West Seattle, Washington
05 Saturday
(First two photos by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
3:44 PM: Police and fire are responding to a report of a man shot in the leg near 30th SW and High Point Drive SW. Officers are with him and SFD medics are arriving. Updates to come.
3:57 PM: The victim is an 18-year-old man described as having a small-caliber-handgun wound through the back of his calf. He’s on the way to the hospital. No arrest reported yet. According to our crews on the scene, it’s actually in the southeast part of High Point, near the 30th/Sylvan area where Forest Lawn has its headquarters building.
4:12 PM: Via SPD Blotter, here’s what police are saying:
Officers began receiving calls just after 3:30 p.m. Friday of a fight involving up to 20 people in the 3000 block of High Point Way SW. Officers rushed to the scene and found an 18-year-old that had been shot in the leg. Witnesses pointed officers towards a group of people who had made their way through a cemetery and disappeared. … Officers continue to scour the area looking for the suspect in this case. The only description provided of the shooter is a black male, 5-foot-8, 150 pounds wearing a red shirt. Officers are asking anyone who spots the suspect to call 911 immediately.
According to radio communication, police believe they have found the (or a) gun in the area.
(This photo and next by WSB’s Christopher Boffoli)
5:21 PM UPDATE: Still no word of an arrest. The aforementioned gun can be seen in the photo above, under a car. Though only one victim has been confirmed at this point, multiple shots were fired, indicated by the markers:
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
For the 10th year, Seafair Clowns stopped at a local school for a big supplies giveaway. Today was the big day, and this time, the recipients were students at West Seattle Elementary in High Point. Seattle firefighters and police were there to help too:
That included Fire Chief Gregory Dean:
And West Seattle’s own “Officer Lumpy” got a big smile from West Seattle Elementary principal Vicki Sacco:
Also part of the event – Stoneway Concrete and Gary Merlino Construction.
(WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli)
6:52 AM: Now a second fire response – again, it’s always a big response for a building, until crews get there and evaluate – this time, 6400 Sylvan Way SW, which is Neighborhood House in High Point.
6:56 AM: SFD reports it’s a kitchen fire at High Point Center. They’re reducing the response, canceling some of the units that were headed that way. The biggest challenge, per scanner, is dealing with the automatic sprinkler system.
7:07 AM: SFD’s investigator won’t be able to get to this scene until he’s done at the fire on SW Barton in Westwood.
9:40 AM NOTE: WSB’s Christopher Boffoli checked back at the center a short time ago and says they were finishing cleanup and expected to open for the day shortly.
It doesn’t get much fresher than a stand selling organic produce right next to the big garden where it’s grown, and that’s what’s happening until 7 pm at the High Point Market Garden Farm Stand (32nd/Juneau), during this season’s first weekly opportunity for public purchases. Here’s the produce/price list for this week:
High Point is one of two Market Gardens that are part of the city Department of Neighborhoods community-gardening program. The produce stand will be open to the public every Wednesday, 4-7 pm, through the end of September.
(2011 WSB photo from High Point Market Garden)
This Wednesday is your first chance to buy fresh organic produce picked steps away from the point of sale – opening day for the High Point Market Garden Farm Stand, just announced by the city. It’s at 32nd/Juneau (map) and it’ll be open 4-7 pm Wednesdays, July 9th-September 24th. The first harvest is expected to include spinach, carrots, leafy vegetables, new onions, peas, turnips, and radishes. The city announcement adds that the stand and its counterpart at NewHolly “accept EBT cards and participate in Fresh Bucks which doubles consumers’ first $10 spent on the card.
Local public-school enrollment continues to rise, and even new construction/expansion isn’t taking all the pressure off some campuses. Latest evidence: Today, a portable classroom is arriving at West Seattle Elementary in High Point, according to Seattle Public Schools spokesperson Tom Redman. He says it’s a “single-classroom portable -to be used as a homeroom.” According to district numbers featured here last month, WSE expects 443 students this fall, up about twenty from last year.
One more round of graduation congratulations tonight: A commencement ceremony at The Hall at Fauntleroy celebrated the 14-member Class of 2014 from Middle College High School‘s High Point Center campus, a Seattle Public Schools program also known as the School for Social Justice and Community Engagement.
