West Seattle, Washington
07 Friday
The latest from the files at the Southwest Precinct – and we’ve got a lot to tell you about, since our last visit was last Thursday. 
We start with a “good news” story that unfolded while we were at the precinct late today: It started this morning, when a West Seattle man found a wallet in the Central District. He reported it to police later by flagging down an officer at Delridge and Hudson. Police called the wallet’s owner and asked if she could come pick it up at the Southwest Precinct. She arrived around 4 this afternoon, received the wallet from officer Buzzy Katzer at the front desk, and exclaimed, “Wow, my 11 dollars are even still in here!” She wanted to thank the man who found her wallet and turned it in; at last report, police were trying to reach him to convey her message. Ahead – an amazing array of other incidents, including the “adult model” dispute and the runaway litterer:Read More
Bulletin from the Seattle School Board meeting under way right now (live on Channel 26, though no further Denny-Sealth discussion is expected tonight) — in her “superintendent’s updates,” Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson said there will be a community forum at Chief Sealth High School on Feb. 4 to present the 3 options under consideration (continue current plan, continue current plan but add some $ to Sealth renovations, rebuild Denny on its own site and renovate Sealth separately) — this apparently is separate from the Westwood Neighborhood Council‘s planned Feb. 5 meeting on the project (we will check with the Westwood folks to be sure). Then, she said, a resolution will be introduced at the Feb. 13 school board meeting recommending which option to pursue, and the board would vote on it at its next meeting after that, Feb. 27. More later, including highlights of the Denny-Sealth speakers in tonight’s public comment period (all opposed to the consolidation project — is there a reason no supporters ever seem to appear?). 11:30 PM UPDATE: Speaker recap ahead:Read More
Viaduct news this afternoon: The latest inspection report is in, and it includes the dates for the next major inspection shutdown, when ostensibly they’ll get to test those new signs. Here’s the WSDOT news release:
Initial results from last week’s inspection revealed that the Alaskan Way Viaduct has settled approximately 1/8 of an inch, where foundation strengthening work is taking place between Columbia Street and Yesler Way . No new structural damage was caused by the additional settlement.
“This settlement does not come as a huge surprise,†said Jugesh Kapur, WSDOT State Bridge Engineer. “The viaduct has been settling incrementally between Columbia Street and Yesler Way since 2002.â€
“This continuing settlement reinforces our decision to move ahead with stabilizing the columns in this area,†added Ron Paananen, Alaskan Way Viaduct Program Director.
This fall, WSDOT began repairs to strengthen the foundations of the four columns that are settling in this area. The columns have settled approximately five inches since the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. The foundation work is expected to be complete in April, limiting further settlement in this area and preventing damage to the structure. This work is one of six improvement projects planned to replace or repair more than half of the viaduct.
WSDOT crews conduct visual inspections every three months to monitor the viaduct’s condition and keep drivers safe. Full inspections and closures are every six months, with the next scheduled for March 22 and 23.
Another Viaduct-related date to mark on your calendar: a West Seattle public meeting is set for Feb. 12 at Cooper Elementary to talk about the “Central Waterfront” section — as in, the part that no one’s decided yet whether to tear down and replace, or tear down and not replace. That date and the Viaduct closure dates are now added to the WSB Events page; the closure dates are also atop the Traffic page.
Ever wonder where West 5 got the big lit-up crown that graces the back wall? This week’s Stranger tells the tale.
The full agenda is now up for tonight’s Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors meeting — see it here — including the list of those who signed up to speak at the start of the meeting. 10 of the 17 people on the list are scheduled to talk about the Denny-Sealth project. The meeting’s at 6 pm — attend in person @ district HQ, or watch live on cable channel 26.
Thanks to Will for the tip that Ferry SW was abruptly closed today. We parked by the closure sign near Ferry/California Ave (map) and walked to see what was up … and kept walking … and kept walking (awesome views, great workout going back uphill). The work is under way close to where Ferry meets California Way (map):
A contractor is drilling for some repair work above this erosion area we mentioned 2 weeks ago:
We have left messages for SDOT to ask how long the closure will continue (if it’s not over already; will check again later this afternoon). 5 PM UPDATE: SDOT says it was a one-day closure, ended around 3 pm, and the contractor does not expect to need to close the street again.
