silent is fuck West Seattle Blog… | 2016 | September

West Seattle, Washington

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month : 09/2016 302 results

‘It’s the only thing we can do, to make sense of the loss of Chad’: West Seattle fundraiser Saturday for mental-health summit
September 8, 2016 3:55 pm
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   Health | How to help | West Seattle news

I love you.
Chad

Those words are tattooed on the inside of Laura Crooks‘s left wrist:

Her son’s last written words.

Chad Crooks died by suicide last January, at 21. (You might have read his obituary here.)

Within weeks, Laura and husband Todd found themselves turning their grief into action.

“For his service, people wanted to have a way to donate to something. We couldn’t really find anything that that people could donate to for psychiatry” – so they found themselves setting up a foundation, Chad’s Legacy Project.

This Saturday night (September 10th) at Duos Lounge in West Seattle (2940 SW Avalon Way), you are invited to be part of the foundation’s first fundraiser “Unmask the Night,” which has a very specific goal – to fund a summit next year to bring together people who can make a difference on the issues the Crooks family has prioritized, from “ideas about what should change because of the care Chad received, or didn’t receive.”

You see – suicide isn’t what you might think it is. It is seldom simply a decision someone takes because of a life crisis. It is far more often a deadly symptom of mental illness. For Chad, that illness was schizophrenia, which is often first diagnosed just as a person is coming into young adulthood – already a vulnerable and challenging time. He was diagnosed less than a year before his death.

“There’s so much to be done,” Laura said. They want to support education to end the stigma of mental illness, better care for people living with it, research to find cures. Mental illness can be curable, not just treatable, she says – “we just haven’t studied it (enough) yet.” Read More

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FOLLOWUP: West Seattle Nursery’s greenhouse now growing
September 8, 2016 2:57 pm
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

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Another milestone in West Seattle Nursery‘s expansion project – as you might have noticed if you have gone by along California SW, the greenhouse is now going up. WSN’s Marie McKinsey sent the photo and tells WSB, “The office building is pretty much complete and now the greenhouse is being built. We hope to see the carbonite ‘glass’ panels added within the next couple of weeks.” Ventana Construction is building the expansion, and the architect LD Arch Design (both are WSB sponsors). As reported here last year, the expansion on the existing nursery’s north side is also expected to include a new classroom, gift/house-plant shop, and coffee bar.

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Terminal 5 and rest of the ‘State of the Port’ @ West Seattle Chamber of Commerce
September 8, 2016 1:21 pm
|      11 COMMENTS
 |   Port of Seattle | West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

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(Empty Terminal 5, steps away from site of today’s lunch – WSB photo)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Tough questions for Port of Seattle/Northwest Seaport Alliance leadership at the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce lunch meeting that just wrapped up at port-owned Jack Block Park.

Top topics: The proposed Terminal 5 expansion – and whether it would go forward without a tenant being signed – and the Hanjin bankruptcy.

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(WSB photo, L-R: Commissioner John Creighton, deputy CEO Kurt Beckett)

First to speak, Port Commissioner John Creighton, who made note of the recent one-year anniversary of the teaming of Seattle and Tacoma in the Northwest Seaport Alliance. He said that from a variety of standpoints, “it’s really worked wonderfully. … We had to change what we were doing, to remain relevant …”

As for the Port of Seattle itself, Creighton declared it to be “at a good place … we still have a lot of challenges, but they’re good challenges,” such as “growing like gangbusters at the airport.”

Read More

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West Seattle Art Walk and 3 more for your Thursday
September 8, 2016 11:20 am
|    Comments Off on West Seattle Art Walk and 3 more for your Thursday
 |   West Seattle Art Walk | West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

WSJ_Summer_2016_back

It’s West Seattle Art Walk night! That tops our quick look at calendar highlights. As always, the Art Walk runs 6 pm-9 pm, and this month’s venue list/map is above. Note that Art Walk night is always special at Viscon Cellars (5910 California SW; WSB sponsor), whose tasting room is usually only open on Fridays and Saturdays, but you can stop in on Art Walk night too and sit down for a glass of award-winning wine. That and other venues are highlighted on the official Art Walk website.