Congratulations to the graduates, in alphabetical order:
Abdi Ahmed
Chris Brown
Chanelle Conway
Gabriel Enriquez
Melody Gill
Victoria Hedglin
Joab Henderson
Kelly O’Shea
Chris Otey
Anisa Saadi
Christina Sanders
Mya Santucci
Dan Tekle
Casey Ware
Congratulations also to their administration, faculty, and staff, led by MCHS principal Cindy Nash, at right below with West Seattle’s school-board rep Marty McLaren:
MCHS’s location at High Point Center facilitates environmental education and volunteering, including participation in Keep High Point Green, featured here earlier this year.
8:51 PM: Seattle Fire has sent a major “fire in building” response to Stewart Manor, the 72-unit Seattle Housing Authority apartment building at 34th and Morgan (map). It’s been described on the scanner as a “room fire.” This will affect traffic traveling Morgan/Sylvan east of 35th.
9:01 PM: Firefighters have reported over the radio that the smoke appears limited to the fifth floor and it does not appear to be a major fire – they’ve just declared it “tapped”, originating in the kitchen, and are working on ventilation; no injuries reported.
9:11 PM: Many of the units are being dismissed; firefighters are monitoring air inside the building to be sure it’s safe for residents to go back to unaffected apartments.
9:29 PM: Our crew was told at the scene that no one was home in the unit where the fire started on a stove. That unit probably won’t be inhabitable tonight but other residents should be let back in the building soon.
(December 2013 WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli)
After James St. Clair was hit and killed walking across 35th at Graham in the High Point area last December, longstanding concerns about 35th were aired again – and in February, the city announced a road-safety project. Today, SDOT sends word of a change ahead even before the safety project officially begins this fall:
SDOT is moving forward with operational changes at the intersection of 35th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Graham Street [map] this month. Residents living nearby will receive the attached postcard later this week in regard to this work.
SDOT will be installing “right turn only” signs on Graham Street at the junction with 35th. This operational change will improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers. Once the signs are installed, drivers going from Graham to 35th will be limited to right turns only.
The signs will be installed before the end of June and additional changes to this
intersection will be considered through the 35th Avenue Southwest Road Safety Project which will kick off in October.
35th/Graham also was the site of the collision that killed Susanne Scaringi in fall 2006.
The sun’s appearance in time for this afternoon’s 10th-anniversary celebration at the High Point Branch Library is appropriate, since it graced the Miller Hayashi Architects-designed library’s dedication in June 2004 too, according to the Seattle Times (WSB partner) archives. On that day, this became the third location in 62 years to hold High Point’s public library.
Even if you aren’t interested in borrowing library materials, you can check out the branch for events such as story times (our top photo, in fact, shows a story time of sorts – when we stopped by a few minutes ago, library staff and patrons were sharing memories); they’re usually on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar as well as the library’s online calendar of events. This afternoon’s celebration, meantime, continues at the branch (35th/Raymond) until 3:30 pm. (And when you visit, don’t miss the art!)
Beautiful weekend for baseball – including the game that crowd came to watch at Walt Hundley Playfield in High Point on Saturday afternoon. Not your standard baseball game, though:
The reason for the sign? The game was “beep baseball” – designed so sight-impaired players can hear the ball:
That’s the ball, which really does beep, and is 16 inches around. Listen to hear it in this short clip from one at-bat:
The team: The Seattle-South King Sluggers (see the roster here), for whom Walt Hundley serves as home field:
As previewed here a few weeks ago, they extended a special community invitation to their “awareness event,” playing a team from the Seattle Police Department – in black, with special specs that are worn by all players:
This is the second season for the Sluggers, coached by Kevin Daniel
Want to see – and hear – the Sluggers in action? Here’s their schedule.
P.S. According to an update on the Sluggers’ Facebook page, they won 7-0.
One lane is blocked each way on 35th SW in the High Point area because of a crash – thanks to the person who texted to let us know. Police at the scene tell us no one was hurt, but it’s slow going in the area so avoid it there for a while if you can. In all, police confirm three cars were involved.
Just announced – plans for a new celebration of Juneteenth – “the second Independence Day” – in West Seattle, set for June 22nd. Here’s the announcement (starting with some history), from High Point resident Liz Davis, shared by community builder Shukri Olow:
Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free.’
This summer will not pass without two opportunities to celebrate freedom, June 19th and July 4th. Do you remember your first Fourth of July? The first time you drove a car? What about your first kiss? Did you have trepidation and enjoyment at the same time? Were there Internal and external fireworks? Celebration and excitement? The exploration of something new yet unknown can bring many different, sometimes conflicting feelings.
That’s what I think the enslaved Africans in Galveston were feeling summer of 1865 when they received the announcement from the Union Major-General Gordon Granger, “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor…” This announcement was two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law. Over the years the celebrations and realization of freedom have grown.
