West Seattle, Washington
05 Saturday
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
6:58 AM: Good morning! No transit alerts so far this morning, but we have one traffic alert, for the westbound bridge, from SDOT: “The offramp from the West Seattle Bridge WB to SW Spokane St is closed due to a collision.” If you were headed for that offramp, you’ll have to use Delridge instead.
7:23 AM: That has cleared.
(From left, city rep Tom Van Bronkhorst, LIHI’s Richard Horne and Josh Castle, C2C resident manager Eric Davis)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
No word yet on the city’s decision about another year for Camp Second Chance at the Myers Way Parcels.
That was one headline from this afternoon’s meeting of the Community Advisory Committee for West Seattle’s only city-sanctioned encampment.
The other: Camp operator LIHI‘s new case manager Richard Horne has been on the job two weeks, and he has placed his first two campers in housing, though it was quite a drama. He also stressed to community members who wanted to complain about city homelessness-related policies and practices that he is about people, like the two he placed.
First:
CAMP OPERATIONS UPDATE: “It’s been a very productive month,” said Eric Davis, C2C’s resident manager.
(WSB photo by Leda Costa, from 2017 West Seattle 5K)
The countdown continues – we are now exactly two weeks away from the West Seattle 5K, a fundraiser for the West Seattle High School PTSA, coming up Sunday, May 20th, just after 9 am, starting and finishing at 61st/Alki. (The course, to Luna/Anchor Park and back, closes the road for a few hours.) And tomorrow is the last day for a special discount – so if you sign up now by going here and use the code MAYDAY5, that will save you $5. All ages welcome, as are strollers and (leashed) dogs. We’ve co-sponsored the WS5K every year since its start – see you at the beach on race day!
If you try going to 2 Fingers Social in South Delridge tonight, that’s the sign you’ll find. The five-month-old neighborhood bar is closed because of a theft that they believe was the start of a break-in attempt. Early today, someone went under their fence and stole their exterior cameras and cut wires that took out their power and internet. They got the electricity back but not the internet, which means their payment system is interrupted. They believe the thief/thieves were startled/interrupted before actually breaking into the building – nothing besides the cameras is missing. They hope to have the internet connection restored tomorrow so they can reopen. If you have any information, the SPD incident number is 18-160932.(Thanks to the person who texted to let us know about this.)
ORIGINAL REPORT: It’s still duck-crossing season! Thanks to Marcee Stone-Vekich for sharing her photo/video of this scene that stopped traffic for a bit on Saturday near the east end of Roxbury.
Here’s some interesting backstory on crossings like this one.
ADDED MONDAY: Commenter Alki Resident identified the ducks’ escort as Chris Greer, who has made news in another wildlife-related situation, as he and his wife fight to get back a raccoon they had rescued and long kept as a member of their family. Today another commenter, Katelyn, pointed out that the ruling in the Greers’ case had finally come down last week; it went against them but their lawyer says they’ll appeal.
That’s Hannah, who’s working with Stu today to help anybody who shows up through 4 pm at the West Seattle Tool Library for the season debut of DIY Bikes. If your bike needs repairs or tuning-up, bring it over and not only will they help, they’ll teach you how to … well, DIY! The Tool Library is at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW).
Congratulations to Bob and Fran Zickes for 46 years of marriage – and more, as their son Ben Zickes writes in this announcement to share with you:
My parents are my heroes. They are dedicated members of the West Seattle community and have been Seaview residents for over four decades. On this day, their 46th wedding anniversary, I hope to briefly share their story, in honor of their service to our beloved neighborhood.
Bob and Fran Zickes were married May 6th, 1972 in Seattle at St Patrick’s on Capitol Hill. They share birthdays on consecutive days, May 7th (Mom, her 72nd) and May 8th (Dad, his 73rd).
Both have lived a life dedicated to service in the Seattle community and I could not be more proud.
Mom was a nanny to five local children in the 1980s and was a teacher’s assistant in the 1990s at Rainier Beach HS and later at Holy Rosary. She volunteered her time reading to kids at the public library in retirement. Today, she is an active member of the senior center and a volunteer at the Junction Stop N Shop, which supports the center. An enthusiastic walker and golfer (longtime member at West Seattle Golf Course), mom even has three career Hole-In-Ones! Legendary Sonics broadcaster Kevin Calabro once lovingly called her “a housewife from West Seattle who cleaned our clocks” when recalling a round they played together on KJR radio.
