West Seattle, Washington
21 Thursday
9:29 PM: Mentioning it since we’ve received more than a few texts – people in Fairmount Springs (between Fairmount Park and Morgan Junction) heard something a few minutes ago that sounded like gunshots or fireworks. Definitely NO medical calls for any sort of shooting – have not heard scanner activity related to this yet, but continuing to listen.
10 PM: Commenters include people who say they saw it – fireworks.
6:32 PM: Thanks to the WSB’er who texted about the 1st Avenue South Bridge having a stuck-open drawspan on the SOUTHBOUND side, with major backups ensuing; WSDOT confirms this and says crews are working to fix it. Refresh this page for the latest “live” view above, showing the drawspan still “up” as we write this.
7:31 PM UPDATE: As of about 10 minutes ago, the southbound span is back to normal, and traffic is moving.
5:08 PM: Police are blocking off the area around the precinct. Avoid for now. Working on details.
5:23 PM UPDATE: Appears whatever this was ended quickly. Still working on details. Witnesses say officers converged on a van, which is still visible in the area, though the search/response activity is over.
7:25 PM UPDATE: We’ve heard from Lt. Pierre Davis at the precinct, who explains: “At about (5 pm), one of our officers intercepted an armed distraught male attempting to gain entry into the police precinct parking lot. A dialogue was rapidly started, in an attempt to assess the threat level and motivation of the armed subject. The subject complied with instructions to give himself up, thus ending the immediate threat and incident. Our officers did a fantastic job protecting themselves and the community in this incident.”
At the State Capitol, legislators in both houses have introduced bills this week to abolish the death penalty, saying it’s too expensive. All three state legislators for the 34th District (which includes West Seattle) are sponsors of the bills – for House Bill 1504, State Reps. Eileen Cody (D-West Seattle) and Joe Fitzgibbon (D-Burien), and for Senate Bill 5372, State Sen. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island). The bills – subtitled “Reducing criminal-justice expenses by eliminating the death penalty in favor of life incarceration” – would limit sentencing for aggravated first-degree murder to life in prison with no chance of release. Our state has had 110 executions, most recently Cal Brown in 2010.
Since last weekend, we’ve been getting questions from WSB readers about installations in prominent Alki spots of what appear to be new surveillance/security cameras (a hot topic right now, as evidenced by the discussion about private cameras at last week’s West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meeting [WSB coverage here]). Traveling the waterfront, you can see at least half a dozen similar installations along Harbor and Alki Avenues as well as one near Constellation Park. Since they’re all on utility and streetlight poles, we speculated they had to be some kind of city project, so we started inquiring with city departments, and after two days of inquiries finally have a bit of information. SDOT pointed us to Seattle Police, as did Seattle City Light, describing it as a police project related to port security. Southwest Precinct operations Lt. Pierre Davis explained that the cameras are “part of a grant project ran by SPD to observe the waterway in that area.” This online article from last summer quotes a Seattle Fire Department official as mentioning a project for surveillance cameras all along the waterfront to help public-safety personnel in case of incidents. SPD Public Affairs says more information about the project will be made public soon.
After the recent Roxhill Park robberies, it was suggested that it’s time for the Westwood/Roxhill neighborhood to re-organize a neighborhood council – and, if interested, perhaps even reach southward to Arbor Heights, which doesn’t have an active neighborhood council either. If you’re from any of those areas and interested in potentially being part of this, the date is set for a meeting to come find out more: Next Tuesday, February 5th, 6:30-8 pm at the Southwest Branch of the Seattle Public Library (35th and Henderson), according to Mat McBride, who chairs the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council (which includes reps from area community councils and other major organizations). Mat says the agenda’s still a work in progress,
(WSB photo from August 2012, Caspar Babypants at Summer Concerts @ Hiawatha)
Next Sunday starts with something “super” long before the football game: The musician with a big following among little fans is performing to benefit the scholarship fund for the South Seattle Community College Preschool Co-op. At 10 am on Sunday (February 3), Caspar Babypants performs at Brockey Center at SSCC (WSB sponsor). Proceeds will help pay tuition for preschool families in need. Admission is $10 at the door, kids under 1 free.
