West Seattle, Washington
04 Thursday
(WSB photo, taken this morning)
That’s the “Mosquito Fleet” mural on the east side of the city-landmark Campbell Building in the heart of The Junction – vandalized and fading, but now slated for some help. The West Seattle Garden Tour (coming up on June 24th) has announced its 2018 beneficiaries – the nonprofit efforts that will get grants from the tour’s proceeds – and one is the West Seattle Junction Association, with the money earmarked specifically for restoration of that mural. The other beneficiaries will be:
*ArtsWest (for its Theater Education Program)
*The Arboretum at South Seattle College (for a new message hub and kiosk)
*Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden (for the design and construction of a Victory Garden)
*Little Red Hen Project (for an artistic and functional trellis in its “Winter Feast Garden”)
*PlantAmnesty (to help fund its 10th annual Urban Forest Symposium)
*Seattle Chinese Garden on Puget Ridge (to enhance it with three varieties of camellias)
You’ll find more information about the beneficiaries are on the WSGT website. WSGT expects to raise more than $26,000 for the seven projects, through tour tickets (which you can buy online right now), the tour-day raffle, and sponsorship revenue.
It’s your one-week warning – 9 am-3 pm next Sunday (April 22nd), Fauntleroy Church‘s Green Committee presents the spring Recycle Roundup, with partner 1 Green Planet on site to receive your drop-off recyclables. Check the updated list (PDF) before you gather up what you plan to take down to the no-charge event. It’s in the lot on the north side of the church, which is at 9140 California SW, and organizers request that you come as early in the six-hour window as you can, to avoid big backups toward the end.
Five notes in West Seattle Crime Watch today:
STOLEN SUBARU: Just received from Ricardo:
Our 1999 Subaru Legacy wagon was stolen from our house this morning/last night. Just wanted to let the community know and to be on the lookout for it. It’s tan in color and has a moon/sunroof. License plate number ANJ2766. Nothing of any real worth in the car unless someone was really looking to lift a case of Trader Joe’s water and a 20-year-old dog blanket. Has been reported to SPD, incident #: 18-132219.
It happened near 36th SW/SW Henderson. (APRIL 19 UPDATE – Ricardo tells us it’s been found.)
WALLET/PHONE THEFT: Stacey says this happened in a flash at the Junction Shell minimart – her wallet and phone were snatched off the counter, and the cards were used “all over downtown” shortly thereafter. She’s hoping to get the surveillance video, and is also still awaiting the report number, so this is a warning for starters.
GRAFFITI VANDALISM: Yes, we know, this happens a lot, but the past few days have brought an extra-brazen wave south of Morgan Junction, Will noticed while walking in the area this morning. The tagging, mostly on the west side of California SW, included multiple commercial buildings as well as a townhouse building at California/Mills, where Will found people painting it over this morning. He says they told him they had called police, who came by to photograph it this morning.
(Photo added, courtesy of commenter KittyJorts)
(Getting graffiti photographed before painting it over is always a good idea, SPD has said repeatedly at community meetings we’ve covered.) The police incident # is 18-132170.
SUSPICIOUS VISIT POST-PACKAGE DELIVERY: A Puget Ridge resident in the 6500 block of 16th SW got a package delivered around 11:15 am today but wasn’t able to get to the porch immediately to pick it up. Around 11:30, they report, a car backed into the driveway with two people inside, and the passenger got out and started walking up the resident’s steps toward the package – until the resident opened the door, at which time the person “turned around and (weirdly casually) went back to the car. Ignored me when I asked if I could help with something, so I gathered my stuff and went inside. They casually drove off, south on 16th.” The car, the resident believes, was a dark gun-metal-colored Jeep Cherokee, mid-2000s. The person who came up the steps wore a black baseball cap obscuring his/her face, “chin-length braids with maybe a little brassy bleaching at the tips of some,” and loose all-black clothing.
