West Seattle, Washington
10 Friday
Just in from city Parks Department spokesperson Dewey Potter, who had most recently said the clearing was likely to happen Monday:
I have just learned that the encampment has been removed and that our crew delivered to our warehouse the belongings that appeared to have any personal or monetary value. The cleanup took place after outreach workers notified our crew that they had completed their efforts to notify the people there.
We first told you about the encampment on Monday; WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham had been monitoring it for more than a month.
We mentioned it briefly last night, and promised more details: After weeks of declaring the decision was made and space for a “skate feature” would definitely be reserved in the new Myrtle Reservoir park, city Parks Department managers announced an abrupt about-face last night. That left opponents happy, skatepark supporters fuming, and other issues with the park plan bubbling to the forefront:Read More
A sudden turnaround by the city Parks Department was announced at tonight’s third public meeting on the Myrtle Reservoir park project: Two weeks after project manager Virginia Hassinger reiterated to the Morgan Community Association that the “final approved schematic design” for the park would include an area set aside for a “skate feature,” she and city skatepark plan manager Kevin Stoops told tonight’s meeting that plan had been taken off the table — as of earlier today. More in a bit.
Those are two more of the most recent photos WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham took at the Camp Long homeless encampment he has been investigating (first WSB report here; followup here). We just got an update from Dewey Potter at the city Parks Department:
The outreach people will try once more tomorrow to see if there’s evidence of anyone living at the camp site. If they are satisfied that the people have left, they will notify the crew chief and Parks will clean up the site on the next working day, Monday.
WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham, who broke the story of the homeless encampment at Camp Long (original report, with photos — and now 100 comments — is here), was there Tuesday afternoon as that city team visited to strategize the forthcoming clearing of the site. Matt reports:
Left to right, truck driver Brian Johnson, Southwest District crew chief Carol Baker, and Jason, all Seattle Parks employees, investigate the abandoned homeless encampment at Camp Long. They walked the littered trail to plan the logistics for removing the refuse efficiently. Baker said the delay in the removal of the encampment allows an outreach staff from the Human Services Department to contact the campers and offer social-services resources. Presently the Parks Department is waiting for the weather to break in order to roll in heavy equipment without bogging and rutting the trails.
Quick update on today’s hottest topic, the photos/report from Matt Durham on the Camp Long homeless encampment: Parks Department spokesperson Dewey Potter returned our e-mail inquiry this afternoon, saying the clearing would not happen today, because “the crew was still waiting to hear from the outreach staff from the Human Services Department about whether they had made contact with the people to provide information about programs and services.” We’ll keep checking.
Tonight’s kind of quiet but look out for Thursday – much happening including:
**Seattle Public Schools public hearing on the proposed Fauntleroy Schoolhouse sale
**National Day of Prayer @ Alki Statue of Liberty, 12 local churches participating
**Next public meeting on the Myrtle Reservoir park project
**First-ever West Seattle Food Bank “Instruments of Change” fundraiser
Much more, from tonight through fall, on the WSB Events page.
Those are photos of an encampment in a not-easily-accessible section of Camp Long. WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham has taken those photos — and others you will see later in this post — while monitoring the site on an almost-daily basis since happening onto it at Camp Long more than a month ago. His captions, counter-clockwise from top left: “(The) encampment … has grown in size along Camp Long’s northernmost boundaries as human waste layers thicken; Robins and other wildlife sift along the garbage to gather food as winter breaks; A sign posted no earlier than the afternoon of April 22 claimed its posting occurred April 17. (I have) been staking out the encampment since March 5th and found no posting as late as Tuesday morning on April 22.” More of Matt’s photos, a closer look at its location, and what the city told us about this, ahead:Read More
First, an “after” photo of the Ercolini Park playground-building work this weekend (here’s our report from Day 1) — thanks to William Leaming for sending this Day 2 pic:
Also — a school playground project that could use some help: Back on MLK Day, we showed you Seattle Works (and others) in action at West Seattle Elementary in High Point; next big step there is a one-day work party to build the new preschool playground, 9 am-2 pm May 17, and they need some person-power — no special skills required; e-mail wsesbuild@yahoo.com or call 206/252-9464. (We also just learned Seattle Works will be in action another May weekend at Pathfinder K-8; more on that here tomorrow.)
