West Seattle, Washington
31 Wednesday
(Wednesday evening photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
Since we’re enjoying one last rainless day – and night – we’re spotlighting this first! From the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide:
SHOP LATE THURSDAY: This is the first of three holiday-season Thursdays during which you can shop late in The Junction, as part of Hometown Holidays. The West Seattle Junction Association has put together a list spotlighting some of the participating businesses – see it here. Among the participants, longtime WSB sponsor Click! Design That Fits (4540 California SW), where you’ll find Naked Truth Beauty‘s pop-up, 5-8 pm.
FIRE TRUCK FOOD DRIVE: For the second of two nights, retired fire trucks will be in West Seattle – with Santa! – traveling neighborhood streets to collect your nonperishable food donations for the Union Gospel Mission.
We featured this on Wednesday after finding out about it at the last minute. Steve Hickey, who owns the trucks and has been taking them around the region to do this, says tonight’s plan (5-8 pm, *confirmed*) is “42nd to 40th from Hanford down to Manning. AND 39th to 37th from Manning to Olga.”
‘JANE EYRE’: The holiday-season musical at ArtsWest (WSB sponsor) had a few tickets left for tonight when we checked just before publishing this – go here. 7:30 pm curtain. (4711 California SW)
And from our year-round West Seattle Event Calendar:
OPEN HOUSE AT SSC: 1-4 pm, visit the South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) TRiO Educational Opportunity Center:
Come see our space, learn more about the services we offer, and enjoy some food! GIVEAWAYS throughout the day!
Services We Offer:
-Financial Aid Advising & Application Assistance
-Referral to Funding Opportunities
-Help with Scholarship Search & Application
-Academic & Career Guidance
-High School Completion & GED Information
-English Proficiency & ESL Classes
-College Admissions Assistance
(6000 16th SW)
4 ELECTED OFFICIALS IN 1 PLACE: Tonight the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council hosts four elected officials at its meeting in White Center, 7 pm at the NH Fire District’s headquarters. All four represent West Seattle, too: State Sen.-elect Joe Nguyen, recently reelected State Reps. Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon, and County Council Chair Joe McDermott. Full meeting preview here. (1243 SW 112th)
TWO ROUNDS OF TRIVIA: One at 7 pm, one at 8 pm, both free! Great American Diner and Bar is where to play. (4752 California SW)
Got something for our calendar and/or Holiday Guide? We’re adding to both daily! westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
(Sent by Kersti Muul)
10:23 AM: Just heard from Donna Sandstrom of The Whale Trail that southbound orcas are off Bainbridge Island and headed this way, likely in view from West Seattle shortly. Please let us know if you see them!
11:39 AM: In addition to commenters’ reports, we also got a text of orcas in view from Lowman Beach.
12:41 PM: Updates from Kersti Muul in comments and Donna by phone – the orcas (J Pod) have turned around and are now headed northbound.
2:51 PM: Added a photo sent by Kersti, of her photo taken as a second group of orcas headed NB around 1:30 pm, closer to this side of the Sound.
