West Seattle, Washington
28 Saturday
Three weeks after first word of a Design Review meeting ahead for a mixed-use project at 7100 Delridge Way (map) project, the official notice is out this morning, with a place and time: 6:30 pm August 12th, Senior Center of West Seattle. As the notice reconfirms, the proposal is for “a four-story structure containing 58 units over 1,750 sq. ft. of retail space and three single family structures on a split zone site” with 77 underground parking spaces.
All over West Seattle, there are terrific summer youth programs – and we’re thrilled that one of them will be presenting participants’ work here on WSB. The summer photojournalism program at Delridge Community Center is working with WSB again this year; you will see some of their work soon, but first, they wanted to introduce themselves!
My name is Fizan Rao, and I am a high school student currently taking part in the RecTech Photojournalism Summer Internship program at Delridge Community Center. I’m writing to introduce the program to the West Seattle community on behalf of the ten teens who are taking part in the internship. This is the second year for the Photojournalism Program at Delridge.
Photojournalism tells a story using a combination of photography and journalism, and the internship provides teens with training in both. So far, we’ve been introduced to the basics of good photography and different ways of using composition, lighting, and background to make a good photograph. We’re learning how to capture and tell a story visually, how to use Adobe Photoshop to edit our photos for publication, and how to write stories and journal about our experience.
In the first two weeks of the program we have been introduced to great photography through slide shows and excellent speakers, like Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Jerry Gay and West Seattle Blog Editor Tracy. Now we’re out looking for stories in West Seattle and the surrounding area. We are planning a weekly feature interviewing interesting people who live in West Seattle as well as covering local events. If you have an event that you think we should cover, or know of someone interesting that we might like to interview, please let us know at rectechinterns@gmail.com. We look forward to publishing our work on the West Seattle Blog in the weeks to come.
Fizan Rao
From tonight’s Delridge District Council meeting (more to come in a separate report), a sneak peek at something that hasn’t been officially announced yet: On October 9th, Delridge will be the locale for what’s being billed as “HP3 – Healthy Parks, Healthy People, Healthy Planet – Seattle’s First Environmental Adventure Race.” According to draft handouts circulated at tonight’s meeting at Youngstown Arts Center, this will be “an environmental adventure race crisscrossing the Delridge community, designed to create awareness and foster action on environmental issues throughout Seattle.” The flyer lists “elite” and “open” divisions – with the former involving no more than 50 two-person teams, limited to people who have completed either a half or full marathon in the preceding year, and the race including multiple events over 16 miles, including “pushing a wheelbarrow full of mulch 1 mile up the Soundway Trail” and “removing 50 pounds of invasive plants at Westcrest Park.” Separate from the race, there also will be an inter-neighborhood competition component involving picking up trash, collecting recyclables, and collecting compostables. This comes from a project that won a $20,000 city “Small and Simple” grant earlier this year.
If you saw the sizable police response at Delridge/Brandon Monday night – several people e-mailed us about it – here’s what it was about, according to Southwest Precinct Lt. Ron Smith: One suspect was arrested after officers answered a disturbance call just after 8 pm, involving that suspect and a neighbor’s guest. During the disturbance, Lt. Smith says, “a knife was displayed, and the suspect began chasing the complainant’s cousin with a knife.” The suspect was eventually arrested for assault with a weapon; the knife had been thrown in the bushes just before officers arrived. Then police were called back to the scene just before 10 pm – the original complainant called to ask for help because, Lt. Smith said, “males associated with the suspect were hanging around and complainant was still having issues with them. Due to the nature of the original call, multiple units responded to ensure a peaceful resolution.”
Two reminders: City Council President Richard Conlin is one of the guests scheduled for this week’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting, 7 pm Wednesday at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center; and Mayor Mike McGinn will be touring Delridge on August 7th. Neighborhood District Coordinator Ron Angeles has just announced new information about the mayoral tour – it’ll leave from the office where he’s based, Delridge Neighborhood Service Center (by the library), at 10 am on that day (a Saturday). Planned stops on the walking tour include Brandon Natural Area, Greg Davis Park, Cottage Grove Commons, and Delridge P-Patch – you’re welcome to meet the group and come along.
Last night, a low-key celebration included arts and crafts for kids – one year after they got a brand-new playground at Delridge Community Center. The actual anniversary is today – July 17th, 2009, will be marked in Delridge history as the day hundreds of volunteers joined with KaBOOM! to make the playground dream come true.
(WSB photo from July 17, 2009)
Happy birthday!
