West Seattle, Washington
30 Monday
If you didn’t go see the Christmas Ship on Saturday night, perhaps out of an understandable desire not to stand out in the drenching rain (here’s our report with video, and a larger version of the wonderful David Hutchinson photo at right) – we wanted to remind you that it’s making a West Seattle encore tonight, 8:40 pm, Don Armeni Boat Ramp (here’s a map). Also tonight, the North Delridge Neighborhood Council is one of the few community councils/associations having a regular meeting this month – they’re in session at 6:30 pm at Delridge Library. P.S. North Delridge and High Point neighbors just announced a caroling expedition this Friday night – if you want to join, meet them at 7 pm Friday at Greg Davis Park (Brandon/26th). (More holiday happenings on the WSB West Seattle Holidays page!)
Delridge Community Center is one of two places where the city is offering sandbags – the only one in the south end – but as of a short time ago, its supply was all gone. The center says they’re expecting more soon, but if you were planning on heading out to get some, you might consider waiting a while. Meantime, checking on the forecast, the heaviest rain is expected to be tonight through tomorrow night.
On the left, with her Scrabble game face on, that’s Jessie SK, proprietor of Skylark Café and Club (WSB sponsor) in North Delridge. We dropped by last week as she and friends practiced for tomorrow night’s debut of fundraising Scrabble tournaments at Skylark. Every Monday night from here on out, you can go to Skylark to play Scrabble, with the entry fee going to a good cause. Tomorrow night (and every first Monday), the beneficiary will be Team Tracy, the breast-cancer-fighting-and-awareness-raising 3 Day for the Cure team (whose namesake/leader Tracy Dart is a former Skylark employee); other nonprofits are set (or being lined up) for the other Monday nights. The Skylark website has the full story; signups are at 7 pm Mondays, first game at 7:15. (Skylark opens for happy hour/dinner at 3 pm, so you’re welcome to chow down before your wordplay.)
No confrontation, all conversation for Mayor Mike McGinn at his community-forum/town-hall meeting at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center tonight. The people you see onstage behind him are other city reps who were standing by to answer questions if needed (the officer on the right is one of West Seattle’s Community Police Team officers, Jonathan Kiehn; the others were from parks, transportation, human services, and economic development). The mayor heard entreaties about some recent hot issues, including the West Seattle Golf Course driving range and the RapidRide bus-lane-vs.-parking concerns, and also heard about local youth concerns, as well as ongoing problems like Delridge-area healthy-food access, but if you were expecting somebody to rant about, oh, say, traffic or snow response, nope. We got it all on video so you’ll be able to see for yourself once we have it uploaded (Seattle Channel wasn’t there to record the event, so as far as we know, this will be the only video of the entire meeting), and we’ll add a few more notes in a bit. Right now, we have the first installment – the mayor had two warm-up acts, a rapper and rockers – they’re both in this clip, starting with an intro from Chas Redmond, who co-moderated the evening with Pete Spalding:
(added) Here’s the video of the entire Q/A section – about an hour and a half:
Among the speakers were local neighborhood advocates who issued invitations to the mayor: Fairmount Community Association‘s Sharonn Meeks invited him to come take a walking tour of The Triangle, which has been the subject of a city-led planning process (she’s on the citizens’ advisory group convened as part of it); White Center Chamber of Commerce president Mark Ufkes invited the mayor to visit WC and talk with its residents and businesspeople about the benefits of being part of Seattle, since there might be an annexation vote in their future. The mayor indicated interest in both invitations. And he issued one of his own to the youth who shared their concerns about issues including transit routes and education – he invited them to come downtown to talk more about their ideas and observations.
Just found out that the hot local teen rockers Castbound (recorded above during this fall’s Holy Rosary WestFest) will open for Mayor Mike McGinn at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center tomorrow night. Well, that’s sort of what they’re doing. They’re playing around 6:30, right before Q/A during the mayor’s West Seattle town hall. So tonight we’re publishing this reminder that if you have something to say to the mayor, he’s here tomorrow night for exactly that purpose. Budget cuts? Snow response? Viaduct/Tunnel (he’s at a non-city meeting about that tonight)? Moderators are local uber-active neighborhood/civic volunteers/advocates Pete Spalding and Chas Redmond. The 6:30 performance/6:35 mayoral Q/A will be preceded by a 6 pm resource fair – learn more about who and what are here to help you in West Seattle! Youngstown’s at 4408 Delridge.
