West Seattle, Washington
21 Saturday
Five weeks till Christmas and the elves already have brought trees to certain corners of West Seattle. 
Spotted on an early-morning reconnaissance run: Trees at Tony’s (35th/Barton), True-Value in The Junction, and Rite-Aid on California. We also saw a sign on Harbor Ave pointing past a gate into a promised tree lot (will investigate more closely later), and of course the wildly popular Holy Rosary Tree Lot opens south of Admiral Safeway at noon Saturday. And if you want to cut your own – here’s the Pacific Northwest Tree Association guide to Washington U-Cut locations.
Police are looking for a man who jumped a jogger late yesterday: reports here and here. She got away OK; he unfortunately got away too and was described in the tv report as “25 to 35, about 5-7, light brown hair, possibly balding … wearing a white, oversized sweatshirt with a pattern on it, and gray sweatpants.” The attack location is described only as “a trail in the south end.”
Hope someone in WSB-land has the perfect recommendation for Francine, who sent this note tonight:
I’m on a hunt for good, reliable home health-care services for my middle-aged husband who is losing his 19-month battle with brain cancer. Social workers and hospice have given me recommendations, but I’m looking for personal references. He’s still in the hospital after a harrowing weekend of seizures, and I’m not sure what his abilities will be yet. Prior to Saturday he had been very mobile and self-sufficient. But he may be bed-ridden when he finally comes home. So ideally we could use need help overnight or evenings. He’s 6′, 195 lbs., so I won’t be able to handle him myself, even though I’m always there. We will have hospice for medical services, but a nice, compassionate and strong CNA or nursing trainee would probably be perfect. The caregiver would be able to stay in our wonderful, private guest suite with fireplace in our home in North Admiral. Can you help find some recommendations for me?
If you would rather contact Francine directly instead of leaving your recommendation in comments, please e-mail WSB and we will forward to her.
We signed ourselves up to be notified when Amazon‘s new grocery-delivery service came to our zip code – haven’t gotten a note that way yet, but the official WSB inbox just yielded this:
My name is Vincent and I’m a PM on the Amazon Fresh team. We’re part of the Amazon.com family, and we’re the Seattle area’s newest online grocery. We recently launched in July, only delivering to Mercer Island, but we’ve been expanding our coverage areas and now we just began delivery to West Seattle! I was wondering if your readers would be interested in the following news:
Beginning today, residents living in zip codes 98136, 98126, and 98116 can enjoy our pre-dawn delivery service: Place an order online as late as midnight, and we can deliver next morning as early as 6AM  free.*(minimum $25 order) This even includes Thanksgiving Day!
All you have to do is to browse to AmazonFresh.com and enter the address where you’d like to have your deliveries. Visit us and browse our selection of over 20,000 specialty and everyday itemsâ€â€get your milk, fresh fruit, and much more.
Much as we personally prefer to shop in our local West Seattle grocery stores and will continue to do so, we may place a test order just to report back on what happens. 8:45 PM UPDATE: Well, we tried. But then we hit the explanation of “pre-dawn delivery” – sometime before 6 am, the order is left by your door. Just not comfortable with that; not that we don’t trust our neighbors, but there’s a lot of wildlife around here. They would have had a field day with the turkey. Some interesting pricing in there, though, especially for produce and fresh herbs.
Just out of the inbox, from Meg:
Just wanted to let you know that my truck window was smashed outside my house (Marine View Dr SW, Arbor Heights), last Monday night. Our street has experienced a fairly regular stream of crime over the last year or so, so maybe someone else will benefit by seeing a note on the blog. (The installation of motion sensor security lights and alert neighbors are always welcome.)
The $900 million-plus city budget for next year got unanimous approval from the City Council a few hours ago. That includes the Pedestrian Safety Initiative that councilmembers publicized with this event along Delridge just last week. Regarding specifics of interest to us in West Seattle — for starters, one note of interest from a newsletter sent by West Seattle-resident Councilmember Tom Rasmussen after the vote — he says the budget that was passed includes “Rental Assistance – Added $350,000 for emergency rental assistance and homeless prevention to include renters being evicted due to the conversion of their apartments to condominiums.” Brian Hawksford from Councilmember Rasmussen’s office also confirms that the $50,000 for a new pedestal for the Alki Statue of Liberty (as announced at the 9/11/07 unveiling) is in the budget that won final approval, and he says Rasmussen got $ added to the budget to help bring two areas of the city, including ours, up to parity with the rest of the city regarding Parks Department programs for the physically and developmentally disabled. 5 PM ADDENDUM: Dueling press releases are out from the Mayor and Council — here’s his (noting his disappointment that they killed the 311 emergency-infoline proposal), and here’s theirs.