Two West Seattle chefs are part of the lineup for a first-ever fundraiser next week, “10 Chefs and Causes” – next Wednesday (December 12) at The Sanctuary at Admiral, 6-9 pm. The Diversity Center of Washington is hosting the event and inviting everyone. Admission is by suggested donation, $20-$200: “we want to include everyone, so pay what you can afford.” Tickets are available here. The announcement and chef lineup:
Featuring 10 rising star diverse local chefs; each will share their creation in a BITE. The menu will WOW our guests with the variation that melds our humanity. Neighbors will participate in a unique community engagement GATHERING grounded in good food, multicultural music, Annie’s rabbit petting zoo to meet Tilli and LoLa, and an auction. Proceeds from the evening will be equally shared by the 10 Causes. Here are the Chefs and Causes we will be showcasing:
*Chef Melissa Miranda/Musang for FEEST
*Chef Logan Niles/Pot Pie Factory for Post Prison Education Program
*Chef Mariela Camacho/Comadre Panaderia for Green Plate Special
*Chef Emme Ribeiro Collins/Alcove Dining Room NW for Immigrant Rights Project
*Chefs Fareed & Jennifer Al-Abboud/Medzo for
Refugee Women’s Alliance
*Chef Panithit Chummee (right)/Buddha Ruksa for Care to Help Thailand
*Chef Mutsuko Soma/Kamonegi for WSU Bread lab
*Chef Killian/Killian Drake & Saturnalia for REST
*Chef Tom Douglas for The Diversity Center of Seattle/Washington
*Chef Joshua Collins/DUOS Catering for One Million Tampons
(Duos, as you may know, manages The Sanctuary, which is at 42nd/Lander in The Admiral District.) You can read more about the chefs, the dishes they plan to make, and their chosen causes here (PDF).
(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)
7:04 AM: Good morning! No transit alerts or outbound traffic incidents reported so far.
FERRY ALERT FOR TONIGHT AND FRIDAY NIGHT: WSF is canceling late-night/early-morning sailings on the Triangle Route the next two nights so work can be done at Southworth – details here.
7:29 AM: If you travel to/through South Park, we’re hearing via police radio that an incident involving a semitruck is blocking westbound Cloverdale and will likely last for “an extended period.”
(WSB photos. Above, shooting scene on southwest side of 15th/Roxbury)
9:42 PM: Thanks for the tips. Guardian One is helping with a search over South Delridge and White Center. Radio traffic indicates the primary responders were King County Sheriff’s Deputies, so it started on the county side of the line. We’re on the way to find out more.
9:55 PM: Deputies tell us they’re looking for suspect(s) in a shooting in White Center – they say the victim was shot in the hand. The search is about to affect traffic on Roxbury, according to radio discussion – we don’t know for how long.
10:03 PM: Roxbury has reopened. Search continues. Deputies tell us the shooting happened near the gas station on the southwest corner of 15th/Roxbury, and the male victim has been taken to a hospital.
10:11 PM: The search/containment area is fairly wide – a K9 team is still tracking on the ground, with G-1 in the air.’
10:23 PM: KCSO says via Twitter that the victim is 26 years old and that they’re looking for one suspect, someone who “is believed to still be armed.”
10:30 PM: Photos added. The K9 search has been “called (off),” per KCSO, but deputies are still searching the area.
(WSB photos/video)
You’ve probably noticed that from the bridge – a white-wrapped structure, resembling a bird, rising from a drydock at Vigor Shipyard on Harbor Island. It’s the mast of the destroyer USS Sampson, which has been at Vigor for maintenance a few months and due to leave before Christmas. It factored into a ceremony we covered there this afternoon.
A Sampson crewmember, Petty Officer 2nd Class Nicholas Besheer, and Vigor safety manager Billy Ray Brittain (above left) were honored by Washington State Ferries with the Life Ring Award for saving the life of WSF assistant engineer Dave Bennett (above right). He suffered a heart attack at the shipyard on November 13th while at Vigor to work on a ferry. They used CPR and an on-site automated external defibrillator to revive Bennett before medics arrived.
Bennett was there to say “thank you.” WSF chief of staff Elizabeth Kosa presented certificates and other appreciation:
Also there: City and county emergency specialists to urge that everyone learn CPR. You’re most likely to find yourself having to use it on a family member, pointed out SFD’s Capt. Peter Ubaldi.
Vigor CEO Frank Foti was there to voice pride and congratulations.
Also speaking was Laura Miccile of King County Emergency Medical Services, who said they’re glad a publicly accessible AED helped save a life – if you know of a public place that does NOT already have one, go here to find out how to change that. WSF says its Life Ring Award is usually only given to employees who save a life, but this is the second time this year that someone from outside the organization has received it – earlier this year, the award was presented to a U.S. Navy nurse who saved a passenger on the ferry Spokane.