Dad is an old soul, fisherman, and gardener since birth. After graduating from Notre Dame, he served in the Air Force, which took him to Korea just after he met Mom. After the service and a return to Seattle, his 30-year career was spent in the Parks Department of King County, where he championed efforts like the pea patch program, the original “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” slogan of the early 1990s, and efforts to start composting residential yard waste. Near retirement, Dad served as a loaned executive from King County for the United Way campaign for multiple years. In retirement, Dad spent 10 years as a Left Field gate host for the Mariners. For as long as I can remember, Dad has donated his Wednesday mornings to the Meals on Wheels program in West Seattle. Dad too loves to golf, fish, and take daily walks with Mom around the neighborhood. You’ll find him tending to his garden most days (donating extras to the WS Food Bank), if he’s not busy bowling at Roxbury Lanes.
I think if my parents were to tell you their secrets to a long and happy partnership, a healthy dose of “daily walks” and a solid weekly “routine” would be right at the top of the list.
If you ever see them taking their walks around West Seattle, I invite you to say Hello! Congratulations, Mom and Dad!
Two reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:
MINI-MART BREAK-IN: Thanks to Casey for the tip, after seeing that obvious sign that something had happened at the California/Andover mini-mart. The Tweets by Beat log confirmed a break-in this morning; police report wouldn’t be available until tomorrow if at all, so we went over to see what we could find out. The person on duty at the mini-mart was too busy to talk much but he confirmed they were burglarized while closed early this morning; the burglar(s) got away with cigarettes and a computer. If you have any information, the police report # is 18-160632.
CARPORT PROWLERS: This happened in an apartment building carport at 42nd/College i North Admiral last Wednesday afternoon, with one person shown clearly “before they tried to cover the camera with tape,” as the sender described it:
The shot through the portion of the lens that subsequently remained uncovered partly shows their car, the sender says, adding that it “appears to be a Subaru or VW with a ‘snorkel’ attachment on the driver’s side. Pretty distinctive car.”
Any info on this? SPD incident #18-156445.
(Bald eagle, photographed in Fauntleroy by Jim Spraker)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, highlights for your Sunday:
YOGA FOR GARDENERS: 10 am at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center – a “yoga experience customized for gardeners,” that’s also a fundraiser for The Little Red Hen Project. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET, WITH CATS: 10 am-2 pm in the street in The Junction. Special feature today: The Seattle Humane MaxMobile, with adoptable cats! (California SW between SW Alaska and SW Oregon)
CURIOUS KIDSTUFF’S 20TH-ANNIVERSARY SALE: 11 am-5 pm, Curious Kidstuff (WSB sponsor) is celebrating its 20th anniversary with an all-day party including 20 percent off everything in the store (except LEGO brand). Here’s our preview! (4740 California SW)
DIY BIKES: It’s Bike Everywhere Month – maybe your bicycle needs something fixed or tuned up? Bring it to the West Seattle Tool Library noon-4 pm today for some help and coaching from DIY Bikes! (4408 Delridge Way SW)
BIRDS OF THE DUWAMISH RIVER: Gather at the Duwamish Tribe Longhouse at 1 pm and find out more about the avian life along West Seattle’s only river. (4705 W. Marginal Way SW)
CAMP SECOND CHANCE COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE: 2 pm at Arrowhead Gardens, the city-mandated monthly meeting with updates on West Seattle’s only city-sanctioned encampment. Public welcome. (9200 2nd SW)
KIDS’ YOGA FUNDRAISER: A multi-day, multi-session fundraiser for Children’s Hospital – as explained in our calendar listing. 5- to 8-year-olds are welcome to participate at 3 pm today at Miss Sheryl’s Ballet in White Center. (9650 16th Ave SW)
CORREO AEREO: Latin American music live at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 3-5 pm. (5612 California SW)
LADIES’ MUSICAL CLUB: “Music by Liszt, Ravel, Rachmaninoff, and Water: A Song Recital”. 3 pm at West Seattle (Admiral) Library – free, as always. (2306 42nd SW)
OPEN HOUSE: The West Seattle Contemplative Church invites you to visit, 5-6 pm. (4157 California SW)
Two waves of color in the sky at day’s end – thanks for the photo! First the double rainbow – above, from Birgit Petersen at Seacrest; next, from Doug B. in The Junction:
And from J&R at Constellation Park:
Then the sunset! From Jim Spraker:
And from Mark Dale:
Like this evening’s weather, tomorrow’s weather looks … mixed.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Sound Transit‘s light-rail planning for West Seattle should reach out to tweens and teens, because they’re the ones whose lives will be most affected.