Also today/tonight:

DELRIDGE GROCERY FARMSTAND: 4-7 pm next to the Delridge P-Patch, visit volunteers with the Delridge Grocery Coop and see what fresh-picked fruit and vegetables they’re selling this week. (Delridge Way SW/Puget Boulevard)

SECOND THURSDAY OUT! 6-8:30 pm – “Inviting the LGBTQ community and their friends and neighbors for social hour, light meal and in-house movie, ‘4th Man Out,’ and popcorn! Everyone is welcome to attend – no membership or sign up is required.” At Senior Center of West Seattle. (SW Oregon/California SW)

FISHING SEMINAR: 7 pm at Emerald Water Anglers (WSB sponsor), find out about “Getting Into Spey Casting.” Free, but RSVP is requested – our calendar listing has the info. (42nd SW/SW Oregon)

LOTS MORE … see many more listings on our complete calendar, for today, tonight, tomorrow, this weekend, and beyond.

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@ Southwest District Council: Unanimous vote to carry on; Park District briefing; street-project proposals…
September 8, 2016 9:45 am
|      10 COMMENTS
 |   Southwest District Council | West Seattle news

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

If Mayor Murray expects that cutting city support – $500/year and some staff time – to Neighborhood District Councils will cause them to fold, West Seattle’s district councils will be proving him wrong.

The Delridge Neighborhoods District Council has already displayed defiance by hosting the first citywide gathering of DC reps to follow the mayor’s announcement that he wanted to cut off the councils and find different means of “engaging” citizens. And last night, the Southwest District Council formalized its intention to continue on, with or without city support. Here’s how things unfolded at the SWDC’s September meeting at the Sisson Building/Senior Center:

DISTRICT COUNCILS’ FUTURE: SWDC co-chair David Whiting from the Admiral Neighborhood Association led this discussion, on behalf of the SWDC executive committee (in which he is joined by co-chair Eric Iwamoto from the Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council and Vicki Schmitz-Block from the Fauntleroy Community Association). He says the SW District Council executive committee wants to continue on, regardless of whether the mayor’s plan to cut off official city support goes forward. A vote was subsequently taken – and everyone present agreed with that plan. (Besides the aforementioned executive-committee members, other reps at the SWDC meeting were from Alki, Genesee-Schmitz, Morgan, and the West Seattle Emergency Communication Hubs.)

First point of discussion, how to make up the $500/year that the city has provided as financial support, all of which had been covering the cost of renting a room at the Senior Center for 11 meetings a year. Participating groups will be asked to chip in. Deb Barker from Morgan Community Association suggested lower-cost meeting space could be found, too. Whiting also had attended a recent City Neighborhood Council meeting and said other groups’ reps were in varying degrees of frustration and anger, but also most of them “want … to continue forward in some capacity.”

Also mentioned: The Seattle Neighborhood Coalition‘s “mini-summit” on the same topic coming up this Saturday, with participation from around the city invited – details here.

As for the city’s efforts to figure out where to go with future community engagement, the ongoing city survey was mentioned too – if you haven’t taken it yet, go here.

Also at last night’s meeting: Read More

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TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Thursday updates; weekend reminder
September 8, 2016 6:34 am
|      32 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)

(Click any view for a close-up; more cameras on the WSB Traffic page)

6:34 AM: Good morning! For Seattle Public Schools, it’s the second day of classes, so we will remind you one more time that schedules have changed, with most elementaries starting at 7:55 am – the full list of local start times is here.

EARLY-MORNING FERRY TROUBLE: Some cancellations on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth early this morning because of “necessary repairs.” WSF says the Cathlamet will be back in service with the 6:40 am sailing from Vashon, but keep an eye on their site.

WEEKEND REMINDER: Ramps to Harbor Island will be closed this weekend because of railroad-crossing work, as announced earlier this week.

