West Seattle, Washington
18 Wednesday
Cold? What cold? More than 100 people gathered at Our Lady of Guadalupe for tonight’s tree lighting. That’s Father Jack Walmsley leading the countdown and the blessing – reminding the crowd this date was chosen for a reason special to OLG – and that’s parish member and Channel 13 reporter Brian Callanan emceeing with Father Walmsley. Of course, caroling ensued:
And thanks to WSB’er Celeste, here’s a photo of the tree, post-lighting:
If you want to see the OLG tree, it’s atop the city’s highest hill (500-plus feet), 35th and Myrtle, east of the reservoir/water tower/future park site (map). Tomorrow and Sunday night, two more great chances for outdoor holiday caroling and celebrating, as the Christmas Ship and its miniflotilla visit West Seattle shorelines – see the West Seattle Weekend Lineup for times and places.
That’s Arbor Heights Elementary PTSA president Suzette Riley, telling WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand that they’re not taking anything for granted, even though AH is off the closure list – for now.
We first posted that news here just after 5 pm tonight, when Seattle Public Schools released the revised list online, even before Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson formally announced it during a 4 1/2-hour School Board “work session” at district HQ. This new list, described as “potential final recommendations” — as opposed to “preliminary recommendations” in the preceding list — proposes “discontinuing” the Cooper Elementary program, rather than the Arbor Heights Elementary program, to create a new home for Pathfinder K-8, which has been in the subpar Genesee Hill Elementary building for 15 years — starting five years after the district “closed” that building the first time.
The new list came out less than an hour before Arbor Heights’ scheduled meeting tonight with a district official. School parents and staffers went ahead during that meeting to make their cases for why AH shouldn’t be a closure target:
As Suzette Riley mentioned in our first video clip, those on hand for tonight’s meeting didn’t get all the information they were hoping for; the district official who was there, Patrick Johnson, wouldn’t answer questions about the newly unveiled list, even though it had gone public almost an hour before the meeting started. As we mentioned in our earlier coverage, Johnson also asked WSB not to take video of the meeting, a request which we declined, a stance supported by AH’s acting principal.
We spoke with SPS communications staff at district HQ after the meeting there; they apologized and explained that some of these meetings are intended to be school-community-only sessions, if the principal so chooses, but shouldn’t be treated that way if they’ve been publicly advertised, as this one was, so we shouldn’t have had to deal with that “request.” (As it was, we rolled video on Johnson’s presentation, but it contained nothing newsworthy, just a district overview powerpoint that’s been used at the last several meetings, recapping the budget woes, etc.)
Next scheduled meetings: Cooper has one Thursday night; next Tuesday, you can expect to hear from Cooper, Pathfinder, and likely Arbor Heights parents at the public hearing at Genesee Hill; the night after that, it’ll be the next official School Board meeting, which also will start with public comment. Here’s the official district chart, screencapped from tonight’s news release:
From right below that part of the news release:
To sign up to testify at a public hearing on Dec. 15, 16, or 18, call the public hearing phone line at (206) 252-0042 or e-mail hearing@seattleschools.org. Testimony will be limited to 3 minutes per speaker, and should focus on the school building about which the hearing is being held. Note: To sign-up to testify at School Board meetings on Dec. 17, Jan. 7, 21 or 29; call (206) 252-0040 or e-mail hearing@seattleschools.org. beginning at 8 a.m. on the Monday prior to the meeting.
Additional information is available at www.seattleschools.org/area/capacity. Comments or questions on the recommendation can be emailed to capacity@seattleschools.org or to schoolboard@seattleschools.org, or mailed to School Board, PO Box 34165, MS 11-010, Seattle, WA, 98124-1165. School Board office: (206) 252-0040.
