West Seattle, Washington
18 Wednesday
(photo added 2:59 pm, through-the-windshield shot showing part of the big SCL presence at scene)
We don’t have any official Seattle City Light info on this but CL reports power trouble in his building and possibly others in the 1100 block of Alki Ave (map) – unofficial word on the scene is water trouble with a transformer, though this was before the rain arrived, so it may not be THAT kind of water trouble.
Just saw this, regarding the power problem. We’ll start watching traffic early just in case. Seattle City Light is having a media briefing at 1:30 pm. Here’s the news release SCL sent literally a minute after we originally published this:Read More
Just got word from the county that the next phase of noisier-than-usual work in the Alki pump-station project, pile driving — which literally will shake things up in the area, too — may start as soon as tomorrow. (First warning of the impending pile driving was reported here four weeks ago.) As it’s described in the county’s online project update:
Approximately 120 shoring sheets will be installed which are 20 inches wide by 35 feet long. A crane will be used to pick up the sheets and a vibratory driver will be used to vibrate them into the ground. After installation, the sheet piling will be left in place and additional excavation will occur.
Residents in the area can expect to see large construction equipment on site, such as a 200-ton crane and a large power unit, and should expect to hear additional noise. Residents may feel some vibrations during this work and may want to pack up breakable valuables as a precaution. King County’s contractor will closely monitor vibration levels to minimize disruption and protect against property damage.
If you have a construction-related complaint or question, the county has a 24-hour hotline: 206-205-5656.
Just in from the city, a request to raise rates for water and trash/recycling service. Much fine print in the proposal, but basically, Seattle Public Utilities says, the average household solid-waste bill would go up more than $6, the average household water bill would go up more than $5. City Council approval is required. Here’s the city news release with full details:Read More
“D” wanted to pass along an alert to fellow T-Mobile cell users – she says her phone’s not working in the Alki area, except for text messages (they live near 62nd/Alki). She says the customer-service department reported “network problems in (the) area” are being worked on.
We went back a little while ago to check on the 45th/Trenton (map) tree, finally taken down today (WSB coverage from this morning, including links to previous reports, here) after years of conflict with power lines and trimming work related to those lines. Looking at the circumference of its remains, we realized the tree obviously was there long before the power lines – how long, you ask?
Nearby resident Elise, who provided photos for this morning’s story, sent that one, and the one below, with the report that a neighbor had decided to estimate the tree’s age. On its rings, he marked a timeline:
Final estimate: About 140 years, dating back to about 1868, only 17 years after the Denny Party got here. One notable West Seattle event in 1868, according to HistoryLink: Doc Maynard sold his 320-acre farm on Alki Point for $450. The first electric service in Seattle was still 18 years away, according to Seattle City Light‘s history webpage.
The Schuck’s/Hancock building (Fauntleroy Place) isn’t all that’s coming down today. Elise sent the shown-above photo of the tree on the southwest corner of 45th/Trenton — known at her house, she says, as “the sad tree” — posted last month for removal (June WSB coverage here) after utility-related tree trimming in the area (May WSB coverage here) left it in somewhat unsustainable shape:
City Light had told WSB that its owner agreed to have it removed (at city expense), with two “power-line-appropriate” trees to be planted in the spot. From one of our previous stories, Jenny had sent this photo of how what she called the “candelabra tree” once looked:
Though City Light said the work on this tree was done appropriately, and its demise can instead be blamed on the unfortunate fact it grew under power lines, the utility also told us in May that the trimming on another tree nearby was botched badly enough that the crew that did it was removed from the contract.
That photo is courtesy of Martha Tuttle with the King County Wastewater Treatment Division, who just sent this update on the short-term 53rd Ave. Pump Station “bypass” that the county acknowledges made last night an extra-noisy one for Alki-area folks – she says its duration will be closer to 24 hours than the possible 36:
King County expects that the work will be completed this evening . The pipe installation is completed. This afternoon the County will use TV/video cameras to inspect the force main before restarting the pump station. We understand that this part of the construction was extremely noisy and disruptive and we appreciate how patient the nearby residents have been.
Till that’s done, all those orange trucks have been taking wastewater out of the system at 53rd and trucking it over to the pump station in the 3500 block of Harbor – more than a dozen 3,500-gallon trucks – and the pedestrian walkway on the water side of the work zone is closed, with flaggers helping people cross at both ends of it. The entire project at 53rd, which started in February, isn’t scheduled to be done till fall of next year.