Circulated on a couple of city mailing lists today: A reminder that the Delridge Community Center has a computer lab available for anyone to use, teens through seniors. Lab coordinator Leslie Howle says there’s usually room for more to come use it, explaining:
We provide a free computer lab for teens through seniors to use our 12 computers and access the internet. We offer homework help for teens only from 2:30 – 4 every day and the rest of the time we are open to everyone to drop in and use the lab. We offer very inexpensive classes, some geared for seniors in particular and some for all adults, on computer basics and fun things like Photoshop and building a blog or website. … Beginning in January, we will be expanding our hours and offering the time between 1 and 2:30 for seniors to come use “open lab” time or take a class. We will also be available to help adults with resume writing and job search during that time and in the evenings.
Haven’t been to Delridge Community Center? Here’s a map. And you can check Delridge CC hours on its website.
Pre-snow, while driving by the rolls of turf lining the street south of Delridge Playfield, we realized we were overdue for a followup on the much-awaited project. Here’s what we found out from Ted Holden, project manager:
There are several reasons that the project is not complete right now. The main reasons are we added scope to the project on several occasions which added days to the base contract before the turf contract could start. Bottom line is they are completing the laying of the turf and the inlay of all the lines. They cannot infill the turf with sand and crumb rubber until we get dry weather. They need approximately 8-9 days (not necessarily consecutive) to complete the infill. With the weather not cooperating, I can’t provide a date that the field will be open for use. I’m really hoping we can finish early in December.
For more on the project, check out its official page; the funding comes from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy approved by voters two years ago.
Today, we welcome a new WSB sponsor, Allstate Insurance at 3862 Delridge Way SW. Allstate is owned by Christopher Price, longtime operator of the H&R Block offices in West Seattle. 
He is a CFP-certified Financial Planner, ChFC-chartered Financial Consultant, and has been doing financial services for more than 29 years. Christopher says he started the Delridge Allstate location to bring business to the North Delridge area, which he says is very much an up-and-coming part of West Seattle and one that needs business services. Allstate‘s Delridge location offers not only auto, home, and life, but also a full range of investment services. According to Christopher, while people are familiar with the standard lines of insurance Allstate provides, they might not know that the company also offers an wide array of investment services. Christopher adds, “I look forward to helping families like yours protect the things that are important – your family, home, car and more. I can also help you prepare a strategy to achieve your financial goals.” His Allstate office is open from 9 am to 5 pm, Mondays through Fridays. You can get a quote by calling 206-938-2886 or via e-mail at Christopher.Price@allstate.com.
We thank Christopher Price and Allstate in North Delridge for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news on WSB; find our sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here!
2 items of note in the city’s twice-weekly Land Use Information Bulletin, both of interest to anyone who wants to comment on the proposals, since their official city publication triggers relatively short periods in which you can do that: First, a revised application has been submitted for the 7100 Delridge Way SW development (first reported here last summer, then taken through an Early Design Guidance meeting before the Southwest Design Review Board) – on first look, the main difference appears to be a smaller retail area, 1,344 square feet mentioned in the new application vs. 1,750 originally mentioned. More details, and comment links (deadline 11/28), are here.
Also in today’s bulletin, the official application for Westside School (WSB sponsor) to move 5 portables onto its new site in Sunrise Heights (and create 45 parking spaces); as reported here last week, this is part of Westside’s new Middle School expansion. More details, and comment links (deadline also 11/28), are here.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
“Hard to believe it’s really me, whose name will be on high … to challenge those walking by …”
That line is from a poem by Pigeon Point-residing community activist Vivian McLean (above). It refers to the Delridge building carrying her name, Vivian McLean Place, home to the Delridge Library as well as apartments, and adjacent to offices. One of those offices belongs to the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, whose former executive director Paul Fischburg read the poem aloud last night at a party to celebrate Vivian’s 90th birthday:
Vivian is a founderof DNDA. Her birthday party filled the Highland Park Improvement Club with laughter and love, as well as for respect for Vivian’s many accomplishments, which themselves filled a scrapbook placed on a table for all to view:
The scrapbook went back decades; its first page told of an honor she had won in Michigan in 1940, years before moving here in 1948.
