West Seattle, Washington
06 Friday
(WSB photos)
The new art tiles at Nantes Park (5062 SW Admiral Way) found their intended audience this afternoon during a visit by a delegation from the park’s namesake French city, celebrating its 42 years as a sister city to Seattle.
The Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association led the art/beautification project over the past three years, involving students in both cities and French writer/illustrator Claude Ponti.
A message from Ponti was read during this afternoon’s reception in the park, saying he hopes the park and its art will help people find “a sliver of joy and happiness.” The ~50 people in attendance heard from, left to right below, Susan Kegel of the Seattle-Nantes SCA, Christena Coutsouboss of City Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s office, acting Seattle Parks superintendent Christopher Williams, Adiam Emery from Mayor Bruce Harrell‘s office, Franck Coutant from the Nantes park department, and Nantes deputy mayor Pierre-Emmanuel Marais.
Marais offered poignant remarks about the importance of international friendship at a time when part of the world is at war; he noted that Nantes, like Seattle, is opening its arms to Ukrainian refugees, and offering help. After speeches, today’s event also included music and refreshments. You might not be surprised to see the source of treats offered to the French visitors:
The park project, made possible in part by a Department of Neighborhoods matching-fund grant, isn’t entirely done – a walkway with inset art is incomplete because of the just-concluded concrete strike. But the park is fully open to visitors.
On Saturday, May 7th, Roxhill Park will fill with the sound of world music during a daylong festival just announced:
URGENT AFRICA, a non-profit, is producing an ethnic musical event, “Sounds From Around the World,” at Roxhill Park, West Seattle, on May 7th from 11 am-7 pm. This music fest is in conjunction with the Office of Arts and Culture and Seattle’s Parks and Recreation. This is a family event and FREE to the public. Bring a blanket or dance on the grass.
(Photos courtesy Urgent Africa)
The groups being featured are: NABY CAMERA, West African traditional djeli’s/historians/storytellers/praise singers/poets with special guest Boka Kouyate, DESEO CARMIN, Latin/Flamenco/Funk music …
Also COMFORT FOOD (Afro Funk/Soul/Nu Jazz/Fusion), & The LION of JUDAH BAND (Dancehall/Ska/Reggae/and Calypso):
All musicians presented have played on World stages!
As first reported here last month, Sunday (April 10th) will bring a celebration at Nantes Park (5062 SW Admiral Way) honoring the anniversary of Seattle’s sister-city relationship with the French city after which the park is named. Seattle Parks just announced the details:
The Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association and the City of Seattle, through Seattle Parks and Recreation, invite the community to reaffirm our Sister City relationship with Nantes, France at a park celebration on Sunday, April 10 at 4 p.m. at Nantes Park in West Seattle, 5062 SW Admiral Way. The event welcomes delegates from Nantes and the Pays de la Loire region, and celebrates the Nantes Park Beautification Project that has transformed the park into a fun, family-friendly, and accessible community gathering space.
The beautification project of the park includes sculptures from Claude Ponti (beloved and prolific French children’s author and illustrator), a new paved, accessible walkway with more Ponti art embedded in the cement, and an art tile project embedded into the park seat-wall designed by students in Nantes and Seattle. Some of the work is not yet complete due to the concrete strike, but visitors to the park can see examples of Claude Ponti’s whimsical world and future park features.
Ponti draws on his experience with the Jardin des Plantes and the Parc de la Beaujoire in Nantes and brings his French-influenced art to Seattle’s Nantes Park, symbolizing the intersection of the two cultures. Nantes Park also represents Ponti’s first art installation to be showcased in the United States.
The Nantes Park project is part of a year-long celebration on both sides of the Atlantic recognizing the 42nd anniversary of Seattle’s sister-city relationship with Nantes. The park project is led by the Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association (SNSCA) in partnership with the Admiral Neighborhood Association, and is funded by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, the City of Nantes, the West Seattle Garden Tour, and volunteers. More information on the Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association, the Nantes Park project, and the events planned to commemorate the 42nd anniversary can be found at www.seattle-nantes.org.