Almost lost amid all the other news, till the county just called with an update: Tonight’s the night that they’ve started to use pump trucks to move sewage flow from the 53rd Ave construction site (first warning posted here last week), so that it can briefly bypass the regular pipes. County spokesperson Martha Tuttle says, “It’s a bit more chaotic than we expected.” 15 trucks are operating right now – probably fewer later as the flow slows. Here’s the route the trucks are taking.
Trucks traveling to the West Seattle Pump Station will follow Alki Avenue Southwest to Harbor Avenue Southwest. Trucks traveling to the Alki Stormwater Treatment Plant will follow this route: Alki Avenue Southwest to 63rd Avenue Southwest to Beach Drive Southwest to 64th Avenue Southwest to Southwest Wilton Court.
The trucks involved are similar to the rigs involved in this afternoon’s Avalon rescue – “Vactors.” We just talked to another worker at the scene – she says traffic is down to one lane for the duration of this (24 to 36 hours, so possibly all the way till Friday morning); the pedestrian walkway on the water side is closed for a few blocks, so flaggers are helping people get to the other side of the street to use the sidewalk there. The county also stresses that if you have a major problem, please call their 24-hour construction hotline – it’s linked to a pager so you need to leave name/number – 206-205-5656.
Seattle Public Utilities‘ reservoir-construction open house tonight at Highland Park Elementary is one of the four events we’re just back from (other reports to come: Police Appreciation Day wrap-up, Hi-Yu Concert in the Park, and the latest info on how the project to replace the south end of The Viaduct will start changing your life next year). The work to put West Seattle Reservoir (north of Westcrest Park) underground really is imminent — SPU reservoir-program manager Stephanie Murphy told us the “notice to proceed” is expected Thursday; then site-preparation work will begin. The existing 68-million-gallon open reservoir will be demolished over the next few months, and an underground 30-million-gallon reservoir will be built in what SPU calls “the northern portion of the existing basin.” It’ll take about 2 years (completion is scheduled for June 2010), with construction crews planning to work between 6 am and 7 pm, Mondays-Fridays. Once they’re almost done – before the water’s piped in – it’ll look something like the Beacon Hill Reservoir where we shot this video a few weeks ago:
Beacon is 50 million gallons, West Seattle Reservoir is 30 million, but Murphy says “the footprint is almost the same” — it’s just going to be shallower. (It’s still a lot bigger than just-covered Myrtle Reservoir, “only” 5 million gallons.) As with the Myrtle work, undergrounding this reservoir will create new park space; a whole different process will be initiated, involving the city Parks Department, to determine what that will include. P.S. You can read the history of the soon-to-BE-history reservoir on this city webpage.
Thanks to Dina Johnson from Highland Park Action Committee for that photo of West Seattle Reservoir at Westcrest Park and a reminder about a meeting tonight that you might not have heard about if you don’t live in the immediate area — Seattle Public Utilities plans a community meeting at Highland Park Elementary (10th/Trenton), 6:30 pm-7:30 pm. We just checked with Stephanie Murphy, SPU’s reservoir-program manager, and she explained it’s an informal meeting to answer questions about “construction impacts” once the project to underground that reservoir (as has just been done at Myrtle Reservoir in West Seattle, as well as Beacon Hill Reservoir, where we joined the media tour and brought back fascinating underground video) gets under way.
Another not-just-West-Seattle item, but as with the previous one, your tax dollars are involved here, so you ought to know. Just announced by Seattle Public Utilities:
The city of Seattle’s five automatic public toilets, the subject of intense controversy even before their installation in 2004, will be auctioned on eBay, beginning tomorrow (July 16).
Minimum bid on the Hering-Bau automatic public toilets is $89,000 each. A public meeting on the surplus sales process for the toilets is set for Wednesday, July 23, 2008, at 3 p.m., in the Bertha Knight Landes Room on the first floor of Seattle City Hall, 600 4th Ave.
The toilets will be removed from service — locked and fenced in — on Aug. 1. The units are expected to be physically removed by their new owner sometime later in August.
P.S. Also from eBay, the West Seattle Pizza Time auction has ended with no bidders. (Thanks to Marge for spotting the item.)