Are you ready to celebrate this summer? You may have mixed emotions about this celebration. You may not have heard of this day of independence. No matter how you feel about Juneteenth, The Juneteenth Committee invites you to celebrate FREEDOM. Volunteers of The African American community at High Point are working with community partners including Seattle Housing Authority Community Builder to bring entertainment, spoken word, and food from the rich and uniquely West African and American culture known by many different descriptions; Black American, Soul/Soul Food or African American, to name a few. Children and adults will have lots to taste, touch and eat at this inaugural High Point Juneteenth Celebration. Sunday, June 22, 2014 2-6 pm at The Neighborhood House High Point Center, 6400 Sylvan Way SW!
Mayor Ed Murray and Seattle Public Schools Superintendent José Banda will be back in West Seattle tomorrow morning for a big announcement – what’s expected to be a tax levy to raise money for universal pre-kindergarten in Seattle. They will announce what’s described in a media advisory as the “Seattle Preschool Program proposal” during an 11:30 am event at Neighborhood House’s High Point Center, joined by City Council President Tim Burgess (who has been a leading advocate of the proposal), State Rep. Ruth Kagi, and State Department of Early Learning Director Bette Hyde.
(WSB staff photos unless otherwise credited)
Hey, without spring showers, you don’t have bee-friendly flowers. So the showery weather is actually auspicious for the second annual West Seattle Bee Festival, underway at High Point Commons Park until 3 pm. It started right after the parade, led by the West Seattle High School Marching Band, ended at the park:
Added: Parade marchers:
(Photo courtesy Kerry L.)
(Parade video later.) Added: The WSHS band, with music director Ethan Thomas:
(Photo courtesy Anne Weglin)
As for the bees, you can peek into their enclosure in hopes of a glimpse:
You can also talk to bee experts like the folks from the Puget Sound Beekeepers Association, who are in the street-festival zone along the east side of the park:
Fun kid activities can be found throughout the festival zone:
And good neighbors too, like Deborah Vandermar from the High Point Neighborhood Association on behalf of the Keep High Point Green project:
Cindi Barker from West Seattle Be Prepared and Karen Berge from the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network are on hand too:
But it’s not a festival without you – so buzz on over before 3.
7:03 PM: Just in case you see the law-enforcement helicopter overhead: The King County Sheriff’s Office has been over High Point for a bit assisting with a search – but the person that was being sought has been found. So, according to the scanner, the helicopter might be Alki-bound, where, in an unrelated incident, we’ve heard about a guns-drawn stop in the 1700 block and are trying to get details on that. Thanks for all the tips and texts – 206-293-6302 any time!
7:08 PM UPDATE: The High Point search that’s now over was for a missing child, Guardian One has tweeted. Still trying to get info on the Alki situation. Thanks to Mike and Steve for photos and to @ohwellmaybenot for tweeting this one:
@westseattleblog Police action on Alki. Guns drawn, arrests being made… pic.twitter.com/uCkspk9LiL
— ohwellmaybenot (@ohwellmaybenot) May 1, 2014
ADDED 12:38 AM: We finally have been able to get a bit of information about the nature of the Alki response, thanks to Southwest Precinct Lt. Paul Leung. He didn’t have access to the full report, handled by an earlier watch – we will see if we can track that down later this morning – but it was a “gun call” (no shots fired that we know of).
While the officers did stop the vehicle that was reported to them, they did not find the gun that had been the subject of the original complaint.
Just mentioning in case you heard/saw the big dispatch to 6300 block of High Point Drive about 15 minutes ago – crews have given it the “food on the stove” label so far; our crew has verified at the scene. Units are being dismissed.
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
FIRST REPORT, 4:06 AM: Seattle Fire crews have just started arriving at Sylvan Way/SW Holly (map) after a “heavy rescue” dispatch. The first unit on the scene, Engine 11, reported via radio that there’s a rolled-over car at the scene. Three people were reported to have gotten out of the vehicle. More to come.
4:29 AM: Our crew at the scene says this is just east of Forest Lawn Cemetery (WSB sponsor), near Sylvan Ridge Townhomes. The vehicle was believed to have been westbound. One person has been taken to the hospital by private ambulance. A tow truck is already on scene so while Sylvan is blocked now, probably won’t be closed much longer.
4:50 AM: Just added photos. The car took out a streetlight pole; police were notifying SDOT.