7:31 AM: Tweeted/texted 20+ minutes after the fact:

8:26 AM: Some trouble out there. Texter says Admiral is backed up. We’re not seeing any obvious reasons – no crashes on 911 log or in Seattle DOT Twitter feed (which often includes crashes that don’t make the 911 log because SFD isn’t called out) – but maybe it’s related to the Avalon clog shown in this tweet:

8:37 AM: Texter says police have been out by the new Genesee Hill Elementary this morning with what appears to be a speed-emphasis patrol. Two cruisers and a “radar gun,” the text noted.

9 AM: SFD log reports a crash response at 35th and Avalon. The SDOT camera doesn’t show anything blocking.

9:14 AM: That response is now “closed.” And via comments and e-mail, there’s word of a problem on eastbound Alaska at Fauntleroy. The e-mail says it appears something from The Whittaker construction site has fallen onto a car. We’ll be going over to look soon as we can.

9:38 AM: Everything is clear at Alaska/Fauntleroy, our photographer reports. Thanks again to everyone for reports/comments about incidents this morning – we and our usual information channels seem to have been at least a step behind, and firsthand reports (again, as long as you’re not the driver!) make a major difference.

3:52 PM: One other Metro cancellation texted/tweeted today after the fact:

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Another dumped bicycle, found
September 7, 2016 10:29 pm
|      7 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

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Recognize that bicycle? It turned up “abandoned,” likely stolen, behind a Harbor Avenue condo. The finders have it in a safe place and hope to find its rightful owner – if that’s you, or you know who might be, you can contact them directly at ckcarman@msn.com – thanks!

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FOLLOWUP: 30 mph Delridge Way speed limit now planned by year’s end, one year later than original plan
September 7, 2016 8:34 pm
|      28 COMMENTS
 |   Delridge | West Seattle news

A resident calling himself “Disappointed Dad on Dangerous Delridge” has continued to press SDOT on the promised, but not-yet implemented, speed-limit reduction on Delridge. At one point, it was supposed to be in place by the end of last year, and SDOT had reaffirmed to us last November that it would happen. But it didn’t. We asked again early this year, and were told it was still in the works, with an addition – “fog lines” on Delridge north of Orchard. Months have elapsed; we had checked in with SDOT’s Jim Curtin recently and were told they were finalizing design details. DDoDD e-mailed again too, cc’ing us, and asking Curtin:

We are now in the ninth month of 2016 and rapidly approaching the rainy season again. Delridge remains as dangerous as ever. I understand that there is more to this project than simply putting up new speed signs, but every day that you delay increases of the chance of injury or death for those of us with small children in this corridor. In fact, as I’m sure you’re aware, a teenager was hit just last month while crossing Delridge. The first line of Mayor Murray’s statement on Vision Zero states that “Public safety is the foremost responsibility of city government.” Please prove that these aren’t just hollow words.

WSB was cc’d on Curtin’s reply to DDoDD today:

Thanks for checking-in on this effort. You will see changes on Delridge in the 4th quarter of 2016. We are currently finalizing the design which will include additional changes beyond the speed limit adjustment. These changes will include installing the aforementioned edge lines, flexible posts for the existing bike lanes in the vicinity of SW Orchard St, and enhancing the existing crosswalk at SW Juneau Street with rapid flashing beacons (the work at Juneau may not occur until early 2017 due to equipment supply issues).

The 30-mph plan originally was part of the mayor’s citywide Vision Zero announcement in February 2015.

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BACK TO SCHOOL: ‘Wonder’-ful ceremony on Day 1 at Westside School
September 7, 2016 6:12 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Arbor Heights | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

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Another first-of-its-kind start-of-school ceremony happened today, this time at Westside School (WSB sponsor) in Arbor Heights.

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While loud cheers greeted staffers dancing in the aisles of the school’s big theater space – each group introduced with inspirational “theme songs,” from Macklemore’s “Can’t Hold Us” to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” – the real call to action came in the form of a fish story.

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Westside’s new head of school Ted Kalmus told the assembled students and parents that he had acquired a pet fish that came with the name Wonder. The story of the fish became a tale of how he hopes that everyone will go throughout the year with a sense of wonder – and curiosity, “become the best question-asker you can be.” He invited the students to each take a blue or green “jewel” (the glass pebbles often found in aquariums or terrariums) from bowls at the bottom of the stairs down from the theater, and to hold it and think of something they wonder about.

