West Seattle, Washington
11 Saturday
Don’t just play games – make them! That’s the invitation Delridge Library has for students 9-13, during an upcoming multi-day special event, December 14-17, involving designing games with the system you see in the demonstration video above:
This 4-day workshop will be taught by the creator of BlockStudio, a new system that lets novices create games and animations rapidly, without using code. Students will learn how to turn their creative ideas into interactive software, and tackle progressively harder challenges each day. The final day will consist of a show-and-tell session, where students will show off their creations to each other. All games and animations created during this workshop will be playable after the workshop is over. For ages 9 – 13.
The library calendar shows the workshop happening 4-5:30 pm each of those four days. It’s free, but registration is required, so call the branch (5423 Delridge Way SW) to find out how – 206-733-9125 it’s open 11 am-6 pm today.
(WSB video: Harris’s post-oath speech)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Four weeks after her landslide win, Leslie Harris has just officially taken office as the new Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors rep for District 6 – West Seattle and South Park.
At district headquarters, with husband Michael Harris and recent Chief Sealth International High School graduate daughter Monica Harris looking on, Harris was administered the oath of office by retired Washington State Supreme Court Justice Faith Ireland [video].
“She’s a mentor,” Harris explained in a phone interview with WSB this morning.
Mentoring is a priority for Harris, as she mentioned in her victory speech at last month’s 34th District Democrats meeting. Asked to elaborate in our conversation today, she explained, “My hope is that we can work with community members, with organized labor, with parents, and with business, to hook up middle- and high-school students with someone who will help them achieve their goals, that’ll be there to support them, answer questions, coach them … and that’s especially important with (students) who don’t have extensive families and aren’t able to access parts of the system that other privileged people take for granted.”
Harris, a Highland Park resident, has been not just an SPS parent for years – before CSIHS, her daughter attended Pathfinder K-8 – but has also been an advocate and watchdog. “I feel like I’ve been in training, almost like an athlete, you know,” she laughed. And the past few weeks since the election have been even more intense.
On this World AIDS Day, more from West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen about the start of planning for one of his city-budget priorities, a Seattle AIDS Legacy Memorial:
Councilmember Tom Rasmussen today announced the City Council has dedicated $75,000 to initiate a planning process to create a Seattle AIDS Legacy Memorial. Those funds would be directly matched by a community organization, which would take a leadership role in planning and proposing an appropriate memorial.
Nearly 4,000 Seattleites died in the first two decades of the AIDS epidemic, and a history of both the crisis and the community’s response has not been comprehensively collected, recorded or presented. Councilmember Rasmussen sponsored the memorial proposal after listening to advocates involved in the early days of the epidemic who felt that the history and the stories of the lives that were lost be chronicled.
3:16 PM: Thanks to the person who texted us with the tip that a crash reported on Admiral Way just west of California SW involves several cars. So far we’ve heard that no one is hurt but eastbound traffic on Admiral is affected. We’re en route to find out more.
3:36 PM: Our crew sent the photo added above and reports that four cars are involved, right in front of the Bank of America. Eastbound lanes are blocked there while tow trucks are awaited.
“I’ve suffered from this addiction for a very long time and know I need serious help.” So wrote 32-year-old Christopher T. Martin in a letter to the judge who sentenced him last week for felony DUI and bail-jumping. 
Martin is the repeat drunk driver who was arrested on the West Seattle Bridge this past June after flipping his car, in which his toddler daughter was riding. Neither was hurt – nor was anyone in the three other cars involved – but police discovered Martin was wanted for failing to appear in connection with a felony DUI case from a downtown incident almost three years earlier. As we reported at the time, and as reiterated in current court documents, he had four DUI arrests in the preceding nine years, which made the 2012 charge, in which he tested with .27 blood alcohol, a felony offense. He’s been jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail since the arrest in June; in September, he pleaded guilty to felony DUI and bail jumping in the 2012 case, as well as pleading guilty to three Municipal Court charges in the West Seattle Bridge case. After several postponements, he was sentenced one week ago to five years in prison, with credit for time served; that was the top of the range, according to court documents.
An armed-robbery suspect is in jail after police tracked him down in the stolen car they say was used in the robbery. From SPD Blotter:
Officers responded to a convenience store in the the 1600 block of SW Holden St just before 1 AM on Monday after three subjects robbed the store of cash and cigarettes. After killing some time purchasing Scratch lotto tickets and browsing the food aisles, one displayed a handgun and threatened the clerk. The other two acted as lookouts as he went behind the counter and stole cigarettes and cleared out the cash register.