(WSB photo)
7:32 PM: Avoid 16th SW at Morgan (map), where that vehicle went sideways after its driver hit a parked car. He’s being evaluated for possible transport, our crew reports.
8:18 PM: SFD has closed out the call. We will be going by soon to check if the road has reopened yet.
8:51 PM: 16th is open and wrecked SUV is being towed right now.
ADDED THURSDAY MORNING: The driver is under investigation for DUI.
Susan reports brown water at 59th/Spokane. She’s wondering if the work crew on 59th south of Admiral is related and if others are affected. If you ever notice discolored water, be sure to notify Seattle Public Utilities at 206-386-1800.
Up in January … down in December. While checking out something unrelated late today, we discovered the tower crane being removed at the 1307 Harbor SW mixed-use project site (aka “where Alki Tavern used to be”). This means West Seattle has only two tower cranes in use right now – one at The Foundry (northeast corner of Fauntleroy/Edmunds), the other at the PCC Community Markets (WSB sponsor)/Luna Apartments site (2749 California SW).
3:26 PM: Thanks to Steve for the photo and tip: Retired fire trucks are staging in the Genesee Hill area right now to get ready to travel the neighborhood tonight for the Fire Truck Food Drive, collecting nonperishable food for Union Gospel Mission. If you’re in the area where they’re collecting tonight, you should have received a notice – Steve says the trucks will travel “the streets from 50th – 44th, between Genesee and Hinds.” Santa will be along for the ride too. Tomorrow night, he says, they’ll be collecting in Belvidere. We’re checking for more information on that; tonight’s collections will be between 5 and 8 pm, Steve says.
5:36 PM: We went over to Genesee Hill to find out more. There, we met Steve:
He explained that he bought the fire trucks for use in his construction business – watering down sites, for example – and then realized they could be used for more. Like gathering donated food!
This is the first year he’s done this and he hopes to make it a holiday-season tradition around the region.
UPDATED LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Steve says, “It was a successful night tonight” and that they hope to follow this route on Thursday night: “42nd to 40th from Hanford down to Manning. AND 39th to 37th from manning to Olga.” Same time frame as far as we know – 5 to 8 pm – but we’ll doublecheck.
1:03 PM: Thanks to Kersti Muul for the tip: Orcas are northbound off south Vashon Island! Let us know if you see them.
3:57 PM: No orca updates but Pia called to let us know about a gray-whale sighting in Elliott Bay!
(WSB photo: LIHI executive director Sharon Lee with the microphone; to her left, C2CCAC member Aaron Garcia and chair Willow Fulton)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Will Camp Second Chance stay on the Myers Way Parcels past next spring?
That was a major topic at this month’s meeting of the C2C Community Advisory Committee. The city-sanctioned encampment is continuing to transition into a “tiny-house village,” even as it approaches the end of its second official year at 9701 Myers Way S.
First, updates:
(Surfbirds, photographed by Mark Wangerin)
Highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar and Holiday Guide:
DINE-OUT BENEFIT AT ENDOLYNE JOE’S: Any time before 10 pm, dine at Endolyne Joe’s (WSB sponsor) in Fauntleroy and 25 percent goes to benefit the Hi-Liners Musical Theatre, a performing-arts program for youth. (9261 45th SW)
STORY TIME WITH WEST SEATTLE AUTHOR: Kerri Kokias reads from her picture book “Snow Sisters,” 11:15 am at South Park Library. (8604 8th Ave. S.)
