West Seattle, Washington
18 Wednesday
That video feature is about Alki Elementary School winning the Governor’s Health Bowl sponsored by the Washington Health Foundation. The WHF sent us the link along with word that Alki Elementary will have teacher and student reps in Olympia next month to be honored for the school’s accomplishment; during the competition last fall, with more than 400 schools participating, they “logged more than 130,000 miles of health,” according to WHF’s Joe Furia. (Joe
That’s Mayor Nickels arriving at Southwest Community Center tonight for the third and final “open house” he scheduled this week to invite in-person comments on the city’s much-criticized response to last month’s snow. As with the other two (coverage linked from our preview this morning), in Green Lake and the Central District, no huge crowds, no fireworks. No presentation, either, so we roamed a bit and caught this exchange about the hottest topic of the storm’s second half — salt — and related environmental concerns:
City Light Superintendent Jorge Carrasco was one of the other top city officials on hand (along with deputy mayor Tim Ceis and SDOT director Grace Crunican) – what you see on the table by him are some of the preparedness freebies that were handed out at the event:
And it wouldn’t be a public meeting without someplace to write ideas on big pieces of paper – here, Seattle Public Utilities collected concerns about the trash/recycling/yard waste delays endured by thousands for weeks:
For some, it was a family affair – not only parent and child, but also, that’s the mayor’s wife Sharon Nickels at his right:
Perhaps the most interesting note: Metro is taking comments related to its operations during Snowstorm ’08. A hard-copy survey was circulated at the open house. A Metro rep promised to get us an electronic version; we can’t find it online. We’ll share it as soon as we get a copy or a link, should be tomorrow. (Earlier today, we had the opportunity to meet with two King County managers to share some feedback from what happened here as you all shared information with us and each other, and as we worked to procure more official information, during Snowstorm ’08; we will keep you updated as we hear about changes to come.)
Thanks to the 34th District Democrats for sharing that shot of their new Executive Board: left to right, 2nd vice chair David Ginsberg, state committeeman Chris Porter, state committeewoman Marcee Stone, district chair Tim Nuse, alternate county committeeman Robin Hess, county committeewoman Lisa Plymate, first vice chair Kim Becklund, treasurer Stu Yarfitz, county committeeman Ivan Weiss, secretary Miki Meahan (and, not pictured, alternate county committeewoman Asha Mohamed). They’ve moved into those roles after the 34th DDs’ reorganization meeting last night at The Hall at Fauntleroy, a lively gathering as is the tradition for our area’s largest political group; here’s a video crowd shot:
(video no longer available due to blip.tv shutdown)
Now, one more group with leadership responsibilities — the committee chairs:
Left to right, it’s Jackie Dupras (newsletter), Greg Doss (legislative action), Beth Grieser, Brian Earl (bylaws), Les Treall (outreach), Jeff Upthegrove (membership), and Walter Sive (finance).
Another headline from the meeting: Read More
Saw this on TV last night, just found the link. Perhaps one of the most scenic interviews ever — Amanda Knox‘s sisters talked with KING5, mostly on the beach at Lincoln Park (the family lives in Arbor Heights). Text and video here; Knox’s trial in Italy is set to start Friday.
If you’re in the area of 40th SW and SW 102nd in Arbor Heights (map), that video shows what all the police presence late today was about — officers, with a search warrant, forcibly entering a house where they say a major marijuana-growing operation is based. Through an open door, we could see some of the plants that police believe may number in the hundreds:
Police say there have been claims that it’s raised for medical-marijuana purposes, but the situation has caused neighborhood trouble – police say they have responded repeatedly to burglaries at the house. They seized some plants that were in evidence when they responded to a recent burglary call, but needed a warrant to go in and look for more. No one was home when they went in. We’ll be checking tomorrow on what happens next and whether anyone will be charged in connection with what was found in the raid.
Southwest Precinct Community Police Team Officer Kevin McDaniel and Lt. Steve Paulsen (center) stopped by SafeFutures Youth Center (6335 35th SW) this afternoon for a visit that provided a reminder, police work is about preventing crime as well as fighting it: They brought a check for $500 donated by Seattle Police employees, in what’s become an annual presentation to SafeFutures (whose staff, pictured with the SPD duo, include, from left, case manager Ron Howell, executive director Sorya Svy, program coordinators John Leapai and Tony Rivisto). Here’s Lt. Paulsen officially making the presentation to Sorya Svy:
SafeFutures has been at the 35th SW location for a dozen years, and also has smaller satellite branches in White Center and Rainier Beach. Right now, they’re serving 350 area young people every year, focusing on those “who are at risk of juvenile justice involvement, gang involvement, and/or academic failure.” Their services include community-service projects, homework assistance, leadership development, employment services, bilingual and multicultural counseling, and crisis intervention. You can find out more about SafeFutures online at www.sfyc.net (and if you’d like to help them help local kids, this page on that site explains what you can do).