Westside Symphonette director Toni Reineke let us sneak in to the orchestras’ rehearsal tonight at the West Seattle High School theater as they prepared for tomorrow night’s Holiday Concert. The “Jingle Bell Rock” rendition above — with the combined junior and senior groups — is just one of many holiday singalongs you’ll get to enjoy, so bring your caroling chops (and your Messiah score if you have one, since “Hallelujah Chorus” is on the program too!). The lineup has got a few non-holiday selections as well; conducted by Nse Ekpo, the Junior Orchestra practiced Larry Clark‘s “Engines of Resistance” while we were there, and WSB Junior Member of the Team, Torin, got the whole thing on cinema-verite walking video:
Admission to tomorrow night’s concert — 7 pm at WSHS — is free, but donations are appreciated, as Westside Symphonette is self-supporting. Musicians of all ages are always welcome to join the Westside Symphonette – contact Toni Reineke at tonireineke@comcast.net or 206-243-6955. Meantime, the next week-plus is prime time for holiday concerts, and you’ll find them all listed on the WSB Holidays page (if you know of one that’s NOT there, please forgive us for missing it, and e-mail us to let us know!).
They’re the biggest and brightest Christmas lights in West Seattle – the mega-display at the Menashe Family home on Beach Drive. We took a WSB video tour again this year — that first clip is a 2-minute walkthrough; next, Josh Menashe tells us what’s new this year:
Here’s a closer look at the mailbox he mentioned:
The Menashe display is along the southern stretch of Beach Drive – no direct access from the east but you can either hit Beach Drive from the Lowman Beach area and head north, or from the Jacobsen Road end and drive south. Here’s a map.
Just a couple of clips to add to the coverage we published this morning of this morning’s Rotary Club of West Seattle Christmas Shopping Spree – with Rotary volunteers joining 90 West Seattle kids at Sears in Sodo this morning for breakfast, lunch, shopping, and holiday cheer — above, you see the arrival; next, it’s some Christmas caroling with Rotarian Irene Stewart once the shopping was done:
Find out more about the Rotary Club at its website, westseattlerotary.org.
While out covering the early-morning events (see preceding reports), we just had to stop by the Junction Christmas tree – which is decked with lights and awaiting tonight’s lighting. The event starts at 5 pm in the Farmers’ Market parking lot – we’ll be introducing performances from the ArtsWest “Plaid Tidings” cast, West Seattle’s own Endolyne Children’s Choir, and the band Hazelwood Motel, as well as drawing the first winners in The Junction’s $5,000 Holiday Giveaway (WSB sponsor). As for the weather – what a difference from last year, when the tree was lit amid sleet, snow, and slush (WSB coverage here)! P.S. If the weather has you considering a car wash today – get over to West Seattle High School for a fundraising car wash in the parking lot, 10 am-2 pm, full details in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup.
(photo by Arbor Heights parent Craig Harrold)
We reported toplines from Wednesday night’s Seattle School Board meeting as they happened – now, we have video of all six Arbor Heights parents who spoke (after a concerted campaign to get onto the list when bookings opened Monday) about district staff’s recommendation to close their school “program” so the school “building” can become home to Pathfinder K-8, whose deteriorating Genesee Hill building would then be shut down. First, Arbor Heights PTSA co-president Suzette Riley laid out the four alternatives they are proposing:
“This proposal would close a popular, successful neighborhood school, and would also cost the district money,” Riley said (among other points). We also have video of each of the five other Arbor Heights speakers from the meeting, each uploaded in its entirety – click ahead to see any or all of them, and also to see what happens next:Read More
One way to look at it is, it’s like helping get the toys and clothes from Santa’s workshop, into the sleigh: WestSide Baby, which collects and distributes clothing, diapers, and toys for local families in need, is having a Sorting Party tomorrow night, and it’s a classic case of “many hands mean lighter work” — If you can spare all or part of two hours, 7-9 pm tomorrow (Thursday), you can help get items from shelves like the ones above, into family-tailored bags like the ones below (with “orders to fill” for almost 200 kids as of our visit this morning):