(photo from Christmas Past by WSB contributing photographer Matt Durham; prints of his work are available at his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com)
We’ve heard from West Seattle parents wondering if Santa Claus is coming to Westwood Village as usual this year, since they hadn’t seen any flyers up — Fear not, we just checked with WV management and they confirmed Santa will be there for photos on holiday-season weekends, starting this Saturday (Nov. 24), noon-4 pm. As in years past, Santa’s “house” is in the streamside courtyard area between Bed/Bath/Beyond and Wyatt’s Jewelers. Photos are free with just one prerequisite; here’s the WV flyer with full details:Read More
This just in, minutes after our update about holiday grocery-store hours: According to this press release, Metropolitan Market is debuting “REbag,” a reusable shopping bag — you can get one free if you spend at least $50 — and plans a big launch event at the Admiral store Wednesday morning featuring nearby-dwelling Mayor Nickels.
(THIS IS A 2007 POST – OUR 2008 INFO FOR WEST SEATTLE IS ON THE HOLIDAYS PAGE)
Still working on the list of “where you can get your latte on Thanksgiving,” but we have the West Seattle supermarket holiday hours nailed down so we thought we’d pass them along: PCC will be closed, Metropolitan Market will be open till 2 pm, Thriftway will be open till 4 pm, QFC till 6 pm, the Safeways say it’s 24-hour business as usual.
There was a time you didn’t hear much about the mortgage business unless you yourself were in the process of getting one. Then – times changed. But the latest 
West Seattle businessperson to join the WSB sponsor ranks has a clear, authoritative, helpful voice that has emerged from the middle of it all: Rhonda Porter, CMPS (Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist), who has gained local and national attention with her blog The Mortgage Porter. It’s a place not just to find information such as her weekly Friday Mortgage Rate Update (last Friday’s edition here) but also background information and context (check the left sidebar for “Favorite Mortgage Posts” such as How to Pick a Lender, and a group of posts explaining specific mortgage programs). Rhonda also contributes to the respected regional real-estate blog Rain City Guide. You can reach Rhonda at 206-718-9488 or by e-mail (click here). This Thanksgiving week, we are thankful for Rhonda Porter and for Hotwire Coffee and Garlic Jim’s Pizza in The Junction, Click! Design That Fits in the Admiral District, and West Seattle Realtor Bill Barna, our first fabulous WSB sponsors; here’s how to join them. (And we are thankful for YOU and all our fabulous WSB visitors/readers/contributors/participants, too!)
The West Seattle Junction Association website now has new details about the 
Hometown Holidays weekend-long celebration that’s less than two weeks away, including a new location for the tree — the site describes the Saturday night 12/1 event as “inaugural lighting of newly planted Community Holiday Tree at 6 pm … in the Farmers’ Market Parking Lot.” Check out the full list of activities here, including the especially festive-sounding “Adult Cheer Garden.”
Catching up with the sites linked from our Other Blogs in WS page — we found a beautiful blue backyard visitor captured on video at A Bad Case of Wanderlust.
Even before the destiny of the ex-Gee/ex-Huling dealership parcels becomes clear … even before Fauntleroy Place breaks ground … another chunk of Fauntleroy Way business land east of The Junction is now on the market: 4415-4425 Fauntleroy (map), perhaps best known as home to Tervo’s Mini-Mart (whose proprietor died this past Labor Day), listed for sale for $2,900,000. Here’s the listing; the flyer describes it as “commercial, retail, or mixed use; potential for 79 units, plus 5 commercial units; 108 parking spaces.” Here’s a screen grab of the flyer:Read More
“TOAST TO THE ANIMALS” TONIGHT AT BEVERIDGE PLACE PUB: This puts the “fun” in “fundraiser” — a benefit for Furry Faces Foundation. Their announcement is livelier than any rewrite we could do:
“Raise your glasses and ring in the Holiday Cheer for rescued animals,” say Terri and Gary, owners of the Beveridge Place Pub, “as we are delighted to announce another Wine Tasting Fun-Raiser, benefiting Furry Faces Foundation, a.k.a., F3. And, if you like a particular wine (s), you may purchase a bottle or two or more … right then and there.” “For a mere $15 you get to taste 4-6 lovely wines, savor light appetizers, mingle with your neighbors, and help defray the cost of spaying ‘n’ neutering rescued animals,” raves Lora Vickrey, F3 treasurer and Hotwire Coffeehouse owner [also WSB sponsor], “plus, we will be previewing our soon to be infamous, nefarious game of kismet, called …. Box-a-Rama! Be there, or be square.”
That’s 4:30 pm-7 pm tonight (here’s a map to Beveridge Place Pub).
GET YOUR DOG GROOMED ON TURKEY DAY: Across California Ave from Beveridge Place and a bit north, The Wash Dog is taking appointments for grooming on Thanksgiving morning. We heard from Wash Dog owner Bernadette Cassidy after our post seeking info on West Seattle businesses open Thanksgiving. We’re building that list now; meanwhile, you can call Bernadette to snag one of those holiday appointments at 206-935-4546.