With next month’s deadline approaching for the Fauntleroy Community Services Agency to make a deal with Seattle Public Schools to buy the historic schoolhouse – now that the district’s selling it as “surplus” — here’s the latest update from FCSA, including word of a new possible use for the “back lot,” which previously has been mentioned as a possible development site:Read More
For the first time in months, Metro sent out a major update on the year-and-a-half-long 53rd Ave. Pump Station expansion project that’s been under way along Alki since March. Major points: Next week, for a period lasting up to 36 hours (likely Tuesday/Wednesday), a particular phase of the project will require wastewater to be trucked away from the spot instead of channeled through pipes. Crews will work around the clock, but Metro warns people to expect “increased noise, more truck traffic on the road and potentially odor.” Here’s how the “Vactor” trucks will get to and from the site:
Trucks traveling to the West Seattle Pump Station will follow Alki Avenue Southwest to Harbor Avenue Southwest. Trucks traveling to the Alki Stormwater Treatment Plant will follow this route: Alki Avenue Southwest to 63rd Avenue Southwest to Beach Drive Southwest to 64th Avenue Southwest to Southwest Wilton Court.
Then in late July, four to five weeks of “sheet pile driving” will commence, to stabilize the site for excavation, and residents are warned this is likely to bring vibrations as well as more noise. You can read the entire Metro project update here; the project’s main infopage is here.
Jam-packed agenda last night for the Southwest District Council (representatives from neighborhood groups and other key organizations in the area of West Seattle that the city defines as the “Southwest District”; you can see the map here), with a Spokane Street Viaduct project update, the latest from Seattle City Light on street lights, and more – read on:Read More
Last year, some controversy simmered in the Alki/west end of Admiral area over proposals to add more antennas to the top of 6609 Admiral (over Alki Point). Today’s Land Use Information Bulletin, just posted by the city, includes a land-use decision allowing 8 more antennas on the building (construction permit still pending); you can see the history of this project (and others at the site) here.
(clip no longer available)
That video clip shows something we might never get to see again – the underground view of a 50-million-gallon reservoir before it’s filled. (That’s 250 times what it takes to fill Southwest Pool.) This is Beacon Hill Reservoir (map), one of four reservoirs the city is putting underground — two of the other three are in West Seattle, and when we joined various city officials including Mayor Nickels for the Beacon Hill underground media tour this morning, we learned about a milestone happening today at Myrtle Reservoir here in West Seattle:
You can’t see it from that above-ground photo, of course, but “final acceptance testing” has begun at Myrtle today – testing all systems together for about a week, after a period of testing each system individually – and if that goes well, the reservoir could be filled as soon as next week. We also got some info on the Highland Park project to put West Seattle Reservoir (map) underground – read on for that, other views beneath Beacon Hill, and some words from the mayor:Read More
Thanks to Jenny for sending new photos including that one showing the notice posted a few days ago on the 45th/Trenton tree we wrote about last month – marked for removal by agreement with the city, after the latest round of city-contracted trimming to try to create clearance around power lines just didn’t work out (near another tree that was botched in a way that led to one crew’s removal from the city contract). This is what’s currently left of the to-be-removed tree itself:
Jenny also sent a view we didn’t have before, this tree “in happier times” – she knows it as “the candelabra tree”:
As the notice says, it’s to be replaced with two “power line-appropriate” trees. The notice also says comments will be accepted by the City Arborist until June 28th (next Saturday) – here’s the phone/e-mail/postal-mail info.
(scroll down/refresh for the latest, we are adding updates and pix to the bottom of this post)
(added 9:35 pm: photo of Admiral Safeway service station, which is dark though the nearby store is not)
ORIGINAL REPORT: Just collecting info on this – Seattle City Light has very broad boundaries for what it describes as an “Alki outage,” while e-mail we’ve received describes it as North Admiral. More to come. 9:10 PM UPDATE: City Light says this is one of several outages affecting more than 10,000 homes and businesses in different areas of the city – here’s an excerpt from a news release received minutes ago:
Seattle City Light repair crews were responding to several scattered power outages throughout the utility’s service territory … after steady winds approached 35 mph.
By 8:30 p.m. about 12,000 customers were affected by the outages in Tukwila, unincorporated King County, Alki Beach and the Sacajawea neighborhood of northeast Seattle.
The specific causes of the outages were not immediately known. Until crews discovered the cause, it was impossible to provide an estimate for when power might be restored. Additional crews were being called in to
help restore power.