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With that, Kalmus said, the school would be certain to have a “Wonder”-ful year.

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FOLLOWUP: Seattle-bound Hanjin Scarlet finally offloading at Prince Rupert
September 7, 2016 3:24 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Port of Seattle | West Seattle news

3:24 PM: The Hanjin Scarlet is being offloaded at Prince Rupert. That’s news here because it was the next Hanjin ship scheduled to dock at Seattle’s Terminal 46, until its parent company filed for receivership in South Korea. Instead of docking at the British Columbia port, Hanjin Scarlet remained anchored in its harbor – until today. It docked at 6 am, according to an update from the Prince Rupert Port Authority. It had been scheduled to offload there in time to arrive here last Saturday. We’re checking with the Northwest Seaport Alliance – the combined Seattle/Tacoma port entity – to see what they’ve heard about a possible arrival here.

5:54 PM: NWSA spokesperson Tara Mattina says they have no new information yet on whether Hanjin Scarlet will head here from Prince Rupert, but hope to find out something tomorrow. Also tomorrow: The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce‘s monthly lunch meeting (11:30 am, Jack Block Park) looks at “the state of the port,” with commissioner John Creighton and deputy CEO Kurt Beckett scheduled to speak.

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Alki Dental: Welcome, new West Seattle Blog sponsor!
September 7, 2016 2:25 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Health | West Seattle news

Today, we welcome Alki Dental as a new WSB sponsor. Here’s what they would like you to know about who they are and what they do:

alkidentalwelcome

Every now and then, you discover a hidden gem or best-kept secret in our neighborhood. Alki Dental is just that. For over 15 years, Alki Dental has served the West Seattle community with outstanding dental care from their office overlooking Elliott Bay and downtown Seattle. They have earned a reputation of caring for all patients as well as for providing a safe and relaxing experience for patients who fear dental visits.

Their staff is legendary. They are seasoned professionals who are truly concerned about the well-being of their patients. Under the new ownership of Dr. Hanbit Chi (pronounced “chee”), Alki Dental is the only dental practice in West Seattle that offers:

*A dental-health approach focused on your total well-being: body, mind and spirit

*A variety of sedation-dentistry techniques, including IV Sedation, to help patients manage pain and stress

*Panoramic and 3D digital imaging to enhance treatment diagnoses, providing patients with a clear picture of their oral health

*A spectacular view of downtown Seattle from every patient chair

*An office environment that feels like home rather than a medical institution

*Alki Dental Club, a patient-membership program designed exclusively for patients who do not have dental insurance and who want a simpler way to manage the cost of their oral health. No dental insurance? Join the Club! Modeled after managed-care dental plans, the Alki Dental Club offers patients a predictable way to obtain prompt, high-quality, cost-effective dental care. Alki Dental strengthens their patient/care-giver relationships and removes costs that add little or no value to dental health by removing third-party insurance companies from all decision-making.

Contact us for a FREE consultation with Dr. Chi to experience the Alki Dental difference. Alki Dental is located on the waterfront at 1331 Harbor Ave SW; call 206-933-9300. Online, you can learn more here.

We thank Alki Dental for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.

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$100 million down, $40 million to go for Lander Street project; another ‘open house’ ahead
September 7, 2016 1:50 pm
|      9 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news


The Lander Street Bridge (ex-overpass) in SODO – seen as a key part of mobility between there and here – is now $40 million away from full funding.

That’s what the city says in this afternoon’s announcement that the feds have just finalized a grant covering about a third of the price tag of the project that’s been revived after almost a decade on the shelf. Read on for the official news release, plus news of another “open house” about the project: Read More

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BIZNOTE: New owners, name for Mission in The Admiral District
September 7, 2016 12:49 pm
|      30 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle restaurants

(Photo courtesy Mission Cantina – from left, Tina Padilla, Shawn Padilla, Peter Morse)

That’s the new ownership team for what was Mission Latin Lounge and is now Mission Cantina (2325 California SW). From the announcement:

Peter Morse, an original owner and manager of the restaurant, has teamed up with new partners, husband and wife Shawn and Tina Padilla. This is the first ownership change for the West Seattle restaurant since it opened in 2005.