CRIME PREVENTION COUNCIL ON TUESDAY: If you have neighborhood crime/safety concerns, your next chance to bring them directly to the attention of Southwest Precinct police – outside of 911 calls – is Tuesday (April 17th), 7 pm, at the precinct (2300 SW Webster). It’s the April meeting of the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council, and all are welcome. The scheduled guest is SPD Bias Crimes Unit Det. Elizabeth Wareing (rescheduled from an earlier date).
The two featured writers at this month’s WordsWest Literary Series event, 7 pm Wednesday (April 18th) at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), include one of the series’s co-curators. Here’s the preview of who you’ll see and hear:
Poets Aimee Nezhukumatathil (above left) and Susan Rich (above right) celebrate National Poetry Month with poems that revel in the world’s mysteries, from the vast to the minute, from nature to art, from curiosities to companionship.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s newest collection of poems is Oceanic from Copper Canyon Press. She is also the author of the forthcoming book of illustrated nature essays, World of Wonder, and three previous poetry collections. Her most recent chapbook is Lace & Pyrite, a collaboration of nature poems with the poet Ross Gay. Aimee is the poetry editor of Orion magazine and a professor of English in the University of Mississippi’s MFA program.
Susan Rich is the author of four poetry collections: Cloud Pharmacy, The Alchemist’s Kitchen, named a finalist for the Foreword Prize and the Washington State Book Award, Cures Include Travel, and The Cartographer’s Tongue, winner of the PEN USA Award for Poetry and the Peace Corps Writers Award. Susan teaches at Highline College, where she runs the reading series, Highline Listens: Writers Read Their Work.
The Favorite Poem Project, a vital part of WordsWest’s monthly literary events, invites a community member to share a favorite poem and information about his or her organization. On April 18th, we welcome a favorite poem from Billie Swift, owner of Open Books: A Poem Emporium.
WordsWest is curated by West Seattle writers Katy E. Ellis, Susan Rich, and Harold Taw, and this season’s intern/co-curator is Joannie Stangeland. Grant funding from Seattle Office of Arts and Culture and Poets & Writers, Inc. allows WordsWest to pay featured writers for their time and talent.
We spotlighted the series curators last September, before the current season of presentations began.
(Brief Olympics sighting on Saturday morning, photographed by Jim Borrow)
Looking for Sunday options? Here are a few, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
PAC-12 VOLLEYBALL AT ALKI: Second and final day of this invitational beach-volleyball tournament, 10 am-3 pm, with five concurrent faceoffs for each pairing of schools:
Sunday Schedule
10 am – USC vs. California
11 am – Washington vs. Oregon
12 pm – California vs. Stanford
1 pm – USC vs. Oregon
2 pm – Washington vs. Stanford
(57th SW/Alki SW)
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm in the street in The Junction – see what’s fresh! (California SW between SW Oregon and SW Alaska)
WEST SEATTLE RUNNER’S 8TH ANNIVERSARY: 10:30 am-5 pm, last day of the party at West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor)! The day begins with these activities:
10:30 am – Pilates with Be Pilates
11 am – Run sponsored by Hoka. Mimosas and doughnuts follow!
11:30 am – Assessments with Lora from Biojunction Sports Therapy
Plus discounts on apparel and footwear. (2743 California SW)
JAMTIME: Live bluegrass/old-time music at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 1-4 pm. (5612 California SW)
SOUTHWEST STORIES: 2 pm at Southwest Library, this month’s presentation sponsored by the library and the Southwest Seattle Historical Society:
“Whiskey, Wiretapping, and the Sensational Arrest of the Northwest’s Rumrunning King”
Attorney, filmmaker, and founder of The Good Bootlegger’s Guild, our speaker Steve Edmiston will discuss the life and times of Roy Olmstead, the infamous Woodmont Dock raid, Olmstead’s trials, a little black book, and the famous U.S. Supreme Court wiretapping decision in Olmstead v. U.S.
(9010 35th SW)
BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS: You’re welcome to bring your pet(s) to the sanctuary at Fauntleroy Church, 2:30 pm. (9140 California SW)
‘TWELFTH NIGHT’ MATINEE: 3 pm performance of a jazzy/bluesy version of “Twelfth Night” by Twelfth Night Productions at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center – details in our calendar listing. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
SEE WHAT’S UP NEXT WEEK & BEYOND: Just browse our complete calendar!