The park-beautification project mentioned above happened through a community-led process over the past few years.
Sent by Maggie:
I wanted to let you and other park users know about what looks like the beginnings of a landslide along the beach trail at Lincoln Park. I walk frequently at the park and took the (photo above) the other day (perspective is from the beach during low tide, looking back at the hillside). Nothing is on the trail, seems to be held back by blackberry and other plants. I’ve let the Parks Department know, but wanted to make sure other walkers and park users were informed as well.
Location: walk north from the pool building along the beach trail a few hundred yards. Past a few benches and then there’s a bunch of blackberry bushes and other plants that hang low over the trail. You can see it when standing on the trail and looking up, but easier if the tide is out and can view from the beach.
As shown on a map in this city document, West Seattle has many areas at risk of slides. Here are some warning signs to look/listen for.
If you have some time this weekend – here’s a three-part survey that requires a little reading first. Here’s how Seattle Parks explains it:
Seattle Parks and Recreation has launched a survey to gather community feedback on priorities for the next Park District six-year budget.
The Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners (BPRC) is charged with holding public meetings and making recommendations to the Superintendent of SPR for each six-year cycle of the Park District.
Starting in late March 2022, the BPRC is launching a public process to consider potential investments for Park District Cycle 2 (2023-2028), both at full board meetings and through more in-depth subcommittee discussions.
In 2014, Seattle voters approved the Seattle Park District providing SPR with funds to increase investment in maintenance, recreation affordability, park development, and supporting community programs.
The first six-year cycle of the Seattle Park District spanned 2015-2020. More information about accomplishments and lessons learned throughout Cycle 1 is available in the Cycle-End Report and associated Appendices.
In 2020, planning for Cycle 2 of the Seattle Park District was delayed twice due to uncertainties associated with the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic impacts. The City Council acting as the Park District Board passed annual budgets for the Park District in 2021 and 2022.
The survey, which runs through May 12th, asks a few questions about each of three areas on which the budget would focus – you can open each to at least skim over the indexes to see if that’s an area you’re interested in (for example, the first one, “Enhancing Access and Services,” includes off-leash areas among other things). Park District funding comes from property taxes approved by voters in 2014.
Just in case you saw this too, it’s been reported, Catherine tells us:
My friends and I were walking on the beach in Lincoln Park this afternoon and came upon a large Madrone tree that had just fallen across the path along the south beach side of the park near the shelters. There are pieces of broken wood everywhere and some still hanging perilously in the branches of other surrounding trees so people should be very careful to walk around the site of the fallen tree. I called the incident to the Seattle Parks & Rec. emergency line and also sent them a photo via the Find It Fix It app. Hopefully they will be out there cleaning up the area soon.
It’s been a few hours, so that might already have happened – but if not, know that it’s been reported. (If you see a problem like this at a city park, 206-684-7250 is the maintenance line.)
2:20 PM: Thanks to Mike Munson for another progress-report photo from the Lowman Beach Park project – this time, a full view of the shore with the crumbling section of seawall removed. Mike reports, “Looks like the Lowman Beach Park project is close to finished. A natural beach has returned where the old sea wall was, the pile of stored logs has been spread out over the beach, and two small concrete slab have been poured above the beach. They are for benches, said the man removing the concrete forms there today.” We last checked on the project a month ago, as nighttime work wrapped up, and are checking again with Parks now to see if they have an estimated completion date.
3:11 PM: Project manager Janice Liang tells WSB, “The project is at near completion, as we have already completed key millstones on beach grading, Pelly Creek and seawall installation. We are now wrapping up the project with landscape and restoration work including irrigation, seeding, planting, and fencing at the north property line. Due to lead time on fencing fabrication, anticipated park opening in late May.”
