West Seattle, Washington
16 Wednesday
This year’s West Seattle Summer Fest is just two days away, Friday through Sunday in the heart of The Junction! And this year’s festival has three stages, as the map above shows – the big one at the north end (CA), the Community Stage at Junction Plaza Park (CS), and another stage at the south end (SS), focused on wooden-instrument music. Here’s the list of what performances/presentations are happening where/when:
Events include more than music – on Sunday at noon, for one, we’ll be moderating one of your last looks at the District 1 City Council candidates before primary voting begins next week. Meantime. our Summer Fest previews continue later today and you’ll find lots of info right now on the festival-presenting West Seattle Junction Association‘s website. Festival hours are 10 am-8 pm Friday and Saturday (with music running later) and 10 am-5 pm Sunday. Remember the streets close tomorrow (Thursday) night around 6 for setup – and that means it’s Summer Fest Eve, with lots of reasons to come down and wander, so watch for that preview this afternoon too!
When Sesame Street announced back in April that its 50th-anniversary tour would include a Seattle stop, the exact location was TBA. Leaders of two West Seattle neighborhood organizations have been notified that the event will be held at Lincoln Park. The Fauntleroy and Morgan Junction Community Associations have both been notified by organizers that the event is set for 9 am-3 pm on Saturday, July 27th, with setup the day before. The notification shows that it’ll be at the open field area near the north parking lot. The organizers expect 4,000 people to attend, but not all at once; the notice explains, “Please note that this is a free, ticketed event whereby guests are required to reserve a time slot in advance.” The event will include a 30-to-40-minute stage show presented multiple times as part of a “family fun festival,” according to the official announcement of Sesame Street’s visit, which also will include filming around Seattle. This is the second-to-last stop on the tour. The RSVP link from here doesn’t seem to go anywhere so we’re checking on whether that means it’s sold out.
(Pamela photographed The Turkey on Monday, “south of West Seattle high School”)
If you regularly check our daily highlight lists, you know we feature bird photos most days. Today, our guest spotlight bird is The West Seattle Turkey, since several more reader photos have landed in the WSB inbox in recent days. It’s still hanging out in southeast Admiral, although some sightings have placed it a little further south – we’re hoping it doesn’t wander too close to West Seattle Summer Fest this weekend! Meantime, highlights for today/tonight, interspersed with turkey pics:
PROFESSIONAL & TECHNICAL CAREER TRAINING: Explore what’s available at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) by attending today’s informational session, 10 am-noon – details here. (6000 16th SW)
HIGH POINT MARKET GARDEN FARM STAND: First of this year’s weekly farm-stand sessions, selling fresh produce and flowers grown steps away. 4 pm-7 pm. (32nd SW/SW Juneau)
COUNCIL CANDIDATES IN SOUTH PARK: Conversation and casual dinner with all three candidates for City Council District 1, 6 pm at South Park Community Center. (8319 8th Ave. S.)
(Hannah sent that turkey photo last weekend)
WRITING CIRCLE: Seattle Writes with Hugo House at West Seattle (Admiral) Library, 6-7:30 pm: “Drop by this writing circle, hosted by author Jeanine Walker, for writing exercises and motivation.” (2306 42nd SW)
POETRYBRIDGE: Monthly reading event at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7 pm, with featured readers Elizabeth Cooperman and Thomas Walton – details here. Free. (5621 California SW)
34TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS: 7 pm at The Hall at Fauntleroy. This month’s agenda, including a 2020 Census presentation, is here. (9131 California SW)
(Scott photographed The Turkey on Monday, “a couple blocks south of Hiawatha”)
YADA YADA BLUES BAND: 9 pm at Parliament Tavern, “featuring Milky Burgess and friends.” No cover. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
SEE WHAT ELSE IS UP … via our complete calendar!
(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)
6:55 AM: Good morning. We start with a crash blocking one lane EB and one WB from the Fauntleroy end of the bridge, around Nucor. Apparently no major injuries and a tow already has been ordered.
Two notes for later this week:
SUMMER FEST ROAD CLOSURES/BUS REROUTES: Tomorrow night (6-ish) through Sunday night, streets in the heart of The Junction will close so setup can start for West Seattle Summer Fest – SW Alaska between 42nd and 44th, California SW between SW Genesee and SW Edmunds (with SW Oregon remaining open for west-east traffic). Bus reroutes are now linked here.
HIGHWAY 99 WEEKEND WORK: If you will be using Highway 99 north of downtown this weekend, be aware of work on the Aurora Bridge.