If you had trouble getting to the second day of the 8th-anniversary party at West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) because of the unexpected “guest” out in the street – good news! That work’s done, but the party is NOT over, and you are invited to join Lori McConnell and Tim McConnell as the celebration continues tomorrow. We stopped by this evening for an update on the Sunday plans:
10:30 am – Pilates with Be Pilates
11 am – Run sponsored by Hoka. Mimosas and doughnuts follow!
11:30 am – Assessments with Lora from Biojunction Sports Therapy
Throughout the day, discounts continue on footwear and apparel. And you can find out what’s happening in the local running world any time you stop by – along with their own events and activities, WSR partners with the big events both in West Seattle and beyond, and supports lots of community causes. They’ll be open tomorrow until 5 pm, 2743 California SW.
Quick update – 110 sales are now ready to get on the map for the 14th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, exactly four weeks away – Saturday, May 12th! Individual sales, block sales, group sales, business sales, benefit sales … Alki Point to Arbor Heights, North Delridge to South Delridge to Puget Ridge, and all neighborhoods inbetween.
If you have just a bit of stuff to sell and/or nowhere to sell it, Hotwire Coffee‘s courtyard has space again this year – check in directly with them. Otherwise, get yourself on the WSCGSD map by registering here. And if you’ll be shopping, watch here on WSB and on the WSCGSD website for the printable/clickable versions of the map/list one week in advance.
Thanks to Connie Wolf for the photos and report!
A small but mighty group of neighbors got together on this drizzly morning to pick up litter around Westwood Village.
For the past two years, the South Delridge Community Group has been meeting monthly to clean up in and around our neighborhood. Got a suggestion for which main streets, side streets, and alleys we should tackle next? We’d love to hear it! Even better, join us at a cleanup – we always meet the second Saturday of each month from 10-11 am. It’s a great way to start the weekend, keep our streets clean, meet neighbors, and build community!
Send your suggestion to sdelridgecommunitygroup@gmail.com.
Thanks to Nicole for the photos! Graves (aka Desmond) Hansen has just painted another signal-box portrait … this time, a tribute to Kurt Cobain on the southeast corner of California/Graham. He actually painted this signal box first, as we showed you more than a month ago, but it just held the swirling background pattern until he added Kurt today. (Nicole’s photo below features Hansen at right, an assistant Dozer at left:)
He’s also continuing to collect donations to cover his costs. His previous four signal-box portraits are Jimi Hendrix at California/Morgan, Bruce Lee at 35th/Morgan, Chris Cornell at 35th/Alaska, and Layne Staley at Harbor/Spokane.
2:30 PM: A crash on the westbound side of the west end of the West Seattle Bridge is affecting EB traffic too because of jersey-barrier displacement. SDOT is on scene.
3:40 PM: Still one lane blocked each way, according to the live camera accessible via the city map.
4:18 PM: Still working on the jersey barrier.
4:28 PM: SDOT has just cleared the scene and it’s now back to normal both ways. Apologies but we don’t have any information about whether anyone was hurt in the crash itself – from the incident log, it doesn’t appear anyone was transported by medic unit, so if there were injuries, they weren’t major.
(WSB photos)
12:51 PM: Another event from our Saturday highlights list is well under way: The Pac-12 North Invitational beach-volleyball tournament at Alki, day 1. It’s umbrellas for spectators, sleeves for players:
We stopped by as UW players took to the sand again at noon, after they two hours earlier “upset 13th-ranked Cal in the first match of the weekend, 3-2.”
Stanford beat Oregon in the 11 am faceoff. Each match is scheduled for all five courts – at 1 pm, it’ll be Oregon vs. California, and at 2 pm, USC vs. Stanford. The Sunday schedule, again starting at 10 am, is here.
ADDED 10:01 PM: Here’s the gohuskies.com recap of the tournament’s first day.
