadowland sign now in place — the moon. As for when they’re opening – still waiting to hear.
After yesterday’s report about one “peeper” reported in two West Seattle neighborhoods last Saturday night, this e-mail came in from WSB reader “L”:
I am a resident from the Andover/46th block. After reading and hearing about the peeper from this past weekend I was reminded of my own experience this past August 14th. I was awakened in the early morning hours, 1:30 – 2:30, by a strange noise and when I went to investigate saw a man standing at my sliding glass door. I called 911 and the police arrived and searched our yard but found no traces of the man. I was alarmed last night to find that these peeper reports are in close proximity to our address. Hopefully the police are taking notice and patrolling our neighborhood a bit more often than normal.
We are working on obtaining more information about last weekend’s incidents and will of course report whatever we find out.
From Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council leaders: An urgent call to neighbors to find out if they want to meet this week with the principal/CEO of the firm behind a sizable housing development on 22nd SW (city info page here), because that executive can schedule a meeting either this week, or not till next year. The development centered at 3816 22nd SW (here’s a map) would include 14 housing units — 2 single-family homes plus 12 townhouse units. Neighborhood leaders need to hear by 6 pm tonight from anybody who would be interested in a meeting this week; if you’re in the Pigeon Point area and not already on its list, contact info is at the PPNC site.
This weekend is going to be the biggest holiday bash ever in The Junction, and we are thrilled that the West Seattle Junction Association has chosen to advertise on WSB to make double-extra-triple-sure you know about Hometown Holidays (joining our other fabulous WSB sponsors — Hotwire Coffee and Garlic Jim’s Pizza in The Junction, Click! Design That Fits in the Admiral District, local Realtor Bill Barna, and local Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist Rhonda Porter.) As the holiday season really gets into swing, we’ve already brought you previews of the two-day Hometown Holidays celebration – including last week, when we alerted you that the WSJA website had posted new details, including word of a new location for the official West Seattle Christmas Tree (which will be lit during a don’t-miss ceremony at 6 pm Saturday). Now the fun is just days away: Noon-7 pm Saturday, 10 am-5 pm Sunday. Here are even more details (see you there!):Read More
Do you have a West Seattle nonprofit organization or small business with no website (or not much of one)? Chief Sealth High School teacher Sam Reed, and some of his students, have an offer for you:Read More
Always a cheery sight on 35th … it’s the holiday lights of historic Fire Station 37 (to be replaced by a new station a few blocks away; that city link says construction should start late next year). Got bright lights or seen some? E-mail WSB!
Future West Seattleite Tanaya e-mailed this Reader Recommendation Request:
We will be moving from a small one bedroom apartment in Capitol Hill to a small one bedroom apartment near Alki, mid-December. Does anyone know of a reliable moving company that will handle a small move? Thanks!
Please post recommendations as comments; check out other WSB RRRs and their respective responses in their own archives here.
Thanks to WSB community member “k” for catching this just posted by the P-I: police on the lookout for someone reported peeping into two separate West Seattle homes on Saturday night – here are the locations (click each blue marker for address specifics):
Reminder that this Thursday night (6:30 pm, West Seattle High School library) is the first major public meeting about the proposal to rezone both sides of California between Hanford and Hinds (and a bit further south on the west side of the street) to allow larger businesses and taller buildings (city map screengrab at right). Over the holiday, the major landowners behind the proposal (and four other site visitors) added comments to the original WSB report about the plan — since that report is almost 3 weeks old, there’s a 99.9% chance you haven’t seen the new comments, so here are the highlights:Read More
Over the weekend, this reader report sparked a discussion about curbside freebies. Today, we got e-mail from JG, wanting to share an alert about a curbside-donation thief:
Please tell people not to put out their pickup for Northwest Center until 7:30 am or a little before. I had mine out the night before and was woke up with headlights coming in my bedroom and saw a white car, late 90’s or early 2000’s model with a sunroof, stealing my donation. The passenger that took my donation was a girl with brown hair to her shoulders or a little longer. I should have gotten up right away but I hesitated for a couple minutes, then got in my car to see if I could find the car and get the license plate number. I know probably a stupid thing to do but I didn’t find them. This was around 1:30 last night.
We asked JG a couple followup questions — what was in her donation? (clothes & shoes) was it clearly marked as a donation so this wasn’t a case of someone mistaking it for a freebie? (yes, it had the Northwest Center tag on it). So … consider yourself alerted.
The Fauntleroy Community Association website has posted a short video clip from the recent Fauntleroy Creek coho return – follow the link from the fauntleroy.net home page. And there’s new information beyond what’s posted with that video — we visited the fish-ladder overlook (across the street and up the bluffside staircase from the ferry dock) over the weekend and saw a note headlined “IT’S A WRAP,” indicating creek-watchers believe this year’s return is over — but they did count more than 90 fish during the week-long return, compared to none last year and 46 in ’05. Next step, according to that note – watching for fry in February.