A WSB team member is heading north to report back on who’s out and who’s not; we’ll also be checking with City Light for progress reports. 9:20 PM UPDATE: We’re collecting weather links too. Here’s the hourly observations from the National Weather Service — “K91S” is Alki Point, with 34 mph sustained at 9 pm. Thanks to Lou for including this live weather link from Our Lady of Guadalupe (near High Point) in comments. 9:22 PM UPDATE: On California, the outage starts north of Admiral Safeway (which has power), and continues north to Walker (map). We’re checking east and west boundaries – stand by — to the east, Jack in the Box is dark; more to come. 9:27 PM UPDATE: Power is out along Admiral all the way downhill to The Bridge, according to our roving reporter, who is now heading west on Admiral to see how far it stretches toward Alki/Beach Drive. Keep the updates coming in comments – where Pete has reported downed-tree trouble in Pigeon Point – thanks! 9:33 PM UPDATE: On the west side, the outage ends at about 45th SW/Admiral – if you know of any pockets west of there that are out, please post a comment or e-mail us. Note that in the outage zone, businesses that are out include Metropolitan Market and the Admiral Theater. 9:43 PM UPDATE: Avalon is out of power too – up to Genesee (map). That includes the Luna Park Cafe area. 9:50 PM UPDATE: North of Fauntleroy on 35th, power is out on the east side of 35th (and downhill from there), but the west side seems OK. 9:55 PM UPDATE: City Light has put up its webpage with outage info – but the West Seattle boundaries are the same ones listed in the news release which are not the same ones we’ve verified (it mentions Alki Ave but we’re told Alki is OK, for example); it says almost 3,000 homes/businesses are out in West Seattle. Still no estimate on restoring power. 10:03 PM UPDATE: This photo just in from Elena Daly (thank you!), who photographed the seawall wave action at Constellation Park south of Alki Point about an hour ago:
10:12 PM UPDATE: City Light outage hotline has an update of sorts on the West Seattle situation – but there’s no new info – just “no known cause and no known time for restoration.” 10:27 PM UPDATE: Just uploaded this video from Admiral – camera sat on the dash as we drove from the outage zone (alley by Admiral Library, past Metropolitan Market, toward Admiral Safeway gas station) and into the not-out zone (Admiral Safeway itself):
11:04 PM UPDATE: City Light just sent another update but there are no West Seattle specifics; the utility reiterates that it’s called in extra crews and will work through the night as needed. We will continue checking for updates and will also head back out in a bit to see if anyone’s gotten power back in affected West Seattle areas yet. 11:37 PM UPDATE: No new outage info, but the “forecast discussion” promises things will calm down overnight. 12:06 AM UPDATE: Comments probably beat us to this report, but we’re just back from a quick spin through the FORMERLY blacked-out zone, and looks like everyone’s back on.
Just re-checked the City Light outages hotline. They are now saying 2 am is when they expect to have power back in the north West Seattle areas that lost power in tonight’s pole fire. (206/684-7400 is that hotline, by the way.)
The power’s out tonight for parts of Alki and some of the northern parts of West Seattle. A pole fire caused City Light to pull the plug for a couple of hours in order to make repairs. An update on City Light’s phone line said that work was underway as of 5:50 pm and the outage should last approximately two hours.
The Seattle City Light tree-trimming that’s been under way for the past few months (WSB coverage here, here, and here) has sparked controversy and concern in a Fauntleroy neighborhood. Last week, resident John McNulty cc’d WSB on a complaint to the city and attached two photos including the one you see above, taken along SW Trenton, showing big cedar trees that he says were “badly damaged” by a trimming crew, and asking for a “public apology” to the neighborhood. We heard the next day from the owner of the property where one of the trees is located, Fred Fleischmann, who wrote, “The trimming they are doing this time is excessive and is destroying beautiful big old cedar trees that are irreplaceable.” Since then, we’ve been pursuing information from City Light, and got it today. The utility acknowledges one of the trees was trimmed too “aggressively” by an Asplundh crew which has since been removed from the contract. But the other tree’s a different story, according to the city – here’s everything we have found out:Read More
From High Point’s newly revamped website – word of a Seattle City Light alert that dozens of High Point addresses will be without power for about 10 hours starting at 7:30 tomorrow morning, because of transformer work. Here’s the alert, with a link to a list of addresses to be affected, all of whom already should have been directly notified by SCL.
| Comments Off on Reader report: Alki Ave power problems