From Steve:
Around 10 am today saw the most beautiful (and large) coyote in the greenbelt just east of the 3700 block of 58th Ave SW and Chilberg Pl SW. Really stunning animal – it looked at me rather nervously from about 100 feet away. I grabbed my camera but by the time I returned (maybe two minutes) he was gone.
Here’s a map.
Two highlights tonight, from the WSB Events list:
-It’s the second Wednesday night for the Sidewalk Cinema Rainy Night Movies series @ Kenyon Hall (never mind the rainlessness). And these are movies you probably haven’t seen before (maybe never even heard of); the list is here.
–“The Retreat from Moscow” continues at ArtsWest tonight; we don’t currently do entertainment reviewing here but once in a while a reader sends something out of the blue – Lynn Taylor e-mailed to say she attended this last week and wanted to let other WSB readers know, “This is a really top quality piece of theatre – both the writing AND the acting, especially the mother and father roles. Very poignant yet with humor sprinkled in. We’ve seen all range of quality from Arts West – and this is right up there with the best we’ve seen.”
That’s “Design Concept B” for the park that will be built atop and around the newly covered Myrtle Reservoir (map). It has a spot saved at the northeast corner for a skatepark. Here’s “Design Concept A,” which doesn’t:
Though there are many design issues to decide, the potential skatepark was at the heart of most of the Myrtle Reservoir park discussion last night at High Point Community Center:Read More
Two and a half weeks after owner Angelia Paulsen‘s untimely death, Red Cup Espresso in The Junction is open 7 days a week, according to a sandwich board we saw out front – 6 am-2 pm weekdays, 7 am-4 pm weekends, which appears to be a bit of an update from what her husband told WSB last week.
School-tour season continues today – the WSB Events page lists many West Seattle schools’ tours, continuing on into February. One of the schools with tours today is Gatewood Elementary — which also just happens to be looking to celebrate its past as well as hosting potential participants in its future — per this announcement:
Gatewood Elementary turns 100!
Are you a Gatewood graduate? If so, we would love to hear from you. We will be celebrating Gatewood’s birthday on May 31st, 2008, and would love to have you join in the party. Please contact celebration coordinator Celia Townsend with your name, contact information and any stories or photos you would like to share. Thank you!
E-Mail: cktownsend@comcast.net
Phone: 206.932.1939
With other West Seattle businesses remodeling, posting “for rent” signs, pondering moving, etc., the folks at WSB sponsor Click! Design That Fits thought you might like to know that their closure this week is just temporary – they’ll be open again on Saturday (with new artwork from Brad Strain).
More than two hours of lively discussion later, we’re back from the Myrtle Reservoir park meeting. The potential “skatespot” in the new park is now proposed as a 10,000-square-foot (less than a 10th of the park’s size) facility in the northeast corner (at 35th/Willow) — but there’s no money for it in the Myrtle park budget, so if the Parks Department ultimately decides to go ahead with it, they’re going to have to figure out how to pay for it (some of the youngest skatepark supporters at the meeting suggested a fundraising campaign). While we work on our full report, we’ll be posting links to the park-design options (and other documents shortly), since Parks Department project manager Virginia Hassinger was kind enough to send us advance copies late today and told the crowd we’d have them up soon. ADDED 9:45 PM: OK, here are PDFs of the four items from the Parks Department, representing the drawings shown at tonight’s meeting. We will show the design alternatives inline in our writeup in the morning but since this is a big park space, these links are the best way to take a closer look (plus you can zoom in on PDFs if you want): Park Concept Alternative A here, Park Concept Alternative B here, Park Design Issues here, Park Site Conditions here. (Note that Alternatives A and B are not “either-or” — just two possibilities, and the final product could have features of both, and/or features not seen in either.) Next steps, discussion details, and more, coming up in the full report.
