West Seattle, Washington
21 Saturday
2:24 PM UPDATE: KCDOT has just announced that the West Seattle Water Taxi is canceled for the rest of today/tonight. They’re still saying “mechanical problems.”
10:24 PM UPDATE: In case you’re wondering, the county still has not announced whether there will or won’t be Water Taxi service tomorrow (keep an eye on this page).
(Scroll down for newest information – investigators have figured out how the fire started)
(Video substituted at 12:14 pm for previously published photo)
ORIGINAL 11:12 AM REPORT: On our way to check out the house-fire call (7900 block of 17th SW – map). 11:23 AM UPDATE: We are at the scene, significant fire, front of house charred, smoke still coming out. No word yet if anyone is hurt. 11:34 AM UPDATE: Incident commander tells us everyone got out OK but a few firefighters are being checked out for possible minor injuries. It’s easy to see inside the front of the house from the street, and it appears gutted. It’ll be a while before investigators can say how it started. 12:16 PM NOTE: In comments, Mookie mentioned “decon” for firefighters on scene. Here’s what that consisted of:
We’ll update whenever the information’s available about the fire’s cause. 1:29 PM UPDATE: SFD confirms via Twitter that two firefighters had to be treated for “minor injuries.” 2:51 PM UPDATE: Update from SFD: The fire was accidental, started when someone tried to get a fire going in the fireplace and nearby “combustible materials” caught fire in the process. The house is considered “pretty much a total loss,” according to SFD’s Helen Fitzpatrick, with damage to home and contents estimated at $150,000. She also explains that the two firefighters who were hurt suffered ankle injuries from stepping out the back door into a “short drop” that had no stairs. 12:29 AM SUNDAY: Firefighters went back late Saturday night for a flare-up. It appeared to be out by the time we got there, with most of the dispatched trucks having been sent back.
Cindi Barker and Sharonn Meeks are two of the volunteers at the Fauntleroy Emergency Communications Hub (explained here), one of three hubs, along with Highland Park and Admiral, that are part of an earthquake drill this morning. It’s a followup to a May drill – meant to simulate what the hubs might deal with in the not-as-immediate aftermath of The Big One. The scenario given to volunteers is that it’s about 30 hours after a major quake hit the region, affecting power and transportation, and breaking or overloading major communications systems, so Community Hubs are up and running, and ham-radio teams are in action. Today’s participants are acting as if they are relieving the first group that’s been working since just after the quake, and have to deal with “a large amount of message traffic” – note the radio and the bulletin board in the photo. The volunteers will be attempting to relay those messages, among other parts of the drill. (This is the same one for which we put out a call for “actors.”) What can you do? Know where your nearest Emergency Communication Hub is – that’s where you would go to find out information and how to get help when the conventional ways of doing so have failed. Also, don’t just think of a disaster kit as “we’ll get around to it” – be ready now – weather disasters may be partly predictable, but earthquakes still aren’t. Find tips on the excellent, volunteer-created West Seattle Be Prepared website.
That’s Katie Salinas from Waste Management, photographed a week ago when we got full details about the car-seat collection events in which WM is partnering with WestSide Baby. Today is the big collection event for West Seattle/White Center and vicinity; between 10 am and 2 pm, take your no-longer-need car seat/booster seat to 10027 14th SW in White Center (that’s a block from WS Baby’s current location – here’s a map). If it’s in good-enough shape to reuse, that’ll happen; if not, it’ll be recycled. More details on the WS Baby website – which says the collection event in Ballard last weekend netted 50 reusable seats and almost 200 recyclable ones. Can West Seattle/White Center top that? Just hours to go.
Right about now, the Alaskan Way Viaduct should be shutting down for Day 1 of its two-day semi-annual inspection – 6 am to 6 pm, today and tomorrow. And as announced last night, the Spokane Street Viaduct‘s westbound lanes will close overnight tonight, 10 pm-5 am. But its eastbound lanes aren’t affected – and during the AWV closure, the new 4th Avenue offramp on that side should help you get downtown without having to go all the way to I-5.
