West Seattle, Washington
13 Friday
The doors are open at Dakota Place Park‘s historic building and local vendors are set up for the first West Seattle Wedding Showcase, on until 4 pm today. Admission’s free – check out the building, the park, and local sources for everything from your cake to your flowers. Just north of The Junction, at California/Dakota.
Double reason to be at Easy Street Records in The Junction tomorrow – they’ve just confirmed hot band The Head & The Heart will be live in-store at 6 pm – free, but ESR says you’re only guaranteed to get in if you’re among those buying the band’s new album “Let’s Be Still” starting at noon Monday at the store (wristbands will be handed out). That precedes the 9 pm release party for Pearl Jam‘s “Lightning Bolt,” and between the two events, they’ll be cooking up their newly famous chicken wings (a semi-new Thursday night tradition). More details on all of the above – including special extras for the PJ release party – on the ESR website.
MONDAY P.S. From the West Seattle Food Bank: “Bring 2 non-perishable food items for the food bank and be entered into a raffle for tickets to the 12/6 Pearl Jam sold-out KeyArena concert!”
Four sightings reported in the past (almost) 24 hours:
*Just called in this morning, “big male coyote at 50th and Graham.” [map]
And three in eastern West Seattle:
*Jonel e-mailed late last night: “Just saw a coyote running down the sidewalk on SW Webster between 16th and 14th. [map] He ran when he saw humans.”
*Jeff saw one “standing in our driveway” around 1 pm Saturday, “6000 block of 17th SW. [map] Ran away when our dog started barking.”
And Kellie reported that her son saw what might have bene the same one on Saturday afternoon while “walking on 17th from the path by Duwamish Housing, up the Graham stairs towards 16th and SSCC.” [map]
Scaring them away is best for them and you, so they are conditioned to keep a healthy distance from humans (and their pets), as advised by state wildlife authorities (if you’ve never followed that link we usually include with coyote reports, it’s got lots of other good advice too).
Thanks to Mark Wangerin for today’s featured photo! He says it’s a Surfbird, adding: “They have returned to Alki now in reliable-to-see flocks of 25 or so. Black Turnstones can be seen with them.”
For today’s highlights, check out our calendar here – click the “plus” sign on the right side of individual listings to get full details on events including:
*Alki UCC Blessing of the Animals service at 10 am
*West Seattle Wedding Showcase at Dakota Place Park, 1-4 pm
*City Fruit cider press at West Seattle Nursery, 1-4 pm
*Ladies’ Musical Club concert at West Seattle Library, 3 pm
*Two Brothers Winery release event at Belli Capelli, 3-6 pm
*Booze, Balls, and Bingo benefit at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), 5 pm
Get a chance to catch up on your day-to-day “Go Bag”/disaster-preparedness-kit building on Saturday? No? Today’s another chance to at least get started – and if you’re all caught up, congratulations! Remember we’re doing this with the help of West Seattle Be Prepared, in honor of Washington State Disaster Preparedness Month, because much as we hope The Big One never happens, it COULD happen at any time. (Not to mention other types of disasters …)
Motivation of the day: Saturday’s earthquakes around the globe included a 6.4-magnitude shaker off the coast of Greece. Check out this view on the US Geological Service website showing where people felt it. The USGS calls this feature “Did You Feel It” (DIFY) and anyone can report in about any quake, which helps with data collection.
Now, what to do today for your growing “Go Bag” – Cindi from WSBP writes:
We will continue the water stashing today. If you set aside 2 gallons earlier, today you will add 3 more gallons. For those who are using liter soda bottles and had to break out calculators, I just went online and the answer is today you will fill 11 liters. And a double check for everyone, the goal will be 7 gallons or 27 liters. A reminder for how to clean those bottles – see the cleaning and labeling guide here.
Those 27 liter soda bottles will take up a huge amount of space. Rumor has it that if you ask soda delivery drivers nicely, they will sometimes let you have the plastic carriers that they use, and then you can stack several carriers on top of each other. Let us know if the rumor is true!
For a refresher course (including the conversation in the discussion section), go back to Day 5. And to catch up with other days, scroll through our newest-to-oldest archive of preparedness-related coverage.
