West Seattle, Washington
12 Saturday
Among the sightings at this afternoon’s High Point Play Area celebration – Deborah Vandermar and Karen Berge representing the 7th annual West Seattle Bee Festival. They were helping kids decorate bicycles for the bike parade, and brought “The Big Bee” for the parade too. Karen tells us they’ve just finalized more details for the May 18th festival – including Laura Love (performing with Terry Hunt) 12 pm-2 pm. The festival stretching from the West Seattle Bee Garden (Lanham/Graham) to Neighborhood House (6400 Sylvan Way SW) will also include “animal ambassadors” from Woodland Park Zoo, science and art activities, music/comedy for kids in the morning, bee and beekeeping demonstrations, and much more. It begins with the informal at-your-own-pace Honey Run 9 am and then the festival is in full flower 10 am-2 pm, including the 11:30 am “kids, pets, everybody!” parade. Just eight weeks from today!
(WSB photos)
2;59 PM: Arrived at the High Point Play Area renovation dedication and found out it was even more of a party than announced! Along with the play area’s grand opening, 34th SW is closed between Myrtle and Willow for a mini-street party, with music, refreshments, and info-booth:
That’s in honor of the area being part of the in-progress West Seattle Neighborhood Greenway. And it’s why SDOT director Sam Zimbabwe was part of the dedication along with interim Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams and even Mayor Jenny Durkan.
Until 4 pm, you can stop by and enjoy the festivities – including a chance to vote on paint patterns for part of the street adjacent to the play area.
8:59 PM: As promised, more photos – including a couple more views of the new play area:
It’s larger than the one it replaced – here are the main points, from the project page:
This play area improvement project relocates the existing play area to the south open lawn area providing ADA access and increased safety by making the play area more visible from the street. The new play area size increases from 1,280 sf to 5,260 sf and upgrades it to our standard size for a community center. The new play equipment features swings, slides and many climbable features. The park features a rolling hill with net climber, and an overhead climbing structure. In addition to the play elements the project incorporates two new seating areas, one adjacent to the play area and another in the location of the old play area. … The location of the old play area will be restored to an informal open lawn as requested by the community.
Zimbabwe noted that this is one of six parks that the greenway will eventually connect to. Another number was cited by Williams: 94 percent of the city has a park within 10 minutes’ walking distance.
The mayor, meantime, declared it to be another reason “Seattle is thriving” despite its “challenges”:
The celebration featured steel-drum sounds by Jah Breeze:
The play area renovation cost $700,000.
One more event today, in addition to the previously published long list of what’s happening: Our area’s representative on the Seattle Public Schools board, Leslie Harris, tells WSB she’ll be at High Point Library for her next community conversation, 3-5 pm at High Point Library. Harris is also the board’s president and notes there’s much to talk about, so you’re invited to drop in – 3411 SW Raymond.
Thanks to the readers who messaged us, wondering about a police response in High Point. They mentioned seeing officers in multiple locations, so we went looking around and found police near 34th/Graham. They told us this was related to a stolen car and suspects being taken into custody who might be linked to robbery cases. That’s all we have in the early going; we will have to follow up tomorrow to get full details.
And the winners were … everybody, one way or another! West Seattle Elementary hosted a state-qualifying chess tournament earlier this month. Chess program coordinator Ritchie Garcia shared photos and this report:
We had 120 participants from mostly 1st to 6th grade. The event had students from more than 40 Seattle-area schools. Over 30 kids qualified to participate in the state tournament that will take place later this year in Tacoma.
In the 1st -3rd grade section, the top schools were Genesee Hill, Stevens, and Wedgwood elementary leading the group. In the 4th – 6th section the top winning schools were West Seattle Elementary, Cascadia Elementary, and Washington Middle School coming in first place. Parents expressed their gratitude for having a state qualifying tournament nearby.
Hosting the event at West Seattle Elementary allows our school to open registration to our lower-income student population for free. Our school also offers a free chess club twice a week to our students. The tournament proceeds help fund the chess program and give more opportunities to our student population.
West Seattle Elementary is hoping to make this a yearly event. WSE is one of the schools that will receive a facilities upgrade due to the recent passing of the levies. It will improve the event in future years as the spacing is very tight for students throughout the year as well as the event.
If you need to get between 35th SW and Delridge Way sometime soon, avoid Sylvan Way – per radio communication, it’s blocked by a crash. Two vehicles, no major injuries reported. The crash scene is reported to be at/near Sylvan and Holly (map).
On the second day since the closure of the West Seattle Pizza Hut at 6501 35th SW (as previewed here two weeks ago), we went by to look for signs of the space’s future. As our photo shows, the signage is already stripped; a dumpster’s in place on the south side of the building, but nobody is around to ask, and there’s still nothing in city files. The signage posted in the ex-restaurant’s windows says CLOSED, and nothing more. As originally pointed out in a comment on our previous story, Checkmate Dry Cleaners to the west also has closed (though its signage remains).
FIRST REPORT, 4:29 PM: Not long after multiple people called 911 to report hearing gunfire in the High Point area, police got a report of a damaged vehicle near 31st and Bataan. They’re investigating, but there’s no report of any injuries so far. Updates to come.
