West Seattle, Washington
07 Tuesday
New tree-removal rules made it through the City Council today – read on for the official news release with details about the restrictions and the potential penalties:Read More
The map in the background of that photo from a recent meeting in West Seattle may show the world, but the gathered group was there to focus on one little corner of it: Fauntleroy. As part of the ongoing West Seattle Trails Alliance/Feet First project (notice the distinctive green maps, published last year, in front of participants), three wayfinding kiosks will be placed in Fauntleroy (with other neighborhoods slated to get them as well), and project leaders are meeting with neighbors to get direct local input on where those kiosks should go, what they should point to, and what kind of art they should showcase – read on for more:Read More
Just back from a media-geared boat tour along the South Park stretch of the Duwamish River with BJ Cummings of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, immediately after her group released its report on a year-in-the-making community-created vision of the Duwamish’s future. The “vision” – she was careful to caution, it’s a vision, not yet a plan – covers the West Seattle side of the Duwamish Valley as well, and we have maps, drawings, and video to show you; we’ll be adding them to this report over the next hour-plus (the map is available online now, as a 29MB zip file or as a smaller, zoomable image). This is all coming out now as the EPA works on the next stage of the cleanup of the waterway that’s so polluted, it’s a Superfund site. But there’s hope for its future, and in fact, perhaps this was a good omen for the tour: A California sea lion surfaced alongside the boat; Cummings said recent sea lion sightings on that section of the river are the first in a long time, though no one’s sure why they’ve come back. A water-taxi route along the river, from the foot of the West Seattle Bridge southward, and aerial gondolas (like the relatively new tram in Portland), are part of the plan, which you can inspect firsthand during an event at the Duwamish Tribe‘s new Longhouse this afternoon, 4-6 pm. 1:47 PM UPDATE: Maybe a water taxi like this? Here’s the one used for this morning’s tour, with Captain Howie Dickerman at the helm:
He does his biggest business in dive charters. And here’s the clip from our second pass under the South Park Bridge (which needs to be replaced, and now federal stimulus money is the best hope) – listen to the eerie sound of traffic going over, as we pass under:
Click ahead to see Cummings explain what the report is for, and describe its toplines (as we continue to add to this story):Read More
INITIATIVE 100 LAUNCH: The signature-gathering effort for a city initiative seeking a vote on whether to build a jail — which could ratchet back the process that already has potential sites identified, including one in West Seattle — starts with a 7:30 am event at Town Hall downtown.
DUWAMISH CLEANUP REPORT AND OPEN HOUSE: What’s ahead for the waterway along easternmost West Seattle? A new report comes out this morning (we’ll be at the official announcement), and then you’re invited to come find out even more firsthand at the Duwamish Longhouse on West Marginal Way, 4-6 pm, followed by another in the series of cultural events at the Longhouse: films by Sandy and Yasu Osawa focusing on the Longhouse at Evergreen State College, 7 pm.
ANOTHER MOVIE: It’s Environmental Film Night at Camp Long Lodge, showing “Broken Limbs” — the clip above is a 3-plus-minute intro to the movie — focusing on the much-changed apple industry in the Wenatchee area, 7 pm.
ORGANIC PRODUCE FOR DELRIDGE? Tonight’s the next Delridge Produce Co-op organizing meeting, Pearls on Delridge, 6:30 pm.
By David Whelan
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
A state/city briefing on the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement/tunnel plan highlighted Wednesday night’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting.
Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin was scheduled to speak but didn’t make it to the meeting.
The Viaduct/Tunnel briefing came from Ron Paananen, who’s been a project lead for WSDOT, and Hannah McIntosh from SDOT.
We told you recently about West Seattle’s CoolMom.org group assembling and sending letters to First Lady Michelle Obama, expressing their concerns about, and hopes for, the future of our planet. This morning, members of the group got together to show us the finished product, 50 letters which they are binding into a book and are getting ready to send. (Left to right – on slide Sydney, then mom Terri Glaberson, center Deborah Kapoor w/ son Asim in front of her – CoolMom.org director and co-founder Kirsten McCaa – Laura Elfline with Sydney and Vivian, then Abby Suplizio with Gabe & Soleil.) Here’s Gabe, explaining what he wrote:
The book will be on its way to the White House shortly.
