West Seattle, Washington
17 Friday
For all the time you may have spent in the past few days watching those jaw-dropping videos from the Japan earthquake/tsunami/nuclear zones, spend some time watching/listening to this one. Monday night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting was almost entirely devoted to disaster/emergency preparedness, and we put the 43-minute heart of the discussion on video for those who couldn’t be there. The topic actually had been planned before the Japan quake. Information was presented by Debbie Goetz from the city, which presents SNAP preparedness classes (next two in West Seattle are June 7th at 6:30, High Point Library, and November 3rd at 6:30, Southwest Library), and Cindi Barker from the all-volunteer West Seattle Be Prepared. The presentation led to a discussion about the need for North Delridge to have its own Emergency Communication Hub as part of WSBP (as Cindi reiterated, these are places you would go for information in case of catastrophe). North Delridge will keep the conversation going (NDNC meets the 2nd Monday of each month, 6:30 pm, Delridge Library); if you are in another neighborhood – check to see where YOUR nearest hub is:
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
If you’ve seen the agenda for next week’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting, you might have noticed this item:
Discussion on Medical Marijuana Dispensary @ 5214 Delridge Way
There isn’t one there now, but word circulated in the neighborhood this past week that one was planned for that address, which has been undergoing renovations for months. It’s the same spot that evokes unpleasant memories for longtime community members, since it was long home to Delridge Vacuum and TV, whose license was revoked by the city two years ago after ongoing controversy about everything from the nature of the business to its street-front appearance, plus a criminal investigation.
After hearing about the reported dispensary plan, we tried to confirm it. We attempted to contact the property’s owner, including a visit to the site, but were told he was unreachable till next week; a broker representing at least one space at the address told WSB the space she represented hadn’t been rented yet. A check of the DPD records for the address only mentions a salon, office and live-work unit.
Then we checked today with Southwest Precinct leadership, who say they have word the plan may have changed.
Two and a half years ago, City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen – then the chair of the council’s Parks Committee – stood next to then-dusty Delridge Playfield, holding a sign campaigning for the Parks and Green Spaces Levy that has now paid for the field’s all-new turf. (Here’s the story we published that day.) Less than an hour ago, he joined acting Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams in dedicating the $3 million-plus levy-funded project – Williams threw out a ceremonial disc, while Rasmussen tossed out a ceremonial ball. The field has been happily welcomed by local athletic organizations involved with sports including disc, softball, baseball, lacrosse, and of course, soccer:
That’s West Seattle Soccer Club president Bill Fry (center) with Jack Chilcott and dad Howard Chilcott – WSSC co-sponsored today’s dedication celebration along with DiscNW. (added) Local organizations were there with info tables – North Delridge Neighborhood Council (whose next meeting is at 6:30 Monday night in the Delridge Library) and Southwest Youth and Family Services, whose headquarters is next to the field:
Student musicians from the acclaimed Chief Sealth International High School drum line played (video to come), but of course the star of the show was the field itself:
Before the year’s out, another dedication is likely nearby – groundbreaking is expected later this month for Delridge Skatepark, just a block north.
ADDED SATURDAY NIGHT: Click ahead for two video clips from the Saturday dedication:Read More
An almost-last-minute addition to the lineup for Saturday’s gala celebration of the Delridge Playfield renovations – Seattle Parks confirmed late today that six drummers from the acclaimed Chief Sealth International High School Drum Line will perform as part of the festivities, right before the speeches. That means they’ll be on between 1 and 1:15 pm. (Our video above shows the drum line performing at the Tacoma Dome last week while the Sealth boys were in the state tournament.) The West Seattle Soccer Club is co-sponsoring the celebration with DiscNW; there’ll be disc games as it starts at 12:30, and soccer games after acting Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams and City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen lead the formal dedication around 1:15. As planned during the design meetings we covered back in xxx, the field now has playing zones for soccer, baseball, softball, disc sports, and lacrosse (which was added to the plan by request during the community meetings we covered a year and a half ago). Its new lights use a third less electricity than the old ones, according to the city. The $3 million-plus project was paid for by the Parks and Green Spaces Levy, approved by voters in 2008.