This just appeared on the list of upcoming Design Review Board meetings — 9030 35th SW (map) has been added to the agenda for the February 14th Southwest DRB meeting that was already set to consider Fauntleroy Place. This proposal would replace the two 85-year-old houses shown above with what the city project page describes as a “new 4-story building providing 3,000 sf of retail and 33 apartments with parking for 38 vehicles.” Apartment buildings already bookend this site, by the way.
Freedom Church (35th/Roxbury), midday today, the funeral of teenage shooting victim DeChe Morrison; photo e-mailed (thank you!) by Patrick:
As mentioned previously, police had a significant presence around the church, for reasons including the fact no one’s been arrested yet. The Southwest Precinct reports all was quiet; in the late morning, we noted groups of officers a close, but discreet, distance from the church, including these motorcycle officers at 35th/Barton:
Switching gears, we have two shots from this morning’s nearly simultaneous sunrise/moonset. The southeastward view is from Bill “at the top of Southern”:
And here’s the westward view, from Robert Stever:
Thanks to Bill and Robert for those photos … any time you have one to share, from the sunrise to the sunset to the fender-bender down the block, send it our way.
Following up on the capture of the suspected serval in West Seattle (sighting first reported here Friday; capture reported here Saturday; photo at left shows a wild serval, haven’t seen one yet of the actual capturee): We just heard back from Don Jordan, director of the Seattle Animal Shelter, who gave WSB the full scoop on what happened, and what will happen next:Read More
As mentioned here last month, today’s the first day that “enhanced driver licenses” are available in our state, for people who want to be able to travel to Canada without a passport when new ID requirements kick in next week. The West Seattle driver-license office next to Westwood Village is one of only 11 statewide where it’s available. By the way, if you’re going to that office to get one of these or handle any other business — you can get an update on current waiting times by clicking the “Seattle-West” link on this page.
Thanks to WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli for checking this out (map) – big callout for starters but it was called off relatively quickly so nothing big, but in case you heard the sirens, we’re letting you know.
35TH/ROXBURY: Reminder that you will see a significant police presence there much of the day because of teenage shooting victim DeChe Morrison‘s memorial service @ Freedom Church later this morning (as reported here last week).
READER REPORTS CAR BREAK-IN: From Melissa in the 9700 block of 41st (map):
I thought our little neighborhood was immune, but no. Our dog went a little bonkers at about 10 pm Monday night. That must have been whenever was taking my cellphone and binoculars and rifling through our cars was doing so. My husband went out at 5:45 this morning to find my door still open. I wonder if our dog’s barking scared the thief off?
-Major car ice (no surprise since temp’s in the 20s); prep your scraping arm.
-Looks like another morning moonset in the making (big bright full moon in the western sky now).
Happened onto an online hint weeks ago that Emerald City Smoothie was planning a permanent West Seattle location, after posting a portable trailer at Alki last year. Now there’s finally word of where they’re opening — at Allstar Fitness (Andover west of Delridge). Thanks to Ty for spotting the sign and letting us know; the location is confirmed online.
ADDED 10:35 PM: Thanks to Shawn for sharing this moonrise shot from Seacrest:
ORIGINAL POST: Rode the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry round trip late today to see how things are going since the big schedule upheaval. No real tales of woe but we did happen onto another great sunset coinciding with a moonrise.
The Legislature is one week into its session. We talked on Day 1 with new State Rep. Sharon Nelson; your other 34th District (map) legislators are Rep. Eileen Cody and Sen. Joe McDermott. You can check the list of bills they’re sponsoring or co-sponsoring (frequently updated) online: Nelson’s list is here, Cody’s is here, McDermott’s is here. If you want to contact them about anything, remember the semi-secret Rep. Nelson shared in our interview – e-mail them directly (each of their names above is linked to their respective sites), instead of through the general Legislature address; that’s the quickest way to get to them, and therefore for them to be able to get back to you.
| 2 COMMENTS