And more showbiz news: Our WSBeat correspondent Megan Sheppard reports seeing Thomas Haden Church at Admiral Safeway. One quick check of Google News revealed this Deadline.com story reporting that he is in Seattle because filming has just begun on “Lucky Them,” described as an “’un-romantic comedy’ about a female rock journalist on assignment to hunt down her musician ex-boyfriend.” Don’t know if they’re shooting over here; keep an eye out for film-crew sightings. But we do know that Seattle-based director Megan Griffiths has filmed on this side of the metro area before – with “Eden,” partly shot in White Center in 2011.
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Congratulations to Admiral Theater boss Dinah Brein and her cross-country songwriting partner – Dinah reports their Today Show jingle-contest entry won!
Seattle songwriter and theater manager Dinah Brein, along with her collaborator Jon Michaels, has won NBC’s “Quest for the Best Today Show Jingle”. Michaels performed the song this morning on the Today show and beat out the two other finalists. Renowned record producer David Foster, who judged the segment, commented after listening to the songs that if he were chosen to produce a killer 30-second spot – it would be the Brein/Michaels entry and awarded the song the top honor.
“Jon called me this morning and told me the good news”, said Brein. “He also said, don’t be mad, I didn’t mention you until the end of the segment, because my daughter would have killed me if I hadn’t led off with her.”
UPDATE: Added above, the “Today Show” clip during which Michaels performed the jingle he and Brein wrote.
(Bewick’s wren, photographed by Danny McMillin and shared via the WSB Flickr group)
The prospect of tolls on the I-90 bridge have been a hot topic since we mentioned this week’s series of open houses – none in West Seattle, but maybe one is convenient to your workplace; they start tonight. That’s part of the list of highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
CO-WORKING MEETUP: Every Tuesday, noon-1 pm, at Uptown Espresso in The Junction until West Seattle Office Junction has a permanent location, they host a co-working meetup “to connect small business owners with each other.”
I-90 TOLLS? FIRST ROUND OF COMMENTING: None are in West Seattle, but they’re of high interest, and WSDOT is advertising them on WSB – three WSDOT open houses this week as they embark on the “environmental assessment” of potential I-90 bridge tolling – in this context, “environmental” includes a wide range of effects, not just “ecological.” Tonight’s open house is 4-7 pm on Mercer Island; details (and a map) here.
BEER TASTING: Elliott Bay Brewing in The Junction starts its “Ode to Darkness” tasting at 3 pm, with the brewer on hand 5-6 pm for questions. Details in our calendar listing.
DREAM DINNERS OPEN HOUSE: Located in The Junction, West Seattle’s Dream Dinners (WSB sponsor) is the answer to the question “what’s for dinner?” and you can check it out at 5:30 pm – RSVP requested; details in our calendar listing.
LIFE-SAVING DISCUSSION: ***6 pm*** at High Point Library (35th/Raymond), teen librarian Ken Gollersrud and the Chief Sealth International High School PTSA present information about teen depression and suicide prevention – information that could save someone’s life. Details here.
And lots more – check the calendar, for today/tonight and way beyond!
Two reports in West Seattle Crime Watch this morning. First, from SPD Blotter, an early-morning carjacking:
Just before 2:00 am, officers responded to the the area of 28th Avenue SW and SW Nevada Street for a report of an armed carjacking/robbery. Officers contacted the victim who told them that he was parking his 1993 Ford F150 truck on the west side of 28th, just north of SW Nevada.
He stated that he had just parked his truck and was walking away when he was approached by an unknown suspect. The suspect was armed with a silver handgun and pointed it at the victim, demanding that he hand over his personal property.