(August 2008 photo by John LaSpina)
We talk a lot about the two waterways bordering West Seattle to the north — Elliott Bay — and the west — the rest of “open” Puget Sound, but not so much about our eastern border, the Duwamish River. Yet all the while, it’s a working waterway, with industry, fishing, and … environmental cleanup, as well as future planning. So what’s ahead? Here’s your invitation, just out of the inbox, to find out in a few days:
You are invited to join the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition for the release of the Duwamish Valley Vision Map & Report!
Thursday, February 19, 4–6 p.m. at the Duwamish Tribe’s Longhouse and Cultural Center, 4705 West Marginal Way South.
The Duwamish Valley Vision Map has been a year in the making and is the result of community workshops, surveys and interviews in four languages with over 500 residents, workers, business owners, industry leaders, youth, elders, fishermen, housing and homeless advocates. The map and report describe the future vision of the Duwamish Valley’s environment, community amenities, transportation, and economic development.
Please join us for our Vision Release Open House ~
~ View the vision maps
~ Pick up a CD copy of the report
~ Enjoy light snacks with the project partners, and
~ Stay for the Duwamish Tribe’s screening of 2 films by Sandy and Yasu Osawa at 7 p.m.r.s.v.p. to contact@duwamishcleanup.org
In Gatewood, neighbors and friends spent part of Valentine’s Day working to give nature a helping hand in one of West Seattle’s semi-hidden greenbelt treasures, Orchard Street Ravine (map). Among them, Morgan Community Association‘s Cindi Barker, who shared these photos and a quick report:
We had a very successful day planting in the Orchard Street Ravine. Nearly 20 people turned out and worked their tails off for 4 hours to get 350-plus plants into the ground. Half of the plants were donated by the Green Seattle Partnership, the others were purchased with the last of the ProParks Levy funding allocated for the ravine and trail project. Many of the plants that went in today were bareroot native trees, to complement the understory plants put in before Christmas. Today’s weather was much more enjoyable than during that frigid planting party! The remaining blackberry thickets seen in the boundary areas will remain for a year or so to provide ground cover for the wildlife, until the new plants are established and spread out. We’ve had madrona trees grow over 3 feet in one year, so this is a rich environment for native species. Remember that future work parties will be on the second Saturday of the month, from 9:00 to 1:00.
Just spotted this while searching Google News: Coming up at 2:50 pm – on the air at 94.9 FM or online at kuow.org – Darwin’s 200th “birthday” is commemorated in a chat with West Seattle author and birder Lyanda Lynn Haupt (mentioned here last year because of an honor for her book “Crow Planet“).
(2007 WSB photo of Fauntleroy Cove, looking toward Lincoln Park)
Since our report about last night’s Fauntleroy Community Association board meeting, there’s one more note from that neighborhood – requesting help ASAP on a hot topic that’s coming up right now in the Legislature – FCA president Bruce Butterfield has sent this from Judy Pickens, who works with Fauntleroy Creek among other local environmental issues:
SUPPORT ONGOING FUNDING FOR ‘THE STENCH’
Rep. Sharon Nelson from our district has introduced, with others, a bill that would provide ongoing funding for research and emergency response to sea-lettuce blooms in Puget Sound (“the stench”). E-mails in support of the bill from Fauntleroy residents could greatly increase its chance of passage.
HB 1231 (“Controlling saltwater algae”) and the Senate version (SB 5412) would assign 25 cents of every dollar that the state now collects from boat registrations for controlling algae in freshwater to doing the same in saltwater. This diversion would result in an estimated $140,000 per year for a grant program that cities and counties could tap for research on sea lettuce and emergency response when public-health concerns warrant haul-out of rotting seaweed. By tapping the existing revenue stream from a related program, the legislation would not require new funding. Read the full text of HB 1231 and analysis at http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2009&bill=1231.
The Washington State Lake Protection Association is opposing these bills on the grounds that sea lettuce is merely a nuisance, not a public-health threat comparable to algae growth in freshwater. I have updated FCA’s “white paper,” to emphasize Fauntleroy’s experience with hydrogen sulfide from rotting sea lettuce and included data from air-quality studies here. While lake advocates understandably don’t want to lose some of their funding, their position is ill-informed.
