West Seattle, Washington
28 Saturday
If you hadn’t already seen this via Facebook, Twitter or e-mail, wanted to mention it before the commute home: The 1st Avenue South water-main repairs first mentioned yesterday are now scheduled to take until “late evening,” so the detour on Southbound 1st, between King and Railroad, is still in place – you’ll be detoured over to Alaskan Way. 4:18 PM: The city has sent another update:
Today crews have been able to keep one lane open for each direction of traffic on First Avenue South at South King Street. The estimated time to reopen the entire street is now approximately 11 a.m. tomorrow, June 18.
From SDOT:
Due to a water main break at First Avenue South and South King Street, southbound traffic on First Avenue South is being detoured at South Jackson Street to Alaskan Way, returning to First at Railroad Way [map]. First Avenue South remains open to northbound traffic. Seattle Public Utilities staff expects the repair work to continue beyond this afternoon’s peak commute period, into the evening.
5 PM UPDATE: This may not be reopened until noon tomorrow, according to an update from SDOT.
Monday night, the Seattle-area businesses (and others) who chipped in to save Seattle’s last remaining 4th of July fireworks show were invited to a thank-you party. We were working, so no-go for us, but one of the other West Seattle businesses that also donated – Ventana Construction (WSB sponsor) – dropped in, and Ventana co-proprietor Anne shared photos. Above, that’s Tom Douglas, celebrity chef who helped hatch the idea of a donation challenge, signing a banner that will be displayed for the holiday; below, a slice of the crowd at the secret location:
Anne says more than 75 people were there; Douglas’s co-conspirator, radio host Dave Ross, attended too. What about next year? you might be wondering. Maybe a similar campaign, Douglas suggested. (Other donors with West Seattle ties included another WSB sponsor, Merrill Gardens, as well as CitiLights Electric.)
Editor’s note: West Seattle writer Jen Boyer covered the “Deadliest Catch“ fan convention in Seattle this weekend; we’re publishing her coverage for interested fans.
Story and photos by Jen Boyer
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
They wanted their crab captains and they wanted them now.
More than 1,000 superfans of Discovery Channel’s crab-fishing reality show “Deadliest Catch” attended the sold-out-in-advance second annual CatchCon on Saturday at Pier 66, some coming as far as Scotland and the Netherlands to get up close and personal with everything Deadliest Catch.
Editor’s note: West Seattle writer Jen Boyer, who publishes Heligirl.com (one of the 100+ sites whose latest links are on the WSB Blogs page), is covering today’s “Deadliest Catch“ fan convention; we’re publishing her coverage for interested fans. First: The Friday night memorial for “Captain Phil” Harris, who died last February (and had visited West Seattle to promote his coffee brand back in 2008).
(Captain Phil’s son Jake, preparing to throw a flower into the water in memory of his dad)
Story and photos by Jen Boyer
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Hundreds of fans, fellow fishermen, friends and family of “Deadliest Catch” Captain Phil Harris came together Friday night at Pier 91 to pay tribute to the salty crab captain that Discovery Producer Paul Gasek called “a teddy bear with that ink thing going on.”
If you’re looking north/northeast into Elliott Bay early Monday morning – between about 5:15 and 6 am – you may see ms Amsterdam, Seattle-headquartered Holland America Line‘s flagship, which’ll be the first cruise ship to call in Seattle this season, during a 108-day around-the-world journey. The Port of Seattle is expecting 223 ship visits this year, up five from last year; Celebrity and Norwegian Cruise Line will dock at Pier 66, while Holland America, Princess, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival will dock in Magnolia. More info here (though the schedule link doesn’t appear to be working – we’ve got a message out to the port seeking a copy).
A new list has just arrived from SDOT; we’re sharing since so many West Seattleites go through SODO – read on:Read More
We’re now sharing the long weekly citywide list of road-work updates when it comes out, since this list is often the first word of traffic alerts that might affect you. That was the case two weeks ago, when this list was the first to reveal May 17 as the exact date (tentatively) set for longterm closure of the 1st Avenue So. onramp to the West Seattle Bridge (here’s this morning’s update with detour maps) … and tonight, the list has news about the 1st Avenue offramp from the eastbound bridge:
Waterline work is starting soon on 1st Ave S near S Spokane St. Lane restrictions will be in place for approximately five months, including reducing the EB off-ramp from the Spokane St Viaduct to one lane.