Communication issues – from names to outreach to online presence – are among the toplines from Monday night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting: Read More
(Since the banner outside this in-the-works restaurant on Delridge originally promised a spring opening, now that it’s summer, some have asked us if we know what’s going on. So we found the owners and got the story.)
Story and photo by Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Though the only aroma currently coming from this storefront is that of paint and varnish, the owners of this new restaurant located next door to Olympia Pizza on Delridge Way promise that in a couple of weeks, the smells of spiced meat, banh mi sandwiches and pho will be enticing customers to visit.
Owners Melinda Nguyen and Scott Dang, who have owned other restaurants including Lemongrass near Seattle University (which they sold in 2002), moved to West Seattle recently and decided they needed to open another restaurant.
Quick note for tonight from the WSB West Seattle Events calendar: The North Delridge Neighborhood Council meets tonight for the first time on their new night, at their “old” location – NDNC is back at the Delridge Library, now meeting on the second Monday of the month, 6:30 pm. ADDED 12:07 PM: Agenda info here.
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli)
Till 8 pm – produce from Clean Greens is part of the first-ever “Night Market” outside the Super 24 on Delridge – another event to offer more healthy food to people living in an area that needs more access to it. There’s a bit of garden showcasing going on, too:
And entertainment:
This is the kickoff to a season of Friday and Saturday produce markets, with Clean Greens, in the same spot, as reported here two weeks ago – so you should see the team back at Super 24 (5455 Delridge Way) 9 am-5 pm next Friday and 10 am-6 pm next Saturday.
Along with Myrtle Reservoir Park and the Hiawatha Playfield track, there’s more Seattle Parks work under way in West Seattle right now: Drove by Delridge Playfield and noticed the fences going up around the field, which is getting new turf funded by the Parks and Green Spaces Levy. Parks’ communications team confirms that construction work is beginning – they’ve just updated the project’s webpage, which points out that the finished field will incorporate “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.” Parks says the field is expected to reopen by early October, as per the contract we reported here a month ago.
This was first noted in a comment at 3:45 this morning, and we just got confirmation from the theft victims – Someone returned “Bones,” the drummer in a popular Delridge driveway-side art installation, overnight, five days after he was stolen (as originally reported in the WSB Forums). The theft victims’ note was addressed to us but we believe it’s meant for all of WSB-land:
We just wanted to thank you one last time and let you know that to our immense delight Bones was returned last night. He’ll be going back into surgery (we’re beginning to worry he may have an addiction) and was missing his shoes, but otherwise we’re hopeful he’ll return to his drum kit soon. Thanks again for helping to restore our faith in the world!
If you, like us, hadn’t seen the band when they were all “together,” go here to see a photo shared by Brian Zenk.
For the first time in a half-year, the Southwest Design Review Board will soon have a project to review. The meeting tentatively scheduled for August 12th – no time/place yet – will be “early design guidance” for a proposal at 7100 Delridge Way SW (map). It’s described on the city Department of Planning and Development website as a “split-zone site” with one 4-story mixed-use building “containing 58 units over 1,750 sq ft of retail space,” plus three single-family homes. The proposal also mentions underground parking for 77 vehicles. Owner/developer is John Su, best known for Bellevue high-rise projects like this one.
That’s a photo of “Bones” – a North Delridge neighborhood fixture before somebody “kidnapped” him from his driveway-side “stage” a few days ago, according to a creative, plaintive post published to the WSB Forums. In a subsequent e-mail conversation, his owners told us:
On July 2 someone stole (“Bones”) just after we’d spent a great deal of time and money repairing him from weather damage, and we’d really like to have him returned since he has great sentimental value as well as being a significant time and financial investment.
They don’t want to make their contact info public at this point – they just hope that publicizing the theft will inspire someone who knows something to find a way to get “Bones” back to his rightful place as part of their garden-art display.