TOWNHOUSE GLUT? WHAT TOWNHOUSE GLUT? Not long after reading this article (which we also mentioned over the weekend), we found permit applications for another teardown-to-townhome project in north West Seattle, on 44th just south of Atlantic (map): it spans two addresses, 1506 44th and 1508 44th, and is next to what appears to be a similarly sized project for which permit applications were filed a few weeks earlier, 1510 44th and 1512 44th.
LAST CALL FOR DESIGN REVIEW ON 2 PROJECTS: The official notice on these came out last week but might have gotten lost in the pre-holiday rush: The Southwest Design Review Board meets December 20th — at Denny Middle School instead of the usual SW Precinct — for the “recommendation” phase on the townhouse/”live-work” proposal at 6053 California (where the martial-arts tenant just had its moving sale weekend before last) and 7901 35th, known for spiritual pursuits from the Seventh-Day Adventists to Temenos to Mars Hill bus parking, now proposed for auto repair (including a new 2-story building).
One of the brightest business displays we’ve seen so far – the little Sleepless shack on Harbor Ave. Got bright lights or seen some? E-mail us!
Holiday weekend’s winding down, time to get back to the news. We’ve got updates in the works on some ongoing major West Seattle issues/stories, including, right now, the latest on the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza Project. As we reported here last Monday, the approved ’08 city budget includes the $50,000 that city leaders announced for a new pedestal just before the recast statue was placed atop the old one in September. The group raising money in hopes of surrounding that new pedestal with a plaza has just updated its blog (read it here) with the latest on fundraising efforts for the plaza project (last public meeting about it was September 13; here’s our detailed report from that night). In the new blog update, project committee co-chair Paul Carr writes, “… we may need another $80,000 or so, just to be on the safe side”; we e-mailed to see if that meant cost estimates had changed. Paul’s reply to WSB: “The estimate is still the same; as far as we know, the $157,000 is the construction estimate. However, even though no one on our committee is making a dime (no salaries or other labor costs), there still are fund-raising expenses. The Fiscal Sponsor takes a small percentage for being the Fiscal Sponsor and keeping charge of the money, we have printing costs: brochures, etc. Bottom line: If we can raise another $80,000, we estimate we can safely do everything the community wanted.” The Sealady Blog update also mentions a “gala dinner” for the project in the works coming up in late December @ the Alki Duke’s. (If you are just coming in on the statue/plaza story, all our previous coverage is archived here.)
Drawing a lot of gawkers in The Junction today: The menu and wine list for Shadowland are now posted in its front window (NE corner of California/Oregon). Sample from the “small plates” lineup: Cassie, $6, ingredients listed as “white cheddar, macaroni, love.”
As you head out today, to the Farmers’ Market perhaps, or just to enjoy the sunshine, you might want to poke your head inside some of your favorite West Seattle shops. 
We’ve started to hear from more stores planning special events during the holiday shopping season (like the early-early-bird Black Friday sale we covered @ Friends & Company); to name just a few, Husky Deli is having a holiday open house 5-9 pm next Friday (11/30) that’s also a 75th anniversary celebration (historic photos here); much-appreciated WSB sponsor Click! Design That Fits in the Admiral District is planning December “Late Night Thursdays” with treats on 12/6, 12/13, and 12/20 where they’re staying open till at least 8 pm (or longer; “we just hang around until people leave,” Click! co-owner Frances Smersh told WSB); less than a block from Click!, Shanti Salon and Spa has a holiday open house with refreshments 6:30-8:30 pm Thursday 12/13; the Junction Association says a variety of retailers are planning promotions during Hometown Holidays next weekend; between Admiral and Alaska Junctions, Saturday night shopping parties are the plan at basic green box, with wine and cheese. We’re going to drop by as many WS businesses as possible to keep track of what’s planned for the holiday season, but with so many of them, we’d also love to hear from local retailers directly, and from shoppers who hear about upcoming events. E-mail or call us; here’s all the contact info.
One more to send out this holiday weekend — Deb writes:
We’re in need of a talented and reasonably priced woodworker to make a
couple of pieces of custom cabinetry (an odd-sized bookcase and a music cabinet). In addition, we also have a small tiling job that I’d like someone to do or teach me how. Any personal recommendations … would be much appreciated.
Please leave your recommendation(s) as comments on this post. You can find all WSB Reader Recommendation Requests, and ensuing responses, archived here.
One of the brightest houses in Fauntleroy is on 44th just south of the Fauntleroy/Wildwood/Brace Point tricorner intersection (map). Got bright lights, or saw some? E-mail us!
The “fresh sheet” is back after a week away. And this is a good chance to remind you, the Farmers’ Market continues in full 10 am-2 pm swing through the end of the year; then in January and February, it’s the winter edition, 11 am-2 pm. Now, the tastiness:Read More
| 4 COMMENTS