(UPDATED late Sunday morning with new information from police)
12:45 AM: Police and fire are on the scene of a crash in the 4800 block of West Marginal Way SW and sounds from the scanner as if one person is dead at the scene. More to come.
12:54 AM UPDATE: Seattle Fire verifies via Twitter that one person is dead and another seriously hurt. This is reported to involve a vehicle hitting a tree at high speed.
1:45 AM UPDATE: Just back from checking the scene. West Marginal Way SW is closed in that area, as you’d expect, in the heart of the industrial zone on one side, greenbelt on the other. The car is small and reddish, and officers at the scene were referring to it as a Ford Focus.
3:30 AM UPDATE: Road’s still closed. We’re hoping for more information on the crash later this morning. Meantime, while the 911 log put the location as the 4800 block, comparing maps to the location we saw while out there, we would say it’s more in the early 5000s.
10:41 AM UPDATE: Just in from SPD Blotter:
On 10/13/13, just shortly after midnight, a vehicle was S/B on W. Marginal Wy in the 4800 block, at (according to a witness) a very high rate of speed.
The driver lost control and struck a tree, causing the vehicle to roll over several times. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. The passenger was taken to Harborview Medical Center by Seattle Fire Dept in critical condition. The collision was witnessed by a tow truck driver, who stated the vehicle was going over 100 MPH.
At West Seattle Stadium on Saturday night, Seattle Lutheran hosted La Conner, which returned home with the win, 48-0. Injuries had the Saints missing some of their veteran players for this game, and while they had some big defensive moments, scoring proved elusive. Next Saturday, Seattle Lutheran goes to Orcas Island for a 1:30 pm game.
It’s Saturday night, so maybe you have a minute or two to spare to help a West Seattle student who is in a cooking contest that could net prizes including $ for her school. Pathfinder K-8 third grader Carmen came up with the recipe for Five-Spice Fried Brown Rice, and she and mom Sandra made a video to enter the “Ben’s Beginnings” contest. Sandra says, “Entering cooking contests is a family hobby, and if Carmen wins, Pathfinder K-8 wins $30,000 for a cafeteria makeover!” The voting is no-strings-attached – you don’t have to “like,” register, or sign up for anything – and you can vote once a day through October 27th. Just go here.
If you have unwanted, unused, expired prescription medication, best thing to do is get rid of it through a safe, official, no-questions-asked dropoff, and the next one in West Seattle is coming up two weeks from today, 10 am-2 pm on Saturday, October 26th, at Seattle Police’s Southwest Precinct. Operations Lt. Pierre Davis shared the announcement today, and says that if you have items to dispose of, “Simply bring them to the Southwest Precinct during the aforementioned date and time and your precinct desk officer will do the rest.” It’s a matter of safety, convenience, and even ecological prudence – dumping medication down the drain, or flushing it, contaminates the water that is eventually drained back out into Puget Sound (wastewater treatment doesn’t get everything).
Three weeks after we brought you word of the first West Seattle Wedding Showcase, it’s hours away: Tomorrow (Sunday), 1-4 pm, at Dakota Place Park (California/Dakota). If you’re getting married or thinking about it, come meet West Seattle vendors (see the list in our original announcement) who can help make your wedding local, local, local – admission is free and there’ll be door prizes.
Admiring the fall colors this weekend? A visit to the past-and-future school site on Genesee Hill (50th SW/SW Genesee) might be in order – to pay your respects to that American Elm honored as a “Best in City” tree in PlantAmnesty‘s Heritage Tree program. Karen Lyons shares the photo and the news:
I belong to a group that is trying to save some of the fine trees on the school’s 6.2 acres. I’m the group’s botanist so I volunteered to take a tree survey last year and found a magnificent American Elm! The majority of American Elms in the US were wiped out by Dutch Elm disease. Somehow this tree is either immune (making it valuable for research) or has escaped the disease. I later contacted the Heritage Tree committee and they sent a group of 6 investigators to measure and take samples of the Elm. That was a few months ago. On October 1st I received this letter naming this tree and awarding it as “Best In The City”. It will be spared!