Even if you weren’t familiar with the impact she has had, you would have realized it with a look around the room last night. City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen stopped by. Community activists and organization leaders from around West Seattle abounded. Among them, her fellow Pigeon Point’er Pete Spalding, who wore this tribute in lights:
Pete has been involved with much of what Vivian’s work has turned from dream to reality. She lobbied the city to create the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council (which he has chaired), and organized community councils to comprise its membership (including the Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council, which he also has chaired). And as a co-founder of DNDA, not only was she involved with its work to build the aforementioned building bearing her name – the library was a longtime dream – but also with three major projects that were part of a subsequent capital campaign. They include the West Seattle Community Resource Center that is home to the West Seattle Food Bank (whose board Pete has led), as well as Youngstown Cultural Arts Center at the original Cooper School.
Last night, though, his main role was that of making sure Vivian was in attendance. And, of course, to help celebrate. “She likes to be with people,” her son Bruce had explained in his remarks; and last night, she certainly was.
As first reported here last Thursday, Mayor Mike McGinn is coming to West Seattle on December 2nd for what’s now billed as a “community forum.” The city is circulating more details today about the event’s format – here’s the official announcement:
West Seattle Community Forum with Mayor Mike McGinn
Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
Thursday, December 2, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
4408 Delridge Way SWPlease join Mayor McGinn, City Department staff & West Seattle neighbors for a conversation about issues relevant to Seattle as a whole, as well as those specific to West Seattle.
Agenda:
6:00-6:30 p.m. Information tables and staff from City Departments and local Community Groups
6:30-6:35 p.m. Energetic performance from a local youth group (to be announced)
6:35-8:00 p.m. Open question and answer session with the Mayor and City staff
The mayor came to North Delridge three months ago for a walking tour (WSB coverage here).
First community-group meeting of the week is tonight, North Delridge Neighborhood Council at Delridge Library (5423 Delridge; map), short meeting starting later than usual (7 pm), agenda includes voting for the new NDNC co-secretaries … Senior Center of West Seattle (map) launches a new class today: “Breathe Well to Live Well,” 1 pm … Weekly events include Family Story Time at High Point Library (map) with children’s librarian Amy, 7 pm, and bingo night at Alki UCC (6112 SW Hinds; map), 6:30 pm … LOOKING AHEAD: If you’re interested in remodeling or custom-home construction, Ventana Construction (WSB sponsor) presents a free workshop at 6 pm tomorrow (Tuesday), 5458 California SW (map), RSVP to 206-932-3009.
Also from last night’s Southwest District Council meeting, and confirmed by the mayor’s office this morning: Mayor Mike McGinn is coming to West Seattle for a Town Hall meeting, December 2nd at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. More details to come with the formal announcement; the time is expected to be 6-8 pm.
Just getting notes in multiple channels about a low-flying helicopter over North Delridge. Checking! 10:28 AM NOTE: Southwest Precinct says there’s no police search under way right now, so it’s not law enforcement …
Toplines from Wednesday night’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center: As she had done earlier this month for West Seattle’s other district council – Southwest – city Department of Neighborhoods director Stella Chao came out to talk about the city-budget proposal’s potential effects on her department, and to listen to local concerns. Other agenda items included the two local projects – both in the council’s coverage area – still in the running for Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund money, and how you can show support next Monday, plus the upcoming Gathering of Neighbors – read on:Read More
As previously reported, there’ve been questions concerning the bidding process for Delridge Skatepark (to be built at the northeast corner of the park adjacent to Delridge Community Center), after the low bidder was reported to not have met an amendment to the qualifications requiring a certain number of skateparks of a certain size to have been built within a certain time – Parks was deciding whether to give the project to the second-lowest bidder, or to re-bid it. According to a note just received from project manager Kelly Davidson, they’ve made the latter decision:
After internal review and review with the City Attorney’s office, Parks is rejecting all bids for Delridge Skatepark. The project and qualifications will be reviewed and the project will be re-bid. I will follow up with more information on the re-bid process once we have determined the dates and revisions to the qualifications.