The suspects fled the scene in a white Honda Accord that was stolen the previous day from South Seattle.
Just after 9 PM last night, Officers Brandon McDougald and Nick Evans spotted the stolen vehicle used in the robbery that morning. The driver, and sole occupant, was placed under arrest. Officers found methamphetamine in his pockets as well as the scratch tickets he likely bought just before the robbery. The 40-year-old suspect was booked into King County Jail for robbery, auto theft, and narcotics.
We followed up with SPD to ask where the vehicle was spotted, since it’s not in the SPDB post: 20th SW/SW Henderson. (added) We checked on the suspect’s background; he does not appear to have a felony record.
(WSB photo from one stop on this year’s WSGT)
While this is the dormant season for many gardens, it’s a busy time of planning for the next West Seattle Garden Tour, which is now inviting artists to get ready to enter next year’s poster contest:
The West Seattle Garden Tour provides an opportunity for local artists to showcase their original artwork on marketing materials, including the cover of the WSGT ticket book and promotional poster. The winning artist also receives a $500 cash award. Winning and honorable mention artworks will be featured during the June 2016 West Seattle Art Walk.
Please accept this invitation to submit your original artwork to the annual WSGT Poster Competition. Submission rules and entry form are available on our website.
The West Seattle Garden Tour (WSGT) is one of the premier garden tours in the Northwest, as well as a fundraiser for local non-profits promoting horticulture, education or the arts. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organized by a group of dedicated volunteers. Since its inception in 1995, the WSGT has donated nearly a half million dollars to local beneficiaries.
Entries are due in early February.
(Near Hamilton Viewpoint, sun through the fog. Photo by David Hutchinson)
Happy December! Today’s big events are from our regular year-round WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, so we’re starting there:
NEW SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER TAKES OFFICE: West Seattleite Leslie Harris was elected to the School Board with 75% of the vote last month; she will represent the WS/South Park area. Today, she and the three other new board members take office in a 5 pm ceremony at district headquarters in SODO, all welcome. (3rd S. & S. Lander)
WESTWOOD-ROXHILL-ARBOR HEIGHTS COMMUNITY COUNCIL: If someone says “city department” to you, you might think of City Light, Public Utilities, Police, Fire, even Planning and Development … but the Department of Neighborhoods might not immediately come to mind. It should. Its programs range from P-Patch gardens to community grants large and small that anyone can apply for. Be at tonight’s Westwood-Arbor Heights-Roxhill Community Council meeting to find out more, as previewed here. 6:15 pm in the upstairs meeting room at Southwest Library. (35th SW & SW Henderson)
DRINKING LIBERALLY: 6 pm at Pizzeria 22, as explained here. (California SW & SW College)
WEST SEATTLE BIKE CONNECTIONS: 6:30 pm at HomeStreet Bank – look ahead to 2016 priorities. Even if you can’t be there in person, you can help – see the meeting listing on the WSBC website to find out how. (41st SW & SW Alaska)
FAMILY STORY TIME: Tonight’s edition is at 7 pm at Delridge Library. (5423 Delridge Way SW)
NIGHTLIFE: Trivia, karaoke, and live music! See the listings here.
We also have one item from the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide (LOTS added to it lately, by the way!):
CAUSETOWN SHOPPING EXTRAVAGANZA: “Giving Tuesday” is the perfect day for the finale of this special promotion at The General Store Seattle (WSB sponsor):
Simply mention Causetown when making a purchase, and The General Store Seattle will donate 5% of your purchase to ANY school or charity in the country you choose! Nonprofits can also schedule group fundraisers through our Causetown profile page. Get your holiday shopping done AND donate to your favorite charities at the same time!! Valid until December 1st at 10 pm. All in-store and online sales qualify!
(3400 Harbor Ave. SW or online)
Something to share with your 100,000 neighbors via our calendar and/or Holiday Guide? editor@wsb.blackfin.biz, the earlier, the better!
Swimming lessons, sports leagues, art classes, field trips, cooking, dancing, workouts … it’s all in the next round of registration for Seattle Parks facilities, starting today. If you haven’t browsed the all-in-one brochure for our area’s five city-run community centers, one Teen Life Center, and Southwest Pool, where it’s all listed – you’ll find it here. And if you think it’s all kid stuff, wrong! All ages, up to “lifelong.”
(Six WS-relevant views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
7:23 AM: No incidents on the roads through/from West Seattle so far this morning, but the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry route has one big problem – M/V Issaquah is now out of service for repairs, which means some cancellations – track them here.
7:32 AM: And some good news – no worries about icy roads, paths, sidewalks, or windshields this morning, as it’s well above freezing.