That was one suggestion heard at this morning’s West Seattle “neighborhood forum,” next step in the official ST planning process for the line set to open in 2030, assuming the fast-tracked planning process stays on track. And given that the event was promoted as a way for you to share your neighborhood values
About 130 people showed up, ST estimated, out of about 180 who RSVP’d; ST set up an overflow room on the second floor of the Masonic Center in The Junction, and about 20 people gathered there.
(ST board member/County Council chair Joe McDermott with longtime community advocate Chas Redmond)
A few opening remarks were offered by King County Council chair and District 8 (West Seattle, White Center, etc.) rep Joe McDermott, who also is on the ST Board, reminding everyone that if they are frustrated with West Seattle bridge backups, they should be excited about this part of one of the nation’s largest transit infrastructure expansions, And he recapped that in order to speed it up, they are front-ending as many decisions as possible, and that’s why they need “to have the best possible ideas …” He urges people to “stay in touch … as you have ideas over the coming months” – 11 months, to be specific, until the decision on what to study.
McDermott co-chairs the project’s Elected Leadership Group – which will have its second meeting May 17th – and another of its members, City Councilmember Lisa Herbold, was at the forum this morning and acknowledged, but chose not to address the crowd.
That moved things along to the first presentation, as introduced by consultant Dennis Sandstrom, ST’s Stephen Mak with an overview on the project and the process, noting that the Stakeholder Advisory Group already has met four times (we’ve covered all four – most recently April 24th). His presentation starts at 7:15 into our clip, which starts with Sandstrom and McDermott:
And then, the first round of small-group conversation, a half-hour about “neighborhood values.”
Conversation at the table next to ours (not pictured) kicked off with a Delridge resident who said he’s born and raised in West Seattle. One person says they were involved in neighborhood planning. One person stressed the need for input from people 12 years old and up – because this will be a larger part of their lives than many of the rest of us. Right after him, a retiree says he doesn’t worry about traffic any more but he does worry about whether this will be serving the points south of us, and he also worries about conserving green space and small-town feel. Next person says he worries about how to get to the airport – “I want to see us more connected to the rest of the area.” He’s lived here 10 years.
At a Junction table, participants were voicing concerns about the potential for an elevated track. One says it would “shatter The Junction.” Some worried about the displacement of businesses in The Triangle if the track cuts through there. Tunneling fans seemed out in abundance, including this woman who said she was selling T-shirts:
When the half-hour was up, participants voted to chug ahead with the second presentation and conversation (the sun outside the windowless Masonic Center was a bit too tempting perhaps). Next up at the podium was ST’s Sloan Dawson of ST, who said he does station planning and would talk about what it’s like when light rail comes to your community.
He leads off our second clip, followed by another appearance for Stephen Mak recapping the routing/station concepts that have emerged in this “Level 1” stage of the process:
Dawson mentioned that the projects serve “many different place types,” and then how the existing transportation network interacts with what will be built. “Planning good integration with other transit services” like buses is vital, Dawson said. (And emphatic discussion at tables underscored that.) He reiterated that “we’re doing (station location work) earlier than we’ve ever done it before” with the West Seattle/Ballard extensions.
He handed the microphone back to Mak, who went through the alternatives that have emerged for consideration so far, starting with the “representative project” (“the starting point”), and other West Seattle possibilities – even including the ones that the stakeholders had suggested dropping, which lent a bit of confusion if you’ve been following the process closely.
Another half-hour of discussion followed at the tables.
One table was boggling over the elevated idea. “It’s going to be like 150 feet tall.” Another person was alarmed at how elevated track looks at Northgate.