Thanks to MJ for posting the link to that video in comments on our first report from today’s official announcement that a “deep-bored” tunnel will replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct‘s “mile in the middle” Central Waterfront section. We’ll be adding more video to this report but the clip doesn’t seem to have gotten much play yet, so we’re posting it here and will be adding to this as we go, including West Seattle reaction from the announcement event. ADDED 2 PM: Our clip of the governor’s opening remarks – including the first quip, which drew laughter:
ADDED 2:47 PM: Among the many people on hand for the announcement were West Seattle’s two Stakeholders Advisory Committee members, Pete Spalding – with whom we’ll be talking later – and Vlad Oustimovitch, who spoke with WSB afterward. We asked if, when the committee meetings began last year, he could have imagined it would turn out this way:
ADDED 3:02 PM: And one more clip (pardon the surrounding din, this was right after the briefing broke up and the room was jammed) – we asked County Council Chair Dow Constantine whether he thinks the state might find a way to keep the existing Viaduct open till the tunnel is done, even though the governor had said she wants the AWV down in 2012, and now the timeline for tunnel completion is 2015:
Here’s a few other notes: Many are discussing the logistics of how the tunnel will connect to the rest of Highway 99. Remember, there are other AWV projects already under way – including the utility-relocation project that started last fall, and the South End Replacement work that starts this year. That part of the project takes down 40 percent of the existing AWV and is to be done in two years; read all about it here. It includes the new on- and off-ramps “near South King Street” that were scheduled to become the new downtown-access points under most alternatives. Meant to complement that is the forthcoming widening of the Spokane Street Viaduct (the West Seattle Bridge stretch between 99 and I-5) that will include a new 4th Avenue offramp, which transportation planners hope will handle more of the downtown-bound traffic.
Three things this morning, following up on the school-closure-plan discussion at last night’s four-hour Seattle School Board meeting (see our running updates here). First, our video of the one Cooper Elementary advocate who spoke, Shelly Williams:
Members of the Cooper community held a meeting yesterday afternoon to plan next steps in their fight against the proposed closure. The Cooper School Works anti-closure website says the big nighttime meeting for the school community, postponed last month because of the snow, is rescheduled to next Tuesday, Jan. 13, 7 pm.
Second – If you want a chance to speak at the final public hearing on the citywide closure recommendations, you need to start calling/e-mailing at 8 am TODAY. The hearing is 6:30 pm January 22 at district HQ in Sodo; the number to call today starting at 6 am is 206-252-0042; or e-mail hearing@seattleschools.org
Third – Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson is participating in an online Q/A session today via the Times website, 11 am-noon; you can send in a question now by going here.
Five seconds of video is all we could shoot before the light turned and we had to go through that BIG puddle – deeper than it looks (it always is) – at West Marginal and Highland Park Way (map). Deep water in all directions right there, in fact. Not the only early-morning trouble spot, either – an even more treacherous stretch of water swamped the street about half a mile north, across West Marginal. So until and unless you hear it’s OK in the am, we’d say “steer clear.” Meantime, as of this moment, the wind is suddenly rocking WSB HQ stronger than at any point last night. Sure hope the “calming down by tonight” forecast turns out to be right. (To see what’s up with road trouble in the rest of King County, check here; for stream-flow info in various areas [not WS], go here; for the WSB Traffic page, with cameras and “latest incidents” links, go here.)
Caught the classic blustery-day-in-West-Seattle scene at Constellation Park about an hour ago — when high tide meets semi-high wind, the seawall show begins south of Alki Point. (High tide today was around noon.) Also while roaming around to check for any sign of West Seattle storm woes, happened onto a sight that some Fauntleroy and Westwood drivers – among others – will be happy to see:
Along Barton, west of 35th, contractors are picking up some of those huge steel plates that have been (bumpily) covering the street cuts from the gas-line-replacement work, and filling the holes beneath. Traffic is down to one lane controlled by multiple flaggers, so it’s slow going through there while this is under way. (Puget Sound Energy told us in November the work would be done by year’s end, but we’ll spot them a weather delay.)