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON MOVIE: At the Senior Center of West Seattle, the 1 pm movie this week is “Gabriel Over the White House,” from 1934. $1 members, $2 nonmembers, free popcorn. (4217 SW Oregon)
EXPLORER WEST OPEN HOUSE: 6:30 pm, prospective families are invited to visit Explorer West Middle School (WSB sponsor) to meet the staff and learn about the school. More info in our calendar listing. (10015 28th SW)
SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL: Tonight’s meeting starts with a potluck – bring something if you can. Not required, though. Agenda includes Cindi Barker with what she’s observed in the Design Review Early Community Outreach process‘s first months, and a report on the recent meeting to discuss plans to launch the District 1 Community Network, plus SWDC elections. 6:30 pm at the Senior Center/Sisson Building. (4217 SW Oregon)
DUTCH CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION: Sinterklaas at Tin Dog Brewing, 7-9 pm. “Dutch celebration with cookies, appetizers, and games!” (309 S. Cloverdale)
9:40 AM: Again this year, Alice Kuder and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices NW Real Estate (WSB sponsor) colleagues Debbie Kerns, John Traweek, and Amelia Scherker are hosting a showing of “The Polar Express” (trailer above) at The Admiral Theater – and they have some tickets available to the public if you RSVP ASAP. The showing is this Saturday (December 8th), 10 am, and you can only attend by reservation through Alice, first-come, first-served – e-mail or call/text her, alice@alicekuder.com or 206-708-9800.
P.S. from Alice: “We are providing free snacks (cookies, coffee, and hot cocoa) and the concession stand will be open. We will have a Toys for Tots donation barrel at the venue, for anyone who might want to donate.”
LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Alice says all the tickets are spoken for. Have fun!
.
(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)
7:01 AM: Good morning! One problem in our area – a crash blocking the center lane of NB 509 just north of Cloverdale.
10:21 PM: Thanks for the tips about the police search in Delridge – we’ve just gone to the area where police with K9 are searching, the 26th/Brandon vicinity, to find out more. They tell us they are looking for a suspected thief, after recovering a stolen bicycle. The Guardian One helicopter is joining them. The man they’re looking for is described as in his 50s, white, 6′ tall, with a white beard. More as we get it.
11:13 PM: Helicopter has moved on after exhausting the possibilities in the area. No report of an arrest so far.
ADDED 11:03 AM: As promised, we contacted SPD’s media office this morning for more details. From Det. Mark Jamieson:
A victim called 911 to report seeing his recently (unreported) stolen bicycle being pushed past his location in the 7100 block of Delridge Way SW. He called out to the suspect, who fled the scene riding the bicycle northbound. Officers conducted an area check and located the suspect in the 5400 block Delridge Way SW. The suspect observed officers in the area and, again, fled the scene. He was observed in the 5400 block of 26 Ave SW before losing sight of him. Containment was set up and a K9 track was established. K9 observed the suspect in the nearby wooded area, but due to the terrain and natural obstacles, the suspect managed to elude the officers. K9 located the stolen bicycle, which was returned to the owner. The suspect was not located after an extensive area check with assistance of Guardian One.
With Christmas now three weeks away, it’s time to start our nightly look at Christmas lights around West Seattle. We want to hear from you about bright and beautiful holiday displays! Tonight, the folks at Quail Park Memory Care Residences (WSB sponsor), which opened this year in The Junction, invited us to take a look at their first display.
Photos seldom do justice to light displays, so you’ll just have to go see for yourself – 4515 41st SW. Two other Quail Park holiday notes – as noted in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide, they’re offering gift-wrapping to Junction shoppers, 10 am-4 pm the next three Saturdays (December 8th, 15th, 22nd), free (but they’re accepting donations for the Alzheimer’s Association if you are so moved). Quail Park is also sponsoring the Hometown Holidays Santa Bus in The Junction the next two Sundays, 10 am-2 pm, leaving from California/Alaska.
Suggestions for lights to spotlight? E-mail us at westseattleblog@gmail.com – photos welcome too!
A request for you, from Friends of Lincoln Park:
The Friends of Lincoln Park (FLiP) would like to ask for some help from the community. The 300+ trees and plants species that were carefully planted and flagged on Green Seattle Day (Nov 3), will need continued monitoring and care over their first years of life in the park.
