West Seattle, Washington
26 Thursday
TODAY: First day of school for Seattle Public Schools (and some private schools too). Two big headlines: Chief Sealth High School starts the first of two years relocated to the Boren campus (5950 Delridge) because of renovation/construction work at its permanent campus; Denny Middle School will host Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson and Mayor Nickels at the district’s biggest media event du jour, a 10 am back-to-school news conference. (One more note: The old Hughes school on 34th SW is empty again this year; South Lake High School moved to its new building in the Rainier Valley.)
TONIGHT: The latest information on the transportation projects about to affect West Seattle in a big way are part of the agenda at the Southwest/Delridge District Councils‘ joint meeting, 7 pm at Youngstown Arts Center, everyone invited.
TONIGHT: The first rehearsal for West Seattleites who want to help “Thrill the World” next month is at 8 pm at Ginomai (SW corner of 42nd/Genesee; here’s the story behind the team, which you’re welcome to join; here’s the official blog, with links to what they’ll be practicing tonight).
TONIGHT: Right after that, same place, it’s the next viewing party for “Project Runway,” in which Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) barista Blayne is still alive and kicking, er, designing. Show’s on the big screen at 9 pm.
More events for today/tonight/beyond are on the WSB Events Calendar. (Is yours missing? Please e-mail us!)
As promised, here are more details on the bus plan that county leaders announced today — yards away from the area where the Alaskan Way Viaduct’s South End work is set to start next spring — the project that will trigger extra service to areas including West Seattle:Read More
The new stoplight at Lanham/Morgan is still in test (blinking) mode, but there’s an update since we reported on the start of testing last week – when we passed by a short time ago, we noticed the barricades are gone and, for the first time in years, Lanham is open for drivers to get onto/off Morgan in High Point, at the intersection with Commons Park and the new Bridge Park retirement complex. (The photo was taken on Lanham, looking south across Morgan.) By the way, as posted at highpointneighborhood.org, the High Point Neighborhood Association‘s quarterly meeting is set for Commons Park a week from Thursday, 6 pm on September 11th.)
We’re in Sodo, where County Executive Ron Sims and West Seattle’s County Councilmember Dow Constantine have just finished a media briefing about plans to beef up bus service once the Alaskan Way Viaduct‘s major construction work kicks in (starting with the South End project beginning next spring). We’ll have full details a bit later; toplines include: this is being paid for by $32 million in state money to “mitigate the construction impacts” – and the routes listed as “candidates for service enhancement” include West Seattle’s 21, 22, 37, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, and 116. (White Center-area routes are listed in this report on partner site White Center Now.) More to come. ADDED 1:33 PM: Here’s the official news release from the county website. Pursuing electronic copies of the collateral (including a countywide map of potentially affected routes) that was handed out at the media event.
As first posted here a week ago, that’s the map from the doorhangers that went out on Alki last week with another alert about this Sunday’s city-organized Car-Free Day, which will close that stretch of Alki SW to all vehicles but the Route 773 shuttle (and local residents who can’t reach their homes any other way) from noon to 6 pm. As mentioned here over the weekend, while there were speed bumps with Car-Free Day #1 on Capitol Hill two weekends ago, general consensus seems to be that Car-Free Day #2 this past Sunday in the Rainier Valley went more smoothly. SDOT’s Rick Sheridan tells WSB today: “There were no cars ticketed or towed during the (Rainier) event. SDOT’s outreach and use of multiple means of communications helped ensure community members were aware of the event and knowledgeable about the parking restrictions.” For Alki, Sheridan says that in addition to the doorhanger distributed last week (see it here ), SDOT also is “visiting businesses in person … and using an automatic phone-dialing system to call people in the area about the event.” (Both of those methods were deployed for last Sunday’s Rainier Valley Car-Free Day; the Alki calls are to be made this Thursday.) He also says the no-parking signs are now scheduled to be “set up a full 72 hours in advance,” which means you should see them Thursday, instead of the previously mentioned Friday – the parking restrictions will be in effect 10 am-6 pm Sunday along Alki SW in the zone shown on the map above (California Way to 63rd SW). We’ll continue posting daily updates (including information on Sunday activities scheduled along Alki during the event); the city’s official Alki Car-Free Day webpage is viewable here.
We’ve had two reports today of markings like the ones at left — placeholders for “sharrows” — appearing along California SW (thanks to Scott C and Patt for the tips) in various spots between Alaska and Morgan Junctions. “Sharrows” are meant to remind drivers and bikers that they share the road. They’re already in place on other major routes including Admiral Way and Beach Drive (put in place about this time last year), and the city’s Bicycle Master Plan has them in the works for California SW all the way from College (in North Admiral) to Thistle, along with other streets (here’s the full map of the various bicycle “facilities,” including sharrows and bike lanes, envisioned for West Seattle).