1:25 PM: One bit of followup information – police tell us there were actually two people in the car, not three, both in their 20s. Though only one went to the hospital, both reported minor injuries.
Objects of nostalgia, objects of mystery, objects of utility … However you choose to regard them, antique human-powered typewriters are waiting for you right now at the High Point Branch Library as the second stop in “Ribbon and Rhyme,” described as a “hands-on art installation.” Go type a few words. Listen to the keys as they meet the paper, through the ribbon. Look at your words, unpixelated.
The typewriters await, until 5:30 today.
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli for WSB, added 9:37 pm)
8:32 PM: On the way home from a meeting, we have spotted Guardian One circling north of High Point. Not sure yet what’s going on, but we’re checking.
8:40 PM: One commenter reports what appears to be a search in High Point.
8:45 PM: Tweet from Guardian One confirms it.
9:18 PM: Found the house on which police had converged, along SW Juneau a couple blocks east of 35th; added a photo. Commenter “Soul Cat“ adds some context.
9:33 PM: New information via WSB’s Christopher Boffoli and Katie Meyer: Christopher confirmed at the scene that it was a narcotics warrant – adding his images shortly. Katie reports that scanner traffic indicated at least two people in custody.
(Volunteers Asha, Anab, and Rhoda, dealing with dandelions)
Our story earlier tonight about the upcoming 2nd annual West Seattle Bee Festival mentioned Keep High Point Green. Tonight we have another update on community members of all ages getting involved with that project – courtesy of Deborah Vandermar, High Point Neighborhood Association president:
Volunteers worked all weekend weeding and mulching in High Point as part of the Keep High Point Green Project: Saturday at Bataan Park with Garden Mentor Amy Hughes and Sunday at Commons Park (in the rain) with Garden Mentor Kimberley Leeper of Mariposa Naturescapes.
Members of the FC Juba soccer team worked both days!
(Garden Mentor Lori Leberer coaching FC Juba soccer-team members on how to spread mulch)
They helped put up the tent, weeded and mulched. They also gathered kids from High Point Mosque’s Religious Studies class and helped them learn how to do edging and weeding . Everyone enjoyed the great tools provided by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Matching Fund grant.
As Deborah explained in this report two weeks ago, KHPG “evolved last year as a community response to High Point’s need for weed control and its commitment to sending only clean water to Longfellow creek by avoiding the use of herbicides.”
If you see a little extra commotion at and near West Seattle Elementary in High Point tomorrow morning, it’s because Governor Inslee will be visiting. We just got word he’s joining a Walking School Bus headed for WSE tomorrow morning. Along with students, the Walking School Bus will be joined by school leaders including WSE principal Vicki Sacco, pedestrian advocates from Feet First, and health-care advocates. The governor’s office says this fits right in with his Healthiest Next Generation initiative.
Students from Middle College High School (based at Neighborhood House’s High Point Center) are doing it – and you can do it too! Deborah Vandermar from the High Point Neighborhood Association shares the photos and an update on Keep High Point Green:
Keep High Point Green (KHPG) is a project that evolved last year as a community response to High Point’s need for weed control and its commitment to sending only clean water to Longfellow creek by avoiding the use of herbicides. HP Open Spaces Association assigned 30 plots including park beds, roundabouts, and parking strips to the The High Point Neighborhood Association (HPNA) for maintenance.
KHPG has been organizing teams of neighbors in and around High Point into teams to weed and providing ongoing classes that include garden analysis, plant selection and garden design. These classes are conducted by green gardening experts such as Vera Johnson of the Village Green Perennial Nursery and Janice Nyman, Architect and Landscape Designer.
The HPNA won a grant from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods to cover child care, translation, and outreach so that all members of the High Point Community can be engaged. Seattle Public Utilities partnered with KHPG to produce a film about weeding featuring Garden Hotline teachers Katie Vincent and Justin Maltry. It will be on SPU’s YouTube site shortly. Other projects include a large garden fence mural by YELS in Hip-hop style.
Our first team of gardeners, students from Middle College High School, started Thursday at Morgan & Sylvan. In spite of the cold and rain, they were enthusiastic and began the conquest of vetch that has taken over the south west corner of Commons Park.
Anyone can join a gardening team in High Point. Classes, tools, mulch and plants are free. Volunteer opportunities include bringing snacks, taking pictures, working with kids, fixing fences, outreach, doing research for theme gardens and more.
For more information, contact Deborah at 206-225-5627 or dvandermar@gmail.com. And check out more about the Middle College HS students’ work here!
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