Just west of The Junction at midday today, those kids played in a space that is taking shape as their future neighborhood playground, at Ercolini Park, while dozens of adults labored just feet away to install the playground equipment that just arrived:
Here’s video of both aforementioned groups in action:
The volunteers’ work at Ercolini continues 9 am-3 pm tomorrow, and is a major milestone in a transformation that’s been years in the making. Around this time last year, the park site was still a large grassy lot – former family homestead, sold to the city Parks Department:
In the ensuing months, neighborhood volunteers received a city grant — matching funds for cash and volunteer-time commitments that they worked hard to procure; now they’re cashing in on that volunteer help – and looking forward to a grand-opening celebration within a matter of weeks. By the way, if you live in any of the areas around The Junction, stop by Ercolini tomorrow to not only see what’s happening, but also to familiarize yourself with the site’s new status as your neighborhood gathering place in case of disaster – between 10 am and 2 pm, a table with safety info will be set up like the one last weekend in Morgan Junction (and other events that have happened in Alki and Pigeon Point; check the map in this post for other upcoming events – we’ll have updates soon for additional neighborhoods).
It’s not online yet but the agenda for next Thursday’s city Design Commission meeting (at City Hall downtown) came out today via e-mail, and the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza project will return that day for another review. The same commission had a long list of suggestions when they saw the project for the first time three weeks ago; read about them in our report from that meeting. FRIDAY NIGHT UPDATE: This review has been delayed – we’ll let you know when it’s rescheduled.
(May 2007 photo of the plywood that covers the Colman Pool windscreen during the offseason)
Exactly one month from today, it’s the first 2008 day of operation for Colman Pool at Lincoln Park, one of the city’s two outdoor pools. Colman Pool will be open weekends only from May 24 till 7-day-a-week operations start June 14. Starting soon after that, it will be busier than usual, because West Seattle’s other pool — Southwest Pool, east of Denny Middle School — is scheduled to close mid-June through late September for three months of work.
DINING OUT FOR LIFE: 12 West Seattle restaurants are among those participating in the Lifelong AIDS Alliance fundraiser (find the list here, some are participating at lunchtime as well as dinnertime).
DESIGN REVIEW FOR ADMIRAL PROJECT: 2743 California on the north side of PCC, proposed for a 3- to 4-story medical-office building (here’s our report on the project from 3 weeks ago), 6:30 tonight, Southwest Precinct meeting room (official meeting notice here).
FINAL PARKS PLAN MEETING: 6:30 pm, High Point Community Center, last of 7 West Seattle meetings where you can tell city Parks staffers what you think the department should focus on in the next five years. (Here’s our report on last week’s Southwest CC version of the same meeting.)
More West Seattle events for today, tonight, and beyond, can be found here.
Latest move by the City Council in its pursuit of a new parks levy – which the mayor reportedly wants to delay – as the old one expires, is the appointment of a citizens’ advisory council. We recognize at least three names on the list as West Seattle citizen activists (Pete Spalding, Bruce Bentley, and Sharonn Meeks); while we crosscheck for other WS ties, here’s the full list of members:Read More
As we reported last week after covering the Morgan Community Association‘s quarterly meeting, some controversy remains over the Parks Department‘s plan to save space for a skateboard “feature” at the soon-to-be-built Myrtle Reservoir park. At that meeting, Parks Department project manager Virginia Hassinger suggested a firsthand look at some existing skateboarding facilities might assuage concerns. MoCA’s Cindi Barker is proposing organizing a tour this Saturday if enough people are interested. Here’s more from Cindi:
One of the suggestions made near the end of last week’s Morgan Community Association meeting was for people who had not been to see a skatepark in action to take a “field trip” to get some info. I’d be willing to organize such a trip, something like in a caravan to visit the Ballard Bowl (4,200 sq ft bowl), the Burien Skate park (a 7,500-square-foot skate park, Nakano Associates, architect, coincidentally the same architect hired to do the Myrtle Reservoir Park itself) and a third park mentioned by Virginia Hassinger at the MoCA meeting, which sounds smaller in scale and is more melded in with the surrounding park rather than a pure bowl design. If neighbors can observe the skate parks in operation, it might answer some questions and give neighbors a good idea of what they can expect. I realize that the next Myrtle Reservoir Park design meeting on May 1 isn’t about the skatepark, but it sure is sounding like we should know what to consider around this proposed skatepark feature. I would propose a Saturday morning, maybe running from 10 to 2, to cover drive time and allow us to spend about 45 minutes at each park. If people could comment to this posting, it would give me an idea of how feasible or well attended this would be.