Seattle Parks will close many of its facilities tomorrow (Thursday, March 24th) for a day of staff training. Here’s what will be closed in West Seattle:
-Southwest Pool
-Camp Long Environmental Learning Center
-Southwest Teen Life Center
-Delridge and High Point Community Centers
The Parks announcement also includes what will NOT be closed.
Alki Beach is quiet today. But now that it’s spring, the busy season isn’t far off. A discussion at last week’s Alki Community Council meeting touched on perennial summer concerns, some of which were addressed last year by closing the park earlier, so we asked Seattle Parks whether that’s planned again this year. Spokesperson Rachel Schulkin says yes, they’re planning a 10 pm closing time this summer too. The exact launch date hasn’t been determined yet – sometime in May – nor have the implementation details. (Seattle Police have already said they’re planning emphasis patrols at the beach again this year.) Last year the early closing time was put in place in early July, days after a deadly shooting, and continued until mid-September.
Southwest Teen Life Center, adjacent to Southwest Pool at 2801 SW Thistle, wants everyone to know it’s open again for activities. “We are just now getting everything back up and running,” says Trina at SWTLC. She tells WSB that right now it’s open 1:30-8 pm Tuesdays through Thursdays, 3 pm-midnight Fridays, 6-10 pm Saturdays, and that’ll expand to 6 pm-midnight Saturdays starting in April. And speaking of April – they’re planning something big for spring-break week:
SWTLC is a Seattle Parks and Recreation facility.
(WSB photo, spring sunset watch 2018)
Spring arrives at the equinox moment of 8:33 am Sunday, but if you want to welcome the new season in West Seattle tradition style, be at Solstice Park (uphill from the tennis courts at 7400 Fauntleroy Way SW) 10 hours later for the quarterly sunset watch with Alice Enevoldsen. If you’re new to the area, Alice is an educator and volunteer NASA Solar System Ambassador who’s led sunset-watch events for more than a decade to explain what the equinox/solstice really means. Solstice Park, with stone slabs aligning with the sunset at each of the four season changes, is the perfect place to gather. She’ll be at the park ~6:30-7:30 pm Sunday; though the official sunset time is (corrected) 7:22 pm, as Alice points out, the sun’s actual moment of vanishing behind the Olympics is about 15 minutes earlier. Even if the sun’s not visible, her events are still on (barring only heavy rain). All ages welcome; full details here.
(Reader photo, 2021)
Back in January, Seattle Parks launched a survey to find out about pickleball and tennis usage. Next step, as announced today, an online meeting:
Seattle Parks and Recreation is seeking input from tennis and pickleball players on how we can best support the growth of pickleball. Please join us online on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 at 4:30 p.m. To register visit zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAsf-2rrTwqE9bpE6f9JbwvhTUl7WUYt3RW
This online event is part of the 2021-2022 Pickleball Study funded by the Seattle Park District. The project team will use the input from our community survey, the project advisory committee, and community meetings to recommend revisions to our dual-striping practices, evaluate standards for dual-striping, and draft a list of potential sites for dedicated pickleball. The team looks forward to presenting pickleball study work, input to date, and next steps at this meeting. Thank you to the over 3,300 people that responded earlier this year to our pickleball survey. Please continue your involvement and join us at this meeting to learn more and provide input.
An advisory committee is meeting throughout the study and additional community engagement will include one additional public meeting.
To find out more about the study and to subscribe to updates please visit seattle.gov/parks/about-us/projects/2021-2022-outdoor-pickleball-study or contact Oliver Bazinet at oliver.bazinet@seattle.gov.