News just down the block from WSB HQ right now. Somebody made a deafening racket crashing a VW Jetta through the DO NOT ENTER sign at California/Thistle (map), heading southbound on California (the dead-end direction in which you’re not supposed to enter), and ending up against the front steps of a house at California/Sullivan. Nobody hurt, but the driver, according to neighbors, took off, apparently northbound on California; the only description is male, in a white shirt. Police have been called. The car is still there in the stairs, DO NOT ENTER sign against its hood, smoking; chunks of debris, including the concrete that held the sign, litter the street. 3:48 AM NOTE: An officer arrived within minutes of a neighbor’s call; another one headed out in search of the runaway driver. First question some (including us) had – was it a stolen car? Responding officer checked and says it’s not reported as such.
4:51 AM UPDATE: Police found the suspect, brought him back to the scene for witness ID (we weren’t the witnesses, we only heard the crash; the driver had bolted before we went out to see what had happened), and took him away. The car’s being towed, and SDOT has arrived to clean up the street debris and mark the suddenly signless “wrong way” street end; the car pushed/dragged the DO NOT ENTER sign more than 100 feet.
(Roxhill librarian Pat Bliquez, visiting China in 2007, photo from school website)
Roxhill Elementary School principal Carmela Dellino sends word of a big honor for a member of her team:
Roxhill Elementary is proud to announce that our librarian, Pat Bliquez, has been selected as one of the seven 19th Annual Golden Apple Award winners for Excellence in Teaching in Washington State!
http://kcts9.org/kids/golden-apple-awardsThis year almost 200 educators from across the state were nominated for this award. This award was the idea of the Golden Apple founder Martin J. (Mike) Koldyke, who felt that excellent teachers did not receive adequate recognition for their contributions to building a stronger, better-educated society. Pat will be officially recognized during January at the Awards Banquet, but we will be honoring her at Roxhill later this month. …
Pat is 1000% dedicated to all students’ success. She is acutely aware of how to help Roxhill students become the best global citizens that they can become. She imbeds this instruction into her daily lessons for every grade level. She includes – truly and authentically – includes our self-contained Autism students, our Head Start students, our developmental preschool students, our transitional kindergarten students, as well as our general education students into this kind of learning.
She has devoted millions of hours (I can tell you that is NO exaggeration) to helping the lives and learning of students. Ms. Bliquez believes AND LIVES on a daily basis the importance that every student can excel at a very high level. She reaches those students who struggle academically and those who academically far exceed their peers. She brings in a global perspective to her lessons. Our students learn about Chinese characters and culture, the Holocaust, about slavery through the text of Elijah, Home of the Brave, and a myriad of other social justice topics.
And it doesn’t stop there. They say that a library is supposed to be the hub of a school. Our librarian IS the hub of our school. Learning centers around her work and efforts. She is the cog in the wheel. She goes out of her way to support every single teacher, support staff and the principal so that learning can be engaging, enriching, intentional and meaningful. Roxhill would not be the same without her.
She knows how to challenge thinking; push her own thinking; and help all of us grow (students and staff) as thinkers.
I could talk about the endless hours, the endless summer hours, the being the first to get here and sometimes the last to leave, but perhaps what resounds in my heart the most is the profound impact she makes on the intellectual, emotional, social and personal lives of every educator and student at Roxhill.
She IS the Golden Apple Award.
The principal says Roxhill head teacher Christopher Robert – himself a past Golden Apple recipient – nominated Pat Bliquez for the award. Congratulations to her and to Roxhill!
The game’s over at Southwest Athletic Complex – Nathan Hale 52, Chief Sealth International High School 34. More to come, including touchdown video plus the band’s halftime performance on the field. ADDED EARLY SATURDAY: That’s all after the jump:Read More
One of tonight’s two games is over: West Seattle High School beat Ingraham at Northwest Athletic Complex, 28-0. ADDED EARLY SATURDAY: Game notes and a video clip, after the jump:Read More
(Photos courtesy Seattle Department of Transportation)
That’s one of the photos SDOT shared this week when we asked if they had any new construction-progress photos from the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project. We have a few more – but first, SDOT has just finalized plans for this weekend closure as part of the ongoing construction:
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will close the westbound lanes of the Spokane Street Viaduct Saturday night, Oct 16, for work required on the viaduct widening project. (The Spokane Street Viaduct is the raised structure that connects the West Seattle Bridge to I-5.) Crews will work from 10 p.m. Saturday until 5 a.m. Sunday. During this work, southbound I-5 traffic will be directed to the South Forest Street exit to access surface streets. Northbound I-5 traffic and westbound traffic from South Columbian Way will be detoured to surface streets at Sixth Avenue South.