The suspect took the victim’s wallet, cell phone and truck keys. He then took the victim’s truck, last seen driving eastbound on SW Nevada. Officers conducted an area search, as well as alerting King County Sheriff’s Office and Washington State Patrol. Despite the area search, the truck or suspect was not located.
The victim’s truck is described as a silver 1993 Ford F150 pickup truck with extended cab. The suspect is described as a white male, 30′s, 5’8″ tall, wearing a black t-shirt and a black knit cap. The victim was not injured …
First carjacking we recall hearing about around here in quite some time. Also this morning, a stolen car to watch for. From Jeffrey:
My car was stolen last night … 1997 Subaru Legacy Outback – White – 912-VQE. Stolen from 41XX SW Edmunds Street between 10 PM 1/28 and 7 AM 1/29.
That’s only about a block from where Cari‘s car, also a Subaru, was stolen last Thursday night. A spot check of the SPD crime map suggests it’s been a busy week for car thieves – here’s a screengrab of that map:
This represents 19 car thefts in West Seattle in the past week. At this zoom level, the map shows 15 – we moused over each one on the SPD website and three each represent two, plus it does not appear Jeffrey’s report is on the map (which is time-lagged) yet. That’s more than double the rate in November, the most recent month for which stats are available online (scroll to the last page for SW Precinct stats). Here’s SPD advice on car-theft prevention.
That’s a city photo of part of the West Duwamish Greenbelt – Seattle’s largest remaining contiguous forest, stretching across much of eastern West Seattle. The WS-based Nature Consortium works to restore it, as well as offering youth arts programs, and this Friday, the Rotary Club of West Seattle invites you to join its next “First Friday” get-together while supporting the Nature Consortium. They’re meeting again at Marination ma kai (WSB sponsor) at Seacrest, by the West Seattle Water Taxi dock, this Friday, February 1st, 5 pm-7 pm. Drop by and, whether you stay for a drink or snack or more (or not), help with their collection of donations:
We would love to collect the following items for them:
Paint Brushes (acrylic, watercolor, brush sets) -
Paper (Bristol pads, drawing & sketch pads, technical drawing pads, paper rolls) -
Atlas Gloves
You can also give cash; we will be prepared to collect that too.
Membership not required – just show up. If you have a question, the Rotary’s publicity chair Dave Nichols has answers, 206-391-5017 or e-mail dave@disasterdave.com.
(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; see other cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
6:32 AM: Rainy but otherwise no trouble as the morning commute gets going. Same traffic alert for tonight as last night – another 10 pm-5 am closure of southbound 99 between the Battery Street Tunnel and West Seattle Bridge (Wednesday and Thursday nights too).
7:04 AM: If you use the 1st Avenue South Bridge, this note from WSDOT via Twitter: “On SR 509 northbound just south of SR 99, there is a collision blocking the left center lane.”
6:35 PM: As also noted in a separate story, there’s a problem with the southbound 1st Avenue South Bridge:
Its drawspan is stuck in the open position. WSDOT says crews are working to fix it.
A potential playoff preview Monday night at West Seattle High School, as the girls-varsity basketball team faced Seattle Prep, with both teams leading their divisions in Metro League play. The Wildcats controlled the board for most of the first half, but Prep’s aggressive full-court press kicked in just before halftime, and eventually brought that team a 55-31 win, WSHS’s first loss in almost two weeks. Here are the stats, as published by our partners at The Seattle Times. Their regular season ends with a home game against Eastside Catholic on Wednesday and a road game against Bishop Blanchet Friday.
The main west-east route in South Park, South Cloverdale, is closed right now at and around 10th Avenue South (map) because of a deadly crash. Seattle Police say one person was hit by two cars; Seattle Fire says the person has died. Details are on our partner site The South Park News.
Some followup information on a weekend incident we covered, thanks to help from WSBeat reporter Megan Sheppard (look for her next roundup soon):
(Saturday night photo by WSB editor Tracy Record)
On Saturday night, we showed you the scene outside White Center Taco Time, where what Seattle Police described as a stolen car first spotted in West Seattle had crashed into a pole. No injuries; we saw police making one arrest.