(WSB photos)
Until noon, you can drop by Uptown Espresso in The Junction to talk with SDOT about the next phase of planning for the West Seattle Neighborhood Greenway, which, as we’ve been reporting, is now planned to extend all the way to North Admiral. The boards set up on easels include more specifics of what they’re looking at, including even the intersection right here in front of the coffee shop:
There are also details of another block proposed for some rechannelization, this one on the north side of The Junction, by Holy Rosary:
If you can’t make it to this morning’s drop-in session for feedback and info, there’s another one on Thursday (April 19th), 4:15-5:45 pm, at West Seattle (Admiral) Library, 2306 42nd SW. And you can provide info via a new online survey, here – that includes some of the routing and rechannelization options we’re seeing on the boards here at the meeting.
10:51 AM: Thanks for the tip. The West Seattle Bridge offramp to southbound I-5 is blocked right now by a crash – our tipster says it’s a rollover. No Seattle Fire dispatch for injuries so far, though.
12:30 PM: Though WSDOT hasn’t updated the status, the “live” webcam pic (as shown above) shows the ramp open again.
Thanks to Andy for the video – firefighters made quick work of that car fire in the Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor) parking lot a short time ago. No injuries reported; no word on the cause, but the owner was found relatively fast, according to what we heard on the scanner.
8:47 AM: Thanks for the tips! One week later than originally scheduled, the tower crane is going up right now at 2749 California SW, past and future home of the West Seattle PCC store (WSB sponsor), which will be beneath the Luna Apartments. Because of the installation, California SW is closed between Lander and Stevens.
This is West Seattle’s third current tower crane, along with The Foundry on the northeast Fauntleroy/Edmunds corner and the YMSA project at the former Alki Tavern site in the 1300 block of Harbor SW. PCC says it’s expecting to open the new store in mid-to-late 2019 (and is delivering to West Seattle in the meantime; the new Burien store is expected to open in “late spring” this year).
P.S. Although buses are being rerouted around the closure, as Kim pointed out via e-mail, there are no Metro alerts.
ADDED 12:20 PM: Progress report – the view from about 15 minutes ago as we passed through the area again:
We’ll check back by mid-afternoon.
7:38 PM: We’ve been going back and forth to check on the status. By early evening, the crane arm was going up:
Heading back that way one more time in a few minutes.
8:16 PM: Not open yet but many of the vehicles are gone.
10:35 PM: Just went back to check. Now open.
(Friday morning rainbow, photographed from Gatewood, shared via text)
Welcome to the weekend! Highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
WEST SEATTLE RUNNER’S 8TH ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND: Today’s events at West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) include the 8 am Mizuno group run and 7 pm Casino Night at the shop – full details in our calendar listing. (2743 California SW)
WEST SEATTLE LINUX USER GROUP’S ANNIVERSARY BREAKFAST: 9 am at Be’s Restaurant in The Junction, as previewed here. (4509 California SW)
TAI CHI AT THE BEACH: Second session of the season with Caylen Storm! 9 am, meet by Alki Statue of Liberty. Yes, it goes on in the rain – we saw that firsthand last week. Admission by donation. (61st SW/Alki SW)
SOUTH DELRIDGE COMMUNITY CLEANUP: 10-11 am, join South Delridge Community Group for an hour of cleaning up. Bring gloves, bags, pickers, buckets, whatever you can use to help. (Meet at 18th/Trenton)
PAC-12 BEACH VOLLEYBALL AT ALKI: Starting at 10 am, the first-ever Pac-12 North Invitational Tournament hits Alki Beach for the first of two days of beach volleyball. Today’s schedule:
10 am – Washington vs. California
11 am – Oregon vs. Stanford
12 pm – Washington vs. USC
1 pm – Oregon vs. California
2 pm – USC vs. Stanford
Five courts will be going simultaneously, as explained here. (57th SW/Alki SW)
FREE TAX HELP: Two places to get it today, with the IRS deadline almost here – 10 am-5 pm by appointment, at Southwest Library (9010 35th SW); 10 am-2 pm, no appointment required, at West Seattle Food Bank (35th/Morgan).