Mission Cantina has reason to be enthusiastic about the future, as there are numerous projects in the works, such as expanding the offering of rare and boutique tequila, mezcal, and other agave-based spirits. Peter, Shawn, and Tina will ring the bell when La Escuela Del Misión (The Mission School) is in session in late fall. You’ll never be late for class at this school for tequila, which will provide opportunities to taste the new options. Look for a new sign to reflect the updated name soon and a refreshed interior including new skylights, Mexican tiles, and agave harvesting tools, just to name a few. One much-anticipated change is the launch of a weekend brunch later in the year.

Shawn Padilla tells us there will be some other menu changes – watch for the “big reveal” around Dia de los Muertos, just after Halloween. You’ll likely see the new Mission Cantina signage before then.

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4 for your West Seattle Wednesday
September 7, 2016 11:30 am
|      1 COMMENT
 |   West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

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(Surfbird, back from Alaska – photographed by Mark Wangerin)

It’s not ALL about back-to-school today – four from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:

NETWORK AT LUNCHTIME: If you see this in time and happen to be on-peninsula – working from home, from a coffee shop, etc. – you are invited to get over to West Seattle’s only coworking center Office Junction (WSB sponsor) and network at noon. Bring your lunch if you want! (6040 California SW)

HIGH POINT MARKET GARDEN FARMSTAND: Just a few more Wednesdays left in the season! 4 pm-7 pm, see what’s fresh at the High Point Market Garden Farmstand, which sells what local residents grow on the mini-farm next door. (32nd SW/SW Juneau)

PARKS SUPERINTENDENT, STREET FUND REVIEWS @ SW DISTRICT COUNCIL: 6:30 pm at the Sisson Building/Senior Center, the Southwest District Council is back in session with three major agenda items – Parks Superintendent Jesús Aguirre will lead off by talking about how the levy-funded Park District fits into the department’s big picture; then there’s a discussion of the state of district councils, post-mayoral announcement; and finally, ranking of Neighborhood Street Fund proposals – see here what SWDC is looking at. (California SW/SW Oregon)

JIM PAGE: Singer-songwriter performing live at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7 pm. (5612 California SW)

LOTS MORE! for today, tonight, tomorrow, next week, next month … on our full calendar.

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BACK TO SCHOOL: Mayor visits Arbor Heights to welcome preschoolers
September 7, 2016 10:53 am
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Arbor Heights | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

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(Photo via Twitter: @mayoredmurray)

One day after the dedication of the all-new Arbor Heights Elementary, Mayor Ed Murray visited this morning (as previewed here yesterday) to celebrate something else that’s new there – the Seattle Preschool Program. The levy-funded program has expanded to 600 students at more than 30 schools around the city; the levy’s original goal is to enroll 2,000 students by 2018. Tuition is free to families whose income is less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Arbor Heights still has room for more students, according to the SPP website, which also says there’s room at two other West Seattle schools where the program operates, Louisa Boren STEM K-8 and Highland Park Elementary.

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BACK TO SCHOOL: Community answers the call to ‘Be There’ for West Seattle Elementary
September 7, 2016 9:00 am
|      11 COMMENTS
 |   High Point | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

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9 AM: The call went out two weeks ago: Help get West Seattle Elementary students off to a good start with a show of support, the “Be There” rally (explained here). And community members answered the call! More photos to come.

ADDED 10:30 AM: As promised, more photos. “Captain America” made an appearance:

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So did Southwest Precinct Community Police Team officers Kevin McDaniel and Jon Flores:

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And City Councilmember Lisa Herbold:

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But the students were the stars:

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This was also the first day of the first school year with new principal Pamela McCowan-Conyers, promoted from assistant principal when Vicki Sacco – who was there for today’s rally – moved to a new job at district HQ.