Just got word that County Executive Ron Sims and West Seattle’s County Councilmember Dow Constantine 
(who chairs the council’s Transportation Committee) are about to announce “a proposed transit plan to add 4,000 more (daily) Metro bus rides during first phase of construction on the Alaskan Way Viaduct,” potentially starting next year (which is when a tangle of other transportation projects starts kicking in too). This comes days after Sims’ proposal of a two-stage 50-cent Metro fare hike in the next several months. They’re promising details at a media event tomorrow; we’ll be there.
One week from today, as officially announced 7/30, the city shuts down Alki SW from California Way (by Seacrest) to 63rd, noon-6 pm on Sunday 9/7, for its last 
Car-Free Sunday of the summer. Last week, Car-Free Sunday #1 on Capitol Hill was cut short by rain and roiled by controversy, but the first report we’ve seen about Rainier Valley today calls it “trouble-free.” We’ll add other links as we find them; meantime, here’s the city page with all the info you need about next Sunday – we’ll of course continue posting info in the week ahead. ADDED MONDAY MORNING: The P-I has a Rainier Car-Free Day blurb up now.
Spotted quite the lineup along California SW between Alaska and Morgan Junctions this morning, so we stopped for pix: The Westenders Scooter Club (mentioned here during the Sustainable West Seattle Festival in May) stopped at C&P Coffee during their weekend-long “Tour di Mari” rally — as the Westenders’ website explains it, this is “… the famous Water Ride … perfected during Amerivespa 2007.” (You might recall multiple scooter-group sightings during that mega-gathering.) Members told WSB they were heading toward Des Moines after the coffee-shop stop.
You can find out lots more about the club online at westenders.org.
Just posted on the High Point Neighborhood Association website – a call from the HP Green Living Committee for High Point residents who work downtown to commute together via the Elliott Bay Water Taxi next Wednesday, and maybe weekly after that if it works out. (The EBWT season continues through 10/31.) To get in on this, start here.
New post on County Executive Ron Sims‘ blog: Charts showing this summer’s rise in Metro ridership. Previously, he notes, the trend was for lower ridership during warm weather. (Well, we haven’t had that much warm weather this summer, but never mind that. Some of the ridership-rise reasons seem obvious – hello, $4 gas.) 400,000 boardings per weekday, as of last month. Meantime, reminder: Metro’s on Sunday schedule for Labor Day; Water Taxi and its shuttle are on Saturday schedule. Here’s the official advisory.
Just announced by WSDOT – another round of open houses to share the latest on what might happen to the Central Waterfront section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct (the part that Governor Gregoire vows to bring down by 2012; what will replace it, is still being worked out). 
One of them’s in West Seattle — 5:30-7:30 pm September 16th at Fauntleroy Church. This is from the latest AWV bulletin, which also reminds us all that the next weekend-long inspection closure for The Viaduct is set for October 18-19. (And if your head’s not already spinning from all these dates, remember that the first closure related to the Spokane Street Viaduct project kicks in on September 8th – we’ve got the WSB archive with the details permalinked atop the right sidebar to make sure nobody misses that news.) Back to The Big Viaduct – here’s the info page with all the latest on the Central Waterfront project, including the upcoming West Seattle open house.
It was way back in January when we first told you the city planned to add red-light cameras “this year” to those two intersections — 35th/Avalon (westbound) and 35th/Thistle (southbound). A comment in our latest High Point traffic-light update made us realize we hadn’t followed up on them lately, so we checked with SDOT, where spokesperson Marybeth Turner gave us two bits of news: First, those two West Seattle cameras are “still in design” and no date yet for installation. However, for those of you who drive through South Park, the 14th S/S Cloverdale red-light cameras (map) ARE now in operation – that’s on the way to the South Park Bridge if you head east from southeast West Seattle/White Center through SP. P.S. Just to be clear – while SDOT installs the red-light cameras, Seattle Police run the enforcement program.
We told you on Tuesday that the city’s project manager for the city’s Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project said the first major closure – the eastbound lower Spokane Street from 1st to 4th – was expected by mid-September; now, we’ve just gotten an update from the city, with a firm date: Monday, September 8th. So that’s the date most West Seattleites’ route to Costco will get a bit longer (among other things) because when you get off the SSV eastbound at 1st Avenue South, you will have to turn left to hit this detour route:
Full details on the SSV Widening Project can be found on the city website, and in this archive of WSB coverage. Meantime, here’s the full text of the city announcement:Read More
For anyone who said they wouldn’t believe it till they saw it – there you go – as of a little while ago, the light at High Point’s long-closed Lanham/Morgan intersection (by Commons Park and the new Bridge Park senior-living community) is in its “blinking” test phase, and by all accounts, that means the intersection will be open within a week or so. Not far away, minutes after we took the Lanham/Morgan photo, we also spotted SDOT getting ready to do the same thing with the upgraded light at 35th/Raymond:
Alki Avenue distribution of doorhangers about the September 7th Car-Free Day will start tomorrow, according to latest word from SDOT communications boss Rick Sheridan. He also just sent us a PDF of the actual doorhanger; see it here (the map above is from the doorhanger, which includes confirmation that the no-parking zone will be in effect in the Car-Free Day zone, California Way to 63rd SW, 10 am-6 pm that day).