PICKUP CATCHUP, THE LATEST: Seattle Public Utilities finally officially confirmed that yes, they’ve been catching up today on some yard waste that wasn’t picked up yesterday — for those who would have had yard-waste pickup yesterday on the NORMAL schedule (check your “normal scheduled” online here) – and if yours still hasn’t been taken away, do call to report it (684-3000). Meantime, we’re working on the SPU angle from the city briefing earlier today, so that’ll be posted as soon as it’s done.
POWER-OUTAGE ALERT: Just in case the wind and rain intensify (video clip shot within the past hour – showing how fast the low clouds were moving in the wind) and lead to outages, Seattle City Light has issued a news release with reminders about what to do, what not to do, and who to call – click ahead to read it:Read More
(video unavailable due to demise of blip.tv)
Just before the extra round of snow hit on Sunday, Bill Reiswig — best known as president of Sustainable West Seattle — sent us that video from December, along with the reminder that what we experienced for those two weeks wasn’t all a “Snowmare”:
For two straight nights my pals Dan Pitt, Randy White and I skiied from the literal top of Seattle (the watertowers at 35th and Myrtle) all the way down to Puget Sound by skiing Othello and Myrtle/Frontenac. While the latter is a steeper route, you can ride Othello down, across California, across Fauntleroy, and down Lincoln Park Way from 520 elev. to sea level in about 3-4 minutes. Our descents are, I believe the first documented descent of Seattle top to bottom on skis, thanks very much. The Beveridge Place Pub was open till 2 am, and we stopped in for beers for a break. Truly good skiing right here in West Seattle, without the fossil fuels spent to get to the mountain.
ORIGINAL 12:22 AM POST: Just belatedly saw word of a fire call (thanks to Aaron and Edith) that’s been open since just before 11 pm in the 5200 block of 18th SW (map). No indication of Fire Department media unit alert, which usually means not too big, but the call isn’t closed so we’re heading over to check it out. 12:55 AM UPDATE: Two fire units were still there when we rolled up (Engine 11 and Ladder 11). Fire out. Firefighters told us it was a “small house fire,” nobody hurt, and investigators were trying to figure out how it started. Adding a brief bit of video shortly.
In 1851, when the first European-Americans arrived at Alki Point, the Dkhw’Duw’Absh occupied at least 17 villages, living in over 90 longhouses, and 6 Potlatch Houses (centers of spiritual and social gathering), along Elliott Bay, the Duwamish River, the Cedar River, the Black River (which no longer exists), Lake Washington, Lake Union, and Lake Sammamish. By 1910, nearly all of the Dkhw’Duw’Absh longhouses were destroyed by Non-Native arson.
–From “The Life of Si’ahl, ‘Chief Seattle’,” by Thomas Speer (read the story online here)
Nearly a century later, a historic event in West Seattle today, as our area’s First People opened their new longhouse to visitors:
That two-minute video clip follows singers, drummers, and other community members into the Duwamish Tribe Longhouse and Cultural Center immediately after today’s ribbon-cutting. Earlier, we published a quick update, with a few photos and a brief clip of the ribbon-cutting itself. But as we wrote then, there is so much more to show and tell you, if you were not able to be there. Click ahead for more video, and other highlights:Read More
Back from a two-hour event with many amazing moments, as the Duwamish Tribe opened its new Longhouse and Cultural Center, on the eastern edge of West Seattle (4700 block of West Marginal Way; here’s a map), to the public – Duwamish chair Cecile Hansen and major donors Arlene and George Wade cut the ribbon, as this brief video clip shows:
(video no longer available due to blip.tv shutdown)
It is open until 4 pm today, so you are welcome to go visit for yourself. Much of the building is the high-ceilinged longhouse meeting space, but the Cultural Center displays are in a cozier space that opens from the door (which is on the west side of the building):
There’s a gift shop too:
The ceremony and presentations included so many emotional moments – reconciliation of the Natives with descendants of Seattle’s first white settlers – but also included news, with word of a performance series for which season tickets are now on sale at the gift shop, and a lawyer’s somber warning that the fight for formal federal recognition of the Duwamish Tribe remains an uphill battle, to say the least. Many more details to come in our later report, and more video of those moments.