10:44 AM: WSF says M/V Tillikum will replace Issaquah this afternoon, so they can get back to the 3-boat schedule. Remember, though, it’s smaller.
(SYSO photo)
Students at seven local public schools get the priceless gift of coaching from professional musicians via the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras‘ Southwest Seattle Strings Project. If needed, the students can borrow instruments for free from Seattle Public Schools. But the ability to assist stops there, which means it stops short of providing badly needed supplies such as replacement strings, chin rests, shoulder rests, rosin, and method books. So a modest donation drive is under way right now – explained in this clip:
SYSO hopes to put together a supply basket worth more than $1,000, with the assistance of the discount at Hammond-Ashley (mentioned in the video), for each of the seven local schools with which it partners – Arbor Heights, Concord, Highland Park, Roxhill, Sanislo, and West Seattle elementaries, and Denny International Middle School. You can help build the baskets by chipping in a bit here.
Tonight we’ve been dealing with some issues related to technical trouble last night and in the process our technical assistants had to restore the site to a point that went back to about 5:40 pm tonight. We hadn’t published any new stories since then but we do appear to have lost some comments and Forum replies published since then – they might not be recoverable. The forums, which had borne the brunt of last night’s trouble, had to be restored to a somewhat earlier point. Again, please forgive us; thank you!
5:41 PM: More than 40 homes are affected by a water-main break in West Seattle right now. Seattle Public Utilities says it’s on 52nd SW between Charlestown and Dakota [map]. They got first word around 4 pm that the 8-inch water main was broken, and a crew is working on it now; they don’t know yet how long repairs will take, nor do they know yet what caused the break. We’re headed out to check on other effects such as road closure(s). (added) Our archives confirm this area had water-line trouble this time last year, too.
10 PM: SPU says the water’s back on.
Thanks to the person who just texted the alert about a crash on Delridge Way south of Orchard. They say traffic is backing up both ways in the area – so if you’re just about to head out, consider an alternate route for a while.
You’ve heard about it, read about it, and might still not be entirely sure what’s proposed in HALA – the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda, announced by Mayor Murray in July after months of work by an advisory committee. The City Council will be considering its recommendations, and changes to them, in the months and years ahead. Get a closer look at this month’s Southwest District Council meeting, 6:30 pm Wednesday at the Sisson Building (home to the Senior Center of West Seattle), with city rep Jesseca Brand. Also on Wednesday’s agenda, the Seattle Nature Alliance, officer elections, and a holiday potluck – all welcome.
Usual sign of a shooting, when someone is hurt, is the medical callout for Seattle Fire under the category “assault with weapons.” SPD Blotter reports today that a weekend shooting in South Delridge was off that radar – because the victim didn’t notice his wounds until he was outside the city:
A 25-year-old man told police he was shot twice Saturday night following a dispute in West Seattle, but didn’t notice until he’d driven himself a mile from the scene into White Center.
The victim said he was exiting a convenience store around 9 PM in the 9000 block of Delridge Way SW when he was approached by a man who was “talking all crazy.” The victim said he felt threatened and pulled out a revolver, firing it once into a nearby fence. The victim said the man ran to a waiting truck, retrieved a gun and returned fire before driving away.
The victim told police he, too, drove away from the scene before noticing he had been shot in both legs. The victim contacted King County deputies in the 10400 block of 16 Ave. SW after realizing he was bleeding. Medics took the victim to Harborview Medical Center for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
SPD detectives are reviewing evidence located at the shooting scene and are asking for witnesses to call (206) 625-5011 to speak with an officer.
3 quick notes from the West Seattle food world:
RAMEN SIGNAGE UP: Thanks to everyone who sent word about the delicious-looking signage now in the windows along the 42nd/Alaska corner of Junction 47‘s east building, three months after we first reported that Kukai Ramen & Izakaya is headed this way. As our photo shows, the signage suggests the name here will actually be Kizuki. So how soon is “soon”? The company is only saying “spring.”
FOOD TRUCK AT C & P ON WEDNESDAY: You might have tried the Napkin Friends truck at various West Seattle stops in recent months – their specialty is sandwiches on latkes (potato pancakes). C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) says Napkin Friends will be in its back parking lot this Wednesday, 11 am-2 pm, if you’re interested in stopping by for lunch. (That’s on the alley off Findlay, east of C & P’s 5612 California SW Craftsman coffee shop.)
LA RUSTICA’S ROOF IS FIXED: After a week-plus closure required for roof repair, La Rustica (4100 Beach Drive SW) is open again, the Pellegrini family wants you to know.