4:36 PM: Photos added. And our crew says the helicopter in the area is just TV.
5:37 PM: Per scanner, police are looking for a suspect, and the search has blocked some parts of the area.
5:54 PM: Also per scanner, a suspect is in custody, after an arrest outside West Seattle.
11:52 PM: The jail register shows the suspect, a 37-year-old man, was booked for investigation of drive-by shooting, unlawful gun possession, and assault.
ADDED THURSDAY: The incident was written up today on SPD Blotter.
FRIDAY NOTE: The suspect remains in jail, bail set at $150,000. We’ll be checking later today on whether he is charged.
8:07 AM: Seattle Fire and Police are at the scene of a crash in the 6700 block of 30th SW [map] in High Point. SFD says two people need to be extricated. Three medic units have been dispatched. More shortly.
8:18 AM: Metro has sent an alert that Route 128 is routed off Sylvan because of the crash. Per scanner, the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad is responding to this, which means the scene will be closed for a few hours.
8:21 AM: Per scanner, two people are being taken to Harborview. Metro has routed Route 128 off Sylvan Way.
8:27 AM: Photo added – this is a two-car collision on Sylvan Way. Our crew was told a third person was taken to a hospital via private ambulance, and has confirmed that TCI is responding.
10:37 AM: The street shouldn’t be closed too much longer – per scanner, we just heard that the tow trucks have arrived and SDOT’s Incident Response Team is being requested to return for scene cleanup.
11:58 AM: Just confirmed firsthand that Sylvan has reopened and tge 128 is back on its regular route.
2:10 PM: As noted in comments and now confirmed by this SPD Blotter update, DUI is suspected; police arrested the 33-year-old woman driving the silver car.
You are likely more used to seeing Tyler Lockett in a Seahawks uniform – but today the wide receiver was decked out in a T-shirt promoting the Book It! reading initiative as he visited West Seattle Elementary, where those welcoming him enthusiastically included principal Pamela McCowan-Conyers:
Lockett read to the students, of course:
The book “Secret Pizza Party” by Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri synergized with the fact that Book It! is sponsored by Pizza Hut, which takes the program to thousands of elementary schools around the country every year.
In case you’re wondering about the big SFD response – what brought them to a house in the 6400 block of 30th SW just now turned out to be smoke from “an oven that was left on,” per radio communication. The response is being mostly canceled.
The last 2 stories we covered Friday night before the power outage both involved Christmas lights. Now that the power has stabilized – on with the reports … and the lights:
Click the “play” button in the Instagram window and you’ll see the lighting of Our Lady of Guadalupe‘s big tree outside the church for the first time in five years. Here’s another view:
The parish and school have continued to host a “Light Up the Night” celebration each year, throwing the switch on lights around the grounds and singing Christmas carols, but it wasn’t quite the same. Emcee Brian Callanan thanked the OLG CYO for bringing back the tree lights, which are brighter than we ever remember. The celebration included caroling as always:
And food donations were collected in the sleigh in the lobby of the Walmesley Center:
The tree is on the southeast corner of 35th/Myrtle, near the highest elevation in Seattle city limits, so it’s considered to be Seattle’s highest-elevation Christmas tree.
(WSB photo, added Friday)
Two months after we last checked on Upton Flats – the mixed-use development at 35th SW/SW Graham in High Point – its management has announced a “grand opening” event for this weekend. They’re inviting people to stop by for a look at the ~100-apartment complex Saturday or Sunday, 10 am-5 pm, and they’re promising beer and snacks. No confirmed tenants yet for the retail space, though; as we’ve reported previously, Seattle Housing Authority offices will occupy about 80 percent of the complex’s commercial space.
(WSB photos)
6:08 PM: Sylvan Way is blocked both ways by a crash in the 6900 block [map] that briefly drew a sizable SFD “extrication” response. Everybody’s out, per radio communication. More info to come.
6:17 PM: Police are searching for someone in connection with this and the Guardian One helicopter has joined the search. Our crew says apparently one of the drivers fled – two vehicles were involved. Two children are hurt and will be taken to a hospital.
6:29 PM: We’re told the children’s mom also will be taken to a hospital. But none of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening.
6:52 PM: Police have detained a man near 25th/Myrtle.
7:03 PM: We’ve confirmed with police that the man is being questioned in connection with the crash; G-1 has tweeted that, too.
7:26 PM: Our crew tells us Sylvan has reopened.
11:56 PM: SPD says the man was arrested for suspected DUI as well as hit-run.
1:18 AM: Husband/dad of pregnant woman and kids hit by the suspected drunk driver says in a comment that they’ll be OK.
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
Giving Tuesday also happens, this year, to be that day in the holiday season when Nucor delivers big gifts of donated food and money to the West Seattle Food Bank. We were there for this morning’s delivery:
The annual gifts are a partnership between the steel mill and its employees – who donate food and cash, which then is matched (and then some) by Nucor.