(video no longer available due to blip.tv shutdown)
Really, this needs no explaining. Just listen to the whoops and hollers as West Seattle Polar Bear Swim participants emerged back onto the sands of Alki from the chilly shallows of Puget Sound at midmorning today. (It’s a tradition; here’s our report from last year.)
Followup to our report from the mayor’s post-storm briefing this morning: Just in case you wanted to watch for yourself – we uploaded the mayor’s entire 16-minute briefing, in two parts. We were sitting in the front row in the briefing room, and acoustics were decent, so you can hear reporters’ questions clearly, too. While our video just shows him, two other city officials flanked him at the briefing, though neither spoke at the podium – Grace Crunican, director of Seattle Department of Transportation, and Timothy Croll, director of solid waste for Seattle Public Utilities. First part above, 10 minutes long, includes his opening statement plus some questions; second part below, 6 minutes long, continues with questions – click ahead for that and also a bullet-point list recapping what was announced today:Read More
Last night we mentioned a TV report on photos and video made public from several recent armed robberies at stores in Highland Park, White Center, and South Delridge, as well as South Seattle. Today we have the video and photos so we can share them with you here as well – this is a high-priority series of robberies that law enforcers are working to solve as fast as they can. The video above (which WSB uploaded to YouTube to post here, after receiving the clip directly from Seattle Police) is from the Gas Depot robbery (South Delridge) on December 11th, one of two stickups that night blamed on the same robbers; the other was at the Lucky Seven in White Center. Note how quickly it all happens – in the span of less than 30 seconds. Also believed to be the work of these robbers, about half a dozen other heists including the one five days later at Country Deli in Highland Park. To see a flyer with photos from the two December 11th robberies, go here. If you have any idea who these robbers are, there’s now a CrimeStoppers reward – 800-222-TIPS.
7 minutes of Lowman Beach snowy holiday duckiness, courtesy of Ron Sterling, whose “Duckies Rule!” sideline was featured in this WSB story in October.
MargL in Arbor Heights got that photo of crows doing what city-contracted crews haven’t been able to do for the past two Mondays — pick up the trash. Last Monday, you may recall, it was just a West Seattle situation, as our roads were still iced over from the preceding weekend’s snow; they vowed to try again the next day – that didn’t work – so the message was, set out double the amount the following Monday. That was today, and even last night, as we reported in our ongoing coverage, the city said pickup was unlikely. So now what? And why can’t those trash trucks make it around, some asked? Brett Stav and Andy Ryan of Seattle Public Utilities did a media tour late today – and offered to come out to WSB HQ too for a video interview – we’d usually go downtown for a briefing on some big issue like this, but we’ve been a little tied to headquarters by the continuous coverage. Re: why not try pickup, here’s how Stav answered:
(We chose a neighbor’s trash can and holiday lights as a scenic backdrop, in case you were wondering, there at screen right.) We also asked how they make the decision of whether they can make the rounds on a given day or not – wondering if it’s the same way Seattle Public Schools bus drivers make the call, doing an early-morning test run:
Now, the practical stuff. They’re going to try again tomorrow. So you can have double your trash AND recycling AND yard waste out, if you were supposed to get pickup today. If they don’t make it – or if we get word in the early am that they aren’t even going to try (and as he said, you’ll hear it here) – then the following Monday, it’s TRIPLE the amount. We asked whether they would be stingy or liberal with what constitutes “triple the amount.” He said, “Liberal.” (Too short to bother with uploading but we DO have it on video!) But don’t go rogue and try sneaking it into somebody else’s dumpster. If you have any way of getting to the transfer station in South Park, that offer for free disposal there still stands. Read more in SPU’s latest news release (same one we published here earlier today). And let us know if you still have questions – because we can seek answers tomorrow by e-mail or phone.