West Seattle synagogue Kol HaNeshamah is inviting the community to a fun celebration of the Purim holiday tomorrow (Wednesday, March 16th) at Camp Long (5200 35th SW) – here’s the invitation sent to us today to share with you:
Kol HaNeshamah Purim Carnival
Camp Long East Picnic Shelter4:00-4:40 pm Games hosted by KHTY:
Draw the head on Hamen / Get the secret message to Esther / Knock down Hamen’s Henchmen / Be Queen for a Day / more!4:40-4:50 Songs with Orin
4:50-5:00 Costume Parade
5:00-5:20 Purim Shpiel
5:20-5:25 Megillah Chanting
5:25-5:30 Closing Songs
Since the weather could be unsettled, check khnseattle.org tomorrow for updates.
When Seattle Parks announced on Monday that the Westcrest Park play-area replacement is planned for construction this summer, we noted we would be checking on progress of the project under way at the park now, drainage improvements at the Off-Leash Area. We’ve now heard back from Parks spokesperson Karen O’Connor, who says, “Construction is 85% complete with drainage infrastructure, grading, and gravel surfacing. We need to complete fencing, asphalt, and concrete paving. The concrete strike is impacting the project delivery. We are hoping to open the OLA in late spring if the strike settles.” Work began in November; a temporary OLA is open until the permanent one is ready for use again. (P.S. No strike updates yet this week – the Teamsters’ latest statements are here; the companies’ latest statements are here.)
(Reader photo by Jon from May 2021)
One of West Seattle’s long-closed park play structures has a new date for replacement. Seattle Parks closed the Westcrest Park play structure in May of last year for safety concerns and said it would be replaced as part of the drainage-improvement project at the park’s off-leash area. That work has been under way for months now, but no word of the play area’s status until today, when the city announced the work would happen “this summer” and be complete “this fall.”
P.S. Before you ask – yes, we’re asking about the status of the Westcrest drainage project and also asking about the longest-closed park play area in West Seattle, the Lincoln Park South Play Area, closed for almost five years, with the newest online update saying the much-delayed replacement is now scheduled to go to bid “in late spring.”
(February photos courtesy Camp Long)
That’s the view from Schurman Rock at Camp Long. After a long period of pandemic closure, the 68-acre park at 5200 35th SW has “soft-reopened,” and that opens opportunities not only for visiting, but also for helping guide its future. First, here’s what we’ve learned from Camp Long supervisor Matt Kostle:
Camp Long Park is open, hours as follows:
Tuesday through Sunday – Gates are open from 10 am-6 pm
(Comfort Stations may close slightly earlier to allow staff time to close the whole facility)
We are now accepting rentals at full capacity for the following:
-Main Lodge rooms (upstairs room, basement, kitchen)
-Outside shelters
-Outside large fire ringWe are planning to open rentals to our cabins soon
Our Challenge Course and Rock Wall are also available for groups to register for programming!
For rental and general park information, contact Nancy Mitchell 206-684-7434 camp.long@seattle.gov
For Educational Challenge Course Programs, contact: Maggie Riederer maggie.riederer@seattle.gov
Kostle adds, “We are transitioning to these new hours and rentals and with limited staff on hand so we may not have as much availability for rentals and park opening and closure may not be at exact times published but we are making every effort to move to these times and availabilities to keep the park open and rentals available to use.”
He also told us, “During the pandemic we have also been able to make some major upgrades to the facilities, the biggest of which is the addition of WIFI now available at the main lodge in addition to some large Smart TVs so folks can host meetings, conferences, presentations, etc. here and still reach a wider digital audience!”
Now, here’s where you come in. Camp Long is revitalizing its Advisory Council and would love to hear from prospective members. Here’s that announcement:
Help Make Camp Long an Epic Destination – Become an Advisory Council Member:
Represent and engage the community
Advocate on behalf of the community
Advise on programs and activities that meet community needs
Assist with fundraising and promotions
Event planning and volunteer participationRSVP today to join us for a virtual information and interest session on Tuesday, March 15th at 6:30 pm
Or contact sebastian.wilson@seattle.gov – 206-265-1378
The report and photos were sent by community naturalist Kersti Muul:
At 1:26 PM, I received a call from concerned West Seattleite ‘Lee The Gardener’ regarding a ‘hawk’ that didn’t look well. It was grounded on the parking strip next to Lowman Beach.
