Wildlife watch
-Falcons at the WS Bridge? Had no idea till today. Wish I could invite them over to dine on the backyard rat.
-Elliott Bay has one more crab tonight. I was lurking down at Pier 66 when up walked a young gothy couple with a bag from Uwajimaya. A tweaker transient made a huge point of asking them what was in the bag and then announcing to the rest of us bystanders … “A live crab? And you’re gonna release it? Cool!” The ceremonial release followed. Maybe they got the idea from watching the young-couple-in-love-before-nuclear-annihilation lobster toss in “Miracle Mile.”
Want some whiskey in your water, sugar in your tea …
(from a Three Dog Night hit in the sixties)
With the latest 21-and-over-only additions, we’ve got plenty of “whiskey in (our) water” options over here. As for the “sugar in (our) tea,” looks like one more is on the way …. West Seattle Blogger Spouse reports sighting a banner along the lines of “My Tea Place, Coming Soon” just south of the Admiral Junction mailing depot/travel agency/etc.
Thursday morning miscellaneous
-It’s not just Alki. I see urban tree protests are becoming the hot new thing.
-The new First Mutual Bank branch north of the Junction is finally open. Huge “GRAND OPENING” banner. That site was home to a “COMING SOON” sign for what seemed like years.
-The new Safeway gas station on Admiral (east of the Jack in the Box) looks close to opening. As we drove past, West Seattle Blogger Spouse exclaimed, “Good God, the site is even LANDSCAPED!” (But do a couple cents a gallon really matter when gas prices are this high? Just asking.)
-Driving almost the full length of California, I was a bit astounded at the number of new teardown-to-condo projects under way. It’s grown exponentially. One project even shows the transformation on its Web site. (And some of those condos are going for ALMOST A MILLION BUCKS!)
Hizzoner turns humorist
OMG, this is just too rich.
But you know, it does reveal that somebody in Hizzoner’s office has become mighty PR-savvy. This is going to get one orca of a lot of attention, vastly more than yet another dry Power Point presentation.
(For the record, my favorite option, the “just-tear-it-down” option, would not go over with the “Committee to Save Big Ugly Things” any better than the money-hole tunnel. And another side note … don’t know who the guy in the video is, but he looks something like the actor who played Christopher Henderson in the just-concluded season of “24.)
Our eight-legged friends
If your West Seattle dwelling happens to be one of those older houses, as is mine, you may also be getting visits from the spring crop of spiders. (Ours favor the bathroom and can often be seen dropping from the ceiling on a single strand, like a mini-bungee jumper, then scampering back up when we get too close.) In support of my first annual plea to “let them be,” here’s a simple, non-arachnophobia-inducing local list of house-spider myths debunked.
What Humpty Dumpty and Lincoln Park don’t have in common
All the contractor’s backhoes, and all the contractor’s men, DID manage to put Lincoln Park back together again.
Just back from a tour to verify that for ourselves, since Colman Pool is about to open for the season and that means fairly frequent walks along the Lincoln Park paths. We were amazed to see just how close to “normal” the park looks, despite the major pipeline project — for most of the major (south half) part of the waterfront path, the only clues are asphalt patching and new pea gravel atop the filled-in area where the pipeline went.
Things are a bit more ragged beyond Colman Pool, to the north — the big grassy meadow by the pool buildings is nothing but dirt, and a few pieces of construction equipment are still around. Otherwise, nothing really disturbed the eye — except a huge infestation of ivy all along the north path — and I don’t think we can blame the pipeline project for that.
Even the wildlife is returning; toward the Beach Drive end of the path, we paused to watch a frolicking otter and jumping fish.
The south parking lot, by the way, has reopened too; looks like the north lot is close — some construction vehicles were still staged there when we passed by in early evening.
The next WS “grand opening”
Thanks to the Metroblogging folks for reminding me about Skylark Cafe, opening in a week and a half at the Delridge spot that used to be Madison’s. We’re not much for live music but we might go for the food, if the report here (second-to-last paragraph) is true about an ex-Easy Street Cafe person being involved.
The only thing constant is change
I’ve been a devoted voter since the first election after my 18th birthday — some tiny special election, sewer district board or something like that. Haven’t missed an election since. Every election day, the entire West Seattle Blog delegation walks to the small semi-public facility where workers for our precinct and several others are headquartered, and we cast our votes.