District documentation verifies that the tree will not be taken out during the construction of the new school – from last month’s summary of the newest design changes: “The steep hillside on the site will be fully protected, as will the significant and exceptional trees on the hillside (including the old elm near the center of the site).” The district expects to start construction next spring; the current Schmitz Park school program is expected to move into the new school at mid-year 2015-2016, while the district proposes to turn the current Schmitz Park building into an early-learning center.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
How can West Seattle’s transportation tangle best be untangled?
With unified, peninsula-wide voices, resolve, and action.
That’s what the newly rechristened West Seattle Transportation Coalition is organizing. This morning, its interim board members are meeting for a strategy session, as they prepare for their first big public action, sending a letter to local political leaders – the ones who have (or potentially have) the power to forward and fund solutions to our peninsula’s muddled intersection between population growth and lack of transportation vision.
Here’s the brand-new letter the WSTC will send to elected officials and candidates (scroll to the end to see the list of addressees, and if you can’t see the embedded document, here’s the PDF link):
The WSTC (whose board members are listed here) isn’t just going to wait for politicians to take action, though. It’s also going to draft a transportation vision. And it’s looking for as much support as possible. Here’s how:
-Show your support and/or your group, business, organization – go here
-Explain what matters most to you in the creation of a peninsula-wide transportation vision – send e-mail, circulate a survey, see how by going here
-Come to WSTC meetings, listed here – next one is Tuesday, November 12th, a general meeting expected to focus on operational issues including planning and recruitment.
BACKSTORY: The WS Transportation Coalition is the renamed WS Transit Coalition, which itself launched less than three weeks ago – here’s our coverage, with video, of that first meeting.
6:59 PM NOTE: WSTC board members finalized and formatted the letter at their meeting today and that finalized version is now linked and embedded above.
In honor of Washington Disaster Preparedness Month, we’re continuing to publish day-by-day instructions on making the “Go Bag” that you want to have in case of disaster (big earthquake, longrunning power outage, etc.). Some of the items on the list so far are things you might well already have around the house. This one probably is not. From West Seattle Be Prepared:
It’s Saturday, so hopefully you should have time to shop for this item; a hand-crank AM/FM radio with NOAA weather radio channel. If it also has a USB charger, that’s even better.
In Seattle there are several commercial radio stations that would become official emergency-channel radio stations: KIRO-AM 710 and/or FM 100.7, KOMO-AM 1000, KNWX-AM 770, and KVI-AM 570. But to hear directly from the National Weather Service, a NOAA Weather Radio is best. It also has a warning alarm feature, and site-specific and event-select capabilities. It serves as Washington’s “all-hazards” warning system, including tsunamis, volcanoes, and hazardous releases. Lots of detailed information about weather Radios and the spotter system we have in Washington can be found here.
You can look for this type of radio at a variety of stores – hardware and electronics, among them. If you can’t find one at a store, order it online and put it in the bag as soon as it arrives. We found them on websites including Radio Shack (here) and Amazon (here) – and you can even buy yours from the Red Cross!
Haven’t started the “Go Bag” yet? Don’t feel guilty! Just get GO-ing. Find the suitcase or backpack you’re going to designate (that was Day 1) and scroll through this WSB archive page to find the items for days 2-10.
8:59 AM: Thanks to @hommesea for the tip via Twitter: There’s a crash on northbound 99, and the Battery Street Tunnel is closed in that direction as a result. If you have to head out sometime soon, you might want to wait a while or check out another route.
9:27 AM: Northbound 99 is now reported clear. HOWEVER – there’s scanner talk of a crash on northbound I-5 in downtown, though it’s not on the 911 log.