Just after we published the first version of this, another e-mail came in, this one from Kevin Stoops, a top manager in Parks, confirming this means a months-long delay in skatepark construction:
Earlier today we decided to reject all bids for the Delridge Skatepark and rebid this project later this year or early next year for mid-2011 construction.
This decision has been reached after a review of the very restrictive supplemental bidder qualifications that were issued by addendum to the original project requirements. These focused on volume of work rather than specific construction requirements to complete the work, and are unnecessarily restrictive. the project will be re-bid with clearer contractor qualification requirements outlined in the construction documents. The design of the skatepark will not be changed.
Further, issuance of a construction contract involving excavation and concrete work at this time of year will be problematic was we are now ready to enter a wet rainy period for some time. The construction window for such concrete work is already rapidly coming to an end for 2010 and an extremely wet winter is forecast. Starting construction in the face of such would likely lead to unintended site costs due to wet conditions.
(Photo courtesy Symetra Financial)
That’s Randy Harkness, who’s taught first grade at West Seattle’s Sanislo Elementary School for more than 20 years. His new jersey is part of what he was given during a special surprise presentation today – Symetra Financial and the Seahawks honored him as a “Hero in the Classroom.” He was nominated by principal Ernie Seevers, who is quoted in Symetra’s announcement as saying, “He made a choice to contribute to our community’s future by working with our youngest scholars, and he has delivered the gift of literacy to two generations of children.” This season, the Heroes in the Classroom program will honor two dozen K-12 teachers around Western Washington, and Harkness is the 8th, as well as the 1st one from West Seattle. Besides the jersey, he got a certificate and tickets to a Seahawks home game as well as acknowledgment on the field – he’ll get his shoutout when the Seahawks host the Arizona Cardinals on October 24th. The award also makes Sanislo eligible for a $10,000 MVP Award – three of the schools with teacher honorees this season will get those awards at the end of the football season. (P.S. Another West Seattle teacher was honored this time last year – Christopher Robert from Roxhill.)
By Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Serving the community and reaching out to neighbors were key topics at the monthly meeting of the North Delridge Neighborhood Council at the Delridge Library on Monday night.
Most of the meeting was devoted to a presentation and discussion with Brian Waid and Andy Horner from the  Rotary Club of West Seattle (see WSB’s archive of WS Rotary news). NDNC co-chair Jay Mirro said they’re hoping to invite more groups and speakers such as the Rotary Club to the monthly NDNC meetings, to build relationships and better serve the Delridge neighborhood.
Waid and Horner encouraged NDNC leaders (and members of the community at-large) to visit the WS Rotary website for information about the group’s activities, meetings, and mission. Read More
From tonight’s meeting of the citywide Skate Park Advisory Committee downtown: No resolution yet to the question of “who’ll build Delridge Skatepark?” – but a little more light was shone on the concerns regarding bidder qualifications.Read More
Next Saturday, the first season for the Delridge Night Market wraps up with one more chance to meet your neighbors, buy fresh fruits and vegetables, enjoy entertainment, and more – like screenprinting with North Delridge Neighborhood Council (see their new website yet?) volunteers, who shared the photo from last month’s Night Market; they’re selling their famous I (Heart) Delridge shirts too. And there’s room for more vendors, too – arts, crafts, other goodies – tables and chairs are available; if you want/need a tent, it’s BYO. Interested vendors/artists can e-mail Phillippia Goldsmith at DNDA, PhilippiaG@dnda.org. And if you just want to browse, explore and enjoy, stop by Delridge/Brandon (next to Super 24; here’s a map) between 3-7 pm next Saturday (October 16).