7:26 AM: Per scanner, there’s a crash at 3rd SW/Olson.
7:30 AM: Per scanner, police are reopening all West Seattle Bridge lanes.
7:33 AM: Traffic camera confirms it.
7:35 AM: But now police have radioed that they’re checking out a “stalled vehicle” by the Delridge onramp.
7:48 AM: Updates – tows are on the way to the Olson scene; the vehicle having trouble will be escorted off the bridge by police so it can await a tow/assistance on 1st Ave. S.
Recent reader reports:
LINCOLN PARK CAR BREAK-IN: Wendy reports this happened Monday morning: “Had my car window passenger side broken into between 7-7:15 am while dropping off my boys at YMCA summer camp – interrupted prowler so notbing was taken, reported to police. Had parked in south parking lot.”
HIT-RUN: From Alison:
My daughter went to Starbucks on Alki and parked our car – 2016 Mazda CR-X 5 Red – on 62nd SW between Stevens and Admiral (about 3018 62nd Ave SW). My car repair person believes a box truck or flat bed truck smashed into the front passenger corner and just kept going. This was major damage not just a scratch.
Any witnesses? Let us know and we’ll connect you.
PACKAGES TAKEN: Juan‘s Ring camera caught this video of someone taking packages from his porch on July 2nd. This happened on SW Holden near Riverview Playfield.
9:33 PM: Thanks for the tips: 9th SW is closed between Barton and Roxbury right now because of a police response. At the scene, SPD would tell us only that they’re attempting to serve a search warrant. As shown in the photo, SWAT team members are involved. At last report, they were asking everyone inside the residence to come out. We’ll be checking back. (In case you wondered, this is not far south of last Saturday’s response.)
9:42 PM: Radio communication indicates police have been able to get into the residence.
(Bettie Williams-Watson, photographed in 2018 by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
We’ve reported before on award-winning West Seattle advocate/educator Bettie Williams-Watson and her nonprofit Multi-Communities, working with survivors of sexual assault and abuse. An announcement from the mayor’s office today includes word of new funding for Multi-Communities. As explained at the start of the announcement:
Mayor Jenny A. Durkan today announced $100,000 in additional 2019 funding in the second quarter’s supplementary budget for education and prevention programs seeking to address gender-based violence in Seattle. The funding will support existing organizations to build their capacity and advance youth programming, education programs for boys and men, and programs focused on marginalized populations, including Latinx, Black and African American, and Native American and Indigenous communities.
“We must do more to prevent and end gender-based violence,” said Mayor Durkan. “We have a responsibility to invest in programs that work to stop this violence from occurring in the first place, especially for communities most impacted. Seattle stands up for survivors, and our services must be available and accessible for all. To the survivors in our city: We believe you, and we will fight for you.”
The City of Seattle invests more than $10 million annually in gender-based violence services, including prevention, legal, intervention, housing, and offender accountability services. The Mayor’s $100,000 mid-2019 investment supports upstream programming to prevent the violence from taking place at all and will focus on programming for Latinx, Black and African American, and Native American and Indigenous communities.
A significant percentage of gender-based violence fatalities occur when the victim is 21 years or younger, and these victims often meet their perpetrator in middle or high school. Additionally, language barriers, lack of culturally relevant services, threats of deportation, and fear of isolation put marginalized communities at an increased risk of experiencing gender-based violence. Women of color and Native women are two-to-three times more likely to experience a gender-based, violence-related fatality than their white counterparts.
As part of the $100,000, Williams-Watson’s organization will work in partnership with other organizations led by the Filipino Community of Seattle on what the announcement describes as “the Access to Advocacy outreach and mobilization projects. These projects work to prevent gender-based violence in marginalized communities including Native American and Indigenous, Latinx, and African American and Black communities.” We spotlighted Williams-Watson and her work in this WSB story last year.
For three nights later this month, incoming third through eighth graders can practice basketball skills and drills with some of the state’s best players – the West Seattle High School girls! $100 for three nights, 5:30-8 pm July 29-31. To sign up (or if you have a question), email (updated) Taylor.DarnellWSHSGB@hotmail.com and/or meedschris@yahoo.com.
Apparently trash pickup is a hot-button issue for Mayor Jenny Durkan. Though District 1 City Councilmember Lisa Herbold couldn’t get the mayor to make a statement promising fireworks enforcement, today she found herself the recipient of an unsolicited terse letter from the mayor right before Herbold’s committee revisited the idea of every-other-week trash pickup:
In the letter, which we requested and obtained from the mayor’s office after hearing it mentioned during the meeting, Durkan declared, “I believe that garbage should be picked up every week in every part of the city and do not support any efforts at reducing service levels to the people of Seattle.” Among other concerns, she noted that households of color and households with lower income were among those most displeased with the 2012 pilot in four city neighborhoods (including part of Highland Park).