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TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Back-to-school Wednesday
September 7, 2016 6:22 am
|    Comments Off on TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Back-to-school Wednesday
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)

(Click any view for a close-up; more cameras on the WSB Traffic page)

6:22 AM: It’s the big day – back to school for Seattle Public Schools and most of the independent schools that hadn’t yet started. First, a Metro cancellation just in:

Remember that SPS had some big schedule changes for this year, including most elementaries moving to a 7:55 am start. We list all the local schedules here.

7:22 AM: Metro also has canceled the 7:43 am run of Route 113.

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11-year-old West Seattleite Avery Berg starts middle school in midst of fight of her life
September 6, 2016 9:48 pm
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   Health | How to help | West Seattle news | West Seattle people

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(Family photo of Avery Berg as her 5th-grade year concluded)

“She’s one hell of a kid.”

That’s how Kristie Berg describes her daughter Avery, who starts middle school Wednesday at Explorer West.

The move from elementary to middle school is challenge enough for any child, any family, but things got unimaginably more complicated for the Bergs just a few weeks ago, when Avery was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

We found out about it from family friend Alana, who e-mailed WSB on Labor Day weekend.

Avery’s mom has been writing online about her family’s journey. From today’s entry: “My baby girl confidently walked into her middle school orientation this morning with half her head shaved and a pair of glasses with one eye blocked with scotch tape. She hasn’t been able to take a shower for days as she had a surgery last Friday and then ended up having an emergency shunt surgery on Sunday. And yet she still walked in with her head held high and her spirit eager and ready to embark on this adventure. I have never been so impressed with someone in my life.”

A few days earlier, Kristie wrote that she doesn’t know how the school year will go – after day two, on Thursday night, Avery is scheduled to start radiation therapy, which she will need five times a week for six weeks, in addition to six months of chemotherapy. The type of tumor she is fighting, AT/RT (Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor), is rare – 100 cases a year in the U.S., almost all diagnosed in infancy. But Avery was approaching her 11th birthday, on vacation with her family in August, when, Kristie recalls, she “casually mentioned she had been seeing double for a few weeks. And in that instant, our life changed.”

You can read all of Kristie’s updates – many with video of updates by Avery, who has a remarkable sense of humor (don’t miss the story of “Bob”) – by going here. She dubbed the updates “Step by Step with Awesome Avery,” and that’s the title of her mom’s website, too.

Kristie told us via e-mail, “These past three weeks have been unbelievably hard, but our community has been incredible. We should all be so lucky to live in a place with such supportive neighbors and friends. We’d love to extend this invitation to our entire West Seattle crew and have any attention we can brought to fighting pediatric brain tumors.”

The invitation to which she refers is an invitation to support friends and relatives’ team, Awesome Avery, for the Run of Hope coming up on September 25th to raise money for researching pediatric brain tumors. Avery’s dad Joe Berg has a fundraising page here. You can donate there and/or run by registering here.

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The banners are back: ‘Share the Shore’ with wildlife
September 6, 2016 9:26 pm
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | Wildlife

Another sign of the season: David Hutchinson from Seal Sitters shares the photo and report on their banners’ annual arrival on Alki:

Seal Sitters would like to thank Seattle Parks & Recreation for installing our “Share the Shore” banners along Alki Avenue again this year. A special thanks to Parks’ employee, James Lohman, who has been responsible for handling this the past several years.

Harbor seal pups are born from June – September in south Puget Sound and Seal Sitters’ busiest time of year are the months of September and October when they “haul out” on our West Seattle beaches. They are protected by federal law, so if you come across one of these vulnerable pups, please remember the following: stay back, keep people and pets away, and call your local stranding network – for West Seattle beaches, that would be Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network at 206-905-SEAL (7325). For all other beaches, please call the NOAA Hotline at 1-866-767-6114.

Seal Sitters is a member of NOAA’s West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

That means they are the people to call if you spot ANY marine mammal onshore, or in potential trouble just offshore, not just seals; they were the first responders for the Fauntleroy humpback whale one month ago.