The entire list of alerts has just been updated on its accompanying webpage – note the stadium-area 4th Avenue closure coming up this entire weekend.
West Seattleite Scott C sent that photo earlier today as the third 787 “Dreamliner” built by Boeing took off for its first flight from Paine Field in Snohomish County. At the time, it looked like the jet was Moses Lake-bound – but instead, it landed at Boeing Field, so you might have seen it in nearby skies. According to the FlightAware log, it’s still at Boeing Field right now. (ZA003 is actually the fourth Dreamliner to fly, though it was the third built; this news release explains.)
If you use Highway 99 to commute past the Battery Street Tunnel, you’ll want to know about these lane closures coming up – read on:Read More
Not West Seattle, but taken by a West Seattleite, and some WS riders had to have been in the crowd – that’s a ferry full of bicycles, headed from Bainbridge Island to downtown Seattle after the Chilly Hilly, photographed by John LaSpina, who caught this view too:
A commenter in our earlier story has forwarded a letter from Services Group of America confirming the helicopter-crash death of chair/owner Tom Stewart, whose company was headquartered in North Delridge until 2006. The Seattle Times (WSB partner) is now also quoting the company as confirming Mr. Stewart’s death, as well as 4 others who were on board the SGA-owned chopper that went down in Cave Creek, Arizona. Here’s the letter; if you can’t open the PDF, we’ve cut/pasted the text after the jump (added 3:23 pm, here’s the official company news release):Read More
(Phoenix TV report this morning on the crash investigation)
The Seattle Times (WSB partner) was first to report this locally last night: A helicopter belonging to Services Group of America, headquartered in West Seattle (in the North Delridge building known for its huge flag) until 2006, crashed in Arizona, killing at least 3 people, who have yet to be publicly, officially identified. The company acknowledged to the Times that the crashed chopper was the personal helicopter of its owner and chair, Tom Stewart here’s his official bio on the SGA site), and said there were conflicting reports on whether he was aboard. When Stewart’s company was headquartered in the North Delridge building, helicopter-flying was the source of a controversy that spanned almost the entire ’90s decade – in 1991, he sought a permit for a helipad atop the building, and the fight went all the way to the state Supreme Court before a final ruling against it in 1999. This aviation site reported on the crash and pointed to the FAA registration data of the helicopter, which suggests it may have belonged to the company before its move from West Seattle to Arizona. Since Stewart’s company moved, the main headline back here has been the $125,000,000 for-sale listing of his Vashon farm (detailed on this website, video tour and all). The SGA chopper went down in the Cave Creek, AZ, area.
Saturday will mark exactly two years since a man named Nicholas Francisco vanished, leaving behind his 2 kids and pregnant wife, sparking an intense, much-discussed search that even covered West Seattle, since he and his family had attended Mars Hill Church here. Now there’s one more coda to the story, 3 months after the King County Sheriff’s Office announcement saying the case was closed after he was found “alive and well, living in another state”: For a sweeps-month special report, KIRO TV tracked him down in Southern California, living under another name, and elicited a brief, chilling, chilly interview – followed by a look into why it’s hard to enforce orders against out-of-state deadbeat parents like him. The text version of their story is here; the video version, broadcast last night, is here.
ORIGINAL 8:49 PM REPORT: Just got that photo via Twitter from @sntxrr who says it’s his view of the house burning right now in South Park, 500 block of South Trenton. If you are in eastern West Seattle, you might have heard the sirens – and another engine from central West Seattle (E32 from The Junction) was just called out to join the fight too (some of the responding engines/trucks on the 911 listing are from here too). Scanner hasn’t indicated any injuries so far, but the house was reported “fully involved,” from its garage to its attic. (Looks like this is the Google Street View angle closest to the one the photo shows.)
9:04 PM: At the fire scene is photojournalist Cliff DesPeaux – check his Twitter feed at @despeaux for photo/video links.
9:38 PM: Seattle Fire spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen says they don’t know the fire’s cause yet, but it’s out, adding that six people got out of the house safely, no injuries. She says the fire, which started in the garage, was first noticed by someone walking a dog.