(June 2010 photo by Christopher Boffoli)
It only happens once a quarter – and today we have the date for the next opening of West Seattle’s Art Lending Library at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center: Tuesday (corrected), October 19th, one night only, 6-9 pm. Read on for the details (including how it works), just shared by Seth Damm:Read More
That’s the final design for the long-awaited Delridge Skatepark, for which groundbreaking was anticipated soon, since bids came in two weeks ago (as reported here), with two bids below the original $505,000 estimate. The second-lowest was $502,000 from the West Seattle company that designed it (as a subcontractor), Grindline. But the low bidder, TF Sahli Construction ($413,000), may not meet the qualifications – and therein lies the controversy. West Seattle skatepark advocate and city Skate Park Advisory Committee (SPAC) member Matthew Lee Johnston has been covering this closely on the citywide website he keeps, SeattleSkateparks.org. On Tuesday, Johnston wrote this item openly critical of the low bidder and the construction process for the Seattle skatepark Sahli recently built, Lower Woodland. Today, he wrote a followup, suggesting that Parks has determined that Sahli did not meet the qualifications but would seek to re-bid the project instead of giving the contract to the 2nd-lowest bidder. That report drew concern from one North Delridge neighborhood leader who has long helped marshal support for the project, Nancy Folsom, who wrote a letter to Parks Department manager Kevin Stoops (as have Johnston and 2 other SPAC members) saying in part:
I urge you to reconsider. I’m sure you have only the best interest of the budget in mind, but a contract that seems cheap up front can end up costing far more in the long run. This will be a major city feature for many years. I will have to leave across the street from it. Let’s make it something that we’re all proud of. I don’t want to regret encouraging my neighbors to support the park and process.
We checked with Parks to see if the re-bidding report is true. Project manager Kelly Davidson was unavailable, but spokesperson Joelle Hammerstad tells WSB that Sahli has been given “until close of business today” to submit “additional documentation” regarding its qualifications – in particular, she mentioned, having to “have built six 15,000-square-foot or larger skateparks in the past six years.” So what happens if Sahli does not submit documentation confirming that? we asked. Parks has the discretion, according to Hammerstad, to either give the contract to the next lowest bidder (Grindline) or to re-bid. Since Monday is a furlough day for the division working on the project, we won’t know anything more before Tuesday – but this issue is certain to come up at SPAC’s next monthly meeting, which happens to be Monday night at Parks HQ downtown, 7 pm.
(These updates run through late Thursday night – we will start a new followup story by midmorning Friday)
ORIGINAL 1:46 PM REPORT: We are on our way to the assault-with-weapons call at 14th and Roxbury – more when we know it. The scanner is talking about an “armed suspect” – stay clear of the area. It’s a reported shooting and police are not sure where the suspect is. Scanner indicates possible multiple victims but we don’t have any information yet on their condition(s) or the circumstances.
1:56 PM UPDATE: Two medic units were originally dispatched and a third is now being sent. Scanner confirms at least one patient with a gunshot wound. SWAT units are on the scene as well. The scanner also indicates at least two guns were found inside the house – described as a “9 millimeter and 25 automatic.” The actual address is in the 9400 block of 14th SW (map) which is closer to Cambridge than Roxbury.
2:04 PM UPDATE: One victim is described on scanner as appearing to have three gunshot wounds; this is a 42-year-old female. The medic says on the scanner that SPD has advised fire of possibly “two or three more patients with gunshot wounds.” According to our partners at the Seattle Times, the suspect has been initially described as a 61-year-old Asian woman in white shirt and gray sweatpants.”
2:18 PM UPDATE: Scanner says four DOAs in the house. Again, this is per the scanner, we are still waiting to hear from public info officer at the scene. One survivor, as mentioned earlier, was taken to the hospital. This is the second murder case in West Seattle in two days – after none for more than a year and a half.
2:29 PM UPDATE: Police have briefed media at the scene. We will upload video of the briefing shortly. They are not confirming the conditions of the people at the house but they say the suspect is believed to be one of the four people they say are inside the house. They say the original call came around 1 pm, “shots fired” – and when they arrived, they heard more shots fired. Roxbury is closed westbound near the scene – so traffic effects are stretching beyond the immediate scene.