Over at The Junction table, parking concerns kept emerging. Also, as we circulated to listen in, there were concerns about being sure the station locations are matching the areas that are already densifying.
Because it’s a large group, they decided not to “report out” table by table, but instead invite everyone to stop by the tables, and to ask facilitators to stay at their tables to answer questions and/or summarize for anyone interested, and after two hours, that’s where it wrapped up, with promises to get the feedback to the groups through which it’s being filtered.
Next touchstone in the process involves one of those groups: The Elected Leadership Group meets 2-4 pm May 17th (Sound Transit board room at 401 S. Jackson). That will include a public-comment period, we confirmed with ST staff, unlike the stakeholder group meetings (next one for them, May 30th). It also will likely be shown on – or at least recorded by – the Seattle Channel. And then – Level 2, which will include another neighborhood forum.
Just a reminder that if you are interested in updates about and from West Seattle’s only city-sanctioned encampment, Camp Second Chance, the C2C Community Advisory Committee is back to its regular first-Sunday meeting schedule this week – 2 pm tomorrow (Sunday, May 6th) at the Arrowhead Gardens community room. AG is at 9200 2nd SW, a few blocks north of the camp’s location on Myers Way. Our coverage of last month’s meeting is here; official minutes are in the C2C section of this city webpage.
(Alina [seated] and Sheryl Guyon [right] with staff and children at New Vision’s preschool)
By Judy Pickens
Special to West Seattle Blog
The red-light district in Kolkata, India, is a long way from home for Fauntleroy resident Alina Guyon but it’s where she and her mother, Sheryl Guyon, spent two weeks in April to create the second Libraries for All resource.
As reported here in August, Alina’s first venture was to plan, fund, ship, assemble, and stock a 200-sq. ft. library in an impoverished suburb of Kampala, Uganda, that has become a waystation for women and children fleeing violence in several African countries. With that one complete, she turned her attention to creating a safe learning place for the children of brothel workers in a different but equally challenging setting.
Using a grant from the Seattle-based All the Sky Foundation dedicated to gender equity, Alina collaborated with New Light, a non-profit working to break the cycle of prostitution by educating and housing scores of children and aiding their mothers. While there, Alina met with young children to broaden their understanding of the potential of girls and women.
New Light identified a space for the library, books were shipped, and travel plans made, only to have the space fall through and the container get held up in customs. As in Uganda where customs proved problematic, Alina and Sheryl had to do their best with what was at hand.
(Coloring pages designed by Washington artist Nina Hartman were the centerpiece of Alina’s lesson on gender equality)
They cleared a corner in one of the agency’s homes, put down a rug, installed shelves, and stocked them with 400 locally donated books in Bengali and English. Shortly after returning home, they learned the hundreds of books donated in West Seattle would soon be on the shelves, too.
Over the winter, Libraries for All became a non-profit through Visions Made Viable, an incubator for social visionaries and entrepreneurs. This alliance provides legal, fiscal, and administrative services so Alina can focus on the work itself.
Two awards recently recognized that work. In March, King County Red Cross gave Alina a Youth Spirit of Service award and, on May 3, Seahawk quarterback Russell Wilson’s Why Not You Foundation honored her with its Washington Youth Leadership Award.
Next up could be a project very close to home to enhance library resources at the Mary’s Place shelter in White Center. Visit www.libraries4all.com to read more about these projects and subscribe to updates.
In case you haven’t already found them – we want to make sure you know that, as promised, the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day map/listings went live this morning! We’ve spent the past week-plus putting it all together, and now with one week until the big day – Saturday, May 12th – you can start looking around to see (if you’re not one of the 330 sellers) who’s selling what and where. It’s always great to hear from people who not only find treasures (and, as some ads tout, “things you never knew you needed”) but also get to meet more of their neighbors face-to-face.
The clickable map is here (see the how-to-use-it advice beneath it) and the printable map/listings are here (18-page 3 MB PDF).