1:08 AM: Just checked back with the SFD media hotline and there’s been a major development: Vander Houwen now says they found a body in the burned garage where the fire started. No word on identity or even gender; they also aren’t saying yet how the fire started – more information expected later today.
UPDATE: SFD has not announced a cause yet. Damage totaled $310,000. The victim was a teenage boy.
(WSB photo from Race for the Cure, heading north onto The Viaduct, 6/7/2009)
Not West Seattle-specific, but it does affect many people here in many ways — Just got a note that registration is open for the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, a tradition for your WSB co-publishers and thousands of other Seattleites – and noticed in the fine print, it’s not going to be on The Viaduct this year – the location is instead listed as Seattle Center. Not surprising, since construction in the area is accelerating, but this doesn’t seem to have been reported elsewhere yet, so we thought we’d pass it along, for those who will miss walking with that great view, and for those who will be happy to have one less traffic-closure morning, among others. Here’s the race information; here’s how to register. The date this year: June 6, only four months away. ADDED 1:41 PM: We asked R4TC for the official reason behind the move, and it’s partly as expected – from Danie, “Due to scheduling issues with the Sounders at Qwest field and the viaduct coming down in 2011 a location change was necessary. The route is still TBD, but the venue has great potential and participants will be VERY pleased.” (That’s the SOUTH end of The Viaduct coming down next year, of course, not the central section.)
The city has just announced which neighborhoods will be the two to get official neighborhood-plan updates this year – and neither is on our peninsula: They are Rainier Beach and Broadview-Bitter Lake-Haller Lake. After the recent meeting of the Neighborhood Plan Advisory Council, speculation about a possible WS choice had cooled, but there’s hope for a future plan update, and some of the local neighborhoods that have plans have decided to start revving up for the possibility by discussing statuses and goals in venues such as the Southwest District Council meeting. Ahead, read the news release just in from the mayor’s office re: today’s announcement:Read More
From King County:
The King County Road Service Division will close the South Park Bridge spanning the Duwamish River to both vehicle and marine traffic from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. daily Saturday Jan. 30 through Tuesday, Feb. 2. The four-day closure will allow engineers to perform noise and water quality testing and simulate vibration that might occur during bridge construction. During the closure, engineers will conduct pile driving to measure noise, vibration and take water quality samples. Data collected during the tests will assist the county in planning for construction of a new bridge when financing becomes available. During the closure, motorists can detour via the First Avenue South Bridge.
We don’t have a lot of details but several people have asked what was happening along southbound 99, with a heavy police response, during the evening commute home to West Seattle. SPD media unit Det. Jeff Kappel tells us a pedestrian was hit – not sure what the person was doing on foot on the freeway. Injuries are described as serious; that’s all the details they have for now. 9:38 PM UPDATE: SPDBlotter has more information now: The victim, now said to have life-threatening injuries, is a 41-year-old man, who was walking across 99 – six lanes with a divider at that point – west to east, when a Honda Pilot hit him. Full writeup here.
If you’re in eastern West Seattle, or somewhere close to Boeing Field, you might have seen/heard a familiar summertime sound today – yes, that was a Blue Angels jet (the two-seater #7); here’s KING5 video with the proof. Seafair says pilots #7 and #8 were here for the annual winter briefing meetings. This year’s air show is set for August 6-8.
Mayor-elect Mike McGinn‘s team sent out a news release this afternoon with details on not just the Monday afternoon swearing-in ceremonies for McGinn and others, but also some other “inaugural week events” including a free music festival a week from Saturday with some of Seattle’s hottest street-food vendors on hand – read on for the full list:Read More
Drive to or through SODO? You’ll be interested in the traffic alert we just received from WSDOT – it’ll affect city streets as well as state routes. Read on:Read More
Several WSB’ers have asked us about an unusual police/fire presence along I-5 this afternoon – this is what it was all about. The Seattle Fire Department tweeted that photo of some of its crews paying tribute to Pierce County Deputy Kent Mundell, as his body was transported this afternoon from the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, which is near Harborview Medical Center, where he died yesterday. Deputy Mundell is the sixth law-enforcement officer in the Puget Sound area to have been murdered in the past two months; his memorial service is set for next Tuesday at the Tacoma Dome.
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