That’s just part of the crowd that filled the theater at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center last night for a community celebration in honor of Ron Angeles, who’s retiring from his job as Delridge district coordinator for the city’s Department of Neighborhoods, though that title barely cracks the surface of what he’s done as an area leader over the past few decades.
If you weren’t there – we rolled video on the main events: First, the half-hour of on-stage tributes, starting with a Seattle City Council acknowledgment, read by Brian Hawksford from City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen‘s team, and including a tribute by former Department of Neighborhoods leader Jim Diers. The tributes were emceed by Delridge community activist Pete Spalding and included a few words from Ron himself (about 18 minutes in):
It wasn’t all speeches and solemnity (in fact, if you watch that first clip, it wasn’t all that solemn, period). Check out the breakdancing! Ron took a turn onstage (along with his nephew Brysen Angeles, who’s with the acclaimed breakdancing crew Massive Monkees):
Ron’s words of wisdom included his observation that community organizing is “not rocket science.” Maybe not, but it’s certainly an art, and his talent for that art was amply celebrated last night. His last day on the job is scheduled to be in mid-March.
Story and photo by Jack Mayne
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Tomorrow night is your chance to cheer and honor Ron Angeles, as he gets ready to retire from his City of Seattle work as a neighborhood district coordinator on March 15th.
Friends and colleagues have organized a community celebration 6-8 pm Thursday at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. But before that – time to look back, and look ahead.
Angeles is known best, and most recently, in West Seattle as the coordinator for the Delridge Neighborhoods District, before the Department of Neighborhoods‘ recent reorganization of district coordinators.
A team of four city employees visited last night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting for a briefing on the work coming up at Fire Station 36 – that’s the one next to The Bridge, just past the north end of Delridge Way SW. The project is technically a big deal for the city because it requires some “right of way” – property once set aside for streets/sidewalks – to be given to the Fire Department (“vacated”), which means extra process to wade through before it’s approved. In the graphic above, the purple area is the proposed “vacation,” which requires City Council approval.
In terms of public impact otherwise, the project won’t have much; it will include earthquake-safety upgrades and the addition of a 500-square-foot building (with decontamination facilities among other things). Station 36 has strategic importance including its bridge access and its status as headquarters for the marine-response team. The project – paid for by the city’s 2003 Fire Levy – is outlined here; while the crews technically will have to move out of Station 36 while the work is done (no sooner than next year), they won’t be going far – the visitors at last night’s NDNC meeting said the station’s temporary quarters will be set up on their current site. For even more details, here’s the fact sheet distributed at last night’s meeting.
(Photo added 1:51 pm)
The fence is finally coming down at Delridge Playfield, which has brand-new turf as the result of a multi-million-dollar renovation project. Seattle Parks confirms that the fencing should all be down by tomorrow. They have also set the date for a community celebration, according to Parks’ Karen O’Connor: Saturday, March 12, 12:30 pm-2:30 pm (north field).
Mark your calendar for a community celebration in honor of Delridge’s Neighborhood District Coordinator Ron Angeles. Delridge community advocate Pete Spalding of Pigeon Point shares the news tonight, confirming what we had heard rumblings about … that Ron is retiring from his longtime job at the Department of Neighborhoods. That’s Ron at right in a photo from last November, when Pete won a People’s Choice Award from Seattle CityClub. Pete says everyone is welcome to come wish Ron well and celebrate his decades of work on behalf of Delridge; it’ll be a potluck party at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 6-8 pm February 24th. Pete says, “Since Ron is all about community building, we want to make sure that the community has an opportunity to come out and express their gratitude to Ron for his many years of dedicated service to our Delridge community. Everyone who lives/works/plays in Delridge comes into contact with some of Ron’s work on a regular basis without realizing it.” You’re also welcome to join Ron, Pete, and other eastern West Seattle community leaders at the Delridge Neighborhood District Council’s next meeting this coming Wednesday night (February 16), 7 pm, also at Youngstown (4408 Delridge Way SW).