TALK ABOUT THE WEST SEATTLE NEIGHBORHOOD GREENWAY: 10:30 am-noon, you’re invited to drop in at Uptown Espresso in The Junction and talk with SDOT reps about the project, now expected to stretch all the way to North Admiral. You can also take a survey online, too. All the info’s here. (California/Edmunds/Erskine)
APRIL POOLS DAY: Learn about safety and then enjoy a free swim at Southwest Pool, 10:30 am-noon! (2801 SW Thistle)
OPEN HOUSE: West Seattle Nursery‘s spring open house, 11 am-2 pm, with coffee, food, and presentations/workshops – see the schedule here. (California/Brandon)
CYCLE CLUB: Meet up at Ounces in North Delridge at 12:30 pm for a 60- to 90-minute ride – details here. (3809 Delridge Way SW)
‘TWELFTH NIGHT’: Jazz and blues are part of a New Orleans-set version of the Shakespeare classic, presented by Twelfth Night Productions, 7:30 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. Ticket info in our calendar listing. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
FULL LIFE CRISIS AND 3 MORE: 8:30 pm is the start of tonight’s four-band bill at The Skylark, beginning with Full Life Crisis. $8 cover. 21+. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
WHAT ELSE IS UP? You can see it all on our complete calendar.
If you’re up at this hour, you might need to know about this Saturday night/Sunday morning traffic alert. From WSDOT:
Rain this weekend will not affect an overnight closure of the northbound Interstate 5 off-ramp to the West Seattle Bridge, Spokane Street, and Columbian Way.
Contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will close the ramp from 11 p.m. Saturday, April 14, to 6 a.m. Sunday, April 15. The work is part of the #ReviveI5 project to rehabilitate about 13 miles of the interstate between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Northeast Ravenna Boulevard.
So even though the all-weekend closure was postponed, this one-night closure is on. Here’s what’s planned in the weeks ahead.
(Aidan Day and Will Rasmussen. Photos courtesy Laurie Rasmussen)
Lots of people take trips during spring break – but when West Seattle High School is back in session Monday, seniors Will Rasmussen and Aidan Day just might have the best travel story to tell. They were in Washington, D.C., for the House Of Code Summit, a gathering of students who won the 2017 Congressional App Challenge. Will and Aidan were the winners in the 7th Congressional District – as announced last December, they created an app aimed at saving teachers time, via functions “to make taking attendance quick and easy.” Here’s their demo video for the app, Roll Call:
The award gained them an invitation to the summit this week, including the #HouseOfCode Demo Day yesterday, at which students were to demonstrate their apps to lawmakers, “thus turning the House of Representatives into the #HouseOfCode.”
The event announcement added: “The annual gathering is quickly becoming the new National Science Fair, but focused specifically on computer science and technology entrepreneurship.” The summit overall also was intended to recognize the more than 200 winning students from 39 states and to give them a chance to “participate in career and STEM enrichment activities.” The competition had more than 4,100 participants nationwide, who submitted more than 1,270 original apps, almost double the number from a year earlier.
Two weeks ago, we reported on the plan to build the West Seattle Neighborhood Greenway all the way into North Admiral, instead of having its north end at The Junction. The city also announced two drop-in meetings for feedback, and plans for a survey. The first of those meetings is tomorrow morning – and the survey is open now. You can answer it here, and/or stop by Uptown Espresso at California/Edmunds/Erskine, 10:30-noon on Saturday. Meantime, from an update sent by SDOT, more information about the greenway plan:
Our final route for the West Seattle Neighborhood Greenway reflects many of the needs we heard from the community to connect people with schools, parks, local businesses, and the greater transportation network. The new neighborhood greenway will bring affordable, active transportation options for all ages and abilities.
Below are several community priorities we incorporated into our final design:
*Design the pedestrian safety islands so they’re wider to give people adequate space for their bikes
*Time the new traffic signal at 35th Ave SW and SW Graham St with the rest of the 35th Ave SW traffic signals to reduce corridor-wide delay as much as possible
*Upgrade access to the existing signals for people walking and biking at
30th Ave SW and SW Barton St
30th Ave SW and SW Roxbury St*Install traffic calming near Our Lady of Guadalupe School
*Minimize any on-street parking loss
*Reduce gravel on the sidewalk and street along SW Kenyon St
*Enhance traffic calming on 30th Ave SW and SW Thistle St
We’ve been able to incorporate all these elements into our work plan. Thank you for sharing such helpful insights.