RSVP to Sarah at sarah@westsidebaby.org – or just show up, 10032 15th SW in White Center (map). Read on for more, as explained by WestSide Baby executive director Nancy Woodland:Read More
(video no longer available because of blip.tv shutdown)
They’re not showing all their cards yet, but Arbor Heights Elementary families and other supporters are certainly assembling their hands. That much was clear at last night’s meeting in the school cafeteria, called primarily to discuss the school community’s coalesced campaign to fight Seattle Public Schools‘ proposal to close the program and turn the building into the long-overdue new home of Genesee Hill’s Pathfinder K-8. Above, PTSA secretary Dana Varon exhorts the crowd to make a strong show of support at tonight’s School Board meeting, the first since the closure/change proposals were announced at a special board “work session” one week ago. Read on for what else they’re planning:Read More
Our camera followed Holy Rosary‘s Father John Madigan up and down a few rows during the annual “blessing of the trees” on the Holy Rosary Tree Lot’s opening day today – a mostly silent blessing, as he was having some hoarseness trouble. This was just hours after volunteers spent the morning setting everything up:
As always, Holy Rosary donates a portion of its proceeds (15%) to local charities (all listed here); the tree lot’s been an HR tradition for 20 years (and it has its own info-laden website too). Now that Holy Rosary’s open, here’s the West Seattle Christmas tree lineup as it stands tonight:
Holy Rosary (behind Admiral Safeway; map)
Home Depot (just west of Delridge between Webster and Orchard/Sylvan, map)
QFC (southeast side of Westwood Village, map)
Rite Aid stores (SE side of Westwood Village, map; 5217 California SW, map)
Tony’s (35th and Barton, map)
TrueValue (44th and Edmunds in The Junction, map)
West Seattle Bros. (on Alaska just west of Howden-Kennedy, map)
West Seattle Nursery (WSB sponsor; 5275 California SW, map)
We haven’t yet finished compiling our price-check data, but hope to add that tomorrow. (Looking for a cut-it-yourself lot? None in WS, but here’s the list of our state’s Christmas tree farms, county by county, including one in not-too-distant SeaTac.)
We got to West Seattle Bowl in time for the celebrity introductions at this afternoon’s Turkey Bowl – not to be confused with the Beer Church‘s recent Turkey Bowl, though both are in the “have a good time for a great cause” spirit. We picked up on Mike Brown‘s introductions starting with rocker Chris Ballew, moving on through Dennis Bounds and Rich Marriott from KING5 TV, to hydro legend Chip Hanauer, and ending with the local sports world’s most famous peanut-tosser. As they all lined up, so did the camera-wielding spectators:
There’s a silent auction of sports memorabilia too:
Proceeds benefit Seattle-area nonprofits helping homeless people and homeless pets.
Thanks to Cami for forwarding that clip (’80s nostalgia, anyone?) of the winner of the $1,000 “Alki Idol” multiweek talent contest at Bamboo – that’s Lynda; 2nd through 6th place went to, in order, Meeka, Brett, Julie, Amy, and Tara – and you can see them all at alkiidol.blogspot.com – Meantime, if you want a few moments in the limelight without singing, tonight’s the night at Skylark Cafe and Club (WSB sponsor):
It’s “Turntable Night” again tonight – and that’s a selection of the records (yes, real-live oldschool vinyl) from which WSB co-publisher Patrick may or may not be choosing, when he signs up for a turn. You too can bring your records down and spin on pro equipment – as explained on the Skylark schedule:
We’ve got the Technics, bring your own vinyl! Sign up for your 1/2 hour of fame at 9 pm, when DJ Create kicks it all off with his vintage soul collection. All genres, all styles welcome. Bring friends in to enjoy late night happy hour prices from 9:00 pm to 1:00 am.
See you there?!
First, the getting – We caught that quick video clip in The Junction this afternoon, as festive boxes (decorated by Swee Swee Paperie) arrived at merchants participating in the big $5,000 Giveaway – go to a participating West Seattle Junction (WSB sponsor) merchant (full list on the 2nd page of this flyer) any time starting NOW to enter (free!) the raffle for Junction gift certificates totaling $5,000. There will be three raffle drawings, starting with one at the Christmas Tree Lighting at 5 pm December 6th (44th/Alaska).
Two more Junction notes: Husky Deli has its holiday open house 5-9 TONIGHT, and also — this just in via Twitter — just launched its updated website (see it here).