Today’s briefing – previewed here yesterday – was not connected to any formal proposal to change service levels; Herbold said she thought it was worth talking about as the city tries to find more ways to meet environmental goals, with some other cities having success in going to every other week. Another of the councilmembers present, Mike O’Brien, lamented that Seattleites have stalled in progress toward a zero-waste/reduced-emissions future, and admitted he had not been pushing much for change in recent years. But the mayoral hammer hung heavy in the air as the meeting ended on a note of frustration as much as anything else, with Herbold wondering, “if not this, then what?”
Three days to go until West Seattle Summer Fest, the year’s biggest party, in the heart of The Junction. Our previews continue. This year, official festival T-shirts are back! Right now – last call for advance T-shirt sales, if you want to show up at the festival (Friday-Sunday, July 12-14) already decked in Summer Fest splendor – or if you just want to be sure you get one; advance sales end at noon tomorrow (Wednesday). After that, they’ll be sold at the Info Booth during the festival (California/Alaska) while they last. Find the order form and lots more info here.
(WSB photo from April)
This spring, philanthropist Adah Rhodes Cruzen was honored as Westsider of the Year by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Now, another honor – she will ride in the West Seattle Grand Parade on July 20th as this year’s recipient of the Orville Rummel Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Community. The West Seattle Rotary Club Foundation presents the parade and just announced Adah Cruzen as the recipient, as well as announcing Carl Blake – of bakery fame – as this year’s Grand Marshal. The parade runs southbound on California SW from Lander to Edmunds starting at 11 am Saturday, July 20th, and you can cheer for the honorees in advance as the awards are presented at next Tuesday’s West Seattle Big Band Concert in the Park (7 pm July 16th on the east lawn at Hiawatha Community Center, Walnut/Lander).
P.S. This will actually be Adah Cruzen’s second Grand Parade ride with the Rummel Trophy – in 2014, her husband Earl Cruzen was the honoree but had to stay home on doctor’s orders, so she filled in:
(July 2014 photo by Steve Fuller)
Mr. Cruzen died in 2017.
One year after the first Southwest Design Review Board meeting for the next major West Seattle Junction redevelopment project, the second is set for next week, as we first reported in May. Today, the “packet” of design/plan details to be reviewed that meeting is available via the city website if you want a preview.
The project is now described as:
• 6 STORIES OF APARTMENTS OVER 1 STORY OF RETAIL
• +/- 73 RESIDENTIAL UNITS
• +/- 45 RESIDENTIAL PARKING STALLS
• +/- 5,000 SF COMMERCIAL AREA AT STREET LEVEL
The “primary tenant,” of course, will be Husky Deli, whose proprietor Jack Miller owns and is redeveloping the site. Among many other things, the packet by Ankrom Moisan Architecture addresses the suggestion for a mural on the south side of the new building (like the current site) and suggests a concept like this, based on a historic photograph (which you can see in the packet):
Next week’s meeting is at 6:30 pm Thursday, July 18th, at the Senior Center/Sisson Building (4217 SW Oregon) and includes a public-comment period. You can also comment before then via email; the official meeting notice explains how.
(Great Blue Heron, photographed by Vincent Marx)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
FREE SUMMER MEALS FOR KIDS/TEENS: Lunch and snacks are available at multiple locations. Use this lookup to find the nearest one.
48TH/CHARLESTOWN FUTURE-PARK PARTY: 5-7 pm, come to the future park, see the schemaic design, and eat ice cream provided by Seattle Parks. (48th/Charlestown)
ARTIST RECEPTION: 6-9 pm at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) for Andrea Lewicki‘s “The Tokyo Series” paintings. (5612 California SW)
ADMIRAL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: 6:30 pm at The Sanctuary @ Admiral, with an agenda – see the highlights here – spanning topics from zoning to music. (2656 42nd SW)
CRIME/SAFETY/POLICING: If those topics are of interest and you live/work in High Point, tonight is your focus group for updating the area’s Microcommunity Policing Plan, facilitated by the Southwest Precinct‘s criminal-justice intern from Seattle University, at the High Point Library. (3411 SW Raymond)
FAUNTLEROY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: 7 pm FCA board meeting, community always welcome – see agenda highlights here. In the conference room at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse. (9131 California SW)
OPEN MICS: Jazz focus at The Skylark (3803 Delridge Way SW), 8 pm; also open-mic night at Parliament Tavern (4210 SW Admiral Way), hosted by Joey Vargas, 9 pm.