Note that this does NOT overlap with the Alaskan Way Viaduct closures this weekend, which are scheduled for 6 am-6 pm Saturday and Sunday. Meantime, three more views courtesy of SDOT:
As for the project’s overall status, according to SDOT’s Marybeth Turner: “The project remains on schedule for completion by spring 2012, with the new First Avenue on/off ramp complete by the fall of 2011.” Previous WSB coverage, dating back to the announcement of the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project in spring 2008, is archived here (newest to oldest).
(Photo taken by Brian Fenske on Wednesday while kayaking off Alki)
It’s still the heart of seal-pup season on West Seattle shores, and we have a few notes today. First, Robin Lindsey of Seal Sitters has good news: Storm, the pup rescued from Lincoln Park on Labor Day, is doing well at PAWS, and Robin’s published an update on the Seal Sitters’ Blubberblog – with video of Storm at PAWS – see it here. Robin also notes that PAWS is funded entirely by public donations, so if you’d like to chip in for their work, she has information on how to do so – Storm needs to gain weight before they’ll consider her healthy enough to release back into the wild. 2nd note: We’d received a note this week from Keith, who found a dead pup near Cormorant Cove and sent photos. So far, Robin says, there’s no indication of anything unusual about that death, so we’re not publishing a photo; sadly, she says, pup deaths aren’t unusual – only about half of them make it. She did photograph and document this one, she says, for NOAA to monitor, as they do with all others – so if you see a pup, alive or not, please let Seal Sitters know. Meantime, late notice if you see this shortly after we publish this, but Seal Sitters and NOAA are part of a presentation about West Seattle’s marine wildlife, tonight at Camp Long Lodge at 7 pm.
Just announced by the city – as of Monday, some of its “dynamic messaging signs” around the city, including Fauntleroy/38th and 35th/Snoqualmie, will show travel times, like the ones you’ve probably noticed on freeways like I-5 for a while now. Here’s the official announcement. SDOT says the sign on Admiral Way will have travel times by the end of the month, and by next March, they’ll be on three Highway 99 signs as well as East Marginal Way. Starting Monday they’re promising expanded info online, too.
We’re in South Park, where the official announcement of the $34 million federal TIGER II grant completing the pledged funding for a new South Park Bridge has just concluded. King County Executive Dow Constantine was joined by U.S. Senator Patty Murray, who spoke first:
Also there: U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, King County Councilmembers Jan Drago and Larry Phillips, Mayor Mike McGinn, City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond, State Sen. Joe McDermott, Port Commissioner Gael Tarleton, and South Park business owners and community leaders including Dagmar Cronn of the SP Neighborhood Association, who co-chaired the New South Park Bridge Coalition:
The new bridge will go out to bid “as soon as possible,” said Constantine, adding that “a few approvals” are needed, but expressing confidence that all the pledged funding from various levels of government will come through. The bridge should open in May 2013, the county says, though South Park community activist Bill Owens told WSB he’s hoping that can be accelerated; he also said he’s thrilled. a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/news/release/2010/October/15southpark.aspx”>Here, meantime, is the full news release.
(WSB photo from this year’s Alki Art Fair)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
“Pretty dramatic stuff.”
That’s how Seattle Parks Board vice chair Neal Adams of West Seattle described the briefing that Seattle Parks finance director Carol Everson gave last night to the board – a city-convened citizens’ advisory group – on the cuts and changes to Parks operations contained in the budget Mayor McGinn proposed late last month, six months after Everson delivered a dire warning to the board (WSB coverage here) of what was to come
As part of the briefing, Parks staffers provided the board with a document that they say will be frequently updated through the budget-vetting process – which the City Council is in the middle of now – featuring specifics on the budget’s potential effects. Covering the meeting last night, that’s when we heard for the first time that one of the casualties would be the popular annual midsummer Alki Art Fair, as part of the proposal to cut Alki Community Center operating hours to a bare minimum.