Also from the “getting” file: Lora Lewis at Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) sends word of bonus Internet access hours:
Are you an early riser and like to get your Internet surfing done in the mornings? Then come into Hotwire and with a drink purchase you receive a full hour of Internet surfing in the mornings from open till 10 am. More of a night owl? Then we have surfing for you too! Purchase a drink and sign in between 4 pm and close and you also receive a full hour of surfing. Between those times you still get 15 minutes of Internet surfing with a beverage too. Hotwire has computers loaded with the full MS Office suite, a printer and super high-speed connection. We’re also a great place to do any online holiday shopping too with our double firewall secure connection. Have a laptop? FREE lifetime wireless is at your fingertips.
Also from West Seattle coffee land, in addition to the Java Bean food drive we mentioned yesterday, C and P Coffee sends word that through the end of December, if you bring in a “food or diaper item” to donate to its Food and Diaper Drive, you get a free drink. One last coffee note – the other day, we mentioned that Xconomy Seattle seemed to be slighting West Seattle in its post about innovators’ favorite coffee hangouts; it heard the call and has updated the list, a bit. P.S. We are starting to assemble our annual holiday “which coffee shops are open and which aren’t” lists – if you are a WS coffee provider, e-mail us with your Thanksgiving hours! Thanks!
(video not available due to blip.tv shutdown)
What’s that old sports apology, “It’s a rebuilding season”? No apologies needed for the good work being done today in High Point by the people you see in that short WSB video clip — spouses of Seahawks players, coaches, and other staffers; they’re joining folks from AmeriCorps and Lowe’s at the site of two Habitat for Humanity homes that are being built for (and by!) two HP families. Habitat says it’s building 20 homes in all in the High Point area; it has a regional volunteer orientation coming up tomorrow morning, by the way, in Kent (more info here).
That’s a video compilation with many more angles on the 4532 42nd SW demolition (see our first report here, including links to info on what’s coming to the site), shot and edited by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli. If you’re interested in checking it out in person, he says the teardown crew’s back at work after lunch break. (This is barely a block north of Alaska on 42nd, one house separated from the Capco Plaza [QFC/Office Depot] megaproject.) ADDED 5:05 PM: Went back just after sunset – nothing left but debris:
(added noontime, photo by Christopher Boffoli)
ORIGINAL 9:14 AM POST: Just started a few minutes ago. More to come… ADDED 9:45 AM: iPhone photo:
10:33 AM UPDATE: Uploading video now. Big house, so the job’ll take a few hours. WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli took over at the scene so we could head back to HQ. For past coverage of this site, click here (archive of all mentions, newest to oldest – going back to 2006). A few people who stopped by to watch the demolition this morning in the early going had memories to share – one woman said she needed to go call someone who was born there 75 years ago, when it was a hospital. ADDED 10:48 AM: Video from the “first bite” (to be followed shortly by a clip from further along):
(video no longer available due to blip.tv shutdown)
ADDED 10:56 AM: This clip is from about 20 minutes into the demolition work, as part of the upper story was torn away. As soon as this part was done, a massive cloud of paint etc. flakes wafted across the street to where we were watching, and beyond. Going to have to bring a mask to the next demolition.
(video no longer available due to blip.tv shutdown)
Here’s the rendering of the future project, from the last Design Review Board meeting June 13:
You can see the entire presentation from that meeting here. Meantime, though the passages marked by these types of demolitions certainly can evoke nostalgia, that’s not the case for everyone, particularly when structures like this are left to deteriorate and be vandalized: One neighbor who came by in the early going — who said he’d lived in the area a long, long time and pointed toward the homes further north in the block that will come down for the 42nd/Oregon project — grinned, looking at the demolition work, “It’s about time.”
By Patrick Sand
West Seattle Blog co-publisher
West Seattle High’s seniors took to the field. The game had been over for half an hour.
By ones and twos, they came out of the locker room and all but one walked onto the field. The seniors walked past the clutch of parents, grandparents, younger siblings, and girlfriends who waited for them outside the locker room and onto the turf. This was it – the last time they would all be under the same lights, and on the same field.