After a briefing at the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting last week, we wrote about the planned Night Market and other new Delridge opportunities to buy fresh, healthy food, starting next month. This morning we have the official flyer, courtesy of Philippia Goldsmith at DNDA – and word that the Night Market’s debut will be 4-8 pm Saturday, July 10th, at Super 24, already the pilot Delridge Fresh Food Spot location. And as also discussed last week, that’s just the start – Philippia explains what else is in the works starting in a few weeks:
Starting with the Night Market kickoff on 7/10, The Delridge Fresh Food Spot Team along with Clean Greens Farm and Market will operate on Fridays 9 am-5 pm and Saturdays 10 am to 6 pm to provide a weekly produce market. On Saturdays, the Delridge Fresh Food Spot Team (DNDA staff and volunteers) will be at the Super 24 from 10 am-2pm providing food samplings using Clean Greens produce as well as information on healthy food options, simple activities for the kids and more. For more information give us a call, (206) 935-2999, or e-mail Phillippia @ phillippiag@dnda.org
When we dropped by the alley behind Delridge Library this past Saturday morning, to check on the ongoing neighborhood alley cleanup, we found Karrie and Amanda toiling to make more progress (with the help of tools from the new West Seattle Tool Library!). We asked Karrie a followup question later – and received a full progress report:
It was our 3rd weekend working on the alley and we have all come to the realization that it’s a summer-long project. We originally thought we could knock it out in 2 days, but we didn’t realize just how much work it was until we dug in. Blackberries are adamant about holding their ground and the layers of garbage make me feel like an archaeologist. I do have an anthropology background so it’s kind of fun to see what we unearth, as long as it’s not too nasty.
Interesting finds so far: a decaying purse filled with syringes, couch cushions, a toilet, an active underground bee hive, a polaroid of a birthday party, enough green yarn to sew a sweater, dirty diapers and several other unmentionables. …
It is the beginning of something. Our plan now is to focus on small sections and start planting them so that people can see some reward for their hard work in the beautification sooner rather than later.
Neighbors north of our block have heard about this project and have said they want to clean up their alley now, so it’s catching on. That’s my hope. I would love to know that I could walk through any alley in Delridge/West Seattle and feel safe and see something beautiful. We are starting here, where we are.
Our block sees this alley as part of our community and we know that if we leave it to be swallowed up by weeds, brambles and litter, it’s a more attractive and hidden place for behavior that is not supportive of our community. So, we are determined to transform this particular alley into one that is safe, clean and a beautiful place to walk. It’s going to take time, clearly we have amazing neighbors who are invested in this project and who keep showing up. Bit by bit, we’ll make this happen.
And “bit by bit” of course also means person by person – here’s a photo Karrie shared, taken weekend before last, when a couple boys out for a bike ride stopped to help:
And the alley itself – though she notes, “Keep in mind, these pics are from our 2nd week into it so you cannot see the massive piles of brambles and trash we picked up the weekend prior.”
There’s also a much-tagged metal building along the alley that she says they have reported many times over, and if it isn’t handled soon, they’ll paint over the vandalism themselves. If you want to help with the ongoing alley cleanup, they’ll be in this alley (map) Saturday middays TFN, 11 am-1 pm.
You’ve probably heard of Adopt-A-Street; in North Delridge, a project under way could be dubbed Adopt-An-Alley. Neighbors have been working to clean up the alley behind Delridge Library, thinking that, among other potential benefits, if it doesn’t look like a dumping ground, it’ll stop being used as one. So they’re gathering again today, 11 am-1 pm, to remove more garbage and dig out blackberry stumps to keep them from growing back. They’ve procured bags and gloves from the Adopt-A-Street program and are planning to check out some tools from the new West Seattle Tool Library (which is open Saturdays 9 am-2 pm, more info here). Karrie Kohlhaas‘s announcement notes:
Last weekend some neighborhood kids came through on their bikes and helped out, learned about what we were doing…several people thanked us, one man said now it will be safe for his son to walk through the alley to the library, another person said they wanted to do this for so long but couldn’t do it alone…We can get it
done together. Join us!
The alley is between 25th SW and Delridge, between Brandon and Findlay (map). If you have your own gloves, shovel and/or dirt-loosening tool, bring it along.
A week ago, we mentioned the start of the trial for 36-year-old DeVaughn Dorsey, charged with federal crimes including witness tampering for shooting a mother and her 10-year-old son in their Delridge residence two years ago. The verdict’s in – guilty. Here’s the story from our partners at the Seattle Times; here’s the official federal news release, which mentions Dorsey faces 23 years in prison, 10 years for this, and 13 years for charges to which he pleaded guilty before the trial. The Times story quotes a lead investigator as saying that Dorsey is a career criminal with almost 100 arrests on his record.
Another note from last night’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting – Youngstown Cultural Arts Center‘s Randy Engstrom extended a West Seattle-wide 
invitation (and beyond!) to the All-Access Showcase event tomorrow night – and we have additional information today from Youngstown program director Alberto Mejia. From 6-8:30 pm, you can go check out everything from music to breakdancing to spoken-word art to visual art to “do-it-yourself organic gardening” in the historic building at 4408 Delridge Way SW (map). All-Access is the free after-school program that engages hundreds of young people in a wide range of activities, and this showcase is the result of the work they’ve been doing since the first of the year. It’s free, and you’re encouraged to drop by and sample the students’ amazing achievements. (Wander the Youngstown halls, too, if you haven’t been there before – they’re laden with history, art, and information.)