Got some time to spare right now? Get over to Highland Park Elementary! The photo and invitation are from Connie Wolf:
The Highland Park Elementary PTA was hoping that May 5th would feature a Grand Opening Party for our school’s new playground, but as is typical for big projects, the construction took much longer than expected. Happily, as of yesterday, all the construction is complete! The work we have left to do is to move the engineered wood fiber (play chips) under our new net climber and slides. It’s a big job and a good workout. If you have an hour or two to spare, please join us [now] to get the “pit” filled in. Thank you everybody for your support!
10:16 AM: Thanks to Jim Borrow for the photos! Along with everything else happening today, it’s the first day of shrimp fishing in Elliott Bay – until 1 pm or until the limit is caught, as explained in the state Department of Fish and Wildlife announcement.
Jim explains that photo”was taken toward Bainbridge Island; you can see a few boats off Alki in the foreground with the buoys for the shrimp pots near the boats. In the background you can see all the small boats in the area around Blakely Rocks near Bainbridge.” And keep in mind that with the 1 pm closing (west of Alki Point, it’s even earlier – 11 am), it will be very busy around Don Armeni Boat Ramp early this afternoon. The state hasn’t yet announced the next date(s).
ADDED SATURDAY EVENING: Above and below, two photos from our pass through Don Armeni as many boaters were leaving just before 1 pm.
(American Robin, photographed by Mark Wangerin)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, highlights for your sunny West Seattle Saturday:
REFRESH/RESTORE DAKOTA PLACE PARK: 9 am-noon, you can join West Seattle neighbors to help give this neighborhood treasure a spring facelift. Bring your own tools and gloves. (California/Dakota)
ST. JOHN’S RUMMAGE SALE: Day 2 of St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church‘s big rummage sale, 9 am-3 pm. (3050 California SW)
SOUND TRANSIT NEIGHBORHOOD FORUM: Your next chance for involvement in the route/station location planning for West Seattle’s future light-rail line is today, at Sound Transit’s first West Seattle “neighborhood forum,” as previewed here. 10 am-12:30 pm, Masonic Center in The Junction. (4736 40th SW)
CINCO DE MAYO AT MISSION CANTINA: Lots going on at Mission Cantina (WSB sponsor) this Cinco de Mayo, 10 am-2 am, from brunch to a pig roast and more! (2325 California SW)
SPRING CLEANUP AT THE LOG HOUSE MUSEUM: As previewed here, the home of West Seattle’s history welcomes volunteer help today, 10 am-2 pm. (61st SW/SW Stevens)
‘BEAUTY AND THE BEAST’: 10 am, second and final performance of Madison Middle School‘s musical, at the West Seattle High School Theater. Ticket info in our calendar listing. (3000 California SW)
THE SHACK’S RELAUNCH PARTY: You’re invited to stop by the coffee-and-more shop for its relaunch party, explained in our calendar listing, 10 am-1 pm. (2920 SW Avalon Way)
SPANISH-LANGUAGE FILM FESTIVAL: As previewed here, Chief Sealth International High School welcomes community members for the second day of this film festival. 11 am-6 pm. (2600 SW Thistle)
BYSTANDER INTERVENTION WORKSHOP: 2 pm at Admiral UCC Church – here’s what this free workshop is all about: “Bystander Intervention provides participants with tools and tactics for intervening on another’s behalf. Defusing a challenging situation and protecting someone experiencing harm or abuse is an important part of helping and supporting people in our community.” (California/Hill)
WEST SEATTLE MEANINGFUL MOVIES: This month, “Artificial Intelligence and What It Means to Be Human,” a guided series of short videos, plus discussion as always. Doors open at 6:30 pm at Neighborhood House High Point; more info in our calendar listing. (6400 SW Sylvan Way)
MAURICE TANI: In concert at Kenyon Hall, 7:30 pm, this singer-songwriter will be performing “country- and jazz-tinged songs were intimate stories about love and loss in the modern world, sung in a distinctive, resonant baritone.” (7904 35th SW)
SOUTH SOUND TUG & BARGE: “Two sets of resistance songs” at West Seattle Brewing, starting at 8 pm. No cover. (4415 Fauntleroy Way SW)
SEE WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING … by browsing our complete calendar!