(WSB photo, June 22)
Seattle Parks had one of the busiest booths at last month’s Morgan Junction Community Festival, showing design concepts for the park addition so you could “vote” with sticky dots. If you missed it, now you can vote online – Parks has launched an online survey with the design concepts. It will be open until July 22nd; after that, the design team will use the online and in-person feedback to develop a “preferred design” to present to the community later this year. The survey starts here.
(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)
7:15 AM: Good morning! No incidents/alerts in our area so far.
Reminder for later this week:
SUMMER FEST ROAD CLOSURES/BUS REROUTES: Thursday night (6-ish) through Sunday night, streets in the heart of The Junction will be closed for West Seattle Summer Fest – SW Alaska between 42nd and 44th, California SW between SW Genesee and SW Edmunds (with SW Oregon remaining open for west-east traffic).
8:09 AM: We’re watching outbound traffic firsthand for the second consecutive Tuesday morning, headed out on an off-peninsula errand. 25 minutes from Upper Fauntleroy to NB I-5, only a bit slower than last week.
As mentioned here last month, The Junction plans to add music to the monthly West Seattle Art Walk. So the call has gone out for interested musicians. The announcement:
Call for Musicians — The Art of Music:
The West Seattle Junction Association plans to present several performances by musicians in the West Seattle Junction to take place during the Junction’s Second Thursday Art Walks. The first two are scheduled to take place on, and to complement, Second Thursday Art Walk evenings on August 8 and on September 12.
For further details and to submit an application for consideration as a performer, please click here. Performances on those two dates will begin at 6 p.m.
Perfect night on Puget Ridge! This was the second of four Monday nights for the relocated Music Under the Stars events at the Seattle Chinese Garden on the north side of the South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) campus. The grassy space north of the garden’s iconic courtyard proved to be a perfect setting for the live half-hour recital preceding the broadcast audio from the Seattle Chamber Music Society‘s Benaroya Hall concert. The recital is performed by student musicians, tonight an excellent quartet from the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra:
We recorded them performing Haydn‘s String Quartet #1, Opus 77. They were scheduled to return during the broadcast intermission with a Schubert piece. Admission is free and you are welcome to bring family, friends, neighbors, a picnic dinner, and stay for as little or as much of the event as you want. You have two more chances, July 15 and 22, mini-recital at 7:30 pm, live broadcast at 8. This map of the SSC campus shows where to find the garden.
SIDE NOTE – MORE SUMMER OUTDOOR MUSIC: This weekend (Friday through Sunday), West Seattle Summer Fest in The Junction; one week from tomorrow, the West Seattle Big Band Concert in the Park (7 pm July 16th, east lawn at Hiawatha Community Center); six Thursday nights starting July 18th (6:30 pm), Summer Concerts at Hiawatha. And more – watch our calendar!
Just got a tip – six orcas “with a baby” in view northbound passing the Vashon ferry dock as of a short time ago. Still a good half-hour of light if you’re up for whale-watching!
After eight years, West Seattle’s only LGBTQ+ venue, OutWest Bar, is closing. Proprietor Bob Lunke (above) confirmed it today after we stopped by to check out a tip. Bob says OutWest’s official last night hasn’t been set yet – sometime before month’s end – but they hope everyone will turn out to celebrate the bar’s run during a big going-away party on Friday, July 19th, featuring Dolly Madison and Al the DJ. Bob tells us a combination of factors is behind his decision, including the increasing difficulty of getting by in the nightlife business, with rising costs and more competition, plus the property owners have “other plans” for its future. He says he’s grateful for eight great years. OutWest has been the site of countless events beyond being a regular gathering place, including red-carpet Oscars-viewing parties and occasions like the birthday “flash mob” we covered in 2017. Before OutWest, the building at 5401 California SW was home to Westside Pharmacy for 20+ years.