Luckily I was able to respond quickly; was on scene within 10 minutes. Quite a little crowd had gathered around this beautiful bird. Initially it was standing with one leg up, which could be thermoregulating, or it could be an injury. I assessed the situation and captured the bird quickly.
It was very alert, but not as reactive as it should be, and not flighted. It later put weight on the leg that was previously up.
My first thoughts were, that it was one of our local Merlin pair, however after looking at the size and markings (malar stripes, etc.) I determined it to be a juvenile Peregrine Falcon. The fastest animal and bird on our planet! Quite a humbling feeling to be of assistance to such a rockstar bird.
I transported the falcon to PAWS and hope it recovers quickly.
Photos by me and Trileigh Tucker, who happened to be at Lowman looking at other birds!
Thanks to Mike Munson for the latest look at progress on the Lowman Beach Park shore-restoration project. What you’re seeing above is the small section of seawall that’s been replaced rather than removed at the north edge of the park. Today was the scheduled end of the latest extension of the timeframe for nighttime work, so we asked Seattle Parks for a status report. Here’s the response from spokesperson Karen O’Connor:
Today was the last date for night work with the Noise Variance Permit. The contractor (was expected to) work until 7 PM at the latest and there will not be an extension of the night work Noise Variance Permit. We have the in-water work window extended to 2/28, Monday of next week. This allows the contractor to work below high water line. All the work will be done during the daytime.
In terms of project update, the contractor has completed the seawall installation. Some beach grading will need to be completed this week to backfill around the seawall. The Contractor is on track of completing in-water work before the 2/28 deadline. They will finish the Pelly Creek section early next week, which is above high tide line, and lawn restoration and landscape will occur in the coming weeks.
When complete, the project will have removed the old crumbling seawall and restored that section of the shore, as was done years ago with the south shore of the park. The old tennis court has been removed and will not be replaced; while Seattle Parks has said it would consider the idea of a smaller sport court, such as pickleball, elsewhere in the park, it would have to be community-funded, and no campaign for that has surfaced so far.
‘
Thanks to Christopher for the photo taken today at Me-Kwa-Mooks. We asked Seattle Parks about the tree crew; spokesperson Rachel Schulkin tells WSB that the pine was “being removed by Seattle Parks and Recreations Urban Forestry. This tree has come under attack by beetles carrying a fungus that is killing the tree.” If you look closely at the photo, you can see some of the tree’s branches are discolored.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The two dogs who share Rachael Morris‘s life, Duggie and Tilly, aren’t into dog parks.
However, Morris is working to get West Seattle a second one for the thousands of peninsula dogs who are.
Right now, the only official off-leash area in West Seattle is at Westcrest Park [map]. Dog owners have long complained that another one is needed, not just for space but for geography, since Westcrest is toward the southeast edge of West Seattle. Now, an organized effort is under way toward making it happen.
Morris leads what’s become the West Seattle Dog Park Coalition (WSDPC). She tells WSB the effort began last spring but really picked up steam when the citywide Citizens for Off-Leash Areas helped connect her with other West Seattleites pursuing the idea. So now they’re working with both COLA and Seattle Parks and Recreation. WSDPC has even come up with a list of five potential sites that it’s submitting to the city for review.
Without much official dog-park space, she says, people are using various spaces as unofficial dog parks, and that creates a “public-safety issue” for both dogs and people. So WSDPC is seeking to be part of the solution rather than perpetuating the problem. The lack of an off-leash area in north West Seattle was even officially recognized almost six years ago, in a city report on the state and future of dog parks citywide (here’s our 2016 report).
