West Seattle, Washington
29 Sunday
We went to the new Interbay Whole Foods this afternoon – opening its doors for a public reception of sorts from now till 8 pm today, then officially opening at 8 am tomorrow – mostly to see if we could find out anything about the on-hold store here. We also wanted to meet regional spokesperson Vicki Foley, who has helped us get answers to WF questions over these many months (she’s based in Vancouver, B.C., so we’d never talked in person before). Nothing new re: West Seattle from their standpoint, she says – the official word is that they’re waiting for everything to get “sorted out.” That means, in particular, the court fight; two of the lawsuits over the project have been consolidated and have almost 200 documents on file (we check the online records at least twice a week). Because so many firms (construction, consultants, engineering, Whole Foods itself, etc.) are party to the suits, each document comes with a long list of who has to get a copy. In the meantime, she says, West Seattle remains the only “under development” store in the Seattle area, though she says their real-estate team is planning to tour prospective Washington/Oregon sites before the end of the year. So if WF ever does come here, what’ll you see? They’re launching kombucha bars in their Allegro coffee shops, for one, starting with Interbay:
That’s Josh from Townshend’s Tea Company, installing the kombucha machine while we were visiting this afternoon. Looking at the rest of the store, it’s the first grocery we’ve seen with neon:
For a few more photos of the Interbay store, check out this story from our fellow independent community-collaborative neighborhood-news site, MyBallard.com. Meantime, as for the status of the legal action regarding the West Seattle site (where, if you haven’t been following the story, construction now has been stalled for a year, with a huge hole sitting empty at 39th/Fauntleroy/Alaska) – various hearings are coming up regarding the foreclosure action that was filed (here’s our most recent story).
Not West Seattle-specific but interesting: The Department of Licensing announced today that it’s going to seven-digit plates, from the longtime six digits. Read on for announcement details:Read More
Big week for road/traffic updates and alerts so far. Here’s another one: SDOT has to close the southbound Battery Street Tunnel Saturday night (10/10) through Sunday morning (10/11), 10 pm till 6 am, to work on its fire-suppression system. There will be a detour.
For SODO drivers on 4th S – the latest on those repairs near the stadiums that had WSDOT suggesting you avoid the area: It’ll all be done by morning, according to the latest bulletin:Read More
For everyone who uses southbound 4th Avenue S. by the stadiums while heading home from work (or other business) — the traffic advisory re: repair work has just been updated – read on:Read More
If you heard about emergency repair work on 4th Avenue S. and worried that it would affect going to tomorrow’s football game, or commuting beyond, there’s good news tonight – read on:Read More
By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Any West Seattle resident who commutes past the baseball and football stadiums probably keeps track of home-game schedules to avoid sitting in the thick of a traffic jam.
So what’s the traffic going to be like when Nitze-Stagen adds nearly 1,000 apartments, condominiums and row houses, offices and shops on the north half of the parking lot at Qwest Field?
Where are you going to park when you go to a game?
And what happens to the tailgate parties?
We’ve gotten alerts from both Metro and SDOT, so for everyone who drives along 4th into downtown, we’re sharing word of work that starts on Monday and its potential effects – read on:Read More
So many West Seattleites travel through SODO, we’re passing along city traffic alerts for that area – like this one about the Microsoft annual meeting at The Safe tomorrow – read on:Read More
We had a short update on this yesterday; now a few more details from SDOT – if you are interested in the 1st Avenue South paving, read on for the full-length announcement:Read More
From the city’s SODO traffic alert e-mail list tonight – “final paving” means nighttime closures next week:
Final paving Tuesday – Friday, September 8-11: overnight closures from 9 p.m. – 6 a.m. required. 1st Ave S will be closed to traffic in both directions between S Stacy and S Horton streets. During the paving, traffic will not be allowed to cross 1st Ave S east- or westbound in the work zone. North-and southbound 1st Ave S traffic will be detoured over to 4th S via S Holgate and S Horton streets. Alternate route: Use East Marginal Way S via S Atlantic and S Spokane streets. S Occidental and S Utah – the non-arterials that flank 1st Ave S – will also remain open.
If you’re not subscribed to the SODO traffic list, you can sign up from the bottom of this page.
It wasn’t in West Seattle, but the invitation to participate was circulated citywide, so we asked WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham to cover Sunday’s March for Youth – the second year in a row this event’s been organized to demonstrate concern about Seattle youth violence. He says about 60 people marched. The March for Youth coordinator is Denise Gloster (whose son died young, according to this Seattle Times [WSB partner] report on the event):
Among the signs marchers carried, one remembering Mychael Alexander, killed five years ago at age 20:
One mayoral candidate showed up – Michael McGinn, seen with supporters including West Seattle’s Christi Stapleton (left, in visor):
There’s detailed coverage of the March for Youth, as it happened, at our fellow independent neighborhood-based news site Central District News – see it here.
Something else we’ve been asked about that apparently isn’t being covered elsewhere … the visible fire smoke from the Olympics. Caroline‘s the latest to write about it, noting it’s quite visible from Alki, and wondering what it’s all about. Best as we have determined, it’s from the Heatwave Complex of fires – full details here (thanks to Carrie for the link), and here’s a Port Angeles article from earlier this week.