The flagging (colored flag tape) helps us locate the newly planted trees and plants for watering during summer droughts and track their survival. Removing the flagging often damages the plants and limits our ability to help them survive. Please help the trees and plants at Lincoln Park live long and healthy lives. REMEMBER: If you see a flagged tree, please leave it be!
For more info on forest restoration efforts with FLiP, please (go here).
The latest West Seattle Crime Watch reports:
BUS INCIDENT: One man was arrested after an incident that moved from the street to this RapidRide bus at California/Findlay this afternoon:
Police and fire had left the scene before we got there but we followed up with SPD, SFD, and Metro, to add to what we had heard via police radio: It started with two men reported fighting in the area. One then tried to board a northbound RapidRide bus. The driver tried to keep him from doing that. Some sort of substance was sprayed. This left some passengers coughing. A 31-year-old man was treated by SFD medics but didn’t need to go to the hospital. Another man was arrested and taken to King County Jail. The bus was taken out of service to be cleaned.
(Thursday night update: 34-year-old Yonas T. Berhane spent one day in jail. He has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge.)
STOLEN HONDAS: Two auto-theft reports – Nicole e-mailed to say, “My car was stolen from my home (5000 block California Ave SW), 2012 black Honda Accord. License AHB7813.” And Deedee reports that her son’s girlfriend, a Chief Sealth International High School student, was the victim of auto theft at her home in Burien and hoping for help in finding her car, a 2000 silver Honda Civic, plates AAV1769. She needs it for getting to school and to work. If you see either car, please call 911.
PACKAGE-THEFT ALERT: Joanie in Gatewood wants to warn you that package thieves have struck again:
We’ve had several packages stolen off our doorstep (37th at Elmgrove) including one this past Saturday. It was a box of children’s Christmas gifts from their grandparents. There is a special place in hell for anyone that would steal a kid’s gift.
Pending a permanent incident #, this one is under SPD #T18015276.
With less than a month and a half to go until the Alaskan Way Viaduct is permanently closed (starting the evening of Friday, January 11th), WSDOT went public today with demolition details. The video above shows the sequence and methodology that’s planned (in short – starting in the middle, moving north, then moving south). Starting tonight, primarily for those who work/live downtown (though all are welcome), WSDOT is hosting three downtown info sessions (listed here) about the demolition of the Viaduct and Battery Street Tunnel; here are the info-boards they’ll be using, with specifics about street effects too:
(Go here [PDF] if the embed window above doesn’t work for you.) By the time the Viaduct demolition is done, 10 years will have passed since then-Gov. Christine Gregoire declared, when signing the tunnel bill, that its era was “over.” The southern mile of the elevated structure was taken down two years after that.
(Photo by Trileigh Tucker, from last Friday’s orca visit, with local researchers observing)
Missed getting this into our calendar! It’s also happening tonight – 7 pm at C & P Coffee Company (5612 California SW; WSB sponsor) – and with the intense interest in the fate of Puget Sound’s Southern Resident Killer Whales, this relates to the frequent questions about how what we do on land affects their health in the water. The announcement:
Pesticides and Orcas: Making the Connection
New evidence suggests that orcas are more sensitive to pesticides than we thought.
Lisa Hayward and Clement Furlong of the University of Washington Superfund Research Program (UW SRP) will present the story of a surprise discovery in genomics that suggests marine mammals may be much more vulnerable to organophosphates like chlorpyrifos than previously recognized.Their talk will cover evidence both of orcas’ vulnerability and also of their exposure in Puget Sound. Chlorpyrifos is a common pesticide recently in the news after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reversed a 2016 ban on it in a move later deemed illegal by a federal court. EPA appealed that decision in September and chlorpyrifos continues to be used widely on crops like wheat and apples.