If you have a personal story to tell about “the stench” at its worst on a hot summer day in Fauntleroy, please send a quick e-mail to the committee chairmen:
House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee
Rep. Brian Blake, chairman
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/memberemail/MailForm.aspx?Chamber=H&District=19&Position=2Senate Environment, Water, and Energy Committee
Sen. Phil Rockefeller, chairman
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/memberemail/MailForm.aspx?Chamber=S&District=23Send a copy of your e-mail to Rep. Nelson at
apps.leg.wa.gov/memberemail/MailForm.aspx?Chamber=H&District=34&Position=2 (corrected from original publication)For more information, please e-mail Judy_Pickens@msn.com
ADDED 1:53 PM: Since there seems to be an intense amount of interest in this, we’ve also uploaded the “white paper” mentioned above, which explains that this goes beyond what you might assume is a smelly natural phenomenon. Read it here.
(from left, Chief Sealth students DJ, Holly, Sara)
Tonight’s Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council meeting included an appearance by student reps of a project we’ve heard about at several meetings in the past few weeks: Chief Sealth High School students working with Cooper Elementary students to document and clean up the nearby section of the West Duwamish Greenbelt. This meeting, of course, had special significance, since Cooper is where the PP group meets. The students are looking for people who can help them compile neighborhood history, too. Another agenda item: Debbie Goetz from the city’s neighborhood-preparedness team led some post-mortem discussion of the December snow (even as some February flakes are falling). She asked attendees to rate the snowstorm on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being “extreme inconvenience” – most gave it a 7 or 8, and many voiced concerns about the bus troubles that happened throughout the storm; Debbie reiterated what’s been said at recent city meetings — Metro’s being brought into planning for future weather problems. She also passed out flyers for the next SNAP (Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepare) session in West Seattle, 6:30 pm March 12 at the Admiral Library branch.
Two more items discussed: Pete Spalding voiced concern about maintenance and vandalism (including tagging) on Pigeon Point-area staircases. Neighbors agreed to assess the staircases and contact the city for repair materials; maintenance trouble spots include railings that are in bad shape. Plus, the future Delridge Produce Co-Op came up (as reported here last week), with lots of enthusiastic discussion, and questions about whether parking strips can be used for edible gardens and fruit trees. (The next meeting for everybody interested in the Co-Op, by the way, is this Thursday, 6:30 pm, Delridge Library.)
This Thursday night, Seattle Great City Initiative‘s new campaign “Streets for People” (read about its mission here) kicks off with a rally/forum at the South Lake Union Armory at 5 pm Thursday. Stu Hennessey from Alki Bike and Board is leading a ride from West Seattle to the event; he says, “Anyone is welcome that can bicycle ride 25-30 miles at a moderate pace. We will attend the Streets for People kickoff rally and return. The ride will feature alternative routes through the city. Helmets and lights are required. Rain will not cancel.” Just meet the group at 3:30 pm Thursday at Alki Bike and Board (2606 California; here’s a map). ADDED SUNDAY NIGHT: Chas Redmond shares the bus directions he put together for anyone who’d rather use transit to get from various West Seattle spots to the Armory event:Read More
Two links to share if you are Web-wandering tonight: Just got word from Alki Bike and Board‘s Stu Hennessey that Sustainable West Seattle has relaunched its website with a brand-new look; check it out at sustainablewestseattle.org. Also just heard about a new site focusing on news about Puget Sound – pugetsoundnews.org, “a project of the University of Washington’s Environmental Journalism class” this semester, according to its About page.
HIAWATHA PANCAKE BREAKFAST: This Sunday morning, chow down while beefing up the coffers of Hiawatha-based programs: It’s the 21st annual Pancake Breakfast at Hiawatha Community Center, raising money for youth basketball programs: All-you-can-eat pancakes, with side dishes including ham, sausages, bagels and fruit, PLUS coffee/juice, free for kids 4 and younger, $4 for 5-12 and 65-up, $5 for ages 13-up, 8 am-noon Sunday at Hiawatha.
ANTI-VALENTINE COMEDY SHOW TO BENEFIT PUPPY-MILL RESCUEES: The Cathy Sorbo/Rod Long show at the Admiral Theater on February 13th is now not just a benefit for West Seattle-based Furry Faces Foundation – it’s going to benefit the North Sound dogs rescued from suspected “puppy mills,” and you’re asked to bring donations along these lines. Tickets are available online.
NATURE CONSORTIUM’S FIRST-EVER BENEFIT BRUNCH: The Youngstown Arts Center-based organization that quietly works to restore West Seattle forest land is having its first Benefit Brunch, 11 am March 14th, at the Youngstown theater. As the Nature Consortium pitch puts it, “This is a free hour-long brunch for people to come and learn more about our organization. Yes, it is a fundraiser, too. You will be asked to consider making a contribution. There is no minimum and no maximum gift requested. Nature Consortium staff, volunteers, and program participants will produce an inspirational program.” RSVP to Lisa Corbin, lisa@naturec.org or call (206) 923-0853.
