Inanimate endangered species

overpasssign.jpg

No wonder the traffic was nuts getting through the last leg of the Fauntleroy “exit” from The Bridge. Somebody has a sign on the overpass for the first time in weeks. Given what anti-banner watchdogs have done in recent weeks (see comments on this post), we expect it to have lasted approximately 3 minutes after our driveby. So we snapped a quick pic in case “Torie” doubts somebody really tried to wish her (?) a “happy b-day.” Yes, yes, we know, banners are illegal and a traffic hazard and all that, but we have to say, without them, West Seattle feels like a slightly lonelier place.

Tasty weekend

Just a quick advance mention of two WS weekend events that hit our radar today — the Evergreen State Barbecue ChampionshipsĆƒā€šĆ‚Ā are happening on Alki both days this weekend (usually quite a scene with barbecue crews camping out in RVs nearby); the West Seattle Farmers’ Market on Sunday is hosting Zucchini Races, 10 am-1 pm, inviting kids to build and race “vegetable vehicles” like the one below (photo courtesy Neighborhood Farmers’ Market Alliance):

zucchiniraces.JPG

Reader recommendation request: Remodeling help

Just out of the inbox (reminder, our RRRs have their own category for your referencing pleasure):

We need a recommendation for a general contractor.Ćƒā€šĆ‚Ā  We’ve been in
West Seattle for a year and moved here from out of state, so we don’t
know where to begin. The plan is to convert an area of our basement,
the garage and washroom into two bedrooms and a bathroom. We’re
looking for all the obvious; someone reliable, reasonable and good.
Thank you in advance for any recommendations.

New West Seattle trees, with Nobel cachet

The WSB photo/video crew is just back from the tree planting at Pelly Place held today in connection with Earth Summit II at Chief Sealth HS. First photo shows Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Maathai assisting students with the tree planting:

trz1.jpg

The photo below shows Gatewood Elementary students who read a poem at the event. Others in attendance included King County Councilmember Dow Constantine; no mayor sightings — he is in Eastern Washington today. We will post video from the Pelly Place event later.

trz2.jpg

New job for former Ovio operator

The Times (second item) says Shing Chin, who ran Ovio with wife Ellie Chin till the end of June, has a new job as assistant general manager of the Waterfront Seafood Grill on the downtown side of Elliott Bay. In other newspaper food news, the P-I’s weekly column mentions WSB toward the end, noting our “breathless reports” about WS restaurant comings and goings. (Hey, food is big news. 150-plus comments are the proof in the pudding.)

News from the streets

From our first visit to a West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting last night: First thing on the agenda, an update from WS-based Seattle Police officers, with inside info about what’s happening on our streets. Overall, crime-wise, they say things are relatively “quiet” right now — certainly doesn’t mean no crime at all (as evident here), but no huge problems. One new trouble spot mentioned by Southwest Precinct Community Police Team Officer Adonis Topacio: Reports of transients camping in Lincoln Park; if you encounter this, he said, send him e-mail with the specific location (his contact info is on this page). Also mentioned last night: Despite scattered problems, the police verdict on the just-ended summer season on Alki is “it was a great year”; recent speeding crackdowns deploying the Chargers in areas such as Highland Park Way and the 1st Avenue South Bridge have netted dozens of violators, including drivers going past 60 mph in 30 mph zones. Still lots more to tell you from last night’s meeting, including how to fight blight (such as drug houses and trashy properties) in your neighborhood, and how to keep the WSCSP group from losing a vital resource — check back this afternoon.

A way to show your WS pride

Every so often, somebody asks where to find an I (HEART) WEST SEATTLE bumper sticker. bumper.jpgWe kept thinking maybe we’d get into the bumper-sticker business, but other priorities kept getting in the way. Luckily, WSB reader Tom just posted last night (the 9:48 pm comment below this post) that he’s set some up through the online store CafePress.com. Here’s the link to the sticker Tom is selling. Design shown at right (image grab from CafePress.com); just says I (HEART) WEST SEATTLE, no other logo or business name, $2.99 plus 75 cents shipping/handling. We don’t know Tom personally and aren’t affiliated with this but nonetheless we say bravo.

Community crimefighters

September 18, 2007 11:01 pm
|    Comments Off on Community crimefighters
 |   Crime | How to help | WS miscellaneous

Checked out the monthly West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting tonight and came away with some eye-opening info which we will process for you by morning. Headlines include: Lincoln Park visitors should watch out for transients camping in the greenery; neighborhoods with nuisance properties have an amazing amount of guidance available for dealing with the problem; and the WSCSP needs an infusion of new community involvement or else the Seattle Neighborhood GroupĆƒā€šĆ‚Ā  may have to stop providing the services of staffer Lois Grammon-Simpson to help oversee and facilitate its vital business of helping us all stay safe. This would be a big loss. More on that in a few hours.