(click to see larger, citywide version)
That’s part of a city map distributed at a media briefing we attended this morning at Don Armeni (with the steep slide-prone slope of California Way, and North Admiral ridgetop homes, as a backdrop) – red marks the steepest areas, blue marks other potential landslide zones. Reps from Seattle Public Utilities and the Department of Planning and Development warn that last week’s heavy, sustained rain raised the landslide risk – and one more storm (there’s more rain in the forecast) could elevate it further – so they are distributing information on what to look out for, as well as publicizing a workshop you’ll want to attend if your home or business is in a potential slide zone – read on to find out more, and to hear about one of the West Seattle spots that experts watch closely:Read More
We caught that jubilant jump from someone on the sidelines just as the West Seattle High School Wildcats varsity football players were lining up on the Memorial Stadium field last night to exchange handshakes with the Enumclaw players they’d just beaten, 38 to 20. Their next playoff opponent: undefeated Ferndale. Read on for the story of the Saturday night win (which we covered “live” via Twitter) that brought the Wildcats to 9-1 on the year:Read More
(video no longer available due to blip.tv shutdown)
That’s part of our quick chat this afternoon with Otis Austin of OK Corral, which just opened a few days ago (as we reported here) at 4417 Fauntleroy (between Aikido of West Seattle 
and Tervo’s; here’s a map; don’t let the old Teriyaki/Burger sign on the storefront, which hasn’t been removed yet, fool you). He says those first few days have gone so well, he’s suffered from what we might call the Zippy’s Syndrome here at WSB (after the hot Highland Park burger joint that was so mobbed the first few days after its opening six months ago, it sold out repeatedly) – and as you can hear him say in our video clip, so much for the naysayers who say that’s a lousy location. In fact, he also told us, “I think West Seattle’s going to work out even better than the North End.” (His first OK Corral is in Greenwood.) He hasn’t printed up takeout menus yet but is working on it; by the way, Otis told us he will probably be closed tomorrow (Sunday) to regroup for the week ahead, though otherwise he intends to be open 7 days a week.
Last week, we shot that video of West Seattle resident and South Seattle Community College faculty member Mike Hickey reading during one of the two forums for Seattle Poet Populist candidates, and we invited you again to vote. Just checked the Poet Populist website for word of results – and we discovered that Mike won! Congratulations! Here are the final vote totals. A celebration is set for 7 pm next Friday @ Hugo House. ADDED 2:56 PM FRIDAY: Publishing this story reminded us that we had video of King County’s Poet Laureate, Dr. Mona Lake Jones, from a White Center event earlier this week, and hadn’t posted it. She spoke during the YWCA Learning Center/King County Library branch ribboncutting at Greenbridge, on 8th SW just south of Roxbury, and she was fabulous. Click ahead to see our clip of her entire 6-minute poem/speech – or just check out the start to at least see what she’s all about:
By the time the first official city-organized meeting — not the first public meeting — about possible changes to California Place Park had ended, one Friends and Neighbors of North Admiral co-chair was fiercely defending the process she and other group members had gone through to get their idea to what amounts to the official starting line. And park-change opponents were just as fierce in their opposition. The person who’s accountable for the final decision on what, if anything, will happen at the park, Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher, opened the meeting — what he said, and what else was said, declared, argued, proclaimed — plus what’s next — just ahead:Read More
Steps over the city/county line, at this morning’s grand opening of the new Greenbridge YWCA Learning Center and county library branch (map), County Executive Ron Sims made that simple and heartfelt comment about President-Elect Obama‘s election. (To see the kids he’s referring to, check out our expanded coverage of the event on White Center Now.) Meantime, for everybody looking for a tangible souvenir of history, you might just have to print this out:
We photographed CNN on the bigscreen at Skylark Club and Cafe (WSB sponsor) during last night’s election-party coverage; today, if you’re looking for a newspaper front page to save, you might have trouble, as Kathleen from Highland Park e-mailed:
I don’t know if this will get coverage anywhere but I find the run on print papers today to be fascinating! I got the last Seattle Times and P-I at the Westwood QFC and searched in vain for a copy of the NYTimes. I visited 10 different stores around Highland Park and called many more around West Seattle and White Center. There is no NYT to be found! And again, the P-I and Times are gone in most places too! I guess I’m not the only one to want to memorialize this glorious day. You better believe I’ll be at the stores sooner for the Inauguration issues!
Looks like the Weekly‘s blog had a blurb about this too.
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