There’ll be a lot of hurdles to clear, Morris says – just to get sites reviewed could take a year, and Morris says they are well aware they’ll face opposition from people no matter which site (if any) is identified as feasible, so that’s why they’re going public now, to marshal support from dog owners who like the idea. WSDPC members extensively reviewed possible sites all around the peninsula and are submitting five for potential consideration: Areas at the West Seattle Golf Course (a corner currently primarily used for “seed deliveries,” Morris says), Hamilton Viewpoint, Lincoln Park, Duwamish Head (the inland open space), and Jack Block Park (which is owned by the Port of Seattle rather than the city). The latter site could even include some of the shoreline, which Morris says is appealing because the city only has two offleash beaches.
There’s a long list of criteria that ruled out the many other sites they reviewed. And Morris says the process from here is extensive – if the city does give them a green light to pursue a certain site, much public outreach and comment would follow. (The full city process is explained here.) She stresses that her group “wants to go through all the channels” to try to reach the goal, and they’re going public now at a very early stage. If you’re interested in getting involved, you can email westseattledpc@gmail.com. The group doesn’t have a website yet but is on major social-media channels.
A texter sent that photo a few days ago and wondered if the Lowman Beach Park shore-restoration work was really going to meet its deadline for completing in-water work. The answer – no – arrived in this update from Seattle Parks:
In January, Seattle Parks and Recreation and McClung Construction completed preparation and shoring for the seawall installation for the Lowman Beach Park seawall and beach restoration project in West Seattle. Unfortunately, one of the seawall precast panels was the wrong dimension and was unable to be installed. The team has been working around the clock to refabricate and recast this one panel segment. Once the new panel is delivered to the site, the contractor will resume installation of all panels starting on February 9, 2022, and be completed by February 23. This work must be performed at night to take advantage of the low tides.
The original permit for in-water work expired on February 15, however, we were granted a maximum two week extension by the Department of Fish and Wildlife and must have work completed by February 28.
Two work windows at low tides still needed to complete:
Resume installing the precast wall panels – This is expected to take another three to four nights of work.
Completion of Pelly Creek – This is expected to take another two or three nights of work. We were previously planning to complete this on the week of February 7-11 during normal working hours, however, it can only be completed after the seawall panels are installed. To meet the February 28 deadline for beach grading the contractor may need to work extended hours.
The contractor has obtained another Temporary Noise Variance Permit (6881011-NV) issued by Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection (SDCI). The permit states work can occur between 7 PM and 7 AM starting Wednesday, February 09, 2022 at 7 PM and stopping no later than Wednesday, February 23 at 7 AM.
Although the permit allows for 14 nights of work, the contractor expects to work a maximum of eight nighttime shifts. The contractor will do what is feasible to mitigate the inconvenience by keeping the noise levels down as much as possible, disabling backup alarms, and avoiding high-impact work.
Thank you to the neighbors for their patience and cooperation during the Lowman Beach Park seawall and beach restoration project.
Three months after installation of the new play structure between Fairmount Park Elementary and Fairmount Playfield, it’s finally open. As reported here last week, Seattle Parks blamed issues such as wood-chip availability and the concrete strike for the most-recent holdups, but said they hoped to open it this week. We hadn’t checked since Wednesday afternoon, but today we went by after a tip from Kevin, and as shown above, it’s open and in use, just in time for the weekend. Planning for the play-structure replacement began in 2019 and it was originally projected to be complete two years ago.
10:08 AM: Seattle Fire is sending a “rope rescue” response to Lincoln Park. SFD says someone fell “40 feet down a slope.” Updates to come.
10:27 AM: Took a while for our crew to find out where in the park this was happening. It’s toward the far north end. The incident commander tells us the person who fell is a woman and she seems to be not seriously hurt. They’re still working to bring her out.
(WSB photo)
10:38 AM: We’ve talked with firefighters above the rescue scene but the victim has just been brought down to crews on the shoreside road, according to emergency radio.
(Added: Texted photo)
She’ll be taken to Harborview.
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