For anyone heading southbound from West Seattle: Thanks to Laura for the tip on a power outage in the White Center area. Seattle City Light‘s outage hotline lists two outages – one that could be described as White Center, affecting 4,000 homes/businesses, and another in Burien with about 3,000. The one in Burien is blamed on a fire, according to the hotline, but the other one is listed as “cause unknown.” More to come. 4:08 PM UPDATE: City Light’s latest news release now calls these one outage – here’s the full text:
A fire associated with a power outage in Burien and unincorporated King County has increased the number of customers affected by the outage to about 7,100 homes and businesses.
The fire is burning in a wooded utility right of way south of S 96th Street and west of Des Moines Memorial Drive. Power lines were reported on the ground in the area and at least one utility pole was burning.
Seattle City Light deenergized the power lines to allow firefighters to put out the blaze. City Light crews were dispatched to restore service once the fire was extinguished.
The cause of the outage was not immediately known. City Light expects to restore service to most of the affected customers by 5:30 p.m. by routing power around the damaged area. An estimate for full restoration of service will not be available until crews are able to inspect the damaged equipment.
The general boundaries of the outage are SW Barton Street on the North, SW 167th Street on the South, Glendale Way S on the East and Puget Sound on the West.
If that entire area is out – which is seldom the case with boundaries listed like this – that would include some of West Seattle. We’re off to check the area south of Barton, east of Puget Sound. 6:47 PM UPDATE: City Light says all but 200 of the affected homes/businesses have their power back.
We’ve received a flurry of notes/texts asking about those fireworks a bit earlier tonight; here’s what they were all about – a wedding, per Magnolia Voice.
It’s become a Thursday tradition this summer – SDOT’s roundup of where in Seattle you’ll find big events, and how they might affect traffic. (Reminder – as we reported yesterday, the King County Water Taxi will have extra runs for tonight’s Sounders match and Saturday’s Seahawks game.) Read on —Read More
Published at partner site White Center Now — County Executive Kurt Triplett has proposed “mothballing” 39 King County parks — 6 in the North Highline (including White Center) area — to save $. It’s a developing story; we’ll continue posting reaction/details there.
An update on the 1st Avenue South southbound-in-the-stadium-zone update from earlier this week – SDOT now says:
The schedule for closing the southbound lanes on First Avenue South between South King Street and Railroad Way has changed. The lanes will now be closed on Monday through Wednesday, August 17-19, and possibly also Thursday, August 20, if needed, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The sidewalk on the western side of First Avenue South will also be closed. A detour will be provided to South King Street and then to Railroad Way, back to First Avenue South. (Please note that Railroad Way is divided by a median, so traffic turning left from King Street to head south on Railroad Way must stay to the right of the median.) The closure is needed for the operation of a large crane working on a private building.
Since Maury and Vashon Islands are so close by, this has been closely watched in West Seattle too, so we’re mentioning this breaking story: A federal court judge has just sided with the conservation groups that have been trying to stop the gravel-mine expansion that would build a big new dock. The judge says more federal reviews are required to consider the project’s possible effects on marine life, according to this AP report published by The Olympian. King County Council Chair Dow Constantine, a longtime opponent of the project, has issued a statement – read on:Read More
Throughout the summer, SDOT has been issuing these roundups toward week’s end, to let everyone know where traffic might be affected around the city on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. We’ve been sharing them because we know you just might want to venture off the peninsula. No West Seattle events this time around (though plenty’s going on, as usual), but read on for the roundup:Read More
Traffic alert for West Seattleites who use 1st Avenue South to and from downtown, just in from SDOT:
The southbound lanes on First Avenue South will be closed between South King Street and Railroad Way South from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Thursday, August 13 to Tuesday August 18 for operation of a crane on a private building. The sidewalk on the west side of First Avenue South will also be closed.
Here’s a map of that section. 2:07 PM UPDATE: SDOT has sent an update with more details, including a detour:
The southbound lanes on First Avenue South will be closed between South King Street and Railroad Way South from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, August 13 and 14, and Monday and, Tuesday, August 17 and 18. The sidewalk on the western side of First Avenue South will also be closed. A detour will be provided to South King Street and then to Railroad Way, back to First Avenue South. (Please note that Railroad Way is divided by a median, so traffic turning left from King Street to head south on Railroad Way must stay to the right of the median.) The closure is needed for the operation of a large crane working on a private building.
We’ve been reporting all this on Twitter because the citywide media hasn’t jumped in yet, but now the potential West Seattle connection is stronger so we’re mentioning it here too: Two armed robberies in the past hour-plus in the North End, and per scanner traffic, witnesses say the second one appears to be the same guy who held up KeyBank in The Junction last Wednesday:
It’s also been noted via the scanner that in the West Seattle case the robber and a possible accomplice were believed to be in an early ’90s police-style white Chevrolet Caprice with a chrome/silver spotlight. We haven’t yet gotten the location of the second robbery today, but the first one was at a Bank of America in Wedgwood, and the second one is also being handled by North End units – in that one, the description was closest: Black man, 40s, round glasses, heavy set. These are both still active investigations in North Seattle; we’ll add more here later when additional information’s available. (There’s also talk of a possible link to an incident elsewhere in the city yesterday – checking into that.) 3:11 PM UPDATE: While the possible WS link is not mentioned, the two robberies are now discussed briefly on the SPDBlotter site. The 2 locations from today were just about 2 miles apart (map).
At community meetings and in WSB comment sections – as recently as this week – we have seen and heard complaints about open drug dealing in some neighborhoods. SPD just issued a news release about a just-complete operation which targeted a so-called “open-air drug market” in the Central Area, with others in the city potentially to follow, and while this isn’t West Seattle-specific (yet) we thought you might be interested in reading about it —Read More
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