It’s been more than a year in the making now, and the West Seattle Trails Alliance continues marching ahead, with a focus now on kiosks around the area to point out walking routes and their highlights. The flyer above is for the first of the “next steps,” a Fauntleroy gathering next week described by Chas Redmond at westseattlewalks.org:
The three kiosks to be sited in the general Fauntleroy area are the first to be designed and located for the 10 kiosks which are part of this project. The three kiosks are associated with up to 20 on-street wayfinding markers (think street pole and sign but for trails rather than roads).
One of the locations suggested in previous charrettes is in front of Lincoln Park – but exactly where and on which side of the street is undecided. Another recommended location is near the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal, but again the specifics are to be determined by the community. The last of the three kiosks in the Fauntleroy area is to be sited somewhere in the vicinity of Endolyne – by the bakery or by the church or by the school – again, where is to be determined.
The meeting at Fauntleroy Church will be the kick-off event for the design and determining the exact location of the three Fauntleroy-area kiosks. Each of the on-street markers must also be addressed – where and what should the marker blades say is one question. Thinking of the three kiosks as wayfinding beacons, the on-street markers are the guides from beacon to beacon. Where are these on-street guides and what do the blades actually say? As an example, the on-street markers between the Ferry location and Lincoln Park can point out shortcuts up Gatewood Hill to the Myrtle Street Reservoir – the highest point in the city. Other ideas are both sought and welcome at the charrette.
The Fauntleroy-area kiosks are the first in this series and will be followed by design and location charrettes for kiosks located in the Alki and Admiral areas later this Spring.
Second “step forward”: Chas also tells WSB that after 10 months of distributing the printed West Seattle Trails map (last year, WSB readers got a chance to comment on early versions), 19,000 copies – almost the entire 20K print run – are out there, placed in 64 locations (listed here), “almost one for every two households.” He adds, “We’re compiling changes and recommendations and are anticipating printing a new version by the end of this year” — once the final kiosks in the first round are up; a second city matching-funds grant is being pursued for the second round of kiosks, on the eastern half of the West Seattle peninsula.
For the second consecutive weekend, West Seattle teens helped clean up their community’s streets – last weekend, during the North Delridge Adopt-A-Street (WSB photo included here), and today, during the Admiral Neighborhood Association Adopt-A-Street. ANA president Mark Wainwright shared the above photo of Madison Middle School students who joined the operation (shown clowning around afterward with some of the big yellow bags of trash collected in the cleanup), and this update:
The kids are Dallas Baker, Lindsay Vanderpool, Sita Ross, Anton Summers, Megan Antalan, and Alexa Antalan (not in that order in the photo). It was awesome to have them there – they were all satisfying part of their volunteer hours for school. The bags of trash are behind them in the photo – of note were a set of tire chains and “millions” of the lane marker/bumps (what are these things called?).
A very successful day all in all. A big thanks should go out to Metropolitan Market and Dave Weitzel of Admiral-based Weitzel Construction, our two wonderful Admiral Adopt-a-Street sponsors. Met Market provides the meeting point, tables, chairs and great food and coffee, and Dave coordinates the event for our group (he’s a long-time member) and takes care of moving the trash to Hiawatha CC afterwards in his truck!
A quick shout out to two FANNA founders, Matthew Slye and Ann Limbaugh, who helped out today and want everyone to remember to attend their first design meeting for California Place Park coming up soon [Tuesday at 7 pm].
Great stuff… and no rain! We’ll be doing it again in approx. three months.
Matthew and Ann are in this photo we took at California/Lander (map) during the cleanup, along with Catherine Barker:
Other local organizations do cleanups too, including the Junction Neighborhood Organization; if you have one coming up and you’ve got room for more help, be sure we know about it so we can include it on the calendar (editor@wsb.blackfin.biz)!
You too can enjoy temporary use of spiffy orange vests, yellow bags, handy picker-upper gizmos, and more if you spend a few hours today doing what the folks in that clip did on the day we video’d them one year ago – join in the Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s quarterly Adopt-a-Street cleanup. Meeting place is the same, Metropolitan Market, 9 am, free coffee and “light breakfast” treats. That’s just one of a TON of West Seattle happenings today and tonight – here’s the direct link to the Saturday section of our latest West Seattle Weekend Lineup. 10:06 AM UPDATE: Admiral Neighborhood Association president Mark Wainwright sent a note that 14 volunteers have turned out so far and “tasty lunch bags” remain up for the taking along with more supplies – so there’s still time to get over to Met Market and fan out to help with the rest of the cleanup (till about noon).