No obligation, but if you’re potentially interested, say so in the comments here and we’ll let you know about “next steps.” This could be a good prelude to the next public meeting about the Myrtle park, which is 7 pm May 1 at High Point Community Center.
SUSTAINABLE WEST SEATTLE: Last general meeting before SWS presents its first-ever Sustainability Festival (May 4, NE corner of Alaska/44th, right across from the Farmers’ Market, lots more info here) – tonight’s meeting is at 7 pm, Camp Long.
RESCHEDULED PARK MEETING: Quick reminder, the rescheduled Hiawatha Community Center open house/meeting to get your take on the Seattle Parks & Rec Dept.’s future (the original meeting was postponed a week ago because of floor fumes) is tonight @ 6:30. Last West Seattle opportunity is Thursday night @ High Point CC. What’s the meeting all about? See our report on the one @ Southwest CC last Thursday. (If you can’t attend a meeting, share your thoughts online by 4/30.)
When the city Parks Department started its first tour of meetings last fall to ask for input on a potential Strategic Plan, we covered the Southwest Community Center version of the meeting in late November (read the story here). After going back to Southwest CC to check in on the second round of meetings last night — three more in West Seattle in the next six days for your chance to have a say — we can tell you how these meetings work, what you’ll hear, what the Parks employees say they want to hear from you, and even some parks-related revelations that emerged last night:Read More
Much smaller crowd for the city Parks Department‘s project manager on the Myrtle Reservoir park project, Virginia Hassinger, at the quarterly Morgan Community Association meeting at The Kenney last night — but for a few minutes, it was even more contentious than the testiest moments of the last public meeting specifically about the park project (WSB coverage here). Main reason: As Hassinger reiterated, and as we reported here and here, “the decision is made” to set aside an area of the Myrtle park for a future “skate(board) feature.” The most pointed questions for her tonight sought to zero in on who made that decision, when it was made, and why High Point Community Center — listed in the city Skatepark Plan as the other option for a West Seattle skateboard park — was ruled out.Read More
We told you Monday night about the abrupt cancellation of the Parks Department Strategic Plan public meeting @ Hiawatha, blamed on lingering fumes from the previous week’s floor refinishing work. Just got word from Parks spokesperson Malia Langworthy that a new date is set for that meeting — 6:30 pm Monday (4/21) — so check it out if you haven’t gone to one of these meetings yet and can’t make the one tonight @ Southwest CC, or Saturday @ Delridge CC, or next Thursday @ High Point CC.
Four days after a WSB’er e-mailed us wondering where the Alki fire rings had gone (we posted about it here), city Parks Department spokesperson Dewey Potter told us they’ve just been brought back — so freshly returned, in fact, when we subsequently dashed over to get a photo, we could still see the tire tracks in the sand. Potter also reminds us the rules ‘n’ regulations for beach fires can be found here.
Camp Long‘s Sheila Brown is interviewed during “Sound Focus,” 2:20 pm. (Should be archived on the same site later if you miss it.) Incidentally, 6:30 pm tonight at Camp Long, it’s the next of six West Seattle meetings on the Parks Department’s draft Strategic Plan — your best chance to sound off on where you want the city parks system’s focus to be (more of something? less of something?) in the years to come.
Just got word from the Parks Department – the new “approved schematic design,” including space set aside for a “future skate spot” along 35th, is now online at the Myrtle Reservoir park’s official project page, along with a reminder about the May 1st public meeting. Here’s a direct link to see the design; our Monday follow-up clarifying the “skate spot” status is here.
Seems the floor-refinishing work that closed Hiawatha Community Center for the past week left lingering fumes in the upstairs meeting rooms (and the gym), so tonight’s Parks Department Strategic Plan public meeting was canceled at the last minute. Four more to go in WS; next one’s at Camp Long on Wednesday – here’s the list.
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