Hope to see you at tomorrow’s ReFRESH Southwest – the umbrella name for this year’s combined Delridge Day and Sustainable West Seattle Festival events, all happening tomorrow at, in, and around Delridge Community Center, 1-5 pm (after the Clean and Green cleanup and Delridge Walks events in the morning!) — here again is the outdoor exhibitors’ map (WSB is #26), and now for the first time we have the full schedule of indoor and outdoor events, from arts to games to the sustainability workshops and beyond, just forwarded by SWS Festival coordinator Christina, after the jump:Read More
After our report yesterday on a delay in the start of Delridge Skatepark construction (see the story here), several people asked for a followup on when work will start at nearby Delridge Playfield, scheduled for renovations including new artificial turf. We checked with project manager Ted Holden, who has just replied with a major update: He says the bids were just opened yesterday (one week later than planned). His summary:
Seven firms submitted bids. The apparent low bidder is A-1 Landscape and Construction, Inc. The apparent low bid is $ 1,034,376, which is $596,894 or 36.6% below the Engineer’s Estimate. Parks shall check the required Bidder Qualifications, and if all checks out shall recommend immediate award.
Holden also shared a copy of the current construction schedule, which calls for work to start in early July and, if all goes well, to be finished by October. (For more details on what’s involved in the playfield project, here’s our story from the 2nd and final public meeting last November; here’s the final “schematic design” from the Parks website.)
Counting down to the next big festival – ReFRESH Southwest, combining Delridge Day and the Sustainable West Seattle Festival – this Saturday, 1-5 pm at Delridge Community Center – we’ve got new information tonight. First: SWS, which is handling exhibitors, has provided the map of who you’ll see where (hope you’ll stop by to say hi – WSB will be next to North Delridge Neighborhood Council, where, as reported here yesterday, the cool (Heart) Delridge T-shirts will be on sale, and we’re told you do NOT have to pre-order!). Here’s that map – we’re #26. Meantime, SWS Festival coordinator Christina provided the list of workshops during Saturday’s festival:
1:30 – 2 pm – Keeping Goats by Jennie Grant, Goat Justice League
2:30 – 3 pm – Electric Vehicles by Craig Vinton
3:30 – 4 pm – Keeping Chickens by Jenifer McIntyre, Seattle Farm Coop
4:30 – 5 pm – Keeping Bees by Puget Sound Beekeepers Association
One more new tidbit tonight – the flyer’s out for the city-supported Clean and Green cleanup that will precede the festival, 9 am-noon, centered around Southwest Youth and Family Services, whose HQ is south of Delridge Community Center. Here it is as a 1-page PDF. And you can still sign up online for Delridge Walks – as an individual or group – to walk to the festival from your part of West Seattle.
When you visit Delridge Community Center for the ReFRESH Southwest festival this Saturday (1-5 pm, another update later today), you might wonder what’s up with 
Delridge Skatepark construction on the northeast corner of the DCC grounds. Though fall completion was the hope just a few months ago, that won’t happen – project manager Kelly Davidson tells WSB that skatepark construction is now expected to start in late summer, which would mean completion early next year. She says issues with groundwater and drainage at the skatepark site have meant it’s taking longer to completing the documents needed to send the project out for bid, but they’re getting closer – she’s hoping a meeting with engineers tomorrow will settle the issue of how they’ll deal with drainage.
Pending approval by Seattle Public Utilities, Davidson says “over-excavating” is likely to be the solution — digging a bigger hole, and surrounding the project area with fill that drains better than the existing clay. (She says a project team member has described it as “surrounding it with a sponge.”) Otherwise, groundwater could back into the bowls during heavy rain, and that would be a safety risk. She says this won’t change the skatepark design (by West Seattle-based Grindline), and doesn’t expect the water work to put the project over-budget, as they have a “contingency” to deal with this kind of issue. “Everything else [regarding construction] is ready to go,” she says, while acknowledging they would have liked to have known more about the drainage/groundwater challenges sooner, but geotechnical engineers didn’t get involved until the project’s “additional funding” was available at the first of the year. Once construction begins, she says it’s likely to take around 80 working days – based on a five-day workweek, that would be four months – meaning the skatepark isn’t likely to be open before next year. (If you’re looking for Parks info about this online – Davidson says the project webpage should be updated sometime later today.)
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