West Seattle-based Grindline, which (as a subcontractor) created the design (above) for Delridge Skatepark, is one step closer to building it. A week and a half after the word that Grindline had submitted the “apparent low bid” in the second round of bidding (here’s backstory on the 1st round), project manager Kelly Davidson has an update this morning: “The formal Request to Award to Grindline has been submitted to City Contracting. This means that Parks has reviewed and approved all pre-qualifications and we will move forward with contracting and bonding. This process can take 2-4 weeks.” Once the bid is awarded, then a date will be set for construction to start. The city says Grindline’s bid was $483,000 (almost $20,000 lower than its bid in the 1st round).
The weather truncated outdoor events for today’s scheduled Vietnamese New Year (Tết) celebration at the Vietnamese Cultural Center in mid-Delridge, next to the Tug Inn. But there were still festivities to celebrate the Year of the Cat – which replaces the rabbit on Vietnamese calendars. While stopping by, we asked about the new feature under construction on the center’s grounds:
With sponsors’ help, the center (originally profiled here in 2008) is building this structure to complement the large statue that pays tribute to General Tran Hung Dao, a 13th-century hero, so that more history can be shared. It’s expected to be open in July.
Just in from Delridge Skatepark project manager Kelly Davidson – the 2nd round of bids have just been opened, and the “apparent low bidder” is the team associated with Grindline, the West Seattle firm that designed the park. That’s who local skatepark activists have been rooting for. They came in second in the first round of bidding, which was discarded – backstory in our report from last month’s Skatepark Advisory Committee meeting. More to come, and you can also watch Seattle Skateparks for details.
4:09 PM UPDATE: Grindline’s bid was $483,000, according to Davidson. And here’s what Seattle Skateparks’ Matthew Lee Johnston, a West Seattleite, who’s on the Skatepark Advisory Committee, has to say about it.
Among those crossing The Bridge to get to Saturday’s open house at Seattle City Hall – Holli Margell and Amanda Leonard from the North Delridge Neighborhood Council. Holli gave us permission to share her photos. Above, the aerial view of West Seattle’s own Caspar Babypants performing in City Hall’s huge open-space lobby; next, visitors gathered to hear Mayor McGinn speak – Holli says he told the crowd, “We need you to help us meet our vision for the city,” and urged everyone to be engaged:
And his office upstairs was open for tours, too – this is Amanda next to a whiteboard where visitors were encouraged to leave messages:
To the mayor’s theme of getting engaged – if you live in North Delridge, check out the NDNC meeting on Monday, February 14th, 6:30 pm at Delridge Library – here’s the agenda, from Holli:
The Feb. 14th NDNC meeting will provide free cookies! Our meeting will start promptly without the usual introductions to accommodate a presentation from the Fire Station 36 – looking at their Seismic and Expansion upgrades. This presentation is timely since our March meeting will focus on Emergency Preparedness.
The February meeting agenda will also include:
– A short discussion by Co-Secretary Kirsten looking at the Delridge Neighborhood District Council’s goals
– Discussion by neighbor Connie on “What Makes a Community”
– Reports from Chairs
NDNC is online at ndnc.org.
ADDED EARLY MONDAY: Holli has written more about their City Hall visit here.
Before things got busy today, we were pursuing a few followups. Here’s news from one: Delridge Playfield project manager Ted Holden tells WSB, “I am really hoping that by next week the fences will be down, the goals up and the kids enjoying the field.” He says that if crews get some dry weather this week, they can finish the turf installation, then: “After that, the General Contractor needs about 2 days to finish the concrete work at the site entrance and we can call it a wrap.” It’s been more than six months since playfield work started; Holden notes it’s taken longer than expected because the July start “cost us those all-important dry days.” As noted on the project webpage, the field’s new design includes “two striped soccer fields, one softball field, one baseball field, one woman’s lacrosse field overlaying the north soccer field, one men’s lacrosse field overlaying the south soccer field, two striped Ultimate fields overlaying the south soccer field, and one smaller Ultimate field demarcated with ‘cone dots’ overlaying the north soccer field.”