Thanks to Megan’s research, we now know there were four people in the car; one fled, one was released at the scene, and two men were arrested and booked into jail. One, an Auburn resident, is being held in connection with a $5,000 warrant for failing to appear at a court hearing related to a South King County burglary case from 2010 and also, according to the jail register, for investigation of vehicle theft, with bail set at $100,000. The other is an Everett resident who had just gotten out of jail two and a half weeks ago in connection with another case involving a stolen car from Bellevue and a hit-run crash in Kent. This time, his bail is set at $125,000 for investigation of auto theft, and he’s also facing drug charges, after police say they found him in possession of meth on Saturday night. (The prior case has added $45,000 to that suspect’s bail, for a total of $170,000.) The report says the car that crashed Saturday night was stolen from unincorporated King County, but police had caught sight of it near 24th and Roxbury. We will check with the County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office tomorrow to see if charges are filed against either or both of these suspects.
5:06 PM: Seattle Fire units are helping North Highline with a big apartment fire in the 12300 block of Ambaum, not far south of White Center. More to come.
5:24 PM: We are in the area. TV choppers overhead. Traffic is now getting through both ways on Ambaum but slowly so avoid if you are headed this way.
6:03 PM: No injuries reported, according to our friends at KING 5. We’ve left the area after the situation seemed to ease – we saw three Seattle fire vehicles leaving, and several from other departments, including Renton and Tukwila, were waiting two blocks south just in case they were needed.
6:21 PM: While the assisting firefighters were summoned to the 12300 block of Ambaum, regional-media reports note that the building’s actual address is 1224 124th, just west of Ambaum, a 24-unit four-story building that’s 47 years old.
11:02 PM: KIRO TV reports that a baseboard-heater problem is blamed for the fire.
In case you haven’t heard – the state is thinking about charging tolls on the I-90 bridge across Lake Washington, to help pay for the new 520 bridge; the old one on 520 is already charging tolls. WSDOT is trying to get the word out about three open houses this week as part of the “environmental assessment” of the plan, and a way to have a say online, to. The meetings are tomorrow on Mercer Island, Wednesday in Bellevue, and – the closest one – Thursday at Yesler Community Center – all from 4-7 pm. They’re drop-in format; if you want to read up on the proposal, various documents and presentations are here.
If you can’t make it to a meeting, there’s an online form through which you can comment through February 22nd – find it here. (Note; WSDOT is advertising on WSB and other news publications to get the word out about this comment period.)
P.S. Opponents of I-90 tolls have set up a website – see their side of the story here.
Here’s a challenge for you – a good one – and we’d dare say that you don’t have to be part of an elementary classroom to help out with this:
The Students of Room 16 at Arbor Heights Elementary are celebrating the 100th day of school by collecting 100 food items for the West Seattle Food Bank. We challenge all elementary classrooms in West Seattle elementary schools to collect 100 cans as well.
While we have the food in our classroom we will learn to read the labels. We will count the food and track our progress using tally marks and links on a paper chain. We will also sort the cans by size, weight, and food group.
We will be learning important reading and math skills while helping our community.
Last year our class donated more than 200 items of food for the food bank.
Please help us reach or exceed our goal.
Marcia Ingerslev
Proud teacher in Room 16
The West Seattle Food Bank and White Center Food Bank (whose service area includes part of West Seattle) both appreciate your donations any time – food or cash – click on their names in this line to get to their info-laden websites.