YOGA WITH YOUR DOG? Wendy Hughes-Jelen from the High Point K9 Club is trying to organize a “yoga with your dog” class or workshop. Wendy had a great time taking a class in Bellevue that’s taught by an instructor who lives in West Seattle, Brenda Bryan. Wendy is working with Brenda and the High Point Community Center to get West Seattle dog yoga going, but she needs at least 4 people/dog pairs to rev this up; e-mail her at wendyhj (at) greenspacesrealestate.com if you want to get in on it. (Read more about “yoga with your dog” at Brenda’s website.)
So far, this one only involves two of the West Seattle branch’s sibling “campuses” — but is worth noting, as the megachurch continues to grow its presence in WS (having added a second service just last month, concurrent with a switch to centralized video preaching, and having brought members from all over the city to WS for water baptisms at Alki two months ago). This new controversy involves the reported removal of two pastors — first mentioned in the Seattle LiveJournal group on November 1st, then on Slog Friday night, and now in today’s Seattle Times. The “members-only” Mars Hill forum referred to in the latter two reports is apparently shut down, according to a notice included in an update on the Slog post.
Last time we asked for RRRs on house-cleaning services, we paired it with an unrelated request which stirred up most of the discussion and stole the spotlight. Now with holiday guests looming, we have a new RRR on the topic — Lisa is looking for a house-cleaning/maid service based in, or willing to come to, West Seattle. Please leave your recommendation as a comment; previous RRRs and responses are archived here.
In addition to what’s already listed in our latest West Seattle Weekend Lineup (posted on WSB every Friday morning), we just got word from Julie @ Divina (California/Genesee) of an event there with live music 8-11 tonight. The rain stopped – go out! (We’re going to try to take that advice ourselves.)
WSB contributing photographer Matt Durham took these photos at an every-other-month West Seattle event that your editors admit to having never heard of before … antique-tool enthusiasts gathering at the Alki Masonic Hall on the east edge of The Junction. Matt writes:
Today members shared information and auctioned tools designed for ship-building, scrimshaw and various other uses. The Pacific Northwest Tool Collectors invite all tool collectors and dealers to join them at their meetings. To attend, you must be a member of PNTC, a guest of a member, or register at the meeting. Contact info is at tooltimer.com.
(Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
The auction is over, the first ex-Huling employee verdict is in, but the court fight over who’s to blame for the dealership failure continues: Latest development in the Gee vs. Huling lawsuit (full lawsuit document linked from here), according to the newest publicly downloadable court documents, is this — 
King County Superior Court Judge Harry McCarthy has ruled against the Hulings in their contention that the dispute with the Gees should go to arbitration rather than court because of terms in their original dealership sale agreement. (The judge wrote “… the dispute falls outside of the arbitration provision in the parties’ contract”; read the ruling here.) So now the Hulings are taking it to the state Court of Appeals. (Read the “notice of appeal” here.)
Since work on Shadowland started to pick up speed, we’ve received questions about the restaurant project across the street and a bit north — the ex-In Bloom space, first heralded one year ago as Spring Hill (not to be confused with the Spring Hill mixed-use building plan that recently emerged south of The Junction), to be opened by a local chef named Mark Fuller. This morning, we found a sign of life on that project, first one in months: A 30-day “get started” permit just issued by the city. Before now, the last major update on the Spring Hill restaurant came in June, when its design emerged on its architects’ website. Another link we found at the time (which doesn’t work any more) described Spring Hill as seeking to “redefine the French bistro in Seattle.” Guess we’ll see soon!
Seen on the Alki promenade/boardwalk/whatever’s your preferred term:
By the way, tomorrow’s forecast is looking better, according to the fourth paragraph here.
According to the city’s project page for the Hanford-to-Hinds upzoning proposal on California (Wednesday’s detailed report here), the public meeting is set for Thursday, November 29th, at West Seattle High School. We hope to hear back from DPD planners early next week regarding the time.
THANKSGIVING #1: Bless everyone who has to work on holidays. We know it’s no picnic. Again this year, we are compiling a list of who’s open on The Big Holidays in two categories: coffee shops and grocery stores. We have started our Thanksgiving list already but we are asking for your help, if you own or work at a West Seattle business in one of those categories — let us know whether you’re closed or open on Thanksgiving, and if open, what hours. Post a comment here or e-mail WSB directly. Thank you!
THANKSGIVING #2: We’ve talked here before about the free community Thanksgiving feast that will be hosted noon-3 pm Thursday by Tuxedos & Tennis Shoes on their home turf at The Hall @ Fauntleroy. According to the West Seattle Helpline website, while there are enough volunteers to serve the dinner, they need some things you could drop off at The Hall (map) before 11 am Thanksgiving morning: a pie, new socks, winter hats, or gloves.
CHRISTMAS ETC.: Once you get those outdoor decorations up (the weekend forecast doesn’t look too conducive) keep WSB in mind if you have an extra-festive display — let us know where you’re at so we can come by for pix/video, or send us your own pix/video for posting, so we can all share the season’s sights; a special Holidays page is one of two new features we’re adding to WSB this weekend.
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