Phase 1 Construction
The first phase of construction for the West Seattle Neighborhood Greenway will begin later this spring and is expected to continue through 2018. This phase of construction, which begins at SW Roxbury St and ends at SW Graham St, allows us to open a large section of the Greenway an entire year earlier than expected!During phase 1 construction you should expect temporary detours, parking changes, and crossing closures so that we can install greenway pieces such as pedestrian safety islands and new crosswalks at intersections. We’ll be in constant communication throughout construction to ensure we coordinate with residents and businesses directly affected by specific projects.
We recognize that construction is an inconvenience and appreciate your patience and communication as we begin creating the West Seattle Greenway for you and your neighbors to enjoy.
Schedule …
Construction is broken up into three phases. This will enable us to start installing greenway improvements earlier than expected. We are excited to help people get to important community locations like Roxhill park by walking and biking in 2018, a full year earlier than anticipated.
The three phases are highlighted below:Phase 1: SW Roxbury to SW Graham St on 30th Ave
Construction starting in spring 2018Phase 2: SW Graham to SW Edmunds St
Construction as soon as fall 2019North Admiral Connection: SW Edmunds St to SW College St
Outreach & planning beginning spring 2018
Construction as soon as 2020-2022
This will be West Seattle’s third greenway, after North Delridge and Highland Park/South Delridge. You can find more project information here. And if you can’t get to tomorrow morning’s drop-in discussion, the second one is Thursday (April 19th), 4:15-5:45 pm, at West Seattle (Admiral) Library, 2306 42nd SW.
(WSB photo)
Thanks for the tips about remodeling under way at the McDonald’s in Admiral (3003 California SW). This is the first week of a six-week overhaul, inside and out, owner/operator Alia Abboud told WSB during an interview at the restaurant this afternoon.
First – the drive-through is closed right now but the lobby is open (and if you don’t want to go in, you can still order via mobile – it’ll be brought out to you in the parking lot – or home/office delivery via Uber Eats). In a few weeks, depending on how things go, the partial closure will be reversed – the drive-through will reopen when the exterior work is done, and the lobby will close for a few weeks, Abboud told us.
If you’ve seen the recently rebuilt McDonald’s in White Center – this will be a lot like that, though this site is getting a remodel, not a rebuild. It’s part of the corporation’s Experience of the Future initiative, and will include a two-sided ordering kiosk inside, similar to these:
(Photo courtesy McDonald’s)
No, that won’t mean job cuts, says Abboud, who employs “close to 40 people” at this location – she says she’s actually adding people, so that there will be an employee to assist people with the kiosk. The seating area and restrooms will get “extensive” upgrades, too, as will the lighting – energy-saving conversion to LED, inside and out – and the menu boards for the drive-through. Since the site is small, it will continue to have a single drive-through lane, with no revision of traffic patterns planned.
“We hope the neighborhood will like it,” says Abboud, who also runs the Morgan Junction McDonald’s, which she says is in line for the overhaul within the next two years. Other aspects of the restaurant already have been evolving, not the least of which includes the chain’s move to use fresh beef, which, Abboud points out, required a change in various procedures. The modern-look remodel also will be accompanied by new uniforms, a “brand-new experience for everybody” – workers as well as customers.
McDonald’s regional media liaison tells WSB that 155 restaurants in the Pacific Northwest region (which also includes Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, and Montana) have upgraded to the Experience of the Future, and almost 200 more will do so before year’s end. Six of the overhauled locations are in the Seattle area.