Read on for what else we’ve learned about Alki Community Center as well as other Parks programs:Read More
These aren’t West Seattle cases – but there are calls to be on the lookout region-wide, so we’re sharing them here, one with a photo, one with a sketch. First is the recent attack on a jogger in Seward Park, with new information about the attacker, and second is a just-announced case of alleged “cyberstalking” that may have victims all over Western Washington (if not beyond) – read on:Read More
(King County rendering of design for future South Park Bridge)
11:14 AM: Just got word that King County Executive Dow Constantine and U.S. Senator Patty Murray promise a big announcement at the South Park Bridge at 2:30 this afternoon. This is about when news was supposed to come in about whether a federal grant via TIGER II would be available for all or part of the rest of the money needed to build a new bridge. 11:23 AM: $34 million grant, per sources cited by seattlepi.com. 11:37 AM: More evidence that TIGER II announcements are coming out – found this East Coast story about a bridge-replacement project there getting $. And more here. 11:50 AM: The Seattle Times (WSB partner) is on the story too. 12:37 PM: News advisory from U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott‘s office says he’ll be there too. It’s been three and a half months since the old bridge was shut down for safety concerns. The county has called the replacement project “shovel-ready” but says it would still take about 2 years to build once all the money’s in. 1:20 PM UPDATE: The Times story is updated with confirmation of the $34 million, from Sen. Murray’s office.
Reminder – the Alaskan Way Viaduct‘s semi-annual checkup is this weekend, so it’s scheduled to be closed 6 am-6 pm both Saturday and Sunday. (They tend to finish and reopen early on Sundays – if that happens, we’ll have updates here as well as via Facebook and Twitter.) This is the first inspection closure since the new 4th Avenue offramp opened, so you don’t have to go all the way to I-5 to get off The Bridge eastbound.
(First 6 photos in this story are by Ellen Cedergreen [Alki, ArtsWest, The Kenney])
Steps from the beach, Alki Bathhouse celebrated the exhibit “Beach Structures” last night during the October edition of the West Seattle Art Walk, 41 venues this time around, and we made it to eight of them last night. At the Bathhouse, David W. Simpson is the artist:
He’s also known for cyanotype prints (the image behind him is a print of the same structure), and he’s teaching a class in that medium at the Bathhouse Studio on October 30th, 10:30 am, call 206-684-7430 to register. Another of last night’s most unusual shows, WTF?! Guys and Dolls and Zombies at ArtsWest – here’s artist Kate Vrijmoet attacked by her zombie children tonight in front of her giant zombie paintings:
Click ahead for another unusual sight at ArtsWest – plus more stops around the Art Walk map:
From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar for today/tonight: Homecoming game for Chief Sealth International High School, with a barbecue on campus at 5:30 pm followed by the game vs. Nathan Hale at Southwest Athletic Complex, 7 pm … West Seattle High School plays Ingraham tonight at Northwest Athletic Complex, also at 7 … Live in a flood-prone zone? Today and tomorrow, you can get up to 25 sandbags, courtesy of Seattle Public Utilities, at Delridge Community Center (map), 8 am-4 pm each day, but be sure you or someone with you can lift/carry/load them (40 pounds each) … The Monday Artists are having a show today and tomorrow, 10 am-4 pm, Island View Community Room, 3033 California SW (map) … Concerned about city budget cuts? Here’s a chance to show your love for Alki Community Center – Friday Night Skating, $3/person, 6:45-8:45 pm. … And at Kenyon Hall tonight, a vocals/piano show described as a “program of show stoppers … the best of Bernstein, Purcell, Rossini, Loesser, Weill, Kern, Berlin, Herman, Porter, and more,” 7:30 pm, kenyonhall.org.
(Satang Sallah, the first girl to receive a Kona AfricaBike, sets off from Medina Wallom to her village five kilometers away. Sallah starts school this month. Photos in this story by Lori Hinton and Barbara Trenary)
Story by Lori Hinton
Special to West Seattle Blog
“Hand me that pedal wrench,” smiles Sandy Murray of West Seattle, wiping her brow while assembling one of 225 Kona AfricaBikes in 110-degree heat at a remote school in The Gambia’s upcountry village of Medina Wallom.