Two one-time-only events to remind you about before the day is gone:
FAMILY SURVEY RESULTS: Back in November, we brought you the link to a community survey spearheaded by Renae Gaines , who’s based at Madison Middle School but has been working tirelessly community-wide to make sure that West Seattleites are aware of the true impact of underage drinking, and how to fight the problem. The survey results are out now, and will be discussed in detail at tonight’s meeting of the Southwest Healthy Youth Partnership, 6 pm at West Seattle High School. (Here’s a Power Point presentation of the results, if you want a preview.)
SEWAGE PLANT MEETING: Don’t let the title fool you: This is technically about the West Point Sewage Treatment Plant, which is in Magnolia, but it turns out the focus is also on the “combined sewer overflows” that result from pump stations all over West Seattle and elsewhere – so the meeting will feature information about potential pollution in our waters, both the open Sound and the Duwamish River. 6 pm tonight, South Seattle Community College‘s Georgetown campus, Building C (6727 Corson Ave. S.; map). Thanks to Liesbet for the tip; she points out there’s more info at duwamishcleanup.org.
The Times writes this morning about that wind-power invention by West Seattleite Chad Maglaque; he entered it in Google’s Project 10 to the 100th, which will publish word tomorrow of the 100 finalists (from among 100,000+ entries) who made it to a public vote. 1:55 PM UPDATE: Thanks for the tip from Todd – Google has just announced it’s delaying the announcement of the 100 finalists till March; read the announcement here.
Just in from the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, which explains, “The stagnant weather pattern of this past week is finally eroding, bringing improved mixing and dispersion of the fine particle pollution – and ultimately, cleaner, healthier air.” You can track the air status at their site any time, pscleanair.org.
That’s the trailer from “Arctic Tale,” the movie that’ll be featured April 17th in the second CoolMom.org Family Movie Night at Camp Long; the first one, held tonight, was a roaring success. Why mention the next one so early, you ask? The answer ahead – plus a campaign that CoolMom is involved with now, to get a message to the new Mom in the White HouseRead More
That photo of tonight’s sunset, from Anchor (Luna) Park, is courtesy of MarkB (who also shared video, photo, info from last night’s WSHS concert). As the weekend begins in earnest, a few weather notes: The latest forecast does have the s(now)-word in a few spots – maybe flurries tomorrow night, maybe “rain possibly beginning as snow” on Tuesday. But till something scours out the “stagnant” air, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency wants to remind you the Stage 2 Burn Ban remains in effect – no wood-burning fireplaces or stoves unless it’s your “only adequate source of heat.”
You probably remember the brief but fiery controversy last year when a Parks Department briefing paper posited the possibility of dramatic changes in the rules regarding beach fires at Alki and Golden Gardens. Eventually, the idea was tabled, and the Parks Board — now chaired by Alki resident Jackie Ramels — asked for a post-summer update on how things were going. That update is finally scheduled to happen at tomorrow night’s Parks Board meeting, and the briefing paper has just been posted on the Parks Department website. In short, no changes are planned/proposed for this summer at either beach – but the department is going ahead with plans to seek a vendor to sell “clean-burning firewood” so that fire-ring users will have that option. The briefing paper also includes myriad stats on how many fires and problems occurred at both beaches last summer, and includes this overview:
Certain behaviors continue to be a challenge including parking at Golden Gardens, alcohol consumption at both parks, and burning of inappropriate material that cause hazards and illegal fires. Parks staff is effective at eliminating illegal fires when they occur and report that most people are cooperative when it is pointed out that alcohol is not permitted. The Seattle Police Department (SPD) is contacted regarding incidents such as fights and significant parking issues. Overall, the beach fire program was successful in preventing illegal fires, use of illegal burn materials and enhancing the general adherence to park rules.
The briefing paper says beach-fire “program” costs at Alki this past summer totaled more than $27,000, while Golden Gardens costs were more than triple that. (For comparison’s sake, Alki had five fire rings last summer, GG had 13.) Tomorrow night’s Parks Board meeting, by the way, is at 7 pm, parks HQ in Denny Park downtown; this is NOT an action item – just a briefing.
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