(Photo from seattle.gov)
Continuing our mentions of camp opportunities as summer gets ever close: New Hiawatha Community Center assistant coordinator Andrea Sisco wants families to know about their Tween Camp for kids 11-14:
This is a day camp that runs from 7:00 a.m – 6:00 p.m. where kids get a mix of structured and unstructured recreation time, field trips, and a ton of projects and activities. Each week has a theme like “World Travelers” and “PNW Stomping Grounds.” We offer 10 weeks of camp beginning the week of June 25th and you can register through Hiawatha Community Center for one week, two weeks, all ten weeks – whatever fits your schedule.
You can register online for this and/or other Hiawatha summer-camp opportunities by going here.
(WSB photos)
When older apartment buildings are put up for sale, the accompanying listing often assures prospective buyers that a little work can bring the rents up to market level. That might be good news for the buyers, but not necessarily for the renters. West Seattle/South Park City Councilmember Lisa Herbold says the city is investigating what happened after a building in her neighborhood, 900 SW Holden in Highland Park, changed hands. This is republished from her weekly newsletter, published on the city website today:
Last Wednesday, while I was walking from my house to the Highland Park Action Council (HPAC) meeting I noticed one of the large apartment buildings in my neighborhood was boarded up. I didn’t know why that had happened, and because I work hard to keep up on what is going on in my District, and especially my neighborhood, I was feeling disappointed in myself for not being aware that a new major development was apparently occurring just two blocks away from my home. But then, during the meeting with HPAC, one of the attendees mentioned that the very building I had noticed on my walk to the meeting had been recently cleared by the landlord of all its tenants and some of them had become homeless as a result.
This immediately alarmed me because the City of Seattle has, since the 1980s, had a Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance (TRAO) that gives renters at least 90 days’ notice and financial moving assistance whenever a building is going to be renovated, demolished, or if there’s a change of use. It was immediately apparent to me that there was no way that the legal process for the Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance could have occurred so quickly and I became worried that people had been improperly displaced. On my way home that evening, I walked around the perimeter of the building and indeed, it was apparent that all but a couple of the units were vacant.
When I got home that evening, I looked up the address on the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) website to see what development activity was planned at the site. But there were no planned development activities associated with TRAO or a demolition, renovation, or change of use associated with the address. This further confirmed my suspicion that renters in the building had been improperly forced to move. The next morning, I contacted SDCI and asked them to send an inspector out to the property.
I am saddened to report that I learned yesterday that SDCI has found that the tenants in the building recently had received a 100% rent increase and that this increase led to 20 of the 23 households being displaced from the building. Again, I’ve been told by my neighbors that several of these households are now homeless. This is, I believe, a shameful result and an abuse of a landlord’s right to increase rent free from any regulation.
The TRAO says that it is unlawful for landlords to use excessive rent increases to circumvent the requirements for 90 days’ notice and access to moving expenses assistance. But, there is no limit to how much a landlord can raise the rent. You see, the TRAO entitles low income renters who must move because of renovations to money to help them pay their moving costs ($3188). But if a tenant moves because of a big rent increase, they won’t get the assistance.
Not only do rent increases in Seattle lead the nation, but some rent increases are actually used to circumvent other tenant protections such as the TRAO. In 2014, Councilmember Nick Licata brought attention to the fact that “each year more and more tenants find out they were deprived of critical relocation assistance following a massive rent hike due to loop holes created by state law” and that some property owners do this as a regular business practice. You may remember the story of the Lockhaven Apartments and the Prince of Wales. In 2014 and again in 2015, State Senators David Frockt (46th District) and then State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles (36th District) introduced legislation to disincentive for the practice of using rent increases to circumvent TRAO.
A number of landlords and their lobbyist testified against the bill, and it did not pass the State Legislature, so in response, Councilmember Licata worked to amend Seattle’s Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance (TRAO) to help tenants deprived of relocation assistance and 90 days’ notice to move that they would have otherwise received if their landlord followed TRAO instead of displacing them with a large rent increase. Specifically, the law prohibited rent increases for the purpose of avoiding the required Tenant Relocation Assistance process. If a landlord increases rent by 20 percent or more, which results in a tenant vacating a unit within 90 days, then applies for a permit to substantially rehabilitate the unit within 6 months, the owner can have their building permit denied until the owner pays the penalties. Penalties are $1,000 per day for each day from the date the violation began. The change Councilmember Licata made to the law has helped a lot of people, see this article from March, where under the new TRAO law, SDCI was able to require a landlord to pay $168,268 in relocation payments to 46 households that were living at 104 Pine St.