(WSB photo: Crows at Junction Plaza Park on Thursday afternoon)
Options for your Saturday, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
TIBBETTS RUMMAGE SALE, DAY 2: 9 am-3 pm, from cookware to clothing to crystal and much more, rooms of stuff on sale at Tibbetts United Methodist Church (WSB sponsor) in the second and final day of their big fall rummage sale. (3940 41st SW)
ELECTRONICS RECYCLING AT PCC: 9 am-4 pm, drop off your unwanted electronics and metal items at PCC Natural Markets-West Seattle (WSB sponsor) to be recycled, free! Find a list of what will be accepted by going here. (California/Stevens)
COSTUME SWAP: A different kind of recycling – bring in a gently used Halloween costume, and swap it for another one, starting at 10 am at City Mouse Studio and Store in The Junction, as previewed here. (4218 SW Alaska)
FIRST HOLIDAY BAZAAR OF THE SEASON: 10 am-4 pm at the Masonic Center in The Junction. (40th/Edmunds)
LOG HOUSE MUSEUM VOLUNTEERING: 11 am-1 pm at the Southwest Seattle Historical Society‘s Log House Museum, it’s the next session for prospective volunteers, as explained on the LHM website. They would love to see you! (61st/Stevens)
CATS IN SEARCH OF FOREVER HOMES: Two places you can go to meet your next feline companion(s) today – a one-time-only event at the Alki Community Center with adoptable foster felines via the Seattle Animal Shelter, noon-3 pm (details in our calendar listing), and Kitty Harbor, noon-6 pm (on Harbor Ave. SW north of the West Seattle Bridge).
FIND YOUR ROOTS: 1:30-5:30 pm, come to the West Seattle (Admiral) Branch Library for a free class/workshop on genealogical research – explained in our calendar listing. (2306 42nd SW)
REFLECTIONS ON RESTORATION: Come to Roxhill Park/Bog 2-4 pm to find out more about its long restoration process – details in our calendar listing.
FIRST NATIONS CELEBRATION: The Duwamish Tribe honors the First Nations with a program this afternoon-evening at their West Seattle longhouse. Details in our calendar listing. 4-7 pm. (4205 West Marginal Way SW)
NIGHTLIFE: See live-music listings for tonight on the calendar!
(Photos by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
After weeks of road games, the West Seattle High School Wildcats finally played at home Friday night; the band had a whole new look for the occasion. The game went into overtime, and was hard-fought, though visiting Ingraham pulled out the win, 12-6.
That’s WSHS #12, Carter Golgart, taking down Ingraham’s #12, Nate Han. In our next photo, the Wildcats’ defense snags Ingraham’s running back Emmery Porter:
Next weekend, it’s the always-awaited Huling Bowl, with Westside facing Chief Sealth for annual bragging rights – 7 pm Saturday, October 19th, at West Seattle Stadium (4432 35th SW).
(Chief Sealth quarterback Weston Reed; photos by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
The Chief Sealth International High School Seahawks scored first but eventually lost Friday night to Nathan Hale at Northeast Athletic Complex, 33-20. Here’s Alloney Burris after that first TD:
Next, Sealth’s Larry Mao going up for the pass, with Hale’s Gadisa Margarsa blocking:
Next week, the Seahawks are close to home but technically on the road as they face West Seattle High School for the Huling Bowl, 7 pm Saturday, October 19th, at West Seattle Stadium (4432 35th SW).
At mid-afternoon Friday, all that was left of the building on the southwest corner of 42nd/Alaska was what we’re told was once a vault. As projected by contractor Andersen Construction, working for developer/owner Equity Residential, the building was torn down in a week. We showed the Monday start here, and an update on Thursday, before crews moved on to the Rocksport side of the building Friday. One 7-story apartment/retail building is to go up on that side of the site, another on the west side, which formerly housed businesses including Super Supplements, and long before that, the West Seattle Hospital, including an upper story that’s long gone – check it out in this aerial from the city archives, dated 1957:
Click here to see a larger view, and look closely for the street labeling. Note that Jefferson School (opened in 1912, closed in 1979) was still on the 42nd SW site now known as Jefferson Square, and look around the photo for other sites that are on the brink of change – what do you recognize that’s not there any more?
Reader report: A 12-year-old girl told her parents – who in turn told police – that she was followed around 8 pm tonight in Gatewood, near 39th/Webster (map), by a van described as “light-colored, beat-up,” driven by a man described as “middle-aged, with dark brown hair.” She reported the van followed her for a few blocks as she walked home from a friend’s house and at one point flashed its lights at her; she started running when she noticed it, and hid on the side of her house because nobody was home yet. Her father then arrived and saw the van as the girl ran to the parent’s car; the van took off at that point. The family just wanted to share the alert; we’re checking to see if police have anything to add.