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REMINDER: You’re invited to ‘Be There’ for West Seattle Elementary students tomorrow
September 6, 2016 8:38 pm
|    Comments Off on REMINDER: You’re invited to ‘Be There’ for West Seattle Elementary students tomorrow
 |   High Point | How to help | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

If you’re not going to be busy getting your own kid(s) to school tomorrow between 7 and 8 am … you are invited to “Be There” for the students of West Seattle Elementary as they start the new school year. It’s been almost two weeks since we first previewed the plan, and invitation, for “community leaders, school supporters, family and friends to line up to cheer, clap and high-five students as they enter into the new school year,” in partnership with the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor). They’re hoping for at least 100 men and 100 women to be there, “dressed for success,” to give the students an unforgettable start to the year – just be there at 7 am to be part of it. The school is at 6760 34th SW.

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EARLY WARNING: Harbor Island offramps closing this weekend
September 6, 2016 6:38 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

Heads-up from SDOT:

The off-ramps to Harbor Island from westbound West Seattle Bridge and from southbound SR99 will be closed this coming weekend beginning Friday evening, September 9, at 7 p.m. The off-ramps will be reopened Monday morning, September 12, by 5 a.m. The closures are needed in order for the replacement of three railroad crossings at the south end of Harbor Island.

• Motorists who are not in large trucks/commercial vehicles can detour by taking the high level West Seattle Bridge, using the Delridge Way exit, then taking the right onto Chelan Ave SW, another right onto SW Spokane St, and eastbound across the Duwamish River’s West Waterway and back onto Harbor Island.

• Large trucks and commercial vehicles can take “official signed” detour route because it is primarily intended for large trucks that unable to use the detour described above. The signed will direct motorists to go south on East Marginal Way S, across the First Ave S Bridge. They will be directed to take the first exit after the bridge, looping them back onto northbound 2nd Ave S, and onto W Marginal Way SW. After passing underneath the West Seattle Bridge, they will be directed to take a left turn onto SW Spokane St, which will take them eastbound back across the Duwamish River’s West Waterway and onto Harbor Island.

The railroad crossing work is part of the SDOT project currently repaving SW Spokane St from SW Klickitat Way to East Marginal Way S.

A map detailing this weekend’s detours is here.

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HAPPENING NOW: West Seattle Chamber of Commerce cleanup
September 6, 2016 4:51 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Environment | West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

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(WSB photo)

Rather than go home and kick back after work, some members of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce have hit the street.

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(Laura Schneider from Meeples Games [WSB sponsor] & Katie Krause from Daystar)

They’re cleaning up trash along California SW, starting at SW Charlestown and heading south to The Junction, until 6:30 or so. You’re welcome to grab a bag and join them – look for the people in the bright-blue T-shirts, as shown in our photo.

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VIDEO: Genesee Hill Elementary dedication celebrates ‘awesome’ school
September 6, 2016 2:54 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Genesee Hill | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

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You don’t expect to hear “Happy Birthday” at the dedication of a new school. If you were at this afternoon’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Genesee Hill Elementary, that’s exactly what you heard, at the behest of School Board rep Leslie Harris, in honor of principal Gerrit Kischner and some of the students who joined in the ceremony.

Kischner joked that the new school is a “91,000-square-foot birthday present.” His parents were there to help celebrate.

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For Harris, there also was a personal connection, as her daughter attended Pathfinder K-8 in the old Genesee Hill Elementary on the same site.

The principal, staff, and students moved from Schmitz Park Elementary, which they had long since outgrown (as proven by a plethora of portables there), but the ties to the Schmitz family, who gave the SPES site to the district long ago, remain strong. At today’s GHES ceremony, family representative Vicki Schmitz Block was given the last flag to fly over SPE before the end of last school year:

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(As announced last week, SPE will not be vacant – it will host after-school programs for about 100 students.)

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The GH ceremony was outdoors, while the Arbor Heights Elementary dedication two hours earlier was indoors, but both were followed by tours (here’s our original look inside GH) and both shared several dignitaries who took to the podium, including third-year Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland, who declared, “These really are awesome schools.”

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(Both GH and AH were funded by the BEX IV levy passed by Seattle voters three and a half years ago.) Again, tomorrow’s the first day of school; GH is opening with about 700 students, already past official capacity, but it’s been configured so that portables will not be needed.

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