Just one West Seattle project in today’s city Land Use Information Bulletin:
(Image from April 2015 Design Review packet, by PB Architects)
The city has granted a key land-use approval for the future 7520 35th SW home of Clearview Eye and Laser, currently headquartered at Westwood Village. The three-story, 29-offstreet-parking-space project won Southwest Design Review Board approval last April (here’s the report); plans show the former Red Star Pizza building and a residential structure south of it will be demolished to make way for the clinic. Today’s approval opens a two-week period for anyone interested in appealing the approval; here’s how. It’s been a year and a half since first word this project was in the works.
(Hummingbird photographed on Thanksgiving by Jamie Kinney; click image for larger view)
Perhaps appropriately for the holiday-shopping occasion known as “Cyber Monday,” some of what’s on our list today is online-only. But not all. First, from the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide:
HOLIDAY LIGHT SHOWS: We covered all three of these West Seattle favorites in the past few nights. All continue tonight:
–Menashe Family Lights (5605 Beach Drive SW) – WSB coverage here
–West Seattle Lights (3908 SW Charlestown) – WSB coverage here
–West Seattle Yuletide (38th SW north of Genesee) – WSB coverage here
And from the regular year-round WSB West Seattle Event Calendar plus our ongoing news coverage:
DENNY ONLINE AUCTION BEGINS: The Denny International Middle School PTSA is trying a new way of fundraising, with online bidding for dozens of items donated by local businesses. We previewed it one week ago; the auction is now under way – go here to start browsing, bidding, and even instant-buying.
PUBLIC-SAFETY SURVEY ENDS: Seattle University researchers working with SPD really want to know what you think about crime and safety issues and about local police. We’ve mentioned the online survey many times since it launched in mid-October and today’s the last day – if you can set aside a little time, it will make a big difference. Find it here.
FAMILY STORY TIME: Ever been? Your next chance is tonight, 6:30 pm, at High Point Library. (35th SW & SW Raymond)
(Six WS-relevant views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
6:07 AM: Good morning! It’s back-to-work, back-to-school day – and it’s been a foggy, sub-freezing night, so please beware of icy roads, paths, sidewalks, windshields, etc.
12:08 PM: While the morning commute was fairly uneventful, there was some trouble on the westbound bridge this past half-hour – frosty spots remain here and there – such as, the Delridge offramp:
Thanks to Ted for the tip about the spinout, and the photo. From the cameras, it seems the ramp remains open. SFD crews were canceled fairly quickly so, apparently, no serious injuries.
It’s a dark and foggy night – except in the 5600 block of Beach Drive SW, where the Menashe Family Christmas Lights are officially on, shining bright, with visitors already flocking to see them. “How many lights do you have?” one person asked Josh Menashe; no official count, he cheerily replied.
Here’s what’s new: He and the rest of the crew were working on the finishing touches of an electric train and village you’ll see on the north side of the yard:
Along the sidewalk, you’ll see these candy-cane streetlight-style fixtures:
Santa’s balloon is new:
As bright and colorful as photos can be, you’ll just have to go see it for yourself.
(Hover over video window to bring up “play” button)
You can bring a letter for Santa, too.
And Santa himself will in fact be here the night of Saturday, December 12th, 6 to 10 pm, as listed in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide – bring a donation for the West Seattle Food Bank and get a photo with Santa under the lights.
Haven’t been? Here’s a map.
As the long holiday weekend ebbs, the everyday world gets ready to rev. So, we’re looking ahead: On Tuesday night (December 1st), the Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council has assembled a lineup of guests that’ll be of interest regardless of whether you live/work in those neighborhoods or not. The meeting starts at 6:15 pm, and after some regular WWRHAH committee updates, here’s the main event, as announced by co-chair Amanda Kay Helmick:
6:35-7:45: Department of Neighborhoods (DoN): At our September brainstorm meeting, several residents requested information about P-Patches, grants, and painted crosswalks. We will have a whole team of DoN folks to answer your questions!
Tim Wolfe: Community Investments Division Director
Juan Martinez: Neighborhood Matching Fund Project Manager
Rich Macdonald: P-Patch Garden Program Supervisor OR
Bunly Yun: P-Patch Garden Program Coordinator
Kathy Nyland: Director
Howard Wu: Seattle Department of Transportation
Kerry Wade: Neighborhood District Coordinator
WWRHAH meets upstairs at Southwest Library (35th SW & SW Henderson).
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Updates took centerstage, rather than any major new issues, at the Alki Community Council‘s annual meeting.
And as is often the case at local neighborhood-council meetings, the first round came from police:
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