Murray, an emergency room nurse and Medical Teams International volunteer, and industrial hygienist Barbara Trenary have traveled to this West African country on multiple occasions for humanitarian work, but this year marked the beginning of an incredible ride.
What brought these women and a handful of volunteers from Seattle all the way to The Gambia some 8,000 miles away? A chance to help break the cycle of illiteracy in Gambian girls.
How? By assembling hundreds of ultra durable Africa-specific bicycles for kids to use as transportation to school—thanks to fundraising efforts from local non-profit HopeFirst Foundation and Kona Basic Needs.
(Toy Swap photo from 2009)
Once again this year, CoolMom is planning its annual Holiday Toy Swap ‘n’ Sale, a chance to recycle what you don’t need and pick up something you want that somebody else doesn’t need. The sustainability-focused group is planning two versions this year, both on November 13th, including one in West Seattle (the other’s in Wallingford). It’s set for 9 am-1 pm that day at Fauntleroy Church (9140 California SW). Proceeds benefit WestSide Baby and FamilyWorks as well as CoolMom. From the CM announcement:
There are 2 ways to participate:
1. Donate items before the sale & receive a $5 credit toward your purchase the day of the sale.
2. Nothing to donate? Show up and shop to your heart’s content.
Please don’t forget your reusable bags to collect your treasures. Cash and Check only.
Bag up donations – toys, sports clothes and products, baby gear, but no clothing or car seats (got any of the latter? take ’em to WestSide Baby this Saturday). To get your $5 credit, make sure your name is on or in your donation bag, so you can redeem the credit on sale day. Here are the West Seattle donation locations, which CoolMom’s Terri Glaberson tells WSB are set up now:
PCC West Seattle [WSB sponsor]
Gatewood Elementary School
Arbor Heights Elementary School
Community School of West Seattle
Pathfinder School
C&P Coffee [WSB sponsor]
Small Clothes
CoolMom is a Washington State Not-for-Profit 501(c)3 – organized to unite families to take action on climate change through education, lifestyle change, and advocacy. The West Seattle group meets the first Wednesday of every month, 7 pm at C&P Coffee Company, 5612 California SW.
Tis the season for spookiness. And tomorrow night – the question of whether the Southwest Seattle Historical Society‘s Log House Museum is haunted, or not, may be laid to rest. It’s getting a visit from the paranormal investigators of PIHA (Paranormal Investigations of Historic America). This isn’t Ghostbusters, mind you – PIHA, according to Vaughn Hubbard, is a registered nonprofit organization doing this for free. And he acknowledges part of the visit is to “support the upcoming annual Halloween fundraiser for the museum” (a brunch at Salty’s, October 30th). But PIHA doesn’t just visit any old – we emphasize, old – historical site; they need proof of the potentially paranormal. So we asked him, what’s the haunting haps here? Reply: “About any paranormal activity at the West Seattle Museum, according to Sarah Frederick, Collections Manager, Log House Museum, she has stated that there has been numerous stories about strange things happening there for years now but they just don’t talk about it. I have to believe what she is telling me is fact, otherwise we wouldn’t spend the time and money required by us for an investigation. We are very selective about where we schedule investigations because of our cost and time invested.” So how do they investigate? We’ll find out tomorrow night, once the PIHA “Grey Team” shows up in its “Command Central Van” (as seen in the promotional clip above). (P.S. We asked SWSHS about the brunch – $65 adults; $25 kids 13/under; free for kids 4 and under; RSVP to 206-938-5293, costumes encouraged.)
Two photos shared this afternoon – obviously taken before the weather turned. First, Tom sent the top photo, taken at 12:45 pm in his backyard at 21st and Holly (map), observing, “That’s one healthy-looking coyote! He’s looking at our chicken coop…..” (Here’s info on coexisting with coyotes.) Next, from Gary Jones:
In the distance, looking over the top of Alki Lighthouse, Gary believes that was a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser under tow northbound, coming out of Rich Passage from Bremerton. Closer look:
We’re still researching in hopes of figuring out exactly what that ship was.
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