That’s Molly Gras-Usry, one of two Cooper Elementary parents who spoke to the Seattle School Board Wednesday night during the public-comment period that started the board’s regular meeting. Tonight, Cooper has its own meeting with a district official (7 pm @ Cooper) – but Wednesday, it was a chance to address the board. The other parent to speak was Brittany Abbott, who hadn’t been on the speaker list but got the chance when an Arbor Heights Elementary parent yielded his spot. She too spoke about how, as the theme of the school’s anti-closure campaign goes, Cooper works:
One Arbor Heights parent did speak, April Bolding from the AH PTSA. Though AH is not currently on the list that’s being actively considered for closure, the two-plus-week scare jolted that school’s community into brainstorming ways they could help with the West Seattle South cluster’s capacity imbalance, and that’s what Bolding focused on:
In comments following our as-it-happened report on the board meeting, Paul Dieter pointed out other West Seattleites were there on behalf of another school that was under consideration as a candidate for closure or consolidation, The Center School, a nontraditional high school that leases space in the Center House at Seattle Center. One speaker said 17 percent of TCS students are from West Seattle. (That would be about 50; the school’s website says it has about 300 students.) That school, as it turned out, is involved in the only change that was revealed tonight regarding the proposed closure list — Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson said that changes involving high schools were off the table for now, for at least a year. (The Center School and Rainier Beach High School had been the only high schools mentioned in the process.) That was the only change she announced; other than that, what she announced last week (summary here) stands, including the proposal to close the Cooper “program,” disperse its students, and move Pathfinder K-8 into the Cooper building, closing the old Genesee Hill Elementary building where the alternative school’s long been housed.
Also at the meeting: District watchdog Chris Jackins of West Seattle – who speaks at almost every meeting – again implored the district not to close any schools; district financial boss Don Kennedy recapped his recent budget report, again saying the district may wind up $37 million in the red, depending on what’s in the governor’s budget for education (she announces her budget this afternoon); chief academic officer Carla Santorno explained the “design team” concept that has come up more and more often (including in the superintendent’s radio appearance Tuesday) as the plan for helping students and staffers transition to new schools once the closure plan is finalized – the jargonistic bullet points are in this PDF of her presentation
The last section of the “superintendent’s report” was a long and fine-print-laden presentation by researcher Brad Bernatek. He is crunching numbers on “functional capacity” — which means how many students a school can REALLY hold, not just how many it should THEORETICALLY be able to hold — in a study that started just last month. Some asked at the time, shouldn’t that study have been done before district leadership started declaring some schools underenrolled and some overenrolled? Meantime, Bernatek said the data will all be ready by January 13th, leading board member Harium Martin-Morris to point out – that’s a week AFTER the final recommendations are to come out, how are we supposed to make the decision without the data? Dr. Goodloe-Johnson said there would be lots of time (16 days, to be precise, before the final vote; 9 days before the final public hearing). Again, the entire presentation can be read here.
WHAT’S NEXT: The district-organized meeting at Cooper at 7 pm tonight (listed on this page along with all other remaining community hearings); the announcement of “final recommendations” on January 6; School Board meetings Jan. 7 and 21; final public hearing (for the entire plan as it stands then) January 22; special board meeting to vote on the plan, January 29. Public comment is still being accepted by e-mail at capacity@seattleschools.org and schoolboard@seattleschools.org.
(this post covered updates till 12:33 am Sunday; the next post is here)
(video from California/Thistle [map], added 8:50 pm)
At least here on one of the “higher hills,” as the forecast always refers to it. We have at least two Twitter reports of Alki/Beach Drive snow, too, so it seems to be West Seattle-wide. Adding photographic evidence shortly. “Teensy little flakes,” reports the snow-country-born half of the team, “must be REALLY cold up there (in the clouds).” Forecast has warned of the possibility of snow “showers” so we’ll see how long this lasts. 8:46 PM UPDATE: Getting heavier. And drivers on our hill are starting to sound, shall we say, challenged. Send pix if you have ’em! editor@wsb.blackfin.biz
CLICK TO SEE THE REST OF OUR SATURDAY NIGHT SNOW UPDATES, WHICH CONTINUED TILL WE STARTED A NEW POST AFTER MIDNIGHT:Read More
That video’s from the windswept shore at Seacrest less than an hour ago, as the Christmas Ship and its entourage visited to serenade onlookers with holiday music by Northwest Girlchoir Vivace. A different choir — Canterbury Belles — will be on board when the Christmas Ship stops at Lowman Beach (8:50 tonight) and Alki (9:40 tonight); Soundwave will sing during its stop at Don Armeni at 7:10 pm tomorrow. Here’s the full schedule for the rest of its season. (If you’re new to the area – the Christmas Ship is a civic enterprise of sorts, in partnership with tour-boat operators Argosy Cruises; different choirs are on board the boat as it makes scheduled stops throughout much of December, and in addition to listening for free from the shore, you also can pay to be on the Christmas Ship itself — sold out for the rest of this season, but there’s room on some of the “follow boat” voyages — that same schedule page will lead you through the ticketing process.)
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