Thanks to Angelique for the tip – A crash at Delridge and Willow (map) has cut power to the surrounding area. This just showed up on Seattle City Light‘s status site, and they’re showing more than 60 customers (homes/businesses) affected. We’re just arriving at the scene, and the crash – which does not involve serious injuries – is also causing some traffic diversion on the southbound side of Delridge. (In the photo, added 10:15, the car on the left is the one that hit the pole.) UPDATE: Per City Light and commenter “Unknown,” the power’s back on.
No injuries were reported, but a trail of destruction was left behind by one driver along 26th SW in North Delridge late last night. This morning, you can still see not only damaged vehicles (photo below) but also where the car hit signs, from a traffic circle to a corner (above) [2:10 PM NOTE: In comments, neighbors say the traffic circle, with the bent sign in the background, bore the brunt of last night’s street damage, and the tire tracks etc. at right are from a previous crash].
One neighbor, Ruby, relates a firsthand account from her partner, who saw the whole thing:
She had just parked her car and was trying to retrieve her bag from the passenger side of the car when she heard a car coming down the street at a very high speed. (She guessed around 50 mph). She honked several times in an effort to say ‘slow down!’, and the car blew past her, launched itself over the traffic circle, wrecked into the Telecom truck, and hit a van on the opposite side of the street. She ran after the car trying to get a plate and thinking the car would eventually just stop because it had so much damage…. But it didn’t… it kept going and hit several more cars before the driver abandoned it somewhere south of the park.
A police search followed, ending with no indication of the driver having turned up (we have inquiries out again this morning to see if they ever did, and will add any information we get). Anyone who suffered damage is also urged to contact police, if they haven’t already. Ruby says they heard of at least four cars that were damaged; seven were mentioned by Chris, who tweeted about this last night.
ADDED 3:22 PM: According to Lt. Ron Smith from the Southwest Precinct, five vehicles in all have reported damage from this incident so far. He says that despite a search involving two K-9 teams, the driver and vehicle were not found, though a possible license plate was reported, so investigators are working on that.
ORIGINAL REPORT, 8:11 AM: Via Facebook, Tina says Delridge is blocked between Thistle and Trenton, and Metro has rerouted the 120 bus, saying it’s because of a crash. According to e-mail from Mary, it involved a bicycle and vehicle. We’re told the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad was called out, which means the road will be closed for a few hours (last crash they investigated in West Seattle was Sunday’s outage-triggering 47th/Charlestown car vs. pole). We’re en route to this scene, but in the meantime, if you travel south Delridge, go around that area.
8:28 AM UPDATE: At the scene. The bicycle, as shown in the photo we just added, is still in the middle of the road. Police tell us the victim is a child, taken to the hospital. A driver was “evaluated” but did not show any “sign of impairment,” according to Det. Mark Jamieson of the media-response unit. They’ll have more information later once the TCI team files an initial report.
8:58 AM UPDATE: According to Lt. Sue Stangl at the Seattle Fire Department, the victim is a 15-year-old boy and has a leg injury. The vehicle is reported to have been a pickup truck.
10:24 AM UPDATE: Delridge is open again at the crash scene. Will add to this story when police release more information as expected later.
11:08 AM UPDATE: SPDBlotter has published additional details:
On January 13th, at approximately 7:07 AM, a 15 year old male bicyclist was travelling westbound on SW Cloverdale Street, heading downhill. At the intersection with Delridge Way SW, the bicyclist did not stop at the stop sign, entered the intersection, and struck the driver’s side door of a 2000 Ford F250 truck, that was travelling south on Delridge.
The bicyclist, who was wearing a helmet, was transported by SFD Medics to Harborview Medical Center with a broken leg and a head injury.
Detectives from the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad (TCIS) responded to the location to process the scene and begin their investigation. The driver of the truck was evaluated at the scene and there were no indications of any alcohol or drug impairment. The driver was interviewed and released pending further investigation.