Apparently those days are ending. This may be good news for a lot of people, but not me. Voting always felt like a precious ritual. Trust me, I know it can be inconvenient — I’ve worked a lot of jobs with crazy, long hours, and sometimes it was tough to carve out that time to walk over to the polling place and do the deed. But it was, and is, important. Now it’ll be just something else to do at the cluttered dining table. I’ll miss those little old precinct workers.
Bridge over underfunded waters
So now I know why a guy in a suit was standing up on the Fauntleroy pedestrian overpass (aka home to “HAPPY 1/2 CENTURY, LYLE” and “WILL YOU MARRY ME, MARINA”) when it’s not an election day.
Well, actually, this did have something to do with an election. The city transportation department was leading tours of sites slated to get some of your money and mine if we vote for the latest of 3,478 (give or take a few) transportation/money measures proposed for the local ballot this fall, “Bridging the Gap,” unveiled today by Hizzoner.
The handy-dandy map of “Bridging the Gap” projects contains a big dot right around the site of “HAPPY 1/2 CENTURY, LYLE,” so that explains the guy in the suit, the guy in the shirt, and the guy in the hard hat and big bright city-issue orange/yellow vest, peering down on us hapless drivers fleeing back into West Seattle, apparently right over pavement likely to dissolve into chalk-dust at any moment.
Please forgive me for being grumpy. I’m usually a good self-taxing citizen. I voted for the Monorail. I voted against $30 car-tab taxes. Yup, you can blame me. But now I’m going over the falls. I fully expect to eventually see the “Replace Stop Signs Knocked Down by Idiot Drivers Initiative,” the “So You Want to See Burned-Out Bulbs Replaced in Your Local Traffic Signals Initiative,” and the “Your Local Politicians Are Taking the Summer Off Because We Ran Out of Money for Our Salaries Initiative,” at this rate. The Ron Sims Bus Tax sounded goofy enough … wait … noooo … help, I’m starting to sound like Dori Monson.
A plea to one of our resident rock stars
Interesting story in the P-I over the weekend.
My .02, I wouldn’t bet on Mr. Vedder getting involved in this particular issue. One of the recently paved-over greenbelt stretches on this side of WS is close to his digs, and that didn’t seem to stop the bulldozers. (If I were a rich person, I’d have pocketed those parcels for preservation’s sake; I’m not, so the best I can do is urban wildlife habitat in my own backyard. And front yard. And side yards …)
“New” cam
Not sure exactly how new it is, but it’s certainly a new addition to our West Seattle Cams page … an in-store cam at Quidnunc in the Junction.
(If you know of ANY WS live cam that’s not on our page — nothing adult, OK? — please send it our way … we’ve tried every search combination we can think of to unearth whatever’s out there, and this is all we’ve got. So far.)
Lettuce at last!
Small delight from the West Seattle Farmers’ Market today — the lettuce finally arrived, at least at the booth for the Monroe organic farm (near the northwest corner of the market lot). Picked up a wonderful-looking head of red butter lettuce for $1.75. Last weekend in desperation, I bought one of their $3.50 bags of “salad mix” — I’m not usually into all those exotic small leaves, but it was truly tasty. Now, I’m just waiting to see if they’ll have the “Freckles” variety of romaine again this year. P.S. If you still haven’t been to the WSFM, it’s a great place for a walking breakfast. About half a dozen booths offer baked goods and even savory “galettes” — the prosciutto one got a rave from a member of the WS Blog delegation — sorry I don’t remember the name of the booth that offers them, but it’s on the north side of the WSFM and also is home to the $1 “lavender lemonade.” Yum.
Mystery vehicles of Westwood
While en route this morning to the multi-Starbucks side of Westwood Village (I’d prefer to patronize local independent stores but the Frappuccino fan in the household insists no other frozen coffee drink compares), I got another look at the eternally parked vehicles along Trenton (north side of WV) that always make me go “hmmm” … one is a U-Haul-size truck encrusted in graffiti; it’s been there for months if not years. On the other side of the street, along the downslope of the Southwest Athletic/Chief Sealth/etc. playfield/stadium, a couple of rickety motorhomes seem omnipresent — or at least, they’re there every time we drive by (an average of a couple times a week). Are they abandoned? Do they belong to people who live in the area but don’t have parking space for them at their homes? Are they auxiliary changing facilities for sports teams who play for the field? Or … here’s the paranoid person inside of me coming out … perhaps, mobile meth labs? Take a look next time you’re en route to Bed/Bath/Beyond, Barnes ‘n’ Noble, or Target, and tell me what you think.