Pinniped protection at Luna Park

The Seal Sitters aren’t just keeping watch at Alki – the baby seals are turning up all over the West Seattle shore. Clifton Leatherwood sent these photos (thank you!) from Luna Park this afternoon — first the blocked-off area, then the little seal resting in the shadow of a driftwood log:

lunablockoff.jpg
sealandlog.jpg

Tervo’s reopens

trvs2.jpgFifteen days after the death of its owner on Labor Day, and just a few hours after we photographed the bouquet resting against the then-still-closed-doors with a note of sympathy (photo left), Tervo’s Mini-Mart on Fauntleroy is back in business — doors open and neon signs lit, as of when we drove by a short time ago.

2 for tomorrow

TOMORROW NIGHT: What should the city do with millions of your $ earmarked for transportation projects? Don’t wait till you read here that crews are on their way to (fill in the blank) and then say “Hey! Why don’t they (whatever) instead?” — stop by tomorrow night’s city Transportation Department open house at Youngstown Arts Center between 5 and 8 pm, look at what’s under consideration, register your preference. Or – if you absolutely can’t make it in person – the city has set up a webpage where you can see what’s on the potential project list and rank your preferences – click here, then choose South Sector; with 29 WS locations on the list, one just might be near you. Make your choices by September 27th.

ALL DAY TOMORROW: Chief Sealth HS hosts Seattle Earth Summit II 9:30 am-3 pm with an impressive guest list, including the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Wangari Maathai, as well as West Seattle’s world-famous photographer Art Wolfe. Also part of the agenda: a ceremonial tree-planting @ 11:30 am at Pelly Place Ravine, which Wolfe and local students are working together to revitalize as part of Project Earth Care.

The periodic West Seattle Trader Joe’s Rumor Watch update

Just ’cause we know you’re wondering … and ’cause we are … and ’cause 3 1/2 long months have passed since a WSB reader was told by TJ’s to “feel free to check back sometime this fall” … we jumped the gun here in the final days of summer and checked. tjslogo.jpgThe official Trader Joe’s party line, according to what their media-relations department told us by phone, is: Next Northwest store, Bellingham (opening a week from Friday). Next Northwest store after that, Bend, OR (where Hack Bend is watching construction closely). Then their “real estate team” delivers its next scouting report to Trader Joe’s kahunas in January or February. Hmm.

2 more items of WS note in mayor’s new budget plan

September 18, 2007 11:02 am
|    Comments Off on 2 more items of WS note in mayor’s new budget plan
 |   Utilities | West Seattle history | West Seattle politics

Found in the document billed as “highlights” of the budget Hizzoner presented to the City Council yesterday: $1 million “challenge grant” to help the community buy the Fauntleroy School building (page 8); $4 million for a new “outage-management system” (last page) so City Light can do a better job of telling us what’s going on when we’re powerless like those dark days last December.

From the papers

P-I columnist Robert Jamieson looks at an incident in WS that left a man injured after a clash with an off-duty police officer.
The Times says Holy Family on Roxbury is one of the first area Catholic churches to take on the Latin Mass that the Pope now says is OK again.

Creek restored & ready for returnees

September 18, 2007 6:16 am
|    Comments Off on Creek restored & ready for returnees
 |   Environment | Fauntleroy | How to help | West Seattle beaches | Wildlife

A comprehensive update at Fauntleroy.net tells the tale of the Fauntleroy Creek “Reach to the Beach” project, all finished except revegetation, just south of the ferry dock …

reachbeachsat.jpg

Next step: Awaiting the salmon. According to the Fauntleroy.net writeup, some coho already have been seen off Lincoln Park, so they “are optimistic watchers will have fish to watch” when the annual Salmon Watch begins along Fauntleroy Creek next month. Sign-ups for volunteers are under way now; scroll to the bottom of thisĆƒā€šĆ‚ Fauntleroy.net page for contact information, and also mark your calendar for 5 pm Sunday, October 21st, when the community will gather at the creek’s fish-ladder viewpoint for drumming to call the salmon home.

The ‘hood you call home

A few folks have e-mailed in recent weeks to inquire about the definitive West Seattle neighborhood map. You would expect the city to have the final say, but upon a closer look at their neighborhood map boundaries for West Seattle — which, annoyingly, the city seems to consider separate from greater Delridge — we’re not so sure. Take a look at what the maps linked below say is your neighborhood; comment here if you disagree. (Note some neighborhood names are missing altogether, such as Pigeon Point.)