As reported last night, the jail-site search that has galvanized the Highland Park Action Committee is in a bit of a slow period, so the latest HPAC meeting tackled other topics too – including a city update on the first major road work that will be affecting West Seattleites in the months/years ahead, the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project (which in about three years will result in what you see above). We brought you an in-depth preview back in May (read it here); then a flurry of driver concern erupted four weeks ago ago when signs went up suggesting the first phase of the work — requiring the closure of eastbound lower Spokane Street from 1st onward (aka “the route to Costco”) — was imminent (here’s our July 28 report). That closure hasn’t happened yet, and last night at the HPAC meeting, project manager Stuart Goldsmith explained why:Read More
Not sure if this has gone wide yet, since County Executive Ron Sims announced via Twitter (where we are one of only 45 “followers”) that he had posted it on his blog (not sure if that’s hit critical mass yet either): He’s recommending that bus fares go up a quarter this year, another quarter in 2010. ADDED LATER: West Seattle’s County Councilmember Dow Constantine chairs the council’s Transportation Committee; here’s his official comment:Read More
As promised, we checked with SDOT this morning to inquire about plans for further advance warning of residents in the September 7th (noon-6 pm) Alki Car-Free Day closure zone (here’s the city info page, with map – as shown atop this post), given the Capitol Hill uproarlet over towing before yesterday’s rain-shortened Car-Free Day up there. SDOT communications boss Rick Sheridan quickly sent this reply — bottom line, Alki Ave residents, watch your doorknobs:
The city will follow the same procedures that typically occur for all street closures. “No Parking” signs, with the day and times noted, will be put out on the Friday before the event. SDOT will also distribute door hangers in the neighborhood this week that will warn of the impending event and highlight the parking restrictions. Those restrictions will cover the entire stretch of the road.
Let us know when you see one of those doorhangers, k? (editor@wsb.blackfin.biz)
Two weeks till the Alki Car-Free Day, third in a series of three; that series started today, sort of, in a manner that our friends at Capitol Hill Seattle call “a slopping wet joke,” and not just because of the weather. Will add other links as we find them, starting with:
*Casey McKinnon calls it a “non-event event”
*P-I visits Alki during the Cap Hill closure
*KING calls it a washout, noting (as did CHS) it ended two hours early
*KOMO focuses on … kids who had a lemonade stand
*Seattle Times mentions the lemonade stand too (among other things)
There’s a thread in the WSB Forums, too. (Background on the scheduled 9/7 Alki Car-Free Day, from the 7/30 announcement, is here and here.) We will check with SDOT in the coming week to see if what happened on Capitol Hill will lead to any changes in the plan for Alki (and, next week, Rainier Valley) — we’ll be asking, in particular, about the pre-event towing plans (which seemed to be the biggest shock on C-Hill).
Thanks to Scott C for the tip that, while the upgraded signals at 35th/Raymond (previous WSB coverage here) still aren’t unbagged and turned on, a left-turn lane has just been painted onto 35th (a little hard to photograph in the monsoon, but we tried). Meantime, a little ways southeast, the Lanham/Morgan light isn’t unbagged yet either, though multiple sources had suggested it would start its week of blinking tests (here’s our 8/8/08 update; here’s an update on the High Point Neighborhood Association site this past week. Maybe a rain delay? We’ll keep watching – let us know if you see either one go into test mode before we see it!
You have to look closely to notice, but there’s a sign down and a couple of those newly planted trees snapped in that median directly across from the Admiral Viewpoint. We checked this out on a tip from Robert a couple days ago but didn’t get too far – here’s a slightly closer view from our visit:
Then it came up in the WSB Forums today, and we pursued it with SDOT, whose communications boss Rick Sheridan tells us there’s no record it had been reported, but now that we’ve passed the word along (thanks, WSB’ers!) the Urban Forestry team will get over to check it out. (First photo is courtesy Meredith K. Hailey, whose guess is that a driver “straddled” the median — though you can’t tell from the photos, looking at it closeup, you’ll notice the soil isn’t disturbed.) We covered the original tree planting just eight months ago, by the way, including this photo taken 12/20/07 to the northwest of the photos above:
Just picked up this tidbit at City Hall downtown after Pigeon Point residents’ train-noise meeting with Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and reps from SDOT and the Port of Seattle — the report on that is coming up in a bit, but first, on an unrelated note, chatted for a moment afterward with SDOT’s Charlie Bookman, who said that relief is getting close for two miserable blocks of 16th SW around South Seattle Community College (near SW Brandon) – he says the street in that area literally has to be reconstructed, and the work should start within two months.
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