Boat or billboard?
Sorry if you tried visiting WSB in the past 20 hours or so and got an error page. Some sort of hijinks at the hosting company, apparently. Anyway, here’s what we would have posted last night if we could have:
We rode the Water Taxi last night for the second time this season. It’s picked up even more ad banners since our first ride. They cover most of the surface space on the top deck. Mostly for WS enterprises — from our favorite bubble-tea place to the new cupcake joint — with a notable exception, Ye Olde Curiosity Shop on the waterfront.
We’re all for revenue-raising on behalf of public transit. But this is veering on the tacky — all the aesthetic qualities of those ad collages you find yourself facing sometimes in restaurant restrooms.
Meantime, speaking of public transit, tipster Rob wants to make sure we all know that our next chance to speak out in WS regarding the ongoing viaduct saga (remember, now we have FOUR OPTIONS!) is coming up in just a few days — here’s the calendar.
More rebranding
We used to call the little grocery on the west side of Cali Ave, halfway between Morgan & Alaska Junctions, “the so-so market.” Not as a judgment on its quality or lack of it, but because its old sign saying “50-50 Market” looked more like “So-So.”
Well, we can’t make that joke any more. West Seattle Blogger Spouse tells me it’s put up a new sign with a new name, “Juneau Street Market.”
Everybody’s trying to upscale around here. Question though, does it have … CUPCAKES?
Get the dirt …
… on the stability of the dirt beneath your dwelling: New UW map link is getting a lot of publicity today.
But beware, it’s tough to decipher. Or at least, I’m having trouble here in the wee hours. All I know is, I’m in the blue zone. Hmm.
We came, we saw, we cupcaked
Back from a peek at the Cupcake Royale grand opening-fest in the Junction.
As we stood in line for the freebies, along with dozens of other cupcake-curious folks, West Seattle Blogger Spouse hissed at me, “WHAT does it say on her T-shirt?” referring to the chirpy young CR staffer handing out mini-cupcakes “to tide (line-waiters) over.”
“Legalize FROST-itution,” I reassured WSBS. Just one of several mildly suggestive slogans on T-shirts for sale inside the shop, which was busy and buzzing, if semi-spartan. A big blue star dominates the back wall, loosely coordinated with the medium-blue paint gracing the ceiling (though the walls otherwise are off-white).
But I know you’re not here for a decor discussion. Sorry to say, I didn’t try the cupcakes; hadn’t had dinner yet. One of my escorts did try ’em, and describes the chocolate-with-chocolate-frosting cupcake as “airy.” (Side note — the beverage selection includes some old-school bottled sodas, like Squirt and Crush.)
Meantime, Coffee to a Tea with Sugar (aka Sugar Rush Baking Company) across the street bravely soldiered on. Both CTS/SRBC and CR have posted hours till 10 pm. Clearly no one associated with these joints remembers the dim days when the Junction had nothing open till 6, much less 10. P.S. The Super Supplements signage is up in the old Urban Fitness place, and it just looks wrong, somehow.
Spring cleaning on a grand scale
If you’re on the south side of WS, you can’t miss the flyers posted about this Saturday’s big cleanup. Hizzoner’s even coming, all the way from the north side of WS. Bummer the forecast doesn’t look so good right now — but as long as it’s not pouring, it’ll probably be a fine day for trash-picking, ivy-pulling, and what have you …
Two WS schools in the crosshairs for closure …
… but Alki Elementary, which was on the last list, is not one of them. That surprises me, as I’d guess the district would make a mint from selling that land to condo developers.
The ones that did make the list just made public tonight are Fairmount Park and High Point. However, that fancy new-ish building at High Point won’t close — the district wants to move Pathfinder over there.
Maybe the district figured that Genesee Hill real estate is worth more than the Alki land? Better views. More later when the official district docs are out …
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