Four days until the biggest party of the year fills the streets in the heart of The Junction – West Seattle Summer Fest. The festival has enough going on that you can go all three days – Friday-Sunday, July 12th-14th – but a little advance planning might be helpful, so we’re continuing previews all week long. First, the booths! Since Summer Fest – presented by the West Seattle Junction Association (with co-sponsors including WSB) – began as the merchants’ summertime sidewalk sale, most year-round businesses will have sales and specials. But you’ll want to browse the visiting booths, too. They’re not all businesses, as you’ll see when you check out the list here – which features booths as well as year-round merchants’ sidewalk sales. Some will include local businesses from outside The Junction. And you will also notice on the list that some agencies and nonprofits will be at Summer Fest again this year. For example, Sound Transit will be there to answer your West Seattle light-rail questions; WSDOT will be there to talk about tunnel tolling starting later this year. And in two areas, including with us in the Info Booth at California/Alaska, you’ll find community organizations:
Friday
10am 2pm INFO Seattle Public Schools Head Start
10am 2pm INFO NAPS Doulas
2pm 6pm INFO Toastmasters of West Seattle
2pm 6pm INFO Kol HaNeshamah
10am 2pm BOOTH Sound Generations
10am 2pm BOOTH Latino Community Fund of Washington State
2pm 6pm BOOTH National Center for Science Education
2pm 6pm BOOTH 981st Bridger BPSA ScoutsSaturday
10am 2pm INFO 34th District Democrats
13-Jul Saturday 10am 2pm INFO Seattle Police Department
13-Jul Saturday 2pm 6pm INFO Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network
13-Jul Saturday 2pm 6pm INFO SR3 – SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation, Research
13-Jul Saturday 10am 2pm BOOTH Girl Scouts of Western Washington
13-Jul Saturday 10am 2pm BOOTH American Lung Association
13-Jul Saturday 2pm 6pm BOOTH Year Up
13-Jul Saturday 2pm 6pm BOOTH The Whale TrailSunday
11am 2pm INFO D1 Community Network
11am 2pm INFO Tenants Union of WA State
2pm 5pm INFO Fostering Together/Olive Crest
2pm 5pm INFO West Seattle Toastmasters Club #832
11am 2pm BOOTH Rainier Roller Girls
11am 2pm BOOTH Southwest Lacrosse Club
2pm 5pm BOOTH Team Gleason/Gleason Initiative Foundation
2pm 5pm BOOTH Be SMART program of Moms Demand Action and Everytown For Gun Safety Support Fund
So many reasons to visit Summer Fest, we hope to see you there all three days! Friday and Saturday 10 am-8 pm (with music running later), Sunday 10 am-5 pm. More previews ahead, including Summer Fest Eve – lots happening once the streets close for setup Thursday night.
A 36-year-old man remains in the King County Jail this afternoon after an arrest on Puget Ridge early this morning. From SPD Blotter:
Southwest Precinct officers responded to a report of an attempted burglary in the Puget Ridge neighborhood early Monday morning. After checking the home, officers located a possible suspect one block away carrying a loaded shotgun.
At approximately 5:00 am, officers were checking the area after responding to the home in the 1800 block of SW Dawson Street for a report of an attempted burglary.
During the area check, an officer located a possible suspect one block away, carrying a shotgun. Police arrested the 36-year-old man, who is a convicted felon and unable to legally possess firearms. Officers booked him into the King County Jail on felony charges of burglary and unlawful possession of a firearm. Detectives will handle the follow-up investigation.
The jail register indicates the suspect spent a month in jail last year on a probation violation related to a 2014 assault case. That case, records show, involved domestic violence against his then-girlfriend and their baby at their residence in southeast West Seattle. Court documents say he also has a lengthy record involving nine other felonies and six misdemeanors.
Back in 2012, the city did a test run of every-other-week garbage pickup in a few neighborhoods including 200 households in Highland Park. Then in 2013-2014, it floated the idea of making the change citywide – but eventually scrapped the idea. Now the concept is up for discussion again. Seattle Public Utilities is on the agenda of the City Council’s Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development, Arts Committee – chaired by District 1 Councilmember Lisa Herbold – tomorrow to revisit the idea. No formal proposal, just a briefing and discussion looking back at the pilot, including this slide deck:
Though some things have changed in the years since the pilot – required food-scrap composting, for example, has reduced odor-producing trash – the presentation still concludes it’s not time, yet, for a new proposal to change trash pickup to every other week. However, the city “could consider providing
voluntary, subscription EOW garbage collection,” SPU suggests. The meeting featuring the discussion is set for 9:30 am tomorrow (Tuesday, July 9th) at City Hall, streamed via Seattle Channel.
The West Seattle Helpline‘s clothing bank Clothesline is about to close temporarily for its move and is hoping you (or someone you know) can help:
As the West Seattle Helpline moves the Clothesline to its new location, the Clothesline will be closed July 12th to July 29th. We are also still looking for volunteers to help with the move July 15-18 and 22-25! This would be a great way for those in high school to get their service learning hours as well! If you are interested, please sign up here.
| 9 COMMENTS