Links:
-“West Seattle” (small; large)
-“Delridge” (small; large)

Also tomorrow night: WS High School talks about its big change

Yet another WS event to add to the list of what’s happening Tuesday night: West Seattle High School has a community forum @ 6:30 pm tomorrow to talk about the recent announcement that it will change from 4-period days to 6-period days as of next school year. (There’s also a student-only forum at WSHS tomorrow afternoon.) This is a huge change for the school, which has had 4-period days since 1994, and described them in its 2006 annual report as “(facilitating) in-depth and hands-on learning.” Some of the arguments against the 4-period day were discussed in the unofficial Seattle Public Schools Blog a few months ago.

Megaproject on the move

The next phase of work is beginning at the megaproject site across Alaska from Jefferson Square, former home of Hollywood Video etc., future home of QFC and Office Depot as well as other retail and residential units. A few days ago, the city granted a permit for excavation to begin; today, Christopher Boffoli took this photo of the first construction equipment to arrive at the scene:

capeloutosite.jpg

West Seattle teahouse owner brews up a 2nd location

September 17, 2007 3:01 pm
|    Comments Off on West Seattle teahouse owner brews up a 2nd location
 |   WS beverages

More news from beverageland: The T(ea) Gallery, the friendly teahouse at 2707 Cali in the business block just south of Lafayette Elementary, is opening a second location! Not in West Seattle, though — this one will be downtown, on the north side of the Seattle Municipal Tower, open 7:30 am-4 pm weekdays starting on a TBA opening date in mid-October. The original Admiral shop‘s hours will stay the same (Tues-Thurs nights, all day Sat-Sun). Congratulations to T(ea) Gallery proprietor Tracy (who also has just posted about this at her official store blog)!

More beverages at the beach

New WS liquor-license filing that just bubbled up: Pioneer Coffee Roasting Company is seeking a beer/wine license for 2536 Alki, the onetime Alki Mail & Dispatch building between Coastal & Slices. (Hard to see from the angle below, but there’s a Pioneer Coffee sign in the window closest to the plywood.)

pioneer.jpg

We have notes out to Pioneer and to property owner Tom Lin to ask what they can tell us about what’s planned there; the city business license for Pioneer Coffee Roasting at the address is under the category “miscellaneous food stores.”

Another anniversary

Tomorrow’s a big day in West Seattle — we already have mentioned two major events (the SWFYS breakfast and the WSCSP meeting) — now here’s another one: Clementine, next to Pagliacci in The Junction, will be open till 9 pm tomorrow with tons of fun to celebrate its first birthday. (In addition to its regular website, Clementine also keeps a blog highlighting new offerings.) Happy birthday!

West Seattle’s beloved babies

We keep trying to catch up with the Seal Sitters who have been keeping watch for weeks to protect the baby harbor seals that turn up to take a break on the beach at Alki. Almost connected after hearing about their 1 pm picnic on Sunday — then rain forced them indoors — but at least our videographer found one of the seals. Adorability awaits:


One WSB reader asked us if the Seal Sitters are on duty 24 hours a day. Seal-sitter organizer Brenda Peterson says they’ve been trying their best to cover most of the clock, as volunteer availability allows. (If you’re interested in volunteering, e-mail us and we’ll forward her your contact info.) Wondering why Seal Sitters are needed? Here’s just one anecdote underscoring the need. You can read more about harbor seals and the laws protecting them here.

Pay now or pay big later

pay2park.jpgAs the number of pay-to-park lots around WS increases, watch closely for the signs, and do be aware that the enforcers make the rounds — as discovered today by the spouse of a regular reader. Reportedly, more than a dozen cars in the lot near Wells Fargo in The Junction all got simultaneously ticketed during the Farmers’ Market across the street. The reader went back for a closer look at the signage … and yes, it’s posted (reader photo @ right) … but that doesn’t make the $35 ticket any easier to take. (Payable online, courtesy of the industrious folks at Diamond Parking.) Yes, of course lot owners have the right to charge whatever the traffic will bear, as discussed after our recent post about the future Fauntleroy Place site converting to a Diamond-managed pay lot. But you can’t help wonder if it’s a slippery slope. The Junction merchants have worked hard to keep several free lots available for us all, and lobbied against paid parking on WS streets (earning us the envy of other neighborhoods). But as the pay lots multiply, can the city resist trying for a cut of the action?