2:42 PM UPDATE: Christopher Boffoli, part of the WSB team at the scene, says police confirm the four deaths and one survivor and believe that the suspect is among the dead. Assistant chief Jim Pugel’s briefing per Christopher: “Confirmed four dead, including the shooter who is a Southeast Asian woman in her late 50s or early 60’s. It is believed that all involved are the same family. The woman who was transported to Harborview is believed to be the daughter who told police ‘my mother has gone crazy.’ Two handguns were recovered. The husband was outside the house. He broke through the police cordon and went inside. He made it back out alive and is not among the victims. There is a language barrier the officers are working through.”
3:08 PM UPDATE: More from Christopher at the scene – regarding the language barrier, the family is reported to speak Cambodian, according to neighbors. (We did hear a scanner call earlier for a Cambodian translator.) Southwest Precinct commander Captain Joe Kessler is there – this comes just a week before a scheduled command change at the precinct. CSI vans also just arrived on scene about 10 minutes ago. Adding a few additional photos. (All photos we are using were taken by either Christopher Boffoli or Patrick Sand.)
3:15 PM UPDATE: Police are starting to release more information about the people who were found dead: Two women in their late teens and a man in his 30s, in addition to the suspected shooter, now described as a woman in her fifties. Meantime, Christopher reports Roxbury has reopened to traffic – but is slow going with rubberneckers passing what is a clearly visible, sizable police presence.
3:33 PM UPDATE: Seattle Police have posted a summary in multiple tweets – we will transcribe here since they have not posted to their SPD Blotter site yet:
Around 1:31 p.m. officers responded to reports of shots fired in the 9400 block of 14th Avenue SW. Upon arrival, they made contact with an adult female in her 30s who had been shot in the 1400 block of SW Roxbury. Shots were still being fired. While police were still arriving a man in his 50s ran into the house in question. Two more shots were fired and he ran back out. Officers contacted him. He told officers that his wife had shot herself. Officers entered the house and located four people deceased, two women in their late teens, a man in his thirties and a woman in her 50s. Medics were not able to revive any of them. The woman who was discovered outside of the house was transported to HMC for treatment of gunshot injuries. It is believed that the deceased woman in her 50s was the shooter. Two handguns have been recovered. We don’t believe that there are any other victims. Homicide, SWAT, CSI and KCSO are on scene. No motive is known. This is an active investigation and this information is preliminary. Check here for further updates.
4:25 PM UPDATE: Here’s video of Sgt. Sean Whitcomb from the SPD media unit in what’s likely to be the last briefing of the day – he called the crime scene “pretty vicious”:
4:55 PM UPDATE: Our partners at the Seattle Times report that some kind of dispute had reportedly erupted at the home last night – here’s their story, which also is continuing to develop.
7:28 PM UPDATE: Checking back at the scene: Police say the medical examiner has just arrived – which would indicate the victims’ bodies have not yet been removed. In the past two hours, we also have added a few more images from this afternoon, photographed as events unfolded. (The photo atop the story is still a cameraphone picture sent from the scene shortly after we arrived.) At the scene tonight, people are still being kept at a distance, media included. In case you are wondering whether anyone has set up any kind of a memorial – no one has been allowed close enough for anything like that to be arranged, or visible.
8:12 PM NOTE: The White Center Community Safety Coalition, whose coverage area includes the neighborhood where today’s shooting happened, had its regularly scheduled meeting tonight, barely a block away from the scene. We attended (we usually cover it anyway for partner site White Center Now) but – not surprisingly – law enforcers weren’t there this time, so there was no new information about the case. The basic summary on SPD Blotter remains the most recent official word.
10:50 PM: Two images from the scene tonight, from Christopher Boffoli. In the first, you see authorities inside the residence, as they prepared to bring out the four bodies:
Official identification is not expected before tomorrow. The Times has spoken to family members and has published the names they were given (here’s their updated story) – reporting that the two teenage girls who were killed were the alleged killer’s granddaughters, 17 and 14 years old.
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