About the speakers:
Lisa Hayward manages research translation for the UW SRP and has a background in endocrinology and science policy.
Clement Furlong is a principal investigator with the UW SRP and a world-renowned expert on the genetic and physiological basis of vulnerability to pesticides.
About The Whale Trail
The Whale Trail is a series of sites to view orcas and other marine mammals from shore. Our mission is to inspire appreciation and stewardship of whales and our marine environment.
Through our current sites and signs, including two on every Washington State ferry, we reach more than 50 million people each year. The Whale Trail is currently adding new sites along the North American west coast, from California to British Columbia.
The Whale Trail is led by a core team of partners including NOAA Fisheries, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Seattle Aquarium, the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, the Whale Museum. Donna Sandstrom is the Founder and Executive Director. Many members of the team first met on the successful effort to return Springer, the orphaned orca, to her pod.
Admission is $5 donation (TWT is a nonprofit) for adults – advance tickets are available online – no charge for kids.
(WSB photo)
Congratulations and good luck to two teams from the West Seattle Road Runners – they are headed to the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships! Last night at Hiawatha, the girls (grouped as 7/8 year-olds and 9/10 year-olds) had their last practice before the trip to Reno. The 13 girls heading to the championships are coached by James Powell (pictured with the girls who were at last night’s practice) and Brandee Paisano.
(Photo by Lynn Hall)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar and Holiday Guide:
PLAY CHESS! 4:30-5:30 pm, kids and teens are invited to High Point Library for drop-in chess games. (3411 SW Raymond)
WSCO DEBUT ORCHESTRA: The entry-level West Seattle Community Orchestras group invites you to their concert tonight at Chief Sealth International High School! Here are the musicians, practicing:
Conducted by Rachel Nesvig, this entry-level orchestra with a big heart will perform a selection of orchestral and holiday classics. Student musician Job Alberg will sing the traditional Hebrew melody, “Shalom Chaverim,” prior to the orchestra’s rendition of that same melody. The program will end with an invitation for the audience to sing along with “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” and “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Here’s the program:
Russian Chorale and Overture, Tchaikovsky
Elizabethan Suite, by John David Lamb
Russian Sailor’s Dance, by Gliere
Shalom Chavarim, Hebrew melody, arranged by Elliot del Borgo; vocal soloist, Job Alberg
Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town
Rudolph the Red-Nosed ReindeerAs always, there is no charge for any of WSCO’s concerts, though donations to support free participation by students are always appreciated. A reception will follow in the commons.
(2600 SW Thistle)
WESTWOOD-ROXHILL-ARBOR HEIGHTS COMMUNITY COALITION: Got a concern or idea? Bring it! Tonight’s agenda, 6:15 pm, upstairs at Southwest Library:
Community Introductions
Lt Steve Strand, SPD: Crime stats, discussion of community concerns
Community Announcements
WWRHAH’s focus & goals for 2019?
Community Speakers for 2019?
Open Floor for other items
All welcome. (9010 35th SW)
WEST SEATTLE BIKE CONNECTIONS: Instead of the monthly meeting, you’re invited to WSBC’s casual gathering, 6:30 pm at Great American Diner and Bar. (4752 California SW)
CHOCOLATE-MAKING: 6:30 pm at White Center Library, for ages 10-adult, “Make Handmade Chocolates: Chef Laurie Pfalzer of Pastry Craft will demonstrate and then you will make chocolate truffles in cocoa powder, dark chocolate peppermint bark, caramel corn with dark chocolate drizzle and white chocolate popcorn. Seating is limited.” (1409 SW 107th)
(added) THE WHALE TRAIL: Learn about the connection between pesticides and orcas, as previewed here. At C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7 pm. (5612 California SW)
WEST SEATTLE BOOSTER CLUB: 7 pm at West Seattle High School, all welcome. (3000 California SW)
Got something for our calendar or Holiday Guide? Send info to westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
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