As previewed here last week, the re-bidding process for Delridge Skatepark is officially open today – the city is advertising for bidders starting today, and will open the bids on February 2nd. Skatepark construction is estimated to cost about half a million dollars. The Delridge project – planned for the greenspace north of Delridge Community Center, at the northwest corner of Delridge and Genesee (photo above, with tags blurred) – was the first topic for the citywide Skatepark Advisory Committee last night. After noting that the project was about to go out for re-bidding, committee members discussed their frustration with the way the first bidding process ended – the low bidder didn’t meet the qualifications that were developed with SPAC input, but instead of then automatically giving the contract to the 2nd-lowest bidder, which was associated with the local company, Grindline, that designed the park, Parks management decided to rewrite the qualifications. One big frustration for committee members, particularly chair Ryan Barth and West Seattle’s Matthew Lee Johnston (who elaborates on the frustrations in this new post at SeattleSkateparks.org), was the fact that the city could not legally send the project out for a design/build bid; Parks staffer Susan Golub explained state law prevents that. Barth and Johnston wondered how to push for a change in that law – while noting that could take years, and more skateparks will be built in the meantime. (Delridge is one of five citywide slated for construction this year – “The Year of the Skatepark,” Barth dubbed it before adjourning the meeting.)
From tonight’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting at Delridge Library, two major topics – solving P-Patch challenges, and promoting the neighborhood. Our summaries, after the jump:Read More
New progress toward starting construction on Delridge Skatepark, which went on hold for a while last fall in a controversy over bidder qualifications, resulting in a decision to have the project re-bid: Seattle Parks‘ project manager, Kelly Davidson, tells WSB this afternoon: “Delridge Skatepark was signed off today by City Contracting. It will be advertised on Tuesday 1/11 and it will bid on Wed 2/2.” If all goes well from there, she says, groundbreaking is likely in March. (The project’s also on the agenda for next Monday’s Skatepark Advisory Committee meeting, 6 pm at Parks HQ downtown.)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
It’s the name behind some of the biggest nonprofit projects in West Seattle in the past decade:
*Transforming historic Cooper Elementary School into Youngstown Cultural Arts Center.
*Creating the only mixed-use building to house a Seattle Public Library branch.
*Co-developing the new home of the West Seattle Food Bank and other nonprofits adjacent to the residential units of One Community Commons.
Yet for all those high-profile projects, Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association executive director Derek Birnie admits DNDA may have a little bit of a community disconnect:
About 20 people added their voices to a cheery mix tonight in what organizers hope will be a new annual tradition: Delridge caroling. They set out from Greg Davis Park in North Delridge and serenaded neighbors along the way. And they had warm beverages too – Karrie Kohlhaas explained the ingenious wagon-borne setup:
Still plenty of holiday happenings around West Seattle this weekend – the updated lists, grouped by activity type, are on our Holidays page.
(8:28 PM UPDATE: Added video from the uprighting process; the dump truck’s just been towed away)
It’ll take one big tow truck to get that upside-down dump truck righted and taken away from behind Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (map). But we’re told the driver got out unhurt – and that no one else was hurt, either. Our crew at the scene is told that the driver apparently was coming down the SW Oregon hill but had brake trouble, tried to maneuver the truck to a safe stop, and somehow wound up this way. Per scanner traffic, it’ll be at least an hour before a big tow rig can make it to Youngstown to take care of this.
4:10 PM UPDATE: Thanks to Hollis and Phillippia with Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (which is based at Youngstown) for sending photos – our crew just got back to HQ and we’re checking theirs. We also got a note from Margaret, who says the truck’s load of dirt and mud covered some of the cars in the back lot (where Youngstown artist-loft residents live).
4:52 PM UPDATE: Christina points out via Facebook that you may have traffic trouble in the uphill turn to Oregon from Delridge – the tow truck was blocking the road at last report. Meantime, we’ve added our crew’s photo, above. And scanner traffic indicates the dump-truck driver may wind up going to a hospital to be checked out, after all.
8:26 PM UPDATE: As of about 20 minutes ago, the dump truck has been uprighted and towed away – just back from watching the conclusion of the laborious process:
Ken’s Towing brought out a big rig and first pulled the upside-down truck to a right-side-up position (our video shows the second half of that) – then after a lot of securing, finally pulled it along the south Youngstown driveway and off toward The Bridge.
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