Above are WSFB executive director Fran Yeatts, Nucor’s Stephanie Sanchez, and WSFB development director Judi Yazzolino, who summarizes:
On this Giving Tuesday, nothing could be more generous than Nucor Steel delivering their check for $17,500 and 3520 pounds of food from their annual employee food drive. The West Seattle Food Bank has such an appreciation for everything Nucor does for not only the food bank but for all the non-profits in West Seattle. They are such a wonderful community partner. Thank you to their employees and to Omega Morgan Machinery for helping deliver and unload all of the food.
You can of course donate to the WSFB year-round – here’s how. (And keep an eye on the DONATION DRIVES list in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide – there are places you can donate during the season, such as the bin out front at West Seattle Lights!)
From Seattle Public Utilities:
SPU crews are planning to do a hydrant flow test tonight near 6537 35th Ave SW, between 11 PM and 5 AM. The test is conducted at night to minimize impacts to customers. Crews will run water from a hydrant to test the volume coming out of the pipe to ensure there is adequate fire flow protection.
Any time there is a disturbance in the water main, discolored water can happen. Customers can visit our website for information about discolored water. If the problem persists, customers can call Seattle Public Utilities’ 24/7 Operations Response Center at 206-386-1800.
Late-breaking news from the West Seattle Timebank: The man who founded and leadsTimeBanks USA will be in West Seattle on Sunday (September 30th), and you’re invited to meet him. Dr. Edgar Cahn also is a legal professor and served as a speechwriter for Robert F. Kennedy, among other roles on his resumé. Timebanking is growing locally and this is your chance to learn about its history and its future, 1-2:30 pm Sunday at Neighborhood House High Point (6400 Sylvan Way SW). Refreshments provided; everyone welcome!
2:41 AM: Just checked this out after a tip. SFD and all but one Seattle Police officer had already cleared the scene in the 7100 block of 29th SW. SPD says it was a “person in crisis” situation and that the person has been taken to the hospital. We’ll add any followup information we get later.
12:53 PM: Update from SFD: The person who was transported was taken to the hospital in stable condition with what was determined to be a self-inflicted wound.
Upton Flats – the High Point mixed-use development at 35th SW/SW Graham – “isn’t as close to complete as you might think.” That’s what Seattle Housing Authority spokesperson Kerry Coughlin told us when we checked in after receiving multiple recent e-mails wondering about its status. Coughlin explained, “The developer is facing the same issues that a lot of construction projects are right now. It’s difficult to get certain subcontractors, which creates delays.” Most of those e-mailing us to ask about the project’s status were particularly curious about its commercial space. As we’ve reported previously, most of it will become offices for SHA; Coughlin says that will total about 5,300 square feet, and they’re now expecting to move into that space next summer. No tenant yet for the retail space, about 1,200 square feet. In addition to those spaces and the ~100 apartments, which Coughlin says are still under construction, Upton Flats will include a “nearly 3,000-sf community room with kitchen and restrooms.” (If you’re interested in more information about the 6058 35th SW project, here’s our report from its final Southwest Design Review Board meeting in 2016.)
6:03 PM: A “full response” from Seattle Fire is arriving in High Point, at an apartment building in the 6000 block of Lanham [map]. More to come.
6:06 PM: Firefighters say it’s a kitchen fire; they’ll be ventilating.
6:19 PM: Added a photo from our crew at the scene, where they’ve confirmed the fire’s out. No one hurt.
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
Today marked the third year of a unique welcome for West Seattle Elementary students on their first day back to school – community members greeting them with a “Be There Rally.”
It’s a tradition in many places around the U.S., where the call goes out for community members to “be there” for the students as they start a new year of studying.
The students get high-fives and cheers as they enter the school on a red carpet.
West Seattle Elementary continues to grow, with a projected enrollment of more than 450 this year. And principal Pamela McCowan-Conyers says its students’ successes continue growing too:
That’s Mayor Jenny Durkan standing next to her – also there in support of the students, School Board president Leslie Harris:
But this was an event where the real VIPs were the students and everyone there to show them the community cares:
Side note: While Wednesdays are usually early-release days at Seattle Public Schools, today is a full day around the district.
It’s been a couple weeks since we first mentioned this, so one more reminder before Wednesday arrives … the new school year starts at West Seattle Elementary at 7 am tomorrow (Wednesday, September 5th) with the “Be There Rally.” You’re invited to be part of the line of people “dressed for success” and welcoming students with high-fives, applause, and cheers as they arrive. More backstory in our August preview. The school is at 6760 34th SW.
Next week is the last full week of summer break for students who aren’t already back at school, and the Seattle Public Library is starting it off by inviting you to “a special West Seattle-wide celebration of the end of summer!” It’s happening 4-7 pm Monday (August 27th) at High Point Library:
We will have family entertainment for little children, kids, tweens, and teens – everyone is welcome. There will be bubbles, a tinfoil boat competition, create and design your own t-shirt activity (for youth ages 11+), crafts, games, prizes and an ice cream sundae bar (starting at 6 pm) for all.
No charge, and no registration required – just show up! HP Library is at 3411 SW Raymond.
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