Congratulations to the West Seattle Linux User Group, now one year old. If you’re interested, you’re invited to its meeting tomorrow, which is also an anniversary breakfast. From co-founder Justin:
The West Seattle Linux User Group (WSeaLUG) is celebrating its one-year anniversary this month. It has been a great year getting to know fellow Linux enthusiasts in West Seattle and beyond. We have have average of 10 members show up every other Saturday morning to enjoy chatting and learning from each other about all things Linux. We have also had a few presentations about items such as ‘installing and configuring a web server,’ ‘LUKS & YubiKey,’ and ‘Linux Firewalls & IPTables,’ to name a few. We were also community sponsors of the Seattle GNU/Linux Conference last November.
If you are a Linux enthusiast or want to learn more about Linux, we hope you will join us.
Tomorrow morning’s meeting is at a different location than usual – Be’s Restaurant in The Junction, 9 am (4509 California SW). Otherwise, the club usually meets twice a month at the Fauntleroy YMCA (WSB sponsor) – check here; we list the meetings in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, too. (If your club meets regularly and is open to interested members of the public, we’d be happy to list your meetings too – e-mail the info to editor@wsb.blackfin.biz – thank you!)
12:37 PM: From SPD Blotter:
A man and a woman were arrested late Thursday afternoon after they attempted to sell stolen tires to undercover detectives in White Center. The suspects also showed up to the meet with a handgun and a large amount of heroin.
Major Crimes Task Force detectives were assisting a victim who had reported their 2001 Subaru Impresa stolen from Kirkland. The stolen car was recovered in West Seattle on Wednesday, but it had been stripped of its tires. The next day the victim located what looked like his stolen Subaru tires being sold on the site Offer Up. The victim was able to prove the tires and rims were his because he had the receipts and the DOT number stamps for the tires in question.
A detective, posing as an interested buyer, contacted the seller and arranged to meet at a location in White Center. The female seller showed up with a male passenger in her car. After verifying that the DOT numbers matched on the tires, patrol officers arrested both the female and male for trafficking in stolen property.
A handgun was visible on the passenger side floorboard of the suspect’s car. The car the suspects arrived in was impounded pending a search warrant. The tires will be returned to the victim as soon as the search warrant is served.
The 25-year-old female admitted to being a heroin dealer and was in possession of 95 grams of heroin. The 25-year-old male suspect was a convicted felon, and prohibited from possessing a gun.
Both suspects were interviewed by detectives and later booked into the King County Jail for trafficking in stolen property, gun, and drug charges. Major Crimes detectives will continue to follow up on this case.
We’re checking into the suspects’ backgrounds and will also be watching for information from their bail hearing.
1:57 PM: The male suspect has felony convictions from 2011 and 2012, the first from a plea bargain in a robbery case, the second from a guilty plea in a residential burglary in Highland Park.
2:45 PM: The SPD Blotter item was updated after first publication with this additional information, as well as photos, one of which we’ve added above: “After the search warrant, detectives recovered an additional 148 grams of heroin from the center console of the suspect vehicle. The gun was a Glock .45 caliber that had been stolen from an auto theft in Pierce County.”
7:20 PM: Both had bail hearings this afternoon, according to the jail register, which shows his bail set at $15,000, hers at $10,000.
10:55 AM: What was at first a medical response has changed to an “assault with weapons” response at 6920 34th SW, which is the address for High Point Community Center. We are on our way to find out more.
11:01 AM: Emergency vehicles have 34th SW blocked in front of the community center.
11:05 AM: SPD confirms that someone has died and they believe it’s suicide but are screening with the Homicide Unit.
11:22 AM: For those wondering about exactly what area is affected – since the same corner also includes Walt Hundley Playfield and Our Lady of Guadalupe – the playfield is open, and being used. There’s police tape around the south and east sides of the community center, as well as the street continuing to be blocked off in front. We will be going back to check a bit later.
12:23 PM: The road has reopened, and the Medical Examiner is there to remove the victim’s body. We talked again with SPD media relations and they say the victim, described only thus far as male, was found on the steps on the south side of the community center, and that they are proceeding with the belief that he died by suicide; officers found a gun nearby.
As always, when reporting on suicide, we want to remind you that help is available 24/7 for anyone contemplating self-harm – call the Crisis Clinic, 206-461-3222.
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