Here’s tonight’s installment of what to put in your “Go Bag” – which we’re building one day at a time during Washington Disaster Preparedness Month, with the help of West Seattle Be Prepared:
Put these basic hygiene items in your kit today: toothbrush, travel size toothpaste, comb, hand sanitizer. A ziplock bag is a great way to keep all these together.
WEEKEND ALERT: We’re still only a third of the way in and this weekend is another perfect opportunity to catch up, even if you are starting from scratch (first thing to do: find the suitcase or backpack that will be your “Go Bag”). So Saturday’s installment will be published here by 9 am tomorrow, so that you can go shop, whether you’re looking for the next item, or catching up on what’s gone into the bag so far, or both.
Catch up with previous installments by going here. The most recent installment is always linked atop the BIG STORIES list in the sidebar on the right side of WSB pages.
(UPDATED MONDAY with link to district survey about the new draft)
Tonight, the next draft of proposed Seattle Public Schools “growth boundaries” is out, as part of the agenda for next Wednesday’s School Board meeting, at which they are to be officially introduced.
See the maps here; changes from the first draft are described in this document.
One big change: The district says it’s addressed concerns that the High Point area was being split between the reopening Fairmount Park Elementary (which feeds Madison Middle School) and West Seattle Elementary (which feeds Denny) by keeping most of the High Point community feeding into WSES and Denny.
What hasn’t changed: K-5 STEM at Boren is still proposed for evolution into K-8 STEM at Boren, to be permanently sited at the mid-Delridge building that once was Louisa May Boren Junior High School. … Once the new Genesee Hill elementary school is built, the current Schmitz Park site is still proposed for evolution into an “early learning center … to serve students in special education development preschools along with typical peers.”
The department also has compiled comments received on the first draft of the proposals, including those voiced during the round of public meetings that included the one September 25th at West Seattle High School (WSB coverage here) – see them here, organized by the schools (in alphabetical order) to which they refer – 96 pages of comments!
Timeline: From the accompanying materials attached to the agenda:
New boundaries, as well as location of services and programs, will be implemented in phases in alignment with the BEX IV construction schedule and enrollment changes. Some changes will be implemented beginning in 2014-15; others cannot be implemented for several years because they are dependent on completion of BEX IV projects. As BEX IV projects come online and additional capacity becomes available, implementation of Growth Boundaries will be phased in.
We’re still reviewing the supporting materials. The board meeting is at 4:15 pm Wednesday (October 16th) at district HQ in SODO, but this item isn’t scheduled to come up until after 6 pm – the agenda is here.
ADDED MONDAY: As a commenter has noted, the district has just gone public with a survey to ask what you think about the second draft – take the survey here.
“It’s been a bit of a long haul getting to this point but now all of the cylinders are running and we’re very excited.” So says Jef Fike, proprietor past and future of Cassis, mentioned here back in January, after <Rebekah Denn broke the news he hoped to revive his fabled French restaurant on Alki, nine years after it closed on Capitol Hill. We’ve checked in with him a time or two since then, and today he confirmed to WSB that the Alki location is now official, and as long rumored, it’s 2820 Alki SW, where Alki Arts closed its beach location at the end of September after its lease wasn’t extended.
Fike told WSB today that he has “signed a lease and taken possession of the gallery space. Plans are done, permits are now being applied for and we intend to open in February 2014. It will be a full restaurant and bar which should seat 45-50, including the bar seating.” No website yet but he’s launched a Facebook page. He’s “also doing a pop up dinner on November 11th at Cafe Grub on Queen Anne Hill to begin to introduce our food to the city. We’re hoping to find a West Seattle location for a second one in January.”
Out of the WSB inbox this afternoon, from Ann Marie:
There’s a couple running around right now around 28th/27th & Kenyon. [map] I’ve seen them twice now this afternoon…bring your cats in!
As always – we share this “coexisting with coyotes” info including how to scare one off if you see one (or two!).
| 1 COMMENT