But somehow, and sadly, people who want to avoid their obligations seem to manage to find new loopholes as soon as you close one set of loopholes. The owner of this property that has displaced 20 Highland Park household with a 100% rent increase found yet another loophole in TRAO. From SDCI’s investigation we have learned that the property was purchased in January 2018 and the new owners, after the rent increase of nearly 100%, and after 20 tenant households vacated as a result of the rent increases, is now doing a rehabilitation that includes painting the exterior, painting interior units, tearing out carpeting and replacing some appliances. None of this work requires that the owner obtain a permit and it does not meet the definition of substantial rehabilitation (which requires work of $6000 or more per unit).
I am thankful that SDCI is continuing to investigate and will be requesting the owner sign a certification that the rent increase was not for the purpose of avoiding application of TRAO. If people are in touch with the displaced renters, please encourage them to contact me so that I can put them in touch with SDCI for purposes of this ongoing investigation.
lisa.herbold@seattle.gov is her e-mail address. Records show the 51-year-old complex was sold for $4.2 million in January to a Renton-based LLC led by a real-estate investor who also leads the corporation that holds an Everett building that the Daily Herald reported was the subject of discrimination accusations in 2015. The listing flyer for 900 SW Holden, meantime, noted that its rents were 30 to 40 percent below market level, and that more than 80 percent of its tenants were month-to-month.
It was a beautiful afternoon for baseball at Southwest Athletic Complex – but the end result wasn’t so pleasant for the West Seattle High School Wildcats. Their first season with head coach Bryan Tupper ended with a 9-4 Metro League tournament loss to Bishop Blanchet. More later.
(Added: Photo by Carolyn Newman showing vessels awaiting the all-clear, including both King County Water Taxis)
5:03 PM: The West Seattle and Vashon Water Taxi routes are both suspended right now because Colman Dock downtown has been evacuated. Via Twitter, Washington State Ferries explains why:
#BREAKING Colman Dock currently evacuated and closed due to a suspicious package. We’ll update here when there are more details. No injuries reported.
— Washington State Ferries (@wsferries) May 5, 2018
Updates to come.
5:20 PM: And from SPD:
We are currently assisting @wastatepatrol and @wsferries at Colman Dock. There has been a report of a suspicious package and our detectives are headed there to make sure the terminal is safe. Please expect extra traffic in the area. Thanks in advance for your patience.
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) May 5, 2018
If you need to head westward across the Sound, we do NOT advise trying Fauntleroy-Southworth as an alternate – it had a major Friday afternoon backup going even before this.
5:52 PM: Colman Dock is reopening, SPD just announced:
Detectives have determined that there is no risk to the public at @wsferries Colman Dock. The terminal will be reopening shortly. All traffic on Alaskan Way is now open. Thanks again for your continued patience. cc: @wastatepatrol
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) May 5, 2018
Now we’re just waiting for word on Water Taxi management about how/when service will resume.
6:27 PM: From KCDOT:
The Vashon and West Seattle Water Taxi routes are resuming service. The West Seattle route will resume service with the 6:25 sailing from Seacrest Dock and the Vashon route resumes service from Pier 52 at 6:30pm.
That’s the official “administrative design review” (public comments but no meeting) packet now online for 3084 Avalon Way SW – as mentioned here last week, the project that first turned up as an early-stage proposal last year is now on the books with 7 floors, 35 apartments, and no offstreet parking spaces, replacing a 64-year-old triplex. And the two-week public review phase is now under way. The city has just overhauled its permit system, so notices and announcements don’t look quite the way they used to – here’s the one for this project. If you have comments, you can send them to the assigned planner for the project, Joseph Hurley, joseph.hurley@seattle.gov.
2:03 PM: Thanks for the tip! Orcas are in the area this afternoon – just got a report that at least three are visible southbound between Blake and Vashon Island. As always, if you’re going to go look, take binoculars. And let us know if/when you see them!
3:00 PM: Kersti Muul just texted to say they’re visible south of the Vashon ferry dock, on the Vashon side.
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