Just north of The Junction, two development notes this afternoon:
SIX-TOWNHOUSE PROJECT: Across from the north edge of Dakota Place Park, the city has announced upcoming “administrative design review” – no meeting required – for a six-townhouse project scheduled on a 5,750-square-foot lot currently holding one almost-century-old home at 4044 California SW (map). Here’s the city’s project page. The owner is listed as Charlie Guyot, a member of the busy builder-finance group Blueprint Capital. Though it’s not on Blueprint’s map of West Seattle projects; two nearby ones are, including this:
NEW HOUSE AT 4010 SW GENESEE: Just east of Seattle Lutheran High School, the 1920s-era house on the northwest corner of 40th and Genesee has been demolished in the past few days (thanks to a WSB reader for sending the photo). City records say it’s slated for a new single-family home on the 6,440-square-foot lot; the Blueprint site says it’ll have three bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, and just under 3,000 square feet of living area.
One of many followups we’re working on today – a streetlight at 25th and Trenton on the north side of Westwood Village was hit by a car over the weekend, as pointed out by Paul (who shared the photo) and by Charlie, who also observed that the light is on the detour used around the clock for southbound traffic during the Delridge repaving project‘s first phase. Seattle City Light‘s Suzanne Hartman notes that crews went to the scene on Saturday afternoon just to secure everything for safety, adding, “We will put a rush on getting the streetlight repaired because it is essential lighting.”
(SPD deputy chief Nick Metz with the mayor; photo by Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times, republished with permission)
Just in – results announced from last Saturday’s first-in-20-years Seattle gun “buyback” event:
Saturday’s gun buyback event collected 716 guns in less than four hours, and handed out $68,000 in gift cards. Mayor Mike McGinn, King County Executive Dow Constantine, Seattle-King County Public Health Director Dr. David Fleming, and Deputy Chief Nick Metz of the Seattle Police Department briefed members of the media this morning on the results of the gun buyback operation.
The news release continues after the jump, including the sponsor/partner shoutouts (West Seattle’s Nucor Steel and Skylark Café/Club owner Jessie SK among them), and what’s next:
Thanks to David Hutchinson for the Friday evening photo from Duwamish Head. Before we get into today’s preview – David sent it along with this question:
Maybe someone can tell me where all the gulls go at twilight? My wife & I frequently see dozens of them heading past Duwamish Head traveling west toward Bainbridge Island. Reminds us a little of the bat flights out of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.
Got the answer? Please post it in the comment zone – thanks! (Or you can e-mail editor@wsb.blackfin.biz and we’ll share it.) Now, what’s up for today, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
MONTHLY LA LECHE LEAGUE MEETING: Support for breastfeeding moms, wherever they are on the journey from expectant to weaning, 10:30 am on fourth Mondays at the WSUU church, 7141 California SW.
WSHS BASKETBALL: West Seattle High School‘s teams host Seattle Prep tonight, and boys’ head coach Keffrey Fazio posted this on the WSB Facebook page:
The West Seattle HS Basketball program is doing a “BLACKOUT” the gym night (tonight) at 6 pm. The boys and girls varsity teams host Seattle Prep. There will be prizes and give-aways all night! Boys at 615 pm, and girls at 8 pm. Adults $6, kids $4. Wear your BLACK and come support your Wildcats!
HEALTHY GROCERIES FOR DELRIDGE: A co-op grocery store is getting closer to reality, but the Delridge Produce Cooperative (whose project is no longer just about “produce”) still needs time and talent from anyone interested in helping. The monthly meeting is at 6:30 pm tonight, Delridge Library – details here.
‘ON STAGE’ CONVERSATION AT ARTSWEST: The artistic process behind the new ArtsWest production “Shirley Valentine” is explored in this free conversation at the theater tonight, 7:30 pm – details here.
NIGHTLIFE – TRIVIA/QUIZ NIGHT! Three West Seattle venues have trivia/quiz nights on the calendar – OutWest Bar at 7:30 pm, Christo’s on Alki also at 7:30 pm, and Shadowland has pub-quiz night at 8 pm.
INTERESTED IN BEING A SOFTBALL UMPIRE? One more mention of this story we published a few weeks back – because it’s training time. The West Seattleite who is now umpire-in-chief for the region put out the recruiting call, with softball season approaching.
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